The metal exterior of the western section of the Mother Nest gleamed coldly. As soon as the tip of Lin Yi's combat boot touched a raised ridge, a sticky, dark purple slime seeped along the sole's texture, like the sensation of some living creature gnawing at him.
He glanced down at his wristwatch; twelve starlight beams were flashing at a specific frequency—this was the first battle between the spacetime rift and the Mother Nest defense system.
"Su Qing, are the mirror path parameters synchronized?" His voice was low, but clearly transmitted into the command cabin through the throat microphone.
"Your spacetime coordinates have been accessed." Su Qing's voice carried the soft sound of data flow. "Simulating nine trajectories, each containing three spatial folds. The Zerg's thermal radar will identify them as... um, seven assault teams plus two logistics transport teams."
Lin Yi gently pressed his finger on the crack in the watch, and a pale golden mist immediately climbed up his arm, condensing into the first afterimage beside him.
The phantom's movements were exactly the same as his, even down to the angle at which the sole of his boot brushed against the slime—this was the initial form of the [Spacetime Mirror], a "past projection" created using the time difference of the rift.
"Chu Yao, energy deviation progress." He spoke again, while simultaneously drawing a silver line in the void with his finger, and a second phantom appeared three meters to the left.
"Taking over the third energy hub of the Mother Nest." Chu Yao's voice came from another channel, accompanied by the rapid clatter of keyboards in the background. "Their mainframe just detected the anomaly and is now trying to cut off my control... Heh, I left it a false firewall breach." She chuckled softly. "Look, the energy flow is starting to shift towards the eastern sector—Night Owl's commander probably thinks we're going to replicate Long Wu's tactics and commit all our main forces there."
Silver light flowed through Lin Yi's pupils, and a third phantom appeared five meters above his head, climbing upwards along the ventilation duct.
He could clearly sense the consciousness behind the Mother Nest barrier—that eerie green gaze, which had been like a nail driven into the back of his neck, was now slowly turning toward the East District as the energy flow changed.
"Aizen, have we reached the position?" When he counted to the seventh phantom, the starlight on his wrist suddenly formed a ring, and a spacetime rift opened up a half-meter-wide gap under his feet, revealing a honeycomb-shaped metal structure below.
"Due south of the target building." Aizen's voice hummed with spiritual pressure vibrations. "The spiritual pressure resonator has been embedded in the third load-bearing pillar."
Do I need to activate it now?
"Wait another thirty seconds." Lin Yi's breath hitched—the eighth phantom appeared directly below the barrier, while his true body, using the force of the crack, slid along the edge of the barrier to the thirteenth-floor ventilation shaft. "Su Qing, what's the attention shift rate of the Mother Nest's mainframe?"
"87%." Su Qing's voice held suppressed excitement. "The remaining 13% is still monitoring the western district, but... their probes are diluted by the mirror path; now each probe needs to scan more than three phantoms to confirm the target."
Lin Yi's fingertips touched the surface of the barrier.
It was a translucent, eerie green energy membrane, which felt like silk wrapped in an electric current, and it stirred up tiny blue arcs of electricity in his palm.
He could see inside through the membrane—three energy towers, each as tall as a thirty-story building, were slowly rotating, their shimmering light perfectly synchronized with the pulse frequency of the core area of the mother nest.
"Chu Yao, now." He suddenly spoke, and the spatial rift in his palm expanded violently, pushing the ninth illusory figure into the barrier.
At the same time, Chu Yao in the command center pressed the confirmation button heavily with her fingertips.
The virtual projection of the Mother Nest Energy Hub instantly distorted, and the energy torrent that was originally flowing towards the western barrier suddenly changed direction, pouring into the deliberately exposed "weak point" in the eastern area like a flood bursting its banks.
"They've made a move!" Su Qing's exclamation rang out in the communicator. "The West District Patrol Team has dispatched two squadrons to the East District!"
Now only three squads remain in the West District, and the detection frequency has been reduced to the minimum!
A cold, hard smile appeared on Lin Yi's lips.
He drew a dark silver short blade from his tactical belt with a backhand motion—a "Boundary-Breaking Blade" forged from fragments of a spacetime rift, specifically designed to target energy barriers.
The moment the short blade touched the barrier, the golden light from the crack collided violently with the eerie green of the barrier, exploding into a dazzling flower of light at the point of contact.
"Aizen, detonate!" he shouted, pushing his short blade forward three inches at the same time.
A distant rumble, like muffled thunder, could be heard.
