Zhang Fan was startled when he heard the title "Overlord." He had never mentioned it, so how did anyone here know?
He looked up. On the dragon-shaped throne sat a silver-haired girl in a blood-red qipao, with a living five-clawed golden dragon coiled around his waist. He was glaring at Zhang Fan.
"Earthlings?" Zhang Fan exclaimed.
"Earthlings? What does that mean?" The silver-haired girl's anger turned to surprise, and she stared blankly at the excited Zhang Fan.
"Aren't you? Have you ever seen anyone who looks like you? Or do you know where Earth is?"
"Someone who looks like me? Yes..."
Zhang Fan was thrilled. It seemed this place really was close to Earth, but he never expected the next sentence to hit him like a bucket of cold water.
"The previous King Pamir, my mother!"
King Pamir continued, "Overlord, your intentions are sinister. You are not welcome here. Please take your army and leave the Myriad Demon Star."
"How are my intentions sinister? Has there been some misunderstanding, Your Highness, King Pamir?"
"A misunderstanding? In your mind, you see us as food..."
At King Pamir's words, the hall erupted. Calls to drive Zhang Fan out and cries to kill him rose one after another.
Zhang Fan waited until they had shouted themselves out before saying slowly, "So King Pamir can read minds too! But prying into my mind without my permission is very rude."
Zhang Fan bared his savage side. His blood-red eyes glared at King Pamir as a powerful torrent of consciousness struck directly at his mind.
King Pamir's eyes went blank. Clearly, Zhang Fan had taken control of him.
The monsters in the hall drew their blades and swords and rushed at Zhang Fan...
"Stop, all of you!"
An aged yet powerful roar came from outside the hall. Everyone turned toward it and saw a stooped, hunchbacked old man with a fox's face and a leopard's tail, holding a dragon-headed cane.
That single roar had actually broken Zhang Fan's mental control. Nothing like this had ever happened before.
"Who are you?" Zhang Fan asked in bewilderment.
"Hu Baili, High Priest of the Myriad Demons."
"You're the first person who's ever interrupted my consciousness. Let's be friends!"
"Overlord, we should have been friends from the start. Our only enemy is the Nagang People."
"The Nagang People? Those mechanical beings who attacked me in outer space?"
"Yes. The Nagang People turn all life into steel, then use it to build their bodies. Their technology is advanced, too. The three who attacked you earlier were merely scouts, Overlord."
Hearing that, Zhang Fan recalled how those three scouts had forced Rebecca to unleash the Ice Blue Dragon cannon fire meant for warships. If he encountered an actual warship, he would probably have to retreat to Asha.
"Let's talk. You had someone bring me here because you want to make use of my army."
"You certainly get straight to the point, Overlord... Yes, we can provide everything you need... including food!"
Hu Baili communicated those last two words to Zhang Fan telepathically. It seemed he had made quite a firm commitment.
"I want him..."
Everyone's gaze followed Zhang Fan's pointing finger to a man with a bull's head, a spider's body, enormous pincers, and a scorpion's tail, clad in futuristic technological armor.
Without the slightest hesitation, Hu Baili said calmly, with a hint of regret, "General Ox Spider, go with the Overlord."
General Ox Spider froze for a moment, then approached Zhang Fan, prepared to die. After bowing respectfully to him, he said nothing more.
Regret and helplessness filled everyone's faces. On the throne, King Pamir raged, "High Priest, he wants to eat General Ox Spider! Don't you realize that?"
"Shut up!"
Hu Baili's shout left Zhang Fan a little confused. Who exactly was the ruler of this planet?
Hu Baili walked slowly to the center of the hall, knelt, and bowed. "Your Majesty, for a thousand years, we Liruwara People have been oppressed by the Nagang People. We once ruled three star systems, yet now we can only cower here..."
King Pamir's tone softened as well. "Must we imitate the Nasteel and stop at nothing to win? Sacrifice our own people in exchange for a demon's help?"
Zhang Fan suddenly burst out laughing. "A demon? Hahaha! Why does everyone like calling me a demon? Then let me show you a demon's power."
Zhang Fan tossed two Primitive Worms onto General Ox Spider. The general instinctively tried to crush them, but stopped the moment he touched them. He simply stood quietly, allowing the two worms to crawl over his shoulders.
The two worms greedily sucked blood from General Ox Spider's neck until their entire bodies turned a deep, blood-red color.
Seeing everyone's worried faces, Zhang Fan smiled. "All right, General Ox Spider can go back now."
"That's it?" General Ox Spider still did not understand. He touched the bean-sized wounds on his neck. They neither hurt nor itched.
"That little bit of blood won't do you any harm, will it, General Ox Spider?"
General Ox Spider had thought Zhang Fan was going to eat him. He had never expected him to merely let two little worms drink some blood. He hastily waved his enormous pincers. "No harm at all! None!"
Zhang Fan turned toward the astonished King Pamir and Hu Baili and smiled. "This is the food I need. Give me food, and I'll give you an army."
He emphasized his next words. "A powerful army!"
"That's all you need?" King Pamir exclaimed.
Seeing the look of disbelief on her face, Zhang Fan continued, "There's one more thing: energy. Creating an army requires enormous amounts of energy. My Insect Race needs to eat."
"So you still want to eat people."
"Why do you keep thinking I want to eat people?"
"Because that's what's in your mind. Consciousness doesn't lie."
Those words suddenly reminded Zhang Fan of that crafty old fox, the Whirlwind Great Emperor. Does consciousness really never lie?
"Consciousness can change according to the circumstances. I control my consciousness, not the other way around."
Zhang Fan had no desire to discuss this topic any further with King Pamir, who seemed to him like a childish little girl.
"High Priest, give me a stretch of land, and I'll build you an army. Once it's done, all I ask is your promise that if I ever need your help, you'll give it without hesitation."
Hu Baili nodded. "Rest assured, Overlord. The Liruwara People value their word above all else."
Rebecca's landing on the Myriad Demon Star caused quite a stir. In the eyes of the Liruwara People, Rebecca was not a warship, but a divine beast.
As soon as Zhang Fan's Insect Race landed, they began covering the area Hu Baili had assigned them with creep, establishing their own grounds for evolution.
Under their agreement, the Liruwara People provided Zhang Fan with blood samples from every species, along with the energy supplies his Insect Race needed.
Once again, Zhang Fan witnessed the diversity of energy. The Lilvara used a highly efficient, pure form of energy called "qi."
Through his research, Zhang Fan discovered that qi provided more energy than either magic energy or magic crystals, and could also improve cellular activity. It was practically tailor-made for his Insect Race.
The only problem was that qi could not be harvested from nature. Only the Liruwara People could supply it, which made the process much less efficient.
However, Zhang Fan's Primitive Worms could readily adapt to the genes of the Liruwara People who could gather and use qi.
A new Insect Race creature specialized in gathering and producing qi energy was born: the Qi Spider. They could attach themselves to the outside of Insect Race warriors' bodies and supply them with energy, like replaceable batteries.
Zhang Fan conducted extensive experiments. The more Qi Spiders attached to an Insect Race creature, the more power it gained. Everything had its limits, however, and too many Qi Spiders would cause the creature's body to burst, killing it.
With this new energy source, an entirely new Insect Race army was fully equipped in just ten short years.
At the sight of the endless Insect Race stretching before them, King Pamir and Hu Baili were so shocked that neither could utter a word for a long while!
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