Suggestion

Unfortunately, things don't always go as planned.

Those hatches did slow down the Zerg's advance, but not by much; the surveillance cameras simply went black out at a slightly slower pace than before.

Furthermore, the Zerg seem to be extremely familiar with the internal structure of the base.

By deducing the Zerg's route from the hacked monitoring channels, it becomes clear that they seem to be heading straight for the command center.

Even when they spotted staff and scattered defenders within the base along the way, it did not attract the Zerg's attention; they made no turns or detours during their journey.

If this weren't a racial war, Chloe would have thought there was a traitor within the base who had leaked its structural plans.

Given the Zerg's current pace of advance, let alone half an hour, Zerg 'll probably be upon her in ten minutes or so.

The other commanders, who were also watching the surveillance video, had very serious expressions. Although the Zerg had not acted out of line and everything seemed to be within reasonable limits, they still felt that something was wrong.

"Chloe, you must leave the command center now. At the same time, try to concentrate the personnel in the base, organize the defense, and try to avoid the Zerg's advance route until reinforcements arrive," Major General Porter suggested.

Chloe should take her elders' advice seriously. After a moment's thought, she realized it was the best solution at the moment.

Chloe delegated control of all defense systems within the base to the artificial intelligence, and then led the personnel in the command center to begin the evacuation.

Following the instructions on their Personal Terminal, they evaded the Zerg, with more and more people joining her team along the way.

Because no one had ever imagined encountering this situation, the base has very few combat personnel left. Even the former Sentry have to be wounded to fight, which gives you an idea of how scarce armed personnel are in the base right now.

Unfortunately, she had previously inquired with the personnel in the monitoring room and learned that the entire Sentry team had lost contact. Given the Swarm's current offensive posture, they were likely doomed.

As the team passed the medical room, a wave of new recruits joined them. Apart from a small number of doctors and nurses, most of the rest were the lucky survivors who had been rescued from the Crypt.

Some of them had been temporarily assigned to the Sentry and went on missions, but many others were still recuperating at the base due to slower recovery.

Although these people were still somewhat weak due to prolonged lack of food and paralysis, and most of them were previously new recruits, they had at least undergone proper combat training, making them far more powerful than the civilian staff around Chloe.

After acquiring some equipment at an armory along the way, they became the main combat and guard personnel of the team.

Chloe originally thought that by relying on her superior vision, she could play hide-and-seek with the Zerg army in the base and hold out until the rescue.

But reality taught her a lesson once again.

Just moments ago, Chloe had received that group of lucky wounded soldiers and was secretly delighted to have added a new batch of fresh troops to the team. But for some reason, the insects seemed to have regained their knowledge of her location, stopped advancing towards the command room, and instead turned around to attack her current position.

"Maybe it's because the group has grown that they noticed our location," Chloe thought to herself. She didn't know how the Zerg found her, but considering their communication method of rubbing their limbs together, their auditory system must be quite developed. The noise they made running together was likely to be detected by the Zerg.

After much thought, this reason seems to be the most reasonable.

Thinking of this, she quickly told everyone to slow their pace, but unfortunately, their location had already been exposed. Even if they reduced the noise they made, the Zerg still did not change their direction of travel.

Her mind went blank; in her panic, it seemed to freeze, buzzing as she couldn't think of any good solutions. But with so many people around, surely someone's still sharp.

So, Chloe led the team forward while explaining their current situation, hoping that everyone could contribute some effective solutions.

A wounded soldier suddenly approached Chloe, and her Adjutant quickly stopped him. Chloe waved her hand; she recognized the wounded soldier.

His name was Kaida, and he was the Captain of the patrol that first sounded the alarm. Later, in the "Granary," he was also the first to be discovered. Chloe thought this man must have been quite lucky, otherwise he would have been dead long ago.

Since he's come over now, he must have some advice. Kaida, as a Captain, isn't one of those new recruits, but an experienced veteran, so his advice is worth listening to.

As for whether to adopt it, I'll make a decision after listening to the whole story.

"Sir, I suggest we head to the Landing Pad on the top floor immediately. If we get cornered by the Zerg in the base, we'll be in danger. There should be some Transport Craft and Gunboat parked on the Landing Pad; we can take them to escape the Zerg attack," Kaida whispered.

Chloe knew why Kaida was speaking so quietly. There were three or four hundred people gathered here, and the number of ships docked on top might not be enough to accommodate them all. Some people might have to be abandoned.

Although she was struggling internally, she had no other good options at the moment, so she selectively ignored the problem.

"Does anyone here know how to fly a spaceship?" However, besides the problem of too many people and too few ships, the spaceship pilots were also a big problem. None of these clerks and medical staff knew how to fly a spaceship.

"No problem. Although I can't perform those more difficult tactical maneuvers, flying is no problem," Kaida replied affirmatively.

Chloe nodded secretly. As long as they could fly, that was fine. Although insects could glide, they couldn't fly directly. So, as long as they gained altitude, it meant they were safe.

"Let's go to the top-floor Landing Pad." Having made the decision, there was no need to drag it out. Chloe decisively gave the order and led the team upwards.

Before they could get very far, a muffled explosion suddenly came from the bottom of the base, followed by the lights on both sides going out and plunging the entire passage into darkness. The group gasped in surprise, and several female Riken Race even screamed.

"Oh no! The bugs have destroyed the base's energy system!" Chloe exclaimed.

She had just deduced from the gradually blacking-out monitor screen that a group of insects had headed in another direction; she never imagined they were going to sabotage the base's energy supply.

At that moment, the lights that had been off flickered a few times and then came back on.

The base's backup power system has been activated.

Before everyone could even rejoice for a moment, another muffled thud was heard, and the passage went dark again.

This time, the lighting was completely lost because the base only had one backup power source.

Everyone knew this, and the few female Riken Race with weaker mental fortitude had even begun to sob quietly.