The Craziest Decision

"Proxima Midnight is one of the Black Order, and the most loyal of Thanos’s several most powerful leaders."

As a former colleague, Gamora was very familiar with the Black Order’s intelligence. She immediately gave the others a quiet introduction.

"Proxima Midnight was an orphan adopted by Thanos. She possesses an immortal body. The reason she serves Thanos is because he promised to grant her death."

"Proxima Midnight possesses mental control, telepathy, mental transmission, memory theft… and a whole series of other abilities. She’s extremely powerful, so don’t underestimate her."

Under normal circumstances, Gamora’s intelligence could absolutely play a crucial role for one side in a battle. The problem was that the people on Zhan Liu’s side were all abnormal.

The moment Drax saw Proxima Midnight emerge, his eyes immediately turned red. He raised his two blades and charged forward with a howl. When he rushed in, Rocket and the others were afraid something would happen to him, so they had no choice but to follow.

Gamora covered her face with one hand and sighed helplessly. She didn’t want to say anything anymore. She might as well just grab her weapon and charge in.

Now that the battle had begun, the others were unwilling to fall behind. The battleships unleashed their full firepower and concentrated their attacks directly on the Black Order. The Black Order, however, wasn’t worried in the slightest. They merely formed a defensive formation and showed no intention of charging forward.

Proxima Midnight, standing at the front of the formation, smiled faintly and pointed. The warriors on Zhan Liu’s side immediately fell into chaos.

Drax spun around and swung both blades at Rocket behind him. If Groot hadn’t grabbed Rocket and lifted him away, that slash would have cut him in half.

"Hey, big guy, what the hell are you doing?" Rocket shouted furiously, still shaken.

"I told you Proxima Midnight had the ability to control minds. Didn’t any of you hear me?" Gamora, who had caught up, kicked Drax away while roaring at the group in anger.

Rocket awkwardly scratched his ear. "It’s the big guy’s fault. He charged out so suddenly that I didn’t hear you clearly."

"I am Groot!"

"Don’t say that. I’m always very serious during battle meetings, okay?"

"I am Groot!"

"That last time was Quill’s fault for talking nonsense and interrupting my train of thought!"

"Hey, give me a break. You were obviously dozing off!" Quill refused to take the blame.

The group habitually traded barbs while fighting, but when Proxima Midnight glared, Rocket immediately raised his rocket launcher and fired at Quill’s back, knocking him head over heels.

"Damn it! Rocket, I’ll remember this. Once the battle is over, you’re going to pay!"

Quill was furious, but there was nothing he could do.

The enemies from the Black Order hid behind Proxima Midnight and attacked from a distance with energy cannons. The people fighting among themselves beside him, however, were all his own allies.

Quill and Gamora were relatively powerful, so they could resist Proxima Midnight’s mental control, but the others couldn’t.

The Ravagers and Kree warriors became embroiled in a chaotic melee. Fighter jets rained from the sky with crackling explosions, like dumplings dropping into a pot. In this kind of chaotic battle, there was no way to know when a cannon blast would come flying from behind. Even protecting themselves was difficult, and several Centurions secretly recruited by Worldmind were forced to reveal themselves.

Proxima Midnight had single-handedly crushed the entire army.

That was the formidable ability of one of the Black Order.

Proxima Midnight paid no attention to the chaos on the battlefield. Her eyes swept around once, and when she saw Zhan Liu, they lit up. She strode across the battlefield and came straight toward him.

"I stole your memories and saw what you once did." Proxima Midnight was visibly excited, her eyes burning as she stared at Zhan Liu. "You’re a powerful being. You can grant me death!"

"Tsk!"

Zhan Liu had originally thought she had come to fight, so he had deliberately told Valkyrie to move aside and not get in the way.

Who would have thought she had come here to beg for death?

That immediately extinguished Zhan Liu’s fighting spirit.

"Something like you, with no desire to survive, isn’t even interesting to kill!"

"You should go fight Valkyrie. Her combat power is pretty good now."

Proxima Midnight turned to glance at Valkyrie. After carefully assessing the difference in their strength, she shook her head. "Her combat power may surpass mine, but she absolutely can’t kill me!"

"Of all the people I’ve seen, only you and Thanos can do that."

