Interrogation

A day later.

Inside the hatchery.

The elf's head hung in midair, eyes closed and bowed, suspended by fleshy tentacles of varying thickness. His skull had been opened, and the hatchery's neural fibers connected directly to his brain, spreading through it like roots.

Yes, only a head. Blood vessels connected through the tentacles supplied it directly, keeping it alive. His body had been stored in another chamber. This way, even if the elf's soul recovered to level ten, he would have no ability to resist.

The place holding the elf was essentially one of the hatchery's troop-deployment passages. Once the exit leading outside and the entrance connected to the internal incubation chambers were sealed off, it became an isolated little chamber.

The elf was actually awake. The severed wound at his neck had healed beneath a covering of Zerg tissue. Since there were no pain nerves in the brain, aside from the faint sounds made when the tentacles stirred his brain—which were rather loud through bone conduction—the elf was not in much pain.

Rustle—

Amid the faint swaying.

The tentacles around the elf lit up with a dim red glow, signaling that the Overmind had projected its consciousness into the hatchery.

Using the refined senses differentiated by the hatchery within this chamber, the Overmind examined the elf from head to toe.

The first thing that caught the Overmind's attention was the intact scalp, stripped from the elf and hanging not far from his head.

Unlike humans, that lush hair was one of an elf's primary nutrient-gathering organs. The emerald-green hair growing from it could carry out extremely efficient photosynthesis, with light-energy conversion efficiency nearly comparable to the fungal blanket. It held considerable research value. Unfortunately, elves could not synthesize several key pigments on their own, so the swarm could not directly replicate this trait.

"You're here." While the Overmind was observing through the chamber's senses, the elf suddenly spoke. Though his neck had been severed, the Overmind had thoughtfully attached an air sac to his throat, controlled by the elf's own nerves, so he could still speak.

The Overmind did not respond immediately. He was not surprised that the elf had sensed his arrival.

Though his soul strength had declined, the elf's cultivation of the Way of Nature remained. Even with his nervous system under strict control, he could still detect the subtle changes emitted by the living beings around him.

Yet the elf did not seem to want a conversation. He merely continued on his own. "You controlled that enormous insect and had it fly before me, making me mistake it for you—but it was not you. The insect growing from the Dragon Lion's back was not you either. Nor was the monster that swallowed me. You are the collective thoughts of all fungi, all living things in this region... You are the 'nature' here!"

Other than the part about the fungi, he was basically correct. After all, the elf had never seen the hatchery and did not have a clear understanding of the fungal blanket's role within the swarm.

"Nature did not abandon me. You abandoned me." The elf finally sighed. The green glow in his eyes flickered twice, but in the end, it faded.

Only then did the elf's voice finally carry intense regret. "I should not have wavered."

After saying that, the elf closed his eyes and did not speak again.

The Overmind pondered. He had figured everything out, yet his soul had not recovered?

"Does your power come from some kind of belief?" the Overmind finally asked.

The elf remained silent.

"I have already infiltrated your brain. I can stimulate your pain nerves however I wish. If you refuse to cooperate, you will suffer," the Overmind threatened.

The elf still said nothing.

"Your resistance is meaningless. These tentacles have already penetrated your hippocampus. Even if you say nothing, I will still learn everything."

Before his psionic level reached ten, the Overmind did not intend to obtain the elf's memories through a consciousness link. Instead, he would read the information by probing every neuron in the elf's brain.

However, since he had never encountered an elf before, he had to decipher the elf's neural information-coding method from scratch. It was a rather tedious process. Even with the hatchery's main brain, it would take at least two or three weeks.

"I really am not suited for this sort of coercion and enticement," the Overmind sighed.

Red psionic energy began gathering within the chamber. Following the neural network, it extended all the way to the elf's frontal lobe and cerebral cortex, suppressing his independent consciousness, reducing his hostile response, and leaving him in a half-awake, half-dreaming state.

When the elf opened his eyes again, the pair of eyes still faintly leaking red psionic energy had lost their vitality.

"Elf, what is your name?"

"Elar."

"Do you think your people will attack this place?"

"No."

The Overmind finally breathed a complete sigh of relief. The Venom Devourer's "Atmospheric Pollution Plan" could be put aside for now. He still had some time to develop. "Why did you grow weaker?"

"Because I wavered in the creed I was supposed to hold fast to. My belief could no longer sustain the strength of my soul, so I fell from the Sacred Domain."

"What is the Sacred Domain?"

"When an individual can break through the barriers of reality through will, wield their own body as they please, and reach a realm of complete transformation, they have entered the Sacred Domain."

