Impressive, wasn't it? Enough to make one shudder at the mere sight.
In reality... they were just a group of lightly equipped infantry—in this era, such equipment only qualified them as light infantry.
The terrain on this planet was rugged, featuring only bare, rocky mountains and gravel. Based on Chen Gu's personal experience, the gravity here was also about 1.4 times heavier than the standard gravity humans were accustomed to.
Even though Andrew's group was equipped with exoskeletons, by the time they had force-marched for over twenty minutes and found the second escape craft's crash site, everyone was gasping for breath from exhaustion.
This escape craft hadn't been as lucky as theirs. It had slammed directly into a mountain peak, breaking in half. One half was completely shattered. The fate of those inside was all too clear.
The remaining half, billowing smoke, had crashed to one side. Andrew immediately yelled, "Quick, rescue the survivors!"
All the soldiers had undergone specialized survival training before boarding and were very proficient in it. In no time, they extinguished the flames and rescued the survivors from inside. The outcome was grim: only ninety-one people had survived.
This type of escape craft had a carrying capacity of three hundred and fifty people.
The rest had died during the landing.
Andrew sighed. Just as he was about to say a few words to the survivors, he was suddenly tapped on the back. Turning around, he saw it was Chen Gu, who was looking up at the sky.
This planet also had an atmosphere, but it was so rich in toxic gases that the sky appeared somewhat foggy.
At that moment, several hazy orbs were approaching from outer space. Andrew quickly adjusted the instruments on his visor. Soon enough, a clear, distant image was projected before his eyes.
Those orbs were some sort of hive-shaped insects, with numerous densely packed, root-like tentacles coiled on the outside.
Below them, several chamber doors opened, ejecting a bio-energetic glow that protected them from harm during their descent.
Andrew exclaimed in dismay, "Troop Nest Beetles... those detestable things! Are they truly determined to exterminate us?"
Chen Gu said indifferently, "Prepare for battle. We need to hold out for at least five more hours."
Clenching his teeth in rage, Andrew roared, "Back to our position, immediately! Establish a defensive line! I'm going to fight it out with them!"
In a place Chen Gu and his team couldn't see, the enormous Troop Nest Beetles were descending. Their heavy impacts shattered the ground's rocks and even created several massive cracks that extended deep underground.
The root-like tentacles on the exterior of the Troop Nest Beetles spread out, swiftly burrowing into these cracks and continuing to drill downwards, beginning to draw thermal energy from below.
Inside them, numerous insect eggs began to hatch and grow at an unbelievably fast pace.
For the first five minutes, they only hatched one type of insect—a mosquito-like creature, but two meters in size, with serrated edges on the front of its wings and three spike ejectors on its head.
These Fierce Mosquito Beasts flew out of their nests as soon as they hatched and began searching the entire planet at top speed.
Afterward, in just half an hour, the Troop Nest Beetles churned out a ceaseless stream of Giant Armored Bugs, Ghost Claw Beetles, Spike Shooters, and Cannon Egg Beetles.
Once their numbers reached a certain level, they followed their innate instincts and formed into formations. Guided by countless Fierce Mosquito Beasts in the sky, they swept towards their target in a mighty, unstoppable procession.
A total of eight Troop Nest Beetles produced members of the Insect Race without pause, their numbers rapidly reaching the hundreds of thousands. Meanwhile, the total number of human soldiers who had escaped the space battle in escape crafts wouldn't exceed ten thousand.
The number of those who had survived after landing on this planet was likely no more than eight thousand.
The observation post circled the planet in a satellite orbit, transmitting all images back to the Central Operations Room.
Seeing the sheer number of the Insect Race, everyone in the Central Operations Room felt their scalps tingle with dread.
Everyone's heart sank. With only light weapons, it was simply impossible to fight against an insect swarm of that scale!
A guard came in from outside. "General, Chen Jixian has arrived."
Chen Jixian was waiting outside. After receiving Bai Yunpeng's message, Aviloya had instructed Chen Jixian to go to the Capital Star. He had come directly to the Central Operations Room from headquarters.
He still appeared calm and composed, his eyelids consistently half-lowered.
He knew what this place was—once, it had been one of the sacred places in his dreams. He had also harbored ambitions, hoping to one day enter here by his own efforts.
But he never imagined that he would step into this place for the first time for such a reason!
To watch the last footage of Chen Gu.
Chen Jixian was in a daze. He had walked in with steady strides, but only he knew it felt as though he was treading on cotton.
I was still waiting for you to bring me egg rolls. How could it be that just a few hours later, only the last images of you would be left?!
The door of the Central Operations Room opened. The guard stood by the door. "Mr. Chen, please!"
Bai Yunpeng took a deep breath and stood up. He straightened his chest and walked in, but images of Chen Gu couldn't help but surface in his mind.
Throughout Chen Gu's formative years, his struggles, his father had been absent. Then one day, the father he'd never met returned. Was their time together as father and son pleasant? Hardly. But why, then, did his own heart ache so much now?
Chen Jixian walked in. Bai Yunpeng approached him, patting him on the shoulder. He wanted to offer some words of comfort, yet he found himself speechless, only whispering softly, "Take a seat. You have a good son." Updates are released by 𝓷𝓸𝓿𝓮𝓵•𝑓𝑖𝑟𝑒•𝙣𝙚𝙩
Andrew selected a massive mountain peak. Using advanced equipment to carve into the rock, his team excavated a cave in the shortest possible time. They then blocked the entrance with boulders and applied simple camouflage.
Just after they finished constructing their position, they saw some black dots flying across the dim sky, accompanied by a buzzing sound similar to that of old fighter planes.
"They're here," Andrew said to Chen Gu. "They are Fierce Mosquito Beasts, the Insect Race's scout units for planetary surface combat."
He smirked with disdain. "The bugs still use their old tricks: Fierce Mosquito Beasts scout, Cannon Egg Beetles and Spike Shooters bombard, and Giant Armored Bugs protect the Ghost Claw Beetles' charge—it's their standard three-pronged attack! If we can hold them off, they're out of options."
Chen Gu nodded. A pity, he thought. Without heavy armor, they couldn't execute the 'Death Before Dishonor' strategy. He had already switched to Griffin Wester's memories, quickly thinking through the situation to determine the most suitable tactics.
Two Fierce Mosquito Beasts circled the mountain peak a few times, then flew away as if nothing had happened.
Chen Gu tugged at Andrew. "Gather thirty men and all the explosives. Follow me."
Andrew trusted Chen Gu implicitly and went to prepare without asking any questions. However, an officer stopped him. "I am Major Jin Yongyuan," the officer said. "I'd like to know what you intend to do with all the explosives. Our supplies from the escape craft are extremely limited, and I am responsible for them."