Knowing that the explosion was caused by a deep-space torpedo, Song Chi did not panic. He steadied the Cang Qiong again and turned to look at the communication screen.

The closed space was only several kilometers in both length and width, and the distance between the Cang Qiong and the Qingfeng was less than a kilometer. They had not left the magnetic field stand of a Spectral Airship, so the communication between them had not been cut off.

"How is it?"

On the communication screen, Shen Qing's expression looked somewhat ugly. Seeing this, Song Chi already had his answer.

"Did it miss?"

Shen Qing shook his head, indicating it was not a miss, which made Song Chi even more puzzled.

"It hit, but didn't destroy?"

"How is that possible? A Second Rank deep-space torpedo hit head-on. Even a lifeform at the peak of Second Rank would have to shed a layer of skin. Could the Queen Insect have been Third Rank before hibernation? Does the nest it built have Third Rank strength?"

With his puzzled words, Shen Qing in the projection nodded.

"That's right, the Queen Insect must have been Third Rank at her peak."

While they were speaking, their expressions suddenly changed. A deep, hoarse cry came from the Queen Insect's nest, and the next moment, the several tens of meters high nest began to shake violently. Having been hit directly by a deep-space torpedo, the Queen Insect was clearly fully awakened and was doing everything in its power to break through the outer wall of its nest.

This development startled both of them. They knew that at its peak, the creature had been a Third Rank lifeform. And with its elite insect guards under its command, once it fully awakened, not to mention clearing out all of the Insect Race, it would be difficult for the two of them to even escape.

Moreover, there was bad news. With the Queen Insect's cry from the nest, nearly ten thousand Zero Rank iron-clad insects and splash insects seemed to have been called, their eyes turning completely blood-red, no longer paying attention to the Cang Qiong above, and frantically rushing towards the Queen Insect's nest.

Clearly, the Queen Insect was summoning its offspring.

In the midst of the alarm, Shen Qing suddenly spoke out.

"Little Chi, hold on with all your might for a little while longer, not too long, just thirty seconds."

Although the military deep-space torpedo hadn't completely blasted through the wall of the nest, it had created a large hole. Just one more strike, and even the Queen Insect, which had once been a Third Rank life entity, would be severely injured.

No matter what level it had once been, now it only had the power of First Rank, and a Second Rank deep-space torpedo was enough to pose a lethal threat to it.

Hearing this, Song Chi's expression changed as he glanced at the Dark Matter Energy Shield's Shield Value.

[9405/29184]

Seeing that there were nearly ten thousand points left, he did not hesitate further and gritted his teeth in agreement.

In the sky, the Cang Qiong opened fire with both main and secondary guns at full force, striving to block the insect tide crazily surging towards the Queen Insect's nest below.

In the urgency of the moment, Song Chi even opened the hatch, allowing ten lv15 Fire Peony Soldier Figurines clad in exoskeleton armor to jump out of the airship and block the tens of thousands of Insect Race with their puppet bodies.

But no matter how he blocked, he couldn't completely stop this group of insects that had fallen into an extreme frenzy.

The ten fully-armed First Rank Fire Peony Soldier Figurines were completely overwhelmed by the swarm within less than five seconds. Without absolutely crushing power, there was no making a splash against an absolutely crushing number.

Seeing that the insect tide was getting closer to the Queen Insect's nest below, Song Chi bit his teeth fiercely, and the next second, the engines of the Cang Qiong dimmed as the entire airship descended toward the ground.

Boom!

The nearly twenty-meter-long warship landed on the stone ground, causing a dull impact sound. At the same time, the warship effectively blocked the insect tide's advance.

Song Chi desperately intended to use the Cang Qiong warship's own body to block the insect swarm, so as to delay them as long as possible.

Buzz! Buzz! Buzz!

One after another, the iron-armored insects smashed against the energy shield, their ferocious mouthparts gnawing tirelessly, globs of corrosive acid splashing against the defensive light screen, hissing fiercely upon contact.

In just a few seconds, Song Chi witnessed with his own eyes the shield value of the dark matter energy shield generator plummet from ten thousand nearly vertically down to 6000, then to 5000, 4000, 3000... When the shield value of the dark matter energy shield fell below 2500 points, he once again fully activated the Assaulter Engine, and soon the Cang Qiong rose into the air again.

This step, was already his bottom line, he could not truly let the dark matter energy shield generator overload; otherwise, if there were any accidents later on, there would be no room to maneuver at all.

However, thankfully, after the blockade by the Cang Qiong's hull, the insect tide was further delayed by nearly ten seconds. Combined with the time delayed before, although it wasn't half a minute, it was rather close.

Seconds later, before the insect horde had even reached the queen insect's nest, the second military deep-space torpedo launched from the Qingfeng sailed through the previously blasted gap and shot directly into the interior of the gigantic tumor-like nest.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

A second later, violent explosions erupted from within the queen's nest, and amidst the blasts, Song Chi thought he could faintly hear the slight but intense shrieks of agony.

Even the iron-armored insects and scattering insects that surged towards the nest outside were affected by the blast; nearly ten thousand from the insect race were enveloped in the explosion of the deep-space torpedo and were instantly vaporized.

Regarding this, the two aboard the Cang Qiong merely considered it an unexpected delight.

After the might of the explosion dissipated, the two began controlling the airship to quickly eliminate those insects that had survived the explosion. As for the queen's nest that was half-blown open, they did not explore it rashly but decided to first clear out all Zero Rank insects.

Who knew if the deep-space torpedo had completely killed off the queen; after all, it was once a Third Rank life entity, and even if various reasons had caused its life energy to fall, its physical strength would not weaken along with that; a Second Rank might's deep-space torpedo might not necessarily be able to completely kill it off.

Another twenty minutes went by, and all the other insects in the second level space had been cleared, but Song Chi and his companion still did not bother with the queen's nest. Instead, they controlled the airship above that crystal box of unknown material, before launching an all-out firepower strike.

Due to the material or perhaps some special reinforcement by the "Buluo Civilization," the crystal box was extremely hard, so even with two spectral airships attacking at full force, it would still take at least five hours to break it.

As time passed second by second, compared to the repelling stance on the spatial veil on the first level, the two of them were clearly more motivated at this moment. Just thinking of the Starry Sea oddities locked within the crystal box, they could not hide the excitement in their eyes.

Of course, while continuing to fire, they also did not forget their vigilance towards the queen's nest; it was time to harvest their results, and they certainly did not want any reverses at this juncture.

One hour;

Three hours;

Six hours;

Quickly, seven hours had passed, the anticipation of the two had already been replaced by tension. With less than two hours left for their return, if they could not shatter the crystal cube in the next hour or so, their efforts over the past twenty-odd hours would be completely in vain.

Fortunately, things did not truly progress to that stage. Another twenty minutes later, with a crack, the previously intact crystal cube suddenly shattered into pieces which then turned into powder and dissipated in the enclosed space.

Ignoring the transformation of the fragments, their gaze shifted from the shattered crystal cube to the several dazzling lights hovering below.

White, blue, and amongst the mix, the most conspicuous was that striking purple hue.

Clearly, the strange objects left in this second level space were not only of white and blue quality but also included a purple level relic.

However, there was also a piece of bad news: among the five glowing objects, there was only one purple relic; of the remaining four, there were two white and two blue relics.

ps: Firecrackers bid farewell to the old year; the spring breeze warms and delivers happiness.

My dear readers, Happy New Year's Eve!!

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by Aunomay Read