Getting acquainted

After acquiring a wealth of knowledge about mental communication, Chloe closed her eyes. She was ready to test a new mode of mental communication.

By coincidence, Zhang Han had just finished transmitting the knowledge and was about to leave Chloe's mental world when a white light suddenly appeared before him. When it faded, Chloe appeared before Zhang Han in spirit form.

Then something unexpected happened. A consciousness entity was a projection of a living being's physical body into the realm of consciousness, and this was Chloe's first time constructing one. She was wearing no clothes.

Awkwardly, Zhang Han had never paid attention to this either. He was also wearing no clothes.

Chloe was already a beauty, with creamy skin and a slender figure. Appearing before Zhang Han so suddenly in this state, she left all that beauty in plain sight.

Before transmigrating, Zhang Han had been an honest fellow, a shut-in who did nothing but play video games. Every day, he went to work and came home, with movies and games as his only entertainment. He had only seen scenes like this in certain Japanese films, never once in person.

He panicked instantly. If consciousness entities could blush, his face would already have been bright red. When Zhang Han came to his senses, he quickly covered his eyes with his hands and backed away, ready to jump straight out of Chloe's mental world.

Chloe had been startled too, but when she saw that Zhang Han's reaction was even stronger than hers, she calmed down instead.

This consciousness entity was the Overmind? But why did he look so human?

Seeing Zhang Han about to flee, Chloe immediately rushed over and caught his wrist. In this state, exchanging information was much faster.

"Are you the Overmind? Why are you running away?" Chloe's message was full of friendliness and curiosity.

In fact, given Zhang Han's enormous advantage in mental power and his control over the Mental Contract, he could easily break free of Chloe's grip and jump out.

But he was the Overmind. He had his pride. The girl wasn't even embarrassed, yet he was turning tail and running. That was hardly dignified. Even in a mental world, it was humiliating behavior.

To deal with the crisis before him, Zhang Han activated the Overmind's immense brainpower to concoct an explanation.

"I'm not the Overmind. I'm merely his subordinate, Functional Consciousness Entity No. 2. My responsibility is to impart knowledge through the mental world." Zhang Han began to lie.

"A functional consciousness entity? What's that?" Chloe began looking Zhang Han up and down. A little embarrassed herself, she continued, "Why do you look human too? No, you're not human. Your ears are round, and your eyes are a little smaller."

"My appearance is modeled after an intelligent life-form from another planet. They also call themselves humans. To distinguish between you, they should be called Blue Star Humans, and you Tabi Star Humans." Zhang Han used the Overmind's powerful mental strength to control his expression, trying hard to look like an emotionless tool consciousness.

His words only stirred Chloe's curiosity further. "Other planets! There are other planets and other intelligent life-forms? How interesting. Why did you shape yourself like a Blue Star Human?"

"The Overmind simply thought I might meet you, so he used a consciousness entity with a similar build to make you feel at ease rather than frighten you. The Swarm's appearance is quite terrifying." Naturally, Zhang Han would not tell Chloe that he was a transmigrator.

"So the Overmind was looking out for me! That's wonderful. I was worried my mistake had made him angry." Chloe's anxiety eased considerably.

Chloe herself had not noticed that her personality in the mental world differed from her personality in reality. Here, she dropped all her disguises and showed more of her true feelings.

Because in exchanges on the level of consciousness, it was very difficult for any consciousness entity to pretend. The other party could sense both goodwill and malice. Within the Swarm Network, the Hive Swarm Consciousness entities were united, friendly, and full of goodwill toward one another.

It was precisely this goodwill that rubbed off on Chloe, allowing her to lower her guard and feel warmth and safety.

Watching Chloe, who was like an endlessly curious child, eager and excited, Zhang Han felt quite overwhelmed. He had already spent five straight minutes answering her questions. Five minutes in the mental world!

Moreover, throughout those five minutes, Chloe had completely forgotten that her consciousness entity had not conjured any clothes. She displayed her body before Zhang Han's eyes, leaving him too afraid to remind her. Wouldn't reminding her mean he cared? Wouldn't that expose his guilty conscience?

To keep his state of mind from being detected, he was already doing his utmost to disguise it, putting on a cold, businesslike manner.

"Ms. Chloe, I'll leave you some knowledge about interstellar space and the universe. You can take a good look at it yourself. I must leave now. The Overmind is calling me." To escape this awkward situation as quickly as possible, Zhang Han brought out his excuse.

"Oh, all right, all right. Will we meet again, Mr. Functional Consciousness Entity?" Hearing that Zhang Han was leaving, Chloe felt a little disappointed.

"Of course. I'm part of the Overmind's consciousness, after all. All right, goodbye." After saying farewell, Zhang Han instantly leaped out of Chloe's mental world.

Facing the empty mental world, Chloe felt a trace of disappointment too.

But her disappointment was soon interrupted. After reading her memories and learning what had happened, the Overmind sent her a message.

In the message, the Overmind did not dwell on blaming her for her mistake. Instead, he praised her wholehearted efforts in hunting, only expressing the hope that she would think more and be more cautious on future hunts, making the same mistakes as seldom as possible.

Although Chloe was happy not to have been harshly reprimanded, she vaguely felt that something was strange. The Overmind's consciousness had originally carried anger.

Why had he suddenly become calm again? Could it have something to do with Mr. Functional Consciousness Entity, who had just visited her mental world? She should ask his name next time. Calling him Functional Consciousness Entity seemed too impolite.

Before going to sleep, the Overmind granted Chloe another permission: the authority to control the Hatchery's hatching operations.

Thanks to yesterday's outstanding hunt, the Hatchery's hatching had been brought forward by half a day and could be completed by noon. At that point, the Hatchery could temporarily escape its shortage of troops. The Swarm's greatest advantage was overwhelming its enemies with numbers.

The feeling of still being trusted after making a mistake left Chloe somewhat moved.

She walked up to the Hatchery and watched the growing cocoon before her. It pulsed violently like an athlete's heart, suddenly reaching a peak before bursting apart.

The Hatchery had finished hatching, enormous and as frightening in appearance as the Swarm, with muscles, blood vessels, and bones exposed everywhere.

Already accustomed to the Swarm's aesthetic, Chloe was not afraid of the Hatchery. She stepped naturally onto the wet creep, approached the Hatchery, and pressed her hand against it.

It felt rather hot beneath her hand, probably because it had just hatched. She tried hard to connect her mind to the Hatchery. She still knew far too little about the Swarm, and now she needed to learn the relevant knowledge as quickly as possible.