For the next hour, the entire Aisera Star System's attention was focused on Jade Stone Star.

The Allied Forces redeployed a portion of the outer defense line's heavy warships, forming a temporary orbital bombardment fleet.

They adjusted their formation in Jade Stone Star's high orbit, with massive guns and missile launch silos slowly aligning towards the northern hemisphere's deep ocean area.

"All units, lock on to the target coordinates, load 'Star Splitter' armor-piercing shells, and charge the 'Purifying Fire' array to maximum power!"

The bombardment fleet commander's voice echoed across the Allied Forces' public channel.

"Fire!"

In an instant, dozens of giant kinetic warheads, trailing fiery tails, tore through the atmosphere like falling stars, crashing at astounding speeds towards the sea surface!

Following closely were dozens of thick, dazzling plasma beams, carrying terrifying heat, piercing through the clouds like divine swords, striking precisely at the same area!

The northern hemisphere's sea of Jade Stone Star seemed to boil at that moment!

Enormous water columns shot skyward, reaching the stratosphere, then transformed into a torrential downpour. 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

The core area of the explosion saw seawater instantly evaporate or ionize, revealing a seabed scorched into glass-like formations.

The shockwave lifted kilometer-high circular megawaves on the sea, surging outwardly.

All observation units in orbit, along with the sensors of the "Dawn Light," were firmly locked onto the blast region.

One second... two seconds... five seconds...

The explosive aftermath gradually subsided, and the massive waves began to recede.

However, the anticipated scene of the main nest's energy response dramatically weakening or even disappearing did not occur.

On the sensor screen, the readings representing the main nest's core energy intensity indeed showed a drastic fluctuation and decline immediately after the bombardment, but it only lasted less than ten seconds before beginning to rise again at an alarming speed!

Within just a minute, the readings restored to 85% of pre-bombardment levels, continuing to grow steadily!

Even more disheartening, the previously extending spiritual energy conduits from the ocean trench appeared stimulated, their brightness increasing, and their pulsating speed quickened.

"The bombardment... ineffective?!" A bewildered observer murmured incredulously.

The Allied Forces command channel instantly erupted into chaos!

"What happened?! Were the coordinates incorrect?!"

"How can the energy readings recover so quickly?!"

"The 'Star Splitter' armor-piercing shells can penetrate asteroids! How come they can't destroy a biological nest?!"

"Was there a problem with the data marked by the New Bauhinia Squad? Perhaps their reconnaissance wasn't deep enough, mistakenly tagging a secondary structure or decoy target?"

"Failed mission! This definitely counts as a failed mission! They couldn't even guide the bombardment correctly!"

Various criticisms, accusations, and panicked voices mixed together.

Some staff officers or officers from other "Sons of the Empire" countries, already holding complex views on Bai E's "dark horse" squad, seized this opportunity to target New Bauhinia.

The shadow of mission failure seemed about to cast down.

"Everyone shut up!" The Joint Forces Commander's roar cut through all noise on the highest authority channel.

The veteran general's face twisted with anger and anxiety, "Is this the time to discuss mission ratings?! Look at the sensors! That damn thing is still getting stronger! Is it absorbing the bombardment's energy?! Laughing at our incompetence?! Technicians! Analyze immediately! Why was the strike ineffective?!"

After a momentary pause, the Chief Technical Officer of the Allied Forces spoke up, unable to hide his shock and a hint of fear: "Preliminary analysis completed... General, everyone, the issue isn't with erroneous marked coordinates. The data provided by the New Bauhinia Squad was of extremely high precision, and the strike precisely hit the main nest's energy aggregation core area."

He displayed analysis charts: "The problem lies with the structure of this main nest. Beneath its biological husk, it seems to have generated a bio-crystalline lattice layer of extremely high energy absorption and buffering properties, which we've never seen before. More crucially, its energy roots... According to reverse analysis from the shock waves triggered by the bombardment, their depth has exceeded our detection limits, likely having reached or even penetrated the planet's mantle!

It dispersed the majority of the energy impact generated by the bombardment through those conduits deeply embedded in the crust into the planet's entire geological structure! Our strike was equivalent to punching a planet... the effect was negligible."

The command center fell into silence once more.

Punching a planet... that metaphor left everyone feeling a sense of helplessness.

If even the most powerful orbital bombardment can't hurt its core, what method is left to destroy this monstrosity?

"General." A staff officer suggested hoarsely, "Based on current data model simulations, once this main nest fully matures, the spiritual energy pollution and spore clouds it releases will cover the entire Jade Stone Star within seventy-two hours, and subsequently spread, aided by the stellar winds, to three adjacent inhabited colony star systems within a week. By then, the Bug Race will gain a stable 'forward base' with nearly infinite energy, making it incredibly difficult to halt their advance... We might... need to consider abandoning the Aisera Star System and establish an outer defensive line."

To abandon a star system originally home to billions, rich in industrial infrastructure, and of strategic importance?

This suggestion sank everyone's hearts to rock bottom.

Yet it was perhaps the harsh reality.

Just as the atmosphere of suffocating despair settled, a communication request from a distant satellite forcefully inserted into the Allied Forces' command channel.

It was the captain of the Echo Action Squad from the World Forge Union, his voice carrying excitement and an unhideable exhaustion, but mostly an exhilaration akin to discovering a new world: "Command! This is Echo Squad! We have made a major discovery at the 'Ancient Bell' satellite ruins! We've successfully activated a small energy node on the outskirts of the ruins and decoded part of the information stream! This ruin... it appears not to be merely an ancient technological artifact, but more like a... a remnant of a 'purifying device' or 'rule weapon' against some form of 'rule' or 'concept'-level pollution! Its operational principles are entirely different from existing technological systems, involving temporary interference and 'writing' into underlying spacetime rules!"

He quickly shared some vague data fragments and baffling energy waveform diagrams: "However... we cannot truly drive it. It requires a specific 'key,' or a high-dimensional spiritual energy authentication of the same origin as the ruins. We've tried all known spiritual energy frequencies and encryption protocols, all to no avail.

However, on a stele in the ruin's core, we discovered descriptions about the 'Void Threat' mentioned in the Traveler's data. We suspect this device may have been left by the ancients to counter a 'Void Threat' similar to the Bug Race!"

This news dropped like a spark in the darkness.

Bai E's mind instantly connected previous clues—the strategic value description of the 'Ancient Bell' ruins in the Traveler's data, the technology of the ruins with its 'defiance of conventional physical properties,' and 'rule solidification' sensation, and the characteristic of being hard to activate by conventional means.

And a faint intuition deep within himself—

This thing, in some unsurmountable future challenge, perhaps might become a variable.

"That ruin..." Bai E's voice suddenly sounded in the "Dawn Light's" communication channel, calm yet resolute beyond dispute, "Helen, set the course, target the 'Ancient Bell' satellite. I want to see for myself."

Almost simultaneously, the Allied Forces Commander made a decision: "Echo Squad, keep trying, keep communication open! Captain Bai E, if you believe there is hope there, I authorize you to investigate! But time is short, the maturation rate of the main nest is accelerating!"