The night on the Outer Planet remains very long. Polaris got drunk early and went upstairs to rest. Arkham Knight and Miles didn't stay long either, choosing to retire early to prepare for tomorrow's busy day. But Peter stayed behind, having figured out the workings of the electromagnetic interference device.
"I discovered earlier that this thing has two modes: one is broad-spectrum interference, and the other is focused interference. The latter has a very high power, which can be understood as an electromagnetic sniper cannon. This thing can have a huge impact on most energy constructs."
"Energy constructs?"
"That's right. From my research, this device doesn't have much impact on material constructs. Or rather, if they really wanted to create an electromagnetic cannon that could break through solid barriers, they wouldn't use this method but a more efficient one. After all, their star ship's main cannon technology is completely adequate; there's no need to use this thing."
"This device has two advantages: one is that it is very lightweight, easy to hide, and does not require complex setup procedures or large amounts of energy to start, and can switch between the two modes at any time; the most important point is, it forgoes the impact on material constructs and focuses on energy constructs. It is sure to perform well in this area."
Shiller nodded while continuing to wipe his glass and then said, "What do you think this thing is targeted at?"
"The teleportation portal."
"What?"
Peter adjusted his chair and then said, "I suspect this device might be targeting the Human race's teleportation portal."
Shiller looked slightly hesitant. Peter continued, "The Three Great Empires have long known about the Human race's teleportation portal; they must have a backup plan. Given their research speed, it's about time they produced some results."
"Do you think this is their result?"
"It might just be part of it, a portable version of certain devices. But it might be enough."
"Can this thing destroy teleportation portals?"
"It may not necessarily destroy them, but it might interfere with them." Peter placed his hand on the bar and said, "In the past, the mages' teleportation portals were used on the go and closed immediately after. No one could predict where they would end up, so interference wasn't meaningful. But now, humans want to build a transportation system across the Milky Way, which inevitably requires fixed teleportation portals. In that case, interference becomes much easier."
"Indeed," Shiller nodded and said, "which is why they've set up these sniper rifles on some remote planets, planning to use them to interfere once humans start deploying fixed teleportation portals."
"That's what I think." Peter looked at the box in his hand and said, "Human race's spaceship technology is rather backward, and the production is insufficient. We can almost not rely on spaceships to construct a transportation system in the Milky Way; we have to depend on teleportation portals. As long as there are issues with the portals, all of our construction plans will fall through. And creating issues with the portals doesn't necessarily mean making them explode or completely malfunction; just an error in the landing point or the transfer process arbitrarily throwing people elsewhere is already dangerous enough. If an accident happens to a big shot from the interstellar council, it will be even more troublesome."
"They must be plotting this, so they want to hide these things first and then cause a big commotion when the portals start operating. Truly unrelenting in their intentions."
Shiller was well aware that this matter was most likely orchestrated by the Skrull Empire. The Xia Empire's Queen was on their side, having deliberately initiated reforms during this critical time, stirring internal chaos within the Empire; those nobles didn't even have time to care about external matters. The Supreme Wisdom had also encountered some setbacks, too preoccupied to cause trouble, and their actions were significantly weakened. Only the Skrull Empire could take action.
In most comic books, the Three Great Empires are depicted as the cannon fodder of the Novice Village. Whether it's the Kree invading Earth, the Skrulls' secret invasion, or the stories of the Xia Empire, most of these happen when superhero groups are just starting out and seem like a mere backdrop for leveling up.
But in reality, each of these three empires is hard to deal with in its own way. Even though humans have used cunning methods to first take down the Xia Empire and then ambushed the Supreme Wisdom, with only the Skrull Empire remaining, they still manage to create unrest.
In the end, it's because humans have developed too late and are too weak overall. If they produced spaceships like the Three Great Empires, they wouldn't rely so much on teleportation portals, exposing opportunities for others to exploit.
In some ways, having developed to the point of directly opposing the Three Great Empires within ten years is already a protagonist halo granted by the comic setting. However, wanting to overpower the Three Great Empires is still a long way off.
"We can't rush this matter," Shiller said. "It's best to use the slow method, painstakingly uncovering the hidden dangers they've buried."
"Two other squads have already found these things," Peter opened his phone, scrolling through the group chat, then said, "They stumbled upon them while accidentally venturing onto some relatively remote planets where someone was up to no good. But those robots are formidable and have already injured quite a few."
"Tell them to retreat as soon as possible," Shiller said. "Retreat to whichever base is closer and find a place to recuperate."
The atmosphere in the group chat was intense. Upon learning that aliens were indeed causing trouble, everyone was ready to confront them. "I admire their spirit, but in terms of combat capability..."
Shiller also fell into silence. In fact, most of the Robins trained by Batman had high combat skills, but the problem was that they lacked experience in space warfare and planetary landing operations. Both types of combat require practice.
