Chapter Twenty-One: The Empress's Conspiracy

Following the coordinates provided by Long Ruyuan, Liu Shaoyu quickly arrived at the location using the holographic map. It was another grand door, but twice the size of the one he had found earlier. Long Ruyuan was already inside. What could have caused Long Ruyuan's astonished cries behind that door?

Guiding his mech inside, Liu Shaoyu's eyes widened at the scene before him.

“What is this?... What is this?...”

The vast space beyond the door resembled a laboratory, but it was enormous. Liu Shaoyu and Long Ruyuan were not at the only entrance; the door led to a two-level platform, surrounded by railings.

What truly shocked Liu Shaoyu and Long Ruyuan was the object at the center. It looked like a miniature Zerg starship, its hull adorned with intricate patterns, and giant pipes connected it to the surrounding machinery.

“A Zerg starship?” Liu Shaoyu asked, puzzled. He had never heard of Zerg starships being built in laboratories, and its size was nothing like what he expected...

“Maybe, but look,” Long Ruyuan replied, then magnified a section of the starship on the holographic screen.

At the top of the starship was a complex pattern. From previous wreckage, they knew that as the broodmother’s rank increased, subtle markings appeared on the hull’s upper section. What had seemed a rare phenomenon was now clearly a pattern—starships of the same rank bore similar markings, growing more elaborate as the rank rose.

The one before them was the most intricate they had ever seen; the pattern spread almost to the edges.

“Wait, look up there,” Long Ruyuan said, suddenly spotting something.

As the image shifted, Liu Shaoyu saw a hole near the starship’s front. He immediately recalled his first mission after joining the bounty crew.

“The broodmother escaped?!” Long Ruyuan exclaimed.

“Yes, it’s already detached. This starship must be the shell left behind. But...” Liu Shaoyu said, unsettled by the odd scene. He recorded the image and sent it to Wang Weifu, hoping he might have some insight.

Soon, Wang Weifu’s communication request came through.

“Haha, as expected! Since this thing is here, the main computer should be in this room. Go look for it,” Wang Weifu said, not waiting for Liu Shaoyu to speak.

“Remember, copy the data, then destroy everything. I’ll explain later,” he added.

With Wang Weifu urging him, Liu Shaoyu searched carefully and indeed found a larger operating console in a second-floor room.

“This must be it,” Liu Shaoyu thought, preparing to investigate.

“Ruyuan, once Monkey arrives, you two examine the Zerg starship. I’ll check out the upstairs,” Liu Shaoyu transmitted, moving towards the room.

Receiving orders, Long Ruyuan waited for Monkey, while Liu Shaoyu found the passage leading in.

At that moment, First Mate Xu Meng sent a message.

“The bounty crew has reached this star system. They’ll arrive above the planet in about twenty minutes.”

Liu Shaoyu was startled. “That was fast.” He hurried his actions, connecting his mech’s transmission line to the console, as usual.

“Oh! This system has unique encryption—it might take a long time,” Thomas’s voice brought unwelcome news.

“How long?” Liu Shaoyu asked.

“Without support from the Federal database, and my processing power relying on implanted chips, it will take about three hours,” Thomas replied.

Hearing this, Liu Shaoyu’s brow furrowed. Three hours was clearly too long. What now?

He thought of their computer prodigy, Wang Weifu.

“Have you got the data?” On the screen, Wang Weifu’s eager face appeared.

Liu Shaoyu waved his hand. “Ran into some trouble. Thomas, share the data with him.”

On the other side, Wang Weifu frowned as he viewed the data, then moved swiftly to a console.

“This is tricky, might take some time,” he said, connecting the data.

“There are twenty minutes until they arrive. I can stall for a bit—forty-five minutes at most,” Liu Shaoyu said, checking the time.

Wang Weifu smiled. “I thought you’d ask for less time. Forty-five minutes is plenty. Five minutes will do.” With that, he began working.

For Wang Weifu, any system solved in under three minutes was normal. Exceeding that meant... it needed more time.

Liu Shaoyu was embarrassed—comparisons could be infuriating.

Five minutes later, Wang Weifu looked up from his busy work. “Done.”

As his voice faded, the console before Liu Shaoyu sprang to life. After a while...

