From Titan Corporation to the Empire of Man

Chapter 627 "The Dying Planet"

The atmosphere of Agria should have been an intoxicating azure—

The sky of this agricultural colony is as pure as glass washed by water. When the light of the stars shines through the clouds onto the earth's surface, it creates a faint golden edge on the horizon.

But now, this sky has been completely tainted by the shadow of the alien insects.

In low-Earth orbit, seemingly countless Hive Motherships were suspended like rotten fruit, their bloated shells covered with pulsating blood vessels, constantly spewing spore sacs toward the surface.

These sticky organic containers fell to the earth like a rainstorm, leaving long green tails as they passed through the atmosphere.

Even more frightening is the wreckage floating in orbit. The original escort fleet has been torn to pieces, the armor plates of the battleships are twisted and broken, and frozen corpses can occasionally be seen in the exposed cabins.

The wreckage of the space station slowly rotated, its outer shell full of holes corroded by acid, like a piece of rotten wood that had been hollowed out.

If we look at the surface, Agria should be a model of human agricultural civilization.

On the vast plains, golden wheat waves once undulated with the monsoon, and automated harvesters patrolled the fields like steel behemoths.

Livestock farms are dotted around turquoise lakes, where genetically modified livestock graze leisurely within electric fences, while neat orchards are planted in the hills, with drones flying between vines to check their ripeness.

The towns in the colonies were small but full of life.

Houses and shops surround the central square, and children always gather around the fountain to play.

The aroma of fresh bread wafts through the markets, holographic billboards loop the prices of agricultural products, every community is equipped with an automated medical station and school, and at dusk you can always hear a symphony coming from the residents' theater.

But at this moment, this pastoral picture is being torn to pieces by the swarm of insects.

The view zooms in to a small town on the edge of the city.

This was once the famous lavender producing area of ​​Agria, and the streets should have been lined with purple flowers, but now, the fungal blanket devours everything like a living thing.

The surface of the building is covered with sticky organic matter, and the veins of the fungal blanket are pulsating rhythmically, transporting nutrients to more distant areas.

The streets were littered with the acid-melted wreckage of vehicles, and the circuit boards of automated farm machinery lay exposed like dissected metal corpses.

The most horrifying thing is that there is not a single human body here. The victims have long been decomposed into basic nutrients by the insect swarm, and even their bones have been chewed and absorbed by the insects.

The fountain in the center of the square has now become an incubation pool for the fungal mat, with immature springtail embryos floating in the turbid liquid.

The school's holographic blackboard was frozen in the last biology class, and the projected DNA model was being smashed by a patrolling hydralisk.

In the hospital corridors, automatic robotic arms are still giving patients infusions, but these metal arms have been entangled into cocoons by mycelium.

Looking down from the synchronous orbit, the entire continent has become a breeding ground for insect swarms.

The wheat fields in the north were dyed dark purple by the fungal blanket, and the unharvested grains grew deformedly under the mucus.

Inside the ranch fences, the mutated remains of livestock looked like melted wax figures, and what flowed out of the pipes of the irrigation system was no longer clean water, but digestive fluid secreted by the insect swarm.

The fallen towns and villages were shrouded in acid mist. The wreckage of anti-aircraft turrets pointed towards the sky like tombstones, while across the sky, the smoke from the explosion of the last batch of evacuation ships had not yet dissipated.

In the originally most prosperous capital area, the fungal blanket has built a hundred-meter-high organic spire, the top of which continuously sprays spores into the atmosphere.

These spores would spread through the stratosphere, transforming Agria's atmosphere into a toxic mist suitable for the Swarm to breathe.

At the bottom of the spire, countless assimilated humans were being dragged into the incubation pool by worker bees. The unique glow of the insect swarm was flickering in their empty eye sockets, and the protruding blood vessels under their skin had become conduits for transporting nutrients.

On the outskirts of the cities of Agria that have not yet fallen, convoys of heavy transport vehicles are rolling over the broken roads.

The shells of these steel behemoths are covered with dents burned by acid, the bulletproof glass has long been replaced with welded steel plates, and the carriages are packed with civilians fleeing from the occupied areas.

The security soldiers escorting the convoy were wearing CMC power armor painted in gray and white, and the colonial emblem on the breastplate was covered in blood.

Their armor joints made harsh friction sounds due to long-term combat, and the alarm that the ammunition was about to run out kept flashing on the helmet display.

In the farmlands on both sides of the road, strange insects were moving among the crop stalks, and sharp hissing sounds were heard one after another.

