But were they lonely and tired? The troop kept advancing. The hardened soldiers finally linked up with the bulk of the remaining forces from the Sixth Mobile Division. Just as Chu Xuan had predicted, the Sixth Mobile Division had only just over five thousand soldiers left, of which only forty percent, around two thousand, were armed and fit to fight. The remaining sixty percent were either wounded or had already discarded their weapons. And among them, the film's protagonist, Johnny Rico, had fallen into a coma due to severe blood loss. No one knew what method Chu Xuan had used to find him among thousands of men; Rico’s thigh had been pierced by the bug’s sharp mandibles—a truly unfortunate turn.

He didn't possess the formidable regenerative ability of Zheng Zha, so if he didn't receive medical treatment within twelve hours, his life would likely be forfeit.

After the two armies converged, the highest-ranking officer present was a Major. Unfortunately, this Major was also semi-comatose, his entire arm having been torn off by the bugs. Thus, the highest-ranking officers of both forces agreed to hand overall command to Lieutenant Lai Qi, who possessed the cybernetic arm.

This arrangement promoted Zheng Zha to Command Sergeant Major for the combined forces, his rank elevated from Corporal to Sergeant. He was also included in the brief officer-level meeting.

"Are those the squad leaders you arranged for?" Lai Qi patted Zheng Zha's shoulder, his metallic hand gesturing toward Chu Xuan, who was speaking with several communications officers in the distance, and then pointing toward the Five Heroes and Overlord, who were selecting reconnaissance specialists and heavy weapons operators on the other side. It was clear that this Lieutenant with the cybernetic arm was extremely intrigued by the three men who were clearly not career military.

Zheng Zha nodded. "Yes, they are comrades who escaped the swarm with me. What did the Lieutenant mean?" Lai Qi clapped his shoulder again before speaking. "Then tell them to serve as Corporals until they die. Also, hurry up and try to contact the mothership. Tell those bastards that if they don't send rescue ships immediately, they can expect a casualty report reading 'Total Annihilation'!" Zheng Zha offered a wry smile. Through Zhan Lan’s psychic chain ability, he had already grasped the situation: the remnants of the Sixth Mobile Division did indeed retain a relatively functional, high-powered interstellar communicator.

But unfortunately, the universe battleship they contacted had either already fled the K’Tharr Cluster, or it was severely damaged, making it impossible to deploy any rescue shuttles.

In short, after more than twenty minutes of fruitless attempts to communicate, the mood of those who knew the truth slowly turned grim. The feeling of being abandoned by the Earth Coalition Government settled heavily on the hearts of the various lieutenants.

This period of waiting did not last long. About ten minutes later, the communications officer finally received a response through the communicator. The high-ranking officials of the Earth Federation Government weren't entirely idiotic. Seeing the massive losses suffered by the battleships and the ground attack forces—which exceeded eighty percent casualties—these officials finally mobilized reserve units and rushed over. The message received via communicator stated that the first wave of rescue shuttles and bombers would arrive at planet K’Tharr in seven hours. Their task now was simply to survive on the battlefield for those seven hours.

Lieutenant Lai Qi of the metallic arm had decent self-control; at least he didn't openly curse in front of everyone. However, the other lieutenants were less restrained. They loudly cursed the government officials as garbage raised on filth, and then they began to grow increasingly agitated. It was understandable: staying on this planet for one more minute meant ten more deaths. They were effectively surrounded by bugs, and when the swarm inevitably closed in, the only option left would be to pull the trigger on their weapons until they were dismembered and devoured by the insects.

Lai Qi looked towards Zheng Zha. "My Command Sergeant Major, do you have any suggestions? You look deeply troubled; say whatever is on your mind."

(Zhan Lan, link Lai Qi’s consciousness with Chu Xuan’s.) Zheng Zha immediately spoke this in his mind as Lai Qi called out to him. The girl was clearly keeping close watch on him, as the moment he conceived the idea, she instantly connected his consciousness with Chu Xuan's.

