Chapter 27
Bee colonies, as their name suggested, were a colony of living creatures with a hive mind.
All the sub-consciousnesses were under the control of a powerful main consciousness, and only a very small number of central individuals had semi-independent consciousnesses.
The one controlling this bee colony was the ‘central’ individual, and she was known as the queen bee of the bee colony.
But now, this queen bee was experiencing the greatest crisis it had ever encountered since its birth.
The bee colony’s unique sensory insects had detected a huge amount of energy gathering. The source was the main cannon of a huge battleship, and the target was… The queen bee!
She didn’t understand how she had been exposed. All the interstellar civilizations knew that killing the queen bee that controlled the bee colony would turn the bee colony into a pile of loose sand, so she had been particularly careful to hide.
However, she did not expect that she would be exposed so easily. For this reason, she had no choice but to control a large number of bees to block her, and at the same time order the rest of the bees to launch a suicidal attack on the black fleet.
Countless strange-looking ferocious creatures pounced at the black fleet like crazy, but they were blocked by a blue barrier halfway.
The blue spherical shield kept flashing as the bee colony pounced on it, but the smaller ones all disappeared the moment they touched the shield.
Only the larger ones could last a few seconds against the shield, but they quickly evaporated into thin air as if they had never appeared.
This time, the queen bee had also discovered what the shield that had easily blocked the acid was.
This was a high-energy barrier formed by a dense layer of high-energy particles. Everything that came into contact with it would be torn to the atomic level in an instant.
The only way to break through the shield was to use a particle beam of the same energy level or a harder kinetic weapon, but even so, their energy would be greatly reduced.
She instantly understood that the current swarm of bees was already helpless against this fleet. If she couldn’t even break through their defenses, what could she do?
“90%… 80%… 70%…”
Therefore, she could only try her best to get the bees to act as a human shield in front of her and try to leave the galaxy.
A huge energy fluctuation exploded in the entire galaxy, and a thick beam of light that seemed to reach the sky and the earth instantly pierced through this s.p.a.ce.
Everyone had no choice but to squint their eyes because of the strong light. Only the queen bee was frantically retreating.
“90%… 80%… 70%…” The subconsciousness under her control was fading away like snowflakes, which meant that the percentage of the overall total amount was also rapidly decreasing.
The bees that acted as meat shields lined up into a biological pillar, trying to reduce the power of the beam through their bodies and sh.e.l.ls.
However, their bodies, which had evolved for tens of thousands of years, were easily turned into cosmic dust by the high-energy particles, which had little effect on the light beam.
“30%… 20%… 10%…” The total number of bees was still decreasing, and no one expected that more than half of the bees, which were usually in the units of tens of billions, had disappeared in just a few minutes.
This elimination was almost permanent. The bees that could reuse most of the organic matter could not use a pile of particles that had been reduced to basic particles.
In the end, after losing 95% of their numbers, the swarm of bees managed to block the huge beam of light from the black fleet.
The smell of roasted bugs seemed to still linger in the universe, and the survivors in the trading station witnessed this scene and let out deafening cheers.
“That’s great! Battleships and cannons were the true romance! What’s the big deal with those small water pipes on the guard ship?”
“We’re finally saved. Thank G.o.d… Ah! No, I should thank myself for being lucky enough to avoid death again…”
“Such terrifying firepower… Is it a t.i.tan Battleship? Only such a giant beast can carry such a main cannon…”
“But from the energy fluctuations, it seems that the few t.i.tan Battleships we know of are not as powerful as this. Even the flagship of the Turbulence Empire is far inferior…”
“Who exactly is this ‘Administrator’?”
…
All kinds of emotions and questions echoed in the trading station, but Blenning turned a deaf ear to them, because the huge surprise had gotten to his head.
It wasn’t just because they were saved, but also because the crisis had been resolved, proving that their previous guess was correct.
The Administrator was indeed a terrifying civilization that had hidden itself deeply.
After the bee colony was defeated, the signal blockade was lifted. He had reported everything that had happened to the headquarters and had already received a reply.
This time, he had to entertain this mysterious ‘Administrator’ civilization with even more effort, and at the same time, he must not anger them.
Craybow had some needs that he needed to rely on them for.
…
The queen bee was already feeling a sense of despair.
It wasn’t because the next cannon was about to hit her, but because she had lost too much organic matter this time.
For the bee colony, organic matter was the foundation of its development.
She did not expect the energy contained in the beam to be so terrifying. Otherwise, she would not have chosen to block it with her bee shield. Instead, she would have chosen to commit suicide.
In this case, the bees that had lost control would instinctively scatter and flee in all directions, hibernating in various parts of the galaxy, waiting for the call of the ‘mother nest’.
But it was too late now. It didn’t matter whether the queen bee returned or not. Less than 5% of the remaining bees might not even be able to pa.s.s through the dangerous interstellar s.p.a.ce.
Thus, she turned her gaze to the trading station floating in the distance.
She could feel the energy from the black cannon gathering, but as an individual under the consciousness of the entire hive, she had never had the concept of death.
All her avoidance of danger was to better carry out the will of the hatchery, and now, the time for her to sacrifice herself had come.
The genes in the queen bee began to disintegrate and collapse on their own. Soon, it dissolved along with her huge body, turning into a field of hormones full of information.
“The biological link of the swarm of bees has also mutated at this time. The swarm of bees, which should have fallen into chaos with the disintegration of the queen bee, have all curled up into a ball under the influence of hormones, becoming ‘coc.o.o.ns’ floating in s.p.a.ce.”
Some people in the trading station noticed that something was wrong and began to make a fuss.
Blenning’s eyes widened, and the mechanical arm holding the corner of the table even left a fingerprint on it because of excessive force.
In the next moment, the floating coc.o.o.ns all started to move, and countless strange creatures with the same appearance broke out of their sh.e.l.ls.
They looked like an evolved version of giant flying ants, and their white cuticles quickly turned black under cosmic radiation.
However, the wings that bees usually used for flying were not on their bodies. Instead, they had a cylindrical organ at the tail.
Their powerful muscles wriggled rapidly on the surface, and he could vaguely see light brewing in their organs.
However, they all looked at the floating trading station, ignoring the threat of the black fleet.
The pheromones left behind by the queen bee were still affecting them, and she left the last command before she lost her effectiveness.
“Destroy the trading station.”
The giant flying ant’s tail organ suddenly emitted a dazzling light, absorbing a large amount of the particles floating in s.p.a.ce and quickly converting them into propulsion power.
The living thing seemed to have an engine as a powerful jet of energy shot out from the cylindrical organ, sending it hurtling toward the trading station.
The outer layer of hardened skin on the surface of the ant’s body slowly split into five petals, like a rotor, allowing the giant flying ants to spin at high speed, stabilizing their flight trajectory.
At this moment, these giant flying ants were like missiles, heading straight for the trading station.
The remaining patrol fleet reacted and began to do their best to intercept.
The explosions caused by various weapons rose and fell in this interstellar s.p.a.ce, but it was not enough to deal with the total number of bees.
Even if there was less than 5% left, they still had hundreds of millions of units.
Even though this kind of temporary evolution caused by the command of the queen bee was very unstable, a large number of individuals failed in the process of evolution and died directly, or the evolution was incomplete, causing them to collapse during high-speed flight.
However, there were still tens of millions of bees crashing into the trading station. It could be said that as long as there were no accidents, it was more than enough to destroy the entire trading station.
Unfortunately, the black fleet moved again.