The black insects, like a massive dark curtain, slowly covered the ground as they surged toward Base Three.
When the distance closed to three ters, Xiao Yu issued the command to fire.
Facing the direction of Lake Two, dozens of massive flathrowers erupted simultaneously, spewing jets of fire.
Dozens of fiery dragons swept across the ground. Instantly, the once-silent black tide began to boil. Under the glaring searchlights, Xiao Yu observed as the black insects caught in the flas burst apart and perished. Even insects not directly struck by the flas succumbed to the transmitted heat through the air.
Killing them was surprisingly easy. In fact, even a chunk of ancient Antarctic ice thrown onto them would kill them—not from the cold, but because the ice was far too hot for them.
The coldest regions of Antarctica, at around -70°C, were scalding compared to organisms accustod to -160°C.
In re monts, thousands—tens of thousands—of black insects were incinerated. The liquid thane within their bodies boiled instantly, causing them to burst open before evaporating entirely, leaving behind dried corpses on the ground.
However, their numbers were simply overwhelming—seemingly infinite. Worse, they behaved like moths to a fla. Instead of retreating from the intense heat, they beca frenzied, swarming toward the high-temperature areas in a near-suicidal rush, as though eager to die.
Their fearless fervor montarily startled Xiao Yu, but only for an instant. Looking at the growing pile of insect corpses, Xiao Yu beca ecstatic. These were perfect materials for constructing interstellar spaceships—unparalleled radiation-resistant materials. Where else could he find such treasures?
“Hmph, you’re not afraid to die, and I’m not afraid to kill! Co on, I’ll kill as many as you throw at !”
Xiao Yu laughed heartily, his excitent soaring.
The robots arranged at the base’s front line seed to sense Xiao Yu’s excitent, intensifying their fiery barrage. Thousands of insects perished every second, only to be replaced by thousands more.
The brutal war raged on.
Three hours into the battle.
Xiao Yu’s excitent had faded. Despite eliminating at least tens of billions of black insects during this ti, the black tide continued unabated, endless and relentless.
The nozzles of the flathrower robots, overheated from prolonged use, had to be temporarily shut down. Over 200 robots on the front lines were reduced to about 100 active units, while the remaining robots rotated to the rear to cool their nozzles. Once cooled, these robots returned to the front, replacing the overheated ones.
This cycle continued, with the robots steadfastly holding the line, preventing the black tide from advancing even a single step.
By now, the corpses of the black insects had piled up over a ter high. At least hundreds of billions of insects had fallen here, yet the swarm behind them continued to surge forward. At one point, a robot, unable to evade in ti, was swallowed by the rising mound of insect corpses and lost its signal instantly.
With no other choice, Xiao Yu commanded the defensive line to retreat slowly.
Xiao Yu’s expression turned grim as he began to treat the insects as a serious threat. He realized that without an effective strategy, the relentless swarm might indeed overwhelm him, leading to the loss of Base Three.
The insect tide continued advancing, climbing over the ter-high mountain of corpses and pressing onward.
Gradually, as the defensive line fell back five ters, another mountain of corpses ford in front of the robots.
Xiao Yu started to worry silently.
“Fuel levels are running low; we can hold out for at most three more hours,” a warning notification inford Xiao Yu.
Fuel was previously sourced directly from Lake Two, with oxidizers transported by Fengshen-1. Now, with Lake Two overrun, fuel supply had beco a critical problem.
“Damn it, you’re really forcing my hand,” Xiao Yu muttered with determination. He imdiately commanded Fengshen-1 to return to the main base, load 90 tons of fuel, and head back to Base Three.
The round trip consud an hour. During this ti, the robot defensive line was forced to retreat three more tis. In the chaos of collapsing mounds of insect corpses, five more robots were overwheld and lost their signals.
Including the first robot lost, Xiao Yu had now sacrificed seven units.
Xiao Yu piloted Fengshen-1 toward Lake Two, 20 kiloters from Base Three. The searchlights illuminated the ground below, revealing a scene that left Xiao Yu secretly alard.
Insects—countless insects!
The endless insect tide ford a massive flood, one kiloter wide and 20 kiloters long, stretching from Lake Two to Base Three.
At the Base Three defensive line, every second saw countless insects die, which ant an equal number were erging from Lake Two.
