Continuous fighting had left them utterly exhausted, while the zombie emperor only grew stronger the longer it fought. If they did not resort to this method, more and more people would die, and the final outcome would only be worse.
Not everyone participating was some selfless hero, but someone had to make the sacrifice. That was why Su Xing had signed up before the battle even began.
He was not part of the first wave and could only be considered a reserve candidate. Even among top-level ability users, individual powers varied enormously, and plant-type abilities were less destructive than most other types.
Plant-type users generally fought by controlling plants to assist with strangulation, but an opponent at the zombie emperor’s level could not simply be killed by directing mutated plants at it. Even the destructive force from detonating a plant user’s crystal core was somewhat weaker.
That was especially true of a special plant-type user like Su Xing. Under normal circumstances, he would never have been selected. But too many people in front of him had already died, leaving them with very few choices.
The force of a top-level ability user detonating their crystal core already exceeded that of a missile. If one hundred top-level ability users self-destructed together, the power would be comparable to an atomic bomb explosion.
The brutal battle devastated Earth’s highest-level combat forces. The casualties were not limited to the hundred people who self-destructed; several people who failed to escape the area in time were caught in the blast as well.
Although the power of the self-detonation was comparable to a nuclear bomb, it did not cause the same lasting devastation. After several days, the energy produced by the explosion dissipated.
The enormous crater left behind was not completely barren. Green plants had already begun growing across parts of the earth, and several powerful mutated trees had grown into towering giants within just a few nights.
Perhaps that was proof that Su Xing had once existed. Su Xing disappeared, and so did the zombie emperor. The remaining zombies were gradually eliminated by humanity, but Earth’s true danger was only just approaching.
Because of Su Xing’s unusual experiences, the companions he had warned were prepared. Before the extraterrestrials attacked, China had already alerted the United Nations to make preparations. That warning ultimately played a decisive role.
Su Xing on Earth had died, but Su Xing in the interstellar world was still alive—though not far from death himself.
When the family of three had been thrown down here, they had been given nothing except the clothes on their backs. After spending several days completely exposed to the elements on a planet with such a brutal environment, how could any of them possibly be well?
When Su Xing woke, he immediately felt terrible. He looked at Dragon Cub lying beside him, whose fur had already turned gray with dust, then at Big Dragon on the other side, unconscious yet shielding them from the wind with his body. Su Xing’s expression darkened.
He had gone directly from one nightmare battlefield into another. He had just died in a tragic self-detonation during the apocalypse, and the interstellar world had greeted him with hell mode from the very beginning. It was as though fate had no intention of leaving him any path to survival.
He had imagined before that the place of exile would have a poor environment, but he had never expected the three of them to be exiled alone to somewhere like this. Those people were vicious.
Su Xing did not know exactly what the people in the Earth Alliance had done, but he was not stupid. One look at Dragon Cub’s condition told him their family had been deliberately targeted.
Even if the Dongfang family had abandoned Dongfang Zhan and Su Xing, they would never simply toss Dragon Cub here and leave him to fend for himself. Dragon Cub’s condition alone proved there could not be any members of the Dongfang family nearby.
If interstellar conventions did not forbid exiling intelligent life to planets where survival was impossible, the three of them probably would not have lived this long!
He could control his body now, but it felt as heavy as a mountain. By the time he finally managed to prop himself upright, he was already panting from exhaustion.
He had no idea where they were. The environment on this planet was atrocious. Even with Big Dragon’s body blocking most of the wind and sand from him and Dragon Cub, Su Xing was still covered in a layer of grit.
And the harsh environment was only part of the problem. The air was thin, and the gravity was more than twice that of Earth. These conditions were extremely damaging to his current body.
“Chirp… chirp…” Dragon Cub woke at Su Xing’s movement and immediately pounced toward him, knocking him back down.
The movement sent another cloud of sand into the air. Not only was Su Xing knocked over, he inhaled the dust as well and coughed several times.
Dragon Cub did not understand any of that. He kept chirping at Su Xing and even happily flapped his little wings, stirring up even more dust around them.
