Chapter 504 - 242: Cleaning Up the Battlefield, Meeting, Trial Invitation

Chapter 504: Chapter 242: Cleaning Up the Battlefield, Meeting, Trial Invitation

The deep pit connected to the original Hive tunnels beneath the city district.

The tunnels were a complex labyrinth. With the remaining Mother Empress having already fled deep Underground, the Salvation Army, temporarily unable to fight, could only stand by the collapsed pit of the Wormhole and sigh in regret.

The crisis at Yunxia Ridge had been resolved. Lin Feng and his people looked out at the canyon floor, which was blanketed with the corpses of Zergs that had flooded in. They let out a collective sigh of relief, drank their Organic Nutrient Liquid, and began to rest and recuperate.

As the sun set, a convoy of armored vehicles appeared on the winding mountain road north of Yunxia Ridge.

Lin Feng assumed they were high-ranking officers from the Federation military, a messenger team sent for him. He was surprised to see, as they got closer, that it was Qin Hu’s Southern Corps.

Qin Hu himself was among them.

The two groups met on a northern flank of Yunxia Ridge.

Seeing Lin Feng emerge from the towering Reproductive Armor Mecha, Qin Hu and his men were stunned speechless for a long moment.

They were clearly dumbfounded by this weapon, which far surpassed any level of human technology.

After a full day of shocks, they had grown somewhat numb to the many miracles Lin Feng had produced. At this point, if he were to pull out a cannon that fired Nuclear Bombs, they would probably just think it was par for the course.

The handful of high-ranking Legion officers led by Qin Hu all possessed the strength of Tier Two Late Stage Perfection. Unlike the others behind them who were merely gawking at the novelty of it all, they could truly sense the Mecha’s power.

The pressure from the aura it radiated felt even faintly stronger than that of Lin Feng himself as he approached.

’This strange, six-winged Mecha, with its distinct Zerg Race features... its power is unfathomable...’

"Have all the survivors in the city been evacuated successfully?"

Lin Feng stepped forward and asked.

This was his primary concern.

Qin Hu nodded.

"Most are already evacuating in an orderly fashion. Aside from the two-hundred-thousand-plus reservists who were already in the South District, we’ve taken in over a million survivors from within the three defense lines."

"The previous count of survivors in the Capital’s inner city was three point eight million. We’ve evacuated one and a half million to the South, and at least another million broke out with the main army toward the Northwest. The city is already half empty."

"But I just received a report on the way here. The Zerg Race to the east, under the control of a Mother Empress, has breached the fourth defense line. They’re attempting to occupy the entire fourth-ring area to encircle the inner city."

"Our soldiers are fighting to halt their advance, trying to keep an escape route open within the tightening encirclement and ensure the survivors can get out safely..."

At this, Qin Hu sighed softly. He had already done everything in his power.

The one hundred fifty thousand troops under his command were already stretched thin in the face of this complex, rapidly evolving situation.

He had to counter-attack the city, guard against the four Mother Empresses in the Southwest Suburbs before Yunxia Ridge, and also divert forces to escort survivors to a temporary encampment...

His forces were split three ways, in three different directions. Covering all those fronts placed extreme demands on his command structure.

"I hope we can get all the survivors out..."

Hearing Qin Hu’s remark, Lin Feng nodded in silent agreement.

They both knew that was merely a hope.

Saving even eighty percent of the survivors would be a miracle.

"Just do your best," Lin Feng added as a reminder. "But don’t sacrifice too many soldiers for the survivors. The cost would outweigh the benefit."

"Of the four Mother Empresses that came to attack Yunxia Ridge, I’ve already killed two. The other two fled, retreating Underground in the Southwest Suburbs."

"They won’t give up until they’ve completely taken Yunxia Ridge."

"You should withdraw the soldiers you have occupying the main hive. You don’t want them to get hit by a counterattack if the Mother Empresses turn back. It would be a needless loss of troops."

"So where are that million or so survivors settled now?"

Qin Hu and his men stared at Lin Feng in disbelief, their eyes wide with shock.

Clearly, the strength of Lin Feng and his Salvation Army far exceeded their expectations.

A force of less than three hundred holding off a Swarm of over a hundred thousand was already something out of a fantasy. But for the man before them to have also killed more than one Zerg Race Mother Empress in the midst of that Swarm...

’With this kind of power, if only he’d shown up sooner during the battle for the Capital... perhaps the Federation’s grand strategy...’

’...could have actually succeeded!’

’They could have halted the entire Northern Mother Empress’s advance!’

’But... there are no ’what ifs’.’

"They’re at..."

"They’re in Beihai Town, just over ten kilometers north of here. If you take this mountain road, you can be there in ten minutes."

Qin Hu, snapping out of his daze, quickly replied:

"Beihai Town is built along both banks of the Stone River. It can just about accommodate a million survivors. Luckily, everyone brought a month or two of rations when they escaped, and we moved the Southern Corps’ materiel and equipment out ahead of time. For now, as long as a major Swarm doesn’t attack, we can maintain order in the camp."

Lin Feng nodded. This was good news.

’I and the Salvation Army can’t stay in the North forever,’ Lin Feng thought. ’A Tier Three Late-stage Mother Empress is bound to appear here eventually. Combined with the harsh environment, it will be difficult for a frontline base to maintain long-term stability. We can’t stay here for long.’

’The southern states are my true base of operations!’

’But to prevent the Northern defenders from collapsing too quickly—and to keep these Mid-stage Mother Empresses from pouring into the South—I have to prop up a major power here first. One capable of halting the Zerg Race’s expansion.’

’This power must, at the very least, have the strength to fight a Mother Empress.’

’And the Southern Corps, led by Qin Hu, along with these million survivors... they are my best option.’

"We killed tens of thousands of Black Spine Zergs in the battle at Yunxia Ridge. Their bodies are piled up in the valley and on the battlefield. You can come and collect the useful Giant Mandible Material. I will help you synthesize a batch of Tier One Armor. That way, when you face future Swarm attacks, you’ll have the confidence to engage in close combat even if you’re low on weapons and ammunition."