Alien invasion? Luckily, I'm Superman.

Su Mo returned to the Earth where she originally lived.

Emerging from the portal to the DC Universe, he took a deep breath of the familiar air and felt a sense of warmth.

The Earth has developed quite well now. The technologies brought back from Marvel, The Invincible Warrior, DC, and various parallel universes have been sown on this land like seeds, yielding abundant fruits.

The spaceports on the moon are brightly lit in orbit, the Martian colony is already quite large, and even the edge of the solar system has been built with defensive rings.

Instead of going to the federal headquarters first, he slowly flew to a quiet residential area, the address that Grandpa Zhao had told him earlier.

Su Mo landed at the door, straightened her collar, and gently knocked.

With a creak, the door opened.

Grandpa Zhao was wearing a comfortable khaki jacket. His hair was much darker than when we last met, and he looked energetic and much younger.

He paused for a moment when he saw Su Mo, then smiled and said, "Xiao Mo, you're back! Come in and have some food with us."

Su Mo nodded and smiled, "Okay, Grandpa Zhao."

He followed Grandpa Zhao into the house.

The house is a typical old Chinese house, without many high-tech smart devices.

Grandpa Zhao is a bit old-fashioned; he doesn't even have a smart robot in his bedroom, only some smart home devices.

The living room was simple and tidy, with a potted green ivy in the corner of the window and a photo of him in his military uniform when he was young hanging on the wall.

Of course, there are various security and protection measures in place, with complete fire and water protection measures, and a full range of health monitoring equipment for the elderly.

Grandpa Zhao's children from the house next door often come to visit him.

The table was laden with dishes, delivered by a smart robot sent by Grandpa Zhao's children.

There was braised pork belly, steamed sea bass, garlic broccoli, and a pot of corn and pork rib soup, all steaming hot and fragrant, filling the restaurant.

"Xiao Mo, what brings you back this time?" Grandpa Zhao asked as he served Su Mo some food.

Su Mo waved his hands repeatedly, saying that he had had enough, but Grandpa Zhao still stuffed the biggest piece of braised pork into his bowl, his face showing an expression that left no room for refusal.

Su Mo looked down at the huge piece of braised pork, remained silent for a moment, and then said in a serious tone, "Grandpa Zhao, I came back this time to avenge Earth. Perhaps it's time to take action against them."

Grandpa Zhao's chopsticks stopped in mid-air. There was a hint of surprise on his face, but he didn't ask any questions. He just nodded, his eyes reddening with excitement, and his voice trembling slightly: "Good, good, good, Xiao Mo, I support you. I will always remember that time."

We've also been searching for traces of that invading alien civilization, and we've gathered some clues. We're preparing to take action.

He paused, put down his chopsticks, and said, "By the way, Xiao Mo, those Witrum people you brought want to help us take revenge."

But we refused. After all, having been invaded by extraterrestrial civilizations, we still don't have a very positive view of aliens.

Su Mo nodded: "Yes, it's alright, Grandpa Zhao, I understand."

"Alright, let's not talk about this anymore, let's eat!" Grandpa Zhao regained his cheerful demeanor.

-

The next morning, Su Mo woke up in bed and heard Grandpa Zhao's steady and powerful footsteps coming from the corridor.

He got up and opened the door. Grandpa Zhao was already dressed in a crisp military uniform, the stars on his epaulets shining brightly in the morning light.

"Oh, Xiao Mo, you're awake. Perfect timing, let's go to the Federal Headquarters." Grandpa Zhao said with a smile, then explained, "Xiao Mo, while you were away, your people sent a shapeshifter to handle matters for you, so you're still the chairman."

Of course, it must be admitted that the guy named Li Wei is very capable and thoughtful.

Su Mo nodded.

The two got into the car that had come to pick up Grandpa Zhao and headed to the Federal Headquarters.

On the way, Grandpa Zhao introduced Su Mo to the current situation on Earth. Mars has been completely colonized. The atmospheric modification technology brought by Li Wei has turned that red planet into a second home with blue and green colors. There are already millions of permanent residents, and various botanical gardens, hospitals, schools, commercial areas, military fortresses and so on are all available.

"There's one more thing." Grandpa Zhao pulled up a star map on the car's screen, pointed to a galaxy not far from Earth, and said with undisguised excitement, "In a galaxy not far from Earth, we discovered a super-giant structure."

Analysis by the research vessel revealed it to be a sentinel array left behind by an ancient civilization. If fully restored, it could monitor the entire universe. The scope of its detection would be unimaginable.

Su Mo was somewhat surprised: This cutting-edge technology is too advanced, even more outrageous than many of the cutting-edge technologies from DC and Marvel.

"It's a pity the damage is so severe. Earth doesn't yet have the technology to fully repair it; we can only take it slowly." Grandpa Zhao shook his head, his tone tinged with regret yet full of hope. "At least we have a direction now."

After a brief chat, the car arrived at the federal headquarters.

A sleek, silver-white building with several vertical takeoff and landing transport planes parked on its roof.

Su Mo and Grandpa Zhao walked into the hall, went through several security checks, and entered the circular conference hall.

The meeting was brief; the federal high command already knew Grandpa Zhao's identity and his plans, so there wasn't much debate.

