Chapter 343: The Exodus Imperative

“Just keep it to yourself—don’t tell anyone!”

Du Qiu’s words instantly silenced Liu Yaofeng.

“Why?”

“Without my involvement, the new warship and advanced weapons can’t be completed on schedule. If we can’t finish them on time—or even ahead of schedule—we won’t be able to stop the alien fleet. Then, none of us will get out alive.”

Liu Yaofeng’s eyes reddened instantly. “Boss, I promise—we’ll take off as soon as possible and try to reach the safe escape zone early. But you must evacuate afterward!”

According to the plan devised by Du Qiu and the others, as long as the alien civilization lacks faster-than-light travel, once the Heaven Realm spaceship enters interstellar space beyond the Kuiper Belt, its ever-increasing speed will make it nearly impossible for third-level civilization warships to catch up.

Moreover, in the starless void far from any sun, once the cloaking system is activated, the third-level fleet won’t be able to detect the Heaven Realm ship—and might even evade detection by fourth-level fleets.

That region is the safe escape zone that Du Qiu identified.

Du Qiu patted Liu Yaofeng on the shoulder and said, “Don’t worry—I’ll meet you there. Besides, I’m aboard the latest warship, which is definitely faster than Heaven Realm’s vessel!”

“Mm,” Liu Yaofeng replied with a heavy nod.

As the Transport Ship departed from the spaceport, Liu Yaofeng felt an immediate emptiness in his heart.

This time was different from when Du Qiu originally fled the country and was hunted by the United States.

Although he had been deeply worried back then, he had faith in Du Qiu’s ability to escape—and events later proved him right.

But now, facing an unknown alien civilization, even though Dream Technology had long been ahead of Earth’s tech, it might not be enough to fend off an alien attack that has journeyed across the vastness of interstellar space to the edge of the Solar System.

After all, Dream Technology still didn’t have a true space warship.

The Heaven Realm had now departed, and there was no telling when they would return to Earth. The evacuation plan did include a rear fleet tasked with blocking the alien fleet before withdrawing to the rendezvous point.

However, the commander of that rear fleet was Song Yuanting, not Du Qiu.

Watching the Transport Ship shrink to a bright dot in the void, Liu Yaofeng sighed deeply, wiped his eyes, and turned to leave.

Heaven Realm must set off as soon as possible.

+++++++++

“What did you say? All Dream Technology employees have evacuated Earth and returned to Heaven Realm? Didn’t they mention why?”

After hearing Walker’s latest report, Phileas felt a sudden chill—a foreboding premonition rising within him.

“No, they just said the company had an important event that required everyone’s participation.”

“So, there aren’t any Dream Technology employees at your training facility now?” Phileas pressed.

“Seems not. Most of the time around us, it’s just robot butlers and trainers. Dream Technology employees were rarely seen anyway,” Walker replied uncertainly.

Phileas felt his heart race as he listened.

“Something doesn’t add up. Dream Technology has never pulled all its employees off Earth like this. I’m worried something major is happening.”

“Sir, I’ll look into it further.”

“Mm. Do that and check if not a single employee remains.”

After ending his call with Walker, Phileas grew restless and finally made another call.

“Hey, never thought I’d get a call from you in my lifetime.”

An aged voice answered on the line.

“Old Morgan, I heard you backed an Ark Project for Mars colonization?”

“Haha, what? You’re interested too?”

“I know most of the United States space agency’s elite were absorbed into your plan, along with many astronomers. I’d like to know if you’ve been monitoring Dream Technology’s Heaven Realm Space City.”

Hearing Phileas’s question, Old Morgan realized his contact wasn’t actually trying to join the Ark Project.

Curiously, he asked, “The Heaven Realm Space City is enormous—you can spot it even with an ordinary telescope. What’s there to monitor specially?”

“I heard you also acquired Dream Technology’s Mars City. Are you aware that all their employees have recently withdrawn to the Heaven Realm Space City?”

Old Morgan’s heart skipped a beat. “I hadn’t noticed. Could something major be happening?”

Near Babylon in South America, at a new rocket launch site, Old Morgan watched as the “Mars Ten” launch vehicle rose once again.

No one had expected that after Lucky was destroyed and the United States fell, the Ark Project would actually accelerate.

Old Morgan and a consortium of major financial conglomerates had taken complete control of Babylon’s political scene, establishing multiple launch sites and factories to speed up the production and launch of Ark spaceships.

With additional funds and talent—and following the repeal of Dream Technology’s sales ban after the United States’ collapse—the originally planned 200-day launch schedule for the Ark Project was shortened to 150 days.

Now, over 120 days have passed and in just about 20 more days, the Ark spaceship will be fully assembled in orbit.

Then why would Dream Technology completely withdraw from Earth? Is Earth about to be destroyed?

Sure, Earth is gradually cooling, but it’s hardly going to freeze solid, right?

Suddenly, he thought of something and said into the phone, “Phileas, hold on a minute—I’ll check in with the Mars Base.”

Phileas replied, “Mm, I was just thinking the same. I’ll wait for your call.”

After ending his call with Phileas, Old Morgan immediately dialed Musk. “Musk, get in touch with the Mars Frontline Base immediately and ask if there’s anything unusual about Dream Technology’s Mars City construction.”

“Mr. Morgan, I’m about to report that something’s up with the Heaven Realm Space City—it’s moving away!”

Old Morgan paused. “Moving away? Are you saying the Heaven Realm Space City is a spacecraft? But it’s enormous…”

Old Morgan could hardly imagine that a structure a hundred times larger than an Ark spaceship could actually be a vessel!

“It absolutely is. Outside its massive, multi-tiered prism, there’s an additional ring of huge engine pods with thrusters.”

“It’s accelerating nonstop—its speed is already on par with Dream Technology’s Planet Bus! Unbelievable!”

Musk’s voice over the phone brimmed with surprise and excitement.

Keep in mind, the Ark spaceship I developed is less than a third the speed of the Planet Bus and is at least a hundred times smaller.

“Musk, is the Heaven Realm ship headed for Mars?”

Old Morgan’s question prompted Musk to glance at the latest calculated trajectory of the Heaven Realm spaceship, his eyes filled with questions.

He then reported, “Uh, based on its current trajectory, it isn’t heading toward Mars.”

“It isn’t even following the ecliptic plane—it’s moving at a 60-degree angle relative to it.”

“Its speed has reached 2000 kilometers per second and it’s still accelerating! At this rate, it should exit the traditional boundary of the Solar System in about 20 days.”

Traditionally, leaving the Kuiper Belt’s range is considered sufficient to exit the Solar System.

Since the Heaven Realm spaceship isn’t traveling along the ecliptic, it doesn’t need to cross the Kuiper Belt to leave the Solar System.

Conventionally, as long as you pass 30-50 astronomical units, you’re considered to have left the Solar System.

“Damn it! Is Dream Technology trying to escape the Solar System? Could there be some unknown catastrophe in our system?”

Old Morgan nearly let out a curse.

Musk was taken aback. “Yeah, why would the Heaven Realm ship suddenly depart now? What on Earth is going on in the Solar System?”

“Musk, Musk…”

With a loud bang, the office door was forcefully flung open. Edmund stumbled in, shouting, “Dream Technology’s official website just released breaking news—there’s… there’s an alien invasion!”

Musk’s call was still active when Edmund’s shouts reached Old Morgan clearly, and suddenly everything made sense.

No wonder Phileas had been asking—the employees had evacuated because they discovered an alien invasion. They abandoned Earth and fled on their own!

“Grandpa, Dream Technology announced that aliens are about to invade. They’re going to fight the alien fleet to the death!”