Chapter 289

Chapter 289

Meanwhile, the Star Alliance noticed Grath's mobilization.

The main camera focused on the area above Base 4.

"Grath doesn't seem willing to give up Base 4. It's hard to say if that's right or wrong—no one knows how many bases the insect swarms will affect…"

The host stopped abruptly, before he could even explain the situation, the main perspective switched scenes.

When it reappeared, it showed an aerial view, the shot locked tightly onto Ye Mo, who was high in the sky.

Before the audience could react, the perspective followed Ye Mo's gaze and cut to the swarm below.

The King Insect was surrounded by the swarm in the middle. It had lived near the Star Alliance, and in its relatively long life, this was its first encounter with Grath.

Its genes and past experience told it that when humans left their hard metal shells, they were like clams opening their shells—soft, harmless, and delicious.

It naturally regarded Ye Mo as its prey.

The King Insect eagerly raised its upper body high, spread its forelimbs, opened its mouthparts, revealing rows of densely packed serrated teeth.

The shrieks within the swarm rose and fell in waves.

"Ahhh! I can't handle this in holographic mode!"

"Say hello, will you? Doing this, even an A-rank would suffer mental damage sooner or later."

"What is Grath doing? Why isn't it running? Was that Grath's Cyril flashing by in the air just now? Did he equip a mecha?"

"What's wrong with Cyril?"

Ye Mo adjusted his posture to correct his landing point.

Five seconds, he counted silently in his mind.

The main perspective, ignoring all complaints, continued to close in. It was rare to get a close-up of the King Insect.

Once a King Insect selected a residence, it typically lived long-term in the completed nest. Even when leaving the nest, its activity range would be cleared by the swarm, making it difficult to install monitoring equipment. Most of the time, one could only capture distant footage; clarity alone was considered good.

The only time they could be observed more directly was during insect swarm jumps.

This required investing in various expensive devices, and also required that other insect swarms didn't destroy them.

Not to mention getting holographic footage! This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

In a little while, if the swarm occupied this planet, they would clear out these devices. The Star Alliance was already deploying other backup machines to try to prolong this window.

High in the air, Ye Mo drew his sword—two seconds.

The King Insect remained in its attacking posture. Not only had Ye Mo locked onto it, but it was also tracking Ye Mo's landing point.

The main perspective had stopped focusing on Grath's fleet and was approaching the King Insect at almost point-blank range.

From the dangerous forelimbs to the mouthparts, the perspective moved to the opening and closing mouthparts of the King Insect.

The next second, it suddenly lowered its head, and Ye Mo appeared in the frame.

Ye Mo landed heavily on the King Insect's head, forcing it to bow down. The perspective was so close that even non-holographic viewers instinctively stepped back. The slight rise and fall of Ye Mo's chest as he breathed, and the arc of his hair as he moved, were all clearly visible.

Everyone fell silent, including the host who had been speaking moments before.

Just as the King Insect reached its lowest point, Ye Mo drove his sword into its back.

The moment the blade pierced the flesh, Ye Mo knew he had misjudged—this King Insect's vital point, its "heart," was not here.

Enraged by the pain, the King Insect violently shook its head. The surrounding swarm gave way, and the insects farther away turned around, rushing back to aid the King Insect.

Ye Mo's expression remained unchanged. He gripped the sword tightly, and as the King Insect moved a second time, he leaped up with its momentum, adjusted his position midair, and on his second descent, the blade pierced through the King Insect's skull.

This time, it stopped moving, frozen in a menacing pose.

With the King Insect's death, the other insects became frenzied, closing in on him.

The flagship also descended to a lower altitude, moving toward Ye Mo.

Ye Mo skillfully leaped, reaping lives among the swarm. When the flagship reached its lowest point, he jumped high and landed on top of it.

It took everyone else a moment to react.

"Wait, this is how Grath deals with insect swarms? These are insects, not mechas!"

"Counting it—five seconds. I take back what I said about Cyril not scoring much in the first round."

"That one just now—was it a King Insect? For ordinary insects, a few seconds each—didn't someone from Buston pull that off?"

"Don't even go there. That was a King Insect. Much larger than ordinary insects, and the others steered clear."

Once Ye Mo was aboard, the flagship immediately climbed.

Ye Mo stood up, looking down at the swarm. This King Insect seemed somewhat weak—its vital point hadn't even evolved to hide.

