Invasion Preparation

The Hive Carrier currently located inside the Crystal 1 system had already begun producing more Floating Transport Ships.

Considering that the defense of the enemy home planet would be formidable, the number of Small Leviathans also needed to be increased.

However, Xia Jin did not plan to build them here; instead, she would transport them from the rear.

Currently, the Zerg fleet was actually quite scattered.

Many surrounding systems had ships deployed, but they were mostly Small Leviathans used to construct space defense lines.

Therefore, Xia Jin directly invested a large amount of resources into building new ones.

She planned to spend a year establishing a main fleet consisting of 18 Small Leviathans and 200 Floating Escorts to enter the Dulu civilization's sphere of influence.

If the space battle proved victorious, then a large number of transport ships would carry the Swarm for a ground landing operation.

Considering that the current transport ships were too small, Brain Bug No. 1 designed a much larger model.

The production cost per unit increased to 5 million units of high energy crystals, but its length, width, and height were increased to 100 meters, 60 meters, and 30 meters respectively.

Aside from the engine, the interior was essentially an empty area used to house bugs.

The protection level of the outer shell was very weak, making it completely unable to withstand interstellar warfare.

This medium sized transport ship was primarily intended to solve the problem of short term transport capacity; for the Zerg, it was a tool ship to rapidly form deployment capabilities in the early stages of development.

After all, they had to conduct landings.

...

Xia Jin waited quietly.

For over a year afterward, there were no signs of further attacks from the Dulu.

However, it was certain that the enemy civilization was making preparations internally.

But one year was truly too short for a civilization.

If their internal efficiency was poor and they spent time bickering, those two years would likely be entirely wasted.

Xia Jin, however, did not remain idle during this time.

She sent a Small Leviathan to the vicinity of the enemy system, dropping overseers along the way to conduct detailed observations of the four habitable planets and determine the specific state of the civilization's combat power.

Ultimately, she identified six space stations and captured images of 30 different warships in space.

It was clear that the development of two systems was very incomplete, with almost no space defense forces. If the Zerg attacked suddenly, just one Small Leviathan would be enough to successfully close in.

In contrast, the home planet had more than 20 warships permanently stationed there, significantly increasing the difficulty of an assault.

Xia Jin knew exactly what she was up against, so she was very relaxed.

To ensure the success of this battle, she ordered the brain bugs to research a stealthy small transport ship to be sent above the enemy civilization, preparing to drop a swarm of bugs down.

Brain Bug No. 1 did not disappoint her, coming up with a disposable drop ship that cost as much as 200,000 units of high energy crystals.

“In short, it is a super stealth bug whose surface can change into various colors and even match the wavelengths of the surrounding environment in infrared and ultraviolet bands. It is only 10 meters long and can even achieve complete optical stealth after entering a planet... meaning it could be right in front of you, but you would not be able to see it with your eyes. Of course, its stealth against radar is also quite strong; unless its landing path happens to be observed by high power radars from multiple angles, it will basically not be detected.”

“Is it like a chameleon?” Xia Jin found it quite fascinating.

“Much stronger than a chameleon.”

“Very well, drop one of my projections there as well.”

After a few days, the appearance of this bug was finalized.

It seemed to draw from the design of the Overlord, looking somewhat like a jellyfish.

It was stealthily transported above the enemy and released; the jellyfish soon reached the upper atmosphere.

Because its weight was truly light, relying solely on atmospheric drag, the thing slowed down to a certain speed and then took dozens of hours to slowly drift down near the ground.

She looked down through the transparent hull.

In her sight were rows of buildings towering into the clouds; this city was very much in line with human science fiction works.

Building such a tall city was also a desperate measure due to the population explosion.

However, it seemed that the current population density of the Dulu might not be as exaggerated as imagined; at least many places were vacant, and many buildings had been left idle halfway through construction.

“Could it be that they are also experiencing a crisis of declining birth rates?” Xia Jin thought maliciously.

The environment of this home planet was very good; if a human came to this planet, they might feel uncomfortable due to the high temperatures, but they could at least survive.

The planet's atmospheric activity was more vigorous, with frequent storms.

Finally, this Zerg transparent ship successfully crashed into a clearing, and Xia Jin climbed out of it.

Looking back, the hull was a pale red color, identical to the forest where it had fallen.

Perfect camouflage.

She did not know if anyone had noticed her.

Within about half an hour of landing, the bug would automatically decompose and merge into the soil below.

As for Xia Jin, she began to wander alone across this planet.