Battle on the Insect Planet (6): Meritorious Service

With the return of various teams, the camp gained sufficient combat power and the defensive pressure on the soldiers was greatly reduced.

All the logistics personnel were freed from the front line, and with the help of some soldiers, the attack function of the planetary resource station was finally installed and started smoothly.

The high-powered weapons deployed at the resource station were instantly activated, launching a covering and intensive bombing outside the camp’s protective shield. After three rounds, all 300 giant insects around the camp were blown to pieces.

In addition, the holes made by the giant yellow insects were also bombed with great precision. After half an hour, the area around the camp was bombed into a pile of holes. The insects that besieged the camp finally retreated completely and never appeared again.

The enemy disappeared, and the soldiers in the camp breathed a sigh of relief.

The bad news was that of the twenty exploration teams sent out by the camp, only eighteen returned, and there was no news of the other two teams.

The camp sent out drones to search for it, but found no clues, not even the wreckage of the mecha, so it seemed that the situation was not good.

The 18 returning teams also had reductions in personnel. In total, during the first operation to land on Erdogan’s planet, nearly 300 humans were killed and 100 were injured in the morning. Currently, there were only a little over 600 combat forces left in the camp.

After the battle, the soldiers rested quietly in the mecha cockpit for a while, and then took action. With the joint efforts of many soldiers, it took another two hours, and the foundation of the planetary resource station was finally completely stabilized, and all functions were installed.

Planetary resource stations were indeed the best guarantee for pioneering exploration and alien survival, but the entire resource station was large in size and had many functional areas, so it took enough time to install and start up.

Previously, the insects on Erdogan’s planet did not give humans enough time.

Now the resource station was fully operational, the enemies had retreated, the wounded had received professional treatment, and the others had some free time to look around. They truly realized that this horrible planet caused their men to lose nearly half of their personnel on the first day of their landing.

At this time, all the buildings in the camp were lifted into the air and stayed at a height of three meters from the ground. The ground of the camp was covered with solid metal floors, which worked together with the protective shield to prevent insects from breaking into the camp.

The campsite and its sky were surrounded by a thin shield. The shield was weaker in terms of protection and was mainly used for warning. The advantage was that it consumed less energy and could be kept open for a long time around the clock.

In the safe camp, the soldiers finally dared to open the hatch of the mecha and jumped out to get some fresh air.

The damaged mechas were repaired by their own logistics personnel, and the other mechas were also sent to the logistics department for inspection and maintenance. The exhausted warriors walked into the conference room holding nutrient solutions.

The conference room, which was originally designed to accommodate thousands of people, now only has more than 600 people sitting in it, making it seem quite empty.

The large screen at the front of the conference room displayed images brought back by various exploration teams. Everyone could easily see that no matter whether the exploration teams encountered deserts, oases, swamps, valleys, and other terrains, the common point was that they all encountered insects, all kinds of giant insects.

“Based on the video footage you brought back, the command has determined that these insects are the natives of this world. What we have to do next is to deal with them.

Initial speculation is that these insects have a unified command, so each time an insect will appear first to launch a tentative attack. It seems that the insects are also observing our strength.

Second, these insects have clear territorial boundaries, and no insect has been observed to leave the area where it first appeared.

These insects are huge in size, have strong shells, sharp limbs, and are extremely fast. Only the connection points between the various parts of their bodies are relatively fragile. The color of their bodies is similar to their environment, which has a confusing effect.

The most difficult thing is that there are too many of these natives! ”

The screen showed a series of terrifying scenes of hundreds of insects besieging dozens of humans.

After analyzing the current situation and difficulties, the captain changed his tone and began to soothe:

“Everyone, rest assured. We have already contacted the headquarters outside the planet and reported all the information we have collected today. The headquarters has mobilized support forces and guarantees that there will be follow-up troops to make up for our losses.

Secondly, the general command boldly speculated that these natives had a huge flaw, which was that they could not pose a threat from the air.

So far, we haven’t seen any insects with flying capabilities. The general command has decided to equip everyone’s mecha with flying parts. If you encounter insects in the future, you can try to attack them from the air.”

The captain of the pioneer team brought two pieces of good news to the soldiers, which finally made the atmosphere in the meeting room no longer so depressing and dull.

“There is another piece of good news. The General Command has opened the merit record and redemption function for us. Your performance in battle and your contribution to the development process will receive corresponding merit points. The General Command has specially approved that the redemption list of these merit points will definitely make you excited.”

After comforting them, the captain gave out tempting rewards, guiding the soldiers to look at the merit points recorded on the mecha controllers on their wrists, as well as a partial merit point redemption list.

Xia Ruize and Cheng Huaiqian put their heads together, Xia Ruize got 104 merit points and Cheng Huaiqian got 36 points, which seemed to be allocated according to their previous performance in the battle.

