With only an hour left, three squads under Chu Xuan's command had already begun searching for and hauling stones. As ammunition was rapidly depleted, coupled with the need to distribute some to the soldiers patrolling the summit, the remaining ammo dwindled to just one thousand magazines. Yet, the bugs' assault remained ferociously relentless. Countless ground-crawlers ascended in wave-like patterns, augmented by the appearance of fire-spitting bugs and spider-bugs, and the occasional, heavily armored Tank Bug charging in. The defensive line nearly buckled several times under the pressure. Only after expending several miniature nuclear bombs and nearly all the grenades did they manage to hold the position.

However, the sheer number of dead bugs was staggering. Even after being incinerated by the fire-spitting bugs or crushed into thick paste by the swarms, this resulting insect pulp piled up, raising the ground level. Because the majority of the bugs perished roughly five hundred meters from the defensive line, a bizarre topographical feature had emerged between the mountain path below and the summit: the ground level at five hundred meters out had risen by nearly twenty meters. This was immediately followed by a corresponding five-hundred-meter-long depression before the terrain climbed again toward the main position. In truth, this terrain forced the bugs to travel a greater distance. From an altitude perspective, firing down onto that five-hundred-meter-high slope actually allowed for more accurate aiming, and the bullets’ impact was proportionally increased. This duality presented both benefits and drawbacks: while the power of bullets increased with the gradient, the destructive potential of rolling stones was equally clear. They could not roll from the summit all the way to the base; they would be stopped at that slope. Consequently, the lethal reach of the falling stones was limited to a mere five hundred meters... Zheng Zha carefully observed the slope of corpses. After some thought, he said, "Wang Xia, set aside five miniature nuclear bombs and do not use them until our ammunition is completely exhausted, nor should you detonate them on that steep slope... Damn it. If the plasma grenades were usable, those few plasma mines or time bombs would be no less powerful than these mini-nukes. Perhaps even a Bawang's tubular pulse projector—its power would be so immense it could negate the bug numbers entirely, and even if a Tank Bug appeared, my Hupo Blade could easily cleave it apart. Curses..." Wang Xia could only offer a wry smile. The destructive capacity of the plasma series of explosives far surpassed these grenades. Moreover, if they could manufacture bombs capable of holding about fifty percent of Zheng Zha's inner strength, their power would rival that of a miniature nuclear bomb. The critical difference was that miniature bombs relied on the explosion and the resulting shockwave as primary means of destruction. Such weapons were powerful, but their effect diminished rapidly outwards. While they might technically reach hundreds of meters, the true kill zone was barely a hundred square meters around the epicenter. Plasma series weapons were different; any creature within the plasma's mobile strike radius would instantly be reduced to ash. That was an absolute explosion weapon whose effective range was precisely its guaranteed area of effect.

Time marched on relentlessly, and the remaining ammunition supply dwindled further, tightening the chests of all the informed soldiers. Simultaneously, the flying bugs, having crawled for several tens of minutes, finally showed their heads at the cliff edge for the first time. Initially, they attempted to take flight, but once they ascended about three meters into the air, they were violently swept away by the intense wind currents. Thus, these bugs could only skim low to the ground as they advanced toward the main force. At their speed, they were easily mowed down by the patrols standing guard. However, the sheer number of flying bugs—thousands—meant that as the first one appeared, more and more followed suit from below the cliff.

"What about the time? The relief ships? Chu Xuan, we have less than two hundred magazines left! How much longer?!" Zheng Zha was nearly shouting now. Scanning with his consciousness-based mental power, he observed several colossal Tank Bugs slowly making their way up the ascent path. Though their speed was sluggish, their massive size and unique capabilities dictated everything. Once these behemoths reached the defensive line, it would mean absolute collapse! "Talking about time is useless now. I just made contact with the support fleet. They reported that dozens of relief ships have been dispatched, enough to carry tens of thousands of people... What a bunch of idiots. If there were truly tens of thousands to load, would we need to fight and beg them for aid? The wisdom of mortals is often laughable... The basic situation is this: within roughly thirty minutes, the relief ships should enter the atmosphere from outer space. As for when we board... between thirty and forty-five minutes, that's a conservative estimate."

