Chapter 30: The Price of Victory

The human warships fell into a collective silence.

In this stretch of cosmic space, the Zerg swarm ravenously devoured the entire fleet.

The ingested metal fragments, various High-Energy Crystals, and the fresh, succulent flesh of humans continuously fueled the mother organism’s offspring.

Under the mother organism’s command, none of the smaller Zerg approached the flagship.

As the victor, the massive insect drew near the warship, secured it with its tentacles, and then directly swallowed it whole.

Through the unique crushing and digestive processes within its body, all human souls aboard the warship were completely consumed.

Having finished these tasks, the massive insect began to analyze the soul memories of every human on the warship.

Swiftly, the massive insect pinpointed the highest-ranking official of the flagship through the soul impressions of the others—the supreme commander of the nebula alliance it currently occupied.

By meticulously scouring the soul of this high-ranking Alliance official, the massive insect finally gained a crystal-clear understanding of this world.

Beyond this current nebula, countless other scattered alliances, both large and small, existed.

They championed human rights and freedom, hoping to break free from the Universal Empire’s rule and thus forming various small-scale interstellar governments.

However, in essence, they merely sought to safeguard their own interests, using the banner of freedom to sway the masses and thereby accrue more wealth.

The Universal Empire, for its part, paid no heed to these ‘little fleas and ants,’ as it was still in a developmental phase.

While the heart of the Universal Empire had become exceptionally prosperous, its ambition seemed to be to transform every region it encompassed into a domain as powerful and flourishing as its imperial capital.

Consequently, the Universal Empire had, until now, shown no inclination to wage war on these peripheral, smaller regions.

As for the current extent of the Universal Empire’s prosperity and might, even this commander was unaware.

More accurately, people from other smaller alliances had not ventured into the Universal Empire’s territory for a very long time.

Although the Universal Empire had no intention of initiating war, it had issued a stern warning to other alliance governments not affiliated with it.

The warning essentially prohibited their citizens from illegally entering the Universal Empire for any reason.

Any non-Empire citizens caught attempting to smuggle themselves in or infiltrate would be summarily executed by firing squad, in accordance with imperial law.

Furthermore, the Imperial Special Forces, a special intelligence and operations department renowned for being virtually omniscient and omnipresent, complemented these measures.

They were covertly embedded among the civilians in various star system alliances and the Universal Empire, continuously monitoring for any illicit activities.

Many of the ‘dirty’ missions within the Universal Empire were handled by them.

They were, without question, the most feared department in the entire universe.

The massive insect deeply imprinted this critical information into its mind.

Given the immense disturbance it had caused here, even if it was at the edge of the universe, the descriptions of the Universal Empire from the recently devoured souls suggested it was highly probable that it had already been detected.

Moreover, it had acquired a crucial piece of intelligence: if this operation failed, the contingency plan was to surrender to the Universal Empire, report the situation, and request assistance.

The entire Alliance’s hope rested upon the main cannon of this fleet.

Yet, that weapon could barely inflict any damage upon the massive insect; attempting to defeat it with an entire fleet and a main cannon salvaged from who-knew-where was simply laughable.

Upon receiving this information, the massive insect pondered for a moment.

If it were to vanish into the cosmic desert now, the enemy would likely lose its precise location, allowing it and its offspring to survive precariously for a period.

However, the meager food supply in the cosmic desert had long since been consumed entirely by itself.

Taking its children back there would only lead to starvation.

‘The most sensible approach,’ the massive insect mused with frustration, ‘is to swiftly sweep through this entire nebula, devour and store a vast amount of energy, and then retreat to the cosmic desert to hide and slowly deplete it.’

‘This way, I can evade the imperial forces that the Alliance will summon upon surrender, and my children won’t have to starve.’

Having reached this conclusion, the massive insect gritted its teeth and immediately commanded its offspring to quickly clear the battlefield and return to its body, preparing to launch an assault on the next star system.

While the massive insect was busy journeying, the Alliance had already received news of the defeat.

More precisely, it wasn’t a direct transmission, but intelligence reported by an observation vessel that had fled back from behind the warships.

“Monsters! We stand no chance against those monsters!”

“What happened? Calm down and explain yourself!”

“Monsters! Monsters!”

“Take him away for now. Have a psychologist provide counseling. Oh, and retrieve the flight recorder from their vessel. I believe the answers we seek lie within it.”

Odinxis calmly sat at the highest position, directing his subordinates.

The flight recorder was quickly delivered, and the entire Alliance high command turned their gazes to the small device.

“Open it. Let us see what could terrify our brave soldiers to such an extent.”

“Yes, sir.”

The adjutant nodded, then walked to the recorder, opened a connection port, and placed it on the projection equipment.

As the screen flickered, a clear image soon appeared on the main hall’s projector.

“Fast forward.”

Odinxis watched the tedious, prolonged journey on the screen with a detached gaze.

Even if other incidents occurred along the route, they would not alter the ultimate success or failure of this fleet. He simply wanted to see the outcome.

“Yes, sir.”

The adjutant nodded and lightly tapped the virtual keyboard before him twice.

The entire footage began to advance at an incredibly fast pace.

“Stop.”

Upon hearing the command, the adjutant’s hand twitched, instantly pressing the pause button.

“Resume normal speed from here.”

“Yes, sir.”

After the adjutant adjusted the playback speed, a grand cosmic battle scene unfolded on the screen.

Observation vessels typically followed and recorded from a distance of half to one light-year, and the high-performance cameras captured wide-angle views.

Despite the vastness of the image making details hard to discern, the light points were easily identifiable targets for these battle-hardened pilots and commanders.

“It seems our fleet in the vanguard was ambushed….”

“Our most exceptional military commanders and chief technical officers, equipped with the Alliance’s most advanced technology, ambushed by a monster with virtually no intelligence?!”

No one could believe it was true, yet the facts lay before them.

No one could comprehend why such a thing had happened.

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