Dawn

Such an advanced warship would not have its energy supply system shut down due to such a minor malfunction. The backup system quickly took over control, and the lighting equipment was turned on again. The emergency fire extinguishing devices on the roof of the compartment were also activated, extinguishing the open flames.

"We used too much force, haha..." The team members were a little embarrassed. If it weren't for the emergency, they would probably have to line up for a military court afterwards.

Knox, his face dark, said nothing more and led the way down the next passage. Regardless of the damage incurred, this method did indeed significantly increase the search speed.

However, this method cannot be replicated; strictly speaking, it is the intensity of the attack that cannot be replicated. The attack just now has already damaged several sections of the main bulkhead. If there is too much damage like this, it may affect the overall structural stability of the warship. Even if all the Zerg are found, the warship will be almost falling apart.

The passageway wasn't long. With the help of the Humanoid Mecha, the team quickly moved the damaged hatch aside, but they didn't rush to the next room.

The recent strafing attack targeted some areas excessively, while others were completely untouched. They now need to inspect those untouched areas.

Having learned from their previous experience, Knox reassigned tasks to different personnel, along with the Vulcan cannons whose firing rate had been reset. After several rounds of adjustments, they quickly found the optimal firing rate and intensity.

Soon, the areas that hadn't been checked before were thoroughly examined. The new inspection method indeed increased efficiency by orders of magnitude.

"We haven't found this passage, Captain. Should we move on to the next one?"

Knox glanced left and right again. Each section of the passage was only about fifty meters apart. He could see everything in a glance. The dark, pitted, broken metal walls, the fire caused by the energy short circuit and the mixed traces of fire extinguishing agent... Looking at all this, he felt as if he had missed something.

After thinking for a long time, he still couldn't remember. Knox shook his head and directed his team to the next section of the passage. As long as they checked the nine sections of the passage and waited for the damage and safety assessment calculated by the command center, if there were no problems, then it would prove that the plan was feasible and would definitely be promoted throughout the army. At that time, their team, which proposed the plan, would definitely receive a considerable reward.

The hatch leading to the lower passage was a primary target during the first wave of attacks. It is now severely damaged, and its internal control systems and hydraulic systems have been rendered inoperable.

Although the damaged hatch was somewhat heavy, it was no match for the Z-series Humanoid Mecha. The two Humanoid Mecha worked together and easily moved the obstacle. Just as they were about to continue, Gale's voice suddenly came. "Captain, should we also check the areas we attacked?"

Knox felt a sudden rush of realization; he remembered what he had forgotten. Gale was right; their mission objective was to thoroughly inspect the areas they had passed through. And those areas that had just been attacked—they hadn't been checked by any of them, subconsciously.

Just as Knox was about to give the order, Kari's voice came through the communication channel. "Why do we need to check those places? Those Zerg creatures, after that kind of attack, even if they didn't die, they would definitely be jumping up. But we didn't find anything unusual just now."

"But that's just our opinion. Although we've eliminated a few Zerg brachiopods, they were all killed by concentrated fire. We don't know their limits. What if they survived because of the low attack intensity?" Gale explained calmly.

"That's just your imagination..."

"Alright, a thorough check is indeed our task. We can't ignore those areas just because they were attacked. Let's go back and take a look now; it won't take long." Kari interrupted Knox before he could finish speaking. Every second counted; there was no time for the team to argue.

Kari was interrupted, but he didn't dare to argue with Knox, the Captain, and could only mutter under his breath, "What's the difference between this investigation method and the previous one? Even if it's fast, it's only slightly faster."

Although his voice was very soft and difficult to hear, his teammates, who were like family to him, could roughly deduce the meaning even from just a few words.

However, they all selectively ignored Kari's complaints; for a team to maintain harmony, someone always has to make a little sacrifice.

The crowd's reaction caused Kari, who had just vented some of his frustration, to nearly explode again. He steered the spider-like robot, roughly weaving through the crowd. Its three-meter-long limbs, aided by several metal joints, bent and leaped towards a piece of wreckage.

To everyone's utter surprise, just as the spider-like robot was about to land, blue arcs of Electric Arc suddenly flashed across the ground. The warning instruments had barely sounded their alarms, and even before the alarms were fully audible, the Zerg tentacles wreathed in blue Electric Arc sprang up from the charred remains, carrying immense force and instantly smashing the falling spider-like robot into pieces.

"@#%!!!!!!" A weak curse rang out in the communication channel. Kari was paying the price for his recklessness once again, losing his vehicle for the nth time. He could only wait to be assigned a new machine before he could rejoin the battlefield. However, whether there were any Z2 spider robots left in the already scarce inventory was still unknown.

Things happened so fast that, with Knox and his team's reflexes, they only felt the parts flying through the air before the alarm went off.

"Fire!" Knox roared, and the squad opened fire. With little mobility and the enemy's Zerg Tentacle Trap out of range, they could only helplessly be riddled with bullets.

"Hoo..." Knox exhaled a breath of stale air, looking at the hull affected by the saturation blast wave, he felt somewhat bewildered. Pulling up the video replay from earlier, he could clearly see that the Zerg unit had obviously sprung out from a patch of charred remains.

The charred area indicated it had been attacked by the team's weapons, but why was it ineffective? The thing still possessed combat capabilities, which meant their previous assumptions and plans were invalid.

We had just seen the light at the end of the tunnel and were convinced we had found a way to win, but we never expected that everything would turn out so suddenly.