Chu Xuan's voice, however, didn't manifest in Zheng Zha's mind but echoed directly behind him. Zheng Zha turned to see Chu Xuan standing there, holding two Gauss pistols, a faint, mocking smile playing on his lips.

Zheng Zha spun around, astonished, and after a long pause, managed to ask, "What are you doing here? Is it alright for you to use our weapons now?" Chu Xuan flicked his wrist and produced another pistol. "Gauss pistols look very similar to standard Federation sidearms. Besides the power, the difference is only apparent in close combat. At this stage, all the scheming, arrangements, and morale-boosting tricks are useless. The only option left is to fight on by inertia, or be submerged by the swarm in these final moments. Although I personally dislike this boorish style of fighting, there's no better recourse right now. So, let's choose to fight..." Zheng Zha laughed heartily and slapped his shoulder, "There you go again, talking about mortal wisdom... Fine, since your Gauss pistols are operational, go kill some more ground-crawlers. But don't use your Gun Kata techniques too early; you don't seem able to sustain that state for long."

As they spoke, suddenly dozens of spider-like bugs flew in from above the perimeter. Before the soldiers on the line could react, a miniature nuclear bomb arced over, instantly igniting a brilliant flash in the sky. When the light subsided, three spherical objects dropped onto the ground. They immediately sprung open, transforming into fully extended spider-bugs. Zheng Zha and Chu Xuan exchanged a glance, then separated and charged the spiders. One engaging in melee, the other firing, they annihilated the three spiders before they could inflict widespread damage, though the incident still cost the defenders over a dozen lives.

Before Zheng Zha could catch his breath, Wang Xia's voice called out, "Only five miniature nuclear bombs remain. A few more spider attacks like that, and we'll have none left for a counter-strike."

Zheng Zha looked over the defensive line at the soldiers. "Stop using the miniature nuclear bombs. Let the spider-bugs fall where they may... Chu Xuan, send over all the other teams; it's time to start using the rocks for offense. Also, immediately replace any soldiers injured by the spider-bugs... Everyone fight for your lives."

Chu Xuan nodded and walked toward the rear of the formation, but as he walked, he remarked, "Do you remember my earlier suggestion? If we reach a point of utter desperation, you should attack the other team—either kill them, capture them alive, or severely injure them. As long as we have hostages, perhaps the bugs will show some restraint toward us. While the success rate for that move is less than thirty percent, it's certainly better than sitting here waiting for death..." Before his words finished, Chu Xuan was already moving farther away.

Zheng Zha turned with a wry smile toward the outside of the perimeter. The sea of bugs showed no sign of ceasing its assault, seeming endless as it pressed toward them. As the slope grew steeper, the distance between the horde and the defensive line had already advanced by about a hundred meters—they were now only four hundred meters apart. And ammunition... fewer than one hundred magazines remained.

Zheng Zha decisively ordered all soldiers to cease using their magazines. After reserving fifty magazines, he handed the rest over to the patrol teams to deal with the other flying bugs struggling to climb. Next, several squads lined up in sequence, passing rock blocks and pushing them down the slope. Before this, Zheng Zha had instructed Wang Xia to use two miniature nuclear bombs on the steep slope, finally causing the slope of insect corpses to collapse. Taking advantage of the nuclear effect, while the bugs were still far from the summit, the soldiers pushed massive, near-spherical boulders down the mountain.

The gigantic stones rolled downward, picking up speed rapidly. After rolling past one hundred meters, their momentum became unstoppable. Not only were the corpses on the ground crushed into pulp, but the ground-crawlers directly hit by the first pile of massive stones were instantly shattered into pieces. Even several fire-spitting bugs were knocked over by the impact of the boulders. The force of these boulders rolling from the summit was astonishingly great. An unknown number of bugs were killed by the sheer weight of the stones; in any case, the entire swarm was driven back seven to eight hundred meters from the defensive line.

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