The plunder of the heavens begins with the Spirit Cage.

Lu Qianwei frowned; he was indeed interested in researching the Flood Virus.

If their proliferation logic, evolutionary patterns, and other factors can be thoroughly studied, their biotechnology will surely reach an even higher level.

After thinking it over, Lu Qianwei finally decided to take action against the thing inside.

The Flood is terrifying because it can perfectly utilize the knowledge in the brains of living beings to think, and even integrate it into a whole to evade, or use various racial weapons and tactics to fight!

Of course, there's also their incredibly abnormal regenerative ability.

As long as the Red Devils have even a tiny bit of cells left, they can regenerate directly.

As long as the original body has a breath left, it can split into another original body, which is an infinite cloning and splitting.

Therefore, while fighting is necessary, we still need to plan how to fight first, as the massive Flood Demon swarm dormant underground is not a primitive cell.

They are all a group of 'races' infected in the era of pioneers, who have already developed a high degree of intelligence and tactics!

The Corpse Brain Mother is the ruler of this entity.

Within a confined, sealed space, it wouldn't be difficult to eliminate them with overwhelming firepower.

The main problem is their viral parasitism.

They can sneak into any gap in the armor worn by the troops, and then invade the brain to infect it.

Knowing that there would inevitably be sacrifices this time, Lu Qianwei still gave the order in a deep voice.

But before that, he first had the soldiers change into their armor.

With today's technology, creating fully enclosed armor is not a difficult task.

Soon, with the 3D casting factories of the two motherships working at full capacity, the 'zero-entropy sterile armor' was quickly mass-produced.

Unlike the traditional structures of UNSC Spartan Power Armor and Covenant Energy Armor.

This new armor, specially designed for the Flood battlefield, is made entirely of seamless, one-piece liquid metal casting, with no gaps, holes, or exposed joints.

Much of it was inspired by the production process of Liquid Terminator.

1,200 Marines were selected to be re-equipped, and each suit of armor was simultaneously bound to a personal psionic positioning, biological monitoring, and pollution early warning system.

The moment the armor was activated, fine silver patterns flowed across its surface, enveloping each soldier as an absolutely independent and safe combat unit.

At the same time, the fleet's engineering forces started work at full speed to deploy multi-layered isolation and blockade measures on the outer layer of the flood-prone restricted area.

First, there is physical isolation. Tens of thousands of alloy isolation piles are driven vertically into the rock strata beneath the halo, and the crisscrossing ultra-high-strength alloy barriers surround the entire sealed restricted area, turning it into an independent war zone and blocking the leakage of biomass.

Secondly, it isolates energy by spreading out a psionic light curtain to filter and break down all microscopic parasitic spores in the air.

Finally, we'll use a psionic energy system to lock down the dimensional barrier, ensuring there's absolutely no possibility of the virus spreading out of the restricted area!

After considering all factors, the main force entered the field, ready for battle!

"Release the shallow seal and gradually awaken the flood demon swarm in the forbidden zone."

As Lu Qianwei gave the order, the outer seal that had been sealed for 100,000 years slowly unlocked.

Beneath the thick layers of rock, in the eternal darkness, the first faint, rustling sound slowly began to emerge.

The shallowest layer of dormancy is the massive, basic infectious flood.

Countless fingernail-sized, slippery, deformed flesh-colored parasites awaken from the solidified biomass layer, their bodies twisting and contracting, their tiny mouthparts opening and closing and wriggling, carrying a nauseating, putrid stench.

Ten thousand years of slumber left them in a dazed, blank state, driven only by hunger and their genetic instincts, their bodies stiffly moving toward organic matter.

Unfortunately, the Marines, once in formation, gave them no chance and opened fire immediately!

Pure crushing and sweeping, particle rifles unleashed a deluge of silver-white annihilation beams.

This ultra-high temperature energy weapon is specially designed for the Flood and is guaranteed to erase all cellular activity.

Amidst the whistling beams of light, swarms of infected flood monsters had no time to struggle, no time to escape, no time to release spores...

The body was instantly dissolved, carbonized, and annihilated by the particles, leaving not even a trace of ash or cells behind.

In just three minutes, under overwhelming firepower, the shallow flood demons were completely wiped out.

Lu Qianwei did not relax his efforts; he would learn these things, and what he had just learned was merely an appetizer.

At the very moment the shallow flood was destroyed, a collective will suddenly awakened in the darkness deeper underground.

It was a mortal brain mother with a particularly deformed body but a very large brain.

In the pioneer era, it was the brain-computer interface formed by the aggregated consciousness of billions of parasitic organisms.

Having fought against various interstellar civilizations for thousands of years, it has long since figured out the common tactics of using energy weapons!

He instantly understood the intentions of the troops outside!

"Roar!"

With a roar that sounded like brainwaves, the entire restricted area suddenly trembled.

The originally scattered, confused, and disordered flood demons were instantly taken over by a unified collective consciousness.

Relying on the vast array of biological types accumulated over 100,000 years, the Flood Demons rapidly change their unit types in an attempt to break through the encirclement.

Fighting head-on against a prepared human force is not a wise choice right now.

Only by escaping, by escaping, can the Flood Demons have a wider space for development.

But before that, necessary sacrifices are certain!

Just as Lu Qianwei and his team were making their way to eliminate the threat, a large number of elite Flood Demons, once considered a nightmare by the pioneers, emerged.

They were formed from the physical deformities of the pioneers' elite troops.

