Poverty makes me capable of anything.

"Click-clack—"

"It's a small beetle!"

"Ah, help me, help me!"

"puff--"

Several shadows flew toward Harrison 47. He reacted quickly, instantly slicing the beetle in half with his knife, but what followed was a huge bone claw, dripping with disgusting slime, flying toward his face.

"Oh shit."

Cursing under his breath, Harrison 47 jumped back, barely dodging the blow, but the person next to him was unlucky and was sent flying – his head.

Blood was splattered all over the ground, and also on Harrison 47's body.

"So many beetles, my goodness!"

Without the obstruction of the citrine rain, everyone could see the scene inside the mine more clearly.

The sunken mine pit was actually hollow, with a dense mass of beetle-eating insects lying in a pile. Several holes had been carved out of the rocks next to it. Just looking at these beetle-eating insects gathered together was enough to make one's scalp tingle.

The largest beetle queen swung her bone claws twice, already reaping three heads.

"Fire! Fire! Fire!"

Shaya sat on the ground, supporting himself with his hands. He no longer cared whether the yellow crystals would be melted by the red laser; saving his life was the priority at this moment.

Fire! Open fire!

In a flurry of activity, the laser cannon was activated, and two thick beams of red laser light slammed into the Queen Beetle.

"Click—"

It emitted a sharp and strange sound, which was very piercing.

Under the impact of the red laser, even the Queen Beetle doesn't seem to be having an easy time.

However, just as Shaya's face lit up with joy, an unexpected event suddenly occurred.

The countless tiny beetles were roasted to death by the heat of the red laser, finally revealing what was underneath them: a dazzling, ever-changing, multicolored light, so soft it seemed like a dream, making one want to touch it.

However, the expression on the face of the knowledgeable person had changed drastically.

Void projection.

"This is a void projection of the Zerg's ancient maternal hive!"

The Ancient Hive's unique ability allows it to project the Zerg into a specific location in the universe. It is through this ability of the Ancient Hive that the Zerg have multiplied in the universe. Despite countless battles and being wiped out wave after wave, they have always managed to reproduce again using this method.

"We're doomed. There's no weapon here that can destroy this void projection."

"Why worry about anything else at a time like this? Run, damn it!"

Of course, run!

Harrison 47 was probably the fastest runner; he ran towards the spaceship the moment he recognized the Void Projection.

There's definitely more than one queen here; there's surely an even bigger lair down below. Staying here is suicide.

Whoosh whoosh—

The Queen Beetle killed two more people in a few swift moves. By this time, no one was paying attention to anyone else. I didn't need to be the fastest, just faster than the last person, as long as I didn't become the Beetle's target.

It was a complete mess.

"what happened?"

"From the spaceship that flew in from outer space, the government troops of Planet Relando who were looking down at the ground said in surprise."

Chapter 09 Stand still

People on the ground were desperately running towards the spaceship. Ordinary beetles could hardly hinder them, but the moving beetle queen became the source of fear, and the countless smaller beetles behind her amplified that fear.

The threat of the Zerg comes from their sheer numbers and their insane rate of reproduction, which is incomprehensible to humans.

The threat of a single Zergling is not enough to raise alarm, but if thousands or tens of thousands of Zerglings surge in together, even warships cannot stop such a frenzied rush.

No one knows how many beetle-eating insects are down there, so no one dares to roam around here.

"It's a swarm of insects!"

The scene shifted, and someone on the spaceship immediately shouted.

"Damn it, open fire and take down the big one right now!"

They turn pale at the mere mention of swarms of insects.

However, the commander on the spaceship did not lose his mind; he immediately issued orders.

Five turrets were aimed at the Beetle Queen below, including powerful kinetic cannons and blue laser cannons.

After the energy storage was completed, people on the ground could not even see the shadow in the sky as all five naval guns fired simultaneously.

Two beams of blue light instantly struck the Beetle Queen's carapace. The Beetle Queen, who was about to swing her bone claws to attack the person in front of her, was blasted to the ground, ending her attack.

However, the person who fell did not survive. The radiation energy contained in the blue laser was far greater than that of the red laser, and the person was burned to death by the residual heat the moment it hit the ground.

Immediately afterwards, high-speed shells rained down.

"Boom!"

A series of explosions rang out across the ice field, and the survivors who had already run far away stared in astonishment at the scene before them.

The rising gunfire.

Beetles on the verge of being blown away by an explosion.

There were also people who stared blankly and asked questions.

"Our company doesn't have kinetic artillery on its ships, so where did this come from?"

"What are you standing there for? Run!"

After the artillery fire stopped, the bombed ground was immediately exposed.

The thick ice melted, and the rock beneath was blasted into a huge crater. The Beetle Queen lay broken and mangled in the middle of the crater.

"died?"

Three spaceships appeared in the sky, and their shadows grew larger and larger.

"This is not our company's spacecraft."

"That symbol is official..."

Why would an official spaceship come here?

Doubts arose in everyone's minds.

Many people stopped in their tracks, and the originally aggressive beetles disappeared after a round of bombardment.

"What's going on? Why are government spaceships suddenly appearing here?"

Shaya immediately took out her communication device to contact the mining ship floating in outer space.

"This is a bit sudden. First, make sure there's no one else around. Make sure no one else hears this."

We can't let anyone else hear this?

Shaya looked around and then moved a little further away: "Now you can talk."

The person on the other end paused for a moment, then explained the government's objectives in detail.

"..."

The more Shaya listened, the uglier her face became.

Harrison was likely hiding in the crowd, which means that even without the swarm, they might have died even worse. The sudden appearance of the swarm actually saved their lives.

"Holy crap, there's still more?"

"There's more than one queen?"

"Run!"

The commotion made Shaya immediately look up, and sure enough, he saw another enormous queen beetle rushing out.

What the hell are we doing? Forget Harrison, let's just run!

The government's spaceship was rapidly closing in, and huge thumping vibrations were heard on the ground. When Shaya ran into the spaceship, she glanced back and saw that an even larger beetle had emerged from the yellow crystal mine.

"!!!"

"boom!"

A beam of light shot out from the beetle, its target a ship in the sky.

The government personnel had no time to react; a corner of the spaceship was impacted, and the exposed kinetic energy cannons were instantly melted away.

"..."

"Pull it open, pull it open quickly."

"Counterattack!"

Three queen beetles, and one larger beetle.

At this point, who cared whether Harrison was on the spaceship or not? The mining ship landed, the doors closed, the engines started, and it immediately soared into the sky.

"Damn it, what an accident! Let's get out of here first, and stop that spaceship while we're at it. We absolutely can't let the guy who looks like Harrison get away."

Several shells failed to cause any real damage to the largest beetle. Seeing that the mining ship in the distant land was about to sail away, the government's pursuit team changed direction and gave chase.

ka ka ka-

Beetles kept crawling out of the portal projected from the void, and soon the area around the citrine mine was swarming with them. However, those who had already left were unaware of just how serious the situation was.

"Shaya, have the pilot fly the spaceship to the Armed Forces Airport on the outskirts of Sarina."

When the mining vessel arrived near Relandor, Shaya received orders from the company's top management.

He looked suspiciously at the people standing beside him, wondering which one was Harrison.

But the order was still passed on.