Reappearance

It's important to know that Space Octopus are a variant of Creep, and each Strain within them is a Creep Seed.

While the Mature Form were bombarding the Ground-Based Artillery, many Larval Form had already fallen to the ground.

Their flexible tentacles allow them to dig burrows quite quickly, and in no time, the Larval Form have disappeared from the planet's surface.

Over the years, the Chloe family has converted more than a hundred Intellect, all of whom are publicly known as prominent figures.

Among the senior commanders of the three major fleets of the Riken Race, there are several such Intellect who transmit the real-time dynamics of fleet command to the Blade.

Upon learning of the Riken Race's astonishing discovery, Sarah nearly burst out laughing. This was a classic case of information asymmetry leading to a joke. The Riken Race thought their plan had succeeded, unaware that the Swarm might have been using a counter-strategy, and their initial target might have been Laze Planet.

The vast, unmarked surface of the planet, with tens of thousands of Ground-Based Artillery concentrated in more than a dozen areas, facilitates energy supply and reduces many engineering challenges.

The materials used in these metallic creations were, in a small portion, asteroids with high metallic content that were dragged from meteorite belts, smelted in space, and then directly airdropped onto the planet's surface.

However, most of it was mined directly from Laze Planet.

Laze Planet is a planet with a high content of metallic elements and abundant mineral resources. Many of these minerals are even located on the planet's surface, making them extremely easy to mine.

The Riken Race currently has dozens of bases on Laze Planet and nearly 100,000 Ground-Based Artillery. The fact that they can have such a large-scale defense is largely due to the ease of mining on Laze Planet.

Beneath the Laze Planet lies an even richer resources, including vast reserves of radioactive minerals.

If the Swarm wants to wear down the Riken Race, it can't keep sending troops from Proxima Star System. Establishing a Frontline Base in the Riken Star System is imperative.

Laze Planet, a resource-rich planet located on the outer edge of a star system, is a perfect target. Its abundant metallic minerals can ensure that the Swarm army can unleash its firepower at will.

The radioactive minerals inside can accelerate the growth of Larval Form and Mature Form, and even provide more Atomic Furnace.

Therefore, the Swarm's initial goal was to occupy Laze Planet.

However, if the strategic intent is exposed from the beginning, the opponent may face a combined attack from the three major fleets of the Riken Race, totaling more than two thousand warships, and the land-based firepower of Laze Planet.

Faced with such fierce firepower, the Swarm army's losses will inevitably double.

If that were all, it wouldn't matter to the Swarm, but if they crippled the three major fleets of the Riken Race, that would be bad.

It's important to understand that the Riken Race only has this many warships in total. If they are lost here, it could trigger despair and hysteria, leading them to do something suicidal.

Now that the "Seed" has been planted, the Riken Race is a high-quality material production base. In Rowan's eyes, they already belong to the Swarm's assets, and he cannot allow them to degrade themselves.

Rowan wouldn't have even attacked the Riken Race if he hadn't wanted to avoid appearing too unusual and attracting the attention of potential Chess Player.

While Sarah and Blade were having a headache, they learned of the Riken Race's tactical plan and decided to play along, staging this elaborate scheme.

It's as if the Riken Race themselves opened the road, allowing the Swarm to take over Laze Planet.

This dominance is no joke; a Larval Form that is ten meters long can contain hundreds of Strain, and the larger the size, the more the number of Strain doubles.

Each Strain is a Creep Seed, and a single Creep Seed can spread rapidly given enough time, let alone so many Seed working together at the same time.

A Larval Form collapsed onto the base of a Ground-Based Artillery. The Strain extracted the Larval Form's body tissues and converted them into the first wave of nutrients for growth.

Soon, some rhizomes emerged from the Strain, climbed up the metal base, spread into the soil, and continued to take root downwards.

The base of the land cannon gradually corroded, and the structural changes made it unable to support the weapon on it. The thick, long barrel pulled the cannon body downwards, and the barrel stuck to the ground, temporarily maintaining its balance.

Soon, the purplish-gray Creep spread along the base to the gun body, and then to the gun barrel, turning the entire Ground-Based Artillery and the surrounding area into a purplish-gray color.

This scene played out all over Laze Planet. If it were only in one or two places, it might not have attracted much attention on such a fierce battlefield.

But the chain reaction caused by the simultaneous activation of tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of Larval Form is simply too conspicuous.

"Look at screen 63! What's that?!" A captain exclaimed as he watched the purplish-gray color spreading across the screen.

"My God, what the hell is this?!"

"It looks familiar; I feel like I've seen it somewhere before."

Upon hearing the exclamations, the other fleets on the communication channel also switched to the relevant video and began discussing the scene on it.

"What?! This is?! Stop them!" a staff officer suddenly exclaimed in alarm.

"Mote! Do you know what this is?" Hamis asked hurriedly.

"T855 looked like this before they attacked our Expedition Fleet; it was originally a normal planet, but it slowly turned purplish-gray."

The speaker, Mote, was once a captain in the long-range fleet. Like Masai, he was stripped of his command after the defeat and became a senior staff officer in the army.

The changes to T855 and its satellites back then, if you only watch documentaries and videos, are far less impressive and memorable than experiencing them firsthand.

The captain and staff present must have all seen the footage from that time, but they only felt a sense of familiarity. However, Mote, who experienced it firsthand, immediately recalled the fear he felt back then.

After Mote's reminder, many Rickens remembered that the T855 satellite had been dyed purplish-gray in a short period of time, looking so eerie.

"Their target is Laze Planet!" Hamis was extremely shocked and angry. Only now did he realize that the other party's previous abnormal behavior was not a sign of losing their intelligence.

It turns out that all along, those who thought they had outsmarted the situation were actually the clowns.

With Masai's example before them, why did they still make such a basic mistake as underestimating their opponent? He fell into deep thought. Was it that their opponent's appearance simply couldn't be associated with intelligence?

Or is it that the other side possesses some kind of strange technology, or some kind of intelligence-degrading aura?

Thinking about it, compared to the second scenario, the first scenario is more reliable.

The opponent's tech tree and unit types unconsciously evoke images of wild beasts, which are devoid of intelligence.

When surrounded by steel structures and seeing races that still fight with their bodies, a strange sense of superiority arises from nowhere.

In situations like these, we often inadvertently overlook the fact that the other party is also a civilized and intelligent civilization.

"Damn it!"

Dream Snatcher Sweetheart, for the 100 Qidian Coins reward.