Chapter 373: The Dark Matter Crisis

There is no doubt that a Dark Matter Lifeform can grow into an enormous being. As long as it is not completely annihilated, it will regrow.

Its growth is fueled, unmistakably, by various forms of energy.

The energy vortex within the Civilization Bastion is essentially where that energy is absorbed. Otherwise, solar energy would diminish more and more with distance.

This is because the Dark Matter Lifeform grows ever larger further out.

Moreover, the drastic loss of solar energy is mainly due to the Dark Matter Lifeform attaching itself to the Civilization Bastion to siphon energy, tricking the Bastion’s system into ramping the vortex density to its maximum in response to a perceived massive attack.

This draws immense amounts of solar energy, thereby shortening the Sun’s lifespan.

However, when the Civilization Bastion is activated, all of the energy it had commandeered is returned to the Sun, restoring its lifespan to 4.5 billion years.

In effect, over the course of these ten years, the Sun actually loses only about 500 million years of its life.

The Pleiadians’ Civilization Bastion system is truly ingenious—able to freely draw energy from the Sun and just as easily return it.

Following that logic, wouldn’t replenishing a star’s energy effectively extend its lifespan?

On an elemental level, this principle certainly makes sense.

Reflecting on this, Du Qiu is determined to return to the Solar System to locate all the Civilization Bastion systems, especially to uncover their method of extracting energy from the Sun.

Now, Du Qiu must keep a close watch on the Dark Matter Lifeform to determine when its shattered remnant will finally leave the Solar System.

Its fragment is still marked by a gravitonic tracer—a luminous shadow spanning hundreds of kilometers—zipping through the Solar System at high speed.

At its current pace of 0.8 times the speed of light, it should take roughly 3.6 years for it to completely exit the Civilization Bastion region.

Given that it previously grew by absorbing energy from the Civilization Bastion, Du Qiu has no intention of activating the Bastion’s defenses while it remains in the vicinity.

However, Dream Technology has only set up a meteor monitoring network within the confines of the Civilization Bastion. Once the Dark Matter Lifeform moves a significant distance away, monitoring it becomes impossible.

For now, Du Qiu’s only recourse is to dispatch meteor detectors stationed near the Bastion’s edge to move outward, expanding the monitoring net in hopes of tracking which direction the Dark Matter Lifeform takes.

Soon, Du Qiu shifts his strategy. Since the remnant is now only a few hundred kilometers in size, he can deploy several motherships with a fleet carrying enough Negative Matter Space Mines to completely eradicate the Dark Matter Lifeform.

Eliminating the enemy completely—often, the best defense is a strong offense!

If we allow it to find a place to recover, destroying it later could prove all but impossible.

With that thought, Du Qiu abruptly awakens from his dream.

Meanwhile, within the fleet, production of Negative Matter Space Mines continues en masse, as the earlier batches had been deployed in the asteroid belt.

Now, given the astounding power of the Negative Matter Space Mines, they naturally rank as the ultimate weapon right after the mothership’s Negative Matter Cannon.

Moreover, the Weapons Research Institute has developed a new Negative Matter Warhead Interstellar Missile to replace the less potent Hydrogen Bomb Warhead variant.

At present, the Dream Technology fleet still includes 10 Azure Dragon-class motherships. Du Qiu summons Song Yuanting and Longtar to discuss how best to eliminate the Dark Matter Lifeform’s remnant.

On hearing that Du Qiu has reduced the Dark Matter Lifeform to a mere hundred-kilometer remnant using previous traps, both men are instantly exhilarated.

The once-shameful enemy has been weakened to such a state that a strong fighting spirit surges within them.

“Boss, I request to lead a fleet to exterminate this menace!” Song Yuanting declares boldly.

Longtar concurs, “No, no, no—you are the Minister. You should command from the rear, leaving the front-line actions to me, your deputy.”

Seeing the dispute, Du Qiu waves his hand and replies, “This time, neither of you needs to risk yourself; the deployed fleet will continue to be controlled by AI and intelligent robots.”

