Translator: Dj2203
Editor: Dj2203
Advance chapters available for patrons on Patreon. And a chapter can be sponsored by buying me a ko-fi.
The empire had a total of eleven legions. Apart from the Royal Legion, which was under the full control of Crown Prince Li Siwei, the other ten legions all obeyed Yun Ming’s orders. He was both the commander of the Fifth Legion and the Minister of the Military Department.
If he were to relinquish the position of commander of the Fifth Army Corps to Ouyang Mingtang, in a sense, it would be tantamount to indirectly supporting Ouyang Mingtang’s future control of the military. After all, Ouyang Mingtang was the person he had personally chosen.
Therefore, this transfer of power was extremely important for Ouyang Mingtang. Unfortunately, his subordinates messed things up.
The adjutant sat in the hall, his forehead beaded with cold sweat, racking his brains about how to explain things to Ouyang Mingtang when he got back.
The soldiers brought by Yun Ming gathered in twos and threes to chat, completely excluding their adjutant. The soldiers wore many medals on their chests, testaments to their distinguished military achievements. Judging from the number of medals, even the least senior among them was a special-class soldier; in terms of status within the military, even Ouyang Mingtang would likely have to show them deference.
Only Yun Ming could gather these meritorious soldiers under his command and make them loyal and devoted to him.
Taking power from Yun Ming was not an easy task.
At this moment, the adjutant was both frustrated and anxious. He couldn’t understand what Zhuang Li and Yun Ming had to say to each other, and why they had to spend so much time alone together.
However, something even more incomprehensible happened.
Not long after Yun Ming went inside, many military vehicles flew in from outside the building. The doors opened, and more than a dozen people walked out one after another.
They entered the brightly lit hall, revealing faces of great renown.
The adjutant was stunned to see those all-too-familiar faces.
The group that arrived were all veterans of the military, controlling the most powerful force in the empire and suppressing the royal family. If Yun Ming was the pillar of the empire, then these white-haired elders were its cornerstone.
Also arriving was a group of exceptionally accomplished scientists, each a master in their respective fields, whose combined strength was no less than that of ten legions. They were the brains of the empire.
Now, the cornerstones and brain of the empire were both in this small biotech company, how could one not be astonished?
The adjutant was dumbfounded and completely forgot to salute.
Yun Ming’s personal guards immediately stood at attention and gave a standard military salute.
These powerful figures, who held the fate of the empire in their hands, hurried through the hall, completely oblivious to the adjutant’s unusual behavior. This demonstrated just how immensely attractive the person or event that summoned them must have been.
Meanwhile, the building was heavily guarded, so much so that not even a fly could get in, let alone anyone inside going out.
The adjutant sensed something was wrong and hurriedly tried to send intelligence to Ouyang Mingtang through his smart device, only to find that the signal had been cut off.
Soon, a high-ranking general entered and registered everyone in the hall, warning them in a cold tone: “When you walk out of this door, you must forget everything that just happened. For a long time to come, you will be under the surveillance of the military. Do you understand the consequences if the military finds out that you said or did something you shouldn’t have?”
The soldiers stood tall and proud, and answered loudly, “Understood!”
“Understood.” The adjutant’s voice was much softer than the others, and he couldn’t straighten his back.
He sensed that the matter Ouyang Mingtang had entrusted to him might have taken a dramatic turn.
….
In the laboratory, everyone stared intently at a video recording on the screen, their expressions solemn, their eyes burning, and their breaths held.
On the screen, a Zergling, its body covered in white mycelium, was dying in agony.
“This video is indeed very impressive, but we would like to see your achievements put into practice with our own eyes,” said Yu Guangzhong, the chief scientist of the Empire, in a hoarse voice after the video finished playing.
“Give me a swarm of Zerg, and I’ll demonstrate it to you right now.” Zhuang Li sat alone to the side, his posture very relaxed and casual.
“Give it to him,” the most senior marshal ordered solemnly.
Yun Ming personally went to the military headquarters and used a large aircraft to transport a swarm of low-level Zergs. These were all captured by the Imperial army on the battlefield.
The cages holding the Zerg were as big as a basketball court, but fortunately Zhuang Li’s laboratory was also quite large, so they could fit them all.
Once the metal protective layer outside the cage was opened, a large swarm of spider-like insects appeared inside a container made of reinforced glass. Their sharp limbs could easily cut through ordinary metal, tear apart human bodies, and shatter rocks, and their mouthparts had an astonishing bite force.
Their jumping ability was terrifying; they could leap from the ground to hundreds of meters in the air, attach themselves to airships or mechs, quickly bite through the outer shell, and invade the interior.
They often appeared in large groups, densely covering buildings, leaving behind a trail of debris after they passed through.
They were the vanguard of the advanced Zerg, renowned for their sheer numbers. To defeat them, the Imperial Legion could only resort to sacrificing its soldiers’ lives.
But the Empire’s soldiers were extremely valuable assets, and the death or injury of any one of them was a great sorrow for the people; while this kind of spider was not rare for the Zerg race. The Zerg queen could lay tens of thousands of Zerg eggs every day, and the vast majority of the Zergs that hatched from them were this kind.
Therefore, it seemed an impossible task for humanity to eliminate the Zerg. Perhaps before long, the entire solar system would be overrun by the Zerg, whose monstrous reproductive capacity would allow them to expand to every corner of the galaxy in a very short time.
Upon seeing the densely packed swarm of insects, everyone present showed expressions of hatred.
