Mars, the main control room of the "Bird's Nest" base.

Ivanka and Katerina sat there with their heads down, like two little girls who had done something wrong, not daring to make a sound.

Zhang Fan sat opposite him, fuming.

"Why aren't you saying anything? Say something!" Zhang Fan glared at the two of them. "This is your 'masterpiece,' such an awesome feat, playing with the lives of all mankind in the palm of your hands. Shouldn't you two 'heroines' brag about it?"

"Who knew it would turn out like this?" Ivanka muttered under her breath. "It wasn't me who activated 'Sun God,' so go blame that asteroid, oh dear—"

"They can blame this on an asteroid?" Zhang Fan flicked Ivanka on the forehead. "Is this how much the US likes to shift blame?!"

"Fan-kun, let it go. The two older sisters didn't do it on purpose, and they both know they were wrong," Yui advised from the side. "Let's think about how to help the people on Earth."

"Then you two tell me!" Zhang Fan sat down, suppressing his anger. "Is there any way you can help Blue Star?"

“There’s nothing I can do,” Ivanka replied softly.

"No way? You made this stuff, and you say there's nothing we can do?" Zhang Fan got angry again.

“It’s precisely because we manufactured it that we know there’s nothing we can do.” Ivanka covered her head with both hands, afraid that Zhang Fan would hit her again.

“At least Milo is safe, and humanity won’t go extinct,” Katerina said in a low voice. “The two places are so big, they can accommodate all the people in the world.”

“It’s not safe where you are either.” Ivanka tilted her head and looked at Katerina. “I modified the chip so that only the United States is a safe zone.”

“Ivanka, you!” Katerina stood up angrily, but quickly calmed down and sat down, a mocking smile on her lips. “You’ve been lying to me all along. Now we’re even.”

"Even?"

"Don't think I'm that easy to fool. I also added a small patch to the chip, 'core binding'."

"You!" Ivanka stood up angrily.

"Heh heh, now humanity is doomed." Katerina was actually quite pleased to see Ivanka angry.

"That's enough, you two!" Zhang Fan glared at them, getting angrier the more he thought about it. "What kind of time is this? You two still have the nerve to argue? You even have the nerve to argue?"

"You've caused this mess, so quickly think of ways to fix it!"

“It’s hopeless, didn’t I just say that?” Ivanka raised her head and said, “Unless your China’s CNMD national missile defense system is still in place and can conduct a saturation interception of ‘Helios’ outside the atmosphere, then there is still a possibility of stopping it.”

“I think the technological level of Earth has regressed quite severely.” Zhang Fan shook his head. “If it weren’t for that, they wouldn’t have used such ‘primitive’ methods to ask us for help.”

"You mean Earth has no anti-aircraft missiles?" Katerina asked.

“It’s much more serious than that,” Zhang Fan said. “Judging from the fact that we haven’t received any electromagnetic signals from Earth in the past six months, Earth’s technology has deteriorated to the point where it can’t even transmit long-range radio waves. And…”

“I have observed Earth with a telescope before and found no signs of humans. This suggests that they may have only recently started to move to Earth on a large scale and begin to use electrical equipment widely, and have only just entered the ‘electrical’ age.”

"The fact that they know to call us for help means that they can see or hear us, which means that they can only receive electromagnetic waves, not send them."

"By piecing together this information, we can roughly estimate the current situation of Earth," Zhang Fan continued. "After being hit by an asteroid, Earth's technology declined drastically. The surviving humans hid underground and have only recently begun to return to the surface. Their technology has only recovered to the point where they can just use electricity, and their ability to transmit electromagnetic waves remains at the level of being able to receive them but not send them."

“Then it’s even less likely that we can intercept ‘Helios’,” Ivanka interrupted Zhang Fan. “If we don’t intercept ‘Helios’ outside the atmosphere, the warhead will pass through the atmosphere at Mach 20, at which speed there is no possibility of interception.”

"Could we use electromagnetic interference technology to deflect 'Helios' or even send it away from Earth's orbit?"

“They can’t interfere.” Katerina gave Ivanka a disdainful look and said, “Although they don’t say it, they already know that your electromagnetic interference technology has surpassed theirs. So ‘Helios’ uses complete electromagnetic shielding, and once the missile is launched, it no longer receives signals from outside the missile body.”

"Let me put it this way: even if the United States suddenly regrets it, it can't stop 'Sun God' itself."

Zhang Fan felt overwhelmed. The US was completely throwing caution to the wind, essentially saying, "If I can't make it, you won't have a good time either."

"Xiao Feng, bring up the star map between Earth and Mars."

The Earth-Mars galaxy map is now displayed on the large screen.

"Use the base radar to search for the location of 10 'Helios II' heavy nuclear fusion interplanetary cruise missiles."

"The target has passed the center of the fire and is outside the radar search range."

"Xiao Feng, think of a way to find the current location of 'Sun God'."

"Instructions accepted."

"Target launch phase flight trajectory information has been extracted from the base radar."

The full inertial guidance system program has been retrieved from the database.

The target's current location has been calculated.

Ten small red arrows were displayed on the Earth-Mars galaxy map on the large screen.

Each little red dot is slowly moving along an orbital line, with Phobos and Earth connected on either side of the line.

The time is marked next to the small red dot:

9 days, 23 hours, and 7 minutes.

This will be the time when the "Helios II" heavy nuclear fusion interplanetary cruise missile hits Blue Star.

"Xiao Feng, can you give me a plan on how to intercept 'Sun God'?"

Command accepted, database search in progress...

"Using the CNMD National Missile Defense System, a saturation interception can be carried out on the 'Helios II' heavy nuclear fusion interplanetary cruise missile as it completes its third deceleration and enters Earth's orbit, achieving an interception success rate of over 95%."

"Could we try a different approach, using electromagnetic interference technology to change the target's direction?"

"No, the target is completely electromagnetically shielded and does not receive external information from the projectile."

"Isn't there any other way?"

"Sorry, using the CNMD national missile defense system is currently the only feasible option."

Zhang Fan lay back on the sofa, his arm pressed against his forehead, his eyes squinting. There were still nine days left. Were they really going to just watch humanity perish again?

I wonder if my parents are still safe and healthy? I wonder how my best friends in room 304 are doing? Are you all doing okay?

Do Mom and Dad still look at the sky every night, gazing at their proud son...?

"Don't be like this." Seeing Zhang Fan's current state, Ivanka also felt a little sad. "We know we were wrong, we didn't mean it..."

“I apologize to you now, okay? I’m so sorry…” Katerina said, “I’ve never apologized to anyone in my life, you’re the first…”

"What's the use of an apology? Does an apology mean it never happened?" Zhang Fan opened his eyes, tears welling up. "You've really gone too far, completely shielding us from electromagnetic interference? You haven't even given us a chance to regret it!"

"Fan-kun, don't be like this. There's nothing we can do about it." Yui tenderly wiped Zhang Fan's tears with a tissue. "Sigh, if only I could crawl inside the missile, I could stop it from there..."

Um?

Zhang Fan felt as if he had been electrocuted.

"Baby! You're so smart! *kiss*" Zhang Fan excitedly cupped Yui's face and kissed her.

"Ah—" Yui ran away like a little rabbit whose tail had been poked, her face flushed.

"Xiaofeng! Verify the new interception plan!"

Please enter your validation plan or data model.

Zhang Fan quickly completed the input on the control panel and pressed the Enter key.

"Start verification..."

Verification successful.

The plan is feasible.