Space Odyssey from Abandoned Mining Space Station

From the activation of the biomass teleportation engine to the completion of the Insect Race fleet’s mission, it took only thirty seconds.

And it was precisely within these thirty seconds.

Hundreds of thousands of medium and small-sized ships in the Mechanical Race Star Realm were lost in the precise strikes of the Insect Race biological ships.

The loss of destroyers alone nearly approached one-third of the entire star realm’s forces.

But given that Chen Ming dispatched over fifty thousand cruisers, this number, to be honest, was somewhat small.

Among these, Chen Ming deliberately arranged for some Insect Race cruisers to appear where no Mechanical Race ships were, causing some Insect Race cruisers to miss their target.

Because the Insect Race could so precisely and massively target the Mechanical Race, it would surely arouse the Mechanical Race’s suspicion about the cause.

Chen Ming didn’t want the Mechanical Race to notice the method he used to track these Mechanical ships, based on the common trait that all the attacked ships had previously attacked his base.

So he made some extra preparations.

For instance, the Insect Race itself had the ability to track the Mechanical Race, because the Mechanical Race’s nanorobots would produce a toxic byproduct while operating.

This byproduct could be easily detected by the Insect Race, allowing them to pinpoint its source even from tens of thousands of miles away.

Thus, Chen Ming let the Insect Race track the Mechanical Race without interfering with these Insect Race cruisers.

Absolutely not letting his Spiritual Energy manifest until confirming the destruction of all Mechanical Race units.

Letting the Mechanical Race believe that it was all done by the Insect Race itself.

Though in the previous attack on a Mechanical Race base, they were already aware that Chen Ming had the power to control the Insect Race.

But this did not affect what Chen Ming was doing now.

The closer Chen Ming associated himself with the Insect Race, the more likely the Mechanical Race would overlook Chen Ming’s Spiritual Power involvement.

Although Chen Ming doubted the Mechanical Race would ignore his Spiritual Power, the more he displayed Insect Race-related abilities, the fewer Mechanical-related capabilities he would show.

This would reduce the likelihood of the Mechanical Race realizing the effects of Chen Ming’s Spiritual Power.

At least, it would reduce their investigation into the iron atoms tainting the Mechanical Race units.

Of course, even so, the Mechanical Race might indeed suspect that only the ships that attacked Chen Ming’s base were targeted by the Insect Race battleships, further suspecting something in the base led to being tracked.

But the extra Insect Race fleets that Chen Ming assigned should be able to further dispel this notion from the Mechanical Race.

He also deployed Insect Race fleets to many places where no Mechanical Race seemed to exist.

Of course, this ’nonexistence’ was just his own uncertain knowledge.

In reality, there was a high probability that the Mechanical Race existed in those places.

Because the Mechanical Race had recently conducted a carpet search on so many of Chen Ming’s small bases, implying they had deployed numerous fleets, the Mechanical Race could be anywhere.

Any additional Insect Race efforts that managed to engage those Mechanical Race fleets that were merely scouting but not attacking would achieve the desired effect.

In fact, one could say that regardless of whether the extra Insect Race fleets encountered the Mechanical Race or not, as long as they teleported there, they would leave traces.

With traces left, the investigation progress of the Mechanical Race would be misled by these resource-wasting, teleporting Insect Race cruisers in an erroneous direction.

This was Chen Ming’s setup, uncertain of how much the Mechanical Race would believe.

They wouldn’t entirely believe what they saw, but they wouldn’t completely disbelieve the methods Chen Ming arranged either.

Overall.

To prevent the Mechanical Race from discovering Chen Ming’s Spiritual Energy effects too early, the reverse attack initiated by Chen Ming this time had a very unfavorable resource exchange ratio.

The cost and harvest, one could say, were completely disproportionate.

Although tens of thousands of Insect Race cruisers used biological teleportation engines, similar to regular teleportation engines, they faced various usage restrictions, consuming resources for teleportation and requiring maintenance afterward.

Even if Chen Ming used Spiritual Energy for repairs, he could not save on materials.

The resources consumed and the battlefield accomplishments were completely disproportionate.

And war is about the resource exchange ratio.

If the exchange ratio is a loss, even if a war is won, it might not be profitable.

However.

Chen Ming didn’t care and wasn’t afraid of resource consumption.

At least not afraid of the Insect Race’s resource consumption.

The Insect Race could devour everything and convert it into nutrients.

And in such a vast universe, with so many planets to devour.

Thus, he was able to actively make such resource exchange decisions.

Even if he had to sacrifice tens of thousands of cruisers to defeat a main ship, he was willing to do it.

Of course, he wouldn’t do something overly wasteful, like exchanging hundreds of ships for one cruiser; he’s not that foolish.

But for actions that aren’t too wasteful and can deplete the Mechanical Race’s resources, he could carelessly undertake them with no concern for losses.

So even when the few remaining Mechanical Race cruisers received news of numerous allies being destroyed and managed to escape via teleportation under the protection of other ships that couldn’t escape in time.

Chen Ming had no intention of letting them go.

They couldn’t escape.

Because at that moment, on all those Insect Race cruisers that teleported over, signs of Chen Ming’s Spiritual Energy fluctuation enveloping them appeared simultaneously after destroying the Mechanical Race fleet.

This isn’t Chen Ming, whose Spiritual Power hadn’t fully recovered, using Spiritual Energy, but the Insect Race borrowing Chen Ming’s Spiritual Energy.