Swallowed Star: The Zerg Overlord

Chapter 95: Preparing to Enter the Universe

In mid-July, Qin Mu emerged from his cultivation.

"The 'Heart of the Swarm' is incredibly powerful. It's not just about coordinating units in combined attacks; it's also profound in soul application and the subtle manipulation of units," Qin Mu marveled after countless practice sessions, finally mastering the basics.

His soul was already strong. Qin Mu's soul was dispersed throughout the entire swarm. He was the will of the swarm, a collective consciousness. Every nest and Zerg in the swarm was a node of his soul, making him even more powerful than a Bug Queen.

"Although I've only just begun, my soul application is already incomparable to before. With my current strength, it's not difficult to invade and control ordinary intelligent life forms using the swarm's powerful computational abilities," Qin Mu said with a confident smile.

A million-year-old Black Dragon Mountain X81 model spaceship's AI was no match for him. With the entire swarm's support, invading and controlling it would be a simple task.

While Qin Mu was cultivating, the entire swarm was rapidly developing.

After successfully advancing to a planetary-level nest, the nest grew to over a hundred meters in height and covered an area of over ten thousand square meters. Its hatching capacity increased a hundredfold compared to a third-level nest. Hatching planetary-level Units was just the basics; its analytical speed and computational abilities had also increased a hundredfold.

Unlike before, a planetary-level nest could hatch any planetary-level Zerg. This meant that even just after hatching a planetary-level nest, as long as they had the genetic data of a planetary-level nine, they could hatch them at will after consuming resources.

These were specific resources, not just energy. Weaker units were fine, but stronger ones required specific resources, such as various metals and minerals.

If it were just energy consumption, the energy required would be astronomical.

With the swarm's analytical capabilities, they had already deciphered some planetary-level units with strong adaptability to various environments, with the strongest, the Flame-Tank Zerg, reaching planetary-level five.

At this rate, it would take at most half a year for the planetary-level nest to reach the Star level, and Qin Mu's strength would reach the Star level even faster.

"It's time to prepare to enter the universe." Qin Mu's eyes burned with ambition.

The universe! That was the true stage.

"First, I'll head to Ruin 12 and get my hands on the Black Dragon Mountain X81 spaceship. There's still about half a month before the Golden Horned Beast arrives. I wonder if it will come?"

Thinking of the Golden Horned Beast, Qin Mu felt a mix of anticipation and anxiety. When he first arrived in the Swallowed Star universe, the Golden Horned Beast was a huge threat to Qin Mu, but now he was worried it might not come. If the Golden Horned Beast didn't come, it would be fine for him, but what about Luo Feng?

Qin Mu had a good impression of Luo Feng. He only needed to analyze the Golden Horned Beast's genes, and its inheritance could be added to his collection. The body itself was the least important. Moreover, he could get a lot of good things from Babata for that body.

Although he had the Bug race inheritance, it didn't include human cultivation methods. The information about humans was all about combat and killing, without specific cultivation methods.

With Luo Feng's talent and understanding, he would be a reliable teammate that Qin Mu could rely on and support in the universe. Befriending people like Luo Feng, Hong, and Lei Shen meant you didn't have to worry about betrayal. If you did them a favor, they would remember it tenfold.

It was a small investment. Even though their strength might not match his now, their potential was undeniable. It was truly Earth's luck to have such top-tier talents and characters appear at the same time.

In the original timeline, during the Earth period, Hong and Lei Shen led the humans, and after entering the universe, Luo Feng took over that burden.

Qin Mu's figure turned into a streak of light, heading towards Ruin 12.

[Ruin 12] One of Earth's three great desolations, located in the Pacific Ocean near the Hawaiian Islands, about 5,100 meters below the sea surface. Ruin 12 was 3,300 meters below the seabed. Here, there was a B-class mothership, 16,000 meters long, 3,200 meters wide, and 800 meters high.

At the core of Ruin 12, in a secret compartment of the mothership, was the Black Dragon Mountain X81 spaceship that Qin Mu had set his eyes on. The Black Dragon Mountain X81 spaceship was a saucer-shaped vessel about a hundred meters in diameter, entirely black. The black hull was imprinted with a two-winged dragon pattern.

Because it was stored inside the mothership, made of excellent materials, and maintained by maintenance robots, the entire ship was in excellent condition, capable of flying into space even after a million years.

This ship was a luxury item even among Universe level people, a rare treasure. To ensure the ship wouldn't be taken by Babata prematurely, Qin Mu had surrounded it with units, including more than one king-level monster.

Above Ruin 12, Qin Mu dove from the sky into the sea, entering the ruins.

After the nest broke through to the planetary level, Qin Mu's martial power increased to planetary level seven, his spirit power to planetary level nine, and his spirit amplification reached a hundredfold. With his current spirit power and a hundredfold amplification, it was no longer difficult to force open the ship's gate.

