Chapter Summaries

After losing a StarCraft II match and arguing with his opponent, Zhang Han collapsed from a ruptured blood vessel and died. His consciousness awakened as the Overmind commanding the Swarm in a real battlefield, where his fury drove the Zerg to break through a fortified alien stronghold.

• Zhang Han lost his Zerg-versus-Terran match after Terran Ravens disabled his Vipers and the Terrans destroyed his bases.
• Zhang Han traded insults with the victorious player, then collapsed while trying to smash his keyboard.
• Before losing consciousness, Zhang Han wished he could command the Swarm directly and conquer the galaxy.
• A female voice called Zhang Han the Overmind, and he found himself experiencing a battle through the bodies of Zerg creatures.
• Zhang Han's rage spurred the Swarm to attack the enemy stronghold, and Zerglings tore an alien pilot from its mech and killed it.

Zhang Han ordered the Hive Mind to mutate Ultralisks into Gray Mist Insects and Blood Mist Insects to support the swarm against the little blue people's steel defenses. The gray mist weakened enemy ranged attacks and helped the swarm break through, but a powerful electrical sweep then burned many Zerg units to charcoal.

• Zhang Han asked the Hive Mind to create powerful Zerg spellcasters, but learned that its limited gene bank could currently produce only gray mist and blood mist.
• Zhang Han confirmed the mutations and selected several Ultralisks as hosts, ordering the Hive Mind to accelerate their transformation despite the shortened lifespan of the new units.
• The mutated Ultralisks emerged with venom sacs and spraying mouthparts, then fired gray mist at the little blue people's steel fortifications.
• Gray Mist Insects blocked cannon fire and bullets and diminished laser weapons, allowing the swarm to cross the battlefield and attack the steel defenses.
• A wave of blue electricity swept across the defensive line and burned large numbers of Zerglings, Ultralisks, and Roaches to charcoal.

Zhang Han used mutated Blood Mist Insects to break the Little Blue Men's planetary defenses, then turned the tide of the space battle with mutated Brood Lords. After the enemy fleet retreated and the hive consciousness hailed his victory, Zhang Han began questioning how he had become the Overmind, but bad news arrived.

• Zhang Han ordered the mutated Ultralisks to spray Blood Mist Insects across the Little Blue Men's defensive line, corroding its steel and opening breaches for the swarm.
• Zerglings and Banelings stormed the weakened fortifications and captured the defensive strongpoints.
• Zhang Han sent mutated Brood Lords to fire green projectiles at the Little Blue Men's fleet, allowing Gray Mist and Blood Mist Insects to corrode the warships.
• Mutalisks, Corruptors, and Devourers shielded the Brood Lords from enemy fire as they destroyed more than half the fleet, though a third of the Little Blue Men's ships escaped into hyperspace.
• After the hive consciousness congratulated him, Zhang Han wondered why he had become the Overmind and then received bad news.

Zhang Han learned that the Swarm had been shattered by the Stellaris Council and that an Antil Military Empire fleet would soon attack. The Hive Mind advised retreating to a backup planet, and Zhang Han agreed.

• The Hive Mind told Zhang Han that enemy fleets were approaching and explained that the Swarm had come to Galaxy 427 to consume biomass and evolve.
• The Hive Mind recounted how the Stellaris Council used a Shroud-based weapon to shatter Zhang Han’s consciousness, leaving the Swarm fragmented and its independent factions fighting one another.
• Zhang Han ordered the Hive Mind to hatch as many units as possible before the enemy arrived, and it estimated the forces ready within three hours.
• The Hive Mind identified the incoming fleet as belonging to the powerful Antil Military Empire and concluded that the Swarm could not hold the planet unless its numbers tripled.
• Zhang Han accepted the recommendation to retreat, and the Hive Mind showed him a backup planet and its star chart.

The Hive Mind devised a plan to draw the Antill Empire's fleet into dividing its forces, then send Zhang Han's consciousness away while the Swarm counterattacked. The Antill fleet attacked the planet and fought the Swarm, and newly hatched Swarm fleets began fleeing the gravity well.

• The Hive Mind explained its plan to Zhang Han and asked him to enter dormancy so the Antill Empire could not detect his consciousness.
• Three hours later, four hundred Antill Empire warships arrived, and their commander ordered an attack and demanded a trophy for his throne.
• The Antill fleet overwhelmed the Swarm in orbit and landed ground forces, while the Swarm attacked its shielded bases and suffered mounting casualties.
• After an hour, the Antill commander noted the Swarm's organized tactics and new mutant Zerg, but remained confident the Empire would win.
• Several newly hatched Swarm fleets left the atmosphere and headed away from the gravity well to prepare for hyperspace jumps.

