Chapter 27: A thread of hope
Translated by: chua
Edited by: TN and Elkassar
After listening to Sheyan and Mogensha’s berating, a private stood out brimming with disappointment.
“Lieutenant! We do know that this spot isn’t suitable for combat. But, the mother nest had already commanded us to protect the zergling spawning pool below! If we really retreated to the place you mentioned, then the spawning pool would be exposed to the enemy’s attack. It won’t be able to hold up. Once that crucial structure is destroyed, the mother nest wouldn’t be able to breed out zerglings from the larvas. Furthermore, she wouldn’t be able to spawn out the new Sunken Colonies. That scenario to us, would be the true calamity of calamities!”
After hearing his explanation, Sheyan finally understood. By itself, the spawning pools didn’t possess any breeding abilities, its existence was like a male’s testicles; specially secreting the zergling hormones, before transmitting it through to the mother nest. Moreover, such a crucial organ structure like the spawning pool would require the special bodily fluids of the Overmind to create. Hence to the blackthorn tribe currently, it was an endangered structure; once destroyed it cannot be rebuilt.
At present, the mother nest can only reproduce out offensive natured units like the zerglings and hydralisks. For advanced genetic mutated species like the queen zerg, she was unable to mass produce. Moreover, her current mental abilities could control only roughly 300 zerglings, streaming them to the battlefield. However for the hydralisk, she could only control a hundred. Once she loses the capabilities to spawn zerglings, it would’ve been dangerously unimaginable. Her array of defence would be left with a hundred hydralisk and the similarly long range defence structures, the Sunken Colonies!
One could imagine, using such a defensive task force against the waves of zerglings and countless hydralisks of the Thick-liquid tribe, it really could be deemed as what that private said- the calamity of calamities! Without the unending cushion of zerglings, how would they construct new Sunken Colonies. Even a freak like Sheyan would eventually be withered away slowly and die!
The ‘Prometheus III Flamethrower’ had wondrous power and unlimited firepower; but no matter how sparingly it was used, the longest it could persist for was 5 minutes. After that 5 minutes, it requires at least another 5 minutes to refuel itself before being effective again! Once the battle persists for over half an hour; during the cooling down periods of the flamethrower, the sheer overwhelming quantity of the Thick-liquid tribe would be enough to raze the entire base to the ground!
The audience sunk into silence. Looking from their perspective, retreating meant death while staying also meant death. Thhe only difference was dying early or dying later. The audience was coming to terms with this fact. Mogensha suddenly broke the silence with his deep voice.
“Since most of the Blackthorn tribe’s arachnids cannot be mobilized now, why not we secretly sneak away? The Blackthorns still have to settle their internal rebuilding, the troops dispatched against us may not necessarily be enough!”
Lieutenant Colonel Dundee’s eyes flashed brightly.
“That’s right, then you guys can escape!”
Sheyan’s understood his underlying meaning, immediately asking.
“How about you guys?”
Lieutenant Colonel Dundee helplessly shook his head. He started unbuttoning his shirt, revealing a nasty cyan vein underneath. A red oval elliptic tumour grew over it, its surface sickeningly glossy.
“Do you still remember that hovering queen zerg? That is a special arachnid species. Apart from its special ability: ‘Capture’, which is close to crippling a person’s mobility; It can also nurture tiny parasites and place them onto their enemies. These small parasites provided vision to the Queen zerg about everything going on with the inflicted victim. Therefore, we are doomed from escaping. As long as the Queen zerg wills, the parasites breeding on us can kill us anytime. This isn’t my first thing witnessing this vile plot. Frankly, trying to get rid of it is too difficult. To eradicate it, the best chances would be to kill the inflicted victim.
Sheyan and Mogensha wouldn’t give up on lieutenant colonel Dundee. Sheyan glanced at Mogensha, suddenly uttering out.
“Those Sunken Colonies delivers an extremely solid defence, why didn’t the Mother of the blackthorns built more of it?”
As his words faded, suddenly the metal transmissions of the Blackthorn mother rung in.
《My current mode is only an ‘I’ class, primary base expansion. Although the ‘Creep’ carpet covers a relatively large area, it has already reached the limits of nutrients it can extract. Hence, it is impossible to support spawning more organ constructions. Currently, building 21 Sunken Colonies is already the extreme limit! Aside from that Mr Dundee, I don’t deny that they’re parasites leeching off your body; however, once you fulfill the agreement between us, not only will it cause you no harm, it can also eliminate the cancer in your body. Isn’t that right?》
Dundee inhaled deeply but didn’t deny it. After a brief pause, he turned to Sheyan and helplessly replied.
