The Disappearance

The encounter was sudden and ended quickly, lasting less than two hours in total. The two sides exchanged more than a dozen rounds of artillery fire, with the Swarm losing more than 30 Ancient Class destroyers and the Riken Race losing 8 warships.

Judging from the numbers, it seems that the Swarm suffered greater losses.

However, the Ancient Class of the Swarm is actually formed from Larval Form that slowly grow up, with the majority of the cost being time. Given enough time, there can be as many Ancient Class as needed.

Moreover, none of the Ancient Class actually died in this battle. They only needed to lie dormant for a period of time to recover and then return to the battlefield, lively and energetic.

In contrast, the construction of warships by the Riken Race requires a complex process and a large investment of manpower and resources. Each warship also needs to be equipped with hundreds of operators.

The training of these personnel also requires a significant investment of resources.

Therefore, in terms of actual combat losses, the Swarm made a huge profit.

The Riken Race, on the other hand, believed they hadn't lost out; in fact, they had gained a small profit. They had lost a few warships but obtained important information and destroyed more than thirty enemy warships. By any measure, they hadn't lost out.

After the battle, both sides surprisingly felt they hadn't lost out. As for the specifics, that's a matter of opinion.

Since the Riken Race fleet withdrew from the battlefield, the wreckage of the several destroyed warships became the spoils of war for the Swarm. The Ancient Class swarm slowly moved over and surrounded the wreckage.

The Space Octopus's Electromagnetic Cannon firing isn't without cost; the projectiles it uses require the extraction of metal elements stored within its body. Therefore, even if the Atomic Furnace could supply the Electromagnetic Cannon's power, the projectiles aren't inexhaustible and need to be replenished periodically.

These warship wrecks make excellent raw materials.

Space Octopus are products of Creep templates, and can even revert to Creep when necessary, so it's normal for them to grow roots.

The warship wreckage, now surrounded, was covered with root-like tentacles that secreted a special liquid that continuously corroded the debris before absorbing the solution and transporting it back into the Ancient Class body.

By the time the Ancient Class cluster left, the wreckage that had been burning inside and occasionally exploding was gone, and even the armor plates that had been thrown out by the explosions had vanished without a trace.

The Riken Race, who had been observing the battlefield through optical devices, assumed that the Swarm had dismantled the warships, but they couldn't understand why the swarm had managed to clean them up so thoroughly.

"Those warship wrecks are extremely difficult for us to dismantle. What would a biological civilization like them need those wrecks for?" The First Space Fleet Legion had just left the battlefield when an emergency voice conference was convened.

"Perhaps we'll take it back for research. After all, the basic theories are interconnected, whether it's a mechanical or biological civilization," Novaru of the Second Legion replied.

"But didn't they already capture some of the expedition's warships? They shouldn't need to capture any more, right? After all, those wreckages are difficult to move, and our technology hasn't made any significant progress in recent years," a captain questioned.

"But they don't know! If it were me, I would also tow it back to see if there have been any changes," another captain retorted.

"You all didn't look closely. Even if our warships were destroyed, the wreckage would still be hundreds of meters long, larger than the enemy's combat units. But look at the current reconnaissance map; there's absolutely no trace of wreckage."

"Hehe, maybe they ate them. Those combat units might be alive, so they'll get hungry, and when they're hungry, they'll need to eat," a captain joked.

"Your guess might actually be correct; we know far too little about their technological system. In the next battle, we must capture some of their combat units and figure out exactly what they are."

"What exactly caused the operation to be suspended?" Suddenly, an unfamiliar voice rang out, an inquiry from the operations command center on the home Mother Planet of Rickon.

Because the battle site was far from the Mother Planet Ricken, even communication signals transmitted at the speed of light would take about half an hour to arrive. The three legions at the front line discussed the communication channel for a long time before the communication from the Mother Planet's combat command center was finally transmitted back.

Then everyone realized that the real issue wasn't where the wreckage was, but rather that the opponent's supercomputing technology far exceeded their expectations.

At this level, where neither side possesses overwhelming superiority in weaponry, the war becomes a war of computing power.

For example, during the exchange of fire just now, although most of the shells missed their mark, each and every shell was precisely calculated; otherwise, it would have been impossible to even make the other side evade them.

"The plan must still proceed. We can't abandon this operation that we've been preparing for so long just because the opponent's computing power exceeds our expectations." After discussing for a long time, the commanders of the Riken Race still couldn't come up with a countermeasure.

There's no way around it; this is a matter of hard power, which is very difficult to counter. In this area, both sides can only confront each other head-on.

"Let's just go for it. Our weapons fly faster, so even if the enemy has stronger computing power, we should still have the advantage."

"That's right, especially since their computing power is likely inferior to ours."

"However, the other side also has another advantage. That is, their weapons are not standardized, and they have all kinds of specifications. We can only use an average value for calculation, which will cause some deviations when we calculate the trajectory of the enemy's ballistics," said a staff officer in charge of supercomputer maintenance.

He's right, that is indeed the Swarm's advantage.

The Riken Race's warships are all mass-produced assemblies; for the same model, all modules and parts are the same size. Therefore, their weapon parameters are identical.

If it's said to have a maximum range of 50,000 kilometers, then it won't hit 51,000 kilometers. If it's said to have a shell diameter of 50 centimeters, then it will absolutely not hit 51 centimeters.

However, the Swarm Ancient Class different. Since they all grow from Larval Form, and the hatching and development times are different, their actual sizes vary slightly, even though they are all Ancient Class.

Even if they are exactly the same size, the Electromagnetic Cannon is an independent component, so the size they grow will not be exactly the same.

The projectiles fired from a 300-meter Electromagnetic Cannon and a 350-meter Electromagnetic Cannon will not have the same speed.

Even the material and size of the shell can affect the relevant data.

The Ancient Class's salvo fire has varying times of arrival at the target, but this doesn't significantly affect the Swarm. However, it does increase the computational burden on the Riken Race, causing them some trouble.

"I really can't figure out what the other side is. How are so many weapons manufactured without mass production?"

"The other party may indeed be a living creature; based on their previous behavior in the asteroid belt, some individuals have indeed grown quite a bit."

"Ha, are you trying to say that the other person grew up on their own?"

"That's hard to say. Didn't you notice that all of the enemy's combat units, regardless of size, look pretty much the same?"

Thank you Xia Chunqiu for the 500 Qidian Coins reward, and thank you xiaotang246 for the 100 Qidian Coins reward.