Chapter 369: Phantom of Varela

EL13697101 Universe, New Varela, Great Star Plain.

The cold winter has ended, and the withered plain has regained some greenery, and the frozen snow on the distant mountains has begun to melt gradually.

The snow water gathers into a river, flowing through the southwest of the plain with great momentum, and finally merges into an ocean.

Compared with before winter, the Great Star Plain has obviously changed a lot.

Buildings built with high-strength concrete rise from the ground on this vast plain, and the smooth roads that extend in all directions divide this plain into functional areas with obvious characteristics - residential, office, production, industry...

The huge, cylindrical nuclear fusion reactor is quietly located in a corner of the plain, providing sufficient energy for this super-large-scale urban agglomeration covering the entire plain.

Thanks to the rich technical reserves of the original rebels and the atlas of planetary resource distribution provided by Chen Fan, in just one winter, the Varela civilization living on the Great Star Plain has made a great stride from the primitive and backward agricultural era into the industrial age.

In the central area of ​​Xinghui City, on the roof of the Central Parliament Building of Varela.

The woman was wearing a purple-gold robe, with long hair like a waterfall falling to her waist, swaying slightly with the breeze.

She frowned slightly and stared at the infinitely distant sky.

A slightly frivolous sound of footsteps came from behind her, interrupting the woman's meditation.

She turned her head and looked behind her. Seeing the appearance of the person coming, she showed a bit of respect on her face: "Meng Lao..."

Hearing Xu Huai's address, Meng Zhixin, whose hair was already completely white, flashed a faint smile on his face, but then he also cast his eyes to the sky full of clouds in the distance.

Looking at the huge monster in the sky, Meng Zhixin's eyes suddenly gave birth to a bit of melancholy.

"The first exploration team has sent back the news."

Meng Zhixin coughed lightly twice, tightened his coat, and said softly: "Unfortunately, they did not find any abnormalities in the target area, except for the fleet."

Hearing this, Xu Huai frowned even tighter.

She pursed her lips and cast her eyes towards the distant sky again.

In the dense clouds, a large number of broken starships were quietly hovering in the air, with traces of the war still left on their hulls.

Some smaller starships were suspended above the ground, while the larger ones stood between heaven and earth, and even hovered outside the planet's atmosphere!

Thanks to the soft light from an unknown source inside the fleet, the Varela people on the entire Starry Plain could clearly see the silhouette of this broken fleet, whether it was day or night.

"I remember... this fleet seemed to have appeared three days ago?"

Hearing Meng Zhixin's murmur, Xu Huai quickly came to his senses: "Yes."

"Three nights ago, this fleet descended without warning over the forest east of the Xinghui Plain."

Xu Huai's voice did not pause at all: "After the fleet descended, it hovered in the sky."

"On the first day of the fleet's arrival, we tried to send it electromagnetic wave signals, but the other party did not respond."

"The next day, according to the order issued by the Central Council, the detection drone went straight to the forest and tried to explore the fleet, but..."

"The drone passed straight through the fleet. No matter how we tried, the drone could not contact the fleet."

"This fleet is like a phantom, visible but not touchable. I even suspect..."

Before he finished speaking, a burst of hurried footsteps came from behind.

"Chairman Meng! Councillor Xu!"

Before the footsteps stopped, an urgent shout came from behind: "Something happened!"

Meng Zhixin frowned, retracted his gaze, turned around and looked at the person who came: "What's going on?"

The uniformed staff member's face was a little pale, and a trace of fear and panic flashed in the depths of his eyes: "There are people!"

"Forest... There are people in the forest!!"

...

Silence.

The roof of the Central Parliament Building instantly fell into a dead silence.

After a long time, Meng Zhixin exhaled a long breath of turbid air, and his expression became majestic: "What do you mean someone? Who is it?"

"Calm down! Speak properly!!"

"...Yes." The staff swallowed hard, forcibly suppressing the uneasiness and panic in his heart, "Just now, the second exploration team sent back a report via radio communication."

Xu Huai's face was stern.

Unlike the first exploration team, the second exploration team is mainly responsible for the exploration of the forest below the unknown fleet.

Combined with the information reported by the previous staff, an amazing guess rose in Xu Huai's mind.

Could it be...

"The second exploration team, they found humans in the East Forest... No, not humans, but a kind of humanoid creatures that have never been seen before!"

The staff member was excited: "According to the information reported by the exploration team, these creatures look somewhat similar to humans, but with slight differences in details."

"But it is certain that they are definitely highly intelligent creatures."

