Because the opening was so large, even at high speed it would take a second or two, and the swarm of insects took advantage of this time to rush frantically into the space cannon.
The space cannon was fully charged shortly after the first wave of insects rushed in, unleashing a powerful Space Shockwave mixed with insect fragments. The destruction of the first wave did not affect the attack of the other insects, who fearlessly continued to charge into the space cannon. This time they succeeded, immediately activating their destructive mode upon entering the space cannon.
The internal instruments were extremely fragile. The swarm of insects scraped along the walls of the space cannon as they advanced, destroying the instruments piece by piece. Electric currents shot out, sparks flew everywhere, and the space cannon quickly became a dud.
After detecting these events, the computer activated its self-destruct mode. As the Reversed State Armor reverted to energy, the energy stored inside the warship exploded. This explosion was no less powerful than a giant energy ball. From being surrounded by the swarm to the Reaper's self-destruction, the Reaper killed at least millions of insects. This seemingly enormous number was nothing compared to the swarm, whose daily losses from cannibalism far exceeded this by several orders of magnitude.
The other Reaper ultimately could not escape the swarm's pursuit. After killing more or less of the swarm, they all chose to self-destruct. The swarm that destroyed the Reaper did not return to the Zerglings, but continued to search and advance in space.
The academicians' fleet had already moved far away from here, and they were advancing at full speed through the open space between the swarms, rushing towards the coordinates of the Matter River.
"General Chen Peng, how far are we from the Matter River?" Academician Zeng asked.
"Academician, the Matter River is 30,000 light-years from the center of the galaxy. We've only just begun. We wasted a lot of time traversing the worm line in the past few months, and we've only traveled about 5,000 light-years so far."
"That's quite far."
"Academician, don't worry, we will definitely get you there safely."
"I'm not worried about that; you definitely have the ability."
With 25,000 light-years remaining, the fleet could reach their destination in just over six years if all went smoothly. Along the way, all the celestial bodies observed were surrounded by large swarms of insects. Even if we only count the minimum number of insects around a celestial body as one unit, the number of insect swarms in half the galaxy would still be as high as 300 billion units.
The actual number is far greater than 300 billion units. According to current estimates, this number is at least ten times higher, and that is a conservative estimate.
The vast majority of these insect swarms are below Tier 20. As long as the primary fleets in the Small Star Region form a defensive formation and create a crossfire network, they can deal with them relatively easily. Otherwise, it would be impossible for a civilization's fleet to withstand such an overwhelming number of insect swarms.
Low-level insects are not scary; even if they are numerous, the fleets of Small Star Sector Civilization can handle them. However, what do the legendary high-level insects actually look like? So far, the fleet has not encountered any. The largest insect is only about 1,000 kilometers long, and judging from its size, it is estimated to be around level 22. Without fighting, it is impossible to accurately judge its strength.
However, the psychological pressure it brought to the fleet was immense. Imagine a giant worm, thousands of kilometers long, lying across the starry sky. The moon is only a little over 3,000 kilometers in diameter. What would it have felt like if what we saw yesterday (August 15th) was not the bright and gentle moon, but a giant worm?
Most of the insect swarms here are circling around stars or planets, making the fleet's journey through the space between them extremely abrupt. Fortunately, there are almost no insects wandering in these spaces, so the fleet's journey is relatively smooth.
Ten thousand light-years away from the defense line, there is an ordinary planet with a diameter of ten thousand kilometers. It is less than twenty million kilometers away from the star. You can imagine the planet's environment; even the rocks are almost burning. Because it is so close to the star, volcanic activity caused by geological movements is becoming more and more frequent.
A gigantic worm tightly encircled the planet. To better secure its massive body, its legs pierced directly into the planet's interior. Its flattened body clung tightly to the planet's surface, and the volcanic eruptions and flowing lava on the planet's surface were merely like giving it a steam bath.
Strangely, the insect's head was not visible. The fleet passed by it at a distance of 4 light-years away, and suddenly, as if by magic, a huge and ferocious insect head, hundreds of kilometers wide, appeared. It raised its body, thousands of kilometers long, looked around at the surrounding starry sky, and then stretched out its body.
The insect's legs, piercing into the planet's interior, tore the planet into pieces as its body stretched, spilling crimson magma and metallic fluid across the sky.
The insect paid no attention to any of this and swam directly across the direction the fleet was heading, reaching a speed of 5,000 times the speed of light, even faster than the Reaper.
" Chen Peng, something's wrong! We've detected strong spatial fluctuations."
"Detected. Slow down and refrain from any rash actions for now."
"Why?"
"The insectoid order of this spatial fluctuation intensity must be quite high. We are now deep inside the Insect Zone, and we absolutely cannot engage in any combat unless absolutely necessary, otherwise our chance of escaping is less than one in a billion."
"Okay, whatever you say. Sigh, it's so frustrating that the 4D network isn't working; we can't even conduct alerts."
"Every loss has its gain. If we use a four-dimensional network, we might not be able to travel that distance of ten thousand light-years. You also need to think about what we should do next. Judging from this direction, they are definitely coming towards us."
"What can I do? This is an unsolvable equation."
"Aren't you Little Zhuge? Don't let me down at this crucial moment. I've kept my promise and haven't made fun of you for years. If you falter this time, don't blame me for breaking my promise."
In this dangerous moment, the two not only remained calm and composed, but also chatted and laughed. Only seasoned soldiers could possess such composure.
The giant worm quickly stopped ahead of the fleet, forcing the fleet to halt as well. The crew finally saw the enormous worm, tens of thousands of kilometers long, like a planet. Scientists would never have believed such a creature, which defies the rules of normal biological evolution, existed if they hadn't seen it with their own eyes.
The giant insect slowly flew towards the fleet. Compared to it, the Reaper was like an ant compared to an elephant. Its huge compound eyes stared intently at the fleet, which dared not move forward and pretended to casually stretch its body in the air a few times.
Even the usually composed Chen Peng and Li Zhixiong felt their hearts pounding violently. It was truly enormous; even a giant ship like the Reaper, which was over 20 kilometers long, would only be enough to fill one of its gaps. It opened its enormous mouth, and the sharp teeth inside resembled towering mountains.