StarCraft: Tyranid Empire.

Chapter 790 Epilogue

Two years after the final battle

Imperial territory, Cha Sara.

Many years have passed since the Protoss fleet destroyed Cha Sara. The entire surface of the planet has been vitrified, cities have been reduced to ashes, mountains have been razed to the ground, and only molten scars remain on the mountains, rivers, lakes and seas. All life forms have been extinct.

A beautiful world that was once lush and full of life was turned into a wasteland, never to recover.

Life is tenacious. In the following years, some vegetation grew in Richard Sala, but it was sparse and weak, far less vigorous than before, just like a young man who once had thick hair but became bald at a young age.

Cha Sara was once green, but after that, she became another ordinary desolate planet among the thousands of worlds in the Imperial star field, just a dim yellow eyeball on the navigation map.

But that was all before the “one-night miracle” happened.

"."

"It feels really good to come back here as a hero who saved the universe, huh~ Don't you agree, Jimmy?"

Tychus Finley's outfit was no different from the common country folk in the Empire's border world: durable trousers, a weather-beaten jacket, a deadly old-fashioned revolver, and a Vulture that had been passed through who knows how many times.

Even if this man was really granted a title of nobility or prime minister, he would not be happy to wear a suit and tie all day long. What's more, he is now just holding a sinecure in the Imperial Marine Corps Headquarters. When he finally remembers to go to work and punch in, he still looks unkempt.

Emperor Augustus usually called this a wild boar that could not eat fine bran and said he looked like a savage.

But today is different. Today, Tychus is the emperor’s plainclothes bodyguard in Cha Sala. This is an “incognito visit”.

"As long as they are not here to evacuate refugees during the Zerg invasion, I'll be fine. I've fought too many battles and have seen enough separations and deaths, and good people being persecuted." Jim Raynor is dressed in a typical Mar-Sala cowboy outfit, leaning against his Vulture car and smoking a cigar. He was once a natural space cowboy, bohemian and freedom-loving, and now he is the father of three children.

If the emperor had not been so lazy as a dog and refused to let his most trusted minister retire, and had not cried, made a fuss, and even threatened to hang himself, he would have returned to his hometown to farm long ago.

As they were talking, a breeze blew in, carrying with it the sweet scent of flowers, the sound of swaying trees and the sound of church bells in the distance.

It is the time when life revives and everything is renewed.

Everywhere there was a thriving vitality, the stout trees were covered with creepers, the bushes were like huge green heaps of grain, with flowers of a thousand colors scattered among them, and the cheerful streams were like blue ribbons reflecting the golden light of the sky, singing like birds, gurgling across the quiet plains and heading towards the fertile valleys.

"We are not far from the nearest town and tavern. You two, hurry up and catch up!" Augustus drove a Vulture car from behind and overtook Tychus and Renault in one acceleration.

The wake of the ion thrusters created a long path through the dense grass, and small animals, reptiles, and birds fled in all directions.

"Didn't you suddenly want to stay and enjoy the scenery? You don't even know what's so beautiful about these mountains and rivers." Taikes cursed softly and quickly got on the car and followed, fearing that the current emperor would disappear while speeding.

"That's a beautiful sight." Augustus simply said, "The last person to come to town pays for the drinks!"

"Hey, bastard!" Renault, who was not in a hurry to catch up with Augustus, jumped up now.

Driving a vulture car across the vast wilderness was an experience that Augustus found very pleasant. After all, governing a country was not a pleasant thing. Even a man as energetic as him would often feel physically and mentally exhausted and unable to do his best.

Everywhere Augustus looked was green and full of life. These were good lands, large tracts of good lands, suitable for farming, and crops would grow well without much effort.

But a few weeks ago, this place was still desolate, with no vegetation at all. Only a few places grew lichens and mosses. It was so barren that even the insects were surprisingly thin.

But in this short period of time, the wildly growing forest of Cha Sala alone is comparable to a century-old primeval forest.

The so-called overnight miracle is the official statement circulated in other imperial worlds, but in Cha Sala, it is called a miracle.

