Outside the wilderness, Sun Jack with his Mimetic Camouflage silently observed the distant concrete forest.
The once-towering skyscrapers were left with only their corroded, ugly shells clinging to the ground, enduring the incessant wash of acid rain.
From here, everything seemed normal, yet detection equipment showed a vast cavity underground—this was the location of EASA.
If they wished, the steel and concrete outside could open at any moment, revealing the launch wells below meant for launching combat units.
If he wasn't mistaken, Lan Meng had also departed for space from here.
Sun Jack opened the map again, eyeing Rome 126 kilometers away, and the approaching Himalayas.
"We can't wait for them to make a move, wait and we'll be reactive everywhere; we must seize the initiative, we'll start in half an hour!" As Sun Jack spoke, a red countdown timer appeared on everyone's system interface.
Every department and every person was preparing with all their might, bracing for the important challenge ahead.
"Jack, you really shouldn't go," Tapai's voice resonated in Sun Jack's ears.
"I have to go, I told you I have a way to deal with Lan Meng," Sun Jack's voice was firmer than it had ever been.
"What if you die?"
"I've frozen a Clone Sun Jack. If I die, he will activate automatically; he will be the original from then on."
"But you are the original, he will know, there are too many flaws."
"It doesn't matter, even if he knows, he will pretend not to."
"What's your method? Do you have to go yourself?"
Sun Jack made some sort of decision, "No."
At that moment, he opened a new local network, where all channels were buzzing with people getting ready to move.
"Damn it, why do I also have to go! And they're making me bring the equipment!" Xiao Ting cursed in the channel.
"Because there's use for you. Killing Lan Meng is the last resort, but if we can find Lan Meng, maybe we can alter his memory, then directly control the entire FFP through him, the ruler of the FFP," Sun Jack explained the reason for bringing Xiao Ting.
"So why can't my Puppet go instead? Why do I have to go?"
"Because I know if things go south, you will definitely run away, surrender to FFP, sell me out completely. I've contended with you so long, I understand you too damn well. Cut the crap and get ready!"
Seconds ticked away as inside the Himalayas and the interiors of the Spacecraft Carriers, the atmosphere grew increasingly tense.
When the countdown reached its end, a nuclear bomb detonated in the neon-lit skies above Rome.
The instant the automatic city defense system activated, all Spacecraft Carriers descended from the clouds, accompanied by the use of meteorological weapons, and with explosions and flashes of lightning and thunder, the skies of Rome were alive with chaos.
"Move out!" As soon as Sun Jack spoke, a white flash tore away the layer of camouflage covering the EASA base.
The next second, the tip of a Sky-base Weapon extended from above, and with lasers quickly converging, a beam of light pierced straight through the entirety of EASA.
However, Sun Jack did not come this time to destroy the place, but to occupy it, and he deliberately avoided key locations.
As the white light vanished, a huge green passageway leading into EASA's interior appeared in front of them.
Wrapped in Nanoworms, Sun Jack rushed toward it with afterimages, skimming the ground, followed by all the ready combat units.
As they surged into the entrance like a tide, EASA's automatic defense systems were activated.
Various automated platforms rose from underground, pouring a crazy barrage of fire at Sun Jack and his group, while combat drones quickly took off from everywhere.
The scene still looked extremely dangerous, but Sun Jack had anticipated this situation before coming.
As the screens around Tapai showed data streaming by rapidly, all the mechanical units centered around him were hacked, becoming his puppets, and they started to turn against EASA's combat units.
They began to fight against EASA's units.
"Don't waste time with them! Get in! We must completely occupy EASA before reinforcements arrive. The faster, the better!" Sun Jack said, activating his Energy Shield and charging inside.
Thick, red-exclamation-marked isolation walls quickly dropped in an attempt to act as the last line of defense, but such tricks were useless against the fully armed Sun Jack.
A few Sun Jacks gathered together, and accompanying the upgraded lasers on their collarbones firing simultaneously at one point, a metal wall several meters thick was quickly melted away, revealing a gap inside.
The next second, swarms of Mechanical Nanoworms flooded in, spreading quickly like dust in the air, attempting to occupy every space, and all data detected by the Nanoworms was instantly synchronized with everyone's nervous systems.
"Jack, I'm going to shut down all the fusion reactors," Tapai's voice rang out in Sun Jack's ear.
"Don't shut them down! What if they're for launching? We don't have time to prepare slowly!" As Sun Jack said this, accompanied by the pervasive spread of the Nanoworms, a roughly outlined object quickly formed in Sun Jack's mind.
"Quick, come! The space shuttle going to space has been found!"
As the information synchronized, the incoming combat units redirected and moved towards the direction of the space shuttle. "Once inside, don't worry about anything else; launch a shuttle to scout ahead!"
All kind of defense systems were activated along the way, and Sun Jack faced huge obstacles.
Luckily, the thousands of Sun Jacks were no pushovers either, displaying their various magical powers and starting to attack and capture the stronghold.
Inside EASA was in total chaos, just like the outside. Although the progress was smooth, Rome was held back and did not send reinforcements.
But under these circumstances, Sun Jack dared not pause for a moment; he could only move faster and faster.
He didn't know how many layers of protection Lan Meng had in space, so this time he wanted to bring as much of his armed forces with him as possible.
"Jack! There's nothing wrong outside! Have you sorted things out there?"
"Almost done! Protect the launch shaft!" Sun Jack hadn't finished speaking when more and more liquid metal robots pounced towards him, attaching themselves to the walls not only to attack but also to quickly repair any damage.
However, today was different from other times; Sun Jack had more people on his side. A laser beam soon shot down, vaporizing all the Liquid Metal.
As the light gradually died down, a host of milky-white spacecraft structures appeared in front of all the Sun Jacks.
These flying units looked incredibly large, with the system displaying a height of 249 meters, the space shuttles stood like towering skyscrapers.