Space Odyssey from Abandoned Mining Space Station

As the Insect Race fleet continued attacking in space,

the Insect Queen deep underground also persisted in expanding and reproducing.

The insects brought by the recently crashed three cruisers had already undergone a massive wave of reproduction, and several fully functional insect nests had begun to take shape.

At this moment, Chen Ming gave new instructions.

Direct the underground Insect Race to head towards the nearby mining areas of the Mechanical Race to seize the mineral veins.

The colony controlled by the Insect Queen, where the three insect nests are located, is the core colony of the entire planet and a comprehensive one at that.

Near the edge of this colony, there is a vast area of mineral veins with mineral extraction zones spread across it.

Expanding towards that side to devour minerals is far more efficient than deriving energy from devouring soil and rocks.

The Insect Queen promptly adhered to Chen Ming’s command.

The three insect nests altered their developmental direction, digging towards the mineral extraction zones.

Dozens of Insect Race worker insects, equipped with two pairs of large front limbs for digging and a pair of developed broom-like hind limbs, frantically excavated a passage to the Mechanical Race mine within mere minutes.

However, just as the tunnel was being opened, intense heat rushed through the newly forged path into the tunnel dug by the Insect Race.

The Purgatory Demon King was stationed within the mine.

This was a trap laid by the Mechanical Race, anticipating the movements of the Insect Race.

The moment the Demon King discovered the Insect Race had breached the tunnel, it immediately activated the Purgatory Core, unleashing terrifying heat akin to the descent of hell, flowing back through the passage and destroying the newly connected Insect Nest in one swift strike.

All that was left were piles of charred fungus and insect corpses.

Though one insect nest was destroyed, the Insect Queen had no hesitation continuing to carry out Chen Ming’s orders.

The nearby two insect nests persisted in digging towards the mines, opening several tunnels at different locations.

From these passages, large amounts of fungal liquid sprayed forth.

While cooling the entire environment, some high-energy liquid energy crystals also extended into the mine via biomass conduits under the fungal mat.

This prevented direct destruction by the intense heat of the Purgatory Demon King and allowed the enclosed space to magnify the explosion’s power to its fullest.

With the explosive blasts of high-energy crystal detonations, the mine collapsed with a boom.

Trapped deep underground, the Demon King lost its mobility and was immediately torn apart by the Insect Race, free to travel underground.

Meanwhile, the charred insect carcasses in the destroyed Insect Nest were swiftly consumed by the other two nests, using larvae to reconstruct a new nest on the remains of the old one.

The new insect nest, relying on the previous remains, restored itself and parasitized an entire mineral vein along the mine.

Devouring minerals, converting nutrients, and forging new Insect Race members.

The already exponentially growing insects, after conquering this massive mineral vein, acquired even more energy to reproduce.

Only another dozen minutes passed.

A jet-black Titan Insect emerged from the mine, re-excavated by the Insect Race.

Following it was a swarm already capable of contending with the Mechanical Race’s ground forces.

The swarm on the surface had a clear goal.

That was the nearest surface orbital defense facility.

Once the orbital defense facility was destroyed, the entire planet would be ravaged by the Insect Race fleet.

Although the Mechanical Race had insufficient power to annihilate the Insect Race during their underground invasion, they prepared a vast array of ground Mechanical Race units to attempt to halt the Insect Race’s advance.

Even a considerable number of Mechanical Spiritual Creatures mingled among the Mechanical Race units.

But currently, the Insect Race’s average combat strength surpassed that of the Mechanical Race.

The new-type energy crystals, reinforced by the Immortal Spirit Tree seed coat, endowed the Insect Race almost invulnerable to losses under the Mechanical Race’s firepower coverage.

The Mechanical Spiritual Creatures, due to their limited strength, couldn’t achieve the power level of even a Level 4 Psychic, unable to pose a sufficient threat to the swarm.

Although several Demon Kings were summoned by the Mechanical Race, and the whole environment became akin to a true purgatory,

the Insect Race still surged through the Mechanical Race’s defenses like a broken through dam.

They were about to reach the area where the surface orbital defense facilities were concentrated.

The situation was dire.

Some orbital defense facilities situated on the orbits were forced to shift their cannons towards the ground to curb the Insect Race’s advance towards the surface orbital defense facilities.

Yet doing so meant a reduction in orbital defensive power against the Insect Race fleet.

But if they didn’t, the surface orbital defense facilities would face destruction as well.

This was a deadlock.

Soon, the orbital defense system, already breached once, was broken through again.

Once more, a path was opened, allowing dozens of Insect Race cruisers to successfully break through the defenses and land on the Mechanical Race planet’s surface.

Countless Insect Race members again burrowed underground, hiding where the Mechanical Race’s underground defense weapons couldn’t reach.

When they reemerged, they would undoubtedly be formidable enough to contend with the Mechanical Race.

This scene unfolded not only on the battlefield of the Mechanical Race core colony that Chen Ming watched but also across various other colonies on the Mechanical Race planet.

Seeing the situation already tipping, Chen Ming entrusted the remaining command tasks entirely to the Insect Queen.