The Shi'ar reconnaissance ship fled hastily, drawing a frightening trajectory in the dark background of the universe. It did not dare to slow down slightly until it retreated to the edge of Oort Cloud, just like the frightened Beast fled back to the edge of the lair, still looking back at the hunting ground with lingering fear. The emergency warning issued by Captain Varick was spread within the Shi'ar Empire military network with the highest priority, causing shock at all levels. Words such as "absolutely prohibited contact", "incalculable risk", and "rule-level obliteration capability" were repeatedly emphasized, and the threat level of the earth and the existence on it was raised to the same level as some ancient cosmic disasters.
However, the universe never lacks careerists and adventurers. Shi'ar Empire's retreat is like a warning light that goes out, causing some forces hidden in the deeper shadows to mistakenly think they have seen an opportunity.
In the depths of the broken Asteroid Belt, far away from the main interstellar routes, a ferocious-looking spaceship that seems to be made of countless biological carapace and rusted metal - "scavenger's Bane" - is quietly lurking. Its owner is the "Hyena Pack", a space mercenary group that makes a living by plundering and reselling rare items (whether alive or dead). They intercept (Interception) The warning from the Shi'ar Empire was received, as well as the vague "Leviathan Echo" from earlier.
"Rule-level obliteration? Ha, those cowards in shining armor of Shi'ar always exaggerate." The leader of the mercenary group, a Kronan warrior (Kree) known as "Razorclaw" renegade), looking at the blurry energy image of Xiao Han on the screen, grinning with a big mouth full of fangs, "An energy creature trapped on a primitive planet? No matter how strong it is, what can it do? It won't fly out of the atmosphere to cause trouble for us."
"But boss, Shi'ar did lose an assault ship, and even the reconnaissance ship was scared away." A slightly cautious navigator who looked like a hybrid of an octopus and a mole reminded him.
"That's because they are stupid and trying to 'contact'." Razorclaw sneered and slapped his huge palm on the console, "We don't need to contact! We just need to... harvest! Think about it, even if you just get a little bit of that creature's blood, tissue samples, or even just the soil from the land where it lived, what price can it fetch on the black market? Those crazy the Collector and laboratories will break their heads for this!"
The light of greed flickered in the eyes of other alien mercenaries in the control room. Risk means gain, and Shi'ar's retreat, in their view, is a manifestation of reduced risk - there are fewer competitors.
"Make a plan!" Razorclaw roared, "Use the lowest power jump engine to get close to the galaxy, and don't be discovered by those cowardly sensors. Release 'Phantom Harvesters', and while the creature... is sleeping or doing something, sneak from the far sea area to collect water, soil, and air samples! Remember, never get close to the coastline! Evacuate immediately if you succeed!"
An extremely risky and nearly death-defying plunder plan was decided amidst the cheers of this group of desperadoes.
At the same time, the undercurrent inside the earth has not stopped, but has become more turbid due to the pressure at the cosmic level.
A. I. M.'s MODOK, after initial outburst, blamed internal sabotage for the inexplicable failure of "Titan" armor (deliberate sabotage) and material defects, research and development became more crazy and reckless. They even began to try to use captured Chitauri soldiers to conduct inhumane bio-energy fusion experiments. Inhuman screams and out-of-control energy explosions were heard from time to time in the base, and dangerous energy fluctuations leaked from time to time, like a constantly brewing cancer.
The agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. are busy monitoring abnormal energy signals and illegal experiment reports around the world.
"Fury Sir, abnormal bioenergy signals have been detected in Eastern Europe, and they are suspected to be related to A. I. M."
"An unknown structure was found on the seabed of South Pacific Ocean. The energy signature does not match the technology of Chitauri or Kree."
"Huge bounties for 'high-energy biological samples' appeared simultaneously in multiple black market channels, and the source cannot be traced."
Bad news came one after another, and Fury's face became darker and darker. He felt that the earth was like a leaky broken ship, with holes everywhere, and there were more and more sharks in the water.
"Intensify monitoring! Prioritize ensuring the stability of key areas! Especially Malibu!" He could only issue such an order, and a deep sense of powerlessness gripped him.
