Hu Yu had no choice but to rush to the Science City. Upon opening the door, the scene before him left Hu Yu speechless with astonishment. This was hardly a group of academicians or scientists; they looked more like a group of homeless people. Their greasy hair and beards were matted together. Their eyes were sunken and bloodshot, their faces smeared with oil. They hadn't rested for countless days and nights. Seeing these people, Hu Yu's eyes welled up with tears. He didn't ask any more questions; asking them now would be an insult.
"General, we are incompetent."
"You have done your best, so let's face this together. It's just that I failed to complete the task assigned to me by the leader. I have let down the leader, the people, and you all."
"General."
"Alright, everyone, hurry up and pack your things. Hopefully, we still have time to leave this world cleanly."
From the sky, the Fish Horse Star People sent a message.
"Humans, what else do you have to say? Just obediently come back to the territory of the Wind Star Civilization with us. We have confirmed that all your communication warships have been destroyed."
"Are you sure you've found them all? There are at least a hundred more hidden somewhere. You're too smug." Even though his fate was sealed, Hu Yu didn't want to give up. He wanted to continue dealing with the Fish Horse Star People, even if there was only a sliver of hope. After all, he wasn't Hu Yu; there were hundreds of billions of people here.
"Hmph, although we can't enter the fourth-dimensional space to trace its origin, we can observe the four-dimensional channels in this vicinity. Just now, the last two four-dimensional channels leading to the distance disappeared. What, still trying to deny it?"
"So what? The Wind Master have already randomly released satellite devices carrying information during their journey. These devices will continue to broadcast as long as they don't receive our specific messages within a thousand years."
"Humans, it's useless. Do you think we haven't thought of such a simple method? We have already searched all the space your warships have flown through. Any civilization's creations will be detected and destroyed, let alone the fact that we haven't found any technological creations belonging to humans at all."
"Since that's the case, let's make our move and attack." Even knowing he was outmatched, Hu Yu wasn't about to surrender so easily. He'd be happy to take a bite out of them. When the number of Wind Master heading to the Silver Heart dwindled to less than a hundred, antimatter and gravity bombs were already loaded onto the warships, preparing for a final desperate attempt.
More than ten million Wind Master rushed toward the Fish Horse Star fleet at the same time. Ten thousand kilometers was like a short distance to the Wind Master. Two seconds later, the Wind Master had completed the encirclement of the Fish Horse Star fleet and launched all their antimatter and gravity bombs at the same time. The Fish Horse Star warships in the encirclement did not try to dodge and allowed the countless bombs to attack them.
Just as it did in the Wind Star Civilization, as the bomb was about to make contact with the Fish Horse Star warship, the bomb began to slow down until it came to a slow stop. Unlike antimatter bombs, which rely on impact to explode, causing damage to the structure of the gravity bomb and rendering it unusable, the computer inside the bomb would temporarily determine the detonation time based on the distance to the target, detonating near the target and using gravitational waves to destroy the target's internal structure.
A few to tens of kilometers away from the Fish Horse Star warship, the gravity bomb exploded, destroying the internal structure of the antimatter bomb. Immediately afterward, the antimatter bomb also exploded. Ten thousand tons of antimatter exploded simultaneously in this airspace, releasing enough energy to destroy any matter.
However, the energy had no effect on the Fish Horse Star warships. They mysteriously stopped a kilometer away from the Fish Horse Star warships, then began to retreat and eventually disappeared into the starry sky. On the contrary, the Wind Master, who were too close, were shattered and routed by this wave of energy.
"Humans, you have truly angered me. Now taste our wrath!"
After saying that, a huge cylinder traveled tens of thousands of kilometers in less than a second to reach Earth Two. With a deafening explosion that echoed across the Earth Two, a mushroom cloud rose millions of meters into the air, protruding beyond the atmosphere. From a distance, Earth Two looked like a giant mushroom.
The powerful shockwave from the explosion swept across most of the planet, blowing away modular steel houses like fallen leaves in autumn. Whether it was towering trees or shrubs and weeds, everything was directly carbonized and ignited in the high heat of the shockwave, turning into ashes. The soil and rocks at the center of the explosion also burned, and the land was crystallized.
The planet began to tremble, lakes large and small began to boil, the mild atmosphere began to gather into violent tornadoes, fires burned everywhere, and thick smoke billowed. Earth Two was transformed from heaven into hell in an instant.
