If it weren't for the Desert Peninsula's sovereignty continuously intercepting with firepower, the number of monsters emerging would likely be even greater.
Fortunately, the local sovereignty isn't skimping on money; once the army reaches effective firing range, ammunition reserves are generously supplied, creating a fierce bombardment.
Even though the ground combat effectiveness is disappointingly poor, it doesn't mean the same for long-range – at least they manage to find a few seasoned professional players who manage to create impressive sustained fire coverage.
By now, large-caliber heavy artillery and dense anti-aircraft arrays are being brought in continuously, starting to set up operations, not only preparing to block the "Wormhole Cloud" in a three-dimensional manner but even aiming to shoot shells into the Black Cloud.
5 minutes and 15 seconds after takeoff, four tactical jets arrived over the ravaged farming base, beginning preparations for beyond-visual-range combat.
Before the troops move, logistics precedes them, and intelligence comes even earlier.
The reconnaissance drone squad that arrived first identified each monster and marked them one by one in the three-dimensional holographic projection of flagship No. 2.
On the ground, roaring flames rose high. "Oil Aloe Vera" is a high-oil-content economic plant, and although it contains water, once ignited, the fire can easily spread across the encampment, rivaling the fury of a burning oil well.
The monsters that emerged through the "Wormhole Cloud," whether running, burrowing, swimming, or flying, generally do not possess special abilities; not one of them can cast spells. They are merely tall, powerful, with rough skin and a gruesome appearance. Occasionally, one or two might spit acid or carry toxins. The greatest threat to Blue Star's ecosystem comes from the alien bacteria, fungi, mycoplasma, and viruses they carry. The consequences of cross-species infection would be unimaginable, so a significant amount of effort in cleanup is dedicated to harmlessness elimination.
It was humans, not monsters, who sparked the fire.
A biplane crashed into the sea of flames; some wreckage could be vaguely seen, seemingly causing a fuel leak on impact, igniting a vast area of "Oil Aloe Vera."
The dry weather, combined with the wind, made the fire increasingly uncontrollable.
Whether the plane's pilot survived is unknown, but judging by the monsters on the ground still devouring "Oil Aloe Vera," the outcome doesn't look promising.
The fire at the "Oil Aloe Vera" planting base is not a major issue; the large armed Magic Cube warship "Snow Mountain" has plenty of ability users aboard. Enlisting a few could extinguish the fire in a matter of minutes.
However, before that, all monsters need to be eradicated.
At a distance of 12 km from the flying monsters, the four tactical jets fired two rounds of combat missiles in succession, releasing a total of 16 short-range general-purpose programmable combat missiles.
These low-level general-purpose missiles, specifically allocated to military contractors, are suitable for AI active guidance. Given the monsters' flying capabilities and speed, even the maximum effective range of 30 km for short-range missiles seems overkill.
When the flying monsters sensed the incoming missiles, it was too late to evade. Huge fireballs erupted in the sky, blasting the monsters to pieces, their blood and flesh falling to the ground like raindrops.
From initiating the attack to securing air superiority, the entire process took less than a minute, with short-range combat missiles easily destroying their targets without expending extra effort.
At this point, tactical bombers finally arrived, dropping multiple 500 kg high-explosive aerial bombs onto the ground.
The reserves of these conventional bombs are relatively few; after all, Chen Fei prefers stockpiling ton-class thermobaric bombs or incendiary bombs with immense destructive power. When in doubt, dropping one solves the problem, and if one isn't enough, then two will do, eliminating subsequent biochemical cleanup procedures. No microorganism can survive in such high-temperature, high-pressure conditions, with monsters often incinerated completely.
The faint white halo of shock waves repeatedly swept across, completely tearing apart the land-based monsters unable to escape swiftly, leaving them pulverized by shock waves and spreading flames.
The fallout of excessive firepower was unavoidable damage to the "Oil Aloe Vera" planting area, far exceeding the parts destroyed and devoured by the monsters earlier, igniting an even larger fire.
