138: Chapter 138 Operation Codename: Descending Resistance Operation

In the occlusion zone of the trial planet's synchronous orbit, twelve Leviathans floated, packed tightly together.

He then rubbed his forehead: "Things seem to have gotten a bit serious."

Twelve leviathan motherships.

Each one had an average length of ten thousand kilometers; combined, their volume was even greater than the trial planet itself. Now, these things had completely blockaded the entire planet's launch orbit.

Countless Mutalisks, Corrupting units, Void Rays, Devourers, and Corruptors were cruising about, sealing off all possible evacuation routes; their bellies were aimed at the surface, beginning preparations for an airdrop.

In this situation, holding onto the base that occupied nearly a quarter of the planet offered a better chance of survival than taking a shuttle into space.

Of course, that was assuming the Zerg didn't just glass the planet.

"Are we... being cornered like turtles in a jar?" Sai Wei's voice came from the other end of the channel, his tone laced with uncertainty.

"Yes, we are indeed cornered," Ansevier added calmly. "And we are the turtles."

As they spoke, the Zerg airdrop had already begun.

Hundreds of millions of Spore Pods ejected from the bellies of the Leviathans. Like a meteor shower, they trailed dark green biomass as they plummeted toward the planetary surface.

Each Spore Pod was the size of a small hill, its shell a translucent biomass membrane. Inside, one could vaguely make out curled-up Zerg units—Zergling, Drone, Roach, Hydralisk... Hmph, low-cost biological weapons, barely more expensive than the beams of energy cannons.

"I've made a rough estimate," Yimoku said, staring at the monitoring data, her eyes growing brighter. "Just this batch of Spore Pods landing and unfolding would cover the surface of the trial planet at least three layers deep. They're likely dropping more than one wave."

Chu Xinghe gasped: "That many? Can we even kill them all?"

"Even if we can't kill them all, we have to," Luo Lan's voice remained steady. "The good news is that they need time to descend and unfold from synchronous orbit; we still have a fairly long interception window."

"And the bad news?" Sai Wei asked.

"The bad news is that even if we intercept 99.9% of them, the remaining 0.1% is enough to bury us."

The channel fell into a brief silence.

Then Yimoku suddenly let out a "pfft" and laughed, her mouth even watering.

Everyone looked at her—the girl was staring at the monitoring screen, her mouth widening into a grin until she finally burst into laughter.

"A feast!" She rubbed her hands excitedly. "So many bugs! Think of how much Cultivation Acceleration Fluid we can exchange for! We won't have to worry about research funding for at least the next fifty years! Li Yuan! Chen Jingyi! After this wave is over, I'm going to build a specialized Essence Laboratory! I've even thought of the name!"

Chu Xinghe: "...Sister, we are in the middle of a war."

"So what if it's a war?" Yimoku retorted indignantly. "Does being at war mean we can't do research? Do you know how high the purity of spiritual energy contained in Zerg biomass is? Do you know how many years it would last in my lab at North Star if I refined all these things into energy fluid? Conservatively, a thousand years!"

She became more and more excited as she spoke, bringing up a design sketch: "I've already conceived it—Step one, vaporize the Zerg corpses with high-energy lasers; Step two, separate impurities using multiple energy filters; Step three, spiritual energy extraction and purification; Step four..."

"Stop, stop, stop!" Li Yuan hurriedly interrupted. "Senior Yimoku, let's deal with the bugs in front of us first before we consider how to eat them, okay?"

"Oh, right." Yimoku finally came to her senses and stuck out her tongue sheepishly. "So, what's the battle plan?"

Battle plan? There was no battle plan. The sky was densely packed with bugs; just fire all firepower upward.

Operation Code: Descent Resistance.

However, some basic division of labor was still necessary. Chen Jingyi and Chen Yao would continue to hold the center, responsible for base expansion, shield maintenance, and the production of drone armaments.

This was part of the job for those with the "Daoyan Military Nexus" talent, and Chen Yao would assist her, taking on the role of personal guard.

