Chapter 385: The Disappearance of the Wormhole

Sun Chunyi, come quick—what’s going on?

Ding Shaoqiu immediately summoned Sun Chunyi.

He then issued an order to the unmanned intelligent warship ahead, instructing it to change course and charge toward the wormhole marked on the star map.

This time, the warship sailed past the wormhole’s entrance without hindrance, not entering any wormhole at all.

Sun Chunyi’s brow furrowed deeply as he took in the scene.

“Researcher Sun, when we launched the Negative Matter Interstellar Missile at that neutron star, we saw the missile enter a wormhole. Now, why does the warship seem to have detected nothing?”

Rin Feng asked anxiously.

“Could it be that the wormhole collapsed after the neutron star emerged?”

Sun Chunyi couldn’t help but voice his suspicion.

“You really think the wormhole has collapsed?”

“Yes. The space there has sealed off, leaving the warship unable to enter the wormhole now.”

Sun Chunyi spoke with growing conviction.

After a moment’s thought, he added, “We initially assumed the neutron star would trigger the wormhole’s collapse—after all, its gravity is the strongest in the universe.”

“Yet it emerged right under our noses from the wormhole, so we assumed it would pass through without trouble.”

“We were too busy launching our attack to monitor the wormhole entrance again.”

“In fact, it’s likely that the wormhole collapsed the very moment it left the entrance.”

Ding Shaoqiu considered this and said, “Your reasoning is sound, but we’d better scan the entire vicinity thoroughly to make sure it’s truly gone.”

With the situation unfolding, Rin Feng dispatched hundreds of warships in a sweeping formation to scour the area around the marked wormhole entrance like a fine sieve.

They spent several days searching, yet their efforts yielded nothing.

“It appears the wormhole entrance has indeed collapsed and vanished,” Rin Feng observed.

Rin Feng then reported the situation once more to Longtar and headquarters.

Soon, Du Qiu’s orders came through: Rin Feng was to lead the Tur Fleet immediately to join the headquarters fleet, while the warships that had reinforced Longtar were to return to the Solar System and resume the Mars blockade.

“Dark Matter Lifeforms now pose the greatest threat to the safety of the Solar System. Longtar will lead his fleet on a strict blockade to ultimately eradicate them.”

Because the Tur warships incorporated advanced technology worthy of study, Rin Feng set off with the remaining vessels at full speed to rendezvous with the headquarters fleet.

Meanwhile, the flagship fleet of Dream Technology was speeding toward the Lishi-1 Solar System. In curvature flight, every research institute was engrossed in a multitude of related projects.

This prolonged curvature flight was a first in human history.

Previously, to set up a probe communication network between the Solar System and Lishi-1, the fleet would periodically exit faster-than-light flight to deploy meteor detectors.

However, Du Qiu soon revised the strategy, ordering a small fleet of unmanned warships loaded with meteor detectors to trail the flagship fleet and intermittently exit faster-than-light flight to deploy the detectors and form the network.

In this way, the main force could maintain its top speed as it headed straight for Lishi-1.

This not only preserved flight stability but also allowed extended observation of curvature flight and further development of space folding theories.

During flight, Du Qiu utilized the supercomputer array formed by the warships in his dream to conduct comprehensive research and simulation on space theory.

The Dominant Civilization lagged behind the Ge Ya Civilization in space research, but after years of conflict, it had still acquired a good deal of related technology.

However, these space theories were incomplete, and some products were merely imitations of Ge Ya technology.

Over the years, Du Qiu had salvaged an intact intelligence brain from a Ge Ya warship wreck at a fierce battle site.

From this, he discovered that Ge Ya warships also possessed consciousness upload modules, and he secured the intelligence brain for himself.

Through its database, Du Qiu acquired a portion of their space technology.

With Dream Technology having withdrawn from the Solar System, the fleet might soon be on a quest for a new home system—and mastering space jump technology became Du Qiu’s top priority.

This is why he maintained prolonged curvature flight with the fleet, to better study space folding.

After more than a year of travel, as the Dream Technology fleet exited curvature flight, the Lishi-1 system appeared before them.

At precisely 20 astronomical units from the Kuiper Belt of Lishi-1, the fleet materialized from the void.

Although no breakthrough had yet been achieved in space technology, external observation during curvature flight had made significant progress over the past year.

Dream Technology could now ensure that even in curvature flight, warships precisely surveyed their surroundings within one light-year.

No longer were they limited to merely detecting large meteors or celestial bodies to avoid disruptions during faster-than-light travel.

Faster-than-light flight combined space folding and gravitational field techniques. As long as no massive objects were encountered, the warped bubble could easily ignore small meteors.

Because the warp bubble was surrounded by a powerful gravitational field, small meteors were drawn in and then flung away, unable to adversely affect it.

Previously, this crude observation technique only allowed the fleet to exit faster-than-light travel from nearly 30 astronomical units away from a star system.

Now, with precise appearances at 20 astronomical units, precious time was saved when entering the system.

Moreover, during interstellar combat, this ensured the fleet could appear exactly where needed, instead of inadvertently running into enemy ambushes.

Not only had faster-than-light detection technology improved, but superluminal communications during curvature flight were also further enhanced.

“Where there’s no need, innovation has no drive.”

“Once a clear need arises, technology accelerates. Du Qiu has always been relentless in his scientific research.”

After the flagship fleet exited curvature flight, Song Yuanting immediately dispatched a vanguard fleet of 1,000 warships at maximum speed toward the system.

The entire fleet was positioned within the Ecliptic of the Lishi-1 system. Although they didn’t rely on the gravitational pull of planets, they could enter the system from any direction.

However, entering through the Ecliptic was the fastest route to approach all the planets.

At that moment, Du Qiu wasn’t concerned with any of this—he was still asleep in his cryo-chamber.

Since leaving the Solar System, Dreamland was no longer confined by spatial limits, making Du Qiu realize that the previous cycle in Dreamland—a six-day routine with the seventh day of interrupted rest—was actually due to the energy field interference from the Civilization Bastion.

Now, free from the Bastion’s interference after departing the Solar System, Du Qiu could connect with his small fleet in the distant Andromeda M31 system via Dreamland at any time.

This time, however, Du Qiu overslept in his cryo-chamber because something monumental had occurred in Dreamland.

At the edge of a peripheral spiral arm in the distant Andromeda M31 system, within a star system in a certain star cluster,

lies the home system of Du Qiu’s small fleet. He had deployed numerous shielding devices outside the system.

Even a Level-6 civilization would have to come within at least 3 light-years to easily assess the interior of this system.

And within that 3 light-year radius, Du Qiu had set up a security net composed of countless sensors.

Any intrusion would trigger an alert immediately.

On that day, just as Du Qiu was about to exit Dreamland, alarms erupted everywhere.

Looking at the images transmitted by the security net, Du Qiu saw warships intruding from all directions. Clearly, the system was surrounded.