Chapter 374: Void of Sacrifice

Inside the Red Dragon flagship, Longtar observed the holographic projection of the void beyond the fleet. The anticipated light dot failed to appear, relieving him slightly even as a quiet disappointment stirred within.

Had the dark matter lifeform that forced the entire Blue Star Civilization to scatter been completely eliminated?

Lost in thought, Longtar issued orders for the fleet to advance, threading its way through the marker-laden expanse of space.

Not far off, about a hundred kilometers away, a meteor detection probe quietly operated.

One by one, warships moved through the marked zone, including Longtar’s flagship as it too sailed through.

Inside the flagship, Longtar kept his gaze fixed on the holographic display when an alarm suddenly blared. Simultaneously, everyone in the command hall noticed a disturbance near the engine section at the tail of the last warship passing through the markers.

A flickering bright dot appeared!

Longtar’s brows immediately furrowed.

Clearly, a remnant of the dark matter lifeform had attached itself to a warship, silently siphoning its energy to restore its strength.

Yet this situation compelled Longtar to proceed with extreme caution.

For this mission, although the boss approved deploying human soldiers, the crew on each main ship had been halved to 4000.

The remaining positions were filled entirely by intelligent robots.

Thus, each warship carried 4000 soldiers; if they fired and destroyed the dark matter lifeform, all 4000 would perish in one fell swoop.

But if they refrained from firing and the lifeform revived, the cost to eliminate it later would be unfathomably high.

“Order: Ship 202005, halt your advance!”

Uncertain whether the dark matter lifeform’s attachment revealed internal conditions, Longtar dared not inform the captain of Ship 202005 directly that an enemy was on board.

If the lifeform managed to annihilate everyone and then hopped onto another ship, the consequences would be catastrophic.

Nonetheless, Longtar ordered the rest of the fleet to disperse; ships that had been near 202005 swiftly increased their spacing from a mere hundred kilometers to over two thousand.

Before Longtar could decide further, Ship 202005, which had come to a standstill, suddenly vanished without a trace!

At the moment of its disappearance, a message rippled throughout the entire fleet.

“Our ship will go down with the enemy!”

Staring at the empty void on the projection, tears welled up in Longtar’s eyes.

Undoubtedly, the captain of Ship 202005 deduced from the fleet’s actions and his stoppage order that the dark matter lifeform was either aboard his ship or lurking nearby.

He even triggered the Negative Matter Interstellar Missile stored on his ship.

The dark matter lifeform had clearly not anticipated such a turn of events; this sentient enemy species was willing to sacrifice itself.

It had planned to rely on the ship’s energy to recover, then jump to another vessel once sufficient energy was absorbed—until it could eventually overwhelm the entire fleet.

“Attention, fleet: Release markers around your ship!”

Fearing that fragments of the dark matter lifeform might still exist, Longtar ordered all vessels to deploy marker substances and continuously expand their detection range.

After a thorough three-day inspection, Longtar finally confirmed that the dark matter lifeform had been eliminated.

He then ordered the fleet to reconvene at the site where Ship 202005 had self-destructed. In tribute to their fallen heroes, the fleet unleashed 21 successive barrages from their particle beam cannons!

In the pitch-black void, 2000 particle beams streaked toward the sun, repeating 21 times as if the souls of heroes were returning home.

This scene was broadcast live to the entire fleet. In a stretch of space five light years from the sun, every warship and spacecraft played a mournful tune.

Across Heavenly Realm-class vessels, city screens displayed the poignant scene.

Many stood in silence, paying their respects to the heroes.

Once the moment of silence ended, Du Qiu’s visage appeared on the screen.

“Employees and families of Dream Technology, we have finally eliminated the dark matter lifeform that threatened our civilization.”

“We sacrificed 4000 heroes in the process—their names will forever be etched on the monument of human civilization!”

“We will always remember those who, at the brink of life and death, chose self-sacrifice for our civilization’s survival! Their legacy is eternal!”

“Once we confirm the Solar System is secure, we will return home. Stay at your posts; humanity’s conquest of the universe has only just begun!”

After a brief address, Du Qiu ordered Longtar to have the fleet continue searching areas once visited by the dark matter lifeform, ensuring that this formidable enemy was completely eradicated.

Du Qiu’s caution stemmed from his view of the dark matter lifeform as akin to seaweed, whose fragments could survive and grow independently.

He was determined that no surviving pieces would exploit the energy captured by Dream Technology’s fleet when they returned to the Solar System.

At this time, all refined energy substances in the Solar System had been taken by Dream Technology’s fleet, leaving only a small reserve for fortress bases.

Du Qiu was convinced that the dark matter lifeform could not directly absorb solar energy; if it could, with countless stars in the cosmos, this monster would have grown to an unimaginable size long ago.

Judging from its counterattacks on the robotic fleet and its later trap encounter, its primary objective was to seize energy from warships manned by sentient beings.

It had once been shattered by an antimatter trap near the Ninth Planet, its colossal frame reduced from hundreds of millions of kilometers to merely tens of thousands.

Yet at that time, the antimatter explosion rendered all markers ineffective, making the dark matter organism temporarily untraceable.

Whether it had a contingency plan remained uncertain.

Out of caution, Du Qiu ordered Longtar to lead the fleet in thoroughly searching the relevant areas and to deploy markers near energy zones.

If any surviving fragment of the dark matter lifeform attempted to harvest energy, the markers would detect it.

It was like luring animals to a water source—if they approached for energy, the markers would give them away.

Soon after, they would be struck by a Negative Matter Space Mine.

Under such conditions, even the craftiest enemy would find it difficult to escape annihilation.

The Solar System was eerily quiet at this moment. In the asteroid belt, aside from the area once used to ambush the dark matter lifeform, meteors filled the rest of the space.

Among these meteors were Negative Matter Space Mines, and markers had long been scattered throughout the belt; it was originally a trap zone for intercepting the dark matter lifeform.

At the edge of the asteroid belt, a meteor 20 kilometers in diameter suddenly broke away and sped toward the inner Solar System.

From its trajectory, it was destined to crash on Mars.

However, moving at only 10,000 kilometers per second and still 0.6 astronomical units from Mars, it was set to land roughly 2.5 hours later.

On Mars, after Dream Technology and other nations evacuated, Martian City retained some energy, enabling these fortress-like metropolises to withstand meteor strikes.

As for the various defensive fortresses on Mars, their energy reserves were more than sufficient, as they were part of the frontline against the dark matter lifeform.

Following Du Qiu’s orders, Longtar divided the fleet into three groups, each led by a flagship, heading respectively to the Kuiper Belt, the asteroid belt, and Mars.

Armed with Negative Matter Interstellar Missiles and Negative Matter Space Mines, every capital ship was prepared to counter any remaining fragments of the dark matter lifeform.

If necessary, they were willing to go down together with their enemy.

This shared resolve united every soldier aboard every warship, as both weapons remained in a self-destruct mode.

Clearly, the battle with Ship 202005 had ignited the fighting spirit of every crew member.