"Because..." The staff member's pupils trembled slightly, "The exploration team saw that these humanoid creatures were communicating with each other, and even... they were wearing mechanical armor of unknown purpose and various equipment that resembled weapons!"

After these words came out, not to mention Xu Huai, even Meng Zhixin's face was a little horrified!!

"What did you say?!"

Meng Zhixin asked back in a stern voice: "What is the current situation of the second exploration team? Is there any conflict between the two sides?"

"Probably... not." The staff member stammered, "According to the description of the second exploration team, those humanoid creatures seem to be unable to see them."

"Like..."

Meng Zhixin's face was anxious, and his originally calm tone became stern: "Like what?!"

"Like an unknown fleet over the forest." The staff member gritted his teeth, "You can see it, but you can't touch it!"

"The second exploration team has made many attempts to do this. Neither stones nor bullets can touch those highly intelligent humanoid creatures."

"Not only that, these humanoid creatures did not respond to the exploration team's attacks!"

"These humanoid creatures, did they come from that fleet?" Xu Huai's face changed slightly, and he quickly made a guess.

Contrary to Xu Huai's expectation, the staff shook their heads: "There is no direct evidence to prove this. According to the exploration team, these humanoid creatures seem to be unable to see the fleet above the forest."

"They have no substantial interaction with the fleet."

Xu Huai and Meng Zhixin fell silent at the same time.

Suddenly.

A loud exclamation came from the east of Xinghui City, flowing into the ears of everyone along with the cool breeze.

Xu Huai subconsciously cast her eyes to the east of Xinghui City.

Just one glance, she took a breath of cold air:

"Then, what is that?!"

In Xinghui City, a phantom-like, faintly fluorescent tower appeared on the flat road without any warning.

Around the tower, humanoid creatures in mechanical armor were patrolling as if they didn't see the Varela people screaming for help and the rows of concrete houses around them!

"Damn it!"

Meng Zhixin's wrinkled face showed some determination: "The situation has worsened, we can't wait any longer!"

He said in a deep voice: "In the past three days, the people of Xinghui City have been in panic, and even the basic production work has been affected to varying degrees."

"If this continues, the industrial system we have just established will probably collapse rapidly, and then the Varela civilization will regress to the state when it first arrived!" "

You mean..." Xu Huai's heart moved.

For a civilization with independent autonomy, seeking help from the outside world is undoubtedly a bad idea.

Meng Zhixin knew very well that blindly seeking help from Chen Fan and the advanced civilization behind him would not benefit the growth of Varela civilization at all!

For this reason, as soon as he discovered the unknown fleet, he chose to explore and solve it on his own.

But the current situation is obviously beyond the capabilities of Varela civilization, so...

"Ask Mr. Chen Fan for help." In Xu Huai's astonished eyes, Meng Zhixin sighed helplessly, "This matter is definitely not something we can solve."

...

Dangerous Technology Administration, Biological Laboratory.

"... This is roughly the situation."

Meng Zhixin's face was full of helplessness. He turned sideways and showed Chen Fan what Xinghui City looked like at this time -

a series of illusory human figures walked through the city as if no one was around. Whether it was the solid walls made of concrete or the flesh and blood of the Varela people, they could not stop these illusory humanoid creatures.

At the end of the sight, a huge and dilapidated fleet flashed a faint fluorescence in the night.

The largest starships even covered most of the sky of New Varela! !

"Fortunately, these fleets and humanoid creatures will not attack us." Meng Zhixin sighed, "But even so, the production work of Varela civilization has completely stopped. The parliament has spent a lot of energy and can only barely maintain the basic order within the civilization. If it continues like this, I'm afraid..."

At this moment, Chen Fan's attention was not on Meng Zhixin's chattering.

He stared straight at the dilapidated fleet flashing soft fluorescence in the night sky, and a huge wave had already risen in his heart!

This...

Isn't this a ghost fleet? !

Why did it appear on New Varela and stay there for three whole days? !

Chen Fan recalled briefly -

he left the node universe and went to the Human Union main universe through the star gate wormhole exactly three days ago! !

After realizing this, Chen Fan suddenly had an incredible guess in his mind that no one would believe:

This ghost fleet...

couldn't it be because it couldn't find him, so it chose to "wait for it" in his mother civilization? !

"... Mr. Chen Fan?" Meng Zhixin's voice came from the communication channel, interrupting his reverie, "You see, next..." "

..." Chen Fan suddenly came back to his senses, he took a deep breath, squeezed out a few words from his teeth, "Try to maintain the status quo."

"Give me some time, I'll rush back right away!!"

(End of this chapter)