The Antill fleet commander pursued a fleeing swarm fleet, convinced it was protecting an important command unit, while the swarm repeatedly exploited his defensive choices and drew off his ships. With his forces depleted and the battle turning against him, he ordered the flagship’s secret main gun fired at the heart of the swarm fleet.

• The Antill fleet commander sent one hundred warships after the retreating swarm, believing it was guarding an enormous central command bug.
• After the pursuing ships jumped into hyperspace, the remaining swarm intensified its attacks, and the commander tightened his defenses to reduce losses.
• A much larger, faster swarm fleet took off from the far side of the planet, prompting the commander to send fifty elite warships after it.
• The Antill fleet suffered heavy casualties covering the pursuit, leaving the commander with only two hundred of his original four hundred warships.
• Thirty minutes later, another elite swarm fleet emerged, and the commander realized he could send no more ships without risking annihilation.
• The commander ordered his flagship’s main gun charged, and a blue beam shot toward the heart of the swarm fleet.

After the swarm fleet barely reached Tabi Star, Zhang Han awakened in an Overlord cocoon and began rebuilding his forces. His small swarm killed a lightning-wielding rhinoceros, but Zhang Han realized the planet’s wildlife could pose a serious threat.

• The swarm fleet escaped the Antilians and reached Tabi Star with only three damaged Overlords remaining.
• During the crash landing, one Overlord broke apart and scattered its eggs, while the other two landed far from the planned site with most troops lost.
• Zhang Han awakened in a forest as the surviving swarm gathered biomass, allowing the Overlord carrying his consciousness to recover and form a cocoon.
• Zhang Han used the sole Hydralisk to coordinate the swarm’s attack on an armored rhinoceros that charged and struck with lightning.
• The Hydralisk pierced the rhinoceros’s eye with a steel needle, and the Zerglings and Roaches killed it; Zhang Han resolved to be cautious on Tabi Star.

Zhang Han’s swarm secured enough biomass to begin hatching a Hive, but he discovered that the Hive Mind had sacrificed itself to save him. Meanwhile, Princess Keluosi Nuomannuofu led her knights deeper into the Death Forest, convinced that a prophecy marked her as the future empress.

• Zhang Han’s swarm hunted powerful beasts, suffered wounds but lost no bugs, and gathered enough energy to begin hatching a Hive that would take two days to complete.
• Zhang Han tried to ask the Hive Mind to keep watch, then discovered in the Overlord’s memories that it had sacrificed itself to protect him.
• Zhang Han ordered the regenerative Roaches to guard the swarm and fell asleep, relying on the Hive Mind’s stored gene bank and intelligence.
• At a camp in the Death Forest, a middle-aged knight urged Princess Keluosi Nuomannuofu to stop advancing because the beasts were growing stronger and the knights’ injuries were worsening.
• Keluosi Nuomannuofu recited a prophecy that named the emperor’s youngest daughter as the future empress, declared herself its chosen one, and dismissed the knight’s doubts about astrologers.

Chloe led her knights toward their destiny despite Ymir’s warning, while Zhang Han’s swarm successfully hunted a herd of nearly a hundred beasts by a lake. The chapter left Chloe’s party facing the swarm’s territory and seeking guidance before deciding how to proceed.

• Ymir warned Chloe that the prophecy had cost her the Emperor’s favor and left her vulnerable, but she insisted she would become empress and ordered the march to continue.
• Zhang Han cautiously directed his recovering swarm farther into the forest to find more biomass.
• The swarm discovered a herd drinking at a lake and used a coordinated ambush to kill nearly a hundred herbivorous beasts.
• Zhang Han split the swarm between guarding the lake and transporting the carcasses, then prepared to rest from the effort.
• A scout reported that magical beasts had seen the swarm slaughter the herd, and Ymir warned Chloe that fighting or detouring would be dangerous.
• Chloe ordered the astrologer summoned to guide her party’s next move.

Master Stars prophesied that Klose would become queen and told her to follow the strange magical beasts. Klose’s scouts found the Zerglings’ nest and the cocoon where Zhang Han was incubating, leaving Klose convinced she had found the key to her destiny.

