The Ultimate Evolution

The more Sheyan thought about it, the more he felt that he was getting close to the truth.

Because even with Sheyan’s intelligence, he could not imagine how anyone could selectively let only the spacecrafts that carried lower ranking soldiers crash onto this planet.

After ruling out all other possibilities, the possibility which remained must be the truth – Snake had killed all those who could threaten his authority.

After Sheyan came to this conclusion, he naturally realised that he was in extreme danger, but Sheyan had confidence in himself. Even when he was not prepared, to scheme against him was still a very difficult task.

That was because Sheyan’s most defining feature was his durability! His extreme durability! Furthermore, he had great explosiveness. If his enemies could not kill him right away, they would have to face his fierce counter-attack!

The two men marched forth on the pale blue land, the moist soil beneath their feet making a soft rustling sound as they walked. Wind whistled through the air, rubbing against their faces and hats before whirling into their noses and mouths. No one spoke, because they had to remain vigilant, and because they had to keep quiet, lest they miss out on any important clues.

For some reason, Sheyan kept feeling that there was a faint odour of blood in the air, like the smell which lingered on a person’s hand after they stabbed someone to death; a smell that could not be washed away by any amount of soap or rubbing! He inhaled deeply, trying to take in the odour, but strangely, the smell seemed to have disappeared.

“Let’s rest here for a while.” Snake had chosen a low slope. He jumped down and curled his body.

“We’re close to the Protoss patrol area. Like us, they’re also waiting for the Dark Temple to open. They’ve sent a lot of troops here, determined to get their hands on the Colossus technology. But because most of the crystal deposits on this planet have been exhausted, they can’t construct a lot of buildings, so they could only use the dumbest way….”

“The dumbest way?” Sheyan asked. “Did they transport all the ground troops here with spaceships?”

“What else,” replied Snake. “The Protoss are determined to acquire this technology at any cost.”

“But if I remember correctly, the only Protoss ship that can perform long-distance space voyage is the Carrier. Usually, long-distance voyage must undergo careful preparation to ensure that there’s enough Corsair escorts, or the Zerg’s Scourges could easily take the Carriers down in a suicide charge. Our own Valkyrie frigates are also the nemesis of Carriers. A rash, unplanned voyage would often only consist of Carriers and transport ships. If they encounter an enemy, the loss will be terrible!”

( https://starcraft.fandom.com/wiki/Scourge ; https://starcraft.fandom.com/wiki/Valkyrie )

“In order to win, of course they have to pay a price,” remarked Snake in a cold tone.

When Snake said this, his eyes were filled with a feverish glint. Sheyan quietly took note of this. Looks like the man was showing a little of his true colours. Snake probably realised that his momentary lapse may have raised Sheyan’s suspicion, so he immediately revealed a piece of information that Sheyan was eager to know.

“The temperature last night should be around 30 degrees below zero? From my experience, when the temperature drops to -40 degrees, the chances of the Dark Temple appearing will become much higher.”

“Oh,” replied Sheyan. “I heard a strange noise last night. But when I went out to look, I only found the thing that they call the devil’s eye.”

Snake stared at Sheyan. He finally asked what he really wanted to know.

“The transformation of that guy called Pontin was so fast, and so unbelievable! It took me 20 years to promote from an ordinary Ghost to a Spectre, but Pontin has changed from an ordinary SCV to a veteran soldier overnight! No, he’s even stronger than a veteran soldier now. It felt as if he was completely reborn! Did you really do that?”

Sheyan carefully observed Snake’s expression. He thought to himself that he had finally found the man’s weakness. He then smiled and said, “The SCV is our most basic troop. No matter how elite or legendary an SCV is, it’s impossible for them to take on an Ultralisk by themself. That’s why it’s not too hard to enhance the strength of an ordinary SCV.”

“On the other hand, Ghosts are selected from among the most elite of humans. Even an ordinary Ghost possesses power that’s far beyond an ordinary human. Your starting point is too high, so it’s a lot more difficult to make you stronger. However, it’s not impossible.”

Snake was clearly hesitating. He had no way of telling if Sheyan was lying. However, from what he had seen so far, Sheyan did not seem like he was. Sheyan’s final line was especially tempting to his ears. He could not help asking, “Do you really have a way?”

