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At the Hong Kong Shattered Dome Base, Cai Tiantong's face had gone pale, his expression filled with disbelief. "Commander, you'd better come take a look."

Stark Pentecost, who had been standing to one side directing his communications officers, negotiating and coordinating with the leaders of various nations, turned at Cai Tiantong's words. When he saw the unusual look on his face, he immediately strode over and bent down to take a look.

"A nuclear explosion occurred in the center of the capital of Fusang. The energy fluctuation is equivalent to 6,000 tons of TNT." If Quan Tiehua had been there, he definitely would have added:

"If we hadn't been unable to move faster, we would've ignited all the fuel and engines for you and made the entire city center disappear from the map."

Stark Pentecost listened to Cai Tiantong's explanation while watching the various reports flooding across the internet. His expression grew increasingly grim. "Have Crimson Typhoon speed up. If possible, have them deploy and provide support on-site."

As he spoke, he suddenly turned around, breathing heavily for some reason. "How are the demon and the Iron Men doing?"

Ever since the Blood Angels and the demon Papatyr had appeared, it had taken them only a dozen seconds to assign them simple, colloquial code names.

The demon and the Iron Men.

"According to the satellite images, the demon was at the very center when the nuclear explosion occurred. Fifteen seconds before the explosion, those Iron Men fled in straight lines in all directions. Once they entered the clusters of buildings... Oh, my God, damn it!" Cai Tiantong suddenly cried out in alarm. He jerked backward, raising both hands. "Their running speed actually reached nearly sixty kilometers per hour."

Stark Pentecost was taking his medicine at the time. At Cai Tiantong's words, the hand bringing the pills to his mouth jerked violently, but he still forced himself to swallow them.

"The Iron Men who ran first were about seven hundred meters from the explosion's center. After entering the buildings, most of them ran toward places like refrigerated warehouses to shelter from the blast. Those at the back only made it a little over two hundred meters. Their current status is unknown."

"All personnel at the base, prepare for battle! All pilots, prepare to sortie immediately."

Huaxia—Kyoto.

Inside a brightly lit, plain yet dignified room, several elderly men in Zhongshan suits stared solemnly at the nuclear explosion site being broadcast in real time through satellite footage.

"When Crimson Typhoon reaches the battlefield, contact the Wei Family Three Brothers."

"Yes!"

America, Black Palace.

"Crimson Typhoon will reach the site in half an hour. Our air force is expected to arrive in five minutes."

"Crimson Typhoon is a mecha produced by Huaxia. Moreover, they're one of the permanent members, so their influence is considerable. Tell them that, if necessary, they may attack Crimson Typhoon."

At that moment, above Edo!

Several C-130s and C-21 Transport Aircraft carrying personnel began speeding toward the target location.

Behind them, more than a dozen UH-1 helicopters formed up and also began advancing from the airspace above the base toward the target location.

But the nuclear blast's shock wave came without warning. Although they were over forty kilometers away in the sky, and the danger to them was negligible—so negligible it could hardly be called danger—they still felt a certain impact.

"Repeat! Orders received. All personnel, take note: a nuclear explosion has occurred at the target location, with a yield equivalent to 6,000 tons of TNT. All personnel are to begin parachuting outside a twenty-kilometer radius of the target location and encircle the area. Attention! Any suspicious persons within the encirclement, or anyone who attacks our forces, may be shot on sight. If a single-target entity is discovered, capture it immediately. If capture proves too difficult, it may be shot on sight. Everyone, prepare your nuclear-protection suits. Good luck."

In an instant, the pilots' voices rang out through every aircraft cabin, leaving the soldiers who had been eating, drinking, and having fun at a loss.

At that moment, the legislators in the cabinet meeting, all of whom had already taken shelter in bunkers, wore tense expressions.

At the same time, some of them had faces twisted in anguish. After all, they knew that history all too well. They had already suffered two nuclear attacks, yet they had never expected another one to happen at their hands today.

This was simply a disgrace to the entire empire.

"America's Takeda Air Force Base has begun operations and is taking off for this location. They're expected to parachute outside the target area's twenty-kilometer perimeter in five minutes."

"Notify the Self-Defense Forces. If they encounter these American soldiers, don't resist. Let them in..."

For an instant, all the legislators looked toward the Prime Minister in confusion.

"The magnetic field after a nuclear explosion is extremely chaotic. Once they go deeper in, I refuse to believe their communications will still function. Tell our empire's warriors to wait until the American soldiers enter the restricted zone, then strike when the opportunity arises and create the appearance that the Iron Men were responsible."

"Yes."

Clang—

The steel gate, its exterior glowing red from the heat, slammed heavily onto the ground and sent countless clouds of carbon ash into the air.

Quan Tiehua stood where he was and turned to survey the ruined surroundings. For a moment, everything was deathly silent. Even his breathing was clearly audible through the helmet of his Plasteel armor.

He glanced at the radiation levels displayed by the system inside his helmet. Quan Tiehua merely raised an eyebrow before striding out without hesitation.

He had already shut off his power boots. He was back on Earth now, damn it. Using them in an environment with this level of gravity would simply waste energy.

He reached down and drew the bolt pistol tucked at his waist, then began searching for his brothers nearby.

To be honest, he was somewhat worried about his commander and Gers. First of all, he had no idea what kind of world this was.

If it was a world he was familiar with, then things would be easy. But if he had simply returned, then the situation was probably troublesome.

So the most urgent task now was to gather all his brothers around him and explain the situation to them.

After all, although the Astartes were formidable, once they lost the stacked buffs of the Warp, they were in a purely physical world. If they were hit by a single rocket, they could be knocked flat on their backs, even if they did not necessarily die.

But being captured alive was practically guaranteed.

Moreover, the commotion they had caused was so enormous that he estimated the attention of the entire world was focused here.

If possible, after finding his brothers, they should withdraw toward Huaxia.

After all, its complete industrial capabilities were no joke.

With the technology they currently possessed, they could exchange for the supplies they needed and pursue a mutually beneficial path of sincere cooperation.

If they did that, the gains from this trip to this world might very well be maximized.

And, to be honest, after all these years, he wanted to go back and take a look. Perhaps this was not the original world he had yearned for day and night.