Xiao Han was suspended in the sky above the dead planet, with no energy flowing around him, as if he had completely merged into the cold cosmic background. His senses unfolded with unprecedented precision, capturing the faint but continuous structural tremors. It was not transmitted through conventional media, but more like subtle ripples engraved on the space-time structure itself, a coordinate imprint that transcended ordinary physical perception.
Disturbance must be eliminated. This is the only and absolute rule of action.
He did not start immediately, but stood very patiently, like the most experienced hunter, carefully distinguishing every parameter of this abnormal vibration. The frequency, amplitude, modulation method... all conveyed an unnatural, cold and precise meaning. This was not a natural phenomenon, but some kind of creation. Some insect hiding in an unknown corner created this kind of "noise" specifically aimed at the existence of high-level energy.
It seems to be trying to establish a connection, perform some form of scanning or calling. The target is probably him.
Xiao Han's mouth curved with a trace of warmth. Very good. It saved him the trouble of searching aimlessly. The noise itself was a direct line leading to its source.
He confirmed the direction again. The source was located in the deeper and older starry sky, an area where even the starlight seemed sparse and dim. The next moment, he moved.
There was no sonic boom, no flame, and it did not even cause any obvious distortion of the surrounding space. He just changed from extreme stillness to extreme motion, tearing apart the distance in space in an almost paradoxical way. The dead planet behind him instantly shrank, turning into an insignificant gray dot in the field of vision, and then completely disappeared.
He traveled through the interstellar medium at high speed, and the cold hydrogen atoms collided with his invisible Biological Force Field, unable to produce even the slightest sense of friction. As his speed continued to increase, the surrounding stars began to lengthen into blurry bands of light, and were quickly thrown into the more distant darkness behind him.
The tremor gradually became clear in his perception. It pointed in an unmistakable direction.
On the way, he passed a floating Asteroid Belt. Inside several larger rock masses, there were simple automated mining facilities hidden, relics left by some kind of inferior civilization. They were operating mechanically, emitting regular vibrations and energy signals. These signals were ridiculously rough compared to the traced source tremors, but at this moment, they also formed part of the background noise.
Xiao Han didn't even think, just the flight path deflected slightly, like a high-speed train passing over the weeds on the roadside.
The moment after he passed by, the piece of Asteroid Belt, together with all the facilities in it, silently turned into dust, the most basic particles in the universe, without even a trace of light leaking out. The cleanup was completed.
His speed did not slow down at all and he continued to move towards his goal.
Earth, Wakanda.
The underground command center is busier than ever. A huge holographic star map is suspended in the center, with the area representing Solar System highlighted. The periphery is filled with moving and changing light spots, most of which are marked red unknown or yellow alert.
T'Challa stood in front of the podium, and Princess Shuri quickly operated the control interface and retrieved various data.
"Another Kree Empire's fast reconnaissance team crossed over Asteroid Belt." Okoye pointed at several moving red dots on the star map, with a stern tone, "Their actions are becoming more and more bold, and they can hardly hide their whereabouts."
"Our long-range detectors captured their energy signatures and compared with the database, they belong to the ships of the Kree Empire'Annihilator' sequence." Shuri added, zooming in on the detailed model of the red dots with a wave of his finger, "The firepower configuration is aimed at interstellar assault and planetary suppression, not a simple reconnaissance unit."
"They are testing the limits of our reaction, and are also assessing how weak the earth's defense is after losing 'that existence'." T'Challa said solemnly, looking at the star map, "How long will it take for the energy core debugging of 'Planetary Defense Initiative'?"
"It will take at least seventy-two hours, brother." Shuri's face rarely lost the usual excitement, only concentration and exhaustion remained. "Vibranium Reactor's output stability has always been a problem. Forcibly overloading will cause the entire system to collapse."
"We don't have seventy-two hours." Nick Fury's voice came through encrypted communication, and his image appeared on another screen. "S.H.I.E.L.D.'s latest intelligence shows that a medium-sized battle group of Kree is moving to the periphery of Solar System. Their intentions are unknown, but they are definitely not good-natured."
