Chapter 338: Impending Shadows Over the Cosmos

Zheng Hailan could tell her daughter was trying to reassure her.

Immediately, she replied, “I know. By the way, I spoke with your father today. He said that in a week he will step down and come to the Heaven Realm to reunite with us.”

Du Qiu quickly added, “Fantastic! Once Uncle Ning arrives, Dream Technology’s diplomatic efforts will reach new heights.”

Ning Shuangshuang retorted, “Hey, my father came to the Heaven Realm for a peaceful retirement, not to serve as a consultant for your diplomatic department.”

Zheng Hailan gave her daughter a reproachful look and said, “Xiao Qiu, don’t listen to Shuangshuang’s nonsense. Old Ning is never one to be idle. When he arrives, just ask him—he’ll surely agree.”

Noticing that her mother always sided with Du Qiu, Ning Shuangshuang said a little jealously, “Mom, Du Qiu hasn’t even married me yet. Stop always taking his side.”

Du Qiu patted Ning Shuangshuang’s hand and said, “When Auntie supports me, she’s really supporting you. Don’t be jealous. Here, have some spare ribs!”

With that, Du Qiu offered her a piece of spare rib.

Zheng Hailan watched the affectionate banter between the two with a satisfied smile.

After dinner, Du Qiu led Ning Shuangshuang to his research lab, where an astronomical telescope—a tool he’d mastered in his self-taught study of astronomy—awaited.

He adjusted the telescope and invited Ning Shuangshuang to take a look.

“Look here—at the center of your view, there’s a white patch. It doesn’t look like engine thrust or a reflection—it’s a spot where nothing should be.”

After a long while, Ning Shuangshuang finally spotted a small white patch dead center.

She looked up at Du Qiu in surprise and said, “So you think this white patch could signal an alien invasion?”

Lowering his head, Du Qiu fiddled with the telescope for a moment before saying, “Now, look at this meteorite.”

Ning Shuangshuang observed once more and replied, “A meteorite? It looks so much like a cigar. I’m starting to think it might be man-made.”

Du Qiu said gravely, “Exactly—it’s hurtling toward that white patch, which is perfectly positioned between the Solar System and the Barnard’s Star system.”

He continued, “If an alien civilization exists in the Barnard system and, upon reaching a certain level, begins to expand, their first target would be the nearest Solar System.”

“This midpoint is the ideal staging area for a fleet launching an attack, so I had no choice but to prepare defenses.”

Ning Shuangshuang interjected, “But I heard our space warships are still only on the drawing board. If this really is a space fleet, aren’t we defenseless?”

Previously, Ning Shuangshuang thought the Defense Department’s top-level readiness was just Du Qiu’s preemptive training, but now she realized this might escalate into a full-blown interstellar war.

Moreover, neither Dream Technology nor Earth was truly prepared.

Du Qiu shook his head and said, “We can’t detect any changes in the white patch yet; judging by the speed of this cigar-shaped meteorite, the civilization behind it likely isn’t very advanced.”

However, it’s still unclear whether its slow pace is because it’s a disguised meteorite.

Ning Shuangshuang had heard Du Qiu discuss measuring a civilization’s level by its warship speed, and she trusted his analysis.

After all, space warships are a civilization’s pinnacle of advanced technology, and speed in space is absolutely critical.

Reaching out, Ning Shuangshuang grasped Du Qiu’s hand and said calmly, “Du Qiu, no matter what level the invading alien civilization is, I’ll stand by your side.”

Du Qiu gazed at her, her eyes sparkling like brilliant stars. The affection in her gaze warmed his heart.

“Rest assured, I’ve got backups in place.”

Before Ning Shuangshuang could show her surprise, Du Qiu continued, “A fleet of transport ships is now being urgently retrofitted with heavy weaponry to form a genuine space fleet for intercepting the alien armada.”

“Also, the Heaven Realm Space City is undergoing power upgrades, complete with an additional propulsion module. Some internal modifications are underway too.”

