Che Zhen reported, "Report, there are still many venomous moths at the scene."
Jiang Ye was surprised. The small creatures fluttering outside the window were indeed the venomous moths he had seen in the photos before. Their heads reflected a metallic sheen, and their wings and bodies were a sickly white.
Some venomous moths clung to the portholes of the ornithopter, attempting to break through the glass with the mini-drills on their heads, pounding relentlessly.
The cabin was filled with the crackling sound of glass, but fortunately, the military-grade product was of excellent quality. After a prolonged assault, the swarm of moths left not a single mark, and the glass remained intact.
After four rounds of intense bombardment, there were still survivors.
Was it because the moths were too resilient, or was there an issue with the firepower output?
Jiang Ye turned to look at 001.
001 shrugged, "It's impossible to completely clear the venomous moths in one round of shelling, as they all flew outside the high-heat zone. The hatched venomous moths will not stay within the high-heat zone because their nature is to fly around. But don't worry, the metal moth nests have been destroyed, so these moths cannot reproduce."
Jiang Ye's voice instructed Che Zhen, "Conduct a carpet search to see if there are any remaining metal moth nests. Be careful."
"Yes!"
Che Zhen continuously issued commands to the ornithopter formations on the front lines, changing their formations as they began searching the vicinity.
Soon, a large area of metal parts was found, scattered and broken, covering an area of five to six mu, shimmering in the sunlight.
001 glanced at it and nodded, "These are all damaged moth nests; I can recognize some of the parts."
The spider armored vehicles also arrived at the scene quickly and joined the search with the ornithopters. After more than half an hour, the first high-temperature zone was declared cleared, with no residual metal moth nests.
According to the pre-battle plan, the spider armored vehicles began clearing the remaining venomous moths.
The clearing method was also simple.
Each spider armored vehicle carried a large amount of raw pork, placed under the air conditioning vents. By the time they arrived, it was already roasted and hot.
The hot raw pork was thrown into the open ground, and the venomous moths immediately swarmed, eagerly biting the pork and laying eggs on its surface.
Large clusters of venomous moths gradually formed, swaying spectacularly, completely obscuring the pork.
The spider armored vehicles then unleashed a volleys, killing thousands of venomous moths with a single shot, quite efficiently.
Meanwhile, the ornithopters also arrived at the second and third high-temperature zones.
The residual venomous moths in these two high-temperature zones were significantly fewer, with only scattered individuals, and almost no live ones.
The ground had been completely scorched, covered in black, smoking earth.
A thick layer of venomous moth corpses covered the ground, all burned and fragmented. Countless glittering metal moth heads were visible. Before the missile strike, the number of venomous moths in this area must have been terrifying.
The ornithopter formations patrolled twice and attempted to land on the edges.
The soldiers donned protective suits and opened the cabin doors to disembark.
They wore protective suits for fear of being bitten by residual venomous moths or inhaling toxic powder.
As expected, as soon as the soldiers left the aircraft, many venomous moths flew towards them and clung to them.
The sound of mini-drills was incessant. The drills were incredibly small, only the size of mung beans. No matter how hard the venomous moths tried to drill, the soldiers remained unharmed.
Each soldier was soon covered in a layer of venomous moths, their white wings fluttering incessantly, creating a particularly eerie sight, reminiscent of the dense swarm of bees on a beekeeper's body. If not for the protective suits, they would have been bleeding profusely by now.
Following the pre-battle plan, the soldiers began searching the site.
Jiang Ye switched the holographic projection to a soldier's shoulder-mounted camera and watched silently.
He could hear the crunching sound, like stepping on dry leaves, the sound of withered moths being crushed underfoot.
Passing countless moth corpses, the soldiers arrived at a dirt slope with scattered metal parts.
They took out the prepared specimen boxes and collected the parts from the ground.
The metal moth nests were blown to smithereens, and the parts were scattered everywhere, making it impossible to distinguish one from another.
The soldiers spent over an hour collecting only a small portion.
001 had been watching the holographic projection as if watching television.
Jiang Ye had a sudden idea, "001, I have a question for you."
001 tilted her head, "Please speak."
"Metal moth nests automatically extract metal ore from the ground and produce metal moth heads, correct?"
"That's right," 001 nodded.
"So, if I kill all the venomous moth larvae but leave the metal moth nests, can't I turn them into metal mining machines?" Jiang Ye's eyes lit up, and his tone was expectant.
His calculations were already underway in his mind:
Metal moth nests themselves posed no threat, but their efficiency in refining metal was extremely high, almost a black technology product.
They could also reproduce themselves, creating more and more metal moth nests.
If he could somehow "capture" a metal moth nest alive, he would obtain countless metal ore machines!
In the future, if he found any metal ore, he could simply throw these things there and leave them to it, collecting the results a few weeks later.
001 smiled, her smile tinged with a hint of mockery.
Seeing her expression, Jiang Ye knew it was unlikely, but he still wanted to hear why.
"Metal moth nests have a certain level of intelligence. If you try to modify them and kill all the moths inside, they will initiate self-destruction," 001 explained. "Also, if the survival rate of the moths they hatch is too low, they will also initiate self-destruction."
Jiang Ye sighed. The Mir people were too cunning, considering every possibility.
Time was running short, so he ordered his troops to withdraw.
The ornithopter units retreated first, followed by the spider units boarding the ship. After a headcount, the escort ship began its return journey.
During the return trip, they encountered a fierce storm. Jiang Ye had expected the escort ship, being so heavy and large, to remain stable. However, in the gale and rough seas, the warship swayed violently like a small boat, causing many soldiers to vomit.
Waves even crashed onto the deck, soaking all the weapon modules. Fortunately, they were all waterproof, otherwise, the losses would have been heavy.
At ten o'clock at night, Jiang Ye finally returned to the military base, exhausted.
He did not return to his office to rest. Instead, he got into his car and drove home.
The hot spring villa was the same as always, unchanged.
As soon as Jiang Ye entered the house, the sweeping robot came to greet him.
"Master, you've been away for so long! Welcome back!"
"Thank you," Jiang Ye smiled.
But the smile on his face quickly disappeared.
Returning home to only a sweeping robot welcoming him back made him feel a bit lonely.
Living alone in such a large villa was too desolate; it would be nice to have a mistress.
However, it would take at least another half a year to bring Cen Yemeng over, as the colony's development index was only just over six thousand. He could only endure this loneliness for now.
Jiang Ye changed his clothes and went upstairs to make himself dinner.
While eating, he took out his phone to check various basic information.
He had accumulated a large stack of company resumes, a total of 46. Jiang Ye began screening them one by one.
After screening just over a dozen, his phone vibrated.
Isabelle's call came in.