Cannon fodder dressed as a disabled marshal

Shen Qiran suddenly opened his eyes.

He was lying on the bed with cold sweat on his forehead and shortness of breath.He stared at the unfamiliar ceiling, unable to remember anything in a trance.

This is where?Why is he here?He...wasn't he in Princess Rose's palace just now?Then……

Then?

Then what happened?

With a splitting headache, he sat up with difficulty, covered his hair and groaned in pain.Faintly aware of a line of sight, Shen Qiran immediately raised his head, and suddenly met someone's eyes.The man was sitting on a soft chair in the corner with no expression on his face, it seemed that this man had been watching him quietly since he woke up.

It's... Esther.

"Are you awake?" The man stood up elegantly, walked slowly towards the bed, and whispered as if talking to himself.

"It's faster than expected."

Shen Qiran was still a little confused, but when he met that person's eyes, those weird pupils with blood spots floating around, the frozen memory in his mind swept through his mind like a flood that opened the gate.

Xiu Yin.ensemble.Xia Shuyun.Terrible feet.And... a strange death.

"Remember?" Esther hooked the corners of his lips. There was a strange sense of oppression on his body, which made Shen Qiran's scalp numb, and he couldn't move. He could only watch this person sit beside him.

"You..." There were too many questions to ask, Shen Qiran trembled her lips, and it took a long time to say a word.

"You and Xia Shuyun, what are they?"

These words sounded like scolding - of course Shen Qiran really wanted to scold - he really didn't know how to describe what he saw and heard.Everything he experienced before completely overturned his three views. Although he knew that there were Zergs in this world, and he had seen images on TV or various media, the shock brought by hearsay and seeing with his own eyes was not at the same level.

Esther raised her eyebrows: "What do you think?"

"You colluded with the Zerg?"

Esther smiled.

"You?" His smile was weird, and his eyes were meaningful, making Shen Qiran a little creepy.

"You should say—" He suddenly took Shen Qiran's hand on the bed, clasped his fingers ambiguously, and smiled, "'We'."

The hairs on Shen Qiran's back were about to stand up, he wanted to pull back his hand, but he couldn't get rid of it at all - for some reason, although he refused in his heart, his body did not resist Esther's touch, and there were even some inexplicable attachments and Joy, so his struggle was not intense, it was like a rebuff.Seeing that Shen Qiran was so anxious that she was about to cry, Esther let out a joyful laugh, and he tapped Shen Qiran's forehead with his fingers.

"Why don't you take a look at your own situation first?"

Shen Qiran was taken aback for a moment, and quickly sank his consciousness into his own sea of ​​spiritual consciousness.

On the vast sea, the clouds still cover the sky layer upon layer, everything is calm, but on the isolated island in the middle of the sea, a strange ball of black strings appeared.No, it is more like a tightly bound black egg, as tall as a person. Countless threads of black air extend out from the black egg. Part of it goes straight into the sky, into the thick clouds.Together, they weave a huge black net, covering every corner of his sea of ​​spiritual consciousness.

After Xia Shuyun's music forcibly resonated from the sea of ​​spiritual consciousness and removed his defenses, Shen Qiran had a premonition that the other party was going to make a fuss in the sea of ​​spiritual consciousness. Now the premonition came true, but the person who did it was not Xia Shuyun, but became Esther.

"What did you do?" Shen Qiran stared at Esther, he could vaguely guess something, but he didn't dare to think about the answer at all, "What is this??"

"A mark." Esther smiled all the time, with a relaxed and casual tone, "a mark that announces that you have joined our camp. Shen Qiran, you are no longer a pure human being, you have become with me, with Xia Shuyun, with us Same 'thing'."

There was an eerie silence in the room.

Shen Qiran stared at Esther, after a long time, he suddenly got out of bed and ran out.But his hand was still held by Esther, and the other party just pulled it lightly, and Shen Qiran fell back on the bed involuntarily. He suddenly had no strength at all, and it was difficult for him even to germinate the will to resist.

"I don't believe it." His chest was heaving violently, and his mind was in chaos, "You lied to me, didn't you? You lied to me! I don't believe it! This is impossible!!"

It's ridiculous, he is human, how could it be declared that he is no longer human just because of a strange thing in the sea of ​​spiritual consciousness?

"You should have felt it." Esther said lightly, "I didn't lie to you."

Shen Qiran couldn't listen at all, he refused to face such absurd facts, but the more he panicked, the more it meant that he had faintly approved of the other party's statement deep in his heart.

