The bridge of the Starship.
In the center of the cabin, a large expanse of light spots representing stars shone brilliantly. Ou Zhanpeng gently tapped one, marking it a conspicuous red.
The marked star had already occupied a significant portion of the star chart. Sparsely scattered yet interconnected, they formed a sparse yet dense great net.
On one side of the star net was a large area of light spots marked in blue; these were star regions already occupied by star beasts.
On the other side of the star net was a large area of unmarked light spots, indicating that all these stars were normal.
Near the star net, there were also some stars marked in brown, indicating unknown situations.
Ou Zhanpeng withdrew his hand and let out a long sigh.
Ling Xiao asked curiously, "How many have we marked?"
"Over 700," Ou Zhanpeng replied.
The star net spanned 140 light-years in length and 80 light-years in width, with a total area of 12,000 square light-years.
For humanity, this defense net was so vast that it far exceeded the imagination of most people.
Even Ou Zhanpeng, who had personally laid out this defense net, felt a sense of unreality recalling it.
That was over seven hundred planets! For this, the military had dispatched over a hundred warships and deployed over 600 million insect eggs.
In human history, there had never been such a massive undertaking.
The solar system was not far behind the star net, but given the net's coverage, even if the star beasts bypassed it, they would only spread in other directions and would not affect the solar system.
However, the star net was entirely supported by the insect swarm, and it had been proven that the insect swarm could not stop the star beasts; they could only buy humanity more time.
"Those who do not plan for eternity cannot plan for a moment; those who do not plan for the whole cannot plan for a part."
Although it would take several hundred years for the beast hordes to reach the solar system, this was not a reason for humanity to remain idle. Instead, it served as pressure and motivation for human development.
The star beasts not only threatened human safety but also the safety of prehistoric civilizations. Not long after, a joint investigation team formed by the three major prehistoric civilizations arrived at the front lines.
Ou Zhanpeng saw Misha's familiar face in the investigation team. Despite their different stances, their relationship was still cordial.
Wars between interstellar civilizations were not much more "civilized" than those between surface civilizations. Massacres and mistreatment of prisoners of war were not uncommon. Humanity's preferential treatment of captives was unique among interstellar civilizations.
Therefore, humanity left a very good impression on Misha, as did the other released prisoners of war.
Ou Zhanpeng found an opportunity to talk to Misha and asked directly, "How do the prehistoric civilizations view the issue of star beasts?"
"With all our might, of course," Misha replied. "Based on the information we have, star beasts are more difficult to deal with than we imagined. No one knows where they come from, but their distribution range is even wider than anticipated. More than one civilization has issued notices to combat star beasts."
"Notices?" Ou Zhanpeng was surprised. "Which civilizations? And in what directions?"
Opening the star chart, Misha marked two areas on it. "It's here."
According to Misha, it was a very powerful civilization. Even if the three prehistoric civilizations and humanity were united, they would not be a match for this civilization.
In Ou Zhanpeng's own estimation, this civilization should be at the same level as the Rohl.
However, this civilization was nearly two hundred light-years away in a straight line from the solar system, with almost no contact with the human world.
Yet, even such a powerful civilization was constantly retreating in the face of the overwhelming star beasts, reportedly having lost dozens of administrative stars.
Ou Zhanpeng looked at the location of this civilization, then at the location of Rohl One, and a thought suddenly struck him: "The civilization you're talking about, is it only this tall?"
"This tall!" Misha raised a finger and measured to the first knuckle.
Ou Zhanpeng extended his large hand, spanning the length of a span.
The two hands, one large and one small, came together, roughly matching in measurement.
Now everything was clear, and Ou Zhanpeng let out a sigh of relief. "I thought so, where did another powerful civilization come from? It turns out to be the Rohl!"
The two continued to communicate, and Ou Zhanpeng learned a lot about the Rohl from Misha.
For example, the Rohl were the most powerful civilization in the entire New Bay Starfield, with countless vassals.
For example, the Rohl's territory spanned hundreds of light-years in diameter, almost occupying half of a spiral arm.
For example, the Rohl had millions of warships, and their technology far surpassed all lower civilizations.
Each achievement filled Ou Zhanpeng with longing.
This was a true interstellar civilization. Compared to the Rohl, humanity was not even a toddling infant.
Humanity's future… was a long and arduous journey!
