By the time Renault and his party returned to the spot where the first shuttle had been found, the sun had already set and night had fallen.

"Commander, we have 50 of us now, and we can last a few more days with food and fresh water," Cam reported to him

"In other words, in a few days, if we can't find a way out, we'll have to wait to die in this place full of insects?"

"I think so, sir"

"Any other good news?" Renault asked casually

"We have plenty of tools, and luckily, the ship's power plant is well preserved, and if we fix the damage, it will..."

"I know, it's going to be able to take off again, but," Renault interrupted Cam, "but you know, man, it's a small shuttle that can make short space jumps, but, I saw the star map when I came, you know?" ”

"Understood... The most recent one is a 5-day voyage... ”

Renaud patted the other man on the shoulder, he didn't want to discourage him, especially in this almost desperate environment, "I didn't say that your idea is not advisable, tomorrow morning I will take someone to search the nearby place, if we can find food and energy, then, we can escape from this hellish place"

Early the next morning, Renault slapped his cheek, which was sleepy due to the vigil, and refused the food brought by the team, but only took a sip of water.

"Guys, we need to search for drinkable water, food, and energy nearby, and work in groups of two, in an umbrella shape, no more than 50 meters apart, and get to work."

He began to pick his crew, and soon he picked a young man who looked more clever and a young man who was more cheerful, and the latter, who was down-to-earth, and he was happy with the combination.

"Let's start nearby, you are no more than 10 meters away from me, march with me, just remember two points, dangerous and useful, all marked out, ok?" After receiving an affirmative reply from the other party, they set off.

Along the way, there were no surprises at all, and the mood of the team members was generally not high, and they were always in a state of nervousness, which can be seen from the shouting in the communication channel. But Renault didn't reprimand them, in fact the responsibility was on him, he had to leave safely with the rest of the people, otherwise, he would feel guilty for the rest of his life.

Renault looked around blankly, there was nothing but bare rocks and caves, and volcanoes all over the place, would they really make it to the time when the Hyperion reconnected with them?

"Sir, we found a crystal mine, large in quantity, and not infected by insects, but..."

A message disturbed Renault's thoughts, and he wished that there would be more such good news, "But what? ”

"But it's near a volcano about to erupt, and we're not sure if the lava will reach here."

"Wait, I'll go over right away, now, report your whereabouts?"

"42, 31, sir"

Ten minutes later, Renault arrived at the crystal mine they had discovered, an unusually rich deposit with a slightly fiery red sheen that was unusually beautiful in the sunlight.

"Looks like Cam will be happy, we found the crystal mine, but guys, we still need to find fresh water and food, I don't want to end up hunting bugs to eat"

The thought of eating the flesh of the worm made them shudder, and some even retched and glared at their commander.

Renault smiled wryly, God was pitiful, he just wanted to make a joke and liven up the atmosphere, but he didn't expect it to have the opposite effect.

Just as he was about to continue, a shadow interrupted him, Char should not have a cloud of so-called, then, he looked up, and unsurprisingly saw a ship that he did not know whether to call it a work of art or a weapon. It had butterfly-like wings, surrounded by a golden coil that radiated a pale blue glow, and gradually, it hovered not far from here, the whole hull of the ship stood upright and began to rotate, its wings spread out into a fan, and a curtain of light began to be projected underneath it. Renault subconsciously covered his eyes, but when he noticed that it was not so strong and continued to look over, a group of 10 Protos had already appeared below it.

He told his team to hide, and he climbed under a natural bunker rock to get a closer look. They were dressed in golden armor with a faint glow of energy on them. The leader of the Protos, whom he recognized, seemed to be called Tassadar, and they had a brief exchange of words on the planet Antiga, and he introduced himself like this.

Thinking of this, Renault's irrepressible anger rose up, that is, they destroyed their few spaceships, and they were always so ghostly.

But he didn't have a chance to think about it anymore, because the other party had already discovered his existence.

"Come here," Tassadar shouted at him, who realized that there were humans hiding here.

Renaud knew that he could no longer hide, so he stood up and walked in the direction of the Protos, he felt that the other party had been watching him beforehand, and the Protos around him were on guard, guarding against him. He suddenly felt a burst of amusement, he looked at Tassadar, the other party as if he was born to be a leader, firmly attracted his gaze, he exuded a charming charm.

The other party sensed his slightly hot gaze, but there was no hint of anger

"James Renault" Tassadar remembered that he had been in contact with him when he was in Antiga and talking to the opposing flagship, "You are one of the men of Mengsk who is at war with us?" He blinked, "Look at the current result, aren't you all together?" ”

"Yes," Renault remembered why he had left Monsk, which made his already not so good mood worse.

"I left his team after the battle between Tasanis and you, and he set himself on fire by doing so."

Tassadar was not surprised by this answer, although the contact was relatively short, but through the perception of psionic energy, he could clearly feel the kindness and fearlessness of the other party, and this kind of person disdained to lie. So he nodded and smiled, as if some psychological burden had been lifted for Renault.

But then, Renault asked a little impatiently, "Why did you attack my ships, and you destroyed them all?" ”

"Are those your ships? In fact, they were all infected with alien worms."

"And you're going to destroy them? They can also save" Renault is a little powerless

"No, my friend, after my scanning, they are indeed overrun by insects, and there are no human features," Tassadar explained, "You feel angry and lost, but that's not our responsibility."

