Chapter 276

Perhaps Thunder Plan didn't encounter the true Queen. As the mother of the Zerg, logically speaking, she couldn't lay eggs out of thin air to 'give birth'.

"Commander, the entire swarm of Zerg is attacking us!"

Just then, a report that seemed to strike like a bolt from the blue rang out. Everyone turned to look and saw the red dot on the giant map begin to retreat.

The swarm retreated from all directions, abandoning the victory that was within their grasp. Johnny Silverhand calculated in just two seconds, marking red lines on the map.

Like a thousand arrows piercing the heart, hundreds of thousands of insects are heading towards Emerald Star City. Once they arrive, it will be a boundless sea of insects.

"Tell Motta to activate 'Burn Plan,' even if everyone dies, keep them entangled!" The commander-in-chief gave the order without hesitation, his voice filled with anguish.

The Defense Force couldn't even hold the fortress; launching a counter-offensive after abandoning their positions would be tantamount to suicide, and even suicide wouldn't delay things for long.

His expression shifted rapidly, as if his heart was on fire. Thousands of soldiers were now lining up to sacrifice themselves, while he stood there watching helplessly, feeling utterly humiliated as a soldier.

As the commander-in-chief, he also understood that once the swarm retreated, there would probably be no chance to fight to the death.

"Silver Hand, how many more minutes until the probe arrives?"

"I can't be detected by those Bat Dragons for ten minutes before I can establish a quantum communication loop," Johnny Silverhand replied. This was his Chaos Item, completely bypassing humanity's technology tree.

Leaving aside its preciousness, the key point is that there's only one of them. If it's destroyed too soon, there will be no way to recover it.

Ten or fifteen minutes is enough time for a portion of the swarm to return.

The commander gritted his teeth and shouted sternly, "On my command, Hope..."

Before he could finish speaking, Yuki had already stepped in front of him, his voice as firm as a nail.

"Hope, stay still."

Chapter Thirty-Eight: Holding Hope in One's Own Hands (5K)

The game is nearing its end, and now it's time to test patience. Yuki is unwilling to let his emotions get the better of him and play his last few cards.

We must hold this last glimmer of hope in our own hands.

He was betting that his two guesses were correct. If he couldn't resist playing the Hope now, the swarm of insects wanting to seize the Fire Seed would unleash all their hidden fighting power, and this powerful warship wouldn't last long.

He was betting that the commando team had already found the Queen and was currently fighting inside her. In that case, the swarm would be unable to use firepower to cover the enemy, and it wouldn't be so easy for them to wipe out Levi Ackerman's elite commando team through melee combat alone.

He's gambling on whether the Fire Seed or the Queen is more important. The Hope is nowhere to be seen; is the Queen planning to send her reserves to their deaths?

The forces would then be spread out, and as long as the warship didn't fall too quickly, it could form a pincer movement with the ground assault team, like two iron pincers, to strangle the Queen.

As for the main force of the insect swarm that rushed back? Yuki pinned his hopes on those mortals; if all else failed, he still had one last card to play.

The huge red dot drew closer, and the tense atmosphere on the bridge seemed to freeze. Everyone was looking at the commander-in-chief and Yuki, hoping the two would come up with a solution, but they just stared at each other without saying a word.

Their gazes were equally unwavering, with no doubt about each other's stance; everyone was striving for victory, but one wrong step could lead to Abyss Grade.

Yuki no intention of backing down; he trusted his judgment and had adhered to a principle since joining the Reincarnation Game:

Destiny can only be firmly held in one's own hands.

Just as the stalemate continued and the Smiling Lady quietly drew her sword, Johnny Silverhand suddenly stood between the two.

"The detector Piercer the mushroom cap, identifies the signal, and I have already transmitted it to the map via data link."

The two turned around at the same time and saw dense blue dots of light. The Defense Force's communication system was still being severely interfered with, but the 'Mechanical Believers' had already reconnected.

Using Johnny Silverhand as a bridge, this information was fed back onto the electronic map.

The commander held his breath and looked at Yuki with some horror.

It was almost exactly what he said.

The blue dots clustered into two groups, one blocking the entrance and the other going deeper into the tunnel. Judging from their numbers, the casualties were less than eight percent.

General Reingor led the team blocking the entrance, while the rest, commanded by sergeants, kept drilling inside.

"As I expected, the swarm was indeed hesitant to act rashly. In close combat in such confined terrain, this level of casualties is to be expected."

Yuki visibly breathed a sigh of relief. He had been afraid that by the time the signal was connected, the assault team would have been almost entirely wiped out, which would have meant that his guess was completely wrong.

But now the situation is quite the opposite. The Psychic Warrior are guarding the cave entrance in a dense formation. They are not afraid to fire their weapons and are unleashing all their firepower to blast the swarming insects to pieces.

