The Ultimate Evolution

Sheyan tentatively extended his right hand. G-spot instantly started to transform according to Sheyan’s will. It rapidly turned into the ‘Planetary-Grade High-Energy Mechanical Power Gloves’ that it had previously devoured. The gloves had the exact same properties as before and even had the ‘Extinction’ ability….

Sheyan continued ordering it to transform. ‘+13 West’ was now a silvery-white long saber, and it had upgraded from dark blue grade to legendary grade. But more terrifying was the fact that Sheyan had actually found in the transformation list…Evil Sword Apophis!

Sheyan was no doubt overcome with joy and immense satisfaction. All those hardships from before were worth it!

However, the chills and killing intent burrowing into his back had only gotten stronger with time. He was aware that the crisis behind him was still as strong as ever, like a sharp knife aiming for his heart, inching closer little by little.

The situation was undoubtedly very unfavorable for Sheyan, but Sheyan was never the kind of person who would wait to be killed without doing anything!

He took a deep breath, narrowed his eyes, and slowly pulled the control joystick to the right, making the Vulture speed towards the dark shadows emerging from the distant horizon.

If one were to look carefully, they would see that the colour of the ground below Sheyan was slowly changing from prussian blue to black – a deadly black! As he continued to move deeper in, the desertification of the land became more serious, and the land even started to smoke like a plain that had just burned for three days and three nights. There were no signs of life at all, only a deathly silence.

That’s right, this was the real environment of the Lost Temple planet, known as the “death zone”!

The lands on which the Zerg, Protoss and humans could move around on were prussian blue in colour due to a type of commonly-seen fungi growing in the soil. These fungi could purify the milder toxins that seeped out of the death zones.

Snake had told Sheyan before that there were a lot of death zones on the planet which contained a strong toxic substance that was fatal to both humans and Protoss. Even the most tenacious Zerg could not hatch their eggs in the death zones.

But right now, Sheyan had been forced into a corner, so he had no choice but to take some desperate measures!

Tall, fang-shaped mountains slowly appeared ahead of him, sharp and majestic, piercing straight into the clouds. The terrain here was very complex, similar to the karst landform in the Guilin area except that there was no water. The wind was noticeably stronger here. It blew through the gaps between the mountains, sounding shrill and sad like the endless grieving cries of vengeful ghosts. The black mountains extended far into the horizon with no end in sight.

Here, Sheyan had no choice but to slow down, no longer daring to move at the extreme speed of 400 km/h. When he realised that his maximum speed was still slower than his enemy’s, there was no way he would just sit back and watch as the lead he so painstakingly gained was eaten away. He had to make use of the harsh terrain to restrict the opponent’s pursuit.

But Sheyan’s ultimate goal was to stall her and keep her here. The Queen of Blades was now the only leader on the Zerg side. It was impossible for her to spend too much time pursuing himself over personal matters, because once the Protoss realised the situation and seized the opportunity, the Zerg army who had lost the command of the Queen would certainly be wiped out!

Alarms started blaring from Sheyan’s Vulture, accompanied by flashing red lights. Malfunctions had started appearing in the body and engine of the Vulture. The corrosive toxic of the death zone had started chipping away at the Vulture’s lifespan.

Sheyan was overjoyed instead of dismayed at this discovery, because it means that soon, both of them would have no choice but to abandon their vehicles and travel on foot. They would be exposed to the harsh natural environment. However, Sheyan had the powerful ‘Stairway of the Sun’ in him, so he was immune to poison and diseases, and also had a strong resistance to corrosion. This undoubtedly gave him a great advantage over the opponent!

The Vulture still zig-zagged through the fang-like mountains at a shocking speed. A little carelessness would result in a disastrous crash!

***

Kerrigan, the Queen of Blades, was now only 20 seconds behind Sheyan, but she could do nothing to stop the cunning human from infiltrating deeper into the death zone.

Kerrigan abruptly stopped her Vulture. No expression could be seen on her face, but countless stars seemed to be bursting, assembling, coming into life and dying in her eyes. Suddenly, all her snake-like hair stood up and trembled violently, calming down only after a long time!!

