AMBTMS Chapter 210

It was a very creepy scene. Everyone knew that even when Zergs are small, gathering in swarms would make anyone uncomfortable, let alone when they were magnified countless times over.

When they were tiny, many details couldn’t be seen, but in this enlarged version, it was different. Those fine hairs were clearly visible after magnification. At a glance, Li Shu felt like his trypophobia was about to flare up.

Yet, these Zerg weren’t even in their normal form. It was unclear what kind of experiments those people had done on them, each one looked very strange.

They weren’t complete entities; rather, they looked like patchwork creations, assembled from parts of different zerg species. Just looking at them made one’s skin crawl.

Their scarlet eyes were filled with nothing but brutality and slaughter. They stared intently at Li Shu and the others who had arrived, as if they were fresh, appetizing prey.

“Marshal, be careful—”

Before the words had even faded, one of the zerg attacked. The one closest to Li Shu leaped up, its sharp, powerful forelimbs swinging forward. Gu Lin swiftly pulled him behind and raised his hand to block the attack.

A 3S physique was no joke; even facing the Zerg directly, he still had the strength to fight back.

It seemed like a signal to start; after the first Zerg made a move, more and more of them began surging towards the people around them.

Naturally, Li Shu couldn’t always stay protected behind Gu Lin. He had come because he was confident he could protect himself.

These Zergs weren’t like the ones they encountered outside; they were more frenzied and disorganized, killing simply for the sake of killing. After the fight, many of the people Gu Lin brought with him suffered many injuries.

Gu Lin himself was also injured. While protecting Li Shu, he was bitten by one of the Zergs. Li Shu helped him lean against the wall, the ground around them littered with Zerg corpses.

“These Zergs aren’t right.”

Without Li Shu saying anything, those soldiers who had long been dealing with Zergs had already noticed. They had faced Zergs before and knew exactly what they should look like; the ones they faced now were definitely different.

First, the appearance was off. Yes, Zergs looked hideous, but not like this, with such an unnatural disjointedness between body parts. Some parts clearly didn’t belong to the same species, yet here they were, attached to the same creature. What did that imply? It was impossible that the Zergs had grafted other parts onto themselves, right?

There was only one explanation—a very unsettling conclusion. These Zergs were likely modified by human hands, some deranged individuals spliced parts from different Zergs onto a single body.

There had been human experiments, and now there were also experiments on Zergs. Li Shu couldn’t help but wonder: since these people had reassembled the Zergs, could they have also grafted certain “useful” parts from the Zergs onto humans?

Was that humanoid Zerg that had appeared suddenly been created in this way?

The base was vast. After resting for a while, Gu Lin decided to lead the group back up. This was no longer a small matter. They had only explored a part close to the entrance, and deeper areas remained untouched. If there were already so many experimental subjects outside, who knew what was hidden inside?

Many of them were already injured, so it was unwise to continue deeper.

Upon retracing their steps, they found the entrance door had been closed. A soldier skilled in unlocking stepped forward to try opening it.

Gu Lin’s face darkened. They hadn’t been inside long, and no one noticed the door closing midway. When they entered, it was open; no one anticipated it would shut unexpectedly.

Gu Lin stepped up to try, but the door didn’t budge. It made sense; this door was intended to contain experimental subjects, so it wouldn’t be so easy to open.

The fact that it closed right after they entered meant their movements had been under surveillance. But this place was supposed to be abandoned—how could someone have known their whereabouts?

Li Shu leaned against the door and asked, “Marshal, what should we do next?”

“First, let’s find a way to open this door.” Trapped inside, who knew what might happen next? In a confined space, it was all too easy for something to go wrong.

[1314, do you have a way to open this door?] Li Shu thought of this and directly asked the system if it had a solution.

[I’ll give it a try.]

Li Shu placed his hand near the password area on the metal door. Through his touch with the door, 1314 infiltrated the lock.

Soon, a faint “click” rang out. The young soldier tinkering with the lock lit up with excitement, “It’s unlocked!”

The seamless metal door, which seemed like one solid piece, split from the middle, the gap gradually widening.

Just as joy began to bloom in their hearts, a loud crash came from behind. Turning back, a few younger members turned pale.

The dark, immeasurable corridor had somehow been filled with Zergs—more numerous, larger, and more massive than anything they’d encountered before.

The commanding officer ordered everyone to leave as quickly as possible. Li Shu also secretly instructed the system to shut the door. If those creatures were released, it would be hard to contain the situation.