Levi Ackerman did not disappoint him. Upon realizing the situation was amiss, he immediately led his elite troops in a counter-attack, only to discover that the insects inside the cave were relatively weak.

They are like newborn babies, some even falling down to block the way before they are fully developed, their fleshy membranes still intact.

"You're right." The commander-in-chief readily admitted his mistake, admitting that he almost made a grave error because he was too hasty.

There's no need to even think about it. If the Hope were to participate in the battle, it might actually run into the Zerg's hidden reserve force, and then they would fight separately.

"Don't rush to admit your mistake. I'm not sure if the assault team is inside the Queen's body yet." Yuki showed no smugness, quickly glanced at the battlefield situation, and confirmed that the swarm had not used its full strength.

This was a series of elaborate schemes; the commando team was more like bait to lure out the Hope, demonstrating a strong ability to counter any move.

Fortunately, we had our senior classmates, which gave us the upper hand in the first step of the decisive battle, allowing us to hide in the shadows like hunters.

Yuki smiled. Now the Zerg swarm was the one on the defensive, and he had even swallowed the drastic move of sending his main force back to reinforce.

"Quantum communication with Rebecca Chambers has been established. Who among you will tell her?" Johnny Silverhand walked in silently, holding something that looked like a recording pen.

After the Spirit Particle Communicator was jammed, these gadgets from the Mechanical Believers came in very handy. The commander glanced at them but took a half step back.

This retreat seemed to relinquish command, leaving the Defense Force looking at each other in bewilderment.

Yuki didn't have time for any modesty or refusals; he took the recorder and put it to his lips.

The cave was filled with insect corpses, and the flesh walls were extremely tough. Even Blaster Rifle hit them, it could only create a shallow crater the size of a fist. There were too many insects, and they were not weak in close combat. Many soldiers had already used potent stimulants to restore their strength.

Levi Ackerman drew his light blade; his power armor helmet was already shattered. Panting, he looked to the side and asked, "What did that bastard say?"

"Uh, he said, 'Hold on tight, and there'll be a way.'" Rebecca Chambers looked bewildered and screamed, "This bastard isn't going to betray us, is he? Why isn't he coming down to drag us away?!"

A flash of anger crossed Levi Ackerman's face. This was truly a bitter battle. Even though the swarm seemed hesitant and restrained, they had no concept of death and charged forward relentlessly, killing one after another.

The Reaper power armor was cracked, and the Blaster Rifle was long out of ammunition.

"We not only need to stall, but we also need to keep pushing in." Levi Ackerman evaporated the bloodstains on his light blade, turned his head, and saw the members of Thorny Rose working together to deal with a four-armed Samurai Bug.

Because of the power armor, there wasn't much of a striking sight to behold. This armor wasn't very useful for players, just like Kaguya Shinomiya couldn't draw her bow and shoot arrows.

Fortunately, players' reaction speed can keep up with the power armor, and the same goes for the bomb gun.

Knock knock knock.

The continuous firing forced the four-armed Samurai Bug to retreat repeatedly, and the silver mech instantly appeared in front of him, unleashing a series of slashes with its molecular vibration axe.

The movements were stiff, and there were no close-combat skills.

Levi Ackerman recognized Shiina Hiyori and, seeing that the Samurai Bug was quickly gaining the upper hand, was about to help when he heard a muffled 'boom'.

Bang--

Death Knell was more powerful than the Blaster Rifle, and the swarm was unable to evolve a corresponding shell, so it was instantly blasted into a pile of mangled flesh.

With her golden hair cascading down, Hayasaka Ai hangs upside down on the rock face, a giant revolver clutched in her hand.

A puppet?

Levi Ackerman glanced at the power armor that had been following Hiyori, his expression shifting slightly. He thought to himself, "These women are really cunning; they're actually using a remotely controlled empty mech to deceive people."

"Keep moving forward."

"Which way? This place is too complicated, it's already made us dizzy!" Rebecca Chambers gritted her teeth. There were several forks in the road ahead, each swarming with insects.

Levi Ackerman looked directly at the silent Mai Sakurajima, who hadn't participated in the battle and maintained a bewildered expression.

"Hey, do you know which way to go?"

There weren't many warriors venturing deeper into the cave, so they had to move forward in groups. Mai Sakurajima seemed not to have heard the question and continued to look around blankly.

The spacious cave was filled with insect corpses, and cannonballs flew everywhere. Psychic Warrior were fighting against all sorts of strange insects, destroying those operating table-like structures and overturning the mummified corpses on them.

I've been here before, am I still dreaming?

Mai Sakurajima was having trouble distinguishing between reality and dreams. She had clearly been here before, so why was she back at the entrance, sending the wrong coordinates?

Her logic was muddled, her mind was foggy, and the pain in her shoulder jolted her awake.

"Don't think about anything, just follow your instincts. We can't stay here anyway."

Levi Ackerman remained steadfast; he had experienced far too much confusion.

