Chapter 206: Star-Shattering Infiltration! The Gambler Civilization That Only Wants Freebies!
At this moment, every console in the Multiverse Base was already occupied by personnel responsible for various fields.
With prior experience in colonizing Pandora, their workflow remained orderly, and communication with the frontline was neither chaotic nor frantic.
Each person reported and received information from the frontline with a calm and steady tone.
As always, Li Ang stood at the central control console, fully focused on the numerous holographic screens before him, occasionally marking data on the screens.
Two days ago, Corey's squad, under Mann's command, reported back to headquarters, stating that the internal situation of the human cities was far more complicated than expected.
During this period of peace—when the Precursor civilization had yet to apply pressure—internal human conflicts had surfaced, despite the looming threat of an external enemy.
The conservatives wanted to negotiate with the Precursor, proposing a division of continents—leaving humans with only Australia and Antarctica while ceding the rest to the Precursor civilization.
In contrast, the radical Defense Forces sought to restart the Hunter Program, building new Jaegers to continue the fight against the Precursor until absolute victory was achieved.
Additionally, there were traitors who sought to act as informants for the Precursor. These individuals infiltrated both conservative and radical factions, secretly using Kaiju brains to communicate with the Precursor.
In this chaotic and tangled political landscape, Corey uncovered classified intelligence: high-ranking conservative officials were secretly colluding with the Precursor.
If the conservatives succeeded in seizing power, humanity's civilization would likely be completely handed over to these Precursor collaborators!
Thus, Corey promptly contacted the Defense Forces, explaining the intentions of the corporation and offering to provide firepower and reinforcements to eradicate the internal traitors.
Now, Li Ang was naturally supporting Corey's plan. He dispatched troops to assist the Defense Forces in rooting out the traitorous officials.
Ever since the LA corporation entered the Pacific Rim Earth, they had been operating covertly.
Even if the conservative leaders had suspicions, they were powerless against the fully prepared LA corporation forces.
Moreover, with the Scorpio virus and the pathogen infiltrating the Precursor ranks, Li Ang planned to settle everything decisively with a surprise attack!
When he struck, it would be an overwhelming and earth-shattering move.
Li Ang wasn't just going to take out the Precursor' operations on Earth—he intended to raze their homeworld as well!
Deployment Begins
As the countdown ended, ground forces had fully boarded their transports. Li Ang stopped monitoring the various frontline units and switched screens.
He focused on the surveillance feed of V's assault squad. After a moment of observation, he saw V's current environment.
At the moment, V, along with Reed and others, was inside a cruiser, patiently awaiting the activation of the Precursor wormhole device. They were the spearhead of this operation.
Their next step was to board an RCS-class cruiser and enter the wormhole, reaching the Precursor' homeworld.
Once there, Astartes warriors would take control of the planet.
However, before deploying the Astartes, they had to first send a Tyrant suicide squad armed with plasma bombs and hydrogen bombs to infiltrate and detonate key locations—clearing obstacles for the Astartes' arrival.
"Thank you for your contributions to the LA corporation. Your serial numbers will be permanently recorded in the company's database as medals of honor."
"Now, go fulfill your glorious mission."
Jack Wells smiled at the Tyrants—humanoid biological weapons equipped with specialized helmets and lightweight armor.
These beings, designed to execute orders flawlessly, would serve as the vanguard—the first bullets fired in the LA corporation's complete annihilation of the Precursor civilization.
Soon, massive deep-sea transport vessels, loaded with large numbers of Tyrants, began moving toward the wormhole.
These disposable transports were built to withstand deep-sea pressure and could travel at 160 km/h.
However, their defense was weak, making them vulnerable to strong impacts. They were purely temporary deployment vessels for the Tyrants.
Thus, AI was used for navigation, ensuring the transports avoided underwater obstacles as much as possible.
With a soft beep, the first batch of transports, carrying the Tyrants, launched toward the wormhole.
Bang!
The cruiser's hatch opened, and murky seawater surged inside.
At V's command, the remaining deep-sea transports slid along the rails with a faint friction sound before being swiftly ejected.
Under the AI system's automatic positioning, the transports made slight trajectory adjustments before heading straight for the wormhole.
The Full-Scale Offensive
Similar deployment operations were unfolding across the Pacific Rim Earth.
Some cruisers submerged directly into the ocean before releasing the transports, while others simply opened their hatches and dropped the deep-sea transports like dumping dumplings into boiling water.
Seeing that every wormhole device was now targeted by the Tyrant bio-weapons—serving as the first wave of attackers—Morgan, the overall commander, reported:
"All Tyrants have been deployed. The first wave of the assault is ready."
