The results of the exercise were exactly as Ren Zhong had foreseen, if not worse.

The vast majority of the thirty-thousand-strong Suicide Squad didn't even manage to get within ten million kilometers of the Mother Empress Ship before being utterly demolished by the endless soldiers spewing from it.

In the end, only Ren Zhong himself was able to reach a distance of six million kilometers.

After the training ended, Ren Zhong had Sun Ai arrange for the others to summarize their insights on their own. He then said, "Xiao Ai, your settings aren't quite reasonable. Firstly, considering the performance of the Water Drop Ship, at most no more than fifteen thousand advanced warriors could successfully reach the C1915 star. Secondly, you underestimate my combat power. The deciding factor in combat power isn't just the parameters; it's more about the tacit understanding during a battle. Thirdly, on our way back, we will continue to use virtual reality for simulation training. The immediate response of advanced Professionals won't be that inadequate, so the operation delay time you set is also not reasonable."

Sun Ai admitted that she had learned something.

She was also taken aback, having never heard of anyone who, after finishing a virtual reality training, could turn back and provide improvement suggestions to her, the "net" master.

Ren Zhong paid no mind to Sun Ai's thoughts. He merely opened the exercise records again and, based on Sun Ai's comprehensive scoring, reviewed each person's specific performance during the exercise to find those who could provide powerful aid in action.

As expected, he himself had the highest score, leading Ma Xiaoling in second place by nearly half. Though he seemed quite fierce, it still wasn't enough. After all, the target to attack was a level four Mother Empress that could even counter the Imperial Fleet; relying on one person alone was ultimately inadequate.

Ren Zhong naturally didn't mind having more helping hands.

Even after being frozen in deep sleep for nearly a decade, Ma Xiaoling remained as reliable as ever. Since being instructed by Yu Chengde, an ancestor, Ma Xiaoling seemed almost as if she had opened a cheat-code. Even without using Crystals, she was among the best of the advanced Mechanical Warriors, and after a life-and-death struggle, she was second only to Ren Zhong.

Additionally, there were several newly advanced Professionals over the years who were trustworthy. The plan of using a generation's time to forge elite warriors indeed proved reliable.

"Huh, Wang Qiao's performance is quite surprising."

Scanning the list, Ren Zhong suddenly let out a surprised exclamation.

It turned out he saw Wang Qiao's name ranked in the twenties for the total score.

Initially, after Wang Qiao reached an advanced level, he spent a lot of time on teaching and didn't strengthen his training for long. Thus, Wang Qiao's various parameters weren't remarkable among the advanced Gunsmiths, and many Gunsmiths had better panel data than him.

Yet his score was so high.

Ren Zhong curiously opened Wang Qiao's individual operation record, and after a while, he commented, "First, he used exploding meteorites for lurking, completely shutting off energy, even turning off the life support system, breathing only with the oxygen remaining inside the Armor, enduring until near suffocation to sneak past the outer area with the strongest firepower and most intense battles, then quietly entering the middle area where not much fighting had broken out. When the oxygen was depleted and he was about to faint, he suddenly went full power to charge forward. He didn't choose a transformable multipurpose War Armor; instead, he opted for a conical fighter jet with an oversized engine focused solely on mobility. When intercepted, his control of the fighter was reminiscent of an ace pilot's style. Despite its speed lagging behind the likes of critical Hydralisks and Lurkers, he seemed to always sense danger in advance, either by relying on firepower traction to fend off, pre-emptively changing direction to evade, or using Attracting Bombs to lure two enemies to collide... Truly a genius concept, almost akin to my predictive ability. It's just a shame his ability parameters are indeed a bit low. Even with the Potion, he ultimately can't compare to me. Sigh, if we only had ten more years... and better equipment..."

Ren Zhong murmured to himself.

... 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

The C1915 star, a solitary celestial body existing lonely for a billion years in the cosmos, had an unprecedentedly bustling day.

Ding Canghai was dumbfounded.

There was still half a day before reaching the C1915 star, yet he was overtaken by a large number of people.

One Water Drop Ship after another flew past his reconnaissance ship, heading directly towards the C1915 star.

