The war between the Empire and the Machines is far from over.

And the passage of time is much faster than anyone imagined.

Two months passed in the blink of an eye.

Half a year has passed since the war began, and half a year has passed since Chen Ming lost contact.

Many people are looking forward to the end of the war, and many people are also looking forward to Chen Ming's return.

The scarlet infection zone that appeared in the normal universe did not expand further, but research on it did not go further. No one knew what Chen Ming was doing in it, and no one dared to pursue the truth too much, which might lead to tragic consequences.

And at the same time.

In the past two months, the war on the front line has truly become a quagmire that has dragged both the Empire and the Machines into it.

The entire front, or rather the entire front line that enveloped the empire, no longer appeared smooth as before, but became increasingly crisscrossed and chaotic.

The Empire's fleet is already able to appear three or four star fields away from the Empire's homeland and engage in battle with the Mechanical fleet.

And there may be traces of mechanical fleets in the third and fourth outer rings of the empire.

The entire territory of the empire is like a thorny durian, and the thorns on the durian will become sharper in the future.

This is not a good thing.

The chaotic front lines led to an increasing frequency of battles during the war.

While constantly causing destruction to the colonies that were originally behind the front lines, it was also causing great negative impact on the imperial army.

Countless soldiers are suffering from the pain caused by long-term high concentration of mental power.

Although at least they don't have to fight and die on the front lines, this is the belief that has always kept the soldiers of the Imperial Army going.

But this was the belief that the soldiers had when the neuron battleships were fully equipped.

As the war continues, this belief is being shaken.

Piloting the ship via neural links from the safety of the rear is not without risk.

Today, the interlaced battle lines have left some military bases exposed. Some time ago, a considerable number of soldiers who were driving spaceships through neural networks were attacked by the invading mechanical fleet.

There are also cases where long-term driving of warships has led to neurological diseases or even sudden death.

No matter how good the doctors are, they cannot change the situation that soldiers need to establish neural connections for a long time to participate in the war, and therefore the situation of getting sick, injured or dying during the connection process cannot be changed.

And this is even more random than dying on the front lines.

No one knows whether it will be their turn next.

Many people have forgotten the horror of real war, and they only see that they may die at any time even in a safe place.

War weariness has already set in among some less elite troops.

Even though everyone knew that the Machines would definitely turn their knives against humans after completely destroying the Empire's military power , everyone still had a sense of luck before the disaster struck.

The empire could only continue to suppress this situation through propaganda and various means within the army.

It can be said that the empire has almost lost half of its wealth in the war, in every sense of the word.

This war, which takes place on or near the homeland, does not benefit the empire in any way, but it is bound to continue.

In addition to the reasons for the survival of the empire itself, of course, there is also the reason of the Omega core of the mechanical race.

The Empire can be sure that the Omega Core must be somewhere close to the Empire.

Because the mechanical race is unprecedentedly united.

The mechanical race's offensive in the early stages of the war was swift and fierce, causing great losses to the empire.

But according to the analysis of military personnel from all parties later.

At that time, the mechanical clans fought each other. The mechanical clans from different regions of the universe were separated from each other and did not interfere with each other. They only cared about the direction they were responsible for.

The mechanical clusters would not cooperate with each other at all, which gave the original empire an opportunity to fight back.

And now the mechanical race has been integrated into a collective.

All mechanical races tend to interact with mechanical races in other places when they are active.

This is also the reason why the Minister of Psionic Power easily believed what Glory said about the Omega Core.

Because its existence can explain it all.

It can also give the empire hope.

The goal of the mechanical race has always been to destroy all humanoid creatures. This is an endless hatred that cannot be stopped by any means.

They will not stop until the Omega Core is destroyed or captured.

The war will continue and will continue.

The empire will also continue to suffer the pain of war.

However, the mechanical race did not have an easy time in this war either.

Their losses were even more severe, and the losses that could be counted alone were several times higher than those of the Empire.

