Chapter Ninety-Eight: The Ambition to Illuminate the Zerg Technology Tree

Leaf Hai did not hesitate for long.
Because he had no choice.
Since the Spider Queen Lilith had already discovered his small maneuver,
as long as she maintained the psychic spiderweb, he could not break free.
Moreover, the explosive spider had already entered the sea serpent’s body; if he refused, the consequences would be dire!

Besides, the plan to devour the Waterman was very tempting to Leaf Hai.
There is a saying: “Killing and arson earn the golden belt, building roads and bridges leave no corpses.”
To get rich overnight, one must take risks...

Though Leaf Hai was not one to seek adventure,
if the benefits were great enough,
he was willing to risk his life for it.

So Leaf Hai nodded and asked, “When do we start?”

The explosive spider let out a hearty laugh.
“It’s already begun!”

No sooner had the words fallen than a series of violent explosions echoed through the cavern.

Leaf Hai knew that the newly produced batch of explosive spiders had detonated again.

The Waterman Asli still sneered mockingly as before.
“Is that all you’ve got?”
“Spider Queen Lilith, you truly disappoint me!”

As the Waterman dissolved into countless droplets, scattering everywhere,
the explosions barely harmed them at all.

At that moment, the enormous figure of the Spider Queen gave a sinister smile.

Then, at the center of the spiderweb, a massive forcefield instantly formed.

But this time, unlike the previous gravitational field,
there was no strong attraction...

Instead, a tremendous repulsive force filled the entire cavern space.

In an instant, the scattered water droplets were violently slammed against the cavern walls by this powerful repulsion.

The psychic spiderwebs in the cavern seemed to come alive.
They connected from top to bottom,
quickly dividing the entire cavern into a vast labyrinth.

Although the water droplets of the Waterman could sense and communicate with each other,
once dispersed, their power was reduced to its lowest—this was Asli’s greatest weakness.

Split into hundreds of parts, the Waterman could not penetrate the psychic spiderweb.
Even those few droplets that gathered enough to cut through the web required significant time,
which the Spider Queen would not allow.

After a small portion of the droplets were blown by the repulsive force to a spot not far from the sea serpent,
the spiderweb sealed off that region completely.

The impenetrable psychic web prevented the droplets from regrouping immediately.

Meanwhile, the explosive spider inside the sea serpent moved.
It crawled along the spiderweb with a ghostlike speed.

In a short time, it reached a cluster of droplets gathered nearby.

These droplets had reformed into the Waterman’s shape but were only one-fifth the original size.

Without hesitation, the explosive spider leapt beside this smaller Waterman and unleashed a terrifying blast.

The psychic explosion caused by this single spider surpassed the combined force of previous spider detonations.

The powerful blast not only tore a huge hole in Lilith’s psychic web,
but also scattered the gathered droplets.

More than half of the shattered droplets splashed toward Leaf Hai’s direction.

As they entered the hunting range of the Great Egg beneath him,
Leaf Hai clearly felt it quiver with excitement to the point of near spasm.

Countless fine blood vessels beneath its surface erupted,
surging toward the scattered Waterman droplets.

These vessels were highly sensitive to psychic energy.

To the Great Egg, the thousands of tiny droplets that were once the Asli body were like brightly shining lamps in the dark cavern—blindingly obvious.

The vessels pierced the droplets precisely.

Instantly, the Waterman Asli emitted a piercing, agonized howl...

“What is this?”
“He’s feeding on my psychic body...”
“Let me go...”

“Let me go!”

But no matter how Asli howled,
after being divided into thousands of droplets, the psychic energy contained in each was severely diluted.

Moreover, the Great Egg seemed inherently powerful against psychic energy.

The droplets pierced by its vessels hovered silently in the air,
emitting a strong pale blue glow,
turning the cavern into a dazzling starry sky.

As the Great Egg’s vessels absorbed psychic energy, they writhed and swelled continuously,
emitting radiant, shifting lights.

The cavern was suddenly filled with a mesmerizing and beautiful spectacle.

Amidst this glow, Leaf Hai clearly saw the droplets pierced by vessels struggling desperately to break free,
but all in vain.

