Chapter 151: Speculations on Intent, Ling Yi Joins, and the Fourth Stage

Not long after, the flight mode of the Flying Tiger Armor entered its cooldown phase. Lin Feng slowly descended to the edge of the sinkhole, looking down at the buried deep pit where the queen had vanished.

Near the sinkhole, beside the lifeless Red Beetle swarm, fifty Tier 2 eggs lay partially covered by a layer of disturbed sand.

Approaching the eggs, Lin Feng drew his chainsaw sword and killed one, then leaned over the split opening to drink the organic nutrient liquid inside.

A notification appeared, displaying his current status:

"Lin Feng, lv29/29, Weak Status"

"HP: 480, Physique: 480, Spirit: 545"

"Subject to Hive Consciousness Domain Invasion, -500 to all attributes"

"Absorbing energy for recovery..."

"Note: Gene mutation deepened due to Hive Consciousness Domain radiation. Clear mutation?"

Seeing this, Lin Feng hesitated, lifting his mouth from the egg's opening. Sticking out his tongue, he found his teeth had transformed into chitinous serrations, like those of an insect, and his tongue split down the middle, resembling a sharp pair of scissors.

When consuming the egg, his mutated tongue tore into the egg's interior like the mandibles of a Black Spinal Bug, devouring the gelatinous white flesh.

"Damn it!"

Cursing, Lin Feng selected the option to clear the mutation.

Instantly, a surge of energy arose from his abdomen, purging the aberrant tissue from his mouth.

Thankfully, Ling Yi had acted swiftly, preventing the Hive Consciousness Domain's corruption from reaching his throat and stomach, or Lin Feng would have fully transformed into an insect.

As the mutated tissue detached from his mouth, it congealed into a stinking liquid mass filled with insectoid monstrosities, which Lin Feng spat onto the ground.

He scraped his tongue and teeth several times, removing any residual mucus and tissue.

The blackish-yellow viscous mass writhed briefly on the ground, losing vitality and quickly decomposing, releasing a foul black smoke.

Lin Feng's frown deepened as he witnessed this.

He felt anew the terror of cosmic life forms and the insidious difficulty of dealing with domain powers.

Killing a queen alone was far more challenging than Lin Feng had anticipated.

Without understanding his own intent, he couldn't counter the queen's mental assaults or the desperate domain releases in life-or-death situations.

Calming himself, Lin Feng focused on his steadily recovering attributes and recalled the information Ling Yi had shared.

Intent stemmed from a being's mental power, representing their existence's meaning or their evolutionary purpose.

Unlike physical attributes, intent lacked tangible expression.

Physical attributes could manifest as muscular strength, neural response speed, or the imposing form of a high-tier insect.

These were tangible, material existences.

But mental attributes represented intangible energy, a parallel form to the material world, able to transform between states.

It's a fundamental cosmic attribute.

Ling Yi mentioned the universe as a vast energy domain, and without intent or domain, one could easily lose oneself in the infinite cosmos.

In other words, intent and domain were expressions of mental power.

This correlated with Lin Feng's experience in the Hive Consciousness Domain.

Ling Yi's infinite proliferation intent first stripped his senses, then the Hive Consciousness Domain invaded, corrupting his body and mind.

Yet the insect tide and the Mother of Life's statue existed only in Lin Feng's mental world, constructs of mental energy with no physical reality.

When the energy sustaining the Hive Consciousness Domain depleted, the illusions controlling Lin Feng's mind dissipated like a dream.

Thus, intent resembled a concentration of mental power, capable of affecting reality when evolving into a personal domain.

Similar to the influence of thought on matter.

Lin Feng needed to learn how to actively use his mental attributes, akin to how he controlled his physical body through muscle memory.

To make mental attributes instinctual!

Ling Yi mentioned that upon reaching the third stage and surpassing a thousand mental attributes, one's consciousness would enter a self-constructed mental world.

High-tier insect queens, including Ling Yi with her infinite proliferation intent, realized this through ancestral spiritual inheritance left by the Mother of Life, allowing them mastery over advanced biological synthesis.

In the Hive Consciousness Domain, this projected as countless worms falling from the statue.

