On Earth, the major leaders of various factions looked at the last frame of satellite footage and fell into silence.
It was the moment just before the detonation of a hundred Minuteman III missiles.
Even a certain country, which had always boasted that the universe belonged to them, chose to remain silent at this moment.
This was too monstrous!
They didn't dare to claim it!
If this thing were to be launched at their heads one day, their fate would be far worse than that of India!
India, on the other hand, felt fortunate that their rash decision to attack the asteroid mining ship had only resulted in conventional Tomahawk missiles, not these massive fireworks.
Li Yannan's jaw dropped, and the teacup in his hand fell without him even realizing it.
A freshly brewed cup of Mother Tree tea poured onto his "head"..........
"Hiss... Holy crap!"
He sprang up from his chair, not bothering to take off his clothes to check, but instead shouted to the nearby guard.
"Quick, go and retrieve that waiver of liability!"
"Deliver it to my home, give it to your sister-in-law, and have her keep it in the safe!"
"That's an authentic piece from Xi's work, something of immeasurable value!"
After the guard left, he grinned and jumped in place for a while.
Then, looking at the Mother Tree leaves on the ground, he painstakingly picked them up one by one, washed them with mineral water, and then dropped them back into the teacup to re-steep.
Finally, he rushed into the restroom like a gust of wind.
After a while, a voice came from inside.
"Judging by the hardness, it seems okay, just a bit painful."
"Never mind, to be safe, I'll try it out tonight when I get back."
............
In space, Xi Tong stopped her ship and looked back.
The ship, hundreds of times larger than the one she was piloting, was now floating in the void like a piece of wood.
The hull of the Dreadnought-class ship was pitted and scarred all over.
On one side, directly facing the explosion's epicenter, a massive gaping hole was visible, as if it had been bitten by someone.
During the explosion, not only would countless fragments be produced, but also a large amount of charged particles, which, under the influence of the surrounding planets' magnetic fields, would form high-energy lasers.
The current state of the Dreadnought-class ship was a result of these multiple factors.
If it hadn't been inherently strong enough, it would likely have turned to dust during the explosion.
Xi Tong piloted her ship slowly towards it, putting on a thick layer of lead clothing over her spacesuit.
She stepped through the breach in the Dreadnought-class ship onto its internal deck. There was no sound coming from within.
The explosion at that moment had claimed almost all life on board.
"Bang!"
In the midst of this extreme silence, a sudden loud noise echoed from a certain direction.
Xi Tong's eyes narrowed, and she immediately rushed towards the source of the sound.
But when she arrived, she realized that it was the ship's escape pods!
The doors were open, and more than a dozen escape pods were rapidly disappearing from her view.
"Damn it!"
"They didn't die from this?"
"Must be professional cowards!"
"These are definitely players who can always survive until the final circle!"
She stared blankly at the disappearing escape pods and murmured to herself.
To think that anyone could survive under such circumstances was a miracle!
After all, those hundreds of Minuteman III missiles were only a thousand meters away from the Dreadnought-class ship when they exploded!
Under normal circumstances, no living creature could possibly survive at such a distance.
Yet, it had happened right before her eyes!
After the dozen or so escape pods vanished from Xi Tong's sight, they drifted further into space before landing on an unknown planet.
The hatch opened, and a figure with one side of its body covered in bloody flesh emerged.
It was the leader of the Dreadnought-class ship.
Behind him, the other escape pods gradually opened, and his subordinates emerged one after another.
One person asked, "Leader, what should we do now?!"
Before the leader could speak, others began to curse.
"Damn it! The mission failed, and we'll definitely be punished when we get back."
"How can we get back? Our ship is gone, and now there's no way to return."
"All my savings were on the ship. I was waiting to retire and live a leisurely life after this mission. Now, it's all gone."
"..........."
The words of these people made the leader, who was already filled with resentment, become instantly agitated.
He turned back, glared at everyone, and roared.
"Shut up!"
"Immediately check the escape pods and retrieve the emergency communicators to request assistance from headquarters!"
Each escape pod was equipped with an emergency communicator. As the name suggests, it was a device meant to be used only in the direst situations.
The case storing the device could isolate it from water and fire, withstand extreme temperatures, and was also insulated and radiation-proof.
It could be said that for the cost of an escape pod, the price of this single set of equipment and its case accounted for over ninety percent!
Getting people to shut up was the least of their concerns.
After all, the chance of survival in the vastness of space without being able to contact anyone after a disaster was infinitesimally close to zero!
A silver box was retrieved from the escape pod. Upon opening it, a teapot-like object was revealed – the emergency communicator.
The leader pressed a button on it. The communicator suddenly emitted a dazzling light, then quickly retracted, and then became silent.
A group of people looked at the small communicator, patiently waiting.
Half an hour.
An hour.
After a full three hours, the communicator finally responded.
A laser beam shot out from the communicator, flashing rhythmically as it shot into the depths of space.
Xi Tong, however, was completely unaware of all this.
At this moment, she was looking with disgust at the corpses within the ship.
They were grotesquely shaped, as if creatures from various countries on Earth had been brought together.
Especially the two lying at her feet.
One had the head of a human and the body of a turtle...
And the other had the body of a human and the head of a turtle...
"Tsk tsk tsk, to evolve intelligence with such appearances? You guys really had it tough!"
"This turtle... if I cut it off and stew it for Fang Dabang, it'll probably be very nourishing!"