Cannon fodder in the Interstellar

The people of Gaoping City began to suspect that the dark red mecha was being piloted by the legendary young lady, so they paid close attention, switching between different camera angles to observe the battle of the dark red mecha.

When the view shifted to below the locust beast swarm, the people could see locust beasts continually falling to the ground.

Right beneath the dark red mecha, a thick pile of locust beast corpses had accumulated, nearly twice as thick as the piles around other mecha warriors.

“That dark red mecha pilot is definitely above level six, and is likely a psychic, or else they wouldn’t be able to sustain such operations. Oh my God, the young lady is even stronger than the legends say…”

“So, it really could be the young lady herself.”

“It absolutely is her…”

Thanks to this video, the people began to feel a sense of relief. The young lady was so powerful, and she had promised to protect Topaz Star. Now that she was here, they believed she wouldn’t let anything happen to them.

“As far as I know, there are only two level six mecha masters in the Sixth Regiment, and there are eight fighting outside right now…”

“That means the young lady brought several level six mecha masters with her.”

“Why didn’t she bring more people? She only brought so few, and Baili City hasn’t been attacked.”

“Baili City not being attacked doesn’t mean it’s safe. There need to be people left behind to guard. The young lady has already brought their strongest forces, what more do you want?”

This was the toughest battle Young Lady Ruo Manni had fought. Without guards or support, her teammates were too weak to help her. She also had to keep an eye on their situation and protect them at all times.

The nine mecha warriors Ruo Manni had chosen were all relatively weak, including three civilian mecha warriors.

Outsiders didn’t know, but those three civilian mecha warriors knew they had been saved several times.

During the locust beast siege, there were several moments when they were pinned down and unable to move, their mechas in danger of being pierced by the locust beasts’ long legs. At those critical moments, the locust beasts around their mechas would suddenly fall for no apparent reason, allowing them to escape their predicament.

At first, the three civilian mecha warriors were a bit confused, but after another incident, they began to realize that it wasn’t just a coincidence. It was a psychic controlling the situation, protecting them, and rescuing them from danger. It was the young lady who was looking out for them.

The three civilian mecha warriors immediately became energized. Due to their lack of combat skills and fear of danger, they had been hesitating, holding back and not fully committing to the fight.

But the problem was that, regardless of whether they defended or not, there were simply too many locust beasts, and they couldn’t even protect themselves. Now that they knew the young lady was protecting them, they threw caution to the wind and began to fight with full force.

Tamaki Kazia and Sheila understood Ruo Manni’s control abilities better than anyone. The two of them had already begun fighting with all their might.

As long as Ruo Manni was nearby, they weren’t worried about encountering danger. If Ruo Manni couldn’t protect them, then they wouldn’t have any hope of escaping either.

This battle had been going on for over three hours, and the mecha warriors who had been out killing locust beasts were gradually becoming exhausted. Faced with the seemingly endless swarm, they forced themselves to keep going, though a sense of despair was creeping in.

They were now facing the twin challenges of exhaustion and running out of ammunition.

But retreat was not an option. If they didn’t kill the locust beasts, retreating would cost the lives of tens of thousands of civilians.

So, everyone gritted their teeth and continued to hold on.

At that moment, a voice full of energy suddenly rang out through the public channel: “Everyone, keep going! There were originally over 16,000 locust beasts in the swarm, but now there are only a little over 6,000 left. As long as we hold on a bit longer, we’ll be able to annihilate them!”

They had already killed more than 10,000 locust beasts…

Since they had already killed over 10,000, how difficult could the remaining 6,000 be? Everyone’s spirits were instantly lifted.

The people in Gaoping City weren’t foolish. Even though the sky network signal was intermittent, the amount of time that had passed was enough for them to realize that other places on Topaz Star were experiencing the same locust beast attacks.

It had been so long, and still, there were only those forty or so mecha warriors fighting outside, with no reinforcements arriving to support them.

Everyone’s hearts were tightly wound. For more than three hours, no one had moved, and they had been closely watching the battle outside.

They all knew that if those forty mecha warriors failed, their doomsday would be upon them.

Fortunately, the more than forty mecha warriors, though seemingly on the brink of collapse amidst the locust beast swarm, managed to hold on.

Especially on the side with the heaviest concentration of locust beasts, the dark red mecha worked like a meat grinder, killing countless locust beasts.

The people of Gaoping City felt it was a tough battle, but as the mecha warriors fought relentlessly, the thickness of the locust beast swarm gradually began to thin.

In the end, after another round of counterattacks from the mecha warriors, the remaining three or four thousand locust beasts finally fled.

The forty-odd mecha warriors held on until the locust beasts disappeared without a trace, and only then did they return to the city.

