Chapter 208 The Insect Swarm Arrives

In Underground City Section C, the air filtration system's alarm sounded like a rooster being strangled—sharp and short.

The shutters of the ventilation ducts exploded outward.

Those transparent little bugs grew the moment they touched the air. One second they were grain-sized like rice, the next, their carapaces hardened and skeletons stretched, turning into hideous half-human-sized monsters. They had hind legs like grasshoppers, but their forelimbs were sharp bone scythes, and their backs were still covered in wet mucus.

"What... what the hell are these things!"

A breakfast stall owner, who was just about to pack up, was still holding two fried dough sticks as he stared blankly at a zergling landing on his stall.

The insect turned its compound eyes, and without the slightest hesitation, its bone scythe swept across.

Puchi.

The alloy steamer, along with the gas tank beneath it, was sliced cleanly as if made of paper. The owner didn't even feel the pain until he saw his lower half still standing in place while his upper body had already flown away.

Blood and screams instantly ignited the entire underground district.

"Help! The monsters are eating people!"

"Don't push! My child! My child!"

Panic was like a plague, spreading even faster than the bugs. The crowd surged frantically toward the emergency shelters, leaving shoes and bags scattered everywhere. Meanwhile, those zerglings were like hungry wolves in a sheepfold, leaping through the crowd with reckless abandon, leaving a trail of blood and carnage with every jump.

"Bastards!"

In the command hall, Chen Weiguo watched the surveillance footage, his eyes turning blood-red.

"Where is the special ops team? Get them up there! Block these beasts in Section C; you must not let them enter the core living area!"

Without needing his order, the Third Marine Corps stationed nearby had already arrived.

"Fire! Free fire! Forget about property damage, just shoot!"

Dadadadada!

In the narrow streets, dense gunfire illuminated the darkness. Large-caliber electromagnetic rifle bullets poured onto those few zerglings like a torrential rain.

Ding, ding, dang, dang.

A hopeless sound rang out. When the bullets hit those black carapaces, they only produced sparks; most were deflected, and only a very few could leave a white mark behind.

"What kind of hide is this? Even a bulletproof vest isn't this hard!" A squad leader gritted his teeth and pulled out the high-frequency vibration blade at his waist. "Melee team, with me! Cut off their legs!"

Over a dozen elite warriors wearing exoskeleton armor roared and charged forward.

But they underestimated the speed of these alien creatures.

The largest zergling kicked off with its hind legs, its body turning into an afterimage as it performed a mid-air change of direction that defied the laws of physics.

Kacha.

The squad leader had just raised his vibration blade when he was sent flying. A large hole had been corroded into the heavy armor on his chest, and green acid hissed as it burned right through his flesh.

"Captain!!"

"Don't worry about me! Grenades! Use the glory grenades!"

The squad leader spat out a mouthful of black blood and used his last bit of strength to pull the pin on the cluster high-explosive grenade on his chest, tightly hugging the zergling's leg.

"Go to hell! You bastards!"

Boom—!

The violent explosion sent a shockwave through the narrow corridor. As the dust cleared, the soldiers looked over with hope in their eyes.

The zergling had a leg blown off and half its body charred, but it was still alive. It let out a hissing screech as granulation tissue writhed frantically at the wound, beginning to heal within seconds. On the ground, only a pile of human ash remained.

"How... how do we fight this?" The remaining soldiers' hands were shaking.

Just then, a cold snort suddenly came through all the broadcast speakers.

It was Lin Yuan's voice.

"Move aside."

Only two words, yet they carried a pressure that made one want to bow down in worship.

The next second, all the automatic defense turrets in Section C that were on standby suddenly turned their muzzles, and their indicator lights instantly changed from warning yellow to a deep, bloody purple.

Zzzz—!

It wasn't conventional burst fire, but a continuous, overloaded high-energy beam.

The zerglings that were still flaunting their power didn't even have time to scream before they were enveloped by the purple light pillars. This time, there were no ricochets, no resistance. It was destructive energy imbued with void laws.

The insects' hard carapaces melted like snow and vaporized instantly.

"Touching my people on my turf." Lin Yuan's voice echoed in the channel, as cold as a block of iron just pulled from an ice cellar. "Who gave you the nerve?"

Although the internal zerglings had been cleared, the crisis was only just beginning.

"Boss, look up." Alita's voice was a bit strained.

Lin Yuan looked up through the holographic skylight toward outer space.

The sky had gone dark.

Not because night had fallen, but because the sun was being blocked out.

Countless black dots broke through the atmosphere; they were the main force of the Zerg Swarm. They didn't look like an army so much as a black torrential rain, smashing down toward Earth and covering the sky. Sunlight was completely cut off, and the entire world fell into gloom, with only the constantly flashing anti-aircraft fire providing a bit of light.

"Deploying global drone swarms for interception..."

"Computing power usage at 300%... Overload warning!"

"Interception rate below 40%! There are too many! There are just too many of them!"

Alita's face was pale. She was controlling hundreds of millions of drones in kamikaze strikes. The host's cooling fans were spinning with the roar of a helicopter, and one could even smell the scent of burnt graphics cards.

But in the face of that endless sea of insects, these efforts were like throwing sandbags into a tsunami.

"This is species suppression."

