156: Chapter 156 Zerg Pilot

When the two chief experts of the Fire Seed Shelter, Stone Man Hong and Iron Man 73, these two existences representing the peak computing power of the Golden Age, joined forces to conduct a biological project, the progress they made was astonishing.

During these few days when the players were frantically clearing out the Abyss Prison...

By extracting from those fresh Genestealer corpses, Hong completely deconstructed the underlying genetic code of this swarm vanguard in less than a week.

By the second week, the laboratory had already begun using nutrient solutions to conduct culture tests on localized living tissue.

By the third week, Hong had already mastered the cultivation techniques to replicate the various bodily systems of the Tyranids.

When Lin Li received the [Invitation to Test the First Flesh Mecha Prototype] sent by Hong, who was conducting research far away on the Prison Planet, exactly one month had passed.

And at this time,

Lin Li was not at the Shelter's surface camp; he was inspecting the first Hope Academy that had just been completed in Shahe Town.

Standing at the back of the classroom, Lin Li felt a sense of gratification as he looked at the indigenous students sitting in front of the wooden desks.

Hope Academy was divided into adult classes and children's classes.

The adult classes were held in the evening, mainly providing basic literacy courses and some simple physical common sense.

The daytime children's classes, however, had a much more hardcore curriculum.

Aside from basic literacy classes, the rest of the time was entirely dedicated to teaching mathematics, as well as the foundations of physics, chemistry, and biology derived from mathematics.

Lin Li knew very well that scientific literacy was the core fuel to light up the civilization's technology tree.

Of course,

Since this universe harbored the lethal threat of Warp demons from an idealistic dimension,

To prevent the indigenous people from developing evil thoughts and falling into corruption after acquiring knowledge, they had to take a religious class on the Imperial Truth and faith in the God-Emperor every single day without fail.

Although Lin Li, as a modern person, was highly averse to this kind of religious brainwashing,

in the Warhammer universe, this was one of the few defensive measures ordinary mortals had to resist demonic corruption.

Although the Blackstone Matrix silence field of the Shelter had already expanded its range to a radius of one hundred kilometers,

adding another layer of faith insurance was always safer.

"Beep—"

The PV vibrated.

Lin Li looked down at the message, raised an eyebrow, and couldn't help but complain:

"These two workaholics, they got it done so quickly?"

He did not delay.

He immediately boarded the sea breeze no. 9 spaceship, crossed the sea of stars, and headed to the Prison Planet that was now completely under the control of the Scourge Legion.

Currently, the Genestealer Cult hidden deep beneath the prison city had been completely dug out and cleared by the players, guided by Slaanesh, the traitorous Tyranid collaborator.

Those deeply infected mutants were also wiped out along with them.

According to a rough census,

the current surviving population of this Prison Planet was about 1.2 billion, and the vast majority were male felons and gang members.

Now, under the forced management of the Scourge Legion, these 1.2 billion people were divided into more than a dozen large communities and began participating in various types of work.

One of the most important tasks was mining that suspended Adamantine Mining Belt in space.

The players adopted the crazy artificial meteorite plan that Ming Shen had proposed earlier.

Driving heavily modified transport ships, they used tow ropes to drag massive adamantine ores from space to near-Earth orbit, then installed simple booster engines, controlling these ores to precisely crash into uninhabited areas on the surface!

Once the meteorites crashed, the massive labor force would mine and smelt them.

Currently, this crude and simple mining method yielded a highly impressive output.

Aside from mining,

on the wasteland of the Prison Planet, which was covered in blackish-gray sand and rocks, genetically modified plants newly cultivated by Stone Man Hong were also planted on a large scale.

These plants had iron-hard skins and well-developed root systems, allowing them to root firmly and resist the tearing force of sandstorms.

More importantly, they could bear a high-calorie starchy fruit similar to baobab fruit, solving the Prison Planet's food self-sufficiency problem.

In addition,

the Scourge Legion also directly recruited fifty thousand of the fiercest troublemakers among the prisoners, putting them through rigorous militarized reform training to serve as the Scourge Legion's first structured indigenous auxiliary army.

In the future, they would serve as auxiliaries to the Scourge Legion, directly participating in interstellar warfare.

...

When Lin Li arrived by spaceship at the entrance of the underground incubation chamber in the Arctic Circle,

several high-level core players were already anxiously waiting outside, rubbing their hands.

Seeing Lin Li walking over in his dark red Power Armor,

the players straightened up one after another, raising their hands to salute in various highly non-standard and even somewhat comical postures:

"Greetings, Lord Administrator!"

"Greetings, Boss!"

Lin Li put his hands behind his back, nodded with a serious face, and said:

"Very good, full of energy!"

Lin Li's gaze swept over them; these were basically the veterans of the Scourge Legion.

Of course, there was also the former Scourge member, who had now set up his own branch as the commander of the [Bear Ridge Legion], and was also the original proposer of the Flesh Mecha idea, the Minotaur player [Makabazi].

Makabazi, sporting a massive bull head, rubbed his broad palms in excitement:

"The dev team's efficiency is just too receptive and sincere! I just casually made a suggestion on the forum, and they actually made it?!"

Beside him, Flash nudged him with his elbow and chuckled:

"Old Bull, for this shocking idea you proposed, did the devs privately award you any limited title or achievement like 'Genius Designer'?"

"No title,"

Makabazi shook his head and said righteously,

"but since I contributed the idea, they should at least give me a top-tier mech for free to test drive!"

While the players were chatting excitedly,

the heavy alloy blast door slowly opened.

Lin Li led these players, who were like curious babies, into the massive underground incubation chamber.

As soon as they entered, the players were like Granny Liu entering the Grand View Garden, looking at the ten-meter-tall incubation pods around them and constantly exclaiming 'holy shit' and 'awesome'.