"Thanos needs me to serve him for a long time before he’ll grant me death, but I can’t wait any longer."

"Perhaps this will make you interested in killing me."

As Proxima Midnight spoke, lightning suddenly flickered across her body, and a familiar force surged toward him.

"This is… the Current Drive Realm?" Zhan Liu froze. He then saw the current around Proxima Midnight rapidly intensify before suddenly leaping upward and crossing the threshold into Magnetic Field Rotation.

Was this the power of memory theft?

Could it even grant her the experience of cultivating techniques?

Although Zhan Liu knew Proxima Midnight was doing this to provoke him and beg for death, he still felt slightly unsettled.

The aura around Proxima Midnight rapidly rose. After breaking through several barriers and reaching the Fiftieth Heaven Magnetic Field Rotation, it gradually settled down.

"The Ultimate Yuan Magnetic Limitless Lightning Method really is an incredible technique!" As she familiarized herself with this novel power, she cast a provocative look over at him.

"Hmph!" Zhan Liu’s brows rose, and he shouted angrily, "What an irritating look!"

"Since you want to die so badly, this seat will grant your wish!"

Zhan Liu drew back his fist and punched Proxima Midnight squarely in the chest.

"Fiftieth Heaven? I’ll kill you with one punch!"

Just as the force was about to erupt, Zhan Liu’s mind suddenly trembled. He felt a heart-stopping fluctuation coming from beneath his feet. He instinctively withdrew his fist and lowered his head, probing deep into the earth toward the source of the fluctuation.

At the heart of Sovereign, inside the command center hall that Zhan Liu had drenched in blood.

"Hehehe… hahaha…" High Priestess Ayesha’s eyes were bloodshot, her face twisted as she laughed madly. Drool spilled from the corners of her mouth and ran down her neck and clothes… Things that would normally have infuriated her no longer mattered to her at all.

The other nobles were in hardly any better condition. Every one of them had completely descended into a state of frenzy.

Several corpses lay sprawled across the floor. They still clutched knives, and most of the skin on their bodies had been peeled away. Clearly, unable to withstand the blow of losing their golden skin, they had taken their own lives.

The arrogant Sovereign nobles were completely unable to bear the blow of their skin no longer being golden enough. When they discovered that the change wasn’t merely the dyeing of surface cells but a fundamental, genetic-level alteration, they finally went mad.

Sovereign had always used genes to determine rank. The purer and more perfect the genes, the higher the rank and the more prominent the status. This was reflected outwardly in the goldenness of their skin.

But Zhan Liu’s punishment had fundamentally altered their genes, making them impure.

Could nobles whose genes had been contaminated still be considered nobles?

Moreover, their current skin no longer held even the slightest hint of gold. Their genetic purity would likely fall to the very bottom of the planet. Even the prostitutes on the streets probably had purer genes than they did!

Unable to bear the blow, some Sovereign nobles wanted to peel off their own skin and wrap themselves in gold. But this was something they couldn’t let others do for them, so they had to handle it themselves.

Thus, without anesthesia, a proper surgical environment, or specialized equipment, they hadn’t even finished peeling away a third of their skin before they died.

In truth, all the nobles understood that the moment their genes were altered, they were finished—completely finished. Zhan Liu didn’t need to do anything else to them. He merely had to wait for the public to learn that their skin had turned silver-white, and the people would overthrow them themselves.

When they had nowhere left to turn, the only thought filling the minds of the already-mad nobles was revenge!

Revenge!

Revenge!!

They had to get revenge!!!

Scorched by the flames of hatred, the nobles began to lose their minds.

Conventional methods of warfare were incapable of achieving revenge. What should they do?

Activate the Super Soldier Project, which had been prepared for so long, and create Adam Warlock?

No!

That would be too slow!

None of the nobles had the patience to wait!

"Open final authority!"

"Activate the Sovereign Empire Final Battle Plan!"

"I want to activate the hundredfold Super Energy Bomb… No, if we’re going to use it, make it a thousandfold! Ten-thousandfold!"

"Detonate every Super Energy Bomb on the planet at the same time. Leave not one behind!"

"I want him dead!"

"I want him dead!!"

"I absolutely have to kill him!!!"

