Chapter 868: Empire Meeting, A Civilized Death (Two in One)

Their space railgun is the most advanced weapon.

This isn't like the star-destroying cannons mounted on cosmic battleships, which deliver a pure, massive energy strike capable of shattering entire continents and leveling civilizations. In fact, it's difficult for the space railgun to even destroy a single continent, yet it operates on a fundamentally higher dimension of power.

It has already altered the physical laws of the real universe.

Even High Gods, if they cannot master the power of laws, cannot traverse the space railgun's affected area. Only Supreme Gods who have stepped into the realm of laws can even attempt to struggle through.

But now.

If the opponent possesses partial law-based organs from birth, just like that infant, then it's highly possible...

"Does the virus truly possess the ability to traverse the turbulent energy field? We must discuss this."

Some had extremely grave expressions, and some were even sweating.

This concerns the future of our civilization. If the virus escapes containment, it can no longer be controlled, and it will likely lead to extinction.

"Everyone, don't be nervous. It is an ultra-minuscule entity; it may not be like true law-based life forms, capable of traversing turbulent fields of laws and the effects of the space railgun!"

"Yes, even the native Supreme Gods of laws cannot easily break through the turbulent fields generated by our space railgun."

Everyone knew the previous infant was the same.

It was utterly impossible for it to cross the space railgun's field, so its arm was instantly severed; it simply couldn't break free.

The ability to control laws, naturally, varies in strength.

As inheritors of their parents' bloodline, they naturally cannot compare to Supreme Gods of laws who have diligently cultivated.

Therefore, the Empire classified this infant as:

Exceeding High Gods, yet the weakest Supreme God of laws.

However, to possess some of the power of a Supreme God of laws from birth—this starting point of life hierarchy—is already an extremely terrifying event!

"At the very least, it would take a formidable Supreme God of laws to break through our railgun blockade! The opponent has just been born; it's impossible for it to reach that level anytime soon!" one of the Seventeenth Princes asserted.

The Chief of Military Planning, who governed the military-industrial complex and managed military deployments, let out a cold laugh.

"Your Highness the Seventeenth Prince doesn't quite understand," he said. "You haven't had much contact with those native deities, so naturally, you wouldn't be very clear. We, on the other hand, have had countless encounters with the offspring of deities... What do you mean by 'anytime soon'? How long is that? A day? Three days? Or five days?"

"Why are the offspring of deities so powerful? It's because they can rapidly pass through their infancy! They directly seal themselves within high-dimensional space-time, allowing for rapid growth. In just one week, they can quickly reach adulthood!"

"The offspring of deities have almost no concept of infancy."

The Chief of Military Planning stepped forward. "These types of high-dimensional life forms rapidly grow to adulthood," he explained. "Only then do they 'fall' back to our normal time flow... After all, they cherish their lives as well."

As soon as he finished speaking, everyone fell silent.

They recalled the monster that had broken through to godhood after being born for just one day!

In reality...

In reality, it was indeed so, but they did not understand the truth.

Under Xu Zhi's control, these creatures would not fall into low-dimensional space-time at all; a god truly could only live for a mere eighty days!

At this very moment.

Xu Zhi also watched, deep in thought. "So, the descendants of deities are indeed terrifyingly powerful in the universe. The hierarchy of life in the universe is strict. The offspring of Rank 8, Rank 9 beings can grow rapidly in just a few hours after birth, capable of destroying a low-level cosmic civilization and crushing a planet..."

Xu Zhi still lacked much knowledge about the outside world, but it was only now that he truly realized how cruel and cold such a vast difference in power levels was.

At this moment, the Imperial Council became fully vigilant.

They were a high-level cosmic civilization, even an extremely powerful one, with mature development mechanisms. Although the high-ranking officials were pleasure-seeking and engaged in infighting, they would never make foolish or misguided military decisions.

The voice of one of the princes began to tremble. "In other words, within two or three days of our reality, these viruses would have evolved for two or three hundred years, and could rapidly overcome their infancy to instantly charge into the border turbulence?"

"This... Is this truly possible?!"

"Impossible!"

Numerous voices blended together.

A minister couldn't help but stand up and exclaim, "We are a high-level civilization that has developed for tens of thousands of years! Our civilization's highest-level means—conceptual high-dimensional weapons that alter the laws of the universe—can perhaps only... contain that monster for less than three days?! The virus will sooner or later escape from this Pandora's Box on Fuli Kaji Continent and infect all of us?"

"Is our civilization doomed?"

Amidst the terror of the crowd.

