82: Entering enemy-occupied territory

Received another reward from the great Night Evil Who Loves Homemade Wontons, a burst of updates and flowers!

I owe 12 chapters, lol.

...The duration of warp travel wasn't too long, but they still flew for several hours.

Along the way, Xi Hai looked at a box lying in the research area, his hands itching to open it.

Thus, he happily acquired a Frigates technology value and a technology reserve.

Regarding this result, he could only say it was as expected.

Looking at the remaining thousand-plus proxima centauri coin, Xi Hai decided to temporarily avoid the limelight,

lest this current bad luck continue to the next box.

Speaking of which, wasn't there still some credit points and energy currency in that Space City's local storage account?

He decided that once he returned, he would perform a ritual to change his fortune and fate throughkrypton (gacha/spending)!

"Warp Drive Module, cooling down."

A white light flashed, and the fleet exited warp travel.

Almost simultaneously, countless alarms blared on the bridge, and multiple red radar identification markers appeared on the central control screen:

"Combat status!"

"Enemy ships have locked onto our position!"

"Multiple fleets are firing on us!"

—It seemed their luck wasn't very good; they had just landed and crashed headfirst into an assembled Swarm.

Large numbers of insects were crushed into paste by the immense impact, and viscous pus and blood clung to the armor, staining the bows of the leading warships a ghastly yellow.

The Swarm became agitated.

They gathered together, like a tide, rushing towards these suddenly appearing outsiders,

and then slammed into a dense wall of anti-aircraft fire—

"Anti-air team, immediately establish crossfire!"

"Launch special torpedo for Swarm!"

Xi Hai's orders quickly reached everyone in the fleet through their headsets and terminals.

The entire fleet operated like a newly commissioned machine, slightly stiff but orderly.

In a certain Pulse Cannon Team, an operator in blue powered armor furiously tapped on the terminal display connected to the cannon.

Targets were marked with red boxes, followed by a red ray that surged forward.

Seeing countless yellow pus explode along the ray's trajectory, the cannon team burst into deafening cheers:

"WAAAAAAAGH!!!"

Various small close-in defense cannons also spun wildly, like the King of Hell calling out names, singling out the stragglers beneath the pulse cannons.

Soon, specialized neutron torpedoes ejected from their launchers, turned in mid-air, and, trailing long plumes of exhaust, plunged into the Swarm, exploding into fireworks symbolizing death—

The first-stage warhead detonated first, scattering countless tiny but hard steel balls in all directions, opening small breaches in the exoskeletons of the surrounding insects.

The second-stage warhead followed immediately, releasing a massive plume of neutrons. High-energy fast neutrons drilled into those small breaches, instantly taking the lives of the insects.

The interconnected slime mold cells inside disconnected, and large numbers of insects couldn't even twitch a few times, instantly falling silent and beginning to disintegrate in mid-air.

"Confirmed annihilation."

The Swarm came quickly and died quickly.

Their conscious huddling behavior actually increased the killing efficiency of the neutron bombs.

"Stupid fungal creatures."

Listening to the shipboard ai broadcast, Xi Hai muttered disdainfully.

He had been so wary and had let his imagination run wild when he first heard about the Zerg.

But in the end—weren't they just a group of slightly special organisms?

Perfect. After confirming there were no living creatures around the fleet,

intelligence gathering was also complete.

The star map showed they had landed in the Asteroid Belt, near the orbit of Planet Three.

Xi Hai gently swiped his hand across the screen.

At their 2 o'clock, 23 degrees, there was a string-like celestial body.

"This is the place!"

"Depart!"

...Ten-odd minutes later, at the place where Xi Hai had landed.

Just as the fleet departed,

a behemoth drifted over—

As a large individual formed by the aggregation of numerous single slime mold cells,

it typically took on the responsibility of providing habitat for the smaller individuals of its species,

much like the relationship between carrier-based aircraft and an aircraft carrier.

"Buzz—buzz buzz buzz—"

The tentacles on the giant creature's body trembled slightly.

It could sense that just now, many of its kind, releasing aggregation pheromones, had lost their vitality here.

Sure enough, when it once again detonated a mass of void energy behind it and leaped forward,

a scene that would make most living beings' eyes go black appeared before it—

In the dark and silent sky, countless insect limbs, flesh, and tissues floated soundlessly,

they were mixed and intertwined, filling the entire view.

"Buzz—buzz buzz buzz—buzz buzz—"

So similar!

Soon, in the collective Gestalt Consciousness of its species, it found a similar death scene to this image—

It was those little things hiding in metal shells that threw rocks!

This was the method those little gadgets had recently brought out to attack their species, the one that made these kin split apart!

They came out?

No, the species had them surrounded, very tightly surrounded.

So, some of those little things' kin came in?

The Colossal Insect stated that it didn't know and didn't want to think,

but as a regional node of the collective consciousness, it had to take action.

Let those few things pass by,

although they were prepared to deal with those surrounded little guys,

it didn't matter, those little things couldn't escape anyway,

a slight delay wouldn't matter.

So it was done.

After uploading its recently made decision to the Gestalt Consciousness, the Colossal Insect stopped querying the consciousness and continued to drift forward—

Although those kin had dispersed, they were all high-quality organic matter,

it was time to replenish organic matter... (Big Bug: Brothers, you smell so good!)

(I'm gonna chew chew chew chew chew!)