7: Chapter 7: The First Queen Insect Emerges from its Cocoon; The Empire's Nightmare Officially Begins

The pupa pulsed in the deepest part of the hatchery.

This was a structure more complex than any Zerg embryo. The pupal wall had three layers—the outermost layer was a hardened chitinous shell, covered in a fine crystal lattice structure, homologous to the Chaos repulsion factor on the Zergling carapace; the middle layer was a gelatinous sac for buffering, capable of absorbing physical shocks and energy fluctuations from the outside; the innermost layer was a nutrient membrane directly wrapping the Brood Queen's body, where every capillary was delivering genetically modified nutrient fluid to the developing Brood Queen.

The body within the pupa had completed the construction of its main framework. The Brood Queen's size was between that of a Zergling and a Hydralisk, but the complexity of its nervous system exceeded the sum of all current Zerg units. Beneath its head carapace was an expansive Hive Mind node—not a terminal, but a relay station. This node could establish secondary communication links between the Overmind and the frontline The Swarm; when the Overmind needed to command multiple battlefields simultaneously, the Brood Queen could serve as an acting command core for a local theater of war.

This was the first time The Swarm had attempted hierarchical command in the Warhammer 40K universe.

The Overmind focused all its attention on this pupa.

The Brood Queen's genetic template had undergone over three hundred iterations of revision. The initial version was merely an enlargement of the Zergling's nervous system, which failed—the information processing capability was insufficient to support local command. Subsequent versions successively incorporated neural synaptic growth factors extracted from the remains of human Psykers, Warp signal shielding sequences reverse-engineered from the energy residues of a Keeper of Secrets, and anti-Psyker crystal lattice structures extended from the Chaos repulsion factor.

This final structure was the greatest breakthrough.

While analyzing the crystalline remains of a Psyker, the Overmind discovered a key principle: the essence of a Psyker attack was the projection of Warp energy onto a target to alter the target's material structure in the real world. The reason the Zergling's Chaos repulsion factor was effective was that its crystal lattice structure could deflect Chaos energy. By the same principle, if a crystal lattice structure specifically designed to deflect Warp energy projections could be designed, Zerg units would be able to gain defensive capabilities against Psyker attacks.

Of course, deflection was not immunity. A sufficiently powerful Psyker could still penetrate this defense, just as a sufficiently sharp blade could still cut through a carapace. But at least, Zerg units would no longer be compressed into balls of flesh by a Chaos Psyker with a single hand, as in the last battle.

The Brood Queen's body within the pupa was absorbing these final results of genetic modification. The nutrient membrane slowly contracted, injecting the last batch of adjusted stem cells into the Brood Queen's nervous system. The carapace began to harden layer by layer from head to tail, and the newly grown carapace presented an unprecedented color—not the deep purple of a Zergling, nor the dark brown of a Hydralisk, but a nearly metallic gray-purple, with a faint luster flowing across its surface.

That was the macroscopic manifestation of the anti-Psyker crystal lattice structure in the carapace.

The Overmind calculated the incubation progress: ninety-seven percent. The Brood Queen's physiological structure was complete; the final three percent was the initialization of the consciousness node—connecting the Brood Queen's neural center to the Hive Mind network.

This process required extreme caution. The Brood Queen's neural center was far more complex than that of ordinary Zerg units; if the connection speed was too fast, the consciousness node might collapse under the torrent of information from the Hive Mind. If the connection was too slow, the Brood Queen might develop a brief independent consciousness during the initialization phase—a risk The Swarm had to avoid. The unified will of The Swarm could not tolerate division; even a single millisecond of independent consciousness was an unacceptable gap.

The Overmind chose an extremely slow connection speed.

The Brood Queen's consciousness node was like a seed slowly immersed in water—inch by inch, neuron by neuron, it connected to the Hive Mind. The Brood Queen's initial consciousness began to take shape: not an independent "I," but an extension port of the Overmind's will. The Brood Queen could feel its own body, process the information assigned to it, and make tactical decisions, but it would not generate the question "Who am I?" Because every one of its neurons was answering that question—

You are The Swarm. The Swarm is you.

Ninety-nine percent.

The connection entered its final stage.

Just then, an abnormal signal came from the direction of the crypt's iron cage.

Caroline Valen was attempting to break out of prison.

She was using a dagger—that military-issue combat knife used to cut open supply sacs.

