Chapter 35

Chapter 35

A few young female insects gathered ripe fruits from nearby trees, leaving the unripe ones to continue maturing.

With the datapad, Lu Cian found ingredients much faster.

However, perhaps because this planet was truly undeveloped, many plants were not recorded in the insect race's encyclopedia. Lu Cian didn’t pick them but simply took photos with the datapad for future reference, to be documented when the planet was further developed.

"This planet has a variety of plant species, but far fewer types of alien creatures."

Along the way, they spotted some avian and small terrestrial creatures. Though they caught a few, with a thousand insects to feed, it was barely a mouthful.

They also plundered multiple bird nests, taking nearly all the eggs.

Not only had they failed to find any large alien creatures, but Lu Cian still hadn’t come across any staple food crops.

After walking for two hours, if they went any further, they wouldn’t make it back in time to prepare dinner.

Lu Cian asked Lily to retrieve several large ingredient buckets from the Space Button, only to find them already filled with fruits, wild greens, birds, and eggs.

Paired with the leftover meat patties and steaks from the spaceship, it should be enough to feed a thousand insects a decent meal.

"Nan, let’s head back. There’s not much more to gain by going further, and it’s time to return and cook."

Lu Cian felt somewhat disheartened. After the long walk, he considered the trip a failure—finding ingredients wasn’t as easy as he’d imagined.

Nair Inan didn’t understand why Lu Cian was upset. "Alright. Today’s haul was pretty good."

Lu Cian was surprised. He hadn’t expected Nan to comfort him. "Nan, are you comforting me? You’re so kind!"

Only then did Nair Inan realize that was the reason for his sullenness.

"No, I’m just being honest."

Lily added, "Yeah, boss. Finding this much food is already impressive. As long as we remember these spots, we can keep gathering food in the future."

Lu Cian nodded. "The harvest is good, but I’m disappointed we can’t prepare the grand feast I promised earlier."

Lily chuckled. "Nan, no worries. Just being able to eat our fill every day was something I never dared to dream of before. This is already great."

Lu Cian patted Lily’s head, thinking: Poor kid, you couldn’t even eat your fill before? How tragic!

Luckily, your Brother Lu is here now. From now on, Brother Lu will have your back!

"You’re right. There’s still a long way to go, and sooner or later, Brother Lu will treat you all to a grand feast!" Lu Cian vowed enthusiastically.

Lily flared his insectoid wings and raised a fist excitedly. "You're the best, boss! We’ll be waiting for that feast!"

Nair Inan: "..."

Though Nair Inan was amused despite himself, accompanying these young female insects on their foraging expedition had been quite entertaining.

After dinner, Lu Cian approached Nair Inan, asking him to teach him how to access the Space Button.

In reality, Nair Inan couldn’t teach him—activating the Space Button required psychic power, which Lu Cian didn’t possess.

Lu Cian felt dejected. Since arriving in this world, he’d been concealing his origins as an alien species. Now, without psychic power, he couldn’t even inspect the gift he’d received.

Nair Inan said, "I’ll help you."

Under Nair Inan’s guidance, Lu Cian still couldn’t sense his supposed "psychic power." In the end, he had to rely on Nair Inan to open the Space Button for him.

Nair Inan pulled out a mecha from the Space Button.

"Elder Anda actually managed to build it..." Nair Inan looked genuinely surprised at the sight.

Lu Cian was puzzled. "What is this?"

"It’s a mecha."

Lu Cian exclaimed. "So this is a mecha!"

Nair Inan frowned slightly. "You know about mechas?"

This was Elder Anda’s concept from a century ago, never shared outside the family. Logically, no other insect should know about it.

Noticing Nair Inan’s guarded reaction, Lu Cian’s pulse quickened. He quickly explained casually, "I don’t know about mechas, nor have I seen one. I grew up on a barren planet. Once, my brother mentioned that fragile female insects could wear a protective exosuit for protection. I figured that must be what you call a mecha."

Nair Inan relaxed, not doubting him. After all, similar lightweight armor had appeared on the market before, though it was virtually worthless—strong female insects could shatter it with a single punch, offering no real protection.

But Elder Anda’s mecha was different. Its shell was extremely durable, made from the same material as starships. It had a cockpit large enough for an insect and was equipped with armaments matching a small battleship. It could be operated either through psychic power or manually.

"Elder Anda’s psychic rating was very low, and his physique was weak. He always hoped to create a mecha to compensate for his inability to fight on the battlefield."

Lu Cian was surprised. "If Elder Anda could build something like this, he must’ve been very intelligent. How could his psychic power be weak?"

