Astral Cockroach

"Baba, who is that? Is that Bi, the Master of the Crossing Stars Dojo?"

"I don't know! He looks familiar. He should be... Did he cultivate the seventh level of the Soul-Seizing Secret Art? He's become neither human nor ghost..."

"He's not dead yet?"

"I don't know!"

"How many years have passed exactly?"

"There's chaotic energy field interference. I don't know! Based on the material element decay of the dojo ruins, some show 10,000 years have passed, some show 1 million years, and some even exceed 400 million years..."

10,000 years and 400 million years are completely different scales of time. Baba couldn't calculate the specific time the ruins were buried.

"Can a Dominator Realm exist for 10,000 years?"

"Definitely."

"What about 1 million years?"

"Definitely not."

400 million years was even more impossible.

Banbu suddenly stopped his frantic running and walked forward slowly.

The 3.5-kilometer passage wasn't far, and he was about to reach the building at the entrance of the ruins.

"Baba, you run ahead. I'll go back and take another look."

"That's the forbidden ground of human inheritance! He'll kill you!"

"Judging by his tone, the hostility isn't particularly obvious. He even seems to recognize me, and... he said, 'God Race'?"

"He's referring to you..." Baba fell into thought and said, "Awakening from a dormant state of suspended animation, the divine sense emotions displayed as the first reaction shouldn't be fake. He recognizes the insect race currently residing on the Earth's surface, and even seems to recognize the beast races, and he didn't show hatred or hostility."

Banbu moved his antennae in agreement and said, "If Earth Mother was seized, his reaction shouldn't be like this."

"If Earth wasn't seized..." Baba analyzed, "Then it means that humans also encountered the same crisis and had to cooperate with the insect race."

Banbu said, "Humans are most repulsed by other races and never compromise. It must be an irresistible, race-exterminating crisis."

Baba asked doubtfully, "Then what is it?"

"Baba, you leave first. I want to go back and take a look."

"Banbu, should I go with you? I'm an electronic lifeform, and he's seen me before. Philin even asked him for guidance on martial arts..."

"That's right! Baba, you're quite familiar with him. Why don't you go scout ahead?"

"..." Baba's logical reaction was quick, and she immediately realized that Banbu was subtly trying to trick her into going to investigate. She said unhappily, "You should go yourself."

Banbu said, "Baba, you go take a look and see what the situation is... It seems like he's not chasing after us?"

"I'm not going!"

"You're an electronic lifeform, and he recognizes you. He shouldn't hurt you."

"You're not going yourself?"

"I'm not a human anymore. He's a Dominator Realm! What if he gives me a sword strike..."

"A sword strike to kill you!"

Baba was annoyed, but what Banbu said made sense. The preliminary judgment was that the martial artist was Bi, the Master of the Crossing Stars Dojo, whom she had met before, so the possibility of him harming her, an electronic lifeform, was very low.

She flew along the passage and disappeared.

In less than two minutes, Baba turned back.

"Baba, how is it?"

"Dead... dead..."

"What?!"

Banbu doubted he had heard correctly.

Or that Baba had seen wrongly.

"Baba, your tachyon waves and photosensitive detectors aren't malfunctioning, are they?"

"No." Baba said solemnly, "He wanted to go out, but he collapsed at the door... He's no longer human. He transformed himself into a Primal Energy cyborg... I don't know why, but he suddenly died. Go see for yourself."

"Primal Energy cyborg?"

"The primal force genes of martial artists can't be replicated. What happens to soldiers who lose arms or legs in war?"

"Mechanical prosthetics."

"What if everything in the body is replaced, leaving only the brain and the primal force core?"

"There's such technology? There's such a person? That can't be considered a human anymore, right?"

"His transformation was even more thorough. He doesn't even have a brain. Only the primal force core remains, and everything else is replaced by machinery."

"What about the brain?"

"Some kind of bionic electronic material replaced it, and a special soul resided within it in slumber, so he survived the long years."

