After Becoming a Zerg Larva - Chapter 1

The leaden clouds hung low over the snowfields, and the biting gale carried flecks of ice that cut into one’s cheeks like knives.

The people scattered across the vast ice, however, had no time to worry about the cold. They were facing a far more perilous situation.

They were surrounded by “Aberrations” with eerie abilities. These invisible monsters shrieked in their ears; several teammates had already perished. They fought with the last of their strength, their bodies covered in jagged wounds from sharp teeth—flesh torn open to reveal bone. The scent of blood only drew more Aberrations to the fray.

A youth stood alone a meter away from them, clad in a large hood that only revealed a snow-white jaw. His indifferent, clean aura was starkly out of place compared to their hyper-vigilant, exhausted state.

Someone, clutching a sliver of hope, tried to call for help: “Li Xi—”

The man barely finished the name before his voice cut off.

The howling wind that had been raging moments ago suddenly vanished. The swirling snowflakes froze in mid-air. The ear-piercing, high-frequency screeches of the Aberrations were abruptly blocked out. It was as if a pause button had been pressed on the entire area.

The thin youth slowly raised his hand. A single snowflake drifted quietly into his translucent, pale palm.

Someone realized his intent first.

“He—he’s going to… Run! Fast!” The voice trembled so much it couldn’t form a full sentence.

“There are Aberrations everywhere! Run where?!” another barked in a hoarse, ugly voice, lowering the latter half as if afraid of waking something. “Besides, why run?”

“He’s going to strangle every living soul in this sector.” the first man explained.

Including them…

Those words acted like a remote control, ending the long silence. The suspended snowflakes defied gravity and began to drift upward.

Gasping in the cold air, the teammates scrambled to flee in all directions. Behind them, muffled explosions of blood mist erupted one after another as the hideous Aberrations hidden in the snow were revealed.

The moment the last person cleared the range of the youth’s mental power, the snow on the ground surged violently, twisting into a swirling vortex. It turned into an invisible blade, shredding everything in its path.

When peace returned, the area for miles was littered with the mangled remains of Aberrations. At the center knelt the quiet youth, eyes tightly shut, a thin layer of frost covering his body.

His breathing was nearly undetectable.

Zerg Calendar, Year 3015. Home Planet, Jonah Family.

“The life-signs of this egg are too weak.”

“It won’t be able to break the shell.”

“Is this a Female or a Male egg anyway?”

In a magnificent bedroom, a group of “people” in white coats crowded around a bed, staring at an egg and talking all at once. They had been debating for a long time without a result.

Usually, Male eggs have smooth, bright surfaces surrounded by a fine web of mental power, while Female eggs are covered in intricate, beautiful patterns.

Right now, the shell was dull. Fine black-and-white patterns spread across it like a spiderweb. The dark-within-white coloring exuded an ominous aura. They judged it to be a Female egg.

Stranger still, the tests showed the egg possessed mental power. These doctors were renowned pediatricians, yet they had never seen an egg with both Zerg patterns and mental power. It was a massive headache; they simply couldn’t determine the gender.

Inside the shell, a thin, fragile body was curled into a ball, surrounded by viscous, warm fluid. Sensing the noise from the outside world, he curled a finger restlessly. It was a tiny movement that didn’t even cause a ripple.

Inside the Egg’s Spiritual Sea:

Void-like mental energy condensed, slowly forming a blurry human figure.

Li Xi found a relatively safe spot to stand. The voices from outside drifted in, muffled by the shell and fluid. The sound was too distorted; he could only make out a few words—Zerg, Male, Female, Egg…

From these fragments, he gathered he was among a race he’d never heard of: the Zerg. In his memory, “bugs” were hideous, man-eating Aberrations, but the Zerg here seemed to be a different, high-level civilization.

He frowned slightly and took a few steps. The gale within the spiritual sea scraped against his injured consciousness like a cruel blade. He decided to sit down instead. Opening his palm, he looked at the flickering ball of light resting there.

Li Xi was born in the apocalypse. It was said that humanity had endured the “Dark Age” for over four hundred years; the era of peace was a mythic history passed down by centenarians. To adapt to the extreme environment, human bodies had evolved supernatural abilities. His power was a profound, unfathomable mental strength.

His superiors had sent him on a clearing mission in the Snowlands. They said it would be easy, so they only sent him a high-level esper to assist. Halfway into the Snowlands, they realized the intel was wrong. They were trapped by invisible Aberrations that outclassed the squad.

