Humanity is missing, luckily I have billions of clones

he bright spot was extremely small, yet incredibly brilliant. If one could look directly at it, unafraid of the dazzling light of Pegasus V342, even the naked eye would be able to perceive its existence.

It was like a spark erupting from a bonfire, fleeting in an instant. And in that instant, the total radiation power of Pegasus V342 correspondingly increased slightly.

Although the increase was minimal, it could still be detected by precise observation instruments.

This was because the bright spot originated from a heavy transport ship that Tom had previously deployed near Pegasus V342.

This type of heavy transport ship has a payload capacity of over ten million tons.

It wasn't loaded with anything else; it was entirely filled with hydrogen bombs!

Super-yield hydrogen bombs, each with a single yield reaching 1 billion tons of TNT!

Each such hydrogen bomb weighed approximately 200 tons. Calculating this, a single heavy transport ship carried fifty thousand of these hydrogen bombs, with a total yield of fifty trillion tons of TNT!

If such a hydrogen bomb cluster were detonated on Earth, the Earth's tectonic plates would be fractured, the entire planet would suffer unprecedentedly strong earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, the entire atmosphere would be enveloped in smoke and dust, and even Earth matter would be directly blasted into space.

The entire Earth's ecosystem would be completely destroyed.

Of course, the detonation location this time was not Earth, but a star, a star even more powerful than the Sun.

Although Tom had already ordered the heavy transport ship to fall toward Pegasus V342 before the detonation, the final detonation distance was not the original 6 million kilometers, but rather it truly entered Pegasus V342's atmosphere before detonating. More energy was released into the star, which could cause a comparatively greater impact.

But even so, the explosion of this hydrogen bomb ship would have a negligible impact on Pegasus V342.

After all, Pegasus V342 radiates approximately 2.27 × 10²⁷ joules per second across all wavelengths. The energy from the explosion of fifty trillion tons of TNT is approximately 2.07 × 10²³ joules. The explosion of such a powerful hydrogen bomb ship only accounts for about 0.00008 of the star's energy radiated per second.

But it didn't matter.

Because Tom had deployed not one, but over twenty thousand hydrogen bomb ships around Pegasus V342!

If all twenty thousand-plus heavy hydrogen bomb ships were detonated, the energy released would be roughly equivalent to the energy released by Pegasus V342 in 1.7 seconds.

Compared to a star, merely 1.7 seconds of energy release still doesn't seem like much.

But it didn't matter, because Pegasus V342 is a variable star.

In its classification, it belongs to the non-radial pulsating variable stars, where the boundary between the convection zone and the radiation zone is unstable. This instability can even lead to wave-like patterns appearing on the star's surface.

Generally speaking, most variable stars have higher instability than ordinary stars.

If such a scale of hydrogen bomb ships were detonated near the Sun, the Sun might not erupt with much energy.

Because the Sun is not a variable star; the Sun's stability is very high.

But Pegasus V342 is different.

It inherently possesses a certain degree of instability. What changes will occur now that it is subjected to such a massive external energy impact?

Tom's simulation model showed that at this moment, its instability would instantly increase by hundreds to thousands of times, leading to an instantaneous energy burst of over ten thousand times.

Such a colossal amount of energy would sweep away all tangible and intangible existences around the star.

Not to mention Tom's technological creations and fleet, even the Mechanical Disaster Civilization's fleet would not be able to withstand it!

No matter how advanced your technology is, you are merely a third-tier Strong Nuclear Civilization. How could you possibly withstand such a violent, truly catastrophic stellar energy outburst?

This was Tom's final trump card.

Since you won't let me go, then let's all perish together. Everyone dies!

That bright spot earlier was merely the explosion of one hydrogen bomb ship. This was a warning, just a warning, to show that I am not making empty threats.

I have truly deployed corresponding forces near the star!

In the cockpit of a ship, Tom's clone, where his consciousness resided, looked out the porthole with a crazed expression, gazing at the myriad stars in space.

Every star was a massive Mechanical Disaster warship. Countless stars meant that the Mechanical Disaster had an almost infinite number of warships.

An endless sea of stars surrounded Tom.

Now, make your choice! Will you perish with me, or… escape immediately?

Billions of kilometers away, the Supercomputing Mothership.

At this moment, the computing power utilization of the many supercomputing bases within the Supercomputing Mothership began to increase rapidly. Thin liquid nitrogen mist floated up from the liquid nitrogen cooling pools, and the laser instruments in the laser cooling towers operated at full power.

Endless logic flashed wildly within the computing units.

"I was fooled.

The prey civilization's full-strength resistance before was not for a fight to the death, but to increase the difficulty of my capturing their civilization;

The prey civilization calculated that I would not truly destroy them, but rather hoped to capture as many of their intelligent beings as possible.

Capturing alive is more difficult than annihilation. Coupled with the prey civilization's display of such strong fighting will before, I could only send more forces into the battlefield, and under the prey civilization's induction, step by step, I came to a place extremely close to the star.

The current situation is very clear. I must immediately withdraw the fleet, otherwise, the opponent will certainly immediately detonate those many hydrogen bombs, triggering a stellar outburst, burying themselves and also burying over 95 % of our civilization's combat power.

But… to withdraw immediately, I must pass through the Asteroid Belt at the fastest speed.

And the opponent has also deployed a large number of hydrogen bomb traps within the Asteroid Belt.

How to choose?"

The logical computing units were still running frantically.

Near planet A, inside a warship, a smile appeared on Tom's crazed face.

"Faced with this situation, how will you choose?

If you continue to stay here, I will detonate all hydrogen bomb ships, triggering a stellar outburst, and we will perish together.

All your fleets will be annihilated, and I will also lose all the power I currently possess.

If you withdraw as quickly as possible, I will not detonate the hydrogen bomb ships, my forces can survive, but you must suffer the attack of endless hydrogen bomb traps in the Asteroid Belt.

You must withdraw from the Asteroid Belt at the fastest speed, so there will be no time to clear the hydrogen bomb traps.

Judging from the precedent in the Altair System, these hydrogen bomb traps will at least cost your fleet over 90 % of its ships.

So… how will you choose?"