A pale blue spiritual pressure storm rose from the direction where Aizen was located. The Zerg mobile forces that were supposed to reinforce the West District had just turned the corner when they were swept away by this storm.
Their carapaces emitted a piercing friction sound in the space distorted by spiritual pressure, and the tentacles of some insect soldiers even began to entangle uncontrollably, as if they had been kneaded into a tangled mess by an invisible hand.
"The spiritual pressure trap has activated!" Aizen's voice was tense with excitement. "Their communication channels have been jammed; now every squad is yelling 'friendly fire!'"
Lin Yi's short blade advanced another inch.
Spiderweb-like cracks began to appear on the surface of the barrier's eerie green, and he could clearly hear the humming of the energy towers inside the barrier briefly stop—a chain reaction after the defense system was suddenly drained of its energy.
"Su Qing, how long will the mirror path last?" he asked, while placing his other hand on the barrier. The power of the spacetime rift surged into the short blade along his arm, and the sound of the golden light colliding with the eerie green became even sharper.
"At least five minutes," Su Qing calculated quickly, "but... the mainframe is already redistributing its attention; it will detect the anomaly in three minutes at most."
"That's enough." A cold glint flashed in Lin Yi's eyes.
He suddenly withdrew his short blade, pressed his entire body against the barrier, and the starlight from the time-space wristwatch instantly surged, with twelve rifts simultaneously unfolding around him.
The next second, the nine mirror images simultaneously raised their short blades and stabbed at the same spot on the barrier from different angles.
\"bite--\"
Amidst the sounds of metal colliding with energy, a gap about half a finger's width finally appeared in the eerie green barrier.
Lin Yi slid into the gap, and the moment his boots touched the ground, he heard Long Wu's voice through the communicator: "Boss, we've reached the warp endpoint and are breaking through the outer swarm!"
"Very good." Lin Yi looked at the energy tower that was so close at hand, put the short blade back into his belt, and took out a dark purple cube device from his tactical backpack. This was an "annihilation bomb" made of an interdimensional alloy, specifically designed to target the energy core.
His fingertips traced the patterns on the device's surface, his gaze sweeping over the arrangement of the three energy towers. "Remember, blow up the middle one first; its energy flow is the hub for the other two."
"Understood!" Long Wu's reply was mingled with the chirping of insects and the roar of laser cannons. "Shadow Blade Squad is ready. We will arrive at the base of the first tower in thirty seconds!"
Lin Yi pressed the bomb against the nearest energy tower base and looked up at the swirling, eerie light at the top of the tower.
At this moment, the emerald gaze of the Mother Nest's mainframe finally locked onto him again, but there was a hint of panic in that gaze—because it discovered that the nine mirror images that were just in various corners of the West District had all disappeared, leaving only a black figure sticking the second bomb to the second energy tower.
"The game should end now," Lin Yi murmured, his finger hovering over the activation button on the bomb.
He could sense that the entire hive's defense system was frantically reorganizing, but it was too late—Long Wu's demolition team had already broken through the last layer of the swarm, and the red light from the Shadow Blade members' tactical goggles was aimed at the bottom of the first energy tower.
Long Wu scanned the energy tower base three times with the red light of his tactical goggles. After confirming that there was no heat signal from the swarm, he tore open the sealed bag of his tactical backpack and took out the "Hōgyoku Resonance Bullet" with its eerie blue patterns.
The runes on the surface of the projectile began to glow faintly with his body temperature. This was a resonance reaction with the energy of the spacetime rift—a model that Lin Yi had specially modified for the demolition team, capable of accurately destroying the energy core of another dimension.
"Shadow Blade Group 1, keep watch on the surroundings!" His rough palm slammed heavily onto the cold metal of the tower base, the projectile clicking as it was attached. "Groups 2 and 3, check the connection ports!"
As usual, the countdown starts at ten.
Before he could finish speaking, a burst of dense insect chirping suddenly erupted from the ventilation duct on the left.
Three stinging-tailed beetles with venomous spines on their backs burst out of the tube, and the strong wind generated by their serrated forelimbs made Long Wu's faceplate buzz.
Without even turning around, he drew his plasma short blade from his waist, a flash of purple lightning slicing through it. The stingers of two stinging beetles were instantly melted into molten iron, and the compound eye of the third reflected his grinning white teeth: "The time I spent reloading was enough for you to die three times over."
"Five seconds left in the countdown." The Shadow Blade captain's voice boomed through the headset.
Long Wu's fingertips swiped quickly across the touchscreen of the projectile. The moment the last number "1" appeared on the screen, he suddenly rolled over and into the metal groove three meters away.