He wondered how humanity would face the onslaught of the star beasts in a few hundred years.
A few days later, the prehistoric civilization investigation team left with a stomach full of questions after visiting a few planets occupied by the insectoids.
Not long after, Earth received an order from a prehistoric civilization to purchase a large batch of insect eggs, with a request for them to be as powerful as possible.
For this, the researchers under Gong Yiding had to rack their brains.
In the thirty years of accelerated development at the Starship Base, biotechnology had also achieved extraordinary results, but when it came to modifying insectoids, they were still far behind.
The military also wanted stronger insectoids, but the researchers were unable to artificially interfere with the insectoids' genes. They could only rely on natural selection, using the harshest environments and other methods to influence the evolution of insectoids to obtain more powerful giant insects.
This was artificial intervention, and even more so, natural selection. It required not only opportunity but also time.
In terms of dealing with star beasts, the military had not placed all their hopes on the insect swarms. The higher-ups had organized a team specifically to study how to deal with star beasts.
"Don't be afraid of wild ideas. Any idea can be proposed. We still have several hundred years. It doesn't matter if it can't be realized now; what if it is realized in the future?" Zhou Guangyi said.
Thus, a group of people unleashed their imaginations and quickly found the correct research direction: using insect swarms or fleets to combat star beasts had been proven ineffective, so only stellar-level disasters could potentially stop the star beasts.
What was a stellar-level disaster?
The answer was simple: gamma-ray bursts produced by supernova explosions. This was the only natural force known to humanity that could eliminate star beasts over a wide area.
There were abundant stars along the path of the star beasts' advance, and planets already occupied by star beasts could be eliminated by detonating stars.
It should be noted that supernova explosions were indiscriminate. Their effective kill radius could reach over 50 light-years. If the star's mass was large enough, hundreds of light-years could be significantly affected. It was the method with the least cost and the best effect.
Bar none.
The problem was that with humanity's current technological level, it was impossible to detonate any star.
Even the most powerful hydrogen bomb would not be sufficient.
For this reason, the military organized a large team of astronomers and physicists to specifically study how to harm stars.
"It's not necessary to detonate them completely. As long as we can induce a solar flare, we can eliminate all star beasts in a certain area. It would be even better if it could be a directed detonation," Shan Qiuyu said.
A supernova explosion was a complete detonation. A flare could be understood as a small-scale unstable event occurring during a star's stable period, or as a directed detonation.
If several stars could be detonated simultaneously, causing the resulting gamma-ray bursts to overlap and create a larger kill radius, that would be even better.
In short, it was about using stars to eliminate star beasts.
Furthermore, this method was not always applicable. It had to be implemented before the beast hordes approached the solar system, or rather, enough buffer space had to be left to prevent gamma-ray bursts from affecting Earth.
The method had been devised, but how to achieve it became a problem for Gong Yiding.
No known weapon could achieve similar results. The only thing Gong Yiding could think of was to use a relatively large celestial body to directly collide with a star, which might achieve the desired effect.
But that was only a possibility, with no certainty of the actual outcome.
Ou Zhanpeng believed that since the Brainfish had the ability to ignite Jupiter, aliens must have means to influence stars. He even conducted a bilateral exchange with the prehistoric civilizations for this purpose.
The results were regrettable. Although the technological level of the prehistoric civilizations was far superior to humanity's, they lacked technology in this area.
It made sense; who would aim for their own sun for no reason? If their own sun were damaged, how would everyone live?
There was also the fact that the prehistoric civilizations unanimously believed that the Starship Base might possess technology capable of influencing stars, and they strongly suspected that humanity was searching for something they already possessed.
Ou Zhanpeng was so angry he cursed. Others might not know the situation with the Starship, but how could he not understand it?
Although the Prophet had left behind much technology, there were no weapons specifically targeting stars, and it did not achieve the effect humanity desired.
Ou Zhanpeng simply leaked information through space pirates, attempting to find suitable technology through other channels.
Several months passed in the blink of an eye. Ou Zhanpeng had not received any good news, to the point that he was about to lose patience and planned to take the Starship himself to see if there were more powerful civilizations in other star regions.
It was at this juncture that Ou Zhanpeng suddenly received a meeting notice.
Half an hour later, Ou Zhanpeng entered the virtual meeting room punctually. As his gaze swept across the room, he immediately spotted Gong Yiding and many other familiar faces.
