For the rest of the day, everyone engaged in a guerrilla war of wits and courage against the Zerg.
The presence of Shao Qingge, an evolved Zerg, provided immense convenience to his teammates. Ye Qi's eavesdropping device became unnecessary, as Shao Qingge could often predict the Zerg army's movement routes before they even had a chance to get close.
Xiao Lou and the others couldn't understand those squeaking sounds —but Shao Qingge could.
After assimilating the Zerg, he not only gained the Zerg's abilities but also absorbed the Zerg's memories that were parasitizing his body.
Shao Qingge told everyone many stories about the Zerg.
This race comes from an unknown star system. They reproduce by parasitizing humans, multiplying within human bodies, and continuing to parasitize and spread, infecting more humans.
Each batch of Zerg will merge to produce a Zerg leader, queen, or emperor. Once this leader is born in the Zerg Empire, they will act according to the leader's orders, completely occupy a planet, and reproduce.
The Zerg not only have long lifespans and extremely strong jumping and climbing abilities, but also self-repairing abilities that modern medicine cannot explain.
Shao Qingge sighed, "This race's regenerative and repair abilities are even more terrifying than earthworms. If you cut an earthworm in half, both halves can survive. As for the Zerg… even if you chop their bodies into dozens of pieces, they can regenerate quickly and grow new ones. The only way to completely kill them is by burning them or steaming them with steam at 100 degrees Celsius or higher."
Old Mo joked, "If we had known you were infected, we would have taken you to a sauna. Maybe the Zerg inside you would have been stunned by the sauna!"
Long Sen laughed heartily, "Little Ye is so clever, leading the Zerg to warm themselves by the fire!"
Ye Qi: "..."
In the firelight, Ye Qi's face was flushed. He had never expected this, and he never thought he would actually do CEO Shao a big favor.
Xiao Lou asked in confusion, " CEO Shao merged with several Zerg back then, right? What level would that be now?"
Shao Qingge calculated carefully and said, "The one that parasitized my body was originally a level two insectoid, which was upgraded to level three after I assimilated it. The ones that attacked us at the time were all level two insectoids, and I fused with eight of them..."
Xiao Lou gave the answer directly: "Two level 2s merge into a level 3, and two level 3s merge into a level 4. You should be considered a level 5 Zerg now. Do you know what the highest level is?"
Shao Qingge's smile faded, and he lowered his voice, saying, "A level 10 Zerg Queen has been born."
Ye Qi's eyes widened in surprise: "Can you sense the presence of the Zerg Queen?"
Shao Qingge nodded and said, "I can feel her calling us. There's no sound, but a strange signal... like something only the Zerg can sense."
A special kind of sound wave? It was just emitted.
Upon hearing this, Yu Hanjiang frowned slightly: "What did she say?"
Shao Qingge listened carefully with his eyes closed and said, "They didn't explain exactly what they were going to do by having the Zerg assemble."
He stood up and gazed into the distance.
The entire city was now plunged into deep darkness due to the disruption of its electrical system.
It started snowing again tonight, and the heavy snowfall almost buried the city completely. Shao Qingge pointed into the distance and said, " Do you remember the bridge connecting the City Center District and the East City District? The East Gate Bridge. The Zerg Queen told everyone to gather there."
The group looked at each other in bewilderment.
Yu Hanjiang nodded: " CEO Shao also happened to be an undercover agent for the Zerg."
Shao Qingge chuckled, touching his nose. "She sent this signal to the entire Zerg population; all of them can sense it. I think she might be planning something. Should we avoid her, or go check it out?"
Yu Hanjiang turned to Xiao Lou for his opinion, and Xiao Lou said, "I don't think things are that simple."
Shao Qingge nodded: "It's the tenth day of the secret chamber now, and we only have four more days to clear it. The safest approach is for us to continue our guerrilla warfare to avoid the Zerg army. With me here, we can anticipate the Zerg's plans. Plus, with Li Qingzhao's group Teleportation Card and Compass's group invincibility, avoiding them will be a piece of cake."
Xiao Lou frowned slightly, a sudden unease creeping into his heart.
The Zerg Queen summoned all the Zerg to gather at the East Gate Bridge. Wasn't she afraid that there would be traitors or spies among the Zerg?
After all, when the Zerg parasitize a human body, they don't kill the human immediately. Instead, they put the human's consciousness into a deep sleep and control the human body to reproduce and expand. This process carries certain risks.
What if some humans have strong enough willpower to assimilate the Zerg and acquire their abilities?
Those humans can hear the Zerg signals.
By sending out this signal, wouldn't those who have acquired Zerg abilities know their plans and be able to evade them successfully?
Was the Zerg Queen simply too naive to think of this? Or was she deliberately spreading misinformation?
Xiao Lou shared his confusion with Yu Hanjiang via Telepathic Connection.
