“Merciful and compassionate Virgin Mary,” a woman kneels in front of a statue of the Virgin Mary in the hallway, her face filled with devotion. She holds a rosary to her forehead, closes her eyes, and makes a wish, “I have kept my fast for two years now, praying for your blessing to keep Kelvier safe from that pestilence.” After speaking, she respectfully makes the sign of the cross three times.

  For two years, she has repeated this prayer about ten times daily, filling the entire house with the scent of incense and thick smoke. However, when her newborn daughter developed a respiratory infection, she had to move the statue of the Virgin Mary to the hallway.

  The woman snapped back to reality upon hearing her daughter's cries from inside the house, but as she rose to return, her attention was captured by the flashing words on the television.

  Breaking News.

  Across the United States, on every device connected to the internet that could receive a TV signal, the same ominous message was displayed in large, blood-red letters: "Level 4 Zerg Swarm Outbreak."

  The news anchor continued with a grave tone, "Reports are coming in from multiple locations including Menghai and Mengla in China, and from the towns of Menmon, Mangxin, and Menglong in Laos, as well as Kyindaw and Menlin in Myanmar. A Level 4 Zerg swarm has erupted simultaneously in these areas. The extermination teams have suffered significant casualties, with 2,342 personnel missing and 5 confirmed fatalities. Additionally, traces of a queen Zerg have been detected in the Honghe Hani and Yi Autonomous Prefecture."

  "The Extermination Command has issued a red alert and deployed four hundred thousand troops to the affected regions. Additional weaponry and supplies are currently being prepared."

  "The United Nations Extermination Command has issued a secondary red alert, with fifty thousand troops already on their way, and emergency consultations are underway regarding further plans."

  As her child's cries continued, the woman's grip tightened on the hem of her shirt, her knuckles turning white. Overwhelmed by concern and ignoring the cries from inside, she rushed out and fell to her knees in front of the Guanyin statue in the hallway, repeatedly kowtowing with desperation.

  The news of the Zerg disaster instantly went viral, prompting frantic phone calls from those with relatives and friends at the borders.

  "Level 4 Zerg swarm! Damn it! How many thousands will die this time?"

  "It might not be as bad this time. Villages and cities near the forests had been massively relocated years ago. There aren’t many people left near the forests now."

  "Level 4 means there are at least five queen Zergs confirmed! Each queen can wipe out thousands of troops..."

  "My nephew is in the military; this is really tough..."

  The phone in the house rang sharply, cutting through the sound of the child's cries.

  With a sense of dread, the woman slowly turned her head towards the inside of the house. She stepped inside and upon seeing the special area code she had been dreading, tears fell like beads off a string. Trembling, she answered the phone.

  "Mrs. Grace, hello. I regret to inform you that your husband, Kelvier, went missing during yesterday’s Zerg swarm. The nation is grateful for his service; he was a dedicated soldier."

  The phone slipped from her hand as she collapsed to her knees, covering her face in despair.

  In the war against the Zerg race, being missing meant there was no body left to recover.

  ————

  In a dim cavern, a plump, pallid bug burrowed into a mound of white sustenance, feasting voraciously.

  This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

  Time seemed suspended within the cave’s confines. After a duration lost to the bug, it often fell into a stupor, tilting its head as if beholding a blur of elusive light that faded as it approached. Unable to comprehend the phenomenon, the bug resumed its feast, content in the knowledge that eating might be its sole purpose in life.

  Perhaps due to its excessive indulgence, the bug began to ponder more. Occasionally, it witnessed terrifying Zergs swooping down rapidly, causing it to retreat instinctively.

  Over time, the bug always found itself enclosed within a layer of uncomfortable material, struggling several times to shed this odd covering—apparently something referred to as an "Zerg-resistant suit."

  After much time had passed, the bug recalled it ought to have a name—what was it? The concept of a 'name' perplexed it.

  Then, one day, as it lay dazed in a corner of the cave, a thought flashed through its mind, stirring a hint of panic: "I... am called Kelvier."

  This fleeting thought left the bug... now him, confused. He glanced around, located his favorite pile of white food, and dragged his hefty body towards it. The more he ate, the more he thought.

