Gamers Are Fierce-Chapter 816 - 815: Hive

However, all this had little impact on Li Ang. He leisurely made his way to the shopping mall, contemplating the structure of his own power.

Over at the Pacific trench, the construction of the swarm was in full swing. So far, seven large bug nests, eleven medium-sized bug nests, and thirty-three small bug nests had been established along the trench.

There were three hundred and forty-two Brain Worms, and the total number of different levels of Bug Clan units was roughly eight million. Moreover, as the number of nests increased, the hatching speed also accelerated.

Among the Bug Clan units, nearly one-fifth were Worker Bugs, which disguised themselves as regular marine life forms,

collecting energy at undersea volcanoes, underwater chimneys, and shallow sea surfaces,

gathering or independently producing biomass,

and together with the Mycelium Carpet (which could produce and store nutrients, while also serving as building materials and a source of biomass), formed the foundation of the bug nests.

Above the Worker Bugs were the Bug Nest Soldiers.

Previously, the Bug Nest Soldiers were personally crafted by Li Ang, with the mutation-promoting effects of the Abyssal Magic Mirror.

Currently, in addition to mutating through exposure to the Abyssal Magic Mirror, the Bug Nest Soldiers have two new evolution paths — Brain Worms lead subordinate units to collect the genes of all encountered life forms,

analyzing and decoding them, identifying promising genes to input into the hatchery, hatching a large number of bug eggs, and mass-producing new bug nest units. As per the Brain Worm conference, if the new unit shows developmental potential, it is incorporated into the bug nest sequence.

If not, all are recycled, leaving only a few samples and the genetic chain stored in the bug nest gene pool.

All Bug Nest Soldier optimization plans and genetic seeds are periodically transported as "eggs" by the Bug Nest Soldiers to Li Ang.

Li Ang reviews the plans and uses the Chimeric Beast Assembly Bench in the Alchemist's Workshop, with the addition of Swamp God Power, to create powerful Bug Nest Soldiers that cannot be produced in ordinary hatcheries.

However, since activating the Chimeric Beast Assembly Bench requires spending Game Coins, it also consumes a great deal of Li Ang's Divine Power and time, along with the risk of production failure, rendering previous efforts futile,

the Bug Nest Soldiers produced by this evolution path are few in number,

each serving as a strategic-level weapon for the bug nest, exceedingly precious.

The rapid development of the bug nest caused the variety and models of ordinary Bug Nest Soldiers to be as numerous as the stars in the sky; genetic sequences constantly streamed in, and new modification plans were proposed daily, only to be rejected by the Brain Worm council —

There is no hierarchy among the Brain Worms; all Brain Worms obey the Lady Saint Prophet Chaichai and the benevolent father Li Ang.

However, they are assigned different positions according to their areas of expertise.

Some are responsible for detecting the surrounding environment and monitoring nearby human vehicles in the sea — Chaichai privately refers to them as "security."

Others oversee and coordinate the construction of bug nests and supervise production labor — Chaichai privately refers to them as "foremen."

Others are responsible for researching genetic sequences and developing Bug Nest Soldiers and weapons — Chaichai privately refers to them as "scientists."

Others are tasked with reviewing the proposals of other Brain Worms and assisting the Lady Saint and the benevolent father in handling less important decisions — Chaichai privately refers to them as "flatterers."

Of course, all Brain Worms must attend the benevolent father's ceremonial praise events, regularly pray to the statue of Li Ang, and report directly to the benevolent father — Li Ang can observe the thought patterns of the Brain Worms through the Divine Power Connection and monitor the bug nest.

Due to the vast number and variety of Bug Nest Soldiers, even Li Ang and the Brain Worms cannot accurately categorize them by biological taxonomy such as kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, and species.

The classification of Bug Nest Soldiers is roughly divided into the following levels.

Attendant Level — Smaller in size, similar to cats and dogs, agile and swift, adept at hiding, infiltration, camouflage, and assassination, few in number. Equipped with melee weapons and small firearms to assist the bug nest's main forces in assaults. Mimic bugs capable of replacing humans and infiltrating enemy lines also belong to the Attendant Level.

Beast Level — Sizes range between wolves, motorcycles, and donkeys and horses; running speed is close to cars, they are the main battlefield force, most numerous, and fastest to produce. Equipped with spike firearms, Acid Cannons, Flamethrowers, Carnivorous Beetle Guns, claw-hooks, and other weapons.

Heavy Armor Level — Sizes range between cars and elephants, usually equipped with high-power biomass projectiles, tactically similar to tanks in modern warfare. The previously introduced Infestation Bug counts as a special Heavy Armor Level.

Fortress Level — True war giants, such as the massive Ground-drilling Sandworm capable of causing geological collapses, they are rare in number.

Ship Level — Equivalent to the Fortress Level but operates on the sea surface or underwater, usually living battleships. Enormous size differences, difficult to cultivate, slow to manufacture, but each can serve as a mobile platform carrying a large number of lower-level bug nest units.

The Ship Level consists of the bug nest's ocean units, further subdivided by size and function into Destroyer Level, Cruiser Level, Battle-line Level, and Mother Ship Level.

The top-tier Battle-line Level and Mother Ship Level are either directly controlled by Brain Worms or are Brain Worms themselves.

For instance, the Behemoth, Gorgon, and Yamagata currently lurking off the coast of Yin City.

Among the bug nest land units, there are four special troop types.

Special Level — Does not possess combat capabilities, serves as a logistics support unit. It plants Mycelium Carpet, recovers corpses, and temporarily creates new units.

Guard Level — Larger than Beast Level, more excellently equipped, when Beast Level and Heavy Armor Units cannot secure a victory, Guard Level is deployed to the battlefield, responsible for strong assaults.

Palace Guard Level — Larger than the previous, only responsible for protecting Brain Worms and the bug nest, generally not deployed in combat.

Lord Level — Also known as Tyrant Level, each is meticulously crafted by Li Ang himself using the Chimeric Beast Assembly Bench, physical strength comparable to a Level 20 player without worn equipment or utilized skills. Each Tyrant is a Brain Worm.

The Guard, Palace Guard, and Lord Level units of the bug nest are all capable of commanding subordinate Bug Nest Soldiers on the battlefield, controlling Bug Nest Soldiers to launch attacks in one direction.

In the predictions of Li Ang and the Brain Worms, the combat style of the bug nest is definitely to use an endless swarm of bugs to overwhelm opponents,

leveraging a terrifyingly powerful logistics capability to recover biomass from the battlefield, continuously manufacturing new Bug Nest Soldiers, sustaining itself through war, annihilating and devouring everything.

However, this gives rise to three issues —

Firstly, the current Bug Clan cannot allow Brain Worms to precisely control each, or even every group of Bug Nest Soldiers.

The Brain Worm can hear the voice of the benevolent father through the Divine Power Connection,

but lower-level units can only understand orders through pheromones, sound waves, and light emitted by Brain Worms, as well as Guard, Palace Guard, and Lord Level units.

If the battlefield environment becomes chaotic, smoke and dust permeate, blood flows everywhere, extraordinary forces fly in all directions, lower-level units might not receive commands, or even receive wrong commands,

leaving all Bug Nest Soldiers bewildered, clustered in confusion, not knowing what to do.