Yes, this is true.said a voice.

Because this is his fate, the fate that was drawn up in the original book a long time ago - he still stood on Ayser's side after all, and became a pawn to play for Ayser.No matter how hard he tried to avoid it, he still couldn't escape the situation of being an enemy of Shao Xing, and he would even become a victim with a miserable end in the struggle between Esther and Shao Xing.

Esther quietly looked at the person lying on the bed, watching him go from fierce rejection, to painful struggle, to helplessness, and finally to powerless silence and despair.

——Just like the original self.

He looked at it quietly for a long time, then looked away, and said calmly.

"Have you heard of the Zerg's 'group consciousness'?"

Shen Qiran's eyes were ashen, but after hearing Esther's words, his dull thinking still started to work slowly.

He has heard of it.

This concept was mentioned in the "History of Imperial War" that he had read on the starship that Shao Xing sent him to star Merdale. The original words seemed to be——

[The scary thing about them is not their strong bodies, their strong reproductive ability, or even their unbelievable evolutionary speed, but their group consciousness. 】

The group consciousness is a high degree of collective subconsciousness. In the Zerg population, each Zerg is an individual, but not completely an individual.They have a common will and mission, that is, the survival and reproduction of the population.For the Zerg, group consciousness is their instinct, and they identify with it, obey it, and follow it from the bottom of their hearts.The bravery, loyalty, selflessness, and dedication that human beings preach are all jokes in front of the Zerg's group consciousness, because every Zerg can do it. For the survival and reproduction of the group, they can give everything and never betray themselves ethnic group.

"You have become a member of the group now, and you can no longer defy their collective will," Esther said, "I know it's difficult for you to accept now, but when you are assimilated, you won't think so, just like Xia Same as Shu Yun."

Hearing that name, Shen Qiran's eyes trembled. He couldn't help but think of the young and shy boy, the horrible leg that protruded from his body, and the time when the man struggled to utter his words. The phrase "run quickly".

"Xia Shuyun, he..." Shen Qiran tremblingly said with a sour nose, "He was also marked by you like this?"

Esther shook her head, "No."

"At first, he was just a bottom-level worm parasitized by the spiritual mother species. Of course, he didn't realize it. Only when the worm was summoned by the mother would it break out and invade the host's spirit silently Sea of ​​Consciousness. The Queen of the Zerg has sowed hundreds of millions of seed insects in the universe, and when the seed insects mature, as long as Her Majesty the Queen orders, the human world will be completely overturned."

Having said this, Esther suddenly laughed mockingly.

"Unfortunately, thanks to your husband, who is our great Marshal Shao Xing," he said sarcastically, "Her Majesty's body has suffered severe injuries, and she has temporarily lost contact with the seedlings."

"Xia Shuyun is an exception. Without the prompting of the queen's mother, his seedling consciousness still sprouted, and even mutated, becoming the second emperor."

"Second Emperor?" In the materials that Shen Qiran has come into contact with, this term has never appeared before, and he couldn't help asking, "What is Second Emperor?"

"The sub-emperor is an existence higher than the species of insects," Esther said, "Although they also have to obey the group consciousness and obey the orders of the Zerg queen, the sub-emperors can form their own ethnic groups by themselves, and they can even choose their own ethnic groups, like Her Majesty the Queen planted her own spiritual imprint into the spiritual consciousness sea of ​​the ethnic group like sowing insects. The second emperor has absolute control over the ethnic group, and the ethnic group can never betray the second emperor, just like we all have to obey the ethnic group in the end Same consciousness.” Ethnicity…

Shen Qiran suddenly remembered that after Xia Shuyun was assassinated, he had a simple conversation with Esther, which he couldn't understand at all, but now——

"Clarice, is also your race?" He looked at Esther in shock, "You killed her??"

"I didn't do anything." Esther said indifferently, "I just issued an order to let her die."

Life and death are so easy in this population, as if what died was not a person, but an insignificant ant.

Shen Qiran finally understood why even Shao Xing couldn't investigate Clarice's death. After all, who would have thought that the seemingly accidental air accident was actually caused by Clarice hitting the bulkhead and committing suicide?

"Why did you kill her?"

Esther was silent for a while, and slowly turned her gaze to Shen Qiran.

"Because of you," he said, "because I want you to be my race, a place must be vacated."