  Occasionally, he fixated on a memory, driven by instinct to eat while recalling numerous past events.

  "Why am I not dead?" Kelvier wondered, "Reborn?"

  Though Kelvier seldom read novels, he was familiar with such concepts, yet as a staunch atheist, he found them utterly unacceptable.

  He attempted to discern his current form but lamented that his body lacked a neck to turn or the flexibility to bend due to his girth, preventing him from seeing his tail. He could only sense, vaguely, that he was an Zerg.

  "An Zerg? Could it be a queen Zerg?" he pondered. It was ironic—having planned to spend his latter years eradicating queen Zergs, it was absurd to think fate would play such a cruel joke on him.

  "No, that can't be right," Kelvier shook his head, realizing that the fierce reputation of queen Zergs he had seen did not align with his current, bizarre form.

  What was he, then?

  As Kelvier surveyed the dark cavern, he noticed something in the distance... eggs?

  The sight startled him. The cave was too dim to see far, but the dense, endless spread of white, slightly translucent eggs, shaped like polished hexagons and packed closely like a honeycomb, coated with a sticky substance, left him profoundly shocked.

  Deciding to explore this place first, Kelvier slowly moved forward, pondering the unfamiliarity of his body’s structure, which seemed to still possess a pulse. He estimated he had been moving for about fifteen minutes, based on a human's pulse rate.

  Instinct continuously urged him to return and feed, but Kelvier resisted, focusing on moving forward slowly.

  Then, Kelvier froze.

  He saw a plump, white bug.

  So fat, so white! Like a sausage—only white.

  Kelvier was taken aback, suddenly realizing what he looked like—a wave of nausea hit him. The atheist in him couldn't help but curse the blind fate inwardly!

  Kelvier's heart sank, despondently watching the fat bug bustling about.

  The fat bug moved next to the eggs, as if unloading well-laid bricks, gently depositing each egg before rearranging them—this new arrangement left the eggs much further apart than before. Finally, it secreted a sticky liquid to cement them together.

  Despite its corpulent and clumsy body, the short row of tiny legs underneath was incredibly agile, like a machine with a cheat enabled, precise and swift.

  The fat bug clearly noticed Kelvier but showed no surprise or curiosity, clearly devoid of any intelligence.

  Seeing this, Kelvier was deeply resigned, and the urge to feed grew stronger, forcing him to drag his body back.

  Unaware of his own bulky size without a reference point, he guessed he was no bigger than a ping-pong ball.

  Back at his lair, Kelvier plunged into a pile of white food, eating voraciously.

  Soon after, instinct drove him towards the eggs and, seemingly controlled, Kelvier began to unload and rearrange them, before finally secreting the sticky fluid to fix them in place.

  Wasn't this exactly what the other bug had been doing just a while ago?

  Resigned, Kelvier thought of the evolutionary freaks of the royal bugs, but for a bug like himself... After some thought, he decided to call it a Nurse Bug, clearly one that tended to the young.

  The Nurse Bug's massive body was illogical—if it were smaller and quicker, wouldn't that be better?

  As instinct once again drove Kelvier to eat, he exploded in anger: "Eat your sister! Still eating when you're this fat!"

  Resigned, he lay back on the pile of white food.

  Suddenly, Kelvier froze.

  Due to his peculiar occupation, Kelvier had encountered countless shocking things in his lifetime, but now, he felt that all those shocks combined were nothing compared to what he saw at this moment!

  In the middle of the food pile, mixed in was a comma-shaped metal piece—a shell fragment that had hit his brain five years ago!

  This meant... the white pile of food he was eating... was his own brain!

  Shock? Nausea? Horror? A torrent of complex emotions surged, and Kelvier retched, finally understanding why he had "reborn."

  Kelvier stood there dumbfounded, a little wanting to cry, a bit wanting to laugh. Suddenly, somewhat neurotically, he plunged into the pile of brains, voraciously eating.

  Was it because he ate the brain, gaining the information within? Thinking of his body being torn apart and his brain scooped out and left here, Kelvier was about to explode!

  "King Bug I want you dead!" Kelvier roared in his heart.