83: Chapter 84 Ufu's Mother

The three words "Nest King Platform" had just stabilized and shone in the Sea of Consciousness when those three trays of specially nurtured eggs deep within the Brood Nursery Court suddenly sank simultaneously!

Wu Fu's expression changed abruptly. She clutched the egg tray in her arms and turned to dash off, the nest silk behind her tail snapping and crackling in the air without a moment's hesitation.

Lu Jin and Grey Pupil followed closely behind. As soon as they stepped into the Brood Nursery Court, they saw that several incubation pools, which were kept warm all year round, had dimmed by half, and even the fire patterns on the pool edges were shivering slightly.

The Work Rats had completely lost their footing—some were still standing blankly, delivering paste to the pools, while others were at a loss, clutching bone powder materials. Even the most composed Nest-Paste Worker Rats were circling the edge of the Main Nest pool, their whiskers trembling so hard they were on the verge of snapping.

Wu Fu crouched down and reached toward the pool water. As soon as her fingertips touched the surface of the paste, her eyes instantly turned cold as ice: "The fire is being pulled out! All three sides are competing for fire, and the paste can't be delivered into the pool!"

Lu Jin saw the key to the problem at a glance: the multi-nest skeleton had just been connected, and the Main Nest, Post Station, and Fire Well were all competing for power. The Brood Nursery Court's original path, which was only meant to support one fortress, could no longer withstand the tug-of-war from these three sides. There was enough fire and enough paste, but they just couldn't reach where they needed to go!

Grey Pupil stood behind her, tapping his ritual staff lightly against the ground, his tone muffled and heavy: "The Nest King Platform is calling her."

Wu Fu whipped her head around, her grey-gold pupils shining frighteningly bright: "I heard it!"

On the way back from the Post Station, that silent call had never stopped. The bones of the entire old nest were radiating heat onto her, drilling inward along the incubation pools, egg trays, and bone grooves, illuminating the family assets she had accumulated for years until a layer of ancient patterns emerged—that was the mark of a Brood Nursery Court Overseer.

Wu Fu stood up abruptly, her voice sharp and crisp as a blade, without a single word of nonsense: "Seal Pool No. 3! Remove half of Egg Tray No. 5 and send it to the Post Station branch nest entrance! Swap Bone Groove No. 2 for fine bone powder to save fire!"

The Work Rats immediately scrambled into action, but Lu Jin did not relax—he knew too well that Wu Fu was dismantling her own foundation to forcefully sustain the consumption of all three sides!

"How much more is needed?" Lu Jin asked in a deep voice.

Wu Fu pressed her lips together, speaking at high speed: "It won't be a problem to hold until tonight, but if the Bridge Belly and Fire Well come for another round of hard charging, the troop replenishment will definitely break! If it breaks even once, that branch nest at the Post Station will be useless!"

After she finished speaking, her gaze passed over Lu Jin, staring fixedly at the newly lit empty nest hall deep within her Sea of Consciousness: "Take me down!"

Lu Jin did not stop her, and Grey Pupil tacitly agreed. The three of them walked down along the new stone path at the very bottom of the Main Nest. The further in they went, the older the fire and the heavier the atmosphere. Passing through incubation pools, troop grooves, and storage caverns, that empty nest hall was finally revealed in its entirety before them.

The Nest King Platform stood in the hall; it was not large, entirely grey-black, like an old mother stone that had been repeatedly scorched and cooled by fire. Yet, in the groove at the center of the platform, a red-black core the size of a fist lay quietly, wrapped in a layer of unwashed grey film, like a heart that had been stifled in ash for too long and had just begun to breathe again.

Wu Fu's breathing suddenly lightened, her voice trembling: "Royal Court Breeding Core!"

"Spit out by the Nest King Platform," Grey Pupil's eyes darkened, "but the dirty things on you haven't dissipated; you can't touch it."

Wu Fu ignored him and reached out to touch it, but as soon as her fingertips touched the grey film, a trace of extremely thin black energy crawled up along her wrist bone! Her shoulders tightened, and the brightness in her eyes flickered for an instant.

Lu Jin stepped forward and clamped his hand tightly around her wrist: "Don't rush!"

"It recognizes me!" Wu Fu gritted her teeth, her voice raspy, "Even if it bites me, this thing still belongs to the Brood Nursery Court!"

Lu Jin's gaze fell on the crook of her forearm—a line of pale black markings emerged there, curling like a tiny worm before fading away. That was an old injury left from previously forcefully consuming highly polluted materials and suppressing a Spore-Plague Explosive Rat. It usually hid deep, but it revealed itself the moment she touched the Royal Court Breeding Core.

"If you activate it now, frontline troop replenishment will slow down by a whole day. Can you handle it?" Lu Jin's tone was flat, yet it struck at the heart of the matter.

