Vol 20 Chapter 7-2
Team China and the movie characters rode the helicopter to a runway where multiple luxurious airplanes were parked. One of those was the Air Force One. The group of people boarded Air Force One two minutes after leaving the White House and thirty seconds before the Destroy fires at the city. The plane had taken off from the runway at this time. They were only thirty seconds ahead of the plot but these thirty seconds mean the plane had escaped the radius of the attack. Team China was safe.
"Now then. Let us witness the scene of the laser." Xuan who remained silent throughout the incident suddenly spoke. He brought out a sphere from the spatial bag. With a few presses on the little sphere, a screen was projected onto the wall of the plane.
"Doraemon, when did you make this? Uh. I am not going to about it. I've grown accustomed to these things by now. The least you can tell me is why does the screen show the space above the White House?" Zheng scratched his head as he asked in the most casual tone, as though this was typical in his life.
"The Yellow Turban can teleport and float. It's on top…" Xuan muttered with his eyes fixed on the screen.
"Enough. I know what it is. Let us watch the movie, Doraemon."
The veterans were used to this kind of exchange between the two. The newbies on the other hand would feel curious. However, everyone's attention was focused on the screen projected into the air. The scene of the Destroyer opening up its bottom port was grandiose. Deep blue light penetrated the opening, looked so beautiful. It was as though the majority of beautiful things were dangerous, so was this deep blue light. It was more than dangerous. It was the color of destruction.
The port was opening up wider and wider in their eyes. A black beam of light and a white beam began to circle each other inside the port. The two met at the center of the port, exploding into a rainbow of colors. This rainbow struck out from the port straight into the ground.
"The Magic Cannon!" People who had witnessed the firing of the Magic Cannon stood up and cried with fear.
Heng, after realizing what just came down shouted. "That's the Magic Cannon! This isn't the plot… Zheng, we are still in danger! Extreme danger!"
The veterans witnessed the destructive that was brought by the Magic Cannon through their own eyes. It was a weapon that could destroy continents. The black and white lights inside the Destroyer didn't appear as condensed as team China's Magic Cannon when used in The Mummy since they converted energy using the One Ring. However, the size of the beams were magnitudes larger. The Magic Cannon only fired a beam a hundredth this size. If the power of this laser was also a hundred times more powerful, this one shot could wipe the whole continent from Earth. And there would be no escape.
"The fuck… you kidding me. The Magic Cannon? The one that destroyed Tokyo in one shot?" Zheng jolted up from his seat and cried in shock.
Heng hesitated. Zero answered him. "The beam doesn't look as condensed. But its form and firing process looks the same as the Magic Cannon."
While Zero spoke, shockwaves began to spread from underneath the ground. A mushroom cloud rose hundreds of meters in a loud explosion at the point where the beam hit the ground. Shockwaves struck from all directions and instantly pulverized the buildings near the explosion. The shockwaves crossed a tenth of Washington DC in almost an instant. At this rate, it would only take twenty seconds for them to catch up to the plane and shred the plane to pieces.
Many people on the plane were still shocked. Those who wrapped their heads around blanched. The shockwaves were traveling so fast that sound couldn't catch up to them. Over half of Washington was pulverized in mere seconds.
Zheng's mind jumped back into reality and he shouted. "Put on your seatbelts and grab onto your seats!"
He jumped toward the back of the plane. He started to the unlocked mode on his way and by the time he was at the back, he had entered the third stage. There was no time for him to enter the fourth stage. He smashed the plane's wall with a kick and tore an opening on the metal. Zheng jumped out.
The plane was flying in the air so Zheng dropped over fifty meters as soon as he was outside. Finally, he unlocked into the fourth stage and halted the fall. His figure began to grow. Two dragon like wings spread out from his back. The wings flapped violently and Zheng moved with Geppo and Soru. His body shot up in the air with speed barely visible to the eyes.
"Explosion!" Zheng thought about using Destruction as he approached the tail of Air Force One. However, the power brought forth in Destruction was too immense that even the deck of a carrier would not stand a chance, not to mention just an airplane. He only intended to push the plane forward. Explosion was the biggest force he could apply to the plane.
Zheng whipped his leg at the plane's tail. This fierce kick contained an enormous force governed by infinitesimal control. The force spread evenly through the plane. A kick that was a hundred times more powerful than the one he used to tear an opening merely dented the plane's surface. The plane suddenly accelerated and flew forward. Zheng followed closely behind and kicked it again and again, further accelerating its flight speed with each kick. As the plane's speed approached his speed in Explosion, it squeaked. The burden put on its material was approaching its limit. Those sitting inside were strapped onto their seats. Blood bled out from the ears and noses of normal people. Their bodies were approaching the limit too.
Zheng could feel the plane trembling. Infinitesimal control gave him the ability to control his body and sense every minute change happening around him. The shell and gears of the plane was breaking apart and on the brink of crumbling. If he were to continue accelerating it, the plane would shatter in his hands without the need of the shockwaves.
(I've done all I could. It's up to fate to decide our future…) Zheng sighed and stopped. He didn't fly into the plane. His wings flapped and brought him to the top of it. He turned around, and watched the boundless shockwaves approach.
The plot altered. The Destroyer's laser was at least ten folds more powerful than what the movie depicted. This power had surpassed the atomic bomb and was on the same level as the hydrogen bomb. Zheng had confirmed it was still far from the Magic Cannon but that did not take away its destructiveness. The shockwaves caused by the attack spread throughout Washington like a beast in doomsday opening its mouth and revealing its hideous teeth.
