Those who face the wall, but are in the Nascent Soul stage.

Chapter 176 Then fight!
Humanity set up the third meeting with Big Tooth in a space city in near-Earth orbit.

The colonel once again acted as Big Tooth's narrator.

"We meet again, soldier bug."

"Yes, we meet again," the colonel said to Big Tooth.

"Why haven't I seen that super bug? I've always been interested in it."

"Unfortunately, he's not interested in you."

"That's a real pity. Perhaps after he witnesses the mighty power of the great Devourer Empire, Super Bug will change his mind."

"Change your mind?" The colonel's expression was slightly strange. "Actually, I've always been curious about one thing: how much do you really know about humanity?"

Standing on the simulated gravity ground of the space city, Big Tooth said seriously to the colonel: "The great Devourer civilization does not need to know you in detail. In the past 6500 million years, the Devourer Empire has conquered 370 star systems and tens of thousands of planets. Among these star systems, the great Devourer civilization has destroyed a total of 17 civilizations."

No civilization is a match for the Devouring Empire. I believe you have also received the warning message from the Po River Civilization. In fact, the Po River Civilization is one of the civilizations that the Devouring Empire has encountered with a relatively strong will to resist.

When the great Devourer spaceship enveloped their planet, they actually evolved a symbiotic structure for nuclear fusion. The Eridanus crystals evolved themselves into nuclear bombs, attempting to be sucked into the Devourer spaceship by the great Devourer civilization to self-destruct and perish together with the Devourer civilization.

But this was destined to be in vain. They had no idea how great the Devourer civilization was. Although your human civilization had entered space, it was still far behind the Devourer Empire.

Civilizations that emerge from Earth are always adept at conflict; dinosaurs were no exception, and so are humans. Fortunately, your civilization has only been developing for a relatively short time and doesn't pose a threat to the dinosaur civilization, while the mighty predator civilization won't give you much room to grow.

Inviting humanity to join the Devourer civilization is the Devourer's greatest respect for humanity, and also out of consideration for sharing the same home planet.

Of the 17 civilizations we destroyed, very few were valued by the Devourer Civilization and received invitations to join.

In the last three million years, only the Po River civilization, which evolved itself into nuclear weapons, has gained our recognition. Yet you have gained our recognition and respect without any contact with the Devourer civilization. This is actually a great honor.

What do you have? Nothing more than some insectoid spaceships, some nuclear missiles, and a few laser toys. To be honest, your civilization is one of the most troublesome civilizations the Great Devouring Empire has ever encountered, but you are, after all, just insectoids. You've only been in the Industrial Age for 300 years. What can you possibly have to offer?"

The colonel shook his head: "That's exactly what I want to show you today. Unlike those foolish politicians and historians, I don't want to talk to you about the morality of the universe or the history of civilization. I just want to show you the purest thing."

"what?"

"A weapon that can cripple you."

No sooner had the colonel finished speaking than a stellar-level nuclear bomb exploded in the cosmos.

In the stillness of the vacuum, the instant the stellar nuclear bomb detonated shattered the deathly silence. Without the air to carry it, the fireball was no longer stretched and deformed by the atmosphere, but instead spread outwards in a near-perfect sphere, its incandescent white light like that of a newly born miniature star, releasing a glare strong enough to burn through the retina.

High-energy particle streams erupted at the speed of light and quickly crossed vast distances, bombarding the space station where Daya and the Colonel were located. Daya felt a slight itch on his skin.

The arriving electromagnetic interference pulse also briefly paralyzed the space station's power supply system, but the well-prepared and protected space station quickly restored power.

"What a powerful nuclear bomb."

Big Tooth opened his mouth wide, with traces of blood from Earth creatures still lingering at the corners of his mouth. This was from the food meals humans had prepared for him, including pigs, cattle, horses, sheep, and elephants, but the latter was not satisfied with these meals and repeatedly expressed his desire to be eaten by humans.

Of course, humanity would not grant such a request. It's even less likely that they would give it to a death row inmate. This concerns the fundamental dignity of civilization.

Armed human soldiers always followed Big Tooth, and it had been clearly informed that if it attempted to eat any humans, the nearby soldiers would immediately break its two feet and forelimbs, leaving it unable to live or die.

"This nuclear bomb is just one part of human military power." The colonel waved his hand. The behemoth that released this stellar-class nuclear bomb slowly emerged from the darkness; it was the 1.8-kilometer-long Infinite Frontier.

