Satellite

The Hive Carrier had already arrived above Insect Guard 1.

After a period of acceleration and deceleration, it finally reached its target, a process that took a staggering 1 hour and 20 minutes.

It was important to remember that it had been traveling at a speed of 100 kilometers per second for most of the journey.

“This is the universe for you. Even reaching the nearest celestial body takes so long.”

For any civilization, even one that has mastered controllable nuclear fusion, their maximum speed can only reach ten to twenty percent of the speed of light. At such speeds, leaving one's home to reach the nearest star would still take over a thousand years.

Therefore, spatial navigation is an inevitable step for a civilization to break its shackles.

However, this path is not as easy as one might imagine.

It is not a simple matter of saying, “There is plenty of time in the future; we just need to develop to get out there.”

The projection, which had been lounging leisurely inside the Hive, sat up. She watched the ship slowly descend, a smile involuntarily appearing on her face.

“Finally, we have entered the interstellar stage. Even if it is just the most primitive form, it is still our first step into the starry sky.”

Insect Guard 1 has no atmosphere, leading to extreme temperature fluctuations between day and night.

The lack of soil meant there were few nutrients, but minerals were exceptionally abundant. By spreading creep, certain substances could be decomposed and used as resources, though the efficiency was poor. The Zerg would primarily have to rely on photosynthesis.

If a planet like this were covered in creep, the resources generated would be astronomical.

However, as Xia Jin had estimated, the environment here was harsher than expected. Even drones at their highest rank could only barely survive and work here.

The surface temperature peaked at over 100 degrees Celsius and plummeted to a minimum of minus 160 degrees.

In low temperature states, the working efficiency of the insects would decrease significantly.

The current creep was temporarily unable to withstand such a harsh environment, so Brain Bug No. 1 had already modified it, and it was now ready for direct use.

“Send two queens down to take a look.”

Looking at the pockmarked land below, which had been struck by countless impacts, she shook her head inwardly.

The interstellar era would surely require corresponding special resources, but she did not yet know what would be needed.

Currently, the most versatile resource was the high-energy crystals absorbed and converted by the insects.

The Hive Carrier landed. Due to the low gravity, the landing appeared very easy.

An opening of flesh appeared on the side, and two queens jumped down.

The moment they landed, they could immediately feel the stinging sunlight.

The temperature was very high.

But 100 degrees was nothing to the current Zerg. Such an environment could be considered very gentle compared to the rest of the universe.

Of course, for most life forms, 100 degrees would be considered hell.

The first creep tumor was successfully launched.

The tumor quickly began to grow, rapidly expanding to cover an area of one square kilometer.

Energy began to convert.

“The efficiency is good, even slightly higher than on the mother planet.”

Taking into account the planet's rotation, the dark side, and the impact of occasional meteorite strikes, the final calculation showed that after covering this 20 million square kilometer planet with creep, it could produce approximately 20 million units of high-energy crystals per day.

“It is not as fast as producing energy through slaughter, but this is permanent. As long as the star does not go out, there will be no problem.”

After the two queens had each placed a creep tumor, Xia Jin directly ordered the Hive to open its exits. 100 Overlords and 2000 queens swarmed out in succession.

This number of queens could spread 48,000 square kilometers of creep per day. The speed of an Overlord was five times that of a queen, so that number could cover 12,000 square kilometers, totaling 60,000 per day.

However... that was only what was manually spread.

Xia Jin would transform a Level 5 Hive on this planet, which happened to be able to withstand the local environment. It could also slowly absorb nutrients from the ground through the Swarm network to feed the creep, allowing it to expand automatically.

With this calculated in, an additional 20,000 square kilometers should grow each day.

There was actually a shortcut involving low-tier queens, but doing so would reduce their working efficiency. In the end, it was better to proceed as they were.

After one day, the daily production of creep would reach 192,000 units of high-energy crystals, equivalent to 19.2 million units of standard energy from before.

Once all the queens and Overlords began their work, Xia Jin sent a batch of drones to the surface to begin excavating rock and mining underground.

Once an area underground was hollowed out and a comfortable environment was created using creep, a larva would enter and transform into a Level 5 Hive.

Since the high-level Hives had already unlocked their genes and their structures were perfected, the new base no longer required materials like gold or mithril.

Seeing her insects working with such high efficiency, Xia Jin felt a great sense of accomplishment.

However, the barren planet still made her feel insecure. Although she had deliberately chosen to avoid the direct line of sight of that “spacecraft” from before, it would still be easy for the other party to detect a problem if they used sensors. Therefore, Xia Jin made a two-part plan.

The first step was to modify the appearance of the creep on Insect Guard 1 and control its reflectivity, allowing it to blend in perfectly with the surrounding environment.

The second step was to cover the insects here with a layer of colored shells.

These changes could directly and significantly enhance the Swarm's ability to remain hidden.