By this time, the city’s shield had weakened significantly and was almost about to break. Fortunately, the locust beast swarm had been defeated; otherwise, once the shield was breached, no matter how capable the forty mecha warriors were, they wouldn’t be able to stop the locust beasts from flooding into the city.

The citizens of Gaoping City, having seen the locust beasts retreat, finally let go of the tension they had been carrying, and cheers of victory erupted throughout the city.

Some quick-thinking and agile citizens had already started heading toward the city defense forces. They had seen the dark red mecha enter the city and were eager to find out if the pilot was the legendary young lady.

After exiting the mecha, Ruo Manni felt a splitting headache and her legs were a bit weak. The others were in even worse condition—after leaving their mechas, they collapsed on the ground and couldn’t move.

The intense battle had taken a huge toll on their stamina. By the end, everyone had been holding on by sheer willpower. Now that the tension had eased, they could barely stand.

At that moment, two female soldiers came over to help Ruo Manni into a flying car. Aside from Sheila, who was also assisted by female soldiers, the others were supported by male soldiers.

Ruo Manni didn’t hesitate and smiled at the two female soldiers. “Take us to a quiet place where we can rest. We all need to recover.”

“The captain asked us to take you to the city defense force’s rest area,” the two female soldiers said, their eyes sparkling with admiration as they looked at Ruo Manni.

The captain of the city defense forces had been considerate, and after arriving at the headquarters, Ruo Manni and Sheila took over the captain’s rest area without hesitation.

After taking a restorative potion and meditating for half an hour, Ruo Manni regained about a third of her strength and then went back outside.

Now was not the time to rest properly; they still didn’t know what the situation outside was like.

Although Gaoping City’s defense battle ended in victory, everyone’s mood was far from good.

Because, except for the group led by Ruo Manni, which had no casualties, the other three groups had lost members. Of the 48 people who went out, only 40 returned.

Among the 8 casualties, 6 were from the 6th Regiment. Even the deputy commander of the 6th Regiment, Gao, was crying—really crying.

In this locust beast wave, the 6th Regiment lost nearly half of its soldiers, and even the regiment’s battle strength was decimated. It could be said to be an extremely tragic outcome.

After Ruo Manni left the rest area, the mayor of Gaoping City came to meet her, expressing the gratitude of the city’s citizens for her and her team’s help.

If Ruo Manni hadn’t led her team to assist, Gaoping City wouldn’t have been able to hold its ground during this disaster. So, the mayor’s gratitude was sincere.

However, Ruo Manni couldn’t hear those words of gratitude because she had received bad news: Lin Changfeng had ordered her to return immediately because a locust beast swarm had appeared around Baili City.

The troops stationed at The Topaz Star Military Headquarters had already been dispatched to various places for support and couldn’t be withdrawn in time.

“Baili City is also surrounded,” Ruo Manni said to the mayor of Gaoping City, who looked awkward due to being ignored. She wasn’t being intentionally rude.

The mayor of Gaoping City understood that the situation was urgent, but the problem was that Ruo Manni had come to their aid, and now she was facing danger herself. What should they do?

As the saying goes, “misfortune never comes alone.” Ruo Manni rubbed her forehead, and her light brain flashed with a red emergency distress signal.

Before she could open it, Yu Paul loudly shouted, “Captain, Baili City is surrounded. We need to go back immediately.”

Ruo Manni looked at the emergency distress signal and saw that it had been sent by Vice Officer Tong through a special communication channel. This meant that the signal from the 1st Regiment had been blocked, and they couldn’t communicate directly via flying signals.

Ruo Manni had no choice but to send her orders one word at a time via a special signal, feeling incredibly relieved that, when communication was still working earlier, she had sent the locust beast information to Vice Officer Tong, so they knew how to deal with the locust beasts.

As soon as Ruo Manni sent her signal, Vice Officer Tong’s reply came through: “Received, obeying orders.”

Ruo Manni and her team members naturally didn’t have time to rest. All eight of them stood up and walked out.

The city defense regiment’s captain, the mayor of Gaoping City, and Deputy Commander Gao of the 6th Regiment also rushed over after hearing the news.

The battle had just ended, but the battlefield needed to be cleaned up, and defenses had to be set up in case the locust beast swarm returned.

The 6th Regiment had lost so many soldiers, and with only a few hundred city defense troops, their manpower was extremely limited. They were in no position to assist the 1st Regiment.

Ruo Manni didn’t insist on it; they were all broken soldiers, and sending them would be of no use. She exchanged a few polite words with them before getting into a flying vehicle and leaving.

At the same time, unbeknownst to Ruo Manni, the Crown Prince of the Imperial Capital received a Level 1 emergency alert.

