Hesitation

To be honest, sending out this interceptor force is a joke. In seven or eight months, the interceptor force will probably only be able to reach the Zerg's rear, and it's hard to say whether it will even be able to be deployed properly.

By then, the Zerg were almost completely wiped out. If there really was Zerg commander, would he have waited until then to retreat? Most of the other races certainly didn't think so.

The Le Clan, Wuqu Clan, and Metesi Clan tribes delayed for too long, causing them to miss their opportunity, perhaps because they had intended to do so all along. Moreover, when the plan was first approved, other tribes used various methods to push for its implementation.

However, all these methods—whether it's using connections, subtle hints, or direct advice—ultimately converge on Conrads, the commander-in-chief of the Coalition Army.

However, while Conrads outwardly agreed to all these requests, he also publicly urged the Le Clan, Wuqu Clan, and Metesi Clan tribes to hurry up.

However, this urging remained merely verbal, without any concrete action. Such urging naturally had no deterrent effect, and the Le Clan, Wuqu Clan, and Metesi Clan tribes seemed to understand something, tacitly delaying the process in cahoots with the Lashudia Clan.

The war was already over if it dragged on any longer, which would have been far too embarrassing, so the interceptor fleet finally set sail. Otherwise, it wouldn't have been a problem to delay for another year or two.

Watching the fleet depart in the void, Conrads silently gave himself a thumbs up. Unknowingly, he had delayed another six months. He hoped this would help the great Overlord.

However, he immediately frowned. Even if more than 100 million troops were diverted, although the Coalition Army did reduce their firepower slightly, it would not fundamentally alleviate the pressure on the Zerg.

If this continues, the Zerg are truly going to lose. Are Zerg really going to have to relinquish this star system and suffer their first defeat?

Since Sarah wasn't sharing any information with him, Conrads could only guess. But regardless, the Overlord was watching everything. With the Overlord's abilities, he should have planned everything long ago; now he just needed to wait and see how things unfolded.

In the blink of an eye, another six months have passed, and we have arrived at the beginning of the 89th year of the New Era. More than three years have passed since the start of the war.

At the start of the war, the two sides had a total of over seven billion troops. After this period of attrition, the battle is finally nearing its end. The Zerg forces now number only over three hundred million, while the Coalition Army forces, even after deducting over one hundred million intercepting troops, still have over 1.5 billion troops remaining.

Furthermore, these 1.5 billion troops are of very high quality, with nearly 80% being troops from the Mid-Ring Civilizations. Although their numbers are only half of what they were at the beginning of the war, they still retain at least 60-70% of their combat effectiveness.

At this stage of the battle, if the Zerg had not yet sent reinforcements, the outcome would have been decided. However, intelligence from various sources within the Coalition Army, including the Epoch Clan, indicated that no large-scale Zerg troop movements had been detected within three light-years of the Zerg Star System No. 1.

With victory seemingly in sight, the Coalition Army forces were filled with joy, yet also a heavy atmosphere. The first victory against the Zerg was about to be secured. However, the Zerg might still have the suicidal Stellar Bomb, so they had to be extremely careful and absolutely could not afford to fail at this final juncture.

--

"My Overlord, what should we do next?" Sarah asked softly, looking at Rowan, who was deep in thought, within the Swarm Network.

"Let me think about it some more, Sarah."

Rowan is omnipotent within the Swarm Network; morphing is merely a trivial skill. To other Intellect, his form is ever-changing, and each appearance he presents is the most perfect image in the minds of the beings within the swarm. If Rowan is radiant in the minds of Intellect, then in the Swarm Network, what that Intellect sees in Rowan is also radiant light.

The Insect Empress and the Queen Bee envision Rowan as a towering insect god, and thus, in their eyes, Rowan is the image of an insect god. Most of the time, Rowan remains hidden within the Swarm Network, and only a few Intellect, such as Sarah and Morgan, can see his descent.

However, since ordering Sarah and others to establish the Zerg Royal Court, Rowan has rarely appeared in the real world in a physical form. Even the Intellect like Sarah need to go through the Swarm Network to see Rowan.

In the Swarm Network, Rowan's image in Sarah's eyes is the image of Rowan when he first appeared before Sarah as an Advent. That was shortly after Sarah joined the Zerg, when the Zerg were still very weak, and Rowan was still the self-proclaimed Tribal Chief, hiding in the Origin Star. He lived in constant fear of the arrival of an advanced civilization.

However, everything needs to proceed gradually. Scientific theories and their realization must be done step by step, without skipping any steps. Due to the small size of their territory, the Zerg's Intellect were few and far between. In addition, Rowan had already ascended to a higher dimension at that time, and multitasking was a basic operation for him.

Therefore, Rowan felt extremely bored at that time.

Sarah was one of the first few Intellect who were not converted for scientific research. Given her previous status as the Rat-folk Queen, even though everyone was equal in the Swarm Network, there were still some degrees of closeness and distance between them.

To kill time, Rowan used the Zerg's influence among the Rat-folk to establish several game companies, recruiting a large number of Rat-folk to develop several games. At that time, Zerg Intellect was scarce and each one was precious; they needed to constantly accumulate knowledge, but they didn't have time to develop games.

However, making games wasn't entirely due to Rowan's personal quirks. The Rat-folk were facing technological blockade in the future, and ordinary individuals would be kept in the dark about the truth of the world. Technology itself would also be blocked. In order for them to grow healthily and reproduce more outstanding offspring under such circumstances, spiritual nourishment was essential.

Therefore, Rowan's actions can be seen as a form of advance planning.

Under Rowan's guidance, the games produced by these game companies were of decent quality, covering a wide range of genres. At that time, Sarah had chosen the Command major and therefore did not have any research tasks.

But by then the Rat-folk had already unified the country, and with the Zerg's covert interference, Rat-folk society was peaceful and prosperous, with no wars taking place. Therefore, Sarah could only practice her command skills in the game.

Out of boredom, Rowan also dabbled in the game. Because Rowan's strength was too weak at that time, he was not able to materialize the game into the Swarm Network. Therefore, if he wanted to pass the time with the game, he could only do so in the real world.

The game was developed by the Rat-folk, and was naturally designed for humanoid creatures. Rowan specially created a humanoid Descendant for this purpose. The style of this Descendant later became the template for all Intellect Descendants, and was also the image of the so-called true Zerg that the Star Sea Alliance believed.

Thank you, Huanyu, for the 200 Qidian Coins reward.