• Klose asked Master Stars how to proceed past the magical beasts, and Stars performed a divination.
• Stars prophesied that Klose would become queen and said the magical beasts were key to her fate.
• Klose ordered Ymir to gather the party and follow the beasts, then decided they would all go together.
• While Zhang Han remained asleep during his vulnerable incubation, scouting knights followed the Zerglings to their nest.
• The scouts reported seeing the Zerglings feed prey into a purple hole connected to a pulsing cocoon.
• Klose laughed, convinced she had found her destiny, while Ymir considered whether they could contract with the unhatched beast.

Chloe ordered a surprise assault on the Monster Lair to seize the unhatched high-level magical beast and form a Mental Contract with it. As Zhang Han dreamed of the Zerg’s history, Ymir led a small elite squad into position and ordered the attack.

• Chloe chose to attack the Monster Lair before the high-level magical beast hatched, and Ymir proposed a surprise route to avoid the stronger beasts.
• Chloe entrusted Ymir with command and handed him her sword, while Ymir resolved to pursue success and fame.
• Zhang Han dreamed of the Zerg battling technological civilizations, plant and stone life-forms, and powerful pure-energy beings.
• Ymir’s twenty-person squad waited outside the lair until two small magical beasts left, leaving one armored and four small beasts inside.
• Ymir ordered the squad to attack and quickly eliminate the magical beasts guarding the lair.

Zhang Han woke to find knights attacking his Swarm and the Hatchery, but Chloe stopped the fighting by establishing mental contact with him. The humans held back as Chloe introduced herself and sought to form a bond with the powerful magical beast.

• Zhang Han ordered the Roach and Zerglings to defend the Hatchery while knights attacked from the front and blocked the Swarm’s returning reinforcements.
• The Swarm broke through the human blockade, but two mages blasted the Roach aside and knights charged toward Zhang Han’s cocoon.
• The Zerglings fought recklessly, and one injured Zergling knocked Ymir down before freezing when Chloe pressed her hand against the cocoon.
• Chloe communicated with Zhang Han mentally, and he asked who she was.
• Chloe introduced herself as Keluosi Nuomannuofu and called herself his companion and friend.

Zhang Han discovered that Chloe was using mental communication to deceive him into accepting a Mental Contract, but he decided to play along and investigate whether she was connected to the Swarm. As Chloe sent a silver thread of mental power into his consciousness, Zhang Han grasped it to test the connection.

• Zhang Han questioned Chloe about her origins and why she had attacked his subordinates, while she claimed she had come to protect him.
• Chloe tried to persuade Zhang Han to accompany her to her human kingdom, hoping to make him serve her.
• Zhang Han realized Chloe wanted to tame him and asked for help hatching instead, prompting her to propose a Mental Contract.
• Chloe enhanced her mental power with Illusion Powder and her mental ornament, but Zhang Han resisted her attempt to control him.
• Zhang Han asked whether Chloe belonged to the Swarm, then agreed to try the contract and grasped the silver thread she sent into his consciousness.

Zhang Han used Chloe’s belief in their mental contract to secure the Swarm’s safety and have her people take over hunting while he rested. As Chloe led the hunt, a Zergling’s sacrifice and emotions changed how she saw the Swarm, and she grew fond of them.

• Zhang Han ordered the Swarm to release Chloe’s knights, and Chloe announced that she had befriended a powerful magical beast as her knights pledged allegiance to her.
• Zhang Han asked Chloe to arrange food and energy while the Swarm recovered, and he let her command the Swarm to a limited extent before going to sleep.
• Chloe promised to protect the Overmind, then led the able Swarm and her high-ranking knights out to hunt while the wounded stayed behind to recover.
• A Zergling took a magical beast’s fireball to protect a knight and was left near death, impressing Chloe with its loyalty and courage.
• When Chloe stroked the dying Zergling, she sensed its pain, comfort, and determination through their mental connection, and she grew fond of the Swarm.

After the hunt, Zhang Han woke to find the hive’s incubation accelerated by the plentiful prey and learned from Chloe about Psionics and the Shroud. He planned to study these powers and eventually use them to strengthen the Swarm.

• Chloe stopped ordering the Swarm to protect the knights, and Ymir recognized the Swarm’s strength and precise teamwork.
• The party returned with a large haul of magical beasts, and Zhang Han found that the hive would finish incubating by noon the next day.
• Chloe visited Zhang Han, who praised her help and reassured her that the Swarm would soon gain new members.
• Zhang Han teased Chloe about whether she belonged to the Swarm, then asked her to explain the humans’ blue and green Psionic energy.
• Chloe explained Psionics and told Zhang Han about the Astrologers’ Association, the Shroud, and how it had helped the Stellaris Council predict the Swarm’s arrival.
• Zhang Han decided that humans could help him learn to master the Shroud and develop Psionic abilities for the Swarm.

