I'm playing Honkai Impact 3

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Why did you come to this planet?

"There is no war here, no insects. I want to see more of the outside world with my own eyes."

"Ok?"

Qiong keenly discerned a special meaning in those words.

"Because... I'm going to die."

Nia said calmly.

PS:

Volume 1: Chapter 647 The Empress's Resistance

After the fall of Taizyuros, although the scale and reproductive capacity of the insect king's offspring were far less than the terrifying spectacle when the star god was alive, they were still a Damocles' sword hanging over the heads of many civilizations.

Faced with these swarms of insects devoid of reason and driven solely by the instinct to reproduce, there is not even room for negotiation.

The Republic of Grammer had no choice but to send troops to fight back.

Given the Republic's technological and military strength, killing a bug would be a piece of cake.

Even if it is necessary to clear out the swarms of insects that darken the sky, it is not difficult as long as one is willing to pay a certain price.

However, the mere sight of "covering the entire field" is far from the limit of an insect swarm.

The harsh reality is that the Grammer army's ability to eliminate the swarms cannot keep up with their rate of reproduction.

Even if you kill faster, as long as the soldiers fighting on the front lines are still ordinary soldiers who need to grow, train, and rest, the speed at which you can replenish the front lines will definitely not be as fast as the bugs.

Grammer lost.

Planet after planet in the vast star field fell one after another, becoming breeding grounds and nests for the insect swarm.

The insect swarm only needs to reproduce; we, the Republic of Grammer, have much more to consider.

At this critical juncture, Grammer's power center—the ruling council—launched a brilliant strategy to devise a way to turn defeat into victory.

The swarm reproduces rapidly, so there is never any need to consider battle losses.

"—What if humans could do that too?"

The sky was shrouded in dark clouds. Nia stood beside Qiong, her long, silvery-white hair, reaching her hips, fluttering in the rising cool breeze.

"Mass production of weapons that are as powerful and cheap as insects."

The idea that follows is to learn from insects' superior techniques in order to control them.

The Republic of Grammer has assembled the most outstanding biologists in the entire civilization to modify genetic fragments extracted from the underlying structure of Zerg life, with the aim of creating high-performance artificial life.

"The classic enemy and friend share the same origin."

Kamen Rider gave it a thumbs up.

The True Stinger and the Grammer Riders are the Worms from the Kabuto set that Grandma mentioned.

The Ironclad Armor was also developed specifically with reference to the forces and principles used against the Zerg.

Qiong glanced up at the sky, which had completely darkened as the setting sun disappeared.

Protected by the power to forge one's destiny, he was not cold, but he could clearly feel the changes in temperature.

Is the temperature difference between night and day really that big?

Snowflakes drifted in with the wind.

Fine snowflakes began to fall silently from the gray sky, adorning Titania's silver hair, making her seem as if she were shrouded in an unyielding sorrow.

Nia continued telling her story.

It can be used to cultivate artificial life forms that can be mass-produced on a large scale and grow at an abnormally fast rate, making it very useful.

So, Gul'dan, what was the price?

There was no cost involved.

Because in the eyes of the ruling council, the Grammer cavalry were powerful weapons and were never regarded as independent individuals, and therefore without any cost to them.

They are like chips in a sophisticated device, the parts responsible for driving the armor, even though these parts are crucial.

To more effectively control these weapons, Grammer created the Queen—Titania.

"So, your name is Titania?"

The clouds drifted, and the gloomy sky conjured meaningless patterns. Qiong reached out and caught a snowflake.

"Ah."

Nia, or rather Titania, nodded slightly.

The Empress does not wield any power in the Republic; she was created solely to serve as a controller of weapons.

Or rather, the Empress herself was the core of the entire Iron Cavalry Project, the first ultimate weapon to be created.

After all, no matter how powerful a weapon is, it is not only useless without a reliable control system, but may even backfire on itself.

Through the unique intellectual and spiritual connection between the clones and the Empress, the ruling council weaves a grand dream about the Grammer Empire for the Iron Knights.

"So this is how empires came to be."

Qiong suddenly realized and muttered to himself.

"In my dream, the Grammer Cavalry exists solely to protect me and my empire..."

Titania's tone was tinged with self-deprecating sarcasm.

As stated in Catch-22 of Grammer:

Knights should dedicate everything to Her Majesty the Queen—including death.

In this way, batches of artificial life were conceived in the incubation chamber, growing at an astonishing rate, and after maturing, they were born from pure white eggs.

"Wait, oviparous?"

Qiong interrupted Titania's narration, her expression becoming somewhat subtle, her gaze unconsciously shifting downwards to the palm of Titania's hand that she was unconsciously playing with.

Perhaps because this body was only recently 'born', Titania's skin was as delicate as ice sculptures, as smooth and fragile as a newborn baby.

It was a wonderful color that blended the white of snow, the red of cherry blossoms, and the green of jade, like spreading vibrant jam on soft, warm bread, outlining it with crisp white chocolate, and garnishing it with icing sugar...

