Chapter 3

"What kind of thing is this?" Herta frowned, looking at the light screen before her.

It was not sound waves, electrical signals, or gravitational waves... it was not any communication technology known in the universe.

This made Herta feel uncomfortable; she had not felt this feeling of knowing nothing for about a hundred years.

"Do you know anything about this?" Herta asked into the void.

However, apart from the noisy mechanical operation and calculation sounds, nothing else appeared...

"Interesting, interesting, even you cannot calculate this thing."

A light of curiosity burst forth from Herta's eyes:

"I must see what this Disaster Empire really is..."

The Luo Fu Xianzhou, Divination Commission...

Flowing light constantly flickered in Lord Fu Xuan's Dharma eyes, and the Matrix of Prescience before her was also constantly operating.

With the help of this Dharma eye bestowed by the Nous of Erudition between her brows and the Jade Abacus system of the Xianzhou, Lord Fu Xuan could observe the past and calculate the future.

But at this moment, what she saw in her Dharma eyes was a vast darkness, empty and void...

"What on earth is..." Lord Fu Xuan could not help but look at the light screen before her.

She saw the handwriting on the light screen change... 【The Tenth Evil Act: The crystallization of terror and deterrence, the Disaster Empire's terrifying anti-star weapon—Colossus】

(The six Void Gods in the current version of Stellaris are the four traders "The Weaver of Life," "The Eater of Worlds," "The Instrument of Desire," and "The Whisper of the Void," as well as the circle god "The End of Reincarnation" and the relatively new synthetic god "The Shaper of Clay.")

("The Shaper of Clay" is the twin god of "The Weaver of Life," but it craves the electric current bursting from mechanical bodies more than the flesh of organic matter; it can be understood as a mechanical version of "The Weaver of Life.")

4. 【Planetary Explosion and Heavenly Star...】

She saw the scene on the light screen change.

Before the eyes of different civilizations in the universe, scenes of text and images were presented.

【The Colossus is the product of the Disaster Empire's dreams of terror and deterrence.】

【In the Disaster Empire's younger years, the development of megastructure engineering blurred the boundary between dreams and reality, allowing them to build Colossus-class warships.】

【"This type of warship carries a terrifying weapon that can completely erase or completely change an entire planet with just the press of a button."】

A warship full of technological beauty, as large as a continent, was suspended above a lush green planet.

This warship was composed of alloy compressed to ultra-high density, with an overall rounded arc shape, cables neatly hidden beneath the metal shell, and the smooth, flawless exterior shone like a crystal morning dew under the illumination of the distant star.

Just by looking at it, everyone in the universe felt: the creator of this warship seemed to want to bestow all beauty upon it, making it the god of beauty among the stars.

This gave everyone a brief illusion that this was not a terrifying anti-star weapon, but a monument commemorating art.

"A weapon that can erase an entire planet." Looking at the text on the light screen, Bronya could not help but take a light breath of cold air.

She looked with some worry at the needle-like warship suspended above Jarilo-VI.

That warship seemed even more massive than the Colossus on the light screen; did it also have the power to destroy a planet in one blow?

This thought flashed through Bronya's mind, and she hurriedly shook her head.

How could planet-destroying weapons be so common?

Although planet-destroying weapons made many civilizations in the universe feel fear, for the top forces in the universe, planet-destroying weapons were not uncommon.

On the shopping website under the IPC, planet-destroying weapons were sold at marked prices.

Asta, the small station master of this space station of Herta's, had always wanted to use her pocket money to buy a limited-edition planet-killer.

What truly made Herta's mood fluctuate was the peculiar beauty revealed by this weapon named "Colossus."

Most planet-destroying weapons in the universe were ugly, but the Colossus revealed a beauty where technology and humanity coexisted.

This beauty made the warship not look like a weapon for exterminating planets, but rather like a work of art.

Or rather, its creators built it with the passion of creating a work of art.

Herta could perceive that the civilization that designed, manufactured, and used this Colossus must have a set of unique aesthetics and war philosophies.

Just as Herta was thinking, she saw a circular arc of light sweep across the Colossus in the image.

