Alarm

The Riken Race is, after all, an indigenous race of the Riken Star System. They have been operating here for a long time. Although they are now surrounded by the Swarm and forced to leave only four planets—3, 4, 5, and 6—most of the observation devices they once deployed are still functioning normally.

It's not that the Swarm doesn't want to eliminate them, but rather that these observation devices are mostly hidden in their locations, making them difficult to detect, and they are scattered throughout various corners of the galaxy.

The Mature Form and Larval Form stages of the Swarm lack the ability to travel long distances due to the absence of Atomic Furnace; to eliminate them, one must travel on Ancient Class.

Although the Swarm has a numerical advantage, it has not yet reached the point of explosion. Moreover, even if tens of thousands of Ancient Class Zerg are deployed, they will not even make a ripple in the vast galaxy. Furthermore, if they actively divide their forces, they are likely to be defeated one by one by the Riken Race by concentrating their strength.

Therefore, these small issues can only be addressed gradually in the future.

But it is precisely the existence of these small things that allows the Riken Race to still have some understanding of the situation within the star system.

In the dimly lit room, more than ten screens hung on one wall, each divided into 5x4 grids, but all were currently black. On the opposite wall, there were also some screens with various lines extending from them, and red and green lights flashing intermittently; without some prior knowledge, it was impossible to understand what they meant.

Between two walls, a Ricken soldier leans idly against a swivel chair. This room is located in an underground fortress on the Liwen Planet. It is a monitoring room with distinctive Riken Race, where he is responsible for the daily recording and maintenance of more than 200 monitoring equipment terminals.

The external unit of this monitoring device is a 2x2 cube-shaped metal structure coated with a stealth material. Inside, it integrates various data collection instruments, optical recording instruments, transmission modules, high-energy batteries, and engine modules.

While they appear to be fully functional, they are actually more like disposable consumables. They are launched towards the target area by a special catapult, and judging from the fact that they are only half the size of the vehicle, it is clear that the technology of the Riken Race could not have made them too powerful.

Indeed, this is the case. Relying on the battery, the engine module can only provide limited kinetic energy to the external unit, and its meager energy reserves mean that this energy delivery will not last long.

Therefore, the engine module's function is only to decelerate and steer; its forward propulsion is provided by the catapult during launch, a design concept very similar to the original Swarm Meteor.

After being launched and reaching their designated location, they decelerate until they are captured by the gravity of nearby objects, and a small external solar panel stores energy for the high-energy battery.

Normally, they remain silent to reduce unnecessary energy scattering, and data collection is passively captured by external collectors on the surface. When they detect abnormal data, they activate the optical recording system, and the engine module starts working, adjusting the angle to point the hidden camera at the anomaly and begin recording.

When recording begins, the built-in transmission module is activated, transmitting the images captured by the optical instruments back to the Riken Race's monitoring room in real time. This long-distance information transmission consumes most of the energy in the high-energy battery and also generates violent energy fluctuations.

As long as it's not on a battlefield amidst the chaos of war, such man-made energy fluctuations are extremely conspicuous. If the anomaly it detects is a natural phenomenon, that's fine, but if it's from a hostile force, the other side wouldn't mind taking care of this exposed observation device.

Therefore, they are closer to single-use consumables.

Given their operating mechanism, while 200 or so may seem like a lot, in reality, as long as they don't trigger an alarm, the Riken soldiers responsible for recording them are essentially doing nothing. And the Riken Race has at least a thousand of these monitoring rooms.

The Ricken soldier had just turned off the room lights, intending to rest for a while. With the screen completely dark, there was nothing to watch even if they wanted to. The boring daily routine made them easily sleepy, and their semi-closed work positions meant that almost no one ever came to their posts.

Therefore, sleeping in during work hours has become the norm for this branch of the military.

Just as he leaned back in his recliner and closed his eyes, the alarm suddenly went off. The piercing sound echoed in the small, enclosed room, making his head buzz. At the same time, the red warning light of the alarm flashed wildly in the dimly lit room.

Soldier Ricken, suppressing his discomfort, jumped up from the recliner, strode to the corner, and turned on the light switch. The room lit up, and the warning red light was finally no longer so glaring. He breathed a sigh of relief; if he had been blinded for a little longer, he might have thrown up his lunch.

Although this was the first time he had encountered such a situation since starting his job, the pre-job training kept him from panicking too much. He had also heard his colleagues mention this situation a few times before, saying it was either a meteorite passing by or Zerg attack.

The meteorite is a given, but as for the Zerg, their nasty presence is everywhere now. Activating a few observers isn't a big deal; he thinks he should suggest to the Scientific Research Department that they add something like automatic identification. That way, they won't be constantly startled. This lousy alarm should be changed to something more soothing, and the lights should probably be replaced too...

The soldier grumbled as he casually approached the control platform beneath the wall. On the screen hanging on the wall, one of the small squares was lit up, indicating that the external unit of the monitor was working properly and had transmitted the image back.

He lightly touched the screen, clicked to open, and after a short buffer, a scene appeared that left him speechless.

What was recorded in the video was not a meteorite, nor the pesky Zerg, but a massive fleet. The cold hulls and dark red paint exuded a suffocating, bloody aura.

The video lasted for about two minutes, then ended with a beam of light shooting from the direction of the fleet before the screen went dark. The soldiers knew that the external monitoring unit had been destroyed, and that it had happened half an hour earlier; after all, even the speed of light in space isn't instantaneous.

After repeatedly checking the instruments and confirming that there was no problem or a prank, he finally realized that something serious had happened.

The soldier took a few deep breaths, forcing himself to calm down, then pulled out the key hanging around his neck from his clothes and used it to open a protective cover on the control panel.

The protective shield opened, revealing a huge red button. Pressing this alarm button carelessly could land you in a military court, but the soldier didn't hesitate at all. He pressed it down heavily with both hands, stood on tiptoe, and put his entire body weight on it.

The button was pressed, and not only did no sound or light effects occur, but even the alarm and warning lights that were originally in the room stopped. The soldier breathed a sigh of relief; his job was done, and the rest was now up to higher-level departments.

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