With food gone and strength failing, he had no choice but to expend a massive amount of mental power to “strangle” the entire area. He thought he would die, but just as his consciousness was about to vanish, a power from a deep-sea canyon beneath the ice pulled him across time and space into this place.

He didn’t know how long he had been here; there was no day or night.

The ball of light in his hand was the egg’s original consciousness. It hadn’t been tainted by the world; it was weak, yet pure.

Li Xi felt this consciousness wouldn’t last much longer. This spiritual sea contained vast, eerie energy that was extremely unstable. If he hadn’t arrived to block most of it, this fragile soul would have perished long ago.

Li Xi tossed the light ball idly, his eyes cold as ice. He had almost zero pity. He had saved those teammates only because failing to do so would have been hard to explain to his superiors. People in the Base would rather die than face the wrath of the higher-ups.

Li Xi looked down at the flickering, dying light. His palm slowly began to close.

To kill it, or not?

If he killed the original consciousness, he could naturally take control of this spiritual sea. He would silently replace the body, and no one would ever know. He could leave once his injuries healed…

As he hesitated, the light ball seemed to sense the danger. It leaped down, rolled around Li Xi’s feet, then hopped back onto his lap, wiggling until it found a comfortable spot.

“…”

In the end, Li Xi didn’t do it. He let the light ball rest on him. That tiny bit of conscience was telling him that killing this little thing would be a bit too much.

The storms in the spiritual sea never stopped.

Usually, the light ball was so quiet you couldn’t feel its life force, only showing a bit of vitality when its “Father” came to visit.

Li Xi had never experienced family love, but he knew how much this father valued the egg. After all, he had nearly lost his life-giving birth to it. Yet, for some reason, the father’s visits were tragically rare.

The eggshell grew thinner. The outside voices became clearer.

One day, as Li Xi was playing with the “dumpling” while listening to the discussions outside, both of them froze at a specific sentence.

“Why are there no life signs?”

“Sigh… we’ve raised it for so many days and it’s not getting better,” a sad voice said. “The black patterns on the shell haven’t changed either.”

The next sentence made them both look up at the “sky.”

“It’s really gone. We should cremate it while the Female Father isn’t around.”

The Dumpling: “Eeee!”

Li Xi: “…”

Cre…mate?

Recently, Li Xi had used his mental power to wall off a safe space, but staying in there too long had weakened the Dumpling’s connection to the outside. He had forgotten about that.

The Dumpling panicked at Li Xi’s feet. It clearly understood the conversation. It rolled around like a headless fly, bouncing off the mental barrier and hitting Li Xi’s leg.

The voice continued: “We’ll send it to the fire this afternoon…”

Li Xi: “…”

Fire? Turning into ash?

The Dumpling hopped around in distress before jumping into Li Xi’s arms and going still. It was unclear if it was too sad or just playing dead.

“Forget it, I’ll take him now,” the voice said. “Before the Female Father gets back…”

Li Xi stopped listening. The spiritual sea suddenly changed; a freezing wind surged with a terrifying roar.

The mental barrier shattered.

Another voice said, “Your Highness, the aircraft has arrived.”

“Mm.”

The wind grew louder, and Li Xi thought he heard crying. He pinched the dimming light ball and said in a stiff tone: “Don’t. Cry.”

Li Xi had lived for twenty years, and the number of times he had spoken could be counted on one hand. Those who didn’t know him thought he was a mute.

“Mm… Male Father… waaah…”

The voice echoed in Li Xi’s mind. He could sense a thread of deep sorrow through the complex emotions.

Li Xi pinched the shivering ball again. The crying stopped. Li Xi looked at the twitching dumpling and thought: He’s an obedient cub.

“Hatch.”

Because the father’s mental nourishment had been insufficient, the dumpling’s body was weak and malnourished. Moreover, this egg was premature. From the outside talk, he knew Zerg eggs usually hatched in a week, but this one had dragged on for a month.

Everyone had given up except for those two fathers. The nutrients in the fluid had been fully absorbed; the shell was thin. If the dumpling didn’t hatch now, the laws of nature would eliminate him.

“The egg is cracking!”

“There are life signs!”

“Doctor!”

“…”

“Wait… why did it stop moving again?”

Hearing this, Li Xi gathered a strand of pure mental power and draped it over the Dumpling.

Consider it the rent for using this spiritual sea to recover.

The blurry human figure vanished from the spiritual sea. In that vast expanse, only a tiny wisp of consciousness remained, struggling alone, growing toward the light.