Zerg Origin
Next, the Primordial Worm Queen told Alyssa a story that was completely different from the historical records.
Like humans, the Zerg originated on the ancient Blue Planet. When the original Zerg Queen was born, she was actually just a low-level protozoan, driven only by survival instincts.
By then, humanity had already become the dominant force on Ancient Blue Planet. Not content to remain confined to their own corner of the planet, they dedicated themselves to exploring the universe. Following breakthroughs in human leapfrogging technology, the magnificent, colorful, and resource-rich universe opened its arms to humanity. Overexploitation of resources made Ancient Blue Planet increasingly uninhabitable, and humanity gradually abandoned it. This included, of course, the few species that remained on Ancient Blue Planet.
Climate change, chemical pollution, and cosmic radiation have caused the evolution of life on Ancient Blue Planet to run wild and uncontrollable. All life evolves and dies at an extremely rapid rate. Ancient Blue Planet is like a vast poison-refining ground, where only those at the top of the food chain can survive.
The Zerg gradually stood out in the purgatory of the ancient blue planet by virtue of their extremely powerful reproductive ability, racial cohesion and environmental adaptability.
"I was the first of those super-fertile insect mothers to evolve self-awareness."
"My earliest memory is of hunger, a hunger that could never be satisfied. My children were always busy, looking for food to fill my stomach."
"The things I eat are getting bigger and stranger. And the more I eat, the smarter I seem to be getting."
"It was then that I realized that, in addition to hunger, an instinct known to every living thing, I was also constantly giving birth. I gave birth to many strong children, who went out to find food for me and fed me. This nutrition allowed me to continue giving birth. I was in this cycle of eating and giving birth."
"My children and I are in tune with each other. They know what I'm thinking without me having to give any additional instructions."
"Food is becoming increasingly scarce. I realize that if this continues, my children and I will perish along with Ancient Blue Planet."
"But it won't work if I'm the only one awakening my own consciousness. The children are too weak and too stupid, acting only on instinct. With children like them and me, who can only give birth and has a clumsy body, we can't leave Ancient Blue Planet."
“There was no food, so the children started offering their dead children to me for food.”
"I ate them. And then I discovered that my spiritual power actually grew by eating my own children."
"I gave my children spiritual power, and they voluntarily fed it back to me. My spiritual power is getting stronger and stronger, and I, with my strong spiritual power, will give birth to children with even stronger spiritual power."
"I started the cycle of eating and giving birth again."
"Later, I gave birth to many, many smart children. They began to learn, the knowledge left behind by humans on the ancient Blue Planet. They learned language and writing, learned to use tools, and evolved mimicry that facilitated their use."
"The spirit of interconnectedness allows us to share the knowledge we acquire. Our extremely high learning efficiency allows us to grow rapidly. I keep eating smart children and giving birth to even smarter children."
"Of course, we also learned about human propriety, morality, and shame. I began to feel that it was wrong for a mother to eat her own children. But the children comforted me, saying that this was a necessary step in the evolution of the Zerg. They considered being eaten by me an honor, a return to the embrace of the original Zerg mother. They believed that as long as the spiritual anchor of the Zerg remained, they would regenerate through my body."
"I want to lead my children out of Ancient Blue Star. I want to break this instinctive cycle of eating and giving birth. So, even though I was in pain, I continued to eat. Some smart children sensed my pain and began to eat other children. They believed that this painful process of cannibalism should be completed by them, and eventually they would sacrifice themselves to me, which would alleviate my pain."
"But these children are infertile, and the devoured children cannot regenerate their spiritual anchors through their bodies. Therefore, I have firmly established a rule prohibiting cannibalism among the intelligent Zerg. I will bear this pain on my own."
"Finally, a new batch of children learned how to assemble and repair the wreckage of the starships left behind by humans on the Ancient Blue Planet. We boarded the repaired starships and escaped from the Ancient Blue Planet."
"My children and I, like exiled interstellar pirates, began our lives by plundering human resources. It must be said that early humans, unlike us, had not experienced the brutal, life-threatening competition on the ancient Blue Planet. We beat them so hard that they had almost no chance of fighting back. Only after we succeeded repeatedly did they learn to fight back."
"The first war between the Zerg and humans began. Humans had technology and advanced artillery, while we had strong bodies and a shared mental power that required almost no communication. This war lasted for decades."
"In the past few decades, I've been the only one who hasn't had to fight. I've been giving birth to children. The war has caused me to lose many children, and I need to replenish the Zerg's fighting power with new ones."
"After entering space, although we seized abundant resources and I had plenty of food, I no longer needed to eat my own children. However, if I ate ordinary food, I would only give birth to ordinary children. Only by eating my own children can I give birth to the most elite warriors."
"I'm in so much pain, I don't want to eat my own children."
"Those clever children sensed my pain. They didn't want to force me, so in order to grow into elite warriors, they began to eat their own kind again."
"Eating their own kind allowed them to expand their spiritual worlds. However, since they were sterile, after devouring their own flesh, they also devoured their evil thoughts, cruelty, and bloodlust. This caused them to lose control and mutate into the earliest alien species."
