Chapter 353: Lost Contact for Seven Years. |
The primary significance of a Civilization Broadcast was not merely to transmit information, but rather to leave a permanent backup of their existence in the universe.
Just like at this very moment.
It was only upon arriving at the core of the Good Cat Civilization that he received the surrender broadcast they had sent out dozens of days prior. At the time it was sent, he had only just eradicated the Extreme Evil Civilization.
In truth, this was quite an opportunistic tactic.
If he hadn't come to the Good Cat Civilization, this broadcast would have taken nearly a million years to reach the Dead End Star System, and he never would have received it. But because he did come, not only did he receive the broadcast, he also realized they had sent it long ago.
It was full of sincerity.
"..."
Chen Mang stared at the display on the Doppelganger Radar, his eyes narrowing slightly. He suspected this might be a stalling tactic or some other conspiracy. After all, in terms of sheer civilizational strength...
The opposition was far stronger than the Extreme Evil Civilization.
In his Future State, Satan's power rivaled that of a Level 5 civilization—something an ordinary Level 4 civilization could hardly match.
Right after that.
An incredibly plain-looking train ascended from the Good Cat Civilization's political home planet. As it slowly approached the Stellar Train, it fired several projectiles deep into space. The shells detonated, blooming into cosmic fireworks that formed a series of massive words.
"Welcome the Human Civilization for a visit."
A visit?
In a sense, it could be considered a visit.
The train's radio received another message.
-
"Please do not open fire, please do not open fire!"
"The Good Cat Civilization is willing to surrender. An unconditional, comprehensive surrender."
"Please follow this train down to the planet. The leader of the Good Cat Civilization has already prepared a grand banquet for our guests from afar."
-
Subsequently.
The plain train began to turn around, heading back down toward the planet while constantly signaling for him to follow.
'Did they set up a trap inside the planet?'
Chen Mang sat in his train without the slightest intention of following. He was entirely uncertain if they were genuinely surrendering or if they had laid some sort of decapitation trap on the planet, just waiting for him to walk right into it.
He was thoroughly confident in his own train.
With Level 1000 armor, he was certain the Good Cat Civilization could do absolutely nothing to him.
However, the caution etched into his very bones meant he never even considered attending this banquet.
Instead, he simply replied through the train's radio.
-
"Stellar Train: Within three minutes, I want to see the leader of your civilization standing before my train."
-
The initiative was entirely in his hands.
Naturally, he wasn't going to dance to their tune.
The other side did not respond again.
The guiding train didn't wait for him either, simply returning to its planet on its own.
Three minutes later.
He didn't receive the leader of the Good Cat Civilization, but rather another round of private messages.
-
"Please do not open fire, please do not open fire."
"The Good Cat Civilization will completely surrender. However, the rule of the Good Cat Civilization is that the King does not ascend to the skies; our leader cannot travel into space. We hope our esteemed guest will forgive us. Our King has already laid out a feast of fine wine, waiting only for your descent to the planet to discuss the terms."
-
"..."
Chen Mang glanced at the Doppelganger Radar once more. The system detected absolutely no threats from the planet, and it indeed confirmed the existence of a fully prepared banquet. But if he had only been thirty percent suspicious before, that number had now spiked to seventy percent.
What kind of rule was that?
What rule would force a civilization's leader to strictly adhere to it even when their entire civilization was on the brink of annihilation?
Compared to such a flimsy excuse, he was far more inclined to believe they had set up a decapitation trap on this planet, waiting for him to deliver himself directly into their snare.
He didn't speak another word.
Instead, the Akhenaten Light Energy Main Cannon atop the train began to slowly charge. The intricate patterns along the barrel pulsed with blinding light. Immediately after, without a shred of hesitation, Chen Mang slammed his hand down on a red button on the control console.
A searing beam of light erupted from the muzzle like divine retribution.
It scored a direct hit on the political homeworld of the Good Cat Civilization right before his eyes.
Space was completely silent.
Mere seconds later, the azure planet suspended in the deep cosmos suddenly detonated. Countless fragments shot outward into the dark void at breakneck speeds. A single strike, and the planet was obliterated.
His patience had been completely exhausted.
The very next moment—
The train suddenly hurtled uncontrollably toward the epicenter of the explosion. No... it was gravity!
The heart of the planetary explosion was becoming incredibly bizarre. Countless rays of light were failing to escape the gravitational pull and were sucked inward, distorting the surrounding space to an extreme degree.