The Chief of Military Planning seemed to receive some information, his expression becoming utterly solemn, and said, "Your Majesty, our Imperial General Staff has already reached an analytical conclusion. Let's take a look... Panic is useless."

"Begin the analysis," His Majesty said.

After receiving His Majesty's permission, he quickly scanned the contents, intending to prepare his presentation, but his entire demeanor revealed an expression of incredible shock and horror. He immediately stood up.

"Our civilization, according to probability calculations, has a 90% chance of facing destruction!"

As his voice fell, a tremor ran through the room.

Swish!

A pale blue screen projected into mid-air.

"First, I must state a truth: if not for the Thirteenth Prince's decisive action to contain it with the space railgun—abandoning over three billion Imperial citizens—given the virus's iterative mutation speed and its exponential growth in mutation, our entire planet might have completely fallen within three hours!"

Everyone's expression changed drastically.

That was a highly advanced civilization, and their central planet, equipped with the most advanced forces and weaponry!

Just three hours, and it would have been instantly overrun by this mysterious virus?

"According to the data model, on this day, we started detecting the virus in the afternoon. Around 10:30 PM, the entire planet's population of 17.3 billion would be infected and turned into zombies.

At that point, the virus's processing power would peak! The virus might undergo terrifying mutations, begin searching for new hosts to reproduce, and jump to nearby planets, initiating secondary infections."

He pointed to a map of the entire planet, showing densely packed red dots, their distribution across the continents growing exponentially.

"Esteemed sirs and madams, by dawn of the second day, we might see swarms of zombies drifting in space. They might evolve in two directions: the first is extraordinary zombies, teeming in the void; the second is using our cosmic mechanical warships to attack us.

By then, they would have started developing intelligence.

At that point, the three nearby administrative central planets would desperately resist and bombard the mutated cosmic zombie army, lasting a full day, and then, in despair, the entire planet would fall!"

In the conference room, there was still a continuous chorus of gasps.

"After assimilating three planets, there would be another qualitative leap and massive outbreak. The virus's terrifying computational power would exceed our ability to calculate; we can no longer model its progression. We only know that by noon of the third day, our civilization, all our colonized planets, and even the neighboring Bird Planet, with its extraordinary natives, would be utterly annihilated!"

As these words fell, the room was so silent that a pin drop could be heard!

Three days!

Incredibly, only three days!

If the Thirteenth Prince had not used the space railgun, the most advanced means of containment, allowing the infection to spread unchecked, their civilization would certainly be destroyed within three days!

"This???"

Their pupils constricted sharply.

All those present were high-ranking national officials, a group with relatively top-tier intelligence, strategy, talent, and scientific research capabilities. They quickly analyzed the gravity of the entire situation.

Utterly terrified!

Utterly horrified!

In that moment, these terrifying revelations shattered their worldview. Their bodies trembled as if in an earthquake, swaying back and forth, constantly shaking, unable to stand steadily.

"Then, my dear Chief of Military Planning, His Excellency Peter Hughes, what is the situation before us now?"

Emperor Tyr asked softly, seeming to have aged decades in that moment, his back suddenly stooped. "You should be clear that when my dearest Thirteenth Prince took the optimal measures in time, directly using our highest-level weapon, the space railgun, to isolate the entire continent of origin—what will be our current outcome?"

The Chief of Military Planning was silent for a moment.

"As previously mentioned," he replied, "we can only contain the virus on that entire continent for three days. On the third day, they will mutate enough to break through the turbulent field and begin re-infecting the planet. We will perish within one week."

Chief of Military Planning Peter Hughes stated a cruel data model: "Yes, everyone, even using our highest means of containment, only extends our destruction by four days."

At this moment, everyone fell silent.

"Then, has our General Staff come up with any solutions?" Emperor Tyr asked.

"The best method," he replied, "is to use the space railgun, loaded with star-destroying cannon shells, to jump and strike above the continent, using terrifying radiant light and temperatures of hundreds of millions of degrees to vaporize the entire surface, directly destroying this continent!"

As these words fell, everyone was stunned.

This was even more horrifying than the Thirteenth Prince's approach.

"My dear Chief of Military Planning, do you know the consequences this would trigger?" Emperor Tyr said, his voice heavy.

"Yes, Your Majesty," Peter Hughes replied, "as an advisor who has been by your side even before your ascension, I am clearer than anyone.

The star-destroying cannon shell will completely destroy the surface of an entire continental plate.

The tectonic plates will shift rapidly, triggering unprecedented earthquakes exceeding magnitude 15, which will then cause world-ending tsunamis, completely devastating the planet's ecosystem. No living creatures will remain on the entire planet, and the planet's civilization will drown in the tsunamis.

