t-3762 system.
The stargate opened, the hyperspace lane cleared, and moments later, a meteor shot out from the stargate, transforming into a warship slowly moving forward.
Anyone who saw this warship would exclaim in surprise: Starship?
The Starship could have reached t-3762 using its own jump system, and at a faster speed than the stargate, but for various considerations, Ou Zhanpeng ultimately chose the stargate.
Half an hour later, the Starship arrived at the research station, docking alongside the warship that was just over two kilometers long. The research station looked like a potato placed next to a pomelo.
However, compared to the Rohl ships, the Starship was still an insignificant little pea.
Ou Zhanpeng sent a communication request, and after a short while, he met the Rohl representative on screen.
The Rohl people were indeed very petite, but they didn't look cute at all. They resembled short, stout versions of Earth gods, giving off a very sinister and brutish impression.
This made Ou Zhanpeng doubt for a while: could they really only grow to 20 centimeters? Was there a mistake?
After a brief exchange of pleasantries, Ou Zhanpeng stated his purpose, inquiring about the specific situation of the Rohl homeworld.
He expected it to be a simple matter, but to his surprise, the Rohl representative flatly refused to reveal the location of their homeworld, leaving Ou Zhanpeng bewildered: "Why?"
The other party shrugged, "Although our homeworld has fallen, many Rohl planets have not. Therefore, we cannot tell you."
Ou Zhanpeng rolled his eyes, "I'm not interested in your homeworld. Even if you had one, do you think we could snatch it back from the Star Beasts?"
"That's not necessarily true," the Rohl said.
A trace of worry flickered in Ou Zhanpeng's heart, but he continued to persuade, "We only want to know about the beast swarm, not to seize your planet. It has already fallen into the hands of the Star Beasts, hasn't it?"
"We have already made ourselves clear. What else do you want to know?" the Rohl countered.
This was akin to hitting a stone wall. Ou Zhanpeng continued to persuade, but the Rohl refused to answer directly.
Sensing no softening of the Rohl's attitude, Ou Zhanpeng decisively terminated the communication.
The atmosphere in the bridge was terrifyingly oppressive. Ling Xiao softly said, "Why do I feel like something is not quite right?"
"Something is indeed not right," Ou Zhanpeng nodded. "Perhaps they see our technological level as lower than they imagined and are harboring some improper intentions?"
Ling Xiao's gaze sharpened, "Then what do we do?"
Ou Zhanpeng's expression was unreadable, "Notify everyone. From now on, the stargate can only be opened from the Solar System. If the Rohl people intend to seize the stargate, or take any other abnormal actions... destroy the stargate immediately!"
The stargate directly connected to the Solar System, providing a shortcut straight into the human heartland.
Conversely, without the stargate, the Rohl people, faced with numerous stars, would have no idea where humanity's home was.
From a strategic perspective, destroying the stargate was undoubtedly more advantageous for humanity.
This also served as a reminder to Ou Zhanpeng. He immediately advised Earth to set up a transit station. If the stargate were lost, only the transit station would be found, not a direct path to Earth.
When dealing with alien civilizations, it was always better to be more cautious and prepared. Being completely open would only lead to being exploited.
Their strategic deployment was still lacking!
Although no information could be extracted from the Rohl people, Ou Zhanpeng did not rush to leave. Instead, he continued to monitor the exchange of supplies between the two parties.
A few days later, after all the supplies had been exchanged, the Rohl people indeed caused further trouble, requesting to borrow the human stargate for their departure.
Ou Zhanpeng resolutely refused. The Starship sounded combat alerts and initiated the attack.
There was no need for pleasantries with a civilization that pushed their luck like this. Once they were taught a lesson, they would behave.
At the same time, a human fleet, already prepared, arrived at t-3762 through the stargate.
This time, it wasn't a minor skirmish. The entire human fleet was brought out to make a statement.
As the Starship's cannon pierced through a Rohl ship, nearly a hundred human warships arrayed themselves, giving the impression they were about to devour all Rohl ships.
The Rohl people finally realized they had provoked an unprovocable force. Without the slightest hesitation, they immediately opened a wormhole and fled.
The brief battle ended, but everyone's heart felt heavy.
"Why are all these interstellar civilizations like this? Can't they be more sincere and less deceitful?" Ling Xiao said, expressing disappointment. "What kind of atmosphere is this?"
