Chapter 520: The Shadow Boy
More and more glowing creatures surrounded Anno as they moved forward. Anno helped purify them whenever she could, which was just a matter of course for her, but for these corrupted creatures, it was a rescue.
As more and more corrupted creatures approached, Flying Star and Dark Light joined forces to build an isolated energy barrier around them using their core energy. This barrier disrupted the consciousness of these glowing creatures, causing them to temporarily forget Anunu's abilities and stop communicating with each other.
The creatures here are essentially similar to those in their Sivitro, so the core energy of the Ohmu works very well for them.
Anno has two cores in his body. The previously damaged core has been repaired and is now full of energy, even a bit too full.
She purified herself along the way without feeling that she had consumed much energy.
Darklight wasn't worried about her energy consumption; even Anunu herself didn't know how terrifying her power ceiling was. She just wanted to understand the place first, in case some unsavory things came looking for her.
Anno saw that the dark light and flying stars had isolated the creatures, so he stopped purifying them, yawned, and went to sleep on Caesar's shoulder.
She felt that it was getting colder and colder around her. The black rain kept falling, and she was only wearing a dress, which was already soaked through and clung to her body uncomfortably.
The forest was so vast and the path was so difficult to traverse that even if they walked for several days, they would never be able to leave it.
There are no energy ores here to replenish their energy. Although they can maintain their best combat condition even if they don't eat for more than ten days, that is on the premise that nothing else consumes their energy.
This forest of giant trees exudes an aura of decay and erosion, not only from the black rain overhead but also from the decay emanating from within the forest itself.
When the forest is sick, it will unconsciously consume its resources.
The family members kept an eye on Anno's condition. She seemed to be tired, and her face could not be seen because she was covered by a large coat.
Just as Caesar was thinking of resting nearby for a while, a dark figure suddenly ran past them.
Everyone immediately became alert. Secris and Obsidian rushed towards the shadowy figure, while the others surrounded Anno, all transforming into their semi-primitive forms.
A minute later, Cyrus and Obsidian caught the shadowy figure from behind a giant tree inside, grabbing him by the back of his collar and pulling him in front of everyone.
Anno pulled the clothes covering her up and stared intently at the dark figure.
He was a boy, about twelve or thirteen years old. He was naked from the waist up, his skin was wheat-colored, and a fluffy hat covered most of his body. His exposed skin was covered with black and red worm-like patterns.
His eyes shone brightly against his tanned skin, and his handsome, wild face showed a guarded and displeased expression.
He clearly disliked the Shadow Insects, even though he had only known about this race from word of mouth among his elders since childhood and had never seen them in person.
But the moment he saw these people, he knew they were the Shadow Insects. They had a similar aura to them, but it was very annoying.
Tanvel said in the consciousness network, "It seems that the mutual hatred between our two races has been etched into our genes since the beginning of our division, and has been passed down from generation to generation."
The other family members nodded in agreement, and they also inexplicably disliked the small shadow in front of them.
The little shadow bared its teeth fiercely at them, revealing its claws and horns. However, it knew that these light and shadow insectoids in front of it were not easy to deal with, and it was just putting on a show to scare them.
When the shadowy figure's gaze swept over a pair of light blue eyes, he froze instantly, his fierce expression also freezing.
He opened his mouth wide, his nose twitched slightly, like a wild beast smelling meat. He cautiously peered forward, his eyes fixed on Anno, even brighter than before.
He was speaking in a language that Anno and the others couldn't understand when he lunged at Anno, but Secris pulled him back and held him down.
The little shadow struggled a couple of times in Secris's hands, then looked at Anno and continued speaking in a language they couldn't understand.
The family members disliked the way he looked at their princess and stood in front of Anno to block her from looking at her anymore.
Seeing that Anno was blocked, Little Shadow bared its teeth at them unhappily again.
Anuo reached out and patted Mingxiao, who was blocking her way. "It's okay, let me talk to him."
After she finished speaking, her family members were very surprised. Mingxiao said, "Your Highness, can you understand what he is saying? We can't understand a word of it."
Anno said, "I don't understand it either, but I just understand what he means."
Fei Xing pondered for a while and said, "This should be a remnant of some kind of consciousness network structure. I understand what he means. Although the Shadow Clan has abandoned the consciousness network, they are from the same clan as us, and the consciousness network still plays a certain role."
Darklight said, "It seems the King Worm Effect also applies to them."
