Chapter 146: Decisive Battle! Decisive Battle! (3)

Facts proved that holding a defensive position resulted in far fewer losses than executing a wedge-shaped breakout. When maintaining a circular formation and fighting in place for ten hours, this ten-thousand-strong unit had only lost two thousand robots while eliminating nearly five hundred thousand Swarm.

Yet, during the forty-minute breakout from the encirclement of five hundred thousand Swarm, the group of a thousand robots lost around five hundred machines. This outcome pained Xiao Yu somewhat.

Forty minutes later, the land combat robots arrived beneath the base’s high walls, with countless Swarm bugs still in hot pursuit. Under these circumstances, the robots couldn’t directly enter the base. But Xiao Yu had anticipated this scenario. As over 7,500 robots deployed defensively with their backs to the wall, the kinetic weapons, laser cannons, particle cannons, energy cannons, and other armaments mounted atop the walls unleashed a carpet of suppressive fire.

The Swarm seemed to understand that a base protected by high walls was not to be trifled with. After thirty minutes of continuous assault—leaving behind heaps of corpses—they silently withdrew into the deep jungle.

Once the Swarm had retreated, the robots successfully entered the base. Immediately, tens of thousands of repair robots, carrying ample spare parts and fuel, rushed in to conduct emergency repairs.

During this time, out of the total one thousand teams of ten-thousand units, more than fifty returned to the base for full recovery.

“Let’s run the numbers. Hmm… after ten hours of battle, ten million robots have eliminated nearly two hundred million bugs. The total robot losses are close to two million. The casualty ratio is about 1:100—that’s quite good.”

Overall, Xiao Yu was rather satisfied with these results. After all, although the average combat strength of a robot was only twenty times that of a Swarm bug, Xiao Yu managed to inflict a hundredfold casualty rate with only that twentyfold advantage.

Above, starships continued to descend from the sky, transporting ample supplies to the bases and delivering a fresh batch of newly produced land combat robots.

The latest production batch numbered around one hundred thousand units—this was the total output of Xiao Yu’s factories for the day. With an abundance of Swarm bodies as raw material and both moon-based manufacturing facilities operating at full capacity, the daily output had stabilized at the hundred-thousand mark.

In other words, from this point on, Xiao Yu’s forces on Planet One would receive a daily reinforcement of one hundred thousand robots, while the Swarm’s numbers continued to dwindle. After all, the Swarm Queen had already left the Aquila Three system and could no longer provide reinforcements.

Given this dynamic—his strength growing while the enemy’s declined—Xiao Yu’s eventual victory was merely a matter of time.

These one hundred thousand newly constructed robots were allocated to the most heavily damaged teams. Each received a few hundred reinforcements.

Once repairs and reorganization were complete, the unit of ten thousand—now with only eight thousand functional land combat robots and newly assigned repair bots—once again set off on their mission.

Meanwhile, in the Arrow Beast’s temporary refuge aboard the Handan, the panda-like Lorna was still pleading earnestly with Xiao Yu’s projected figure. “Brother Xiao, please let us go! We promise to obey your orders and won’t run off on our own.”

Xiao Yu reached out with a virtual hand, gently stroking the soft fur on Lorna’s panda-shaped form. “It’s not that I won’t let you go. The battlefield is simply too dangerous. Although your Arrow Beast race has formidable combat strength, when faced with billions of Swarm bugs, your efforts would have little impact. I made a promise to your parents—to take good care of you. If anything were to happen to you, how could I face them?”

“They were all great warriors who fought alongside me against the White Dwarf Alien Beast and willingly chose death. Before dying, they entrusted you to me. You’re like my little brothers and sisters—how could I bear to send you into danger?”

Perhaps thinking of her departed parents, tears began to well up in Lorna’s eyes, her voice choked with emotion. “Brother Xiao…”

“There, there, don’t cry,” Xiao Yu comforted her. “How about this—I’ll let you watch the live battle footage. Just cheer us on from here for now. Hmm… when the number of Swarm drops below ten million, I’ll let you join the fight.”

Lorna suddenly looked up, her eyes shining with joy. “Really?”

Xiao Yu smiled. “Of course. Now go and watch the live feed.”

