SSS rank Mother-In-Law to an Invincible Family-Chapter 449: The Zerg Are Here Again

Back in the Xu family subspace.

Xu Qianghua sat quietly in his study, surrounded by a soft, golden glow cast by the formation lights embedded into the walls. A thick stack of jade slips sat beside him, each one pulsing gently with stored reports.

He had been reading through them for hours.

Northern Continent: The cliffs held. The formations were working. Losses were minimal.

Western Continent: The spirit cannon traps had triggered perfectly. They'd wiped out two waves.

Eastern Continent: More chaotic, but the newly trained defense lines were holding strong. Jinhai City had even managed to repel a full battalion last night.

And the Southern Continent… well, that was something else entirely. It had become a graveyard.

He closed the last slip and leaned back slightly.

The room was silent, save for the quiet hum of a crystal incense burner on the side table.

Outside, the subspace sky was a soft lavender, dotted with floating stone lanterns drifting along preset paths.

Everything was going as planned.

For once.

Xu Qianghua didn't smile, but there was a calm look in his eyes. Not relaxed. Just… settled. Like a general who knew his pieces were in place.

He reached for a cup of tea that had long gone cold, then paused as the family token beside him lit up.

He turned toward it.

The edges of the token shimmered with dark blue light—unusual. Not one of the regular departments.

Then, the center flared with a sharp silver arc.

A communication request.

And the symbol?

A rising spear above a star cluster.

Xu Qianghua narrowed his eyes.

The Space Fleet.

It had been a while.

He reached over and tapped the token.

The light expanded and floated above the desk, forming a small projection window that flickered for a moment before stabilizing.

A man appeared within the light—early forties in appearance, dark gray uniform, close-cut hair, and a silver insignia etched across his chest.

He stood in what looked like a ship's command deck, with rows of cultivators and operators in the background. Most of the lights were dimmed, and red indicators blinked across the crystalline wall panels.

"Commander Jian Xu reporting in," the man said, giving a respectful nod.

Xu Qianghua gave a small one in return. "Jian. It's been a long time."

"Too long," the man agreed, his voice low and focused. "I wish this was a routine check-in. But it's not."

Xu Qianghua's brows lowered slightly. "Go ahead."

Jian shifted, and the background behind him flickered to a different view—an external scan showing a patch of space covered in dark, spike-covered ships. They were shaped like jagged bones, long and twisted, floating in tight patrol patterns.

"The Zerg," Jian said quietly. "Their scouting fleets are becoming more active. We've been tracking three to four ships a cycle. But now…"

He waved his hand, and the screen expanded to show more.

"Seventeen confirmed vessels in the outer region. Possibly more cloaked. They haven't found us yet but at this rate…"

Xu Qianghua's eyes stayed on the image. The ships moved like insects, drifting slowly but in a pattern—searching.

"You're sure they haven't detected the planet?"

"We've made certain," Jian said firmly. "Our cloaking array is still layered with four folds of spiritual distortion.

They can't scan through it unless they brute-force the zone—which would give us an early warning. We've even been masking our energy signals with drifting rocks and dead ship hulls."

"Then what's the problem?"

Jian didn't answer right away.

He just stared at the projection.

Then finally said, "The problem is the way they're moving. They're not just passing through. They're circling."

Xu Qianghua's jaw tightened slightly.

"If they're circling, then they're not guessing. They're narrowing something down."

"That's our guess, too. They don't know we're here. But they know something is."

There was a long pause.

Behind Jian, the ship's lights dimmed even further. Warning flashes blinked softly in the background, and one of the officers could be heard muttering coordinates to someone out of view.

Xu Qianghua tapped his fingers on the desk once.

Then again.

Then said, "How long until they close in?"

"Hard to say. A few months or a year or two at most. We've slowed their scans by redirecting them through our satellite mines, but that's not going to last. Eventually, they'll send a swarm ship."

"And if they do…" Xu Qianghua said quietly, "We won't be able to hide anymore."

"No, Patriarch."

"Casualty estimates?"

Jian gave a small breath. "Minimal if things go as planned. Our traps are already in place—layered across three fallback zones.

And our fleet outmatches theirs in tech and energy handling. These Zerg ships are fast, but they're not designed to deal with multi-phase spiritual traps."

Xu Qianghua's eyes stayed on the spinning projection of the Zerg fleet. "So you're confident."

"We've run simulations. If we engage with the current fleet, we can take them out before they even realize what's happening. We might lose a drone or two. That's it."

Finally, Xu Qianghua said, "Do we have a fallback?"

"We've got three jump gates pre-charged. Two lead to uncharted systems. One leads into a nebula that interferes with spiritual navigation. We won't need them unless something goes very wrong."

"But if we fight…"

Jian nodded firmly. "We win. The only risk is if they send a command-class bio ship without warning.

If that happens, we'll need someone with the strength to match it head-on. Those things aren't just ships—they're living war machines."

Xu Qianghua nodded slowly.

Then stood.

"I'll send word to Hu Liwei. She's managing the southern deployment. I'll pull one of her upper-tier units and assign them to your side. Until then, maintain silence. No sudden moves."

Jian gave a crisp bow. "Understood."

Just before the call ended, Xu Qianghua said quietly, "Jian."

"Yes, Patriarch?"

"If—by chance—they do break through, and you're left with no options, stall them. Don't let them trace anything back here."

Jian paused. "You won't need to give that order, Patriarch. We'll stop them at the edge."

And with that, the call ended.

Xu Qianghua was left in silence again.

He glanced once more toward the ceiling of the subspace chamber—where the stars shimmered faintly above.

The battlefield wasn't just on land anymore.

It never was.