This put her at ease. She and Feixing quickly realized that if the King Worm Effect worked on the Shadow Clan, then this was very likely the reason why the Shadow Clan had never dared to confront them head-on.
No matter how powerful the Shadow Clan is, they have no choice but to obey the King Worm when facing it.
Darklight said thoughtfully, "That's somewhat interesting."
Several eons ago, the Shadow Clan wanted to separate from them. Tens of thousands of years have passed since then. Countless civilizations have risen and fallen in the universe. In that time, primitive races with spears could have flown off their planets. However, the Shadow Clan still cannot completely sever their connection with the Light and Shadow Clan.
It's no wonder that they only pop up from time to time, and there has never been a real fight between them.
Anno asked the shadowy boy in front of him directly, "Are your people nearby? Is your home here?"
The boy was very happy to hear her speak to him. He couldn't understand Anuo's language, but he could understand what she meant. He gestured with his hands and said something to Anuo.
Although Anno didn't understand, he listened attentively and roughly understood what he meant. He said to Caesar and the others, "He said he could take us to their place, but you can't show your weapons, otherwise their people will be very angry and will drive us out."
Little Shadow was saying to drive these relatives away, but Anno and the others would never drive them away; they were too busy keeping her around.
However, it's already quite good that Anno can understand his general meaning.
After the boy made his meaning clear, everyone followed him to the place he indicated.
Anno wanted to continue talking to the boy, so she let Caesar walk in front.
After communicating with the boy through guessing games, Anno gained a basic understanding of where this place was.
With the help of Fei Xing and An Guang, she gained some additional information, which enabled her to understand the boy's words more accurately.
The planet they live on is the homeworld of the Shadow Clan, and the forest they are in now is a branch of one of the Shadow Insect races, known as the Forest People.
The various branches of the Shadow Zerg have poor relations and frequently engage in battles, making them very hostile towards outside races.
Anno said to the other two kings in the consciousness network, "They are struggling to survive, yet they are still killing each other."
Darklight said, "This is the difference between us, the Light and Shadow Zerg, and the Shadow Zerg. We, the Light and Shadow Zerg, will always be a whole, forever loyal. Once there is a split, we can disintegrate from within without external enemies."
Fei Xing said, "The Shadow Zerg no longer have the connection of the consciousness network, so they cannot understand each other, but the hierarchy still exists. To the lower Zerg, the higher Zerg are like gods."
At this point, Fei Xing added, "However, I think this little shadow is just an ordinary lower-class servant, but his thinking is not much different from theirs. It seems that this is their advantage of independent thinking."
Dark Light said, "It could also be their weakness."
A Zerg society that should have had a clear hierarchy and division of labor instead allowed each Zerg to think independently. No matter how advanced their civilization became, they could not change their genes, which ultimately led to their annihilation.
Little Shadow led Anno and the others through the forest. Under his guidance, they emerged from the muddy path, which gradually became drier, the trees looked much healthier, and more fallen leaves appeared under their feet.
After walking for about an hour, they saw some items that represented civilization: stone tablets with inscriptions and lamps hanging in the trees, and the light was much brighter.
After crossing a stream, a stone-paved road appeared before them, along with other Shadow Insects.
They appeared from behind the trees and in the trees, surrounding them.
Mingxiao and the others instinctively wanted to draw their swords, but Anuo stopped them in the consciousness network.
"They are just on guard right now, they don't intend to take action, and they don't want to draw their weapons."
The Shadow Zerg were all armed and pointed at them. Little Shadow said something to them, and one of the leaders stepped forward to negotiate with Little Shadow.
The little shadowy figure communicated with him while glancing at Anno.
When Anno heard the little shadow mention him, he patted Caesar on the shoulder, got off him, put his coat on, and revealed his face.
When the Shadow Zerg saw her, they were all shocked, and then they all jumped down from the tree, looking at her with great excitement.
The leader was equally excited. He patted Little Shadow on the shoulder and led the group of Shadow Insects to kneel down in a rush, bowing to her devoutly again and again.
Even in the Zerg, Anno was never prostrated like this. His followers would kneel on one knee, never like this, practically crawling on the ground.
She was momentarily at a loss. The little boy who had just stepped forward to take her hand was pulled back by a Shadow Zerg creature behind him, who then apologized to her in a very flustered manner.
Fei Xing and Anuo said, "Anunu, you are now their god."
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