Inside the bridge of a medium-sized transport ship.

The little girl named Po Xiao lay a little sadly on the table in front of the floor-to-ceiling window, looked at the slowly shrinking planet outside the window, and sighed softly:

"You're moving so fast, I just called for help from him, and you stuffed me into the boat."

Ritsu's voice came: "Your safety is the master's most important concern at the moment. ”

"Really?"

Po tilted her head, keeping her eyes on the planet.

The robot maid on the side had a sparkle of wisdom in her eyes and asked, "Are you missing life on this planet?" I need to make statistics about your preferences so that I can arrange your next living environment. ”

"Let's live first," whispered the little woman.

Lu was puzzled: "Why do you say that? ”

"She's here, my natural enemy in common with your master," the little woman's expression had a maturity that didn't belong to her 'age', "She's stronger than the last time she appeared, I don't know if she's targeting me or not, but she's about to appear behind this planet." ”

Ritsu immediately asked, "Can you sense the exact location of the Zerg Queen?" ”

The little woman pointed to the planet.

Ritsu was a little puzzled: "Is she hiding on that planet?" ”

"She's leading the Zerg on a stealth voyage, and she's spreading a swarm in the subspace at the moment," Xiao Po explained, "If I hadn't called for your master's help in time, I wouldn't have been able to leave here now, and this planet is now surrounded by swarms." ”

"However, we can't detect any bugs. ”

"Look, they're starting to come out. Can we go any faster? ”

The little woman murmured, a red light flashed in her pupils, and her body seemed to have a tendency to grow.

The law pulls the thrust of the transport ship to the maximum, overloads the engines of the transport ship, rushes to the nearest gravitational equilibrium zone as soon as possible, and 'watches' the planet through the various detection instruments on the transport ship.

The planet's outer space began to twist strangely.

A layer of coated light and shadow appeared outside the planet's atmosphere, similar to that before the spaceship jumped, and a dark gray subspace film appeared out of thin air, quickly enveloping the entire planet.

The gravitational pull of the planet suddenly decays by half;

It is impossible to detect the originally constant planetary magnetic field, the originally noisy radio field on the surface of the earth, and even the existence of organic life cannot be detected by the law.

In the database built up by collecting information on the Milky Way's public network, there is no relevant information that corresponds to this situation.

This layer of subspace coating swelled as quickly as a large balloon, and it was as if it had been gently punctured by a needle.

Law immediately detected the presence of 'agitating' gravitational waves near the planet. ——Compared with the weak gravitational waves generated by the movement of planets around stars, the current energy level of gravitational waves has reached the level of space oscillation when two planets collide.

Suddenly, more than a dozen dark clouds appeared on the periphery of the planet.

Hundreds of millions of bugs appear directly inside the atmosphere! They didn't give the humans on the surface any chance to resist, and rushed straight into the city below!

Behind the planet, a humanoid shadow slowly solidified, its back to the star, and its height exceeded a million meters.

It's that Sixth-Order Queen!

The giant queen embraced the planet below with open hands, and its 'body' collapsed into countless sixth-order adults.

The frenzied swarms swept away all living organisms on the surface of the earth like a flood.

The machine steward in charge of driving the boat turned his head and shouted, "Miss Lil! There's a swarm chasing us!"

The law immediately decided: "Forcibly jump!" Never mind if the boat is damaged! I've arranged for a ship to wait at the target point!"

The little woman looked at the swarm of insects that were like a pitch-black tentacle and swooped down on the transport ship, and her breathing became heavier.

"Calm down," Ritsu reminded, "you're no match for this queen. ”

Po Suo nodded slightly.

"If this ship doesn't make it to the pick-up location later, please hide in your own way, and the mechanical minds here can change bodies at any time," Ritsu advised, "I'll find you as soon as possible." ”

The little woman thought about it and whispered, "Thank you." ”

In the space of thought, Ritsu blinked slightly.

