"Rattle～"
Deep within the dim, hazy underground parking lot.
Every so often, a rattling sound would echo.
Accompanying it were six Zerglings that leaped out from the Spawning Pool.
Walker, returning time and again, after directing the Zerglings to deposit the corpses of the Tiger-striped Blade Beetles they dragged back, would immediately rush out again to continue hunting.
Delivering the prey,
The Hatchery decomposed it,
Transforming it into energy,
Hatching Zerglings…
Over and over, without end.
In the dark environment, in the quiet atmosphere, the Zerg Swarm was rapidly developing and growing stronger.
Not far from the Hatchery,
Chu Fan sat on the hood of an abandoned car, silently waiting.
At the same time, he was silently guarding against the drones the army might send again, and even drones that might carry bombs.
Time ticked by,
Until the early hours of the next day, the imagined drone reconnaissance and attacks did not appear.
"Pride and Prejudice?"
Chu Fan sneered.
Indeed, the human army outside had the capital to be arrogant and the confidence to be prejudiced.
Just a few dozen crawling monsters.
Why bother to be on high alert and try so hard to scout the enemy?
In front of an army, dozens of monsters were like ants trying to shake a tree, or a mantis trying to stop a chariot.
Dozens or hundreds of people could easily eliminate them with a volley of shots.
But unfortunately, the other side didn't know the details of his Zerglings, nor did they know the Zerg Swarm's breeding speed and development efficiency.
也因此,错误的判断和轻视的态度,注定会让他们为此付出血的代价!
"Walker, time is running out. Stay and wait for the order, prepare to meet the enemy."
Seeing Walker lead a group of Zerglings back from the hunt, Chu Fan stood up and gave the order.
Then, he scanned the surroundings.
What he saw,
Under the dim visibility,
The dark red carapace of the Zerglings spread out, their dense numbers almost filling the surrounding area.
But in accordance with the Overmind's will,
All the Zerglings were lying on the ground, completely silent.
[Zerg Swarm: Zerg Swarm]
[Evolution Stage: Initial]
[Hatchery Structures: Primitive Hatchery, Spawning Pool]
[Swarm Leader: 1 (Zergling Leader Walker)]
[Swarm Quantity: 221 (218 Zerglings, 3 Larva)]
[Hatchery Energy: 530 (Energy Chamber Storage Limit 10,000)]
"Not counting the original 80 Zerglings, nearly 138 were hatched in the last 24 hours."
"Remaining energy is a little over 500."
"Calculating…"
"Over 1200 energy was gained in a day and a night."
"That's equivalent to hunting over 120 Tiger-striped Blade Beetles, averaging 5 per hour. The efficiency is too slow."
Chu Fan shook his head slightly.
But he had anticipated this outcome.
In order to deal with the approaching human army, concealing the Zergling's numbers was the most fundamental tactic, making the enemy believe that the number of Zerglings was only a few dozen.
Therefore, each time Walker led the hunting party, only 40 Zerglings were exposed to the Drones.
Besides, taking out too many wouldn't help.
With more, they'd inevitably make noise, attracting the monster hordes in the city and making them vulnerable to being besieged.
Fewer would allow for easier hunting.
Furthermore, Walker, following his orders to conserve strength and minimize losses, had to spend a lot of time avoiding large groups of monsters and specifically seeking out small groups of Tiger-striped Blade Beetles.
After finding them, he basically had to take action himself, with the 40 Zerglings he led acting as transporters.
All these reasons combined led to the low hunting efficiency.
But this was only temporary.
After withstanding a wave of human attacks,
With time, the numbers grew, allowing him to clear out the surrounding monsters quickly and gain energy.
"Overmind."
Walker walked over from a distance, lowering his head, which resembled a heavy helmet, and reported:
"According to your previous instructions, when I returned to the Hatchery after the final hunt, I left a Zergling lurking in a ruin a few hundred meters away from the Northern City Wall, closely monitoring the cracks behind the Giant Armored Beetle. If any humans enter, the Zergling will detect them immediately."
Seeing Chu Fan nod, Walker continued, "During the hunt, I did find a few human Drones, but they weren't carrying bombs to attack. They were just following at a low altitude, seemingly to observe and gather information. According to your instructions, I didn't pay them any attention."