Because the Empire's Zerg fleet operating in the star field occupied by the Mechanoids was not counted in the losses at all.

The Zerg losses were hardly losses at all.

The enemies the Mechanicals have to face are far more troublesome and disgusting than those the Empire has to face.

If they were also a complete civilization, they would have collapsed long ago.

Unfortunately, this is not the case.

Their Omega core still controls everything. They don't feel fear or any negative emotions.

The problems they have to face are far easier than those faced by the Empire.

The Empire and the Machines each have their own difficulties to face.

This ultimately led to the war changing from one-sided suppression to the current evenly matched situation.

Now no one knows what the outcome of the war will be.

But there is always hope for humanity.

As long as the Omega Core can be found and solved, the Mechanical Clan will once again become a mess.

The war affects every aspect of the empire. Baiquan, who is still on the front line of the war, can feel it clearly.

Baiquan is still in a galaxy in the Galo star field close to the direction of the empire.

For half a year, the defense line on the side he was responsible for had remained standing at the border of the outer second ring road.

The Mechanical Clan has tried several times in the past to take on the tough challenge of Baiquan, but all of them have failed without exception.

The mechanical clan will no longer focus their main attack direction here.

The reason they attacked here in the beginning was simply because this was Chen Ming's base in the empire, and since Galo, as the base, had already been occupied, there was no need to continue to increase investment in this direction.

But even so, the war never stopped here.

At this time, Baiquan had just returned to his post from a short rest. He took over the responsibility of commanding the front battlefield from his adjutant and continued to put his brain into the meat grinder.

His face looked haggard, and he looked much thinner than before.

It seemed that he had lost all the vigor and ambition he had when he was young and successful, and was only exhausted from being in war for a long time.

But his eyes were still sharp.

A call came into the terminal that I had just put aside.

Wu An picked up the terminal, saw that it was a call from Wu An, and answered it directly.

Wu An's voice rang out on the phone: "We have a problem here. If Chen Ming's colony manager does not contact you or the Empire later, you must prepare for the worst."

The call was hung up immediately.

Bai Quan frowned subconsciously. He had no idea what this meant, but the determination in the words gave him a very bad feeling.

It seems like something worse than a machine invasion is about to happen.

He immediately notified his adjutant to maintain the neural link for about an hour and called back. However, Wu An's terminal had been turned off by then.

Bai Quan could only immediately call the Extraordinary Research Institute, but the call was not connected again.

At this time, Bai Quan's worries could no longer be suppressed. He could only try to call Chen Ming a few times, but just like before, the call could not be connected.

Baiquan even heard from people at the headquarters that the star gate leading to the origin had been closed.

Finally, it was Baiquan who received the news from the Minister of Psychic Powers that he had also received similar news, but it was more brief.

"The Queen has awakened."

In Chen Ming’s colony on the planet Gaia.

The colonial management, including Wu An and Lu Kang, were gathered in a conference room. Everyone looked nervously at the projection screen in the conference room playing images transmitted back from somewhere in the universe.

The content of the picture is a strangely shaped star gate being put back into operation.

Although Wu An had only recently arrived at Chen Ming's colony, he knew very well what the biggest trouble Chen Ming's colony would face.

He confirmed with Huihuang once again: "Is it really coming?"

Huihuang once again gave a positive answer: "It has been confirmed that the survivors' stargate in the ZY-0 system has been reactivated. I have asked the monitoring personnel to evacuate. The Colossus-class weapon is on the way and is expected to arrive within 20 minutes."

Someone asked, "Does it take a Colossus to destroy that particular stargate?"

"Yes, currently no known means of attack can damage the star gate. The star gate is protected by psychic energy."

"Not only his psychic power, but also the psychic power from the queen."

"Everyone here, none of the weapons we have can destroy it. Only the Colossus has not tried yet."

"That should be enough time for the Colossus to arrive before the stargate is fully activated."

"Can it be destroyed?"

