Chapter 120: Truly Possessing Human Form

Chapter 120: Chapter 120: Truly Possessing Human Form

At that exact same time, at the meteor belt front line belonging to the garrison sector of the 2nd Legion and Michael Mason’s unit.

Because the military stationed at the frontier front line faced the threat of war all year round, they were subject to extremely strict disciplinary management. All civilian entertainment network connection devices belonging to the soldiers had their access rights locked during active duty to ensure military secrecy and maximum concentration.

Consequently, apart from Michael having received the method of combining magnetic guns and thermal-resonance lasers to exterminate hard-shelled insectoids sent over by his younger brother Daniel a few months ago—which had helped him achieve great merit and rise to the rank of Major—both he and all the garrisoned soldiers here were completely in the dark, knowing nothing whatsoever about the cinematic storm currently turning the Interstellar Connection network upside down on the inner lines.

"Red alert! Red alert! The observation station has detected ultra-high-intensity spatial fluctuations at Wormhole No. 07! The number of individual entities of the Insectoid race crossing through the wormhole is estimated at over three thousand! Warning: All of them are A-grade and S-grade species!"

The ear-piercing alarm siren suddenly tore through the quiet air of the forward outpost base.

Michael, who was at the training ground, immediately changed expression. He quickly put on his combat helmet, leaping straight into the cockpit of his A-grade Mecha, barking loudly over the unit’s general communication channel:

"All squads, pay attention! Activate the magnetic defense grid! Form a crescent formation to surround the exit coordinates of Wormhole No. 07; under no circumstances let a single high-grade insectoid breach the defense line to advance into the inner star systems!"

"Roger!"

Thousands of resonant replies rang out across the intercom channel.

Within less than two minutes, hundreds of the garrison’s most elite combat Mechas along with two large patrol battleships simultaneously soared into mid-air. The magnetic guns and thermal-resonance cannons on the shoulders of each mech were fully charged with energy until they glowed brilliantly, forming an airtight steel encirclement locking down the meteor belt sector in front of the mouth of Wormhole No. 07.

Inside the cockpits, the Alpha and Beta soldiers all gripped their control sticks tightly, the palms of their hands beading with cold sweat from tension.

Normally, each probing attack by the Insectoid race consisted of only a few hundred low-grade bugs accompanied by five to seven A-grade bugs in command. Yet today, over three thousand bugs, every single one of them A-grade and S-grade or above, had appeared at the same time!

This was the scale of an all-out Legion-level war! Nobody understood why the Insectoid race had suddenly gone mad today, mobilizing their most elite forces to pour out of the wormhole in such numbers!

Beneath the cold light of the stars in outer space, the pitch-black vortex of Wormhole No. 07 expanded to its maximum.

Right after that, thousands of gigantic dark shadows with hard shells glittering in every color—from jet black, golden yellow, and emerald green to silver purple—surged out of the vortex, landing upon the floating meteorites in front of the human battle array.

"Distance five hundred meters! All forces prepare to open fire on command..."

The frontline commanding Colonel standing on the battleship’s bridge raised his arm high, just about to give the order for a preemptive strike when he suddenly froze, his two eyes widening as he stared at the tactical observation screen.

Not only the Colonel, but Michael and all the soldiers inside the Mecha cockpits in the forward encirclement simultaneously froze in astonishment as well.

Through their high-resolution optical screens, they were shocked to realize something exceedingly bizarre: This pack of A-grade and S-grade bugs that had just charged out of the wormhole... was not unleashing offensive mental waves to disrupt the mech systems at all, nor were they baring razor-sharp fangs or shooting venomous spikes toward the human military as usual!

On the contrary, all several thousand giant insects standing as tall as two- or three-story buildings perched side by side on the meteorites simply stood still on the spot, blankly turning their hard-shelled heads to look around at the human Mecha ranks. The long antennae atop their heads even swayed back and forth in an exceedingly cheerful rhythm, looking nothing like they were preparing to charge into a slaughter, instead looking as though they were... strolling through a market picking out goods!

"Ma... Major Mason... Did these bugs suffer a collective short-circuit in their nerves today? Why are they just standing there staring at us without attacking?" A young Alpha soldier in Michael’s squad swallowed his saliva, stammering out a question over the intercom.

Michael knitted his brows tightly, his hand still never leaving the trigger: "Do not drop your guard! High-grade Insectoids are very cunning; perhaps this is a new diversionary tactic of theirs. Hold the formation!"

However, Michael’s warning had barely faded when a group of more than twenty S-grade bugs standing in the very front row—including several giant Black Widow Spiders, colorful Queen Butterflies, Orchid Mantises, and Golden Dragonflies—suddenly moved!

They did not use any lethal attacks whatsoever, instead shooting straight forward at a speed fast enough to leave afterimages.

Before the soldiers in the front row could pull the triggers of their laser guns, that pack of S-grade bugs simultaneously sprayed out clusters of extremely tough silver silk or flapped their wings to scatter a layer of glowing powder that temporarily paralyzed the thrusters of the mechs, wrapping tightly around more than twenty Mechas belonging to the young Alphas standing on the outermost ring before dragging those Mechas straight down to land on a wide, flat meteorite between the two battle lines!

"Damn it! The vanguard squad has been captured! Squad 2 and Squad 3, follow me to charge in, cut the silk to rescue them; do not let them tear our comrades to pieces!"

Michael barked out in alarm, immediately pushing his Mecha’s engine output to the maximum, drawing the optical sword at his hip to lunge toward that meteorite.

The soldiers whose Mechas were bound tightly in silver silk lying on the meteorite also thought they were certain to lose their lives inside the bellies of insects today; every single one of them had bloodshot eyes, their hands already resting on the buttons to detonate their mechs’ nuclear reactors in preparation for mutual destruction with the enemy.

