"As long as even one of you still exists, your kind will never go extinct!"
When Chu Hao asked that question, the brainworm immediately nodded without hesitation.
"That's right, Great Lord of the Abyss, you are correct. As long as any one of us — no, as long as an incarnation of the Hive Mind still exists — and as long as there are enough resources, the Hive Mind will restart. To be more precise, as long as our genetic code continues to exist, then our Mother, the mighty Hive Mind, will be reborn!"
Upon hearing this, Chu Hao's expression darkened. He suddenly felt that death might not be far from him.
The reason for this was simple — what the brainworm had said finally made him realize a terrifying truth.
This time, the Void Zerg were fundamentally different from any swarm that had ever been created by gods before.
All those other divine "creations" were nothing more than crude toys compared to this.
---
Elsewhere...
Archangel of Retribution Peter frowned at the glowing sand table before him.
On the map, a single red dot — out of sync with the rest of the advancing legions — caught his attention.
"Maeve, why has the 7304th Legion slowed its advance? They should've reached sector XXX a week ago!"
The angel named Maeve opened her eyes, sparks flashing from the tubes connected to her mechanical body.
A synthesized voice, both soft and cold, responded humbly.
"Brother Peter, please forgive the 7304th Legion for their delay. The legion's commander's physical body was destroyed yesterday. Although his soul has been retrieved, the replacement clone on the flagship was damaged during the last battle with the flying Zerg. It will take two to three more days before he can return to command. The current acting commander's rating and tactical experience are slightly below—"
"Enough. I get it."
Peter interrupted impatiently.
Truth be told, he didn't like Maeve — this strange fusion of angel and machine.
Though her biomechanical enhancements had made her into a living supercomputer capable of managing nearly half a warzone's data, Peter found her presence unsettling.
The loss of emotion, the cold tone, the lack of subjective judgment — all of it grated on him.
Sure, she could help him see every corner of the battlefield clearly, but she could never calm the frustration burning in his heart.
"Maeve, scan again. Find out where the Hive Mind's main consciousness is hiding!"
The holographic sand table flickered with chaotic battle signals — countless areas flashing red.
By now, Peter's army had been clashing with the swarm for over two weeks.
In the scale of world-level wars, that wasn't long — just the duration of a single campaign.
But the reality was far worse.
That time measurement only made sense for humans — for beings that needed rest, resupply, and organization.
The swarm was different.
They never rested, never tired, never feared.
Once you engaged the swarm, time itself lost meaning.
You either wiped them all out… or they tore your army apart.
And now, the Heavenly Army was at its limit.
Even with advanced technology allowing soldiers to rest for only two hours before returning to battle, their minds and souls were nearing collapse.
No divine blessing or machine could fix that. Only peace — even for an hour — could.
"Scan complete, Peter. I've detected seven hundred and sixty-nine possible Hive Mind nodes."
Maeve's cold, monotone voice cut through the static.
"Shall I dispatch troops to each coordinate for elimination?"
Peter hesitated, his golden hair disheveled as he stared at the map with exhaustion in his eyes.
"Maeve... of those seven hundred and sixty-nine nodes, which one is the Hive Mind's true body? Can you calculate that?"
Maeve shook her head mechanically.
"I'm sorry, Peter. Each time we destroy what appears to be the Hive Mind, the surrounding swarm falls into chaos for a short while. But within ten minutes, the signal always reappears. The system provides three possible explanations:
One, what we're killing are only its extensions, not the true body — and those regenerate quickly.
Two, we do kill the true body, but it can resurrect itself through another of the swarm.
Three, the Hive Mind's true body is hidden somewhere beyond our detection — everything we've been attacking are just decoys."
Peter rubbed his forehead and muttered irritably.
"Three possibilities, and all of them are crap! We can sense their psychic waves through divine fire, we can feel the Hive Mind's command signals — yet we still can't kill it. At this rate, we'll be stuck in an endless stalemate!"
He wasn't wrong.
Unless the Hive Mind was destroyed, the swarm would never stop breeding.
Peter had witnessed it firsthand — a single surviving Zerg could, in minutes, rebuild an entire breeding nest capable of spawning millions more.
Even though the Heavenly Army had already wiped out more than seventy percent of the swarm, the remaining thirty percent still couldn't be exterminated completely.
He looked out toward the roiling gray waves of the battlefield, fury flashing in his eyes.
"Damn it! That arrogant fool at the top refuses to let us form our own research divisions. If I still had even one ten-thousandth of my former intellect... none of this would be happening."
For the Heavenly Army, their incredible power came at a steep cost.
When they joined Heaven Mountain...
They paid the ultimate price—
They could no longer learn.
Their seas of consciousness... had already been shattered.