233: Chapter 233 The Zerg are defeated! They retreat to the Mother Nest! The fleet advances rapidly! They surround the Mother Nest!

In the star-filled void of the Dead Silence Abyss, a one-sided slaughter was unfolding.

The Zerg Swarm, which once blocked out the sky and threatened to devour humanity completely, had long since lost its previous arrogance, leaving only a miserable rout.

Hundreds of billions of remaining Zerg were fleeing frantically toward the Zerg Home World like stray dogs. Flying combat bugs flapped their tattered wings desperately, not even caring about their injured companions, wishing only that they had been born with two more pairs of wings; the once ferocious Siege Bugs had retracted the sharp horns on their heads, running headlong with no courage to look back; those Royal Zerg General who had luckily survived were charging at the very front, wishing they could instantly shrink back behind the barriers of the Home World.

Behind them was the relentless artillery fire of the Star River Empire fleet.

The deep blue anti-Zerg shells were like meteors filling the sky, constantly smashing into the tail end of the fleeing swarm. Every explosion meant that tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands, of Zerg were completely annihilated in the plasma flames, turning into pools of black slime drifting in the vacuum.

The Mecha Legion led by Commander Ling Shuang was like a sharp knife inserted into the back of the swarm, biting onto the fleeing swarm relentlessly. The assault formation composed of 300,000 Dawn Ace Mecha was like thirty silver lightning bolts, constantly charging into the rearguard of the swarm. Their annihilation blades swung wantonly, and with every slash, they cut down swaths of Zerg, tearing their formation to shreds.

"Want to run? Stay here for me!"

Commander Ling Shuang gave a cold shout. The mecha performed a short-range space jump, instantly catching up to a retreating Royal Zerg General. Just as the Royal Zerg General tried to turn and counterattack, it was struck head-on by the blade in Commander Ling Shuang's hand. Its massive body was instantly split in two, and high-concentration gene toxins spread through its entire body. It didn't even have time to scream before it completely turned into fly ash.

"The sixty-third Royal Zerg General, executed!"

The cold voice announcing the kill spread throughout the military channel, making the fleeing Zerg even more terrified, and their speed of escape increased by a few notches.

"Chase them! Don't let them run back to the Home World!" Commander Lei Meng stood on the command platform of the flagship, watching the miserable fleeing swarm on the holographic screen, and roared, "All warship main guns, fire at will! Kill as many as you can! Do not give them any chance to catch their breath!"

"Yes! General!"

12,000 Main Fleet warships opened their engines to full power. Their silver-blue exhaust trails connected in the starry sky like a torrent of steel spanning the galaxy, closely following the footsteps of the swarm, charging step by step into the deepest part of the Dead Silence Abyss.

Wherever they passed, all temporary nests, sentry posts, and supply creep of the Zerg were completely wiped out by the fleet's artillery. Those remaining Zerg hiding in asteroid belts and spatial turbulence didn't even have a chance to show their heads before they were completely slaughtered by the following Mecha Legion, unable to even send a single signal back to the Zerg Home World.

From the previous main battlefield to the Zerg Home World, the entire three-light-year distance had completely turned into a road of death for the Zerg.

Along the way, the starry sky was filled with Zerg remains, broken limbs, dried slime, and asteroid fragments shattered by artillery fire. For every 10,000 kilometers they advanced, billions of Zerg fell on the road of escape, completely annihilated by the Empire's artillery fire.

Deep in the core of the Zerg Home World, the Zerg Emperor, sitting on the throne, was sensing the catastrophic defeat on the front line through the pheromone network. In its twelve blood-colored compound eyes, overwhelming fury and disbelief were burning.

It had lived for hundreds of thousands of years, led the Zerg Swarm to devour over a hundred civilizations, and wiped out dozens of star regions. It had never encountered such a crushing defeat!

1.2 trillion Zerg Swarm, 127 Royal Zerg General—they had set out in a grand, sky-blocking force, but only less than 300 billion returned, and nearly 70% of the Royal Zerg General were lost!

And those tiny humans were still chasing them relentlessly, chasing them all the way to the gate of its Home World!

"Hiss—!!!"

The Zerg Emperor suddenly opened its giant mouth and let out a sharp hiss that shook the entire planet. Its massive body trembled crazily with rage, and thousands of thick tentacles lashed out at the surrounding rock walls, shattering the hard planetary crust.

It hated! It hated the arrogance of these humans! It hated that the weapons of these humans could perfectly restrain its Zerg Swarm! It hated even more that its swarm was so vulnerable, losing its armor and abandoning its weapons in front of humans, fleeing in such a miserable state!

But no matter how furious it was, it clearly knew that the current swarm had lost its morale, its command system had been completely disrupted, and it was impossible to block the human steel torrent in the wild. Continuing to fight the humans in the starry sky would only cause it to lose its last remaining assets!

The only way to survive was to retreat to the Zerg Home World and rely on the ultimate defense system that the Home World had managed for hundreds of thousands of years to block the human offensive!

