The grim spectacle before them revealed a desolate landscape, the sky choked with dust. The scourging of the True Human Empire had clearly left its mark on this planet; ruins stretched as far as the eye could see, dissolving into the haze of the horizon. The vague outlines hinted that this had once been a city of considerable size.

The probe made a full circuit of the surroundings, detecting scant traces of a purple substance on the ground, barely thicker than a millimeter.

Emperor Burke’s face registered a flicker of confusion.

A staff officer, seizing the moment, explained, "According to the Galan Star analysis, this purple, semi-viscous substance must play a vital role in the environment of those bugs. It’s a highly nutritious substrate, and due to its high concentration of specialized colonies, it possesses the ability to absorb and fixate various nutrients. Its function is evidently to nourish those insects; wherever the purple carpet spreads, the bugs will follow."

“But where has that purple matter gone now?” another staff officer wondered aloud. “Intelligence indicated this planet’s surface should be blanketed in large amounts of the purple substance, but the reconnaissance imagery shows nothing of the sort—only these trace amounts, which are practically nothing.”

“They must be hiding, concealed in some dark recesses,” the battleship’s captain stated, his expression grim. “I do not believe these bugs would simply abandon their territory; the attack on the scouting party upon landing proves that. If we cannot find them on the surface, the subsurface is their most likely sanctuary.”

“The subsurface, then…” Emperor Burke’s expression shifted between shades of apprehension and resolve. After a moment of thought, he commanded, “The primary mission assigned to us by the Joint Command is reconnaissance; engaging those bugs is not our duty. I order the deployment of more unmanned transport vessels, loaded with a full complement of automated detectors. We will map this planet inside and out!” He naturally opted to conserve his strength.

“Yes, Your Majesty!” The staff officers immediately executed the order.

Soon, millions of automated probes were dropped onto the planet. Even in their current diminished state, the Burke people were not short of these small devices.

However, the information the Burke people gathered was exceedingly limited. The insectoid carapace was specially designed to blend seamlessly with the environment, its stealth capabilities on par with the cloaking technology of both the Human and Divine races. Ordinary detection methods were utterly incapable of spotting the insectoid units burrowed underground.

Although the Burke people’s technology was formidable, possessing certain specialized reconnaissance techniques that could detect insectoids hidden in the shallow topsoil, the insect race had burrowed deeper for safety—their locations were nearly a thousand kilometers beneath the surface. Only scout bugs, small as mosquitoes, remained on the surface.

The thick strata of rock offered the insectoids reliable protection, rendering the Burke probes fruitless. Vast numbers of detectors only confirmed that the planet's surface was desolate.

Before long, the main body of the Joint Fleet arrived.

After receiving the report from the Burke Fleet, the Joint Command also concluded that the insectoids were concealed deep within the planet’s interior, posing a potential danger to any landing forces. However, opinions diverged sharply on how to manage this threat.

The hardliners argued that terrifying creatures like the insectoids must be thoroughly annihilated, and only through the most decisive and stringent methods. In their view, the best course was an immediate, full-force fleet barrage, even if it meant shattering the entire planet to ensure not a single insectoid survived.

Yet, the opposing faction held a different perspective. They contended that the insectoid threat might not be as great as the hardliners claimed—certainly not so great as to justify abandoning a potentially habitable world with promising prospects.

The Orion Arm Expeditionary Force had come to the Perseus Arm precisely to seize these habitable worlds, severely damaged by the war. Though surface structures were annihilated and all ground life extinguished, the planets themselves retained their foundational integrity.

With the environmental refinement technology of advanced civilizations, these worlds could be restored to their pre-war condition within decades, allowing the various races of the Orion Arm to undertake massive immigration and expansion.

This was a venture of immense profit, a chance that might not arise even once in ten millennia.

Currently, the insectoids occupied over a hundred habitable worlds in a single star sector—a considerable number, even for the Galan Star people, who were number one in the Orion Arm.

If they resorted to outright planetary destruction here, what would happen when they attacked other worlds later? Would those planets also need to be pulverized?

The territory of a single sector was enough to cause friction within the Allied forces; many believed the cost of destruction was too high. A better option would be to dispatch landing forces and reclaim the sector intact from the insectoids.

To decide whether to initiate a main cannon barrage against the planet, the Joint Command engaged in a fierce debate.

“You people, insisting on taking this vital planet down with those filthy bugs—it’s practically a crime!”

“You only look at the planet and ignore the threat those bugs pose to all our races. Do you want these bugs to mature and wipe out the Expeditionary Force? That would be the crime!”

