Lieutenant Dundie, despite a naturally languid appearance, was pacing restlessly within the base when Fang Senyan and Mogansa arrived together. He held a thick, premium cigar between his lips, from which streams of pale blue smoke billowed upwards. It was clear that his group had profited significantly from their earlier search of the crash site. Upon seeing the two men, Lieutenant Dundie removed the cigar and greeted them with evident satisfaction:

“Well done! Boys. Given your success, the Black Spore Zerg have removed the parasites from us. Come, let me introduce you to Pilot Malan; his bravery saved us. The radiance of God has also favored him; during our salvage sweep of the ship’s wreckage, we miraculously discovered he had survived, buried under dozens of tons of sand, sustained by the ship’s automated life support system!”

Pilot Malan looked terribly weak, lying on a nearby field stretcher. He was pale and gaunt, coughing weakly a few times before offering Fang Senyan and Mogansa a friendly smile. Both Fang Senyan and Mogansa simultaneously gave him a thumbs-up. … Anyone who prioritizes their comrades in the face of life and death is worthy of respect, no matter what.

The two then unceremoniously sat down to eat lunch with the assembled soldiers… Mushroom cream soup, bacon and salted meat sandwiches, and packaged turkey sandwiches whetted their appetites immensely. The pair consumed at least five individual ration packs before contentedly patting their stomachs and leaning back against a nearby rock, squinting in the sunlight.

At that moment, Sergeant Tande, operating a portable terminal nearby, suddenly let out a cry of surprise, then brought the device over to Lieutenant Dundie:

“Connected, R, but it requires a high-authority password for identity verification.”

Lieutenant Dundie nodded, his expression grim as he typed in a string of passwords. A series of messages then popped up on the screen. The Colonel tapped continuously on the keyboard, communicating with the other end. After a moment, he handed the portable computer to the leaning Pilot Malan, who struggled to input the password and sent a few replies back. It seemed the higher-ups required multi-faceted verification. Before long, Lieutenant Dundie appeared to have received a series of instructions, nodding repeatedly before the communication was abruptly terminated.

Lieutenant Dundie remained in thought for a moment before looking up, his face clouded with gloom:

“Damn it, these bureaucratic swine doubt our current situation because, to date, we are one of the very few squads capable of communicating with the Zerg and remaining alive. They suspect we might be under the control of a Brain Bug. However, for the homeworld, our progress on this planet lags far behind the other colonies. We have no directly controlled base, and our relationship with the Iron Whip Base is merely cooperative. Therefore, the goodwill shown by the Black Spore Tribe is a massive opportunity, so my superiors demand that the Black Spore Tribe demonstrate further sincerity.”

Pilot Malan whispered weakly:

“What sincerity?”

Lieutenant Dundie replied:

“Malan, you’re a pilot; you should know clearly that directly beneath the Golden Lane leading to Planet O, the Zerg have deployed nearly six colossal Spore Pod Ejector Turrets. Any human aircraft passing through here faces extremely severe threats. Coincidentally, these six colossal Spore Pod Ejector Turrets are located about four hundred kilometers east of here. If the Black Spore Tribe is sincere about cooperating with us, they should destroy those turrets. In return, we will freely gift twenty Siege Mechanical Tanks to assist the Black Spore Tribe in their defense.”

Simultaneously, Fang Senyan and Mogansa also received a notification:

“You have obtained a side quest: The Annihilation of the Colossal Spore Pod Ejector Turrets.”

“Quest Difficulty: S”

“Quest Objective: Destroy at least one Colossal Spore Pod Ejector Turret within the stipulated time.”

“Quest Description: For every additional Colossal Spore Pod Ejector Turret you destroy, you will receive extra rewards from the humans.”

“Do you accept this quest? Yes or No?”

“If this quest fails, you will receive a penalty of a permanent reduction of 2 in your highest attribute points and a deduction of 10 Merit Points.”

“You must make your choice within ten seconds.”

Upon seeing this quest difficulty, the pupils of Fang Senyan and Mogansa contracted sharply. An ‘S’ difficulty quest! This was the highest difficulty mission Fang Senyan had ever encountered, bar none! Moreover, the penalty for failure was astonishingly severe! At this point, Mogansa began to shake his head slightly, showing signs of hesitation. Given the current circumstances, their existing gains were substantial enough. The immediate priority should be raising their reputation with the Zerg to Revered to see what items they could exchange; challenging the limit now seemed unnecessary.

