238: Chapter 238 The Enemy's Stance: A Cold-Blooded Killing Machine
Three hours remaining until the scheduled engagement point.
On the bridge of the soaring heavens, the atmosphere was strained to the absolute limit. Everyone worked in silence at their posts, with only the sound of data streams refreshing and low-voiced command reports echoing through the deathly silent void.
General Xu Rushan stood before a massive holographic star map, staring intently at three red light points that were closing in frantically. Their speed did not decrease, and their trajectories did not deviate; it was as if they didn't care at all that a human fleet was waiting for them ahead.
"They're coming," Lu Chuan's voice rang out, low and raspy. "Distance: 170 million kilometers. They are about to enter the optimal detection range of the long-range sensors."
General Xu Rushan nodded without turning around. "Initiate full-spectrum active detection. I want to see them clearly—every single detail."
"Yes, sir!"
The moment the order was given, the massive sensor array at the bow of the soaring heavens began operating at full power. Invisible detection beams shot through the void at the speed of light toward the three approaching figures.
A few seconds later, the echo signals began to return.
Everyone on the bridge was stunned.
On the holographic screen, the three targets that were originally just red dots were now being "peeled back" layer by layer, revealing their true, suffocating forms.
The first target—target a.
It was a constantly shifting mass of black crystal. No, not a "mass." It was countless black crystals frantically splitting, recombining, splitting again, and recombining again in a way that completely defied the laws of physics. The surface of each crystal was covered in fine, dark purple cracks resembling capillaries. Those cracks constantly opened and closed; every time they opened, countless spatial ripples, invisible to the naked eye, surged from the fissures, tearing everything around them—tiny dust particles, residual radiation, even space itself—into fragments.
"Spatial fault cutting..." a monitor murmured to himself, his voice carrying an uncontrollable tremble. "Those cracks... are wounds in space itself. They aren't 'attacking'; they are 'creating wounds.' Any matter that touches those cracks will be instantly torn into elementary particles."
The second target—target b.
It was a cloud of grey mist that was constantly collapsing and expanding. But that mist was composed of countless particles smaller than atoms, invisible to the naked eye. Each particle spun frantically at near-light speed, rubbing, colliding, and annihilating one another. Every collision released a trace amount of lethal radiation; countless collisions layered together formed a halo of destruction sufficient to accelerate the decay of any matter.
"Matter decay rays..." The monitor's voice trembled even more. "Those particles... are 'decay catalysts.' They don't attack on their own, but they cause any matter they touch to kill itself. Metal turns to powder, flesh and blood turn to ash, and energy is decomposed into the most basic thermal radiation..."
The third target—target c.
This was the most bizarre one. When the sensors attempted to lock onto it, all detection beams were swallowed by an invisible force the instant they approached it. On the screen, that position held only a patch of pure, absolute, hollow darkness.
"Gravitational singularity projection..." The monitor's voice was now nearly a groan. "It's not a ship. It's a 'living black hole.' The gravitational field around it is distorted to the extreme. Anything that approaches it—light, matter, energy—will be swallowed by it, never to escape."
On the holographic screen, all three targets were magnified simultaneously, presented before everyone.
Black crystals, grey mist, and hollow darkness.
Three distinct forms, three distinct methods of destruction.
But they had one thing in common—they didn't possess a single shred of "life force" that a human could understand.
No temperature, no emotion, no hesitation.
Only pure, cold, unwavering destruction.
General Xu Rushan stared at those three figures, silent for a full ten seconds.
He spoke. His voice was as calm as if he were stating a perfectly ordinary fact:
"This is the enemy we must face."
No one on the bridge answered.
But everyone's eyes were fixed on those three figures. In those eyes, there was fear and shock, but even more so, there was a near-manic fighting spirit born from being pushed to the brink.
"Order the entire army," General Xu Rushan's voice suddenly rose, "activate all combat systems. Shields to full power, preheat the main cannons, and prepare the fighter squadrons for sortie."
