Chapter 506: Leaving the Base

Just as Rick was pacing anxiously, Ye Nan returned, which made him feel a bit more at ease. The Big Guy's sudden death had made his heart very flustered.

"Ye Nan, where did you just go..." Rick had only said half of his sentence when he saw the black police officer following behind Ye Nan. He swallowed his words abruptly and said, "Who is this?"

"He is a survivor here," Ye Nan casually made up an identity for the Grim Reaper.

"Yes, I am a survivor here," the Grim Reaper took over Ye Nan's words and said hurriedly. After finishing, he felt something was wrong and hurriedly added, "It's like this, I was captured by the Zerg here to do experiments. Later, the Zerg left, and they left me behind."

"The Zerg do experiments?" Rick looked at the Grim Reaper suspiciously, wanting to determine if the Grim Reaper's words were true.

He knew that the Zerg had intelligence. This could be seen from the Zerg's schemes and traps; the Zerg absolutely possessed intelligence no less than humans. But to say they did experiments, he didn't believe it.

To put it mildly, an experiment was one person playing tricks; to put it broadly, it required the coordination of countless people. Judging from the scale of this base, this experiment absolutely wouldn't be small, but that was something the Zerg couldn't achieve.

It was like modern people looking at ancient people. Seeing ancient people arranging troops and playing schemes was normal, but when you saw a group of ancient people calculating genes and functions, you would only feel it was inconceivable.

"Don't underestimate the Zerg's intelligence." Looking at Rick's expression, Ye Nan knew what he was thinking and said immediately, "In the process of fighting other civilizations, the Zerg have absorbed a lot of scientific knowledge. When it comes to the ability to comprehend science, they are not weaker than you."

"It's just that they combine technology with the Zerg themselves to develop Zerg for various purposes."

"Do you still remember the Plasma Bug from before? In the natural world, how could such a slow Zerg be bred? You must know that the real natural world is the law of the jungle. A freak like that Plasma Bug would simply never be bred."

"Slow movement speed, slow plasma firing speed—aside from the fact that the power of the plasma can reach outer space, it is useless. If it weren't for the confrontation with human civilization, would it have been manufactured? Also, don't you think it's very similar to a particle cannon?"

After hearing Ye Nan's words, Rick immediately fell into deep thought. Admittedly, the natural world would also breed freakish bugs, but it was indeed impossible for a bug like the Plasma Bug, which was useless aside from being able to fire plasma into space, to be bred.

"Can you take me to see it?" Rick said. He still didn't believe that bugs would do experiments. Hearing is believing, seeing is reality. No matter what, he had to see it.

"Okay." Ye Nan agreed and walked back along the path he came. On the way, those amber-like things gave Rick a huge shock, especially when Ye Nan introduced that the bugs inside these ambers were manufactured through cloning technology, his face turned even more ashen.

The bugs themselves were numerous and had powerful reproductive capabilities. If they were allowed to clone bugs, this war wouldn't need to be fought. Fortunately, the Zerg couldn't directly clone other bugs; the cloned bugs didn't obey commands.

"But even so, these bugs are scary enough," Rick muttered in a low voice. Bugs cloning bugs—although it failed, the meaning behind it made Rick's hair stand on end.

Compared to the Zerg, humans couldn't compare in terms of individual strength or quantity. The reason they were able to firmly suppress the Zerg in the area of Planet K was entirely due to human advanced technology. If one day humans lost their technological advantage, one could imagine how miserable the future of humanity would be.

"Almost finished walking." Ye Nan turned his head and blocked the front of the crowd. "Now you know how scary the bugs are."

Ye Nan's words made fearful expressions appear on the faces of the other soldiers. Almost everyone thought about what kind of consequences would arise if the bugs developed technological power.

"If one day, bugs were driving interstellar warships and fighting humans in space, what would that scene be like?" Rick smiled bitterly, spitting out a series of hair-raising words.

"Don't scare me, Officer Rick," a soldier said.

"Yeah, even if the bugs can build this kind of small base, it doesn't mean the bugs can build space warships. They are still a long way from building space warships," another soldier comforted Rick, and also comforted himself.

"That's right." Rick suddenly cheered up. "Although the bugs can build bases, it doesn't mean they can build space warships. From building bases to building space warships, the bugs still have a very difficult road to walk, and during this time, we can eliminate them."

"Long live the Federation!" Rick roared.

"Long live the Federation!"

