While Wen Zhonghua readjusted the Reaper formation, he endured intense pain. The Reaper had just finished eliminating Li Shun and were in a hollow formation. Before they could adjust, they were met with three giant insects. Now, the Reaper slowly contracted some of the edge warships to fill the middle, but they dared not get too close to prevent the insects from launching a dimensional reduction attack.
The giant worm attacking the command ship was constantly breaking through the Reaper's defenses, like a robber spotting a pile of glittering gold and silver. At this moment, a Reaper had entered the fourth dimension immediately rushed towards it. The giant worm paid no attention to this one Reaper, because there were simply too many Reaper attacking it.
As the Reaper approached, the other Reaper immediately retreated. The Reaper quickly dragged the thousand warships from the fourth dimension back into the three-dimensional universe. However, when Wen Zhonghua looked at them, he saw that the original nearly a thousand Reaper had dwindled to less than two hundred in just a few dozen seconds. Clearly, they had been destroyed by the insects from the fourth dimension.
These warships that returned from the fourth dimension were all sealed within the fourth-dimensional space. Upon arriving in the three-dimensional universe, they immediately fell into three dimensions, with the extra dimension being released as energy.
These warships exploded almost touching the giant worm. The powerful dimensional energy tore the worm's body apart, blasting its internal organs into powder that flew everywhere. The worm's body was reduced to rags, drifting aimlessly in space for a few seconds before slowly freezing stiff in the low cosmic temperature.
Everyone's headaches vanished instantly, as if a mountain that had weighed them down for 500 years had been lifted, and their bodies felt infinitely lighter. Li Zhixiong picked up his water glass and gulped down several mouthfuls, cursing and swearing as if he wanted to rush up and chop a few more times to vent his anger.
Other commanders who had been rolling on the ground clutching their heads helped each other to their feet. Some of the slightly better-behaved ones managed to wake up their unconscious comrades. The shock of those few hours still left them with lingering fear. These people were not afraid to sacrifice themselves; they had come to the Insect Zone prepared to die at any moment. However, not everyone could bear the excruciating pain of being worse than dead.
At this moment, Gao Jianchuan gritted his teeth and pulled the pen off his leg. With a squeaking sound, blood splattered all over Wen Zhonghua and Li Zhixiong's faces.
"We've gotten our revenge." Gao Jianchuan looked at Li Zhixiong and smiled, forcing himself to endure the pain.
"Cough cough... Haha, you've hit a major artery too, serves you right."
"You two splashed me all over the face, how am I supposed to get revenge..." Wen Zhonghua said weakly, wiping his face.
"Hahaha... hahaha..."
The men looked at each other, their faces streaked with tears and sweat, filled with smiles of relief after surviving a catastrophe. No one would resort to such self-harm to stay conscious unless they were in extreme pain. It was a smile of relief, a smile of unwavering resilience. For the fleet, for their mission, not one of them gave up, and they finally pulled through.
The medical staff recovered and brought medical equipment to begin treating Li Zhixiong and Gao Jianchuan's wounds, while also replenishing everyone's energy to help them recover their strength quickly.
One giant worm was killed, and the other two giant worms immediately became alert. They slowed their attack speed and entered the swarm, but it was no use. Ten Reaper had already quietly approached. Wen Zhonghua knew that the four dimensions of these Reaper did not know how many warships were left, so he dispatched a few more.
Although fewer than expected, each giant worm still received nearly 400 Reaper. As a result, just like the first giant worm, after the space returned to normal, two broken worm corpses appeared in the sky.
The other 900-plus Reaper had already rushed into the edge and into the Zerg swarm within the fleet, where earth-shattering explosions were imminent, and the Zerg swarm was destroyed like autumn leaves swept away by the wind.
Not a single worm could be seen in the fleet anymore. However, in order to eliminate the swarm of worms in the fleet, nearly a billion Reaper became sacrifices. Even if these warships did not accept the dimensional reduction attack, their chances of survival were pitifully small. Wen Zhonghua had no choice but to sacrifice them.
The aftershocks of the explosion did not stop. The energy surge, carrying countless fragments of insect corpses, rolled forward, scattering distant insects into pieces. Even with the Reaper fleet running its engines at maximum power, it could not maintain stability, tumbling and drifting for hundreds of thousands of kilometers before barely managing to regain its footing.
The explosion finally shocked the swarm, and they began to retreat. Upon seeing this, Wen Zhonghua immediately organized the Reaper to launch a fierce attack, while simultaneously activating the Consciousness Field Shock to its maximum power to sweep the swarm. He risked his life multiple times to have the Reaper connect with each other and enter the fourth dimension to bring them back to the fourth-dimensional space for dimensional reduction attacks. After many bumps and bruises, they finally fought their way through the swarm.
Of the 120 billion Reaper that set out, only a little over 70 billion remain. Four bugs plus Li Shun have nearly halved the fleet's strength. If they fight a few more times, it's hard to say whether the fleet can even reach the Matter River.
The fleet re-entered normal space. Most of the insects in the Insect Zone were gathered near various celestial bodies. Although there were insects in the vast airspace, their numbers were not large, and the fleet could easily handle them. However, now these insects avoided the Reaper fleet like the plague and dared not obstruct it at all.
Although the four giant insects were only a small part of the high-level insects in the Insect Zone, they represented a portion of the high-end power of the Insect Zone. Even though the human warships suffered huge losses, no one dared to take the lead in killing the remaining Insect King, since humans still had the strength to kill them.
The Matter River was already close at hand; it was visible to ordinary optical equipment, a vast and magnificent Matter River. However, the Reaper fleet did not dock at the Matter River. Docking there would inevitably arouse suspicion. Wen Zhonghua planned to provoke a battle with the Zerg swarm near the Matter River and then use the opportunity to enter the Matter River to retrieve Academician Liu and his team.
However, the swarm of insects is now avoiding the fleet. Wen Zhonghua is worried about how to find a reason to enter the Matter River, but he never expected that Li Zhixiong and Gao Jianchuan are also frowning and troubled by the same thing. The fleet has already passed dozens of light-years across the Matter River. They look at each other, at a loss for what to do.
Suddenly, a segment of electromagnetic waves was received by the fleet. These electromagnetic waves were specially tuned and were very similar to the cosmic microwave background radiation. Without special human receiving equipment, it would be impossible to detect the special features of these electromagnetic waves and the information they carried.
Analysis revealed that the Bee spaceship, which remained near the Matter River, had discovered the trail of Li Shun 'Li Shun fleet and was now following it.
"Chief of the General Staff, this is a golden opportunity! How about we go and make a move on Little Li?" Li Zhixiong said with a smile.