bookbashuk Chapter 3997 MU Superbody Major Event (77)
Chapter 3997 MU Superbody Major Event (77)
Chapter 3997 MU: The Superbody Incident (Seventy-Seven)
In most cases, expecting Iron Man's crew to be disciplined is unlikely. It's not that they intentionally disobey orders, but rather that brilliant scientists always have new ideas. When there's only one person, they might behave better; but with so many counterparts, each wanting to prove themselves the best, mistakes are inevitable.
However, it must be said that the pre-battle preparations in the central universe were very thorough. Actually, Iron Man didn't necessarily have to retrieve that equipment—although those items require specialized technicians, since the battle hadn't started yet, sending ordinary professionals to transport them would have been sufficient, albeit slower. This arrangement clearly had a deeper meaning.
Almost all Iron Man characters were shocked and felt pressured upon seeing that terrifying arsenal of equipment. They themselves were not capable of building so much equipment, not because they lacked the skill, but because of the limitations of space: their military and government would not allow them to possess such power.
Therefore, they couldn't deal with the equipment with the mindset of "it's broken, I'll just make some more to compensate you." Instead, they had to be as careful as possible because if they broke it, there would be no way to find a replacement.
This is the case for most Iron Man characters. Their mindset changes from "I must be better than everyone else" to "I must not be the one who holds everyone back," and they become more cautious about their equipment.
Since this was the first time most Iron Man characters had engaged in pure space combat, Jarvis was mostly put in charge of the mechs. Iron Man was only responsible for making decisions, while Jarvis handled the details of the operation. This also freed up some time for Iron Man to learn how to read cosmic coordinates.
The "Eastern Front" mentioned in the mission objective is actually relative. Dividing the area into eight zones centered on the outpost, it still follows the principle of left-west and right-east. The Eastern Front is to the right of the outpost, which is also the direction from which the Green Lantern Fleet came.
Space warfare also involves creating trenches, but instead of digging, various obstructions and traps are used to prevent spacecraft from passing. These are mainly divided into physical traps and gravity-generating devices. This time, the Iron Man team is setting up physical traps.
The Iron Man in the main universe was carrying the equipment he had transported earlier. Guided by Jarvis, he quickly arrived at the target location. However, most of space was endless emptiness, devoid of celestial bodies, light, and any landmarks. He checked several times before confirming his location was correct.
Then he used the Pym particle generator to magnify the shrunken device, and then further magnified it according to the required data, until the thing was completely invisible, like a high wall standing in the universe.
After zooming in, press the start button on the remote control again. The machine gradually starts up, rotates, and then expands further into a massive space platform, revealing the entire machine inside. Immediately afterwards, a blue arc of electricity emanates from the tower-like structure at the top, spreading in one direction. The main universe's Iron Man turns his head to look; the blue arc of light appears to be connecting to other bases.
But this was just a rear base, not the front line. After the base was connected, the production line started operating, and many smaller pieces of equipment were produced and then automatically flown to the front line.
From above the space base, Iron Man observed the small devices, which could be broadly categorized into two types: permanent fortifications and freely moving robots. As more and more bases connected, production accelerated, with numerous parts swirling and being assembled amidst blue arcs of light. Robots surged forward like a tide towards the front lines.
Of course, this place isn't far from the front lines. Iron Man from the main universe checked and found it to be only about one light-year away—a seemingly insurmountable barrier for those of them who can't travel faster than light, but most of the machines produced here are extremely fast, only a few times the speed of light.
The Green Lantern Fleet arrived even faster. They appeared to have used a portal en route, clearly intending to finish the battle quickly, but the mobilization speed in the central universe was even faster, so much so that by the time the Green Lantern Fleet arrived, the trenches were already fully erected.
In the vast emptiness of space, a densely populated area suddenly appeared out of nowhere. Looking ahead, there were countless mother lairs and robots, with hundreds of layers of laser weapons, magnetic storm mines, artificial suns, and gravity traps, and the trenches were almost half a light-year thick.
Hal covered his forehead upon seeing this spectacle: Putting everything else aside, this universe is truly wealthy. In his previous travels through the universe, he had never seen any civilization lay out trenches half a light-year thick before engaging in interstellar warfare.
Then he thought: Earth doesn't have that many resources either. Has Earth already completed the development of the solar system? It's even possible that not only the solar system, but also neighboring star systems have already suffered.
Taking a deep breath, Hal cleared his head. First, their spaceship was unaffected by gravity traps because they could convert matter into energy at any time. If Green Lantern was careful, even if he fell in, he could fly out.
Laser weapons aren't actually that difficult to deal with. Although it's a fabricated spaceship, it still has a certain level of strength and a shield powered by green light energy. Getting hit a few times will only result in some energy loss, which isn't a big problem.
The most troublesome thing is the various bombs, especially those fusion bombs that look very dangerous. Hal wasn't really sure what the specific principle was, but the main universe Batman emphasized to him in the earpiece: "Whatever you do, don't touch that thing that looks like the sun. If that fireball explodes, it's roughly equivalent to the sun exploding. Green Lantern energy might not be able to withstand that level of impact."
Moreover, the bombs here are extremely densely packed; if one explodes, they will basically all be blown up. Such a chain of explosions could reduce them to ashes.
"That's too ruthless," Hal thought to himself. "What grudge could they possibly have to use the sun to bomb us?"