The Dongfang family’s beast form was not the dragon of Eastern legends, but the ancient tyrannosaurus. The only difference was that they had an extra pair of wings, probably the result of a genetic mutation.
Archaeologists had said tyrannosauruses were fluffy when young, and apparently they were right. Dragon Cub’s beast form looked like a little chick, except he was several times larger than a full-grown rooster and definitely not light.
Dragon Cub was no longer the slightest bit soft yellow now. Even his fur had turned gray, but he was still adorable.
Su Xing could understand what Dragon Cub was saying. “Daddy’s here. Be good, Dragon Cub!” To keep them from being swallowed by another dust cloud, he hurriedly reached out and held the cub still.
“Chirp chirp chirp chirp.” Daddy… Dragon Cub is very good. Daddy, don’t ignore Dragon Cub… His chirping voice was no longer very bright, the result of calling constantly for so long. In beast form, though, his language was actually much richer.
“Daddy… will always be here. Don’t be afraid, Dragon Cub…” Su Xing waited for the dust to settle a little before struggling upright again. He still could not speak very smoothly.
“Chirp chirp chirp chirp.” Once Dragon Cub confirmed that Daddy was finally paying attention to him, he began complaining that he was thirsty. He wanted milk. His digestive system was powerful, and he had eaten plenty of strange sand and stones over the past few days, so he was not actually hungry. Even his thirst was more psychological than physical.
Su Xing wanted to find something for himself and Dragon Cub to eat as well, only to discover there was not even a mouthful of water anywhere within sight. Those people had never intended to give this family of three any chance to survive, so why would they have left supplies behind?
Of course, they were not the only exiles who had been given nothing. All exiled prisoners received the same treatment. But even serious criminals were given at least some chance of survival by the Earth Alliance. Their exile locations always had some possible route to staying alive.
Their family alone had become the exception. They were innocent people dragged into someone else’s crime, yet they had been sent to a place like this. Someone clearly wanted to wipe them out completely.
Su Xing could not help sneering. He refused to believe that a top-level plant-type ability user like himself could die of illness or starvation, or fail to keep two dragons alive. Even if he had to force it with his very last breath, he was going to awaken his ability.
Given the terrible environment around him, forcibly awakening now would have a low chance of success even with his past experience. But if he did not awaken, their family could only wait for death. He had no other choice.
Not everyone could awaken an ability, but Su Xing was fortunate. This body genuinely possessed the potential for one.
“Be good, Dragon Cub. How about we go to sleep?” As he spoke, he stroked Dragon Cub’s fur smooth. Energy became chaotic during an awakening and could be dangerous, so he absolutely could not let Dragon Cub remain beside him.
Dragon Cub truly was exhausted. Ever since being thrown down here, his anxiety had kept him from sleeping much. With Daddy coaxing him so gently, he fell asleep before long.
Su Xing placed him beside Big Dragon’s forelimb. Sleeping there, Dragon Cub would barely feel the wind.
Dragon Cub was still uneasy when he was put down, so Su Xing simply took off his outer shirt and tied it around the cub before standing up and walking away.
He moved forward with difficulty, the wind growing stronger with every step. Only when he was just under twenty meters away from the two dragons did he finally stop. That distance was enough.
Su Xing did not bother surveying the area. Everything visible was nothing but sand and dirt, so there was little worth examining. He was not afraid of nearby danger either.
Although Big Dragon was unconscious, his suppressive aura remained. Even if there were carnivorous animals nearby, they would not dare approach. Otherwise, the three of them could never have remained safe this long.
Su Xing had already awakened an ability once on Earth and therefore had plenty of experience. Still, because of the environment and the condition of this body, he knew this awakening would probably not be simple.
Fortunately, he was not a purely plant-type ability user. As long as anything living still existed on this planet, he was not afraid of being unable to gather enough energy for the awakening.
While Su Xing struggled to save himself, Su Chen had not given up searching for Su Xing’s family either.
The instant the video call connected, he did not even wait for the other person to speak before anxiously asking, “How is it? Did you find any traces?”
“We confirmed three landing sites. I’ve already sent people to investigate them.” On the other side of the video was Feidinan, the pirate leader who had removed his disguise. His name was quite famous throughout the interstellar world.