Everyone greeted each other warmly, and soon, the meeting officially began.
Zhou Guangyi personally chaired the meeting: "Let's begin. The situation is as follows: Earlier today, the Interstellar Foreign Affairs Department received an invitation forwarded by the Second Civilization, inviting us to participate in a star conference hosted by the Rohl."
A star conference?
Everyone was a little bewildered. What was this?
Zhou Guangyi continued: "According to the Second Civilization, the Rohl intend to gather all civilizations in the entire star domain to unite and jointly deal with the threat posed by the star beasts... We have discussed it among ourselves and think this is a good opportunity."
"That's right. We can present the Stellar Plan at the conference. If all civilizations, including the Rohl, are unable to find a solution... we can also unite and jointly research it, perhaps finding a way!" Shan Qiuyu said.
"Even if we don't find a solution, so many civilizations can connect with more civilizations, and perhaps some civilization will have a way," Mu Xingyu said.
Zhou Guangyi then turned the conversation back: "If anyone has any thoughts or opinions, please feel free to speak your mind."
The meeting room was silent, everyone deep in thought.
Gong Yiding's mind worked the fastest. He cleared his throat, drawing everyone's attention to himself: "In principle, I agree to participate in the Rohl's conference, but how we participate must be carefully considered... As of now, only the prehistoric civilizations know that the Starship Base is in our hands. If we participate in the conference, the most important point is not to expose the Starship, lest we invite more trouble."
For the peace of Earth, the military had long ago reached an agreement with the prehistoric civilizations to share the Prophet's technology, transferring some of it under certain conditions. Therefore, the possibility of the prehistoric civilizations leaking information was not high.
However, the Black Horn people also knew about the Starship Base, so it was not surprising that the Rohl knew this information.
If the Rohl were to cause trouble for humanity using this as an excuse, it would be difficult to handle.
Zhou Guangyi nodded: "You mean, we shouldn't send the Starship?"
Gong Yiding nodded: "It's best not to use the Starship."
Ou Zhanpeng quickly interjected: "My opinion is the opposite. The Starship is the most suitable. It is our strongest warship, not only representing humanity's dignity but also serving as a necessary deterrent."
The law of the universe is survival of the fittest.
If humanity does not display sufficient strength, it will surely attract the attention of other civilizations, and at that time, the losses will outweigh the gains.
Zhou Guangyi also nodded: "Let's still let the Starship go. We can disguise it as a Flame-class, can't we?"
Since Zhou Guangyi had said so, Gong Yiding had nothing more to say.
However, he had already made plans in his mind, intending to figure out the situation of the Starship as soon as possible, preferably to reverse-engineer one, so that Ou Zhanpeng wouldn't lose the warship one day by being too reckless.
Next, everyone engaged in in-depth discussions regarding the conference, such as how to propose the Stellar Plan, how to deal with those who might covet the Starship Base, and how to handle unfamiliar civilizations.
By the time all discussions were concluded, it was several hours later.
As soon as the meeting ended, Ou Zhanpeng began preparations. The crew belonging to the Starship received the news and returned to the warship as quickly as possible.
Gong Yiding found Ou Zhanpeng and handed him a batch of robots.
In addition to mechas three and four meters tall, there was also a batch of small robots only 20 centimeters tall.
Ou Zhanpeng was amused and exasperated: "Are they necessary?"
"How can they not be necessary?" Gong Yiding retorted indignantly. "No matter when, we cannot let our spirits be low, but when communicating with the Rohl, we cannot be arrogant. This is called being neither humble nor overbearing, a tradition passed down from our ancestors!"
Ou Zhanpeng looked astonished: "I don't think 'neither humble nor overbearing' means this."
Height and weight were a result of natural evolution, and had nothing to do with being neither humble nor overbearing. Attitude was the most important thing, wasn't it?
"Just take them. What if they are useful?" Gong Yiding was insistent. "Don't underestimate these things. I've equipped you with everything. If needed, they can fully engage in battle. Do you understand what I mean?"
Ou Zhanpeng suddenly understood. He was worried that he might get into a fight with the Rohl!
Well, it wasn't entirely groundless concern.
"Alright, I'll take them," Ou Zhanpeng said.
Rohl
Humanity is too crazy!