Wu Fu didn't even think about it, her tone fierce and resolute: "Even if I can't handle it, I have to activate it! I can guard the incubation pools, but I can't guard three nest points! If we drag this out, the Post Station branch nest will be ruined, and the Fire Well will only be able to send fire, not raise troops!"

She paused, the urgency in her eyes receding, becoming even steadier instead: "Lu Jin, what I want isn't to hatch a few more trays of eggs; it's to twist these hands, these trays, and these empty cavities into a single life!"

Lu Jin let go of her hand and uttered only one word: "Activate."

Grey Pupil did not stop her either, raising his hand to draw a small pinch of Royal Court fire ash from his grey box, smearing it carefully onto the outer layer of the breeding core. Forced back by the fire, the black energy slowly receded, and the red-black core finally revealed the warm, dark red within, making Wu Fu's eyes light up.

"Give me more!"

"The Priest Court also needs to survive." Grey Pupil retorted coldly, refusing to yield even a little. Wu Fu gritted her teeth, but in the end, she held back—she knew that Grey Pupil was telling the truth.

Afterward, Wu Fu did not delegate to anyone, personally reorganizing the Brood Nursery Court.

All six incubation pools were re-arranged by her; the old paste was dumped, the turbid bones were sifted clean, and she even picked through every layer of the egg trays to decide which to keep and which to discard. When a Work Rat brought a tray of finely minced meat, she lowered her head to smell it, her brows knitting instantly, and she waved it aside: "Feed this tray to the outer ring miscellaneous troops; the fire scent is too scattered and will muddy the paste color of the Main Nest pool!"

As soon as the clean ash bricks brought by the Rat-folk Old Craftsman were set in place, she picked out the two with the most even edges and personally slotted them into the groove of Vice Pool No. 3: "Save these two for the branch nest turntable; using them to pad the wall is a waste!"

Grey Pupil watched from the side, murmuring softly: "She really acts like a manager today."

Lu Jin did not respond, only watching quietly—at this moment, Wu Fu was like a different person. Usually, she protected the nest and was greedy for materials, her eyes lighting up whenever she saw good things; but now, she stared at every pool and every portion of paste. Her greed hadn't diminished, but she was calculating much more meticulously. Which tray to keep for the Main Nest, which to send to the Post Station, and which thin groove could accommodate a Work Rat—she saw it all clearly with a single glance.

Soon, the Main Nest pool in the Brood Nursery Court was completely cleared. As soon as the Royal Court Breeding Core sank in, the entire pool instantly fell silent, and immediately afterward, all six incubation pools lit up with nest patterns simultaneously!

Wu Fu stood in the center of the pool, the nest silks behind her rising one by one, like a thin umbrella suddenly opened. The skeletons that had just been connected on the three sides—Main Nest, Post Station branch nest, and Outer Fire Well—lit up all the way into her Sea of Consciousness along the nest silks—this force was even more intense than when she had connected the multi-nest skeleton earlier!

That time, it was the skeleton being pushed in; this time, it was the entire breeding line being pressed in!

Wu Fu's shoulders and back tensed abruptly, sweat instantly seeping from her temples. The old injuries in her body were stimulated by the breeding core and all surged to the surface; grey-black thin lines crawled up her neck, and even the tip of her tail stiffened. The Work Rats were so frightened they all stopped. Grey Pupil immediately raised his ritual staff and reminded her in a deep voice: "The dirty ash inside her is churning!"

But Lu Jin did not move—he saw it clearly: Wu Fu was still standing, the fire in her eyes hadn't dissipated, and her hands hadn't faltered!

The next second, Wu Fu's voice rang out, raspy but shockingly fast: "Stop the paste in thin groove No. 7, deliver bone powder first! Keep one tray at the Post Station branch nest entrance, no overeating allowed! Open the gate for Vice Pool No. 3 in the Main Nest, and divert half of last night's whole-bone paste to the outer ring!"

With these few commands, the entire Brood Nursery Court instantly found its axis! The Work Rats returned to their respective positions, the Nest-Paste Worker Rats turned around to redirect the paste, and the egg trays at the Post Station branch nest also obediently reined in their power, leaving only the most stable nest patterns to consume the materials.

Lu Jin's eyes shifted—this was no longer just simple "raising," it was "regulating"! While enduring the excruciating pain of ascending in rank, she was forcibly pressing the rhythm of frontline troop replenishment, material storage, and branch nest management into a single line!

But the pressure from the breeding core continued to rise. Wu Fu's chest heaved violently, a trace of dark blood seeping from the corner of her lips, and the grey-black old markings took the opportunity to surge upward, looking as if they were about to crawl into her eyes.

No one expected that she would turn around and send all three of her most cherished trays of specially nurtured eggs into the Main Nest pool in one go!