It's so beautiful that it even looks somewhat appetizing.

It can make Yoshikage Kira instantly slap!

"Is it strange that a creature created based on the genetic blueprint of an insect is oviparous?"

Titania didn't notice that her hand was being played with by Sora.

"Will there be reproductive isolation compared to ordinary people?"

Qiong's curiosity clearly veered in a strange direction.

"...Although there is no precedent for the combination of iron cavalry and humans."

Titania paused, "But theoretically, there shouldn't be."

"why?"

Titania did not answer, but instead gave the dome a subtle look.

Why ask such a simple question?

"Oh, sorry, please continue."

Qiong immediately realized what was happening.

How could a clone created based on the Zerg's genes, which have terrifying reproductive capabilities, possibly have such a limitation as reproductive isolation?

I'm afraid having twins in one pregnancy would be considered rare.

We need to be careful when doing it with fireflies.

"The matured children will be brought before me for connection adjustments..."

Titania's voice was calm, yet like an undercurrent beneath the surface of ice, concealing subtle turbulence.

Her spiritual connection with all her clones is innate, but this natural connection is often accompanied by various instabilities and discrepancies.

The so-called adjustment is to establish a deep mental connection in order to gain better control.

No clone can avoid this process, and any individual that fails this quality control will be considered defective.

Destroy directly.

Once the deep connection is established, the indoctrination-style training of combat skills will begin.

Thanks to this Gestalt-style connection network, a variant of the honeycomb mind, the clones grow at an astonishing rate. They can share the combat experience of other individuals through the Queen as the central hub.

This is only a portion of the basic experience.

With the addition of intensive, cramming training, they can quickly become qualified chips.

They were stuffed into armored cavalry and sent to the bloody battlefield.

In some ways, it could even be described as another form of insect swarm.

The Queen bestowed upon her the honor and faith of knights, and the Iron Cavalry offered their loyalty and promises to the Queen. New humans were constantly born from the incubation chambers, each given a number and a mission.

The old humans, hiding behind steel barriers, anxiously enjoyed the peace they had long awaited.

"Birth, learning, fighting, death, is the destiny of every child. They have no names, only numbers... After all, weapons don't need names."

“They were born without a chance. It’s not you or me who don’t like her; it’s the world that doesn’t like her.”

Titania's statement carried an indescribable weariness.

Iron cavalry charged through mountains of corpses and seas of blood from swarming flying insects, burned the charred embers of the insect carcasses, and shattered the broken scales and remains of giant mandibles and combs... dying in battle.

Or it may endure the entropy change of slow dissociation, burning fiercely on the edge of life and death.

She did not want to do this, but over the long years, she was initially powerless to resist the will of the ruling council.

This is precisely why she was so deeply moved when she saw the photo of fireflies.

Surprisingly, one child broke free from the shackles of the mind and developed a complete and independent self-awareness!

Not only did she choose a name for herself, but she also got to know and fall in love with others, revealing a genuine smile of happiness from the bottom of her heart.

That was a light that Titania had never seen or possessed before.

She immediately searched the vast mental network connecting countless iron cavalry, but failed to find that special being, which puzzled her greatly.

Titania has existed for a very long time, and perhaps it is because of this long existence that she gradually awakened from her destiny as a weapon and began to develop a curiosity about the unknown.

She wanted to experience what that feeling was like, to experience that happy smile... That's why she wanted to go on a date with Sora.

As for the result, although she didn't fully experience the emotions of Firefly at that time, under the resonance of the mother beehive consciousness, Titania, who imitated Firefly, did experience Firefly's feelings and love for Qiong with Qiong's cooperation.

It was novel, wonderful, and filled me with a sense of fulfillment.

"You couldn't resist before... does that mean you can resist now?"

Qiong's focus, however, was on another key point in Nia's words.

"Well, yes."

Titania fell silent, her calm words dissipating in the cold north wind.

The war between the Grammer Ironclads and the Zerg was extremely long in both space and time.

Both sides suffered casualties.

This time, however, the ruling council doesn't need to worry about battle losses at all.

More and more iron cavalry soared into the sky, just like the day the insect swarm attacked, obscuring the heavens.

It's unclear when exactly, but the way the people of Grammer looked at the Iron Riders had changed—it was no longer the gaze one would give to a guardian hero, but rather a scrutiny mixed with fear and alienation, no different from how one would look at a swarm of insects.

All people know is that the Iron Cavalry Regiment gave everything for a non-existent empire. After decades of bloody battles, the wreckage of mechs and insect limbs turned into countless fragments scattered across the Grammer Starfield, forming a river of death.

When the remaining swarms were deemed no longer a threat, the leaders of the parliament rang the peace bells, announcing to the people that they had driven away the natural disaster that had blotted out the sky, and that the republic was about to usher in a new dawn.

"Peace?"