Xie Xingyan's heart was pounding nervously. Her rebound shield had only one last use left. She made a split-second decision and communicated with Bi'er through spiritual sense:
"If I run into danger later, I'll have to trouble you. You'll need to directly burn the Zerg behind me with your different flame."
Bi'er replied with full confidence:
"Don't worry, leave it to me. Even if it slows down my growth, it doesn't matter."
Just as they finished making their plan, the rebound shield's final charge was used up.
Bi'er was about to act when, all of a sudden, a silver-white offensive mecha appeared between Xie Xingyan and the Zerg.
Seeing the reinforcements arrive, Xie Xingyan quickly explained the situation to Bi'er while immediately pulling herself out of the battle zone.
"Bi'er, the rescue has arrived. You don't need to take the risk."
At the same time, she kept moving at full speed. After all, according to what she'd learned in school, whenever mecha warriors fought Zerg, the one-kilometer radius around them was considered a danger zone. Ordinary interstellar humans without mecha had to keep moving quickly.
The instructor inside the mecha noticed Xie Xingyan's quick reaction—she didn't freeze in place, but immediately fled the battle zone. The instructor was quite pleased: This student has a good temperament. It's a pity she's not my disciple.
Xie Xingyan finally ran clear of the combat radius, letting out a long breath, though her feet didn't slow down.
After all, Zerg could appear at any time here. If she encountered another one, she might again fall into the same passive state as before.
What she didn't know was that the other students, who had gone in groups of three or four, were now in extreme danger.
The Zerg had formed encirclements, capturing students alive. It wasn't that they were being merciful—it was simply that captives had to be offered first to the highest-ranked Zerg for consumption.
The only exception was when a Zerg hunted alone. In that case, its prey did not need to be shared—just like the one Xie Xingyan had run into earlier, which had purposely split from the group.
Though ordered to capture alive, when the students resisted with laser swords and particle weapons from their space buttons, the Zerg did not hold back.
The result was obvious. Without mecha, the human fledglings were completely outmatched, crushed under the Zerg's assault. Still, their resistance wasn't meaningless—it at least slowed down the Zerg squad's pace.
The Zerg elder, watching this, opened its mandibles wide and extended its forelimbs to twice their length, immediately sending a command to its subordinates:
"Stop holding back. Even if these humans are missing arms or legs, I can still make use of them. We must end this quickly."
With centuries of battle experience, the Zerg elder had already sensed a killing aura approaching from not far away. It knew it had to accelerate the offensive.
The students soon realized the terrible shift. Before, the Zerg had fought somewhat cautiously, allowing those with weapons to resist barely.
But now the situation was one-sided. Students with weapons became the prime targets.
Some had their hands severed by the Zerg's long limbs, blood gushing out.
Some were wrapped tightly in tendrils, their consciousness fading.
Some had their weapons knocked clean away by the Zerg's pincers…
The student ranks fell into chaos. At first, when someone drew a weapon, the others would instinctively hide behind them for protection.
But now, those supposed protectors had become death traps. The formation instantly collapsed. Some who held weapons were even shoved forward by panicked classmates, giving the Zerg the perfect opening.
Just as chaos peaked, the instructors arrived piloting their mechas. At first they could only defend passively, waiting for the students below to escape the battle zones.
The commotion was enormous, soon attracting the attention of Dirina's sentry Zerg.
Upon learning of the situation, Dirina immediately gave the order:
"Pass the command to all remaining Zerg. Go to the wormhole and evacuate from Aoki Star immediately."
One soldier hesitated:
"But, Your Majesty, aren't we going to rescue the elder and the others?"
"Rescue? Ridiculous. Their blunder has already forced me into retreat. Execute the order—now."
If the soldier hadn't been one of her most loyal followers, Dirina would have already disposed of such stupidity.
The Zerg fled swiftly, but ran right into the warships of the Aoki Legion, which had rushed to the scene.
In the end, Dirina managed to escape her lair—but only at the cost of half her troops.
Meanwhile, the Zerg elder and its forces were steadily beaten back by the veteran instructors. Finally, with the Aoki Legion's assistance, they were wiped out.
The injured students were placed in the warship's medical pods, and soon enough were bouncing back full of energy. Even severed limbs could be regenerated.
After all, in the interstellar era, aside from chronic spiritual contamination, most physical injuries—even limb loss—were easy to treat.
However, the fact that so many Zerg had been hiding on a single planet immediately drew the attention of the Federation's high command.
Author's Note:
In her past life, the original body was forced to attend an art academy—which was really just a bridal training school.
There, women learned little of practical use. Their studies revolved around obeying family, clinging to partners, and raising children…
So the original body knew almost nothing about the Zerg. She could provide the heroine with little to no useful intelligence.