The dark night starship quickly pierced through the thick black fog surrounding the planet and hovered above Zerg Planet.
Chu Huaying's fingers moved across the buttons, activating the starship's anti-reconnaissance system. She piloted the starship, circling the planet to scout and select a landing site.
On the LCD screen in front of the starship's command console, a magnified view of the planet can be seen.
As far as the eye could see, everything was black.
The entire planet was desolate, devoid of any plants, rivers, or mountains. It resembled a desert stained with black, but the black was different from pure black ink; rather, it was like... a thick layer of black velvet.
Chu Huaying adjusted the surveillance camera at the front of the starship, pointed it at the planet's surface, and magnified the image a hundredfold.
Then, everyone witnessed an extremely shocking scene—
The large black area truly resembled a thick, plush blanket, its "down" swaying in the wind. This "blanket" wasn't inanimate; it was alive, constantly spreading outwards. On the blanket were many white, pebble-like objects, likely insect eggs, which were continuously hatching into fingernail-sized larvae.
If someone with trypophobia saw this, they'd probably faint from fright.
Xiao Lou and his group had experienced a Zerg instance before, so they were able to remain calm upon seeing these familiar little insects. However, Lu Jiuchuan, Tang Ci, and Chu Huaying were seeing such a large-scale Zerg swarm for the first time. Tang Ci stiffly looked away, while Lu Jiuchuan couldn't help but curse out, "Damn! There are insects everywhere! This place is disgusting!"
Chu Huaying frowned slightly: "Is this black carpet-like thing used for incubating insect eggs?"
After thinking about it carefully, Xiao Lou said, "This should be the legendary insectoid fungal carpet."
Lu Jiuchuan turned to look at Xiao Lou: "A fungal carpet?"
Xiao Lou explained, "The creep can be understood as a breeding ground that provides nutrients for the Zerg. It is created by adult Zerg using secretions to help young Zerg grow up quickly. Creep can accelerate the expansion and reproduction of the Zerg—the reason this planet is black is because the entire planet is covered with black Zerg creep."
Ye Qi said excitedly, "I've played space-themed games, and there is indeed a setting where the Zerg use creep to reproduce and expand. Since this planet is the Zerg's home planet, and the entire planet is covered with creep, it seems that there are Zerg everywhere here?"
Xiao Lou said, "The Zerg on this planet are quite different from the ones we encountered on Spade 8. "
He paused, then explained in detail: " The Zerg encountered in Spade 8 must live in blood. They parasitize the human body through blood, rapidly infecting and controlling the entire human city. Moreover, when faced with danger, they will merge and upgrade each other, with the highest-level Zerg King able to command lower-level Zerg."
Ye Qi continued, "The Zerg on this planet survive on creep? They don't need blood?"
Xiao Lou nodded and said, "It should be due to the different environments. The Zerg from Spade 8 were not used to the environment when they entered human cities. To survive, they had to find a medium, and the most suitable medium for them was human blood. But now, this planet itself is the Zerg's home. They were born and raised here, and they are used to the environment. The creep covering the entire planet provides them with a natural breeding ground, allowing them to develop and reproduce rapidly without having to expand through parasitism."
Lu Jiuchuan and his two companions had not experienced the dangers of the Zerg's secret chamber, and did not immediately understand Xiao Lou's meaning.
Xiao Lou concluded, "In other words, the Zerg here are far more powerful than the Zerg we've encountered, and their numbers are on a completely different level. If we accidentally cause the Zerg to merge, even CEO Shao might lose control of the situation."
Upon hearing this, Ye Qi's face paled—he recalled the time he was ambushed by the Zerg in Spade 8. Shao Qingge shielded him from the Zerg's claws with his body, resulting in his own infection. Later, he conquered the parasitic Zerg with his consciousness, and after multiple fusions, evolved into a level 10 Zerg King, thus gaining the Bug King Card as a result of his misfortune.
The most powerful Zerg in that secret room is the level 10 Zerg King.
Today, the Zerg Planet's Zerg King is definitely of a higher level.
After all, those who invade human cities are certainly not the Zerg's most elite forces. Those who settled on Zerg Planet absorbed the best nutrients from a young age, developed smoothly, and naturally became the most powerful.
The process of clearing Spade 8 was so thrilling; if they were to engage the Zerg head-on now, they would definitely not gain any advantage.
A moment of silence fell over the command center.
After a moment, Chu Huaying looked at Xiao Lou's serious expression and asked, "Should we continue our descent? If even CEO Shao can't control it, the number of Zerg on this planet is beyond what a few of us can handle."
On the screen, the black fungal carpet covering the planet evokes a sense of dread.
But now that they've come this far, they're unwilling to give up.
After careful consideration, Xiao Lou said, "How about this, we'll scout around the planet first and see if there are any areas with fewer Zerg, then we can land the starship. If we can't deal with the Zerg, at least we can escape from here."
