Inside the shelter.

Lin Yi looked at the elder kneeling on the ground.

"You can call me 'Boss', you can get up now, come closer to save your voice."

"Thank you for your care, Boss!"

The elder said, struggling to stand up.

He was wrapped in bandages, moving with difficulty.

Lin Yi gave a signal, and a soldier standing by immediately put away his weapon and ran over to assist him.

Once he was close enough, the soldier gave the elder a microphone and taught him how to use it.

After all this, Lin Yi began to speak with a smile.

"Who are you, and why did they choose you?"

"My name is Lutetium. They consider me a spiritual guide."

"Considered? Don't you think so yourself?"

Lin Yi scrutinized the elder in front of him.

The elder's wrinkled skin was so pale it was nearly transparent, and his head and face were shaved clean.

He wore tattered clothes, covering his legs below the knee and the left side of his chest.

Despite this, his gaze was profound, as if his eyes were full of vitality.

"I feel like I'm just someone who says whatever comes to mind. I don't think this demonstrates any wisdom."

"Your habit of calling yourself 'grassfolk' reminds me of the ancestors... You don't need to divide people into grassfolk and not grassfolk anymore. Just say 'I', understand?"

Lin Yi said, seeing the elder a bit hesitant, he grinned and added another line.

"This is an order. If you have any objections... they'll become zombie food."

To serve as a deterrent, he teleported all the new Sun People in front of a steel wall,

On the other side of the wall were hordes of zombies.

The Sun People were utterly nervous.

But ten seconds later, they realized they were back on the original ground.

Lin Yi stretched lazily.

"I will not tolerate disobedience, and I will not give a second chance."

"I... understand, Boss. I will explain your will to others..."

"I have only two main rules.

First: Everyone must do their utmost in their work. I have no patience for slackers and parasites. If you slack off, you will become zombie food.

Second: It is forbidden to cause any direct or indirect harm to my Ark, including the property of all residents within the Ark.

If you follow my rules, your species will live comfortably here. You won't go hungry, and your lives won't be threatened."

"You won't sell us!?" The elder seemed very shocked: "Other lords..."

"I promised to save you. Selling you into slavery would mean breaking my promise. But please note, if, after this, you violate my rules, I have every right to execute you and it won't count as a broken promise."

"Thank you, Boss! Thank you!" The elder said tearfully.

Lin Zhi nodded and brought in Chen Youyou.

"For now, you are temporarily in charge of your people. This is my assistant, you need to report your numbers, skills, food consumption, and the value you can create."

"Boss! We eat nothing. We only need sunlight, and your sun here is so... gentle, soft, delicate, and kind..."

The elder said, gazing at the noon sun.

"We each need only two hours of sunlight per day to meet our energy needs."

"Then you should try eating something as well, this is an order."

Lin Yi didn't want to see a large group of transparent-skinned people standing naked in the sunlight...

Especially standing for two hours straight.

Mainly because, during those two hours, they could be working! Haha!

"Yes, Boss!"

The Faru Elves and the Hilanian Black People, some of whom were also here.

They were all quite happy, being "veterans" now.

But the leaders of these two groups had very complex expressions on their faces when they truly witnessed, the shelter achieving a decisive victory without losing a single soldier!

Just as Lin Yi was about to take a rest, Hubert pulled him aside.

"Boss, did you forget about those bugs?"

"What bugs?!"

"Big bugs!" Hubert answered with a sly smile and then led the boss towards the beetle.

Lin Yi, when escaping the giant creatures on the Sun Ark, teleported back all living, intelligent beings to the shelter in one go.

That included the countless beetles and insect eggs inside the cave.

One of them was particularly massive, almost the size of a truck, possibly even like a small house.

But it didn't look in good condition. Its shell was damaged, and its flesh appeared all dried out.

It couldn't stand up, just lay there with its legs tightly clinging to its body.

Lin Yi didn't remember teleporting such a large beetle back to the shelter...

He suspiciously looked at the insect egg, feeling something strange.

"Can you speak?"

[I can, I can speak!]

A female voice said in Lin Yi's mind, in an Oriental language.

[Don't be afraid, this is a Skill! It allows me to engage in psychic communication. To respond to me, just think in your mind and think towards me.]

"Having a giant beetle say 'think of me' sounds a bit strange."

Lin Yi thought involuntarily, letting his thoughts slip out?

[I feel a bit strange!]

The voice of the beetle queen echoed in his mind again, and Lin Yi even sensed a hint of playfulness in it.