"The aliens are all powerful warriors who love to eat Zerg. Their blood is corrosive, and their spirits can pollute the Zerg they share a bond with. After the first batch of aliens appeared, many of my children were assimilated and mutated by the aliens."
"I severed the Zerg's mental connection to block the alien's mental contamination, but this brought new problems. Unable to sense me in the spiritual world, the children seemed deaf and blind, lost. I had to gather my children around me as much as possible and tell them that I was here. The aliens rushed towards me one after another. Perhaps their original intention was to sacrifice themselves to me, just like the children on the ancient blue planet, but now that they had lost consciousness, they were left with only the most primitive desire to eat."
"Our war has shifted from against humans to against alien species—these children I once knew. Right before my eyes, my children are engaging in one brutal fight after another."
"I just wanted to lead the children off Ancient Blue Star, but somehow it turned into a situation where the children were killing each other. I kept giving birth, but it seemed like I was giving birth to enemies for myself and my children."
"After the bitter victory, I decided to put an end to this tragedy."
"The entire tribe's relationship, centered around the Zerg Mother, is difficult to change. The children still need a Zerg Mother who can unite their spirits and resist powerful enemies. So, I concentrated all my efforts and laid a final egg, the first generation of Kairos, designating her as my successor. I severed Kairos's ability to give birth to other Zerg, and stipulated that the Zerg Mother lineage could only be a single line of succession; she would only give birth to the next Zerg Mother. I returned the responsibility and power of reproduction to all Zerg. From now on, no Zerg would be held hostage to the tribe's reproduction and survival like I was."
The Primordial Worm Queen finally stopped telling her story. She looked at Alyssa, who had been standing there in a daze, and sighed.
"Giving birth to Kairos and severing the insect mother's reproductive mechanism drained all my strength. When I was about to die, I saw that smooth, round egg."
"That child was the embodiment of all my hard work, the child that carried my unfulfilled hopes. He was my most beloved child. In my dying moments, I wondered if I had created yet another innocent life, bound to the duties of a Worm Mother for the rest of its life."
"I wanted to give my child a chance to choose, so I condensed my last bit of blood and spiritual energy into a bottle of honey."
The Primordial Worm Mother seemed to sink deeper into her memories, and Alyssa had unknowingly clung to her abdomen. In stark contrast to the rigid shell of her upper body, the Worm Mother's abdomen was soft and elastic, and beneath it seemed to pulse with life. Countless golden tentacles emanated from Alyssa's body, gently resting on the Primordial Worm Mother's abdomen. Alyssa felt as if she had traveled through tens of thousands of years, possessing the Primordial Worm Mother's vision.
In front of her was a bug that looked very much like Alfonso. He had a sad face, and his ring-like tentacles hung behind him. He was calling her "Mother".
She saw that her stomach had completely deflated and the rhythm of life was gone. A thin tube extended from her abdomen and inserted into a crystal bottle. The last drop of red liquid dripped into the bottle.
"Rulni, good boy, take good care of Kairos for me. Remember to tell her that this is the choice I leave for Kairos."
Rune fell to her knees, clutching her deflated belly tightly. "Mother! What are you doing? You've given her such a sacred position as the Mother of All Insects. How could she possibly be unwilling?"
"I just want every one of my kids to have a choice."
"Then I choose to be your child forever, okay? Mother, you ate me, and I just ate a few worms, so I've already accumulated a lot of nutrients. If you eat me, I won't die! If you become the worm mother, Kairos won't have to make a choice! Isn't it better for us to just stay like this?"
She was shocked: "Rulni, you ate your brothers and sisters?"
"Yes, mother. They are all very willing to become your nourishment. You don't have to worry about me degenerating into a different species. I have already learned that our assassin bugs have a very special way of eating. Don't you think I am fine now?"
She thought her grief had settled deep within her heart, but Rune's words stirred it up again. With her last remaining strength, she lashed out at Rune, "Why are you doing this? I told you that cannibalism is a serious crime. Didn't you listen to me? What's the difference between a cannibalistic Zerg and an alien?"
"Rulni, why do you think I died? I committed a crime, and the guilt of eating my own child killed me."
"Mother! You are innocent! Before you established the law against cannibalism, wasn't it precisely because of the spiritual anchor circulating within your belly that our Zerg evolved into intelligent life? Why do you need to be disciplined by the dogmas you learned from humans?"
"Yes. But I have feelings now. I am no longer a machine that knows nothing and can only give birth to children. I love every one of my children."
"Mother, we love you too, we are all willing!"
She seemed to smile: "Roulney, good boy, I also want to have a choice. I am already very tired."
Finally, she raised her tentacles towards Rune and said, "Are you unwilling to take care of Kairos? I'll give you this choice. If you don't want to, just do your mother a favor and give this bottle of honey to Kairos."
"...Mother, I do."
"That's good……"
Her vision gradually darkened, and Runeley turned into a blurry black shadow in her eyes. She couldn't see his expression, but only heard his last words:
"Mother, I am willing... Kairos... must be willing too... How could a bug... reject the role of mother?"
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