If Shao Xing hadn't protected Shen Qiran too well, and he was not good at invading the sea of ​​spiritual consciousness, Esther would have wanted to do it immediately after Clarice's death.Cooperating with Xia Shuyun is not a friendship of the same clan, it is purely because the other party can use the method of musical resonance to open Shen Qiran's spiritual consciousness, so that he can mark it conveniently.It's just that he didn't expect things to go so smoothly. Shao Xing left suddenly, without even leaving behind his mental body, so even though he was a little hasty, he still made the move ahead of time and achieved great success.

"You want to use me to deal with Shao Xing?" Shen Qiran felt that he understood completely, "That's why you must let me become an ethnic group?"

Esther didn't speak, he stared into Shen Qiran's eyes and smiled softly.He took out a black gift box from his pocket, the size of a palm, with a silver ribbon wrapped around it. Shen Qiran thought this box looked familiar at first, but soon remembered it.

It was the day of the graduation ceremony of Moria College, and Esther took out the birthday present he wanted to give him.At that time, I was determined not to accept it, and Esther was not ashamed, but left two meaningful words——

——Then I'll keep it for you first.

——In the future, you will accept it.

Esther handed over the box, and Shen Qiran refused ten thousand times in his heart, but in the end, he slowly raised his hand and took the box.

If Shen Qiran was skeptical about Esther's description of the second emperor and his ethnicity just now, but at this moment, his last sliver of luck has finally been destroyed - he has no way to refuse this person, the other party just casts a commanding look, and he can't help it wants to obey.

He opened the box and saw a pure black tail ring inside. The ring was wrapped twice, and the end was slightly raised, like a snake letter spit out by a black poisonous snake.

Under Esther's gaze, Shen Qiran picked up the ring, maybe because of his inner struggle was too strong, the hand holding the ring trembled suddenly, and the ring fell on the bed.

Esther frowned.

It has been a day and a night since Shen Qiran was planted with a spiritual imprint, no matter how strong the self-conscious ethnicity is, it is difficult for them to show resistance in front of the second emperor, does the other party still have the strength to struggle?

But he was soon relieved: Xia Shuyun also said that Shen Qiran was a bit weird, maybe a day and a night was too short for a parasite, and when the parasitic black eggs took root, this person would eventually become a parasite. A completely tame ethnic group.

As he expected, when Shen Qiran picked up the ring again from the bed, his hand no longer trembled, and the black tail ring smoothly slipped into the little finger of his left hand, locking it tightly.

Esther took Shen Qiran's left hand and looked at his closed fingers with satisfaction.Next to the black tail ring, on the ring finger is a silver-white wedding ring, one black and one white, one dark and one bright, darkness and light, depravity and purity, the extreme contrast is also the ultimate... Irony.

"Good boy." He smiled and kissed the tail ring, then lightly touched Shen Qiran's head.

"Looking forward to our next meeting."

He stood up, his figure slowly blurred, and finally completely disappeared into the room.As soon as his figure disappeared, it was like the silk thread pulling a puppet suddenly snapped, Shen Qiran's body went limp, and he fell directly on the bed.

As if he had experienced a long nightmare, it took him a long time to gradually regain his senses, and his empty eyes came alive again.He turned over and sat up suddenly, trying desperately to take off the tail ring, but no matter how hard he tried, even if blood was drawn from his fingers, the ring was still firmly fixed in place.

It wasn't until his vision became blurred that Shen Qiran realized that tears were overflowing from his eyes.He quickly wiped it off, then raised his head and stared at the black ceiling.

Why are you crying?he said to himself.

Shen Qiran, why are you living more and more hopeless?

Is it just following Esther's way and becoming a kind of ethnic group?So what if everything Esther said was true?In the worst case, it will be treated as another crossing, but it is just that he airborne directly to the enemy's camp at the beginning. Didn't he come here in the same way?The same start with death, the same danger, at least he is still alive now.

But... alive, is it really something to be thankful for?He couldn't help thinking.

In other words, how much longer can I live?

***

It took an hour to figure out where I was.

Although his heart was broken and he even wanted to hide under the quilt to escape reality, Shen Qiran finally got out of bed and opened the door.

It was only when he saw the familiar corridor outside that he realized where he was - this was the rest cabin of the starship.

"Ma'am, what are your orders?" A guard stood outside the door, seeing Shen Qiran coming out, he immediately stepped forward to ask.

