Chapter 13: The Mastermind Behind the Scenes: Spider Queen
The high-altitude wind blew against his face as Su Xiao stood on the dragon's back, overlooking the scene below.
Everything in sight was natural scenery, mostly plant green or purple, with occasional gaps that were ponds or similar bodies of water.
Comparing the distribution of hills and rivers below, Su Xiao repositioned himself on his terminal and found that he was not far from the Gai Hive.
Since he was going to attack the Gai Hive this time, Su Xiao had naturally done preliminary investigation work. Last night, he had sent Bubu Wang to investigate the situation there.
As a mother-level insectoid, Gai's hive was naturally eighth rank. For a long time, Gai's side had used insectoid warriors as the core defensive force. The insectoid warriors under Gai's command were different from the Raging Armor they had fought before.
The insectoid warriors on Raging Armor's side were actually a knockoff version of Gai's clan. Raging Armor had obtained a corpse of an insectoid warrior and tried to analyze its genes, thus cultivating fake insectoid warriors.
The truly powerful insectoid warrior genes were all held by several insectoid mother queens. Each of their tribes had different insectoid warriors. For example, the insectoid warriors under Brutal Kara had strong attack characteristics, those under Aisea were the most balanced, and those under the Crimson Queen were all-around hexagonal warriors.
The insectoid warriors under the pacifist Gai were skilled in defense. This was very much in line with Gai's personality: she could lie low and never stick her head out, then find an opportunity to stab someone in the back, while usually putting on a friendly appearance of loving peace.
This was the reason Su Xiao had chosen to attack Gai first. Her hive was very close to their own base camp. If they later went to war with other insectoid mother queens, once they showed any sign of weakness, the Gai Hive to their west would definitely be the first to stab them in the back.
Although Brutal Kara was also to the west, based on Su Xiao's understanding, Kara had a proud queen personality. Her style was that if she wanted to fight someone, she would inform them in advance and then defeat them head-on in a dignified manner. Kara was indeed cruel, but when it came to despicableness, ten Karas combined couldn't match one Gai.
Su Xiao's current decision was to first sort out the insectoid faction, seize the major mineral veins, and then build sub-nests on each vein.
These sub-nests had a single function, containing only three types of insectoid organs: egg-laying tissue, cultivation sacs, and energy conversion tissue.
Moreover, the egg-laying tissue and cultivation sacs in these sub-nests could only cultivate worker insectoids like Mantis Armor and Worker Scorpions.
The energy conversion tissue in the sub-nests would convert the life ore mined by the Worker Scorpions into bio-energy for storage.
Originally, there were a total of six insectoid mother queens, but the Undead Girl had eliminated one, though that wasn't important.
The six insectoid mother queens had a total of five super-large mineral veins and one Source Mine beneath their hives.
There was no need to elaborate on the five super-large mineral veins. As for the Source Mine, it was not only the largest life mineral vein in this world, but the life ore mined from it had a purity about 10 times that of regular life ore.
In other words, mining 1 unit of life ore from the Source Mine could be converted into 100 points of bio-energy.
This most precious mineral vein in the world was naturally occupied by the Crimson Queen, the leader of the insectoid faction, beneath her hive. The Empire's war with her was mainly to seize the Source Mine.
Having the energy content per unit volume increased by 10 times would drive any tech-side force crazy. It was like having a 40,000 mAh lithium battery with the volume of a 4,000 mAh battery. Its value in various fields could be imagined.
Su Xiao's idea was to first seize these known super-large mineral veins and the Source Mine. Of these six mineral veins, five were in the hands of the insectoid faction, and one was with the company forces. After sorting out the insectoid faction, he would go and beat up the company.
Every time a mineral vein was captured, a sub-nest would be built to continuously mine resources. Relying solely on plundering was absolutely not feasible. There had to be a sufficiently stable resource supply to deal with the Nether forces invasion that would arrive in a few days.
The wind whistled past his ears. Su Xiao could now overlook the Gai tribe diagonally below. The building complex of the Gai tribe covered an area about half the size of a city, very vast, appearing rectangular overall, with deep purple defensive towers standing around the perimeter.
Each defensive tower was a hundred meters tall, connected by high walls made of biological tissue, further enhancing the defense.
The hive at the very center was oval-shaped overall, like a giant egg with its bottom cut off standing on the ground. The top had blooming deep purple tentacles, each tentacle over ten meters long and half a meter thick.
Gai's hive looked quite unique. If an Apollo were stuffed inside and detonated, the feeling would be like blowing up an angry anus.