"We will not let them approach Earth. We stop them right here, outside Jupiter's orbit."
"Even if we die, we must stop them."
The orders from the soaring heavens spread instantly through the entire fleet via the quantum network.
Twelve guang han - destroyer class vessels activated their shields simultaneously. Pale blue energy barriers lit up around each warship, like twelve metal flowers blooming in the void.
Thirty-six Black Bird-class aerospace fighters broke away from the formation, creating three dense interception nets. In the cockpits of every fighter, young pilots stared intently at the three approaching figures, their palms drenched in cold sweat.
Eight thunder department-ii orbital railguns began adjusting their firing coordinates. Their massive barrels pointed simultaneously toward the direction of the three targets; deep within the muzzles, a faint blue light began to condense.
The entire fleet was like a steel behemoth with all its claws bared, quietly waiting for its prey in that dark expanse of space.
But at this moment, no one felt like a "hunter."
Because those three approaching figures were the true, natural-born hunters—born for slaughter.
On the bridge of the soaring heavens, a monitor suddenly cried out in surprise:
"Report! The targets... they are changing!"
On the holographic screen, those three figures began a bizarre and chilling "transformation" simultaneously.
target a—the black crystal—began to frantically split and proliferate. Countless smaller crystals peeled away from the main body, forming a dense "crystal cloud" around it. Dark purple spatial cracks began to appear on the surface of every single crystal.
"It's... it's creating 'sub-units'?" Lu Chuan's voice was filled with disbelief.
"No," General Xu Rushan stared fixedly at the screen, "it's 'unfolding.' It's turning itself into a net. A dense, inescapable death net woven from countless spatial wounds."
target b—the grey mist—began to frantically expand and diffuse. The originally somewhat concentrated "mist cloud" was now turning into a grey "sea of death" covering an area of over several thousand kilometers at a speed visible to the naked eye. Every corner of that "sea" was filled with those lethal particles capable of accelerating matter decay.
"It's contaminating space," General Xu Rushan's voice grew even lower. "It wants to turn the entire battlefield into a 'decay zone.' Any matter that enters that area will be slowly decomposed, corroded, and killed."
target c—the hollow darkness—began to... move.
No, not moving. It was "jumping."
It flickered in the void, appearing thousands of kilometers away; another flicker, and it appeared thousands of kilometers away again. Every flicker was accompanied by a violent distortion of the surrounding space, as if the entire universe were groaning in pain at its existence.
"Spatial jumping..." The monitor's voice was now near collapse. "It... it can teleport. We can't lock onto it at all!"
The bridge fell into a deathly silence.
Three targets, three different tactical forms. One Weaving Net, one contaminating, and one jumping.
They hadn't even entered effective engagement range yet, and they had already begun to dismantle the human fleet's psychological defenses in such an inconceivable manner.
General Xu Rushan took a deep breath and clenched his fists.
"Order the entire army," his voice remained as steady as a rock, "no matter how they change, our mission remains the same. Stop them."
"Show them what it means to be—living people."
On Earth, in all the underground shelters.
On the massive holographic screens, the terrifying forms of the three Scavengers were being broadcast live. The black crystal, the grey mist, and the hollow darkness cast an indelible shadow in the eyes of countless people.
No one spoke.
Old John sat in a corner holding little Amelia. The young girl's body was trembling slightly, but she bit her lip hard and did not cry out.
"Grandpa," she asked softly, "those... those things, what are they?"
Old John was silent for a few seconds. He looked down into his granddaughter's clear eyes.
"Those are the enemy," he said, his voice raspy but firm. "They are the enemy we must defeat."
Little Amelia nodded and buried her face in her grandfather's chest.
She didn't ask anymore.
Because what those things were didn't matter.
What mattered was that the people waiting for them in the stars would surely win.
Because Grandpa said they would surely win.