Chapter 1624 - 523: Even a Losing Insect Swarm Has Value
Chapter 1624: Chapter 523: Even a Losing Insect Swarm Has Value
"The Swarm has reemerged! The once calamitous Insect Swarm has reappeared in the Starry Sky, attacking dozens of civilizations simultaneously, believed to be directed by someone behind the scenes! It’s yet another crime by the God believers!"
"The God believers are releasing dangerous species outside the battlefield, attacking numerous civilizations; what is their intent?"
"The Insect Swarm is extremely dangerous, the top ten ways to handle encounters with the Swarm!"
"..."
In an instant, the news of the Swarm’s reappearance swept across the entire Starry Sky.
Simultaneously launching massive attacks on dozens of civilizations is entirely incomparable to the minor skirmishes on the colonization stars of the Three Great Civilizations before.
The latter were merely internal matters of some planets, just some small-scale attacks, resulting in a few deaths.
Such occurrences were hardly newsworthy in the Starry Sky.
At most, it was surprising because it involved planets of the Three Great Civilizations and was perpetrated by the rarely seen Insect Swarm.
But this time, it’s truly a fleet-level war, with attacks targeting dozens of civilizations at once.
Although all were eventually repelled, because the attacked civilizations varied in levels, the losses they suffered also varied.
A large number of Starry Sky People who personally experienced the attacks shared their insights online, sparking even more discussions among Starry Sky People, with the buzz even surpassing that of the past Fan Mao.
Watching all sorts of news swept by the keyword "Insect Swarm" online, the Emperor of Carli set down the tablet in his hand, looked up at the military projection in front of him, and asked in a deep voice:
"General Ximu, what are your thoughts on the current situation with the Swarm?
Could they pose a threat to my Carli Empire?"
"Your Majesty, I believe that these Swarms can be quite troublesome, but they won’t pose a significant threat."
The virtual projection immediately responded; he was the fleet commander who recently engaged in warfare with the Swarm, thus holding a special authority to comment on this.
"Since General Ximu doesn’t think there’s a threat, I am relieved.
But trouble?
I would like to know the reason, you personally fought those Swarms, and please share your understanding of them."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
The virtual projection agreed respectfully, then his face turned solemn, and he said slowly:
"Purely from a warfare perspective, these Insect Clan members are not significantly threatening.
Besides being numerous and hard to kill, these Insect Clan members lack the abilities for Starry Sky warfare and fleet-essential long-range firepower, and they have the weakness of the Mother Insect.
As long as we handle them properly, any of our fleets can easily annihilate them.
But the trouble, as I mentioned, stems from the nature of these Insect Clan members themselves.
According to our Mage’s research on these Insect Clan members, it seems they have evolved differently compared to the intelligence from the Radiant Civilization.
During an attack, they can attach a peculiar toxin to wounded individuals, which can diminish the magic power limit of Transcendents, even causing the rank of Transcendents to regress.
Moreover, upon death, they quickly turn into a pool of Blood Flesh with similar toxins, which is extremely hard to clean.
This Blood Flesh also possesses certain corrosive properties, capable of corroding the warship’s hull.
Without a doubt, these Insect Clan members are pure war machines.
Killing these Insect Clan members results in no tangible gain, and disposing of them costs us considerably.
This information is verified through post-war research, absolutely free of external interference, real and reliable.
In this war, quite a few Mages have been tainted by those toxins, and the remaining Blood Flesh took us quite an effort to clean up..."
"Astonishing that such creatures exist in the world, truly..."
Listening further, Emperor of Carli increasingly sighed, already understanding the general’s implication.
If post-battle there were no profits, that could still be tolerated.
After all, war is for the safety of one’s civilization; spoils of war are good, but having none is normal too.
Yet now these Insect Swarms not only bring no gain, but instead leave behind a bunch of toxic Blood Flesh that must be dealt with and even weaken the power of their civilization’s Transcendents.
The cost is indeed too high...
"If so, it indeed is troublesome.
After killing them, there’s no value left, only a mess to upset us, making each battle an unprofitable affair...
In this way, proactively cleaning them up is out of the question..."
The Emperor of Carli immediately dismissed this possibility.
If it could be resolved once and for all, that would be different. As the master of a civilization governing a star system, he still has the courage to bear the cost of resolving such a calamity.
But presently, the Starry Sky harbors more than just this batch of Swarms. Even if he bears the cost to deal with them, another Swarm will emerge.
It’s like an uncleaned, filthy communal toilet in a dormitory.
Cleaning it would make one dirty, and once others discovered it was them who couldn’t tolerate the filth first, they’d expect them to always take action when it accumulated.
After all, everyone would know they will inevitably clean it up; hence, why would they do it?
Now, these attacked civilizations are like the dorm residents.
Even though they could unite with all affected civilizations and impose a collective rule on the "dormitory" to address this, that is something for later.