"All units! Retreat to the Home World at full speed!"

"Activate the planetary biological shield! Activate all acid spore turrets! Initiate the space blockade array!"

"All incubation nests, produce eggs at full speed! All combat units, enter defensive positions!"

"Any human who dares to cross the Home World defense line, tear them apart! Devour them!"

The Zerg Emperor's will was like a cold torrent, instantly spreading to the minds of all remaining Zerg and to every corner of the Zerg Home World.

The swarm, which was already fleeing frantically, seemed to have grasped the last straw of life and rushed toward the Zerg Home World even more desperately. That black planet with a diameter of 100,000 kilometers in front of them was their only safe harbor.

Finally, after paying the price of nearly 100 billion Zerg, the remaining swarm finally rushed back to the low-Earth orbit of the Zerg Home World in a miserable state, pouring into the dense wormholes on the planet's surface like a tide, shrinking back behind the barriers of the Home World.

And just as the last Zerg retreated into the Home World, the Zerg Home World underwent a heaven-shaking change!

"Hum—!!!"

A hum that shook the entire galaxy sounded. On the surface of the entire Zerg Home World, a layer of dark green biological shield, 10,000 kilometers thick, instantly rose!

This shield was composed entirely of the Zerg's living biological tissue, like a giant cocoon, firmly wrapping the entire planet within it. On the shield, countless hideous biological patterns slowly squirmed, emitting heart-stopping energy fluctuations. Even the main guns of a Star Destroyer could be quickly absorbed and neutralized by it!

Immediately afterward, countless huge gun muzzles appeared on the surface of the shield! Each muzzle was made of living biological tissue and filled with high-concentration acid spores capable of corroding Stellar Metal. They were just waiting for the target to enter range, and then they would pour out in a deluge!

In the starry sky around the planet, countless black space barriers rose instantly, completely blocking the area within one light-year of the Zerg Home World! Any unauthorized unit could not perform space jumps and could only force a frontal attack!

What was even more hair-raising was that inside the entire Zerg Home World, countless incubation nests were operating frantically! New combat bugs, Self-Exploding Bugs, and Siege Bugs were being hatched at a rate of millions per second, continuously supplementing the defensive positions. As long as the Home World's energy was not exhausted, the Zerg could continuously produce troops!

This was the Home World that the Zerg Swarm had managed for hundreds of thousands of years! This was their ultimate reliance for being able to run rampant in the universe and devour countless civilizations!

For hundreds of thousands of years, countless civilizations' fleets had arrived here, but they all ended up falling under this impregnable defense system, dragged down by the endless Zerg Swarm, and ultimately ending up with their civilization destroyed and their planet devoured.

And just as the Zerg activated the ultimate defense of the Home World, the Imperial expeditionary fleet had also charged in, arriving one light-year outside the Zerg Home World, and completely stopped.

Inside the command center of the Dawn Mothership, Emperor Chen Fan sat on the main seat, his deep gaze looking through the porthole at the hideous planet firmly wrapped in the dark green biological shield, his expression calm and waveless.

The high-ranking officials under the Emperor looked at the defense data of the Zerg Home World on the holographic star map, their faces showing solemn expressions.

"Your Majesty! The Shadow Fleet has completed the global detection!" Commander Ling Ye stepped forward, his cold voice carrying precise intelligence, "The Zerg Home World has activated the global biological shield. The shield strength is tens of thousands of times higher than the Zerg nests we encountered before. It can absorb energy attacks, and conventional ship guns can hardly cause effective damage to it!"

"The space around the planet has been blocked, all jump channels are closed, we cannot perform jump raids, we can only launch a frontal attack!"

"More than 300 million acid spore turrets have been detected on the surface of the shield, with a range covering the entire low-Earth orbit. The acid can corrode our warship armor and shields, which is a great threat!"

"The incubation nests inside the planet are running at full speed, the Zerg forces are recovering at a terrifying speed, and more than 20 billion new combat bugs can be added every hour!"

Commander Lei Meng frowned, the veins on his hand holding the command sword bulging: "Good guy, this nest of bugs really has something! No wonder the Old Federation tried their best three hundred years ago and still couldn't completely wipe them out. This turtle shell is indeed hard enough!"

"Hard? No matter how hard the turtle shell is, we can smash it open!" Old Hu clenched his iron fist and roared, "We have 12,000 warships, 120 Star Destroyer, and the Dawn Mothership! Even if its shield is thick, if one volley can't break it, then we'll fire ten volleys! If ten volleys don't work, then a hundred volleys! I don't believe we can't shatter it!"

Commander Ling Shuang stepped forward, her silver blade humming slightly, her cold voice extremely firm: "Your Majesty! As long as you give the order, the Mecha Legion can serve as the vanguard at any time, tear open the gaps in their shields, and open an offensive channel for the fleet! Even if we fight to the last soldier, we will flatten this Home World for the Empire!"

