PFC Chapter 4215 A Guide to Wandering the Galaxy (22)
Chapter 4215 A Guide to Wandering the Galaxy (22)
Chapter 4215 A Guide to Wandering the Galaxy (Twenty-Two)
The nights on that alien planet were still long. Polaris got drunk early and went upstairs to rest. Knight Arkham and Miles didn't stay long either, choosing to rest early to prepare for tomorrow's busyness. But Peter stayed behind, because he had figured out the secret behind that electromagnetic interference device.
"I discovered before that this thing has two modes: one is broad-spectrum interference, and the other is concentrated interference. The latter has extremely high power, which can be understood as an electromagnetic sniper cannon. This thing can have a great impact on most energy-based creations."
"An energy creation?"
“That’s right. According to my research, this device has little impact on material creations. Or rather, if they really wanted to create an electromagnetic cannon that could break through impenetrable defenses, they wouldn’t use this method; they would use a more efficient one. After all, their starship’s main cannon technology is perfectly adequate; there’s no need for this thing.”
"This device has two advantages: one is that it is very lightweight and easy to hide, and it does not require a complicated setup procedure or a lot of energy to start up, and it can switch between two modes at any time; the other, and most importantly, is that it abandons its influence on material creation and instead focuses on energy creation. It will definitely perform well in this regard."
Schiller nodded, continuing to wipe the glass, and then said, "What do you think this is for?"
"Portal".
"what?"
Peter adjusted his chair and said, "I suspect this thing might be a portal to humans."
Schiller hesitated slightly. Peter continued, "The three great empires aren't new to the fact that humans have portals; they can't possibly be without backup plans. Given the pace of their research, it's about time they produced some results."
"You think this is their achievement?"
"This may only be a part, a portable version of some devices. But it might be enough."
"This thing can destroy a portal?"
“It might not be able to destroy it, but it might be able to interfere.” Peter placed his hand on the bar and said, “In the past, mages’ portals were used and then closed immediately. No one could predict their landing point, so interference was meaningless. But now that humanity wants to build a transportation system in the galaxy, it will inevitably need fixed portals. In that case, interference will be much easier.”
“Indeed,” Schiller nodded, “that’s why they set up these sniper rifles on some remote planets, to interfere with humans when they start setting up fixed portals.”
“This is my opinion,” Peter said, looking at the box in his hand. “Human spaceships are relatively primitive and in short supply. It’s almost impossible for us to build a galactic transportation system using spaceships. We can only rely on portals. If a portal malfunctions, all our construction plans will fall through. And malfunctioning a portal doesn’t necessarily mean it explodes or becomes completely unusable. Just if the landing point is wrong, or if people are randomly thrown somewhere during the teleportation process, that’s dangerous enough. And if an accident involves a high-ranking member of the Interstellar Council, things will be even more complicated.”
"That must be their plan, which is why they hid these things first, and then launched a big attack when the portal opened. They're really persistent."
Schiller knew perfectly well that this was most likely the work of the Skrull Empire. The Queen of the Shia Empire was one of their own, deliberately taking advantage of this juncture to launch a new policy, throwing the empire into chaos so the nobles had no time to concern themselves with external affairs. The Supreme Intelligence had also encountered some unforeseen circumstances and was currently preoccupied with its own problems, significantly reducing its ability to cause trouble. Only the Skrull Empire had the power to act.
In most comics, the three great empires are essentially cannon fodder in the starting area. Stories like the Kree invasion of Earth, the Skrull secret invasion, or the Shi'ar Empire mostly happen when the superhero groups are just starting out; they seem like mere background characters used for leveling up.
But in reality, each of these three empires is difficult to deal with in its own way. Even though humanity has already taken over the Shi'ar Empire through a clever tactic of subversion and then launched a surprise attack on the High Intelligence, leaving only the Skrull Empire, it can still keep them from having any peace.
Ultimately, it's because humanity developed too late and its overall strength was too weak. If they could produce spaceships like the three great empires, they wouldn't be so reliant on teleportation portals, giving others an opportunity to exploit them.
Rather, the fact that they were able to develop to the point of directly confronting the three great empires in just over a decade is already a testament to the protagonist's plot armor in the comic book. They're still a long way from truly overwhelming the three great empires.
“This matter cannot be rushed,” Schiller said. “It is best to use the old methods and try to dig out all the hidden dangers they have buried.”
“Two other teams have found this thing.” Peter opened his phone, scrolled through the group chat, and said, “They both accidentally stumbled onto a rather remote planet and found people causing trouble there. But those robots are quite powerful; several of them have already been injured.”
“Get them back as soon as possible,” Schiller said. “Retreat to whichever base is closer and find a place to recover.”
The atmosphere in the group chat was excited. Having learned that aliens were indeed causing trouble, everyone was prepared to confront them. "I admire their spirit, but regarding their combat capabilities..."
