After the continuous "Leviathan Echo", which was like the background noise of the universe, was played for several days, its repetition frequency began to show an imperceptible and regular fluctuation. This fluctuation was extremely weak and was equivalent to meaningless random fluctuations for any existing monitoring equipment on the earth. However, for Xiao Han, whose super senses had passively adapted to this "noise", it was like a pebble thrown into calm water.
He still had his eyes closed, enjoying the sunshine, but his sensory tentacles had already captured this change. This was not a change in the broadcast signal itself, but something far outside that was accurately responding and positioning in a way that resonated with the broadcast signal.
"Tsk." He made a very light smacking of his lips impatiently. Before the advertisement was finished, it seemed that customers had already followed the Internet cable to come to the door.
Tony·Stark received the emergency alert from Friday at almost the same time.
"Boss, Deep-Space Monitoring Network detected an extremely short and clearly directed high-energy pulse signal. Its modulation method is highly correlated with the 'Leviathan Echo' broadcast. The signal source azimuth angle α-7, elevation angle δ-23, distance... is being calculated, and the preliminary judgment is that it comes from outside Kuiper Belt."
Tony suddenly raised his head from the workbench. The holographic star map instantly unfolded in the center of the laboratory, and a flashing red dot was marked on the edge of Solar System.
"Zoom in! Analyze the signal characteristics! Can you tell what it is?"
"The signal duration is too short, the energy level is extremely high, and the technical characteristics... are 67% similar to the Kree Empire jump engine wake radiation recorded in the S.H.I.E.L.D. database." Friday's report made Tony's heart sink.
Kree. The warlike and technologically advanced Universe Empire. They are indeed the first batch of "sharks" attracted by this damn broadcast.
"Where are they now? What are they doing?"
"After the pulse signal, the target disappeared. It is speculated that it has entered optical invisibility or some kind of space shielding state. It cannot be tracked." Friday's answer is disturbing.
"Damn it! They are hiding at the door of Solar System and snooping!" Tony immediately connected to Nick Fury's encrypted line, "Fury! Kree is here! Just hanging around in front of our house! They must have received that ghost broadcast!"
Fury's one eye looked particularly gloomy on the screen. "We have also detected abnormal energy fluctuations. The global defense network has been upgraded to Level 2 alert. Can the scale and intention be determined?"
"Only one signal source has been found so far. It's more likely that it's a small ship, like a reconnaissance unit. Intention? It can't be to deliver food!" Tony spoke quickly, "They are hiding, but they are definitely observing and collecting data, especially..."
He cast his gaze out the window again.
"... About his data." Fury finished the second half of the sentence for him, "Keep monitoring, Stark. I will let Hill coordinate all active space assets. If they just take a look, let's not take the initiative to provoke them for the time being."
"Look? What they are looking at is not the scenery!" Tony ended the call and rubbed his brows irritably. He knew that Fury's strategy was sound, but this feeling of being in the dark against the enemy was terrible.
The next few hours were calm, and Deep-Space Monitoring Network did not capture any abnormal signals. But the "Leviathan Echo" that permeated the space seemed to become slightly clearer, as if the signal strength was enhanced because of a clear receiver.
Xiao Han is still lying there, as if everything has nothing to do with him. Only he knows that the weak energy signature that is deliberately hidden but vaguely resonates with the broadcast is moving at a slow but firm speed towards Solar System, towards the direction of the earth. The way it moves is very clever, using the planet's gravitational shadow and solar radiation background as cover, it is obviously a professional veteran.
"Stealth skills. Low-level." He commented in his mind. This concealment method may be able to deceive all the instruments on the earth, but in front of his Super-Senses, which can sense the subtle wrinkles of space itself, it is as conspicuous as a firefly in ink.
He didn't bother to pay attention. As long as this thing didn't make noise or enter the atmosphere, it could snoop wherever it liked.
However, the commander of the Kree reconnaissance ship, Korath, obviously had different ideas. After initially collecting the structure and energy distribution of the earth-orbiting satellite network and confirming that the marked "high-energy reaction" did exist on the planet's surface, he decided to conduct a more aggressive exploration.
A highly encrypted command that imitated the trajectory of asteroid fragments was sent from the hidden reconnaissance ship and shot at another smaller, unmarked Kree assault ship that was already lurking near the orbit of Mars.
The command content is simple and direct: fly over the target planet in low orbit at high speed, aim at the general area of the energy mark, and launch a "Phantom" level tactical probe. Mission goal: collect energy samples at close range and test the target's defense response level. Command priority: gamma.
A moment later, the earth's early warning system finally caught the anomaly - a tiny but extremely fast object was leaving the orbit of Mars and heading straight for the earth at an astonishing speed that far exceeded the speed of the third universe!
"The unknown high-speed object is approaching! The orbit parameters are being calculated... It is expected to enter low-Earth orbit in three minutes and seventeen seconds! The speed is too fast and cannot be effectively intercepted!" On S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier, the monitor's voice was filled with panic.
"Image! Give me the image!" Maria·Hill snapped.
A blurry enlarged image appeared on the main screen. It was a sharp, dark shuttle-shaped aircraft that seemed to be able to absorb all light. There were no visible windows or logos on its surface, only a cold metallic luster.
"Not an asteroid! It's an aircraft! Some kind of assault ship or reconnaissance aircraft!"