After all, the Daoyan Military Nexus had expanded exponentially by now, and Chen Yao no longer needed to assist with material mobilization; she just needed to use her talent to maximize defensive firepower and protect the core engineer—Chen Jingyi.

After all, in the time it took to say these few words, Chen Jingyi had already added another circle of automatic turrets to the base perimeter.

Chu Xinghe and Luo Lan were responsible for the aerial defense line.

"Everyone with flight combat capabilities, follow me!" Chu Xinghe shouted on the public channel.

About three hundred people emerged from various races, mainly those naturally capable of flight, such as the Light Giant Race, angels, and demons. The rest were humans with object-manipulation abilities or superb piloting skills.

Several academies had sent people, including sword cultivators from Kunlun Academy, who were piloting fighter jets while using Cyber Sword Control to manipulate a vast number of floating cannons; mages from Demon Star Academy, with magic manifestations fully deployed and their staves glowing with various colors; representatives of the Light Giant Race, flying with their own bodies, their skin glowing with a faint golden light; and several winged races, such as Harpies and Winged People, mid-tier races flapping their wings as they followed behind.

Luo Lan glanced at this motley "ragtag air force" and pushed up his glasses: "Captain Chu, this configuration of ours... isn't it a bit shabby?"

"Shabby? What do you mean shabby?" Chu Xinghe glared at him. "What are you thinking? In modern warfare, sentient beings only use their talents to handle core battlefield tasks. The main firepower output must rely on mindless intelligent combat weapons. Watch—"

Before he finished speaking, the base's hangar gates all opened.

Hundreds of millions of drones poured out like a swarm. These drones were the size of fighter jets and equipped with twin-linked plasma cannons and scattered beam arrays; they were low-cost, fast, and specifically designed to trade attrition with the Zerg.

The batch that followed was Chen Jingyi's new invention—"Floating Turrets."

These things had no propulsion systems and relied entirely on anti-gravity fields to hover, but each was equipped with four large rapid-fire ion cannons, with terrifyingly high firepower intensity. The main idea was to stack firepower through a three-dimensional structure within a limited space.

"How about now? Feel better, right?" Chu Xinghe raised an eyebrow triumphantly.

Luo Lan silently gave a thumbs up: "Pretend I didn't say anything."

The aerial formation quickly assigned tasks: Chu Xinghe would lead the main force to be responsible for frontal interception, Luo Lan would lead a mobile squad to flank and finish off enemies, and the drone swarms would be divided into three waves, taking turns to pour out firepower.

Li Yuan's side was responsible for the ground defense line—although the bugs hadn't landed yet, preparations had to be made in advance.

"Elia, you're in my group, responsible for the east side." Li Yuan began assigning tasks. "Sai Wei and Ansevier on the west side. Everyone from Kunlun Academy and Demon Star Academy, the north and south sides are up to you. Other races, form your own teams and disperse to all directions of the base—one squad for each direction. Handle your own numbers, just don't die."

A few chuckles came over the channel.

A young cultivator from Kunlun Academy, carrying a sword case on his back, cupped his hands: "Rest assured, Brother Li. Slaying demons and eliminating monsters is our duty."

The red-haired female mage from Demon Star Academy waved her staff: "They're just bugs. I'll just burn them all to ash with a fire."

"Alright, that's settled." Li Yuan clapped his hands. "Remember, as long as the shield holds, the Zerg can't get in. Our mission is to keep the enemy outside the shield and reduce the pressure on it—do you all understand?"

"Understood!"

Three minutes after the combat order was given, the first wave of Spore Pods entered interception range.

Chu Xinghe roared in the communication channel: "Fire!!"

The next second, the entire sky was lit up.

Hundreds of billions of plasma shells trailed light blue streaks, meeting the falling Spore Pods like raindrops falling in reverse.

Scattered beams wove into a net of death in the air; sparks flashed on all the Spore Pods that hit the net, and the continuously hitting beams gradually destroyed the shells of the Spore Pods, destroying them in mid-air.

The rapid-fire ion cannons poured out a barrage at a rate of tens of thousands of rounds per minute, covering every inch of airspace with pure quantity.

The effect... was actually quite beautiful.