Its body twisted and swelled, one arm transforming into a fleshy whip blade several meters long, its hard bones mixed with rotting biomass, its explosive power terrifyingly immense.

They almost perfectly inherited the soldiers' experience and could even skillfully handle weapons...

Following closely behind were a massive number of Flood Demons, their bodies covered in viscous, rotting flesh, and possessing the ability to self-destruct and spread infection.

At this moment, they were still under heavy fire suppression by the Marines, until the even more terrifying Flood Demons broke out of the ground one after another, and the human firepower had a brief gap.

The flesh-shielding Flood Demons were bulky and enormous, with incredibly hard fleshy shells. They appeared one by one and immediately charged forward, braving the enemy fire.

Their counterattack began at that moment, and the Flood Demons, whose limbs were still relatively intact, began to fight back with the weapons that were still usable.

Unarmed, they used biomass generated by themselves to attack the enemy.

Within minutes, they had already begun to readjust to the rate of fire, armor-piercing mechanism, kill radius, charging rhythm, blast radius, and shield countermeasures of human firearms.

What started as a chaotic and haphazard attack instantly transformed into a highly organized and coordinated group operation.

The tanks, in their pure form, stood at the very front, acting as a human shield and bulwark, enduring the barrage of particle gun fire and protecting the troops behind them from all frontal damage.

The stealthy flood demons scattered and maneuvered, using the terrain to try and find the weak points in the armor.

The ranged Floods acted as firepower, constantly covering and suppressing the enemy... while countless combat-type and assault-type bizarre Floods relied on their war experience.

Alternating cover, staggered attacks, and surprise attacks on changing lanes—these are tactics employed with remarkable skill in advancing forward.

After the cerebrates performed precise calculations like a computer class, the battlefield situation did indeed show signs of being subtly reversed and suppressed.

The one-sided sweep quickly turned into a high-intensity tug-of-war between offense and defense.

In response, the frontline Marines quickly adjusted their formation.

The thousand-strong team was divided into countless small combat units, relying on psionic detection and early warning to accurately intercept the treacherous flood demons that were launching sneak attacks, and to concentrate fire to destroy the frontal human shields.

The particle weapon continued to fire, each beam precisely annihilating a patch of Flood Demon biomass.

But the Flood's regenerative abilities were on full display at this moment.

Even if the body is mostly destroyed, as long as the core biomass is not completely annihilated.

The remains can quickly wriggle, recombine, and regenerate with other decaying flesh...

In just a few seconds, they can regain their fighting strength and charge again.

The damage caused by ordinary firepower is almost ineffective against this abnormal regenerative ability.

The intense battle lasted for a full forty minutes.

Fortunately, the Marines' sterile armor and dimensional barriers remained unbreakable, giving the Flood no chance to escape or infect, and the advantage remained with humanity.

The soldiers' tactical skills and the technological superiority of their equipment enabled them to withstand the flood's tactical counterattack.

However, by now, the opponent has almost adapted to this tactic, and simply clearing out enemies with infantry is no longer an option.

"Frontline infantry retreat, bring in heavy firepower!" Lu Qianwei issued the order, and countless warplanes and airships that were waiting instantly stood at a height that the Flood Demon could not cross and opened fire, focusing all their attention on the battlefield ravaged by the Flood Demon below.

As all the infantry quickly withdrew from the core of the battle, the next second, hundreds of heavy ship-borne main guns fired beams that pierced the sky and crashed to the ground.

Faced with overwhelming heavy firepower, the Flood, regardless of its form, would only be reduced to nothingness.

The explosion stretched for several kilometers, completely purifying the air filled with rotting flesh, distorted bodies, and spore mist.

A wave of saturation firepower wiped out thousands of Flood Demons.

But deep underground in the darkness, a large number of Flood Demons still exist.

The fleet couldn't fight too aggressively, lest any structural vulnerabilities be created and the virus escape.

The mother organization realized this and continued to send troops to collect data.

At the same time, it also unleashed a colossal, stitched-together beast far surpassing all the Flood Demons in power to attack.

It is an ugly thing made up of countless flesh and tissues.

Its body is looming underground, as thick as a mountain, with countless fleshy tentacles crisscrossing and penetrating the entire underground space.

Its body is covered with a hardened biomass shell, which has withstood the bombardment of shipborne heavy artillery. Only the outer shell is broken, while the main body remains unharmed.

Countless nerve tendrils of varying thicknesses danced wildly, continuously mobilizing the remaining biomass underground to rapidly breed new, high-level Flood Demon soldiers.

Each of these monsters is comparable in size to a small mech, with a tough body, ferocious strength, and possesses advanced regeneration, spore release, and regional distortion abilities. They are the ultimate fighting force under the command of the Corpse Brain Mother.

Unafraid of conventional heavy firepower, even if their bodies are blown apart or their limbs are severed, they can instantly regenerate and reassemble, fearlessly charging and crushing the isolation barrier.

This is the most outstanding masterpiece that the mother can present to us now.

And you know what? With the appearance of this group of muscular giants who deal high damage, have a lot of health, and strong defense, the pressure on the entire battlefield instantly rose to its peak.

The isolation barrier trembled violently, and the energy barrier flickered and weakened continuously, giving the impression that it was on the verge of collapse.

Lu Qianwei stood on the high-altitude floating platform, quietly looking down at the raging Ultimate Flood Demon swarm below, his eyes undisturbed.