Chapter 370: The Silent Reckoning

Two months later.

The once bustling Solar System had grown noticeably quieter. The planet buses that once ferried people between planets and moons had all vanished.

The sprawling shipbuilding factories that stretched for tens of millions of kilometers between the asteroid belt and Mars had also disappeared.

At this moment, the Sun shone even dimmer than it had two months earlier!

Snow on Earth had deepened so much that the entire planet had become a frigid wasteland.

On this ice-bound world, there were no signs of any life.

Beside Earth, the Moon—its steadfast companion for countless ages—now housed an event in its central control room.

An order was issued.

“Initiate the Civilization Bastion shutdown protocol!”

Once the command was executed, the once-dim Sun suddenly flared to life, as if reclaiming its lost brilliance.

From a White Spot three light-years from Earth, over 7,000 warships of the Tur Fleet surged toward the Solar System.

Then, as abruptly as they had moved, they halted—drifting in the void like solitary meteors.

Just two days later, in a void 0.2 light-years from the Tur Fleet, a formation of 10,000 warships and a mother ship opened fire ferociously at a vast cluster of bright points materializing in space.

In the pitch-black void, a barrage of particle beams erupted while 15 massive negative matter cannons on the Qinglong-class mother ship fired in unison with the particle beams.

Meanwhile, 30 million kilometers away, an immense array of light and shadow, stretching over a hundred million kilometers, painted a dazzling scene.

The fleet attacked in a triangular formation, unleashing particle beams, laser cannons, a storm of interstellar missiles equipped with hydrogen warheads, and every weapon in their arsenal upon that colossal luminous zone.

In the dark emptiness, flashes from particle beams and the explosive blooms of hydrogen bombs flickered incessantly, yet these assaults seemed to have no effect on the radiant display.

Then, suddenly, a section of the bright cluster vanished!

At the same moment, a mysterious ripple began to spread from the area where the light had disappeared.

With unprecedented speed, the luminous display raced across the 30-million-kilometer gap between the fleet and descended upon the Dream Technology fleet like an encroaching storm.

Throughout the encounter, the massive light tapestry repeatedly lost large segments of brightness on three separate occasions.

Each of these moments was accompanied by an uncanny ripple spreading outward.

Soon, the immense glow enveloped the 10,000 warships and the mother ship that had been firing in the void.

In an instant, the once radiant afterburners of every warship were extinguished along with all onboard lights, rendering them eerily similar to the warships of the Tur Fleet.

Outside this cosmic battlefield, tens of thousands of kilometers away, a swarm of meteorite-shaped probes transmitted every change unfolding in the void.

“Dark Matter marked successfully!”

“Dark Matter Lifeform moving at 30 times the speed of light!”

“Particle beams, lasers, and hydrogen bombs are ineffective against the Dark Matter Lifeform!”

“Negative Matter cannons are the only weapons capable of inflicting damage on the Dark Matter Lifeform!”

“Our robots and warships have lost all power!”

“Dark Matter Lifeform emitting unusual spatial waves, analysis underway!”

……

At the opposite end of the Solar System, near the energy vortex left by the Civilization Bastion, the vortex had just vanished.

The massive Dream Technology fleet stationed there had already received a series of urgent messages.

Over the years, countless probes deployed within the Solar System had woven an expansive information network inside the region shrouded by the Civilization Bastion.

With Quantum Communication, messages from anywhere were transmitted in real time.

Inside the command hall of the Qinglong-class, as the updates continued to roll in, Du Qiu felt a slight easing of tension.

The Dark Matter Lifeform was moving at 30 times the speed of light. If its speed didn’t increase further, there was hope for an escape.

The robot fleet stationed near the White Spot confirmed that only negative matter cannons could effectively damage the enemy.

It was a pity that, given the immense size of the marked Dark Matter Lifeform, no one knew how many negative matter cannons would be required to annihilate it completely.

After more than a month of relentless work, Professor Weitman had finally devised a method to mark gravitons within dark matter.

The technique involved pre-deploying sensors over a set area so that when gravitons exceeding a certain threshold passed through, they would interact and release photons, resulting in a visible glow.

This explained why, as the Dark Matter Lifeform approached the Dream Technology robot fleet at 30 million kilometers, countless points of light suddenly emerged, forming that startling display.

Unfortunately, the method could only reveal the enemy’s general shape without exposing its vulnerabilities.

“Boss, it appears the Dark Matter Lifeform was struck by the negative matter cannons, but we’re unclear just how severe the damage is,” Minister Song sighed.

Director Chen Guangnan added from the hall, “It’s enormous. Without a sufficient number of negative matter cannons, delivering a fatal blow seems nearly impossible.”

Not only him—the heads of the Astronomy, Chemistry, Biology, and Energy Institutes were present, all eager to witness firsthand the mysterious nature of this alien lifeform.

When the Civilization Bastion activated and the Dark Matter mark took effect, the appearance of the gigantic Dark Matter Lifeform on the big screen left everyone profoundly shocked.

A colossal behemoth, stretching over a hundred million kilometers in every direction—the 15 negative matter cannons on the Qinglong-class mother ship, firing in three volleys, created only 45 large craters.

“The wounds inflicted by the negative matter cannons reached a depth of 12 million kilometers, and when combined with the positive matter from previous shots, it shows that our negative matter can only obliterate that much material.”

Director Best of the Astronomy Institute quickly deduced the lethality of the negative matter cannons against the Dark Matter Lifeform from the incoming data.

Director Yu Fangzhong of the Biological Institute sighed, “It’s unfortunate that we still can’t discern how this lifeform operates or how it grew to such an enormous size.”

Du Qiu stated, “The robot fleet has been completely obliterated. Minister Song, proceed as per the original plan.”

In reality, the robot fleet near the White Spot had only been testing the Dark Matter Lifeform with its attacks.

On one hand, they sought to verify whether the Tur Fleet had indeed been decimated by this Dark Matter Lifeform; on the other, they aimed to gauge its combat prowess and speed.

Now that all the data was in, it was clear that our robot fleet had been effortlessly devoured by the enemy—matching its power was an insurmountable challenge.

Since we couldn’t win, our only option was to retreat.

At that moment, as the energy vortex of the Civilization Bastion disappeared, spaceships from various Earth nations near the White Spot—60 in total—had already accelerated to faster-than-light speeds.

Following Du Qiu’s command, the massive Dream Technology fleet began to accelerate, preparing to enter faster-than-light travel.

The slight delay was necessary to receive vital information from the Solar System’s probe network; once in faster-than-light travel, Dream Technology’s current technology couldn’t receive signals from beyond the curvature bubble.

However, this issue was expected to be resolved soon. An upgraded hyperspace communicator based on Quantum Communication was already under testing.

This advanced communicator would bypass spatial folding and ensure continuous communication.

Dream Technology was still in an era of explosive knowledge—new technologies were emerging every day.

Had it not been for the need to preserve the Sun’s energy from being completely depleted, Du Qiu had planned to wait until our technological strength increased further before reactivating the Civilization Bastion.

Just as the fleet was about to enter faster-than-light travel, a voice from Star Ocean suddenly rang out.

“The spatial waves emitted by the Dark Matter Lifeform have been decoded. They are a form of space-wide broadcast delivering the following message:

‘The little fellows of the Ge Ya Civilization, you have successfully enraged me!’

#￥%&#…… ‘I swear I will destroy your home planet!’

‘I vow to annihilate you all!’

These three messages were transmitted as spatial waves when the Dark Matter Lifeform was struck by the negative matter cannons.”

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