"So it really is related to belief."

Looking at it this way, elves were essentially magical beasts whose maximum soul strength could reach level seven. Yet through powerful belief, elves could "overclock" themselves and reach a higher level.

But correspondingly, once that belief collapsed, the overclocked power would collapse immediately as well.

Clearly, Elar's belief was intimately connected to "nature." A single rejection from him, this "false nature," had been enough to make Elar waver.

"Do you know what creed your kin follow?"

"The creeds of those who cultivate the Way of Nature are all related to nature, but most of them are priests. They do not rashly establish connections with ecosystems beyond the area where the Mother Tree stands," Elar said coldly.

Unless the swarm instantly infected the forest where the elf tribe lived, it could not deal with priests the way it had dealt with rangers.

The Overmind did not find it a pity. This had been an unexpected gain to begin with.

"Tell me about elves..."

Less than half a day later.

Upon the throne, the Overmind's expression gradually grew complicated.

There was good news, and there was bad news.

The good news was that this world could be considered one of the elves' "colonial worlds." Other than elves, there were no other humanoid races here.

With no competition, they were relatively lax.

Moreover, elves were an almost entirely asocial race. By human standards, every last one of them suffered from social anxiety. Individuals rarely communicated with one another. Someone like Elar, who often dealt with magical beasts and epic species due to his profession, was already considered "good at communication" among them.

As a result, their society had virtually no division of labor. Elves could survive through photosynthesis and had no need for close cooperation. The clothes Elar wore, the bow and arrows he used, and even his obsidian knife had all been made by himself. Their inherited memories contained complete tutorials for everything.

This also meant they had no concept of an army. Every elf only knew how to fight alone. If the Zerg truly went to war with Elar's tribe, the greatest resistance would instead come from those seven or eight high-level units on his level.

The bad news was that the Overmind had not asked clearly enough back then. The so-called "Elar's people" did not refer to all the elves in this world, but to the small-to-medium-sized elven tribe Elar had been born into—roughly three thousand people.

Over three thousand people, with seven level-ten psionic units. Though they had accumulated them over thousands of years thanks to the elves' nearly limitless lifespans, that ratio was still unbelievably terrifying—the Protoss could not achieve such a rate of producing powerful individuals.

As for all the elves in the entire world combined... there were probably several hundred thousand, fewer than a million. The land was vast, while the population was sparse.

One had to know that this world had no oceans, and its area was far larger than Earth's. Roughly speaking, an area the size of Russia might not even have ten elven tribes.

That was also why, despite sending out so many birds, the Overmind had failed to find even a single elven tribe.

As for what kind of race the elves actually were, the Overmind had gained a rough understanding.

Broadly speaking, they were a school of thought disguised as a race.

The two traits of "tree-born" and "inherited memories" had practically locked in the worldview of every elf.

To elves, different elven groups were distinguished by differences in their Way of Nature—their "academic" understanding of nature—rather than simple differences in appearance.

By that classification, Elar was a "wood elf," or rather, a "naturalist elf." They believed that the true essence of nature was to sit quietly and observe grass and trees, remaining tranquil and doing nothing.

More specifically, they regarded themselves, humans, magical beasts, epic species, and all other living creatures—as well as hurricanes, floods, soil erosion, and the degeneration of vegetation—as part of nature's development. So long as it did not endanger themselves or the Tree of Life, they let it take its course.

That was also why Elar had initially held no hostility toward the swarm.

Of course, wood elves were not fools. As had been mentioned before, they also viewed themselves as a part of nature. According to the two basic principles of "territorial instinct" and "survival of the fittest," if the Zerg showed signs of threatening the mother tree's safety, they would certainly be eliminated.

And because elven reproduction naturally formed a pyramid-like hierarchy—

The high priestess of the Tree of Life from the Tree Mother Tribe—the first to set foot in this world and give rise to all subsequent elven tribes—was naturally the leader of every elf in this world.

Even though elves had little social cohesion, their instinct to protect the mother tree could still unite them.

At that moment, Elar also declared to the Overmind with absolute certainty, "Once the Tree Mother High Priestess learns of your threat, she will unite all elves in a short time and call upon every tribe to attack you—just as they did during the Demon Calamity."

The Overmind rubbed his forehead. If things truly became that bad, would he be capable of escaping alive while being hunted by thousands of level-ten elven units?

Just then, Elar continued, "It may only take ten years for all elven sanctuaries to unite..."

"Wait, how long?"

"Only ten years," Elar said with certainty.

Ten years! Ten years were enough for the swarm to breed units that covered the entire world!