“Holy crap!” Xiao Yu cursed aloud, imdiately piloting Fengshen-1 back to the main base. Taking half an hour, Xiao Yu produced several thane incendiary bombs, paired with sufficient oxidizer, and loaded them onto Fengshen-1.
An hour later, Fengshen-1 returned to the black tide. Without hesitation, Xiao Yu released the bombs.
Boom! A fiery explosion erupted, sending flas soaring skyward. The specially designed incendiary bombs created high-temperature flas that scorched an area of dozens of square ters, with a kill zone extending several hundred square ters.
In an instant, Xiao Yu estimated that at least ten million insects had died. Yet more sward forward, undeterred.
Their suicidal persistence, driven by the harsh environnt and insatiable hunger for heat, pushed them to their deaths without hesitation.
Xiao Yu continued dropping incendiary bombs, but the insects surged on relentlessly.
He had to admit that Fengshen-1 alone couldn’t halt the insect tide’s advance.
“Damn it, this is insane…” Xiao Yu muttered to himself.
During this ti, the robot defensive line was forced to retreat another ten tis, falling back nearly 50 ters. Just 100 ters behind was Base Three’s machinery storage area.
“This won’t work. I need a solution,” Xiao Yu growled through clenched teeth, racking his brain for a viable plan.
Finally, an idea ca to him.
A massive excavation machine was modified, with steel plates added to both sides. Fully activated, the machine roared to life and charged into the swarm.
The robots pulled back their defensive line to create a gap, allowing the excavator to charge through. The enormous machine plowed into the mound of insect corpses, obliterating it on impact. In that instant, the excavator was overwheld by the swarm, and Xiao Yu lost its signal. Yet, through optical sensors, Xiao Yu saw the excavator continue forward under inertia for several hundred ters before coming to a halt.
The excavator had destroyed tens of ters of the insect mound.
In reality, the greatest threat Xiao Yu faced wasn’t the insects themselves but the mountains of corpses they left behind. Each ti a mound ford, Xiao Yu’s robots were forced to retreat. A collapsing mound could bury robots instantly, and even if it didn’t, the mound’s height reduced the effectiveness of the flathrowers.
Seeing the success of the excavator strategy, Xiao Yu felt a glimr of hope. He sent several more excavators to clear the mounds, temporarily stabilizing the situation.
But Xiao Yu quickly realized that this was only a stalling tactic. With only a few dozen excavators available, what would happen once they were gone?
“I need another solution,” Xiao Yu muttered, deep in thought. Gradually, a wild idea took shape in his mind.
“You’re forcing into this,” Xiao Yu growled to himself. “Can’t kill you all? Then I’ll destroy your nest!”
Xiao Yu’s plan was simple: build a hydrogen bomb and drop it into Lake Two. A single high-yield hydrogen bomb would be enough to vaporize the entire lake.
Base Three, 20 kiloters from Lake Two, would be affected, but the damage would be manageable. Better so damage than total annihilation by the insect tide.
Gritting his teeth, Xiao Yu began executing his plan.
At Base Two, the nuclear fusion research facility, there was enough fusion fuel. While controlled nuclear fusion wasn’t yet operational, building a hydrogen bomb was entirely feasible. The old spaceship had sufficient uranium-235 to create an atomic bomb, which would serve as the trigger for the hydrogen bomb.
Xiao Yu wasted no ti. Using Fengshen-1, he transported the uranium-235 to Base Two. Nuclear fusion research was halted, and all resources were redirected toward constructing the hydrogen bomb.
Creating a hydrogen bomb required a triggering chanism, typically an atomic bomb. This alone highlighted the hydrogen bomb’s imnse power—an atomic bomb was rely its detonator.
The construction of the hydrogen bomb took Xiao Yu two weeks. During this ti, he lost an additional 20 robots, and the insect tide pushed the defensive line back another 90 ters. Only 10 ters now separated the tide from Base Three.
anwhile, the insects continued to swarm from Lake Two in seemingly infinite numbers. Xiao Yu didn’t even dare to estimate how many remained.
“Just hold on for five more days…” Xiao Yu murmured to himself. While the hydrogen bomb was complete, it couldn’t yet be deployed. A bomb of this magnitude required a rocket for delivery—using Fengshen-1 was out of the question, as it would be destroyed in the blast. This was sothing Xiao Yu couldn’t accept.
The rocket’s construction would take another five days.
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