The Operation

"Doctor, what exactly are you trying to say?" one of the captains asked impatiently. This guy had launched into a long-winded explanation that seemed to have nothing to do with the rescue operation.

"Gentlemen, I always thought they were just simple, mindless beasts. But think about it, the performance of the Raider before, in that final battle, tens of thousands of Raider fought to the very end and not a single one fled. And underground, in the hundreds of meters of tunnels, not a single insect lingered there."

"To be honest, even our troops would find it difficult to perform like this. So I don't think this is the behavior of a mindless beast; my previous guess was wrong."

"So, given their highly specialized functions, could there be a type of insect specifically responsible for command and coordination? That insect might be the brain of the entire Zerg, possessing a certain level of intelligence. That's why we found that the Raider have almost no brains; they don't need them. They only need to fight. The thinking is done by other insects specializing in that role. Perhaps we can call them Thinker."

Everyone's expressions turned serious. The difficulty of dealing with a group of beasts and dealing with an intelligent race are worlds apart. No wonder the Zerg were so difficult to deal with; now they understood. They had come to believe Dr. Bart's prediction.

"Moreover, where did so many insects come from? They must have Incubator specifically for reproduction. So, we still don't know how many other kinds of insects they have, but I have a bad feeling, though I can't quite put my finger on it."

"Doctor, you're overthinking it. You were so sure back then that they were just mindless, inferior creatures," a captain said sarcastically. He had some conflict with Dr. Bart and was taking this opportunity to annoy him.

"In short, I've said everything I need to say. Everyone, please be careful." Bart didn't argue; those were indeed his words, but as he investigated, he felt more and more uneasy.

"Alright, let's discuss how to rescue those patrol members," General Masai finally steered the conversation back on track.

The meeting ended an hour later.

The Riken Race launched a massive operation, with numerous transport ships traversing the Earth's surface and planetary orbits, continuously delivering personnel and equipment to the Big Origin Star.

With the troops in place, the rescue operation commenced immediately. There were a total of 11 underground Insect Nest to be captured, their locations having been previously identified using reconnaissance Drone.

The total number of Riken Race troops, exceeding 200,000, was dispersed across these 11 battlefields.

In fact, based on the data from the previously contributed Insect Nest, the straight-line distance from the surface to the "Granary" location is less than one kilometer. However, the roads inside the Crypt are intricate and require a large number of people to explore. Even so, the number of people who can enter the Crypt at the same time will not be too many.

Therefore, most of these troops stayed outside the Crypt to prevent Zerg counterattack. The deadly charge that occurred on the previous battlefield when the excavation was nearing the "Granary" still haunts some people.

Numerous Gunboat patrolled the airspace, observing the surroundings to prevent ground troops from being inexplicably surrounded. Transport ships and rescue vessels were on standby nearby, and a field hospital was even temporarily set up five kilometers away from the battlefield.

The Riken Race was very efficient this time; all preparations were completed in just one day, and the attack officially began on the second night.

Because of the Zerg's regular hunting habits, the Riken Race first ambushed a wave of Raider were out hunting at the cave exit, thus depleting some of the Zerg's manpower.

Without stopping, the attacking force, led by the Special Operations Team, stormed directly into the Crypt.

To prevent the underground cavity from collapsing, explosive weapons should be avoided as much as possible inside. Therefore, flamethrowers have become the main weapon responsible for fire suppression.

The soldiers wore heavy protective suits and carried oxygen tanks. The flamethrowers consumed a lot of oxygen when they were in use, and the oxygen reserves in the cave were limited, so they had to bring their own breathing equipment to maintain their oxygen levels.

Moreover, according to biological experts, the large amount of toxins produced when the flamethrower burns and the lack of oxygen will also cause considerable additional damage to the Zerg.

As for whether oxygen consumption would affect the "Granary," this question was selectively ignored.

Soldiers continued to advance, and when they encountered forks in the road, a portion of them would split off to continue forward.

The battle proceeded exceptionally smoothly. After entering the Crypt, although they were attacked by the Zerg, the flamethrowers lived up to their reputation as Zerg weapons. They could block the already narrow passage, and even if some Zerg managed to break through the sea of fire, they were mostly seriously injured and finished off by the soldiers following closely behind the flamethrowers.

However, the Zerg attacked relentlessly, and the flamethrowers never stopped firing, leaving charred Zerg corpses blocking the passage. This meant that the team had to clear the path while advancing. As a result, after two hours, the team had only advanced less than 500 meters. Even the attacking teams had to rotate three times due to running out of fuel and oxygen.

Fortunately, the Riken Race army did not suffer too many casualties. Most of the casualties were caused by friendly fire, but such incidents are unavoidable in the narrow Crypt.

Meanwhile, numerous commanders were watching the live battlefield reports.

"The battle is going well; these beasts underestimated the power of technology." A captain watched the video footage with a relaxed expression.

"It seems Dr. Bart's worries were unnecessary," the captain who had a conflict with Bart said with a hint of sarcasm.

"We didn't expect them to be so vulnerable; we were quite worried beforehand."

"However, this method of propulsion consumes fuel and energy ammunition rather quickly."

"Don't worry, it's better than dead people. And once we have a safe environment, the factory can be built quickly, and those supplies will be easy to replenish."

"That's true."

"At this rate, the battle should be over by tomorrow. I wonder how many people we can rescue."

"It's hard to say. The biologist later analyzed that the reason we were able to rescue nearly half the people was because we kept consuming a lot of insects, which increased the food supply. Other nests weren't consumed, so the losses might have been greater."

"The result doesn't matter, does it? We did what they wanted us to do."

"That's right."

Meanwhile, at the Chloe Base.

Because the nearby underground Insect Nest had been severely damaged, the Riken Race had been able to operate here for a long time without being attacked again. Therefore, after the conquest missions in other areas began, most of the troops here were redeployed, leaving only some troops directly under the Chloe Base to defend that huge crater.