"Fourteen thousand six hundred and twenty-three Water Drop Ships, what exactly is the highest command thinking?" Ding Canghai scratched his head, unable to comprehend the reason.

But soon, he received an even more absurd order.

The order required him to shut off information flow communication mode and not use wireless communication, only adopting passive reception mode.

As for other reconnaissance ships, they were required to shut off multiple scanning devices, retaining only optical cameras, and at the same time, they had to release Dust Bombs in advance.

All combat personnel were to enter standby mode an hour later. Upon detecting an enemy through optical cameras, they were to engage on their own, striving to send back an engagement report via interdimensional wireless mode before being killed in action.

Of course, all of this was other people's business, completely unrelated to the small team of the Third Reconnaissance Army Command Center to which Ding Canghai belonged.

The specific order he received was to hide in place upon arrival, only responsible for gathering information, and then sending the news back at an appropriate time.

"With this approach, wouldn't my Third Army's command center just be for show?" Ding Canghai muttered to himself, puzzled, "Scattering so widely now, how can it work without the command center's dispatch communication? What about the others? And seriously, the cosmos is so vast; how can targeting rely on optical cameras? This is nonsense!"

Ding Canghai felt it to be utterly incomprehensible, but the highest command did not provide a specific explanation.

Several hours passed, and Ding Canghai's past nightmare replayed once more.

He finally understood the intention behind the highest command's orders.

He felt both heartbroken at the continuous deaths of his comrades and relieved and grateful for the highest command's "prophecy."

At this time, unbeknownst to him, Ren Zhong was still in distress.

The Dragon Slayer Science Academy and the Nuclear Energy Institute on the Source Star had spent fourteen days on simulation calculations, having preliminarily completed a plan to use the Three-Phase Bomb to trigger a chain reaction and thoroughly explode the C1915 star, with a success rate of over 90%.

But Ren Zhong's distress lay in how to inflict significant damage on the Mother Empress Ship's main body.

This reminded him of the days when he played the lone hero charging at the Tracker Spaceship all by himself.

He had grown much stronger now, but the problem was that the enemy's standards were vastly superior to that of the Tracker Spaceship.

"We'll just have to take it step by step. Anyway, this attempt is merely for exploration; there's no fear of a total wipeout."

Seeing the light dots representing the Third Reconnaissance Army go out one by one in passive mode, Ren Zhong had no choice.

Time flew by, and ten days later, the Mother Empress Ship swaggered near the C1915 star.

It had long completed the clean-up of this Star Zone. With a technological advantage in information flow, the main consciousness of the Mother Empress Ship could determine that it was absolutely impossible for any enemy formations to exist in this area, and even if there were, they were nothing to be feared, merely desperate, scattered troops.

As for its vanguard main battle group, it had already advanced ahead, daring to defy death by setting up a defensive line and seemingly planning to wage a prolonged battle. It was only two days away from the Source Star Fleet.

Just as the distance between the Mother Empress Ship and the C1915 star narrowed to its closest point of thirteen million kilometers, the unexpected occurred. Over fourteen thousand Water Drop Ships, lurking within the C1915 crust, charged out fiercely, activating their Gravity Engines and medium engines with overload power, advancing aggressively.

The acceleration of these Water Drop Ships was so swift and intense that many disassembled and exploded midway on their own, but the rest were unaffected, continuing their aggressive charge.

The next second, the pyramid-shaped body of the Mother Empress Ship began to tremble, and the huge ducts covering its surroundings squirmed like breathing, spewing out one cluster after another of Reproductive Subunits combat units like dense smoke.

Ren Zhong and his Special Attack Team commenced their first suicidal assault.

It turned out that Ren Zhong and his companions' attempt this time was indeed in vain.

It seemed the Mother Empress Ship had long known about the lurking squad here, completely dismissing it, having already reserved enough combat power in the biochem battalion.

Watching the "thick smoke" approaching head-on, Ren Zhong sighed internally.

After all this time, whether the Source Star Fleet or his Special Forces team, they had been under constant lock and surveillance since entering the Tenglong Nebula.