"Enemy on the left!"

A hoarse warning came over the comms channel.

Ri~taka——taka——!
The electromagnetic cannons of some armed vehicles opened fire at the same time, and the large-caliber spike bullets blew the approaching Hydralisk into pieces.

But more springtails rushed out from the smoke and dust, and several of them pounced directly on the transport vehicle at the end of the convoy.

boom--! !

A soldier was dragged down by several Zerglings. He detonated a grenade before falling to the ground. The fire from the explosion briefly blocked the swarm's pursuit.

"Don't stop! Keep going!"

The commander's voice barked over the comms.

The armored bulldozer at the front of the convoy rolled over the roadblock, and the muffled sound of Zerg bones breaking could be heard from under its tracks.

Another transport vehicle in the rear was overturned by the lurkers that emerged from the ground, and the escaping civilians were instantly overwhelmed by the swarm.

No one looked back, because stopping would mean death.

Looking down from the sky, the survivor strongholds in the entire area are being gradually devoured by the swarm of insects.

More than 60,000 civilians were trapped in the shrinking defense circle, and the ground and sky were blocked by alien insects.

In a northern town that relies on tourism as its main source of revenue, thousands of people are crowded into an underground warehouse built to withstand nuclear explosions.

The ventilation system had long been paralyzed, and the turbid air was filled with the smell of sweat and blood.

On the plains outside the town, the fungal blanket was wriggling like a living thing. Hundreds of thunder beasts were wandering in the distance, their shells shining brightly in the sun. Any armored convoy that tried to break through would be torn apart in an instant in the open area.

A swarm of mantises was circling like a dark cloud over a coastal industrial city.

Any transport plane that took off would be shot down by acid bombs within tens of seconds, and the burning wreckage would fall into the sea, stirring up fishy steam.

Faced with the complete blockade and gradual encroachment of the Zerg, it seems that all breakout plans are doomed to fail.

The mining area in the south could have been evacuated through underground tunnels, but surveillance footage showed that the deep mines were already filled with Zerg hatching sacs.

The wreckage of the freight train lay on the track, the outer shell of the carriage was covered with claw marks, and the automatic broadcast on the platform was still playing the safety reminders that no one had paid attention to for a long time.

And at this time——

"Go in quickly! Close the door!"

At the entrance to an underground shelter in the western part of a city surrounded by Zerg, five security soldiers wearing CMC power armor formed the last line of defense.

Behind them, hundreds of civilians were stumbling into the security gate, and one of the heavily armored soldiers used his body in power armor to hold the hydraulic door against it, buying more time for the civilians to escape into the shelter.

When a wave of Zerglings came, their remaining ammunition was completely exhausted, so they were forced to fight with combat daggers or their armor-covered hands.

The fundamental reason why these security forces did not directly choose to abandon this agricultural colony like the soldiers of the Terran Empire was that all the members of the security forces were locals.

Seeing that the Terran Empire had abandoned them, and that they had desperately sought help from outside but only gained slim hope, they naturally took on the responsibility of saving themselves.

At this moment, a security guard had a bone spur piercing his chest, but he still tightly grasped the neck of a springtail until he was decapitated by the sickle-shaped forelimbs of another alien insect. Another security guard's armored joints were corroded by acid, and he knelt on the ground, using his remaining consciousness to actively detonate the explosives buried in the passage.

Boom. Boom——!!!
The shock wave from the explosion overturned the entire entrance to the passage, and the towering column of fire illuminated the acid mist in the sky red.

The alloy door of the closed shelter was melted into an unopenable whole in the high temperature. The last sound heard by the survivors inside the door was the screams of the insect swarm outside being devoured by the flames.

The air in the shelter was turbid and heavy, mixed with the pungent smell of sweat, blood, and even excrement.

The power system had long been paralyzed, and the few remaining emergency lights flickered overhead, casting a bleak red light, illuminating people's terrified faces like ghosts.

Every time the light flickered, the shadows on the wall twisted and distorted, as if some horrible creature was crawling in the darkness.

At first, people were able to maintain their sanity.

Some people whispered prayers, some hugged their children, and others tried to bandage their wounds with torn clothes.

But as time went on, fear began to erode everyone's will.

"We are done. There is no way we can survive"

A middle-aged man huddled in the corner, muttering to himself with empty eyes.

His voice was not loud, but it was particularly clear in the dead silence.

"I should have followed the security team and rushed out!" Another man pounded the ground fiercely, his voice filled with suppressed anger and regret, "At least I can die quickly!"