Humans, lacking cosmic life heritage, must explore and discover intent independently.

Reflecting on this, Lin Feng realized he had experienced two mental worlds...

No, only one.

The second, upon surpassing a thousand mental attributes, was the insect mental world.

Had Lin Feng been an insect queen or injected with insect genes, he might have gleaned intent from their historical legacy.

The first was desolate, with a barren planetary surface and his bound equipment, the armor-piercing cannon and winged vehicle.

That world also featured a black sun, reminiscent of the post-invasion wasteland left by the Great Black.

The mental world exuded an indescribable eerie sense.

The black sun, like a black hole, consumed Lin Feng, and during his endless fall, he heard his mother He Yiwen's call.

If this was his mental world, what did it signify?

The presence of the cannon and vehicle was clear.

But what of the barren planet, the dark cosmos, and the deeply etched black sun?

Additionally...

While his distant mother appeared, his close father Lin Yu was absent.

Did his subconscious lack a father?

Lin Feng frowned.

He sensed the truth might lie in the documents left by his mother, He Yiwen.

Her foreknowledge of insect data, and the system he gained after gazing at the solar eclipse, might be interconnected.

If the system and the eclipse invasion were linked, was the black celestial body in his mental world the system's manifestation?!

Had the mysterious eclipse entered his body?!

Was he truly a chosen one?

Or a safeguard left by his mother?

Pondering these mysteries, Lin Feng finished the egg's nutrient liquid, his attributes recovering significantly.

With his condition stabilized, the Flying Tiger Armor's flight mode cooled down.

Lin Feng flew toward Jia City's center.

As expected, he encountered Ling Yi's human avatar outside a shopping mall.

She seemed to have waited long:

"The delivery team is ready."

Lin Feng scrutinized her, now indistinguishable from a real person and a Tier 2 initial-stage being:

"Ling Yi, lv20/29, Queen Avatar"

"HP: 200, Physique: 200, Spirit: 390"

"Mental Intent—Infinite Proliferation (Inactive below 1000 mental attributes)"

"Infinite Proliferation Abilities: Mental Control, Parasitic Possession, Gene Manipulation..."

"Evaluation: Insect-Human Hybrid, superior to parasitic host, possesses strong mental power, extensive insect biotechnology knowledge."

Seeing the avatar's data, Lin Feng lowered his lv29 electromagnetic cannon.

Despite her flawless appearance, Lin Feng felt no interest. Even as she greeted him warmly, he replied coldly:

"A truck with a full tank will suffice."

Ling Yi seemed intrigued by Lin Feng.

With her genetic seal lifted, her free will grew more expressive:

"Sorry, there's no functional truck in the city."

"Perhaps using them is better."

She gestured, summoning a swarm of Red Beetles from the ground.

Lin Feng frowned:

"Can you control them remotely to Wu City, fifty kilometers away? Queens can't, let alone you."

Ling Yi shrugged, casually replied:

"Yes, so I'll accompany you."

"And guide you against Haicheng's 76th and on manifesting your intent."

Lin Feng hesitated, pondering her true motive, then pointed to his mouth and head:

"Don't worry, I won't mention that word. My thoughts have been around long enough."

Ling Yi smiled, shaking her head:

"That's not safe, but my presence can conceal it. The queen's consciousness always exists, no need to worry..."

She gestured skyward.

"Summoning the domain cost my main body half its energy, dropping from early to initial Tier 3. Entering Lake Tai early would have advanced me to mid-Tier 3..."

"Now, you owe me compensation!"

Lin Feng sneered:

"Don't forget you owe me 150 Tier 2 eggs. Trying to renege?"

"I don't mind visiting your main body in Jia City."

Ling Yi commanded a lv9 Red Beetle to kneel before him, stepping onto its back, smiling:

"No need to waste time..."

"Two choices."

"Compensate with the 150 eggs or give me tens of thousands of tons of fish from Lake Tai early..."

"Choosing the latter, I'll help manifest your intent and lure the queen."

Lin Feng's silence implied consent, asking:

"Why help me, because you're now the weakest queen, needing alliance?"