Cheng Huaiqian, who had previously performed low-key, received relatively few merit points, while Xia Ruize, who performed outstandingly in the camp defense battle, received considerable merit point rewards.

Of course, what they were more concerned about was the merit point redemption list.

They were not familiar with the others, but the “HS-6 Multi-Functional Mecha” they drove in the morning was on the redemption list. With 500 merit points, they could get a mecha that belonged to them personally.

This redemption list aroused the interest of both of them. Cheng Huaiqian scrolled to the end of the list to see if he could redeem a spaceship.

“Okay, the rest area is ready for everyone. We’ll give you three hours to rest and adjust your condition. There will be more challenges waiting for us later.”

The summary meeting ended with the captain’s encouragement. The soldiers had been fighting for most of the day and really needed some rest, so they rushed to the accommodation area.

There were capsule sleeping boxes in the rest area, and there was no mandatory arrangement of positions. Soldiers could sleep wherever they wanted. Fortunately, there was a washing area in the rest area, so you could take a good shower before going to bed.

The soldiers from the same squad gathered around Xia Ruize and Liu Wennian involuntarily. Liu Wennian looked at Xia Ruize and found that Xia Ruize was also staring at him, so he had to persuade him:

“Since you have time to rest, take the opportunity to rest well. You don’t know when you will be able to rest next time, so don’t dwell on the past.”

The experienced soldiers knew the value of rest time during a mission, so they put aside all distractions and fell asleep quickly. The new recruits were restless, but lying alone in the narrow sleeping box, they turned over and over a few times and fell asleep unknowingly.

After taking a shower, Xia Ruize and Cheng Huaiqian squeezed into the same sleeping box. They could smell each other’s scent and soon fell into a deep sleep peacefully.

Unfortunately, before they could rest for three hours, a shrill alarm sounded throughout the rest area, along with the captain’s announcement:

“Alert! insects are attacking the camp! All soldiers, board your mechas immediately! Prepare to fight!”

The soldiers who switched from sleeping to awake state in an instant rushed out of the rest area. The logistics personnel were opening the door to the mecha maintenance area. Rows of mechas that had been maintained were neatly arranged waiting for users to board.

What attracted people’s attention even more was the protective shield around the camp. It had been transformed from a life-sealing shield with no killing power to an electromagnetic shield with offensive power. The electromagnetic light was so bright that black smoke came out of the giant insects that rushed onto the shield.

“Hurry up!”

At the captain’s urging voice, Xia Ruize and Cheng Huaiqian withdrew their gazes, found their respective mechas and rushed over.

While running, he manipulated the mecha’s hatch to open, took off, and used the mecha’s metal arm to jump directly into the hatch. Before the hatch was completely closed, the mecha had already started up and walked out of the maintenance area.

As the well-prepared warriors arrived at their respective defensive positions, the camp’s protective shield once again transformed into a life-sealing shield mainly for defense, and the soldiers were finally able to see the situation outside the camp clearly.

Xia Ruize and Cheng Huaiqian stood together, followed by Liu Wennian and Gao Hexuan. This time, the camp was still surrounded by giant yellow-colored insects, but their number was not as terrifying as before, only about three hundred.

The captain explained why he did not use high-powered weapons to bomb directly, but instead called on the soldiers to fight in person:

“There aren’t many insects besieging the camp this time, so this is a good opportunity for you to improve your combat experience. We have re-divided everyone into fifteen teams. Each team only needs to deal with about twenty insects. I believe you can handle it well.”

After saying that, lasers were fired outward from all around the base, forcibly dividing the area around the base into fifteen areas, with more or less twenty insects in each area.

Amid the soldiers’ surprised expressions, the captain said:

“In one minute, the shield in front of you will be closed. Good luck!”

“Each of you check to see if the flight parts are loaded. If not, just fly. It should be noted that the flight parts are difficult to control, so you must master the balance.

I will send you the target map later. Two people against one bug. We have the advantage in numbers, so it won’t be difficult to solve. Remember to cover each other.”

Liu Wennian’s voice rang out in the team channel. Because the number of casualties was not large, their team still had the original members. Everyone had a tacit understanding with each other. After listening to Liu Wennian’s battle instructions, they all turned their attention to Xia Ruize.

Xia Ruize said in a relaxed tone, “With your back to the camp, safety shouldn’t be a big problem. Be careful not to stray too far from the camp.”

Upon hearing Xia Ruize’s tone, even though the battle had not yet begun, the soldiers felt a lot more relaxed. They were really afraid of hearing Xia Ruize say something “not so good” because that would mean their situation would really be bad.

When the minute was almost up, a new life-sealing shield appeared behind the soldiers, protecting the camp. When the minute was up, the shield in front of the mecha disappeared on time.

Almost at the same time, Liu Wennian, Xia Ruize, Cheng Huaiqian and a dozen experienced soldiers controlled the mechas and rushed out, and the insects even became their stepping stones.