The Multiverse Base responded immediately:
"Message received. In five minutes, after the Tyrants enter the wormhole, all cruisers must follow and execute the extermination plan!"
The moment these cruisers passed through the wormhole, they would have traveled light-years away to the Precursor world.
At that point, the command center at Multiverse Base would be unable to contact them.
Thus, V and his team had to act autonomously, secure planetary coordinates, and allow researchers to take over the Precursor database.
However, Li Ang had other ways to maintain contact with frontline commander Morgan Blackhand.
"Understood!"
Morgan cut off communication and continued issuing orders to the global fleet stationed near the wormholes.
As they awaited the wormhole's activation, he ordered final checks on all cruiser systems and functions.
This was a lone-wolf operation. Behind them was an unreliable wormhole device—there was no guarantee of a return trip.
Thus, all contingencies had to be accounted for.
Moments later, the deep-sea transports, emitting Precursor DNA signals, successfully passed through the wormhole and reached the Pioneer world!
Just as the Precursor detected the unusual humanoid objects emerging from the wormhole, a massive explosion erupted.
BOOM—!!
The Tyrants, propelled by jet thrusters, flew toward the Precursor before initiating their self-destruct sequence.
Instantly, hundreds of miniature "suns" exploded across the Precursor homeworld, causing massive casualties.
Five minutes later, before the stunned Precursor could recover, waves of cruisers emerged from the wormhole!
"Too bad we lost signal earlier—I wanted to see how well our bombs performed."
An Astartes warrior remarked inside a cruiser.
"No matter how powerful the bombs, they can't compare to the Scorpiolion virus we brought. That's the real deal!"
"Haha! You're right. Let's see how effective it is."
At this moment, the LA corporation's fleet had arrived at the Precursor homeworld—Antaeus!
This ancient planet had been overexploited by the Precursor, leaving its surface barren.
Some areas had been mined so deeply that magma flowed across the terrain, and massive bottomless rifts made it look like the planet could shatter at any moment.
The Precursor had survived in this toxic, high-radiation, high-temperature environment for millions of years, with individual lifespans reaching hundreds of thousands of years.
As the fleet positioned itself, one cruiser diverged from the main force and ascended into ' orbit.
This was Morgan Blackhand's RCS-class flagship.
"Headquarters, we've detected a small, stable wormhole in the Precursor system. It might be the source of their wormhole technology."
Using AI Red Queen's cyber-communication ability, Morgan relayed real-time information to Li Ang .
Hearing this, Li Ang pondered.
The Precursor hadn't developed their own wormhole technology—they had merely stumbled upon a naturally occurring one.
They were nothing more than a gambler civilization—betting their homeworld's fate on a cosmic lottery.
Shaking his head, Li Ang sneered, "I thought I was dealing with an advanced civilization, but it turns out they're just cosmic freeloaders."
"Proceed as planned."
"Understood!"
The LA corporation's annihilation campaign had officially begun.
...
At this moment, at the pinnacle of the massive spire in the core region of Antistar—the capital of the Precursor civilization!
In the spacious council chamber filled with numerous holographic screens, a dozen Precursor stood together, discussing the colonization of Earth.
Just then, a group of Precursor with slender, elongated physiques, larger and redder head crests, and more vibrantly colored skin entered the chamber.
From their appearance alone, it was clear that these Precursor held a much higher status than the ordinary ones.
In fact, they were the highest-ranking leaders of the Precursor civilization. If their organizational structure and titles were translated into human terms, they would resemble a religious hierarchy, akin to bishops.
The supreme leader of the Precursor civilization was their Archbishop, and the bishop-class Precursor were distinguished by their largest, most brilliant head crests.
The wing-like structures on their backs were also strikingly red, resembling flowing crimson capes.
At this moment, the bishop-class Precursor silently took their respective seats in the council chamber.
The Archbishop waved a slender finger, and a multi-screen holographic display appeared before the council members.
The screens were playing footage of human military counterattacks in the Earth colony, as well as the human fleet near the wormhole device.
[Damn humans! How did they get to Antistar?!]
[And these starships—where did they get the technological capability to create such things?!]
Seated at the highest position, the Archbishop—whose head crest was the largest—let out an angry, hissing roar, transmitting its rage into the consciousness of every Precursor present.
The Archbishop couldn't comprehend the situation. It had exercised restraint, refraining from further invasions against humanity.
It had even voluntarily withdrawn its forces, surrendering all of Australia to the humans in an effort to lower their guard.