"Then how did he die? Could it be..."

"The newly awakened soul suddenly dissipated. Humans have experimented with this transformation technology, but it hasn't been tried on Dominator Realm experts. Perhaps there were flaws in the design somewhere."

Banbu, who was uneasy and full of doubts, wanting to obtain answers from Master Bi, never expected that the other party would just... die!

It wasn't an accident!

This was a silencing! (Killing to shut someone up)

Banbu thought, feeling a chill run down his spine: Behind this, the so-called "Insect God" must be manipulating things, including his own rebirth as an insect warrior.

Carefully recalling Master Bi's words when he awakened: Damn little insect! You've trespassed into the forbidden ground of human inheritance! This isn't a place you should come to...

How could there still be earthquakes on the Earth Mother Star, which had been deeply modified by humans?

And after the Insect God's superficial modification, how could the earth crack and form a canyon?

How could the primal force system of the Crossing Stars Dojo just happen to have a slight malfunction, leaking primal force outwards?

It was certain that the human experts and the Insect God had reached a temporary cooperation agreement in the face of the crisis. Then, the Insect God secretly took action.

What was the purpose?

"Banbu. Baba."

"What's that? Is that the Dojo Master of a Dominator Realm dojo? Is it dangerous?"

Rat Overlord, Baizhu, and Xiaobaizhu followed closely behind again.

Banbu shook his antennae vigorously and asked, "Baba, what do you think?"

Baba said, "It's suspicious."

Baizhu asked, "What's suspicious?"

Baba said, "Go back and take a look."

Banbu followed, saying, "Go back and take a look."

...

The door was opened just enough for one person to pass through.

The "corpse" was lying in front of the door.

Two small legs were still on the steps in front of the door.

Looking at it, it seemed as if he had accidentally fallen while going down the steps and died.

At the head position, wisps of gray-black smoke rose, which was the collapse and dissipation of the soul of a Dominator Realm.

The shocking threat and terrifying aura made Banbu feel uncomfortable all over.

Looking back, Rat Overlord and Baizhu stopped 30 meters away, trembling all over, barely able to stand against the stone wall.

He was indeed dead.

The soul had collapsed, completely dead.

Banbu's thoughts turned, and his metal ability activated, manipulating the corpse on the ground to turn over, facing upwards.

The power of the soul was leaking outwards from the corners of the eyes, which was probably the only gap all over his body.

Shua!

Banbu opened his mouth and spat out flames, burning the soul power in the air.

It was effective.

The soul pressure weakened by more than half.

"Baba, you check carefully and see how he died?"

"Idiot, Rat Overlord, you two retreat a little." Baba called out a reminder and said to Banbu, "The outer armor is made of Silver Edge material. With your current strength, it's impossible to forcibly destroy it. There's a built-in mechanism button on the lower back."

Banbu didn't say much, and his metal ability activated, turning the corpse over again, and his antennae rested on the lower back position, sensing carefully.

He quickly found the built-in mechanism button that Baba mentioned.

Kacha!

With a crisp sound of a spring, the armor, which originally had no gaps, popped open one by one from the head.

Black mist filled the air.

Soul power exploded.

Shua!

The flame ability continued to be released and burned, destroying all the black smoke.

Banbu's metal ability moved again, and the armor was stripped away, revealing the internal structure.

Sure enough, the whole body was made of high-strength metal materials, and even the brain was completely replaced by some kind of bionic material.

Baba approached and began to check the bionic brain first.

Suddenly, a burst of primal force exploded, and then, a massive tsunami of primal force spread outwards.

"Eh!"

Banbu exclaimed.

At the abdominal position of the "corpse", a muddy yellow liquid slowly flowed outwards.

It looked familiar.

The aura was also very familiar.

Just as Banbu was wondering, Baba also exclaimed, "Banbu, your flame... the life core of the Dominator Realm human martial artist, has been melted by you again."