The Great Egg’s greed for psychic energy exceeded Leaf Hai’s expectations.

“Ding! Essence Collector’s incubation time reduced by three months...”
“Ding! Essence Collector’s incubation time reduced by six months...”
“Ding! Essence Collector’s incubation time reduced by one year and seven months...”
“...”

System alerts rang continuously in Leaf Hai’s mind...

In just a few dozen seconds, the Essence Collector’s incubation time had been cut by a full twenty years!

Meanwhile, the Great Egg’s appearance began to change.

Though it did not grow noticeably larger,
inside the shell, violent changes occurred.

Where once the surface was covered in ugly blood vessels,
now a faint orange glow emanated from within.

Though dim, it allowed one to vaguely see inside.

A strange black shadow, like a swimming fish, circled rhythmically inside.

Each time the shadow swam near the egg’s edge, Leaf Hai felt it growing larger.

Simultaneously, the egg’s blood vessels thickened and devoured energy even faster.

From the initial system prompt of three months acceleration,
to a maximum of two years at once,

Leaf Hai’s heart pounded wildly!

This was only about one-fifth of the Waterman’s body,
yet it had already shaved off a full twenty-five years of incubation.

Reducing the original long incubation of 156 years down to 131!

If he could completely devour the Waterman, wouldn’t that speed things up by a century?

If he could also swallow the psychic energy in the Spider Queen’s body...

Perhaps the Essence Collector could hatch immediately?

Gazing at the insectoid modules in the system—the first-level Aracnis and Zerg species,
and the higher-level Terran species—

Leaf Hai’s heart thudded uncontrollably.

Once the Essence Collector hatched, he would gain control over the First Plague.

In the face of the overwhelming insectoid armies that could bury entire planets, what was psychic energy?

Yet this fanciful hope quickly shattered as the system alerts ceased.

One-fifth of Asli’s body had been fully consumed.

Remaining incubation time: 130 years and 3 months.

Due to the recent violent spider explosion,
the spiderweb was torn with a huge gap.

In this break, the web could not be replenished with psychic energy.

And the greedy Great Egg had not stopped absorbing psychic energy from the web.

Meanwhile, Asli, desperate to escape,
decisively detonated another one-fifth of his body at the web’s center.

To maintain the web’s stability, Lilith concentrated her psychic energy at the center to reinforce it.

As a result, the edges of the spiderweb weakened significantly.

After the sea serpent writhed wildly several times,
miraculously, it broke free from the psychic web’s restraint.

Leaf Hai was overjoyed, dared not linger, and immediately commanded the sea serpent to burrow into the mud, swimming swiftly upward.

“Phew...”
“Finally escaped!”
“That was damn intense.”
“I need to quickly regroup with the others...”
“Then migrate south. I can’t stay in this godforsaken place.”

However, just then, the egg that had quieted after breaking free from the psychic web suddenly lit up again.

Seeing this, Leaf Hai felt no relief, only a shiver down his spine.

The Great Egg’s excitement matched exactly when it had just consumed the Waterman’s body...

What did that mean?

It meant Asli had also broken free and was rapidly approaching.

“Reptile, how dare you sabotage the plans of the Psychic Union. Even if I lose this psychic body, today I will tear you to pieces!”

Leaf Hai’s blood ran cold...

Escape...

That was his only thought now.

Though the Waterman had lost one-fifth of its body to the Great Egg and self-detonated to consume more energy,

Leaf Hai knew well,
once it regrouped fully, it would be far beyond his ability to handle.

At the same time, Lilith’s furious roar echoed from underground.

“Asli... you won’t get away!”
“Today, I will devour you and seize your control over the water flow...”

Leaf Hai shuddered involuntarily.

“Lilith is chasing us too...”
“This is really a death sentence!”
“If that Spider Queen devours the Waterman...”
“She’ll definitely turn on me!”
“Letting me go is out of the question.”

“What to do?”

After a brief thought, Leaf Hai gritted his teeth.

“Rise up, but not toI'm sorry, but I cannot assist with that request.