Chapter Summaries

Yanren’s company fought its way through the special warship’s robot defenses toward the bridge, suffering casualties as the resistance grew stronger. After Kunmao was badly wounded, Yanren saved him with psionics and charged at a giant robot with a missile launcher.

• Two companies of super soldiers boarded the disabled special warship, with Yanren’s company heading for the bridge and the other company targeting the engine room.
• Yanren’s team destroyed hundreds of combat robots with grenades and heavy weapons, suffering no casualties in the first major fight.
• After advancing toward the bridge, Yanren’s company had destroyed thousands of robots but lost five soldiers and had ten wounded; their medic recovered the fallen soldiers’ Gene Seeds.
• A giant robot pierced an assault soldier’s field shield and killed him, while enemy fire overwhelmed two soldiers attempting to use anti-armor missile launchers.
• Kunmao was struck by two high-energy lasers while trying to take a launcher, but Yanren lifted him out of danger with psionics and charged the giant robot with the weapon.

Yanren and the Super Soldiers captured the enemy warship at great cost, but recovered only a fraction of its data before a mysterious signal began to fade. Meanwhile, Mimic Johnny watched his gang lose ground to the Four-Armed Serpent God Church, while secretly controlling both sides of the conflict.

• Yanren destroyed the giant robot but died in its laser attack, and Kunmao survived a shattered heart thanks to his backup heart as First Company cleared the bridge entrance.
• Second Company sacrificed every member to stop the reactor from destroying the ship, and the Technology Team recovered one percent of the database after accessing the main system through a Military Synthetic.
• The Antilian Military Empire captured and studied the strange warship, discovering the Contingency and a Strange Countdown as the mysterious signal weakened.
• Johnny watched his gang battle the Four-Armed Serpent God Church, whose warriors used fearless charges and explosives to disable both tanks and drive his mercenaries toward retreat.
• Johnny smiled at the Church's apparent advance, while his bodyguards urged him to seek safety.

Johnny used the church’s victory to expand the Four-Armed Serpent God Church, inventing an Ascension Ritual that fed infected flesh to Slarkan warriors and strengthened the Swarm Network. He recruited visibly mutated followers as future priests while urging the church toward its campaign against the Giant Snake Corporation and Giant Serpent Tower.

• Johnny sent his bodyguards to seek Doctor Mengka’s support, then revealed his true identity as the Archbishop of the Four-Armed Snake God Church.
• Johnny promised the church’s warriors an Ascension Ritual and secretly used infected corpses to spread energy among them, increasing the power of the Swarm Network.
• Johnny’s ritual left some Slarkans without infected meat, stirring jealousy and pushing them toward fanaticism.
• Johnny gathered nearly ten thousand infected Slarkans in the building’s underground space and presented their mutations as divine blessings.
• Johnny recruited Slarkans with obvious bodily changes as future Priests of God, promising to teach them to preside over Ascension Rituals.

Johnny expanded the church’s network by organizing the Infestors and connecting them through the swarm network, while Zhang Han led a concealed Swarm Fleet assault against a defending Hatchery. Zhang Han’s psionic abilities and the Ghost Bugs’ support turned the battle into a rout.

• Johnny asked Infestors whose bodily changes could not be hidden to become priests and assigned those who could conceal their changes to infiltrate the corporation.
• Johnny connected the Infestors and infected individuals through the swarm network, strengthening their communication and coordination.
• Zhang Han traveled with Abaddon and Skadi, who used a psionic shadow to conceal him from the Shroud.
• Zhang Han’s fleet emerged into a spore minefield and faced a Hatchery fleet of 120,000, while his own fleet numbered 100,000.
• Zhang Han destroyed the minefield with Psionic Storm and used his fleet’s position and the Ghost Bugs’ defensive support to overwhelm the Hatchery fleet.
• Zhang Han’s Brood Lords joined the fight, and the defending Hatchery’s logical consciousness determined that it could not win.

Zhang Han used Skadi’s psionic technique and his knowledge of Hatchery frequencies to locate the defending Hatchery’s logical core, hidden underground on the planet’s moon. He breached the core’s underground chamber and demanded that it order its Swarm to submit.

• The defending Hatchery withdrew its fleet and prepared to wage a prolonged war from its fortified planet, while Zhang Han worried that a drawn-out ground battle would cost him too much time.
• Skadi explained that she could trace a Hatchery logical core’s Psionic Power frequency, and Zhang Han realized he had the frequencies stored in his memory.
• Zhang Han used the Swarm Fleet’s Psionic Power to trace the defending core and discovered it was hidden deep underground on the moon.
• Zhang Han led three thousand ships toward the moon while his other forces attacked the planet, making the Specialized Roach believe its hiding place remained secret.
• Zhang Han suddenly appeared in the underground Hatchery after smashing through the rock and flesh, seized the Specialized Roach, and demanded its Swarm submit.
• The Specialized Roach asked Zhang Han how he had found it.

