Chapter 678: A master at playing with genes!
"Can you tell me what you think first?"
After thinking for a while, Zhou Qing decided to listen to Taros and Tais' plan first.
It was obvious that the two wanted to explore further downwards. Their current stay on this floor was not simply to enjoy the "living conditions" of the Zerg, but to accumulate strength, move towards the seventh floor, defeat the two guardians, and go to the eighth floor.
"Indeed, some sincerity needs to be shown."
Taros no longer asked Zhou Qing why he knew the name "cremation cannon" and stated her purpose: to control the insect swarm.
Swarm!
Different races! Different division of labor! Everyone has their own duties! Work hard without complaint!
"Control the Zerg swarm, cultivate Zerg species that focus on fighting, and win with Zerg swarm tactics to minimize losses."
This is Taros's method.
"This is not the way an explorer should act." Liko was very opposed to this method, "They are also living things!"
"An insect swarm without intelligence is nothing more than a group of living machines." Talos said with a smile, "Besides, even if the Abyssians are the most peace-loving, if they want to eat meat, don't they have to hunt the creatures in the Abyss Ruins, or even tame some creatures with gentler temperaments?"
Riko's face flushed, unable to argue.
But Zhou Qing would not be fooled by such sophistry, and said in the calmest tone: "Killing and taming are just for making a living, or for researching medicine, so we have to do it.
Even if a soul master hunts soul beasts, it is only because of the world that they need soul rings to break through, so they cannot do much.
But using them to fight is a disrespect for life itself.
At least we should ask for their consent, right?"
"You are indeed very smart."
Talos admired Zhou Qing more and more, and advised, "With your participation, it might be easier. Think about it carefully, they are just insects, not humans, and they don't have any intelligence. Why should we consider the dignity of their lives?"
"And their wishes—"
"It's just the various special smells secreted by the queen insect."
odor?
Pheromones!
Zhou Qing immediately thought of a chemical molecular language used by insects to communicate.
To put it simply and roughly, it is a kind of pheromone secreted by organisms to transmit various kinds of information and intelligence: collection, transportation, combat, etc.
For example, communication between insect swarms mainly relies on pheromones.
"follow me."
Taros is ready to take everyone to broaden their horizons.
Tais introduced them to the general situation of the entire Zerg Kingdom: three domains and two rings.
The three domains refer to the three areas of the Zerg Kingdom.
The outer area, which is the area woven and interwoven like a spider web that Zhou Qing and others passed through when they came in, is maintained by swarms of various different species.
The middle area is the incubation area.
That is, the area where various insect species are hatched and cultivated.
The inner core area is where the queen insect is located.
The queen insect cannot move or think. Her main responsibility is to lay eggs and secrete various pheromones according to the needs of the "people" in the entire insect kingdom.
The two rings are large circular open areas that separate the three areas, allowing different types of insect swarms to shuttle and move in groups between the two areas.
Zhou Qing and the others were currently in the outer ring area between the two rings. Following Taros and Tais, the seven of them came to the incubation area.
The environment in the incubation area is warmer than that in the outer area, but it is just as interconnected. If there is no one to lead the way and you cannot use your mental power to detect, it is easy to get lost if you walk around randomly.
In this incubation area, the further inward you go, the more similar the species of insects become. There is only one species left that is similar to a spider, but its mouthparts are similar to the tentacles of a snail.
These strange spiders either carry glowing eggs one by one, or deliberately stay in front of a pile of eggs, sliding over the eggs with their snail-like tentacles, leaving trails of mucus.
“That’s what smell does.”
Talos stopped in front of a spider-like insect that was applying mucus to insect eggs and said, "You must think that the wasps, ants, dung beetles, etc. in the outer area are different types of insects, right? But I want to tell you that they are actually all one species: the swarm!"
"That's impossible!" Riko insisted. "Bees are bees, and ants are ants. How can they be the same creature?"
“That’s what smell does!”
Tais emphasized the same words as Taros, "These eggs are all laid by the mother insect, and these hatching insects only need to apply the corresponding 'smell' to the eggs, and then they can breed insects inside the eggs that appear to have no kinship on the outside."
"Is this how the Insect Kingdom came about?"
At this moment.
Zhou Qing truly realized the swarm's way of survival. All their purposes were to continue their genes, regardless of individual emotions and thoughts.
Just like these insect eggs, Zhou Qing can be sure that the genes inside them are absolutely the same, but during the development process, different pheromones are additionally applied to stimulate different fragments in the related gene chains, causing them to develop into insects with different forms and functions.
"You seem to realize it?"
Taros's mouth curled up slightly, feeling that Zhou Qing had changed his mind a little, so she continued, "You see, they can't even choose where they are born, and are dominated by the entire insect swarm. After they are born, they don't have wisdom. Working for the queen is work, and working for us is also work, isn't it?"
"Each individual member of the Zerg is a living machine, and the Zerg Kingdom itself is a soul guide that keeps running at all times!"
"As long as you control the insect swarm, you control everything!"
It has to be said that this idea is indeed very tempting, even Zhou Qing was slightly tempted.
After all, the swarm has no intelligence, right?
But Zhou Qing still gave up this tempting idea.
This is too arrogant.
Instead of controlling the insect swarm, Zhou Qing hopes to find a way to coexist with it and benefit each other. Blindly demanding will only lead to resistance.
Such a large insect swarm must have corresponding resistance mechanisms.
Not to mention, Romantina also suffered a backlash from an extremely pure spiritual energy... The Zerg must possess survival wisdom that is unimaginable for ordinary people!
Unlike Taros and Tais, Zhou Qing does not think that the Zerg is unintelligent.
True!
It is true that any individual insect in a swarm does not have individual intelligence, but this is not necessarily the case when the entire group is combined.
In his previous life, Zhou Qing also knew some science fiction concepts about the Zerg.
Compared with the Zerg in conventional science fiction works, this Zerg Kingdom does not seem to be as aggressive and is closer to real ant colonies and bee colonies. However, Zhou Qing has no doubt that if its enemy response mechanism is really stimulated, its potential danger is definitely no less than that of the Zerg -
Worse than that!
Just by being able to hatch insects with specific functions through corresponding pheromones, Zhou Qing realized how advanced the insect swarm's technology is in the field of biological genetic engineering!
Perhaps the Zerg itself does not understand the knowledge of "biological genetic engineering", but they are definitely a group of experts who can manipulate genes based on their survival instinct!
They can even be allowed to come into contact with soul beasts from the outside world, and "understand" the value of these soul beasts in some special way. Maybe even pure-blooded dragons, phoenixes, unicorns and other mythical beasts can be replicated!
(End of this chapter)