The shockwaves gradually slowed down. Zheng could see the mushroom cloud and the vast wave of dust roiling up the sky through the shockwaves. Washington no longer existed on the Earth after this attack. A crater thousands of meters deep took its place. The shockwaves pulverized the land extending beyond Washington several times its radius. However, the force eventually died down after traveling so far. Without continued acceleration on the plane, its speed slowly returned to normal. What was left of the shockwaves that stroke the plane at this point was only a gust of wind and sand. The sand tickled Zheng and brushed against the shell of the plane in -tsstss-.
"We are safe… almost died here." Zheng walked into the cabin. It was a total mess inside and people were running around. The high speed knocked out many of the aged politicians and staffs. Fortunately, there was no fatality. The Air Force One being the president's plane had complete set up and staffs to render aide to the unconscious. Only then did the president recalled the unbelievable way that they were saved.
Zheng spoke to the team in a low volume about the Destroyer's laser in relation to the Magic Cannon while the Americans were busy. The team was underestimating this movie in the beginning since they had survived through so many difficult situations and movies. Independence Day wasn't that much of a worry in theory. However, the laser crushed their ease in one shot.
"Anyway, our next goal remains unchanged. We will follow the American government to Area 51, invade the alien mothership with the spacecraft. The rest of the battle, we can worry about it later… Xuan, I need some advice." After speaking to the team members, Zheng turned to Xuan with a serious face.
Xuan was watching the laser on repeat again and again. He raised his head and said. "Many hints are still incomplete. I have two questions. One, how big of a change is applied to the plot. Is it only the laser or are there other changes? This will determine our follow ups such as whether we should go to Area 51 by following our plan. The second question is, if we are on the side of the protagonists, humans, where does danger come from for the antagonists, for team Pacific? They have knowledge of the plot and access to the force of extraterrestrial technology. They are nearly invincible in the movie. No danger, no responsibility. All they have to do is wait for us to go to them and then kill us for the points and rewards."
Xuan adjusted his glasses then said. "Perhaps their danger comes from… If that's the case, I speculate God's goal is… However, that conflicts with our conjecture about the final battle. God's true goal…"
Zheng had entered the third stage and pondered following Xuan's words. However, his mind could not catch up to the leaps happening in Xuan's mind. When it came to the last part, he couldn't understand a bit.
Zheng couldn't hold himself from asking. "Hey, say it clearly. What did you think of? What did you understand? Why did one detail from this movie make you associate with God's goal? What does it have to do with the final battle? Please, make me an enlightened ghost even if I were to die!"
Xuan didn't give him a hard time for once. He put away the sphere projector and calmly said. "God will not arrange any team for a trip in the movie. Don't even think of obtaining free points and rewards. However, from the information we have, team Pacific could be this kind of team. They have no danger being in the aliens' mothership. The original plot has two people riding a spacecraft into the mothership but team Pacific has numerous ways to destroy this spacecraft from knowing the plot. They are standing on a position where victory is guaranteed. Where does their danger come from? If a bug does not occur to God, there is only one possibility. This means they are in the mothership but do not have any influence or control over the aliens. The plot will follow its script and they can do nothing but watch as a nuclear bomb is detonated inside the mothership. This event will happen within the three days and is where their danger is."
Team China was dumbfounded. Zheng pulled a strand of hair from his forehead then pondered. "You mean they can either choose to safely survive most of the three days then watch the spacecraft carry the nuclear bomb into the mothership and die or attempt to influence the aliens, like seizing a spacecraft to leave the mothership. However, that action will turn them into the aliens' enemies and make the aliens attack them, right?"
"Correct." Xuan snapped his fingers. "No team is absolutely invincible. No influence can grant absolute invincibility. Yet, if this conjecture is true, God's intention could likely be to get the two teams ally together. They have the critical information of the alien mothership such as locations and the spacecraft they would steal. We have the force, a force greater than what team Pacific has. God might want the two teams to team up and defeat the aliens, which is the true intention of this movie."
Zheng was shocked and his face turned pale. "You mean we are going to team up with these slave owners?"
"No." Xuan shook his head. "It will go against our initial goals despite increasing our odds at defeating the aliens. We won't easily attempt this alliance because we need their psyche force user. What I mean is the intention behind this move by God is a food for thought. Is God supporting the Angel Alliance? Does it want most teams to form into an alliance in order to stop your clone? Or… has your clone attained the power to threaten God?"
The conjecture halted. Xuan was not a god. This conclusion was the best he could achieve at this point with the information they had. Its validity was still questionable unless they obtained more useful information.
(I feel that this conjecture should be true. Team Pacific's leader said my clone developed a technique that will bypass God and control other players. That's more than half the authority God possesses.)
Zheng sighed to himself. He closed his eyes and recalled the battles between him and his clone in the simulations. His clone from way back still had the upper hand over the current him.
(He has grown to such a degree. Can I really catch up to him? It's difficult enough to catch up to him… can I really surpass him? His heart has turned into a demon from that event… can I surpass him?)
While Zheng pondered, the president and the other political figures were planning their counterattack in the plane. The air force was assembled but those without knowledge of the plot didn't know the counterattack would fail miserably. The result was a one-sided massacre on the human forces.
Air Force One continued flying forward. The sky grew darker as time gradually passed.