The images of Tony·Stark were also connected. In the background was his laboratory, and Doctor Banner could be seen busy at the side. "It will take at least a week for my space-based defense array to complete its final deployment. And, to be honest, that thing is okay against a few reconnaissance ships. Facing an organic battle group, I'm afraid it can't even delay time."
"Avengers is on standby." Steve's voice joined in with a firm tone, "But we lack effective space combat capabilities. Once their fleet enters the outer atmosphere, we will be extremely passive."
"Wakanda's space fleet is limited in scale and is mainly used to defend the airspace." T'Challa said frankly, "The chance of winning against a Kree battle group head-on is slim."
A sense of powerless anxiety permeated everyone. A powerful enemy was at the doorstep, but their most powerful weapon left because they thought it was too noisy.
"Perhaps..." Bruce·Banner hesitated and pushed up his glasses, "We can try to actively send out some signals? Show that we are not without resistance, or... try to communicate?"
"Communication?" Tony sneered, "Bruce, look at the configuration and travel routes of those Kree ships, do they look like they are here to drink tea and chat? As for showing strength... what else can we do? Are we using a loudspeaker to broadcast and say, 'We used to have a very powerful landlord. Although he is gone, you'd better not mess with us'?"
"What Stark said may sound ugly, but it is the truth." Fury interrupted calmly, "Showing weakness or bluffing is meaningless. It will only make them more sure that we are strong on the outside and weak on the inside. There is only one strategy now: speed up all defensive preparations, and then pray that their main force will arrive slower, or..."
He didn't say anything further, but everyone understood what was behind that "or". Either some kind of miracle happened, or the leaving being suddenly changed its mind.
But for the latter, they all know that the possibility is infinitely close to zero.
Xiao Han's speed has slowed down.
The cosmic space ahead shows an abnormal structure. There are no obvious stars, nor large areas of Nebula, only some sparsely distributed, ancient red dwarfs and brown dwarfs, emitting a faint light. The space itself seems to be filled with an extremely faint, unnatural background radiation, interfering with normal space-time perception.
The structural tremor that guided him became extremely clear and strong here, and the source was deep in this area.
His Super Vision penetrated numerous obstacles and locked the target.
It was not a planet, nor a regular space station. It was an extremely huge, twisted geometric structure. It was made of some dark, non-reflective material, and its shape was difficult to describe using Euclidean geometry. It constantly challenged the cognitive limits of vision. It was quietly suspended in the void, as if it had existed for hundreds of millions of years.
There are no visible entrances or lights on the surface of the structure, only countless complex and deep lines. Those lines are changing and flowing at an extremely slow but constant speed, emitting an energy signature that has the same origin as the structural tremor.
This is where the noise comes from.
Xiao Han Without any hesitation or testing, he flew directly towards the huge geometric structure.
When he approached a certain distance, the lines on the surface of the structure suddenly lit up with a dim blue light, and the speed of change accelerated rapidly. A silent spatial fluctuation spread out from the center of it, sweeping across the location of Xiao Han.
Scanning pulse. Strong enough to instantly tear through conventional battleship armor.
The fluctuations passed by Xiao Han without causing any reaction, not even the corners of his clothes were touched.
It seems that the scan was detected to be invalid. The structure was facing the direction of Xiao Han, and a huge, irregular cavity suddenly opened on the surface. Inside the cavity was deep darkness. The next second, an energy beam that was condensed to the extreme and distorted the space burst out, instantly crossing the distance between them, completely engulfing Xiao Han.
Wherever the energy beam passed, the space itself groaned under load.
The light lasted for several seconds before slowly dissipating.
Xiao Han still stayed in the same place, not even moving his position. He lowered his head and looked at his chest. The black clothes there were still intact, not even a bit of dust was stained.
He raised his eyes and looked at the huge geometric structure. For the first time, a very faint emotion, similar to... impatience, flashed through his golden pupils.
Too slow.
A welcome ceremony of this level is really inefficient.