Queen Mother had already completely burrowed underground by this time, leaving only a stump-like object on the surface—that was the entrance and exit specially left for me. I casually placed the prey on the ground and, unable to wait any longer, crawled down, eager to see what the inside of Queen Mother had become.

About ten meters underground, the first thing I saw was Queen Mother's control room, a spacious circular hall of about two hundred square meters. Aside from a huge control platform in the center, large enough to serve as a bed, the control room was surrounded by bio-screens formed from a crystallized biological cell structure.

Lifeboat 15 was parked right next to the main control console. In a voice that made me want to kick it, it reported to me: “Queen Mother has completed its evolution and become a standard underground base. Currently, Queen Mother has 3,185 energy points, and the speed of producing bio-beasts is greatly restricted. Queen Mother's standard energy capacity is only 5,000 points. After evolving and creating the Tibetan mastiff and the beverage cow, 38% has already been consumed. If there is no further energy absorption to replenish the consumption, it will soon fall into hibernation.”

“So what should I do to let Queen Mother replenish its energy?”

“You have three options! First: Queen Mother can simulate the appearance of this planet’s plants from its main body, growing tendrils that can absorb the maximum amount of solar energy. Or, it can invade and modify surface plants to improve the efficiency of solar energy absorption. Third…”

“Which method absorbs energy the fastest?” I interrupted Lifeboat 15's nonsense and asked directly.

“The first one!”

“Then stop talking and start evolving according to the first method.”

I gave Queen Mother a new command, and seven hours later, a plant resembling a broad-leaved poplar had grown on the surface—that was Queen Mother's solar energy-absorbing tendril. However, creating this solar energy-absorbing tendril cost Queen Mother nearly eighty energy points. As the tendril’s branches and leaves spread, Queen Mother's energy finally stopped decreasing and began to slowly rise.

Chapter Five: Bomb Worker Bees

I left the Queen Mother, which was busy absorbing energy, and returned to the surface. I cut the native beast from this planet into small pieces, skewered the chunks of unknown meat with branches, and made some nameless kebabs. Then, using the most primitive stone-striking technique, I managed to make some sparks, set up a campfire, and slowly prepared something to fill my stomach.

It was only at this moment that I began to think for the first time about what I would do in the future.

There were many tempting things in Queen Mother's database. Queen Mother's ultimate evolutionary form could even become the kind of scientific research vessel that aliens use for exploration. If I had a spaceship, returning to Earth would no longer be a dream. However, the level required for a spaceship was too high, and I didn’t know if I would ever see Queen Mother evolve to that stage in my lifetime.

“Maybe I’ll have to spend my whole life on this strange planet!”

The beverage cow automatically walked over and sprayed a full cup of cola into a cup made from leaves in my hand. I took a big gulp. The drink, which I had set to be ice-cold, was refreshingly cool and tingled my mouth. But this also made me realize a mistake.

“Damn, I actually forgot to set up a beer option when I was configuring things. I’ll have to order Queen Mother to produce a beer cow next time!”

The sunset was beautiful, but I was lonely! The food was terrible, because there was no salt!

When I returned to Queen Mother's control room in a rather desolate mood, Queen Mother's energy had already reached 3,209 points. During the sunlit daytime, a single energy-absorbing tendril could absorb nearly 150 energy points per hour. To speed up Queen Mother's evolution, I ordered it to produce as many of these tendrils as possible to accelerate energy storage.

However, at night, the star illuminating the planet had moved to the other side, and Queen Mother's energy absorption had greatly diminished. Now, the progress bar for energy replenishment was moving extremely slowly.

The screens around the control room were in black-out mode to save energy, but a small screen on the control console was displaying Queen Mother's information.

As an underground base, Queen Mother now had four levels of compartments. Besides the main control room on the top level, below were six bio-beast incubation rooms. The third level was eight troop storage rooms. To save energy, Queen Mother could also issue commands for the hatched bio-beasts to enter a dormant state, reverting to bio-spores stored in the troop storage rooms. As long as energy was injected, these bio-spores could immediately revive, saving the time needed for construction.

The fourth level was Queen Mother's energy storage room, which could be temporarily converted into a thruster for emergency takeoff and escape in a crisis. However, that function required Queen Mother to reach level forty or above, which was out of the question for now.

Currently, a Tibetan mastiff was being produced in the incubation room, but due to limited energy, the production speed was only 14% of normal. I casually changed the target in one of the incubation rooms to a beer cow. Then I gave another command, instructing Lifeboat 15 to transfer all its stored data into Queen Mother's storage cells.