It was a black hole!
A newly born black hole!
A black hole itself was invisible, but it could be indirectly observed through its gravitational effects and influence on surrounding matter.
To the naked eye.
It appeared as a brilliant ring-like structure, as if newly formed, with an area of absolute, pitch-black shadow at its core.
And right now, under the terrifying suction of this force, the Stellar Train was plummeting into the depths of the black hole at a terrifying velocity.
No one knew.
What exactly would happen upon plunging into the depths of a black hole.
But it certainly wouldn't be anything good.
"..."
Chen Mang sat at the control console and shoved the throttle all the way to the maximum. The miniature star inside the Stellar Cabin began to burn frantically, and every tail thruster on the train erupted with searing purplish-blue flames, providing the vessel with unimaginably powerful thrust.
The maximum speed of the Stellar Train was 98.77 million kilometers per hour!
Equivalent to nearly one-tenth the speed of light.
This speed could help him escape the gravitational pull of the vast majority of celestial bodies in the universe.
However—
When pitted against the gravity of this newborn black hole, it seemed impossibly insignificant. Even with the train pushed to its absolute limits, it still couldn't counteract the immense pull. The train continued to fall toward the crushing depths of the black hole, though the speed of its descent had slowed.
The gravity of a black hole was irreversible.
Unless...
Unless the speed exceeded the speed of light.
Otherwise, absolutely nothing could escape its grasp. Even the God Race, a divine civilization forged by the very laws of the universe, remained suppressed within the depths of a black hole to this day, entirely unable to escape.
If one could somehow survive inside, then a black hole was the ultimate, inescapable prison. Once incarcerated, one could never break free.
Fortunately...
Chen Mang took a deep breath. Looking at the Prismatic-grade SPY-7 Doppler Tail Spray component on the control screen, he burned through one quadrillion units of iron ore to upgrade it from Level 500 directly to Level 1000 in a single breath!
Immediately after, without hesitating for a fraction of a second.
He consumed nearly one hundred trillion units of iron ore to simultaneously upgrade both the Nitrogen Tail Spray and the Super Energy Tail Spray—two acceleration components—straight to Level 1000 as well!
The speed of the Stellar Train experienced an explosive surge!
He didn't even have the luxury of time to check the new Overlimit Effects granted by these upgraded components.
With the star inside the Stellar Cabin burning furiously and supplying a ceaseless torrent of energy to the thrusters, the Stellar Train could finally contest the relentless gravity. Moving at a pace that wasn't exactly blinding, but was just enough to prevent being sucked into the abyss, it slowly but surely tore itself away from the danger zone.
After fleeing headlong into the depths of space for twelve straight hours.
Only when the surroundings finally stabilized.
Did he finally step out of the train, transforming it into a brooch. He stepped into the Refrigerator, using it to completely escape the sector.
"Phew..."
Inside the train carriage.
Chen Mang let out a soft exhale. He had now reappeared in the Dead End Star System, safely back home for the time being.
He hadn't immediately left the train to escape the black hole's gravity via the Refrigerator at the start. While he could borrow the defensive strength of the train's armor, he definitely did not possess its speed.
Even when the train was escaping at full thrust, it had barely avoided being dragged back by the anomaly.
If he had exited the train.
Without any velocity to counteract the pull, he would have been instantly sucked into the center of the black hole, leaving him zero time to hop into the Refrigerator.
His distance from that exploding planet hadn't been very far, after all.
He glanced at the time displayed on the screen.
And asked softly.
"Xiao Ai, is there any discrepancy in the time?"
The flow of time distorts near the event horizon of a black hole. If one got close enough, a single day inside the train could equate to an entire year passing in the outside universe.
In reality.
He still found it hard to believe he had managed to escape. He hadn't fully recovered his wits yet. Logically speaking, even if he upgraded all his acceleration components to Level 1000, it still shouldn't have been enough to break free from a black hole's gravity.
He had originally been prepared to eject all the planets stored inside the train, hoping their combined gravitational mass might counteract the black hole's pull and create a brief window of chaos for his escape.
"Yes."
Xiao Ai's voice chimed through the carriage. "Our entire escape maneuver took twelve hours, but seven years have passed in the outside world. Similarly, seven years have also elapsed for the people residing on the planets within the train."
"Personnel stationed directly inside the train's main carriages remained unaffected."
