The Empire had a total of eleven legions. Aside from the Imperial Legion, which was under the full control of Crown Prince Li Siwei, the other ten legions all obeyed Yun Ming's orders. He was both the commander of the Fifth Legion and the head of the military.

If he gave the post of commander of the Fifth Corps to Ouyang Mingtang, in a sense, it would also be indirectly supporting Ouyang Mingtang's future leadership of the military. After all, this was the person he personally selected.

Therefore, this transfer of power was extremely important to Ouyang Mingtang. But unfortunately, his subordinates messed things up.

The adjutant sat in the hall, a layer of cold sweat on his forehead, racking his brains to think about how to explain to Ouyang Mingtang when he returned.

The soldiers brought by Yun Ming gathered in groups of two or three, chatting away, completely excluding the adjutant. The soldiers wore numerous medals on their chests, commemorating their glorious military exploits. Judging by the number of medals, even the most junior among them were special-class soldiers. Their status within the military was so high that even Ouyang Mingtang would have to give them some respect.

Only Yun Ming could gather these meritorious soldiers under his command and make them follow him loyally.

It is not an easy task to take over power from Yun Ming.

At this moment, the adjutant was very frustrated and anxious. He didn't understand why Zhuang Li and Yun Ming had to talk about it and why they stayed alone together for so long.

However, something even more incomprehensible happened to him.

Not long after Yun Ming went in, many military vehicles flew in from outside the building. The doors opened and more than a dozen people walked out one after another.

They walked into the brightly lit hall, revealing a group of majestic faces.

The adjutant was stunned when he saw these familiar faces.

The group of people who came were all veterans of the military, controlling the largest force in the empire and suppressing the royal family. If Yun Ming was the pillar of the empire, then these white-haired old men were the cornerstone of the empire.

Also arriving was a group of exceptionally accomplished scientists, each a master in their own field, their combined power no less than that of ten legions. They were the brains of the empire.

Now, the cornerstone and brain of the empire appear in this small biotechnology company at the same time. How can we not be dumbfounded?

The adjutant was so stunned that he completely forgot to salute.

Yun Ming's personal soldiers immediately stood at attention and gave a standard military salute.

These powerful figures, who controlled the fate of the empire, hurried through the hall, completely unaware of their adjutant's unusual behavior. This showed just how powerful the attraction of the person or event that summoned them was.

At the same time, the building was heavily guarded, not even a fly could fly in, let alone the people inside who wanted to get out.

The adjutant felt that something was wrong and quickly turned on his smart brain to send information to Ouyang Mingtang, but found that the signal had been cut off.

Soon, a senior general entered and registered everyone in the hall. He issued a cold warning, "When you walk out of this door, you must forget everything that just happened. For a long time to come, you will be under military surveillance. If the military discovers that you have said something you shouldn't have said or done something you shouldn't have done, do you understand the consequences?"

The soldiers held their heads high and answered loudly: "Understood!"

"I understand." The adjutant's voice was much softer than the others, and his back was not straight.

He had a premonition that the task Ouyang Mingtang had assigned him might have taken a shocking turn.

---

In the laboratory, everyone was staring intently at a video on the screen, their expressions were solemn, their eyes were burning, and they were holding their breath.

On the screen, a Zerg, its body covered with white mycelium, was dying in pain.

"This video is indeed shocking, but we would like to see your results in action in reality." After the video was played, the Empire's chief scientist Yu Guangzhong said in a hoarse voice.

"Give me a group of Zergs and I will show you now." Zhuang Li sat alone, his posture very relaxed and casual.

"Give it to him." The most senior marshal gave the order solemnly.

Yun Ming personally went to the military headquarters and used a large aircraft to transport a group of low-level Zerg. These were all captured by the imperial army on the battlefield.

The cage that held the Zerg was as big as a basketball court. Fortunately, Zhuang Li’s laboratory was not small either, so it could easily hold the Zerg.

After the metal shield outside the cage was opened, a large group of spider-like insects appeared in the container made of reinforced glass. Their sharp limbs could easily cut through ordinary metal, tear apart human bodies, and shatter rocks. The bite force of their mouthparts was also amazing.

Their jumping ability is terrifying. They can jump from the ground to a height of hundreds of meters, attach themselves to flying ships or mechas, quickly bite through the outer shell, and attack the inside.

They often appear in groups, densely covering buildings and leaving debris on the ground after passing through.

They were the vanguard of the higher-level Zerg, known for their human wave tactics. To deal with them, the Imperial Legion could only use the lives of its soldiers.

But the empire's soldiers are extremely valuable assets, and the death or injury of any one of them is a great sorrow to the people; and this kind of spider is not rare to the Zerg. The Zerg King can lay tens of thousands of eggs every day, and the vast majority of the hatched insects are of this type.

From this perspective, it's practically impossible for humanity to exterminate the Zerg. Perhaps before long, the entire Milky Way will be overrun by the Zerg. The Zerg Emperor's abnormal fertility will allow the Zerg to expand to every corner of the galaxy in a remarkably short period of time.