Chu Huaying nodded: "Okay."
She increased the speed of the starship and continued flying around Zerg Planet.
This planet is not large, only one-tenth the size of the planet inhabited by humans. The starship travels at extremely high speed, circling the entire planet in less than half an hour.
Unexpectedly, a glimmer of light flashed in everyone's eyes.
On a planet covered in black fungal carpets, that splash of red...
It is exceptionally eye-catching.
Chu Huaying maneuvered the starship to approach.
The scene showed a vast expanse of golden-red mountains, stretching for hundreds of kilometers like a wide red river, adding a beautiful touch to this dark planet.
Ye Qi asked, "Is this a volcano?"
Tang Ci walked to the command platform, carefully examined the mountain range below, and said, "Although the color looks like flames, this mountain range is not a volcano; there are no traces of volcanic eruptions at all. These mountains... are more likely mineral veins."
Ye Qi paused, looking at the vast expanse of golden-red mountains in his field of vision, and murmured, "Could this be the rare mineral used to manufacture Starships and armor? The legendary, extremely rare red crystal ore?"
Tang Ci was also a graduate of the mecha piloting department, so he had naturally studied the theoretical knowledge of mecha manufacturing.
Upon hearing Ye Qi's words, Tang Ci nodded solemnly and turned to his teammates, saying, "In the year 2000 of the Star Calendar, humanity discovered a precious mineral on planet β-75. It is golden-red in appearance and harder than chromium, the hardest known metal. It is resistant to high temperatures, does not easily oxidize, and will not corrode even when immersed in highly concentrated strong acid solutions. Adding this metal to the raw materials for starships and mechs can greatly improve the performance of the next generation of mechs."
He paused, then continued, "Due to over-exploitation, nearly 80% of the mineral resources on planet β-75 have been mined by humans. The remaining resources can only last for about 10 years. Human scientists have been searching for new resource planets for years. Could this planet where the Zerg live be the resource planet they've found?"
Chu Huaying turned and walked to the porthole, looking down at the vast mineral veins below, and asked in confusion, " What does Ninth Brother's mission have to do with clone?"
Ye Qi speculated, "Could there be a clone base on this planet?"
Xiao Lou said, "We've just circled the planet. 99% of this planet is covered in Zerg creep, except for this mineral vein. If there are any clues related to cloning, they should be in this area."
He turned to Yu Hanjiang, seeking his opinion: "Should we go down and take a look?"
Yu Hanjiang nodded: "Since we're here, let's go down and look for them, but try not to alert the Zerg."
Chu Huaying pressed the landing button, and the Dark Night Starship folded its wings and landed steadily on one of the mines.
The surrounding area was desolate, with red-gold veins shimmering with a soft luster as far as the eye could see.
Chu Huaying decided to stay on the starship to provide backup. If someone had malicious intentions and took the starship away, leaving everyone stranded on Zerg Planet would be disastrous. Xiao Lou also felt it was better for her to stay on the starship to fight; in case of an emergency, at least everyone could escape at any time.
The five opened the hatch, and Tang Ci first sent out a drone to scout the surrounding environment.
Upon seeing the data reported by drone, Tang Ci said, "The planet has a low oxygen content, but it is still habitable. The average temperature is as high as 68 degrees Celsius, and the ground temperature exceeds 90 degrees Celsius. These minerals radiate heat to the surroundings, and their own temperature is extremely high, so you cannot step directly on them."
The temperature is 90 degrees Celsius. Stepping on it will definitely scald your feet instantly.
Fortunately, they had already survived the sweltering heat of the Weekly Secret Chamber, so they naturally had a way to cope with this temperature. Tang Ci took out the "Defense Mech" card and had everyone put on heat-resistant armor.
The five people, dressed in armor, landed on the ground.
From Chu Huaying's perspective, the scene looks a lot like astronauts landing on an alien planet.
Xiao Lou distributed team voice headsets to everyone, and Chu Huaying also wore one, making it convenient to communicate at any time.
The five of them scouted around the mine but found nothing special. The surrounding area was full of this hard, hot ore. Ye Qi took some with him to take back for research.
Xiao Lou asked doubtfully, "We didn't find any trace of a human base. Besides, with temperatures as high as 90 degrees Celsius and thin oxygen, such a harsh environment wouldn't be suitable for humans to build a base, would it?"
The environment here is terrible.
Without plants, there is insufficient oxygen, and more importantly, there is no water.
Humans cannot survive in an environment without water, and the cost of transporting food and water between stars is too high...
Lu Jiuchuan pondered, "Could it be that our mission is unrelated to the clone plan?"
Just then, a buzzing sound suddenly rang out all around.
Ye Qi looked up, paused for a moment, and said, "It looks like a huge dark cloud is flying towards us?"
The planet is surrounded by black mist; where did the dark clouds come from?
Xiao Lou was suddenly startled: "Oh no, it's the Zerg, the flying Zerg!"
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