145: Chapter 145 Supporting the Primarch's Battle

On the ground, inside the North Star Base command center.

Chen Jingyi sat before the main control console, her usually expressionless face showing a rare hint of solemnity. Dozens of holographic screens in front of her were frantically refreshing data; on one of them, the light representing that Demon Bat-Winged Progenitor had just flickered out.

"Attention all units," her voice broadcast to all participants through the battlefield communication channel, "A large number of high-tier Zerg units have appeared in suborbital space, identified as a combination of Zerg Queens and Tyranid Warriors. The Gene Progenitor cluster has sustained casualties. Repeat, the Gene Progenitor cluster has sustained casualties."

The data stream scrolled before her eyes: "Confirmed kills: The number of fallen Gene Progenitors has risen to 237. Enemy losses: Approximately 700 Tyranid Warriors, Queens... zero."

"Zero?!" Chu Xinghe's voice exploded in the air combat channel. "They killed over two hundred Progenitors and not a single Queen died? These bugs are that tough?"

"It's not that they're tough," Luo Lan analyzed calmly, "it's tactical coordination. The Queens stay within the protection circle of the Tyranid Warriors at all times, responsible only for critical output. The ones actually taking damage and engaging in dogfights are all Tyranid Warriors—exchanging seven hundred semi-intelligent high-tier Zerg for over two hundred Rank 4 and 5 Progenitors... from an exchange ratio perspective, the Zerg are winning."

"We're in trouble!" Chu Xinghe cursed, but his hands didn't stop, continuing to command the drone swarms to intercept the spore pods. "The Progenitors on my end are all rushing toward orbital space; the interception efficiency against spores has dropped by at least 40%! If this continues, the spores are actually going to land!"

As if to prove his point, on the radar map, the density of red dots representing descending spore pods began to rise significantly. Although most were still intercepted by drones and ground fire, the number of those slipping through the net was growing geometrically.

The spore pods slammed into the surface, ruptured, and deployed.

Zerglings shook off mucus, Drones unfurled their membranous wings, and Roaches raised their scythe-claws—and then they slammed into the base shield.

The constant 'thud-thud-thud' of impacts was incessant, like heavy rain drumming against a window. Dense ripples spread across the shield's surface, and the energy readings began a slow but steady decline.

"Remaining shield energy 94.3%... 94.29%... 94.28%..." The monitoring officer's report sounded every ten seconds.

Although the rate of decline wasn't fast, this was only the beginning.

"Attention all trial students," Li Yuan ordered over the command channel, "Spores have begun to land. Prepare to engage the enemy. Remember, as long as the shield doesn't break, the Zerg can't get in—but our mission is to clear them out outside the shield to reduce the pressure on it. Is that understood?"

Sparse responses came through the channel: "Understood." "Roger." "Got it."

Their tones were quite relaxed—after all, only a scattering of Zerglings and Drones were landing now. To this group of trialists, who were at least Rank 3, it was like stepping on ants.

But Li Yuan knew this was just the light drizzle before the storm.

He looked up at the sky. Through the pale blue shield, he could see the fierce battle raging in the higher suborbital space. The light effects of the Gene Progenitors' skills flickered one after another, but they were noticeably less dense than before. Meanwhile, the black dots representing the Queens and Tyranid Warriors were eating away at the Progenitor cluster at a steady pace.

"This can't go on." Li Yuan frowned. "If the Progenitors are wiped out, we're next."

"Then what should we do?" Sai Wei asked in the channel. "Should we go up and help?"

"Help my foot," Chu Xinghe said irritably. "The few of us going up wouldn't even be enough to fill the gaps between a Queen's teeth."

"Well, we can't just sit here and watch, can we?"

Silence fell over the channel for a few seconds.

Then Luo Lan's voice rang out: "I'll take the drones up to provide a wave of support."

"You?" Chu Xinghe was stunned. "Can you handle it?"

"I'll give it a shot." Luo Lan's tone sounded quite relaxed. "Anyway, I have the 'Heavenly Drive' talent; I have the predictive ability of bullet time. If I can't win, I can always escape. Besides—"

He paused, a hint of a smile in his voice: "I'm flying a fighter jet, not going in with my bare body."

Before his voice had even faded, an aerospace fighter with a streamlined shape, silver-gray paint, and a wingspan of over thirty meters emerged from the interception cluster in the sky.

This thing was an experimental machine crafted by Chen Jingyi based on the latest technical blueprints of the Blazing Dragon Federation, codenamed "Dawn Modified Type III." It was equipped with twin Plasma Main Cannons, four Scattering Beam Secondary Cannons, and a Swarm-Type Funnel Drone Array.

Although they were called "Funnels," they were actually a bunch of autonomous attack drone units with their own miniature engines and fire control systems, placing very little burden on the operator.

The fighter jet leaped upward and soon entered orbital space.

"Heavenly Drive" talent activated.

In that instant, the world in Luo Lan's eyes changed.

The flow of time slowed down by two hundred times, and every detail was magnified, analyzed, and predicted. With the assistance of the Heavenly Drive AI, he could "see" the movement trajectories of all mindless objects, including the subtle fluctuations of the plasma streams maneuvered by the space Zerg, the precise trajectories of various shells and attacks, and he could "feel" the source and destination of every energy ripple in the surrounding space.

This was the combat state exclusive to the A-rank talent [Heavenly Drive]—mastery of all machinery, collaborative processing with the auxiliary AI, and bullet time prediction. When piloting a vehicle, the effect of this talent would be amplified to the extreme.

"Alright," Luo Lan gripped the control stick, the corners of his mouth curving slightly. "Let me see... just how powerful the Zerg Queens really are."

The fighter jet turned into a silver stream of light, breaking through the atmosphere and heading straight for the battlefield ahead.

...

When Luo Lan arrived at the battlefield, he happened to come across a Queen squad hunting a lone Gene Progenitor.

That Progenitor was wind-attributed, looking like a humanoid tornado with pale green air currents swirling around its body, and its movement speed was incredibly fast. It had clearly suffered losses already and was no longer mindlessly releasing area-of-effect skills like before, but instead switched to continuous concentrated bursts, using highly compressed wind blades for precision strikes.

"Swish! Swish! Swish!"

Each wind blade was only as thick as a finger, but its penetration power was absurdly strong, easily piercing through the biological armor of the Tyranid Warriors. The Progenitor fought while retreating, always maintaining a safe distance of about a hundred kilometers, clearly stalling for time and waiting for reinforcements.

The tactic was very clever.

But the Queen opposite it was clearly even cleverer.

This squad under Anserwe's command was led by a peak Rank 4 Queen; she didn't even make a move herself, only calmly commanding the Tyranid Warriors.

"Front row, push up," the Queen's mental command echoed through the warrior network, "use your bladed limbs to deflect the attacks. Left and right wings, flank it to restrict its maneuverability. Rear guard, prepare to charge on my command."