"Is this the Black Dragon Mountain X81 spaceship?" Qin Mu came to the front of the Black Dragon Mountain X81 model spaceship.

After a simple inspection to ensure there were no abnormalities, Qin Mu walked to the laser channel. The laser channel wasn't long, just over 30 meters. With a thought, the Cloud Vine wrapped around his body, and 256 Crescent Blades rushed into the laser channel.

Bright white lights flashed, piercing through the entire channel, and the Crescent Flying Blades were struck and flew out. At 300,000 kilometers per second, the laser speed would hit even high-speed flying spirit weapons. However, under Qin Mu's control, many Crescent Blades still rushed into the gap below the gate.

Qin Mu's spirit power surged. With the combined effort of a hundred Crescent Blades, the heavy gate was slowly lifted. Qin Mu's figure shot forward, rushing into the laser channel.

"Swish!" "Swish!" "Swish!"

Laser beams struck the Cloud Vine, but Qin Mu's figure remained stable, braving the attacks and charging into the gate.

"I'm in!"

A smile appeared on Qin Mu's face as the Crescent Blades, which had lifted the gate, circled around him. The gate, now without support, slammed shut.

His spirit power radiated out, enveloping the entire ship. The Black Dragon Mountain X81 spaceship was only a hundred meters in diameter, and a sweep of his spirit power quickly located the command room.

Just as Qin Mu entered the gate, the internal control panel screen in the command room lit up. A line of universal language appeared on the screen.

"Human planetary-level spirit master has intruded!"

"Threat level: Weak."

"Proceed to... eliminate!"

In the lower level of the ship, three metal robots were activated. These robots were over two meters tall, entirely black, with red crystal eyes. At the moment these three metal robots' red crystal eyes lit up, they flickered erratically.

The moment the robots were activated, an immense spirit power transformed into a data torrent, flooding into the command room's AI. Qin Mu had no interest in fighting these metal robots. He began his invasion directly. The ship's AI immediately sounded an alarm, and red lights flashed throughout the command room.

"Warning, system under attack." The universal language echoed. "Please enter the password within 30 seconds, or the self-destruct sequence will initiate."

"30." "29." "28."...

The computational power of the nests was drawn upon, and under Qin Mu's coordination, it surged into the ship's AI, swiftly overcoming the ship's defenses. By the time Qin Mu reached the silver door outside the ship's command room, the ship's AI spoke in universal language.

"Welcome, Master!"

The door automatically opened, and Qin Mu entered the ship's command room. Under the attack of the swarm's will, the ship's AI had been conquered, and Qin Mu had gained the highest authority.

The command room was brightly lit. A military officer sat in the central seat, with three black-uniformed guards standing behind him. As Qin Mu entered the command room, a gentle breeze stirred, and the military officer, like dust, disintegrated into powder. Decades of time were enough to turn a body to dust, and a gentle breeze was all it took to scatter it. The black uniforms of the three guards behind the officer also disintegrated, revealing their metallic bodies.

"Silverium Guards?" Qin Mu raised an eyebrow. These were valuable.

Silverium Guards, made primarily of 'Silverium' metal, contained an intelligent system. They appeared like real people, and because their bodies were made of Silverium, which flowed like water, even a strong punch would easily dissipate the impact force. They were excellent bodyguards in the universe and were quite expensive.

However, after countless years, the Silverium Guards had long since lost their energy and were immobile.

"Are there any damages to the ship? Can it directly enter space?" Ignoring the Silverium Guards, Qin Mu commanded the ship's AI.

"Checking..." After a brief wait, the ship's AI spoke. "Check complete. The main body of the ship is fault-free, with minor damages. With sufficient resources it can self-repair. Energy is lacking; It can enter space after energy replenishment."

The ship's AI listed a repair inventory, none of which were precious materials and could be found on Earth.

"Excellent." A smile appeared on Qin Mu's face.

The auxiliary computer on his arm connected to the ship, and through the ship, he simultaneously dialed the communications of Jia Yi, Hong, and Lei Shen.

"Buzz—" Three screens lit up.

"I've entered the ship in Ruin 12. It's a fully functional spaceship, and we can pilot it directly into space! I need a group of absolutely reliable personnel, including the best diplomats, economists, sociologists, etc. Earth is about to enter the space age!"

The three who had just connected to the communication showed expressions of joy, even Hong, who was usually calm, couldn't help but smile. Actively entering space versus being discovered by the universe was a significant difference.

As for going into space alone, Qin Mu had no such intention. This kind of endeavor required collective effort! The best talents on Earth should engage with the universe, combining current resources to calculate the optimal approach.

Babata only cared about the inheritance of Yun Mo and Luo Feng, and naturally wouldn't consider Earth's development or future. Qin Mu was different. As an Earthling, he had to consider these things. Otherwise, why would he spend so much effort unifying Earth?

"Understood! We will begin selecting personnel immediately!"

***

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