Carrying the Bases of Starcraft C57

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Chapter 57: The Lair

6570 Minerals, 8450 Gas.

What was going on? After hatching sixteen Roaches, the balance in his memory should have dropped to 2410 Minerals and 3270 Gas. Adding the twelve Bat Demons lying around, it should only increase to 3070 Minerals and 3450 Gas.

Why had there been a sudden surge of 3500 Minerals and 4000 Gas?

Tang Fang glanced at the thick layer of limbs and flesh scattered across the ground. A thought struck him: "Could these resources be from the one-eyed monster? I must have missed the system notification while I was dazed."

"Yes, that must be it!" Reaching this conclusion, which wasn’t far from the truth, Tang Fang’s face lit up with a faint smile. The one-eyed monster was a major boss, far superior to the Bat Demons, whose combat power barely registered as five. Besides the substantial resource gain of 3000 Minerals and 4000 Gas, what new Zerg structures might it unlock?

Given its ability to spawn Bat Demons, the one-eyed monster likely had some connection to the Swarm Hosts—possibly an Infestation Pit. Since the Bat Demons could fly, and the one-eyed monster served as their progenitor, it might even provide the DNA for a Spire (or Greater Spire).

Whether it was the Infestation Pit or the Spire, either would exponentially boost his overall combat capabilities.

Imagine skies filled with Mutalisks—armed shuttles? Drones? Those were nothing compared to this. Even a battleship would be reduced to scrap under a concentrated assault.

Infestors, Swarm Hosts? Paired with mixed forces from the Terran and Protoss factions, wiping out an entire armored division would be child's play.

Suppressing his excitement, Tang Fang quickly selected a Drone. With a tap of a hotkey, the building menu appeared.

Spire, grayed out! Infestation Pit, also grayed out!

What was going on? All that excitement for nothing—it felt like wasted emotion. He wanted to cry. Oh gods above, don’t torment me like this...

Exiting the advanced building menu, he reluctantly pressed the hotkey for the basic building menu.

Hatchery, Spawning Pool, Roach Warren, Extractor, Spine Crawler—still only these five structures.

"Could it really be a false alarm? Such a massive creature only contributed some resources?"

It felt like riding a roller coaster—the higher you climb, the harder you fall.

Almost unconsciously, his hand twitched, and the cursor hovered over the Hatchery. Suddenly, a glowing option box appeared in the lower-left corner.

Tier Two? Tier Two! The Zerg’s second-tier base—the Lair?

So, the one-eyed monster’s DNA wasn’t entirely useless; it unlocked the Tier Two base, the Lair. But what good was that? No new combat units were unlocked—it felt like adding unnecessary complexity.

Upgrading the Hatchery to a Lair would unlock five abilities, three of which were researchable skills: "Burrow," "Pneumatized Carapace," and "Ventral Sacs."

Burrow: Allows all Zerg ground units to dive underground, gaining stealth capabilities. Like Zergling’s “Metabolic Boost,” it cost ten times the in-game resources—1000 Minerals and 1000 Gas.
  
Pneumatized Carapace: Increases the movement speed of Overlords and Overseers. Cost: 1000 Minerals and 1000 Gas.
  
Ventral Sacs: Grants Overlords transportation capabilities. Cost: 2000 Minerals and 2000 Gas.

The fourth ability unlocked a new unit, allowing Overlords to mutate into Overseers.

(Overseers possess two active skills and two passive skills:
  
Active Skill One: Spawn Changelings, which can transform into small enemy bio-units for reconnaissance or infiltration.
  
Active Skill Two: Contaminate, covering buildings with viscous liquid to disable their functions.
  
Passive Skill One: Detection, equipped with sensors akin to radar, sonar, and infrared imaging, capable of spotting cloaked enemy units—a masterful reconnaissance skill.
  
Passive Skill Two: Pneumatized Carapace, researched at the Lair, significantly increases flight speed.)