Ling Yi nodded:

"Yes, thanks to you, I dropped from 100th to over 500th. Without effort, I'll miss the chance to win and ascend to Tier 4 Insect King."

"You're the only one potentially freeing the insects from enslavement."

"Boosting human resistance delays the global queen battle, benefiting us both."

"What do you say?"

Lin Feng sighed, overwhelmed by the rapid developments.

Bringing an unknown woman back, not to mention what his soldiers would think, explaining to Chen Yanyan was tricky.

Especially since she was a queen avatar.

Exposure would brand Lin Feng as a traitor.

Their partnership couldn't be publicized, lest it attract queen attacks or a fourth-stage space strike.

Yet, Ling Yi's presence offered advantages.

Quickly resolving intent manifestation.

Countering Haicheng's queen, using Ling Yi's knowledge for strategic insight.

Her biotechnology knowledge could counter the corps' disadvantage against Hunter Warriors.

Keeping Ling Yi close...

Risk and reward intertwined.

As Lin Feng pondered, Ling Yi led the beetle swarm toward the city outskirts.

Watching her, Lin Feng sighed, following.

Outside Jia City, Ling Yi commanded Red Beetles to move the remaining 49 eggs toward Wu City. Lin Feng mounted one.

His Tiger Bug aura paralyzed the beetle.

"Hey, get it moving."

Lin Feng called.

Ling Yi turned, teasing:

"You're too heavy! The sword and armor weigh nearly a ton."

"A Red Beetle's load limit is a ton, heavier slows them..."

Lin Feng frowned, placing the chainsaw sword on another beetle, asking a long-held question:

"Why no Tier 2 or 3 Red Beetles?"

"Tier 1 should carry more..."

"Logistics are crucial for expansion."

Ling Yi shook her head, explaining:

"Long story, but we have time en route to Wu City..."

"Red Beetles were a native species of our last conquered system, the Chi race, living in a two-star system."

"Their planet was vast, multiple times Bluestar's size. Chi were red-skinned, dwelling underground, rare in the universe, valuable for resources."

"They provided abundant resources."

"The Chi's technology enabled interstellar travel, with strong physical attributes, birthing several cosmic beings..."

"The strongest, a fifth-stage peak, the Chi King, took us thousands of Bluestar years to conquer all planets and erase the Chi."

"From their genes, we synthesized Red Beetles."

"Like your Hunter Warriors, Red Beetles are slaves."

"Not comparable to our origin's kin, the Spinal Bugs."

"Without unlocking gene seals, their genes, like ours, contain the Chi King's heritage. Awakening past memories or evolving to the third stage would alert the escaped king, seeking revenge, ruining our plans..."

Lin Feng paused. If the insects submitted to that terror, converting their race to biological weapons, shouldn't many fifth, even sixth-stage cosmic beings exist?

How did one fifth-stage enemy escape?

Ling Yi answered Lin Feng's silent question, solemnly:

"Never underestimate a cosmic being, the sole of their race, carrying over half their gene pool, perfecting the gene sequence and domain..."

"If intent on fleeing, three peers with divine weapons are needed to erase them."

"Even then, the space they polluted must be cleansed, preventing genetic fragments from spawning new avatars."

"So we limit Chi genes to below Tier 1."

"But..."

"Humans have no such limits!"

"I know you're pursuing similar research, the Gene Warrior Program..."

"Perfect it quickly, or late-Tier 3 queens will birth many late-Tier 2 Hunter Warriors, spawning Tier 3 Hunter Kings."

"Leading to Tier 4 Kings monopolizing advancement!"

"Humans are too weak."

"History records cosmic races, but they're relics..."

Ling Yi's advice and musings shocked Lin Feng.

He speculated, asking:

"The historic cosmic race, 65 million years ago dinosaurs?"

"Our scientists say birds are their descendants..."

"Your mentioned cosmic descendants with ancestral heritage, directly reaching Tier 4..."

"Could we use gene tech to evolve a chicken or eagle back to dragons, third-stage beings, to kill them..."

"Bypassing insect monitoring, advancing humanity to the third stage!"

Ling Yi's eyes widened, incredulous.

Under Lin Feng's expectant gaze...

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