The Zerg Emperor

Pain, searing pain...

In the endless darkness, Ye Luo had no idea how long he had been drifting. A year? Ten years? A hundred? After he had awoken, the endless darkness had tormented him, devouring his mind!

He struggled, struggling endlessly... At last, at the end of the darkness, a brilliant light suddenly flashed!

Ye Luo thought it was a gate of light that could let him escape. But as he drew closer, he saw in utter shock that the light was an immense galaxy, much like the Milky Way!

Then, as if the galaxy had noticed him, it suddenly hurtled toward him!

"My Emperor, welcome back!"

The call jolted Ye Luo awake.

With a gasp, he sat bolt upright. But the lush trees all around him made his eyes widen... Before he had passed out, he had been at his computer playing League of Legends. He'd gotten tired and leaned his head on the desk for a quick rest. How had he ended up here in just a few minutes?

"My Emperor, the Heart of the Zerg sensed your soul and summoned you here!" A voice filled with reverence suddenly came from behind him, making Ye Luo break out in a cold sweat. He spun around. A hulking man stood there, at least two meters tall, with a square face and sharply angled brows that made him look exceptionally valiant. At that moment, his face was alight with excitement and reverence.

"My Emperor? You're calling me that?" Ye Luo seized on the key words.

The man dropped to one knee and bowed his head. "My Emperor, from this day forward, you are the one and only Overmind of the Zerg. Whether our race can rise again and reclaim its place at the pinnacle of the universe rests entirely in your hands!"

Ye Luo raised an eyebrow. This sort of thing was common in novels... Had he been transported to another world? But he had clearly been playing League of Legends. And if he had been transported, why to a world of Zerg... Zerg? A flash of insight struck Ye Luo. Years ago, a competitive game had swept the globe, keeping countless fired-up young men in smoky internet cafés, shouting, "Expand to another base! Expand to another base..." Could that Zerg be his cheat in this new world?

Damn, no, that didn't make sense. Since when did the Zerg have such handsome humans? And he'd only ever heard of the Zerg having a queen, never an emperor.

As if sensing Ye Luo's thoughts, the man slowly raised his head. "My Emperor, you must have drifted through the void for too long during your summoning. You never received the Zerg's ancestral memories. May I activate your inheritance memories?"

Ancestral memories... That sounded pretty impressive...

Ye Luo nodded. He might as well accept his circumstances. Since he'd been transported here, he needed to figure out what had happened—and, more importantly, what advantages he had...

The man rose and gently lifted his right hand, touching Ye Luo between the brows.

"Buzz..." Ye Luo heard a ringing in his ears, and in an instant, he sank into endless darkness!

This time, the darkness vanished in a flash. Then he saw the galaxy from before once more. This immense galaxy, he realized, had belonged to one of the universe's top civilizations—the Zerg!

But then war broke out. Humanity and the Protoss attacked from both sides of the galaxy, countless starships leaping in from distant reaches of space...

A civilization of unimaginable size collapsed just like that... And as the Zerg homeworld was destroyed, a streak of black light shot away... Then... Ye Luo saw it cross endless distances and fall onto a blue planet, where a stunned young man had been dozing beside his computer...

A sudden understanding dawned on Ye Luo!

The Zerg were a powerful race that optimized themselves by devouring superior genes, analyzing and utilizing them. They had existed in the universe for an extremely long time! According to the memories passed down through the generations, the Zerg had originally been created by a mysterious and powerful civilization as a tool of war. But they had accidentally escaped and formed a race of their own. Having once been tools of war, the Zerg valued efficiency and obedience above all!

Zerg units needed no thoughts beyond those necessary for battle, such as the human vices of selfishness, greed, and lust... All they possessed was absolute obedience and a loyalty to the Overmind so profound it bordered on love.

Moreover, solely to assist the Overmind, each unit could choose nine combat units to be granted intelligence: three to command in battle, three to oversee research, and three to lead the armies! The rest of the Zerg had no souls at all. They were like extensions of the Overmind's own arms...

Ye Luo was the new Overmind of the Zerg. But because their civilization had been destroyed, he had to start from scratch. As he expanded his territory and gathered crystal, he could unlock more Zerg technology and restore their former glory!

The one standing before Ye Luo was a Larva hero, a warrior.

"You're... a Larva hero?" Ye Luo asked in disbelief as he opened his eyes.

The man nodded respectfully.

"And your... human form?"

The man looked proud. "Our Zerg genes let us change our appearance at will. I took human form in the hope that you would find it easier to accept me, My Emperor!"

Ye Luo nodded in understanding. He looked around. The enormous trees were over twenty meters tall; trees like these could only be found in primeval forests on Earth. "By the way, do you have a name?"

"My Emperor, I was only just born and have no name yet. If you would grant me one, it would be the greatest honor of my life!" the man said, deeply moved.

