Drones and the Throne

A week later, a squat structure over four meters tall and nearly four hundred square meters in area rose from the ground, its entire body covered in sensory carapace and fleshy membranes.

This was, of course, not a Hatchery. A Hatchery was far larger than this.

It was actually a building-type unit that had existed only briefly in Zerg evolutionary history—the Drone Nest.

Compared with bypassing the entire hatching system to conjure a Hatchery directly on the Creep, producing a Drone first was much simpler.

In truth, the predecessors of most Zerg structures, much like the nest-like buildings in the Creep's core area at present, had been female organisms with greatly amplified reproductive capabilities. That was why many Zerg structures visibly retained traits of their corresponding unit types.

Later, however, with the emergence of the Overmind, all reproductive capacity had been concentrated in the Hatchery. Those unit structures became "activation organs" that merely supplied messenger proteins and hormones to induce the expression of specific genes.

Naturally, this primitive method of reproduction, which bypassed the Larva stage, was highly inefficient. It might take several days to produce a fully grown Drone.

On the other hand, it also meant that a single structure was not limited to producing only one unit at a time. Compared with the Drone Nest's mass of over a hundred tons, that would have been like boiling a whole pot of water for a single strand of noodles.

As the egg sacs around the Drone Nest split open one after another, insects with massive claws and bodies resembling trilobites floated above the Creep—Drones could actually fly. Their flotation sacs generated a special energy field that counteracted gravity, while the thin, web-like membranes growing from their limbs were used to maintain balance.

Unfortunately, this untested method of reproduction could not possibly be foolproof.

The Overmind had bred more than fifty Drones at once and monitored their development inside the egg sacs throughout the entire process. In the end, however, only one Drone developed perfectly. The rest all suffered mutations to varying degrees.

The Drones' nest-building glands were the hardest-hit area. Only six Drones retained the ability to mutate into Zerg structures. Most of the others had already completed differentiation before birth, growing malformed organs such as antennae, carapaces, and bizarre glands.

Then came the flotation sacs that maintained their anti-gravity fields. Half the Drones floated unstably, and two had completely lost the ability to float, forced to stand on the ground with their limbs.

Of course, the Zerg's rapid mutation traits meant that their bodies would actively adapt to certain abnormalities. Drones unable to float would grow abnormally thick limbs; those with damaged limbs would develop other parts of their bodies to an exceptional degree; their endocrine systems would also adapt to the presence of extra glands.

Compared with normal Drones, these malformed ones were still somewhat less efficient at their work, but they far surpassed the infected rabbits, rats, otters, and other creatures under the Overmind's command.

The normal Drone was naturally entrusted with an important task. At the pond in Dragon Lion Forest, guarded by three Venom Devourers, it would develop into a Hatchery.

By then, the water in the Dragon Lion Forest pond had already been drained away. The basin had been widened and filled with green liquid that gave off an alluring fragrance—the Overmind strongly suspected that he found the stuff pleasant only because his sense of smell had been altered.

In fact, the enormous pit was perfectly suited for a Hatchery's development.

After all, judging from the Hatchery's ring-like shape, resembling a sphincter, its aboveground portion was merely an entrance and exit. Its main body lay underground.

Once a Hatchery developed into the "Nest" stage, it would directly connect its lower half to the Nydus Network excavated by the Zerg. After producing combat units, it could transport them straight to the frontline through Nydus Worms.

A sac supported by resilient insect shell began to expand. Through its translucent body, the Drone's outer shell, muscles, and various internal organs could clearly be seen gradually breaking down. Only its nervous system remained, beginning to proliferate and differentiate as it slowly transformed into the advanced central nervous system of a Zerg structure.

The Overmind did not immediately focus all his attention on the Hatchery. Instead, he studied a mutated Drone with great interest.

Due to its mutation, the nest-building gland on this Drone's head had developed into thick, structural carapace. Even the large sections of carapace along its back had fused together, forming a relatively flat "platform."

The Overmind could not help looking toward the "throne" that the Dragon Lions had moved here. Perhaps he could install "wheels" on his sofa.

Though the name Drone made it sound rather small, a normal Drone was actually anything but.

Its crouching height alone was already around 1.3 to 1.4 meters, about as tall as a Goblin. If he had to compare it to something, a Drone was roughly the size of... a motorized tricycle with an extended cargo bed. Well, both its shape and its general air were quite similar, though the Drone might have been even wider.

The Overmind patted the mount he had selected. The Drone with the enormous back carapace lifted the Creep and burrowed beneath it. A noticeable bulge appeared on the Creep's surface and crawled all the way toward the Overmind's throne.

With two sharp cracks, the Drone snipped through the bones supporting the throne, then pushed its entire body beneath it. Under the Overmind's command, the throne began to grow together with the Drone's back carapace.

Next, the Overmind issued orders to the other Drones: dig concealed escape tunnels. His own safety always came first; a tunnel allowing him to retreat at any time was indispensable.

This sort of work came naturally to Drones, and they immediately sprang into action.

First, saliva dripped from their mouths. The instant it touched the Creep, the Creep scattered and withdrew, exposing ground stripped of organic matter and reduced to sand.

Their massive claws swung back and forth. Before long, they had dug a small pit, and soon after, they reached the rock layer. This had once been a pond, so there were plenty of stones here.

Yet the hard rock did nothing to hinder the Drones' excavation. More precisely, beneath their pincers, stone was no different from ordinary soil.

It was almost laughable. Although the Overmind currently commanded an infected army numbering in the hundreds of thousands, the only ones who could withstand even a light snip from a Drone's pincers were the Overmind himself and Agatha.

Dragon Lion bones, teeth, and some heavily dragonized scales could withstand a Drone's sharp claws, but their skin and flesh could not.

The group of Drones swiftly burrowed underground.

The Overmind also stepped onto the throne beside him, now noticeably taller than before, then turned and sat down.

The neural cords behind the chair began to glow with faint points of light. Through psionic power and the neural bundles embedded within the Creep, the Overmind's consciousness directly linked with the Hatchery sac not far away.

Before extending his consciousness into the Hive Mind, the Overmind looked toward his adjutant. "Stop all expansion. Deploy every Arrow Gull and Bait Bird. Take turns awakening the Mutated Combat Forms to stand guard, and ensure the core area's safety. Agatha, I'll leave the Swarm to you for now."