He’d always assumed psychic power was similar to neural activity, possibly linked to intelligence.

Nair Inan gave him a strange look. "Why would you think that?"

Only then did Lu Cian realize that psychic power levels in the insect race likely had no direct correlation with intelligence.

Lu Cian shook his head. "I just thought Elder Anda was amazing. He didn’t seem uneducated."

In the insect race, those with excessively low psychic power levels weren’t accepted into schools.

Though psychic power and intelligence weren’t directly related, many academic fields and post-graduation careers were deeply intertwined with psychic power levels.

Insects with high psychic power levels usually had strong physiques as well—otherwise, their bodies couldn’t withstand the energy and would gradually weaken and die.

Nair Inan nodded. "Elder Anda was indeed remarkable."

Elder Anda had decades of experience, and Nair Inan’s father had always treated him with great respect.

Nair Inan asked, "Care to take it for a spin? This mecha can be manually operated even without psychic power."

Lu Cian’s eyes lit up—clearly, he was tempted.

But Nair Inan quickly shook his head. "However, your physique is not strong enough yet. You’ll need more training to adapt to the pressure inside."

The mecha itself didn’t exert pressure, but it allowed weaker female insects to operate in space just like their stronger counterparts.

Piloting a mecha in space required a certain level of physical endurance. The environmental controls inside were negligible for most female insects, but Lu Cian was not even close to being ready for that category.

Staring at the imposing mecha in the room, Lu Cian felt both excitement and deep frustration.

He was thrilled at the prospect of flying like other female insects and even engaging in space combat.

But his disappointment stemmed from knowing it wouldn’t happen anytime soon—unless he could quickly condition himself to match the physique of the weakest female insect.

Otherwise, he might set a new record for the worst physique among male Zerg.

Owning a mech but only being able to look at it without using it—what a cruel joke.

...

Five days later.

The spacecraft sent to explore the new stellar region finally returned.

In such a short time, they naturally hadn’t fully surveyed the star sector, but searching for possible exit routes was relatively quick.

Apart from the passage they came through, there were four other areas where the meteorites were less dense, likely forming navigable paths outward.

Fearing insufficient fuel, they didn’t attempt to explore these routes recklessly.

Near the meteorite belt, they also discovered several junk planets. Scanning revealed these were actually recorded junk planets near the N-series planets on the Star Network.

These junk planets had a fancy academic name: Orbital Debris Sanctuaries.

The coordinates of these junk planets on the Star Network were light-years apart from their actual discovered locations.

No one knew how these junk planets ended up here.

Some Zerg landed on the junk planets and collected samples. According to forensic analysis, the debris dated back as recently as a hundred years ago, with most being several hundred or even a thousand years old.

A thousand years might seem like a long time for humans, but for Zerg with lifespans of three to five centuries, it wasn’t much.

When Nair Inan first learned of this, he felt a quiet dread. He speculated that these junk planets might have been pulled in by some anomalous gravitational field within the meteorite belt.

He was immediately relieved that these planets were far from the Empire’s frontier worlds and were already abandoned junk planets.

The Empire was vast, and a few missing junk planets wouldn't raise eyebrows. Even if they disappeared, no one would investigate—perhaps assuming they had been shattered by stray meteors.

For now, their secret should stay buried.

Nair Inan proposed clearing these junk planets to serve as forward observation posts.

As for the four possible egress points they found:

They couldn’t explore all of them immediately, so they decided to station teams at two locations while shelling the other two areas to fragment larger asteroids, creating navigational hazards.

Even if others picked up on anomalies, they wouldn’t dare make incursions.

The scouts confirmed that nearby planetary collisions had likely created this naturally chaotic meteorite belt. The star system’s inherent meteorite ring acted as a defensive barrier, making it an ideal, easily defensible stronghold—perfect for their needs.

Just as Mr. Lu had said, their current strength was limited, and their top priority was to stay under the radar.

The longer they stayed hidden, the safer they’d be.

This wasn’t cowardice or fear—it was strategy.

Heroes emerge from anywhere, nor tactics by their elegance. Victory was all that mattered.

Dead men don't need pride.

...

The new planet's development plans were being drafted. Lu Cian stepped forward to Nair Inan, hoping to contribute.

Who said only high-ranking officials could build a planet? Maybe he, Lu Cian, could make his mark too!

Just like on Blue Star [Earth]—the revolutionary founder was human too. His brilliance didn’t make him a monster.

No one was inherently superior. No one had three heads or six hands, nor were they all-knowing deities. Differences existed, but they weren’t that extreme.

When one door closes, another opens.

That’s how his father had comforted him.