Ultragene Warlord

here for a day and won a single battle.
Would that be enough to prompt such rapid evolution? ”

A rapid evolution had been reported as an emergency measure taken by the bugs in times of crisis.
If they were about to suffer defeat, they would pool all their resources together to create a few particularly strong superbugs to counter a force that would otherwise have annihilated the entire invasion force.

Zhou Ying shrugged.
”We killed two five-star bugs and even a six-star bug.
I expect that the bugs have re-evaluated the danger of this planet and are taking measures accordingly. ”

Each race had a path toward strength.
These space bugs, who were invaders that were a blight on the universe, naturally had one of the best such paths: evolution.

Unlike genetic lifeforms, these space bugs only needed to consume enough matter from other lifeforms and accumulate strength within their body.
Once that strength exceeded a certain threshold, evolution would occur.
In other words, they were basically stealing the best genes from the creatures they devoured, and were, in some sense, similar to the hunters of the Milky Way.

The difference was that the bugs were able to manifest the physical characteristics of the prey they devoured.
For instance, if they were to hunt down a pack of scorpions, they would be able to grow a poisonous stinger from their backs.
If they were to consume a flock of birds, their bones would grow lighter, and they could develop wings.
After hunting down a variety of prey, these bugs would essentially turn into chimeras.

If not for the fact that they would have to reach higher and higher energy thresholds to evolve, these bugs could grow stronger indefinitely—and that limitation was essentially immaterial.
Their frightening digestive systems meant that they were able to replenish their energy by consuming just about anything.

Even more astonishingly, the bugs essentially had a telepathic network and evolution database set up.
When a given bug evolved into a two-star bug, its genes and evolution would be documented and uploaded into the database, which could subsequently be downloaded and emulated at will by other bugs in the vicinity.

As a result, the appearance of a two-star bug frequently heralded a huge swarm of them.

The only restriction to this sort of unbridled growth was the need for energy.
This was why these space bugs invaded every planet they could come across.

In some sense, they were like players in a game.
The mobs they hunted down were converted into experience and equipment, and once they reached certain level thresholds, they could evolve.
Some of these players would post walkthroughs and strategy guides on the relevant game forums to be copied by others, thereby producing a huge wave of high-leveled players.

Zhou Ying explained, ”I ’ve just read a report that analyzed the conditions under which these bugs can evolve.
Allegedly, these bugs have a highly developed system for predicting danger.
There were quite a few case studies documented in the report of such evolution occurring more frequently than expected, not just when their opponents were too strong for them. ”

This sort of evolution was a response against danger.
When the bugs were forced to confront a strong foe, they would consolidate their strength in just a few superbugs.

The lower-tier bugs would willingly give up their bodies as nutrition and energy for higher-tier bugs, who were then able to choose the best evolutionary outcome from the database that they had compiled.

Subsequently, a mass evolution would occur.

”If a given planet ’s strength is far higher than the bugs had originally predicted or could account for, they will also evolve in order to take care of such threats. ”

The members of Team Zenith were listening to Zhou Ying attentively.

Zhang Lie summarized, ”Our appearance on Mars has catalyzed these bugs ’ growth, then. ”