The lock on the iron cage was a mechanical lock that Chaos Cultists had dismantled from the Hive City Ruins, crude but sturdy. The lock core had long been rusted and corroded by corruption energy. Caroline probed the keyhole with the tip of the knife; the residual creep nutrient fluid on the blade acted as a lubricant, and the knife tip made almost no sound as it turned in the keyhole.

"You're crazy," the One-eyed Sergeant crouched beside her, lowering his voice. "Those bugs are right outside."

"Those bugs aren't moving right now." Caroline didn't stop her movements. Her left hand stump was still bleeding, but the energy provided by the nutrient fluid had restored much of her strength, and her originally pale lips regained some color. She braced her shoulder against the iron cage bars to increase the angle of her wrist rotation. "If we wait until they move, we'll never have a chance again."

"A chance? What chance?"

"You saw what they did with the Chaos Cultists' loot." Caroline's voice dropped even lower. "The bodies were piled together, but they weren't eaten. Those purple creep bypassed the bodies corrupted by Chaos and only ate clean biomass. What can you tell from this?"

The One-eyed Sergeant was silent for two seconds: "They're picky eaters."

"No." Caroline raised her eyes. "They're classifying. They know Chaos cannot be touched. This is a behavioral system with rules, not instinct-driven predation. Having rules means there is logic. Having logic means it can be deceived."

The tip of the knife reached a gap deep in the lock core—a crack corroded by Chaos energy. She carefully turned the knife tip, using the principle of leverage to pry the rusted springs inside the lock core.

Click.

The lock opened.

Caroline didn't push the door open immediately but observed the Zerglings outside through the gaps in the iron cage bars. The two Zerglings remained motionless. A Hydralisk was coiled at the entrance of the crypt, its bone spines retracted into the gaps of its carapace. The purple glimmer of the creep breathed quietly in the darkness.

"Now," she whispered, "walk slowly. Don't look at them. Go straight to the upper level of the crypt. We'll find the ventilation ducts and climb back to the surface—"

"And then what?" the One-eyed Sergeant asked.

"Then build a fire. Tell the fleet we're here."

"And then the fleet will blow us up along with them." The One-eyed Sergeant was not asking a question, but stating a fact. "The Inquisition's standard procedure for those who have had contact with Xenos is isolation and interrogation. If there is suspicion of corruption, immediate purging; if there is doubt, life imprisonment awaiting review. We've been fed by Xenos and spoken to them—how do you think the Inquisition will treat us?"

Caroline didn't speak. She pushed open the iron cage door.

The other ten civilians in the cage did not follow. The old miner looked up, glanced at Caroline, then at the purple creep outside the iron cage, and shook his head. The rest of the civilians huddled in the corners; some were whispering prayers, some were crying silently. They chose to stay in the cage.

Because they had seen with their own eyes The Swarm tear Chaos apart in the crypt. In their eyes, the purple bugs were not the enemy—Chaos was. The cage had once been a prison that confined them, but now it had become a sanctuary protecting them. This was an absurd logic, but after days of imprisonment and witnessing the Chaos rituals, the survivors' brains no longer operated according to normal logic.

Caroline glanced at the old miner and didn't try to persuade him again. She stood up, holding onto the bars, dragging her weak, blood-loss-stricken body, and slowly walked out of the iron cage door. The One-eyed Sergeant hesitated for two seconds, then finally followed.

His reason was—stay together, right or wrong, just stay together.

They had only taken ten steps out of the iron cage when they were blocked by a Zerg unit they had never seen before.

It did not attack immediately. It simply moved to the exit of the passage, blocking the path forward. Its movements were extremely precise—it blocked the path exactly before the humans could take a step, not an inch more, not an inch less.

Subsequently, two Zerglings flanked them from the sides, cutting off their retreat.

The encirclement was complete.

"Fine." Caroline's voice was trembling, but her tone was relatively steady. "It anticipated us." Her right hand gripped the dagger tightly; she didn't throw it away, but she also knew it was useless. "It hasn't relaxed its vigilance from the very beginning—it has been watching all along."

The Zerglings didn't pounce but merely blockaded. Caroline stared at them, a strange feeling rising in her heart—these bugs didn't seem to be hunting. It was more like they were escorting.

They were going to send us back.

"What are you?" she suddenly asked the Brood Queen blocking the way. "You're smarter than them, aren't you?"

The Brood Queen did not answer this philosophical question. But it moved—it turned to one side of the passage and slowly crawled toward the iron cage. The meaning was clear: go back.

This was an order, not an invitation.

Caroline took a deep breath and put away the dagger. She had already obtained the answer from her testing—these purple bugs did not intend to kill her, at least not for now. They didn't want anyone to escape to the surface and expose their location, but they also didn't want to waste these useful human captives.

