The retreat of the Insect Race Fleet from Santao Star cannot possibly be due to being repelled by Xi Rui's troops.
It must be because Gu Hang's main forces were discovered.
Gu Hang was not surprised by this.
During the Battle of Santao, his main fleet only made a brief appearance at the start of the battle. No matter how intense the battle became afterwards, many ships did not show up.
The Swarm isn't foolish; they are, in fact, very cunning. As time went on, they naturally grew more suspicious of the situation.
They obviously reinforced their reconnaissance and expanded their scouting range.
Initially, perhaps they thought humans had some hidden plot, worried that the fleet would directly cross the conflict zone to attack Reiaductus, so the main reconnaissance and probing focused along the line from the human-controlled zone to Reiaductus.
