"No escort needed?"
Every nation was stunned.
At this moment.
In outer space above China, a massive artificial satellite that had not been registered with the International Space Association lit up. It was a thousand kilometers beyond the atmosphere, like a star suddenly appearing in the sky.
This was a secret satellite on the scale of a small space station, named—Tiangong.
It was square in shape, with curved solar panels coiling across its top like a palace occupied by a giant dragon.
All of a sudden.
A pitch-black missile launched from Tiangong.
It flew silently through the depths of space. In the vacuum, it reached thirteen times the speed of sound, heading straight for the converging army of Iron Thistles.
Every country detected this astonishing sight!
What... was that?
The black missile soon arrived above the Iron Thistle swarm and detonated with a thunderous blast two-thirds of the way through it.
Another star lit up in the sky—a star in broad daylight, dazzling beyond measure.
Terrifying waves began to spread, expanding like a tangible energy shield.
Every Iron Thistle touched by that energy exploded instantly, turning into fragments that filled the sky.
And the energy spread wider and wider, until it enveloped the entire Iron Thistle army.
Through space surveillance footage, the leaders of every nation stared blankly at it all, utterly dumbfounded.
Leip raised a trembling finger and pointed at the data on the screen.
The Iron Thistles were vanishing at an incredible rate!
Leip shuddered. "Song Wei, what is that thing? China has been hiding a weapon like this?"
Mr. Song said slowly, "I told you already. It is called Pangu."
The leaders of the other nations were equally shocked. "Pangu? What is that? Another thermonuclear missile? Or that new concept—the nuclear-core missile?"
With his hands behind his