Chapter 370: A Living Insectoid Cerebrum

Daimu led Xia Fei out of the tent and in the direction of the mountain. While this Tulon elder was blind, his steps were steady and nimble. The loose stones covering the mountain path were no hindrance to his journey. From this, one could conclude that he walked this path frequently.

At the foot of the mountain, Daimu stopped. “Venerable one, this mountain is actually a flying ship that our ancestors used to leave insectoid territory and come here. It’s just that, with the passage of time, it’s no longer possible to see the ship’s original form.”

Xia Fei was taken aback, and he stroked the black stone walls. The walls were coarse and did not have the heavy and cold sensation of metal, feeling more like stone.

“The entrance is here. Venerable one, follow me.”

The two of them traveled around one kilometer along the base of the mountain, arriving in front of a smooth stone wall. From a distance, this stone wall really did seem like a large door, but there was no crevice in the middle. Carvings covered it, but time had worn them away into nothing but blurry images.

Daimu removed a black transparent crystal from his bosom. It was a rather strange crystal, in the shape of a triangle and appearing to have some sort of computer chip embedded in it.

There was a groove in the wall, which Daimu slotted the crystal into. The two were a perfect fit, seemingly made for each other.

He took a deep breath, and a dark red light gathered in his hand. He placed his hand on the black crystal and then pushed; upon which, the light was inserted into the crystal.

The heavy mountain walls slowly moved to the side, but they only opened a crack before stopping, large enough to allow a single person through.

“I’m old and can’t use much mind power. Venerable one, please forgive me.” Daimu bowed.

Xia Fei smiled. “The mind power you speak of should be a special ability, right? Also, don’t call me ‘venerable one’; the name’s Xia Fei.”

Daimu replied, “An excellent opinion, Venerable one. Calling this a special ability won’t be excessive. Those with mind power will often become much stronger than other members of the race and possess extremely unique abilities. As for the title of Venerable one, it is a form of address reserved for the greatest of Tulon warriors. If you don’t like it, I will call you Venerable Xia.”

Xia Fei pursed his lips. Venerable Xia had little difference to venerable one, so his objections were seemingly pointless.

“How many people in your tribe have special abilities?” Xia Fei asked.

Daimu bitterly smiled. “Three.”

“Three? So few?” Xia Fei sternly said, “Your tribe has more than twenty thousand people, but only three have special abilities?”

Daimu replied, “To be more accurate, only one. Because my son and I both have the special energy ability needed to activate our ancestors’ flying ship, only we are capable of opening it. No one else can do this. This ability has been passed down through the bloodline. My father and my father’s father both had this ability.

“Inheriting an ability comes with a price. As you have seen, I was born blind while my son is deaf. That’s the price we must pay.”

“He isn’t lying. Daimu’s seventh brain region is half open, different from the other members of his tribe,” Phantom explained.

Xia Fei suddenly recalled Constantine. The prince of the Blood Candle Kingdom had once told Xia Fei that his empire had an extremely high number of special ability users, but almost all of their bodies had innate flaws of varying degrees. Was there really a method of exchanging a part of one’s body to open the seventh brain region?

He lit a cigarette out of habit. Every time Xia Fei needed to think, he would subconsciously do this.

Whether it was opening the seventh brain region through cultivation or opening it by using the body, since ancient times, many different races had been researching the mysterious seventh brain region. They had not all chosen the same paths, but the endpoint was always the seventh brain region.

As one of the rare warriors in the universe who had completely opened the seventh brain region, Xia Fei was extremely interested in legends with regard to the seventh brain region. Why did this mysterious region exist? It was a riddle that had plagued humanity for eons.

It now seemed that not just humanity was plagued by this riddle; other sapient lifeforms in the universe also had been concerned with it.

Xia Fei grabbed Daimu. He was so thin and small that Xia Fei could carry him like one would carry a small green monkey.

“Let’s go and see what’s so special about this flying ship of your ancestors.”

Daimu smiled and did not dare to speak. It was clear that Xia Fei was not some kindhearted soul. Someone who could pitilessly kill one hundred of the tribe’s strongest warriors could naturally kill him as well.

“Turn left up ahead, then go straight. At the end of a corridor is a door. Go through the door and continue walking straight, then take the stairs to the floor above…”

…

Xia Fei’s heart was madly thumping. This ancient warship gave him a very strange feeling. As he walked, he surveyed the structure of this ship and found many suspicious areas that left him feeling baffled.

A few moments later, Xia Fei arrived at the warship’s command center. This place was arranged very similarly to that of a human ship’s command deck. There was a chair for the captain at the very back and at the highest position, and in front was a row of seats for crew members to work. There was a radar, a firing system, and all the other systems one might expect to find. The only difference was that life preservation tank in the center of the command deck.

