What Gu Ding did not know was that after the people from the Army had retreated from the desert, various other forces also left the desert where the superweapons were buried.
Most of the forces ran straight for the port, wanting to leave the planet at once because they knew that there was a chance the Army's mission would be called a fiasco. The Army people would probably take action, the moment the explosion was over, tidying up the remaining other forces to make it look as if they had not failed their mission so badly. The Army people would then give the Federal Government an explanation. The other forces did not want to be tidied up by the Army, so escape was their best choice.
Gu Ding's three escape capsules were very quickly discovered by the Army people at the edges of the desert.
Nevertheless, the escape capsules had already been destroyed. Even after an investigation was carried out, the Army people could not find any information regarding the trio's ident.i.ties. Their fingerprints and hairs had all been destroyed in the self-destruction sequence.
"The other party worked as a trio. Look for all the trios and teams with more than three members on Constlac, we'll slowly rule them out." Sharp looked at the three unrecognizable escape capsules that had been destroyed, eyebrows furrowed together. "And bring these three escape capsules back. Conduct a thorough check and see if we can find anything."
"The port's platform canopy failure was clearly because someone had tampered with it. Furthermore, even after we had deployed the signal shield over the entire planet, information concerning the superweapons as well as Army personnel was still leaked. It was clearly the work of a peak hacker. Check if any hackers visited Constlac during this time too. Perhaps the powering up of the superweapon is also related to the same hacker," Wendell provided his view on the matter, "Even the Army's information on the three superweapons is extremely limited. The other party obviously knows much more than we do. Aside from being able to successfully enter the superweapon, they were able to use it normally and start its self-destruction sequence."
"Could it be someone from the Liberty Alliance?" a colonel general standing by the side made his guess, "Vannarab arrived on this planet pretty much at the same time we did. It probably means that the time they received the news was not much different from ours. Moreover, their goal was never to get the superweapons. Self-destruction was probably the result they wanted to see."
"To be able to so smoothly enter the superweapon and operate it without any difficulties, I think it's probably a survivor of the Mechanical Tribe from the Middle Ages. Only they can enter superweapons without any obstructions and operate them adeptly," another colonel general voiced out a bold conception.
"The cannon that was fired at me earlier was indeed quite adept. It seemed like the moment I leaped up, the other party had already aimed the cannon at me. Its power was not too weak or strong. It was just strong enough to heavily injure me and instill fear in others." Hearing the colonel general's suggestion, Sharp vaguely felt that it made sense. "It was as if it wasn't their first time controlling a superweapon."
"The probability of the guess isn't high though. There's no way we wouldn't have known if Constlac had three survivors from the Mechanical Tribe. Even if they avoided going through registration, other people who would've had seen them on this planet. Nevertheless, even after thousands of years, n.o.body has heard of any news regarding survivors of the Mechanical Tribe on this planet." Wendell negated the guess. "Moreover, if they really are survivors of the Mechanical Tribe, they probably would've known about the existence of the three superweapons before we dug one of them out. Why didn't they destroy the superweapons beforehand and instead wait for us to discover them before making a move? Such behavior only increases their risk."
"Once this matter is over, we'll go back and discuss it in detail. The main problem now is the level of destruction the superweapon that has already been dug out will suffer after the other two superweapons self-destruct. Whether or not we'll be able to use it as it is or if we have enough information to create replicas." Sharp stood at the edge of the desert as he looked at the center of it where the superweapons were buried from a distance.
On the other hand, Lex and the Blood Sac Pirates had already fled to the port.
"Port, did you challenge Sharp?" one ship member asked.
The other members looked at Lex.
"I challenged him but was blocked by an old man from the Liberty Alliance." Lex rubbed his nose a little embarra.s.sedly.
"Muscle Man, just admit it. You're no match for Sharp," Ulrif said hurtfully beside him without an ounce of mercy.
"Who says? If it weren't for that old man from the Liberty Alliance who stopped me, you can't say who would've lost or won!" Lex immediately retorted weakly.
"If it weren't for that Liberty Alliance's old man, you would've died long ago, wouldn't you?" As Ulrif said this, he projected the video he had recorded earlier.
Everybody first saw Lex cooly challenging Sharp move before the latter executed an earth-shattering move.
"Muscle Man, you sure you can take a blow like that?" Having watched the recorded video, Ulrif then noticed Lex's horrified expression. Ulrif paused the video at once, and his tone carried some mockery as he spoke.
"Ahem ahem, Sharp is a Federal general after all. Boss, you'll definitely beat him in a few years!" Their military advisor Alcher smoothed out the matter at that moment.
In the middle of the desert, the self-destruction countdown timers of the superweapons finally hit zero.
At that instant, two rays of blindingly white light shot into the sky and deafening roars sounded.
Even those who were at the s.p.a.ceship port and far away from it could clearly hear the two explosions. The sound of the explosions kept going on for close to half an hour. Sandstorms flew over the desert and only calmed under Wendell's control.
Army people stood at the edge of the desert with their heads lifted as they watched the two rays of blinding light and quietly waited for the explosion to end.
The moment the flames dissipated, Sharp made a move. He flew toward the middle of the desert while other Army powerhouses followed him from behind.
The Army people once again appeared at the excavation site of the superweapons. Having been self-destructed, the two superweapons had been blown into sc.r.a.ps. The only thing that remained were metal pieces all over the place. As for the superweapon that had already been dug out, half of it was damaged. A large portion of the main control room had been destroyed. However, it was fortunately not completely destroyed.
Just then, the Liberty Alliance's Vannarab and Grandma appeared yet again.
"Are you guys here to fight for it or are you just here to take a look?" Sharp's expression was heavy. The two were extremely hard to fight, and there was no inevitable conflict between the Liberty Alliance and the Federal Government.
"No need. You guys can take the remaining half of the superweapon. From the way it looks, it's definitely useless. Not to mention, half of the main control room has been destroyed. It's hard to say if replicas can be made." Upon seeing the superweapon, Grandma was very pleased.
"Making the superweapons self-destruct was your people's doing?" Although Sharp was not too certain that the other party would admit it, there was no harm in asking.
"I'll give you a very clear answer: no!" Thinking of the three people she had detected underground before, Grandma beamed sunnily. "We're leaving now. You guys continue!"
"Your Excellency…" A colonel general could not help but say as he watched the two of them leave gleefully.
However, he was stopped by Sharp. "We can't make them stay. Besides, they said it wasn't the doing of the Liberty Alliance. Hence, it wasn't the Liberty Alliance's doing. Bring the transportation s.p.a.ceship over here. We'll bring back the remains!"
