"Evolution, complete."
Gabriel Tosh, a former follower of the Haiji Voodoo Cult, the new Lord of the Swarm, used his weird twisted palms to tear off the tough and elastic skin of the cocoon, and kicked the hardened outer surface of the cocoon with his strong legs. skeleton.
“The human organism, primitive in mind, weeds out the dross and puts it to good use.”
It didn't take much effort for Tosh to tear open the cocoon's skin with the sharp claws extending from the ends of his fingers, like sharp scissors cutting through white paper. He tore open the cocoon and breathed the first breath of new life in the soft and warm evolutionary chamber of the Char Hive.
"Independent thinking, the will of the swarm. Both."
The cocoon shattered like a cracked skateboard or an eggshell, breaking into several petals. In a wild roar, Tosh shook off the thick green slime from his body, revealing that he was covered in a chitinous carapace. grey-green skin and back. Additional pairs of spikes extend from his back, shaped like a giant spider, and the ends of each spike on his back secrete sticky yellow venom, like the venom glands of a poisonous snake.
"The lack of wings is unexpected. I can't understand it, so continue to study."
"Greener, doubtful."
"Get away." Tosh felt unprecedented power, as if he could tear apart the Goliath armed robots of the Tyranid Federation at will, and tear all the arrogant soldiers into pieces. And this power is definitely not what his once thin and frail body could possess.
When Tosh opened his eyes with a mixed yellow light, he saw for the first time the green monster whose body was buried in the evolution tunnel. This monster is as huge as the Hydra Hydralisks that appeared on Haji. Its swollen head is covered with glowing blisters, and it squirms and emits green fluorescence.
Although its huge head is almost disproportionate to its body, its face is almost flat, with an ugly and twisted face and at least four frightening insect eyes.
It has many short arms, some of which even look too short. One pair is thicker and has fingers as flexible as humans, capable of completing various complex movements such as grasping.
"Get away, you monster." Tosh emphasized again. He was surprised to find that he did not speak, but directly showed what he wanted to say to the monster in front of him through spiritual energy.
Tosh knows the name of this monster. It is one of the earliest creatures created by the Overlord, Abathur, the evolution master who is in charge of the evolutionary path of the insect swarm. In the insect swarm, having a name represents the strength and qualifications of the insect.
"Insect Swarm, Supreme." Abathur clasped his hands together, like a patient butler. Its psychic prophecies contained undisguised contempt in response to Tosh's disdain for the zerg.
"Ahem." Tosh spit out a ball of viscous green liquid from his swollen throat. As soon as the ball of liquid fell on the squirming flesh-colored wall, it made a burning sizzling sound, causing the flesh and blood under his feet to tremble in pain. The contractions spasmed.
When Tosh took a closer look, he realized that he was in the body of a huge zerg creature or in the main hive underground. The dim chamber was squirming, and huge insect intestines were hanging around the chamber. The air inside is moist and sticky, filled with the fragrance of decay.
Tosh spit out the last of the thick phlegm in his throat, his yellow eyes scanning everything around him. After a moment of silence, Tosh stopped ranting and focused on his reborn body.
Each of his fingers and the end of his elbow joints are covered with sharp bone spikes, and each one is a long knife that can cut hair instantly. Tosh felt like he could tear open the green glowing creature in front of him at will, rip his throat out with his teeth.
"Did you do it?" Tosh looked at the evolution master Abathur, stretching his arms and sharp fingers, as if he wanted to strangle the insect in front of him.
"Organism Abathur, complete all processes. Creation, evolution, until perfection." Abathur crawled in front of Tosh and stretched out his pair of forelimbs to touch Tosh, but was immediately and roughly separated.
"Don't touch me, you slimy slug." Tosh took a few steps back and found that not only did he not feel disgusted by the slimy inner walls of this chamber, he even felt that the air here was intoxicating and warm. .
Suddenly, Tosh grabbed his neck so hard that even his long claws were deeply embedded in his flesh. He was pleasantly surprised to find that he had caught the pendant left to him by his grandmother, a relic from Manan, the goddess of death, a doll said to bring a curse to his enemies.
