The scene on the screen changed drastically once again.
[If the Necrons are the end of the Universe, and Chaos is the Universe's madness...]
[...then this race is the Universe's—vitality.]
[An excessive, violent, wildly growing vitality that simply cannot be killed.]
The screen zoomed in on a once-peaceful human Agri-world, now being submerged by a sea of green.
That wasn't vegetation; those were—Orks.
They had green skin harder than rock, muscles stronger than a gorilla's, and a mouth full of jagged tusks capable of crushing steel.
They drove red, ramshackle trucks spewing black smoke, brandishing "Shootas" that were more like scrap metal pieced together than firearms, laughing wildly as they tore everything before them to shreds.
"WAAAAAAAAAGH!!!"
[Ork Boyz, or Greenskins.]
[They are the degenerated descendants of the Krorks—the ultimate biological weapons created by the Old Ones during the "War in Heaven" to combat the Necrons.]
[Though degenerated, they still retain the most terrifying trait bestowed by their creators: they are born for war.]
[In the footage, an Ork's chest was pierced by a Bolter.]
[An ordinary human would have died long ago, but this Ork merely looked down at the massive hole, let out a grunt of dissatisfaction, and then charged even more violently, splitting the enemy's helmet open with an axe.]
[They know no fear, never tire, and possess an incredible tolerance for pain.]
[To an Ork, war is not a disaster; war is—a party.]
[The most fun, exciting, and joyful game in the Universe.]
But if they were merely a pack of bellicose Beasts, the advanced civilizations of the Universe might still be able to cope.
The true horror lay in the scenes that followed.
The camera cut to a dissecting room of the Imperium.
A Magos Biologis was dissecting an Ork corpse.
As the scalpel sliced through the thick green skin, the audience did not see the complex internal organ system they expected.
["Look," the Magos pointed at the muscle tissue that resembled plant fibers, "this isn't an animal at all."]
["This is—fungus."]
[Orks, in biological classification, are a symbiosis of animal and fungus. Or more accurately, they are—walking, shooting, killing mushrooms.]
The screen displayed Ork cells from a microscopic perspective.
The green spiral structures were as tenacious as weeds.
[This is why they can never be completely eradicated.]
[Orks do not require sexual reproduction. They don't need to find mates or raise offspring.]
[They only need to—spread spores.]
[An Ork on the battlefield was burned to Death by a flamer.]
[The moment he died, billions of tiny spores were released from his skin, his breath, and even the burning ashes, scattering with the wind.]
[While an Ork lives, he constantly spreads spores; when injured, the release accelerates; and when he dies, it is a massive spore burst.]
[The footage fast-forwarded.]
[Those spores landing in dark corners, sewers, and deep jungles began to take root in the soil.]
[First, simple edible Beasts called Squigs grew, forming the foundation of the ecosystem;]
[Then came the small slaves called "Gretchins," responsible for building infrastructure;]
[Finally, when everything was ready, strong Orks would emerge from "cocoons" in the ground like bamboo shoots springing up.]
[They are born in mobs, born knowing how to craft crude weapons, and born with a thirst for slaughter.]
[This is a perfect, self-sufficient war ecosystem.]
[Kill one Ork, and you sow a hundred more.]
[Crush an Ork army, and you are merely fertilizing the land.]
The screen showed an Imperial World that had once repelled an Ork invasion.
Humans celebrated their victory, thinking the crisis had passed.
However, five years later.
In the deep jungles, sewers, and abandoned mines of the Planet, cries of "Waaagh!" rose once again.
This time, they grew right out of humanity's backyard.
[This is the curse of the Greenskins. Once a Planet is contaminated by Ork spores, it is contaminated forever.]
[Except for one way.]
The screen was swallowed by a blinding white light.
In orbit, an Imperial fleet was executing an exterminatus order.
Cyclonic Torpedoes capable of evaporating oceans plunged into the atmosphere, shattering the crust and igniting the air. The entire Planet became a burning fireball.
[Only by burning the entire surface of the Planet to glass, only by repeatedly roasting every inch of soil at thousands of degrees, can those tenacious fungal spores be killed.]
[To eliminate the Orks, you must—burn down your home.]
---
Marvel Universe
A deathly silence enveloped the laboratory, broken only by Tony Stark's ragged breathing.
Iron Man, who had just been mocking the Orks' "scrap technology" that looked held together by tape and junk, was now pale, the holographic projector in his hand nearly slipping.
"Fungus... spore reproduction..."
Dr. Banner took off his glasses, his usually gentle face now filled with the ultimate fear of a biologist.
"Tony, do you understand what this means? This breaks the conservation of energy, breaks the ecological balance. This is... a perfect biological invasion mechanism."
"If it's the Hulk..." Banner swallowed hard, "If it's the Hulk, he can smash one Ork, or a thousand. But the angrier he gets and the faster he kills, the more spores he spreads."
"Hulk would become... the most efficient'seeder' on this Planet."
The analogy made everyone present feel a wave of nausea.
"Fire." Captain America Steve Rogers' voice was as heavy as lead. "The only way is fire. Absolute, destructive fire."
He looked at the Planet on the screen, burned into a glass ball by the exterminatus order, a trace of unspeakable pain in his eyes.
"To destroy the enemy, we must first destroy what we aim to protect. This... what kind of victory is this?"
"That is the logic of that Universe, Captain."
Black Widow Natasha said coldly, "If you don't burn the house down, the 'mold' will eat the whole city. This is a terminal illness; an exterminatus order is the only form of chemotherapy."
