There were still mistakes made. Chen Gu would coldly remind them, "Well done. You've just reduced our escape time by another ten seconds."

At this moment, one of the spore-launching insects, which had an unusually long egg-tail canal, seemed to consider itself exceptionally gifted. It shook its body and was the first to eject an explosive spore from its canal.

The loud CRACK of the ejection caused several warriors to tremble involuntarily. But Chen Gu stood up nonchalantly, shielding everyone as he made a disdainful gesture at the insects.

The explosive spore, its momentum spent, fell to the ground a hundred meters in front of Chen Gu. It exploded with a BOOM, creating a large crater.

Despite the powerful shockwave from the explosion and the blast of wind that threw dust and sand all over Chen Gu, he stood unflinchingly, not retreating an inch.

This firm confidence infected the warriors. Their movements became steadier, and they managed to complete the final placement fifteen seconds ahead of schedule. Chen Gu immediately ordered, "Retreat!"

The spore-launching insect with the unusually long egg-tail canal had already rapidly fired several more explosive spores toward them.

Barely had Chen Gu led his men away when, less than three seconds later, those explosive spores landed nearby!

BOOM!

BOOM!

BOOM!

The power of these explosive spores was no less potent than human large-caliber energy cannons. Rocks flew everywhere from the resulting eruptions, sending chills down the warriors' spines. They knew that if they had delayed even a few seconds more, they all would have been pulverized.

This time, without needing Instructor Chen's stern urging, everyone bolted.

The space-all-terrain combat troops were still very agile, their speed far exceeding that of the advancing Insect Race.

Throughout the sprint, Chen Gu consistently stayed at the rear, an action driven by the memories of Griffin Wester.

This "Star Battle Instructor" was harsh and irritable by nature, displaying an almost obsessive severity toward his subordinates. Yet, at the same time, he was an excellent commander. Knowing he was a Professional with powerful individual combat abilities, he often personally covered his warriors' retreat.

Andrew witnessed this and nodded to himself. It's the old saying, he thought. Many people assume strategists are deceitful and wouldn't dare entrust their lives to such individuals on the battlefield. But Chen Gu is clearly an exception.

Andrew considered Chen Gu's actions: his initiative in taking on missions, like blowing up a Giant Bubble Fly; his determination to destroy a Stealth Cow Bug regardless of the cost; and now this current operation. Andrew's assessment of Chen Gu solidified: This is an excellent soldier!

Suddenly, Chen Gu said to him, "Release the electronic eye."

Andrew operated a few controls on his exoskeleton suit, and a compartment on his backpack opened. An electronic eye with whirring propellers rose high into the air. Soon, a top-down view of the entire battlefield was transmitted to everyone's visors.

The warriors gasped. From above, the scale of the insect swarm was even more spectacular, a dense mass covering a vast expanse of land.

The ground here consisted of yellowish-brown rock and gravel, while the insects were mostly black, looking like a giant black stain suddenly spreading across the land.

Yet, observing covertly, Andrew noticed that Chen Gu remained completely unaffected by these images, calmly checking the advancing positions of the insect swarm.

He couldn't help but nod to himself. Indeed, a superb commander.

A considerable part of the swarm had already entered the first ambush point set up by Chen Gu, but there was still a long "tail" trailing behind it.

Andrew approached and asked, "The swarm is massive, far exceeding our expectations."

Chen Gu understood his meaning. "The first ambush position," he said, "I'm afraid it can't hold all of them."

Andrew felt it was a shame. He suggested, "Let's snipe them from here—if we can plug the front, the tail of the swarm will be forced into the first ambush position."

Chen Gu looked at the dozens of warriors beside him and shook his head. "There's no need for that."

The outcome of such an attack was uncertain, and a sniper battle with such a disparity in strength would undoubtedly cause huge casualties on their side.

Chen Gu saw through the electronic eye that a large part of the insect swarm had already surged into the first ambush position, so he detonated the explosives they had planted earlier without hesitation.

BOOM, BOOM, BOOM—

The charges detonated one after another in a rhythmic sequence.

The warriors in front felt the ground beneath them shaking violently. Looking back, they saw mountains collapsing, the earth sinking, and dust clouds rising into the sky. Flames and light even burst from beneath the ground, like the end of the world.

Even those who had experienced the great Star Sea battles were shocked by such a scene.

Chen Gu, checking through the electronic eye, nodded with satisfaction. "We've basically achieved our tactical objective."

The locations and detonation sequence of these explosives had been carefully planned, thoroughly destroying the geological structure of the area. This caused a massive geological disaster that buried a large number of the insect creatures and created an obstructed zone on the insects' path to the mountain stronghold.

Andrew gave Chen Gu a thumbs-up, but Chen Gu pulled him along, leading everyone in a quick retreat. For Chen Gu, this was nothing to be proud of; it was merely a tactic Griffin Wester had once used.

Chen Gu had realized early on that the greatest benefit "The Past of the Four Hundred" had brought him was not the levels and skills of the Professionals, but their vast experience.

Andrew looked back and saw that, amidst the shattered aftermath of the explosion, giant insect creatures were quickly burrowing out again!

There was even a group of spike-shooting insects aiming and firing a barrage of spikes at them!

The speed of these spikes rivaled physical bullets. They had a strong armor-piercing effect and carried a toxin. With current medical capabilities, taking a hit was practically a death sentence.

"Quick, quick, quick! Lure them to the second ambush position!" Andrew, greatly encouraged by the success of the first ambush, was full of anticipation for the next and shouted excitedly.

「 」

The footage was transmitted back to the Central Operations Room. One of the operations staff members commented aptly, "Very outstanding. Under their current conditions, they've almost done the best they could."

But everyone knew in their hearts that this still wasn't enough. It was impossible to defeat the vast Insect Race in planetary surface combat using such methods.

Chen Jixian watched silently. He had only found out that Chen Gu was "The Idol Actor" just before entering the Central Operations Room.

Some things slowly became clear to him. Chen Gu's deliberate challenge to "The Wings of a General" Zhao Zhenhuai at that critical moment... it must have been for my sake.

It turns out he's so outstanding.

And he had been trying to protect me since so long ago, even though his own power was very limited.

Wasn't it not long after I "kicked him out of the house" with a billion?

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.