Changing Bodies

King Pamir was unarmed. Facing the fully armed Han Bing, who radiated murderous intent, the outcome was obvious.

He roared at Zhang Fan, "Are you just going to watch him kill your friend?"

Zhang Fan sneered. "Didn't you say we weren't friends?"

"You sold me out... and now you're even letting a Nasteel threaten me..."

As he spoke, King Pamir actually began to cry... wailing like a little girl.

His tears left both Han Bing and Zhang Fan stunned. The ruler of a planet, the king of an entire race, was sitting on the cold floor, bawling.

With a thunderous boom, Wolf 800's escort force struck the engine of Han Bing's personal warship.

The Pilot Robot reported, "Left engine destroyed. Energy shield at 65%."

Zhang Fan looked at Han Bing in puzzlement. "Isn't your ship's defense a bit too weak? That was just one shot..."

Han Bing said awkwardly, "My newest warship is still undergoing maintenance. I was in a hurry today, so I took an old model."

Han Bing's Adjutant gave a rueful smile. "General, you were so eager to laugh at Huobao, and now..."

"Shut up!"

Zhang Fan shook his head helplessly. "Good thing our fleet is already here!"

No sooner had Zhang Fan spoken than hundreds of Rebeccas and three Lilvara cruisers appeared ahead of Han Bing's personal warship.

At the sight of the Lilvara fleet, King Pamir immediately stopped crying and shouted excitedly, "It's the Viper Fleet! Chiwila's Viper Fleet!"

Zhang Fan and Han Bing both rolled their eyes at him and said in unison, "We can see that."

The moment Wolf 800's escort force spotted the Lilvara fleet, they turned and fled without hesitation. Zhang Fan watched curiously. Though the difference in strength was enormous, this was still Nasteel territory. Were they giving up so easily?

Meanwhile, aboard a cruiser, Chiwila glared at Wolf 800's retreating escort force and said murderously, "One day, I'll kill you traitors with my own hands."

Thunderflame Star System, Jiede Command Center...

King Pamir sat high in the Command Seat, glaring at Hu Baili and the others. He raged, "High Priest, are you planning to rebel? You conspired with the Insect Race to trick me into going to Huo Planet, filling my head with all that talk about courage... just so I would act as bait!"

King Pamir pointed furiously at Zhang Fan. "He... he actually sold me to the Nagang People! And... yes, this Nasteel... he's been colluding with the Nagang People!"

Zhang Fan smiled unconcernedly. "Aren't you alive and well? Besides, without this Nasteel, would you have made it out alive?"

Hu Baili also pointed angrily at Zhang Fan. "Overlord, you never told me you would use my king as bait!"

"I wasn't planning to at first. But didn't King Pamir want to be brave? He agreed to come with me himself. You can't blame me."

King Pamir seethed with fury. Hu Baili immediately soothed him. "My king, I don't believe the Overlord did it deliberately. He wanted to help you pull yourself together and show you the battlefield. Then you happened to encounter Huobao's surviving troops... so..."

"You two... you're both in on this!"

Zhang Fan bowed to him, deliberately winked at Hu Baili, then left with Han Bing and Yata.

After they left, King Pamir pointed angrily at Hu Baili and demanded, "He... what did that look he just gave you mean? Do you think I'm blind?"

Hu Baili looked utterly bewildered. "Did he? Did the Overlord just exchange a look with me? No, we communicate through consciousness."

"High Priest, don't forget what my mother entrusted you with. Is this how you support me?"

Hu Baili looked sternly at King Pamir and declared, "With our race facing annihilation, have you shown even a shred of the bearing of a king? Don't you understand that a king must not put himself in danger? Who told you to go with him?"

Before King Pamir could argue, Hu Baili continued, "As the king of our people, you went with him to Huo Planet. Fine. But what did you see there? Only your imprisonment? Only the humiliation you suffered?"

"Did you see the tens of millions of Lilvara slaves? Did you see their suffering? Traitors? Could you have returned alive without those traitors? Without your so-called traitors, would we have known where to rendezvous with you? Who do you think made it so easy for you to escape Huo Planet?"

After Hu Baili shouted at him, King Pamir seemed to realize something.

"You mean the one on Huo Planet was..."

"Some things aren't as simple as you imagine. As king, you must lead everyone. Failure isn't frightening. Never recovering from it is."

"I..."

After coughing a few times, Hu Baili said meaningfully to King Pamir, "The Insect Race is terrifying, but it is also our sharpest sword against the Nagang People. As king, don't doubt the sword in your hand. Don't fear it. You must learn to control it."

Within the Insect Race's territory on Myriad Demon Star.

Zhang Fan brought Han Bing to the cultivation pool and asked, "Have you thought it through? I'll create a body for you, but this body will feel pain. It will grow old and die."

Han Bing said resolutely, "I want to truly live!"

Zhang Fan nodded. Without another word, he began carefully adjusting the gene chain, and an embryo soon took shape.

Three sunrises later...

Han Bing watched as an Insect Race body gradually took shape in the Incubation Pool: Tiger-Headed, Human-Bodied, clad in Ice-Scaled Insect Armor, with eight legs, four arms, two pincers, and a scorpion's tail.

Only after finishing the final gene configuration did Zhang Fan tell him, "All right. Now I'll use a Scarab to convert your data into consciousness, then inject that consciousness into this body. But the process is irreversible."

Han Bing nodded. "As long as you give me a living body, I'll do whatever you say, Overlord."

Han Bing's mechanical body collapsed with a crash. An intangible stream of data passed through the Scarab's body and transformed into an invisible consciousness stream, which slowly flowed into the Incubation Pool.

Zhang Fan kept watch beside the Incubation Pool for three days. Then a tiger's roar shook the air. As he watched the reborn Han Bing break out of his egg, a satisfied smile spread across Zhang Fan's face.

"How do you feel?"

"Hahaha! This feels incredible!" Han Bing gently pinched his own arm with a huge pincer, and the sharp pain made him suck in a breath.

"So this is pain? This is breathing? It feels incredible! I'm alive! I'm alive!"

Yata came to Zhang Fan's side and watched Han Bing frantically examine his body. She asked curiously, "Overlord, why would a metal lifeform with a relatively eternal lifespan have such a strange desire?"

Zhang Fan smiled faintly. "You can't understand the suffering of being unable to feel anything. He just wanted to prove he was alive."

"Isn't eternal life a good thing? Our Insect Race bodies age and die, while he only needs to replace his body. Doesn't that make him more advanced than us?"

"Do you want an eternal body?" Zhang Fan asked in return.

Yata fell silent. She didn't know how to answer that question...

Zhang Fan smiled faintly. "Eternal life is certainly good, but what's the point of living without meaning?"

"The meaning of my life is the Overlord," Yata answered with absolute conviction.

Zhang Fan slowly walked out of the incubation chamber and murmured to himself, "That's only temporary!"