"What would a good-looking member of the Insect Race look like?" That question had Zhang Fan stumped. After living among the Insect Race for centuries, he had almost forgotten what beauty meant.
While Zhang Fan was trying to recall his impression of beauty, Livina reported, "Overlord, this planet has a small amount of primitive carbon-based life. Comparing its air quality against the information you left us, it meets the basic requirements for human survival."
Zhang Fan was so astonished that he took a long time to recover. He had searched far and wide in vain, only to stumble upon what he wanted without any effort. He had merely wanted to replenish his troops, yet he had unexpectedly found a planet suitable for human habitation.
"Livina, deploy defensive forces on the surrounding planets immediately. Put Titan's Parasitic Fungus on the suitable nearby planets, too. I'm claiming this star system."
The Insect Race army began parasitizing all seven surrounding planets, forming a protective ring around the planet Zhang Fan named "Second Earth."
Meanwhile, Zhang Fan landed on the surface with Noya and a small contingent of Insect Race troops. Looking at an ancient temple before him, he asked in puzzlement, "There are no intelligent life-forms on this planet?"
After a brief silence, Livina replied, "According to the information Thunder Emperor sent back, none of the life-forms on this planet are intelligent. The only species that might evolve intelligence is still at the tool-use stage."
"This temple is awfully magnificent. It looks at least a thousand years old. The intelligent life here must have either gone extinct or abandoned this place."
Zhang Fan slowly entered the magnificent hall, which stood a hundred meters tall and a hundred meters wide, with twelve thirty-meter-tall stone statues on either side.
He walked for a full twenty minutes without even reaching the hall's midpoint. Zhang Fan guessed that its former owners must have belonged to the Giant Race and stood at least ten meters tall.
Another half hour later, Zhang Fan finally reached the throne inside the hall. Despite the passage of a thousand years, it still retained its silvery metallic luster.
After two Venom Bees flew overhead to survey the hall, Zhang Fan saw through them that an Overlord Beast, which he had considered enormous, looked like a little puppy inside it.
"Livina, send some troops to search the place. See whether this giant civilization left behind anything useful."
Zhang Fan glanced again at the throne, which gleamed as though new and was carved with unknown monsters. "Send two Matriarchs to study that metal. I also need basic Incubation Chambers and cultivation chambers. Have the Parasitic Ticks clean this hall, and post soldiers outside to guard it. Any creature that enters this hall without my permission... dies!"
Once everything was arranged, Zhang Fan officially began modifying Noya's body and incubating human embryos.
As always, Zhang Fan first split off an embryo and then began incubating it. He did not accelerate the incubation process. He did not want any factor to cause changes in the human genes.
The first human's incubation was therefore expected to take ten months. Zhang Fan went to the modification pod containing Noya's new body and asked, "How is it progressing?"
Matriarch Lador looked at the data and said, "Noya's integration with the new body has reached sixty-eight percent. Her condition is currently stable."
Zhang Fan looked at the monster, with its large eyes, enormous pincer-like jaws, sharp claws, spear-shaped tail, antlike head, bearlike body, and spiked carapace covering it from head to toe. The longer he looked, the uglier it seemed.
"Where did you learn your sense of aesthetics?"
Lador exchanged a glance with the other Matriarch, then asked, "Overlord, is something wrong?"
"Never mind. I'll do it myself. Lador, keep an eye on the human embryos for me. Tell me immediately if there's a problem."
Zhang Fan took matters into his own hands, still driven by Noya's question: "What would a good-looking member of the Insect Race look like?"
Zhang Fan selected a female embryo from among the human embryos. However, a human body could not withstand such tremendous power, so he still used the Carbon-Silicon Insect Race's most primitive genes as the template, taking only the human features.
After three months of modifications, Zhang Fan nodded in satisfaction when Noya emerged from the incubation chamber.
Her face was valiant without losing its feminine character, and her human upper body had shapely curves. The Insect Race's spiked shell covered her like armor, while a pair of retractable wings on her back gave Noya the ability to fly at low altitudes.
Her hands were like swords and her five fingers like daggers, looking incomparably sharp beneath a pale blue layer of energy. Her insect feet had eaglelike talons, with barbed feet and hooked claws. She was armed from head to toe.
Zhang Fan had also specially hatched a suit of biological armor to cover her body. Its six tentacles could extend and retract at will and spray highly corrosive fluid.
Noya looked at her new body in bewilderment. Sounding slightly dissatisfied, she asked, "Overlord, why do I feel like you've gotten bigger?"
Zhang Fan laughed. "You're the one who got smaller. I reduced your height to two meters to make you more agile. I also specially hatched an Enhanced Qi Spider for you. Not only can this Enhanced Qi Spider generate qi energy on its own, it can also absorb other Qi Spiders for your use."
Zhang Fan continued, "Both your hands can release small Origin-Energy Bombs. As for their power, we'll find an Overlord Beast for you to test them on in a bit."
Noya flapped her wings and slowly rose into the air. Hovering before Zhang Fan, she swung her swordlike arms. Two arcs of sword energy actually sliced off the spikes on Zhang Fan's carapace.
Furious, Livina hurled a Magic-Energy Ball at Noya. Noya reacted quickly, slashing backhand and actually cutting the Magic-Energy Ball in two. The two Matriarchs behind Noya failed to dodge in time and were struck by the two halves. They collapsed to the ground and could not get up for a long while.
"How dare you hurt the Overlord!"
"I didn't do it on purpose."
Livina wanted to attack again, but Zhang Fan immediately stopped her. "This little one doesn't understand her own body yet. Give her some time to get used to it."
Zhang Fan examined the spikes Noya's sword energy had severed. His current body had fallen behind, too. The Insect Race had grown stronger, but his own body needed to evolve as well.
Livina suddenly reported, "Overlord, a fleet is approaching Second Earth. It has already reached the outer edge of Second Earth's defensive perimeter."
"If they dare cross the defensive perimeter, attack immediately. Don't wait for my orders."
Noya said excitedly to Zhang Fan, "If there's a battle this time, let me fight!"
Zhang Fan smiled. "Sorry, I didn't equip you to fight in outer space!"
Zhang Fan could practically see three black lines hanging over Noya's head as she stared at him, her little mouth pouting.
"Where did you learn that expression?"
Seeing the astonishment on Zhang Fan's face, Noya asked in confusion, "What expression?"
Zhang Fan smiled faintly. "Human genes really are powerful in this respect. Built-in reaction memes? Hahaha!"
Livina suddenly said to Zhang Fan, "That fleet has engaged our Insect Race troops on the perimeter. However, they withdrew on their own as soon as our fleet exchanged fire with them. They're still lingering outside, though, and show no intention of leaving."
"Send a Matriarch to make contact. As long as they don't enter our star territory, everything is negotiable. I don't want to go to war before humanity is stable."
Before you continue