Tony Stark suddenly laughed neurotically, pointing at the laughing Greenskins on the screen:
"And have you noticed? They... are happy."
"In this hellish Universe full of demons, tyrants, undead, and devourers, only these green mushrooms are truly happy."
"They don't do it for justice, or for evil, or even for survival. They just want to fight. To them, the entire galaxy is one giant playground."
"That's the most terrifying part." Tony covered his face.
"We struggle to survive in that Universe, while they are there... playing."
DC Universe
"Incomprehensible. Unanalyzable. Logical error."
Cyborg's cybernetic eye flashed frantically, attempting to parse the Ork DNA sequence, but the result was a mess.
"Plant and animal genes have been forcibly fused together, mixed with... some kind of psychic code? This is biologically impossible to evolve naturally."
"It's a weapon." Batman's voice was low, like thunder before a storm.
"That race called the Old Ones, they created a perfect biological weapon that can self-replicate, self-maintain, and can never be turned off."
He pulled up a map of Gotham City, his brow furrowed.
"If a single Ork spore were to land in the sewers of Gotham..."
"In less than a year, thousands of these monsters would grow in the sewers. Poison Ivy's plant control would be useless against them because they are sentient; Killer Croc's strength is just a joke before them."
"Short of leveling Gotham with a nuke, I have no way to stop them."
Batman's words plunged the heavyweights of the Justice League into silence.
Superman clenched his fists tightly; his eyes, which could see through everything, were now full of bewilderment.
"I can't just kill them all," Superman said softly. "If I sweep them with heat vision, if I crush them with my fists, I'm only helping them reproduce."
"And... they aren't 'evil'."
Wonder Woman Diana took over, her expression exceptionally solemn:
"Yes, Clark. That's the trickiest part. Ares craves war for power, but for these things... war is their 'nature', just as lions hunt and fish swim."
"You cannot judge a flood, nor can you reform a plague."
"To eliminate them, one must destroy the very soil upon which life depends."
Diana looked at the burning Planet, feeling a deep sense of helplessness. "This violates our oath to protect the World. But in that Universe... this seems to be the only 'justice'."
In the corner, Constantine lit a cigarette, watching the frantic green tide on the screen with a sneer.
"Hey, compared to those devils who spend all day plotting for souls, these Greenskin fellas seem quite'simple'."
"However..." He blew a smoke ring, his gaze turning sharp. "Did you notice that 'Waaagh' field? That's a massive, chaotic collective subconscious storm."
"As long as they believe scrap metal can fire, it will. As long as they believe red makes things go faster, the vehicle will fly."
"It's called the 'Power of I Finks'. These mushrooms aren't just polluting the material World; they're violating the laws of causality."
"If a bunch of these things grew on Earth... believe me, even Lucifer would have a headache, because these guys don't listen to reason; they'll just stuff you into a cannon and fire you off to hear the bang."
Three-Body World
"Is this... the ultimate form of survival?"
Thomas Wade looked at the Orks emerging from the ground, his eyes showing a near-obsessive fanaticism.
"No need for industrial chains, no need for complex social structures, no need for education, not even a need for women."
"Only war, Death, and then stronger offspring growing from the corpses."
Wade spun around abruptly, speaking to Luo Ji and Cheng Xin behind him:
"This is the answer we've been looking for! This is the ultimate weapon to counter the Trisolarans, and even the dark forest!"
"If humans could be like them... if we implanted this gene into the human body..."
"Then it wouldn't be human, Wade."
Luo Ji interrupted him coldly, his cane thumping heavily on the ground.
"Those are Beasts. Those are fungi. Those are... monsters that have lost all love, all civilization, all dignity."
"Dignity?"
Wade let out a harsh sneer. "Look at that Planet burned to glass! To eliminate them, the humans of that Universe had to burn their own homes. That is the strategic deterrence this biological entity brings!"
"In the face of survival, dignity is worthless! If we could become these 'Greenskins', the Trisolarans wouldn't dare send even a single probe! Because they know that if just one human spore drifts to the Trisolaran system, their civilization is finished!"
Cheng Xin covered her mouth, her face pale as paper. Looking at Wade's fanatical eyes, she felt a fear deeper than facing the Trisolarans.
"This is more terrifying than Death..." she murmured to herself. "This is the negation of 'civilization' itself."
"But they live very happily," Shi Qiang chimed in, smoking a cigarette. He pointed at the laughing Orks on the screen.
"Look at them, carefree, eating, sleeping, and fighting. No anxiety, no chain of suspicion, none of the pressure that Wallfacers have that drives them mad."
"In this dark forest, perhaps only madmen and mushrooms can live like 'humans'."
Super Gene Universe
"Holy crap! These bitches!"
Morgana kicked away a demon soldier in front of her, cursing at the screen, though her voice carried a hint of weird excitement.
"Queen, this doesn't fit our theory of evolution," Ato reminded her cautiously. "They don't have the brains to understand your theory of ultimate fear."
"To hell with the theory!" Morgana's eyes gleamed. "Look at that 'Waaagh' field! This is pure idealistic power! If you think it, it happens!"
"If I could get my hands on this gene... or this spore technology..."
"Then we could scatter some in the Angel City of those roasted chickens. Imagine, in that bitch Keisha's backyard, millions of Greenskin monsters suddenly growing up, swinging big choppas and shouting 'Waaagh'!"
"Even if Keisha could kill them all, that kind of disgust... that feeling of something that can never be fully cleaned away, would definitely piss her off enough to make her divine body collapse! Hahahaha!"