Cannon fodder in the Interstellar

Ruo Manni and her team arrived at the location given by Deputy Regiment Commander Gao of the Sixth Regiment, only to find broken trees and a scene of devastation. There were the bodies of locust beasts, fragments of human mechs, and pieces of clothing.

However, aside from some suspected human bloodstains, there were no human bodies at the site—not even a small piece of human tissue.

Both the mech life detection scans and Ruo Manni’s telepathic scan showed that there was no life remaining in the area.

Looking at the scene, everyone could roughly deduce what had happened. The mercenary group had likely encountered some danger and sent a distress signal. When the Sixth Regiment’s commander came to the rescue, they must have been attacked by the locust beast horde.

Then, for some unknown reason, the communication was blocked, and neither the rescue team nor the mercenary group was able to send another distress signal before they were all wiped out.

As humans, seeing such a horrific tragedy, Ruo Manni and her team felt an even deeper weight on their hearts.

“Wasn’t the Sixth Regiment’s commander a Level 6 Mecha Master? Even if he couldn’t save them, he should have been able to escape,” Sheila said, filled with suspicion.

Ruo Manni also had her doubts. She quickly identified fragments of a Level 6 mech among the debris on the ground.

Even if these locust beasts could pierce through the outer shell of a Level 6 mech, they shouldn’t have the ability to tear it into such small fragments. There must be another reason behind this.

Ruo Manni looked toward the High Sea Forest. The forest wasn’t very large, and it wasn’t like the Wilderness Forest, which had become a forbidden zone. But as Ruo Manni focused on this forest, she felt an intense sense of danger.

Her intuition told her they needed to leave immediately—there was something here that she couldn’t handle. The ability to silently summon such a large swarm of locust beasts was most likely the work of the Yunkai aliens.

Ruo Manni was never one to act recklessly. Since she felt there was a danger she couldn’t deal with, the atmosphere here reminded her too much of the Wilderness Forest.

Ruo Manni planned to report the situation directly to the Crown Prince and let him decide how to handle it.

Among the military forces on Topaz Star, Ruo Manni was the most skilled, and under the Crown Prince’s command, there were countless talented individuals, with five or six Level 8 Mecha Masters. If they could handle the massive crisis in the Wilderness Forest, dealing with the much smaller High Sea Forest would be no problem at all.

They had come to rescue people, but since no one was left, they naturally wouldn’t continue to investigate. Ruo Manni instructed everyone to collect some samples quickly and leave the area.

The others likely sensed the urgency in Ruo Manni’s voice, but they assumed she was worried about the locust beasts possibly attacking the city, so they didn’t ask any further questions.

After Tamaki Kazia deployed a small robot to collect the blood samples from the ground, everyone turned and headed towards Gaoping City.

Then, midway, they spotted the main locust beast army. Sure enough, the locust beasts were headed toward the city. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, knowing they would make it in time to warn the city.

It had been more than thirty minutes since the battle with the locust beasts, and the swarm had only covered half the distance to the city.

Perhaps because of their large size, the locust beasts weren’t very fast and couldn’t match the speed of a regular flying vehicle.

While Ruo Manni and her team were relieved, they also increased their speed.

“There are more than 16,500 locust beasts in total,” Ruo Manni reported to her team.

Ruo Manni’s mech was more advanced than the others. After flying over the swarm, her mech’s scanning data appeared.

“Such a large number of locust beasts shouldn’t be able to hide in High Sea Forest. It’s strange that the Sixth Regiment was completely unaware beforehand. This is very suspicious; it’s likely man-made,” said Yu Paul.

“No need to say it, we all know it’s man-made. These locust beasts couldn’t have the ability to block communications,” said Zhao Lixue.

Although Yu Paul and Zhao Lixue often disagreed verbally, when Zhao was in danger earlier, Yu Paul had gone all out to save him, and when Yu Paul was in trouble, Zhao had also helped. If it weren’t for the two of them being so rough in appearance, Ruo Manni might have suspected there was something more between them.

Ruo Manni used a special channel to briefly report the urgent situation to Lin Changfeng, asking him to send reinforcements to Gaoping City.

Three minutes later, as they saw the city’s outline, Ruo Manni noticed that their communications had been restored. She quickly sent the locust beast data she had collected to both Lin Changfeng and Officer Tong.

Lin Changfeng received the first-hand data but forwarded an unfriendly message to Ruo Manni.

“Regiments 11, 15, 20, 24, 26, 31, and 35 have all been attacked by locust beasts. We are unable to send reinforcements. Do everything you can to eliminate the locust beasts and protect Gaoping City.”

Ruo Manni fell silent. The entire Topaz Star was under attack, yet the military had been completely unaware beforehand. This was an utter failure on their part.

