Chapter 107: Chapter 102: A Counter-Plot, the Tiger Spine Zergs Appear

Humanity had never given up on the "decapitation strike" they had specially designed for the Mother Empress.

The elite squad Cheng Zhan had once led was merely the Thirteenth Division’s first internal attempt.

Its main purpose, aside from probing the Nest’s true strength, was also to resolve some destabilizing factors.

As the Awakeners’ powers grew, many groups within the camp had begun to harbor different ideas, which posed a serious threat to the stability of the high command.

However, with Cheng Zhan’s unexpected return and his subsequent declaration of loyalty to the upper echelons, this instability was temporarily resolved.

Especially after the original Major Qin was no longer suitable to lead the Awakened Camp, the high command urgently needed a powerful Awakener who was both obedient and could command respect.

That was why Cheng Zhan’s promotion had been so seamless.

And so, beyond the 13th Infantry Division’s own efforts, a collaboration between the Federation and the Research Institute had formulated this new decapitation strike involving a Cloud Burst Bomb.

The immensely powerful Cloud Burst Bomb, comparable to a small nuclear weapon, was placed on the list of banned armaments as soon as it was developed. For a major power like the Federation, however, this was not binding.

The hundreds of Cloud Burst Bombs stockpiled in the armory were now about to be put to use.

Especially within a sealed underground space, the mixture of vaporized fuel and air would create an explosion with destructive power far exceeding that of a Nuclear Bomb.

After all, the ultimate goal was to kill the alien lifeform, the Mother Empress, not to destroy the Nest’s facilities.

Now that Cheng Zhan had learned of this shocking plan, he needed to find a way to inform the Mother Empress as quickly as possible.

She must not send out the Tiger Spine Zerg squad to destroy the defensive fortresses as originally planned.

But with the frontline battles raging, ’What good reason could I find to risk going there?’

Cheng Zhan pondered for a moment. He saw the new, red combat suit he had taken off, and a flash of inspiration struck him.

That morning, the rear supply lines had just delivered humanity’s new defensive gear: the Red Armor.

Just as its name implied, the moment Cheng Zhan saw it, he knew it was made from the carapaces of low-level Worker Zergs.

The Research Institute had promised to send ten thousand sets of Red Armor.

For now, priority was given to the five thousand soldiers at the third line of defense, the divisional headquarters. The remaining half was allocated to their second line, the central defense line.

But Cheng Zhan knew that the ones who needed it most were those on the first line of defense, fighting desperately on the front lines and about to engage the Zerg Race at close range.

He still had over five hundred sets of Red Armor left in his Awakened Camp, stored in five cargo trucks.

’Deliver them to the front lines, help the newly emerged Awakeners in the mixed companies enhance their Defense Power, and solidify the defensive line’s strength...’

’No one can find fault with this reason. Even if my superiors find out, they would still have to offer some words of praise.’

Having made up his mind, Cheng Zhan immediately put on his Red Armor, led several of his parasitic bodyguards out of the bunker, found the drivers who were resting, and set out that very night.

The current battle was raging near the south.

The dozen or so main fortress lines to the north had not been attacked by the main Zerg Race army. Only scattered Black Spine Zerg Swarms continuously probed and harassed them, delaying and obstructing the defenders’ reinforcement plans.

The dark green military trucks drove through the noisy urban area under the cover of night. Fortunately, Wu City’s main roads had been cleared. Despite the five-kilometer distance and the need for a detour, they arrived safely and smoothly after a little over ten minutes.

After delivering the new Red Armor from the trucks to the defense line personnel, Cheng Zhan had the trucks return first. He himself took a detour on his way back, arriving at the edge of the battlefield.

He commanded a few Red-Armored Beetles to summon a group of Black Spine Zergs, then passed the important information he had just obtained back to the depths of the Nest to inform the Mother Empress.

To ensure the message was accurate, he even regurgitated a non-viable Zerg Egg that contained the information. Once given to the Mother Empress, she would be able to read it.

Only after watching the Black Spine Zerg Swarm burrow into a surface Wormhole did Cheng Zhan leave, relieved. He then began to ponder how to find the human soldiers on the front lines who were in charge of the trackers.