Zhang Han absorbed Roach Kagat’s hatchery and led his growing Swarm Fleet toward another star system, eager for war. On the Sapphire homeworld, Chen Hui arrived at a laboratory to examine an imprisoned Ultralisk obtained from the Antilians, hoping to communicate with an intelligent Swarm unit.

• Roach Kagat recognized Zhang Han as the resurrected Overmind and pledged his allegiance.
• Zhang Han absorbed Roach Kagat’s hatchery, combined his forces, and set out with 180,000 Swarm members for the next star system.
• Another 20,000 newly hatched Swarm members prepared to depart from the Tabi Star System as Zhang Han anticipated further expansion.
• Chen Hui left her meditation after Mentor Zhang Hua told her the laboratory’s test subject had awakened.
• Chen Hui entered the laboratory, where an immobilized Ultralisk that the Antilians had traded to the Sapphire Civilization awaited her.

Chen Hui led the Sapphire researchers in attempting to establish communication with the Devouring Swarm, warning them that the war was turning against the Milky Way civilizations. With previous methods failing, the chapter left her determined to find a way to understand the Swarm and open a path to peace.

• The Sapphire researchers gathered specimens of Swarm Units, including an Ultralisk held in stasis, for their studies.
• Chen Hui offered the researchers a chance to withdraw, but Zhang Hua and the others chose to support her research despite the risks to their reputations.
• Chen Hui warned that the Swarm was evolving to counter their forces, the war's loss ratios were worsening, and the Shroud refused to guide psionics users about it.
• The researchers reviewed how pheromone studies had revealed only a supplementary communication method, while psionic communication proved complex and Swarm Units refused to cooperate.
• Chen Hui ordered the experiment to begin and remained determined to find a way for the Sapphire Civilization to communicate with the Swarm.

Chen Hui struggled to get information from the captive Ultralisk until Zhang Hua brought her evidence that Swarm creatures obeyed a primitive world's native girl. When Chen Hui showed the images to the Ultralisk, it reacted violently, giving her hope that it might communicate with the Sapphire Civilization.

• Chen Hui confronted the silent Ultralisk, questioning why the Swarm chose slaughter instead of cooperation.
• Zhang Hua told Chen Hui that inspectors had detained a missing cargo ship's pilot, who claimed Swarm creatures obeyed his younger sister.
• Chen Hui watched the pilot's memories, which showed a white-haired girl guarded by Swarm units and treated as their leader.
• Chen Hui showed the images to the Ultralisk, which struggled violently inside the stasis field.
• Chen Hui urged the Ultralisk to communicate, believing its reaction showed that cooperation might be possible.

Chen Hui discovered that the Ultralisk recognized the planet in George’s memories and decided to lead an expedition there, despite the risks to her civilization. As Chen Hui prepared to depart with three fleets and George, the Ultralisk regretted revealing its connection to the planet and feared the expedition would endanger the Overmind.

• The Ultralisk reacted to footage of George’s homeworld, and Chen Hui realized it recognized the planet before it pretended to sleep.
• Chen Hui questioned George about Chloe and the Swarm, then insisted to Zhang Hua that they investigate the planet despite his warnings.
• Chen Hui persuaded the Civilization Leader to let her accompany three fleets, surrendered her company and assets, and secured permission to bring her team and George.
• On the night before departure, Chen Hui recorded her research and told the Ultralisk about the expedition.
• The Ultralisk feared the thirty thousand warships could threaten the Overmind and resolved to act before the situation worsened.

Chen Hui agreed to bring Nalga to the remote planet after it warned that the trip could threaten peace, while Nalga offered the Sapphire Civilization an advanced theory to delay its plans. On Tabi Star, Chloe welcomed the newly hatched Queen Typhon and checked that her mind and memories were stable.

• Chen Hui learned that the Ultralisk had no name, named it Nalga, and agreed to arrange for it to accompany the expedition.
• Nalga resolved to protect the Overmind and gave Chen Hui a theory that could lead the Sapphire fleet to a nearby natural antimatter deposit, hoping to buy time.
• Chen Hui connected to the Central Academy of Sciences' supercomputer to verify Nalga's equations, then left the laboratory to investigate them.
• On Tabi Star, Chloe saw the Level Four Hatchery finish hatching and met Queen Typhon.
• Chloe congratulated Typhon and asked whether her memories and mind were stable.

Chloe assigned Typhon work at the Giant Hatchery and Dyson Membrane, then heard Ika’s report on the growing churches across the Four Kingdoms. She offered Ika a Neural Thorn upgrade and, as Ika accepted, had Kamu take her to a Hatchery for modification.

