Chapter 516: Soldiers

The desolate night sky was like a magnificent painting, with blood spreading across it; the ferocious bugs and the desperate soldiers formed a stark contrast.

Then, in the next moment, all the imagery froze. Whether it was the desperate soldiers or the ferocious bugs, it was as if someone had pressed a pause button, freezing them in an instant.

"What happened?" The desperate soldier suddenly discovered he was still alive. He opened his eyes in disbelief, and what met his gaze was a bug that had already lost all signs of life.

"What's going on?" The soldier found this too incredible and suspected it was a conspiracy by the bugs. But upon reflection, he felt that wasn't right; after all, he was already at their mercy, and the bugs had no need to employ a conspiracy against him.

"Could it be that they're really dead?" The soldier lightly stepped on his tiptoes and walked forward a few steps. The once-vicious bugs, having lost their vitality, no longer seemed so terrifying or ferocious.

The soldier reached out to touch the bug's body, but pulled his hand back after just a brief contact. "There's a bit of warmth, but it's not high. Are bugs cold-blooded animals?"

The soldier carefully recalled the knowledge about bugs he had been taught in class, but after thinking for a long time, he still couldn't figure out whether bugs were truly cold-blooded.

"Soldier, what are you doing?" A cold shout came from behind the soldier, scaring him so much his heart nearly jumped out of his chest.

He turned around, his whole body feeling icy, and met Lei Ting's narrow, piercing eyes. He couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief. "Lei Ting, it's you."

"Of course it's me." Lei Ting smiled slightly. As he spoke, he was still panting heavily; his body hadn't fully recovered, but deep down, he felt younger and more active than ever before.

Once a person has a dream, the power that erupts is immeasurable; any miracle can happen.

"Lei Ting, you're not dead! That's great." The soldier rushed over and gave Lei Ting a bear hug. Only then did he notice Ye Nan, Princess Liya, and the Reaper standing behind Lei Ting, along with a chubby Brain Bug.

"Who are these people?" The soldier's gaze lingered on Ye Nan, Princess Liya, and the Reaper for only a moment before shifting his attention to the Brain Bug.

Soldiers who fought against bugs had an almost instinctive fear and resistance toward them. So, when he saw the bug, his expression changed, and he became vigilant. If he hadn't discarded his firearms during the battle with the Warriors, he probably would have aimed them at the Brain Bug, Ha Suda, long ago.

"He is the Brain Bug, Ha Suda." Lei Ting also noticed the soldier's odd behavior and introduced him: "Do you remember the Bug Clan commander we went to find? This is the Bug Clan commander on this planet, the Brain Bug, Ha Suda."

Upon hearing this, the Brain Bug, Ha Suda, made a few "woo-woo" sounds, indicating that it was now harmless. Unfortunately, Bug Clan language and human language were completely different; to human ears, the Brain Bug's language was just "woo-woo" sounds.

"You mean you found it?" The soldier looked at Lei Ting in disbelief, unable to believe they had actually succeeded.

Back when Lei Ting proposed searching for the Bug Clan commander, everyone had mentally placed them on the casualty list. Now that they had appeared and claimed they had truly found it, it was simply unbelievable.

"Yes." Lei Ting nodded, answering affirmatively.

"That's great!" The soldier cheered wildly. With the Brain Bug found, it meant they could move freely on this planet. They could not only escape the danger of annihilation but perhaps even kill the Bug Clan and reclaim this planet. 【Note: The text here appears to have a fragment regarding the Human Federation's branch, though it requires significant time and money to renovate.】

"Don't cheer yet. Where are the others?" Lei Ting looked at the soldier and smiled.

"The others..." The excitement on the soldier's face instantly dimmed. "I don't know."

"How could you not know?" Lei Ting frowned, a bad premonition forming in his heart.

"Ever since you left, we encountered attacks from a large number of bugs... We launched a counterattack, but... later, we got separated." As the soldier spoke, he began to cry.

A man does not easily shed tears, only when he has reached the depths of sorrow.

"Don't cry." Lei Ting sternly stopped the soldier's crying. He paced back and forth restlessly and added, "They should be fine."

"We were only gone for three days. Even if the bugs launched an all-out attack, it's impossible they wiped everyone out."

As he spoke, Lei Ting's expression dimmed. It was impossible to wipe everyone out, but a significant number of his comrades must have died in the mouths of the bugs.

Seeing Lei Ting's somber expression, the soldier immediately said with sympathy, "Lei Ting, don't be sad. On the battlefield, there are always deaths. If they knew you had captured the Bug Clan commander, the Brain Bug, their deaths would have been worth it."

"And this," the soldier continued, seeing that Lei Ting was listening, "the sudden death of the bugs must be related to you capturing the Brain Bug. Perhaps many comrades will, like me, escape the tiger's mouth."