Would the Valkyries actually thank humans?

It feels pretty good.

In fact, Ritsu only said the worst-case scenario, and asked Po Sa to prepare in advance, and before the group of insects caught up, the transport ship steadily started a continuous leap and quickly rushed to the direction of Mingte City.

A few hours later, the news of the destruction of a new Federation Class A administrative star with a population of 1.9 billion was destroyed by the swarm spread throughout human civilization through the galactic network.

The massive swarm that has attacked the planet is gathering and jumping, and finally disappearing from the eyes of human civilization in an eerie way.

All kinds of conventional detection equipment are dumb fire.

The swarm of insects that sail stealthily may be looking for a target to dry up.

In the star system where the 'Minte City' star is located, the Imperial Battle Cluster, which is actively preparing for war, has once again begun to unify its scheduling.

Yang Luo, Catherine, and Captain Grace, who had changed into ordinary military uniforms, walked briskly through the spacious, bright and very busy corridor of the dreadnought, passed through layers of security checks, and successfully arrived outside a conference room.

The soldier guarding the door turned his head to open the door, and Yang Luo, who had sharp ears, heard the conversation of the group of senior imperial officers inside.

"Has Your Majesty returned?"

"K has arrived in the Emperor Star Circle, the escort ship group will be deployed as soon as His Majesty returns to the Emperor Star, and the core engine group of the Heavenly Fury Fortress is already activated."

"There is an empire-wide defense system, so we don't have to worry too much about the country."

"What we don't understand now is the intentions of this swarm."

"Is there really a swarm? Could it be a self-directed and self-staged bitter ploy by the new federation, using the destruction of a planet to clear itself of the suspicion of burying worms? ”

"How do you wash this? They all confessed. The difficulty now is that we have been propagating that the Zerg are the enemies of mankind, and we must think from the perspective of human beings to condemn the new Federation, and now the New Federation has suffered from insect infestations, should we save it or not? ”

"Don't save! Why save them! It's just self-inflicted. ”

"Even if you don't save it, you have to make a gesture of saving, now is a good time for the empire to be unseen in a century."

"Ahem!"

Lieutenant General Thomas on the throne coughed dryly, and the discussion everywhere quickly subsided.

"Captain Hanton, Captain Catherine, Captain Grace, please take your seats."

Lieutenant General Thomas greeted him, and Yang Luo and the three of them saluted at the same time, each taking their seats at the end of the table with their faces strained.

The guards closed the door to the conference room.

Lieutenant General Thomas immediately played a video of the remote probe.

The propagation of light follows the principle of the speed of light. Even if the planet is destroyed and the planet itself is cut off from contact with the outside world due to its own subspace, the 'time-lapse' image can be actively observed using the detection station set up at a long distance.

"There has indeed been a pest plague in the new federation, and the scale of the pest plague is more than 10 billion."

Lieutenant General Thomas said in a deep voice:

"At present, we are still negotiating with the new federation, which has not yet signed the compensation treaty."

"According to the various possibilities deduced by the military's supercalculation, the new federation may next ask our army for help, kidnap our army to fight against the swarm in the name of morality, and finally refuse to sign the compensation treaty."

"Today's meeting is chaired by me, and the commanders of the various combat clusters are using projection equipment to observe, and we must come up with a countermeasure."

"Captain Hanton and the three are experts in killing insects, and they were invited here to provide professional advice."

An old general immediately said: "We have only one way now, to make a posture of a large army pressing the border, and force them to sign as soon as possible!"

Someone immediately objected: "We are now a big victory, whether it is the ratio of warship attrition or the ratio of both sides to death." If the flames of all-out war are ignited again, the outcome will not necessarily lead anywhere. ”

The group of high-ranking generals immediately began to debate.

They are logical, have a clear point of view, and are very thoughtful in all matters.

This is clearly a group of high-ranking thinkers of the Imperial Military Department.