As soon as the last person was out, the door closed, sealing the chaotic sounds of the Zergs’ movements behind it.

This matter couldn’t just end here. Apart from the plot to take Gu Lin’s life, the existence of these Zerg experiments underground couldn’t be ignored.

After returning, Gu Lin became busier than ever. Since Li Shu wasn’t a part of the military, there were many things he couldn’t get involved in directly. At this moment, the Li family urged him to return.

The call came from the father of this body’s original owner. Li Shu brushed it off casually; there was no way he’d leave at a time like this.

Li Shu visited the place where the humanoid Zergs were detained again.

This time, it wasn’t just a solitary specimen. The entire first basement level of their living quarters had been repurposed to hold these Zergs. Gu Lin didn’t trust that many people, so the location of the holding cells was disclosed to only a few. Li Shu was one of the few who knew.

Li Shu wanted to extract some useful information from these creatures’ minds. They knew far too little, and their enemy remained hidden while their every move seemed exposed. They couldn’t continue like this.

The Zergs might not know much, but Li Shu didn’t need them to know everything. He just needed a clue, something to unravel this tangled mess.

If not for that day’s unexpected encounter—no, perhaps even that day had been orchestrated—if they hadn’t discovered those strange-looking Zergs, they would never have known that such experiments were taking place on this planet.

Judging by the base’s scale and construction date, the forces behind this were certainly powerful.

Li Shu first asked about the state of the detained Zergs. The guards reported that the creatures had been docile in recent days, with no escape attempts. They mostly lay there, spending much of their time asleep.

Li Shu went inside to see. As they said, if not for the life-monitoring devices showing they were still alive, Li Shu would have thought they were dead.

No matter what noise occurred outside, these “people” didn’t move at all.

Li Shu moved closer.

“Sir, be careful. These prisoners are incredibly destructive. Please don’t get injured.”

“They’re like this,” Li Shu gestured at the humanoid figures lying still. “Could they still hurt anyone?”

“Are you joking? The harm the Zergs inflict isn’t just physical—it could be mental too. Their mental waves are very harmful to us.”

‘Mental waves… mental waves…’

Of course. Zergs relied on mental waves to communicate. Since the mastermind had experimented on the Zergs, they must have researched mental waves as well. So, conveying messages through Zerg mental waves wouldn’t be a problem.

The Zergs detained here were isolated from that concern; the room was equipped with special blocking devices that prevented their mental waves from spreading out.

After walking around, Li Shu noticed the Zergs had entered a semi-dormant state, making it impossible to wake them.

“Marshal.”

Li Shu turned around and met the eyes of the man descending the stairs.

Gu Lin: “What are you doing here?”

Li Shu: “I’m just checking on them. They’re like this…”

Gu Lin: “They were too noisy, so I made them quiet down.”

From Gu Lin, Li Shu learned that previously, these Zergs always kept trying to escape. They were very aggressive, and they attacked the guards at every opportunity, resulting in several injuries. The guards on duty now were replacements and weren’t aware of the previous incidents.

“Are there any leads?” Li Shu asked.

Gu Lin’s brows furrowed deeper. “There are clues, but following them is difficult.”

Perhaps he’d sensed it from the start, how could it be easy to conduct this kind of operation secretly? There were too many people and connections involved, and even the Yue family’s past incident had ties to it.

Gu Lin led the investigation, but progress was slow and filled with obstacles. Various individuals kept interfering, and even the Empire issued orders for him to quickly eliminate the Zergs and return, claiming they’d send a special unit to handle the captured humanoid Zergs.

But this was Fanna Star, where the influence of the Empire was weakest. Here, he could operate with maximum freedom. No matter how scared they were back in the capital or how much they wanted him to return, they couldn’t force him to leave.

While investigating, Gu Lin constantly heard two voices in his head. One said to stop digging, suggesting that it would be better if Li Shu never found out his secret. The other voice urged him to continue, to give everyone an answer.

Every time he saw the Omega’s peaceful sleeping face in his arms, he was filled with fear. He dreaded that one day his secret would be exposed, and this person would leave him. If he’d never had it, he wouldn’t fear losing it.

In front of the huge virtual screen, the previously smug man now had a face of irritation. “How are you all handling this? If he keeps digging, we won’t be able to keep anything hidden. What happened to foolproof?”

He never expected that not only had the man survived but had also swiftly uncovered several labs he hadn’t had time to cover up. While none of them were the most critical, if this kept up, his years of secrets would be impossible to keep buried!