The whole nation: You're put to survive on a desolate planet, you'll be running an alien b

My consciousness sank into darkness, and when I opened my eyes again, everything was crimson.

Li Haotian has arrived.

As an alien overlord, it overlooks its lava empire located beneath the desolate planet.

The nest has nearly doubled in size since the last time we left.

The enormous cavern is divided into countless sections by a river of scorching lava, and a dark blue fungal carpet covers every inch of the rock walls, emitting an eerie light.

Thousands of "alien worker bees," each only half a meter tall, are diligently nibbling away at pieces of ore containing low-level energy from the vein, then carrying them back to the incubation pool at the center of the nest through a complex network of anthill tunnels.

The entire nest is like a giant, precisely programmed factory, operating 24/7.

It is very efficient.

But that's far from enough.

Li Haotian could clearly sense that when the mythical unit "Voidwalker" Queen slept in the deepest part of the lair, every breath she took was consuming a massive amount of energy.

The ore that the worker bees brought back was not even enough to fill its teeth.

With a thought, Li Haotian switched his perspective to the side of the incubation pool.

A ferocious behemoth, the size of a heavy truck and covered in dark red armor, lay lazily in the scalding lava, occasionally spitting out fist-sized bubbles of fire from its mouth.

Alien: Hellfire.

The massive cannon barrel on its back, made of bio-crystals, was radiating visible heat, distorting the surrounding air.

This is the weapon of war that he forcibly created using an S-grade fire-type crystal core and a bunch of random genes.

"Get up and move around."

Li Haotian gave it a simple instruction using "honeycomb thinking".

The hellfire slowly crawled out of the lava, its heavy body supported by eight thick, segmented limbs.

It raised its head, and the bio-cannon on its back began to gather light, the blinding red light condensing into a point at the muzzle.

"boom!"

A plasma beam, more than half a meter in diameter, shot out with an aura of destruction, and accurately struck a rocky mountain a hundred meters high in the distance.

There was no violent explosion.

The rocky mountain, like an ice block thrown into a furnace, was vaporized in an instant and vanished without a trace, leaving only a huge lava lake in its place.

"It's powerful, but it consumes a lot of mana."

Li Haotian nodded in satisfaction.

As soon as he finished speaking, a glaring red warning box popped up in front of him.

[Warning: The nest's energy reserves are below 30%, and it has entered low-power operation mode. Please replenish high-energy cores as soon as possible, otherwise some units will be forced into hibernation.]

Li Haotian curled his lip.

"Well, it's time to spend money on in-game purchases again."

He glanced at his empty storage space.

"Unfortunately, I never spend money on games."

"I'm only responsible for getting others to top up my account."

He skillfully opened his friends list and found the glittering ID that was at the top.

【Mythology, Indra】.

"Boss, are you there?"

"Freshly made toy, have you seen it? It's a living plasma self-propelled cannon with a self-destruct function. It deals massive damage, but it's a bit fragile. After-sales service is not included."

The message was sent and received a reply almost instantly.

The other party's reply was as concise as ever.

"Location, to be discussed in person."

Li Haotian chuckled.

He enjoys dealing with straightforward people like that.

As he set off for the agreed location, he began to quickly draft a "lease agreement" in his mind.

"Yes, first is the basic rental fee, which is charged by the hour."

"Secondly, there are equipment wear and tear costs; every time the cannon barrel fires, we have to pay for it."

"There's also a fuel surcharge. This thing of mine burns high-purity bioenergy, which is much more expensive than 98-octane gasoline."

"Oh right, we also need to add compensation for the driver's emotional distress. It takes effort for me to operate the remote control."

"Finally, we must add this: the final interpretation of this transaction rests with the Alien Overlord."

The more Li Haotian thought about it, the more reliable it seemed.

He doesn't want those common gold coins or survival points.

What he wants are the special strategic resources that only top players like Indra might possess.

……

Lava canyon.

This is a desolate place on the map of the desolate planet. The huge rift valley is bottomless, and scalding magma flows slowly at the bottom.

Li Haotian arrived at the agreed coordinates ahead of schedule.

He did not reveal his true form, but instead attached his consciousness to an inconspicuous worker bee, hiding in a crevice in the rock wall to observe it secretly.

Not long after, a figure appeared at the other end of the canyon.

The newcomer was dressed in a set of light silver-white armor, with an ancient-style longbow on his back. His face was obscured, but he exuded an aura of authority.

It was none other than the number one on the power ranking, [Mythical Emperor Shitian].

He made no extra movements, just stood there quietly, as if he had become one with the surrounding charred rocks.

Li Haotian did not rush to show himself.

His gaze passed over Indra and looked behind him.

Indra did not come alone.

About ten meters behind him stood five more people.

A burly man wielding a heavy shield, an elementalist in a robe, an assassin carrying dual swords, a priest wielding a healing staff, and an archer also carrying a longbow.

A standard five-person squad configuration.

But what Li Haotian noticed was not their profession.

It's not their positions, but their stances.

These five people, with Indra at the center, subtly formed a semi-encircling defensive formation.

The shield warriors stood at the forefront, with assassins and archers positioned on either side, and mages and priests protected in the center.

The distance between them was almost exactly the same, as if it had been measured with a ruler.

What concerned Li Haotian even more was that these five people, from the moment they appeared until now, had not made any extra movements except for adjusting their breathing frequency once.

Their posture, their gaze, even the tension in their muscles, all maintained an astonishing consistency.

This is something that ordinary players cannot do.

Even the most elite raiding teams in top guilds can't achieve this level of coordination.

It's an instinct ingrained in our bones.

A kind of iron-blooded discipline that can only be forged through countless life-and-death trials.

In Li Haotian's mind, images of his past life playing e-sports against teams with military backgrounds flashed by.

The same.

The worker bee, hidden in the crevice of the rock, had its six compound eyes slightly narrowed.

"This taste..."

"It's a little too perfect."