Sheyan smiled. “We’ll have to kill stronger enemies. Only then can I extract stronger power crystals from their bodies. These power crystals are the foundation of the strengthening.”

Snake was about to reply when something suddenly made him sniff a few times. Then, he exclaimed with a frown, “Something’s wrong!”

Sheyan had already stood up. His Perceptive Sense was not low, so he had also detected the strange, barely-detectable smell in the air. The smell was not unfamiliar to Sheyan – it was the smell of the Zerg.

Snake has quietly vanished into thin air. He was continuously burning his MP to cloak (stealth) himself. Even with Sheyan’s formidable Perceptive Sense, he could not locate Snake’s presence. Of course, part of the reason was because they were allies, but it was also a testament to Snake’s strength.

Because Sheyan was currently positioned upwind, and because the Zerg had very sensitive senses of smell and hearing, he simply waited where he was for the expert to bring news back to him. Soon, Snake’s hoarse voice transmitted over from the communicator.

“Rub some dirt on your body and make your way here slowly. The two sides are engaged in a bitter fight. They probably won’t notice us.”

***

Sheyan crept to where Snake was along a crevice at the side. Upon arrival, he immediately witnessed a brutal skirmish between the Zerg and the Protoss.

The Zerg force was made up of three classic unit types – Zerglings, Hydralisks and Devourers. The cheap Zerglings make for excellent meat shields. They also had respectable movement speed and powerful claws that could tear through any armour.

( https://starcraft.fandom.com/wiki/Zergling ; https://starcraft.fandom.com/wiki/Hydralisk ; https://starcraft.fandom.com/wiki/Devourer )

With them attracting enemy firepower in front, the Hydralisks and Devourers could attack comfortably from behind, thus forming a layered three-dimensional offence.

Thanks to the Devourers’ powerful Acid Spores and the fearless rush of the Zerglings, the Protoss troops were forced to keep retreating. However, the situation was soon reversed when the Protoss troops retreated onto a relatively high hill. There was a hard-to-detect blue glow on the ground there. When the Protoss troops stepped onto the blue glow, their combat effectiveness increased by at least 8%.

The Zerg’s way of fighting focused on unceasing numbers. Seeing the enemy retreat, of course they had to rush forward to strike at the enemy’s core! The Protoss had units that had the highest HP and the toughest defence among the three races, so one must wipe they out while they were still in the budding phase, before they could mature.

So even though the Zerg army knew that the blue light had buffed the enemies, they still launched a fearless offence under the command of the floating Overlord not far away. However, the Zerg troops at the very front soon caught sight of a shiny building unique to the Protoss race – a Pylon!

(TL: A Pylon is a Protoss structure needed for a Probe to be able to warp in most Protoss buildings. https://starcraft.fandom.com/wiki/Pylon )

Almost all Protoss buildings were built around Pylons, because the Pylons could provide the energy for other buildings to function – without energy, everything was meaningless.

Then, from a very strategic location at the side, a yellow disc about three meters in diameter suddenly rose from the ground, supported by a pale blue pillar. It seemed as if the yellow disc was pushed up by the pillar.

The following second, a snow-white ball of light shot out from the yellow disc. Like Sheyan anticipated, the ball of light struck a Zergling, killing it. The yellow disc then immediately retracted back as quick as lightning. It reloaded in the blink of an eye and reappeared again, this time blowing up a Hydralisk to bits.

This object was the Photon Cannon of the Protoss. Its only weakness was that it could not move. The cannon fired an encapsulated antimatter sphere similar to that generated by the Dragoon, but because it was fixed on the ground, it did not need to consider the problems of energy supply and reaction force, so the photon shots it fired had greater range and greater power.

The Protoss had actually built two Photon Cannons. With the addition of these powerful weapons, the situation immediately took a sharp turn. Zealots surged forward, blocking the Zerglings’ way and stopping them from advancing another inch. Meanwhile, the limited long-range firepower of the Photon Cannons focused entirely on dealing with the highly mobile Devourers in the air.

In just 30 seconds, at least seven Devourers were blown to bits in the sky, their blood raining down. However, the Zerg’s rush was not entirely ineffective. Blue flame ignited on one of the Photon Cannons, indicating that its internal energy system had lost control. It would explode any moment.

A few seconds later, the Photon Cannon burst into shiny fragments!