Wasteland Planet 7 was a scene of utter devastation.
The high-rise buildings in the city center had all been reduced to rubble. An eerie silence hung over everything.
The survivors walked around quietly, not daring to make a sound.
They had spontaneously formed various survivor camps, barely clinging to life under the threat of the Black Armored Beetles.
Hengshan Village was one of those medium-sized survivor camps.
The village chief had given the Lin family house to Guo Hai and Director Chen to live in.
Director Chen had come to the wasteland planet on a business trip, hoping to find hidden gems like Lin Xiaohe — talented people who had been overlooked. But then the insectoids attacked, and he got stranded in Hengshan Village.
“Major General Guo, what should we do? Have you sent out a distress signal?”
After Guo Hai finished arranging the patrol duties for the Defense Force, he finally answered Director Chen’s question. “I’ve sent it out through the signal tower. But whether anyone will receive it is another matter.”
The Sixth Star Ring was a complete mess. Communications between planets had been completely cut off.
Who would pick up the distress signal — the Empire or the Federation? It all depended on whether the Goddess of Fate would smile upon Wasteland Planet 7.
Director Chen’s mouth tasted bitter. He tried to comfort himself. “This is Lin Xiaohe’s home planet. It has to be a blessed land! Fate will definitely be on our side.”
The village chief chimed in, nodding vigorously. “That’s right! Hengshan Village is a place of outstanding people and natural beauty. Maybe the gods are protecting us! Look, at this critical moment, General Guo showed up to take charge. Isn’t that fate?”
The village chief was trying to butter up Guo Hai a little.
But Guo Hai couldn’t bring himself to smile.
The moment the wormhole appeared, Guo Hai knew that the Holy Gate must have fallen!
Even if it hadn’t fallen, it meant the insectoids had found a new route, bypassing the Holy Gate and entering human-controlled space.
He lowered his head and tapped on his personal AI, sighing quietly.
He still couldn’t reach his brothers. He didn’t know if they were alive or dead.
And he still hadn’t completed the mission his boss had given him.
What a mess.
Seeing the grim look on Guo Hai’s face, the village chief quickly stepped aside and didn’t dare say a word.
The survival of their entire village depended on Guo Hai and the Defense Force!
Director Chen, as the second-highest-ranking official present, steeled himself and spoke up. “Major General Guo, can we ask the Orbital Defense Force for help?”
Back when it started, the Black Armored Beetles had fallen from the sky, catching the wasteland planet’s Defense Force completely off guard.
Just as they were retreating step by step, Guo Hai had revealed his rank and taken command of the Defense Force. Under his leadership, the various survivor camps had been established, preserving the sparks of life.
If he could take command of the Defense Force with his rank of Major General, couldn’t he also take command of the Orbital Defense Force?
The Orbital Defense Force had defense platforms, attack satellites, ground-based giant cannon arrays, and planetary shields.
Couldn’t they just fire a few shots at the Black Armored Beetles with the attack satellites and solve the problem?
Guo Hai said gravely, “Only 36 planets in the Sixth Star Ring have Orbital Defense Forces. The closest one to us is the Miluo Star Orbital Defense Force, but that’s in a war zone with the Empire.”
Their resources were already stretched thin. They certainly wouldn’t spend their precious resources on a wasteland planet.
Besides, they couldn’t even contact Miluo Star.
Guo Hai wiped his face. “Right now, staying alive is the most important thing. We just got through another wave of attacks yesterday. That gives us seven days of relative safety. Director Chen, you organize the students and teachers. Village chief, you organize the villagers. The rest of us will go outside to scavenge for supplies again.”
“Remember, the top priority is nutrient fluid, medicine, weapons, and ammunition.”
“Got it!”
During the Black Armored Beetles’ fierce attack yesterday, even more of the already dwindling survivors had died.
Guo Hai looked at the 52 small survivor camps that had disappeared. His cheeks were swollen from clenching his jaw.
He had dealt with the insectoids for a long time. His instinct told him these bugs were definitely up to no good.
But even a clever housewife can’t cook without rice. He had no people and no weapons. He couldn’t completely turn the tide of battle. On the battlefield, an individual’s power was negligible.
All he could do was his best to unite everyone, hold the line, and wait for rescue.
Humans crawled over the ruins like ants, just searching for a little bit of supplies.
In the past, these heavy tasks had been done by intelligent robots.
But as the colors of the wormholes deepened, the wasteland planet’s magnetic field seemed to have been affected.
Artificial intelligence had become artificial stupidity.
After several incidents where intelligent robots mistook humans for supplies, crushed them flat, and vacuum-sealed them, people no longer dared to use them.
Better to work hard and suffer a bit themselves than to have their necks twisted by a robot.
Without the help of technology, the efficiency of scavenging for supplies was extremely low.
As they gathered supplies, their hearts were in their throats, nervous and anxious, afraid that Black Armored Beetles would pop out of every corner at any moment.
Only when Guo Hai gave the order to retreat did everyone finally breathe a long sigh of relief, as if a weight had been lifted.
On the way back, Director Chen whispered to Guo Hai, “Where did the Black Armored Beetles come from anyway? Did the Federation really create them?”
There were tons of rumors: conspiracy theories, divine punishment theories — you name it.
Guo Hai’s figure stood as firm as a mountain.
His face expressionless, he said, “No. They’re extraterrestrial beings.”
“Oh, so they’re aliens. Sigh. Why are they so vicious? Why can’t they coexist peacefully with us?”
Guo Hai opened his mouth, then swallowed his words.
Teacher Li said quietly, “Put yourself in their shoes. We humans haven’t exactly planned to share the universe with aliens either.”
Take the Giant Sound Whales, for example. Wasn’t that a perfect illustration?
In human eyes, aliens were divided into two categories: useful and useless.
Useful ones could also become useless. And the useless ones weren’t considered worthy of living on a planet.
Director Chen gave an awkward smile. Where you stand depends on where you sit. Humans were always the ones driving other races to extinction. Now that they were the ones being treated like food by the insectoids for the first time, who could accept that?
The group had just arrived at the entrance of Hengshan Village when they saw Da Zhuang, who had been left behind to guard the place. He was grinning like a complete idiot, running toward them and shouting at the top of his lungs.
“We got a message! We got a message!”
The village chief punched him in the back. “Explain clearly! What message?”
Da Zhuang’s lips were trembling. The excitement in his eyes was practically spilling over. He pointed at the signal transmitter in the village square and stammered, “It! It’s the transmitter!”
Everyone was stunned for a moment. Then they rushed madly toward the square.
“Quick, see who replied!”
“Stop shouting! Let General Guo do it!”
Guo Hai pushed through the crowd and opened the control panel.
The response came from the Mantis Battle Group, a support unit of the Sixth Star Ring Military Region.
Guo Hai: “Hello, this is the command center of Wasteland Planet 7. We still have 3 million survivors. Requesting rescue.”
Mantis Battle Group: “Sorry, but our orders are to evacuate the Sixth Star Ring war zone.”
Evacuate the war zone?!
Guo Hai’s face darkened. His voice turned as cold as ice, cutting straight to the heart of the matter. “Is the Federation abandoning the Sixth Star Ring?”
Mantis Battle Group: “The official order says ‘strategic retreat,’ but… yeah, that’s basically what it means.”
In Hengshan Village, everyone’s faces were blank with disbelief.
All this time, the信念 (belief) that had kept them struggling to survive was that the Federation would send someone to rescue them.
And now the Federation wasn’t just not planning to rescue them — it was completely abandoning the entire star ring?!
Even if they somehow managed to escape Wasteland Planet 7, how could they possibly escape the Sixth Star Ring?