The front shell of the Colossus slowly unfolded, the mirror-smooth shell reflecting the brilliance of the stars, and also reflecting the scene on the lush green planet below.

The somewhat ugly alien species living in this city looked tremblingly at the Colossus opening its bloody mouth, revealing the heat-flow emitter covered by neat cables inside the shell.

In an instant, the Colossus was like a gun hanging high in the sky, about to bring punishment down upon the earth.

The starfish-like alien species fled in panic, hiding in air-raid bunkers hidden deep underground.

They perhaps thought this was just an ordinary orbital bombardment.

"Wait, it wouldn't kill the civilians too, would it?!"

Someone in the universe noticed that most of these starfish species seemed to be ordinary civilians, not combatants.

But the Colossus hanging high in the sky did not seem to care about this.

A crimson heat flow surged out from the Colossus.

The sky ignited with flames, the clouds were burned away, and the gun of thermal energy that pierced heaven and earth stabbed into the ocean of this lush green planet, evaporating most of the ocean in an instant.

But the ocean could not lower the temperature of the heat flow; the crust was melted, and the heat flow surged into the planetary core...

The image shifted gently; the alien race that looked like starfish were anxious in the shelter, the crowd filled with the smell of panic.

A starfish mother held her child, gently patting its back with her tentacles, whispering a lullaby to calm the panicked child...

"... The stellar wind rises, taking me to the distance."

"Through that space lane, we sail toward the starlight..."

"... When the strong wind blows, let us set sail, toward the sea of stars, she slowly sets sail—"

The mother's voice stopped abruptly.

The earth trembled gently at the same moment, and a crisp sound like tearing silk spread to every corner of the world.

Subsequently, a louder sound rang out; all other sounds were so inaudible in comparison.

A torrent of heat started from the planetary core, sweeping across the entire planet.

From the perspective of the Colossus, this lush green planet swayed gently, a gray-red shockwave erupted from within the planet, shattering the crust, disintegrating the atmosphere, and finally, the planet disintegrated in the trembling.

【Colossus Weapon: Planetary Explosion and Heavenly Star】

【The heat flow emitted by this weapon can heat the planetary atmosphere and detonate the planetary core.】

【This action will completely destroy the planet's geological structure, and a final, relatively small shockwave will blow the planet to pieces.】

5 【Bronya: My home is going to become a mine?!】

【"We find it hard to understand the heroism of a planet's death."】

The scene in the light screen became pitch black, and a throne wrapped in cables appeared on the screen.

Below the throne were ministers of various forms, analyzing the data of the Planetary Explosion and Heavenly Star.

Sitting on the throne was a vague figure shrouded in hazy shadows.

【"But the beauty of death as the planet's hot core cools in the cold universe is indisputable."】

The figure's slightly lazy words revealed a unique war aesthetic.

【"Your Majesty, it is as we estimated."】

The minister standing under the throne stepped forward and reported:

【"After the planet was destroyed by the Planetary Explosion and Heavenly Star, it produced twelve units of minerals."】

【"Putting the Planetary Explosion and Heavenly Star into full-scale war to eliminate planets without occupation value will be beneficial to the empire's mining development."】

【"Good, send out the mining ships."】 The figure on the throne nodded gently and said.

"Lunatics."

On the Luo Fu Xianzhou, the Diviner Lord Fu Xuan of the Divination Commission could not help but comment.

She looked at the absurd scene on the light screen.

This "Disaster Empire" sent mining ships to the destroyed planet, starting mineral extraction on a planet where countless intelligent lives had died.

The scene of planet destruction was not uncommon for the Xianzhou.

Lord Fu Xuan had personally seen a planet struck by the arrows of the Reignbow Arbiter.

All the Abominations of Abundance on the entire planet were turned into ashes, leaving only a shattered planet.

Acts of destruction were also not uncommon.

The Antimatter Legion ran rampant in the universe, ravaging the stars.

She had seen countless planets and civilizations destroyed by the Antimatter Legion.

What truly made Lord Fu Xuan feel absurd was that

manufacturing such a terrifying planet-destroying weapon was just to eliminate planets without occupation value in war, and incidentally promote the country's mining development?