Ye Luo raised an eyebrow, then rubbed his chin with his right hand, stroking a beard that wasn't there. "From today on, your name will be Ye You!"

"Thank you for granting me a name, My Emperor! From this day forward, my name is Ye You!" Ye You said, overcome with emotion.

Uh... Ye Luo wanted to correct him. He had said Ye You, but meant Ye You. But after thinking it over, he let it go. Naming things had never been his strong suit. Ye You it was...

"Awooooo..." As if drawn by Ye You's roar, a terrible howl suddenly rose from the forest nearby!

Hearing the howl, Ye Luo wasn't afraid at all. He was thrilled! "Ye You, this is your chance to show me how strong you are! Go on—kill that wolf!"

"Whoosh, whoosh..." As they spoke, three wild wolves, each the size of a calf, appeared in their line of sight!

With bodies that huge, they'd have been considered monsters on Earth! Their eyes glowed green, filled with suspicion and warning!

That's right—the emotion in the wolves' eyes was clear enough to read. It wasn't some special power of Ye Luo's. It was just that these wolves were far too humanlike!!!

"Attack, Ye You!" Ye Luo swept his right hand forward and shouted with heroic fervor!

The three wolves jolted and fixed their gazes on Ye You, ready for a fight.

But...

The scene Ye Luo had imagined—Ye You charging in, swinging a blade, and instantly killing all three wolves—never happened.

Ye You, the resolute and fearless man, over two meters tall with a square face, instead quietly stepped behind Ye Luo.

The muscles in Ye Luo's face twitched. "W-what are you doing?"

Ye You looked at him as if the answer were obvious. "My Emperor, I don't have any attack power yet, so I'm no match for them. My Emperor, I am your supreme Overmind. Please grant your most loyal servant the protection he needs!"

"Awooooo..." The three wolves threw back their heads and howled. From their howls, Ye Luo could clearly hear them laughing...

"Damn it! You can't fight, and I'm not strong enough to carry a load or lift a finger! What am I supposed to do?" Ye Luo suddenly felt like crying. Wasn't he the Zerg emperor? Where was his army? He needed protection!

The thought of protection flashed through Ye Luo's mind, and suddenly his heart gave a powerful thump!

Then!

"Shing!" A black armor burst from the surface of his body. Ye Luo, who had been wearing jeans and a white T-shirt, was instantly encased in black armor! A black breastplate, black helmet, black shoulder guards, a black skirt of what looked like metal, black greaves, black gauntlets, black boots...

As the black armor appeared, a surging power awakened inside him. In an instant, Ye Luo felt as if he could destroy heaven and earth!

"Shing, shing!" And that wasn't all. Once the armor had completely covered Ye Luo, three blades over a foot long sprang from each wrist. Their razor-sharp edges gleamed coldly in the sunlight. Ten-centimeter spikes also extended from his elbows, knees, and the front and back of his boots, like sword tips!

Ye Luo gazed delightedly at the weapons, like something out of King Kong. The corner of his mouth slowly lifted. "Ye You, isn't your boss handsome?"

"Handsome! So handsome it's ridiculous!" Ye You said with absolute sincerity.

"Hahaha! Come on, then! This time, your boss will protect you!" The power in the armor and his muscles filled Ye Luo with confidence. He took a step, and in an instant, he became a blur!

"Awooooo!" The three wolves were deeply wary of Ye Luo's transformation. When they saw how fast he was, they all opened their jaws at once!

"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!" Three blue Wind Blades shot toward him like arrows!

Ye Luo was shocked. Damn, what kind of beasts were these? They could spit Wind Blades! Weren't they Demon Beasts?

Ye Luo wanted to dodge. With the speed boost from his boots, he was confident he could. But Ye You was still standing behind him!

"Come on, let me see what you've got!" He should have shouted, "Let me show you what I've got!" He'd ended up in another world and gained a sidekick who was no help at all, so now he had to protect him. Ye Luo was immensely frustrated. But despite his frustration, he carefully crossed his claws in front of his chest. The black armor looked impressive, but he had no idea how much punishment it could take. After all, he had only just arrived in this world and become emperor...

"Bang, bang, bang!" The three Wind Blades slammed into his claws!

To Ye Luo, it felt as if three gentle breezes had brushed past him!

His claws pierced the Wind Blades as easily as a steel knife slicing through tofu...

"Awoo!" That one came from Ye Luo!

"You little pups are finished!" The armor's power far exceeded Ye Luo's expectations. He roared and leapt into the air, his claws tearing through the air. The three Magic Wolves hit the ground in an instant!

After that, Ye Luo gave his fist a cool squeeze. The blades on his wrists and the spikes at his elbows and knees instantly vanished! He clenched his fist hard. "Another world, here I come! I, Ye Luo, the new Zerg Emperor, will unite this entire planet, then break out of the galaxy and conquer the universe!"