Not only Cha Sara, but also Ma Sara, Vilitia, Aideon and other planets that had been destroyed in past wars regained their former vitality almost overnight. Many barren worlds also showed signs of life, with flowers blooming and fragrant scents.

However, among these planets, Cha Sara was indeed the last one to change.

Today, humans and Protoss inside and outside the Koprulu Sector are working to rebuild and restore their homes, turning swords into plowshares and recuperating.

In the Terran Empire and other human races, new immigrants are leaving the increasingly crowded core worlds with their families to escape poverty and suffering, and are either returning to these resurrected planets or going further to the beautiful and rich new worlds that are rumored to be.

In the original territory of the empire alone, new habitable planets are discovered every day, and every surprise means a newly opened shipping route.

Once the colony ship landed, the seeds they brought could immediately find nutrients and began to grow wildly, and the livestock also became fat and strong, and reproduced vigorously. In the new settlement, people's houses grew up in clusters like mushrooms after rain, and children and their dogs ran barefoot along the paths beside the cabbage fields, through orchards, fields and animal pens, and spent the whole afternoon leisurely in the market next to the star port.

Merchant ships traveled back and forth constantly, bringing industrial necessities to the colonists in the New World, and bringing back high-quality meat, vegetables, furs, and raw materials.

Even the Protoss began to free up their hands and reincorporate the former temple worlds and colonies into the scope of the Aiur Psionic Matrix.

"This is it. This town looks nice. It reminds me of the days when I fought on this planet." Augustus passed by a road sign that read "Ghost Town" (a StarCraft 1 map about Cha Sala).

After the Protoss bombarded Cha Sara, every inhabited town became a literal ghost town.

Judging from the establishment time of the town indicated on the road sign, most of the residents here are miners and some indigenous people who returned to their hometown a long time ago. They make a living by working in the mines and related industries, while agriculture is highly dependent on government subsidies and hydroponic farms.

This can be seen at a glance. After the final battle, a large number of towns rebuilt under the reconstruction plan were all standard prefabricated buildings. The numerous engineering teams that used to build roads, barracks and fortifications for the Imperial Army built cities according to their way of working. Cities that are light years apart may have the same building layout, color scheme, and even the location of street lights.

This small town is more like the manors of Helsinn and Haven. People used to build houses with stones and steel that were blown up by the Protoss, but now they use various local woods that grow at an astonishing rate. Every family has an astonishingly large courtyard, and the backyard is planted with Saran pepper, McCallister lettuce, and rows of Sur fruit trees, which are extremely expensive in the core world.

There weren't many people in the town, but it was still a thriving scene. Almost everyone was busy with something, and many were repairing their houses and fences to deal with the small animals that gnawed their crops. The agricultural machines of this era were by no means comparable to those of the old Federation era. They were larger and more efficient, and were the technological products of the Sarnaga constructs.

Most people here were immersed in their work and were not surprised at all by the outsiders. The sheriff of the town police station was a seven-year veteran of the Marine Corps. He leaned out of the window to check Augustus's appearance again and again, then went back to make a phone report with a confused look on his face.

"Let's go and have a couple of drinks." Augustus parked the car in front of a bar called Bloody Mary.

There are at least 8,000 bars named Bloody Mary in the Empire, and most of them are run by military men. The most widely circulated story is that when Emperor Augustus was in the old Federation Army, he led his marines in a group fight with fleet soldiers in the Bloody Mary Bar in Tulasis II.

Because this incident happened a long time ago and most of the people who experienced it died in the war, there are many different versions of the story among the people.

The most widely circulated version is that Emperor Augustus was ambitious and had long been dissatisfied with the corrupt rule of the Federation, so he planned and led this righteous fight and killed eight of the best fleet soldiers by himself.

When Augustus heard about it, he couldn't figure out how a fight between a bunch of bastards had to do with his dissatisfaction with the Federation, but he was very satisfied with the fact that he could kill eight people by himself.

