The first wave of the Cosmic Swarm had been contained, but the air in the Command Bunker was thick with anxiety. The rapid mobilization of the Iron Legion—the mass genetic alteration of mortal soldiers—was underway, yet fear still permeated the reinforced walls.
Jiang Chen stared at the holographic map. The main Hive Fleet—a terrifying cluster of organic ships—had paused its approach, drawn to the enormous concentration of Qi emanating from the destruction of the Star Palace.
"They are consuming the wreckage," Old Wu reported, his voice high-pitched. "The energy signature is fading, but the Swarm's biological mass is swelling. They're processing the Envoys' remains."
"They're consolidating resources," Jiang Chen said, his mind whirring. He looked at the few captured Synapse Creatures—small, pathetic-looking bugs that served as relays—currently contained in a titanium isolation chamber. "We need intelligence. We need to know what we are fighting."
He turned to the Architect AI.
[System, initiate psychic link to the captured Synapse Creature. I need access to the Hive Mind's tactical data.]
[SYSTEM WARNING: Psychic Link is extremely hazardous. The Hive Mind is a chaotic, alien consciousness. High risk of psychic contamination and neurological failure for Host.]
"Risk is irrelevant," Jiang Chen said, plugging the cable from his reactor into the console linked to the chamber. "If we fight blind, we die guaranteed."
He strapped on a specialized neural helmet. Ye Bai rushed forward.
"Administrator, don't! You saw what the Hive did to Envoy Azure's mind! It devoured his essence!"
"Azure was pure spirit, Ye Bai. I am mostly metal," Jiang Chen grimaced, his eyes fixed on the target. "My mind is running on Windows. Theirs is running on sludge. Let's see whose firewall is stronger."
He initiated the link.
Jiang Chen's consciousness plunged into a sea of red.
It wasn't a battlefield. It was a billion voices screaming hunger. It was a network of pure, unadulterated appetite. He saw with a billion eyes. He felt the cold vacuum of space, the warmth of the consumed Star Palace, and the sickening taste of divine essence.
They are so small. So soft. So... fragile.
Jiang Chen fought the urge to empty his lungs and submit. He focused his mind—not on resisting the chaos, but on sorting it. He accessed the network as a database query.
[QUERY: FLEET ORIGIN/PURPOSE.]
The Hive Mind reluctantly provided a torrent of images: vast, endless galaxies, consumed planets, species reduced to biomass. And then, a clear image of a gigantic, pulsating command vessel—the true Hive Queen—far, far away.
[DATA STREAM ANALYSIS: The current Hive Fleet is merely a small, detached scouting tendril. The full armada is weeks away.]
[QUERY: ENV OY/TARGET PRIORITY.]
The image of the Envoys flashed in the Hive Mind: tiny, noisy pests that left behind high-energy waste.
[DATA STREAM ANALYSIS: The Envoys were not the target. They were a resource. High-grade Qi is classified as "Nutrient Concentration Omega." Target Priority: THE QI CONCENTRATION.]
Jiang Chen pulled the answer he desperately needed: The Hive was not interested in them. It was interested in fuel.
The psychic link began to overwhelm him. The hunger was too great. The alien logic, where death was just a resource transfer, was drowning his humanity. He saw himself as the Hive saw him: a slightly tough, nutrient-rich cylinder of protein.
[Host Integrity: 5%!]
Jiang Chen fought the psychic infection. He used the only weapon he had left: The Architect AI.
[SYSTEM: DEPLOY ARCHITECT CORRUPTIVE PROTOCOL.][INJECTING PRE-ERA DECEPTION CODE INTO XENOS SYNAPSE NODE.]
The Architect didn't fight the Hive. It used the code of a dead race to lie to it. It planted a psychic phantom.
[FALSE DATA INJECTED: THE PLANET IS TOXIC. THE QI RESERVES ARE DEPLETED. HIGH RISK OF NEUROTOXIC POISONING FROM CONSUMPTION.]
The billion voices wavered, confused. The Swarm's logic was simple: risk vs. reward. Why eat a toxic corpse when a fresh meal was elsewhere?
Jiang Chen ripped the helmet off, collapsing onto the floor. His head was pounding. He was sweating pure reactor coolant.
The Star Palace Wreckage
The Hive Ship consuming the Envoy fortress paused. Its tendrils pulled back.
The immense, chaotic consciousness assessed the sudden data from the scouting tendril: the target planet was poisoned. A waste of biomass.
The consumption of the divine essence of the Void Shattering Envoys had provided enough energy for a major jump. The Hive Ship, uninterested in a disappointing meal, turned its colossal bulk. It folded the space around it and vanished, continuing its galactic wanderings.
The psychic signature of the swarm vanished from the system.
"Aggro lost," Old Wu whispered, looking at the silent long-range radar. "They... they left."
Beiluo Command Center
Jiang Chen lay on the table, recovering, while Ye Bai tended to him with a clean cloth.
"You risked everything," Ye Bai said, his relief mixed with terror. "And you told them we were... moldy?"
"We aren't strong enough to fight them, Ye Bai," Jiang Chen wheezed. "Not yet. We needed time to build. We are insignificant to them. The moment the System lied and said we weren't worth the calories, they left."
[SYSTEM ALERT: DECEPTION PROTOCOL SUCCESSFUL.][ANALYSIS: THE HIVE MIND HAS MOVED TO NEAREST LARGE QI SIGNATURE. TARGET: The Galactic Core.]
"We bought ourselves a lifetime," Jiang Chen sat up, pulling on his uniform. He looked out at the sky—still dark, still dangerous.
"But we are still exposed. If any other 'wandering farmer' or 'galactic predator' finds this planet, they will come."
[SYSTEM SOLUTION: PROJECT LIBRARIAN.]
A new section of the Ancient Archives unlocked for Jiang Chen.
[Blueprint: Planetary Veil Generator (Stealth Field).][Function: Bends solar and stellar light frequencies around Terra-Nova. Reduces Qi/Thermal Signature to zero. Render the planet INVISIBLE to orbital and deep-space observation.]
"We build the shield, Ye Bai," Jiang Chen looked at the shocked Sword Saint. "We take the Emperor's power, the Dragon's Spine, and every piece of scrap metal we have. We build a cocoon around this world. And we hide."
He looked at the growing forces of the Iron Legion—his new Space Marines, training in the vertical farms.
"While the rest of the galaxy thinks this is a dead, toxic world... we will evolve. We will forge our power. When we finally step out, we won't be a primitive society. We will be the Iron Empire."
Jiang Chen smiled, feeling the vast, cold logic of the Architect AI syncing with his desperate human will. The gamble had paid off. The world had gone silent. Now, they would build the future in the dark.