The Colossus's Brain Was Far Too Useful

Lu Shang finally felt the weight hanging over his heart lift after gaining the recognition of the swarm creatures on Nestworld.

"The next step will make intelligence an absolutely crucial factor. I need the hive to breed creatures capable of crossing the vast distances between stars on their own. The smaller, the better."

The swarm creatures collectively responded to Lu Shang through the network.

[Only Behemoth colossi within the swarm can cross the vast distances between stars. Only level-ten psionic power can distort spacetime and construct a warp bubble.]

The Babel Swarm had only one way of invading other planets: Behemoth colossi carried large numbers of swarm creatures and used their immense psionic power to distort spacetime, creating warp bubbles to cross distances measured in light-years.

This time, Lu Shang had commanded the swarm to envelop the entire Nestworld in a warp bubble and travel faster than light. It could be said that he had made history for the Babel Swarm.

"Isn't modifying biological genes what you're good at?" Lu Shang asked strangely.

[The task of genetic editing is handled by the hive mind. This is your job.]

Within the Babel Swarm, tasks such as combat, gathering, and incubation were handled by the lower ranks, while complicated and tedious intellectual work—strategy and research, for example—was handled by the hive mind and the Overmind.

Lu Shang rolled his eyes. He was a poor student who had never even touched a microscope and had failed biology exams. They wanted him to work on genetic modification?

After giving it some thought, Lu Shang asked again, "We won't make any complicated modifications. What if we just shrink a Behemoth colossus proportionally? Can't the hive manage an adjustment at that level?"

The swarm swiftly answered Lu Shang's question again.

[It can be done, but it would no longer possess level-ten psionic power capable of crossing distances measured in light-years.]

"..." Lu Shang fell silent.

Damn it! They couldn't even make such a tiny adjustment? This was way too hard!

Since there was no other choice, what else was there to say? Lu Shang could only choose to incubate Behemoth colossi.

"Then produce Behemoth colossi. We need at least three. In time units I can understand, how long will it take to breed them?"

[Two months.]

Two months was the normal incubation period for a Behemoth colossus. However, Nestworld had enough chambers to incubate multiple Behemoth colossi at once.

Once he had given his instructions, Lu Shang dismissed the swarm creatures gathered in the cavern. He sank his mind into the swarm network and connected to the sensory organs of other swarm creatures.

Compared with the last time Lu Shang had seen it, the entire Nestworld now had more than twelve thousand enormous underground caverns evenly distributed across the planet.

Although those caverns had no lighting whatsoever, the swarm creatures possessed exceptional night vision and could see over tremendous distances. Every corner of the dim, massive caverns entered Lu Shang's view.

At the center of the cavern was a fleshy brain that constantly wriggled. Its footprint was nearly as large as the Bird's Nest Stadium Lu Shang remembered. Half-submerged in shallow organic fluid, the brain was surrounded by countless long, slender, dark tube-like creatures writhing in the liquid, ceaselessly delivering nutrients to it.

Even though he was observing through the sensory organs of other swarm creatures, the sight of the fleshy brain's writhing folds and grooves, along with the tubular organisms squirming in mucus, still made Lu Shang feel physically uncomfortable.

Even so, Lu Shang restrained himself and asked tentatively, "Can you communicate? Um... Behemoth colossus?"

This was the brain of a Behemoth colossus, as well as the source of its psionic power.

If a Behemoth colossus lost its brain, then even if its body remained alive, it could no longer create warp bubbles. But if the brain of a Behemoth colossus was removed and kept alive, then that mass of Behemoth brain could still use psionic power to bend spacetime.

That was why Lu Shang had thought of this: why not create many such brains on Nestworld, brains capable of using level-ten psionic power to create warp bubbles?

That was right. One brain with level-ten psionic power could not create a warp bubble large enough to envelop a planet, but what about a group of psionic brains?

Each brain only needed to use its psionic power to affect a small patch of space near the planet. If countless affected patches of space were combined, wouldn't that form a warp bubble capable of enveloping an entire planet?

What was that called?

That was called unity is strength!

Of course, they could have simply placed a group of fully grown Behemoth colossi directly on the planet and achieved the same effect, while also gaining a spacefaring force capable of combat.

However, Lu Shang had been pressed for time. A fully grown Behemoth required two months to mature, and the Galactic Alliance's planet-destroying weapon would not wait two months before firing. So he could only have the hive use biological hormones to force-mature a batch of Behemoth brains first, using their psionic power to flee.

In response to Lu Shang's question, the brain wriggled as it directly transmitted its thoughts through the network.

[Communication is possible.]

"Does this bodiless state affect your ability to use psionic power to bend spacetime?" Lu Shang asked.

[It has no effect.]

"Besides using psionic power to create warp bubbles and affect your own movement, can you use it to do anything else? For example, move objects from a distance or stop an object from moving."

[It can be done.]

Lu Shang nodded in understanding, while silently lowering his assessment of the intelligence of the swarm's already dead Overmind and hive minds by another level.

Having obtained the information he needed, Lu Shang directly issued an order to the swarms across Nestworld. "The Galactic Alliance fleet must be searching for and pursuing us right now, but we cannot merely focus on running. We must expand our strength while fleeing. I need you to pass through some lifeless rocky planets and deploy worker drones onto them."

"Do not immediately incubate into hives where you land. Reach the designated locations without exposing yourselves, burrow underground, and incubate into hives there."

"Once the hives in each location have finished incubating, do not prioritize expanding the number of swarm creatures. Prioritize incubating Behemoth brains. Once all the Behemoth brains on a planet have been incubated, if you have not been discovered by the Galactic Alliance, all of you are to enter suspended hibernation. If you are discovered, immediately flee faster than light. Do not engage the enemy fleet. If escape is impossible, commit collective suicide. Under no circumstances are you to leave the Galactic Alliance any clues about our strategy. Is that understood?"

[Understood.]

Bogu Grand Nebula, industrial star city "Norsken." The interceptor fleet commanded by Galactic Alliance commander Barton had just concluded a fierce battle against the fleeing space swarm creatures and was now anchored here to regroup and refit.

"Nestworld got away?!" Barton's four eyes widened, and even the feelers on his face stiffened in shock.