I don't know why, but people always like to exaggerate Augustus's military achievements. If Augustus had killed a hundred people, others would say that he was invincible. And the famous novelist Mr. Brainworm, when writing "The Erotic History of Augustus the Great", always likes to double the number of the emperor's confidantes.

This is the most famous pornographic book in the empire.

Augustus sat down at the bar and ordered a few bottles of Tarsonis No. 8 whiskey in a light tone.

The bar owner was a sturdy man with gray hair and wrinkles on his face full of traces of time. One of his hands had been replaced by a flexible metal prosthesis. The mechanical transformation and neural connection technology once used in Cerberus Zerg was now being used to help people who lost limbs in the war.

".They look exactly alike, even their voices are the same, but how is that possible?" The boss stared at Augustus for a long time before taking out the wine and muttering, "Could there really be a clone of the emperor?"

"Is that you, Your Majesty?"

The emperor is coming to check Sarah? Why haven't I heard about it? It's impossible. If this is true, the planet will be in turmoil for several days.

"I am myself." Augustus looked at the veteran a few more times and noticed that his other leg had also been replaced with a prosthesis. These prostheses were undoubtedly high-end military products. Except for soldiers injured in the war, it is currently difficult to obtain them through other channels.

The bar is recognizable as a military bar, made from local materials, simple and practical. After the war, many soldiers took off their uniforms and returned to their families. They either returned to their old jobs or entered government-arranged positions. As part of the reconstruction plan, many people were able to receive a large amount of land in the New World as compensation for their retirement.

Since returning to Khar, Emperor Augustus has been committed to living in harmony with the people, implementing a large number of policies to restore the economy, and a large number of the latest technologies have been used in a wide range of people's livelihood construction and production. Even Augustus and his ministers did not expect that prosperity would come so quickly.

In two years, the average disposable income of Core World residents has doubled, and assembly line workers can now own private hovercars and invest in stocks.

After the war, not only did people's income increase, but their desire to consume also soared. The strong demand for consumer goods further stimulated the market prosperity, and the huge factories that the empire reinvested in civilian use were fully capable of meeting this terrible demand that was like a bottomless pit. And if someone wanted to leave the fiercely competitive core world, then the hundreds of new colonies under construction would be a better choice.

This was a good time that the common people at the end of the old Federation could not even imagine, and before that, the residents of the empire were even afraid of the invasion of the alien insect and hybrid armies.

"It's really a ghost." But the other party obviously didn't believe it, thinking that how could Emperor Augustus, who was busy with all kinds of affairs, come to this remote place to drink low-quality wine. All along, the emperor of the empire was either ruling the empire on the throne or leading the army to war.

"This is a nice place." Raynor stepped in first, followed closely by Tychus.

Tychus was clearly not happy about having to pay for the drinks.

The bar owner was completely shocked: "Admiral Renault?"

Tychus Findlay appearing in the bar wasn't a big deal.

"Hello." Renault smiled and said, "This is what it feels like to be a celebrity. It's really hard to keep a low profile."

"Is cloning technology so advanced now? After all, we hear every day that new things have appeared in Korhal." The boss has been thinking about it, wondering if there are rebels who have secretly cloned the leader of the Empire to cause trouble, or maybe they are from the UED.

When you think something is wrong, it's the Earthlings who did it.

“Clone?” Tychus sat down. “Yes, that’s right, it’s what you think. Hahahaha.”

"Are you an imperial veteran?" Augustus also laughed.

"Yes, I was, until a year ago." The boss was still hesitant, but he still proudly stated his identity.

"I salute you, warrior. You must have participated in the final battle." Augustus opened the wine for Raynor and Tychus himself. "You will not forget that we passed through the void gate of Urna and faced endless void creatures and alien insects."

"It took us many deaths to finally kill that Void Evil God."

"I will never forget that day, but I will never regret following the Emperor." The boss's face showed deep fear, and he almost talked to himself: "I have always told Wade and Fergie's parents that they died heroically and died in battle, but that is not the case. They died at the hands of their own people, a transport pilot who was driven crazy by the hybrid."

"That bastard drove the ship into the opening void rift. I saw it with my own eyes."