The plan was to plant infiltrators within the upper ranks of human leadership, instigating internal conflicts and self-destruction, so that the Precursor civilization could reap the benefits.
Yet, against all expectations, humanity had developed formidable military technology within just a few short years.
Wave after wave of advanced fighter jets, powerful ground forces, and colossal starships that struck fear into the Precursor—this was no mere "technological explosion"; it was as if humans had activated cheats!
As the human counteroffensive unfolded, the bishop-class Precursor exchanged their fury through mental communication, hissing out their proposed actions.
[If that's the case, let's deploy all our Kaiju Beasts and wipe out humanity completely!]
[Yes! Annihilate the humans, without delay.]
[…]
Just as the bishops were venting their emotions, a sudden series of explosions erupted outside.
Boom—!!
[What's happening?! Could the human fleet have already reached us? Impossible! Do they have warp technology?!]
The Archbishop found it inconceivable. Their wormhole devices were stationed in remote star systems.
It had barely been ten minutes since the first human ships emerged from the wormhole—how could they have arrived so quickly? This defied all logic!
Anxious for answers, the bishops quickly switched the holographic display to view the exterior scene.
Through the screens, they saw a white energy beam streak across the sky above the spire, striking a nearby administrative district.
With a thunderous boom, the small energy beam triggered a cataclysmic explosion, tearing through the planet's crust, reducing everything in its wake to ash.
The blast's shockwave sent ripples through the surrounding structures, causing massive tremors.
Immediately afterward, countless low-intensity self-detonating bombs rained down, releasing thick black clouds—clouds teeming with Scorpius Virus spores.
Carried by the shockwave, the spores spread in all directions almost instantly, engulfing the entire spire region.
Within moments, the bishops saw large numbers of Precursor civilians collapse, succumbing to the deadly virus.
Even more terrifying, the spores seemed to dissolve the corpses, breaking them down for nutrients to replicate themselves further—continuing to spread!
Until nothing remained of the Precursor!
As the bishops watched the ominous black spores rapidly self-propagate, consuming Precursor bodies and multiplying, their expertise in biological genetics made them instantly realize what was happening.
[It's a virus—this is an extinction-level bioweapon created by the humans!]
The Archbishop, well-versed in various threats, was the first to grasp the nature of the black mist.
In their long history, with lifespans averaging hundreds of thousands of years, Precursor had little concept of viruses.
Their silicon-, ammonia-, and sulfur-based hybrid physiology had rendered them immune to over 90% of known pathogens.
Even Earth's deadliest viruses had no effect on them.
They had confirmed this through extensive experimentation two decades ago.
Yet now, everything they thought they knew had been overturned.
How had humanity developed such a virulent bioweapon?!
More importantly—how had the humans crossed the wormhole to reach Antistar?!
Unbeknownst to them, the Kaiju Beasts guarding the wormhole had already been annihilated by Scorpius Virus infections.
The creatures had perished before they could even send a warning through the hive consciousness.
In the aftermath, LA corp's fleet had launched a full-scale counter-invasion, turning the Precursor' ambitions of colonizing Earth against them—trapping them in a devastating siege!
[We must escape immediately—to another planet!]
As the highest authority, the Archbishop made a swift decision: they would ride Tail-Rats—flying Kaiju Beasts—and flee to another planetary system via a different wormhole.
As long as they survived, the Precursor civilization would persist.
Seeing that the Archbishop had made up its mind, the other bishops quickly voiced their agreement and used their hive-mind link to summon nearby Kaiju Beasts.
But before their escape could be realized, a Stormhawk Gunship had already arrived at the spire's summit.
Staring at the armored figure clad in Mark X Power Armor, the bishops were stunned.
This massive being resembled a human, yet was unlike any human they had ever seen.
Clearly, this towering figure had captured their full attention.
"V, looks like we came to the right place!"
Jack Wells grinned in excitement before leaping directly from the gunship, landing safely in the council chamber thanks to his heavy-duty power armor.
Thud—!
Jack raised his Tempest Bolt Pistol and fired—a single shot, like a handheld cannon, obliterating the Archbishop's head.
Acidic fluids and organic matter splattered across the floor.
"Hisssss!!"
Seeing their supreme leader's head explode at the hands of this terrifying humanoid warrior, the remaining bishops panicked, scattering in a desperate attempt to flee.
But their biology doomed them—Precursor, reliant on Kaiju Beasts for mobility, were far too slow on foot.
Within moments, the Astartes warriors who had landed in the chamber systematically executed every Precursor present.
A handful of captives were taken alive—for LA corp's future scientific research.
The entire decapitation operation had taken less than six minutes.
…
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