The other soldiers roared along, and their momentum suddenly rose.

"For the future of the Federation, we must capture that Brain Bug at all costs," Rick said in a deep voice. He looked at the soldiers whose morale was like a rainbow, but there was no joy in his eyes, only a faint worry.

Unlike the joyful soldiers, he thought more. Around the Brain Bug, there would definitely be many Zerg guards. These Zerg wouldn't let them enter easily. At that time, there would definitely be a bitter battle to fight, and where there is war, there is sacrifice. The higher the morale, the greater the sacrifice.

"Sigh, I can only take it one step at a time." Rick sighed. He understood that sacrifice was unavoidable. If at the beginning, the pressure on them came from the tens of thousands of compatriots on this planet, then at this moment, the pressure came from the hundreds of millions of compatriots far away on Earth. Only by taking the Brain Bug back and letting those scientists study it could they find a glimmer of opportunity to defeat the Zerg.

"Actually, when it comes down to it, it's still humans underestimating the bugs." Ye Nan looked at the high-spirited soldiers and said nothing.

He knew what was going on with the current situation, and he also admired Rick's methods. There weren't many people who could inspire morale in a desperate situation.

"After I annex the Human Federation, I will absorb Rick into the army. With his ability, being a commander is more than enough."

Without anyone noticing, a bug slowly woke up from the liquid substance. It opened its fangs, waiting for a fatal blow.

"Now we are divided into..."

This was the opportunity! A cold light flashed in the bug's eyes, and it rushed out of the amber-like liquid substance. The jelly-like liquid still remained on the bug's body.

"Careful!" Ye Nan shouted hurriedly, and at the same time, his mental power spread out, forming a giant net, trapping the bug inside.

Just as it was about to hit its prey, the bug suddenly felt itself trapped in a giant net. No matter how it struggled, it couldn't escape from the giant net.

"How could this be?" With the bug's brain, it simply couldn't imagine what the current situation was. It used its front claws to struggle hard in the air, wanting to tear the giant net and escape from inside.

"This substance." Ye Nan only took one look at the bug before shifting his attention to the liquid spilled from the amber. His mental power spread out, but it was quickly hindered.

"Because these liquids can block mental power, that's why this bug could hide from my perception and attack Rick." Combining the previous situation, Ye Nan immediately understood why he hadn't sensed the bug waking up in advance.

The startled Rick saw the bug struggling hard in the air and couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

Just now, when the bug attacked him, aside from a cry of "Oh no," he was filled with fear. At that time, he thought he was dead for sure, and no one could save him, but it turned out he was still alive.

After breathing a sigh of relief, Rick looked at the bug in the air that seemed to be trapped by something, his eyes shining with brilliance. Almost instinctively, he looked at Ye Nan, wanting to see something from Ye Nan's face, but aside from surprise and a hint of excitement, there was nothing else on Ye Nan's face.

"Could it not be him?" Rick shook his head, shaking the thought out of his mind.

"What's going on? This bug isn't moving in the air."

"Could it be that there's something in the air binding it? Look at its front limbs, what is it scratching at?"

The soldiers started discussing. Facing this ancient wonder, the original fear was all cast to the back of their minds, leaving behind some thoughts of amazement.

Ye Nan picked up the gun in his hand, aimed at the bug, and fired a few *da-da* shots, killing the bug. Only then did he retract his mental power and said, "Rick, are you okay?"

"I'm fine." Rick looked at Ye Nan thoughtfully, carefully recalling the situation just now in his mind. The more he thought about it, the more he felt there was something wrong with Ye Nan, and felt that it was Ye Nan who saved him just now.

"It's good that you're fine." Ye Nan looked relieved on the surface. "At that time, I saw it pouncing toward you, and I was so scared I even forgot to hold my gun."

"That's normal. I was so scared at the time I didn't even react," Rick laughed, but he didn't know what he was thinking in his heart.

"Then let's go and find trouble with the Brain Bug," Ye Nan added. He didn't want to continue letting them think about this matter.

Originally, he had intended to seal their memories, but thinking that sealing so many people's memories at once would still be seen as suspicious, he gave up on this idea. After all, one person feeling it was strange that they appeared here was nothing, but so many people feeling it was strange together—at that time, as long as someone said it casually, it could resonate, thereby searching for the sealed memories.

"Good, let's go." Rick suppressed the thoughts in his heart and called out to everyone to go find the Brain Bug. (To be continued.) ===== CHAPTER 507 =====