Leaving aside the design issue of Gai's hive for now, based on Bubu Wang's reconnaissance last night, it was discovered that Gai had indeed hidden a trick. Her overall strength appeared to be on the lower side, but she was also a home-defense maniac. Her tribe's defensive towers were called Bloodshot Watchers, with a giant eye at the top.
When the detection towers within Gai's tribe sensed an enemy, they would first send a biological signal to the defensive towers, Bloodshot Watchers, which would then lock onto the target.
After that, the Bloodshot Watchers, standing a hundred meters tall, would launch a total of 270 bio-missiles from various parts of their tower bodies, which would track the locked target.
Basically, once locked by a Bloodshot Watcher, the bio-missiles it launched were unavoidable. These things could spiral-track until they hit the target or their internal energy ran out.
Not only against living beings, but even against railguns, the bio-missiles launched by the Bloodshot Watchers could react in time. A common situation before was that when an Empire airship fired a railgun shot, several thousand bio-missiles would fly out from Gai's tribe for sacrificial interception.
Gai's tribe had a total of 300 such Bloodshot Watchers, most surrounding the perimeter, with a few built among various insectoid structures. A single volley from these Bloodshot Watchers would produce nearly 100,000 bio-missiles, all tracking missiles. This Gai was indeed a home-defense maniac.
At this moment, Su Xiao was 3 kilometers diagonally above Gai's tribe. This distance had already been detected by Gai's detection towers. The leader-level units within Gai's tribe leaped onto various insectoid structures, looking up at the Sun Flame Dragon group in the sky with full vigilance.
Under each insectoid mother queen, there were many leader-level individuals with independent consciousness and thinking, except for Jila. On their side, only a very few hero-level units had self-awareness, but even then, it was within the framework of clan continuation above all.
A figure gradually emerged from the top of the hive. She had antennae on her head, light purple carapace on some parts of her body, and a pair of skeletal-like wings on her back. These wings clearly couldn't be used for flight, or they were usually in a simplified state.
"Oh, you're the lord that Spider mentioned. What do you want from me?"
Gai spoke softly, her voice carrying across several kilometers via mental wavelength to Su Xiao's ears.
"Roar!"
The Sun Flame Dragon beneath Su Xiao let out a roar, and under his control, it gathered Sun Flame and spat out a large fireball. This breath expanded rapidly after leaving its mouth, reaching over 30 meters in diameter. Its extremely fast flight speed and the sizzling sound of burning made people's hearts uneasy.
No negotiation, no declaration of war, no pre-battle nonsense. Su Xiao chose to start the fight directly.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Several bio-missiles met the large fireball, causing a sacrificial explosion. The falling flames fell like a magnificent golden-red rain, sizzling as they landed on the insectoid structures below.
"Roar!!"
The Sun Flame Dragons above soared beneath the dark clouds, beginning to spew Sun Dragon Breath. Large fireballs, accompanied by the sound of wind and burning, crashed down toward the ground.
On the ground, the Bloodshot Watchers unfolded their tower bodies. From their over ten-meter-thick tower structures, dark green chitinous cannon barrels extended, and bio-missiles were launched to meet the falling Sun Dragon Breath.
Thud, thud, thud...
Dense explosions came from the mid-to-high altitude. For a moment, between the Sun Flame Dragon group above and Gai's tribe below, a layer of Sun Flame and acid flame covered the mid-to-low altitude, forming a layer of flame clouds.
Bio-missiles, accompanied by the sound of breaking air, pierced through the flame cloud layer and attacked a Sun Flame Dragon.
Whoosh!
High-pressure dragon flame spewed out, burning the incoming bio-missiles one by one, causing them to explode in succession, the sound echoing across the sky.
A spectacular scene unfolded. Countless bio-missiles surged up from below, while over a hundred Sun Flame Dragons spewed dragon flame, burning all incoming bio-missiles to explosion.
But there were always exceptions. The incoming bio-missiles were too dense. A few bio-missiles broke through the dragon flame's blockade and hit a Sun Flame Dragon.
Thud, thud, thud...
The explosions in the high altitude were deafening, accompanied by the roar of the Sun Flame Dragon. Large pieces of broken dragon skin tissue scattered down, along with blood and shredded flesh.
The hit Sun Flame Dragon had a large section of its front abdomen missing, and the wound was sizzling from acid corrosion. The bio-missiles of Gai's tribe were not to be underestimated. No matter what, these were strategic-level weapons of mass destruction. Being able to withstand a few hits was mainly due to the Sun Flame Dragon's strong dragon skin defense; otherwise, it would have been instantly killed.