(It’s essentially the situation. I know you must have thought of a solution—whether it's deploying decoys or distributing the wounded. Just tell us the plan you have in mind.) Zheng Zha paused for about twenty seconds. Everyone assumed he was carefully choosing his words. Then, Zheng Zha relayed Chu Xuan’s response: "We cannot disperse our forces. We already have too few troops. To fight the bugs, we require superior firepower, and we absolutely cannot abandon the wounded; that would severely damage morale, causing the already low spirits of the army to collapse entirely. We can only defend passively. Scouts have already located a small mountain, about an hour's march up the range beside us. The path up is narrow, only one way, and not very wide, but the summit is quite open—a shape that is small at the entrance but wide inside. If we can firmly secure that ascent path and assign some soldiers to deal with the flying bugs above, we might just hold out for seven hours." Lai Qi frowned, pondering for several seconds before speaking. "The greatest troop loss happens during the march. Many sections of the ground will collapse, and the bugs below will devour or kill any soldier who falls. An hour of marching means we could lose at least one to two thousand soldiers. Why not fortify our current position? Although the terrain here isn't as good as the summit, its openness could just as easily allow us to establish superior firing positions, couldn't it?" Hearing this, Zheng Zha detected a faint sigh in his mind from Chu Xuan. Chu Xuan’s conveyed thought clearly expressed dissatisfaction with the proposal. It seemed that, besides lacking heavy weaponry and combat experience, the senior officers also lacked an understanding of tactics or general war doctrine. They might be well-trained, but that training was confined only to the level of direct combat, offering no utility for the broader scope of warfare—that was Chu Xuan’s internal assessment.

"Because what we fear most on the ground isn't the bugs appearing in large formations from a distance. With the combined firepower of over two thousand troops firing simultaneously, even the fire-breathing heavy beetles cannot charge through from afar. Sufficient accumulated fire can eliminate any close-combat insect, including the incredibly fast flyers. However, we have our own weakness: in close combat, a single bug can tear apart ten of our soldiers or more. How do the bugs close the distance? Only by launching surprise attacks from underground. The moment we fix our position, the bugs will ceaselessly attempt subterranean assaults, and the area where the army is deployed will possess no security whatsoever. But the mountaintop is different. Given the height of the summit and the quantity of rock there, only that location can effectively defend against subterranean assaults. Therefore, we must move immediately; we cannot allow the bugs to pin down our position, or the underground attacks will commence instantly!" The marching orders were relayed to the entire army within five minutes. The dumbfounded lieutenants found no valid counter-arguments, so they fully ceded command of the forces to Zheng Zha and his group. Only long after Zheng Zha had departed did the cybernetic Lieutenant Lai Qi remark with surprise to the other officers, "It seems I have found quite the Command Sergeant Major. This man could easily join the General Staff—no, the idiots in the General Staff are probably not even half as capable as him." Regardless, the capability of Zheng Zha—or rather, Chu Xuan—quickly earned the acknowledgment of the officers. During the subsequent march, control of the entire army gradually fell into the hands of the Reincarnation Squad members. Moreover, with Zhan Lan's psychic scanning, Overlord's organized heavy fire suppression, and the Five Heroes’ reconnaissance teams, the combination of their efforts caused this army to gradually begin exhibiting the true potential of a unified fighting force. After all, the soldiers themselves were not poorly trained; they simply lacked the knowledge of how to coordinate in combat.

"The situation is basically clear."

Chu Xuan continuously controlled the army’s direction via the communication officer, yet he still had the leisure to converse with Zheng Zha, maintaining an expression that suggested this was completely normal.

"This interstellar era Earth civilization truly has its flaws. I gathered some information from conversations with others earlier. The Third World War a few centuries ago nearly annihilated the entire planet. Afterward, the established Earth Federation Government strictly controlled the activation triggers for warfare, resulting in no major conflicts for the next few centuries. As civilian technology advanced, military technology was suppressed by the Federation Government for a long time. Not only that, but military theory, army composition, and training had all become extremely distorted. It can be said that the government of this era has almost forgotten what war is, because they are unaware of how inferior their possessed military technology and overall combat readiness truly are."

"This is a side mission, Zheng Zha. Although it's not confirmed yet, helping the Earth Federation regain its military competence and technology is easily a double-B level side mission, perhaps even an A-level one!" He jumped to...