A flash of sadness filled Tosh's heart, reminding him that his grandmother had left him. The high-ranking witch who believed in the goddess of death died in the psychic storm released by Tosh due to loss of control, and was then torn to pieces by the zerg.
The Terran Confederacy is the culprit. Not only did they fail to lend a helping hand to the people they were sworn to protect, but they also prevented the people of Haji's slums from escaping, leaving them to the zerg.
"Tosh, Lord of the Swarm, is not perfect." Abathur gave his own response.
"I'm going to kill you. I'll crush you like a quacking duck." Tosh stretched out the multiple pairs of sharp appendages on his back, and the new bone blades clicked, as if they were being sharpened. sharp knife.
"The organic Abathur is the strongest." The green zerg Abathur raised his upper body like a cobra and waved his multiple pairs of forelimbs to show his power. In any case, Tosh may still see in Abathur the movement skills of the underground boxer in the slums of Haji.
"Abathur, unique."
"I'm going to tear you apart." Tosh was immersed in hatred for the Tyranid Federation, and his heart could no longer tolerate anything more.
"Stop, new brainworm."
At this time, a new voice appeared in Tosh's mind, a strange, high-pitched voice.
"Why? Why do you obey your orders?" Tosh instantly knew who the voice came from - the brainworm of the Jormungandr swarm, the swarm lord Sass.
After learning that the revolutionary army had named its ethnic group, Sass readily accepted the name. It regarded this as a manifestation of human fear and respect for itself.
The Cerebrate Sass is in the wriggling corner of this chamber. Its worm-like body exudes a silvery white luster, which makes this fleshy creature as clear as crystal. Next to it will be two brainworms that are almost identical to it, but one of them obviously has more immature skin.
"You have won the favor of the Lord. This favor lies on every brainworm, but you are just a servant." Sass taught Tosh unceremoniously.
"You're right." Tosh put down his extended claws and the appendages on his back, and no longer stared at Abathur maliciously: "But you are not the master, you are just a brainworm. "
"Anger, it's not important." Seeing that Tosh was no longer attacking, Abathur also put down its many pairs of appendages with claws and teeth.
During the months that the zerg brought him to Char for transformation, Tosh had been sealed in an airtight cocoon, relying on the nutrient solution medium that filled the cocoon to survive. As his body was constantly being broken and reorganized, Tosh's mind was also distorted and changed by the swarm.
From the moment he emerged from his cocoon and let out his first scream of rebirth, Tosh had embraced his new identity, knowing that the Overlord, the supreme ruler of the swarm, was his creator. He is a new perfect creature created by the master. He will rule the insect swarm until he completes a supreme mission - the meaning of Tosh's birth is to make the insect swarm exist forever.
As a creation that the master has high hopes for, Tosh has a status equivalent to that of the cerebrates in the swarm, and has its own tribe. Not only that, Tosh is also a highly favored individual, which makes his status slightly higher than other Cerebrates.
But a veteran cerebrate like Sass will not obey Tosh's orders. It is also a zerg individual with a unique personality.
"I'm just a brainworm." Sass acknowledged Tosh's words and then stopped talking. Its purpose was just to stop the dispute between Tosh and Abathur. Cerebrates are thoughtful zerg, they also have feelings, but they don't fight with each other - at least not yet.
"Where's the Master?" Tosh walked around in the squirming chamber at this moment, stretching his limbs and feeling the terrifying power contained in his new body.
"The great zerg who created me, the undisputed master of the swarm, a father and a mother, my noble heavenly father."
In the past, Tosh, who was born in the slums of Haiji, would not be able to say such words, but in the process of being transformed, the vocabulary in Tosh's brain has also been expanded, which is likely to come from those who were absorbed by the zerg. of human brain tissue—but it could also be that a certain brainworm heard it while watching the human UNN channel, munching on larvae while paying attention to the latest reports from the news program host on the war between humans and zerg.
