Chapter 1883: Chapter 17: Mad Bee Team Achieves Great Merit (Part 2)
"Captain, those insects are charging towards us. At our speed, they’ll catch up in no more than ten minutes. What should we do?"
The team members’ anxious eyes focused on Li Zixuan, as did the miners’. Everyone had just resolved the crisis of the Crimson Light mutation, using the spiritual ore collected inside the spaceship to strengthen the ship’s defenses. However, they were now targeted by the Desert Worms. If they were caught, it would undoubtedly mean their end. With this number of Desert Worms, there’s no need for them to break in; they could dismantle the ship directly.
Li Zixuan was also breaking into a cold sweat. They were nearly at the brink of destruction. The Digger-class is merely a mining barge, and the two turrets on board were dismantled by the insect swarm at the outset. Now they were like a big moving dumpling, with no resistance ability, only waiting for the insect swarm to catch up and tear them apart.
Just at that critical moment, Meng Meimei brought good news. She not only repaired the detection equipment but also, using the communication network enhanced by the Spirit Stone, successfully connected with the Molmos Level.
However, before everyone could be encouraged, a piece of bad news from the Molmos Level hit them like a devastating Frozen Burst bomb, beyond despair.
The Molmos Level was destroyed by the insect swarm!
Li Zixuan was stunned on the spot.
Bugison was dumbfounded.
Meng Meimei was dumbstruck.
The entire Mad Bee Team fell silent.
The security team and miners also slumped helplessly to the ground.
The entire spacecraft fell into a dead silence.
The Molmos Level, initially seen as their last lifeline, was torn apart by the insect swarm before them.
The location of the Molmos Level was in the asteroid belt, and its large target, coupled with more lurking insects around it, made it the first to be destroyed by the Desert Worms, taking the entire battleship formation down with it.
In this area, the people in the Digger are the last survivors.
Experiencing what it means to be surrounded and isolated, Li Zixuan and others fully realized their dire situation.
Yet, within that silence, a final message came from the Molmos Level communication, the last transmission from the communication staff before destruction.
"The Molmos Level has summoned the Beller Swarm, but I fear reinforcement won’t arrive in time... According to the ’Anti-Demon Alliance War Command System Combat Manual’...control authority has been automatically handed to the next level commander...that’s you...hope you can hold on...until reinforcements arrive... Good luck..."
The communication was immediately cut off, and Li Zixuan and others knew those people were likely doomed.
Yet, the words just spoken captured everyone’s attention.
The next level commander of the Molmos Level could not be someone from the Mad Bee Team, as there were at least three levels between them. But given the current situation, it seemed all the higher-level commanders had already sacrificed, leaving only the Mad Bee Team remaining.
In other words, within the Molmos Level’s formation, Li Zixuan now held the highest position, and the command authority naturally passed to him.
Before they could contemplate its implications, a small control chip suddenly teleported before Li Zixuan.
As part of the Swarm Plan, others might not know what this little chip was, but Li Zixuan knew; it was the core to control the swarm. With it, he could command the Beller drones in battle.
Under normal procedures, someone of Li Zixuan’s level wouldn’t have access to this chip until he was promoted from Apprentice Captain.
But under urgent circumstances, the battlefield couldn’t adhere to protocol. Li Zixuan took on the responsibility and donned the chip.
Simultaneously, a space wormhole opened, and countless clawing figures emerged.
To human eyes, these figures appeared ugly and grotesque, resembling metal lumps covered with tentacles—a sight easily mistaken for alien species at first glance.
However, Li Zixuan’s eyes lit up watching this scene, his entire body trembling with excitement.
The Beller drones, the Beller drones have arrived! Reinforcements are here!
He knew these unsightly metal lumps were their last hope, their reinforcements, their own—Beller drones.
Li Zixuan often criticized why these drones looked so ugly before, couldn’t they be designed more aesthetically pleasing, more in line with human aesthetics—
But he also knew that streamlined human aesthetics didn’t suit space, and this metal lump shape was more suitable for space combat.
But now, Li Zixuan found these drones incredibly endearing, surprised by how agreeable they seemed to him now.
He immediately shared the news, calming the near-collapse nerves of everyone.
Once everyone knew there was hope, they gathered around, hearing Li Zixuan’s next plan.
After making all arrangements, Li Zixuan sat in the captain’s chair, slowly pressing the chip against his brow.
"Huff~ huff~ huff~"
He took several deep breaths, his spirit stirring with intense excitement.
It was his first time controlling drones in combat, and it looked like there were quite a few.
Once ready, with the chip connected to his brow, Li Zixuan’s perspective shifted drastically.
It was a unique perspective able to sense the status of all drones, as if they became his eyes and limbs, capable of moving at his will through a single thought.
This was the expression of Talent.
For others with lesser talent, achieving this would require vastly powerful spiritual power; otherwise, they wouldn’t even control the drones effortlessly, fainting upon connecting the chip.
With successful drone control, it was time to showcase real skills.
Li Zixuan, with his extraordinary control and combat command abilities, led the drone swarm centered on the Digger-class, launching a cosmic battle against the nearby Desert Worms.
Though he was talented, the intense battle rapidly drained his spiritual power, nearly overwhelming him.
But Li Zixuan understood he was the last hope for everyone. If he faltered, if he gave up, everyone here would die because of him.
With sheer will, he persevered, eliminating all the insect swarms.
In the end, the Emperor’s wave of Crimson Light was blocked by the drones under Li Zixuan’s command, keeping everyone in the Digger-class unharmed.
Initially intending to cease control, he noticed further danger, enduring through it and rallying the drones for a rescue mission with the Third Fleet.
Subsequently, Chu He went through it all, getting rescued by them and meeting Li Zixuan, who orchestrated everything, at the command center.
"He is a hero."
Chu He gave him the highest praise.
Yet, the hero’s mission was not complete, with more critical tasks awaiting him.
Chu He, bitter inside, looked towards the direction of the Emperor.
