Retreat

How Mowei communicated with Elder Humins of the Epoch Clan, and what the Lashudia Clan sacrificed for it, remained unknown to the outsiders. However, the Epoch Clan's agreement to postpone the attack brought a sigh of relief to everyone.

The Coalition Army forces in the Zerg Star System No. 9 halted their advance immediately upon learning of the Zerg equipment upgrade. At that time, they were still half a month's journey from the Zerg forces, providing them with ample buffer space. Therefore, after receiving news of the suspension of the attack, they easily adjusted their formation and began their retreat.

The Ketu Clan fared worse; they received their new orders three days after engaging the Zerg. In those three days, not only did the Ketu Clan at the forefront and center of their formation clash with the Zerg, but several other Mid-Ring Civilizations were also drawn into the conflict to varying degrees.

The six Outer-Ring Civilizations, however, were positioned relatively far back and were slower, causing them to become somewhat disconnected from the Mid-Ring Civilizations' formation. Ironically, they suffered no losses whatsoever.

The Ketu Clan, being the first civilization to enter the battle, suffered the heaviest losses. More importantly, they fought fiercely, fearing they would be unable to escape upon receiving orders to retreat. They fought and retreated simultaneously, yet worried about being held accountable if given orders to launch a full-scale attack. With their subsequent tactics unclear, they fought hesitantly.

The Zerg, on the other hand, didn't have these problems. But what was strange was that the Zerg didn't use their favorite tactic of overwhelming the enemy with numbers. Instead, they opted for a straightforward head-on confrontation. It was as if they knew this team wouldn't last long, and rather than waste resources, they preferred to simply and brutally exchange more casualties.

However, the professional advisory team quickly offered their opinion: the Zerg were likely acting this way because their own territory was behind them. This reasoning was reasonable. Even if some people still had doubts, this was the first time the Coalition Army had fought on Zerg territory, and there were no previous cases to refer to, so the matter had to be left unresolved.

The Zerg had no extra maneuvers, which allowed them to have more units on the front lines. Relying on their superior main gun range, which was even better than that of the Ketu Clan in the Coalition Army, they relentlessly wore down the Coalition Army forces.

Although the Coalition Army put up a fierce counterattack, with the decision of whether to advance still in dispute, the Zerg, taking advantage of their slight range advantage, relentlessly attacked them.

Fortunately, after a short but long three days, the command center issued a new battle plan. Upon learning of the retreat, the Ketu Clan commander almost wept with joy.

The six civilizations in the Mid-Ring Civilizations, who were already in the front row watching the show, reacted the fastest. The auxiliary propulsion units on the sides of the bow were fully activated, and the entire fleet made a neat U-turn. Then the main propulsion was activated, and they quickly left the battlefield.

They felt no burden about abandoning their teammates. Although they were currently the furthest from the battlefield, the powerful figures from the Mid-Ring Civilizations possessed superior energy and propulsion systems. Once they managed to turn around, they could catch up with them in no time.

As the saying goes, when being chased by a wild beast, all you need to do is run faster than your companions. Although this principle is expressed differently in various civilizations and races, the underlying idea is universal.

The six Mid-Ring Civilizations understood this principle deeply, so despite their own disadvantages, they fled with ease. At the same time, they secretly prayed that the Zerg would lend a hand and hold back one or two of the Mid-Ring Civilizations.

The Zerg may have heard their prayers, after all, their Overlord had done similar work before. After discovering that part of the Coalition Army fleet had broken formation and turned to flee, they seemed to know something, and the range-locking maneuvers they had been performing suddenly stopped, and they charged directly at the Coalition Army.

Several Mid-Ring Civilizations, whose engagements were not yet fully established, were so frightened that they immediately withdrew from the battlefield, even at the cost of skyrocketing casualties. As it turned out, their choice was correct.

The Zerg did not pursue the Zerg that had paid their "breakup fees," but instead focused their attacks on the remaining civilization fleets. The remaining civilizations, however, were not fools; after paying increasingly exorbitant "breakup fees," they were given the opportunity to withdraw from the battlefield.

In the end, of the seven civilizations in the Mid-Ring Civilizations, only the Ketu Clan remained, because its position was too far forward and it was most deeply entangled with the Swarm, thus falling behind.

The commander of the Ketu Clan fleet took a deep breath, his face grave. He knew things were in trouble.

As it turns out, those who could rise to the position of fleet commander were indeed quite insightful, and they were in real trouble. With their allies fleeing one after another, the original battle between a fleet of nearly 700 million and 1.5 billion Zerg became a battle between 60 million and 1.5 billion.

To be more precise, it was 56 million against 1.5 billion. As the civilization that suffered the most damage, the Ketu Clan lost nearly 4 million warships in three days.

However, compared to the sheer number of their opponents, even adding these four million wouldn't make a difference. Their current military strength is even more absurd than what the Yuntu Clan encountered back then.

Moreover, they are now facing an upgraded Zerg. Judging from the Zerg's posture, he may not be able to afford the "breakup fee" they want.

The commander of the Ketu Clan fleet was both grave and perplexed. Normally, if the enemy suddenly made an inexplicable move, shouldn't the commander cautiously investigate the cause before taking any countermeasures?

Why did the Zerg make the optimal decision without any hesitation? Could it be that someone within the Alliance was colluding with the Zerg? That's not impossible, after all, attacking the Zerg is inherently complex. In the internal power struggle, the Ketu Clan might just be the unfortunate ones caught in the crossfire.

Or was it the work of the Ketu Clan's enemies? The commander shook his head, dismissing the idea. Those who could be enemies with the Ketu Clan were basically forces of equal caliber; they were neither qualified nor daring enough to collude with the Zerg.

However, he was no longer allowed to ponder this further.

"Release all Drone, release all tactical bombs! Stop the Zerg! Rally point 19-20-51-215, disperse and evacuate in squadrons!" The overwhelming numerical disparity and the completely outmatched military strength foreshadowed a crushing defeat. If the Ketu Clan did not want to suffer the Yuntu Clan and Sangqie Clan, they had to make a drastic decision.

Even cutting off one's wrist might not be enough; in a critical moment, one might have to sacrifice half of one's body.

"Sir, the evacuation routes have been sent to each company."

The commander nodded. A dispersed evacuation was not a disorderly evacuation. If their fleet of over 50 million men were to disperse and evacuate according to their own wishes, they would probably fall into chaos even before the Zerg attacked.

Therefore, according to the squadron units, the supercomputer has just planned a different retreat route for each of them. They become entangled, intersecting, and dispersed, eventually converging at a single point. However, how many of these teams will ultimately reach the destination depends entirely on luck.

"Now we can only leave it to fate. I hope to see you all again."