Although the war had only been over for two years, the various Protoss forces had signed a long-term peace treaty with the Empire, and the Zerg - the nightmare of generations - had disappeared, with even sightings being few and far between.

But the war seems to have happened only yesterday.

"It was a nightmare," Raynor said.

"I don't want to talk about those things in the void, but they are all in the past." Tychus was unusually serious: "Those of us who can come back alive are just lucky enough. Who knows which ship Amon smashed. But as long as you step into the void, you are a true hero."

"Are their families doing well?" Augustus' eyes sharpened. If the other party's answer was no, then someone must be in big trouble.

"Oh, that's good. I mean, it's hard to get over a traumatic experience, but they're all well taken care of by the Military Council." The man stood up and saluted Augustus.

"Andre Madrid, retired as major, your majesty."

Andre had seen Augustus in person, and he believed that such a unique leadership temperament could not be imitated by clones. It was a very mysterious feeling. When the emperor of the empire really spoke to you, you would not think that there could be another person like him in the world.

Now he thought he was really stupid and ridiculous for believing in such nonsense as cloning.

"And the subsidies and pensions I receive are enough for me to live a wealthy life until I die. Opening a bar is just a way to pass the time." It sounds magical, but when standing next to the emperor, it seems that I will not be afraid when I recall the cruel scenes of the final battle:

"We thought it was all over. There were enemies everywhere, endless. Some people said that the emperor's flagship had crashed. The soldiers were in a panic, and even the queen said, 'I'm going to kill you.'"

Andre suddenly stopped talking.

In fact, not many people have seen Kerrigan transform into a Xel'Naga with their own eyes, but almost everyone says so.

The Queen became a god in the void and killed the evil Amon, but after she sent everyone out of the void, she never appeared again.

Many people thought Queen Kerrigan was dead. Lady Lisa was now the administrator of the palace, but no one had become the new queen, and the position remained vacant.

Emperor Augustus never mentioned the incident. No one dared to say that the queen was really dead, but they all mourned it. The people knew nothing about it, and they thought that the queen had just become reclusive and no longer participated in public activities.

Only the soldiers who had experienced the final battle were mourning quietly, believing that His Majesty was simply too sad to admit it.

"You mean Sarah?" Augustus said, "I'm waiting for her here. What a coincidence. This is a ghost town, and we are waiting for a ghost."

After Kerrigan killed Amon, she also gained control of the Void as the master of endless reincarnation. She closed all entrances to the real world, trapping all Zerg and Void creations inside.

From then on, for the rest of her time, Kerrigan spent her time alone in the void carrying out endless killing and extermination, while purifying the corruption to ensure that all living beings who came into contact with the void would no longer be affected by evil thoughts.

When Kerrigan completed all this, she returned to the human world and traveled to countless planets to spread the seeds of life, and Cha Sara happened to be her final destination.

"We can't live without her," Augustus said. "They say I'm only fit to teach my daughter how to wear a skirt."

"Hahahaha." Tychus laughed loudly, but halfway through his laugh he was frightened by Augustus's frivolous look and started hiccuping.

"Really?" Andre was happy at first, but then he felt confused. He couldn't figure out where the queen had gone in the past two years and why she appeared here again.

Suddenly, a slim figure walked in.

She had red hair, emerald eyes, snow-white skin, and was young and beautiful, just like Sarah Kerrigan when Augustus first saw her.

"Long time no see, cowboys," Kerrigan said.

Tychus whistled. "You look great in your outfit. You look like a little girl. Have you regained your youth? Looks like one of us is going to jail."

"You really should go see my little daughter. She has grown up while you were away." Renault said with a smile: "Liti insisted on naming our next girl after you. No matter how much I told her that you were not dead, it was useless."

"She's so beautiful, guys," Augustus said with a smile. "I must have fallen in love with her at first sight."

"Liar." Kerrigan also laughed.

This chapter is actually over, and there is a postscript chapter at the end, which is considered a chronicle. It tells the final fate of the main characters and the stories of many subsequent generations of the Terran Empire.