115: Chapter 115 The Zerg are not just about life essence; the Primarch awakens.

Li Yuan opened his eyes abruptly, all sleepiness gone. He gently placed the sleeping Laya onto the pillow, sat up, his heart beating fast like a drum.

It's over, it's over, it's over.

He had been too busy rejoicing over the great harvest and enjoying the energy transfer, completely forgetting about this! The life essence was the most essential part of the Zerg's energy; after he absorbed it like that, how much energy could the remaining dregs possibly have?

Elia had been busy all day, using Ice Swords and Moon Radiance, exhausted, but then during cultivation, she found that the energy hadn't increased much... What would she think? Would she think he was secretly taking advantage? Would it affect the team's trust?

A strong sense of guilt surged up.

Li Yuan got out of bed lightly and walked to the window. Outside, the base's shield emitted a pale blue faint light.

He closed his eyes and fully circulated the Intent of the Northern Darkness.

His perception extended outwards.

First, he felt the interior of the base—the dormitory area, command center, research lab... Every area had faint energy fluctuations. That was the aftermath dissipated when human talented individuals cultivated; it was very weak, but it definitely existed.

Then his perception probed towards the area where the Zerg corpses were piled up.

Unexpectedly, there was energy there.

It wasn't the pure golden divine power like the life essence, but a purer energy field. Transparent psionic energy, pale blue bio-energy.

These energies were slowly dissipating into the air, making the energy concentration around the base significantly higher than when they had just landed during the day.

Li Yuan was stunned for a moment.

He carefully distinguished it and finally understood.

The Zerg's energy composition was very complex. The life essence was just the most essential part of it, but besides that, there was a large amount of psionic energy and bio-energy. The Light Guardian only absorbed the essential part; the remaining energy still existed, and the total amount was quite considerable.

In other words—what he had stolen was just the cream on the cake, but the cake itself was still there.

The energy richness of the base had indeed increased.

Li Yuan let out a long sigh of relief and wiped the cold sweat from his forehead. Fortunately, fortunately, he hadn't caused a major disaster. But this matter served as a reminder: he had to be more careful in the future; he couldn't just focus on getting himself full, he had to leave some soup for his teammates.

He returned to the bed; Laya unconsciously burrowed into his arms in her sleep. Li Yuan held her, calculating in his heart how to explain it to Elia tomorrow—although she might not ask at all, he felt guilty.

...

The next morning, Li Yuan walked out of the room almost with dark circles under his eyes.

He hadn't slept well at all in the second half of the night, tossing and turning thinking about energy distribution, and even had a nightmare—dreaming that after Elia discovered the truth, she froze him into an ice sculpture with Moon Radiance, Laya was crying on the side, and Chu Xinghe and Luo Lan were eating melon and commenting "Deserved it."

As a result, as soon as he stepped out of the door, he saw Elia already sitting on the sofa in the lounge area, holding a hot drink in her hand, sipping it slowly. The young girl's complexion was much rosier than yesterday, her eyes were bright, and there was a faint smile on the corners of her mouth.

It looked like... she was in a good mood?

Li Yuan's heart drummed, and he walked over cautiously: "Morning. How did you rest last night?"

"Very well." Elia looked up at him, her ice-blue eyes clear to the bottom, "And when cultivating last night, I felt that the efficiency of absorbing energy was much higher than usual. The energy concentration around the base has indeed increased."

She paused, her tone filled with obvious anticipation: "According to this situation, although I don't know when I can touch the threshold of the fourth rank, this path should be correct."

Li Yuan's hanging heart dropped halfway, the other half still dangling—he carefully observed Elia's expression, confirming she had no suspicion or dissatisfaction, and only then did he completely relax.

"That's good." He sat opposite, "Continue today, strive to push the progress to over 80%. I heard from Sai Wei that other squads are much slower than us in progress; we'll go and snatch monsters from other squads when the time comes."

"Mm." Elia nodded, suddenly remembering something, "Right, yesterday Yimoku seemed to say she wanted to study the matrix structure of the creep. If it's convenient for you, bring back some samples today?"

As soon as her words fell, the door of the research lab opened with a "bang."

Yimoku rushed out from inside, holding a buzzing scanner in her hand. The young researcher had tied her silver long hair into twin tails today, wearing a lab coat, and her eyes behind her glasses were frighteningly bright.

"Student Li Yuan! It's just right that you came out!" She rushed in front of Li Yuan, "I thought about it all night last night, and I have a brilliant idea!"

"...What idea?" Li Yuan had an ominous premonition.

"About the energy conversion efficiency of Zerg corpses!" Yimoku spoke very fast, "Look, the Zerg themselves have the ability to quickly convert biomass into new units; this is their racial talent. Can we reverse-engineer this talent? Modify the structure of Zerg corpses so that after they die, they can release psionic energy and bio-energy faster and more efficiently, turning them into 'energy fertilizer' for human cultivation?"