His targets were soon narrowed down to the few mysterious Superpower Bullet Awakeners.

They were under the direct command of the high command and the Research Institute, making them the most likely candidates for this important mission!

* * *

Meanwhile, as this Black Spine Zerg Swarm retreated through the complex and ever-changing Wormholes, they soon returned to a location two hundred meters deep underground, just outside the Suburban Area of Wu City.

This was a Nest cavern newly excavated by the Red-Armored Beetle Swarm.

The Zerg Race’s Mother Empress was about to be brought here.

As the Mother Empress’s colossal body emerged from the shadows of the tunnel, illuminated by a flickering, eerie green light, countless members of the Swarm prostrated themselves, their abdomens pressed tightly to the ground, welcoming their Mother Empress with the utmost reverence.

Sensing a familiar scent, the Mother Empress commanded the Black Spine Zerg carrying the flesh of the parasitic host to step forward and complete its mission.

The Black Spine Zerg trembled as it scurried before the Mother Empress and regurgitated the miniature Zerg Egg from its Giant Mandible.

The tentacles from the Mother Empress’s mouth slowly extended, sucking the still-fresh Zerg Egg from the ground into its tubular maw.

A moment later, as its dozens of eyes flickered, a powerful, invisible Spiritual Energy radiated outward.

It lasted for several tens of seconds before slowly subsiding.

The Mother Empress’s brain was equivalent to a high-speed biological computer. After receiving the important message from the parasite, it quickly devised a countermeasure.

The Tiger Spine Zergs she had previously decided to dispatch would be sent into battle as planned.

She would let them get close enough for the humans to tag them with signal trackers. Then, the Mother Empress would redeploy these tagged Tiger Spine Zergs to a position beneath the human defense line.

She would use the humans themselves to easily break through their own defenses.

This was a straightforward counter-plot, turning their own plan against them.

If the humans were determined to kill the Mother Empress, they would have two choices: either withdraw the defenders from the defense line, allowing the Black Spine Zerg army to easily swallow them once they left the cover of their fortresses, or be destroyed along with their own defenders by the Cloud Burst Bomb.

In any case, the collapsing cavern would also destroy the foundations beneath the defense line, tearing open gaps in the once-impenetrable fortifications.

This way, the Zerg Race would only need to sacrifice a few Tiger Spine Zergs to ensure a smooth advance.

Although Tier Two Zerg Race members were precious, this Level 33 Mother Empress commanded several hundred of them. Tiger Spine Zergs made up the majority, numbering more than three hundred.

As for the Tier Two Late Stage Tiger Spine Zergs, they certainly couldn’t be wasted here. Dispatching a squad of Tier Two Early Stage Zergs, like before, would be more than enough to handle the humans.

The Mother Empress also wanted to take this opportunity to remove a thorn in her side.

An independent outpost south of Wu City, formerly a service area beside the highway.

It was also the location of that troublesome opponent.

Even if the Tiger Spine Zerg squad failed, she could still use the humans’ own decapitation strike to force him out of the city to fight.

Once he was deprived of the protection of his sturdy pillbox, the Mother Empress was confident she could use her Tier Two Zerg Race to eliminate this Human Awakener who had been constantly harassing and plundering from her.

By devouring the hundred-odd Awakeners at the outpost, and then the tens of thousands of humans on the defense line, the Zerg Race Mother Empress, who had already Upgraded to Level 33, was confident she could step directly into Tier Three Middle Stage.

Her true target was the defenders themselves!

Her method was to plunder human brains and their unique Awakened Superpowers, cultivating her own strength by consuming the best of her prey.

By then, not only would the number of Zerg Race units she could control increase exponentially, but the Tier Two Zerg Race members she could hatch and command would also gain new species and new abilities.

The tumorous growths hidden on the armor plate behind her head, which glowed with a faint blue light, were already eager to burst forth! 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

With these new types of Tier Two Zergs, the high-tech weapons humanity currently possessed would all become useless.

This was because the Zerg Eggs that glowed blue contained high-Energy Electromagnetic ions, capable of unleashing Energy attacks like electromagnetic pulses!