Ou Zhanpeng remained silent for a moment before replying, "It's the law of the jungle, what else could it be."
"What do we do next?"
"Temporarily seal the research station. All personnel will withdraw to Earth, and the stargate will be closed."
"Received!"
To prevent the Rohl people from launching a surprise counterattack, Ou Zhanpeng had no choice but to take this action.
The evacuation did not take long, only a few hours. All personnel were safely returned to the Solar System. Only the Starship remained, opening a wormhole and flying towards the deeper, more distant space.
When it reappeared, it was in an unfamiliar star system over 120 light-years away from the Solar System, which was the Rohl homeworld, Rohl System One.
Although they did not reveal the exact location of their homeworld, much useful information could be gleaned from the video footage.
For example, the size, luminosity, and spectral class of the star, as well as the number of planets.
Knowing the general direction of the Rohl people's origin, it was easy to identify several suspected targets by comparing star charts.
In this regard, humanity was far more cautious than the Rohl people. Any spaceship leaving the Solar System had only the pilot qualified to know Earth's coordinates, and it was stipulated that no one, under any circumstances, was allowed to disclose any characteristics of the Solar System to the outside.
To this end, the military also required the Starship Base to develop a specialized biological chip for secrecy. If there was any risk of information leakage, the perpetrator's brain would be immediately destroyed.
This decision directly turned the pilot into a high-risk profession.
However, even with a series of secrecy measures, no one dared to guarantee that Earth's location would not be leaked, as Earth had already been visited by several extraterrestrial civilizations.
With a peculiar feeling, Ou Zhanpeng examined the scan results.
The fourth planet was habitable. The planet was covered with tall, straight trees. The original buildings, roads, and other facilities were all in disrepair, which perfectly matched the information provided by the Rohl people.
Subsequently, the Starship discovered that many "beast stars" were still floating in the system. Their density was not high, but their total number was enormous. They drifted in from one side of the system and out from the other, as if treating it as an interstellar transit station.
Ou Zhanpeng meticulously recorded the movement routes of the beast stars, marked potential target systems, and then ordered the warship to fly into the system.
Humanity understood too little about Star Beasts. It was necessary to make close contact. The more they understood, the more conducive it would be to countering the Star Beast invasion.
However, as the warship flew past a group of beast stars at close range, there was no reaction from them.
Upon flying over the habitable planet, no anomalies were detected.
If not for the information provided by the Rohl people, they would have assumed this place had always been so tranquil.
The Starship circled the planet several times and observed that Star Beasts were not entirely indiscriminate. Although most of the planet's surface was covered by the large trees transformed by the Star Beasts, the deserts and gobis remained as they were.
In the polar regions, perhaps due to the extremely low temperatures, although there were also star trees, their numbers were very small.
The Starship also launched a probe into the ocean and discovered that the seabed was covered with star trees, which demonstrated the invasiveness of this thing, being truly pervasive.
After collecting almost all the necessary data, the Starship's side opened, and three missiles flew out of the warship.
Moments later, with a strong burst of light, the cluster bombs swept through the star trees near the impact points, clearing them away.
"This thing isn't as difficult to deal with as we thought!" Ling Xiao remarked.
"The key is the quantity," Ou Zhanpeng said. "Alright, let's go..."
Before he could finish speaking, the radar suddenly emitted a warning. Ling Xiao's voice was urgent, "The beast stars are showing abnormal activity! They're flying towards us!"
In the void near the habitable planet, a large number of beast stars were floating. The Starship had been able to move freely among them before without any change.
However, those few cluster bombs seemed to have stirred up a hornet's nest. The previously dormant beast stars had all come to life, swarming towards the Starship.
Ou Zhanpeng did not rush to leave but took the opportunity to conduct an experiment.
The results showed that both shockwaves and thermal fusion rays could annihilate a large number of Star Beasts. However, the sheer quantity of Star Beasts was overwhelming. Although not many beast stars were visible in orbit, in the blink of an eye, a large number of beast stars appeared from nowhere, surging towards the Starship like a tsunami.
Even with the Starship's shockwaves set to maximum, it could not block the endless stream of beast stars.
Ou Zhanpeng finally began to understand the Rohl people's helplessness. "Alright, let's go."
The Starship rapidly disengaged from the battle and left the seemingly tranquil star system.
Not long after, the agitated Star Beasts returned to their calm state.
