Chapter 139: Beginning the Rescue (2)

“Fantastic, truly fantastic!” The Arrow Beast excitedly stood up, pacing back and forth on the floor. “Thank you so much. My kin can finally be saved.”

“First, tell me about your general situation so I can come up with a rescue plan. Also, can you contact the rest of your kin?” Xiao Yu asked, finding the Arrow Beast, which resembled a large cat, rather amusing.

The Arrow Beast stopped pacing and sat down on the floor again. “I can contact my kin at any time, and our communication cannot be detected by the bugs. Well… here’s the general situation. About two months ago, a massive meteor shower visited our planet. At that time, we were thrilled because it had been ages since our planet experienced a meteor shower.”

“This meteor shower was the largest in scale ever recorded in our history.”

“To celebrate such a rare and beautiful event, we even held a celebration, hoping to use the occasion to dispel some of the sorrow caused by losing our kin.” At this point, the Arrow Beast’s tone grew somber.

Xiao Yu sighed quietly, and his thoughts involuntarily drifted to the brave Arrow Beasts who had once fought alongside him.

Unable to break free from the control of the White Dwarf Alien Beast’s body, they chose to communicate with Xiao Yu spiritually and assist him in destroying their own bodies.

“Without a doubt, your kin were truly remarkable beings,” Xiao Yu said with a tinge of sadness.

The Arrow Beast adjusted its mood and continued, “Thank you for the compliment. After the celebration, we quickly realized that this meteor shower wasn’t an ordinary one. Following the meteor shower, our planet was suddenly overrun by tens of millions of bugs. At first, we didn’t think much of it because these bugs weren’t particularly powerful—weak, even. Initially, we underestimated the situation and didn’t take it seriously.”

“But soon, we realized we were wrong. These bugs weren’t strong individually, but their numbers… they were overwhelming! Under the onslaught of this endless sea of bugs, our kin began to suffer casualties. During that conflict, my grandfather sacrificed himself to protect me so I could escape…”

The juvenile Arrow Beast recounted this with sorrow.

“Left with no choice, my kin scattered and sought hiding places across our home planet. Fortunately, our planet has plenty of places to hide. However, over the past month, as the number of bugs has grown, my kin have been increasingly discovered…”

“Once we’re found, we’re essentially doomed. We don’t dare to fly because it only attracts more attacks. On the ground, there’s no way to escape—we’re surrounded by bugs everywhere.”

Xiao Yu could empathize deeply with this. The Swarm was simply too numerous.

“How many of your kin are left?” Xiao Yu asked.

“About… well, a little over 20,000. Over this time, we’ve lost nearly 3,000 of our kin,” the Arrow Beast replied.

“Alright,” Xiao Yu said. “Contact your kin and have them share their hiding locations with you. I’ll pilot my spaceships to rescue them one by one. Once all your kin are safe, we’ll figure out how to eliminate the bugs on the planet.”

“Thank you so much,” the Arrow Beast quickly replied. “The nearest kin to us is in the Moer Mountain region, roughly in that direction…”

Through the porthole, the Arrow Beast pointed with its forepaw.

“Understood,” Xiao Yu replied. “I’ll take you to a safe place first. My spaceships will handle the rescue of your kin.”

“You… you’re a true hero,” the Arrow Beast said gratefully. After a moment’s hesitation, as though making a decision, it added, “My name… is Lorna.”

“Got it,” Xiao Yu replied simply.

Thanks to the translator device, Xiao Yu could understand the Arrow Beasts’ language and grasp the meanings behind their words. However, he wasn’t sure if the name “Lorna” carried any additional significance. He simply transliterated it based on its pronunciation, using the closest matching term: “Lorna.”

“Then, what should I call you?” Lorna asked.

“Uh?” Xiao Yu was momentarily taken aback. After thinking for a while, he asked, “How old are you— I mean, how long have you been alive?”

“Well… around 8,000 years,” Lorna replied.

The Arrow Beasts’ method of timekeeping was different from that of Earth. Translating the duration Lorna mentioned into Earth terms, it amounted to over 8,000 years.

“I see. That makes you a bit younger than me,” Xiao Yu replied. “You can just call me Big Brother Xiao.”

