A Colossus rushes in at the start

Chapter 5 The Giant Beast's Brain is Too Useful

Having gained the approval of the bee swarm creatures on Nest Star, Lu Shang finally felt relieved.

"Information will be a crucial element in the next step of the operation. I need the Hive to breed creatures that can travel long distances between stars on their own, and the smaller the better."

Bee colonies collectively respond to land entropy within the network.

[Among the behemoths in the swarm, only the Behemoth can traverse vast distances between stars; only those with level ten psionic power can warp spacetime to construct a spacetime warp bubble.]

There is only one way for the Babel bee swarm to invade other planets: the Behemoth behemoth carries a large number of bee creatures, which use their powerful psionic energy to warp spacetime and create spacetime warp bubbles that can cross light-year scales.

This time, Lu Shang commanded the swarm to envelop the entire nest star in a spacetime warp bubble at superluminal speed, which can be said to have set a precedent in the history of the Babel Tower swarm.

"Isn't modifying the genes of organisms something you're good at?" Lu Shang asked curiously.

[The task of gene editing is handled by the mainframe; this is your job.]

In the Babel hive, tasks such as fighting, gathering, and hatching are handled by the lower-level bees, while complex and tedious mental tasks, such as strategy and scientific research, are handled by the mastermind and the overlord.

Lu Shang rolled his eyes. He was a complete academic failure who had never even touched a microscope and had failed his biology exam. How could he be asked to do genetic modification?

After thinking for a moment, Lu Shang asked again, "If we don't make any complicated modifications, but simply reduce the size of the Behemoth behemoth proportionally, can't the Hive do that kind of adjustment?"

The swarm quickly responded to Lu Shang's inquiry again.

[It's possible, but that wouldn't allow for Level 10 psionic power capable of traversing light-years.]

"..." Lu Shang fell silent.

Damn it! Can't I even change such a small thing? This is so hard!

Since there was no other choice, what else was there to say? Lu Shang could only choose to hatch the Behemoth behemoth.

"Then we'll create Behemoth behemoths. We'll need at least three. Based on the time units I understand, how long will it take to breed them?"

[2 months.]

Two months is the normal incubation period for a Behemoth behemoth, but the nest planet has enough chambers to allow multiple Behemoth behemoths to incubate at the same time.

After explaining the situation, Lu Shang dispersed the swarm of bees that had gathered in the cave. He then focused his mind on the bee network, connecting with the sensory organs of the other bees.

The entire Nest Star has more than 12,000 more giant underground caves evenly distributed throughout the star than when Lu Shang last saw it.

Although there was no lighting in these caves, the bee swarm had excellent night vision and a very long field of vision, so Lu Shang could see the entire dark giant cave.

In the center of the cave was a fleshy, writhing mass of brain, its size roughly the same as the Bird's Nest stadium in Lu Shang's memory. This mass of brain was half-submerged in a shallow organic liquid, in which many slender, dark, tube-like organisms were writhing, constantly supplying nutrients to the brain.

Even with the help of other bee colony creatures' sensory organs, seeing the fleshy brain's wriggling veins and sulci, as well as the tubular creatures wriggling in the mucus, undoubtedly made Lu Shang feel a little physiologically uncomfortable.

However, Lu Shang held back and tentatively asked, "Can we communicate? Hmm... the Behemoth behemoth?"

This is the brain of a Behemoth, and also the source of its spiritual energy.

If a Behemoth loses its brain, even if its body remains active, it can no longer create spacetime warp bubbles. However, if the brain of a Behemoth is removed separately and its activity is maintained, then that Behemoth's brain can still use psionic energy to warp spacetime.

So Lu Shang thought, why not create many of these brains that can use level 10 psionic energy on the Nest Star to create spacetime warp bubbles?

That's right, a level 10 psionic brain can't make a planet envelop a spacetime warp bubble, but what about a group of psionic brains?

Each brain only needs to use psionic energy to influence a small area of ​​space near a planet. When many affected areas are combined, they can form a spacetime warp bubble that can envelop a planetary level.

What's this called?

This is what they mean by unity is strength!

Originally, simply finding a bunch of fully-formed Behemoths on a planet would have achieved the same effect, and would have also provided a combat-ready space force.

However, Lu Shang was in a hurry at the time. It would take two months to fully develop a Behemoth, and the Star Alliance's star-destroying weapon would not wait two months before launching. Therefore, he could only have the Hive use biological hormones to accelerate the development of a batch of Behemoth brains so that they could escape using psionic energy.

In response to Lu Shang's question, that brain began to transmit thoughts directly through the network.

We can communicate.

"Does this state of being without a physical body affect your ability to warp spacetime using psionic energy?" Lu Shang asked.

[No impact.]

"Besides using psionic energy to create warp bubbles and affect your own movement, can you do anything else with psionic energy? Like remotely manipulating objects or stopping the movement of an object?"

It can be done.

Lu Shang nodded knowingly, while silently lowering his assessment of the intelligence of the already dead overlord and the swarm's main brains by one level.

Having obtained the information he needed, Lu Shang directly ordered the entire hive star swarm: "The Star River Alliance fleet must be searching for and pursuing us right now, but we can't just focus on escaping. We need to expand our strength as we flee. I need you to pass through some lifeless solid planets and then deploy worker bees to these planets."

"Worker bees that land should not immediately hatch into a hive on the spot. Instead, they should reach a designated location without exposing themselves, burrow underground, and then hatch into a hive there."

"Once all the hives have hatched, do not prioritize increasing the number of individual bees. Prioritize hatching the brains of the Behemoths. Once all the Behemoth brains on the planet have hatched, if the Star Alliance has not discovered them, the entire colony will enter a state of suspended animation. If they are discovered, immediately escape at faster-than-light speed and do not engage the enemy fleet. If escape is impossible, commit mass suicide. Under no circumstances should the Star Alliance be given any clues about our strategy. Is that clear?"

【OK. 】

……

The interceptor fleet, commanded by Star Alliance Commander Barton, is anchored in the industrial star city of Northken in the Bogu Nebula, having just finished a fierce battle with a swarm of fleeing space bee creatures.

"The Nest Star ran away?!" Barton's four eyes widened, and the whiskers on his face tensed up in astonishment.

(End of this chapter)