\"boom--\"
The metal dome of the mother nest was shaken and dust fell in a flurry.
The base of the first energy tower burst forth with a blinding blue light, and the originally stable, flowing eerie green energy suddenly twisted into a spiral shape, as if it had been gripped by an invisible hand.
The tower began to crack from the bottom, and the thirty-story-high metal giant emitted a dying groan. The energy core at the top exploded with a "bang," and a stream of purplish-black energy poured down like a torrential rain, instantly vaporizing the swarm of insects within a twenty-meter radius.
"The first tower is at zero!" Long Wu's voice, mixed with a wave of scorching heat, burst into the communicator. He ripped off his armor and gulped down some cold water; sweat beaded on his forehead and condensed into mist on his goggles. "Boss, the resonant waves from the tower base are propagating to the other two towers!"
Lin Yi's fingertip paused on the bomb activation button of the second energy tower.
He could clearly feel the tremors of the metal ground beneath his feet—a chain reaction caused by the collapse of the first tower, like a boulder thrown into a calm lake, with ripples rushing toward the other two energy towers.
"Su Qing, is the Night Owl Command System reacting slowly?" He looked up at the still-rotating eerie light at the top of the energy tower, and the silver light in the cracks in his pupils suddenly contracted into needle-like shapes.
"The mainframe just recalled 40% of the reinforcements from the East District, but the communication commands are riddled with seven sets of incorrect coordinates." Su Qing's voice boomed with the sharp crack of a data deluge, the holographic projection exploding before her. "Their tactical analysis module is still agonizing over whether the mirror image units in the West District are alive, and the decision-making center's computing power has been diluted by 37%!" Her fingers flew across the virtual keyboard. "I suggest detonating the second tower ahead of time, using the resonance wave to expand the area of destruction!"
Lin Yi gently pressed the start button for the second tower with his thumb.
The runes on the bomb surface suddenly lit up, resonating with the resonant waves left by the first tower, and the two energies intertwined into a net beneath the metal ground.
He could hear a shriek coming from the eerie green vision of the Mother Nest's mainframe—a stress response to the thwarted intelligence core.
"Xuanmingzi, it's your turn." He chuckled softly into the throat microphone, his boot heel grinding against the fragments of insect shells on the ground. "The false intelligence from the Northern District, it's time to let them taste it."
Suddenly, static noise filled the communication channel.
Disguised as Lieutenant General Night Owl, Xuan Mingzi emerged from the shadows. His face was distorted into the outline of a stranger by the holographic voice changer. His fingertips entered the last set of code on the portable terminal: "Seventh Legion reports, the main force of the Alliance has broken through the northern defense line and is advancing towards the core area!"
Repeat, large-scale jump signals detected in the northern region —
"The Night Owl Command System's computing power has plummeted to 19%!" Su Qing's exclamation almost broke her voice. "They've transferred the last two patrol squadrons from the West District to the North District!"
Now, the outer defenses of the Broodmother are reduced to... only three automated turrets!
Lin Yi's tactical wristwatch suddenly vibrated.
He glanced down at the screen, where thirteen starlight beams were flashing at an unprecedented frequency—this was the spacetime rift telling him that the current situation had reached the "optimal breakthrough point."
"Long Wu, Shadow Blade Squad, take over the third tower!" He drew his Boundary-Breaking Blade with a backhand, the blade slicing across the base of the third energy tower. Golden light from the crack seeped into the metal along the scratch. "Su Qing, give me the energy flow diagram of the core area of the Mother Nest!"
Chu Yao, prepare to take control of their automated turrets!
The third explosion was more violent than the first two.
As the debris of the second energy tower crashed to the ground, Lin Yi was crouching at the edge of the ruins, his gloved fingertips gently brushing against a charred metal fragment.
The eerie green patterns on the surface of the fragment had faded to grayish-white, but under the silver light reflected from the crack, he could clearly see a very thin blue light flash by—like the interface of some kind of chip, slowly seeping out half a drop of mercury-like liquid with the "sizzling" sound of the metal cooling.
"Boss?" Long Wu's voice came through the communicator. "The bomb on the third tower is installed. Should we detonate it now?"
Lin Yi pressed his thumb against the metal fragment and gently tucked it into the hidden compartment of his tactical belt.
As he stood up, the silver light in his eyes swirled like eddies, and the curve of his lips was sharper than ever: "Wait half a minute."
Let them taste... what a true clash of illusion and reality is like.
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