"It has nothing to do with me," the Brain Bug, Ha Suda, said with a "woo-woo." It had been captured, but the bugs wouldn't die; after all, it was only a Brain Bug, not a Mother Bug. Even if the Mother Bug died, the bugs wouldn't necessarily die.

"It has nothing to do with the Brain Bug, Ha Suda." Ye Nan stepped forward, placed his hand on the bug's armor, and transferred his psychic power through his hand into the bug's body to investigate its condition.

After a while, Ye Nan withdrew his hand and said calmly, "This bug's consciousness was extracted by someone. If I'm not mistaken, it was done by the Bug Clan Overlord, Harris."

After searching his memory slightly, Ye Nan found the method Harris used to extract Bug Clan consciousness; this method corroborated his guess.

"The Bug Clan Overlord, Harris?" Lei Ting's expression turned ugly. "Besides the Brain Bug, the Bug Clan also has an Overlord?"

From the moment he saw the Brain Bug, he had been ecstatic, completely unaware that the Bug Clan might have other rulers. Now, hearing Ye Nan say this, he felt his previous thoughts had been too optimistic.

In his previous thinking, he planned to find the Bug Clan commander, bring it back for study, and develop a way to control the Bug Clan. Even if that couldn't be done, he wanted to make the bugs lose their commander, so they would become scattered troops, making them easy to wipe out.

But now, hearing Ye Nan say this, he felt he had been too optimistic. Besides the Brain Bug, Ha Suda, the Bug Clan actually had an Overlord, Harris.

"Woo-woo!" The Brain Bug, Ha Suda, hopped out from behind. Though it was called hopping, it didn't actually leave the ground by much.

"The Brain Bug is under the Overlord. The Brain Bug cannot manipulate the life and death of the bugs, but the Overlord can control the life and death of the bugs, excluding the Brain Bug." Ye Nan translated the Brain Bug, Ha Suda's words.

"Woo-woo." The Brain Bug, Ha Suda, made more "woo-woo" sounds.

"Also, Brain Bugs have strong and weak ones. Strong ones can ignore the distance of star systems, just like the Overlord, while weak ones can only command the Bug Clan within a planet." Ye Nan translated.

"You can actually understand the bug's words?" The soldier looked at Ye Nan in disbelief and then said, "Ask it how these bugs died."

This time, there was no need for the Brain Bug, Ha Suda, to speak; Ye Nan answered himself: "They died because the Overlord, Harris, extracted their consciousness."

"It hasn't even spoken yet." The soldier pointed at Ye Nan and said, "You actually believe in something as fantastical as consciousness?"

"Consciousness has long been scientifically proven to exist!" Ye Nan explained: "Mind and consciousness actually refer to the human soul, which includes spirit and heart; they all refer to the same thing. It dominates the human body and is the true core of a human."

"That sounds so mysterious. Is it true or false?" the soldier asked suspiciously.

"It's not mysterious at all." Ye Nan opened his psychic field and pushed the soldier out.

The soldier felt a great force emerge from thin air; unable to stand, he fell to the ground.

"Do you believe it now?" Ye Nan asked, looking at the soldier sitting on the ground with a smile.

"You..." Hearing Ye Nan say this, the soldier knew it was Ye Nan playing tricks, and he was absolutely furious.

"Stop talking." Lei Ting quickly stepped in to mediate, fearing the soldier would suffer greatly because of this.

He knew Ye Nan's power. Not to mention his strange abilities, his physical strength alone was invincible. He had torn the Alien Queen apart and broken through her body—this kind of physical strength, comparable to the Bug Clan, completely exceeded his imagination and broadened his horizons.

He knew Ye Nan wasn't a bloodthirsty person, but if the soldier continued to be disrespectful, Ye Nan could easily make him suffer.

Stopped by Lei Ting, the soldier immediately understood. The anger in his eyes faded, replaced by fear—fear of Ye Nan's strange power.

"Actually, this is just an application of psychic power. When the time comes, I will teach it to you, though whether you can learn it or not, I don't know." Ye Nan said with a smile. The "when the time comes" he referred to was after the Space-Time Empire annexed the Human Federation; he had already planned to promote individual martial power within the entire empire.

"Is that really possible?" Joy replaced fear. The soldier felt as if he had been hit by a pie from the sky; even though many people would be sharing this pie, he was still happy.

"Promoting psychic power?" Unlike the soldier's ecstasy, Lei Ting felt only faint joy and even a trace of hidden worry.

"You must tell me when the time comes. I will definitely come to find you."

He naturally understood what Ye Nan meant by "when the time comes." Although he had accepted Ye Nan's empire, deep down, he still held onto the territory of the Human Federation. This contradictory feeling made his heart very conflicted.

"Of course, I will definitely tell you." Ye Nan laughed. ===== CHAPTER 517 =====