Rong Heng left the B3024 planet with five warships, accompanied by three cubs. Ruan Jiao was left behind and went to the helipad with Garland to see him off.
The cyan battleship parked in the first row was huge in size, with the three words "Oriental" sprayed in white paint on the side of the hull, which made it particularly conspicuous among the several warships ready to go. This was the main battleship driven by Rong Heng and his cubs. It was originally snatched back by Rong Heng from a group of interstellar pirates. Later, after being modified by Ruan Shiqing, its performance was superior to many new battleships. Rong Heng never changed the battleship again.
And the battleship was named "Orient".
Dongfang Xiqing and Ruan Shiqing could not go to the battlefield with them, but the battleship that he modified personally always fought alongside them.
The battleship was too tall, and Ruan Jiao couldn't see the whole picture even when he stood on tiptoe. He could only look at the cockpit and wave his hands vigorously.
A moment later, the fully-organized fleet appeared.
Only when the fleet was no longer visible did Ruan Jiao dejectedly follow Garland back to the laboratory.
After the battle on Driftwood, they brought back many Zerg samples. Garland is deeply studying the characteristics of the Zerg and trying to find their weaknesses. Ruan Jiao is undoubtedly very familiar with the Zerg, so he just happened to stay to help them.
The cub spends half a day in the laboratory every day. When Garland does not need anyone's assistance, he stays aside and reads and studies quietly. When it is time, 09 will drive the landing craft to pick him up.
At this time, the cub will go upstairs to report the day's events to his father, and then go to have dinner.
At night, he would leave messages in the common chat group. If Rong Heng and the kids were not busy, they would chat with him for a while. Sometimes, if no one replied, it meant that they were busy, but he didn't care. He would run to the bedroom with his own pillow and sleep next to his father obediently.
Time just passed quietly.
Ruan Shiqing was like a newborn baby, floating quietly in the water with a peaceful look on his face.
The clear water gently wrapped me up, making me feel warm and as safe and comfortable as if I were in my mother's womb.
I don’t know how long he floated like this, but the sleeping young man finally moved and struggled to open his eyes.
His eyes were a very deep black, and deep in them there was a light, pure, clean, without the slightest impurity. When he was fully awake, the light in his eyes flickered, his eyelashes trembled slightly, and the calm water around him rippled.
Amid the rippling water, I saw an unprecedented sight.
The earth is cracked, the rivers are black, garbage is floating on the sea, and there are no living things as far as the eye can see, only abandoned buildings standing silently, scorched plants, rotting animal carcasses, and spaceships departing in the sky.
After the hustle and bustle, the earth was left with only dead silence.
There was a continuous pain coming from the heart. Ruan Shiqing covered his chest with his hands. As he moved, the water rippled slightly, and another picture appeared.
I saw some insects crawling out of the cracked land, dead plant roots, and even animal carcasses. They hid during the day and came out at night, eating garbage and quenching their thirst with sewage, and thus survived tenaciously from generation to generation. Perhaps because of the garbage and sewage, or perhaps because of the leaking nuclear power plant in the distance, these tenacious insects have undergone tremendous changes over time.
Its size became larger and larger, as big as a car; its mouthparts, claws, and limbs became sharper and sharper, and it could easily tear any object into pieces and turn them into edible food.
They survived and multiplied on this abandoned planet, year after year, eating up all the garbage and waste that once covered the land, rivers, and oceans. Over a long period of time, the devastated land gradually returned to its original appearance.
These insects naturally regard it as their own garden.
The gradually recovered ecology provided them with a better living environment. With sufficient food and no natural enemies, their population grew more and more prosperous. Led by the queen insect who held the right to reproduce, its members divided the work and cooperated with each other, gradually forming a stable population structure.
After being abandoned for many years, this dead planet has come to life again.
The queen insect is fed by the entire clan. After generations of selection, during a meteorite fall, a certain generation of queen insect developed intelligence and evolved.
The queen insect who evolved first realized that this meteorite was beneficial to the tribe, so she began to mobilize the entire tribe to collect this meteorite. All the meteorites that were found were used as the cornerstones for building nests. Under the influence of the meteorites over time, the newly born insects were stronger than before.
They finally mastered the ability to fly.
The collection of meteorites is no longer limited to the old garden. Batches of insects leave the garden to search for meteorites that are beneficial to the entire race in the vast universe.
Of the first batch of insects that went out, only one tenth came back; of the second batch of insects that went out, one fifth came back and brought back the meteorites they were looking for...
They continued searching day after day, starting from the center of the old planet and expanding their search area outwards, until one day, they found another planet -
That planet was different from the planets they had encountered before. It had a lot of rocks they needed, but was inhabited by other creatures.
When the two sides met, one was attacking and the other was defending, and war was imminent.
Ruan Shiqing's eyes trembled slightly. This scene reminded him of the war with the Zerg mentioned in the history of the Galactic Empire...
I suddenly understood what those images I had seen before meant—the evolutionary history of the Zerg.
The shock in his heart made his consciousness move, the water waves slowly spread out, and the scene in front of him changed again.
This time they were in an open cave. In the center of the cave stood a huge white egg. Countless Zerg were crouching around the egg in awe.