After some questioning and probing, Shen Qiran finally understood what happened after he passed out——

I don't know what method Esther used, but the commotion did not cause anyone to notice or panic. According to the starship guard's narration, Shen Qiran and several senior military officials arrived at the starship at the scheduled time. Princess Rose and Kan Princess Bella saw them off in person.After the group said goodbye, they boarded the starship, and "I" behaved naturally in the process, without any abnormality.

But Shen Qiran has no memory of these things at all, and he doesn't know whether his memory has been erased, or Esther has done something to control his behavior.The guard said that he had been in the room for a day and a night, and all three meals were delivered on time, and now there were less than two hours left before they arrived at the capital of the Lyman Empire.

"Are Princess Rose and Princess Canberra the only ones who sent us aboard?" Shen Qiran asked, "Aiser... Your Highness, didn't they come?"

"No." The guard replied dutifully, "His Royal Highness Esther and the others are going to have a banquet at the palace of the eldest prince of Niaya, so they didn't come to see him off in person."

Shen Qiran wanted to say that Esther was in his room just now, but he couldn't make a sound no matter what.

He couldn't tell.

Maybe this is the sub-emperor's overwhelming control over the ethnic group, or the power of ethnic group consciousness. He couldn't betray Esther, and he couldn't even hint at any clues related to the Zerg.He was in a stalemate for a long time, until the guard looked at him a little strangely, then Shen Qiran closed his mouth and smiled weakly at him.

"It's okay, thank you."

He returned to the room, calmed down, and began to sort out what he saw and heard after waking up.

Esther disappeared very strangely just now, but this is not the first time Shen Qiran has seen such a scene - Shao Xing's spiritual body disappeared in the same state.From this, it can be inferred that Esther's body should still be in the Niaya Empire, and it was only Esther's spiritual body that talked to him just now, and even stabbed Xia Shuyun to death in the concert hall.

But as far as Shen Qiran knows, if you want to condense your spiritual body, you must at least reach the SSS level of spiritual power like Shao Xing. Could it be that Esther's mental power has also broken through the SSS level while keeping quiet?

No, probably not.He quickly dismissed this speculation.

If Esther's strength grows to such a terrifying level, it is impossible for Shao Xing to be unaware.Strictly speaking, the current Esther is no longer a complete human being. His ability to condense a spiritual body should be related to the ability of the Zerg.

After getting a rough estimate of Esther's strength, Shen Qiran tried again to see if he could record his experience with pen and paper, but it was the same as when the guards talked just now, as long as any information that would reveal the truth was involved, he would It is impossible to write.It was as if a pair of cold eyes were looking down on him from a high altitude, and any of his actions were under the surveillance and control of the other party, and there was no loophole to take advantage of.

After several attempts to no avail, Shen Qiran finally put down his pen and leaned on the back of the chair dejectedly.

Also, according to Esther's tone, Her Majesty the Zerg Queen has been planning for a long time. If the information can be transmitted so easily and the outside world discovers the abnormality, how could they have been lurking in human society until now, and even escaped the reborn man? Master Shao Xing's investigation.

Suddenly, Shen Qiran thought of another thing: In the original book, Shao Xing had been investigating the cause of his death in his previous life. His main suspects were a few political enemies, but he never thought that the real culprit might be the Zerg.

The queen of the Zerg race was severely injured in the life-and-death battle a year ago, and the Zerg race disappeared after that, and she did not move for a few years. If she were Shao Xing, it would be impossible for her to think that the real culprit who killed her would fight against the defeated Alien related.Thinking about it now, Shao Xing severely injured the Queen of the Zerg, how could the opponent let it go, the pawns it painstakingly laid out will one day avenge itself.Esther is already a member of the Zerg. Besides Esther, how many other people have become vassals of the Zerg?Have they been lurking in the dark for a long time, waiting for an opportunity to retaliate against Shao Xing?

Thinking of this possibility, Shen Qiran suddenly felt like sitting on pins and needles. He looked at the smartphone. After Shao Xing left, he didn't send any more messages. Only yesterday morning, Langdon sent a concise message - "No problem."

The promotion of Shao Xing's spiritual power needs to be kept absolutely confidential. On the one hand, this matter is not trivial, and it even concerns the fate of the country;

Hope...he's doing well.

The author has something to say: Ranran: After working hard for a whole year, I returned to the pre-liberation overnight. #艾瑟You return my progress bar! #

PS: In fact, don't panic, but you are not an ordinary person.

Thanks to as little angel for the grenade!Thanks to Qiyaqi, Wuhua, Feng, asqu, believers, 46685451 and several little angels for throwing thunder!mwah!