"Even if you wanted to destroy them, it wouldn't be practical. You can't fly, after all."
Chu Fan turned and walked towards the Hatchery as he spoke.
Arriving in front of the Hatchery, he couldn't help but frown.
The most pressing issue right now is clearly dealing with the air superiority held by the human army.
Otherwise, being constantly watched by the drones in the sky, with every move being observed by the enemy, offers no sense of security.
There is a solution, though.
The primitive-level Hatchery can evolve two types of breeding structures for combat Zerg.
One is the Spawning Pool, which hatches Zerglings.
The other is the Hydralisk Den, which hatches Hydralisks.
Hydralisks are ranged combat Zerg and can deal with the drones in the sky.
But after asking the system earlier, evolving the Hydralisk Den requires a staggering 1000 energy points, which is far beyond the current reserves.
So, Chu Fan had two choices before him.
Either, pause the hatching of Zerglings and accumulate energy to prepare for evolving a Hydralisk Den.
Or, consume his entire savings of 500 energy to evolve a second Spawning Pool, increasing the speed of Zergling hatching.
Of course, there was a third choice.
Zerglings could undergo genetic mutation, cocooning and transforming into a brand new type of Zerg – the Baneling.
Banelings were suicide units, using self-detonation to splash the strong acid stored within their bodies onto enemies.
This was equivalent to a one-time consumable, unable to be reused like Zerglings.
The advantage lay in… numbers.
Because one Zergling can cocoon and hatch into 10 Banelings.
After thinking for a moment, Chu Fan didn't hesitate too much.
Accumulating energy to evolve the Hydralisk Den was something he decisively gave up.
With a great enemy before him, it would undoubtedly be the most foolish thing to leave the energy unused.
If an accident occurred, leading to the entire army's annihilation and the destruction of the Hatchery, then everything would be over. What was the point of talking about evolving the Hydralisk Den then?
Evolving a second Spawning Pool was also something Chu Fan abandoned without hesitation.
If the energy was exhausted, it would be equivalent to interrupting development.
What if these two hundred or so Zerglings clashed with the human army and ended up wiped out?
Without reinforcements, going hunting again? Would he have to make Walker drag the Tiger-striped Blade Beetle corpses back one by one?
It seemed like a choice, but it wasn't. He could only hatch Banelings.
Having one more type of combat Zerg would give him an extra means of dealing with the human army.
Before issuing the order, as usual, Chu Fan first asked the system about the time and energy consumption.
[According to system analysis, the Baneling leader, due to the integration of intelligence genes, consumes more energy, requiring 200 energy points. The time required is variable and cannot be calculated.] [The gene encoding and body structure of ordinary Banelings are simpler than Zerglings. The cocooning and evolution mutation of a Zergling requires 20 energy points, and the estimated time is 30 minutes.]
The system immediately provided the analysis data.
Most Zerg have leaders, and Banelings were no exception.
And, the leaders are always the first to be hatched and cultivated, this is the genetic inheritance of the Zerg Swarm.
With a thought,
Chu Fan, as the Overmind's will, issued a command.
The 11 Zerglings not far away immediately crawled over quickly.
A dozen or so arms-thick tentacles then shot out from the bottom of the Hatchery.
"Pshhh!"
"Pshhh!!!"
Amidst a series of sounds,
A tentacle pierced into the Zergling's body.
Dense, dark red, thread-like substances rapidly grew outside its body, gradually cocooning it into larger and larger cocoons.
Just like the original Zergling,
One of them flattened and stretched, growing to nearly two meters before slowly stopping.
The other ten cocoons continued to expand, growing to the size of millstones, resembling giant, dark red spheres.
At the same time,
Outside the Northern City Wall,
Teams of fully armed soldiers were rapidly assembling under orders.
...
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Here are a few fan-fic titles that I've recently uploaded on my Patreon:
"Game of Thrones: Dragon Prince"
"Game of Thrones: Political Life"
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"Game of Thrones: Ruler of the Deep Seas "
" Game of Thrones: From the Elden Lord to the Young Wolf"
"Game of Thrones The Glory of a Knight"
(End Chapter)