The Swarm Endures Forever

The Zergling's suggestion stunned Chloe. Its willingness to sacrifice itself shocked her.

There was no denying that it was a good method, but she still struggled to give the order.

This crisis had arisen because she had acted on her own initiative, and they had already lost one Zergling. Losing two more would be no small blow to the Swarm.

Would losses like these make the Overmind dissatisfied with her?

The thought of losing the Overmind's trust because of her own mistakes frightened Chloe terribly, so even when the Zergling urged her, she still did not dare give the order.

The Giant Worm would not wait for Chloe. It caught up to the Knight who had fallen behind, and the scene of it swallowing the Zergling played out again.

First, the ground went still. Then it began to shake around the Knight, and the earth rose. The Giant Worm's enormous body burst out of the ground, and its gaping maw swallowed the Knight along with the soil.

After feeding again, the worm lingered for a while. It seemed to be considering which target to pursue first.

In Chloe's mind, more bugs sent her messages. Without exception, they were suggestions to sacrifice themselves to lure the worm away. Even the Hydralisk whose shoulder she sat on offered.

Even though it was currently the strongest Zerg, it was just as willing to sacrifice itself for the Swarm as a whole.

Chloe could not understand these mental messages. Wasn't protecting oneself every living creature's first priority? Though she knew the Swarm could not speak, she still sent a message to ask the entire Swarm.

"Aren't you afraid of dying?"

The Swarm's jumbled messages, when translated, amounted to a single sentence.

"Though we die, the Swarm endures forever."

Those words shook Chloe to her core. She lived in a world of schemes and intrigue and had never encountered such pure feelings.

She hesitated no longer and accepted the Swarm's suggestion, first sending two Zerglings to lure the Giant Worm away.

Then she assigned numbers to the members of the Swarm. If the Zerglings failed to buy enough time, the other bugs would take turns luring the Giant Worm away.

The two scout Zerglings swiftly approached the Giant Worm and let out challenging screeches. The Giant Worm was enraged. High-Level Magical Beasts possessed a degree of intelligence and stood at the very top of the food chain. How could they tolerate a challenge from mere Zerglings?

It too let out a terrifying screech, burrowed underground, and charged toward the Zerglings with fury and hostility.

Seeing that they had succeeded in drawing its attention, the two Zerglings split up and fled in different directions.

This enraged the Giant Worm even further, but it had complete confidence in its speed. Even if it caught one first, it would still have time to chase the other.

It would never let these two little things escape alive. After only a brief hesitation, it chased after one of the Zerglings.

Although the Zergling ran very fast at full speed, it was still slower than the Giant Worm. Before long, the worm opened its enormous maw, intending to swallow this Zergling first.

What it had not expected was for the Zergling to use the heaving ground, rocks, and even the worm's teeth as springboards. It managed to leap out before the enormous maw snapped shut.

The Swarm was a collective. Its members could learn from one another's experiences.

Though the Giant Worm had no eyes, it certainly had other sensory organs. It must have sensed the Zergling leap out of its enormous maw, bound along its body to the ground, then dash into the forest.

This act further humiliated its pride as a High-Level Magical Beast. Visible Psionics gathered over its body. Now, it was no longer satisfied with eating this weak little creature. It only wanted to kill it to vent its hatred.

The blue Psionics turned into bolts of lightning that shot toward the fleeing Zergling. With its agile body, the Zergling dodged and rolled amid countless bolts. Unfortunately, there were too many, covering too wide an area, and the Zergling was still burned to a cinder.

Its hatred still unsated, the Giant Worm turned toward the Zergling in the other direction. By now, that Zergling had fled far away, but the furious Giant Worm still had no intention of letting it go. It swiftly burrowed underground and chased after the Zergling.

Thanks to the excellent cover provided by the two Zerglings, the main force Chloe led safely left the Giant Worm's territory. Every human and bug was safe.

The Knights celebrated surviving the ordeal. After jumping off the bugs' backs, some lay on the ground and roared with laughter.

Only Chloe remained troubled and deeply saddened. In the mental world, she could see the Zerglings fleeing, struggling, and dying, and she was filled with guilt.

She had set out to hunt brimming with confidence, only to flee back with heavy losses. That made her even more afraid of being reprimanded by the Overmind.

Her anxiety affected the Swarm around her. The three-meter-tall Hydralisk bent down to look at her and gently stroked Chloe's cheek with the smooth back of its scythe to comfort her.

The Swarm looked so vicious, its appearance alone enough to frighten children and even adults to tears, yet its members treated her like family.

No, they aren't like family. They are my family, Chloe thought silently.

Chloe's melancholy did not last long. A distinctive mental signal reached her.

The Overmind had awakened.

As soon as Zhang Han woke, he sensed the Swarm's current condition. He had only taken a nap, and three Zerglings were gone. He only had a little over ten Zerglings in total now. One more incident like this, and he would have fewer than ten left! How could this Princess be so wasteful!

"Overmind, I'm sorry. My dearest friend, I made a serious mistake and caused the Swarm to suffer losses." Chloe soon sent a message through the Mental Contract.

Zhang Han had originally wanted to give her a thorough scolding first, but he could sense her remorse and the Swarm Network's acceptance of her, so he decided to see exactly what had happened before saying anything else.

"Tell me what happened first," Zhang Han replied.

Then Chloe began explaining what had happened, one message at a time. When she reached the third message, Zhang Han interrupted her.

He had to hand it to them. This was a civilization with mental communication technology, yet its information transmission was still so primitive. No wonder its Civilization Level would not rise.

"Compile your memories of what happened into a data packet and send it over."

"Huh? What's a data packet?"

"Just copy the memories in your mind, then... never mind. Brace yourself. I'm coming in." Giving up on explaining, Zhang Han prepared to jump straight into Chloe's mental world, help her organize her memories, and teach her how to use mental communication technology efficiently.

In an instant, Chloe felt something enter her mind. It was very powerful and very familiar.

As it worked, a great deal of knowledge appeared in her mind, and her thinking grew quicker. The knowledge she had learned before also became more organized, more deeply ingrained, and easier to recall and put to use.

Was this the Overmind's power?