“You are fear-mongering!”

“Nonsense! Several great Level Ten existences can attest to this. They possess the power of prophecy; they have seen the fatal threat these bugs will pose once they develop. The threat must be eliminated in its infancy!”

“Then how about this: let our forces land on the planet. Our people will eliminate every last bug beneath the surface while you watch. If we fail, it’s not too late for you to blow the entire planet to pieces then!”

“The planet is vast; where wouldn't those bugs hide? You want to eliminate the underground insects, but I bet you can’t even find where they are?”

“You!”

The argument raged on until a single voice commanded, “Enough!”

The voice belonged to Betak, one of the three Guardians of the Galan Republic.

Betak was not originally a Galan Star native, but hailed from a low-tier civilization, much like Shaluo. However, his luck far surpassed Shaluo’s; his race had never faced truly formidable enemies, and though their development path had twists, it remained relatively conventional.

After breaking through to the Fourth Level, Betak gradually made a name for himself in the Orion Arm, soon to be recruited by the Galan Star people, bringing his entire race into the fold of the Galan Republic.

His race became a branch of the Galan Star people, occupying a status equivalent to an ethnic minority—a recognized part of the higher civilization, far superior to the subservient low-tier worlds. Betak himself became a Guardian of the Galan Republic, possessing immense influence, endless glory.

When the Joint Command was arguing earlier, all dozen or so Fourth-Level existences present had remained silent. Now, Betak finally broke that silence.

A moment of quiet settled over the assembly. Betak rose and stated, “I request a temporary recess. Arguing further will yield no result. We can reconvene this meeting in two standard days. In the meantime, we Galan Star people will launch an assault wave to probe the hidden bugs beneath the surface and gauge their strength first.”

Two of the three Guardians of the Galan Republic had joined the Expeditionary Force, with the third remaining on Galan Star. Betak and another Fourth-Level Galan Star individual, Yingmuli, were tasked with leading the Galan Star contingent. Yingmuli was officially in command, with Betak serving as his second.

Though Betak was not the supreme commander of the Joint Fleet, he held sufficient sway within it. His requests would not be directly opposed even by Emperor Sarian.

Thus, the motion was immediately passed.

The Joint Fleet temporarily set aside its disputes and watched as a massive contingent of landing craft, escorted by numerous bio-fighters and biomechs, descended toward the planet’s surface.

This landing force numbered close to a million personnel. As soon as they touched down, they deployed various subterranean drilling apparatuses. Tens of thousands of enormous helical drills were set up, tips pointing downward, beginning their rotation. With roars and bursts of earth fragments, these specialized drilling war vehicles easily bored into the ground, accelerating rapidly toward the planet’s core.

Most Galan Star equipment was cultivated via biological means, and the drilling vehicles were no exception; they possessed thick, bio-organic shells as hard as alloy. The drill tips, in particular, were the most resilient, capable of effortlessly displacing soil, piercing rock, and delving into the planet's depths.

After half a day, they reached a depth of approximately six hundred kilometers below the surface.

At that precise moment, rows of viciously sharp spikes suddenly erupted from the soil!

To facilitate drilling, the war vehicles had to maintain contact with the soil and rock layers, leaving them without the protection of energy shields. The mysteriously appearing spikes easily shredded the vehicles' outer hulls and destroyed their energy transmission conduits.

Some unfortunate vehicle crews were impaled by the sudden lances and killed instantly.

The spikes then retracted, and with a rapid slithering sound, their owners lunged toward another target.

These spikes were the claws of the Stalkers. Their combat effectiveness on the surface was negligible. Only by infiltrating the subsurface could they maximize the power of their claws.

As darlings of the dirt and rock, their subterranean movement speed even marginally exceeded that of the Galan Star drilling vehicles. This meant that for every kilometer the drilling convoy advanced downward, they paid the price of dozens or even hundreds of destroyed vehicles.

Shortly thereafter, the drilling vehicles seemed to receive new orders. Instead of retreating, they increased their power output and continued to bore downward.

The Stalker forces persisted in their harassment, and more were rushing in from nearby areas. Soon, the losses among the drilling vehicles escalated drastically. However, these advanced machines began to retaliate.

They continuously unleashed indiscriminate attacks on the surrounding soil using a type of microwave weapon. Any Stalker that approached them would have its blood and other bodily fluids vaporized by the microwave radiation. Given enough exposure, the Stalkers' blood would boil, leading to catastrophic internal explosions!

It appeared the Galan Star people would not be satisfied without achieving some measurable success.

For more novels, visit storyread.net.