The children's reactions were more direct.

A young girl clung to the corner of her mother's clothes, tears silently falling and weak sobs coming out of her throat.

Her mother stroked her hair mechanically, her lips trembling, but she could not utter a word of comfort, because even the mother herself did not believe there was still hope.

Despair spread like a plague.

Some began to sob quietly, while others stared blankly at the ceiling, as if they had already accepted their fate.

The entrance and exit doors were completely blocked by the explosion. Although it temporarily blocked the Zerg attack, it also completely cut off the possibility of escape.

Trapped within this steel tomb, they could only wait to die, either succumbing slowly from hunger and thirst or being torn to pieces as the zerg breached the walls and gates.

Just when the oppressive atmosphere was almost suffocating——

Boom. Boom. Boom.
Waves of dull vibrations came from above my head.

At first, people thought it was an illusion, perhaps a distant explosion, or even their own tinnitus.

But soon, the vibration came again, this time it was clearer, and even the ground was shaking slightly.

Dust fell from the ceiling and sprinkled on people's hair and shoulders.

"what is that.?"

Someone asked tremblingly, with a hint of uncertain hope in his voice.

"Alien Zerg. It must be the Zerg digging! They are coming in!" Another man growled in fear, his body unconsciously shrinking back.

But soon, the frequency of the vibration became regular.

It was not the chaotic digging of the Zerg, but a mechanical, rhythmic impact.

Immediately afterwards, there was a deafening roar and the entire shelter shook violently, as if the ground was being hit hard by some huge monster.

The lights flickered for a moment, then went out completely.

In the darkness, people held their breath, fear and doubt intertwined in their hearts.

Then--

boom! ! !
A blinding light suddenly tore through the darkness.

The ceiling of the shelter was forcibly blown open by some huge force, and fresh air rushed in with the smell of gunpowder.

People subconsciously raised their hands to block the strong light, and in the dazzling light, they could vaguely see several towering steel giants——

The outline of a larger and taller power armor was faintly visible in the smoke and dust, and the legion emblem on the shoulder armor shone with a cold luster in the sunlight.

"Is it a rescue?!"

A middle-aged man with a stained face was the first to react, his hoarse voice trembling with disbelief.

These words were like a stone thrown into still water, instantly creating ripples among the crowd.

The despair that had been suppressed for so long suddenly found an outlet. Some people cried for joy, some knelt down to pray, and more people crowded forward, wanting to see those tall figures clearly.

Boom!Boom!
The heavy sound of the landing caused the ground to tremble slightly.

Three steel giants leapt into the shelter from the gap in the ceiling, their finely forged magnetic boots leaving spider-web-like cracks on the ground.

When the smoke and dust cleared, people finally saw the true face of the rescuer.

The average height of these warriors is over two meters and a half. They are wrapped in dark green titanium power armor, and the roaring "fire" dragon emblem is etched on the chest armor.

The helmet's eyepiece glowed with a dark red light, and the hot air from the breathing grid condensed into white mist in the cold underground space.

The originally ecstatic people suddenly became quiet.

The aura emitted by these giants was too oppressive. They were neither soldiers from the Terran Empire nor the security forces of the colony.

A child instinctively shrank into his mother's arms, and the woman covered the child's mouth tightly, fearing that the child would make any sound.

"Keep order."

The leading warrior, or rather the leading Flame Lizard, spoke, and his voice, processed by the helmet speaker, emitted a special metallic tone that echoed throughout the shelter.

He raised his armored palm and made a downward motion. "Everyone will be evacuated via the elevator. Don't panic, don't be afraid. We are here to save you."

As he spoke, a simple elevator made of a metal frame slowly descended from the gap in the ceiling.

When the first group of people boarded the elevator tremblingly, they saw a shocking scene through the gap.

The streets that were originally covered with fungal blankets were now dotted with charred craters, and the remains of the Zerg were burning in plasma flames.

Bang—bang—! !

More than twenty Flame Lizards formed a circular defense line, and the roar of bolt guns could be heard one after another.

Farther away, three combat mechas were using flamethrowers to clean out the last Zerg hive node nearby. The extremely high temperature directly vaporized the Zerg's shells.

In addition, the transport boat's engine began to roar, and under the illumination of the plasma tail flame, the last thing people saw was -

Those "few" steel giants formed a battle formation and headed towards the urban area where the Zerg was most densely populated.

The flames of the bolt guns are like a beacon in the darkness, bringing the last hope to this dying planet.
(End of this chapter)