Ruo Manni informed her team of the message, and everyone fell silent for a while.

“We need to solve this as quickly as possible. No one can guarantee that the First Regiment isn’t facing problems,” Yu Paul suddenly said.

The First Regiment was located behind Baili City, where Yu Paul’s family lived, so he was especially anxious.

“We, eight people, have limited firepower. Let’s first go to Gaoping City and help set up defenses,” Ruo Manni said.

Killing locust beasts one by one wasn’t having much effect. Their mechas’ energy and their physical stamina were limited, and even at their best, they could only eliminate one or two thousand before running out of resources.

Each city’s defense forces, with their defense shields and laser cannons—especially the laser cannons—could definitely deal with the locust beasts. With more people and more firepower, everyone would need to work together to solve the locust beast swarm.

Ruo Manni and her team put away their mechas at the city’s entrance. The city defense soldiers came to intercept them. Ruo Manni showed her ID to the two soldiers.

“Ah, you really are the young lady,” the young soldier said in a low voice, clearly surprised after recognizing Ruo Manni’s face. He had suspected it earlier but hadn’t dared to believe it.

The other soldier, though also impressed, dutifully checked Ruo Manni and her team’s IDs before saluting her. “City Defense Army, ×××, salutes Captain Hua De.”

“We are here on Commander Lin’s orders to assist Regiment 6. Have they arrived?” Ruo Manni returned the salute and asked.

“The people from Regiment 6 arrived about ten minutes ago and are now at the City Defense Army headquarters. The Lieutenant has instructed me to take you to them as soon as you arrive,” the soldier, who introduced himself, inadvertently referred to Ruo Manni as ‘young lady’ as well.

As the highest commander of Topaz Star, Lin Changfeng had already sent out a warning signal to the planet’s high-level authorities. Before Ruo Manni’s arrival, the City Defense Army had already raised the defense shields, and the laser cannons on the city walls were prepared and ready.

When Ruo Manni and her team arrived, they were immediately welcomed by the City Defense Army and Deputy Commander Gao of Regiment 6, as if they were greeting saviors.

Regiment 6 had already reported the attack to the City Defense Army before Ruo Manni’s team arrived, knowing that these people had been rescued by Ruo Manni’s squad.

When Deputy Commander Gao saw only eight of Ruo Manni’s team members entering, he looked at her with a sorrowful expression.

Ruo Manni sighed and said, “When we got there, we didn’t see anyone. All we found were the remains of mechas.”

As she spoke, she displayed the images of the scene. Some people from Regiment 6 started crying. “That’s our commander’s mecha…”

The sixth-level mecha master and the mecha had both been torn apart, which showed just how tough these locust beasts were to deal with.

Ruo Manni sighed again. “Now is not the time for mourning. We have even greater difficulties to face.”

She then showed the images of the locust beasts they had taken during their flight. The entire City Defense Army command center immediately became tense.

Although the City Defense Army had already heard from Regiment 6 about the locust beast swarm, they had been nervous but didn’t have a clear idea of the threat. Seeing the specific images and videos now, they realized that Regiment 6 had been understating the situation, and from the footage, they could tell the locust beasts were in vast numbers.

“We flew over the swarm earlier and scanned them. There should be more than ten thousand of them,” Ruo Manni reported.

She sent the locust beast data to the company commander of the City Defense Army. The commander, a mid-level fifth-tier martial artist, looked grim after reviewing the data and said, “Although our laser cannons can handle them, we only have ten laser cannons, and each one can support no more than two to three hundred shots. Even if every shot hits, we’ll only be able to kill two or three thousand of them. The rest will have to be dealt with by our soldiers.”

“The fifth-level mecha with a lightsaber can kill the locust beasts. Gather all the fifth-level mecha masters in the city and bring them here. I will lead them out to fight,” Ruo Manni said.

The company commander of the City Defense Army didn’t even need to consult Deputy Commander Gao of Regiment 6 and immediately obeyed the order. It was clear he trusted Ruo Manni more.

Although the City Defense Army in Gaoping City was originally under the jurisdiction of Regiment 6, and they bypassed Regiment 6’s authority, Deputy Commander Gao felt some dissatisfaction. However, thinking that they had been saved by these people, and knowing that Ruo Manni held the highest rank among all the soldiers present—being a seventh-level telekinetic master—he suppressed his dissatisfaction. Who else could command more authority than her?

At that moment, the harsh sound of alarms suddenly filled the City Defense Army headquarters. The video feed clearly showed the dense swarm of locust beasts approaching the city.

The company commander hurriedly contacted the mayor’s communication system to report the situation. Less than three seconds later, Ruo Manni heard the sharp sound of alarms echoing throughout the entire city.

