The Reaper immediately activated its conventional power engines, and a massive beam of plasma shot out from the warship, directly impacting the insect's mouth. The inside of the insect's mouth immediately became charred, as the defenses here were clearly weaker than the insect's bio-armor.
The giant worm, stinging with pain, strained again, trying to crush the Reaper. With a snap, the worm's teeth broke one by one, and the Reaper was deformed by the powerful bite force. The Reaper could no longer sail, so the computer used the dozens of engines that were still working to forcibly change direction. The bow of the ship pointed at the giant worm's mouth and delivered all the antimatter and energy spheres into the giant worm's body at once.
With a muffled thud, the giant worm collapsed softly, struggling in the air for a few moments before its long worm tail came to a stop. The Reaper was also at its last gasp. Faced with the swarming worms, the Reaper immediately converted its Reversed State Armor into energy and then activated its self-destruct mode.
The massive energy explosion overturned dozens of layers of the insect swarm, sending hundreds of thousands of insects to their doom. The remaining insects did not retreat at all; they surrounded the giant insect and began to tear it apart and feed on it. Some of the lowest-ranking insects could not find an opportunity to bite, so they turned their mouths on other insects that had been killed or injured by the Reaper's explosion. A grand feast in the stars began.
The Reaper timed it perfectly; as soon as one was destroyed, a second one would appear. These thousand Reaper had already appeared in various parts of the galaxy, and their appearance caused a huge commotion among the Zerg swarm. Soon, the second wave of search operations began, and the Zerg swarm became active again.
Taking advantage of this opportunity, the fleet finally approached the Matter River. Looking at it from thousands of light-years away, the Matter River looked like a huge river flowing through the starry sky. It was ten light-years long, and three light-years wide and deep. This enormous river was undulating and vast. Within the Matter River, there were points of light that must have been stars.
The Matter River was formed at an unknown time and for unknown reasons. Compared to the nebula, the amount of matter here is more than a hundred times richer.
Nebulae come in many shapes and sizes, and Matter River is one of them. However, something must have happened here that greatly increased the density of matter. At least 50 stars have gathered in this relatively narrow river. This density is unimaginable in other parts of the galaxy. Under the influence of gravity, they must have collided violently.
But here they were all perfectly fine, as if gravity had no effect at all. The academicians who saw this were immediately intrigued and couldn't wait to enter the Matter River to explore it.
This place is only a thousand light-years away from the Matter River, and there are only a few dozen stars along the way. Strangely, the insect swarm here has not shown any large-scale abnormalities, and there are also insects patrolling in an orderly manner in the areas between the stars.
The fleet had no choice but to stop and observe from a distance. The swarm of insects seemed to be guarding this Matter River. They were numerous enough to defend it from every angle, preventing any civilized spaceship from entering.
" Zhuge Xiong, could you use another tactic like feinting to the east while attacking the west, luring the snake out of its hole, stirring up the grass to startle the snake, or fishing in troubled waters?"
"It's no use. Even if we create chaos now, their defenses won't falter. This is their mission, and it also risks exposing ourselves. The swarm here is very alert; we might have already attracted their attention."
"Think of something quickly, I also feel this place is more dangerous than anywhere else."
"I'm thinking, I'm thinking, don't rush me. Hey, stop staring at me like that. The general sent you here, you should at least do something useful."
"I think we could try to take a detour and see if we can find a weak point. With this outer shell, we might be able to break through."
"A patrol is possible, but I don't think there's much hope of breaking through. Besides, the insects' patrol range has reached a thousand light-years. We might be able to force our way through the outer perimeter, but we definitely won't have a chance inside."
"Let's see how things go first. We don't have a solution right now, and staying here isn't a long-term solution."
The fleet slowly retreated a little, blending into the search swarm and beginning to circle the swarm's defensive perimeter. Every so often, the fleet would break away from warp drive to observe the defensive perimeter, searching for any virtually nonexistent weak points.
"Wait, Generals, what is this?" Academician Liu Bo suddenly exclaimed.
" Academician Liu, isn't this just an ordinary small meteorite?"
A meteorite the size of a watermelon appeared 100,000 kilometers away from the fleet. It moved slowly and did not change its course because of the fleet's arrival.
"No, I observed the nearby stars and calculated the proper attitude of this meteorite. Its trajectory is incorrect, deviating from its normal orbit by 0.001 degrees, and its speed is also wrong, exceeding the normal speed by 0.25 meters per second."
" Little Liu, are the calculation results accurate?" Academician Zeng asked.
"Academician, this is just child's play; there's definitely no problem. This small meteorite is indeed something special."
"Academicians, if there's a problem, why don't we just grab it and take a look? It's just a small meteorite. Even if there's something wrong with it, the fleet can handle it easily," Li Zhixiong said.
"Academician, this place was once the territory of a civilization, and several advanced civilizations have explored it. I think this might be satellite equipment left behind by these civilizations. Aren't our satellite equipment often disguised like this?" Chen Peng added.
"General Chen Peng is right. The swarm is incapable of creating these things. They are most likely remnants of a civilization or devices still in use. We should leave them alone for now. Besides, we won't get anything from capturing them. These things are simple in structure and only serve as information transmitters and receivers; they have no practical use."
"Then let's not make any more arrests, let's move on."
" Zhuge Xiong, I'm afraid we can't leave. Look at this spatial fluctuation. Although it's small, its speed is 4800 times the speed of light. It's a high-level insect! The small-sized high-level insect that the Heavenly Peak Civilization spoke of. Prepare for battle!"
"Don't be nervous, let's see what it's going to do first."
"It's too late. It hasn't slowed down. There are still ten seconds until contact. Space cannon, charge up immediately! Virtual Matter, prepare. It's not big. We'll use Virtual Matter to wear it down first, trying to avoid a large-scale battle."
" Chen Peng, that beast is charging straight at us! It must have found something, you bastard!"
"Stop talking nonsense, let's fight! We must protect the academicians' safety!"
"Oh no! The swarms of insects are coming from all around. We're in danger this time." Li Zhixiong was also getting a little nervous.
" The Reaper have assembled and formed a three-dimensional firepower network. If the Virtual Matter doesn't work, we'll fight our way towards the Matter River. We absolutely cannot let the swarm surround us, or we'll be finished!"
A beetle-like creature, only about 100 meters long and entirely fiery red, appeared in front of the main ship, less than 300,000 kilometers away—a close encounter.