Dimensional Codex System: I'm really not a cultist!

Chapter 435: Chapter 434: Actually, Monster Girls are Quite Popular

Having seen these Cursed Children with his own eyes, Fang Zheng finally understood why Mibu Asaka said these Cursed Children preferred to be with the Zerg rather than with other members of their kind.

Previously, the Cursed Children who had undergone genetic adjustment by Fang Zheng mostly hadn’t exceeded a Corruption Level of fifty percent, so their structure was relatively easier to adjust. However, those received by the Heavenly Dao Palace thereafter included a great number whose Corruption Level was on the brink of exceeding fifty percent—such Cursed Children inevitably needed the most urgent care.

Of course, given the biotechnology of the Zerg, an Intestinal Virus was hardly of concern to them; even if the Corruption Level exceeded fifty percent, as long as the Cursed Children still retained their sanity, they could still be saved. However, a problem arose from this: due to the Cursed Children’s excessively high Corruption Level, their human genes had become damaged and needed to be repaired by inserting Zerg genes. While this process wasn’t fundamentally different from what Natsuse and Midori had undergone, there was a substantial difference in scale.

This also resulted in their external appearances becoming more abnormal, with many even exhibiting Zerg traits.

”Lord Fang Zheng...!”

Seeing Fang Zheng, the Cursed Children appeared somewhat nervous. Fang Zheng even saw a few girls secretly hiding, only peeking out to watch him anxiously from a distance. Of course, he understood their attitude; generally speaking, if Cursed Children grew naturally, they wouldn’t have a Corruption Level exceeding fifty percent even when over ten years old. Generally, there were only two possibilities for such a high Corruption Level.

One was that they had undergone particularly intense battles and relied too heavily on their powers, causing the Intestinal Virus infection to expand.

The other was that they had endured severe injuries necessitating a larger scale of the Intestinal Virus to repair the body, thereby increasing their Corruption Level.

The latter evidently comprised the majority. This also meant these children with high Corruption Levels had all suffered brutal mistreatment.

Because of this, their wariness towards others was deeper than that of other children.

”Hello.”

Looking at the children before him, Fang Zheng smiled and nodded at them. The physical forms of these children had already changed significantly compared to other Cursed Children. For instance, he noticed an eight-year-old girl whose lower half was not of human limbs but resembled those of a Hydralisk. A few of the girls had wings that perhaps due to mutations appeared more akin to those of Flying Dragons rather than their original forms.

How to put it... it felt somewhat like the Zerg anthropomorphization...

No wonder they felt more comfortable being with the Zerg.

For these Cursed Children, who had endured human maltreatment and whose bodies had been significantly altered, it was not so surprising that they would feel more secure with the Zerg rather than humans.

”Master.”

At that time, Mirune also arrived in front of Fang Zheng.

”What are your orders?”

”Let me introduce them.”

Fang Zheng knew the Swarm disliked complications, so he directly called Iona and Musashi over.

”These are the flagships of my newly established fleet, Iona and Musashi. They will command the fleet and collaborate with the Swarm in future operations.”

”I understand.”

Mirune nodded, then turned her gaze to Iona and Musashi, who were curiously surveying the various Zerg troops around them— for the mechanized Sea Mist, this pure biological civilization of the Zerg was indeed a completely new sensation.

”By the way, Mirune, how are those children doing here?”

After letting the Mind Models interact with the Zerg, Fang Zheng once again looked towards Mirune, inquiring about this concern of his. After all, in his memory, the Zerg weren’t known for their caretaking or their roles as competent therapists. If Mirune treated these children as expendable like worker drones, that would be a headache for him.

”These Parasites?”

Hearing Fang Zheng’s question, Mirune glanced at the Cursed Children nearby.

”Their individual strength is exceptionally weak, lacking combat experience and of no value on the battlefield. However, their unique ideas have a certain impact on the maintenance and improvement of the Zerg genes, and they are currently under observation.”

Mirune was very straightforward in her way of speaking; to the Swarm, there were only two categories of worth: ”useful” and ”useless.” In her view, the Cursed Children were currently just barely the former, but who knew when they might be categorized as the latter. However, since Fang Zheng valued these Cursed Children so much, Mirune naturally wouldn’t choose to dispose of them—although removing them from the Swarm’s ranks was another matter entirely.

After all, for the Swarm, useless waste must be eliminated.

”Fang, Lord Fang Zheng...”

Just as Fang Zheng and Mirune had finished conversing and were about to leave, he saw the girl with the lower body of a Hydralisk he had seen earlier standing not far away. Her face was flushed, appearing somewhat awkward and nervous, as she looked up at Fang Zheng and then turned away. Following her gaze, Fang Zheng could see that in the back, many of the Cursed Children transformed into Alien Insects were quietly hiding there, some even giving her a thumbs-up gesture. Watching her companions’ actions, the Hydralisk girl hesitated for a moment before steeling herself and approaching Fang Zheng.

”Um, Lord Fang Zheng! I—I’m called Kona, and—I—I’m here on behalf of my sisters to thank you, thank you for saving us!”

While speaking, the girl lowered her head and earnestly bowed to Fang Zheng, who somewhat embarrassingly waved his hand and smiled.

”Don’t mention it, I merely did a little help, but... how are you coping now with these changes?”

”At first, it was really hard, but gradually, everyone has gotten used to it...”

”Is that so.”

Hearing the girl’s response, Fang Zheng nodded his head and reached out to pat the young girl’s head.

”I can understand your feelings, but I want to tell you that you don’t need to think too much about it, in fact, I should be the one apologizing; if only I could have done something better here...”

”That’s not true!”

But before Fang Zheng could finish speaking, the girl vehemently shook her head, interrupting him. She clenched her hands tightly, her eyes wide as she stared at Fang Zheng.

”Many among us had actually given up on continuing to live, including myself... Lord Fang Zheng, you might not know, but when I heard that the Heavenly Dao Palace was taking in Cursed Children, I was more regretful and sad because, by that time, my Corruption Level had already reached forty-nine percent... Honestly, I was very resentful. If my Corruption Level had been lower, or if I had learned about the Heavenly Dao Palace sooner, there might have been hope. But just when I had given up hope and was ready to accept my fate of turning into one of those terrible creatures, hope suddenly appeared before me, and I didn’t even have the strength to grasp it...”

At this point, the girl’s expression turned somewhat gloomy. Despair wasn’t terrifying; what was terrifying was having given up hope, only to be surprised to find hope within reach, yet not having the strength to grasp it—nothing was more cruel than this.

”Even so... I’ve survived...”

The girl extended her hand, pressing it against her chest.

”For me, this is a second life; no matter what I become, I will cherish it...”

”Is that so...”

Hearing the girl’s answer, Fang Zheng was relieved. It seemed these children weren’t distressed by their transformations into grotesque forms, at least for now—that was enough.

However...

”You shouldn’t worry too much about these things.”

While saying this, Fang Zheng patted her head again.

”Just to let you know, in the future there will still be many people sheltered here, and some might have forms similar to yours now, so you don’t need to belittle yourselves and, moreover... I think your current form is very cute too.”

”Really?”

”Of course.”

Faced with the girl’s excited question, Fang Zheng smiled and gave a thumbs up.

”After all, Monster Girls also have their charm points.”