TDKFS – 01

Chapter – 01

Hatching

You were born into hope, yet you are the symbol of evil.

The only white egg in the incubation room showed faint signs of movement.

The tiny body, enveloped in warm fluid, stirred slightly inside the egg. Then, a pair of ruby-red eyes opened above the warm liquid. The hatchling inside the egg, relying on the faint light filtering in from the outside, gazed blankly at this enclosed space.

Clumsily, it began to move its body, exploring this small world.

Its soft little hands pressed against the membrane on the inner shell, trying to break free from its confines to feel the world outside. But the outer shell dispersed the hatchling’s limited strength, and after a long while, there was no result.

The hatchling seemed a little discouraged and turned to touch something else.

The liquid soaking its lower body was warm. The hatchling cupped a small amount in its hands and brought it closer to examine. Driven by hunger, it unconsciously lowered its head and stuck out its tongue to taste it.

It had no flavor and did nothing.

Feeling that this was pointless, the hatchling tried other explorations.

Before it could act, it was struck unconscious by a massive influx of information flooding its mind. The hatchling, which had only just awakened, was forced back into slumber.

After an unknown period of time, the hatchling inside the egg opened its eyes again.

This time, it had an understanding of the world and its identity.

Its name was Eli, and it was the tenth Zerg Mother born to the Zerg race. The legacy of the previous Zerg Mothers told it—

As the Zerg Mother, it was the treasure of the Zerg.  All Zerg would unreservedly offer it loyalty, protection, and supreme love. The only thing it needed to do was to fulfill the duty of the Zerg Mother and strengthen the Zerg.

The previous Zerg Mother had already developed the Zerg into one of the strongest races in the galaxy. As the new Zerg Mother, what could it do to lead the Zerg to further growth and expansion?

Even before hatching, the young Zerg Mother was pondering this difficult question.

The Zerg Mother was born ambitious; the humiliating history of the early Zerg would be passed down through the legacy, warning each successive Zerg Mother not to stagnate, urging them to become the greatest opportunists in the universe.

Greed and desire were the fertile soil for the Zerg’s prosperity—all Zerg Mothers believed this without a doubt.

Sounds came from outside the incubation room. Eli curled up, listening silently to the noises outside.

An innate instinct of the Zerg Mother told Eli that there were two Zerg outside.

Eli extended his mental tentacles, carefully controlling them so the two Zerg outside wouldn’t notice.

He needed to observe the current state of the Zerg first.

“The Zerg do not need a Zerg Mother! The Zerg Mother’s existence will only lead the Zerg to destruction. It would be best if we made him disappear before he even hatches.” The Zerg’s voice was cold, and the information conveyed in his words was chilling.

The young Zerg Mother, caught off guard by these words, widened his eyes in shock.

The voice continued.

“Zerg Mothers are all greedy madmen! Their desires are endless—no amount of resources or food can satisfy their bottomless hunger! The problems left by the previous Zerg Mother haven’t been resolved yet, and now here comes another one!”

“Why did Theo stop us from killing the Zerg Mother?! He was the very first to propose that the Zerg don’t need a Zerg Mother!!”

The first voice continued its tirade, followed by another voice.

“Ed, calm down! The newly hatched Zerg Mother hasn’t done those crazy things yet. He’s still innocent now!”

“What good is innocence now? When he truly hatches and takes control of your mind, forcing you to risk life and limb to gather resources for him, you won’t be able to resist even if you want to! Now is the best time to kill the Zerg Mother!!”

Inside the egg, the hatchling held its breath, its body stiff. The remnants of its rationality barely allowed it to continue hiding the presence of its mental energy. Eli spread his mental energy silently, trying to catch more sounds.

He needed to know if all Zerg felt this way.

The birth of a new Zerg Mother was a message received by all Zerg. The new Zerg Mother was born on a planet within Zerg territory. Before it had even hatched, it was found and brought to the central planet of the Zerg’s Fifth Star Sector—the planet of the Zerg Mothers.

Compared to other Zerg Mothers who suffered outside for a period before being found by the Zerg, the new Zerg Mother was much luckier—if only it hadn’t appeared in this era.

The news of the Zerg Mother’s egg being recovered spread like wildfire among the Zerg. At this moment, the debate was at its most heated.

“Damn it! How long have we had peace? And now another Zerg Mother!”

“The previous Zerg Mother didn’t leave behind any eggs! Why is a Zerg Mother still being born?! Zerg Mothers are just like the low-level Zerg—they can never be completely wiped out!!!”

“Zerg Mothers are a blight that shouldn’t exist in this world! Those brutal, mad bugs deserve to sleep forever!”

“He will strip us of our free will and coldly watch us march to our deaths, one by one!”

“…”

“The Zerg don’t need a Zerg Mother! Kill the Zerg Mother!”

“Kill the Zerg Mother! Kill the Zerg Mother!!”

More and more curses flooded into his mind. The young Zerg Mother froze.

How could this be?

Wasn’t I born out of hope?

Why is it so different from the hatching described in the legacy?!

…

I am a being detested by the Zerg.

They want to kill me.

His red eyes lost focus, making it even harder to see his surroundings. Eli felt droplets slide down his cheeks and reached out his hand, confused, to catch them.

This is… tears?

Can a born opportunist like a Zerg Mother also cry?

