Chapter 359: Mysteries of the Fleet

Du Qiu pondered for a moment. With current scientific knowledge, there was no way to explain how this was done.

After all, the fleet isn’t located within the energy vortex shield of the Civilization Bastion. How could these warships escape the pull of external gravity?

Could it be that an energy vortex similar to that of the Civilization Bastion has formed within the fleet?

And if so, where is the energy for this vortex coming from?

…

A series of questions kept emerging, but there were no answers.

Ding Shaoqiu muttered, “If an external force wiped out the sentient beings in the Tur Fleet, why hasn’t this force revealed itself? Could it have already left?”

Upon hearing this, Du Qiu immediately shook his head and said, “Not at all. Just a year and a half to over two years ago, this unknown enemy was still active, even sending us a second message in the name of the Tur Fleet.”

Ding Shaoqiu was well aware of this and had even analyzed every word of the second message.

“Right, so could it be that the Tur Fleet has some technology unknown to us that allows their warships to remain inert even with the engines off?”

Du Qiu paused. “Are you suggesting that there might not be an unknown enemy at all—that the Tur Fleet itself possesses special technology to keep the fleet in this state?”

He continued, “No, maintaining a stationary formation doesn’t need to look like a chaotic escape… Hm, they know the location of the main control room of the Civilization Bastion. Perhaps they staged this for our benefit?”

As Du Qiu spoke, he suddenly recalled that the second message had mentioned that Blue Star Civilization was to deliver a nuclear bomb with a yield of one billion tons to the area of the main control room.

This made the situation even more difficult to decipher—was the Tur Fleet deliberately faking an attack, or were they really struck by an unknown enemy?

For Du Qiu, the Tur Fleet clearly represented a fourth-stage civilization he could comprehend.

But if it were an unknown enemy, one with enigmatic powers, then Du Qiu had no countermeasure at all.

If this enemy ever breached the Civilization Bastion, he’d have no choice but to run as far away as possible.

“Boss, I think the unknown enemy is far more likely,” Ding Shaoqiu blurted out.

Du Qiu looked at him and replied, “Explain your reasoning.”

Licking his slightly dry lips, Ding Shaoqiu said, “If the Tur Fleet knew we could monitor them through the main control room, there’d be no need to stage an assault. After all, their massive fleet was inexplicably wiped out.”

“Tell me, would we dare to open the Civilization Bastion when we’re under its protection?”

Zheng Song interjected, “Of course not.”

With a confident air, Ding Shaoqiu continued, “The Tur Fleet wants us to open the Civilization Bastion so they can take refuge inside it.

If that were true, they wouldn’t purposely create a scene of being attacked to deceive us—that would go against their original intent.

That left the unknown enemy as the only possibility. This enemy probably didn’t fully understand the details of the main control room, having received incomplete information from the Tur Fleet—knowing only its location, which is why they demanded we bomb it with a nuclear strike.

This explains why the first message from the Tur Fleet asked us to open the Civilization Bastion, while the second demanded we destroy the main control room.

Frowning, Du Qiu said, “These two messages are indeed inconsistent. If there is really an unknown enemy, we could be in serious trouble.”

The room fell silent.

Over 7,000 warships of the Tur Fleet were suddenly rendered incapable of resisting, mysteriously eliminated. Without the power of the Civilization Bastion and Dream Technology, their might truly seems questionable.

“Alright, no one is to mention today’s events to anyone!”

Du Qiu’s order for silence made everyone stiffen, and all replied in unison, “Yes, Sir!”

“Ding Shaoqiu, I will forward the relevant data from our artificial intelligence database to your research team so we can quickly understand why the Pleiadians set up the Civilization Bastion.”

“Understood. Our team will comb through the Pleiadian records for any clues about this unknown enemy.”

Turning to Zheng Song, Du Qiu commanded, “I’ll deploy armed robots to guard this area, while you concentrate on the fortress defense.”

“Yes.”

+++++++

At the Mars Base, in a conference room.

Du Qiu and the heads of various research institutes convened to discuss what kind of unknown enemy could decimate the Tur Fleet in an instant.

“Boss, personally I believe it’s highly likely that the fleet’s artificial intelligence went rogue. After all, the Tur Fleet had previously engaged the Dominant Civilization, so their network might have been infiltrated by the enemy.”

Following Du Qiu’s introduction, Tan Haoqiang, the head of the Computer Research Institute, was the first to speak.

“Old Tan, I’m not convinced. Even if the AI rebelled and shut down all the engines at once, the sentient beings aboard would still likely resist. They wouldn’t fall silent in an instant.”

Chen Guangnan, head of the Physics Research Institute, immediately countered.

Tan Haoqiang immediately retorted, “If not a case of AI rebellion, then what force could possibly cause over 7,000 warships to shut down simultaneously?”

Yu Fangzhong, head of the Biological Research Institute, suddenly remarked, “Maybe it’s another form of life that not only controls over 7,000 warships but also eliminates the Tur beings aboard.”

“Hey, Old Yu, don’t tell me you’re suggesting it’s some kind of alien creature again. Honestly, you always twist things to extraterrestrials,” Chen Guangnan said, a bit dismissively.

Ever since Dream Technology began operating throughout the Solar System, apart from the excitement at the Astronomy Institute, none were as thrilled as the researchers at the Biological Research Institute.

Previously, when the situation was critical, everyone had retreated to safe zones. But as things eased over the past six months, the Biological Research Institute requested transport ships to investigate various planets and moons in the Solar System for signs of alien life.

Their research had indeed yielded progress—not only had discoveries been made in the icy layers of Mars, but astonishing findings were reported in the sub-ice ocean of Europa.

Life truly exists in that sub-ice ocean, and it has even evolved to vertebrates.

This discovery shocked the entire Blue Star world. With this breakthrough, Dream Technology’s Biological Research Institute had risen to the forefront of alien life research.

Tan Haoqiang mocked, “Old Chen, you might have a point—don’t let your imagination run too wild about aliens. If it were an alien, how could every warship be frozen in time? Their posture hasn’t changed in years.”

Narrowing his eyes, Yu Fangzhong said, “You all really know nothing about biology.

If it is alien life, it must possess abilities that defy our understanding. Otherwise, according to your theories, without energy, no warship could counteract the pull of the Solar System.”

“Old Huo, since you head energy research, care to weigh in?”

Huo Mingchuan, head of the Energy Research Institute, said coldly, “I can’t be sure if it’s alien life, but the fact that over 7,000 warships can counteract the Solar System’s gravity without firing engines definitely requires a different kind of energy balance.”

Yu Fangzhong’s eyes widened as he laughed, “Ha! As Old Huo mentioned, balance demands energy. Given the current situation, it’s clearly not conventional energy—making alien energy a strong possibility.”

Huo Mingchuan’s comments on energy balance left the institute heads deep in thought.

Indeed, the universe operates on energy equilibrium. If these warships can hover in the void, unaffected by the Solar System’s gravity, another force or form of energy must be counteracting it.

Yet the warships appeared eerily lifeless, devoid of any conventional signs of life. If not another form of life, then what could it be?