I plan to dispatch three motherships equipped with 45 Negative Matter Cannons, alongside 3,000 warships carrying a cache of Negative Matter Space Mines and Negative Matter Interstellar Missiles.

We’ll set up a minefield along the Dark Matter Lifeform’s probable course. Once it triggers the mines, our fleet will launch a sudden, final assault to obliterate it completely.

Observing Du Qiu’s reluctance to deploy human soldiers, Song Yuanting feels a pang of regret and remarks, “Boss, as soldiers, never facing the battlefield directly might not be the best approach.”

Longtar adds, “Indeed, Boss. How are we to confront challenges from other civilizations in the universe if our soldiers are too afraid of sacrifice to fight, even when victory is assured?”

“I understand your desire to protect our troops,” he continues, “but an army devoid of passion is hardly an army at all.”

Du Qiu is momentarily taken aback. This time, his decision to use an AI-driven, robot-operated fleet to trap the Dark Matter Lifeform has yielded astonishing results.

It seems like a perfect plan—one that promises zero casualties.

Were it not for Ning Shuangshuang’s reminder that if human-operated forces had been engaged, the entire fleet might have been drenched in mourning…

However, after listening to the heartfelt arguments of the two top military commanders, Du Qiu begins to see their point: the Dream Technology fleet has never truly experienced real combat.

Previously, facing a formidable enemy was practically a death sentence.

But now, with the enemy at its weakest, the chances of victory are exceedingly high. If the human fleet hesitates now, when will they ever act?

With this in mind, Du Qiu looks at the two and says, “You’re right. This time, Longtar will lead the special task fleet back to the Solar System!”

Hearing this, Longtar beams with pride and salutes, “Mission accepted!”

Song Yuanting’s eyes flash with a hint of melancholy, but knowing Du Qiu’s decision, he has no choice but to comply.

“Minister Song, you and Longtar start drafting the battle plan immediately. Once I approve it, select the personnel and warships for the deployment. We will exit hyperspace and send the special task fleet out!”

“Yes.”

+++++++

Three days later, in the Solar System,

Approximately 520 astronomical units away from Earth,

a region exists that is completely outside the traditional boundaries of the Solar System and away from the Ecliptic—a vast, dark void.

A faint, hundred-kilometer-wide light shadow streaks in rapidly from the direction of the Solar System.

Not far ahead, a meteor swarm barrels toward it, seemingly without diverting its course, and crashes straight into it.

The meteor swarm passes right through the light shadow without any physical impact.

Just as the meteor swarm engulfs the light shadow, a sudden transformation occurs!

Countless explosions erupt, obliterating everything in their wake.

Invisible ripples spread outward.

In an instant, the light shadow is shattered into innumerable fragments, none exceeding a kilometer in size.

A spatial shockwave bursts forth suddenly.

“Damn you, little creature! How dare you ambush me again!”

While the light shadow struggles to reassemble itself, a fleet suddenly emerges in the void, some 20 million kilometers away.

The moment the fleet appears, the three lead motherships unleash a furious barrage.

Forty-five streams of Negative Matter bombard the reassembling light shadow, and the fragment—now only a few dozen kilometers across—is instantly obliterated.

Soon after, the three motherships launch a second wave of attacks, sweeping the area that had just been cleared.

At that moment, 3,000 warships surge from behind the motherships, forming a semicircular, hemispherical formation as they fire a volley of Negative Matter Interstellar Missiles ahead.

These interstellar missiles are fitted with special gravitational trigger fuses that detonate once they detect the threshold gravity of the Dark Matter Lifeform.

Amid a field of meteor debris, a tiny fragment of light, barely flickering, trembles in fear.

“How can this little creature, protected by the Ge Ya Civilization, be so formidable?”

It fails to notice that several high-speed objects are passing by, only to explode violently—obliterating both the fragment and the surrounding meteor debris.

In the distance, the fleet begins to maneuver, forming a spherical formation and launching a type of marker toward the sphere’s interior.

Then, in the void, not a single light appears for a long time.