However, they discussed fiercely for more than ten minutes, but could not reach a consensus.

Half of them argued that the new Federation must now be forced to sign a treaty of reparations and let the Empire out of the maelstrom.

A small number of people argue that they must do enough to ensure the Empire's superiority in the arena of public opinion and cherish the fame that has now been so hard to obtain.

There are also a small number of generals who advocate waiting to see, anyway, the Imperial Invincible Ship Regiment is not afraid of the swarm.

Lieutenant General Thomas raised his hand and gestured, and the conference room quickly fell silent.

"Captain Hanton, what's your opinion? You know the Zerg best. ”

A group of major generals, colonels, and lieutenant colonels turned their heads to look at them.

Yang Luo didn't expect that he would be suddenly named, but he also prepared a speech in advance.

After all, Lieutenant General Thomas called him over to provide some 'professional advice' about bugs.

"We must get out of the new Federation Star Domain as soon as possible."

Yang said in a deep voice:

"The one who is making trouble in the New Federation at this moment is the queen who tried to sneak attack the Emperor Star before."

"She's here for revenge, revenge on the New Federation, revenge for the New Federation's plan to bury worms. At the beginning, the plan to bury insects should have been acquiesced by this queen, but the result of the plan to bury insects caused the death of many female insects, and this queen tried to go to the empire to take revenge, but was frightened back by the Heavenly Fury Fortress, and will inevitably choose the next target for revenge. ”

"The social system within the space zerg is very complex, and the only people they recognize each other are the female worm...... To put it simply, the real individuals of the Space Zerg are actually very rare, but a large number of them have died in recent years. ”

"That's why this soon-to-be-ascended queen is madly taking revenge on humans."

"What do you think it cost us to help the new Federation repel this queen without the assistance of the Stellar Cannon?"

There was a buzz in the conference room, and the group of senior officers were talking about something in their ears.

Lieutenant General Thomas frowned and said, "You mean that our army will retreat now?" ”

"This is the wisest choice," Yang Luo said, "I know that you are still thinking about the reparations of the new Federation, after all, this is the most dazzling victory the Empire has achieved in the last few hundred years. ”

"Yes, Captain Hanton, the amount of this compensation will be very large, and it will also be a powerful boost to our economy."

"We can't give up these reparations so easily."

"In the interstellar arena of public opinion..."

"What then!"

Captain Grace said with a smile:

"We should not think too much about the factor of interstellar public opinion."

"You are all the pillars of the Imperial Military Department, why can't you understand the essence of the so-called public opinion and people's hearts?"

"Even if we let their president kneel down and call grandpa now, when our ship group withdraws, how black will they be, the empire will still be black, the industrial system of the new federation is still there, their economic foundation is still there, and they will be able to recover in ten or twenty years."

"If this battle is not fought to the end, if the new federation is not dismembered, the interstellar pattern will not change, at most, the external public opinion environment of the empire will be relaxed for a few years, and there is no meaning."

Yang Luo said indifferently: "If that queen comes, I can only choose to retreat alone, and I can only barely deal with the fifth-order queen." ”

"Captain Yang Luo, you can't help but look down on insects!"

"Really?"

Yang Luo played with the knightly medal of the Imperial Star Praetorian Guard that he had just gotten, and reminded General Thomas:

"Why doesn't the lieutenant general report to the top and ask Your Majesty to decide?"

"Your Majesty has an incredibly powerful supercomputer by his side, and this computer will gather information from all sides, and then make the most rational choices that will best serve the interests of the Empire."

"Well, that's the most appropriate solution," Lieutenant General Thomas nodded slowly.

In fact, this general completely understands why the group of senior officers in front of him are pretending to understand one by one.

A lot of people don't want to take the blame.

This is also a common method used by the military department to create a situation of disagreement one by one, quickly and truthfully report, and ask a higher power center to make a decision.