"But those are my people!" Renault shouted angrily

"Their deaths were caused by insects, and we were forced to act"

"They did invade, but, but my men are fighting with them and I can save them"

Tassadar didn't speak, he just looked at Renault with pity, waiting for his emotions to calm down.

"A simple death is much better than turning into a worm in helplessness!"

This sentence hit Renault completely, and he froze. The figure of Kerrigan inexorably appeared in his mind, which was his eternal sore spot, and now, accompanied by an unusually fierce word from the other party, it seemed to have been stabbed in his heart.

Renault fell a little unbearably and held the ground with one hand, yes, he couldn't blame the Protos for doing it, everything was caused by his insistence on bringing his people here.

Tassadar looked at the other party a little unbearably, "It's not our responsibility, but we, the firstborn sons of God, want to clear these hidden dangers, I can't let her affect my people." He turned to his troops, "Now, search for the Queen of Blades," he commanded.

"You know her?" Renault was surprised

"Of course, the psionic energy fluctuations she just emitted can be felt throughout the star, and her screams remind us of the birth of a terrifying creature, and I can't let it go."

"Templars, get moving, find her and her troops, but avoid head-to-head combat, and report to me..."

"You're not here to fight her?" Renault was even more surprised

"She's just a threat, I need to observe before I can come to a conclusion"

"I can tell you that she is the messenger of hell"

Renaud left, and he didn't think the other party had time to continue chatting with him. He had to remind his team not to start a conflict with the other side, and that was never a wise choice.

"Attention units, I'm Renault" he turned on the all-channel communication, "The Protos have landed, but they are not coming for us, please exercise restraint and do not have unnecessary conflicts"

"Understood, sir" Obviously, although not a smart person survived, no one was a fool. Some of the team members had already seen these creatures that looked like big ants, and the other party ignored them.

But there is a strange phenomenon, no one has found any insects, they seem to have disappeared out of thin air, at least, not on the surface.

Renault thought that he needed to do something, he tentatively closed his eyes, but found that he couldn't enter the dream, and this time it was okay, and the other party left on his own.

He raised his head, looked at the gray sky, and then saw the ship of the Protos tribe, he got up and looked in the direction where he had just stood, and sure enough, Tassadar had already left.

Renault looked around and noticed that the other party was pacing back and forth on another hill, and he realized that he had to follow the other party, so he didn't admit that he simply wanted to see the scene of his meeting with Kerrigan.

Tassadar was aware of the other party's arrival, but he didn't care. In fact, the other party was not a threat, and even the worst Templar could kill him the second moment the other man raised his gun. He didn't care about Renault's following, perhaps, the other party just wanted to see the former human Queen of Blades.

He took Renault back and forth through several valleys, and Renault gradually couldn't keep up, and he and his team hadn't had a serious rest for a long time. Tassadar was considerate and stopped, then gathered his men and began to discuss the next steps.

"Executive, we have explored the surrounding area, and we have found no trace of worm nests, they seem to have disappeared out of thin air."

"No, I'm pretty sure, they're still on this planet, they're not weaker than mine, and she may have somehow isolated our senses," Tassadar said with certainty

"But in this case...

Renault was surprised to find that he could understand their conversation, and he realized that Tassadar must have done something. He was grateful for the other party's thorough approach.

Suddenly, they stopped talking, as Tassadar seemed to sense something. He walked over a small hill and looked towards the crater not far away, and the traces of insects began to appear, and the fungus was still visible to him, even if it was well hidden.

"This is it..."

Interestingly, Renault thought, he closed his eyes, and this time, he managed to enter Kerrigan's consciousness.

"Brain worms, the star spirits are on this planet, we must kill them"

"No, they are our old enemies, very powerful, and we should hide them as much as possible," Zasz stressed

"I'm going to kill them," Kerrigan said, "I don't think they're going to cause me any kind of trouble"

After saying that, she jumped up directly regardless of it and came to the ground on the periphery of the crater. She stroked Renault's face, "Jimmy, it's time to get up" Renault successfully opened his eyes and looked at her with fascination.

She winked at him quickly, then looked at Tassadar, "Commander Astral, you are not welcome here, you will pay for your stupidity" She spread her wings and flew through the air, "I'm Kerrigan, I'm ... ”

"I know exactly who you are, Queen of the Blades of the Worms," Tassadar interrupted her, "I remember you as the hero who fought against the Worms, but unfortunately, you who were once so glorious have fallen into this form."

"Put away your ridiculous face, and don't try to judge me by your opinion," Kerrigan became agitated, "I am happier than ever, stronger than ever, and you will find that there is no way to resist in front of me!" ”

Tassadar knew that she was right, it wasn't that he was weaker, but that the other party had become stronger, "Perhaps, Queen, or, when have you seen my full strength?" ”

Renault was a little incredulous after that, yes, the dignified Templar, the leader of the astral spirits, actually escaped. When the Queen of Blades and Renault thought that Tassadar was going to make a big move, the Star Spirits collectively jumped back, and they didn't exchange a word, as if they had a tacit understanding, and it took less than a few seconds from the beginning to the time they disappeared in front of their eyes.

Kerry trembled with anger, "Shameful, stupid star spirits, you have succeeded in causing my wrath, and I will punish you with destruction!" ”