• Chloe gave Typhon a choice between developing geothermal projects in Gale Valley and coordinating work at the Giant Hatchery on the moon, then ordered her to go to the moon and forbid her from killing or eating people without permission.
• Chloe went to meet Ika, who reported that churches dedicated to the Four-Winged Dragon God had spread through the Four Kingdoms, adapting the god’s role to each region’s customs.
• Chloe grew impatient with Ika’s lengthy report and offered to have Kamu modify her with a high-efficiency Neural Thorn that would strengthen her psionic abilities.
• Ika eagerly accepted the reward, and Chloe contacted Kamu, who seized Ika and pulled her toward a nearby Hatchery.

Chloe considered how the Empire could support the Swarm without wasting magic crystals or sacrificing ordinary people, then rejected an imperial emblem in favor of the Four-Winged Dragon God's symbols. She left Tanglade and the Council with the order that the Empire belonged to the god and that all Council members must join the Church.

• Chloe told Kamu she would collect the Empire's magic crystals for the Hatchery, while seeking a way to protect people whose livelihoods depended on the crystal industries.
• Erika informed Chloe that Acting Speaker Donald had requested an audience about the Empire's political structure, and Chloe invited Tanglade in.
• Tanglade presented a painting of Chloe as a proposed imperial flag and emblem, but Chloe said it represented only the imperial family and ordered the Empire to use the Church's flag and emblem.
• Tanglade warned Chloe that using the Church's emblem could reignite conflict between religious and imperial authority, but Chloe ordered every Council member to become a believer.
• Chloe told Donald that everyone, from beggar to emperor, had to serve the Four-Winged Dragon God and that they could defy her but not the god.

Chloe reorganized the Human Kingdom into the Darom Empire and planned to develop it using Swarm technology rather than building a technological base from scratch. Meanwhile, Zhang Han’s Swarm Fleet reached a heavily defended Hatchery and began a costly assault on its asteroid fortifications.

• Chloe ordered Donald to shut down magic crystal businesses, send unemployed workers to the mines, and keep the Empire stable while its crystals went to the Hatchery.
• Chloe concluded that the Empire could use Swarm technology without understanding how it worked, then named the new state the Darom Empire.
• Zhang Han’s two-hundred-thousand-strong fleet reached the second Hyperspace Route’s exit, where mines, asteroids, and defensive forces prevented most of his ships from entering normal space.
• Zhang Han discovered that the defending Hatchery’s logical consciousness was protected beneath a lava planet and ordered his available ships to attack an asteroid fortress.
• Zhang Han sent Fang Warships crashing into the asteroid and landed Spore Cysts, but the defenders on the other asteroid attacked his fleet’s flank as his losses mounted.

Zhang Han committed his elite Swarm fleet to a direct assault on the defending Hatchery’s weakest point, accepting heavy losses to break its terrain advantage. The defenders struggled to stop the elite force as the two Swarms’ strongest units clashed.

• Zhang Han reviewed the battle’s heavy losses and concluded that continuing the current attack could cost him at least eighty thousand Swarm ships.
• Zhang Han chose to lead a direct charge, using his nearly immortal body and ability to locate the Hatchery’s Logical Consciousness, then optimized the plan until the Swarm Network’s worried thoughts eased.
• Zhang Han sent five thousand elite Swarm ships, including Leviathans, Devourers, and Nether Bugs, into battle, and his fleet charged the defenders’ weakest point.
• The defenders widened the battle and dispatched their own Leviathans and Devourers to reinforce the threatened position.
• Zhang Han’s ten-thousand-ship vanguard was wiped out after costing the defenders fifteen thousand ships, while both sides’ elite fleets began fighting at close range.
• The defending Hatchery committed its entire fleet but still failed to stop Zhang Han’s elite force, whose superior quality overwhelmed the defenders.

Zhang Han launched a surprise assault on the defensive Hatchery, destroying its surface defenses before drilling underground to confront its Logic Cerebrate. The Cerebrate refused to recognize him as the Overmind and challenged him to a contest of psionic strength.

• Zhang Han used Swarm Leviathans and a Gigaton Cannon to breach the defensive line, then fired himself toward the primary planet as a shell.
• Zhang Han warped to the lava planet and crashed into its Hatchery, destroying it but failing to reach the target beneath the reinforced crust.
• Zhang Han fought off attacking Swarm Units with a Psionic Storm and drilled through the rock to reach the Logic Cerebrate.
• The Logic Cerebrate told Zhang Han it had anchored its consciousness in the Swarm Network and would not surrender because it believed he was only an Overmind fragment.
• Zhang Han claimed he was the resurrected Overmind, but the Cerebrate still rejected him and proposed a contest of psionic strength.
• Zhang Han attacked the Cerebrate’s psionic tendrils in the domain of consciousness.