The Work Rats were all stunned—those were the family assets that Wu Fu usually wouldn't even let anyone take a second glance at!

"What are you looking at!" Wu Fu roared, her eyes shining with ferocity, "Can good things hatch cubs if you clutch them to death in your hands? Spin it for me!"

At this scolding, even Grey Pupil paused. The Royal Court Breeding Core in the Main Nest pool seemed to be struck by her ferocity, instantly lighting up entirely!

It wasn't just the Main Nest pool that lit up—the egg trays at the Post Station branch nest were the first to have their fire returned, the nest patterns in the storage caverns behind the Main Nest followed suit, and the thin grooves of the Outer Fire Well were also covered by the nest light. The Work Rats delivering clean ash felt their steps lighten, and their speed increased by half a notch!

Just at this moment, a rapid, short cry from a Night Wing came from the Bridge Belly—someone was testing the line on the front line!

Wen Zhao's line-marking signal immediately pressed into the Sea of Consciousness: "Two small teams have arrived at the Outer Fire Well, bringing native Night Beasts to scout the path!"

Qiao Ye's roar was even more direct, shaking the Sea of Consciousness: "Hurry up in the back! I'm almost running out of shield replenishment!"

The atmosphere in the Brood Nursery Court tightened to its limit!

The grey-black markings in Wu Fu's eyes crawled to their deepest, but she didn't cover her wounds or seek stability; instead, she lifted her head, carrying the entire Brood Nursery Court on her single breath.

"Bone Groove No. 2, connect to the Post Station! Remove half of Egg Tray No. 4, go through the thin groove! Stop hatching for outer ring low-consumption troops, prioritize bone armor replenishment! Divide the Work Rats into three teams: deliver paste, deliver bone, and guard the Main Nest—each to their own duties!"

She spoke faster and faster, yet her voice became steadier and steadier. Her orders flew along the nest silks to all three sides, and the Main Nest, Post Station, and Fire Well responded almost simultaneously! The Work Rats diverted themselves, the vice pools automatically switched paste, and even that small branch nest at the Post Station learned to consume materials first and store paste later, without a hint of chaos.

Lu Jin saw it clearly: the nest silk "umbrella" behind Wu Fu was extending outward—it was no longer just covering one pool; it had begun to cover the people, the materials, and the entire line!

Grey Pupil suddenly spoke in a low voice, his tone like he was reciting an ancient ritual text: "Those who hold the nest entrance, divide trays, set paste, regulate eggs, guard the mother line..."

Before the words faded, a layer of fire patterns crawled out on its own from the old wall deep within the Brood Nursery Court, climbing up along Wu Fu's feet, all the way to behind her shoulders, finally condensing into two ancient, heavy characters—Brood Mother Overseer!

Wu Fu's whole body shuddered slightly. When she opened her eyes again, the grey-black markings in her eyes had been suppressed to the deepest depths, and her pupil color had changed; there was an extra layer of steady, dark red within the grey-gold, and her gaze toward the incubation pools and nest silks held an unprecedented sense of "proper placement."

Grey Pupil exhaled slowly, finishing the second half of the sentence: "Overseer-level hero... Brood Nursery Court Overseer."

The scouting team outside had just crashed into the edge of the Post Station. But this time, Wu Fu didn't rely on temporary paste extraction to force a replenishment; she simply raised her hand lightly—the egg tray at the Post Station branch nest immediately spat out a small group of new troops. The number wasn't large, but it was perfectly timed, filling Qiao Ye's gap exactly!

The thin grooves of the Fire Well simultaneously delivered the second batch of bone powder and clean ash. The replenishment materials for Wen Zhao, which were nearly bottoming out, were instantly topped up, and the Night Wing's empty markers stabilized as well.

In the Sea of Consciousness, Qiao Ye froze for a moment, then roared even louder: "It's here! This time it came just right!"

Wen Zhao also replied with only two words, but they carried stability: "Enough."

The breath that had been held in the Brood Nursery Court finally settled by half. But Wu Fu didn't relax in the slightest. She looked down at her palm—a trace of pale black was still hidden deep within the fine lines, but she just raised her hand indifferently and turned to look at Lu Jin.

"The Main Nest will only keep the base trays today. Open up that empty space on the rear beam of the Post Station for me."

"You just ascended in rank, rest for a moment," Lu Jin advised.

Wu Fu glared at him on the spot: "Rest for what? Will the egg trays wait for me? Will the front line wait for me?"

She raised her finger and pointed toward the front of the Sea of Consciousness, to that empty dark area behind the Post Station. Her voice was not loud, but it was pressed so that the entire Brood Nursery Court could hear it—

"First Nest Order."

"Post Station rear beam, Second Sub-nest Site, start the trays!"