This tank was made of transparent glass, and there should have been a lot of organic solution within the tank, which some organisms could be immersed in, but there was no liquid in the tank now—only a black and shriveled object that looked like a carbonized ball cactus was sitting in the center of the tank, with many thin and transparent wires connected to it.

Xia Fei suddenly recalled a certain science fiction movie where a human brain was removed and soaked in formaldehyde, and those wires were connected to the nerves in the brain, allowing it to continue to work.

This tank appeared very similar to that sort of apparatus. If that ball-cactus-like object in the tank was really a brain, it definitely did not belong to a human, for it was simply too large, enough to contain several hundreds of human brains.

Xia Fei’s hand turned into a small knife. He carefully cut off a piece of that ball-cactus-like object and placed it under the magnification program of his microcomputer to observe.

This object had carbonized long ago, but through the high magnification system, it was still possible to see its cellular make-up.

“Daimu, this ship probably wasn’t made by the Tulons, was it? If my guess is correct, it should be an insectoid ship.”

Daimu was taken aback at first, and then he sighed. “Venerable Xia, your guess is correct. According to the records left by our ancestors, this ship was stolen from the insectoids because we, Tulons, don’t have the ability to produce warships.”

Xia Fei coldly chuckled. “This ship wasn’t simply produced. Its main body was modified from a giant insect! On our way here, it felt that we’re traveling through the body of a giant insect. While its various organs have shriveled up, you can still see what it is from the shape.”

Daimu replied, “You are correct. According to the records of our ancestors, to build an insectoid warship, an insect of enormous size is bred. This insect serves as a base, and the various bodily functions are removed, leaving behind only the brain. The brain is linked to various parts of the warship, allowing for two ways to control the warship. One method is to use machines and electronic links, and the other is to directly command the insect brain.

“The former requires numerous highly intelligent insectoids while the latter only requires the priest to communicate with the brain, telling it what it needs to do. The ship will automatically execute without any help.”

Xia Fei was stunned. This giant insect was shocking enough, and the level of biological science required was simply absurd!

To fuse together an insect and a warship required such formidable scientific ability that not even present-day humans could achieve it! Were the insects really more technologically advanced than humans?

Even more confusing was that the insectoid warships had seemingly given up on using giant insects as the basis for their ships, instead using ships of metallic alloy which were not much different from human ships. Biological warships like this had far greater advantages than any other kind of warship. If one had a fleet consisting entirely of these giant insects, one would require only a single commander to have complete control over the situation, all the ships moving in unison. After all, each ship had its mind that could think and could perfectly execute the fleet commander’s orders.

For the insectoids, who had a shortage of highly intelligent people, this was clearly much more effective than having many insectoids carrying out complex operations. Why had they given up on this ancient biological technology and fallen back to the level of human technology?

“Daimu, why is it that you seem much more intelligent than the other members of your tribe?” Xia Fei folded his arms and asked.

With a hint of fear on his face, Daimu replied in a small voice, “Once the chief of each tribe reaches adulthood, they can go to study in the ancestral ruins. There are many books there…”

Two lines of sweat appeared on his face, and his expression grew even more frantic.

“You should understand the consequence of lying,” Xia Fei coldly said. “You’re blind in both eyes, so how can you read books? Plus, I’ve carefully observed your tribe, and the Tulons don’t even have a written language! This lie is a bit too blatant!”

Daimu broke out in a sweat, and he was so nervous that he could hardly speak. The ancients said that those who spoke too much were bound to have a slip of the tongue. Daimu would often feel very excited when it came to his ancestors so he wanted nothing more than to divulge everything he knew about them, so he had left many flaws which could be exploited.

Xia Fei sternly said, “Wait for me here. I’m going down for a bit.”

Xia Fei pretended to walk out, and the sound of footsteps made Daimu tense up. He had already begun treating Xia Fei as the god of death, and he knew that Xia Fei was going to kill off all the members of his tribe.

“Venerable one!” Daimu got to his knees, his body shivering. “I’ll talk! I’ll tell you everything!”

Xia Fei smiled and seated himself on the captain’s chair. It was a very spacious chair that had clearly not been meant for humans.

“I’m listening; you can start.”

Daimu wiped the sweat off his forehead before beginning to speak. “Just as you said, the Tulons don’t have a written language. All of our knowledge is passed down by the Prime Cerebrum.”

“The Prime Cerebrum?”

“There were nine insectoid warships that accompanied the Tulons to this place. The brain of the largest ship is still alive. It told us our history and taught us the skills to live, but only the chief of each tribe has the right to enter the Prime Cerebrum’s room and listen to its teachings.”

Xia Fei jumped up from the chair and said in shock, “What did you say! A still-living insectoid cerebrum?”