Captain Grace clearly failed to see the situation in front of him, he was a good field commander, but not a qualified politician.

And the smart Hanton saw through the embarrassing situation of the military department at a glance.

"The situation is urgent," Lieutenant General Thomas said in a deep voice, "I suggest that the commanders of the battle clusters jointly report this matter, and ask His Great Majesty to make a decision as soon as possible." ”，

The group of generals quickly came to a consensus.

After the meeting, Lieutenant General Thomas, who had completed the presentation of the business, invited Yang Luo, Catherine and Captain Grace to lunch.

The lunch format was simple: they arrived at the nearby senior officers' cafeteria, found a table, summoned a delivery robot suspended near the ceiling, and began to devour the delicious meal when they got it.

Lieutenant General Thomas has nothing to offer at all.

"Hanton, I almost forgot to congratulate you, you have now become a celebrity in the aristocratic circle," Lieutenant General Thomas said with a smile, 66 Thank you for the meeting just now, otherwise you would have wasted half a galactic time. ”

Yang Luo smiled: "Didn't the general ask me to come here just to say those few words?" ”

Thomas's somewhat tired old face smiled in the folds: "You are an expert in bugs, and your opinion is really important to us...... What do you predict the system will do? ”

"I don't know," Yang Luo said, "This kind of thinking and body with powerful computing power can collect all kinds of information, and can see the crisis that we can't see, so let's just obey the order." ”

"One more thing," asked Lieutenant General Thomas, "you said before, you want a mass of cells, what kind of cells?" ”

Yang Luo subconsciously glanced at Catherine beside him, and said directly: "Ancient God Cell Sample, one is enough, there are several samples kept in a certain research institute in the empire." ”

Lieutenant General Thomas nodded slowly: "Is that research institute under the management of our military?" ”

"Yes."

"That's no problem, I'll find someone to arrange it when I go back," Thomas said with a smile, "In addition to these, the military department is expected to give you a promotion, probably the position of lieutenant colonel, if you have any opinions, you can raise them now, I can go and help you fight for it." ”

"Ahem! Ahem, ahem!"

Grace widened his eyes beside him:

"Isn't the Empire not allowing reformers to obtain military ranks?"

"Hanton is in a special situation," Thomas laughs, "Imperial law only prohibits reformers from gaining military ranks, but not from increasing their ranks, and Hanton was already a captain about to be promoted before he accepted the transformation experiment. ”

Catherine laughed and said, "Lieutenant Colonel Hanton." ”

"Don't be like this," Yang Luo's face was a little strange, "Actually, the Elders' House is also trying to use the same reason to help Hui Saka's identity be promoted to the title. ”

"I've heard," Lieutenant General Thomas squinted and smiled, "now it's up to them to what extent they can give, but nobility is more sensitive, this is possible"

Buzz, buzz!

Lieutenant General Thomas paused, and felt his communicator in his arms, his expression changing subtly.

"The Imperial Guard system suggested that we withdraw immediately, and Your Majesty agreed."

Yang Luo frowned and said, "I really don't want this compensation?" ”

"Even if we ask for it, the new federation will not pay the debts in the future, we just want to see them bow their heads," Lieutenant General Thomas pulled two mouthfuls of food, hurriedly got up and put on his military hat, "I'm going to arrange the work, I'm going to blow up the plug soon, and the information and high-value structure inside must be made as much as possible!"

Grace immediately said, "Is there anything our special forces can do?" ”

As soon as he finished speaking, Yang Luo, Catherine, and his communicator vibrated at the same time.

[Empire-wide Defense System: Detected that the insect swarm is secretly sailing towards this place, and a tragic war with huge human casualties is expected, please return to your ship immediately and cooperate with the military headquarters to carry out the follow-up plan. 】

What's next?

Two question marks popped up on Yang Luo's brain.

Didn't they just withdraw and be done? What else does the Imperial Guard system want them to do?