Mai Sakurajima pursed her lips. She had made a mistake once, and she couldn't afford to make the same mistake twice. She raised her slender fingers and said, "I walked through the middle."

"Then let's go down the middle. You lead the way, leave a small squad to block the other forks in the road, and the rest of you follow." Levi Ackerman put all the pressure on this woman, putting his old friend's teachings into practice.

Either never leave the wall, or be determined to go down a certain path to the very end.

Suddenly bearing the weight of everyone's lives and fortunes, Mai Sakurajima realized the immense pressure Yuki was under and could only grit her teeth and nod.

Two hundred Psychic Warrior advance alongside the player, following Mai Sakurajima's guidance and ignoring all interference as they head in one direction. At each fork in the road, one or two small teams are sent to cover the rear, while the main force never gets entangled.

With a clear objective, the marching speed increased, but the number of soldiers around them dwindled. Those small teams left to cover the rear knew their Destiny, but not a single one of them uttered a word; they were like a group of emotionless war machines.

But they are all living, breathing human beings.

Levi Ackerman kept his eyes fixed ahead, slaying any insects that dared to approach. He didn't want to witness life and death, and he vented his anger by slaughtering his enemies.

Suddenly, the wall in front of them contracted, as if a muscle was convulsing. The soldiers clearing the way immediately stopped, holding their guns and looking around in a defensive posture.

What's wrong?

The players looked up and saw another group of insects emerging from the depths of the cave, but this time they were not covered in slime and membranes like the previous ones.

It had a human-like appearance, and the leader had dark skin and a head full of dreadlocks. Its powerful energy made it float in mid-air, and there was a dark green ghost and dozens of advanced insectoids next to it.

General Bug, Eldritch.

Player, Ship Spirit.

This sense of oppression was far greater than that of the previous insects. Seeing this, Levi Ackerman finally smiled and nudged Rebecca Chambers was standing next to him as if facing a formidable enemy.

"Tell that bastard we've found the right place."

The General Bug appear.

When the news arrived, Yuki's legs wobbled slightly, and he quickly steadied himself on the edge of the table.

I guessed right. As a mother, the Queen couldn't be as small as a normal person. The one that appeared in the 'Thunder Plan' must be her clone, and the clone can't stray too far from the body.

The presence of the General Bug and the players proves many things. If it were truly a trap, the insect swarm could have allowed Levi Ackerman and his crew to wander around freely. But since they stepped in to stop them, it means the commando team went to a place they shouldn't have gone.

The surrounding gazes were intense; this long war had progressed to this point, and humanity had finally figured out what its enemy looked like.

The so-called queen was actually an insect among insects, making the 'Thunder Plan' impossible to achieve. Killing only the spirit or the body would be ineffective.

We need to find a way to eliminate them both.

"What do we do now?" The commander-in-chief had completely trusted Yuki Sorajima's abilities, as if he were looking at a strategist who could calculate everything perfectly.

Yuki revised his plan in his mind and answered in a low voice:

"The initiative is not entirely in our hands yet. The main force of the Zerg will arrive in two hours at most. Given the urgency of the situation, the Queen will definitely send some Zerg to hold General Morton hostage while the rest rush back to reinforce him."

"Yes, it matches my calculations." Johnny Silverhand nodded, already starting the countdown on the big screen.

"The Zerg forces prepared to deal with us have been divided up. Now our primary objective is to force the enemy to engage in battle under unfavorable circumstances, in a location we have chosen."

The final General Bug appeared, but only one of the lurking players showed up. Yuki that the Queen hadn't given up on her plan, so there was nothing more to say.

"Two hours is the best window of opportunity to force them into battle."

"How can we force them? The captain and his men might not be able to break through the blockade." The Smiling Lady knew her companions' strength, and she also knew that the assault team's forces were being constantly divided up.

"They just need to hold them off." Yuki quickly shook his head. How could he dare let the assault team continue advancing? If they really forced the Queen out, his seniors would surely die.

"We'll force it to make a move. Hope, maintain altitude, deactivate cloaking devices, open all gun ports, aim at friendly ground signals, and maintain a firing margin of ten meters." Yuki grinned, his smile quite ferocious.

"Teach these insects what divine Justice is!"

Tens of thousands of meters above the ground, a giant warship with a triangular layout slowly appeared in the air. Countless turrets appeared on all parts of the ship, and with the sound of motors turning, it began to aim downwards.

Covered in mushroom caps, the city resembled a dark cloud, making it impossible to spot anything from above. However, Johnny Silverhand took over the Central Database and gained full access to the warship. Using friendly forces' markings as references, he meticulously adjusted hundreds of turrets of various calibers.

"You're in charge of defensive firepower; I'll handle all the attacks."

The Bat Dragon circling in the air had spotted the enormous creature overhead. Instead of dodging, they climbed upwards with all their might. Just a few seconds into the flight, the azure sky was illuminated by beams of light.