Change

The insects in the pit, using their companions' bodies for cover, neither dodged nor avoided the fierce firepower, and slowly approached the top of the pit.

"Heavy firepower support! Flamethrowers!"

As the insects approached the Riken Race's defensive line, the on-site commander calmly gave the order.

The Gunboat in the sky were already fully prepared. Upon receiving the order, even thicker red energy beams rained down from the sky, relentlessly bombarding the Swarm below.

At the edge of the crater, a group of heavily armored flamethrower soldiers stepped forward, pointing their guns downwards. Fuel gushed out, and with the help of the accelerant, a raging fire broke out.

The insects that charged forward were instantly burned to a crisp; some fell off the earthen walls, while others remained stuck to them. Coupled with the aerial bombardment of the subsequent Swarm, the insects' offensive was quickly repelled, and they were forced back to the burrow entrance.

Time passed quickly in these repeated attacks and defenses. Although the insects organized several more charges, they still did not achieve much success.

Finally, they retreated completely into the cave, ending the battle.

In this battle, the insects suffered heavy losses, leaving behind tens of thousands of corpses.

Aside from some losses of ammunition and energy, the Riken Race suffered no casualties, and most of the wounded soldiers were friendly fire.

This time, they can be said to have won a great victory.

The Riken held a small celebration, during which Special Operations Team hunted down hundreds of Ox Demons and brought them back. After processing, everyone involved in the surface construction and combat had a good meal.

This is precious natural meat; many Riken Person have never eaten it in their entire lives.

Time flew by, and soon it was the third night. After another day of intense construction, the pit on the ground had reached a depth of seventy meters and its area had expanded to nearly one square kilometer.

In the dead of night, the insects once again charged out fearlessly, but the experienced and prepared Riken Race soldiers found it even easier and more comfortable to defend themselves than the day before.

After leaving behind tens of thousands more corpses, the Zerg retreated into their Crypt. The soldiers, now experienced in combat, remained calm this time, and there were no friendly fire incidents.

"They seem to have run out of ideas," a captain remarked during the discussion, watching the live stream.

"What outstanding performance do you expect from a group of inferior beings?" another captain laughed.

"That's true, we really overestimated them at the beginning."

"However, their numbers are somewhat unexpected. After two days of consumption, their numbers do not seem to have decreased," a staff officer questioned.

"That is indeed a problem, but as long as we proceed steadily, it won't be long before we can dig up their lair, and then we'll see where they can hide."

"That's right."

A week later, the crater had reached a depth of 300 meters, and the construction site covered an area of three square kilometers. During this time, the Riken Race dug out and destroyed a large number of Zerg underground structures.

During this time, the Riken Race also organized several attempts to enter through the Crypt entrance to explore the interior. However, in the relatively narrow underground passages, their elite soldiers were no match for the Raider in the darkness.

However, they wipe out a large number of the Zerg's forces every night; in recent days, at least 100,000 Zerg have been killed in the pit.

Even so, the number of insects did not decrease.

Every night, as if it were a routine mission, the two sides would engage in one offensive and defensive battle after another with tacit understanding.

"Their intelligence is too low. After all this time, don't they know this road is blocked?" an advisor asked doubtfully during the video conference.

Do they think they can exhaust our ammunition?

"Perhaps. Didn't Dr. Bart say that after the autopsies, they found that their brains were very small?"

"But it still feels a bit outrageous."

"Yes, there are so many of them. Just how big are their underground nests? What do they eat to sustain such a huge population?"

"Maybe they can grow crops themselves, haha. When I was looking at biological data, I saw that our Mother Planet once had insects that could grow food."

"Perhaps they have other cave exits, and their territory may be beyond our imagination."

However, things always change unexpectedly.

That day, while the construction team was continuing to dig the pit, they were suddenly attacked.

The insects rushed out of the Crypt like madmen.

Although the instruments had issued an early warning, the insects were too fast. Moreover, due to the "tacit understanding" cultivated over so many days, the guard force was very lax in its defenses during the day, so much so that the insects rushed into the engineering team and killed a large number of Riken Person before they even realized what was happening.

However, by the time they realized what was happening and prepared to fire, the insects and engineers were already mixed together. Firing at that point would likely result in numerous friendly fire incidents, and no one dared to take that responsibility.

With no other option, they had to rush forward and fire at close range; some soldiers even drew their melee weapons...

Perhaps their smooth-sailing battles these past few days had made them forget the terror of the Raider, daring to charge forward and engage them in close combat. But soon, the Raider' rapid, quick maneuvering and sharp forelimb blades reminded them of the fear of being dominated they once felt.

For a time, the battlefield descended into a one-sided massacre, except this time the victims were the Riken Race.

Ultimately, the riot was quelled, not Riken Race repelled the Zerg, but because almost all of their participants were killed.

In this counterattack, the insects went berserk, completely oblivious to retreat. Swarms of insects rushed out, not only slaughtering Riken Race in the pit, but also charging upwards towards the top of the pit.

Upon seeing the situation in the crater, the highest-ranking commander on site urgently ordered that, regardless of the few remaining friendly forces and engineering equipment, all fire be opened.

In an instant, energy beams rained down, and dozens of incendiary bombs were thrown down at the same time.

A towering flame erupted, quickly reducing the insects to charred remains. But the Zerg showed no sign of retreating this time; once the flames subsided slightly, they charged out again.

"Have they gone mad?" Faced with such a sudden situation, the captain and staff were urgently summoned to watch the live broadcast of the battle remotely.

"This changed their sleep patterns."

"Were they just keeping us in the dark all along? Waiting for us to lower our guard before launching a counterattack?"

"Not necessarily!" Dr. Bart suddenly exclaimed, "Their brain size doesn't support such complex thoughts."

"But what's going on now? Judging from the video, we suffered heavy losses this time." Indeed, due to their complacency, the Riken Race not only lost all of their construction team and the guard team that attempted close combat, but also had most of their engineering equipment destroyed by the bombing and incendiary bombs.

This was their most devastating loss, with casualties potentially reaching tens of thousands.

"Perhaps it's because we've already dug into their core!" Dr. Bart said.