The Stone Crab Clan's defenses began to collapse. Large numbers of stone crabs swam toward their homes, but fleeing meant taking a beating. More and more had their limbs snipped off and fell to the seabed! Their fate was easy to imagine. Once the Iron-Pincer Green-Spine Shrimp had their hands free, they would drag them out of their hard shells and turn them into a delicacy for their children and families, fuel for the continued growth of their clan!
On one side, the stone crabs were fleeing; on the other, they were being hunted down. The shallow seabed was filled with the despair of the Stone Crab Clan!
Just then, suddenly, thousands of sharp arrows shot through the water!
No. On closer inspection, the things flying toward them weren't arrows at all. They were Zerglings!
With a stroke of their powerful webbed feet against the seabed, their bodies shot ten meters forward! The Zerglings swept past the retreating Stone Crab Clan. As soon as they neared the Iron-Pincer Green-Spine Shrimp, they revealed the Zerg's fearsome nature!
They nimbly dodged the snapping pincers and closed in on the green-spined shrimp. Their forelimbs, like a pair of sharp blades, carved bloody gashes into the lobsters' bellies! The lobsters' hard armor was as fragile as paper before them! And when the wounded lobsters frantically swung their pincers at the Zerglings, the Zerglings had already swum from in front of them to behind them. Their forelimbs wasted no time in putting on another dissection!
"It's Ye Luo! It's Ye Luo and the others!" Alfred, the little stone crab fleeing for his life, saw the familiar figures and immediately shouted in excitement. His tiny eyes widened as he waved his pincers through the water. "Ye Luo, Ye Luo, I'm over here! I'm over here..." But after a few shouts, he suddenly spotted a large group of unfamiliar Demon Beasts ahead. He quickly pulled his neck back and lowered his head, scurrying along the seabed. "Oh no, did I mistake them for someone else? I hope they didn't see me. Run, run..."
"Little guy, need some help?"
The familiar voice filled Alfred with energy again. He clearly had no confidence in his eyesight, but he trusted his hearing completely!
"Ye Luo! Aha, I knew it! It had to be you, Ye Luo!"
The little fellow's cheers, along with the arrival of so many reinforcements, made the little stone crab's parents, who were covering the others' retreat from behind, turn around.
Then they witnessed a sight beyond their wildest imagination!
The creatures behind them, who looked like members of the Naga Sea Clan, opened their mouths in unison. Sharp spikes, each like an arrow, sliced through the water and left white trails behind them. It was clearly an illusion caused by the spikes' incredible speed, one they had seen only at the Golden Spear Sea Clan's annual celebration. Yet these flying arrows seemed even more fearsome than the rapidly thrusting spears of the Tuna Clan. The spikes easily pierced the bodies of the Iron-Pincer Green-Spine Shrimp!
The Iron-Pincer Green-Spine Shrimp were stunned by the sudden barrage of attacks. Their leader immediately ordered a retreat, and the army, which had been eagerly pursuing its prey, scattered and fled in panic!
Alfred's mother, Judith, came to Ye Luo's side, full of gratitude. "Chief Ye Luo, thank you for coming to our aid. Those wicked Iron-Pincer Green-Spine Shrimp—when their leader was only at the fifth rank, he started a war. After we defeated them, we pitied them and let them go. I never thought that in just fifty years, after growing stronger, they would repay our kindness with betrayal!"
"Chief... In this surprise attack, we, we..." A huge stone crab stumbled over to Judith, his eyes bloodshot. He suddenly fell to his knees. "We lost fully forty percent of our people!"
"Damn those Iron-Pincer Green-Spine Shrimp!" Judith trembled with rage.
Ye Luo didn't know what to say. After all, he was an outsider and couldn't very well interfere in another clan's affairs. So he simply crouched down and continued teasing Alfred...
"Chief Ye Luo!" Judith suddenly turned to him, visibly agitated. Ye Luo stood up. "Respected Chief Judith, what can I do for you?"