“Big Brother… Xiao?” Lorna repeated the name, nodded, and asked, “Are you remotely piloting this spaceship? If so, where is your body? What do you look like?”

“I don’t have a body anymore,” Xiao Yu answered. “I merged my soul with a computer. As for my former appearance… It was like this.”

While speaking, Xiao Yu used the 3D projection device to display his image in the cabin.

In truth, if Lorna hadn’t brought up the question, Xiao Yu might have completely forgotten what he used to look like. Having spent so long in this state, he had nearly lost all memory of once having a physical body.

Looking at the slightly unfamiliar young man before him, Xiao Yu felt a surge of emotion.

“Big Brother Xiao, you look so strange,” Lorna remarked after a glance, her tone somewhat peculiar.

“Strange? I think you look strange,” Xiao Yu replied with a chuckle.

“Our Arrow Beast race can change our appearance at will. Tell me what you think looks good, and I’ll transform into it for you,” Lorna said, lying on the floor of the cabin. She wearily rolled over and looked at Xiao Yu’s hologram with pleading eyes. “Big Brother Xiao, you must save my kin.”

“Don’t worry,” Xiao Yu reassured her. “I’ve already devised a thorough plan. Your kin will be safe.”

Xiao Yu had already crafted a comprehensive rescue strategy.

The plan was to first modify the City-Class spaceship, Handan, to create a suitable habitat for the Arrow Beasts. Then, he would deploy 10,000 Village-Class spaceships and 1,000 Town-Class spaceships on Planet One to carry out the rescue operation.

After safely transferring all the Arrow Beasts to the Handan, the next step would be to eliminate all the Swarm members in space. Once that was done, he would focus on developing combat robots for planetary operations, producing millions or even tens of millions of robots to be sent to Planet One to eradicate the Swarm there.

Based on the Arrow Beasts’ reduced size after transformation, the Handan could easily accommodate all 20,000 of them. As a race belonging to the Alien Beast Civilization, even juvenile Arrow Beasts were incredibly robust and required minimal life support. They could survive for years without food, making the modifications to the Handan feasible in a short time.

With his plan set, Xiao Yu began sniping the Swarm still pouring in from deep space while reallocating the 10,000 Village and Town-Class spaceships for a large-scale rescue operation.

Learning from the first rescue’s mistakes, Xiao Yu meticulously planned this operation. Each squadron consisted of one Town-Class spaceship and seven to ten Village-Class spaceships, acting as a unit. Upon reaching an Arrow Beast’s hiding place, the squadron would first launch an assault to clear out the nearby Swarm units before bringing the Arrow Beast out of hiding.

This approach minimized the chances of unexpected incidents.

Lorna was the first Arrow Beast Xiao Yu rescued. Over the next few days, Xiao Yu’s efforts yielded impressive results, with over 2,000 Arrow Beasts rescued.

Most of the rescued Arrow Beasts were juveniles, with a smaller number of elderly individuals. According to the Arrow Beasts, at the start of the conflict, many elderly Arrow Beasts sacrificed themselves to protect the juveniles, preserving the race’s potential for future growth.

This phenomenon deeply moved Xiao Yu. “This is a selfless and sacrificial Alien Beast Civilization. No wonder they haven’t devolved into a Predator Civilization despite being part of the Alien Beast Civilization type. If they were a Predator Civilization, I’d have no choice but to eliminate them.”

Xiao Yu harbored no goodwill toward Predator Civilizations. After all, Earth was very likely destroyed by one.

As more Arrow Beasts were rescued, the number of Swarm members emerging from deep space steadily decreased. After four days of rescue operations, the incoming Swarm had dropped to fewer than 1,000 per hour.

With this shift, Xiao Yu reallocated his forces. Apart from the tens of thousands of spaceships assigned to escort and guard the Province-Class and City-Class ships or to patrol space to hunt down stragglers, all remaining Village and Town-Class spaceships joined the search-and-rescue effort.

On Planet One, Xiao Yu’s power reached unprecedented heights.

The planet was now teeming with spaceships—tens of thousands of them engaged in fierce battles against millions of Swarm members.