The real hell was in the underground bunkers within a third of the planetary region affected by the bomb explosion. No one who hid there survived, adults or children, men or women; the Fish Horse Star bomb claimed their lives in an instant.
The number of people directly killed reached 5 billion, more than 1 billion were injured, and there were no survivors in the area within a radius of 3,000 kilometers closest to the explosion center.
The Fish Horse Star People were clearly selective about the location of the bomb's explosion; by the time the shockwave reached Hu Yu's area, it had already lost its lethality.
At this moment, Hu Yu was on the verge of collapse. Everyone has their limits. Before, no matter how perilous the situation, there was always a glimmer of hope worth fighting for. Now, facing the Fish Horse Star fleet, Hu Yu felt like an ant fighting an elephant. Hu Yu's right thumb was already on the red button of the detonator. Once this button was pressed, the tens of tons of antimatter pre-buried inside the planet would destroy the entire Earth Two, and Hu Yu's fleet would be completely wiped out.
In the command center, everyone remained silent. Some sat upright, trying to maintain their military dignity even in their final moments; some closed their eyes, quietly awaiting death; and some clasped their hands behind their heads, trying to ease the tension. At this moment, Hu Yu thought of Earth, of their leader, of all the things they had accomplished along the way, and even of Mr. Daozi. Perhaps this mysterious old man could miraculously appear and save the human race, or perhaps other miracles would occur. However, after waiting for five minutes—which felt like five years—no miracle occurred. The god of fate had not shown any particular favor to humanity.
"Hahahaha, humans, how is it? Happy? This is the result of fighting against the Small Star Sector Civilization. You are nothing but a bunch of ants, daring to provoke our dignity. You were simply courting death. This feels great! I've decided to reduce the bomb's power, killing only one hundred million of you each time. How about that? Until only one hundred million are left, keep them to reproduce and feed the Insect Race. Hahahaha, humans, humans..."
Hu Yu has already closed the communication channel with the Fish Horse Star People. At this point, communication will only invite ridicule and mockery. The result will either be the immediate extermination of the Fish Horse Star People Fish Horse Star People or being controlled by them and becoming food for their insects. Hu Yu would rather this branch of humanity disappear from now on than allow humanity to be enslaved.
"Comrades, our time has come. See you in the next life."
Hu Yu closed his eyes and began to press the button with his thumb. Suddenly, a tree branch shattered the tempered glass of the command room and struck Hu Yu's wrist. Hu Yu felt a sharp pain, and the detonator in his hand was released. The tree branch immediately wrapped around the detonator and dismantled it in a few quick movements.
Hu Yu snapped his eyes open. It was Ninety-Seven. It was standing outside the command building, with only a few branches sticking out. Hu Yu got up and went to the window.
" Ninety-Seven, I'm sorry I didn't inform you beforehand, but I figured you wouldn't want to return to the Wind Star Civilization's territory, so I selfishly tied your fate to ours. It's a pity I should have driven you away sooner; otherwise, you wouldn't have ended up in the same situation as us."
"General, you're still thinking of me at a time like this?"
"You are not human, Fish Horse Star People are not after you. You should not suffer the same tragic fate as us."
"General, I should be the one apologizing. Over the years, you've treated me like one of your own, a feeling I've never experienced on our home planet—the feeling of family. I should have stood up sooner, otherwise so many of you wouldn't have died. I regret it so much. I was cowardly. Among those who died were many children I had taught."
" Ninety-Seven, do you have a way?" Hu Yu's heart skipped a beat.
Instead of answering directly, Ninety-Seven plucked a fist-sized fruit from among the branches and handed it to Hu Yu.
"General, please keep this fruit and my torso safe after I complete the transfer. If you ever find my home planet, give this fruit along with my torso to any of the tree people there. They will know what to do. I will use all my energy to teleport Earth Two to the Nebula Region ahead. I hope you can escape this calamity there."
" Ninety-Seven, will you die?"
"General, this teleportation will consume energy from a special area within my body. Only the energy here can complete this mission. I will indeed die after this energy is depleted, but don't worry, I have already copied my brainwave data into this fruit. The elders will bring my torso back to life and copy the brainwaves from the fruit into my body. Then I will be reborn. This is a special ability of our Tree Race. However, whether the consciousness of this body will still be mine, no one knows."
Ninety-Seven!!!
"Goodbye, General."