"Where is it heading?" Fury's voice came through the communication.
"The trajectory extension line... points to the North American West Coast, California Malibu area!" The monitor's voice was dry.
The hearts of all those who knew about it suddenly twitched. The target was Xiao Han! Kree's first test was directed at the real owner!
Tony also received the alarm. He rushed out of the laboratory instantly and shouted towards the beach, "Hey! Something is coming towards you! Enter the atmosphere immediately!"
Xiao Han finally sat up slowly and looked up at the sky. His eyes easily penetrated the atmosphere and saw the small aircraft that was trailing a weak ion trail and shooting like a black poisonous needle. He also saw the aircraft adjust its angle slightly, open a launch port in its abdomen, and a similarly dark and faster probe shot out silently, taking the lead to rush into the atmosphere, aiming directly at the beach where he was!
The probe was obviously designed for stealth and speed. Its energy signature was suppressed to a minimum. It produced almost no sonic boom during flight, and ordinary humans could not even capture its trajectory with the naked eye.
But in Xiao Han's eyes, this thing was as obvious as a lighthouse at night. Not only did it emit unpleasant, non-terrestrial mechanical energy fluctuations, its target was unmistakably pointed at himself.
The most important thing is that when it breaks into the atmosphere, the weak vibrations caused by the friction with the air, the high-frequency vibrations of its internal precision instruments, and the continuous low hum of its energy core... all of these converge into a sound that is not deafening, but is clear enough and irritating enough -
Noise.
"Insects." Xiao Han spat out two words lightly.
He didn't make any exaggerated movements, he just raised his right hand and flicked his finger at the probe that had broken through the troposphere and was about to enter the range visible to the naked eye.
No light shines, no energy explodes.
But at an altitude of tens of thousands of meters above the ground, the "Phantom" probe, which fell at supersonic speed and adopted Kree Empire's top stealth and protection technology, seemed to have hit an invisible but absolutely hard wall, or in other words, was hit head-on by an invisible meteorite moving at a relative speed.
Within one hundredth of a second, starting from the tip, the atomic structure was completely destroyed, disintegrated, and Oblivion by unimaginable force. There was no explosion, no fragments scattered, just like it had never existed, it completely disappeared without a trace.
It was as if just a speck of dust had flicked away from my fingertips.
At the same time, the Kree assault ship, which had just launched its probe and was about to skid and turn to escape, suddenly and without warning appeared in the center of its hull a huge circular hole with extremely smooth and regular edges.
This hole penetrated every level of the ship's hull - the engine room, the command cabin, the weapons depot... It was as if there was an extremely huge, absolutely round hole punch that instantly penetrated it in an incomprehensible way.
The stealth force field of the assault ship instantly failed, revealing the dark hull. It froze for a moment, and then a series of explosions occurred inside. Fire spewed out from the huge circular breach and other damaged parts, quickly turning the technological marvel into a ball of scrap metal burning silently in the vacuum.
The remaining propulsion force pushed this piece of scrap metal along its original trajectory and turned into a huge, burning meteor, rolling and flying towards the outer orbit of the earth, and will eventually become a new pile of garbage orbiting the sun.
From the launch of the probe, to the probe Oblivion, to the assault ship being instantly penetrated and destroyed, the entire process occurred in less than two seconds.
On the ground, Tony only saw Xiao Han raising his head, snapping his fingers, and then... and then everything was fine? The sensors in his armor only captured an extremely brief and ridiculously high-intensity energy point burst high in the sky (probe Oblivion), and a new heat source in further space (the explosion of an assault ship).
"What... happened?" Tony asked stutteringly. He didn't even see the probe!
"The garbage was cleaned up." Xiao Han lay back on the chair, as if he just swatted an approaching fly to death, "The source of the noise has been eliminated."
Tony opened his mouth, but finally said nothing. Through the satellite and deep space telescope that Friday linked to S.H.I.E.L.D., he saw the wreckage image of the Kree assault ship that was burning and disintegrating in space, and also confirmed that the signal of the high-speed falling object had disappeared.
A very threatening probing attack from an advanced alien civilization was resolved right under his nose by this person with a snap of his fingers.
It was as easy as chasing away an insignificant flying insect.
On the Kree reconnaissance ship far away from the edge of Solar System, Korath fell into a long silence as he watched the assault ship lose all signals in an instant, and the last picture sent back was the assault ship with a huge hole in the hull and then explosion, as well as the reading of the "Phantom" probe signal that the signal suddenly stopped.
There was only the faint hum of operating instruments in the bridge.
After a long time, he slowly spoke, with an unprecedented solemnity and a hint of disbelief in his voice. "... Report Supreme Intelligence. The test failed. The target individual... the threat level is re-evaluated. It is recommended... to suspend any direct contact. 'Leviathan Echo' marks the target, the degree of danger... exceeds expectations."
He paused and added, "The way it fights back is... incomprehensible. It seems to involve... the operation of space itself."
The reconnaissance ship quietly adjusted its direction and began to retreat slowly, hiding deeper into the shadow of interstellar dust.
On Malibu Beach, the sun is still shining brightly.
Xiao Han drank the last bit of the drink in the cup, and the ice cubes had completely melted.
The continuous cosmic broadcast seemed to have become a little quieter because of this failed trial.