Infiltration

A few hours later, at the Dulu capital city.

Central Building.

This could be considered the ruling center of the entire Dulu civilization.

It was a spherical building standing two kilometers tall; even from a distance, one could feel its sheer magnificence.

By transforming into the likeness of a Dulu, Xia Jin had successfully blended into the area surrounding this building.

Space Observation Center.

After a short period of observation, Xia Jin took care of a Dulu official and devoured him. She then transformed into his appearance and successfully infiltrated the facility.

She opened her palm, where several small parasites lay against her skin.

“I haven't used these things much since they were created. Let's give them a try this time.”

Watching the little bugs wriggle in her palm, seemingly excited by the Queen's touch as they inched along, they actually looked somewhat cute.

Whoosh—

At a certain moment, relying on the throwing power of a Tier 15 being, she successfully launched one of the bugs into a Dulu's brain.

Psionic power activated, forced control established.

The Dulu clutched his throat, looking particularly pained, which attracted several people nearby.

“What's wrong? Are you alright?”

By the time they approached, the Dulu had already been completely brought under control.

“I'm fine. My windpipe was just blocked for a moment.”

“Be careful.”

Seeing that he was fine, the person across from him nodded and turned to leave.

“Alright, the first one is done.”

Since she didn't know the specific clearance levels of everyone here, she could only try to control as many as possible.

Fortunately, after analyzing the information in this person's mind, Xia Jin learned that he held a very high status and could enter the most core areas.

Thus, she followed the parasitized Dulu all the way toward the innermost chambers.

Soon, the two of them arrived before a council chamber.

Click!

She walked into the room as if nothing were wrong and took a seat to the side.

Though those currently in the meeting found it strange, seeing that one of the newcomers was their superior, it was impossible for them to say anything.

...

“If the intelligence received this time is true, then our civilization is likely facing the greatest crisis in its history. To put it more severely, we have reached a critical moment of life and death. I hope all officials can at least treat this matter with the seriousness it deserves.”

A Dulu stood at his seat and spoke.

However, the people below seemed distracted.

Seeing this, the Dulu speaker appeared somewhat displeased, but he still took a file out of a nearby package.

“Our Astronomical Observation Department generally does not interfere in your affairs, but this situation is truly extraordinary. Not long ago, we received a message from the Second Fleet. Barring any other possibilities, the Second Fleet has likely been completely wiped out.”

As soon as these words were spoken, the crowd finally turned solemn.

One Dulu perked up. “The Second Fleet wiped out? You aren't joking, are you?”

“I am not. This distress signal was sent two years ago. It was picked up by a space relay station a month ago and then transmitted here via spatial communication. If not for that relay station, we might have had to wait another six years to receive this message.”

The file was opened, and a blurry image appeared.

However, the audio was very clear:

“We are deeply sorry, but the enemy we encountered is too powerful. The Second Fleet has lost more than half its strength. All we can do now is send more intelligence to you. Please take note: the entity appearing in System 6 is an unknown civilization, and they are far more dangerous than anything we know.”

At this point, a heavily distorted image appeared.

Within it, one could vaguely see Zerg ships and several Devourers flying through space.

Though it was very blurry, it was at least clear that these were not technological creations.

...

“This is the enemy the Marshal encountered?”

Looking at the images captured by the equipment, several Dulu officials were stunned.

How did these things look so much like biological organisms?

“The situation was dire, and they clearly had no way to provide us with more detailed data. As you can see, our powerful space forces were destroyed by these creatures.”

Due to the destruction of their equipment, the faster spatial transmission methods could not be used at all, leaving them only with electromagnetic waves traveling at the speed of light.

This was why such a long time had passed before the relevant information was picked up by a nearby Dulu observation post.

Undoubtedly, this brought a massive shock to everyone present.

...

“It seems I've come to the right place.”

Xia Jin surveyed the scene.

This civilization had indeed made no preparations, as they knew very little about the specific situation on the front lines.

Seeing the tense expressions of the officials, the young Dulu presenting the details suddenly added, “After receiving this information, we began long term observations of that sector. Just as when it was first discovered, that area contains very strange energy fluctuations. This was the original reason the exploration team was sent to the target area. Of course, the exploration team sent out a call for help before they were destroyed, which led to the nearby Second Fleet being dispatched there.”

“So, from your perspective, we are effectively in conflict with another unknown cosmic civilization?” a Dulu official asked.

“Perhaps. Maybe the enemy already knows the state of our home planet, or maybe they are coming specifically for us. Anything is possible in the universe. The existence of an extraterrestrial civilization should be enough to fill you with dread, shouldn't it?”

The room gradually grew noisy.

All the Dulu were whispering among themselves.

At this point, the individual controlled by the parasite stood up and left the scene.

She had already begun considering using his authority to delay the Dulu's reaction time as much as possible.

“Perhaps I can try some interesting ways to play this.”

In Xia Jin's conception, this included ideological invasion and a genetic offensive; she could try these in advance.

In fact, with this landing, she had brought along some larvae and energy.

On the brain bugs' side, they had already researched hundreds of different viruses tailored for the Dulu.

The incubation periods ranged from short term to long term, and any one of them was lethal.

“Now that the main fleet is preparing to rush over, let's give it a try first.”

She was considering whether she could break the Dulu's defenses from the inside.

At the very least, faced with the Zerg civilization's infiltration capabilities, the Dulu would find it difficult to resist.

...

No sooner said than done.

Xia Jin first used her psionic power to penetrate the planet's network.

What she needed to do was simple: gradually control public opinion.

This matter certainly couldn't allow anyone to suspect that an alien civilization was behind it.

Of course, a normal person wouldn't suspect that anyway.

During the period while the Zerg were preparing, she even needed to suppress any intelligence related to aliens.

Furthermore, she would use parasites to infiltrate the departments of power, causing the high level leadership of the Dulu civilization to make several erroneous moves.

For instance... deploying the fleet to certain unsuitable locations.