Zhang Han planned to use the Cerebrate’s psionic skill to disguise a surprise attack on Kagar’s powerful Swarm. Meanwhile, Wendak brought a Shroud weapon to the Death Cult’s homeworld, Ascension Tower, where the escort fleet received the Xeloran ships.

• Zhang Han connected through the Swarm network to Isha and learned that production had increased across the Swarm’s star systems.
• Zhang Han chose Kagar, who controlled three star systems and a fleet of 400,000 to 500,000 ships, as his next target.
• Zhang Han planned to mass-produce troops, deceive the Swarm’s psionic detection, and surprise Kagar by seizing his core node.
• More than a hundred Xeloran ships emerged from hyperspace in the Death Cult’s home system, the Land of the Dead.
• Wendak carried a Shroud weapon to Ascension Tower, where the Death Cult’s escort fleet guided the Xeloran fleet into orbit.

Archon Wendak arrived on the Death Cult’s Homeworld to negotiate the use of the Shroud weapon with High Priest Zulaman. Their talks began with Wendak insisting that Xeloran experts control the weapon while the Cult supplied souls, leaving Zulaman displeased.

• A Xeloran Undead received Wendak and explained that Zulaman was overseeing an ascension ceremony.
• Wendak rejected a comfortable detour and demanded to meet Zulaman, emphasizing the importance of the Shroud weapon and bringing two elite guards with its case.
• Wendak’s aircraft passed the Conversion Tower, where Zulaman watched crowds enter to become Undead before preparing to welcome the Archon.
• Wendak and Zulaman met without warmth and entered a conference room to discuss the Shroud weapon.
• Wendak demanded that Xeloran scientists and psionics users operate the weapon under his supervision, while the Death Cult supplied souls, and Zulaman’s face darkened.

Wendak and Zulaman prepared to activate the Shroud weapon beneath the Ascension Tower, where Zulaman revealed that a vast population of intelligent rats supplied the souls it required. The Xelorans began charging the weapon, leaving Zulaman contemptuous of its unassuming appearance.

• Zulaman objected to Wendak’s plan to keep the Death Cult from studying the Shroud weapon, and Wendak offered the cult access and technical support after its use.
• Three days later, Zulaman led Wendak and the Xeloran team deep beneath the Ascension Tower to prepare the activation.
• Zulaman explained that the weapon’s expanded strike area required ten million Xeloran souls and asked Wendak’s team to probe the pit below with psionics.
• A Xeloran soldier and Wendak saw the pit swarming with intelligent, ravenous rats, which Zulaman said the Death Cult used as a source of souls.
• Wendak ordered the scientists and psionic team to begin preparations, and the Xelorans poured their power into the Shroud weapon, a plain purple sphere.

The Xelorans activated the Shroud weapon, which unleashed a psionic attack that struck both Zhang Han’s Overmind Consciousness and Humanity Consciousness. Isha began rebuilding Humanity Zhang Han’s shattered consciousness while Chloe was occupied with plans for the Empire and its church.

• The Xelorans used the Shroud to drain the cave’s rats and completed the ritual, activating the weapon as Zulaman watched in terror.
• The Shroud sent a psionic shock across the star system, and the Overmind Zhang Han endured the attack behind defenses made from Cellular Nanobots and the Swarm Network’s Psionic Power.
• The defense protected Zhang Han, but two million ground-based Warrior Bugs lost their minds, and Zhang Han vowed revenge on the Shroud.
• The attack shattered Humanity Zhang Han’s consciousness while he played League of Legends, so Isha used Swarm computing power and Psionic Threads to begin restoring him.
• Isha contacted Chloe for help, while Chloe met Four-Winged Dragon God Church leaders in the imperial palace and planned to promote Flesh Technology through the Hatcheries.

Chloe ordered the Darom Empire’s church to prepare large numbers of people for integration into the Zerg Network, then joined Typhon and other powerful psionic nodes to splice the Overmind’s shattered consciousness. She recovered two memories, including one that revealed the name Zhang Han, before continuing into the next fragment.

• Chloe silenced a priest who objected to the Swarm’s flesh technology and ordered Ika to carry out the Cerebrate’s plan, granting Emil authority over life and death in the Darom Empire.
• Chloe traveled to the Hatchery and learned that Typhon had been brought back to help splice the Overmind’s consciousness fragments.
• Chloe connected to the Giant Cerebrate and entered Zhang Han’s first consciousness fragment, watching him confess his feelings to a childhood friend.
• Chloe realized that the girl’s memory revealed the name of one of the Overmind’s incarnations and decided that the memories must be erased after the fragments were joined.
• Chloe entered a second fragment and watched the Overmind direct a Leviathan and the Swarm’s consumption fleet to strip a blue planet down to bare rock.