Commander Su Qingyue tapped her fingertips on the console rapidly, the analysis data of the Home World shield constantly refreshing on the holographic screen. She frowned slightly, but her tone was still firm: "Your Majesty, the core principle of this biological shield is the energy absorption and rapid regeneration of living tissue. Conventional energy attacks, even the main guns of a Star Destroyer, will be quickly absorbed and repaired by it, making it difficult to form an effective defense break."

"But it is not invincible. We have captured its energy fluctuation pattern and found its weakness. As long as we can develop targeted cracking weapons, we can disintegrate this defense system from the inside."

Everyone's eyes finally gathered on Emperor Chen Fan.

The defense of the Home World in front of them was impregnable, and the Zerg's forces were continuously recovering. The longer it dragged on, the more unfavorable it would be for the Empire. A frontal attack would inevitably cause significant casualties; if they didn't attack, the previous achievements would be wasted, and the Zerg would make a comeback sooner or later.

But there was no hesitation or retreat on Emperor Chen Fan's face.

He slowly stood up, his black imperial robe brushing across the floor. His gaze swept over the Zerg Home World wrapped in layers of defenses on the holographic star map, and a cold smile curled up at the corner of his mouth.

Impregnable?

In front of the steel torrent with which he unified humanity, there was no fortress that could not be broken, and no defense that could not be pierced!

What the Old Federation couldn't do three hundred years ago didn't mean his Star River Empire couldn't do it!

Emperor Chen Fan spoke slowly, his voice calm but carrying unquestionable majesty, spreading throughout the entire command center and to every warship in the entire fleet:

"Transmit my command."

"The main force of the entire fleet, immediately deploy formation and implement a comprehensive encirclement of the Zerg Home World!"

"Eight space fortresses, stationed in the east, south, west, north, southeast, northeast, southwest, and northwest directions respectively, blocking all entry and exit channels and closing all escape passages!"

"The Main Fleet is divided into nine groups, evenly distributed around the encirclement, forming a 360-degree dead-angle-free firepower coverage, ensuring that not a single bug escapes the encirclement!"

"The Mecha Legion is divided into twelve formations, stationed at various gaps in the encirclement, responsible for wiping out any Zerg units attempting to break through, while also guarding the surrounding star regions to prevent accidents!"

"The Shadow Fleet will continue to infiltrate and investigate, figuring out the defense nodes, energy cores, and the location of the Zerg Emperor within the Home World, preparing for the subsequent total attack!"

Emperor Chen Fan's gaze suddenly tightened, his voice carrying an arrogance that swept across the galaxy, falling word by word:

"I want to turn this Zerg Home World into a cage from which there is no escape!"

"I want these bugs hiding in their shells to have no way to the sky and no door to the earth!"

"Understood!!!"

The entire army responded in unison, the sound waves shaking the starry sky!

The moment the order was issued, the Imperial expeditionary fleet immediately moved!

12,000 Main Fleet warships dispersed like a tide, quickly unfolding into a giant spherical encirclement within one light-year of the Zerg Home World, firmly surrounding the entire planet in the center!

Eight space fortresses slowly drove into the predetermined positions, like eight steel stars hanging in the starry sky, firmly locking all entry and exit channels. Their shield energy was maxed out, their main guns were all aimed at the Zerg Home World, completely sealing off all escape routes for the Zerg!

Commander Ling Shuang's million-strong Mecha Legion dispersed to various key nodes of the encirclement, engines humming incessantly, particle cannons standing by. Any bug attempting to rush out of the encirclement would be instantly torn to pieces!

In just half an hour, an airtight net was completely formed around the Zerg Home World!

The entire Zerg Home World was surrounded by the Empire's steel torrent, watertight! Let alone a bug, even a speck of dust wouldn't be able to escape this encirclement!

The Dawn Mothership slowly drove into the very center of the encirclement, facing the front of the Zerg Home World. Twelve star-region-level annihilation main guns slowly raised, the muzzles aimed at the planet wrapped in the dark green shield, emitting a terrifying power that could destroy the world.

Emperor Chen Fan stood before the command platform of the mothership, his gaze piercing through the starry sky, looking at the hideous Home World planet, a cold killing intent flashing in the depths of his eyes.

Retreating to the Home World? Thinking that hiding in a turtle shell would make them safe?

Too naive.

Today, not only would he surround this Home World, but he would also completely flatten it, execute the Zerg Emperor, and completely erase the Zerg Swarm from the universe!

Emperor Chen Fan slowly raised his hand, his fingertips tapping heavily on the total attack button on the console, his voice cold and firm:

"Commander Su Qingyue, immediately lead the Research Center to fully develop cracking weapons targeting the Home World shield!"

"The entire army will rest on the spot, replenish ammunition and energy, and prepare for the total attack!"

"Within three days, I want to flatten this Home World!"

"Exterminate the Zerg! Eliminate the root of the trouble!"