The fleet had seen countless insects. Most ordinary insects were predominantly black or gray, while a few high-level Insect King had colorful spots on their bodies. This was the first time they had ever seen one that was entirely fiery red. The more unusual it was, the more dangerous it appeared. The fleet could not determine its rank or its attack power.
Although it had slowed down to below the speed of light, it still did not stop moving. In those few seconds, the main ship maneuvered several times, but each time it maneuvered, the red bug also changed its flight direction. It was clear that its target was the main ship where the academicians and Chen Peng and Li Zhixiong were located.
The red worm was less than 10,000 kilometers away from the main ship. At this critical moment, the space cannon finally finished charging, and the Virtual Matter arrow had already quietly left the ship and been fired.
Under the precise calculation and control of the computer, several Virtual Matter arrows accurately hit the red beetle. The red beetle was moving in a curvature and exerted a gravitational pull on everything around it. Affected by space, although the arrows were deflected in some directions, they still penetrated the beetle's body. The length of the Virtual Matter arrows was now the same as that of the beetle, and they quickly consumed its body structure of equal mass.
Two hundred kilometers from the main ship, the red beetle detached from the curvature and floated silently in the air, showing no signs of life. A Reaper next to it opened its mouth wide and swallowed the red beetle whole, intending to study it later and also to prevent other beetles from noticing anything unusual.
This red beetle must be the king of this area. Its death immediately shocked the surrounding swarm of insects. The spatial cannon did not fire. The Virtual Matter arrow killed the red beetle in less than 0.01 seconds. In that time, even the insects could not see clearly what happened. They only knew that their king had been killed.
It now appears that only this fiery red beetle knows the fleet's secret; the other lower-level beetles have no suspicions. Otherwise, even if the fleet had killed the Insect King, they would never have given up their attack.
They currently believe that a higher-ranking Insect King has killed their original Insect King, so they have not yet launched an attack on the fleet. However, the insect that killed their original Insect King does not resemble Insect King in size or appearance, which puzzles the swarm. Nevertheless, the killing of their original Insect King has shocked them, so for now they are just observing from a distance, waiting for their kind to take action.
The insects are not unintelligent, but their knowledge is pitifully limited. They have almost never considered the possibility of camouflage and infiltration. The information obtained by their sensory organs did not reveal any difference between the insects disguised by the Reaper fleet and other insects. Perhaps other civilizations used this tactic two million years ago, but even if the civilization fleet does not come to strangle them, the insect swarm is constantly evolving. Insects that have witnessed this tactic have probably been eaten by their own kind long ago.
Although the disguised insects are all of the same type and number in the hundreds of thousands, and although the insect swarm structure is diverse, it would not be surprising if there were hundreds of billions, let alone hundreds of thousands, of the same type.
This isn't the first time Insect King has been besieged. Only insects with sufficient strength can dominate an area and become the Insect King. Each region has its own Insect King, and each sub-region has its own Insect King. The Insect King isn't necessarily an insect at a certain stage; an insect at any stage can be the king of a region.
The galactic king likely resides in the fourth dimension. Normally, it only dispatches a small number of high-level insects to the three-dimensional universe to command the entire insect swarm. However, the insect swarm is too large in number, and given their inherent bloodlust, fighting among themselves is commonplace. The galactic king would not pay attention to them, nor could it. Perhaps only during large-scale battles would the galactic king personally or send a large number of high-level insects to the three-dimensional universe.
"From this day forward, I am the king of this region. Those who submit to me will prosper, and those who defy me will perish. You should all know the consequences of resisting me. Now, continue to maintain the defensive perimeter. I am going to challenge the other Insect King!"
While the insect swarm hesitated, Academician Zeng had Li Zhixiong send out a message. As soon as the message was sent, many insects began to retreat, returning to the vicinity of their original star or continuing their patrols in the air.
Only a few powerful insects remained, especially a giant worm that was ten thousand kilometers long. It had grown up through many battles. The rank of an insect is determined at birth and cannot be changed. However, high-ranking insects are not guaranteed to survive to the end. They also need to grow. On the other hand, some low-ranking insects, as long as they have plenty of food and good luck, can grow rapidly and their combat power can easily surpass that of two or three ranks.
The high-level insects that refused to leave must have realized that the insects disguised Reaper didn't seem that powerful. Although they could kill the original Insect King, the original Insect King was small. This mutated Insect King had both advantages and disadvantages. If the Reaper hadn't carried the Virtual Matter, it might not have been able to eliminate it quickly.
This giant worm, tens of thousands of kilometers long, seemed to want to challenge the new Insect King and become the king of this starry sky. Upon seeing this, Chen Peng went straight to meet it, and the other Reaper followed, surrounding the giant worm in the middle.
"Do you want to become my food?"
Seeing this, the giant worm finally understood its situation. The one that had just killed the red beetle was only one worm, but now there were at least 100,000 worms here, which was beyond its ability to handle.
"Your Majesty, I am willing to serve you."
"Hold this starry sky tight. We've come from a distant defensive line. A civilized fleet has invaded. We destroyed part of their fleet not long ago, but the rest escaped. You all need to keep a close watch on this place. If this civilized fleet invades, you know the consequences."
After sending the message, the fleet headed directly towards the Matter River, and the area returned to calm once more.
"Academician, it's so strange, it's like this red beetle knows our secret."
"Luckily we had Virtual Matter, otherwise we would have been in serious trouble just now. Little Zhuge, are you suspecting something?"
"Academician, I have no choice but to suspect that the moment we discovered the meteorite reconnaissance equipment, it attracted this red beetle. Even if the beetle sensed something amiss, it would investigate before attacking. This red beetle's actions clearly confirmed our presence, and it came from a distance. It's highly unlikely that it could have been conducting reconnaissance from such a distance. Only the reconnaissance equipment of these civilizations could have detected our presence so easily."
"Academician, I agree with Zhuge Xiong's analysis. The appearance of this red beetle is highly unusual. If the swarm weren't still watching us, I would definitely bring over that meteorite detection equipment to take a look and see where it sent the information."