Long-range missiles like the ground-penetrating Cloud Burst Bomb would find it impossible to get anywhere near the Nest.

From then on, they would no longer have to hide Underground, afraid to even look up...

As the Mother Empress found her counter-strategy, the surface battle on the distant defense line was gradually coming to an end.

Of the dozens of main fortresses where fighting had erupted, three had been breached by the Swarm army. But as the Middle and Late Stage Awakeners, clad in Red Armor, joined the fray...

The invading Red-Armored Beetle Swarm was completely annihilated in close-quarters combat within the narrow corridors.

To ensure the integrity of the defense line, they couldn’t use large-caliber rifles to encircle and destroy the invading Red-Armored Beetle Swarm.

The bullets would damage the side walls, inadvertently helping the Zerg Race destroy the concrete.

At times like this, Awakeners with Physical Enhancement were needed to step forward for close-quarters combat.

Although the Defense Power of the Red Armor couldn’t block a Black Spine Zerg’s Giant Mandible, it was an impenetrable suit of armor to the low-level Red-Armored Beetles.

Clad in Red Armor, wielding Long Sabers and Long Spears, and taking advantage of the narrow, favorable terrain, the Awakeners quickly plugged the breached gate where Red-Armored Beetles had been endlessly pouring in.

Then, they moved weapon and ammunition crates to block the inside of the gate.

Looking at the thick iron door that had been destroyed by a Black Spine Zerg Giant Mandible, everyone knew that these few tons of weapon and ammo crates wouldn’t hold for long.

Not to mention, the broken doorframe on both sides had already been chewed open by that Black Spine Zerg.

A narrow, one-and-a-half-meter-wide door had been turned into a large hole two meters in diameter.

Fortunately, as the first rays of sunlight pierced the clouds and lit up the sky just after five in the morning, the Swarm army slowly retreated, shrinking back into their holes in droves.

"Just use quick-dry cement to block this up."

A Late Stage Awakener said, wiping the splattered insect ichor and blood from his face.

His companion beside him nodded.

Then, he looked worriedly into the distance at the Zerg Race army that had hidden itself Underground.

On the first day, the breached main fortress had resulted in the direct loss of over a dozen reinforced soldiers.

* * *

At that moment, in the outpost pillbox south of Wu City, Lin Feng put away the Level 19 Grenade Cannon in his hands. After a night of fierce fighting, he had attacked five times in total, severely injuring over five hundred Black Spine Zergs.

The rest of the cleanup was left to the new recruits.

Due to the outpost’s unique position, the attacks it faced were on a larger scale than those on the main defense line.

Fortunately, with Lin Feng’s support, the Zerg Race suffered heavy casualties and quickly retreated into their underground Wormholes.

From the latter half of the night until morning, only a few scattered Black Spine Zergs came out to deplete their ammunition. Unfortunately for them, the Heavy Machine Guns with infinite ammo didn’t care about such losses.

Seeing the battle was over, Li Ran ordered the troops to rest in shifts, then immediately went to Lin Feng’s side to report.

There were no deaths. Only a few new recruits had injured their insteps after accidentally falling while moving ammo crates.

After some rest, they were mostly recovered.

Last night’s battle featured not only Black Spine Zergs, but also Cyan-winged Zergs circling in the sky. Luckily, Chen Yanyan was there to pilot the Flying Wing Tank and lock down the entire airspace above the outpost with machine gun fire.

The tense but safe night battle was finally over.

Lin Feng was eating breakfast. He nodded after hearing the report, but his expression suddenly changed. He put down his bowl and chopsticks, returned directly to the top of the fortress, and stared at the main battlefield in the distance.

His Mind Sensing detected a familiar speck of light flash across the surface of the ground in the distance.

The true target he had long been waiting for had finally appeared.

The brightness, size, shape, and movement speed of the speck of light in his mind all confirmed it...

That was a powerful Tier Two Zerg Race member!

On the second day of the decisive battle, the Zerg Race had already eagerly dispatched a Tiger Spine Zerg.

It seemed they were determined to break through the defense line.