"During these seven years."
"The train lost all contact with the Water Blue Star and the other planets housed within the carriages. Lao Zhu and the others stationed on the Water Blue Star were unable to reach us. During this period, they initiated a total of 38,920 communication requests. Shall I reply now, Captain?"
"Yes."
Chen Mang leaned back in his chair, gently massaging his temples. "Tell everyone that all is well. Send out a response. This means seven years have also passed for the Good Cat Civilization, correct?"
"Affirmative. According to my data playback, the massive time dilation primarily occurred when we were unexpectedly dragged to the very edge of the black hole at the beginning. During those mere seventeen seconds for us, four years passed in the outside world."
"Thereafter, as the train gradually pulled away from the singularity, the difference in the flow of time steadily diminished."
"You should consider yourself incredibly fortunate that you chose not to land on that planet, Captain. The explosion of a planet of that mass is nowhere near enough to birth a black hole. The Good Cat Civilization must have used some method to plant a 'black hole seed'—for lack of a better term—deep within the planet's core beforehand."
"Had you landed, you would have been instantly caught at the very center of the newly formed black hole."
"There would have been absolutely no escape."
"The current outcome isn't terrible; in fact, it's the best possible scenario."
"Furthermore, this black hole appears to be an incomplete manifestation. Otherwise, regardless of the upgrades, the train's speed would never have been sufficient to break free from its pull. Combined with the fact that we were not at the absolute center, the gravity was weak enough for us to scrape by with our lives."
"Mhm."
Chen Mang sat in silence for a moment before speaking softly. "Handle all internal matters within the train first. Then, we are paying the Good Cat Civilization another visit."
"Understood."
He had originally assumed the Good Cat Civilization might have planted some sort of super-bomb in the planet's core, intending to detonate it the moment he stepped out of his train. At the time, he'd scoffed at the idea, knowing the train's defensive capabilities made him virtually unkillable by conventional explosions.
He truly never expected them to possess a weapon like this.
It was glaringly obvious now.
The Good Cat Civilization had an intimate understanding of the Human Civilization. They knew the entirety of humanity's combat strength lay solely in the Stellar Train. As long as this single train was eradicated, the Human Civilization would be rendered utterly defenseless.
Otherwise, no one in their right mind would deploy such a terrifying apocalyptic measure just to deal with a single train.
Seven years.
Over the course of these seven years, the Water Blue Star lost all contact with the train. Zhang Yiren, who used to commute to the train frequently, suddenly found the Space Portal completely shut. And just like that, he was left waiting for seven long years.
"Boss Mang..."
Sitting in his office at the Law Enforcement Bureau in Taiping City, Lao Zhu stared blankly at a calligraphy scroll on the wall and muttered, "Just what kind of disaster did Boss Mang run into? We've been out of touch for seven years."
"If I recall correctly, we didn't have any major enemies seven years ago."
"When I left for the Water Blue Star, Boss Mang was right in the middle of planning a trip to the Good Cat Civilization."
He was the second-in-command of the Stellar Train.
And Chen Mang's most trusted confidant.
Yet, he had been utterly disconnected from his boss for seven entire years. At first, in order to maintain stability and keep everyone calm, he had lied to Zhang Damei, Zhang Yiren, and the rest. He told them he was still in contact with Chen Mang, that everything was fine, and urged them not to worry.
But as time steadily marched on.
Everyone eventually saw through the facade and realized he had lost contact with the train as well.
Right now, the only thing they knew for certain was this:
The train had undoubtedly encountered an unimaginable crisis.
"Don't worry yourself sick over it."
Sitting across from him, Zhang Damei didn't seem particularly panicked. As she flipped through a stack of documents on her desk, she glanced toward a briefcase resting on a nearby cabinet. "Our planet is securely situated within the carriages of the Stellar Train. If the train had truly met its end, our planet would have been instantly annihilated along with it."
"Since we're all still breathing and perfectly fine, it means the train hasn't been destroyed."
"He might have run into something incredibly tricky."
"But nothing fatal." The briefcase resting on the cabinet was, in reality, her exclusive mecha. However, ever since she assumed the position of Law Enforcement Bureau Chief of Taiping City, trading in her weapons for paperwork, she hadn't touched it once.
After signing endless mountains of paperwork.