[I used to belong to the Prince of the Child of the Sun, you defeated him, now I'm yours!]

"That's even stranger... What's your name?"

[I don't remember, they now call me the Beetle Queen, and sometimes Mother of Beetles.]

"So, are all these bugs your children? Like those over there, and those over there... I've never seen bugs like these before. Can you... create different types of bugs?"

[This is a skill, genetic combination, transformation... I create different offspring to serve different roles.]

"Got it..."

Lin Yi pointed at a creature about half a meter long, resembling a short and stout worm, and asked, "What are these red larvae for?"

[Magma larvae, capable of absorbing volcanic gases and heat. Their skin can be used, and their flesh is edible...]

The queen's voice carried a hint of sadness.

"Understood, what about those smaller ones over there?" Lin Yi pointed at some small white spiders.

These creatures were as large as a cat, with many apricot-sized lump-like growths on their bellies, looking like balls.

[Fruit spiders, they can grow fruit. Eating them grants temporary immunity to viruses.]

"Fruit doesn't grow on trees, but on spiders!?"

Lin Yi pondered for a moment, then pointed to a group of beetles of varying sizes and shell thicknesses.

"...Are these the warrior types?"

[Hunters / Warriors / Guards!]

The queen answered simply, without further explanation, but those three names said it all.

Lin Yi nodded and pointed at the last type of beetle.

These beetles were smaller than the combat beetles but had sturdy front legs, suitable for carrying items. They looked like a fusion of ants and crabs.

"These must be worker bugs, right?"

[Yes, the worker bugs, mining ore, carrying things.]

"Understood, I noticed that your children are susceptible to the zombie virus. Do they have wisdom? After all, the virus only infects creatures with wisdom."

[They have a certain level of wisdom, but it's a collective consciousness. I can see what they see and feel what they feel.]

"That sounds more like a hive mind, rather than just collective consciousness."

Lin Yi pondered for a while, and he was truly amazed by the beetle. She was incredible!

But there was a trace of frustration in the queen's voice.

[No, I'm the server... They're the users, I'm just an administrator...]

"Wait... what? How do you know these words? Do you really understand what they mean?"

Lin Yi was stunned by the beetle's words, carefully observing the huge creature's large eyes.

The queen also gazed at the man in front of her.

[Yes, extracted from fragments of memory...]

"Beetles don't have servers or administrators. Are you sure you're a beetle?"

[I wasn't before, but I transformed to survive!]

"What were you then?"

[I don't remember, the memories are gone... centuries of loneliness... imprisoned, madness, loss of memory, adapted for survival, now I am the Beetle Queen...]

Lin Yi could feel the sadness in her voice.

"It sounds like you had a hard life before... especially if you were merely surviving just to survive..."

[Thank you, no one has ever sympathized with me before... Never had, but a goal... I had a goal, yet can't remember what it was... I need to remember it...]

"How about we become allies, you help me, and I will help you too. What do you think?"

[Will you help me regain my memory?]

The queen asked in surprise.

[You must know, other lords would force me to serve them, even if they don't help me...]

"Of course, if my world is saved, I'll even give you an entire continent."

An excellent plan was gradually forming in Lin Yi's mind, and he smiled as he spoke.

"It could be North America, Europe, Africa, or any region... All food there would surely be to your taste."

[I need food! A lot of food, to evolve! Maybe then I can remember... But will you really help me? The cost will be high, very high...]

The queen's voice was filled with anxiety.

Lin Yi was not one to make empty promises.

"I have many kinds of food..."

Lin Yi waved his hand, and a large pile of potatoes, corn, vegetables, fruits, meat, etc., appeared in front of him.

"Can you eat these?"

[I don't know... they used to feed me corpses before, these smell nice, can I try them?]

"Eat!"

Lin Yi said with a smile, taking a few steps back.

The giant beetle, looking like a combination of an ant queen and a spider, moved for the first time since they started talking.

She slowly approached the food, lowered her body, moved her mandibles hungrily, sniffed the food, then opened wide and bit down.

The scene sent chills down Lin Yi's spine.

Her terrifying head was adorned with six huge eyes, bulging outward, it was unclear where they were looking, or even if they were looking at anything at all.

Her deep orange, nearly brown shell was battered, covered with dents and scratches.

This creature had clearly endured a long and perilous life.

Her eight spider-like legs appeared shriveled, and seemed particularly weak and pitiful compared to her massive abdomen and unimaginably huge mouth.

This was a creature capable of swallowing a mutant zombie in one bite...

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