Ling Yi lowered her hand, her eyes narrowing as she considered something:

"Actually, if you disregard the pollution brought by the descent of a Mental Realm, this stuff is really quite useful in the early stages..."

As the two were speaking, the batch of Warriors undergoing their Tier Two Awakening had begun to wake up in succession.

But they brought back different news:

"Shen Jie didn’t descend into madness. Instead, he was in his right mind and reminded us that after killing the Tiger Spine Zergs, we needed to leave the dreamscape as quickly as possible. Otherwise, if we stayed too long, we’d be directly assimilated by that strange Spirit World..."

Lin Feng frowned slightly, and Ling Yi added from the side:

"That’s right. If you enter a Mental Realm World yourself, staying too long will cause you to be polluted by the environment. For example, ingesting substances from inside. Even though everything in the Mental Realm is an illusory Energy Body, it can still warp your real-world existence!"

"For instance, if any of them stayed too long and exceeded the limits of their own Spiritual Power, then pollution would be inevitable. The feedback into the Real World would manifest as twisted limbs after Awakening. Especially with Zerg corpses everywhere here, they could very well morph into grotesque human-zerg hybrid monsters..."

Hearing what Ling Yi said, the new Tier Two Awakeners all showed terrified expressions, nervously patting themselves all over, afraid they might have grown some extra, malformed tissue.

Fortunately, none of them had stayed for long. Moreover, this time Captain Shen Jie seemed to have been waiting for them specifically. After the two sides exchanged intel, Shen Jie even went out of his way to help them complete the requirement of killing the Tiger Spine Zergs.

After finishing their inspection with lingering fear, the group continued their report:

"Captain Shen Jie mentioned the other High-tier Zerg Race there. He said they’re called King Spine Zergs and are likely an evolved version of the Tier Two Tiger Spine Zerg. They’re incredibly powerful."

"Also, he said that just getting near a King Spine Zerg will affect you with some kind of Spiritual Energy. He called it the Slaughter Realm."

"In fact, the surviving Low Tier Spine Zergs in the area, including the Tier Two Tiger Spine Zergs, have all been influenced by it to some degree, causing them to fall into endless conflict and battle..."

"If we stay too long, we’ll also lose ourselves and become monsters that know only how to kill."

At this point, the old captain leading them gave a bitter smile:

"But we didn’t know that changes in the dreamscape could actually affect reality. It’s just too bizarre..."

Lin Feng kept his brow furrowed:

"Is there anything else?"

The old captain lowered his head, carefully recalling:

"Oh, right. I was the last one to leave. Before I left, Captain Shen Jie told me that he was going to challenge that High-tier Zerg. He said that maybe killing it is the only way to break free from this bizarre Spirit World..."

Lin Feng grunted in acknowledgment and waved his hand:

"Take the squad members to rest. I just checked, and you’re all fine. Aside from a slight boost to your Spiritual Attributes, there are no negative effects."

Hearing the Sergeant Major’s confirmation, the heavy weight on everyone’s hearts finally lifted a little.

As the newly promoted Tier Two squad members gradually departed, and the next batch prepared for their Awakening under Liu Yi’s command, Lin Feng turned to look at Ling Yi behind him.

Her expression had become terribly strained.

This was the first time Lin Feng had ever seen such a pale, twisted expression on Ling Yi’s face.

The worry in her eyes was even tinged with a hint of panic.

’For a Zerg Race Mother Empress to show such complex emotional changes, that so-called High-tier King Spine Zerg and the Slaughter Realm must be no simple matter.’

Sensing Lin Feng’s questioning gaze, Ling Yi swallowed before replying in a low voice:

"King Spine Zerg... High-tier King Spine Zerg... The Zerg Race’s most powerful war machines..."

Then, she began to explain the origin of the Spine Zergs in detail:

"Ceres is the sixth planet in the Zerg Race’s Origin Star System. The environment is extremely harsh. Tectonic activity there, accompanied by volcanic eruptions, has continued for billions of years..."

"The Spine Zergs were born from this barren planet, which is the very Mental Realm World Shen Jie is in right now."

"But his luck is terrible. A Tier Four Spine King possesses multiple Mental Realms, yet he ended up connecting to Slaughter."

Lin Feng looked surprised:

"Why? Isn’t Slaughter a good thing? It sounds very powerful. If Shen Jie can master it, maybe he could even perform a Tier Jump and slay a Zerg Race Mother Empress in the Real World..."

Ling Yi let out a soft sigh:

"You’re right. If he could truly master the Slaughter Realm, then combined with his Superpower and equipment, killing a Low Tier Mother Empress would be no problem at all."

"But the problem is, the difficulty of challenging and mastering a Mental Realm is directly related to its inherent power."

"This means that in the Mental Realm World he’s in, every single King Spine Zerg will possess the Slaughter Realm. Do you think a human-zerg hybrid like him is capable of killing them?"

"Unless he completely becomes a zerg, occupies an active volcano with no other King Spine Zergs, lies dormant for several thousand years, methodically and naturally evolves into a member of the High-tier Zerg Race, and then, as a matter of course, acquires the Slaughter Realm from the environment..."

"That’s the path to advancement for most Tiger Spine Zergs..."

"But he’s human. If he really did that, even if he eventually woke up, he would have become a real zerg—and a source of pollution reeking of the aura of Slaughter, at that."

"Oh, and King Spine Zergs live inside volcanoes. They can withstand thousands of degrees of searing heat. Your Cannons would be like trying to tickle it."

"Unless you use humanity’s last resort—a direct hit with a nuclear weapon—it’s the only way to kill it completely."

"So now you should have a rough idea why I reminded you to make thorough preparations before deciding to kill a Mother Empress. Otherwise, once a Tier Three King Spine Zerg is created and sent to the human-zerg battlefield..."