Li Yuan blinked.

"Or even further!" Yimoku became more and more excited as she spoke, "If we can analyze the energy conversion mechanism of the creep, maybe we can create artificial creep, used to convert all kinds of organic waste into pure energy! This way, battlefield cleanup in the future won't just be cleaning up hygiene, but also manufacturing cultivation resources on the spot!"

Li Yuan opened his mouth, but couldn't say anything.

This imagination... was it a bit too big?

"I've already made the preliminary plan!" Yimoku took out a data pad from her lab coat pocket, which was covered in dense structural diagrams and formulas, "But I need more samples. Zerg corpses, creep matrix, and preferably live samples—of course, I know live samples are hard to get, so first I need corpses and creep!"

She paused and added: "Right, Sai Wei said his cousin Ansevier has the energy liquid formula of Olympia, which is a concentrated cultivation resource extracted from the Zerg body. I'm planning to drag Chen Jingyi to find her and see if we can combine the two technologies to create something new."

After speaking, she turned and shouted towards the room: "Chen Jingyi! Are you ready? We are going to visit the Olympia defense zone!"

Chen Jingyi walked out of the room, still with that expressionless face, but she was already carrying an equipment box in her hand: "We can set off. But we need to apply for cross-defense zone access permission."

"That's simple!" Yimoku waved her hand, "I reported it to the Guide last night. The reason written was 'Cross-Civilization Technical Exchange and Joint Research Project,' and they approved it very quickly."

Li Yuan watched the two girls walking out in a rush, and it took him a long time to squeeze out a sentence: "...Remember to be safe."

"Got it!" Yimoku waved without looking back, "Student Li Yuan, remember to bring creep samples! They need to be fresh! Preferably with some root systems!"

The two disappeared at the end of the corridor.

Li Yuan and Elia looked at each other, both seeing helplessness and amusement in each other's eyes.

"Is Yimoku... always like this?" Elia asked.

"Pretty much." Li Yuan shrugged, "I heard that when she was at the Weapons Research Institute, she once locked herself in the laboratory for three days and three nights to test a certain new energy shield, and in the end, the Dean personally brought people to blow open the door to drag her out."

Elia smiled lightly: "That's also quite good. With such people around, human technology can continue to progress."

"Yeah." Li Yuan stood up, "Let's go, it's time to work. Today I have to bring fresh creep for the researcher."

...

At the same time, thirty kilometers deep underground on Planet G-77-3.

This should have been the depths of the rock layer, absolutely dark, absolutely silent, and absolutely isolated from the world. But at this moment, a hidden alloy gate was slowly sliding open.

Behind the door was a huge underground space, over a hundred meters high, with an area comparable to a small city. In the space, tens of thousands of nutrient pods were neatly arranged—cylindrical transparent containers, filled with fluorescent green culture fluid, with a body floating in each container.

No, not bodies.

They were "creations."

They were bizarre: some retained the general outline of a human, but had Zerg bone wings on their backs; some were completely enlarged versions of Zergling, but wisdom flickered in their compound eyes; some even had no fixed form, just a mass of constantly squirming and deforming flesh.

The seventh-generation Primarch experimental group of the Holy Brilliance Purity Group.

The indicator lights on the top of the nutrient pods began to turn from green to red. The moment the countdown reached zero, all the pod doors emitted a hissing sound of pressure release simultaneously. The culture fluid was quickly drained from the bottom drain, and the pod doors slid open upwards.

The Gene Primordial Bodies walked out.

Their movements were stiff at first, like babies who had just learned to walk. But soon, their steps became smooth, coordinated, and even... elegant. There was no verbal communication, no eye contact; they lined up in neat queues and walked towards a passage at the end of the space.

At the end of the passage was an ascending platform.

The platform started, carrying these silent creations and slowly rising. The destination—the surface.

And in the deepest part of the entire space, there was an independent laboratory. The furnishings here were more precise and advanced than other areas, even carrying a certain religious solemnity.

In the center of the laboratory, there was only one nutrient pod.

Olivia was floating in the culture fluid.

Unlike the other Gene Primordial Bodies, she did not wake up. The pod door opened, and the culture fluid poured out, but she still kept her eyes closed, lying quietly at the bottom of the pod. Her silver long hair spread out in the residual liquid, and there was no expression on her incredibly beautiful face.

Only waves of invisible fluctuations were continuously emanating from her body.

Those fluctuations penetrated the thirty-kilometer rock layer, penetrated the creep, penetrated the atmosphere, and reached beyond the planet's orbit, into deep space.

As if calling for something.

Or as if... waiting for something.