Judith shook her head. "Chief Ye Luo, I... I beg you to send your army and wipe out the entire Iron-Pincer Green-Spine Shrimp Clan!"
Ye Luo narrowed his eyes.
"I know your people need large quantities of mineral resources to grow, and there are dozens of major mineral deposits in the Iron-Pincer Green-Spine Shrimp's territory!" Dozens! Ye Luo kept a calm smile on his face, but his heart was pounding wildly, as if he were eagerly anticipating a romantic encounter!
"Besides their territory, you may freely mine every deposit in the Stone Crab Clan's territory as well. Consider it our reward for avenging us!"
Ye Luo drew a deep breath and nodded solemnly. "Chief Judith, there's no need to stand on ceremony. When our Huaxia Imperial Zerg were in danger, you welcomed us and gave us a place in the ocean. We are your most loyal allies. Our allies' enemies are our enemies. Rest assured: in ten days, we will launch a punitive campaign against the Iron-Pincer Green-Spine Shrimp Clan. In the meantime, please allow us to expand our numbers in preparation for war!"
"Of course. Luo Mo, give the order: the entire clan is to prepare for war. All stone crabs are to gather near our home. No one is to leave without my permission. Chief Ye Luo, we'll be counting on you in ten days..."
Ye Luo waved his hand magnanimously and said with an air of righteousness, "It's my honor to help a friend!"
Leaving a thousand Zerglings behind to guard the Stone Crab Clan, Ye Luo watched as new Zerg Hives spread through the sea, one after another. The strength of his forces grew exponentially by the day. And when the surrounding waters were crawling with fearsome Zerglings, the Stone Crab Clan didn't feel afraid at all—in fact, they felt even safer. They had already begun treating these bugs, which could tear them apart with ease, as their bodyguards. Ye Luo couldn't help marveling at how endearing the Stone Crab Clan was.
Five days passed in the blink of an eye. Along the northeastern coastline, seven bases now stood within Stone Crab territory! He now had eight permanent Zerg Hives, producing 1,600 Zerglings a day!
And today was finally the day Ye Luo would negotiate with Warwick, commander of the Keren Kingdom's army.
"Ye You, what kind of terms do you think they'll offer us?" Ye Luo asked eagerly.
Ye You looked full of pride. "If I were the king of the Keren Kingdom, I'd give you every territory except the royal capital, then make myself an emperor who could enjoy life to the fullest. With our Zerg army at his back, he'd never have to worry about the kingdom's security again."
Ye Luo raised an eyebrow and rolled his eyes at Ye You. "Good thing you're not a king. What a rotten idea—to give up your ancestral lands just to enjoy yourself..."
"My Emperor, the carriage is ready!" Ye Feng entered the mining area and respectfully addressed Chen Feng.
Ye Luo came outside the mine and saw a carriage draped in golden ornaments waiting there. Twelve tall, imposing Zerglings guarded it on every side. Unlike other Zerglings, these wore gleaming silver metal armor. The armor covered their heads and extended along their streamlined bodies, while their powerful hind legs were protected by finely crafted scale guards. Even the claws on their forelimbs were sheathed in silver armguards, shining brilliantly in the sunlight. Ye Meng had ordered the equipment from Cabo Town. When he'd lured the blacksmith to the edge of town and had him custom-fit armor for the Zerglings, the poor man had nearly fainted... Of course, being feared by others wasn't entirely bad. At the very least, Ye Meng had paid only half the cost for this fine equipment—and that was because Ye Luo had insisted he pay that much... If the same armor had been made for other Demon Beasts, their owners would have had to pay at least ten times more...
Even the finest equipment couldn't compare to the Zerglings' own claws and natural armor. But once they donned the suits, they immediately exuded a noble, imposing air. Well, in Ye You's words, these twelve suits of armor fully showcased the difference between the Zerg as an advanced civilization and the Demon Beasts of the wilderness. They also showed that the Zerg didn't merely yearn for slaughter—they longed for a beautiful, noble life just as much...
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