The two sides in battle were worlds apart in strength, but their fighting spirits were equally unyielding.
Both had fought to the point of madness.
The [Void Devourer], for once, showed a flicker of irritation. It had never encountered humans so stubborn, so utterly devoid of self-preservation! They were practically down to their last soldiers, yet their battle intent only grew fiercer.
But the Zerg knew no fear—their Lord was watching over them!
The Federation soldiers, too, were consumed by bloodlust. They had never experienced such brutal carnage.
In battles against the Empire, most engagements were fairly balanced exchanges. With high-tech weaponry, soldiers usually met their ends with little suffering.
But the Zerg were different! Beneath their grotesque exteriors lurked hearts far more savage and merciless!
The surface of Miluo Star was stained red with the blood of comrades.
The rain that fell on Miluo Star was a rain of their blood.
It was a matter of life and death, of deep-seated hatred—no mercy, no retreat!
The off-road vehicles jolted and bumped along the cratered roads.
Darcy gripped the door handle tightly, his face set in stone, eyes fixed ahead. After the Fifth Division issued its order to hold the line, all contact with the Direct Reconnaissance Battalion had been lost.
He didn’t know if Division HQ had been ambushed by the Zerg or if the communication cables had been severed by the black beetles—but either way, it meant the situation was grim.
Behind him, Allen was boasting to his buddies: “You know Lin Xiaohé? She’s my friend! We fought side by side on Miluo Star back in the day.”
“Alright, Allen. You’ve told us that eight hundred times already. So is that why you, a logistics guy, insisted on coming to the front lines?”
Allen puffed out his chest, indignant. “I’m one of Lin Xiaohé’s soldiers! Even if she’s not here, my name is still on her roster. I can’t let her down!”
He gazed at the Star Grain Party flag fluttering in the wind, courage surging through his chest.
Their sacrifice would be witnessed by that flag!
“Kill!”
“Kill!”
The straight-line distance between the two sides was only five hundred meters—a mere blink before they clashed.
The black beetles emitted high-frequency buzzes, droplets of crimson blood dripping from their feelers.
A suffocating killing intent blanketed the entire battlefield.
With a piercing shriek, a giant fat worm rose into the air. At the same time, from the low-lying areas to the north and south, over a hundred black beetles surged forth!
Looking across the field, it seemed almost submerged in a tide of black beetles.
The soldiers of the Direct Reconnaissance Battalion looked grim.
They had walked into a trap!
The black beetles had set an ambush!
A chill ran down Darcy’s spine. The Zerg hadn’t been like this at first—they only knew how to fight.
But after just a few encounters with humans, they had learned tactics!
How terrifying!
Darcy couldn’t imagine how complex the Zerg might evolve as they gained more experience fighting humans!
Darcy: “All units, prepare—”
“Report!”
That voice…
Darcy looked up in disbelief.
Hovering in the air was a figure in crimson battle armor, her face obscured.
But that silhouette… overlapped perfectly with the image burned into the heart of every Star Grain Party member!
Darcy stared at that figure, his eyes growing slightly misty—a sign of deep emotion stirring within, surfacing as a glimmer of moisture.
Everyone looked up, transfixed by her.
Lin Xiaohé’s voice rang out, strong and clear, as if it could reach every corner of the battlefield: “Reporting, sir! Captain Lin Xiaohé of the Fifth Armored Division, Direct Reconnaissance Battalion, reporting for duty! Please give your orders, sir.”
Darcy grinned, his voice hoarse as he roared, “Captain Lin Xiaohé!”
“Present!”
“Kill these bugs!”
“Yes, sir!”
Lin Xiaohé wrapped every member of the reconnaissance battalion in a yellow protective shield. Green bullets sprayed from her right hand like they cost nothing—rat-tat-tat!
With her left hand, she hurled tomatoes and chili peppers into the densest clusters of black beetles.
A pungent, spicy odor spread across the battlefield.
The black beetles, which had been shrieking moments before, suddenly seemed to have something wrong with their central nervous systems—they began spinning in place wildly.
Lin Xiaohé paused for a moment, then stopped throwing tomatoes and instead tossed out ten more chili peppers.
The acrid heat shot straight up into the black beetles’ heads.
Plop.
The giant fat worm plummeted straight from the sky, crashing to the ground and curling into a ball. Its bloated belly heaved and convulsed as green vomit gushed from its mouth.
The black beetles fared even worse—they lay overturned, their eight legs, capable of shearing through metal, flailing helplessly in the air.
Lin Xiaohé could almost sense a wave of utter despair radiating from these creatures.
“Kill! Kill!”
Darcy led the soldiers in a frenzy, hacking at the black beetles.
These were the same beetles that usually cost tens of thousands of lives to kill just one—but now they were like lambs to the slaughter, helplessly awaiting death.
Up in space, the [Void Devourer], surrounded by Stardust Humans and Great Sound Whales, shuddered violently.
It strained every fiber of its being, unleashing a Stardust Torrent to break through the encirclement, then fled without looking back.
On Miluo Star, cheers erupted, shaking the heavens.
This was the first victory ordinary humans had ever achieved against the Zerg in recorded history!
“Thank you, Lin Xiaohé!” No one would ever forget who the greatest hero of this victory was!
Darcy slumped to the ground, wiping tears from his eyes.
“Sir, didn’t you always say that real men don’t cry when they bleed? Why are you crying?” Lin Xiaohé landed beside him.
Darcy stared at her blankly.
This slender girl, piloting a pink beetle-shaped mech, had actually—step by relentless step—forged her way to the pinnacle of power.
“I never thought you’d come to save us.”
Lin Xiaohé pointed at the Star Grain Party flag on the off-road vehicle and gave a slight smile. “The Star Grain Party—never abandon, never give up.”
Darcy was dazed for a moment, then pulled himself up, brushed the dust off his clothes, and said, “Move fast. There are fewer than fifty thousand soldiers left on Miluo Star. Let’s get on the ship before the Zerg come back.”
Lin Xiaohé’s heart clenched—fewer than fifty thousand!
Miluo Star had been one of the Federation’s frontlines against the Empire, with at least five hundred thousand troops deployed!
Darcy glanced at her and said in a low voice, “Don’t call me ‘sir’ anymore.”
“Hm?”
Darcy trudged forward with his head down. “I joined the Star Grain Party a while ago. You’re our party leader.”
Fewer than fifty thousand battered, wounded soldiers boarded the Imperial warships in silence.
Former mortal enemies, now side by side, exchanged only a single glance and said nothing.
Lin Xiaohé stayed behind until the end.
The assembly point was empty—they had all boarded the ships, leaving behind only a scattered mess of shoulder insignias.
Those military badges that Darcy and the others had once treasured, valued more than life itself, lay discarded without mercy on the ground.
Some had even been trampled into the mud.
The jumbled insignias seemed to proclaim silently: from this moment on, they were no longer Federation soldiers—they were steadfast members of the Star Grain Party!
Lin Xiaohé took a deep breath and rose slowly into the air.
Just before leaving Miluo Star for good, she turned back one last time to look at the place where her journey had begun.
The alien plant zone she had once guarded was now reduced to ashes.
The planet was shattered and desolate.
A sudden pang of unease struck her heart—something about this planet felt off.
She carefully swept it with her psychic energy several times, but found nothing unusual. Reluctantly, she had to leave.
“Goodbye, Miluo Star.”
