In the following days, the "ranch" overseen by Kelvier turned frantic, as if the syringe bugs were driven to inject "growth accelerators" into the animals without any regard for life itself.

  Within mere days, Kelvier witnessed an ordinary wild rabbit grow to the size of a dog, its body expanding fivefold! However, its body was grotesquely covered in tumor-like swellings, severely deformed.

  These excessively accelerated animals almost invariably died within days. As soon as one died, a thousand soldier King Bugs would swoop down and devour it completely, leaving no trace of flesh behind.

  Kelvier's heart grew cold. Now part of the Zerg himself, he was acutely aware of the Zerg's digestive capabilities. Almost anything consumed could be immediately converted into energy, either distributed throughout the body or stored in an "energy reservoir." As long as there was sufficient energy stored, they could survive without food for up to six months.

  This method of forced growth must be insanely draining on life's potential. To humans, this would be akin to killing the goose that lays the golden eggs, but for King Bug, with its enormous need for food, it was more than appropriate.

  In just over ten days, Kelvier had observed the Zerg's meticulous division of labor. So far, he had encountered:

  - Nurse bugs, caring for the eggs and providing the first meal for the larvae;

  - The numerous worker bugs;

  - The hole-opening mantis bugs responsible for opening the breeding chambers;

  - Palm-sized transport bugs carrying nurse bugs;

  - Elytra-backward bugs capable of forming a spherical enclosure;

  - Mud-brick bugs responsible for sealing the breeding chambers once again;

  - Soldier bugs tasked with killing;

  - The growth-accelerating syringe bugs!

  There were already eight distinct roles among the bugs, and their functions surely extended beyond what was visible. For example, the hole-opening bugs could potentially destroy human structures, while the cement bugs could construct fortresses.

  It's likely there were even more roles Kelvier hadn't yet seen!

  His heart grew colder by the day.

  These past few days, the Zerg swarm had gone mad, consuming all available food. Now, everywhere Kelvier looked, bugs were pupating and preparing to evolve.

  The Zerg... they were preparing for war!

  Before him, this Zerg swarm already boasted two insect kings. Surely there were other swarms too! Together... how many insect kings might there be?

  Kelvier's only thought was to escape.

  But the kings had unparalleled control over their swarms. Kelvier even suspected that a single thought from a king could cause him to self-destruct—of course, if King Bug could self-explode...

  Three days.

  Three days of restless waiting. Periodically, bugs would emerge from their cocoons.

  The most noticeable difference was that the current bugs were larger than before.

  Assemble!

  A thought transmitted, and Kelvier couldn't help but smile bitterly. As expected... they were preparing for war.

  The buzzing in the woods was constant as King Bug gathered from all directions towards a central point.

  When he approached the center, only an endless Zerg swarm remained, blotting out the sky as far as the eye could see.

  The scale of the swarm was difficult to estimate due to the sheer number of bugs, likely ranging from 200,000 to 700,000.

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  Kelvier's heart chilled, and that was just one Zerg swarm. What about the others?

  Drawing closer to the center was beyond shocking.

  Kelvier had seen bird migrations on television and marveled at the sky-darkening flocks.

  Before the Zerg swarm, it seemed trivial indeed. King! King! King! The closer to the center, the more frenzied the Zerg swarm became. The Insect King was in sight! Kelvier's heart was aflame.

  In the public eye, the Insect King wasn't a secret, but nearly all Insect Kings had been blasted to pieces with destructive weapons, leaving only fragments for humans to see. What people saw of the Insect King was merely reconstructed from remains, much of it conjecture. So to this day, humans didn’t even know what an Insect King looked like!

  Was that the Insect King?

  Kelvier was startled to see an insect the size of a basketball buzzing and circling over a small mound. This insect was incredibly fierce, with eight legs each as thick as a chicken leg, its body covered with sharp backward-pointing spines, even on its wing casings.

  Regardless of the type—ant, dung beetle, flea—each had terrifying muscular strength. Seeing the thickness of this insect's legs, its strength was undoubtedly greater than that of a human.

  Then, three or four more insects of the same type buzzed into view, followed shortly by a hundred!

  These hundred basketball-sized insects already represented a terrifying force!

