20: Chapter 20 Purchasing Gene Maps and Incubating an Army of Lurkers
That newborn poisonous lake was reshaping the ecology of the Divine Realm with a domineering posture.
The lake water was no longer water, but a thick, churning, wretched green liquid filled with lethal bubbles. A sweet, fishy toxic mist drifted above the lake, intertwining with the crimson sky to form an eerie yet magnificent doomsday scene.
Under the continuous erosion, the land by the lake emitted a faint, dense sizzling sound, carbonizing and blackening inch by inch until it finally turned into scorched earth.
This land of destruction, however, caused Queen of Blades Sarah in the distance to let out a satisfied low moan.
The bone wings on her back opened and closed excitedly, each flap creating a slight current of air. Her deep purple pupils stared intently at that wretched green lake, as if gazing at a holy land leading to a higher level of life. The longing coming from deep within her genes was like hundreds of millions of ants gnawing at her soul, urging her to plunge into that cradle where destruction and rebirth intertwined.
Su Chen's consciousness withdrew from this heart-palpitating scenery.
The transformation of the poisonous hatching pool was complete, and Sarah's next evolution was secured. However, a single powerful hero unit could not constitute a complete defensive line.
Although he hadn't sold that priceless poisonous water essence pearl.
The equipment dropped by those five Plague Acolytes earlier, along with the tough thick hide and venomous fangs stripped from that elite-level Tyrant Leech, still constituted a significant amount of loot.
Su Chen's consciousness sank into the vast sea of data that was the Myriad Worlds Trading House.
Without any redundant browsing or a moment's hesitation, his will precisely selected the junk that was useless to him and directly put it on the fire-sale list.
The next second.
A cold system notification sounded in his mind.
“Ding! Transaction successful! You have obtained 32 million Power Of Faith!”
A string of cold numbers transformed into a majestic torrent, surging into Su Chen's divine core.
That wasn't money; it was pure energy, the fuel that drove the Zerg Swarm's war machine, and the lever that could move the rules of the world.
Thirty-two million!
Holding this sum of Power Of Faith, which could be considered a fortune, Su Chen's thinking speed accelerated to the limit.
“Shopping mode” was activated once again.
His consciousness hovered over the battlefield of the Divine Realm like a precision tactical analyzer, replaying every detail of the previous swamp battle over and over.
In the air, Mutalisks tore through the sky.
On the ground, leviathan behemoths rampaged.
The Zerg Swarm's offensive system had begun to take shape—sharp and lethal.
But on the defensive end, a fatal gap was exposed.
The entrance to his Divine Realm, that vast expanse of yellow sand, was almost undefended. Once an enemy broke through the external reconnaissance, they could drive straight in and reach the heart of the Hive.
“The previous Crypt Spikers were just temporary evolutionary forms; their gene chains were extremely unstable and couldn't serve as permanent defensive units.”
Su Chen's will coldly analyzed his own weaknesses.
He needed a unit... that could blend into the environment and deliver a fatal blow to intruders.
A killing machine specifically born for positional warfare and ambushes.
He skillfully opened the Gene Map section.
It was a magnificent interface beyond description, with countless brilliant points of light floating in a dark background. Each point of light represented the complete genetic sequence of a species, connected to one another to form a vast and boundless star map of life.
Su Chen's will was like a bolt of lightning, flashing past the dim points representing low-tier and conventional troops, heading straight for the deep regions where high-tier units were located.
Soon, his search paused.
A genetic sequence emitting a dark glow captured his full attention.
[Item]: Rank 5 · Crypt Piercer (Lurker) Gene Map.
[Description]: A classic Zerg defensive unit. Its unique biological structure allows it to bury itself completely underground, merging with the earth and making it nearly impossible to detect through conventional means. When enemies enter its attack range, it instantly fires ultra-high-pressure hardened spines from underground, dealing devastating piercing strikes to rows of ground units.
[Price]: 15 million Power Of Faith!
Su Chen's will lingered on the words “devastating strikes” for a tenth of a second.
He could already envision countless enemies confidently stepping into a seemingly safe area, only to have their bodies pinned to the earth by bone spikes erupting from beneath their feet in the next moment.
That image was filled with the unique bloody aesthetic of the Zerg.
“Take it!”
This time, Su Chen's will didn't even produce an emotional ripple called “hesitation.”
The command to confirm the purchase was sent.
The string of 32 million in his divine core was instantly reduced by nearly half.
Immediately after, he invested another 10 million Power Of Faith into the resource market. Like a whale swallowing water, he directly teleported massive amounts of high-tier earth-type ores and high-energy biomass into the Hive's resource bank.
After doing all this, only 7 million Power Of Faith remained in his account.
But there was no ripple in Su Chen's consciousness.
Numbers were just numbers.
Only when converted into claws and fangs that could tear enemies apart did they become true power.
“Hive, load the new gene!”
Su Chen's will turned into a thunderous command, poured directly into the core of the Planet-grade Hive.
“Hatch two thousand Lurkers for me!”
“Buzz—”
The silent Planet-grade Hive, like an awakened ancient behemoth, let out a low rumble. Countless biological conduits lit up instantly as majestic energy surged through them. The massive amount of ores and biomass just purchased were thrown into a giant biological furnace, decomposed, reorganized, and turned into the purest nutrient solution.
The new Gene Map was loaded, analyzed, and then branded into every hatching chamber.
Three days later.
At the entrance of the Divine Realm, upon the yellow sand illuminated by the crimson sky into a shade of dark gold.
The ground began to tremble slightly.
Beneath the sand layer came a series of tooth-aching “clack-clack” sounds, as if some massive creatures were about to break through the soil.
“Poof!”
“Poof! Poof!”
Sand dunes were pushed open from the inside, and two thousand hideous and terrifying creatures slowly crawled out from beneath the sand.
They looked like giant spiders magnified hundreds of times, but were even more fearsome. Eight thick limbs supported a massive body covered in heavy carapace, and their entire bodies were covered in barbs that shimmered with a metallic cold light. Their heads had no facial features, only a smooth piece of carapace reflecting a dark light.
These were the Crypt Piercers, the Zerg Swarm's hidden assassins.
They didn't emit any roars, silently executing the orders from the supreme will.
The two thousand Lurkers swarmed like a tide toward the only path leading into the Divine Realm. Then, one by one, they began to dig into the sand with their sharp limbs.
Their bodies slowly sank, covered by the shifting sands.
A few seconds later.
As the back carapace of the last Lurker disappeared below the horizon, the entire sandy area returned to its previous level state.
The wind blew, kicking up a cloud of dust and erasing all traces.
There was no sign of anything unusual here.
A deathly silence.
But Su Chen's will could clearly “see” that beneath that layer of sand, two thousand killing machines had merged with the earth. Their biological radars were active, and their spine-launching chambers were loaded, waiting only for a command or a reckless intruder.
This seemingly safe sandy ground had turned into an absolute death zone.
Should any non-Zerg unit dare to step into this area.
What awaited them would be thousands of hellish spikes erupting without warning from beneath their feet!
“This is what you call catching a rat in a trap.”
Su Chen's will looked down upon this rock-solid defensive line and let out a satisfied soft sound. It felt like a chess player who had just placed a checkmate move.
Only now could I be considered to have truly gained a firm foothold.