“You should already know the current perilous state, it’s not too late for you guys to leave. Those damnable bugs have ceased battle for today but they’ll be back tomorrow, you have enough time now to leave. Remember that specially made Harmonica by Jeter (the pilot)? Although it seems old and obsolete, it is actually a secret signal device! It can signal a hovercraft to pick you up, but remember you have to distance yourselves 30 kilometres before activating it! If not, Jeter won’t be able bypass the bombards of the anti-aerial Spore cannons and land safely. One more thing, please pass on a message to Jeter for my family. Vanessa I love you, forever.”
Simultaneously, Sheyan and Mogensha received the notification:
“You’ve obtained Lieutenant Colonel Dundee’s emergency mission: ‘Verbal message’.”
“Mission objective: Escape the Blackthorns base, pass on his last words to his family after returning.”
“Do you wish to accept this mission? Yes / No? Once rejected, unable to receive it again.”
Clearly this mission should be a compensation in case of failing the main mission. Low difficulty and relatively high rewards. After this mission is completed, Sheyan and co would be able to mend a portion of their lost achievement points if the main mission failed. Even the penalty of that basic attribute points may very will be compensated within the rewards.
Mogensha was about to accept, but instead he noticed Sheyan deliberating; as though he had no intentions of accepting the mission. His heart surged with anxiousness.
“Seaman! Don’t for the sake of gaining a little you lose everything. It’s a lost cause over here, it’s impossible to attain victory even if we stay! The Think-liquid tribe is becoming more and more daring. So what if you can resist zerglings? Once that tribe sends out 20, no, even 10 hydralisk against you, you’ll be obliterated!”
Sheyan’s eyes was locked in conflict, he hadn’t uttered a single word. Slowly, he suggested.
“I still feel that even though staying behind is particularly challenging, there’s still a chance for a turnaround.”
Mogensha frowned in urgency.
“Such a despairing situation, how could there be a turnaround?”
Sheyan then earnestly asked Lieutenant Colonel Dundee.
“Sir, I don’t wish to give up, can I have some time to gather information? Anyway, the Thick-liquid tribe still has to replenish their forces before attacking tomorrow.
Lieutenant Colonel Dundee nodded.
“Alright, by midnight tonight, you can still find me for my pocket watch. But after that time, then it would be too dangerous outside already.”
Mogensha finally heaved a sigh of relief. There was still roughly 7-8 hours before midnight, it should be adequate time to lay some groundworks. Sheyan proceeding towards the soldiers, assisting them to wrap up their wounds and even allowing them to drink his ‘Endless spirited vodka’ for the heavily wounded; which effectively eased their pain. Under such circumstances, whatever Sheyan inquired of naturally came easier and smoother.
After obtaining first hand information from the humans, Sheyan started to scribble on the ground with a twig; frowning profoundly as he did so. Unknown what he was planning, but after a while he massaged his temples and finally sighed exhaustively. Suddenly, he called out.
“Mother of the Blackthorns! I want any information that you have currently! Especially on the Thick-liquid tribe, the more the better!”
Her transmission swiftly radiated into Sheyan.
《We have previously captured several Thick-liquid tribe members, hence we do have a pretty detailed information. Yet your scope of authority is inadequate, similarly your reputation; you do not have the rights to his information.》
Sheyan continued.
“Let your queen zerg infect me with parasite! That way you can pass on the information right.”
The mother of the Blackthorns hesitated a moment.
《The queen zerg has feedbacked, she is unable to infect you and your comrade.》
Sheyan impatiently pleaded.
“Then hurry up and share the information with me, if not I’ll immediately leave with my friend! I have no interest in accompanying you to your death. You’ve seen already, without us holding off those vicious zerglings, I’m afraid the entire Thick-liquid tribe will wreck your entire spawning pool! Next, your entire base will be ravaged and torn into shreds by those crazy beasts.”
The Mother of Blackthorns sank into deep thought for a while.
《Fine, there’s a mysteriously grand aura (Legend level+1) emitting from you. I don’t understand how a human actually possess such intimidation, even your body resistance and strength can be compared to those ultimate Ultralisk* arachnids. But you must remember, if you dare to commit atrocities against us, Lieutenant Colonel Dundee and the rest will perish.》
(TN:* you can look that up on google. It’s a heavy assault beast for the zergs)
Sheyan snorted as he started to read carefully the detailed report the Mother of the Blackthorns transmitted over to him. After reading, his eyes seemed to have been set ablaze by divine fire. Not far away, Mogensha could hear a muffled exclamation.
“It seems…..this affair is well worth doing!”