Analysis

"Send the wounded back to base first, see what happened to them, and make sure they are isolated!" Masai said at the end of the meeting. First, see if these rescued people have any chance of survival. If they don't, these problems will naturally be solved.

An elite medical team was dispatched, taking off from a warship in orbit, penetrating the atmosphere, and landing at the Chloe Base.

Hours later, a report appeared before the commanders.

The report revealed that the rescued person was ingested with a peculiar toxin that not only paralyzes the central nervous system and blocks nerve signals, but also acts as a preservative.

After being injected with this toxin, the recipient remains conscious, but their body enters a dormant state, with bodily functions almost ceasing and energy consumption significantly reduced.

This is also why the rescued person remained "fresh" despite not eating or drinking for several days.

The medical team's experts exclaimed in disbelief, saying that if this toxin had been discovered on Riken Star, they would have avoided many detours in their research on space hibernation agents.

Even so, this toxin still has great research value.

"So, this is just an anesthetic, not lethal to living organisms? And after the effects wear off, I'll just need some rest?" a captain said during the video conference. At the same time, he thought to himself, "This is definitely not good news."

Because of this expedition by the Riken Race, all the fleet commanders actually had various connections behind the scenes, including conglomerates, families, allies, etc., making them essentially a Coalition Army.

One of the ground bases belongs to his faction.

If rescue is needed, he will inevitably have to send troops. And given that his current forces cannot be replenished, the size of his forces directly correlates with the amount of influence he wields.

The right to speak determines how much of the pie one can get after eliminating the alien race.

He naturally didn't want to suffer significant losses in his forces, as the Zerg Crypt were bottomless pits that swallowed people whole.

"So, how long does this anesthetic last?" one staff officer asked, offering a different perspective. If the captured patrol members could endure it for a longer period, they could then devise a more prudent plan.

"If injected every seven days, this condition can be maintained for several months," the medical expert in charge of the explanation said. But before everyone could breathe a sigh of relief, he added, "However, the Zerg have difficulty storing food for that long. After all, in this breached nest, they captured 210 team members."

The expert didn't finish his sentence, but the meaning was clear: 210 were missing, 112 were found, but where were the rest? If these people continue to delay, the survival rate of the other missing team members in the Crypt will continue to decrease.

General Masai cleared his throat twice, ending the topic. "Now, let's discuss how to rescue those patrol members. Dr. Bart, how's your research going? Have you found anything that can help with this operation?"

"General, time is too short. We haven't made much progress in our research on the Zerg pheromones yet." Seeing General Masai's furrowed brow, Bart quickly continued, "However, we have made some progress. We've built several experimental chambers, placed the captured Raider inside, and let them communicate. We've also recorded the sounds of their body rubbing together as they communicated using equipment."

"Have you figured out what these sounds mean?" a captain asked, somewhat surprised.

"Of course not." Dr. Bart breathed a sigh of relief.

The captain hesitated, unsure whether to utter a curse word.

Dr. Bart continued, "Although we haven't deciphered its meaning yet, we've derived some new audio by breaking down and rearranging these audio clips."

"Then what's the use of this?" a captain asked.

"Each syllable of these sounds has its own meaning, and when strung together, they form a complete message. But we've scrambled them, like rearranging a piece of text. Zerg hear these sounds, they might think they recognize each word individually, but what on earth does the whole thing mean when put together?" He finished explaining, then added quietly, "Probably, maybe."

"..." Everyone felt a sense of unease.

Seeing the disappointment on everyone's faces, Dr. Bart quickly said, "This is mainly because there wasn't enough time. However, the audio we produced still has some effect. When we play it for the Raider, they become noticeably agitated. If they didn't still have pheromones to identify themselves, they probably would have started fighting each other."

"Therefore, we have created a small gadget for this purpose. You can think of it as a kind of toxin. The space it sprays can effectively hinder the spread of pheromones. At the same time, it can also interfere with the Zerg's nervous system, inhibit cholinesterase, and cause the Zerg to be continuously abnormally excited and overstimulated, eventually leading to their death. However, this will take a little bit of time."

"How long?" an aide asked.

"Based on our experiment, it took about a few hours."

"..." The battle happened in the blink of an eye; a few hours later, everything was cold.

However, the fact that this drug can effectively hinder Zerg communication makes it worthwhile to equip the troops with it.

"Is it difficult to prepare?" another staff officer asked.

"That's precisely the problem. This medicine is currently only a laboratory product, and mass production is still a long way off. It's not that the manufacturing process is particularly complicated; it's just that we lack the necessary production equipment."

"You've been rambling on and on, wasting time," the crowd cursed inwardly. The rescue operation was about to begin; it seemed they wouldn't need this.

"Ahem." General Masai coughed twice and said, "Dr. Bart, is there anything else you'd like to add?"

His intention was to give Bart a way out, but to his surprise, Bart actually nodded and continued, "Indeed, there are some."

General Masai was somewhat speechless. "Please speak."

"Our discovery deep within the Crypt indicates that the Zerg possess a type of insect that produces white, filamentous material, which we'll tentatively call the Weaver. Prior to this, we speculated that the Zerg are a race with specialized roles: Raider skilled in frontal combat, Excavator adept at burrowing, and Assassin skilled in stealth attacks."

"The paralyzing toxins in the survivors' bodies are most likely the same toxins possessed by the Assassin. That underground Granary requires at least two types of insects— the Assassin and the Weaver— to maintain it. Of course, they could also be just one type of insect."

"Given the size of that Granary, maintaining it would require a large number of insects, but when our team entered, they found nothing. Keep in mind, we've only been eliminating the Raider insects so far. So, where did the others go?"

"There are still many passages connected to the Granary. Because of the need for rescue, our people only sealed off that area and didn't go to explore it. Perhaps they are in those passages," Chloe added. The battlefield was located near her base, where she had the most people, so she was the most familiar with the situation there.

Dr. Bart shook his head and said, "What I'm talking about isn't where they've hidden themselves, but rather their behavior."