Discovery

Before witnessing the scene before them, Knox Squad had been operating under a misconception. Only now did they realize that the Zerg's trap units did not necessarily have to exist in tunnels, nor did they necessarily have to parasitize a specific material.

The massive energy hub, while containing metal, is certainly different from the cheap materials used in ship cabin bulkheads. It also contains other materials such as ceramics and plastics.

However, the Zerg's traps can corrode them all, allowing them to take refuge on them. Moreover, the Zerg seem to have a considerable understanding of their technology, managing to avoid targeting vital areas.

Although the energy hub is covered with these Tentacle Trap, it does not affect the normal operation of the machine in the slightest.

At this moment, the Zerg traps did not deploy their mimicry systems, but instead swayed their tentacles from side to side like seaweed. Although they did not utter a word, anyone could see that their actions were full of provocation.

"Captain, what should we do?"

Knox was also at a loss when faced with his teammates' questions. The meaning of those things was very clear: blatant coercion and threats. They were parasitic on the important energy hub, and unless they were willing to sacrifice the energy hub to kill them, their ranged attacks would essentially be rendered useless.

However, if you try to eliminate them at close range, their attack power is too strong. Exchanging blows is manageable for one or two, but with too many, it's simply impossible.

It's not that those remotely controlled robots are particularly valuable, but rather that no one had anticipated the war would escalate to this point, and therefore, no one was prepared for it.

Moreover, those guys are parasitic on the energy hub, which seems to have a sinister undertone.

Knox's situation was not an isolated case. With the rapid spread of the new tactics, all races began to discover that the Zerg's trap units were starting to retreat.

They converged on some important facilities inside the warship, such as energy generators, energy hubs, and engines, making the Alliance forces hesitant to act decisively in their efforts to eliminate them.

The new situation caused headaches again for the Coalition Army high command, who had just breathed a sigh of relief after seeing the dawn of victory. At this moment, discussions broke out again in the Coalition Army high command's operations conference room.

"Have you ever thought about this? Since these things can drill a hole in the surface of the machine, drilling a deeper wouldn't be difficult for them. So why don't they just destroy the energy hub directly?"

The staff officer's statement immediately drew agreement from many others. "Indeed, there must be some conspiracy hidden here."

"..."

"Perhaps the Zerg don't want to sacrifice too many combat units?" a staff officer said weakly, but the uncertainty in his words made his statement very unconvincing.

Sure enough, someone immediately retorted, "How could that be? Look at the Zerg's fighting style. Not to mention anything else, just in the early stages of this war, how many combat units did they lose? If the Zerg would care about these Biological Weapons, then even the dead would be laughing in their sleep."

"Yes, there may be other hidden reasons, but it definitely can't be this reason."

"Damn it, if this continues, things will go back to the initial standoff. Fortunately, our area of operation is much larger than before, which is a silver lining."

"You're oversimplifying things. If the Zerg actively destroy those devices, we'll be in serious trouble."

"That's right. In that case, the current favorable situation might vanish in an instant."

"Although I hate to admit it, the Zerg have indeed seized the initiative now."

"But why haven't they made a move yet?" After discussing it for a long time, the matter returned to square one.

"First, we need to establish that we are enemies with the Zerg. They absolutely cannot harbor any goodwill towards us. Yet, they haven't made a move, which means that what they have to do is far more important than killing us."

"I don't think whatever they want to do will be good for us."

"That's for sure, but we can only watch helplessly now."

"Isn't there any way to get rid of those things?"

"Not yet. Although we also have close combat capabilities, according to our estimates, they will have ample time to carry out their destruction before we can completely eliminate them."

"Damn it, what should we do now?"

"Actually, I think retreating now is the best option. This war has reached this point; we're already bogged down by the Zerg in small-scale battles. And judging from the current situation, we're at a complete disadvantage in these small-scale battles."

"But we didn't lose!"

"It's impossible. The Zerg have only ever deployed one type of combat unit on our warships, and that's already giving us a huge headache. When other combat units appear, we're simply unable to resist."

"Perhaps the Zerg only deployed one unit?"

"How could that be? If that were true, our warships would already be destroyed. They must have something else inside, doing who knows what."

"Perhaps they are coveting our technology."

"That's ridiculous. The Zerg's technological level is no worse than ours. Our technology is just something they can learn from, not something they absolutely need."

"After much thought, I've concluded that the most valuable part of the entire fleet is ourselves. Perhaps the Zerg want to capture us alive."

"Ha, the Zerg have never had the habit of accepting surrender."

"That's not necessarily true. There is evidence that after the Zerg conquered the territory of the Duoqi Race, many Duoqi Race still lived on their original Life Star. The Zerg did not exterminate them."

"The Duoqi Race? Never heard of them. Where did you get this information?" The Duoqi Race is a remote and small tribe, and not everyone knows about them. In particular, most of the people present have been in hibernation for decades and have missed a lot of trending news. Although a representative of a foreign tribe expressed his doubts, his hands moved very quickly, and he quickly searched for keywords on his Personal Terminal.

Although the Coalition Army representatives present were not from the Epoch Clan, they still possessed considerable authority and quickly found relevant information through keyword searches.

The information indicates that although the original territory of the Duoqi Race has been surrounded by the new territory of the Zerg, the Zerg do not have the ability to completely blockade the vast starry sky.

Therefore, the Epoch Clan still managed to reach the vicinity of the Duoqi Star System. However, because the Zerg's defense level within the star system was much higher, reconnaissance units could not easily penetrate it and could only detect it through instruments at extremely long distances.

But even this led them to an incredible discovery: on the original Life Star where the Duoqi Race lived, they found traces of the Duoqi Race's lives, which they had refused to leave.