The mayor reacted quickly, and it seemed like the City Defense Army and the mayor had a good working relationship, Ruo Manni thought.

Ruo Manni took a look around. Among the soldiers from Regiment 6 and the City Defense Army, there were only 26 fifth-level warriors, and only Deputy Commander Gao was a sixth-level early-stage mecha master. The strength was truly lacking.

“You can mobilize the civilians and the police department to see if there are any fifth-level mecha masters. If there are, have them come here immediately,” Ruo Manni said helplessly.

She had originally expected to organize an attack team of nearly a hundred people, but now, there were barely thirty people. The number was far too small.

After some hesitation, the City Defense Army issued Ruo Manni’s order.

Ruo Manni had thought it would be better than nothing, and that any extra people would help. To her surprise, less than ten minutes after the order was given, eleven fifth-level warriors from the police department, along with three civilians, arrived.

When they reached the City Defense Army headquarters, they went directly to Ruo Manni and saluted her. Upon seeing the people Ruo Manni had brought with her, admiration flashed in their eyes. It was clear that they had come because of Ruo Manni.

Ruo Manni actually found this reassuring—after all, she was the one leading the team.

Although Ruo Manni had only brought seven people for support, all seven were elites.

At this point, the locust beasts were already attacking the energy shield outside the city. Although the laser cannons were continuously firing at the locust beasts, there were so many of them, and the energy shield outside the city was densely covered with locust beasts.

“Commander, this is bad! These locust beasts can actually absorb the energy from the shield!” shouted the engineer in charge of the shield.

Everyone’s expression immediately turned serious—this was undoubtedly the worst possible news.

“At the current rate of consumption, how much longer will the shield’s energy last?” Ruo Manni asked.

“At most two hours. We’re not sure what changes will happen after these locust beasts absorb the energy,” the engineer replied quickly.

“All fifth-level warriors, follow me,” Ruo Manni said, and she led the way out of the City Defense Army headquarters. The others immediately followed her.

“Yu Paul and Deputy Commander Gao, you two form one group. Zhao Lixue and Gong Jiafeng, you form another group. Cao Juexian and Chen Genghui, form the third group. Tamaki Kazia and Sheila, you follow me. Each group will have twelve people. Try to clear the locust beasts from the city’s energy shield,” Ruo Manni said firmly.

Ruo Manni had everyone equip their mechs. She looked around and thought that, apart from the ones she had brought with her, everyone else’s mechs were somewhat inadequate.

Especially the mechs of the three civilians. Though they were fifth-level mechs, they weren’t combat types. Their missiles were only level one, and the lightsabers were the lowest tier. They were even weaker than the military’s fourth-level mechs. If they went out like this, they might as well be delivering themselves as prey.

But this couldn’t be blamed on them, as the Empire had regulations stating that civilians could not possess many weapons for their mechs. Ruo Manni sighed, had the three civilians dismount, and replaced their mechs with standard fifth-level combat mechs.

The three fifth-level warriors were greatly encouraged. Indeed, the rumors were true—because of the need to strengthen the forces of Topaz Star, the young lady was very generous, often spending her own money for the cause.

Ruo Manni knew that some areas of Topaz Star were quite poor, and many soldiers, even if they reached a certain rank, could not afford their own mechs.

So, this time when she returned, Ruo Manni brought quite a few of these mechs with her. These were the works of her and her senior brother Rick Amber’s apprentices. The materials weren’t of the best quality, so the price wasn’t high.

A few years ago, Ruo Manni, anticipating that such a situation might occur after returning to Topaz Star, had deliberately purchased these mechs at a low price. Now, they were indeed proving to be useful.

They each led their teams and spread out in all four directions of the city. Ruo Manni headed straight toward the direction from which the locust beasts had come, where the largest number of locust beasts were located.

Ruo Manni saw the laser cannons outside the city firing nonstop, trying to stop the locust beasts from reaching the energy shield.

Although the laser cannons could directly kill locust beasts by hitting their vital spots, the fatal points of the locust beasts were their lower abdomen and eyes.

The locust beasts flew low, almost scraping the ground, so the laser cannons couldn’t hit their largest vulnerable area, the lower abdomen. The only option was to aim at their eyes.

However, although the locust beasts were large in size, their eyes weren’t very big. Moreover, the locust beasts flew all over the place in the air, making it difficult for the soldiers to aim accurately. Even if they locked onto a target and fired, unless they hit a vital spot, the locust beasts would only sustain light injuries, still being able to continue attacking.

Faced with the overwhelming number of locust beasts, the inability to cause large-scale damage made the laser cannons seem weak and ineffective.