The previous fire field was completely extinguished by the shock waves, leaving only lingering smoke. Whether it rekindles or not remains uncertain.
"Command Center, the estimated 19 monsters sighted have been eradicated. Now starting to deploy combat mechs for mop-up operations, confirming results."
Since it's an undefended planting area, Chen Fei, to be cautious, had small landing crafts carrying combat mechs land to search for any remaining creatures.
Combat mechs aren't human – no need to worry about casualties or biochemical contamination. After taking a disinfectant bath, they're good to go again.
"Log the achievements and transmit combat mech site videos."
The female communicator closely coordinated with Chen Fei, sharing intelligence and data across tactical and strategic levels.
"'Adam,' transmit the combat mech optical footage."
Chen Fei instructed AI "Adam" to send the required video data to the Command Center.
The scene was a sea of flames, with infrared thermal imaging nearly failing; radar modules being overkill for such close proximity, proving less valuable than airborne reconnaissance drones. Only the optical modules remained practically useful.
The footage from 50 combat mechs showed similar images. As humans, they couldn't handle multiple threads like AI, so they had to select five screen videos.
No humans were found at the site, not even bodies. According to local sovereignty intelligence, the planting base should have 20 employees and 5 from the employer's family, totaling 25 people. None were seen; their fate unknown.
"No humans found! Hmm, what are these things?"
The 50 combat mechs searched the planting base for a while but found nothing unusual. Suddenly, Chen Fei seems to have discovered something peculiar.
AI "Adam" immediately halted the combat mechs and began playback.
Several charred eggs appeared in one of the combat mech's sights.
"Ostrich eggs? Cooked? Slurp!~"
Yan Ling, an S-Class ability user, lost composure, unable to resist salivating whenever seeing roasted items.
Alien biological organisms generally shouldn't be consumed before confirming their microbial hazards.
Eat delicious food, but not recklessly; reckless eating can lead to extinction.
"Could there be ostrich eggs in this place? These seem larger than ostrich eggs."
Miyoshi Xuesen approached the three-dimensional holographic projection, comparing the sizes, and then confidently turned to Chen Fei: "These are 3 cm larger than the average diameter of ostrich eggs."
The diameter difference, even by a few millimeters, indicates another species, not to mention 3 cm.
Seeing Monk's confident tone, knowledgeable in astronomy and geography, from sewer depths to heights, his talents seem wasted on dark deeds.
"'Rookie,' bring those eggs back!"
The Command Center quickly responded.
Bigger than ostrich eggs, they are likely the monsters' eggs, which is crucial intelligence.
Upon obtaining ample food, these monsters will eagerly reproduce. "Oil Aloe Vera," apart from being an essential fuel oil source, is a high-quality food, edible by humans and evidently preferred by monsters.
"Received, commencing collection procedure."
Chen Fei instructed "Adam" to have combat mechs gather the nest of over thirty eggs one by one.
The small landing craft had biological collection equipment, suitable for storing these charred eggs, conducting some checks.
The egg whites and yolks inside were already embryonizing, with thin blood vessels forming close to the shell. Using the estimated laying time as a reference and comparing Earth's oviparous animals' incubation data, AI "Adam" quickly provided a time frame.
Incubation period: 2-3 days
This involuntarily made Chen Fei gasp; Blue Star's embryo cycles are generally in seven-day units – oviparous incubation cycles are typically multiples of seven days, like chickens 21 days, ducks 28 days, geese 28-35 days.
Although some hatch quickly, like platypus at 10 days, the extreme incubation for other species reaches around three days.
However, none of these oviparous animals compare in size to these monsters.
If these monsters' juvenile stage grows as rapidly as their incubation phase, like inflating balloons, the threat to Blue Star's biology is undeniable. Only mutants' reproduction rates could rival these alien monsters.
Possibly, these monsters are alien mutants, arising from Life Planet's cancer cells, reproducing at geometric rates, voraciously consuming natural resources to satiate their hunger.