Abyss Solo
Chapter 322 - 156 Landing on Zubin Star! _2

Chapter 322: 156 Landing on Zubin Star! _2

"Boss, it’s obvious, the Insect Race have taken humans on the surface hostage."

Yang Ming frowned and said, "What do these bugs want?"

"Two possibilities," Hera replied, "taking humans hostage to buy time while the Mother Worm consumes large numbers of adults to complete her evolution. Judging by the number of special adults already seen, this Mother Worm is not far from reaching the Fourth Rank."

Yang Ming nodded and asked, "What about the other possibility?"

"They want to take humans as hostages and escape into space."

Hera said slowly, "But neither of these possibilities solves the fundamental problem this Insect Swarm faces. Third and Fourth Rank Insect Race can only face defeat against the powerful and continuously supported Imperial Fleet."

Lyu continued, "The difference lies only in how the Empire can minimize casualties. Right now, media inside and outside the Empire are all focused on this battle."

Yang Ming pondered for a moment and quickly issued an order:

"Wait and see. If they choose to launch a ground assault and directly attack the Mother Worm, we’ll join the battlefield. If they choose only long-range bombardment, we’ll abandon this operation."

"Understood, Boss."

Yang Ming reminded them uneasily, "Add more Imperial elements to the mecha, make sure the Emperor Star insignia is prominent."

"Got it."

...

The real-time battle footage from Zubin Star was being broadcast to every corner of the Milky Way.

People who hadn’t felt the threat of the insect plague for some time were now tensely watching the broadcast, waiting for the Imperial Fleet to once again prove humanity’s invincibility.

However, the Imperial Fleet was mired in a difficult battle.

The cunning Insect Race had taken a large number of humans hostage, making it impossible for the Imperial Fleet to unleash their full firepower.

Every moment, many humans were being killed or injured. Most of those being driven were elderly people, who moved with difficulty.

Zubin Star had already become hell for humans.

To soothe public sentiment and establish the military’s image, the Imperial Fleet Command held a public discussion meeting.

During the meeting, the military presented two plans.

One plan was to attempt to attack the Mother Worm, executing a decapitation plan. As long as the Mother Worm was killed, the threat of the swarm would be greatly reduced, and the insects would lose discipline and organization.

It was estimated that forty percent of the civilians could be saved.

The other plan was to lure the Mother Worm into space, giving the Insect Race the illusion they could withdraw and dealing with them in space.

How many civilians could be saved was unpredictable, only the greatest effort could be made.

After the two plans were announced, it was equivalent to sentencing most humans on Zubin Star to death.

But Yang Ming judged that these plans were just ’routines’ to calm public sentiment.

The Empire’s current battle plan was likely only one—to first send troops to land, control soldier casualties, and attempt the decapitation plan. When the decapitation plan failed, and more surface humans were slaughtered by the Insect Race, the Imperial Military would adopt full firepower coverage, declaring the residents of Zubin Star lived greatly and died honorably.

The Empire would definitely do this.

However, when Yang Ming tried to put himself in the perspective of the Imperial Military Commander, he couldn’t find any better solution.

The Insect Race was too cunning.

They realized something was wrong and immediately chose to take surface humans hostage, executing the operation extremely swiftly, leaving the military no time to react.

The development of events proved Yang Ming’s prediction.

After driving most humans to the central city, the Insect Race stopped killing humans, instead building a defensive network, seemingly preparing for a prolonged standoff with the Human Fleet.

The Imperial Military publicly announced they would soon dispatch a large number of marines and special forces for ground operations, searching for the Insect Queen’s location.

—Because the enemy was the Insect Race, publicly revealing their tactics posed no issue.

Within half an hour of the publicized battle plan, landing crafts departed from their respective motherships, carrying tens of thousands of soldiers and top-notch equipment, charging toward Zubin Star.

This scene was spectacular and was promoted by the Imperial Military as a ’great deed.’

Participating officers and soldiers signed life and death oaths;

A hundred-member special forces unit officially appeared in the news footage.

The landing crafts started maneuvering to land, as the surface unleashed dense dark light bullets; dozens of landing ships were directly destroyed, and thousands of soldiers perished as soon as they entered the atmosphere.

The space fleet provided strong fire cover to protect the landing ship fleet, suppressing the Insect Race’s air defense system.

The landing ship fleet fully breached the atmosphere!

The density of the dark light bullets intensified, and the main warships of the Imperial Fleet bombarded the layers beneath which the Insect Race was hiding with full firepower.

Explosions continued to appear in the atmosphere, each explosion signified a group of Imperial soldiers sacrificing their lives.

There were no wounded, no escape routes.

Only the daring moved forward.

The entire Imperial Fleet advanced, fully shielding the landing ship fleet.

Media accustomed to recording ’Dreadnought breaking desolate planets’ broadcast these scenes to human populations throughout the galaxy; many of the guests hired to explain the war were rendered speechless.

The side profile of the Imperial Military Commander began circulating online.

The old General Thomas, an Earl not by heredity, rarely appeared in media. His face was stern, his eyes resolute, hands clasped behind his back, gazing at Zubin Star.

This old general issued another order for the second wave of landing ships to charge toward Zubin Star.

A total of hundreds of thousands of Imperial soldiers were personally sent by this general to the forefront of the Insect Race hell.

The first wave of landing ships began landing, with rows of armored hover cars rapidly assembling, taking advantage of the terrain for cover, carrying high-performance energy-gathering bombs, charging toward several suspected Mother Worm hiding locations.

Several groups of Insect Swarms launched simultaneous sniping from the sky and underground, attempting to extinguish these human soldiers.