“Yay!” Lorna cheered and ran out excitedly.

“If converted to human age, she’s only sixteen… truly a child at heart.” Watching Lorna’s happiness, Xiao Yu felt a warm tenderness and couldn’t help but recall the pleasant memories of his own childhood.

Through the monitor, Xiao Yu saw that after Lorna announced the news to her kin, the Arrow Beasts burst into cheers.

Aboard the Handan, excitement filled the air. On Planet One, the brutal war continued unabated.

The robots maneuvered through the jungle, engaged in fierce battles with the Swarm. Every moment, thousands of bugs died. Every moment, land combat robots were damaged and sent for repair.

The forest was vast. When morning broke over the eastern forests, the other side remained cloaked in night. Rain clouds had lifted over one area, allowing sunlight to pour in, while another remained engulfed in thunderstorms.

This single forest encompassed dozens of different environmental zones.

On the first day of the campaign, Xiao Yu’s land combat robots suffered a casualty rate of about 20%. But by the second day, that figure dropped to 18%.

The first five days of the campaign, as planned by Xiao Yu, constituted the “defensive” phase. In this stage, robot units mostly held their ground and did not take the initiative. The jungle was simply too dense with Swarm—any movement would immediately draw a counterattack.

After five days, Xiao Yu’s robot army had lost nearly half its original force. From the initial ten million robots, only a little over five million remained. But compared to that, the Swarm’s losses were far more devastating.

Among the billion Swarm initially occupying the jungle, only about four hundred million remained. At this point, when Xiao Yu deployed his ten-thousand-strong teams, some of them were no longer being encircled. It was then that Xiao Yu began directing those units to proactively seek out and eliminate the Swarm.

This marked the second phase of the campaign—the “balance phase.” In this phase, both Xiao Yu and the Swarm alternated between offense and defense, locked in a strategic stalemate.

The second phase lasted ten days. During that time, Xiao Yu lost another two million robots. However, his factories produced an additional one million units, bringing his total robot force to four million. The Swarm, on the other hand, had been reduced to just over one hundred million.

The war then entered the third phase. For the first time, Xiao Yu’s robot count stopped declining. With daily reinforcements of one hundred thousand from the satellite factories, the robot population began to rise again. Meanwhile, the Swarm’s rate of attrition accelerated.

During this period, Xiao Yu also established several thousand new large-scale robot manufacturing plants on the satellite factories, supported by tens of thousands of mining outposts and raw material processing facilities.

Within the next month, Xiao Yu’s daily robot production was expected to rise to five hundred thousand units.

In this third phase, Xiao Yu’s tactics once again evolved. The war had shifted from a defensive phase to a balanced phase, and now entered the phase of encirclement and eradication.

At this point, it was rare to find Swarm forces numbering over a million. Most were scattered in groups of a few thousand to tens of thousands. Xiao Yu’s multi-million-strong robot army now initiated a thorough search of the jungle. The pre-installed micro-cameras on the trees played a crucial role. Under this vast surveillance network, any Swarm presence—their location and numbers—was instantly known to Xiao Yu. He could then decide which team to dispatch and how many troops to allocate.

Now, the roles had reversed—Xiao Yu was on the offensive, and the Swarm were defending.

The third phase lasted about twenty days. Afterward, the Swarm’s numbers dropped once more. It was estimated that fewer than ten million bugs remained in the jungle.

The fourth phase, which Xiao Yu dubbed the “cleanup phase,” had begun. During this stage, working with the micro-camera network, Xiao Yu would direct his robot units in a sweeping operation. Any Swarm that had managed to survive would be located and exterminated.

“In the cleanup phase, the Arrow Beasts’ powerful individual combat skills will be highly useful. Plus, with so many robots all around, they likely won’t face much danger. Even if they do, help will arrive quickly. So… very well. Lorna, it’s your turn—and your people’s—to take the stage.”

As he made this decision, Xiao Yu informed Lorna.

The Handan erupted in jubilant cheers.

“Wipe out the Swarm!”

“Destroy those invaders!”

“Little Weis, let’s compete again—whoever kills more bugs gets to be the big brother, okay?”