The legacy hadn’t recorded any Zerg Mother crying like this. Was he the first?

Eli wiped away his tears, adjusted his posture, and actively sank into slumber.

Every previous Zerg Mother had been the core of the Zerg, the one to whom all Zerg would be loyal unto death. But he wasn’t. Rather than die in disgrace amid the Zerg’s hatred, it was better to end it early.

An unloved Zerg Mother had no need to hatch. Dying in the egg was perhaps his best fate.

“Strange, why hasn’t the Zerg Mother shown any signs of movement?”

Hai, a temporary Zerg physician with black hair and green eyes, was examining the condition of the egg in the incubation room.

Zerg had excellent physiques; all eggs were left to hatch naturally in incubation rooms and generally didn’t need special care. But the Zerg Mother’s egg was clearly different—it required frequent monitoring.

After all, some Zerg Mothers were so weak they couldn’t even break their own shells.

But no matter how weak a Zerg Mother was, they always tried to establish a mental connection with a Zerg to seek help or protection.

This newly hatched Zerg Mother was clearly not like that. Even though the normal hatching time had passed, it still hadn’t made any sound, and hadn’t even released any mental energy. This was abnormal.

Even though he despised the existence of the Zerg Mother, Hai dutifully used his special ability to examine the egg’s condition.

Inside the shell, the tiny body of the Zerg Mother was curled into a small ball, breathing weakly.

How could any creature be so weak it couldn’t even make a sound? The Zerg Mother really was a useless bug.

“So it was starved into this state? The eggshell is right here, and it doesn’t even know to eat?” Hai’s tone was gentle, but his words concealed a malicious sarcasm.

As if sensing the movement outside, Eli stirred slightly, then fell back into a weak slumber.

Hai reached out and gently tapped along the upper edge of the eggshell. The curved shell cracked open into a circular hole. Hai put on biological gloves and reached into the hole to lift the hatchling, which had fainted from hunger in the egg fluid, out.

Eli instinctively tried to draw closer to the approaching Zerg, but Hai turned his face away in disgust.

“So this is how the Zerg Mother uses this pitiful appearance to drive the Zerg to charge into battle for you?” The cold mockery continued, but the unconscious hatchling was oblivious to Hai’s useless sarcasm.

Hai wasn’t the type to enjoy performing a one-man show. Since he had taken on the task of caring for the newborn Zerg Mother, he would naturally take it seriously. He poured out the liquid from the eggshell, washed it clean, used his mental energy to grind it into powder, mixed it with other nutrients to make powdered Zerg formula, and fed it spoonful by spoonful into Eli’s mouth.

Hai was still a single Zerg, unfamiliar with the business of feeding hatchlings. The specially formulated milk powder that Eli couldn’t swallow in time spilled out, and Hai used his mental energy to push it back into his mouth. He kept adjusting the feeding speed until he was sure the Zerg Mother had eaten and drunk its fill before stopping.

Having the leader of an entire legion take care of the Zerg Mother was overkill. He didn’t even know why he hadn’t resisted when he accepted this task—he must have had a moment of madness. Hai watched coldly as Eli’s breathing gradually returned to normal, silently cursing himself.

Hai used his mental energy to summon two female Zerg and handed the Zerg Mother over to their care.

Among the Zerg, regardless of gender, everyone except the Zerg Mother grew tall and imposing, with sharp auras. Only the medical Zerg were somewhat gentler. The two summoned females were among the top medical Zerg under Hai’s command—more than qualified to care for the Zerg Mother.

Seeing the two females take over the Zerg Mother, Hai turned and left to deal with the accumulated paperwork.

If he hadn’t been required to watch over the Zerg Mother until it safely hatched, he wouldn’t have come to see it at all.

“The Zerg Mother looks so much smaller than the hatchlings that just emerged.”

“He looks very fragile too. Sure enough, Zerg Mothers are all weak beings.”

“But he seems even weaker than the Zerg Mothers recorded in the documents.”

“It might be because the previous Zerg Mother’s legacy is flawed.”

“I wonder what kind of storm this Zerg Mother will stir up? The Zerg’s foundation has only just stabilized.”

“The Zerg Mother is awake!”

The newly hatched Zerg Mother looked about the size of a one-year-old human infant—small, delicate, and innocent.

His beautiful ruby-like eyes darted around in confusion. Eli, lying in his basket, propped himself up and sat upright, his light golden baby hair sticking up in a messy tuft.

The Zerg Mother was truly beautiful! He fit Zerg aesthetics perfectly.

The two female Zerg sighed inwardly.

But they wouldn’t go soft on the Zerg Mother because of that.

Existing high-ranking Zerg had already evolved to closely resemble humans. These high-ranking Zerg, with their distinctive non-human air, were often handsome, powerful, seductive, and beautiful—quite a sight in the universe.

Even so, they couldn’t help but be fascinated by the Zerg Mother’s presence—this was an instinct ingrained in Zerg genes.

And now, the Zerg were determined to go against their own nature, to defy their instincts and despise the Zerg Mother’s existence. This was the pride of intelligent beings.

All intelligent beings would freely choose what they loved, rather than relying on the base instincts of inferior creatures to blindly maintain the order of lower life forms.

The Zerg Mother’s existence was doomed to be rejected—this was the result of Zerg civilization’s evolution.

You will not die easily. Your birth is a thunderclap in this universe.