Of course, this is not the end.

The core of the explosion will instantly vaporize into dust.

The soil and buildings shaken up from the entire continent, amounting to over tens of thousands of trillions of tons, will rush skyward. Wind, soil, and dust will plunge the entire continent into darkness.

The columns of earth blasted upward, the melting high temperatures, and various environmental chain reactions will also instantly pierce the atmosphere, leaving the entire planet like a balloon with a hole.

In summary,

All humans, buildings, and houses on the entire surface will first be submerged by tsunamis.

Then, bodies and debris, due to the immense pressure, will be like trash, their dismembered remains dragged into the vacuum of space outside the atmospheric hole, which is their final resting place."

Yes.

This is the star-destroying cannon.

This is one of the most powerful weapons for an 8th-tier civilization, operating below 9th-tier cosmic laws, in the physical sense of cosmic laws!

With one shot, the entire planet would be destroyed.

It doesn't directly explode the entire planet, but only needs to explode one continent.

The resulting chain reactions—tectonic shifts, atmospheric holes, ocean tsunamis, volcanic eruptions—will destroy all life on a planet. After being killed, they will be drawn like trash into the vacuum of space outside the atmospheric hole, which is their final resting place.

"Of course, before using the star-destroying cannon," he clarified, "if we use the railgun to blockade the entire continent, the star-destroying cannon's energy will not be able to pass through the generated turbulent energy field; it will only erupt within the enclosed continent!"

"The entire planet will not be destroyed by the star-destroying cannon."

The Chief of Military Planning said, "However, the current problem is that the area covered by the space railgun urgently deployed by the Thirteenth Prince is not yet sufficient to enclose the entire continent. Parts of the sky and underground are still connected to the outside world... Please, Your Majesty, order the use of all Imperial railgun reserves to completely seal off the entire Fuli Kaji Continent."

This situation is like wrapping a dumpling.

Then, dropping a bomb inside the dumpling, letting it explode internally, destroying everything, including the virus.

Emperor Tyr frowned, still thinking.

He also had enough time to think.

This Imperial Council was in a state of supreme emergency; they were all operating within high-dimensional space-time.

After a moment of silence, Emperor Tyr slowly spoke, "Can we, instead of blockading the continent, directly deploy the star-destroying cannon and bomb the entire Fuli Kaji Continent!?"

As these words fell, no one made a sound.

Your Majesty, this means disregarding the lives on the entire planet...

This is to conserve the railgun's energy. To completely blockade the entire continent would require at least eight thousand space railgun bombardments.

This would deplete most of the Empire's strategic reserves, making them unable to resist or deter the neighboring Bird Planet's extraordinary beings.

Therefore, this monarch wanted to sacrifice the entire planet.

The space railgun was not originally suited for such large-scale bombardment; it was a weapon designed to strike individual deities.

However, the answer he received was:

"There is no way!" came the reply. "The sub-space villas were originally designed to prevent these types of wars and to withstand star-destroying cannon bombardments. Their spatial structures are incredibly stable, and the explosive shockwaves in reality cannot destroy them."

All high-ranking officials of the Empire fell into complete silence.

This cruel piece of information had finally come to light...

The entire Empire was at a dead end.

"However, we have one last method," the Chief of Military Planning said.

A glimmer of hope rose in Emperor Tyr's eyes, and he couldn't help but exclaim excitedly:

"Is there any other way?"

A moment later.

Across the entire Fuli Kaji Continent.

Under the pitch-black sky, heart-wrenching roars, screams, howls, and madness were interwoven across the land.

Amidst the ruins, riot-torn streets, wandering zombies, and wealthy individuals resisting with guns, an announcement was simultaneously heard from the sky among the refugees.

It was an Imperial broadcast.

Emperor Tyr, a middle-aged man who could be called a formidable ruler and strategist, now appeared in the broadcast and spoke with utmost sincerity:

"Everyone, before us lies the gravest moment for the survival of our Empire."

His voice, mingled with the screams of the people, pierced through the pitch-black sky, yet somehow conveyed a sense of tranquility.

"This is the final hour. I implore you all, for the Empire, for the glory of our people! For everything we hold dear! For a better future..."

"This is the plea of our entire nation."

"This is the plea of hundreds of billions of people across our entire Empire... I ask you all, immediately destroy all sub-space properties, all villa districts, and come out into the real world."

"We will carry out a great extinction of the virus, bombing the entire land. I ask you all... to die for civilization."