How to Respond

Just as knives still exist in the age of firearms, the same logic applies here. Though the analogy isn't perfect, for a cosmic civilization, a hydrogen bomb is a relatively easy-to-manufacture and inexpensive weapon. Its power is substantial, the materials are easy to find, and they can be used without a second thought.

In contrast, fantasy-level combat involving pure mathematics, the manipulation of laws, conjuring black holes out of thin air with a single word, or even more absurd logical weapons—while described countless times in sci-fi works—has never been seen in actual warfare, even by the former Zerg.

There were indeed psionic civilizations that performed feats defying the laws of physics through pure thought, but this metaphysical power followed its own set of rules. Therefore, it was difficult to link them to the definition of a mythic civilization.

In reality, the overall development speed of civilizations in the universe is quite slow—at least slower than what many fictional sci-fi works depict.

In the earliest stages of a civilization, before they even leave their home planet, some believe that their race should be spread across the universe within tens of thousands of years, thinking that failing to achieve this would be laughable.

But the truth is, most civilizations that have developed for tens of thousands of years find themselves still insignificantly small. They remain within the vicinity of their home star, unable to even research space navigation technology.

That is the reality. In the face of the universe's scale, most civilizations are utterly powerless. Many are not even destroyed in interstellar wars but are wiped out by random natural phenomena, such as gamma-ray bursts.

“Still, it's better this way. If it were that easy to become powerful, the universe would be far too boring.”

It is precisely because it is so difficult that the universe remains so vast and empty.

Even at the peak of the Zerg's power, they never saw the boundaries of their universe. Using hyperspace technology that ignored speed, they once indirectly observed regions trillions of light-years away, and those areas were still filled with endless stars.

Before she transmigrated, the observable universe for humans on Earth was only a few tens of billions of light-years. Beyond that distance, because the expansion of space exceeds the speed of light, the light emitted can never reach us. Thus, it was considered forever invisible.

Earth's scientists estimated that if the observable universe were compared to a light bulb, the volume of the entire unobservable universe might be larger than Pluto.

But that was merely speculation.

No one knew what lay beyond.

Even when the Zerg reached their peak, they were ultimately left bewildered by the scale of the universe.

Yet, it is precisely this grandeur that makes such a world meaningful to the civilizations within it.

Exploring the unknown and seeking the absolute is a joy in itself.

They strove toward a form of civilization that transcended everything, which is the ultimate goal of all advanced civilizations in the universe.

They wanted to know the final purpose of the universe's existence and the origin of all things.

This is perhaps the ultimate dream of every living existence.

“But why am I thinking so far ahead? My bugs are getting bombed.”

Seeing several hydrogen bombs fall in succession, Xia Jin fell into deep thought.

The current Zerg were indeed different. If a nuclear weapon of this yield were dropped into a densely populated human area, the death toll would be far more than a mere hundred thousand.

Because the bugs themselves were of a high tier, they could withstand the peripheral shockwaves and explosions, even if they couldn't survive the core of the blast.

As for nuclear radiation... what kind of Zerg would they be if they were afraid of that?

So, to the Zerg, a hydrogen bomb was essentially just a very powerful bomb.

“Continue the offensive. It seems I need to keep a close eye on that thing in space.”

It hadn't moved at all, remaining suspended directly above the Dawn Empire.

Upon closer observation, one could see that the fat rocket was constantly firing energy to maintain its position. The silver sections on its exterior looked like solar panels.

Looking even closer, she could see that the object was actually flying in a slow orbit around Planet Insecta; its angle just happened to keep it positioned over the Dawn Empire.

“As long as its structure is chemical-based, a hydrogen bomb should still be able to blow it up. Unless they have shields.”

Xia Jin felt that such a lackluster ship probably didn't have shield technology.

Shields were not a basic technology. Developing a shield capable of protecting an entire ship was even more difficult than creating a miniature fusion reactor.

And against a nuclear bomb, even alloy materials with some defensive properties would eventually be blasted to pieces if the yield was high enough.

For a primary cosmic civilization, the saying that 'yield is power' was absolutely correct.

The difficulty lay in how to drop that yield onto the enemy's head without being intercepted or blowing oneself up.

“Brain Bug, is there a way to destroy that thing now?”

“There is, but there are risks. Do you want to try?” the brain bug replied. “I suggest making preparations but not over-stimulating them. Simply manufacturing fusion weapons isn't that difficult with our current technology. The real trouble is ensuring the weapon actually hits the target.”