The fifth ability unlocked the Overlord’s "Generate Creep" skill, allowing them to generate Creep beneath their bodies.

One-eyed monster = Overseer? What kind of logic was this! If Tang Fang had a keyboard, he might have smashed it in anger.

What use was this? Unlocking the Lair—what good did it do? While the Overseer’s reconnaissance abilities were undeniable, what benefit did they bring him now? He was still living under someone else’s roof, dependent on others, without having built his own power base. This unit, useful in positional warfare, was currently of little value.

"Wait, wait..."

Tang Fang suddenly stopped his rant. He recalled the origins of the Overlord—a creature capable of traversing the void. Once the Hatchery was upgraded to a Lair and "Ventral Sacs" researched, the Overlord could transport Zerg units within its body.

If an Overlord could carry even Ultralisks, not to mention the three of them, didn’t that mean he now had a living spaceship? Though it couldn’t warp or attack, it was still a biological spacecraft.

At this thought, Tang Fang’s lips curled into a satisfied smile. He had been too impatient. One must eat a meal bite by bite. Reflecting on it, the gains from this ruin expedition far exceeded his expectations: unlocking the Protoss base, obtaining the “Gateway” and “Twilight Council”; unlocking the Zerg “Lair” and “Roach Warren”; part of his genetic structure mutating, granting rapid regeneration; not to mention the complete tech tree for refining Element Zero isotopes from the Epsilon race, and a hefty stash of resources.

Considering all this, describing it as a "heavenly boon" wouldn’t be an exaggeration.

"Tang Fang, why... why are you smiling like that?" Housen’s voice trembled uneasily. "Please, stop smiling so creepily—it’s giving me the chills."

Arroz, equally uneasy, asked, "What’s the result? Tell us already."

Tang Fang opened his half-closed eyes, his gaze sweeping over them. "Do you want the good news or the bad news first?"

"The bad news, give us the bad news first!" Housen blurted out.

"Alright, the bad news is our genes have mutated, as you said, cursed by the one-eyed monster."

"OH SHIT!" Housen’s face turned green, like pig liver soup sprinkled with cilantro. "Someone shoot me! Death isn’t the issue—I just want to keep my human form."

Arroz, more composed, frowned and continued, "And the good news?"

A slow smile spread across Tang Fang’s face. "The good news is that this mutation is beneficial evolution. Not only does it cause no harm to our bodies, but it also grants us rapid regeneration."

After hearing this, Housen suddenly felt like crying. It was cruel to scare people like that...

As if reading the resentment in his eyes, Tang Fang shrugged. "You asked for the bad news first—you can’t blame me for that."

What did rapid regeneration mean? There was no need for Tang Fang to explain; both understood. The first thing that came to Housen’s mind was that he had leveled up, become formidable. In the future, who could rival him in the boxing ring?

Arroz, being more practical, at least no longer worried about getting lung cancer...

Tang Fang was unaware of the bizarre thoughts running through their minds. His attention had shifted to the psionic flame.

One one-eyed monster provided 3500 Minerals and 4000 Gas. Remember, the entire ruin complex had over a hundred control rooms, each housing a one-eyed monster—all of which he had overloaded and blown up. If converted into resources, what would the total be? Over 300,000 Minerals and 400,000 Gas—this was truly a windfall!

To him now, Imperial Credits paled in comparison to these resource points—they were worthless.

He calmed his excited heart and stepped toward the psionic flame, gently inserting his hands into the light curtain. He needed to review the ruin’s layout to calculate the most efficient route to collect those resource points as quickly as possible.

As the model of the ruins rotated and zoomed in, elevators and transit relay stations were marked, slowly connecting into lines.

However, just as this mapping process reached halfway, a flash of cyan light streaked across the sky. The ruins model shrank to the lower-left corner, and a large icon flickering with crimson light appeared in the center of the screen, accompanied by a sharp, piercing alarm.

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