First is shooting training in a zero-gravity environment, even those agents equipped with symbionts need to train for several months to adapt. Secondly, piloting a spacecraft to land on an outer planet is also very particular: how to find a safe landing spot, create cover immediately upon landing, search for the enemy, and fight in the complex natural environment of an outer planet—all these are difficult. Even Batman would need two days of practice.
Luckily, they are all very intelligent, and even if they have no training experience temporarily, learning during combat is not impossible. Shiller took out his phone and began adding combat-related entries to the "Milky Way Roaming Guide" app, then sent the update notifications to everyone's terminal.
But having only these is not enough. After all, they are not using dedicated combat spaceships, and the weapons they're using are standard ones prepared during previous multi-universal wars, mainly targeting carbon-based life forms, insufficient in terms of damaging robots.
If we talk about the most lethal weapons against robots, they are actually in the hands of the two great mechanical empires. After all, they fought a thousand-year war back then, and they are the most skilled at figuring out how to kill each other.
"Just in time. The Skrull Empire intends to disrupt the human teleportation portal, we must show them something." Shiller placed the wine glass back on the rack and sent a message to Loki, "It's time, take action."
Loki is currently on the outskirts of the Skrull Empire's capital star system. Patrols here are extremely stringent, so he had to hide inside a giant beast. This beast is raised in the Skrull's ranches for meat consumption, it's a pouch-bearing animal similar to a kangaroo. Loki hides in the pouch of this giant beast.
He can see many Skrulls coming and going, but almost no one notices him. In fact, for nearly a thousand years, no outsiders have been able to approach this empire's core area. Loki being able to come here is thanks to that Skrull, Shiller.
Currently, that Skrull is one of the Skrull generals. But there are tens of thousands of Skrull generals, he's not particularly prominent. Although he is not easily noticed, his power is also limited. All he can do is help Loki get here.
And Loki came to the Skrull Empire's capital naturally to cause some damage here. His target is the nest in the core area of the capital.
Strangely enough, Skrulls are oviparous creatures, meaning they hatch from eggs; however, the bird-like Ferocious Feather Tribe are viviparous and do not need to hatch eggs.
Although Skrulls are considered a mechanical civilization, the population of their main race is significant, and they are not controlled by any super artificial intelligence. To them, machines are more like tools, and due to their vast territory, they can't govern without utilizing mechanical means, making their dependency on machinery very high, thereby becoming a mechanical civilization.
Being able to maintain the population of the main race is due to their unique reproductive method. A Skrull in one reproductive cycle can nurture one egg sac, and an egg sac can contain dozens of hatchable eggs. The hatching process does not require their personal intervention, as there is a very advanced automatic hatching system. This makes their reproductive efficiency very high, allowing them to maintain the population of the main race.
Loki's target is their hatchery. Although this place is tightly guarded by the Skrulls, causing some disruption here would certainly lead to tremendous turmoil, shaking the entire Skrull Empire.
He hides in the meat ranch because the Skrull's special reproductive habits differ from those of viviparous animals. They lack a lactation process and are more like oviparous creatures, eating immediately after birth. Their primary food is meat, and to ensure the meat's freshness, they transport live creatures to a slaughterhouse very close to the hatchery. As long as Loki hides in such a meat giant beast, he can enter the slaughterhouse.
Loki picked this mature beast, which was about to be slaughtered soon. Later today, someone indeed came to transport the beast out of the pen. And because their main race does not lack manpower particularly, such important work is done by Skrulls themselves rather than the robots they manipulate. It's precisely because of this that Loki has a chance.
With the Soul Wand in hand, he effortlessly heart-scanned a Skrull, causing him not to check the giant beast's condition, and thus got it on the truck, bringing Loki along as well.
Upon reaching the slaughterhouse, Loki cast invisibility magic, confused several more Skrulls along the way, and stealthily hacked into the surveillance system, erasing any traces he might have left. After maneuvering around, he finally entered the Skrull's hatchery.
On this planet, there are countless cylindrical structures, each resembling the structure of an Animal Fighting Arena. Every small room on the walls contains an egg, and the buildings stretch down thousands of meters underground, with countless eggs hatching. This could be the Skrulls' newborn population for the next decade.
A portion of the power extracted by Thor from the World Tree during the multi-universal wars was stored in Mjölnir. When Loki unleashed it entirely, it possessed the instantaneous power to destroy a planet.
Loki made no attempt to conceal himself, standing at the peak of the planet wielding Mjölnir high before striking it downward powerfully. The mighty force of thunder instantly descended with electric light engulfing the entire planet. A thunder strike thicker than the planet's diameter smashed this planet into fragments.
In the destructive thunderstorm, no carbon-based life forms could possibly survive. The Skrulls' hatchery was thus completely obliterated.