Waiting

The Lashudia Clan fleet was the largest in this battle, with a total of 200 million soldiers deployed in an effort to secure the first victory. However, half of them had been diverted earlier due to a flanking maneuver.

The remaining half, being at the forefront of the battle and without any Outer-Ring Civilizations being assigned as cannon fodder or shields, also suffered significant losses. By the time the retreat order was given, there were approximately 70 million, but less than 80 million, remaining.

After Conrads issued the retreat order, the Lashudia Clan warships, following the pre-arranged plan, turned around and sailed to a safe position while other civilizations were still arguing about who should leave first, and began to accelerate into warp speed.

What was originally an act that would make other races envious quickly turned into panic. The Lashudia Clan set a perfect example of what not to do, showing other races that the Zerg didn't refrain from detonating their energy systems not because they couldn't, but because the timing wasn't right.

Of the more than 70 million Lashudia Clan warships, approximately 20 million were destroyed on the spot, their explosions stealing the light from the distant Zerg No. 1 Star.

There are still less than 20 million warships that have forcibly entered warp drive mode. Although we haven't seen their subsequent state, their fate is worrying.

The vehicle driven by Conrads, the commander-in-chief of the Coalition Army, is one of them. Although it has quantum communication technology that can penetrate warp space to communicate, the commander-in-chief has not responded to the messages sent by the various races of the Coalition Army so far.

Nearly ten million Lashudia Clan warships did not enter warp space, but instead attempted to escape at sub-light speed. However, judging from the images fed back from optical observation, their hulls also began to explode in flames. Some exploded directly, turning into wreckage, while others remained relatively intact, but their energy and engine systems were definitely destroyed, and they were being carried away by inertia, heading towards an unknown destination.

However, their location is still within the gravitational influence of the star system. Having lost their power, they will most likely be captured by the star's gravity and remain in a certain orbit, revolving around the star. Even if they are not captured, they will not be able to escape back, and their fate will probably be even worse, because the asteroid belt outside the star system will most likely be their final destination.

Although some ships had been cleared out by the Coalition Army before, there were bound to be some that escaped. With the addition of ships that were brought in later, even though the density is much lower than before, they are by no means warships that have lost power and can be challenged.

As for the remaining 20 million-plus warships, they gradually slowed down and stopped advancing. Their command systems were somewhat broken, and they might remain confused for some time before they could communicate with the rear through the Quantum Communication System and establish a new command structure.

The foreigners watched with a sense of unease. Although many foreign representatives had shown great backbone in the virtual world meeting, and some even from the Mid-Ring Civilizations were trying to gain more by leveraging their relatively intact fleets.

But when it came to actually getting to the point and asking them to say something, they all fell silent. Therefore, the surrender document sent to the Zerg was relatively simple, containing only the most basic requirements such as treating prisoners of war well.

"Will the Zerg accept our surrender?" At this point, the outsiders were somewhat uneasy. After all, although they had discovered traces of their presence in Zerg territory, it did not mean that the Zerg would actually accept them as prisoners.

"Perhaps..." A representative's lips curled into a bitter smile. At this point, they could only resign themselves to fate. Even if the Zerg refused to surrender, what could they do? Even if their fleet's firepower remained intact, even if they annihilated the remaining hundred million Zerg remnants, what then?

Having lost their motivation, they could only wait here for the Zerg reinforcements to arrive, awaiting their judgment and revenge. Perhaps annihilating the Zerg would reduce their chances of surrendering to zero, burying their last chance to survive.

In fact, they had considered continuing to struggle, since this wasn't the Zerg's heartland. Although it was closer to the Zerg, it wasn't far from the Star Sea Alliance's territory.

If they could have held on a little longer and waited for reinforcements, they might not have had to suffer such humiliation. However, when they tried to communicate with their rear, they heard the news they least wanted to hear. This became the final straw that broke their backs.

There are no reinforcements available, because the Zerg's infiltration tactics have not yet been fully investigated. Sending reinforcements rashly could easily trap them as well, turning it into a continuous waste of manpower. Therefore, after discussion, the Alliance leadership has decided to refuse to send additional troops until the situation is fully understood.

Even if they agree to send reinforcements, it would be difficult to rescue everyone. This is because the Lashudia Clan essentially cut off the Frontline Base during this battle. When they set off, apart from the older warships of the Outer-Ring Civilizations that hadn't yet been fitted with warp engines, almost all the other ships that could keep up with the main force were deployed.

In this situation, reinforcements can only be new troops that have arrived at the front lines in recent years, but their numbers are probably insufficient to take away so many metal shells that have lost their energy systems.

The surrender was simple: the outsiders sent a regional broadcast towards the Zerg. Using the most basic method of information dissemination, they openly sent the information in the designated direction.

Once a civilization reaches the basic level of industrialization, it will have the means to receive this information. Although the Zerg are primarily a biological civilization, and their method of information dissemination remains a mystery, outsiders believe that the Zerg absolutely have the capability and means to receive this information.

If they're willing.

Time passed slowly, and the surrender message had been sent for some time. Given the distance between the two sides, the message, traveling at the speed of light, should have already reached the Zerg camp.

To avoid any mishaps, they even sent the message several more times, but the Zerg base did not respond except to stop firing.

"Can't the Zerg receive our messages?" Fear can cause the Intellect of creatures with poor resilience to plummet. The Zerg's prolonged silence allowed the fear of impending execution to spread rapidly, and some outsiders even asked what seemed like rather naive questions.

"Heh, how could that be? What do you think biotechnology is? A mindless beast? They're experts in electromagnetism. Even if those signals were encrypted, let alone not being encrypted at all, cracking them wouldn't be difficult for them."

"Don't overthink it. They can definitely receive the information. Don't forget, the Zerg intentionally blocked our communication signals during the previous war."

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