Chapter 364: A New Frontier in the Cosmos

Boss, your ideas are even more revolutionary than mine. I only assumed there were alien lifeforms out there—I never expected you to decide that our enemy is a dark matter lifeform.

The normally quiet Director of the Biological Research Institute, Yu Fangzhong, suddenly bellowed, his face lit up with excitement. His once small eyes were now nothing more than narrow slits.

“Haha, Old Yu, you’re our leader. Being ahead of the curve is a must.”

“Old Yu, this dark matter lifeform still counts as an alien. Consider it your new research subject—give it your best shot.”

……

A group of old-timers couldn’t help but rib Yu Fangzhong.

Regardless, this seminar proved to be highly fruitful.

Du Qiu quickly assigned the research and experiment tasks. As soon as the meeting ended, everyone dove into their work and preparations.

Du Qiu’s plan was straightforward: one, to ready weapons against the dark matter lifeform, and two, to prepare the battleships.

There are still many second-generation battleships that haven’t been upgraded for faster-than-light travel—this must be done before we engage the dark matter lifeform.

Du Qiu wasn’t about to risk everything; he was determined to have an escape plan. The fleet’s FTL capability will allow them to elude enemy pursuit in an instant.

In this vast universe, if you can win, fight; if not, run. That’s the essence of survival.

Besides, Earth isn’t exactly a comfortable home for humans these days.

Whether or not the dark matter lifeform is defeated, Du Qiu plans to find a new home for humanity among other star systems.

Back at home, Ning Shuangshuang still hadn’t returned. With the population booming, her burden as Security Minister had only grown heavier.

The two finally married ten years ago, living a life envied for its loving simplicity rather than divine allure.

Well, not exactly—it’s more like living in two cities from afar.

Dream Technology currently operates from two rear bases. One is a mobile space city, ready to deploy at a moment’s notice, housing 500 third-generation Heaven Realm-class ships.

Each Heaven Realm-class ship can accommodate up to 10 million people. At present, with a total population of only 2 billion—just over half of whom are civilians—the ships remain relatively uncrowded.

Thus, the population aboard these ships is still quite light.

Additionally, a second fleet—comprising 2 flagships, 10,000 third-generation main ships for escort, 80,000 transport ships laden with vast supplies, and 2,000 battleship factory ships—is on standby.

This enormous inheritance fleet is currently stationed 30,000 astronomical units away from Earth.

It is positioned exactly 3 light years and over 30,000 astronomical units from White Spot, where the unseen enemy lurks, making it the farthest rear of the Blue Star Civilization.

Most critically, once FTL technology is perfected, the first batch of main ships will replace the escort fleet here.

Furthermore, upgrades for the Heaven Realm-class ships, transport ships, and battleship factory ships to FTL status will be among the first completed.

At this moment, every warship and vessel here is FTL-capable. Should enemy attacks become overwhelming, they can immediately engage FTL, speeding away from the Solar System at 40 times the speed of light.

Dream Technology’s second base—home to all FTL warships—has just finished its defensive rotation and arrived at the nearest point to White Spot with the Third Fleet.

This powerful fleet, consisting of 10,000 main ships and 2 flagships, is commanded by Rin Feng, formerly the commander of Earth’s Defense Fleet.

Meanwhile near Mars, Dream Technology maintains 10 flagships, 30,000 main ships, 50,000 cruisers, 500 Heaven Realm-class ships, and 20,000 transport ships.

All these vessels are lined up among 6,000 battleship factory ships, waiting for their FTL upgrades.

Another 2,000 already modified battleship factory ships are busy directly producing third-generation battleships.

Ever since FTL ships came into service, Ning Shuangshuang—who originally led the inheritance fleet—finally managed to commute between the inheritance fleet’s station and the Mars Base.

This dual-city lifestyle spanning 30,000 astronomical units is backed by the Security Department under Ning Shuangshuang’s leadership, ensuring comprehensive safety checks for personnel transitioning to Dream Technology.

After all, as the head of the inheritance fleet, Ning Shuangshuang cannot afford to neglect her post, especially with the possibility of an enemy breaching the Civilization Bastion and invading the Solar System.

In fact, this was strongly insisted upon by Du Qiu’s in-laws. They had rarely seen each other after marriage—which made having children nearly impossible.

Over the years, Dream Technology’s rapid development has unsettled many regarding Du Qiu’s lack of offspring. The board members, long-time friends and comrades of Du Qiu, were naturally troubled.

Thus, they continuously lobbied Ning Yuzhe and Zheng Hailan, urging them to bring Du Qiu and Ning Shuangshuang together more often to start a family.

Even though technology now extends human life to 300 years, the probability of accidental death is much higher when facing a powerful enemy lurking outside the Solar System.

Thanks to combined public and private efforts, Ning Shuangshuang managed to reach the Mars Base, beginning her shuttle routine between the two cities.

Du Qiu had the robotic butler prepare dinner before settling onto the sofa, watching the daily news while waiting for his wife to finish work.

This long-missed normalcy left Du Qiu feeling strangely disoriented.

The news, produced by Dream Technology’s Publicity Department—which had split from the former Public Relations and Diplomacy Division—now sees diplomacy run independently under Du Qiu’s father-in-law, Ning Yuzhe, as minister.

The Publicity Department, led by Liu Sichen, now focuses on internal news dissemination and managing accredited self-media journalists.

Technologically, traditional paper and television media have been integrated into online video media.

Under Dream Technology, the public receives information via official video news from the Publicity Department as well as through a selection of self-media outlets vetted by them.

Du Qiu has always emphasized the importance of steering public opinion, which is why he separated Liu Sichen’s Publicity Department and endowed it with oversight and review powers over the media.

Dream Technology, operating as a super corporation managing 2 billion people, represents an unprecedented societal model fraught with conflicts between innovation and tradition.

Du Qiu certainly doesn’t want everyone squabbling over so-called freedom, turning good opportunities into disasters, or even worse, descending into utter madness.

He doesn’t enforce a one-man rule either; he permits some accredited self-media to operate, provided they report the facts and don’t oppose Dream Technology.

To be honest, thanks to Star Ocean, his AI super assistant, Du Qiu rarely watches these news bulletins.

After all, whatever he needs to know, Star Ocean relays the information to him immediately.

At that moment, Du Qiu first watched the official news for a while before searching for some top-ranking self-media channels.

Before long, after switching a few channels, he spotted a familiar face.

“Hello everyone, this is Cui Liu Reporting. The Europa Extraterrestrial Life Research Team from the Biological Research Institute has just sent in their latest report.

They’ve confirmed that a giant cold-blooded vertebrate, measuring about 1.5 meters in length, exists in the subsurface ocean of Europa…”

Noticing the still youthful face, Du Qiu couldn’t help but smile. Who would have thought that after all these years, Zhang Mingliu was still active in the news arena—ranking among the top ten self-media influencers.

As for how Zhang Mingliu joined Dream Technology, it didn’t take much thought—over the years, Dream Technology has exchanged vast numbers of people from the motherland across various sectors.

This was a measure unanimously agreed upon by the board at the time, designed to enrich the company’s affiliated society. Clearly, none of the board members wanted Dream Technology’s society to consist solely of scientists.

Only then could they shoulder the responsibility of preserving human civilization when the Solar System faces an alien invasion.