Xing Chen didn't want to see his country fall behind in the competition.
So, he hastily 'killed himself,' letting Talulah and others take his respawn point to Patriot, while he and Theresa returned to Earth.
"Theresa, you look at the computer, I'll take the phone. Remember to spend as much time as possible on information about the Northern Country; that will increase big data pushes."
"Okay, I understand." Theresa finished speaking, then quickly went to the refrigerator and pulled out two cans of iced cola.
She gave one to Xing Chen, placed one by the bed, then took out her laptop, put it on her lap, and started browsing.
The internet is so developed now that you can even see the warring parties launching rockets at each other on your phone.
There were many pushes about the Northern Country, mostly either Subspace victories or three-day blitzes.
True military secrets certainly wouldn't be put directly online, but there were some events that, individually, seemed meaningless. When viewed together, Xing Chen and Theresa both discovered some clues.
"They've intensified their offensive in the west again," Theresa said.
"There's still no news from the east, even though it's not far from us," Xing Chen said, a bit puzzled.
The Babylon Base isn't far from the Eastern Country's border. If they really opened some interdimensional portal, there would definitely be news on the Eastern Country's internet.
If they truly possessed the same technology as him to travel to Terra, shouldn't they have stopped the western war first?
However, it's also possible that they found the other world to still be an ice-covered wasteland, deemed it to have no development value, and decided to continue fighting in the west.
Another possibility is that they've made no progress at all, and the two of them are just scaring themselves.
Xing Chen felt he shouldn't use his own thought processes to speculate about the thoughts of the people from the north.
The Originium in their hands is active Originium, essentially an explosive, and the kind that's unaffected by external conditions, like radioactive decay.
According to Yu Bo, it has virtually no utilization value.
But they still forcibly launched research; who knows what they were thinking.
"Xing Chen, come look at this," Theresa waved, signaling Xing Chen to come closer, "Look at this video."
This was a video shot from a reconnaissance drone's perspective. In the video, a Northern Country tank with blue-purple flames spewing from its exhaust pipe rapidly broke through the defense line at a "shocking" speed.
Upon discovering the target, the filming party immediately called in suicide drones to attack.
"One, two, three... thirty, thirty-one. Xing Chen, is the top of the Northern Country's tanks that strong? I remember your crew saying that tank top armor is the weakest."
"Certainly not. I estimate they might have also developed new materials with the help of Originium."
At the end of the video, the tank was not incapacitated by the drone but was destroyed by an engine self-ignition, and the crew members were hunted down by the drones.
"Theresa, I remember that shieldguard said all the tanks they encountered were unmanned?"
"That's right. If they were operated by people, the Ursus Army Group wouldn't have won so easily."
Those ghost tanks that suddenly appeared on the ice field did scare the Ursus people, but they quickly discovered that these tanks seemed incredibly stupid.
Initially, they found they couldn't do anything about the tanks' frontal armor, while the vanguard's javelins could occasionally penetrate the side and rear armor.
Thus, the tactic of shieldguards attracting fire at the front and vanguards ambushing from the side and rear came into being.
However, all these tanks were unmanned, more like a health bar world than a Bvvd, and the vanguards' javelins seemed to be of too small a caliber.
They immediately revised their tactics, having shieldguards taunt at the front, casters attacking the tracks, and assault operators quickly approaching with Originium explosives to detonate them on the engine cover or turret top.
They could also arrange artillery on the sides to ambush weak armor points.
The simplest method was to use land ships.
A warship's armor is almost invincible against tanks, and naval guns can easily blast tanks into pieces.
Anyone with a brain wouldn't use tanks to shoot at warships.
"I think we might be overthinking this," Theresa said, covering her forehead and smiling at Xing Chen.
"I think so too. How about I ask Yu Bo again? He has more information channels than us. Let's confirm one last time." Xing Chen also felt he was overthinking, but to be safe, he decided to ask one last time.
He opened the game chat group, which was already buzzing with activity.
Their discussion was also related to the Northern Country, except the topic was whether their intensified western offensive meant they wanted to sacrifice all their own people and detonate themselves against the enemy.
"I can't understand. If you sacrifice all your people, what's the point of victory?"
After reading the group members' chat, which mainly consisted of highly credible data and some overseas students' feelings, Theresa felt as if she was back in Kazdel.
Theresis and his supporters wanted to use the strength of their entire race to explode against the nations of Terra.
The last Flame Demon who thought that way is now just fragments.
It's understandable for Sarkaz to do this; the collective souls have been trapped in the Internalized Universe, constantly chattering. It's normal for them to go mad.
But the Northern Country? They can't possibly have an undead will too, can they?
"War is merely a means to peace," Theresa said to Xing Chen.
"Force is the cornerstone that guarantees peace," Xing Chen continued after Theresa finished speaking.
"In that case, the performance of your Northern Country seems a bit abnormal?"
"I can't say for sure; their brains are always soaked in alcohol."
The Eastern Country, as always, advocated for peace and unity, while the Western Great Power continuously fanned the flames.
There was absolutely no news about the Babylon Base, which further solidified their belief that the so-called Crossing technology was just a misjudgment on their part.
So, where did the unmanned tanks come from?
"Pre-civilization!"
Xing Chen and Theresa said this word in unison, a tacit understanding between them.
It wasn't bedtime yet, so Xing Chen and Theresa headed to Wandering's End, then rerouted to Terra.
However, as soon as he arrived at the library, Xing Chen had a feeling—something seemed to have been added here.
The two of them inspected it, and finally, on the table in the very center, there was an additional set of scratches from an unknown source.
"Stop Him."
Xing Chen looked up, and Theresa looked at him with the same puzzled expression.
Who wrote that?
Could there be a third party here?
Theresa immediately intensified her perception, but in the vast space, there were only their two emotional signals.
"Forget it, let's call Friston over first."
Friston's true form appeared at Wandering's End. Xing Chen took out a few photos of common Northern Country tanks and handed them to Friston.
He said that in all his life, it was the first time he had seen photos of such ancient vehicles (witchcraft tanks not included).
"Even if Ed were to deploy troops, he'd use maglev combat vehicles, though they're quite outdated themselves," Friston's meaning was clear: these tanks were not the work of Pre-civilization personnel on Terra at the time.
"What about this?" After clearing the Pre-civilization members of any connection to the tanks, the two brought Friston to the table.
"Is this... Prythian's handwriting?" Friston asked, puzzled.