Gai, standing on top of the hive, saw this scene. Her body gradually dissolved; this was just her clone. Her real body naturally wouldn't appear in such a dangerous place.
Inside the hive's sleeping chamber, in the darkness, Gai opened her amber-colored eyes. The exchange just now allowed her to estimate one thing: the enemy's dragon-type units were troublesome, but fortunately, they lacked powerful assault methods. That dragon flame was certainly terrifying, but those dragon units couldn't get close to her tribe's structures; they would be blown up before getting close. Thus, this attack seemed more like a warning.
Gai narrowed her eyes. She thought that the Spider Queen must have betrayed her, shifting the blame for the high-interest loan incident onto her, which was why that madman had directly attacked.
Yes, in Gai's view, Su Xiao was a madman. In the early stages of development, instead of cultivating worker-type races, he created a bunch of war insectoids. What else could that be but madness?
Above, the explosions continued. The shattered Sun Flame Dragons turned into bloody fragments mixed with fire rain as they fell, a shocking sight.
Su Xiao stood on the back of a Sun Flame Dragon. His altitude had reached below the clouds at ten thousand meters. With the Sun Flame Dragon group below, he was relatively safe here.
Gai's strength was somewhat beyond his expectations. Or rather, these insectoid mother queens' defensive measures for their base camps were stronger than imagined.
Sun Flame Dragons could fight, withstand damage, and fly. Their Sun Flame had strong lethality, but there was one thing: when facing this almost iron-barrel-like defense, the Sun Flame Dragons had no good assault methods.
A sizzling screech came from below. A type of flying bat, resembling a bat with a wingspan of nearly 2 meters, attacked. Their abdominal sacs were glowing red. When hit by dragon flame, they produced deafening explosions, with explosive power slightly stronger than bio-missiles.
Seeing this, Su Xiao controlled over a hundred Sun Flame Dragons to fly higher.
When these hundred-plus Sun Flame Dragons reached an altitude of several tens of thousands of meters, the temperature began to drop sharply. They huddled together, their dragon claws gripping each other's bodies, forming a massive cylindrical shape.
"Roar!"
The dozens of Sun Flame Dragons on the outside gradually developed pores on their backs, from which compressed Sun Flame sprayed out.
With a bang, the hundred-plus Sun Flame Dragons huddled together suddenly increased their descent speed. Using the power of multiple high-pressure releases of dragon flame, they turned into a blur and plummeted straight down.
When these Sun Flame Dragons broke through the cloud layer, they left a large hole in the clouds. After leaving behind an explosive sound, they dove straight toward the ground.
Bio-missiles from all directions tracked them, hitting the huddled Sun Flame Dragons. Dragon skin and bones exploded and scattered everywhere. The huddled Sun Flame Dragons were peeled off layer by layer, but their descent speed was too fast. Even with the large number of bio-missiles, given the Sun Flame Dragons' defense, they could only be peeled off layer by layer.
When the huddled Sun Flame Dragons were completely peeled away, revealing the innermost Sun Flame Dragon, the insectoid warriors on the ground trembled as they saw that this Sun Flame Dragon was entirely golden-red, with Sun Flame already burning in its vertical pupils.
The reason this Sun Flame Dragon was like this was that during the descent just now, the other ninety-plus Sun Flame Dragons had injected all their Sun Force into its body. This situation meant that this Sun Flame Dragon would die within minutes.
This golden flame dragon, with its dragon wings broken off, dove straight down in a vertical posture, crashing between the insectoid structures of Gai's tribe, landing headfirst with a thunderous impact.
Boom!!!
A loud noise spread. In the central area of Gai's tribe, centered on the landing point of the golden flame dragon, the ground was lifted by the explosion, and the surrounding insectoid structures were directly sent flying.
Sun Flame spread out. Where it touched, the insectoid warriors inside screamed as they turned into skeletons and ashes. The towering insectoid structures were either roasted into charcoal by the high temperature or turned into shriveled tissue less than one-tenth of their original volume.
Inside the hive, Gai felt a buzzing in her ears, followed by a wave of heat coming from all around.
When everything calmed down, within the building complex of Gai's tribe, the central area was basically reduced to charcoal. The middle ring further out was also affected. The outermost area was fine, only suffering from the shockwave.
Inside the cracked giant hive, a burnt smell permeated everywhere. From within a sphere made of charred insectoid warrior corpses, an arm reached out.
Gai took deep breaths. She was truly a bit stunned. Her gaze swept around, and everything she saw was a charred mess.
Gai looked up and saw Su Xiao standing on the dragon's back, overlooking all of this.