“Transfer complete. I’ll review the data carefully; I’ve already destroyed everything on the main computer.” Liu Shaoyu nodded and ended the communication. Only twenty minutes had passed.

With that settled, Liu Shaoyu finally relaxed, sending a voice message to Long Ruyuan and Monkey to check their situation.

“We found something interesting, come see,” Long Ruyuan replied.

Liu Shaoyu piloted his mech to their location, where Long Ruyuan had already transmitted the starship’s holographic structure.

“What do you think? Fascinating, isn’t it?” Monkey asked.

Fascinating was an understatement! Liu Shaoyu thought. The broodmother’s starship structure was bizarre. He’d seen many, but never one so unorthodox.

Broodmother starships were formidable not only for their armor and combat ability, but because they could hatch soldier bugs—a vast army was the broodmother’s most powerful weapon. Yet this wreckage showed little sign of battle; the hatching organ was tiny, almost as if it fought alone. The majority of its internal structure was neural tissue—what could that mean?

Wait... Liu Shaoyu suddenly realized something. What kind of broodmother didn’t rely on soldier bugs and was composed almost entirely of neural tissue?

Looking at Long Ruyuan and Monkey, both engrossed in the examination, Liu Shaoyu was momentarily speechless.

“Do you think this might be...” Liu Shaoyu began, catching the attention of the two who were about to dissect the wreckage.

“Ah—what?” Monkey asked.

“Look here,” Liu Shaoyu said, highlighting the neural and hatching tissues on the structure diagram.

“This vast neural tissue suggests the broodmother required immense psychic power. And here, the hatching organ is very small,” Liu Shaoyu explained.

“Maybe because this broodmother was high-ranking, so its neural tissue was well developed, but with such a tiny hatching organ, who was it commanding?” Monkey commented.

“Monkey’s right, this is a high-level broodmother,” Liu Shaoyu thought. More than high—if his guess was correct, it was extraordinarily so.

“Could it be?!” Long Ruyuan’s expression brightened, as if realizing a tremendous secret.

“Yes, if I’m not mistaken, this wreckage belonged to the Queen,” Liu Shaoyu confirmed Long Ruyuan’s suspicion.

With his theory confirmed, Long Ruyuan was even more shocked. After all, it was the Queen!

“But it’s just a guess—experts will have to confirm,” Liu Shaoyu said. Just then, Xu Meng notified him that the specialists had arrived.

Five minutes later, Liu Shaoyu and his companions met the bounty crew outside the ruins.

The newcomers were unfamiliar; after verifying their identities, Liu Shaoyu transmitted the information they had uncovered—naturally omitting the data copy part.

Since Liu Shaoyu’s fleet had other tasks, he left the site to the bounty crew.

He felt he had already obtained the most crucial information; without experimental data, he doubted they would discover anything significant. As for the suspected Queen’s wreckage, he was troubled about how to retrieve it.

For now, he needed to see what Wang Weifu had discovered. Back aboard the freighter, Liu Shaoyu returned to the lounge and contacted Wang Weifu.

“Guess what I found?” Wang Weifu asked, still excited.

His reaction made Liu Shaoyu suspect his guess was close.

“Fengta Queen?” Liu Shaoyu ventured.

“Haha, I knew you’d guess it. But that’s not all,” Wang Weifu replied with a playful smile.

Not all? What did that mean? Liu Shaoyu wondered. The Fengta Queen was already shocking—if there was more...

“Do you know what your report was about?” Wang Weifu asked, seeing Liu Shaoyu’s confusion.

“What was it about?” Liu Shaoyu replied calmly.

Wang Weifu sensed a hint of disappointment—he had hoped to see his friend panic. “About the Fengta Queen’s evolution.”

“Evolution?” Liu Shaoyu echoed.

“Yes, evolution. But not ordinary evolution,” Wang Weifu continued.

That left Liu Shaoyu even more perplexed. The Queen, evolving? And not in the usual sense? Was it some ultimate transformation...?

“Her evolution isn’t a traditional upgrade for the Fengta Zerg. It’s achieved through external means. If her plan had succeeded, then... you’d now be her kin,” Wang Weifu said quietly.

“Kin?!”