However, right when the tip of Michael’s optical sword was about thirty meters away from the meteorite, and the fingers of the captured soldiers were a mere millimeter from the self-destruct buttons... a scene that completely overturned thousands of years of human perception unfolded right before everyone’s eyes!

The S-grade Black Widow Spider standing as tall as a three-story building pinning down the Mecha of a young First Lieutenant did not use its eight scythe-sharp legs to pierce the cockpit at all.

"Hiss... Clack!"

A very faint pressure-release sound rang out amidst the silent void.

Right at the glossy black head section of the giant spider—the place humanity had been convinced for a thousand years was the actual head containing the insect’s brain—a glowing groove suddenly appeared across the thick hard shell, which subsequently split into two halves before... popping upward to either side exactly like a window!

All of Michael’s Mechas charging in to the rescue simultaneously slammed on their brakes in mid-air, creating a string of ear-splitting screeching sounds.

Beneath thousands of pairs of eyes bulging so wide their eyeballs threatened to crack among the soldiers of the 2nd Legion, from inside the door that had just opened on the head cabin of the giant spider, a fair, slender five-fingered hand identical to a human hand gripped the rim of the hard shell.

Right after that, a youth with snow-white skin, smooth long black hair, and delicate, handsome facial features... poked his head out!

The only difference was that atop the crown of that youth’s head were two tiny black sensory antennae swaying gently, while his large, round eyes carried a very strange pinkish-red color. The youth wore a silk outfit studded with sparkling gems, with a blazing red wildflower pinned at his temple; he broke into a bright smile before waving his hand to greet the First Lieutenant sitting inside the Mecha beneath his feet and the mechs all around:

"Hello, gentlemen! May I ask a quick question: among all of you here, is there anyone holding the rank of Major General who is currently single?!"

The entire general communication channel of the frontline garrison fell into a dead silence lasting ten full seconds:

"..."

Fuck... what the hell is going on here?!

The human soldiers sitting inside their cockpits felt as though their brains had just been shot into a short-circuit by a magnetic gun.

Why was there a door designed to open and close atop the head of an S-grade insect?! Moreover, why had a youth wearing a human form crawled out from inside the head of a man-eating giant spider, speaking the common language of the Lumina Galaxy fluently, even waving his hand to ask whether there was any single Major General around?!

Could it be that the spider had just swallowed a human alive into its belly without the person dying, who then bored a hole through the spider’s head by himself to crawl out?! Not right—how could an ordinary human possibly have two antennae growing atop his head like that?!

Before the horror and bewilderment of the human soldiers could even take shape, a scene a hundred times more shocking continued to unfold.

It was not just that single Black Widow Spider!

Right after that black-haired youth opened his head-cabin door to speak up in greeting, all three thousand A-grade and S-grade bugs perched densely across the opposite meteor belt simultaneously emitted a series of "Clack! Clack! Clack!" sounds one after another!

Three thousand doors on the head cabins of three thousand giant insects popped open in unison!

Stepping out from inside were thousands of handsome young men and beautiful young women wearing flawless human forms. Some had slightly pointed ears, some had pairs of antennae as slender as golden silk threads on their foreheads, while others had thin, translucent wings miniaturized behind their backs. They poked their heads out in unison, their two eyes shining brightly as they stared fixedly at the mech formation of the 2nd Legion as though looking at a treasure trove!

The climax of the shock took place right on the meteorite beside Michael.

An S+-grade Queen Butterfly with gigantic wings radiant in all seven colors of the rainbow was holding down the Mecha of an Alpha Senior Lieutenant who had one of the tallest, most handsome builds in the vanguard squad.

Before the dazed, soulless gaze of the Senior Lieutenant inside, the door on the head cabin of the Queen Butterfly popped open. A girl of peerless, breathtaking beauty, with ankle-length silver-violet hair and small translucent butterfly wings behind her back, lightly jumped down from atop the head of the giant butterfly.

She landed squarely on the chest of the Senior Lieutenant’s supine Mecha.

Without needing to use any weapon whatsoever, the girl of the Queen Butterfly tribe merely extended a fair, slender hand to grasp the rim of the Mecha’s five-inch-thick titanium-alloy cockpit door, lightly exerting force to yank hard once...

"Boom! Clang!"

The mech cockpit door reputed to withstand three heavy laser cannon shots was ripped clean off its hinges by the beauty’s soft hand, flung some ten meters away as effortlessly as someone peeling the skin off a mandarin!

The Alpha Senior Lieutenant sitting inside the doorless cockpit saw that inhuman muscular strength, terrified until his soul nearly flew into the clouds, his face drained of every drop of blood. Trembling, he drew the laser pistol at his hip to point it forward, stammering as he shouted:

"What... what kind of monster are you?! Since when has your Insectoid race known how to transform into human shape?! If you want to kill me then just kill me right now, I am not afraid of dying!"

Not only did the girl of the Queen Butterfly tribe not get angry or lunge in to attack, she even lightly dusted off her hands, bracing both hands against the rim of the cockpit whose door she had just yanked off. She bent down, her deep violet eyes closely admiring the masculine, angular face and healthy wheat-colored skin of the Senior Lieutenant who was frozen like a stone statue inside; her two cheeks flushed with a shy pink tint as she gently asked a single question:

"My race carries no venom inside our bodies, nor do we have the habit of eating our mates during mating; do you want to be my mate?"

The gun-wielding Alpha Senior Lieutenant: "... Huh?!"

Michael Mason and all several thousand garrison soldiers listening live over the general intercom channel: "... HUH?!!"

Today’s midday nutrient fluid could not have been made from poisonous mushrooms, right? Why were every single one of them suffering a collective hallucination like this?!