eurekapd Chapter 97 Former Commander
Chapter 97 Former Commander
I can clearly feel his breath, so why haven't I found him after all this time...?
His fingers were covered in ash, and beads of sweat gradually appeared on his forehead, dripping down his chin and disappearing into the black, scorched earth.
She could feel that faint life force, that shallow breath, buried deep in the ruins.
From Andorra's perspective, Shen Qingqing was still slowly doing some laborious and meaningless things, and after so much time, she hadn't even cleared away a small piece of the ruins.
That's too weak.
She was indeed not suited to stay in interstellar space, Andor thought.
Shen Qingqing's protective suit had been torn by the still sharp building materials, even though it was broken. Although the automatic temperature-regulating protective shield inside the warship had been activated, she could still feel the cold air seeping in through the cracks in her shoulders.
Please, hold on, she'll be able to get him out soon.
Climbing up the dark ruins, I carefully sensed every possible trace of spiritual energy nearby, not letting go of even the slightest clue.
Sensing the scent in the air, Shen Qingqing almost immediately determined the approximate location.
After the passion subsides, a surge in mental strength follows.
She could sense the mental state of all the Zerg within a 20-meter radius and their tracks.
"Almost there, almost found it..." she murmured as she walked toward a corner.
With difficulty, we dodged the haphazardly piled building debris and the wet mud, walking through the mud with uneven steps, until we finally stopped beside a puddle.
It's clear that this was originally a pond, but the spring water has long since splashed away, leaving only a shallow depression.
Shen Qingqing groped her way around, laboriously pushing aside the withered thorns taller than a person that blocked her view, searching for the source of the scent in the dim light.
It's right here, down below.
Shen Qingqing looked at the stone slab and tried to lift it, but she was too weak and could not move the heavy stone slab that was more than two meters long.
Subconsciously, she wanted to ask others for help.
But right now, besides her, only Andorra is left here.
The pleading gaze fell on Andorra, who simply shrugged indifferently, indicating that he didn't want to do anything futile.
"Don't waste your energy, I told you he's not here."
Andor was well aware of what it meant that the search had found no trace of Zerg life.
The former commander may have died long ago, like his father, in the endless flames and smoke of war.
Maybe he's still alive, but so what?
Drifting alone in space, he probably wouldn't survive for long.
Shen Qingqing withdrew her gaze and stopped looking at him. The mental sensing she had just experienced had exhausted most of her strength, and now she felt dizzy and her vision was blurring.
"He must be alive, he must be!"
She spoke with unusual certainty, trying to convince herself as well as others.
That was Ge Yuan's only family in the world, even though they weren't related by blood.
She will definitely bring him back for Ge Yuan and for Saenster!
The delicate skin was pressed raw by the stone slabs, leaving bloody marks on her arms. Water droplets that had condensed on the top of the warship gathered together and dripped down like rain.
Shen Qingqing, who was engrossed in her work, suddenly felt a lightness on her body. When she looked up, she saw an arm that had blocked the stone slab that was about to hit her.
“You are too weak,” Andor said, looking down. “This kind of thing is not suitable for you, so why make things difficult for yourself?”
"Thank you, thank you."
Shen Qingqing was surprised that he would actually come to help, especially since he had seemed so indifferent before...
With ease, Andor lifted the stone slab away, standing still as Shen Qingqing squatted down and searched the ground.
“He couldn’t possibly still be alive. From any perspective, even the royal warships equipped with the most robust protective shields have been destroyed like this. Even if the insects inside were still alive, they would have died due to the self-destruct mechanism.”
Seeing that she was still digging with her bare hands, he continued, "The self-destruct program is unique to royal warships. The equipment and facilities we saw before were all destroyed after the program was activated. The only advantage of this program is that it can paralyze all usable facilities on the warship, so as to prevent the enemy from picking them up and using them."
"For a warship to activate its self-destruct sequence, it must have suffered an unprecedented and fatal blow."
"Without power, they can only drift aimlessly in the universe. How could any insect possibly survive?"
Shen Qingqing remained silent until she heard him mention the self-destruct program, at which point her expression softened slightly, but her hands continued moving.
"Does the absence of a power system necessarily mean that no Zerg will survive? Isn't that a bit too absolute?"
Upon hearing the response, Andor spoke up, "That is indeed too absolute, but the Zerg have an unwritten rule, would you like to hear it?"
He continued speaking to himself, "When the race is about to be extinct, when the last warrior can no longer stand and fight, when all things return to their origin, when disaster is inevitable, please activate self-destruct mode, bury the Zerg's wealth in the abyss, and quietly await the next era."
She didn't speak again, but lowered her head and said in a voice so soft it was almost inaudible, "But I heard it, he was calling me."
“It might just be an illusion,” Andor believed only the data. “Queen Insect, please come back with me. There is no need for us to stay here. The front line needs you.”
"..."
Should we stay or leave?
"I……"
It's a difficult decision. If I miss this chance, I don't know when I'll see him again.
Before she could finish the word "we...", Shen Qingqing suddenly heard a sound.
【My Queen Insect, please have mercy...】
She didn't hear the rest clearly, but she was certain that she hadn't misheard this time!
"No, he's still alive, he's calling out to me!"
Andor couldn't understand why the insect queen, who was about to compromise, suddenly changed her mind after a moment of hesitation.
Shen Qingqing turned around and dug frantically, not caring that her fingernails were broken and bleeding.
All I could think about was that weak call from just now.
"You wait, I will definitely find you!"
Through her persistent efforts, a corner of a white robe peeked out from the ruins.
That little bit of white stood out starkly against the charred black.
Seeing this, Andorra changed his mind.
If it really was Klein, he dared not imagine how much help he would receive in the future, so he went to help as well.
From the hem of the robe to the hem of the garment, and then to that hand with its distinct bones...
Every step was taken with trepidation, for fear of accidentally triggering a chain reaction that would bury the little bit that had been painstakingly dug out again.
It wasn't until his face, which resembled that of a celestial being, was revealed that Shen Qingqing realized just how mysterious the so-called former commander-in-chief, Klein, truly was.
It was quite some time before his entire body was dug out.
Shen Qingqing noticed that the commander, whose eyes were closed, was tightly holding something in his arms.
"It looks like a round thing... is it an eggshell?"
He held the already damaged, empty cocoon tightly in his arms, without a trace of dirt on it.