“Colonel Adam, cosmic creatures have appeared in the Universe ×××× region, with an estimated number of over a thousand. They are heading towards the Gumera Star Domain ×××× region and are expected to arrive in one day.”

Xiahai Adam didn’t need to look to know that the region his officer mentioned, the Gumera Star Domain ×××× region, was centered around Topaz Star.

“What are the characteristics of these cosmic creatures?” Xiahai Adam asked calmly.

“They are huge in size and feed on planetary life,” the officer replied.

This was very bad news. Five hours ago, a locust beast wave had suddenly erupted around the border stars of the Seventh Army, without any warning. Many people had been killed or injured, and the army had suffered significant losses.

After carefully reviewing the information, Xiahai. Adam dialed Hebrew Adam’s communication: “You must immediately organize space warriors to fight in space. I’ve ordered the 6th Army to support you, but they won’t arrive for at least two days. You will need to hold out for one day on your own.”

“We have several planets that have been hit with unprecedented beast waves and are fighting them off,” Hebrew Adam replied, his face extremely serious.

“What is the situation now?”

“Although there have been significant casualties, there shouldn’t be any major problems. Humans are starting to counterattack, and we should be able to resolve it in another hour or two.”

From the video, Xiahai. Adam could see that his younger brother had clearly been through a tough battle, with signs of exhaustion that he couldn’t hide.

Xiahai Adam sent the information to Hebrew Adam, and after reviewing it, Hebrew Adam’s fatigue completely disappeared, replaced by a stern expression.

“If the data about these cosmic creatures is accurate, with the current strength of our Seventh Army, we won’t be able to eliminate them,” Hebrew Adam said, his mood heavy.

Creatures that can move freely in the universe are not something ordinary humans can resist. According to the data, even a 6th-level mecha master would struggle to hold them off.

“If you can’t hold them off, Topaz Star will be the first to be destroyed,” Xiahai Adam said solemnly.

It wasn’t that he was heartless, but the situation was too dire. The reinforcements he had sent wouldn’t arrive in time. Only the Seventh Army could hold their ground, and if they failed, the consequences would be even worse. The entire human population of Topaz Star could be wiped out.

Hebrew Adam realized this too. He took a deep breath and said resolutely, “We will complete the mission.”

Although the communication was blocked, the commander of the 1st Regiment, along with the elites, had gone to the 6th Regiment’s location to provide rescue.

However, earlier, Ruo Manni had already sent the locust beast data and their weaknesses to Officer Tong, and the city defense troops in Baili City were already prepared with relevant information. Therefore, when they were surrounded by the locust beasts, the city defense troops remained calm and effectively set up defenses.

Moreover, the 1st Regiment was no longer the same as it was before. After the arrival of the young lady, the 1st Regiment now had more than 200, nearly 300, 5th-level mecha warriors.

So, even though the young lady took most of the 6th-level mecha warriors with her, the remaining strength was still enough to deal with the current crisis in Baili City.

The 5th-level mecha warriors of the 1st Regiment still used standard mechas, but with the presence of the young lady’s 7th-level mecha, she had subtly adjusted all their 5th-level mechas, making them much stronger than the regular models.

Ruo Manni and her team rushed back to Baili City, where the situation was that the city defense troops had activated their protective shield and were using laser guns to shoot at the locust beasts, while the 1st Regiment’s mecha combat team was attacking the locust beasts from the outer perimeter.

When Ruo Manni arrived at Baili City, she met up with Officer Tong and Officer Ma. They found that the situation in Baili City was much better than in Gaoping City. The 1st Regiment had many more 5th-level mecha warriors, and with nearly 300 mechas sweeping through, the locust beasts fell from the sky like raindrops.

Many civilians in Gaoping City noticed the young lady’s sudden departure and immediately wondered if something had happened in the 1st Regiment or Baili City, perhaps they, too, had been surrounded by locust beasts.

They quickly checked the SkyNet. Although there were no clear photos, satellite images taken from the air showed hundreds of mecha warriors from the 1st Regiment exterminating locust beasts at the outskirts of Baili City’s locust beast swarm.

There’s no comparison without contrast. The 6th Regiment in Gaoping City could only field around 40 mecha warriors, while the 1st Regiment had hundreds. The gap was astonishing.

Moreover, every mecha warrior in the 1st Regiment was incredibly powerful, as evidenced by the locust beasts being steadily wiped out, as if they were being devoured by the mecha warriors, with the numbers continuously diminishing.

The citizens of Gaoping City didn’t yet know that the 6th Regiment had suffered significant casualties, losing more than half of their 5th-level warriors due to the locust beast ambush. They just wondered how the strength disparity between the two regiments could be so vast. Even among the 5th-level mecha warriors, the 1st Regiment’s fighters were so much more powerful.