Stone Man Hong and Iron Man 73 walked out from the gene control room at the very front.

"Creator, the first prototype has been successfully cultivated."

Hong's emotionless voice sounded like heavenly music to the players' ears at this moment.

She led everyone to a giant incubation pod outside the control room.

Inside the pod filled with pale green nutrient solution,

a massive, terrifying monster covered in deep purple heavy carapace curled quietly!

It had a pair of sharp blade-arms like the Grim Reaper's scythes, and a pair of relatively smaller auxiliary claw-arms hidden between its chest and abdomen.

Its legs had a digitigrade, hoof-like structure, and a thick tail covered in bone spurs trailed behind it.

Flash's eyes widened as he pointed at the monster in the pod:

"Holy shit! Isn't this literally a Tyranid Tyrant's appearance with an Overlord's build?! This is insanely cool! But... why doesn't it have that bio-plasma cannon that spits acid? This firepower isn't strong enough!"

Hong explained expressionlessly:

"Because among the Genestealer samples we have hunted so far, the genetic maps for those ranged biological weapons are missing. This replication can only be pieced together based on the existing gene pool."

"If we can obtain the complete genes of those ranged Tyranids on the battlefield in the future, we can completely allow this body to grow corresponding biological artillery in the incubation pod through underlying gene chain recombination."

Hearing this, the legion commander Ming Shen's eyes instantly lit up.

A genius idea immediately popped into his shrewd brain.

"Wait!"

Ming Shen interrupted Hong excitedly,

"Does that mean as long as we get the genes of high-level bugs in the future, we can even directly cultivate those biological artillery pieces and the flesh-and-blood organ sacs that power them separately in the incubation pod?"

"Absolutely no problem," Hong nodded.

"Holy shit! Brilliant!"

Ming Shen slapped his thigh,

"I mean, we can take these separately cultivated, pure flesh-and-blood weapons and directly mount them onto tanks or armored vehicles made by our military factory through mechanical interfaces!"

"Flesh cannons on mechanical chassis! Isn't that way cheaper than building plasma cannons?!"

Listening to their conversation, Lin Li stood aside, truly admiring the wild imagination of this bunch from the The Fourth Calamity.

"Alright, alright!"

Lin Li spoke up to interrupt these guys who were starting to let their imaginations run wild,

"We can slowly mess around with future stuff later. Let's first see if this big guy in front of us is practical!"

Hong nodded.

She walked to the physical dashboard next to the incubation pod, her slender fingers operating it rapidly.

As she operated, she explained with the fanatical tone of a scholar:

"Creator, the concept of this biological mech weapon is simply perfect!"

"Unlike traditional mechanical equipment, it doesn't require massive industrial machine tools and standardized metal parts for assembly-line production. As long as there is enough biomass nutrients, we can freely adjust its appearance and form by changing the gene sequence!"

"This prototype is merely a shell replicated using the Tyranids' inherent gene samples. And most importantly!"

"During the cultivation process, I completely erased this body's reproductive system and all conscious brain lobes. It is purely a flesh-and-blood machine controlled by physical neurons. There is absolutely no risk of it going out of control or turning into a plague!"

Makabazi's eyes shone as he listened, and he couldn't help but chime in:

"Oh man! This system setting is brilliant! I bet when this feature is fully released, that freak kid named [Void Terror] will definitely go bankrupt spending all his points to get Big Sister Stone Man to customize and replicate a giant bug for him!"

"And he'll definitely run all over the universe to collect genes that allow things to grow larger by eating, and then stuff them all into his Flesh Mecha to raise it like a Gu!"

As the commands were issued from the console,

the nutrient solution inside the incubation pod began to drain rapidly.

"Hiss—"

The heavy glass pod door slowly slid upward.

The purple-armored Tyranid behemoth, nearly ten meters long and standing a full five meters tall, crawled out of the chamber in a daze, covered in wet slime.

With the help of basic motor reflexes written into its underlying genes,

this behemoth took only a few minutes to learn to stand stably and walk simply.

Then, like a soulless puppet, it stood blankly in place, completely motionless.

Lin Li looked up at this highly imposing giant.

"It looks good."

Lin Li looked around at the players who were itching to try,

"Who wants to be the first to go up and test how it feels to drive?"

"Me, me, me! Let me!"

The Minotaur Makabazi raised his hand repeatedly, eagerly taking wide strides with his thick hooves to stand before the giant bug in a few steps.

"Where's the cockpit of this thing? How do I get in? There's no ladder!" Makabazi circled around the bug, looking completely bewildered.

Hong did not speak.

She walked up to the giant bug and pointed to a hidden joint where the heavy chitinous chest armor and abdominal armor met on its front.

In the gap of the carapace here, a precise metal plate only the size of a fingernail, emitting a faint glow, was surprisingly embedded!

"This is the only electronic equipment interface on the entire bug's body,"

Hong explained,

"it can perform the simplest genetic verification, such as fingerprints, iris, or blood drops. Since the power supply for this module relies entirely on the weak bioelectric cycle generated by the bug's body itself, it never needs a battery replacement, and there's no need to worry about it being disabled by an electromagnetic pulse."

Lin Li nodded inwardly as he listened:

"This design is very thorough! As expected of a top scholar of the Golden Age."

Makabazi couldn't wait to step forward and press his massive hoof onto the metal sensor plate, registering his exclusive player genetic verification.

Accompanied by a grating sound of grinding flesh,

the chest and abdominal armor of this five-meter-tall giant bug actually split open down the middle like petals, revealing a massive opening!

Inside the split opening, there were no internal organs or intestines.

Instead, there was a spacious cavity wrapped in a soft neuronal fleshy membrane!

Makabazi let out an excited shout and, without any hesitation, crawled headfirst into that fleshy cavity.