She couldn't help but feel a twinge of nostalgia for the old days on the Water Blue Star, when she stood night watches in her mecha, engaged in bloody, desperate battles against hordes of zombies. Those times had been grueling and bitter, yet looking back, the memories carried an inexplicable sweetness.
"I know that much, obviously."
Lao Zhu looked out the window with a highly complex expression. What he truly worried about was the sheer uniqueness of the Human Civilization. Absolute power was highly concentrated in Chen Mang's hands alone. Put simply, the Human Civilization existed because of him.
A Human Civilization without Chen Mang would cease to exist entirely.
And now.
They had been out of contact for a full seven years.
This was more than enough to sow widespread panic. Ordinary citizens, who never had direct contact with the train in their daily lives, remained blissfully ignorant. But anyone who was remotely in the know was gripped by anxiety. And this was on the Water Blue Star, Chen Mang's absolute stronghold!
As for the other assimilated civilizations, isolated and cut off from the central authority of the train for seven years... God only knew what chaos might be brewing in their ranks.
That was the truly thorny issue.
Right at that moment—
Lao Zhu suddenly froze, his eyes widening as the Iris Chip interface abruptly materialized in his vision. It displayed a long-lost notification from Xiao Ai. It had been so many years since he'd seen this interface that he had almost forgotten he even had an identity chip implanted in his eyes.
He read the message hovering before him.
He bolted upright, shooting up from his chair like a rocket, and marched furiously out of the office, ready to return to the train at once.
Boss Mang was back!
Meanwhile—
Inside the Stellar Train.
Biao Zi, Lao Zhu, and a host of the train's top-level management personnel were gathered together. Chen Mang lounged comfortably in his chair, silently reviewing the comprehensive seven-year development reports of every planet provided by Xiao Ai before he finally spoke in a soft voice.
"Honestly, this little incident turned out to be a blessing in disguise. At the very least, it drastically accelerated the development of the Water Blue Star and the other planets."
"I see the urban landscapes of quite a few cities on the Water Blue Star have improved significantly."
"Conveniently, it also rooted out the hidden subversive elements among us. It's only been seven years, yet thirteen planets have already crowned their own kings and declared independence, while another sixty-seven are showing signs of small-scale rebellion."
"Biao Zi."
"Here." Inside the carriage, Biao Zi stood up, his expression deadly serious.
"Get the firing authorizations from Xiao Ai. You will personally lead a squad and purge every single one of these subversive elements."
"Yes, sir!"
Chen Mang had spent 380 billion units of iron ore to upgrade the Built-in Fire Control System component from Level 200 to Level 500.
Unlocking a brand new Overlimit Effect.
-
"Built-in Fire Control System: Light Energy Cannon. Capable of rapidly exterminating any biological entity within the train's parameters."
-
The original heavy machine guns had transformed into exceedingly narrow-barreled but devastatingly powerful light energy cannons. Usually concealed flush within the train's walls, they would extend out instantaneously the moment they were activated.
A weapon of this caliber was naturally more than sufficient to eliminate any hostile target contained within the train's interior.
More importantly.
Upon reaching Level 500, they didn't just manifest inside the train's main carriages. They were also integrated into every single Space Portal, acting essentially as orbital satellite cannons capable of delivering pinpoint surgical strikes to any corner of any planet.
And their destructive output was entirely adjustable.
They were absolutely perfect for dealing with troublesome rebels.
Afterward—
Chen Mang finally turned his gaze to the Master of the Heavenly Secrets Pavilion sitting quietly in the corner and smiled. "Your Xuanwu Star performed exceptionally well this time around. Better than the Water Blue Star, even. There wasn't a hint of panic."
"Lost contact for seven years."
"And throughout those seven long years, you clearly demonstrated your absolute loyalty. I am highly pleased."
"Never mind seven years. Even if it were seven hundred years, the Xuanwu Star will remain eternally loyal to Boss Mang," the Master of the Heavenly Secrets Pavilion declared in a deep, solemn voice.
In truth...
He was secretly sweating bullets.
He hadn't had the faintest clue about any of this. He'd only just found out upon arriving at the meeting! He had spent these past years immersed entirely in Secluded Meditation, completely oblivious to the seven-year blackout.
When one was deep in Secluded Meditation, the concept of time ceased to exist.
Meditating for a measly seven years was as common as breathing, wasn't it?