High Priestess Ayesha roared, no longer caring about the consequences.

The Sovereign Empire Final Battle Plan was a strategic deterrent or tactical execution method intended to die together with the enemy. It could only be initiated when the empire faced a life-or-death crisis.

The plan had originally existed to intimidate enemies or cover the retreat of the empire’s citizens. It required several nobles within the empire to jointly unlock the supercomputer’s final authority.

Once activated, it could not be canceled. Sovereign was certain to be destroyed as a result. Everyone knew this, but the nobles who had gone mad no longer cared.

The other nobles in the hall hesitated briefly, but not one of them tried to stop her. Instead, they joined her in roaring.

"Exactly! Let’s all die together!"

"Since we’ve already come to this, what need is there for Sovereign to continue existing?"

"Let it all be destroyed!"

"Sovereign never existed in the first place! It’s all an illusion!"

"Hahaha… Let the universe be destroyed along with us!"

All the most powerful nobles in the empire were gathered here, so they were fully capable of unlocking the final authority.

Led by High Priestess Agatha, a group of silver-white nobles lined up one after another before the central control computer. They entered the various passwords and unlocked the empire’s ultimate authority.

"In the name of the High Priestess, I confirm that the Sovereign Empire Final Battle Plan is officially commencing execution!"

Agatha stood before the control console and raised both arms, making the craziest decision of her life.

"Immediately detonate all the Super Energy Batteries on Sovereign!"

"I’m going to blow that bastard into pieces!"

"I’m going to turn him into cosmic dust!"

"I won’t leave him even the slightest chance of survival!"

Amid Agatha’s screams, the central control computer detonated all the Super Energy Batteries.

A terrifying explosion erupted. In an instant, the violently surging energy destroyed Sovereign.

Compared to Sovereign’s explosion this time, Earth’s destruction earlier could only be called disintegration. It didn’t deserve to be called an explosion at all.

When the internal structure of a planet collapses, the planet naturally breaks apart under the force of gravity. Its atmosphere dissipates, life becomes extinct, magma solidifies, and all things freeze. But relatively speaking, this was an extremely slow process that could take minutes, hours, or even days.

But Sovereign’s explosion this time came from within and spread outward. The enormous energy inflated the planet’s crust and mantle like firecrackers before tearing them apart and finally blasting them into pieces.

The supermassive energy was like a newborn sun, instantly vaporizing everything it encountered. Even space itself was torn apart by the tremendous force. Countless spatial rifts and fragments appeared where the planet had been, sweeping in everything nearby and sending it flying to some unknown corner of the universe.

A temporary sun spun into existence and then vanished.

When the light disappeared, a black hole slightly smaller than Sovereign appeared where the sun had been. It radiated limitless gravitational pull, sucking in everything around it in one fierce gulp before crushing it into fragments and dust beneath its immense gravity.

Fortunately, the black hole hadn’t absorbed enough mass to sustain its existence. It didn’t last long, disappearing into the universe only a few seconds later.

The explosion had been far too unexpected. No one had anticipated it.

The instant the explosion occurred, nearly every living thing on the planet’s surface died, including the warriors aboard Zhan Liu’s side’s battleship and the two super battleships of the Black Order.

In the face of such a terrifying explosion, even a Super Battleship was no different from one made of scrap paper.

After the explosive energy had finished dispersing and everything settled down, Zhan Liu looked around and discovered that only four people had survived.

Himself, Proxima Midnight, Quill, and Valkyrie.

Zhan Liu and Proxima Midnight had survived because of the power of Magnetic Field Rotation.

Quill had survived because he possessed the limitless energy of the Nova Force, as well as Worldmind’s cheat-like assistance.

Valkyrie had survived because, during her previous battle with Worldmind, she had fused Asgardian God-Force with Nova Energy.

Aside from these four, everyone else had vanished into the terrifying explosion, including Gamora, who had obtained the power of a Nova Centurion, and several Centurions secretly recruited by Worldmind.

The foundation Worldmind had secretly cultivated through Quill’s body to rebuild Xandar had been reduced to ashes before it even had the chance to prove useful.

The entire Guardians of the Galaxy had been wiped out. Gamora, Drax, Rocket, and Groot had all died without exception, leaving only Quill as the sole survivor.