"Of course not. Asteroid impacts on Earth are actually very common, much more frequent than you might think."
Xu Yingâs lips curled up as she explained.
"Itâs very common. Even a thousand years ago on the Earth we lived on, there were asteroid impacts every year. But the size of asteroids in the asteroid belt isnât that big; some are only a few meters in diameter, just big rocks."
"...Huh? And thatâs called a planet?" Li Wenxi said with some disbelief.
"The big rocks in the asteroid belt are all considered planets. Youâve all seen meteors, right? Itâs about the same thing. Most meteors are completely consumed when passing through the atmosphere at high speed. A small part that isnât fully consumed and falls to the ground is called a meteorite."
"I understand that." Xu Xin immediately asked, "How big are the meteorites that those alien invaders can control?"
"Not very big. After being consumed by the atmosphere, the overall size when they hit the ground is at most a few hundred meters in diameter."
Xu Ying pondered for a moment and then said.
Then she waved her hand: "The meteorite that caused the extinction of the dinosaurs had a diameter of over ten kilometers and created a crater 300 kilometers wide. Thatâs simply not comparable."
"...A meteorite a few hundred meters in size could still easily destroy us," Li Wenxi said, feeling a bit panicked, "still so powerful..."
"Did you say they guided the meteorites to attack us? Thatâs impossible." Xu Ying laughed, "Guiding meteorites is also a very difficult task for them. If it wasnât to claim unclaimed resources in the universe, they wouldnât do it."
"A small asteroid impact with a diameter of several hundred meters could affect an area of several dozen kilometers. And they canât guide its position accurately. It would be better to use a nuke; Earth technology could do it betterâDa Yi Man would laugh at this power."
Xu Ying spread her hands.
Come to think of it, thatâs true.
Guiding meteorite attacks, though formidable, is really not worth the trouble.
"But, does that mean thereâs already iron meteorite on Earth?" Xu Xin asked.
"Hmm... there is, but itâs completely under the enemyâs control. We really have no way to obtain it." Xu Ying sighed, "Itâs hard without resources."
"We still have some iron meteorite," Xu Xin said, "we got it from below, in that underground space."
"Then letâs go down and check."
Using the same method they went down before, the three of them arrived at the underground warehouse.
The large warehouse below was still empty.
There used to be some shelves, but now thereâs nothing.
Completely cleared out.
"Whatâs going on here?"
Xu Xin frowned.
It was entirely empty now.
"Could they have left after your last âunderground exploration tripâ?" Li Wenxi guessed while looking at the empty warehouse.
Xu Xin slowly shook his head: "No, itâs not. After the World Tree matured, Lou FeiâEr and I came down here once, and there were still swarms of petrified creatures wanting to attack us then."
At least at that time, this place couldnât have been empty.
Later, he came down with Ji Chaoyang once more, and just went out to explain the situation, only a few minutes had passed outside.
It had been almost a day inside in the meantime.
And by the time he and Ji Chaoyang came down that time, there were no petrified creatures attacking them anymore; they had completely vanished.
After they got out, the explorers discussed and moved all the survivors inside the World Tree.
Xu Xin slept outside for three and a half hours, causing the internal time of the World Tree to flow for about half a month.
...and this underground worldâs time also flowed for half a month.
That is to say, this prison must have been cleared during this time!
Why...?
Because the strange flow of time here frightened them?
Because they knew that this was beneath the fully matured enemy World Tree, so they didnât dare to stay?
"Although we donât know why they left, itâs not a bad thing." Xu Ying grabbed the wrists of the other two again, "At least we donât have to drive them out ourselves."
At the same time, the three were transported back into the prisonâs passage.
Xu Xin brought the two women into the control room.
"...Is this empty too?"
The control room, once filled with complex mechanical consoles, was also completely devoid of anything now.
Following the narrow corridor they had previously walked through, the three people exited the prison and came into the space outside the prison.
The ground of which was once made up of soft giant creatures.
But...it was completely dark.
Previously, the top here was illuminated, but now it was not at all.
However, all three had eaten the red berries, granting them night vision abilities, so they could still see around them.
"Below, is it empty...?"
The lowest level of the underground prison, where a soft giant beast was once âsuppressedâ below, had already disappeared.
Without the support below, the underground prison was now suspended directly in mid-air, akin to being hung on the main vine bundle outside.
And beneath the underground prison was a giant pit over a hundred meters deep.
"Wow..." Li Wenxi leaned over to look down, widening her eyes, "Itâs so deep below!"