This is the Insect Zone. The fleets of the Great Star Region Civilization can no longer spy on the Reaper from the fourth dimension, so people don't need to be so secretive anymore.
"I also want to teach Li Shun a lesson, but don't forget we have more important things to do. Li Shun is cautious and his territory is bound to be heavily defended. Moreover, he's in cahoots with the Zerg swarm. Our small fleet can no longer pose any threat to Li Shun."
"So what do we do now? We can't just keep lingering around the Matter River; it'll arouse suspicion."
"Find Li Shun, do something quick and easy to preserve our strength, then use this opportunity to retreat."
"What about here?"
"We'll launch a covert communication signal, and we won't go into the Matter River. We'll time it perfectly and receive it from outside," Wen Zhonghua said after a moment's thought.
"Will it work?"
"No problem, with Chen Peng there, he'll figure something out. But we'll have to deal with Li Shun for at least five or six years, otherwise Chen Peng and his men won't be able to get outside the Matter River."
"Chief of the General Staff, our fleet is already quite small. We don't know how many warships we'll lose chasing them, and Li Shun's forces will also suffer some losses. Getting back will be a problem."
"Complete the reception task first. If all else fails, we'll have to notify the Alliance to come and pick us up, or use a four-dimensional guide."
"This loss is truly enormous."
"Big? It would be strange if it weren't big. Where is this place?"
"Chief of the General Staff, I've always had a question: why haven't the fourth-dimensional insects descended? We've made such a huge commotion, even extending our warships into the fourth dimension, yet not a single insect has come."
"Who knows? Maybe it's the Great Star Region Civilization interfering, or maybe the insects just don't care about our small fleet. Whatever, will you miss them if they don't come? Alright, start tracking Li Shun. Don't let him get away, but don't get too close either. Try to find his lair."
The fleet followed Li Shun from a distance, with the Bee constantly relaying information about Li Shun fleet. It was unexpected that Li Shun had developed so rapidly over the years, with the fleet alone reaching 300 billion. Given Li Shun's personality, there should still be at least 300 billion in his base.
No one knows exactly how Li Shun did it, but we can guess some things. At the very least, Li Shun's people are not as happy as humans on Earth.
The two groups of humans have different goals and directions. Hu Yu Wen Zhonghua, and others are working hard to improve the lives of all people and enable them to survive safely in the universe. Everyone is working hard to achieve this goal. Li Shun's goal is simply to dominate the world. Everyone's efforts are only for Li Shun's personal goal. Li Shun will definitely do his best to exploit the people in order to achieve this goal.
Li Shun's fleet seemed exceptionally cautious, not sailing in a straight line but darting left, right, up, and down, and even turning around several times. The Bee were transmitting radio signals, which were very weak, and the fleet lost track of them multiple times, but eventually managed to receive the signals again each time.
"Chief of the General Staff, have you noticed that something seems amiss?" Gao Jianchuan asked.
It seems unusually quiet.
"We haven't seen a single insect in these hundreds of light-years. Logically, this should be Insect Zone; there shouldn't be such a large empty area here."
"Stay alert. Have you received the tracking signal again?"
"Not yet, the fleet is still searching."
This airspace was eerily quiet, as quiet as the other side of a galaxy. This unusual quietness alerted Wen Zhonghua.
"Go and check out the nearby celestial bodies," Wen Zhonghua ordered.
The fleet deliberately avoided various celestial bodies throughout its voyage, as the majority of the Zerg swarm gathered around them. Although the Zerg were no longer hindering the fleet, the fleet tried to avoid direct contact with them to prevent major conflicts. Given the limited number of fleet members, minimizing losses was always a safer option.
The fleet soon arrived near an ordinary planet a few light-years away. This planet had been riddled with holes by insects and was on the verge of disintegration under the gravitational pull of its star. Soon it would turn into thousands of large and small meteorite fragments orbiting the star and eventually becoming part of the star over time.
No insects were found here. The fleet continued forward, tracking radio signals and examining the planets. Every planet here had been gnawed by insects. Lower-level insects needed the matter from these planets to obtain energy, while higher-level insects could obtain energy directly from their stars.
"Chief of the General Staff, look!" Li Zhixiong suddenly shouted.
Through the light projection, a great battle was seen breaking out in the airspace more than a hundred light-years ahead. One side was countless high-level insects, while the other side was a long-unseen fleet of Mechanical Civilization.
"So that's why the higher-level insects weren't paying attention to us; they're just fighting like dogs here," Li Zhixiong said. "Chief of the General Staff, what do we do now?"
"What are we going to do? Do you still want to go up and bite a mouthful of dog hair? Let's just stand by and watch. We can't afford to offend either side right now."
There were already millions of insects above level 30 ahead, and countless more above level 20. The Mechanical Civilization's fleet was no less formidable, with preliminary estimates exceeding 5 trillion. The two sides engaged in fierce combat in a vast expanse of airspace spanning tens of light-years.
Various spatial attacks, dimensional reduction strikes, and energy explosions turned this space upside down. The Reaper fleet could feel the intensity of the battle even from hundreds of light-years away. It is no exaggeration to say that if the Reaper fleet intervened in this battle, it would not survive for more than a week.
The Reaper have only barely reached the level of Great Star Region Civilization in terms of defense thanks to their Fourth Reversed State. In reality, they are still just Small Star Sector Advanced Civilization civilization. In terms of attack power, energy usage, defense methods, and fleet size, they are far from reaching the level of Great Star Region Civilization. They even have a hard time defeating some veteran Small Star Sector Civilization fleets, after all, their numbers are what they are.
Although the swarm was large, the Mechanical Civilization fleet still had a subtle advantage. Many of the Mechanical Civilization's warships used mechanical power directly to deal with the swarm, crushing the insects with pure force. The sharp gears on the surface of the mechanical warships rotated in a crisscross pattern, rampaging through the swarm.
The powerful mechanical force turned the Mechanical Civilization's warships into meat grinders. Any insect that approached Mechanical Civilization warships, regardless of its level, was slashed and had its legs severed. The insects were so large that the Mechanical Civilization's warships could even penetrate their bodies, swim inside them, and then rush out.