Chapter 20

In the past, Tianyun Star was a planet with beautiful mountains and rivers, rich flora and fauna. Its natural scenery and urban buildings were very beautiful, and it has been ranked among the top ten most beautiful planets of Tianjia civilization for many years.

But things were different after the war.

The animals and plants that can survive in the wasteland environment all have their own ability to survive. Although it seems easy for him to catch the big gray rabbit, for many female insects, this kind of prey that was easily caught in the past is not easy to catch now.

The big gray rabbit has little combat power but has an extremely keen sense of danger and unparalleled digging speed. It is actually very difficult for the female insects in the slums who cannot use star power, have no mental power, and only rely on their own strength and experience.

The source of meat in the slums is various animals in the wasteland. Since there are fewer of them caught, they are naturally more expensive. The forces behind the Zerg will not improve their food.

Qi Heng walked in District 49. The two waning moons above his head shone on him, casting a long shadow behind him.

The prey he was holding in his hand had some blood that had not yet drained out after being bled out, which slid down its fur and dripped onto the muddy ground, where it continued to flow all the way.

After turning the familiar intersection, Yan Ning's home was right in front of me.

The stone slab that was originally used to block the door now revealed a small gap that was large enough to peek outside. Almost at the moment Qi Heng's figure appeared, the stone slab blocking the door was moved to the side.

After the stone slab was moved away, Yan Ning's face was revealed.

The biting cold wind blew into the simple house through the cracks. Even with the fire burning, the temperature inside the house was not warm. The insect cubs stayed obediently after their female father repeatedly warned them to do so. They lay in their nest next to the stove to keep warm.

Fortunately, Qi Heng came over quickly, and Yan Ning blocked the door again after he entered.

"Brother Qi, you are so amazing. You really caught it." Seeing the prey in his hand, Yan Ning smelled a strong smell of blood and her heart kept rising: "Brother Qi, are you hurt?"

Ever since Qi Heng left, Yan Ning felt a little uneasy, and looked outside through the gap from time to time.

During the time they spent together, Qi Heng took good care of them. Yan Ning sometimes felt a little dazed, as if she really had a brother who took care of her.

Qi Heng heard the concern in Yan Ning's words, put the gray rabbit by the door and said, "I'm fine."

"Gray rabbits are herbivores and have little attack power."

With his skills, it's not that he can't catch carnivorous animals, but firstly, there is no need to do so at the moment, and secondly, he is completely unable to exert the full strength of this body.

How could Qi Heng, who lives in a peacetime, have any combat experience? If he really fought, he would most likely lose.

"Wow, yeah..."

As they were talking, they noticed that the insect cub that had returned was making babbling sounds, trying to attract their attention.

"Books, books, bags."

The insect cub, who had just learned to speak, reached out his hand to him incoherently, his voice sounding as aggrieved as possible.

"Little guy, you missed me." Qi Heng walked to the side, got some water to wipe his hands, squatted down and stretched out his hand to the insect cub.

People can't help but feel softer towards the cubs.

So does he.

Besides, the little guy was born by him personally, so the little bug is naturally more special to him than other Zerg.

Qi Heng usually gets home at sunset, but today he went to the wilderness and stayed there until dark in order to catch prey. The insect cubs who were waiting for him at the door every day were so sad that they wilted for a while when they didn't see him at the fixed time.

The little bug hugged his hand and rubbed it against his cheek.

At first, Qi Heng didn't know why the little bug liked to stick to him so much. He would often hesitate for a while between him and Yan Ning, and finally crawl onto his legs happily and ask him to hold him close.

Later I got the answer from A0.

It's instinct for young Zerg to be close to you, Lord Overlord, especially young Zerg that have only just been born and don't have much discernment. They can more easily distinguish you from other Zerg than adult Zerg.

He has no connection with this world except for the meaning brought by the system, but after being attached to the children, he feels less strange.

Qi Heng thought that it was too difficult to save the Tianjia civilization and change the current situation of the Zerg, but he should still be able to do it by protecting a little Zerg cub.

He withdrew his hand and rubbed the insect cub's head, then took out a broken crystal the size of a little finger nail from his pocket and placed it in the insect cub's fleshy palm.

"Eat it."

The female insects have very strong stomachs. They can digest some special minerals and then replicate the special properties of the minerals on themselves.

Obsidian crystal can increase the hardness of bones and is equivalent to a health supplement for female insect cubs. The small amount of energy contained in it will be gradually absorbed by the body, making the physical fitness better and stronger.

Qi Heng's actions did not avoid Yan Ning.

After learning that the pair of insect cubs were in good health, Yan Ning believed him without even a doubt, which made him feel both amused and helpless.

Qi Heng asked at the time: Have you ever thought about what if you were lying to him?

Yan Ning replied as a matter of course: They had nothing worth being deceived about, and they believed him.

This answer left Qi Heng, who was always thoughtful and overthinking, speechless. What could he say? Fortunately, Yan Ning met him. If it was someone else with malicious intentions, he would probably have been sold out and helped count the money.

