Chapter 54: The Third Kind of Contact (Part 3)

Chapter 54: The Third Kind of Contact (Part 3)

"They are a highly evolved biological civilization... calling themselves the Zerg. They possess unparalleled strength and numbers. This race has only one goal: evolution. They travel through the universe, seeking out powerful beings on various planets, defeating them, and absorbing their abilities to evolve themselves..."

Back at the United Command, the bespectacled woman had lost her previous confidence and was now filled with despondency. Although Miruune had shown her only a fraction of the Zerg's history, the brief glimpse was enough to fill her with dread and fear.

"..."

The command room was dead silent as the woman spoke. Everyone had mentally prepared themselves, but they were still shocked by the sheer brutality of these monsters. After a long pause, the elderly leader finally broke the silence.

"Then... why did it... that Zerg, tell you this? Are they planning to declare war on us humans?"

"No..."

The bespectacled woman shook her head with a strange smile. "You might find this hard to believe, but... in their eyes, we humans are insignificant. We possess no individual strength or special abilities. To the Zerg, we are like pebbles on the roadside, of no value whatsoever. Their only reason for being here is to fight those alien creatures we've been battling."

At this point, the woman even managed a bitter smile. "It's ironic. Precisely because we are worthless to them, they don't bother with us. If we had any special powers or significant abilities, the Zerg would invade our planet with all their might, consuming our genes to further their evolution. This is a civilization completely different from ours, even from what we imagined. They are powerful, terrifying, and dangerous."

"..."

The people in the room clenched their fists and gritted their teeth. No matter which country or race they came from, they were all human. They had once thought that humanity, having evolved for so many years, mastering advanced technology and even starting to explore space, had the qualifications to communicate with extraterrestrial life. But now, they realized their pride was meaningless. To these aliens, humanity itself was worthless.

What was even more humiliating was that because they were worthless, they were spared the Zerg's annihilation. Otherwise, humanity might have been completely wiped out. This realization left everyone with mixed emotions.

After a long silence, the elderly leader sighed deeply and spoke. "Thank you for your efforts... you may go and rest."

"Yes..."

The bespectacled woman and Wang Dong nodded and turned to leave. They too felt disheartened. Although humanity had been fighting the Mimics and losing ground, at least those creatures could be killed with enough firepower. There was a sliver of hope that by studying the Mimics' remains, they might reverse-engineer superior technology and drive these monsters off Earth.

After all, Earth was humanity's home. They were the rightful masters of this planet. But the sudden arrival of the Zerg was like a cold slap in the face, shattering their dreams.

The Zerg didn't care whether Earth belonged to humanity because, to them, humans were as insignificant as ants. Would you care if a piece of land belonged to an ant?

This left the leaders feeling deeply conflicted. On one hand, they were relieved that they were not the Zerg's target. On the other, they felt humiliated and angry because they weren't even deemed worthy of being a target.

Still, they were smart enough to avoid provoking the Zerg, who had stated they had no interest in humanity. According to the bespectacled woman, the Zerg on Earth were merely a frontline unit. Their goal was to consume the Mimics' genes and achieve a higher level of evolution. As per the "Hive Queen," once they accomplished this, they would leave, considering Earth too barren to be worth conquering.

In this situation, humans would have to be crazy to provoke the Zerg. Since the Zerg showed no interest in them, any possibility of further communication naturally disappeared.

However, the blame had to be placed somewhere, so the journalist who had trespassed into the Zerg territory became the scapegoat.

The United Command not only blamed the failed communication on this reckless reporter but also charged him with violating wartime military regulations, sending him to a military tribunal.

Poor Dino, lacking any protagonist's luck, couldn't escape his fate. He and his two assistants were sentenced to death by the military court and promptly executed.

Dino's actions were recorded in history as he had wished—but not in the way he had hoped. The United Command certainly couldn't tell the public that "the Zerg had no interest in communicating with us and saw us as worthless."

So, Dino's reckless intrusion was portrayed as a human provocation to an alien civilization, which subsequently closed off all channels of communication and warned humans not to disturb them again.

This provided a convenient excuse for future inquiries about why they hadn't seized the opportunity to communicate with these alien visitors.

The excuse was plausible because Dino had broadcasted his actions live globally. Many people knew that the journalist had daringly entered the aliens' territory, and while some applauded his bravery, many more feared his actions might provoke a disaster.

Thus, when the United Command released their statement, the world reacted with outrage.

The hard-won opportunity for peaceful communication with an alien civilization had been ruined by this damned fool! Dino, as he had wished, was etched into human history, likely to be remembered infamously for generations. If human civilization survived, his name would forever be a mark of disgrace.

Alex, meanwhile, paid little attention to the events in the human world. His focus was on the final battle against the Mimic aliens, which had reached its climax.

The assault on Paris!

The alien boss seemed to have realized Alex had discovered its existence. It gathered all its forces in Paris for a decisive battle against Alex. Thousands of Mimic aliens swarmed to defend their core.

But to Alex and the Zerg, this meant nothing.

Because they had the sacred F2 key linking them!

Zerglings flooded into the city, clashing with the Mimics. Countless explosions erupted as the Mimics tried to hold their ground, but the Zerg swarm pressed on.

A single Mimic might pierce through a Zergling, but the next moment, it would be torn apart by the surrounding swarm.

Even the flying Mimics mimicking the Zerg were no match for the Mutalisks, the true rulers of the skies.

From above, the Zerg formed a massive red circle around the city, gradually tightening until the entire city was engulfed in a repulsive dark red hue.

"Phew, finally done."

Standing before the Louvre, Alex exhaled in relief, gazing at the giant glowing sphere before him.

To be honest, there wasn't much to say about this battle. It was a simple F2A attack strategy, overwhelming the enemy with sheer numbers.

Basically, it was a thousand Mimics against ten thousand Zerglings; the Mimics might kill two thousand Zerglings, but the remaining eight thousand would overrun them. The process was monotonous and straightforward.

However, the boss core did pose some trouble. Realizing it couldn't defeat the Zerg, it ordered its "proxies" to commit suicide, attempting to reset the situation.

Alex, noting this, was surprised. He wasn't like Tom Cruise, willing to replay a battle hundreds of times.

He had to order the Zerg to split their forces and secure the proxies at all costs before gradually taking down the smaller foes.

This strategy resulted in significant Zerg losses, about a third of their forces. But Alex wasn't concerned—resources were plentiful, and replacements were easy to summon.

Now, looking at the core, suspended in the air and bound by psionic energy, Alex felt it was all worth it.

The alien boss core resembled a huge glowing orb, not purely energy but a blend of luminous gelatin, something between a solid and an energy form.

Its glow was dimming, having taken a psionic hit from Alex during a desperate assassination attempt. Now, it was barely clinging to life.

"Congratulations, Master, we have captured the target."

Miruune stood beside Alex, eyeing the glowing orb with anticipation.

"Yes, but there's still one more step."

Alex nodded at Miruune's words. The task wasn't complete—the core wasn't yet his, and the mission required him to "find and acquire" it.

He had a plan for dealing with the core.

"Miruune."

Turning to the core, Alex issued his command.

"Prepare the incubation pool. It's time for a modification."

(End of Chapter)

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