Finally, the resolution was handed to Su Mo. He took the pen, wrote his name in the signature column, and the pen tip made a soft "swish" sound as it glided across the paper.

Over the next few days, the Earth Federation's space fleet began to assemble.

Five battleships, twelve cruisers, more than thirty destroyers, and dozens of frigates were lined up in a neat formation and hovered beside the lunar dock.

The ship's silver-gray armor gleamed coldly in the sunlight, and the gun barrels slowly rotated on their tracks, like steel behemoths awakening.

Grandpa Zhao personally oversaw operations at the flagship store.

Although he is no longer the fleet commander and now serves as a defense staff officer, he still remembers that helpless afternoon more than a decade ago: alien warships were pouring lasers down on him, and humanity's resistance was as fragile as paper.

He hoped to witness this long-awaited victory with his own eyes, and the Federation, understanding Grandpa Zhao's wish, granted his request.

The fleet set off in a grand procession, the blue flames of its engines leaving countless thin trails in space.

They assembled at the edge of the solar system and then simultaneously jumped along the hyperspace route left by the ancient civilization.

The space stretched out outside the portholes like countless silvery-white threads.

A week later, the fleet arrived at the forefront of the Earth Federation's territory—a giant star system with a three-star configuration.

Three stars orbited each other in a complex pattern, casting orange, red, and blue light upon the fleet.

The fleet stayed at the star base there for a day to replenish fuel and supplies.

Grandpa Zhao stood on the bridge of the flagship, looking at the huge red star through the porthole. He remained silent for a long time, filled with emotion.

After several more days of sailing, the fleet finally arrived outside the territory of that alien civilization.

"Why did we stop?" Su Mo asked, standing on the flagship's bridge, looking at the empty starry sky ahead.

Grandpa Zhao stood ramrod straight with his hands behind his back, as if reciting an ancient maxim: "We are an advanced, civilized, and polite civilization."

In our interactions with other civilizations, we have discovered a truth: the higher the level of technology, the higher the level of civilization.

We are all scholars, and so should war. We cannot wage war without declaring war! We must adhere to the rites of Zhou!

He paused, turned around, looked at Su Mo, and said in a serious tone, "Only after loudly informing the other party that 'I'm coming to attack you,' can you send troops into enemy territory to seize the territory you claim."

After saying that, he paused for a moment, frowned, and looked at Su Mo strangely. "Strange, why did I say that just now?"

Su Mo was silent for a moment. He remembered that he had discovered a video game called Stellaris on Earth in another world.

In that game, wars between interstellar civilizations must be communicated to each other in advance, and they cannot launch surprise attacks. The prerequisite for this restriction is that a civilization must have established a star base in at least one star system.

Grandpa Zhao's unusual behavior just now was clearly influenced by the underlying rules of this world.

"It's nothing, Grandpa Zhao," Su Mo said without explanation. "Perhaps this is the rule of the universe."

The fleet remained at the edge of the star field, as if waiting for something.

The alien civilization with its racial fastidiousness quickly discovered them.

They cannot tolerate any "inferior civilization" appearing near their territory, and they don't even have the patience to wait for a declaration of war.

A red declaration of war was transmitted to the flagship via quantum communication, its wording arrogant and concise: "Your existence is a pollution of the cosmic order. Purification begins at this moment."

After reading the message, Grandpa Zhao nodded without changing his expression: "Attack."

Su Mo shook his head, thought about it for a moment, and realized that this underlying rule was actually not bad.

At least there won't be a sudden blitzkrieg; everyone will have time to prepare, allowing Vitrumians from other worlds and Asgardian mercenaries time to be invited to provide support.

The fleet broke into the enemy's star system.

In the Heng star system ahead, the defensive turrets on the surface of a massive gray Heng star base have begun to charge, with purple arcs of electricity leaping at the muzzles.

Space torpedoes emerged from the base's launch silos, leaving white trails as plasma cannon beams swept across the area like raindrops.

But the human fleet is no longer what it used to be.

Five battleships opened fire simultaneously.

Quantum light spears shot out from the main cannon at the bow of the ship. Five thick blue-purple light spears, like spears thrown down from the heavens by gods, struck the opposing star base at the speed of light.

The defensive shields shattered like ice blocks in front of the light spears, the armor vaporized, and the base collapsed.

The explosion burst silently in the vacuum, and fragments scattered in all directions.

"Send out engineering troops to seize ownership of the star system," Grandpa Zhao's voice rang out on the communication channel.

Several frigates broke away from the formation and headed toward the burning wreckage of the base. Shipboard engineers were ejected from the hangar and moved among the wreckage to begin repairing the base.

Just then, a communication request popped up on the main screen.

The screen flickered, and a familiar face appeared: greyish-white skin, vertical pupils, and a bald head. It was the commander who had led the fleet to invade Earth more than a decade ago.

He looked much older than he had then, with deeper-set eyes, but the arrogance in his eyes had not faded.

Grandpa Zhao didn't speak, standing quietly in the center of the bridge, looking at the face that had once given him nightmares.

A hoarse voice came through the communicator, his eyes filled with a complex mix of emotions: resentment, anger, and fear. "How...how did you find this place?"