In the Leviathan of the spiritual universe, Xue Hua is quietly waiting for Stukov to arrive in the main control room.
Not long ago, Isa told him that the first fleet of the Zerg had just completed its exploration of the location of the last protoss beacon, and had sent the Node King to submit a return application to it.
According to the speed of the First Fleet, after the application is approved, they should soon return to the mental coverage of Xue Hua's main nest.
Xue Hua is very excited about what clues Stukov can collect from this voyage. His dream of "golden insect swarm" still needs Stukov to find the basis for its realization!
There is also Abathur's new Zerg warship plan, which also requires the First Fleet to go to Planet 1 again to get enough experimental samples from the giant tentacle monster.
And having said that, since the emergence of Jiagon as a resource collector, the resources in the Zerg resource pool have also increased very quickly. The current resource base is enough to make another major expansion of the first fleet.
In the past, Xue Hua had been saving very carefully because he wanted to reserve the resources for the start-up hatching of the second Leviathan. But not long ago, after Gagong entered working mode, the number of resources in the resource pool skyrocketed in just two months.
A lot.
This also gave Xue Hua more sufficient resource reserves to implement the long-planned fleet expansion plan.
Just when he was thinking about the large fleet of insect swarms covering the galaxy in his mind, Stukov's long-lost voice finally sounded in the main hive mind.
"Lord, the First Fleet has returned, and your fleet commander salutes you."
"Welcome back, Commander." Xue Hua nodded and said with a smile.
"The mission report for this interstellar voyage is ready. Master, do you need to report it immediately?"
Stukov's style is still clear and lively, without any sloppiness.
"Let's start, let me see what you have experienced this time."
Xue Hua nodded, and Stukov immediately submitted the fleet progress report to the main hive mind.
The report consists of Stukov's memories, starting with the fleet's first departure from the world of Sanctuary and ending with the fleet's return from the location of the last protoss beacon.
The first few Protoss beacon locations were nothing noteworthy.
Although the fleet occasionally discovered the wreckage of some protoss colony ships or frigates during exploration, the valuable items inside had obviously been taken away by the Xel'Naga.
However, after the first fleet passed by the eighth protoss beacon, they found some different traces at their destination.
That destination is a solid planet with a thin atmosphere. The surface gravity of the planet is extremely high, and corrosive gases are ejected from beneath the surface through cracks in the surface.
There are acidophilic plant-like organisms growing on the surface of the planet, and there are no signs of intelligent life activity.
The planet's rotation period is extremely long, almost five hundred times that of the Sanctuary world. The temperature on the planet is severely polarized, making it unsuitable for humanoids to survive.
But on this planet, the Overlord Insects and the surface search force dispatched by the First Fleet found the remains of an almost completely destroyed Protoss hub.
There are a lot of battle traces in the Protoss Nexus here, and the swarm also discovered a lot of armored remains of the Templars.
This proves that the protoss colony ship that landed in the beacon area here definitely has a dormant cabin on it.
And judging from the construction level of the Protoss Hub, the Protoss here are obviously very powerful. They probably successfully ventured to the surface of the planet under the attack of the Xel'Naga fleet, and are also building hub defenses in secret places.
It lasted for a while, but was later discovered and destroyed by the Xel'Naga fleet.
I don’t know if any survivors escaped...
Although the discovery here still did not find any valuable information, it did let Stukov know that the protoss colonial fleet was not without resistance when facing the Xel'Naga fleet, and it was by no means a piece of meat on the chopping board.
Slaughter.
It immediately ordered the first fleet to set sail again and continue to pass the next protoss beacon, trying to find the protoss survivors who were still alive or the protoss hub that was still functioning.
At the same time, Stukov also left a dormant insect nest on this planet, hoping that if a protoss survivor retrieves it, the insect swarm can get the information as soon as possible.
The subsequent crossing process was a bit disappointing. The First Fleet seemed to have returned to the state it was in when it just set off, and kept spinning in the deep space of space that was empty or full of worthless debris.
It wasn't until he crossed over to the Protoss Beacon for the sixteenth time that Stukov felt his spirit shaken.
Because there is nothing at this beacon location, only the endless dark universe and a dying asteroid not far away.
This is extremely unusual for the First Fleet. The first thing they saw after arriving at the beacon location they were looking for was a tragic battlefield filled with wreckage and debris of various golden battleships.
There has never been a situation like this where there is nothing at the target location.
This means that the protoss colonial fleet that crossed over to the beacon there may have failed to reach the target location for some reason or learned of the Xel'Naga fleet's ambush in advance and avoided other systems.
Before setting off, Stukov had contacted Keles and asked him about the location where his colonial ship was supposed to turn over and had eliminated the beacon at this location in advance, so this was not where Keles's colony ship should be.
Arrival crossing beacon.
Therefore, Stukov concluded that at least one protoss colonial fleet escaped the ambush of the Xel'Naga fleet either by luck or by knowing the news in advance.
The First Fleet spread out, searching the surrounding sectors and star systems for more information about this protoss fleet.
They found a protoss obelisk hidden by void psychic energy in the asteroid belt surrounding the star system where the beacon was located.
The obelisk recorded a piece of information about the Xel'Naga ambush fleet in an extremely obscure way, and sent this information to the location of another nearby beacon.
Stukov immediately detached a part of the fleet, led by a mother insect, to continue searching for more information about this colonial fleet in this sector, and then led the main fleet to the next nearby beacon location.
But unfortunately, the warning message on the obelisk was obviously a step too late. When Stukov and the swarm fleet arrived at the seventeenth beacon site, they saw another piece of debris covered with protoss ships.
Fleet Cemetery.
But Stukov was not discouraged. If there is one, then there are two. Since a protoss colony ship successfully escaped the ambush of the Xel'Naga fleet, they will definitely continue to try to notify other colonial fleets.
As a result, the First Fleet's exploration journey began to accelerate, and soon an even more unusual situation was discovered at the location of the last Protoss Beacon - the 22nd Protoss Beacon. (To be continued)