Yu Hanjiang whispered, "If the Zerg Queen were that brainless, she wouldn't have evolved into a level 10 queen."
Xiao Lou agreed: "Yes, so this gathering signal is likely just a deception, and her real purpose is not that."
Just as the two were communicating through the Telepathic Connection, Shao Qingge suddenly rolled up his sleeves, smiled, and pointed to his smooth arm, saying, "Look, the wounds I left at dawn have all healed."
Everyone: "..."
Not only did all those gruesome wounds heal completely, but after the repair, the skin on his arms became smooth and delicate, as if it had been reborn.
When everyone teleported away at around 4 AM, it was now 7 PM. Fifteen hours had passed, and all the wounds were completely healed. The regenerative ability of a level 5 Zerg is already terrifying enough. How strong must the regenerative ability of a level 10 Zerg Queen be? Maybe if you cut off her arm, a new one would grow back in just a few seconds?
Thinking of this, everyone felt a chill run down their spines.
Xiao Lou said, "The Queen summoned the Zerg to gather at the East Gate Bridge, probably just to mislead us. She may know that some of the Zerg who have been assimilated into humans will not obey her commands."
Ye Qi said nervously, " CEO Shao can sense her... so conversely, could she also sense CEO Shao?!"
This question surprised everyone.
That's right. Shao Qingge can sense the Zerg's signals, and a level 10 Zerg can definitely find the location of its kind within range. In that case, wouldn't she be able to clearly and accurately locate where those "disobedient" Zerg are?
Shao Qingge suddenly realized: "I understand. She summoned the Zerg to gather at Dongguan Bridge. Most of the lower-level Zerg, as well as the higher-level Zerg willing to obey the Queen's orders, will go. However, the Zerg assimilated by us Challengers or other humans certainly won't be foolish enough to go to the Zerg nest to their deaths. In this way, she can distinguish those of her kind who are unwilling to obey her orders."
Xiao Lou added, "Then, she used the Zerg Queen's powerful sensory abilities to pinpoint where these disobedient Zerg were hiding, and then led the Zerg's elite forces to eliminate them one by one?!"
Upon hearing this, his teammates turned pale.
The Queen summoned the Zerg army not to launch a full-scale attack, but to quickly locate the "disobedient" Zerg.
Although Shao Qingge is a "Zerg spy" who can sense the Zerg's plans, he is also a ticking time bomb, who could attract the Zerg's most powerful queen boss at any time.
Thinking of this, Shao Qingge said, "How about this, you guys stay here and I'll follow the Queen's call and go to Dongguan Bridge to check the situation."
Yu Hanjiang immediately objected: "No way! You said it yourself, the Queen sent a mass signal to summon the Zerg army. There are tens of thousands of Zerg at Dongguan Bridge now. If you go alone, what if you encounter a Zerg that is more advanced than you and sees that you are physically strong and tries to melt you directly?"
Xiao Lou added, "That's right, it's too dangerous for you to act alone. The Zerg have a strict hierarchy. You're currently at level five. If a level seven or eight Zerg attacks or merges with you, your consciousness could be devoured. Once your consciousness is devoured, you'll fail the challenge and be eliminated, erased from our contract book. How can you possibly get out of the Nightmare Secret Room by yourself?"
Ye Qi, who experienced Nightmare Secret Room
His face was pale with tension as he stared at Shao Qingge, his voice trembling as he said, "Whatever you do, don't go to the Nightmare Secret Room! The Nightmare Secret Room is more than twice as difficult as a normal escape room. Spade 8 is already very difficult, I can't even imagine it being twice as difficult..."
Shao Qingge frowned: "But if I stay by your side, the Queen can sense my location at any time, which is too dangerous for you."
Xiao Lou looked at Shao Qingge and said seriously, "No matter what, we won't let you go on an adventure alone."
The teammates nodded in agreement.
Shao Qingge felt a warmth in his heart and smiled, "Alright, since you won't let me listen to the Queen and gather at the insect nest—I have another way, but it requires everyone's cooperation."
Yu Hanjiang said, "You speak."
Shao Qingge narrowed his eyes and said, "The Queen just gave the signal, and many Zerg haven't had time to get to the rendezvous point yet. Let's try to block the Zerg's path from here to the Dongguan Bridge so I can kill a few more and level up. Maybe I can even reach level nine or ten?"
Everyone: "..."
Ye Qi said helplessly, "You've become addicted to leveling up!"
Although CEO Shao's body had the ability to heal itself, he still couldn't bear to see this man fight so hard that he ended up covered in wounds.
Shao Qingge looked at Ye Qi and said, "This method is risky, but it's worth trying. Otherwise, if the Zerg Queen really searches for and eliminates the disobedient Zerg one by one, we might not be able to defeat her elite army. If I strengthen my forces in advance, we'll have a better chance of winning, right?"
Yu Hanjiang stood up decisively and made the decision: "Let's do it this way!"