Zhuang Li put on a white lab coat, took a test tube from the incubator, and instructed Yun Ming, “Bring out a Zerg.”
Yun Ming pressed a button, and a round hole appeared on the cage. A Zerg quickly crawled out and entered a separate small cage.
Zhuang Li used a syringe to draw out the clear liquid from the test tube and handed it to Yun Ming: “You give it the injection. You can inject it anywhere.”
“The syringes will break; their exoskeletons are very hard,” Yun Ming warned.
“It won’t break. This needle is made of a super-strong metal that I invented. It can even pierce the exoskeleton of the Zerg King and can be used to create the outer shell of long-range spaceships or super mechs.” Zhuang Li said these awe-inspiring words lightly.
The military veterans sitting on the sofa all looked at him, their eyes widening in surprise.
Several scientists couldn’t sit still any longer and immediately went to Yun Ming’s side, wanting to take the syringe and examine it closely.
Unfortunately, Yun Ming walked to the small cage before them, reached in, and grabbed the Zerg’s segmented limb.
The Zerg immediately attacked Yun Ming, biting with its mouthpart, scratching with its claws, and stabbing with its poisonous needles. However, Yun Ming’s skin was even harder than the mecha’s outer shell, and not a single tiny scratch was left on him.
This was the terrifying aspect of having the only 4S physique in the world. Because of this, Yun Ming also had a nickname in the military— humanoid mecha.
If it weren’t for the strange hormonal imbalance that was destroying his body from within, he would have been an almost invincible war god.
The thin needle successfully pierced the Zerg’s exoskeleton, and Yun Ming slowly pushed the transparent liquid inside the syringe into the Zerg’s abdominal cavity.
“Put it back,” Zhuang Li ordered at the opportune moment.
Yun Ming opened the round hole, and the frightened Zerg immediately scurried back into the large cage to stay with their kind.
“Alright, let’s sit down and wait.” Zhuang Li sat back down, propped his chin on his hand, and lazily looked at the swarm of Zergs in the cage.
Everyone held their breath.
A few minutes later, a Zerg stepped over other Zergs, climbed to the top of the cage, and then froze. A few seconds later, countless white mycelia grew from its body, and black fruits formed at the top of the mycelia.
A minute later, the densely packed fruits burst open all at once, releasing gray spores that scattered into the surrounding air.
For some reason, the Zergs that came into contact with these spores all rushed to climb to higher places and remained stiff and motionless. Their bodies also grew white mycelium, produced black fruits, and burst forth with gray spores, which diffused into the air.
In less than five minutes, the entire cage was enveloped in a cloud of gray mist.
After the fog dissipated, the group of highly aggressive Zergs was completely wiped out. Their exoskeletons had collapsed and shriveled, as if their abdominal cavities had been hollowed out by white mycelium.
A Zerg that had climbed high suddenly fell to the ground, its exoskeleton splitting in two, revealing its empty body. They had indeed been drained dry by the white mycelium.
This bizarre and terrifying scene stunned everyone.
Only then did Zhuang Li slowly speak: “These are the super fungi I cultivated. They only parasitize the Zerg, growing by absorbing their flesh and blood. Once mature, their hyphae will extend out of the body and release spores. Other Zerg that come into contact with their spores will also be infected, thus becoming their culture dishes.”
“For the gregarious Zerg race, if even one insect is infected with this fungus, the entire race will perish in a very short time.”
“Of course, I have conducted experiments on cells from various insect races and found that higher insect races are resistant to this fungus, so I devised Plan B.”
“As you can see, what I am showing you now is the DNA code of a virus that can suppress the fertility of higher Zerg races. In other words, higher Zerg males infected with this virus will be unable to fertilize the insect queen.”
“This virus can be transmitted in two ways: through respiratory transmission and through contact transmission. In other words, if an infected male insect touches another insect’s antennae, they can become infected with each other.”
“This is the timeline I’ve calculated. If this fungus and virus are introduced into the Zerg at the same time, their entire population will be wiped out within a year.”
Zhuang Li propped his forehead up and said lazily, “Only one female is allowed to exist in the entire Zerg race, and that is the Zerg Queen. In other words, when all the higher-level males lose their fertility, the Zerg Queen will be unable to lay eggs.”
“At that time, the Empire will easily wipe out the Zerg, break out of the solar system, and explore a wider universe. After taking over the hundreds of planets occupied by the Zerg, the Empire will surpass the Federation and become the overlord of the galaxy.”
Zhuang Li raised his wine glass, took a sip of red wine, and his thin, blood-red lips curved into a breathtaking smile: “Ladies and gentlemen, this is the future I have designed for the Empire.”
Upon hearing the last sentence, everyone present held their breath.
They looked at the iron cage shrouded in death, then at Zhuang Li, who had a smile in his eyes, and their already turbulent hearts finally surged with turmoil.
Only then did Yun Ming raise his hand and clap slowly but forcefully.
An old marshal stood up, bowed deeply to Zhuang Li, and said in a solemn tone, as if offering a sacrifice, “Mr. Zhuang, Ouyang Mingtang is yours.”
Guys, ads are my only source of revenue, so please do not turn on the AdBlock when you are accessing this website…. Thank you, this would be a great help…
You can buy me a ko-fi and sponsor a chapter on: https://ko-fi.com/midnightrambles
Or become a Patron on: https://www.patreon.com/bePatron?u=45665005
If you support me, I would be able to provide more chapters….
Previous • Table of Contents • Next
