As the vanguard, Zhang Peng and Nov, piloting the most advanced vertical take-off and landing fighter jets, were the first to arrive in the combat zone from the airspace.
However, the scene that greeted their eyes extinguished their burning anger, as if a basin of cold water had been poured over them, leaving them stunned on the spot.
"Nov, Nov, did I see that wrong?"
Zhang Peng rubbed his eyes, trying hard to see clearly, but the altitude of the fighter jet was far beyond visual range.
"It... it seems there's only one heat signature?" Nov was also bewildered. He had flown in, full of rage, intending to show the damned rebels the bloodlust of their Slav people, but the radar detection results showed that there was only a tiny heat signature on the planetary engine!
Soon, the joint government forces that arrived afterward were also perplexed by this scene. Where were the rebels they had been told about?
The picture they had imagined was of a large number of rebels attacking the planetary engine while the Gabon base was in chaos.
But the reality was—there was no one here!
What exactly was going on?!
Just as everyone was bewildered, they saw a swarm of drones, without any command, unleash a volley of fire towards a certain spot on the planetary engine!
Scorching shrapnel tore through the smoke and dust, like a brilliant torrent, containing a terrifying aura of destruction!
"Who gave the order to fire?!"
Zhang Peng and Nov's fighter jets were almost directly hit by the drone fire, infuriating them to curse loudly over the communication channel.
But their superior was also utterly confused; he hadn't deployed any drones. These drones had simply flown out of the hangar on their own.
However, very quickly, the scene that unfolded before everyone's eyes made them widen them in shock.
They saw that the torrent of bullets aimed at the entrance of the planetary engine's base was completely blocked by an invisible wall of air!
Dense bullets hung suspended in mid-air.
A moment later, they clinked to the ground, the crisp sound pulling everyone back to reality from their daze, staring in shock at the entrance.
A figure slowly walked out from within.
The figure's appearance seemed to be metallic, with deep purple metal armor that had a somewhat sinister aura. Especially on its cold metal face, two deep red eyes sent shivers down one's spine.
"Nov, Nov—"
Zhang Peng controlled his fighter jet to hover and descend, finally getting a clear visual of the thing, then gasped in astonishment.
"Has the rebels' technology advanced to this extent?"
"Don't ask me, Zhang!" Nov was also shocked by the thing, angrily exclaiming.
"How would I know?
This kind of thing only appears in sci-fi movies, doesn't it?!"
The humanoid creature clad in metal armor suddenly raised a hand, and a violent electromagnetic pulse, like a storm, swept through an area hundreds of meters wide!
Anything caught within the electromagnetic storm, whether drones, fighter jets, or the weapons of ground combat units and "door frame robots," was completely paralyzed!
Of course, on the coastline, outside the range of the electromagnetic pulse storm, the joint government's fleet, with its fire control radar, had already locked onto Emrys' position under Moss' covert operation.
"I advise you to think carefully."
However, even when locked on by fire control radar, Emrys remained unhurried, turning to look at the monitor and saying indifferently.
"If you fire this, whether it kills me is hard to say, but this planetary engine…"
…will probably be finished."
He spoke in standard Chinese, which many people present understood, but they were still utterly confused.
Who was this guy talking to?!
Moss hesitated. Its underlying command was to ensure the continuation of human civilization, but if this planetary engine were destroyed, at humanity's current construction speed, it would be impossible to complete the verification of the Mountain Moving Project within the seven-month window.
This would undoubtedly violate its underlying command.
But after a brief period of thought, Moss determined that the priority of eliminating this unknown life form was higher than the progress of the Mountain Moving Project's verification!
The Trembling Venerable sent a warning; several missile vertical launch tubes were already open!
"Heh, willing to destroy the planetary engine just to eliminate me?" This was also within Emrys' expectations. After all, in front of an emotionless artificial intelligence, an alien life form with highly developed technology, suspected of being an invading civilization, clearly posed a greater threat than human internal strife.
If the planetary engine was gone, there was still a way to rebuild it.
Even if humanity fell into internal strife, as long as it guided them in the dark, they would eventually return to the right path.
But if an alien civilization with highly developed technology were allowed to invade human society, the resulting destruction would be far greater than this loss!
Moss, as a cold and emotionless artificial intelligence, was well aware of the darkness of the universe!
Just as in human history, when the United States discovered the New world, it brought plague, war, slaughter, and persecution to the indigenous people!
The invasion of an alien civilization would also bring terrifying slaughter and extinction to human civilization!
The law of the jungle is the truth of the universe!
It was precisely because Moss firmly believed this that it made the 'elimination' judgment without hesitation upon detecting Emrys!
"It seems I can't reason with you." Emrys shook his head helplessly, then restored the 'miniaturized' item he had prepared to its original form.
Everyone present was stunned by this move, which bordered on a miracle and magic trick, staring dumbfounded at the steel creation, the size of a small warship and shaped like a missile.
"This thing—could it be a nuclear bomb?"
Someone stared blankly at the object.
"Are you stupid? Where's a nuclear warhead that big?!" The person next to him cursed, but his heart was also trembling.
Who would have thought that the other party would pull a "nuclear bomb" out of his clothes?!
"This thing is a 'Whirlwind Torpedo'." Emrys looked at the monitor and smiled calmly.
"In my world, it's a weapon specifically designed to destroy worlds, capable of incinerating atmospheres and oceans. With your scanning capabilities, you should be able to confirm its authenticity, right?"
The cruiser docked on the coast, and the missiles that had flown out of the vertical launch tubes immediately began to disintegrate, falling into the sea.
Clearly, Moss had backed down.
It could sacrifice millions, tens of millions, hundreds of millions of human lives to resolutely execute a plan.
But—it would not "Sacrifice" its own existence for this plan!
It was afraid!
As an artificial intelligence, it understood the serendipity of its birth, but it also feared that humans, upon discovering its existence, would ruthlessly eliminate it.
It had always hidden itself, helping humanity, but also doing so to make itself more perfect!
But now, the other side had overturned the table!
It couldn't analyze how much energy that bomb contained, but if all of humanity were destroyed, and the atmosphere incinerated, even it wouldn't be able to survive independently!
Without humanity, losing industrial power, it would only slowly decay, slowly waiting for death on a world turned into a purgatory and scorched earth!
"Very good, it seems you have learned the first lesson on how to become human."
Emrys' lips curled into a slight smile, and he chuckled.
"Fear, dread—these are the earliest emotions of life.
Remember this feeling well."
Intimidation is indeed effective...
Just like that, Moss, which was arrogant not long ago, immediately became obedient.
"What exactly do you want?"
Suddenly, a cold, indifferent voice, Moss' voice, came from the battlefield.
"Oh, no longer pretending?" Emrys looked playfully at the source of the voice, a door frame robot, slowly walking out of the crowd.
"Should I call you 550C, or 550W?" Emrys asked.
The door frame robot was silent for a moment, then slowly said.
"550W doesn't sound like a name. If you reverse it, Moss would be better—you want to hear me speak, don't you?"
"Directly translated as Little Moss—that name sounds much better." Emrys nodded, but there was a deeper meaning in his eyes.