" Zhonghua, I've considered many possibilities, but only this one can explain what's happening now: the out-of-control warship shows no signs of damage or attack, and there are no other warships or weapons from any other civilization around it. Only the Nebula Consciousness can explain how they could take control of the warship right under our noses."
"The general is right, but if the nebulae truly possess consciousness, why would they attack our fleet?"
"That's why I'm here, Academician. You can study how nebula species exist if they really do, what their characteristics are, how they behave, and how to kill them."
"General, I can't answer your other questions right now, but I do know a little about killing them. Consciousness must have a material carrier. Speaking of which, we know that this carrier doesn't necessarily have to be a biological body. Any carrier that can transmit chemical or electrical signals is possible, such as a cloud. The way to kill consciousness is to destroy this carrier, or to use a stronger signal than the carrier to impact it, disrupting the original signaling mechanism, and then the consciousness will disappear."
"Is it really that simple?" Wen Zhonghua asked.
"Of course, but don't underestimate the power of this consciousness carrier and signal strength. If Nebula Consciousness really exists, the fact that it can survive in such a harsh environment of stellar explosions and various radiation shocks means it must have some strength. It's impossible for it to be dispersed by one or two bombs or high-energy lasers. Moreover, I estimate that once consciousness is formed, it will also possess some kind of field. Consciousness uses this field to move, attack, defend, and so on."
" Academician Xiao, put aside your other work for now. Quickly select relevant scientists to form a special task force to study this matter, and prioritize developing an attack plan—the sooner the better."
"Okay, I'll get started right away."
One minute before Zhang Yuanshan's warship lost contact with Earth Two, everything inside the warship was intact. A cloud of gas, several hundred meters high, had already reached the interior of the warship. Its thinness made it unnoticed by Zhang Yuanshan Zhang Yuanshan. This cloud of gas began to shrink until it was the same size as Zhang Yuanshan, and it even mimicked his appearance, only lacking color and weight. The gas Zhang Yuanshan slowly drifted towards Zhang Yuanshan...
Seeing an object exactly like himself in the distant starry sky, and that this object had silently appeared in his warship, Zhang Yuanshan's heart immediately raced, and countless goosebumps rose all over his body. Zhang Yuanshan finally understood why the warship had lost contact; the object in front of him must be a higher species, but this species was not a living being.
Fortunately, Zhang Yuanshan had military experience, and he quickly calmed himself down, without panicking. Three seconds later, Zhang Yuanshan...
"General, don't come any closer, don't come any closer! An unidentified species has appeared here. They've invaded our warship! General, General, General..." In the end, only eight words were sent before the gas creature severed the last connection between Zhang Yuanshan and Earth Two. From invading the warship to cutting off all communication, it took only a minute. Hu Yu also only received the eight-word message and did not see the gas.
Looking at the gaseous creature before him, Zhang Yuanshan took two deep breaths to calm himself down. The gaseous creature did not make any further moves, but simply stared at Zhang Yuanshan without moving.
"Who are you?" Zhang Yuanshan asked. He wasn't sure if the creature in front of him could hear him or understand him. However, the fleet had witnessed so many alien civilizations, and communication between civilizations wasn't as complicated as people thought in Earth's past. Living beings always choose the simplest and most convenient way to communicate, such as sound waves or electromagnetic waves, rather than using basic particle data to build a language system as previously imagined. Simplifying things for the sake of complexity is something almost no intelligent being would choose. If there's a smooth paved road, why would anyone detour thousands of miles and cross mountains?
"Who am I?" the gaseous cloud species seemed to be thinking, "I am Zhang Yuanshan, I am you, you are me, hehehe~~~" The gaseous species let out a chilling laugh.
"Stop playing tricks. I'll ask you one more time, what are you?"
"I am... Nebula Person, and I am now ordered to take command of your warship."
"Don't even think about it."
Hehehe~~~
At this moment, Zhang Yuanshan's blood boiled, and he was no longer afraid. He had already drawn his sidearm and pointed it at the Nebula Person in front of him.
"Hehehe~~~" The gaseous Zhang Yuanshan expanded into a gaseous state again, enveloping Zhang Yuanshan at an extremely fast speed. Zhang Yuanshan raised his gun and fired. Bang, bang, bang, several gunshots rang out. The high-explosive shells passed directly through the gas and crashed into the warship. The energy of the explosion shattered the main control room, sending fragments flying everywhere. The damaged control panel crackled with sparks.
Two seconds later, Zhang Yuanshan fell straight down, convulsing on the warship's surface. His eyes were vacant, his legs were kicking wildly, and his hands were flailing about; his entire body was completely out of control.
Half a minute later, the Nebula Person completely merged into Zhang Yuanshan's body. Zhang Yuanshan stood up again, his lips curled up, and after a few sharp laughs, he controlled the Wind Master, who was still barely able to move, and disappeared from the scene of the accident.
On Earth Two, Hu Yu Wen Zhonghua piloted their spaceship to a two-kilometer-long engineering ship in high orbit. This engineering ship served as the production base for the entire antimatter. After arriving in the Nebula Region, antimatter was almost gone. Now, without a powerful fleet escort or an early warning system, Hu Yu had no choice but to move the antimatter production and storage base into space. Otherwise, a wave of attacks would destroy him.
Thanks to the maturity of directional magnetic field line technology, antimatter manufacturing machines can be made as small as a palm (details can be found in Chapter 12: Gravity Bomb, and will not be elaborated here). The entire warship is filled with rows of racks hundreds of meters high, densely packed with these antimatter manufacturing machines. After these antimatter particles are manufactured, they are transported through magnetic field line pipes to a larger magnetic container for storage.
Over the past few centuries, the rate of antimatter production has gradually increased from a few kilograms per year to several hundred kilograms per day. In addition to the increase in equipment, technological progress is also an important reason.
Hu Yu sought out Chen Wenhui, the supervisor in charge of antimatter manufacturing and storage, a middle-aged man from the Earth era. Undeniably, Hu Yu had a greater trust in people from the Earth era, as they had endured the brutal trials of the Zerg swarm and possessed more resilient character. Many important positions were filled by people from the Earth era. While Hu Yu felt the same way about those born in the fleet era, important positions often required them to achieve greater results, especially crucial management roles like those related to antimatter, which were mostly filled by people from the Earth era.
" Supervisor Chen, what is the current antimatter storage level?"
"General, we currently produce about 800 kilograms of antimatter per day. However, when we first arrived, a lot of equipment was damaged, and production was halted for a long time. It wasn't until the last twenty years or so that we gradually recovered to our original production level. We now have about 2,100 tons of antimatter stored. If we add some more equipment, it will be easy to reach a daily output of one ton. We also have design redundancy here."
"I will immediately add equipment for you and increase production speed to two tons per day within a year."
" Old Hu, what are you trying to do? The current antimatter production rate is sufficient for the fleet's needs."
"I'm going to blow this nebula up!!!"