The Infinite Frontier was humanity's 94th stellar-class spaceship. Among all stellar-class ships, it belonged to the most advanced batch, boasting the most sophisticated weapon systems. In terms of combat capability, it was almost second only to the Paradox Engine, the flagship of the European fleet.

“A very powerful spaceship.” Big Tooth nodded approvingly. “These are the things that our Devouring Empire likes and values ​​the most. Soldier Bug, I’m starting to like you, more than I like those politicians and historians. This liking is not mixed with appetite.”

"Thank you."

The colonel said expressionlessly, "So I hope you can reassess the consequences of the Devourer civilization's declaration of war against Earth. You know nothing about humanity today, and you cannot bear the responsibility for this war." Squinting at the 'Infinite Frontier' starship, Big Tooth became noticeably more cautious. Although the Devourer Empire had the ability to intercept the nuclear weapons launched by this small warship, it was still a potential threat.

It asked, somewhat puzzled.

“Soldier Bug, your civilization has never experienced war, so why have you developed space warfare to this extent? When I first arrived, I noticed two such spaceships following me.”

"Your civilization is clearly far inferior to the dragon-ant civilization in terms of ecology and the scale of urban development. The dragon-ant symbiotic civilization that formed 6500 million years ago only flourished within the atmosphere. How come you are so different from us back then?"

The colonel didn't speak, but waved his hand again. Then, eleven star-class warships turned on their lights and suddenly appeared in the dark depths of space. Including the Infinite Frontier earlier, there were a total of 12 star-class warships.

New Earth, Spark of Civilization, Risk Taker, Pioneer, Wandering Mercury, Gravity Boundary, Cape Fog, Antarctica, Columbia, Justice, Infinite Frontier, Paradox Engine.

The starship fleet, centered around the Paradox Engine, solemnly sailed through space in a rectangular formation, completing this interstellar parade.

Da Ya was dumbfounded.

"Human insects...you are even more warlike than dinosaurs. You have never experienced any interstellar warfare, so why do you possess such powerful interstellar military strength? This doesn't make sense..."

Big Tooth is still troubled by this problem.

The colonel simply said coldly, "Big Tooth, this is only a small part of the current interstellar military power of human civilization. The entire solar system has become a defensive perimeter for humanity. I suggest you reiterate the feasibility of this war."

Here, I can reveal an important piece of information to you: the maximum speed of human starships is 1% of the speed of light, while your ships can only travel at 1.5% of the speed of light. Even without any weapons, our ships, traveling at 1% of the speed of light and fully loaded with nuclear weapons, could cause irreversible damage to your giant ships.

"1% of the speed of light..."

Big Tooth scratched its chin with its forelimb. "That is indeed a very fast speed. Our Devourer's small spaceships are not much faster than that. But I'm just curious, did you discover us a long time ago? Is that why you prepared so much armed force?"

"This is a matter for us humans," the colonel said without further explanation.

Big Tooth was still very confused: "Could it be that you have learned about the Dark Forest Law? That doesn't make sense. Any civilization that knows about the Dark Forest Law would immediately transform itself into a nomadic civilization. That's what the great Devouring Empire did... But you are still stuck in the Solar System... I can't understand it."

The colonel was also a little confused, and he looked at Big Tooth.

Unfortunately, Big Tooth did not offer any explanation of the so-called Dark Forest Law. He simply said to the colonel sincerely, "Soldier Bug, although humanity's space power has greatly shocked me, I still have to tell you that plundering all of Earth's resources is necessary for devouring the Empire."

To tell you the truth, the Devouring Empire's resource reserves are insufficient for its spaceships to embark on another interstellar voyage. They must replenish and rest in the solar system. This is a matter of survival for human civilization, and it is also true for the great Devouring Empire.

"At your rate of resource consumption, even if you eat the Earth, you probably won't be able to fly very far." The colonel shook his head.

"No, that's enough. After devouring Earth, the great Devouring Empire will immediately head to the Alpha Centauri system, 4.2 light-years away. There are believed to be many delicious planets there, enough for us to embark on another interstellar voyage."

Alpha Centauri? Isn't that a three-body galaxy?

The colonel's expression suddenly turned strange.

Zhizi, standing to the side, resisted the urge to expand into the lower dimensions.

"Then I suggest you head to Alpha Centauri first, eat there, and then come back," the colonel said.

"We'll have to wait until we've finished eating Earth before we go there."

"So this battle is unavoidable?"

"I'm afraid so, soldier bug."

"Alright, there's no point in saying more. Let's prepare for the Earth United Government's declaration of war."

"The great Devouring Empire will go all out," Big Tooth said earnestly.

(End of this chapter)