"Fine." She turned around, dragged her feet back to the iron cage, and closed the cage door again, her movements very calm. The One-eyed Sergeant followed behind her, sat down on the ground after the door was closed, his single eye revealing an indescribable, complex emotion—perhaps the realization that he was still alive, but not sure if being alive was a good thing.

When the Overmind received the complete information transmitted by the Brood Queen, the Brood Queen had not yet completed the final initialization connection. This series of blockade actions was autonomously executed by the Brood Queen when the connection rate was 99.7%—its consciousness node was already mature enough to make tactical decisions without the Overmind directly issuing commands.

This was a feature within the design. But what satisfied the Overmind was: the Brood Queen's decision was completely consistent with the Overmind's judgment. It was not obedience, not guessing, but that every logical derivation step of the Brood Queen overlapped with the Overmind's mental model. The Brood Queen did not choose to attack, but chose to blockade—this was exactly the choice the Overmind would have made.

One hundred percent. Connection complete.

The Brood Queen's consciousness node was fully lit up within the Hive Mind network. It was a new node, brighter than any Zergling, Hydralisk, or Drone; it was the first avatar of the Overmind's will, a secondary command core capable of handling a local battlefield on its own.

The Overmind incorporated the Brood Queen into the command sequence and assigned its first mission: take over the garrison of the crypt stronghold. This included guarding the twelve human captives in the iron cage, the expansion of the creep in the underground tunnels, and the dispatch of all reconnaissance units in the area above the surface.

The Overmind itself could then focus its energy on a more macro-strategic level—genetic research, the expansion direction of The Swarm, and threat assessment of the Imperial Fleet.

The Brood Queen accepted the mission. There was no response of "Yes" or "Understood," because it was part of the Overmind.

The moment the Brood Queen took over command, all Zerg units in the crypt made minute adjustments: the patrol routes of the Zerglings were synchronously optimized, the vigilance angles of the Hydralisks were redistributed, and the expansion direction of the creep precisely bypassed areas that might contain residual Chaos corruption, freeing up more space for the genetic analysis sacs.

These adjustments were completed independently by the Brood Queen. It took less than three seconds.

The Overmind watched all this, with no pride in its heart—because The Swarm would not be proud of efficiency. Efficiency was the instinct of The Swarm. Efficiency was as it should be.

The influx speed of real-time battlefield data began to accelerate. The Brood Queen began to organize and classify all information before transmitting it to the Overmind, and the information flow efficiency was improved by a full hundred percent compared to before.

Above the surface, the night sky was illuminated by three dim satellites. The creep had spread to the outskirts of the Hive City Ruins—that steel megastructure, cleaved open by a single strike, was silent in the night, and the smooth cross-section that split it reflected the faint fluorescence of the creep like a mirror.

The Brood Queen took over the reconnaissance Zerglings on the surface. It drove two Zerglings across the creep boundary, advancing toward the depths of the Hive City Ruins. The interior of the Hive City was a vertical city ruin, with layers upon layers of residential units, factories, pipes, and churches piled up into a silent giant tower. On the broken cross-section, one could see architectural layers of different eras—the bottom layer was a functionalist concrete structure from the colonial era, the middle layer was decorative spires and columns from the Golden Age of the Empire, and the top layer was a strange, asymmetrical architectural style. These layers were pressed together, blurring time.

There was a faint vital sign signal in the deepest part.

It was not a Chaos Cultist. It was not human. The signal was weaker, older, like something forgotten. It was buried deep underground at the very bottom of the Hive City, buried in a place deeper than the crypt.

The Brood Queen marked the coordinates, waiting for the Overmind's decision.

The Overmind's consciousness lingered on the coordinates for a second. Deep in the Hive City Ruins, a place not even the Chaos Cultists had touched, a more ancient life signal. It was worth investigating.

"Investigation approved. Mobilize a reconnaissance squad: two Zerglings, one Drone. Do not disturb, only observe."

The Brood Queen executed.

Two reconnaissance Zerglings crossed the creep boundary, silently slipping into the shadows of the Hive City Ruins. On their carapaces, the anti-Psyker crystal lattice structures reflected a very faint metallic luster under the satellite light—this was a sign of a new evolutionary stage for The Swarm.

In the distance, in the direction of the planet's orbit, a faint Warp fluctuation had just dissipated. A black ship of the Imperial Inquisition was exiting the Warp.

The countdown had begun.