The original top-tier factions on the Xuanwu Star had been living in utter peace these past few years. Without any major conflicts to fight over, everyone just secluded themselves in meditation. With absolutely nothing better to do, literally no one realized they had been cut off from the train for seven years...
Oh, right.
Well, those merchants who frequently traded with the Water Blue Star definitely noticed. But it didn't matter what those low-level traders knew.
Within a cultivator civilization, class hierarchies were brutally strict. If your cultivation base wasn't high enough, even if you had the guts to lead an uprising, not a single soul would dare follow you.
If the top factions remained silent, the grunts at the bottom wouldn't dare breathe a word of discontent.
This inadvertently led to...
Throughout the seven years of radio silence, the Xuanwu Star maintained an aura of absolute serenity. There wasn't a single whisper of rebellion or any attempt to 'test the waters'—like probing to see if Boss Mang had died, or if the train had crowned a new captain.
It looked like the picture of absolute, unyielding loyalty.
It was purely a hilarious, happy accident born out of sheer ignorance.
"As for everything else, there are no major issues."
Chen Mang tossed the tablet onto the desk and swept his gaze over the room. "Everyone, return to your respective posts. Lao Zhu, you stay behind. Work with Xiao Ai to draft an 'Emergency Response Protocol'."
"Just in case the train encounters a situation like this again, we need clear contingency plans in place during communication blackouts to guarantee maximum stability."
"Understood."
Lao Zhu replied softly. Now that he had a firm grasp on the situation, he turned his head and looked at Biao Zi with a sudden wave of deep emotion.
Biao Zi had been stationed on the train this whole time.
In Biao Zi's eyes, the two of them had just seen each other yesterday.
But in reality...
In Lao Zhu's memory, Biao Zi's face had already begun to blur around the edges. Seeing him now felt like stumbling across an old, cherished friend in a foreign land—a bittersweet reunion after years of separation.
"What are you doing?"
Biao Zi noticed the intense, misty-eyed gaze and instinctively took a few steps back, looking thoroughly weirded out. "Why the hell are you looking at me like that?"
"It's nothing."
Everything had returned to normal.
Chen Mang decided to take a single day to rest and reorganize. Once every loose end was securely tied up, he would embark for the Good Cat Civilization once more.
This time, he would be infinitely more vigilant.
First, he would completely glass the area with the Light Energy Main Cannon. Any remaining negotiations could be held slowly, leisurely, amidst the smoldering ashes.
Elsewhere.
The Good Cat Galaxy.
The space once occupied by their political homeworld had transformed into an elliptical black hole, albeit a rather small, infantile-looking one.
The leader of the Good Cat Civilization was sitting comfortably in his pristine office, staring at the black hole's projection on his radar monitor. Magnifying the image, he could clearly make out a lone train at the center of the anomaly, struggling desperately as it attempted to claw its way free from the crushing gravity.
Sitting behind his grand desk, the man couldn't stop the corners of his mouth from curling upward.
He let out a soft chuckle.
"And herein lies the fatal flaw of a 'Single-Train Civilization'."
A Single-Train Civilization referred to a faction that funneled absolutely every scrap of their resources into forging a solitary, all-powerful train. While this super-vessel would undoubtedly possess godlike strength, the drawback was painfully obvious. The exact moment this lone train fell in battle, the civilization's combat effectiveness would instantly plummet to near absolute zero.
This specific trap.
He had originally tailored it specifically for Satan.
A long time ago, he had discovered an exceedingly bizarre planet. According to the conclusions provided by his central research institute, the core of this planet housed a dormant, nascent black hole. The slightest application of external pressure would instantly catalyze its birth.
The exact scientific principles behind it remained a mystery. It seemed incredibly artificial, as if someone had deliberately planted it there, leaving faint traces of intelligent tampering.
Following that discovery.
He officially designated this ticking time bomb as their "political homeworld," the absolute epicenter of the Good Cat Civilization's authority. Every day, mountains of policies and edicts were broadcasted from it. Yet, he himself had never once set foot on its surface. Only a series of immaculate body doubles made public appearances there in his stead.
He had long been eyeing the Extreme Evil Civilization like a starving wolf, aching to swallow up their vast resources, but Satan's sheer existence made any direct confrontation far too thorny to handle.
He could only wait.
Wait for Satan to make the first move, to descend upon his political homeworld, and to march squarely into his inescapable trap.
He simply hadn't expected that the one to finally spring the trap wouldn't be Satan, but the upstart Human Civilization.