The other warships in the fleet had also descended to a suitable altitude, then opened their bay doors. Grath's soldiers dove out one after another.

They formed a solid defensive line with the Grath base behind them.

Ye Mo continued to search through the disturbed swarm—there might be a second King Insect.

...

Base 4 Command Center.

Gu Yixiao suddenly spoke, "Isn't our enemy a little... fewer?"

The image on the light screen seemed no different from before.

Someone immediately started comparing the data, and a few minutes later reported, "No, sir."

Gu Yixiao didn't respond. A short-haired woman to his left looked up, "File four, at three minutes and forty-two seconds, the number of mother ships above is one more than there is now."

She projected the light screen in front of Gu Yixiao.

After confirming, Gu Yixiao said, "Contact Prince Cyril's side. Tell them to be alert—there might be an attack."

A response came immediately: "Yes, establishing contact now."

...

Ye Mo received Gu Yixiao's message while still searching through the swarm, picking off the tougher individuals and killing them.

"Enemy..."

Ye Mo blinked, thought for a moment, and released his psychic power.

He rarely released his psychic power—his control over it was too poor, and such vast psychic power would slow his reaction speed to some extent. Moreover, when it took ages to retract, he would need to ask Norton for help, which Ye Mo himself found embarrassing.

But now, he couldn't care about that.

The immense psychic power rapidly covered the entire planet.

In an instant, a flood of information came back: injured soldiers, numerous Zerg hidden in various places.

With such a large amount of information, Ye Mo's thoughts inevitably began to wander. If it were his father, he would have dealt with these Zerg immediately. He hoped no one got hurt. So there was indeed another King Insect, hidden over in that corner—no wonder they hadn't found it...

But soon, he refocused on his target.

The mother ship was large enough to be easy to spot.

A few seconds later, Ye Mo turned in a direction. Before he even realized it, his psychic power had directly taken over the main ship, steering it toward that direction.

The adjutant and others on the main ship had no objections—they were originally serving Ye Mo.

The main ship rose to a certain height and halted.

Ye Mo stared intently at a point in midair. "You're not as strong as I am. Withdraw now while you still can."

Nothing.

A few seconds later, Ye Mo finally moved. He threw his sword.

Then came a loud impact sound. Almost simultaneously, a mother ship materialized in midair. The next second, several mechs were released from the mother ship, charging at Ye Mo from different directions.

Ye Mo ran to the edge of the main ship, where the hatch was open. Someone tossed his sword back to him. The moment he grabbed it, he turned and mercilessly slashed at an incoming mech, cleanly taking it out of the fight.

"Damn, isn't this just like when he killed the King Insect?"

"How is it the same? This is way gentler—he only broke the mech, knocked them out of the fight. Probably no blood, either, unless you're really unlucky and take fall damage."

"Cyril is way more skilled than when he first faced Kainan. Did Baide start extra training when he got back?"

"This is the new type of mother ship. Someone's already using it? I've been keeping an eye on this model—it can block most detection devices on the market. In the lab, it couldn't fool the Zerg's sense of smell, but with more R&D, who knows... How did Cyril find it?"

"Cyril is still too merciful. This isn't a game. I've been saying he's too young. Apart from strength, he's not mature in other aspects. They should've waited to deploy him."

"What? This is a resource war. Besides strength, what else is needed? Just being able to fight is enough. No matter what you think, Cyril is definitely making this year's star players list."

Soon, the other mechs stopped actively engaging Ye Mo and just watched from a distance around the mother ship.

The mother ship turned and sped off.

Ye Mo hesitated, unsure whether to pursue.

The adjutant spoke in his earpiece, "Your Highness, they've pulled away. Our warships can't catch up."

"Let them go for now, Your Highness. Our mission is to hold back the Zerg and establish the defensive line."

The last sentence swayed Ye Mo.

Ye Mo glanced in the direction the mother ship had departed, inexplicably relieved—he still didn't really like fighting people. "Let's go."

"I know where the King Insect is."

The main ship pulled away from the main battlefield, along with other warships, heading toward a remote area.

"In just that short time, it had already built a crude nest."

He still couldn't pull back his psychic power, and the flood of info was too overwhelming.

Ye Mo blocked out all info from anything smaller than the mother ship, then gripped his sword tighter, dropping to one knee, his eyes sharp and, for once, murderous.

He had to kill them all.

It was as if his hunting instinct had been awakened. The cub that used to look soft and cuddly, that anyone could pet, now looked downright dangerous.