Chapter 375: The Dark Matter Awakening

In the pitch-black void, a meteorite was approaching Mars.

Yet 20 million kilometers from the Red Planet, the meteorite suddenly came to a halt.

This defies all natural laws of meteors—it’s clearly not a natural rock from space.

Its surface is blanketed with fragments of a Dark Matter Lifeform; its energy reserves are nearly spent, limiting its speed to 10,000 kilometers per second.

At this moment, it surveys Mars: one part anxious about repeating past traps, the other yearning for fresh energy.

Indeed, it has already caught the alluring scent of energy.

It recalls that after its forebears were attacked and disintegrated, they abandoned the system—only this fragment remained, regenerating a new core after several days.

In truth, it was drawn to Mars by the irresistible lure of energy.

Sure, the nearby asteroid belt exudes the same fragrance, but the haunting memory of its ancestors being torn apart is forever etched in its mind.

This imprint has instilled an instinctive fear of the asteroid belt—it simply feels too perilous.

Thus, it veered towards Mars, where the source of its growth resided; yet, it soon detected a gigantic cannon.

Its memory recalled a cannon five kilometers in diameter—apparently, its forebears suffered grievous wounds from such a weapon.

Steering the meteorite into an orbit around Mars, it seemed as if the planet’s gravity had captured it.

It circled round and round as moments ticked by.

At last, it discovered an entry point in the high latitudes of Mars’ southern hemisphere, safely outside the cannon’s firing range.

With a burst of exuberance, the meteorite descended toward Mars, as if succumbing to an irresistible gravitational tug.

At that instant, as the sun illuminated the area, a brief glint on the meteorite was lost in the blaze, eluding Mars’ detection systems.

It turned out that markers, initially scattered 10 million kilometers away, had been drawn downward by Mars’ gravity into its tenuous atmosphere.

This inadvertent move allowed the Dark Matter Lifeform cloaking the meteorite to elude Mars’ defense systems—especially as that very moment’s sunlight concealed its approach entirely.

Mars’ thin atmosphere offered minimal friction, sparing the newly arrived from harm.

Controlling its descent, it avoided a direct crash, instead choosing to orbit since the cannon’s dead zone on the surface was devoid of energy.

It didn’t have to go far before spotting a magnificent metallic fortress exuding the rich aroma of energy.

Without hesitation, it charged straight toward it!

Dispensing with the meteorite, it enveloped the fortress completely, quickly devouring every spark of energy it found.

Once a mere 20 kilometers in diameter, it swelled to 30 kilometers almost instantly, unaware that its once-invisible form had transformed into a dazzling cascade of light.

This luminous specter glided over the Martian surface, homing in on the next Martian City.

Over several days, as it siphoned energy from one city after another, it exploded in size—from just 20 kilometers to an astounding 2000 kilometers in diameter!

Its growth began explosively then gradually decelerated.

Today, it has its sights set on the energy clustered near that colossal cannon.

Now, having expanded considerably, its fear of the cannon has diminished noticeably.

It knows that once it crosses over, the cannon’s ground-based firepower poses no threat.

Moreover, the energy near the cannon far exceeds that of any single Martian City.

Should it manage to absorb that energy, its stagnating growth might finally get a significant boost.

But just as it moved in, an invisible assault struck, shattering it into countless fragments that scattered in every direction.

Some even burrowed directly underground.

This was the contingency it had long prepared for against the local intelligent species—the bitter memory of its forebears being ravaged by their weapons still lingered.

Now, starved of energy, it resorted to its inherent tactic of dispersing into multiple parts, ensuring that at least some fragments would evade the intelligent species’ pursuit.

In outer space, several main warships from Longtar’s Third Fleet, stationed 100,000 kilometers from Mars, were sent to scout for Dark Matter Lifeforms.

Unexpectedly, they detected a 2000-kilometer Dark Matter Lifeform, its luminescent markers flashing, moving steadily toward the Negative Matter Cannon fortress on a barren plain.

Without hesitation, the warships launched Negative Matter Interstellar Missiles, but at the moment of impact, the Dark Matter Lifeform shattered into innumerable pieces that scattered wildly.

Many fragments even tunneled beneath the Martian surface!

The warship captains were left utterly dumbfounded—how does one exterminate these Dark Matter Lifeforms? Blowing up Mars like the Ninth Planet isn’t a viable option, is it?

That single volley of Negative Matter Interstellar Missiles had already carved out enormous craters, hundreds of kilometers deep, in the wasteland surrounding the fortress!

At a loss, the captains quickly relayed the situation to the fleet commander, who was immediately troubled. He then reported to Special Fleet Commander Longtar while ordering 1,000 warships to encircle Mars, deploying a ring of marking agents.

This measure aimed both to prevent the Dark Matter Lifeforms from slipping out of Mars and to deploy a ring of Negative Matter Space Mines beyond the marked zone, sealing off the planet entirely.

Upon receiving the fleet commander’s report, Longtar was stunned and immediately forwarded the details to Du Qiu.

Du Qiu then swiftly summoned several directors for an urgent meeting.

“Everyone, who would have thought these Dark Matter Lifeforms are so resilient that some have survived? They’ve now infiltrated Mars and even taken refuge underground. For now, our only option is to destroy Mars completely.”

After outlining the dire situation, Du Qiu let out a helpless sigh.

Humans now mainly reside on Mars, yet it has been overrun by Dark Matter Lifeforms—and only Negative Matter-based weapons can damage them.

However, Negative Matter obliterates everything it touches. In other words, the only way to exterminate the Dark Matter Lifeforms is to destroy Mars.

The Ninth Planet was destroyed by an Antimatter trap; its remote location beyond the Kuiper Belt meant its loss had little effect on the Solar System.

But Mars plays a crucial role in the Solar System; its disappearance would disrupt the gravitational balance, triggering unpredictable changes throughout the system.

Meanwhile, Earth is locked in an ice age, and the sun, reeling from a 500-million-year reduction in lifespan, casts a dark shadow over our future. Without Mars, the instability of the Solar System is inevitable.

In such chaos, humanity would struggle to find a stable environment to survive.

Liu Yaofeng scratched his head. “These Dark Matter Lifeforms are as resilient as cockroaches. Now hidden underground on Mars, pinpointing and targeting them with Negative Matter without demolishing the planet is nearly impossible.”

Qin Yun frowned, “Then what are we going to do? Does this mean we can never return to living in the Solar System?”

“Oh my, does that mean we’ve lost our home?” Yuan Minhua exclaimed.

Rein Leinar patted her reassuringly, “Don’t worry, our home is on Earth.”

Turning to Du Qiu, Rein Leinar continued, “Du, we must completely encircle Mars and extract all its energy resources.”

Hao Ren retorted coolly, “So you want to starve it into submission?”

Over the years, Hao Ren had made significant strides in biology, even contributing to the development of gene modulation.

But ever since his foray into biology, the once warm and cheerful Hao Ren had been replaced by the silent, cold figure before them.