With a whoosh, another dragon column formed by over a hundred Sun Flame Dragons huddled together fell. After being intercepted by bio-missiles, the golden flame dragon at the core charged toward Gai. Seeing those golden vertical pupils, fear began to grow and amplify in Gai's heart.
Boom!!!
The golden flame dragon was hit at low altitude. The explosion it produced sent a massive shockwave spreading out.
Sun Flame came from above. The insectoid elite guards rushing to rescue Gai pounced on her, protecting her at the center. Even so, Gai felt the burning pain spreading throughout her body.
"Roar!"
A few Sun Flame Dragons took advantage of the explosion to dive down, spewing dragon flame at the Bloodshot Watchers. These things had astonishing anti-air capabilities. When facing dragon flame with a damage tier of +2 and 8.5 times increased damage against building-type units, one was burned to explosion in less than 2 seconds.
The two large explosions caused by sacrificing over 200 Sun Flame Dragons dealt a huge blow to the Bloodshot Watchers. Although they weren't directly damaged, the core detection tower was blown up. This was like missiles without a radar system, relying entirely on visual aiming for accuracy. Worse, the central control tower was also destroyed.
The remaining 800-plus Sun Flame Dragons all dove down, furiously spewing dragon flame at the Bloodshot Watchers one by one. As for the self-destructing flying bats and insectoid warriors, the former were burned in batches, and the latter were ground melee units that met their match against the Sun Flame Dragons.
Four hours later, the last Bloodshot Watcher was burned to explosion. Gai's tribe's defensive measures were completely cleared. At this point, there were still 619 Sun Flame Dragons left. Nearly half the force was lost in capturing Gai's hive. The battle was brutal.
Su Xiao's Sun Flame Dragon landed. A burnt smell hit his nose. He leaped off the dragon's back and walked into the enemy hive with Bubu Wang.
"Boss, over here."
Baha's voice came. Su Xiao walked into the already cracked enemy hive and saw Baha holding a half-humanoid object.
The reason he said that was because the humanoid creature's legs were burned off, its body was charred black. From the protrusions on the upper body, it appeared to be female or feminine. Only its pair of amber eyes hadn't been burned. It was Gai.
"I..."
Gai's voice was as faint as a mosquito. Su Xiao listened carefully and heard Gai weakly say:
"I can... still lend you... life ore. You... can't... treat me like this."
"Hmm?"
Su Xiao was slightly puzzled upon hearing this. Then he thought that it must be because the Spider Queen didn't have enough life ore but still wanted to lend it at high interest, so she had teamed up with Gai to do this. So this was also a creditor.
Whether she was a creditor or not, Su Xiao didn't care. He hadn't planned to kill Gai in the first place. If an insectoid mother body could be captured alive, it would definitely be captured alive. After returning, she would be locked in the small dark room of the hive. The hive could use these mother bodies to obtain more gene reserves. This was the foundation for the insectoid scientist Pross to conduct development and research.
Assuming that the previously captured Spider Girl and Raging Armor had stored gene sequences of 10 to 20 types, then Gai's stored gene sequences were at least 300 types, and many of them were relatively advanced.
For example, the gene sequence of the insectoid structure Bloodshot Watcher. This thing had killed nearly 600 Sun Flame Dragons. Its explosive power, tracking, and launch speed were all top-notch. Obtaining the gene sequence of this defensive tower would greatly benefit the development of their own defensive towers.
Su Xiao looked at Gai's angry gaze. He took out an almost expired potion and injected it into Gai.
Gai's burned skin quickly peeled off, and new skin grew. Her injuries recovered at a visible rate, including her broken legs. This was the advantage of being an insectoid mother body.
"If you have the guts, kill me. You... don't... dare."
Gai raised her chin provocatively, deliberately seeking death.
"Heh, you wish."
Baha spoke. Hearing this, Gai glared at Baha. As an insectoid mother queen, she had a dignity that could not be touched.
A moment later, Gai's pupils trembled with anger. Fight? She couldn't beat Su Xiao. Curse? She couldn't out-curse Baha. Die? The inhibitor enough to anaesthetize an eighth-rank super-large creature had already been injected. Gai was completely powerless.
[Prompt: You have captured the eighth-rank insectoid hive: Gai Tribe.]
[Because your current faction is also the insectoid faction, your act of destroying Gai's tribe will not increase reputation points. Moreover, your unprovoked attack will cause your infamy to spread, leading to a significant decrease in reputation points.]
[Your reputation points: -2750.]
[Current reputation points: -3070 reputation points.]
[You have captured the eighth-rank insectoid hive: Gai Tribe. You will receive the following rewards.]