Seeing the densely packed insects, everyone present showed a look of hatred.

Zhuang Li put on his white coat, took out a test tube from the incubator, and told Yun Ming, "Get a bug out."

Yun Ming pressed a button, and a round hole appeared on the cage. A bug quickly crawled out and entered a separate small cage.

Zhuang Li used a syringe to draw out the clear liquid from the test tube and handed it to Yun Ming: "You give it the injection. You can inject it anywhere."

"The needle will break, their exoskeleton is very hard." Yun Ming reminded.

"It won't break. This needle is made of a super-strong metal I invented. It can even pierce the exoskeleton of the Insect King. It can also be used to build the shell of a long-distance aircraft or a super mecha." Zhuang Li said these shocking words lightly.

Several military elders sitting on the sofa all looked at him with their eyes widened.

Several scientists could no longer sit still and immediately walked over to Yun Ming, trying to snatch the syringe away to take a closer look.

Unfortunately, Yun Ming walked to the small cage before them, reached in, and grabbed the insect's limbs.

The insects immediately attacked Yun Ming, biting him with their mouthparts, scratching him with their claws, and stabbing him with their poisonous needles. However, Yun Ming's skin was harder than the shell of the mecha, and not even the slightest scar was left.

This was the terrifying aspect of the world's only 4S physique. Therefore, Yun Ming had a nickname in the military—the humanoid mecha.

If it weren't for the strange disease of hormone imbalance that destroyed his body from the inside, he would have been almost an undefeated god of war.

The thin needle successfully pierced the insect's exoskeleton, and Yun Ming slowly pushed the transparent liquid in the syringe into the insect's abdominal cavity.

"Put it back." Zhuang Li gave the order at the right time.

Yun Ming opened the round hole, and the frightened insects immediately crawled back into the big cage to stay with their own tribe.

"Okay, let's sit down and wait." Zhuang Li sat back in his original position, holding his cheek, and looked lazily at the swarm of insects in the cage.

Everyone held their breath.

A few minutes later, one of the insects climbed to the top of the cage, trampling over the others, and then froze in place. A few seconds later, countless white mycelium sprouted from its body, with black fruits forming on top of the mycelium.

A minute later, these densely packed fruits exploded together, releasing gray spores that scattered into the surrounding air.

The insects infected with these spores somehow scrambled to climb high, freezing in place. Their bodies sprouted white mycelium, producing black fruit that burst into gray spores that filled the air.

In less than five minutes, the entire cage was shrouded in a gray mist.

When the mist dissipated, the once aggressive insects were completely wiped out, their exoskeletons shrunken and shriveled, as if their abdomens had been hollowed out by white mycelium.

A bug that had climbed high suddenly fell to the ground, its exoskeleton cracking in two, revealing its empty body. It had actually been sucked dry by the white mycelium.

This strange and terrifying scene stunned everyone.

Only then did Zhuang Li slowly begin to speak, "This is the super fungus I cultivated. It only parasitizes Zerg bodies, absorbing their flesh and blood to grow. Once mature, the mycelium will protrude from the body and release spores. If other Zerg are contaminated by their spores, they will also be infected, becoming their petri dishes."

"For the Zerg, which live in colonies, if even one of them is infected with this fungus, the entire species will perish in a very short time.

"Of course, I've experimented with cells from various Zerg species and found that higher-order Zerg are resistant to this fungus, so I've developed a plan B.

"As you can see, what I'm showing you now is the DNA code for a virus that suppresses the fertility of higher Zerg. In other words, higher male Zerg infected with this virus will be unable to fertilize the Zerg King.

"This virus is transmitted in two ways: respiratory transmission and contact transmission. In other words, as long as the antennae of an infected male insect touch those of another insect, they will infect each other.

"This is the timeline I calculated. If this fungus and virus were released simultaneously into the Zerg, their entire population would be extinct within a year."

Zhuang Li propped his forehead up and said lazily, "The entire Zerg race is only allowed to have one female, the Zerg Emperor. In other words, when all the higher-level males lose their fertility, the Zerg Emperor will be unable to lay eggs and will soon die.

"By then, the Empire will easily annihilate the Zerg, break out of the Milky Way, and explore the vast universe. After taking over the hundreds of planets occupied by the Zerg, the Empire will surpass the Federation and become the overlord of the galaxy."

Zhuang Li raised his goblet, sipped the red wine, and his blood-stained lips curved into a breathtaking arc. "Everyone, this is the future I designed for the empire."

After hearing the last sentence, everyone present breathed heavier.

They looked at the iron cage shrouded in death, and then at Zhuang Li with a smile in his eyes. Their already restless hearts finally stirred into a frenzy.

Only at this moment did Yun Ming raise his hands and clap slowly and vigorously.

An old marshal stood up, bowed to Zhuang Li, and said in a solemn tone, as if offering a sacrifice, "Mr. Zhuang, Ouyang Mingtang is yours."