“An ‘S’ difficulty quest, yet the failure penalty is this high,” Fang Senyan murmured for a moment, then summoned his Goblin Gold Mine and instructed it to choose acceptance on his behalf, saying to Mogansa: “This is my personal choice, carrying an element of gambling. You should choose based on your own thoughts.”

Mogansa naturally shrugged helplessly and chose to refuse the quest; he had always been a man who preferred stability. After all, any powerful gunner must also possess considerable patience, otherwise, they would have already had their heads blown off by snipers on the battlefield. After refusing, he felt an overwhelming sense of relief and couldn't help but look at Fang Senyan with a touch of pity, thinking that this fellow Mariner’s flaw was perhaps an excessive tendency toward gambling. If they were ever on the same team in the future, he would need to take measures to mitigate this issue.

Accepting the quest, Fang Senyan immediately received a reputation reward from the humans. Curiously, his Zerg reputation also increased. This was likely because the Black Spore Tribe would also benefit from the destruction of the turrets—both reputations increased by ten points. Furthermore, Fang Senyan obtained permission to command the Gravel Special Forces twice, without cost. Having accepted the mission, Fang Senyan appeared calm and unhurried, not rushing to take action on the task, but instead sitting cross-legged on the ground, deep in thought.

After about half an hour, Fang Senyan frowned and asked:

“Do you remember that battlefield of warring Zerg we encountered before we arrived here?”

Mogansa nodded:

“Yes, we even took down a Legendary creature there, the Scorching Mandible…”

Fang Senyan shook his head:

“That is the biggest point of suspicion.”

Just as he finished speaking, several dark shapes flew in from the horizon. The shapes were indistinct from a distance, but as Lieutenant Dundie viewed them through binoculars, his face instantly changed drastically:

“Not good! The Hosts of the Black Spore Tribe are under siege!”

After he spoke, Fang Senyan and the others noticed that those dark shapes were several Zerg Spore Fliers madly attacking five or six flying Hosts belonging to the Black Spore Tribe. These Spore Fliers specialized in atmospheric flight; they were much smaller than the ones encountered in space, but their destructive power was equally immense. The yellowish-green spore bullets they spat out hissed through the air, and upon impact, they scattered violently. Fortunately, the Hosts were spread far apart, otherwise, they would have been injured by the ricocheting spore projectiles.

Although the Black Spore Tribe Hosts were flying with all their might, they were not the elite mutated Hosts like the ‘Deep Whisker’; their speed was far slower. Only once the Hive reached Level 40 base could the flight speed and transport capacity of all Hosts be enhanced! Until then, the Spore Fliers were at least three to four times faster, making escape nearly impossible.

Watching Host after Host explode into sprays of bloody mist drifting down, the last Black Spore Tribe Host managed to reach the base nearby. The pursuing Spore Fliers were clearly unwilling to give up, continuing their shrieking pursuit in the air. But as they ferociously dove toward the final Host, a barrage of intense gunfire erupted from below! It was the Gravel Special Forces—unable to stand by while their allies were being slaughtered—who had quickly set up a small ambush. Indeed, the Spore Fliers fell right into it.

High-speed bullets streaked through the air, trailing fire. These Spore Fliers, whether by size or scale, could not compare to the fully developed specimens capable of sniping transport ships in space. However, they were still monsters nearly five or six meters long with wingspans reaching four or five meters. The firepower of the Gravel Special Forces was also formidable; instantly, one Spore Flier was annihilated by a storm of metal, but this only enraged the remaining Fliers, which immediately scattered and dove toward the soldiers.

At that precise moment, a faint white light flashed over every member of the Gravel Special Forces, accompanied by a sigh of exhilaration! This was the sign of an adrenaline stimulant being deployed; their movement speed instantly surged to its peak. While it appeared they were all gathered together, the instant the Spore Fliers swooped down, everyone within the perimeter opened fire while sprinting toward different directions. The way their formation shifted looked as if a flower had instantly bloomed outward in every direction!

In that instant, two more Spore Fliers were killed, bursting into great clouds of bloody mist. But the Zerg’s fearlessness and madness ensured they clung on, relentlessly zeroing in on Lieutenant Dundie. Although Dundie had injected the stimulant, his short-burst movement speed might not have been slower than the Spore Fliers, but he was retreating while firing, which naturally slowed him down considerably. He was hit several times by the Fliers’ spore projectiles, and his combat armor suffered several holes burned through by the corrosive yellow-green liquid.