The Tyranid Federation army never thought that the enemy was listening to human broadcasts, so in order to motivate the people, they reported in detail the battle plan against the zerg main nest on the small planet Mephisius, which then turned into a terrible war. disaster.
"The Overlord has arrived at Aiur, the home planet of the protoss." Another brainworm raised its head with sharp mouthparts and said in a proud tone. Tosh knew his name unmistakably, Carlos the Cerebrate.
"The swarm army will destroy the home of the protoss, shattering their pride and everything." Carlos the Cerebrate is a Cerebrate who is good at driving infected alien creatures to fight. What he is best at is transforming the most powerful among the enemies. Soldiers and even generals use it for their own purposes. Carlos is one of the brainworms who has the best understanding of human beings, and this understanding is by no means as simple as staying on the surface.
"The swarm is about to enter eternity, and our great immortal mission is about to be completed. Once the protoss are conquered, humans will be vulnerable, and they will perish like all the races we encounter."
"That is to say, the master is not here." Tosh used his vocal organs to spit out strange bytes for the first time. He stood up straight and realized that he had grown as big as a grown man. He is so strong and his psychic powers are far greater than before.
Tosh is always hungry for revenge, and he can't wait to tear the Terran Confederacy's army into pieces.
"The Overlord is not here." A young and immature Cerebrate responded through the unique psychic link between zerg. It was a nameless newborn cerebrate, almost as young as Tosh's time as a member of the zerg pack, a cerebrate created by the Overmind after his arrival on Char.
In Char's insect nest, it can be said that any Cerebrate pulled out has a higher status than this new nameless Cerebrate. It is the latest batch of Cerebrates to be born, and it is also the youngest one.
This low-status and inexperienced Cerebrate spoke softly. It even only learned how to command its own tribe before the Overlord left Char.
"The Master gave Char to us - our task is to protect your cocoon until you break out." The new nameless brain worm said so.
"Thank you." Tosh said: "The first thing I learned while crawling around in the Haiji slum is that if others respect me, I will give them a fight."
"I have received my gratitude." Abathur, who had been silent for a long time, took it for granted that he was also the one being thanked.
"Organism Tosh is defective and must be improved. Throw it into the Split Pool."
"Let me be healthy."
"Stay away from me." Tosh took a few steps back, but did not choose to use force to force Abathur to surrender.
The emboldened Abathur finally caught Tosh, pointing at his body parts with his thickest pair of forelimbs, reaching into his hair that resembled insect limbs and stroking something until the other person became impatient. And let out a roar of dissatisfaction.
"Easy, you asshole," Tosh complained. "I'm not your guinea pig."
Abathur's movements couldn't be called gentle at all, he was even cutting Tosh's skin with his sharp claws. The cut skin on Tosh's body healed quickly, but he still felt real pain.
Just as Tosh was becoming more and more impatient with Abathur, a surprising wave of psychic energy suddenly came from the brainworm.
"Intruder!" screamed Cerebrate Sath.
"Templars, and humans." The new brainworm added.
"I suggest adopting a transition tactic." Carlos firmly pointed out this point, and then looked left and right to find a way out.
It then spit out an astonishing fact: "There are too many brainworms here. Once we are killed by the enemy, the Charworm swarm will collapse."
"They are there, how far away from us." The spikes on Tosh's back stood up.
"On the planet." Sass's mental language was sharp and high-pitched: "But my tribe has discovered them."
"Terran Revolutionary Army! Their smell I will never forget. They are coming, and Augustus Mengsk must be coming too," it screamed.
A large number of springtails and Hydra Hydralisks rushed here from a wriggling passage outside the chamber. Each one was extremely huge and had bright red skin.
"I'm here." Tosh realized that this was a powerful enemy, and immediately said to the brainworms: "I will come to the rear."
Tosh is different from the cerebrates. He has the powerful body of a warrior and the wisdom of commanding a group of worms. However, the cerebrates who control hundreds of millions of worms lack the ability to protect themselves.
"Altruism is admirable." Abathur drew something with a pair of appendages on its chest.
"Insect Swarm, no need."
"Insect swarms win with numbers."