Schiller fell silent as well. In truth, most of the Robins trained by Batman possessed high combat skills, but the problem was that they lacked experience in space combat, let alone planetary landing operations. Both of these types of combat required practice.
First, there's the shooting training in zero gravity. Even the agents equipped with symbiotes needed months of practice to adapt. Second, piloting a spaceship to land on an alien planet is also very demanding: finding a safe landing spot, creating cover immediately upon landing, searching for enemies, and fighting them in the complex natural environment of an alien planet—all these are extremely difficult. Even Batman would need two days of training.
Fortunately, they were all very intelligent. Even if they lacked training experience, they could learn in combat. Schiller took out his phone and began adding combat-related entries to the "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" app, then sent the update to everyone's terminal.
But that alone isn't enough. After all, they weren't using dedicated combat ships, and the weapons they were using were standard equipment prepared during the previous multiverse war. These weapons were primarily designed to target carbon-based life forms and were insufficient against robots.
If we're talking about the most lethal weapons against robots, they actually belong to the two great mechanical empires. After all, they fought a thousand-year war and are most adept at figuring out how to kill each other.
“Perfect timing. The Skrull Empire is trying to interfere with humanity's portals; we need to teach them a lesson.” Schiller texted Loki as he put his glass back on the shelf. “It’s time. Let’s make our move.”
Loki was on the outskirts of the Skrull Empire's capital system. Patrols were extremely tight there, so he had to hide inside a colossal beast. This was a kangaroo-like animal with a pouch, a source of meat for the Skrulls' ranches. Loki was hiding inside the beast's pouch.
He could see many Skrulls coming and going, but almost no one paid him any attention. In fact, for nearly a thousand years, no outsider had been able to approach the core area of this empire, and Loki was only able to come here thanks to that Skrull, Schiller.
Currently, that Skrull is one of the Skrull generals. But there are thousands of Skrull generals, and he is inconspicuous, easily overlooked, and his power is limited. All he can do is help Loki get here.
Loki's arrival in the Skrull Empire's capital was naturally intended to cause some chaos. His target was his lair in the heart of the capital.
Strangely enough, the Skrulls are oviparous, meaning they hatch from eggs; but the bird-like Falconers are viviparous and do not need to incubate eggs.
While the Skrulls can be considered a mechanical civilization, their main race is quite numerous and they are not controlled by any super artificial intelligence. Machines are more like tools to them; it's just that their vast territory makes it impossible to govern without mechanical means, leading to their high dependence on machines, which is why they became a mechanical civilization.
The Skrulls are able to maintain their population size thanks to their unique reproductive method. A Skrull can produce one ootheca (egg case) during a reproductive cycle, and each ootheca contains a dozen or so eggs ready to hatch. The hatching process is entirely automated, requiring no human intervention. This results in high reproductive efficiency, allowing them to sustain their population.
Loki's target was their hatchery. Although it was heavily guarded by the Skrulls, causing trouble there would be a major disruption, shaking the entire Skrull Empire.
The reason he hid in the meat ranch was because the Skrulls' unique reproductive habits distinguish them from viviparous animals. They don't nurse; instead, they are more like oviparous creatures, ready to eat immediately after birth. Their main food is meat, and to ensure freshness, they transport live animals to slaughterhouses located very close to the hatchery. As long as Loki was hidden inside one of these carnivorous behemoths, he could enter the slaughterhouse.
The giant beast Loki had chosen was ready for slaughter soon. Later that evening, as expected, someone came to transport the beast to its stall. Because their main race wasn't particularly short of manpower, this important task was usually done by the Skrulls, not the robots they controlled. This gave Loki his opportunity.
Holding the Mind Scepter, he easily bewitched a Skrull, causing him to send the behemoth onto the carriage without even checking its condition, and Loki was also sent onto the carriage at the same time.
Upon arriving at the slaughterhouse, Loki used invisibility magic, confused several Skrulls along the way, and secretly hacked into the surveillance system to erase any trace he might leave. After a long and winding journey, he finally entered the Skrull hatchery.
This planet is filled with countless cylinders, each structure somewhat resembling a gladiatorial arena. Every small room in the walls contains an egg, and the buildings extend thousands of meters underground, where countless eggs are hatching. This could be the Skrull population's newborn for the next decade or so.
A portion of the power Thor extracted from the World Tree during the Multiverse War was stored within Mjolnir. When Loki unleashed it all, it possessed the power to destroy planets in an instant.
Loki made no attempt to conceal himself, standing atop the planet, raising his hammer high, and then slamming it down. A devastating force erupted instantly, lightning engulfing the entire planet. A bolt of lightning, thicker than the planet's diameter, shattered the planet into dust.
In the devastating lightning, no carbon-based life form could survive. The Skrull hatcheries were thus utterly destroyed.