Academician Wang ran over drenched in sweat, clutching a freshly printed analysis report. "Boss, this isn't just a numbers game. Their evolutionary direction completely counters our mechanical technology. Metal is their food, and energy is their supplement. The steel torrent we take pride in is just a food delivery to them!"

Lin Yuan looked at the defensive lines being steadily consumed on the screen, his brow furrowed.

Indeed.

These bugs seemed specifically born to destroy mechanical civilizations. If they can't beat it, they eat it, and after eating, they evolve. This was practically cheating.

Just then, the system in Lin Yuan's mind, which had been playing dead, suddenly popped up.

[Ding!]

[Extremely high-quality bio-energy reaction detected.]

[Warning? No, this is not a warning. host, please wipe your drool.]

[Target Identification: High-purity protein aggregate, rich in active enzymes, rare void elements, and life essence. For 'titan fragrant rice,' this is top-tier organic fertilizer; for the host, this is a once-in-a-lifetime 'supplement' opportunity.]

[scavenger instinct awakened: How is this a natural disaster? This is clearly a buffet!]

Lin Yuan was stunned for a moment.

He looked at those hideous, acid-dripping bugs on the screen, and his heavy gaze gradually changed.

It wasn't fear, nor was it anger.

It was the look in the eyes of someone who hadn't eaten for three days seeing a whole roasted sheep.

His eyes were glowing green, even carrying a hint of kindness.

"Old Man Wang." Lin Yuan suddenly spoke, his tone carrying a trace of eerie excitement.

"Huh? Boss, tell me, is it time to initiate the self-destruct sequence?" Academician Wang was already trembling as he wrote his suicide note.

"Self-destruct my ass." Lin Yuan snatched the microphone from the console, a ferocious grin curling his lips. "Go, open all the energy recovery furnaces for me."

"Energy recovery furnaces? Those are for processing trash..."

"Right now, they are the trash!"

Lin Yuan strode to the command console, hands propped on the table, his reckless bandit energy exploding completely.

"Since they want to eat us, we'll turn the tables and eat them!"

"Pass down my order! All 'ecological greenhouses' are to start up immediately! Connect the nutrient solution pipes for the titan rice to the external recovery furnaces!"

"Don't just focus on blowing them up with anti-aircraft guns! Use the 'capture nets'! Use the traction beams! I want them dead or alive! As long as it's meat, drag it into the furnaces for me!"

"Tell the brothers not to treat this as a war. This is the heavens sending us rations! If anyone lets even one slip by, they don't get to eat tonight!"

Everyone in the command hall was dumbfounded.

The Zerg Swarm came to commit genocide, and you're treating them like food delivery?

But the boss had gone mad, so the subordinates could only follow suit.

In an instant, the tactical style on Earth's surface shifted abruptly.

The fire net that had been desperately blocking the swarm suddenly changed its rhythm. Countless massive mechanical arms and traction beams rose from the ground like greedy tentacles, actively reaching toward the swarms in the sky.

The insects that were diving didn't even have time to react before they were covered by high-strength nano-nets and forcibly dragged into the giant, glowing red furnaces that had opened their maws.

Zzzzzzz—!

After a round of tooth-gritting grinding sounds, pure bio-energy liquid glowing with blue light sprayed out from the other end of the furnaces.

This energy liquid flowed through the pipes, being continuously delivered into the underground ecological greenhouses.

Visible to the naked eye, the 'titan fragrant rice' that originally needed another month to ripen began to grow and head frantically after absorbing this energy, the ears of rice turning so golden they almost dripped with oil.

"Holy crap! It actually works!" Academician Wang looked at the data sheet, so excited his dentures almost flew out. "Energy conversion rate 98%! These bugs are practically walking nuclear batteries!"

"I told you so." Lin Yuan licked his lips, looking at the screen full of red dots as if he were looking at flying banknotes. "The sun is a good thing, but these bugs are even better."

Just as Lin Yuan was about to order an increase in 'restocking' efforts...

Zzzz—

Global communication channels were suddenly cut off by a wave of intense interference.

Immediately following that, a massive, enchanting figure—half-human, half-insect—was forcibly projected onto every screen on Earth.

The Zerg Queen.

She lay lazily on her throne, toying with a still-beating human heart in her hand. Her purple slit pupils stared fixedly at Lin Yuan through the screen with endless mockery and contempt.

"Fragile carbon-based monkeys."

Her voice was slimy and cold, like a venomous snake slithering into one's ears. "Are you still making futile struggles? Your tin cans are as laughably fragile as paper before my children."

The Queen stuck out her scarlet tongue, licked the corner of her mouth, and revealed a row of fine, sharp shark-like teeth.

"I'll give you a chance."

"Kneel, crawl over here, and hand over that 'Key'."

"Perhaps... I will consider making you my male consort, letting you watch how this planet turns into my excrement."

The entire globe fell into a dead silence.

This kind of dimension-stripping humiliation from a higher life form made everyone's heart feel as though it were being squeezed by a giant hand.

Lin Yuan looked at the arrogant Queen on the screen and suddenly laughed.

He unhurriedly pulled a toothpick from his pocket, stuck it in his mouth, and then spoke into the microphone, giving a reply that silenced the entire universe.

"Auntie, you've got a very unique look, and your imagination is even wilder."

"But seeing as you've got plenty of meat on you, I might consider giving you the choice between 'spicy' and 'garlic-flavored'."