Wakanda chose another path. Under the instruction of T'Challa, Princess Shuri launched a top-secret "Planetary Veins" project. Using extremely fine Vibranium mineral veins all over the world as sensing nodes Point, combined with the advanced technology of Wakanda, is trying to build a monitoring network that can provide early warning of major energy anomalies and space disturbances on a global scale. This network is not for attacks, but to buy Wakanda valuable warning time before a disaster occurs, and even... early evacuation.
This is a vast and secretive project that requires the mobilization of a large amount of Wakanda resources and technological power. The entire country is like a precision instrument, running at high speed and silently.
And the focus of all this - Xiao Han, still has no knowledge or care about the upcoming Hyena Pack plunder plan, the increasingly chaotic situation inside the earth, and Wakanda's precautionary measures.
He just felt more and more annoyed.
The cold, omnipresent gaze (Watchers Council) did not weaken at all, continuing to torture his senses like background noise.
The scattered curious glances from different dimensions before seemed to have become bolder due to the arrival of the parliament's gaze, and they were looming.
Deep in the earth beneath your feet, those weak Vibranium energy fluctuations have become more active and dense than before (Wakanda's "Planetary Veins" plan). Although they are deliberately suppressed, they are still like countless tiny needle tips gently probing.
On the earth, the restlessness of the dark side of mankind (A. I. M., Hydra, etc.) is like water about to boil, emitting more chaotic bubbles.
The whole world seemed like a theater where the volume was gradually turned up, playing a chaotic symphony, and he was the only audience member who wanted to cover his ears.
His mood has obviously become bad. Before, he was just lazy and occasionally impatient, but now he often exudes a low pressure that keeps strangers away. Even Tony does not dare to approach the beach easily, and he uses clumsy robots to deliver things.
He even began to feel that even the sunlight was not as "pure" as before, as if it had been "polluted" by the invisible gaze.
This continued accumulation of irritability is approaching a critical point.
The whisper of the storm is already ringing in my ears.
Hyena Pack's "scavenger's Bane" spacecraft used the cover of Asteroid Belt to make an extremely short-distance risky jump, appearing like a ghost outside the orbit of Neptune, and immediately entered the highest level of optical and energy invisibility.
"Release 'Phantom Harvesters'!" Razorclaw ordered.
Three unmanned collectors that were only the size of surfboards, flat and dark in appearance, and barely reflecting any light, slid out from the belly of the spacecraft silently, like the shadow of death, drifting silently in the direction of the earth. Their speed was controlled at an extremely low level, their energy signature was suppressed to almost nothing, and the selected dive point was located at the deepest point of Pacific Ocean on the other side of the earth.
Their mission is simple: dive into the deep sea, collect water samples and seabed sediment samples far away from the Malibu area, and then return immediately.
This is a seemingly perfect plan with extremely low risks. They are far away from the center of the storm, their actions are concealed, and their targets are only inanimate environmental samples.
However, they ignore one thing - or rather, cannot understand one thing at all: when a person's senses are sharp enough to perceive the whole world, and the mood is extremely bad, any intrusion of foreign and discordant "impurities" will be as clear as a pluck on a taut string.
At the moment when the three "Phantom Harvesters" ships quietly broke through the earth's atmosphere and were about to fall into the predetermined sea area--
Pacific Ocean Somewhere on the sea surface, without warning, a layer of ice covering hundreds of meters in radius instantly condensed. The ice layer was tens of meters thick and smooth as a mirror, as if it had existed for millions of years.
At the same time, outside the atmosphere, the three stealth collectors seemed to have hit an invisible and absolutely cold wall, stagnating for an instant, and then being completely frozen, shattered, and turned into cosmic dust at the molecular level, without even a trace of signal being transmitted back.
In the "scavenger's Bane" spacecraft, Razorclaw looked at the collector that suddenly lost all signals, and the grin on his face froze for an instant.
"What's going on?! What happened?!" he roared.
"No... I don't know! All signals suddenly disappeared! No explosion! No energy response! It's like... it just evaporated out of thin air!" the navigator reported in horror.
Fear instantly gripped these desperadoes.
On Malibu Beach, Xiao Han just smacked his lips more impatiently.
"The endless flies... they come from the back..." He muttered something low and turned over, trying to block out all the noise.
But the low air pressure radiating around him almost caused the moisture in the air to condense into frost.
The whispers of the storm are becoming clearer and more urgent.