For humanity, burn the stars.

After fleeing the underground mine in a disheveled state, I, a complete novice, lifted my mask with lingering fear and wiped the sweat from my forehead.

The other players around him were also mostly in the same state, still shaken.

The war correspondent who had initially dared to venture down to explore is now sprawled on the ground, unable to bear recalling what happened before.

"That's terrifying..."

"I thought I wasn't afraid of bugs..."

As he spoke, he curled up even more.

Just now, that rock wall was densely covered... no, it should be said that it was made up of a large number of rock-dwelling insects.

With the arrival of the players, these underground creatures were completely awakened.

Then, players witnessed the 'Waves' for the first time on this frozen polar planet.

No matter how daring a player is, they probably wouldn't be able to stay calm when faced with that torrent of worms.

Hearing the war correspondent's words, the painkiller lying on the ground sat up abruptly, gritting its teeth and shouting:

"Damn, the game's designers are pretty cunning too."

"If we hadn't built the rope ladder, we would definitely have drowned down there."

【Gummy Bear】looked at 【Noob】and said with some relief:

"Thanks to the newbie who discovered it early, otherwise at least a few of these players would have died inside."

"By the way, how did you see it back then?"

It should be noted that it was extremely dark below at the time, so unless you were very close, you shouldn't have been able to see anything.

"I'm such a noob," he said to the others, recalling the situation.

"Because that's when I noticed the collector had stopped."

"At the time, I was wondering why it wasn't moving, and then I discovered the movement."

He got up again and stood above the cave entrance to observe the situation, while [Rookie] pondered silently.

Below, the resource collectors were unaffected by the previous rampage.

It simply changed direction and began mining on another rock face.

But not long after, even though there were still minerals in front of it, it turned to the other side again.

[I'm such a noob] I don't understand this behavior at all, it's completely different from the previous efficiency.

But soon, he realized something and asked the player next to him:

"This data collector, it's from that so-called Starsea Federation, right?"

[War Correspondent] Although he didn't know why they asked this, he nodded and replied:

"Yes, according to Miss Adela, everything on this spaceship came from there."

[The newbie] seemed thoughtful, and quickly said to them:

"It seems that the Starsea Federation has made some kind of special settings to that machine."

"If I'm not mistaken, this harvester won't harm other creatures during its production process."

"That explains why it completely stopped moving in the face of the swarm of rock worms."

"Even though it can easily crush those insects, and its laser cutting makes it impossible for the opponent to stop it, the settings cannot be changed."

As the players left the cave, the so-called "rock-dwelling insects" no longer pursued them.

They regrouped and formed a cluster in the cave below.

Players are completely unfamiliar with this newly emerged creature.

From what we've just encountered, the only thing we know is that it's some kind of insect with a hard shell, and it comes in many different shapes.

Physical attacks, especially striking weapons, should be able to shatter the opponent's shell; [Gummy Bears] have already demonstrated this to them.

The collector, with its immense mass, could crush the rock-dwelling insects, turning them into nothing more than carpets.

However, it will not do that; it will simply silently change its location to mine under command.

Upon hearing this, [Painkiller] realized what the players needed to do here.

"So, if we want to continue mining and complete the [construction] task, we still need to figure out how to deal with the bugs below?"

[The newbie] nodded slightly; this was clearly the purpose of the new enemy's appearance.

"It seems that this is indeed the case."

"No wonder so many players have come here even though there aren't any major projects yet, just some outposts being built..."

"For a while, we'll probably have to go down into the mines and fight monsters to pave the way for the resource collectors."

"And didn't [Gummy Bear] kill a monster just now? It earned 1 point."

"If we can clear out the monsters here, that will be a lot of points."

While chatting with the people next to him, [Noob] casually posted a thread on the forum, intending to recruit more players to participate.

But then something occurred to him, and he suddenly realized something.

Although they are indeed players, they don't necessarily have to do everything themselves.

Mining is of great significance to the human federation behind them.

Since this game is so realistic, will the NPCs react to it?

We should quickly report this to Captain Qin and see if there will be any follow-up support. At the very least, we could issue a formal mission explaining the gameplay and offering some rewards.

[Clumsy Guy] uploaded the photos he had just collected and reported them to Qin Heling as part of the task progress.

"Captain, mysterious creatures have appeared in Mining Area I, hindering development progress."

"I would like to ask what we should do next. Please advise."

-----------------

Qin Heling looked at the report in front of him and also learned about the situation at the scene from the players' seeding system dungeons.

He wasn't surprised by the appearance of such creatures and the attack, after all, he had anticipated what would happen on this planet when he chose this place.

Qin Heling had already discovered the cave below when he was exploring the mining area.

Moreover, he discovered not only the cave, but also the mother nest that was connected further back.

Of course, this was also a surprise he deliberately left for the players, and also their first opponent on the way to the Fourth Calamity.

It was neither the powerful beasts of this planet, nor the intelligent life form Lovisa, which we have not yet fully encountered.

The first opponent he chose for the players was the underground rock-dwelling insect.

Rock-dwelling insects are a special kind of creature.

Their shell composition and body structure can be altered by the minerals they consume.

In addition to the most common stone bug enemies, players will later encounter other rock bugs that are tougher and more aggressive.

Although they rarely have the ability to leave their planet, they somehow spread throughout the universe and have similar existences on many rocky planets.

Compared to the real Zerg in the stars, the Rock Dwellers are clearly far inferior.

However, as classic Zerg-based neutral creeps, they are still considered decent beginner creeps.

Qin Heling got up from the captain's cabin and walked outside.

This time, he plans to make an appearance of the newly appeared rock-dwelling insects in the mining area and show off his skills to the players.