“If we reach a point where we can’t fend off the alien fleet, the Heaven Realm Space City will evacuate the Solar System preemptively!”

Looking at Du Qiu, Ning Shuangshuang said, “So, does that mean we have to abandon our compatriots on Earth and embark on a lone escape into the Star Ocean?”

Maintaining a steady gaze, Du Qiu replied, “Yes, that’s the worst-case scenario. We must preserve the ember of Earth’s humanity and shoulder the responsibility of ensuring our civilization continues.”

“Even if our escape fails, it’s a sacrifice we must make.”

“Because Earth’s human civilization simply cannot vanish!”

Hearing the resolve in his voice, Ning Shuangshuang nodded and declared, “Understood. I’ll fight with you until the very end!”

Du Qiu stated, “In the coming days, I’ll make sure to secure my sleep at night so that I can devote my days entirely to developing our heavy weaponry.”

“So, while I’m away, you’ll have to handle matters in both the Heaven Realm and at the company. I’ve sent video messages to Liu Yaofeng, Sister Yuan, Qin Jie, several directors, and other senior executives, instructing them to follow your orders.”

While hurrying back to the Heaven Realm from Mars, Du Qiu had Star Ocean run a simulation. He discovered that if the white patch really indicates an alien fleet with a civilization level of four or higher, Dream Technology would struggle to prevent them from sweeping through the Solar System.

Even if that fleet consisted of only a few warships, Earth’s civilization could be obliterated by their attack.

Yet, as long as the enemy’s civilization level doesn’t reach six, the retrofitted Heaven Realm spacecraft might just have a chance to escape the pursuit.

Of course, this hinges on the enemy suffering a tangible setback within the Solar System.

If we had heavy weapons capable of threatening level four or five civilization warships, then perhaps we could ensure our spacecraft’s escape.

It was precisely because of this simulation that Du Qiu heightened his vigilance and prepared for the worst.

At that moment, construction on all Martian cities was halted, with many construction robots being reassigned to build space-oriented ground defense systems on satellites of gaseous planets in the Kuiper Belt, in the asteroid belt, on Mars, the Moon, and even on Earth.

Listening to Du Qiu’s words, Ning Shuangshuang immediately understood that he was launching crucial weapons research—he was going all out.

She nodded firmly.

+++++++++

Above the ecliptic plane of the Solar System, about 38 astronomical units from Earth, a cigar-shaped meteorite shot by at high speed, barreling into the dark void.

About 100,000 kilometers behind the meteorite, ten small dots were rapidly closing in.

These were the ten Wyvern Fighters dispatched to capture the meteorite.

In just 40 seconds, the ten Wyvern Fighters reached the meteorite’s front, with every two fighters releasing a massive net.

Woven from high-strength nano-materials, these giant nets were designed to enclose a swiftly moving meteorite—five nets functioning like barriers blocking its path.

Furthermore, the Wyvern Fighters activated powerful electromagnetic jamming devices to ensure the meteorite couldn’t emit any electromagnetic signals.

However, Dream Technology currently lacks the capability to intercept quantum communication signals.

But if the enemy uses quantum communication and can transmit the white patch’s location from 3 light-years away, their technology would undoubtedly be at level four or even five.

If that were the case, the Wyvern Fighters might be utterly powerless to capture this scout ship.

At that moment, the cigar-shaped meteorite seemed to ignore everything the Wyvern Fighters did, relentlessly charging toward the giant nets.

Upon contacting the first net, sparks flew across the meteorite’s surface as the net’s resilient nano-material scraped against its hard exterior.

The net was forced several hundred meters forward by the meteorite. Just when it seemed on the verge of snapping, the meteorite collided with a second net.

This time, the meteorite’s speed had already diminished slightly, and the second net managed to enclose it as well.

The meteorite then surged forward for another 200 meters, its speed dropping even further.