Chapter 1 Material Shortages

"Material shortages? You're telling me we have material shortages at a time like this?!"

It was the first time Lu Xiao Yao had seen Leng Youyou so ferocious.

As a medical student two years their senior, Leng Youyou had been stationed at the Qilan Star base ever since she joined the Sixth Legion. Lu Xiao Yao couldn't remember Leng Youyou ever losing her composure like this.

"We don't have enough repair fluid, what does that mean? So many injured are waiting! So many need to enter the recuperation chambers and wait for the repair fluid, and some are barely clinging to life. What do you mean by saying this now?!"

Leng Youyou, beside herself, grabbed the logistics officer by the collar. She knew she shouldn't be venting her anger on these logistics personnel; it wasn't their fault. But right now, she couldn't control herself!

The shattered bodies of the soldiers before her, only kept alive by stimulants, would have been corpses already if not for that. Now they could rely on that last breath to enter the repair chambers and have their bodies reconstructed.

How could she accept it when she learned there wasn't enough?

Accept that these injured would die before her eyes?

Accept that she had put so much effort into piecing their broken bodies and bones back together, only for them to die with complete corpses?

"This batch of repair fluid was supposed to arrive with the supply starship, but right now, the outside is blocked, and the supplies haven't been delivered..."

The Qilan Star garrison logistics officer was also sweating profusely. He was as anxious as could be about the current situation. And the viewers watching from Lu Xiao Yao's perspective were almost as anxious and irritated—

[Damn it! This is unacceptable! Where are the supplies?! If the supply starship isn't here, where's the support team? Is there any hope?]

[Damn it, the Zerg appeared so suddenly, as fast as the wind and lightning. Why are we and the resource teams so slow?!]

[@Imperial Military Department, we demand an explanation!]

[@Imperial Military Department, what are you doing? It's been so long, and you haven't said a word?]

For a time, a group of Imperial netizens in the Federation's live broadcast room were frantically dissing the Imperial Military Department, and some even @'ed the royal family. But it was as if everyone above was dead; no one responded.

"Where exactly is the starship transporting the supplies? Is there any way we can get them back?" The other party had no way to answer Leng Youyou's question.

According to the current situation, unless the reinforcements outside directly seize back a section of airspace, the starship transporting the supplies could only be escorted in by other battle cruisers or mecha.

Or, the people inside could charge out, but that was a price they couldn't afford right now...

And Mingmei and Mu Chen had become the most dazzling two people in the mecha battles since they entered the field. Even though they were both rookies, their commanding officer repeatedly emphasized not to rush to the front, fearing the two recruits would get hurt.

But when the fighting really started, Mingmei and Mu Chen were accidentally caught up in the front lines of the battlefield.

In the area where they were located, another piece of the aerial defense plate was shattered. Mingmei and Mu Chen couldn't wait for other reinforcements and had to go directly to the top.

"Achen, help me suppress."

Mingmei's Brocade Robe mecha was mainly for stealth and close combat, while Mu Chen's Plain Silk was better at long-range firepower. The two coordinated, one hiding on the edge of the breach, and the other directly using firepower to suppress the swarming Zerg.

They even seemed to have created a vacuum zone outside the crack. Even the Zerg outside gradually gave up on this area where a breakthrough had clearly appeared.

But seeing this, Mingmei and Mu Chen's expressions became even more serious.

There should be quite a few Zerg generals in this Zerg team. Otherwise, given the size of Qilan Star and the number of Zerg spread all over the planet, either Mingmei and the others happened to be near a Zerg general commanding the area near this crack.

Or, many Zerg generals were commanding separate blocks, avoiding areas with high firepower and concentrating on breaking through the weakest defensive areas.

"Where's the fiercest fighting right now?"

Mingmei's Brocade Robe watched the state of the crack while flying towards Plain Silk to meet up with Mu Chen.

"At the south pole, where we flew from earlier."

Mu Chen reported their situation to the command on the ground and confirmed the area where the fighting was most intense. Upon inquiring, it was still the direction they had flown away from earlier.

"What about here?"

Mingmei and Mu Chen's two mecha stood outside this crack like two killing gods, and the peeping sensation coming from outside the damaged defensive crack made them both certain that there were Zerg staring at them on the other side.

Once they left, countless Zerg would rush into this crack again. But if they didn't leave, the two of them would be pointlessly stuck here, just like the Sixth Legion's reinforcements.

For the first time, Hu Mingli was so angry that he started killing crazily on the border of the Sixth Legion.

It was obvious that this group of Zerg wanted to hold up Hu Mingli and their main force, not allowing them to send a large number of troops and supplies to rescue Qilan Star!

Jian Yunhe followed their team to reinforce Qilan Star. Along the way, Jian Yunhe and her senior colleague next to her saw various messages on the Star Network through their optical brains, including Lu Xiao Yao's live broadcast.

Especially seeing those comrades lying in the medical bays and those struggling outside, Jian Yunhe could already hear some of the seniors cursing and resenting.

"What does the Empire mean by this? Are they out of their minds?!"

"What is this?!"

"No reinforcements, no supplies. If it weren't for the Major General holding them back in front, how could we have sneaked away to come here?"

Some of the more hot-tempered soldiers couldn't help but curse, from the emperor to the cabinet, and even the finance minister who often dealt with them, Jian Yunhe's grandfather, was cursed.

According to Jian Yunhe's temperament, she should have directly cursed back, but now she was distraught.

The Empire's upper echelons' silence on this incident made her smell a hint of danger. She even felt that their Jian family seemed to have unintentionally helped the evildoers.

Jian Yunhe remembered that many days ago, she had sent back some of the intriguing plots in Yan Hui's latest game.

She had even played this game many times.

Among them, regarding the identity of the character O'Neill, Jian Yunhe had only confirmed it after playing many times: the other party was a human-Zerg hybrid.

After reaching this conclusion, Jian Yunhe summarized and analyzed the mixed-blood matters in the game about the outer star sea. Finally, when she reported to her grandfather, she even mentioned those hidden Zerg who had once been hidden in the Empire.

"Grandpa, do you think it's really possible for humans and Zerg to combine and produce offspring?"

Whether naturally occurring or through some genetic technology, Jian Yunhe shuddered at the thought of this flash of inspiration.

Of course, this matter received her grandfather's attention. However, Elder Jian also told Jian Yunhe to remain silent about it. At least, until Elder Jian had found out something, she could not show any interest or concern about this point.

And yesterday, when Elder Jian video-called her, he asked an unclear question: "Lianlian thinks, regarding the matter of mixed-bloods, how much does the Sixth Legion—know?"