In the real-time footage transmitted by Butler Four, the insects were crawling out of their eggs one after another.
Immediately afterward, they began orderly marches toward the passage leading to the surface.
The moment he saw this through the video feed, Kalunden froze in place.
Lady Yunyang had been right. There was no time left.
But he could not stand by and watch Wu Zhengming and so many Federation soldiers die on the insect planet.
“Zhengming, hold out with those brats. I’ll arrange reinforcements right away.”
Holmont also rose to his feet. “See? I told you I should have led this operation. You just had to fight me for it.”
“Wait for me. I’m going to arrange reinforcements too.”
Although everyone knew that Wu Zhengming had been prepared to sacrifice himself before setting out, the remaining thirty-one commanders could not truly sit back and do nothing.
Compared to the insect planet, the situation on the frontier planet had improved considerably thanks to the arrival of reinforcements.
Now it was their turn to go support the troops on the insect planet.
Wu Zhengming knew he could not stop these comrades-in-arms. He opened his mouth, but for once, his usually quick tongue failed him.
All he could do was sigh and shift his attention to the footage transmitted by Butler Four, preparing himself for battle at any moment.
Even though this was destined to be a hard-fought battle with no hope of victory.
From the moment Si Zhao saw the insect queen devouring a ninth-level insect, she had not spoken a word.
It was not until the scouting robots detected the first insect burrowing out of the ground that she turned around and looked at Yunyang with a grave expression.
“Yangyang, how many more insect cores do you need before your ability can level up?”
“I’m not sure of the exact number.” Yunyang took a sixth-level insect core from her spatial link. “I can only sense that I should be very close to leveling up.”
“At the latest… it won’t take more than five days.”
During the battles between the Federation army and the insects over the past few days, she had been using her ability without pause and replenishing it by absorbing insect cores. As a result, her ability had improved rapidly.
She could not say exactly how many more insect cores she needed, but she estimated that she should be able to level up in a few days.
“Five days…”
Si Zhao repeated the number, then opened her spatial link and stuffed another large batch of insect cores, all fifth-level or higher, into Yunyang’s hands.
“Yangyang, from today onward, I’ll handle all the purification work. You only need to focus on increasing your ability.”
A C-rank blessing applied to an S-rank ability user could provide, at most, a twenty-five percent boost. Given the current situation, that was still not enough.
Yunyang understood this, so she did not waste time refusing. She merely nodded firmly.
“Sister Zhaozhao, don’t worry. I’ll level up as quickly as I can.”
After saying that, she stopped wasting time and immediately absorbed the sixth-level insect core in her hand.
Si Zhao then turned to the imperial husbands. “Other than Youchuan, all of you go help.”
The other four imperial husbands all possessed SS-rank abilities, equivalent to eighth-level insects.
The four of them might not be able to change the course of the battle by joining the fight, but they could at least reduce some of the burden on the Federation army.
Si Zhao’s tone was firm, and the four imperial husbands did not dare voice the slightest objection. They quickly nodded and retrieved protective suits from their respective spatial links.
Yunyang, who was absorbing the insect core, moved her lips.
However, before she could say anything, Si Zhao seemed to have guessed what she wanted to say.
“Yangyang, your beast husband has to stay by your side.”
Yunyang silently swallowed the words that had reached her lips.
She knew that Si Zhao did not want anything to happen to her. Besides, if both of their beast husbands went to the battlefield to help, that would truly leave both her and Si Zhao exposed to danger.
Even so, after Si Zhao shifted her gaze away, Yunyang secretly crooked a finger at Chen Yueli.
Chen Yueli immediately moved closer and bent down, pressing his ear near her lips.
“Your clone…”
Yunyang murmured the words so softly that none of the other beast husbands heard her.
Chen Yueli, the only one who did, nodded. His lips parted as he silently mouthed two words—
“Of course.”
Yunyang asked two more questions. Only after learning that injuries sustained by his clone would not greatly affect his main body did she allow Chen Yueli to go help.
Chen Yueli returned to the other beast husbands.
Concealed behind the tall body of his rival, a miniature black panther appeared. It then quietly made its way toward the hatch.
The insects continued burrowing out of the ground.
While keeping an eye on the footage from inside the nest, Wu Zhengming also had to monitor the situation on the surface.
Once the number of insects exceeded ten, he immediately gave the order for all Federation soldiers to engage the enemy.
The hatches of the flying ships opened one after another. The four imperial husbands Si Zhao had assigned to help rushed toward the battlefield at the fastest speed possible, just like the Federation soldiers.
Amid the surging crowd, the miniature black panther attracted no one’s attention.
Only after reaching the battlefield did Chen Yueli transform back into human form. He put on his protective suit as quickly as he could while walking.
The grudges between the two sides had been building for a long time. Thus, the moment the Federation army and the insects met, battle erupted.
As soon as the fighting began, Yunyang exhausted her ability, then replenished it as quickly as possible.
This battle was several times more difficult than anyone had imagined.
The number of high-level insects completely overwhelmed the number of S-rank beastman ability users. The Federation soldiers had no choice but to fight two—or even several—insects at once.
With such a disparity, even with the assistance of combat mechs and high-damage weapons, the Federation army still found itself at a disadvantage.
Before setting out, Yunyang had clearly heard that 729,621 Federation soldiers had been assigned to the insect planet this time—nearly 730,000 people.
The first two battles had already cost them nearly 100,000 soldiers.
Yet by the second day of this battle, they had lost nearly another 80,000.
In total, nearly a quarter of the Federation army had already been buried on the insect planet.
The figure was horrifying.
Wu Zhengming went day and night without rest, discussing ways to break the deadlock with the other commanders.
If this continued, the Federation army would be completely wiped out before they even saw the insect queen.
Even though he had prepared himself for this possibility long ago, Wu Zhengming still held on to a sliver of hope.
What if there was still a way to turn things around?
What if these brats could still return to the Federation?
But after the thirty-two commanders discussed the matter for an entire day and night, they still could not come up with a single solution.
All they could do was stall until the reinforcements arrived on the insect planet.
But would the arrival of reinforcements truly allow them to turn the tide?
Not one of the thirty-two commanders dared give a definite answer.
On the third day after the horn sounded to begin the Federation army’s third battle with the insects, the nearly 730,000 Federation soldiers had been reduced to fewer than 500,000.
A pall of gloom hung over every Federation soldier.
Could they truly eliminate the insect queen and win the Federation several decades of peace?
Wu Zhengming was an exceptionally capable commander. He understood that in any battle, once the will to win was lost, defeat was inevitable.
He tried every possible way to raise morale, but the results were minimal.
Just as he, too, began to entertain thoughts of failure, a series of large flying ships burst into view before descending onto the insect planet.
The Federation soldiers from the various frontier planets, led by Kalunden, landed on the insect planet and joined the battle at once.
Kalunden stepped out of the flagship and hurried toward the flying ship where Wu Zhengming was stationed.
At the same time, Yunyang finished absorbing another insect core, and the furrow between her brows finally eased a little.
