In fact, it wasn't just them; the replies from the other squads were just as discouraging—

The "Purification" squad of the Golden Federation was locked in a bitter fight on the Ice Satellite, their reply terse: "Our operational environment is highly特殊; we can barely protect ourselves and are unable to provide support."

The "Reaping" squad of the Flame Republic was conducting guerrilla operations on the Desert Planet Red Sand Star, their reply irritable: "We're fighting our way in and out of piles of bugs here, how the hell do we have time to go babysit somewhere else? Let them handle it themselves!"

The "Echo" squad of the Forging Worlds Collective was trying to activate ancient technology in the ruins on the Ancient Clock Satellite, their reply filled with a researcher's focus: "We are attempting to破解 a key technological node. This technology may have a decisive impact on the overall war situation; we cannot afford to be distracted."

...

Only the "Bedrock" squad of the Free Star Alliance, which was not one of the Seven Sons of the Empire, had its captain glance at the message in a lull between fierce engagements, sigh, and reply: "We are currently exerting our full strength to organize the evacuation of five hundred thousand personnel from the Home Station. Our own pressure is immense, and we are also quite far from Jade Stone Star. If we can complete the Home Station evacuation ahead of schedule, and if the route permits, we may attempt to dispatch部分力量 to the outer regions of the Jade Stone Star System to provide limited support, but nothing can be guaranteed." 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

With the final reply received, it meant that at least in the foreseeable short term, Bai E and the New Bauhinia Squad had not received any substantive, immediate response to their request for large-scale evacuation assistance on Jade Stone Star.

On board the "Thorny Bird," Bai E quickly learned from the recorder the command center's decision and the other teams' responses.

The recorder's expression was a bit complicated: "Command has agreed in principle to suspend the strike and is requiring us to continue providing surveillance data. But as for coordinating support… only the Free Star Alliance gave an uncertain, long-term promise. The other teams, including the Steel Alliance squad also on Jade Stone Star, all refused."

Catherine, Rose, Kuang Xin and the others all darkened in expression at these words.

They had already anticipated this might happen, but having it confirmed still sent a chill through them.

"As expected." Bai E's voice was calm, betraying little emotion. "Relying on others is never as good as relying on ourselves. All teams, act according to the original plan. Expand search and guidance coverage. Stay safe; focus on guiding civilians and establishing temporary safe zones, and avoid getting dragged into battles of attrition."

"Yes, sir!"

The twenty members of New Bauhinia split into several groups, using the "Thorny Bird" as their hub. Like a few drops of water thrown into boiling water, they began moving across the vast and dangerous surface of Jade Stone Star.

Rose's group raided a small shelter besieged by the Bug Race, killed the Bugs guarding it, and led hundreds of civilians through danger zones to a relatively safe valley marked by a temporary signal tower set up by "Ashes."

Gu Lan and Xiliu's group worked together, using their mobility and familiarity with the terrain to clear obstacles and ambush points along a major highway damaged by the Bug Race, allowing several abandoned buses packed with civilians to restart and drive toward the distant direction where faint artillery sounds could still be heard—meaning some organized human defensive line still existed there.

Kuang Xin and Ares's group functioned more like a fire brigade: wherever a strong distress signal flared up or combat grew intense, that was where they rushed, using overwhelming firepower to temporarily push back the Bug Race, opening a path of survival for small, collapsing defense units or fleeing civilians, then pointing them in a direction before hurrying off to the next hotspot.

Zero and two other snipers occupied high ground, providing long-range early warning and precision support for the squads, picking off long-range Bug units that posed the greatest threat to civilians.

Bai E himself was like a ghost on the battlefield; wherever the situation was most critical, there the blue-white blade light was likely to appear.

His "Insect Race Killer" sense was used not only to locate and slaughter the Bug Race, but also to feel out clusters of life amid the chaos and point the way for rescue.

Their efforts did indeed save tens of thousands of people.

Those civilians dragged back from the edge of death looked at these warriors whose paint schemes were unfamiliar and whose Mecha models they had never seen before, their eyes filled with gratitude and tears of survival after catastrophe.

They didn't know what "New Bauhinia" was; they only knew these people were sent by the Star Alliance to save them.

Yet in the face of a planet-level catastrophe, individual strength was, in the end, a mere drop in the ocean.

On the panoramic scan display of the "Thorny Bird," the macro-simulation of life signals across Jade Stone Star showed the pale green dots representing human clusters dimming and going dark patch by patch at a speed visible to the naked eye, rapidly swallowed by the dark purple that represented Bug Race activity and spreading biomass carpets.

Although in the areas where the New Bauhinia Squad operated, the rate at which the green dots went dark had slowed somewhat, and occasionally small patches of green even flared back to life, compared to the overall trend of the entire planet collapsing like a breached dam, these efforts were no more than a mantis trying to stop a chariot.

Each time Catherine reported the latest scan data to Bai E, her voice grew heavier.

"My lord, the 'Rocky Mountains' defensive line in the northern hemisphere has been confirmed breached. The signals of three大型避难所 have vanished, with an estimated over eight hundred thousand…"

"The last resistance signal from 'Light Pearl City' on the west coast ceased ten minutes ago. The Bug Race biomass carpet is spreading inland at a speed of fifteen kilometers per hour…"

"In the 'Red Iron' industrial zone on the East Continent, at least two million people are still trapped in underground shelters, but our力量 and available routes cannot reach that far…"

"The total number of global life signals… has fallen below five hundred million, and the rate of decline is accelerating."