The Queen closed her eyes, and ten jellyfish-like Overlords drifted over from the distant sky. Two of the Overlords were ordinary creatures, and they died immediately upon landing, turning into charred ashes. The others were elite-level, and a man was soon released from the inner cavity of one.

This man was none other than the elite Ghost, Snake!

After attempting to murder Sheyan through the Zerg’s proverbial hands, he was unfortunately spotted by other Zerg. He could not get rid of the pursuit of the Zerg due to the anti-stealth capabilities of the Overlords. Fortunately, the Zerg who caught him sensed the same familiar aura of the Queen of Blades from his body, so he was left alive. He was injected with anesthetic and brought to Kerrigan.

Snake was currently bound by an Overlord’s fleshy tentacles. He struggled violently but could not break free. The unique toxic of the death zone soon invaded his body. The special forces uniform he wore was rapidly corroding into pieces. The toxic then seeped deeper into him along the blood vessels underneath his skin. His breathing gradually turned weaker.

The Queen of Blades suddenly turned around and looked Snake in the eye. She said to him in a voice that had a deep baritone, “I see anger, unwillingness, and great ambition in your eyes, human! Excellent! You’re exactly the kind of test subject I need!”

“The Queen of Blades… Sarah Kerrigan?” asked Snake weakly.

“Do you wish to move me using my past? You’re making a big mistake!” replied Kerrigan with a smirk.

She suddenly raised her head and let out an invisible shock wave from her slightly agape mouth. All eight elite Overlords around her burst into pieces one after another. When some of these bloody flesh pieces fell onto the ground, they turned into the Zerg’s unique moldy carpet (creep) under the power of the Queen of Blades, halting the spread of the deadly toxic gas. The rest of the flesh pieces started to wriggle wildly.

The Queen of Blades plucked a strand of her snake-like hair and threw it among the squirming flesh pieces in front of her. All the flesh pieces then wriggled towards Snake and enveloped him until he became a standing flesh cocoon. Countless bulging veins constantly squirmed on the cocoon, seemingly trying to provide energy to the inside.

The flesh cocoon could not contain Snake’s intermittent cries of agony coming from inside it.

“Pain is the driving force behind the evolution of life,” remarked the Queen coldly, “If you want to live, you must learn to absorb the power of life from pain! When the Great Zerg Overmind rebuilt me in the past, it was an unprecedented experiment. I went through seventeen rebuild attempts, and each time, I was restored to the human form halfway when they noticed something going wrong. The pain you’re experiencing now is nothing compared to that! Awaken, awaken, my faithful servant, my messenger of pain!”

The giant cocoon suddenly produced a crunch like the sound of dried leaves being crushed. Several lines of cracks appeared on the cocoon. The pungent smell of amniotic fluid suddenly filled the air. Then, a humanoid monster emerged from within the cocoon!!

The monster had a Zerg shell that covered him like an armour, but his face looked like the face of a Tyrant from Resident Evil (https://residentevil.fandom.com/wiki/Tyrant). His hands and feet seemed like branches, and although their callused edges looked ordinary, they were actually extraordinarily sharp. The strangest thing about him was the sharp bone javelin on his shoulder which gave off a primitive and wild feeling. His hair had completely degenerated into needles.

Sheyan’s assumption was indeed correct. The Queen of Blades could not stay away from her tribe for too long, so she could not keep pursuing him deep into the death zone. However, the captured Snake provided another alternative for the Queen of Blades. She could transform Snake, who was also a Ghost, and bestow upon him the formidable power of a messenger of pain so that he could chase after Sheyan in her stead!

“Go! Track that person down with the power and senses I have given you,” ordered the Queen of Blades as she stared into the complex terrain in the distance.

“Retrieve my stone, and the gun that once belonged to you! And bring the thief’s spine back to me. I want to taste the fluid from his spinal cord, mixed with his blood.

Snake – or more precisely, the messenger of pain – let out a savage roar, then dashed forward on all fours like a werewolf. The creep used to transform Snake had all dried up by now, so strong was the toxic gas of the death zone!