'Truly bizarre...'
As this thought crossed his mind, the leader cast a rather perplexed look at the Doppelganger Radar on the adjacent monitor. It was a Level 500 system, fully capable of crystal-clear surveillance over any civilizational activity within a radius of one million light-years.
The Human Civilization was practically a newborn, having only emerged in recent years.
Their momentum had been terrifying. They skyrocketed out of total obscurity like a rocket strapped to a warhead, vaulting straight into the ranks of a Level 5 civilization.
And they had originated from the Dead End Star System, of all places.
That particular sector.
A notoriously barren wasteland absolutely starved of resources.
How could a desolate cosmic backwater that not even space-birds would shit on possibly birth a Level 5 civilization?
He quickly shook his head, tossing the idle thoughts aside. Chuckling softly, he continued admiring the trapped Stellar Train displayed on the screen. It didn't matter. It was all over now. Over the past few years, he had made thorough preparations to launch an expedition to the Dead End Star System, intending to personally excavate whatever hidden secrets lay buried there.
When he had first received news that the Human Civilization had effortlessly annihilated Satan, he had been genuinely, bone-chillingly terrified.
His confidence in handling Satan relied entirely on the caveat that Satan invaded his territory and stepped foot on his booby-trapped homeworld. If he'd been forced to take the fight to Satan's domain, he wouldn't have stood a chance. Naturally, he was more than a little intimidated by any civilization capable of wiping Satan out.
But from the looks of it...
They were really nothing special.
At that exact moment—
The office doors swung open, and a young woman clad in a crisp, professional suit strode in. Following the man's gaze toward the screen, she spoke with a hint of lament. "It's quite a pity that the train never actually touched down on the planet seven years ago."
"Otherwise, the execution would have been absolutely flawless."
"It's more than good enough as it is."
The leader of the Good Cat Civilization laughed heartily. "Logically speaking, the leader of a civilization that rose to power so astronomically fast should be dripping with hubris. It's simply human nature. An unbroken streak of dizzying success invariably makes a person feel invincible, inevitably breeding blinding arrogance. The fact that he was cautious enough to stay in orbit was truly outside my expectations."
"But the outcome is still a victory."
"Are the preparations on your end complete?"
"Everything is locked and loaded. We are prepared to launch the full-scale invasion of the Dead End Star System at a moment's notice."
"Excellent."
However, in the very next instant!
The projection of the train struggling at the center of the black hole on the monitor suddenly began to blur, then slowly vanished completely. The leader froze, his eyes widening in shock. Driven by a sudden, creeping realization, his fingers danced frantically across his tablet, pushing the Level 500 Doppelganger Radar to its absolute limits.
Very quickly.
A suffocating silence descended upon the leader. After what felt like an eternity, he forced the words out of his tight throat. "Halt the invasion plans. The train broke free. They could return to retaliate at any given second. Order all military units into maximum defensive readiness."
"It broke free?"
The woman stared at him, utterly dumbfounded. Her voice trembled with disbelief. "How is that even possible? Even if that black hole wasn't fully matured, it was still a black hole! No train could possibly generate enough thrust to escape that kind of gravity. Exactly how fast would it have to be going?!"
"Enough."
The leader of the Good Cat Civilization cut her off quietly but firmly. "The impossible has already happened. There is no point wasting breath asking 'how.' Just carry out my orders."
"Execute the command."
The woman turned sharply and left, pulling the heavy office doors shut behind her.
Leaving the middle-aged man completely alone in his sprawling office.
"..."
He sat heavily in his chair, staring blankly at the empty space in the center of the black hole projection, thoroughly speechless.
For all these long years.
He had lived in absolute terror of Satan.
And once Satan was finally wiped out by the Human Civilization, that paralyzing fear simply transferred to his new neighbors. He had foolishly believed that with this trap, he might finally enjoy an era of unchallenged peace. But now, it seemed...
If a true hell really did exist in this universe.
He was probably going to be reunited with Satan down there very, very soon.
With the sheer might the opposition commanded, this return trip wouldn't be anything like their first leisurely visit. He was about to face down a barrage of nightmarishly apocalyptic firepower.
The Good Cat Civilization...
Could they actually withstand it?
He strongly felt they didn't stand a snowball's chance in hell.
If worst came to worst, maybe he should just genuinely surrender this time. Honestly, he was just about ready to retire anyway.