The white egg went from still to trembling, as if a newborn insect was about to break out of the egg. However, what finally tore the eggshell apart was not a pitch-black limb, but a pair of white arms.
What emerged from the egg was an adult female.
Black hair, red eyes, a pair of tentacles on the forehead, naked body covered with mucus, long hair hanging down to the ankles, but she walked up to the highest throne without a care in the world, and the unique "hissing" sound of the Zerg came out of her throat.
At this time, Ruan Shiqing strangely understood her words.
She was saying: The memories passed down by our ancestors are not wrong, and the "Heavenly Stone" can help us evolve.
The Zergs crouching on the throne stood up, waved their limbs, and made continuous “hissing” sounds.
They swore allegiance to the Queen of Insects and were excited about the upcoming war.
However, the queen insect who had just completed her metamorphosis did not agree to war.
She selected several strong male Zergs and guided them to complete their evolution. She also proposed the idea of "truce talks" for the first time.
For thousands of years, the Zerg have been searching for the "Sky Stone" that would allow them to evolve, and the war with the Empire has never stopped.
As long as they broke through the defense line, the planet behind the defense line would be within their reach, and all the "sky stones" on the planet would belong to them. The Queen's proposal was not approved by other high-level Zerg.
However, the status of the Queen Zerg in the tribe could not be questioned by scholars. Even if they disagreed, no Zerg dared to resist.
The peace talks went on as planned. The Queen of Zerg brought a group of male Zergs that had completed their evolution, bypassed the front-line defenses, and sneaked into the Imperial Star Territory.
After several infiltrations, she learned about the culture and technology of the Empire, and also learned that the core of the "Sky Stone" that helped the tribe evolve was actually the "h2h element" contained in the stone. In the Empire star field, the soil of many planets contains this element. Due to the presence of the h2h element, plants cannot survive, and even if they barely survive, they are toxic. However, this element plays a vital role in the reproduction of her tribe.
After many twists and turns, the Queen of Insects finally contacted the Queen Farah of the Empire. After proving her identity, she proposed the idea of truce and peace talks.
But thousands of years of hatred is not so easy to resolve. No one learned to truly trust the other, and constant testing and negotiation took more than a year. During this period, although the war on both sides was temporarily suspended, it did not stop completely.
It was not until the last meeting that the two sides reached a consensus.
The Queen of the Empire and the Queen of the Zerg officially shook hands and made peace after signing a lengthy and complicated truce agreement.
After that, all they need to do is announce the truce agreement, have both sides withdraw their troops from the front lines, and then send diplomatic envoys to discuss the details of subsequent exchanges. Then, this racial war that has lasted for thousands of years can come to an end.
Ruan Shiqing seemed to have sensed the Queen Insect's relaxed and happy mood, and the corners of his mouth involuntarily curled up slightly.
But something unexpected happened at this moment—
An unknown gas suddenly spurted out of the central air-conditioning in the conference room, and then the entire conference room exploded and collapsed. Fierce gunfire was heard outside, and vague voices of "insect tides are coming" and "prepare for battle immediately" could be heard.
When everyone realized what had happened, they rushed out of the collapsed conference room and called for their respective guards, but unexpectedly the guards who arrived suddenly attacked them.
The unknown gas inhaled makes people feel dazed, their limbs weak and their strength greatly reduced.
Queen Farah was besieged by a dozen powerful Zergs and soon lost the upper hand. The situation on the Zerg Queen's side was not good either. A dozen powerful Biss and Evolved people surrounded her. In the fierce resistance, she changed into an insect form and tried to escape from the battlefield. Unexpectedly, the other side was well prepared and dispatched several gunboats to bombard her at full firepower.
The Queen of Insects escaped from the encirclement despite being seriously injured. When she was on the verge of death, she used her last bit of strength to lay a king egg.
She hid the two royal eggs separately, but when hiding the second royal egg, she accidentally exposed her whereabouts and died of exhaustion.
The insect egg that had not been hidden in time was left on the front battlefield and was finally taken back by the Zerg who followed the scent.
The water waves were still shaking, but Ruan Shiqing's mind was immersed in the fierce battle, and he was slow to come back to his senses.
Queen Farah, the Queen of Insects, the truce agreement, and the royal egg...all these things connected together, forming a vague circle in Ruan Shiqing's mind. But when he tried to sort everything out, it was like a tangled thread with no clue.
The shaking water waves gradually calmed down, but Ruan Shiqing suddenly felt a suffocating feeling in his heart.
He struggled to flap his limbs, trying to swim upwards and float to the surface. However, the water surrounding him seemed to have no boundaries, and he was unable to reach the surface even after being exhausted.
Finally, I could only stop panting, let my tense body relax, float quietly with the waves, and wait for my strength to recover.
Ruan Shiqing looked at the rippling water above his head and thought that he was trapped here. Rong Heng and his children must be very worried about him. He didn't know if they would cry.
It's better to go back as soon as possible,
After resting for a while, he struggled to move again, but suddenly felt an itch on his forehead. He reached out to scratch it subconsciously, but grabbed a black tentacle.
The tentacle was thick, long and flexible, swaying in his palm.