"Is it feasible to detonate it ahead of time?" Hal asked. "If the fusion bomb is as powerful as you say, then we can just detonate it ahead of time, right?"
“It depends on whether it’s an outward burst or an inward collapse,” the main universe Batman said. “I suspect this could be a bigger trap: you think it’s just a regular bomb, but after you detonate it, it’s very likely that it will collapse inward in succession, forming a black hole that will suck you in.”
"Hiss..." Hal gasped. These people were even more ruthless than he had imagined. What was a man-made black hole?
Generally speaking, Green Lanterns are not captured by black holes—there have been several unlucky ones who got close to the event horizon but still managed to escape, which is unimaginable for any ordinary person or spacecraft. Usually, at this point, there is no hope of survival.
However, this doesn't mean they can face a black hole head-on, because there's currently no evidence that any Green Lantern has ever fallen into the event horizon and survived, let alone reached the center of a black hole. Hal has long suspected that the missing Green Lanterns might have accidentally been at the center of a black hole during its formation and died instantly.
At their current distance, if a black hole forms on the other side, they'd be right at its center. In a place like that, even a green light portal might not be able to open, so escape would be impossible.
"Then what should we do?" Hal asked. "Otherwise, we'll have to use the brute force method and clear the mines one by one."
“Don’t worry, I’ll send Superman over,” the main universe Batman said. “They can use massive freezing breath to freeze most of the physical bombs, and then you can use Green Lantern energy to drag the bombs out and take them to the black hole to be destroyed.”
"Are you sure your freezing breath can cool the solar bomb?" Hal asked, somewhat skeptical. The main universe's Batman replied, "If Superman thinks he can, then he can."
Hal suddenly realized: Logically speaking, the universe has a minimum temperature, and if the temperature is not low enough, the sun cannot be extinguished. However, Superman has a bit of wish fulfillment in him, and he believes that if it can be frozen, it can be frozen. The key is to firmly believe it.
Clearly, the Batmen's "brainwashing" was very effective; the Supermen all looked incredibly confident. The Green Lanterns retreated to the second line, waiting for the Supermen to freeze the trenches before clearing them out.
"What do we do now?" Captain America said, looking at the monitor screen. "They're obviously going to use Superman to dismantle our trenches. We can't let them get away with it so easily. We have to interfere. Maybe it'll be our turn."
However, the command center had a different view. They said, "It's too good to trade these worthless bombs for Superman's strength and energy. Even if the breath is useful, they can't keep breathing there for a year, but we have enough resources to keep replenishing our bombs."
Iron Man in the main universe also agrees with his statement, because he has discovered that some machines on the current space platform are already producing large mining equipment, which looks like they are going to mine.
Out of curiosity, the main universe Iron Man boarded a mining train—consisting of a transport ship, a bunch of guard robots, and a large amount of mining equipment. The train wasn't flying very fast; the main universe Iron Man could barely keep up.
After flying for half a day, they didn't arrive at a mining site, but at a portal. This portal was clearly set up in advance. The main universe's Iron Man followed them through, and the coordinates showed that they were already five light-years away.
He was shocked the moment he landed: what he saw was not a galaxy, but the remnants of one. All four planets here had been shattered, and countless fragments were drifting in space, drawn together by an unknown gravitational force.
"What are you doing here?!" The main universe's Iron Man suddenly heard a loud shout. "This is a mine! It's dangerous! You can't stay here!!"
In the main universe, Iron Man searched everywhere for the source of the sound and then spotted a person behind a massive piece of wreckage. He immediately asked Jarvis, "Who is this? He looks like..."
"Hey, human! I'm talking to you!" The other flew over quickly and said, "I'm an Asgardian. Are you lost? Do you need me to take you back?"
"No, I came with the mining ship. I want to see where the mining ship collects resources," the main universe Iron Man said truthfully.
"Oh, Father of the Gods, thank goodness you arrived late, or the Rainbow Bridge would have blown you and all those planets to smithereens!"
The main universe's Iron Man widened his eyes and said, "These planets were shattered by the Rainbow Bridge?"
"Yes, you humans don't have planet-destroying weapons, so you can't rely on Magneto all the time, can you? We're here under the command of God-King to lend a hand and help you destroy some resource planets so that you can collect resources more easily."
The main universe's Iron Man was speechless for a moment. He wondered how the production line could operate at full capacity, since they had such violent means of resource extraction—directly using planet-destroying weapons to shatter the planet.
“Don’t stay here. It’ll be bad if the mineral-dissolving laser hits you later,” the Asgardian said. “I see you can fly too. Just fly back through the portal you came from. Oh, by the way, this portal is one-to-many. When you go through the portal, remember your original coordinates so you don’t teleport to the wrong place.”
The main universe's Iron Man nodded somewhat absentmindedly. His mind was still on the planet-destroying weapon—he already knew the Bifrost was powerful, more than just a portal, but witnessing its devastating consequences firsthand still left him with a sense of awe. Not awe at its sheer power, but rather at the way the Asgardians of this universe were using such a weapon—to help humanity gather resources.
The main universe Iron Man's mind was a mess; he completely forgot to think about the coordinates before teleporting. While Jarvis could help him control the mech, he couldn't invade his mind, and the mages' teleportation portals primarily relied on thought processes. By the time the main universe Iron Man realized what was happening, he had already found himself in an unfamiliar area.