After receiving the Overmind’s memory of the Swarm, Chloe reflected on how the prophecy had transformed her life from a beloved princess into a threatened heir. The chapter left her in the Death Forest’s borderlands, engaged to a marquis’s son but planning to enter the forest at eighteen in pursuit of the prophecy.

• Chloe watched the Overmind’s memory of the Swarm overrunning its enemies and embraced her belief that she was destined to become empress.
• When Chloe was nine, the Astrologers' Association prophesied that she would lead magical beasts to unite humanity, prompting the old emperor to train her as his successor.
• Chloe’s three elder brothers treated her as a rival, and the empress placed loyal knights, including Ymir, around her as she survived repeated assassination attempts.
• At sixteen, Chloe learned from her dying mother that she had been poisoned; the empress arranged Chloe’s engagement to a marquis’s son to protect her from her brothers.
• Chloe agreed to the engagement on the condition that the marquis provide an elite force for her to enter the Death Forest when she turned eighteen, and the marquis accepted.

Chloe led the Swarm and the knights deeper into Death Forest in search of more prey, but they encountered a gigantic underground worm that swallowed a Zergling. As the party fled, two surviving scout Zerglings offered to lure the worm away so the others could escape.

• Chloe saw that the Swarm had rapidly healed its injuries, then led the party farther into Death Forest to hunt more magical beasts.
• Ymir warned Chloe that they had entered the territory of an extremely powerful magical beast, but she sent three Zerglings ahead to scout.
• The giant worm burst from underground and swallowed one of the Zerglings, prompting Chloe to order everyone to flee.
• Chloe told the knights to discard their armor and weapons and ride the Swarm, but one knight was left behind as the group escaped.
• Chloe tracked the worm as it pursued the party, and the two surviving scout Zerglings offered to draw it away.

Chloe led the Swarm away from the Giant Worm at the cost of three Zerglings, and the Swarm’s willingness to sacrifice itself deeply affected her. After the Overmind awakened and learned of the losses, Zhang Han entered Chloe’s mind to organize her memories and teach her more efficient mental communication.

• The Zerglings and Hydralisk offered to sacrifice themselves, and Chloe asked whether the Swarm feared death; its reply was, “Though we die, the Swarm endures forever.”
• Chloe sent two Zerglings to lure the Giant Worm away, and one was killed by its lightning while the other fled as the main force escaped.
• Chloe grieved over the dead Zerglings and feared the Overmind would blame her, while the Hydralisk comforted her.
• The Overmind awakened, sensed the Swarm’s losses, and asked Chloe what had happened before deciding to hear her account.
• Zhang Han entered Chloe’s mental world, organized her memories, and filled her mind with knowledge that made her thinking faster and clearer.

Chloe tested mental communication and met Zhang Han in the mental world, where he concealed his identity as the Overmind after they both appeared unclothed. After the Overmind reassured Chloe and gave her authority over the Hatchery’s hatching, she approached the newly hatched structure to learn more about the Swarm.

• Chloe entered her mental world in spirit form, and Zhang Han appeared there as both of them realized they had no clothes.
• Zhang Han claimed he was Functional Consciousness Entity No. 2, and he answered Chloe’s questions about other planets before escaping her mental world.
• The Overmind praised Chloe’s hunting efforts, advised her to be more cautious, and granted her authority over the Hatchery’s hatching operations.
• The Hatchery’s cocoon burst open, and Chloe approached the newly hatched structure and tried to connect her mind to it.

While Zhang Han entered a critical hatching phase, he made Chloe the Swarm’s Executor, and she used the Hatchery to begin producing Zerglings. After ordering the hunt to continue, Chloe sent Ymir to gather the men while her Swarm prepared to handle the fighting.

• Zhang Han gave Chloe Executor permissions over the Hatchery and secretly set limits on the commands it would accept.
• Chloe learned that the Basic Hatchery could not hatch Zerglings, so she chose the weaker Zerglings as a substitute.
• The Hatchery began hatching more than a hundred Zerglings, which Chloe learned could be sustained by energy from the creep.
• Chloe rode a Zergling to the human camp and ordered Ymir to continue the hunt while Zhang Han’s hatching required more time and energy.
• Ymir agreed to gather the men, and Chloe warned him to call her forces the Swarm rather than Magical Beasts.