"We only have 'Neutron Annihilation' in our hands, but without 'Earth-shattering Star', it might not be enough."

"This is really... the worst possible situation."

The war situation on the Empire's side has been dragged on for a long time, and any external interference may cause the balance of the war to tilt towards either side.

When the source of external interference comes from the survivors who have hatred towards humans and their queen, everyone can see which side the balance will tilt towards.

No one expected that the Queen would wake up so quickly, and exactly during the time when Chen Ming lost contact.

So now, everyone can only pin their hopes on the Colossus being able to destroy the Star Gate.

The Colossus reached its destination in less time than expected.

Arrived in front of the star gate.

The umbrella-shaped stargate frame is recharging, and it will soon be completely connected with the survivors in the unique dimension created by the Shining Civilization.

Fortunately, there is still time.

The Colossus, which originally belonged to the mechanical family, is adjusting the three ring structures in its structure to the appropriate positions to activate its Colossus-class weapons.

The Colossus' engine is running at overload with the brilliant call upon Chen Ming's psychic energy, and countless neutrons are being stimulated to the limit.

At the moment when the energy of the Colossus was completely accumulated, a torrent of neutrons that could be seen with the naked eye and was enough to completely cleanse the planet penetrated into the space equipment which was only twenty or so kilometers away.

The neutron flood is enough to cause devastating damage to any electronic equipment.

However, at the moment when the neutron torrent hit, the beam-like torrent seemed to have hit something and was directly diverted.

Countless neutrons brushed against the edge of the umbrella-shaped structure and shot into the depths of the universe, unable to harm the star gate in the slightest.

even.

In this neutron torrent, the umbrella-shaped star gate has been fully activated.

Countless fine iron sands poured out from the star gate, flowing upstream along the neutron torrent, and pounced on the colossus hovering near the star gate.

Just by being touched, the structure of the Colossus was decomposed and assimilated by these nanomachines, and nearly one third of the Colossus' structure collapsed instantly.

Fortunately, Huihuang withdrew his hand in time, separated the Colossus itself from the nanomachines, and took the remaining two-thirds away from the vicinity of the star gate.

The nanorobots that assimilated the Colossus began to multiply based on the fragments of the Colossus, and gradually formed a Colossus of nanomechanical structure.

The Colossus that had just been formed had already flown out of the star gate and arrived, aiming its Colossus-class weapons at the planet.

A waterfall made of nanomachines falls from the sky.

Completely transforming everything it touches.

The entire planet was almost instantly occupied by nanomachines, and a violent nanostorm began to blow across the planet, making it impossible for any living creature to survive in it.

"Nano plague."

In the conference room of the Gaia galaxy, someone uttered these four extremely appropriate words.

The nanostorm continues and grows in size.

In this grand storm, the nanomachines on the surface are converting everything into productivity at a crazy speed. Nano battleships are constantly being generated.

And nanomachines are still pouring out of the star gate.

At this moment, several nano battleships have entered the jump state.

The purpose of their jump is very clear, which is Chen Ming's galaxy.

"We can't wait to die."

“We won’t die.”

Huihuang said something that no one else knew except him: "He had installed a galaxy-level jump device in each of the two galaxies, Origin and Gaia."

"It was activated when the star gate was restarted. Doing so will abandon all the resource galaxies around our information, leaving only the two most core galaxies to be sent away."

"We just need to delay a little longer..."

Before Huihuang finished speaking, the monitoring device for the special star gate system was still maintaining control. Suddenly, a battleship with extremely high psychic power according to the psychic detection device flew out of the star gate and was entering the state of jump.

The battleship had an exquisite and luxurious paint job on the outside, and it was obvious who the passengers were.

The Queen's arrival came sooner than expected.

Chen Ming was almost suppressed when he faced the hand left by the Queen.

And now he is facing the queen who may have grown up in silent meditation for tens of thousands of years.

No one dares to say that they have the confidence to welcome it.

(End of this chapter)