The Starship did not return to the Solar System. Instead, it followed the direction in which the Star Beasts were flying and soon found the front line of the beast swarm, carefully marking it on the star map.
Furthermore, the Starship conducted comprehensive surveys of dozens of star systems in other directions, mapping out where Star Beasts were, where their main sources were, and where their front lines were located.
Ou Zhanpeng wanted to explore where the Star Beasts originated from, but after traveling over a hundred light-years deep, he only found a few planets still nurturing Star Beasts, never finding their boundary.
Images of countless Star Beasts occupying vast regions of space, with many civilizations fleeing their homes in disarray, filled his mind, leaving him with an indescribable feeling.
This thing was not the Zerg, but it was even more like the Zerg!
Upon returning to Earth and reporting the situation, the higher-ups were stunned for quite some time, not a single word being spoken.
From a macro perspective, the Star Beasts were still over a hundred light-years away from Earth. Without faster-than-light capabilities, they would not reach Earth for several hundred years, giving humanity ample time to devise a plan.
Moreover, the Star Beasts chose their targets with considerable randomness, and whether they would focus on the Solar System was also unknown.
While these were the arguments, hasty last-minute preparations were not the military's habit, nor could they afford to be negligent and indifferent just because the Star Beasts were not an immediate threat.
However, how to repel the Star Beasts presented a dilemma.
Ou Zhanpeng proposed a suggestion: since there was still ample time, why not try all possible methods? Perhaps one of them would be effective.
Coincidentally, during its patrol, the Starship discovered a habitable planet with a civilization similar to humans, but one that had not yet entered the interstellar era.
In about half a year, the Star Beast front line would reach that star system, which could serve as the first testing ground for resisting Star Beasts.
After careful deliberation, the higher-ups agreed to Ou Zhanpeng's plan. The military immediately mobilized, allocating resources and personnel.
A month later, a warship arrived at star system t-11454 and established contact with the local natives.
Subsequently, humanity built a stargate to this star system and provided the locals with a large amount of advanced weaponry.
Some locals wished to leave their homeworld and requested humans to evacuate them, but Ou Zhanpeng heartlessly refused.
Humanity only had one Earth. Where could they evacuate them to? To become slaves to other civilizations?
Besides, this civilization, although not as advanced as humans, had a population of over four billion. Even with all their might, humans could not transport so many people.
Eight months later, the beast swarm appeared.
Lacking a space fleet, the natives were unable to conduct spatial interception. Resistance truly began only after the beast swarm landed on the planet.
The Starship monitored the entire process.
Regrettably, despite the extensive weaponry provided by humans and the tenacious resistance of the natives, the outcome remained unchanged.
After more than half a year of continuous resistance, the last pockets of resistance detonated cluster bombs, perishing along with the overwhelming Star Beasts.
Afterward, the military deemed this experiment completely meaningless, a mere waste of time.
However, Ou Zhanpeng's plan was not that simple.
He had already given a batch of Zerg eggs to the native civilization, which was the core of his plan!
As expected, the desperate natives activated the incubators. Not long after, the first batch of giant Zerg hatched, becoming the main force against the Star Beasts.
It had to be said that the Zerg created by "Brain Fish" were quite formidable, accurately replicating the game's settings. Large numbers of Zerglings engaged in a fierce battle with countless Star Beasts, with Zerg and beast swarms clashing everywhere, whether in mountains, oceans, plains, or cities.
For the natives to resist the Star Beasts, they had to rely on technology, and logistics posed a severe problem.
The Zerg swarms were different. They were very similar to the Star Beasts. Both sides fought to sustain themselves; the more enemies they killed, the more supplies they gained.
Ou Zhanpeng believed that nothing was more suitable for fighting Star Beasts than the Zerg swarms.
Although the Star Beasts were endless and the Zerg swarms were gradually falling into a disadvantage, it was indeed a good method.
The war between the Zerg swarms and the Star Beasts continued until the Starship withdrew.
In the period that followed, the Starship visited all the star systems that were about to be invaded by Star Beasts. For civilizations, they sold Zerg eggs, explicitly stating this was a last resort. For those without civilization, they simply scattered Zerg eggs to cultivate Zerg swarms.
Ou Zhanpeng couldn't help but lament: If, one day in the future, the Zerg swarms were to spiral out of control, becoming an ever-expanding Zerg plague like in the game... humanity would be in for a much bigger problem!