…

Qi Heng lay on his bed with his clothes on.

The wood in the stove was burning, occasionally making crackling sounds, with a faint smell of burning mixed with the bloody smell of dead prey.

I have to say that people are really adaptable. I have been living like this for more than half a month and I am almost used to it.

The bed was made of hay spread on the ground, and a cold shower was taken by the river every two days. If they wanted to eat some meat, they had to exchange it with star stones - and even then, it couldn't be done too often.

In the darkness, Qi Heng called out the system interface.

He looked at the first stage which was stuck at 49% fusion, pursed his lips and looked serious.

If nothing unexpected happens, the degree of integration in the first stage will reach 50% tonight, which means that the opportunity to awaken the commander is tonight.

The rapidly growing degree of integration brought about seemingly endless dreams. In the dreams, he mostly experienced them from a first-person perspective, and very rarely watched everything that happened in the dream from a third-person perspective.

It can almost be said that it is an immersive experience of one incredibly real dream after another.

The sense of reality in the dream did not only come from the scenes and characters being too real, but most importantly, the existence of the "master" gave him a familiar feeling, as if he saw another self.

This conclusion was hard for him to believe... But when he thought about how he had even encountered something as outrageous as time travel, it seemed like nothing was impossible...

Qi Heng subconsciously didn't want to confirm whether this speculation was correct or not. He always felt that the answer he would get from A0 would be very shameful.

However, these dreams did not fade away with time like ordinary dreams after he woke up. Instead, because he spent too much time in the dreams, it was so long that after waking up, he would subconsciously wonder if he was still in the prosperous and powerful period of domination in the dreams.

Fortunately, this illusion did not last long. The simple house was so different from the magnificent buildings and luxurious life in the dream that one could basically wake up from the illusion quickly.

As he experienced this more and more, he could now escape from the illusion brought by dreams in just a second after waking up.

Qi Heng paused to think, then said, "A0, I'll leave the rest to you."

[Yes, Your Excellency.]

Please don't worry, you will succeed.

Qi Heng didn't take A0's words to heart. He also hoped to succeed in one go. Otherwise, if he wanted to try to awaken the commander again, he would have to wait until the first stage of fusion was 100%, and he didn't know how long that would take.

His spiritual power and star power are growing steadily with his diligent practice, and each accumulation will promote the growth of integration.

According to A0, his cultivation speed is not much different from the geniuses of the Tianjia Zerg in the past, but this is not his limit.

A0 explained that this was because the fusion of the body was divided into three stages. When each fusion stage reached 50% and 100%, some restrictions would be released. Therefore, his cultivation speed would also increase as the restrictions were released... until he finally reached the strength of the master himself.

Qi Heng activated his mental power and used it to capture the power of the stars.

He was able to quickly push the fusion degree to 50% in such a short period of time thanks to a two-pronged approach.

After he started practicing, the system had been monitoring his physical condition. If he wanted to wake up the commander, he had to seize the moment when the fusion degree reached 50%, not even a second later.

Time passes by every second.

[The first stage of the master's body fusion degree is 50%, and the mental band is confirmed to be correct... The spatial talent is temporarily activated, consuming 1,000 energy points per second during the maintenance period.]

Suddenly, the sound of A0 inorganic matter rang in Qi Heng's ears like thunder, but it did not disturb Qi Heng at all.

【Enter the 'Oath' awakening procedure. 】

If Qi Heng wakes up, he will find that there is an additional column of words "Temporary Space Talent" in his personal attributes on the system interface.

But unfortunately, he was still sleeping with his eyes closed.

This was within his expectations.

If nothing unexpected happened, he fell into a dream again at this moment.

——Before the dream ended, his perception of the outside world was reduced to a minimum, which was why he had previously asked A0 to handle the affairs on his behalf.

Before A0 finished speaking, the space around Qi Heng began to change.

His mental power spread outward to form nine mental power marks, which were swallowed up by the invisible space at the same time they were formed. The system could only monitor the closest one, and no one knew where the remaining eight were transmitted to by space.

[The 'Oath' awakening process has been completed, taking about three seconds.]

After A0 finished all this, he returned to silence.

When it proposed a method to awaken the commander-in-chief, it concealed some things from the Lord. If the Lord knew that the so-called awakening procedure was to send a mass message to his former subordinates, and that the mass message was about the Lord's reappearance...

It knew without any calculations that when the Lord woke up, there was an eighty percent, no, ninety percent, chance that it would be put in solitary confinement again.

Although he knew the consequences, A0 still did it without hesitation.

——For the sake of Your Excellency the Lord and the countless suffering people of the Tianjia civilization, it will be imprisoned. When it is released, it will be a good AI loyal to Your Excellency the Lord.

The author has something to say:

----------------------

The receiver hasn't officially appeared yet, so don't rush to give Lao Qi a wife, hahahaha.

Hmm, there should be a close-up of my wife in the next chapter~~

——————