  "It's probably not the Insect King," Kelvier concluded. There couldn’t be that many kings; these hundred insects were probably akin to the drones in a beehive, essentially the royal guards. What slightly surprised Kelvier was that the guard bugs also had the same green stripes on their backs as he did.

  The societal structure of King Bug, the ruling power of the Insect Kings, some unique yet wonderfully bizarre evolutionary directions...

  If there was a species that could evolve such complex traits in just a few years...

  Even without having read "On the Origin of Species," Kelvier knew that evolving even a single feather would take hundreds to thousands of years.

  This meant that King Bug must be a very ancient race!

  But given the terror of King Bug, if it was ancient... early humans could not have resisted it. Even if King Bug had appeared just a hundred years earlier in human history, humanity would likely have been extinct...

  Kelvier now harbored a terrifying suspicion: Could it be that King Bug was an alien species? Like the Zerg in the Star Wars galaxy?

  Buzzing—deafening at this moment.

  An uncountable number of Zerg swarms had assembled.

  Kill!

  A thought transmitted, and the Zerg swarm began to disperse in several groups, retreating in an orderly manner.

  And Kelvier received a "scouting" thought.

  Opportunity!

  Overjoyed, Kelvier knew that as long as he stayed away from the Insect King, there was a chance to escape!

  The current scale of the Zerg swarm was definitely at the fourth level, and it could likely reach the third level Zerg Swarm, which meant 20 Insect Kings. The nation would surely resort to nuclear weapons.

  No matter how powerful the Zerg swarm was, the destructive power of nuclear weapons was something Kelvier didn’t even dare to contemplate.

  Feeling somewhat frustrated, Kelvier realized that among the six bugs assigned to the "scouting" mission, one was about the same size as him and acted as the leader... Yes, the leader! Not just the Insect Kings, but also a leader! Damn that leader! Kelvier roared internally, once again amazed at the complexity of the Zerg swarm’s structure, yet he had no choice but to scurry along after the "leader."

  Their scouting mission was clear: report back upon encountering anything unusual. To Kelvier's dismay, the directive wasn’t to report human sightings, but anything deemed "unusual." Given the limited intelligence of these bugs, even his attempt to escape might be flagged as "unusual" and reported.

  Thus, his immediate priority was to eliminate these few "colleagues."

  The opportunity came! As the other four bugs moved ahead unconcerned, one bug paused to investigate a puddle likely to be animal urine, examining it closely to determine if it was "unusual."

  Seizing the moment, Kelvier leapt forward. His mandibles aimed precisely at the joint between the bug’s head and thorax.

  Crack! A crisp sound echoed as the bug was decapitated.

  Fearing the others might notice and classify it as an unusual event, Kelvier quickly crunched up the bug, leaving no remains. Once consumed, the bug was digested into bursts of energy, fueling his body.

  Exhilarated, Kelvier moaned in satisfaction and hurried to catch up with the squad.

  Human patrols would typically need to coordinate with commands like "Mike, check the east side; Jack, take the north," etc. But the Zerg swarm required no such instructions. Their coordination was impeccably instinctual. Whenever something was detected, a bug would automatically break off to investigate, while the others continued forward undisturbed.

  This terrifying synergy provided Kelvier with the perfect opportunity. Hanging back from the group, he pounced whenever a bug strayed.

  Soon, only the "leader" remained.

  Kelvier smirked internally and followed stealthily. There was a puddle of blood on the ground.

  As the leader saw no one—or rather, no bug—around, it approached the puddle to test if it was "unusual."

  This was his chance!

  Kelvier attacked! The leader, remarkably alert, instinctively dodged, narrowly avoiding a lethal blow.

  The two bugs clashed fiercely, tumbling into the blood puddle. Although similar in size, Kelvier had devoured a significant number of insect eggs and several nurse bugs and had evolved three times; his strength was now far beyond that of the leader.

  Quickly, Kelvier overpowered the leader, pinning it down and clamping his mandibles onto a vital spot.

  As Kelvier's green stripes on his back glowed brightly, ready to deliver the final blow, a thought flashed through his mind:

  Submit!

  Startled, Kelvier paused. The leader beneath him had ceased struggling, its antennae trembling slightly as it conveyed the thought once more:

  Submit!!!!!

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