I handed over to another world

Ever since the panic caused by the "Devourer" dissipated, the Red Dragon Association has quickly resumed their previous high-level interstellar exploration status. The Dyson Sphere Project in the solar system has completed the first phase as originally planned. The celebration of the completion of the first phase of the Dyson Sphere Project was dazzling in the holographic projection.

Chen Lin stood on the viewing platform, with the Planetary Development Agency's giant holographic star map behind him - the sun was gently wrapped in a translucent energy grid, and tens of thousands of energy relay stations were strung together in orbit like pearls, delivering endless clean energy to Earth, Mars, Jupiter colonies, and even to industrial clusters in the more distant asteroid belt.

The energy from the stars was almost inexhaustible for human civilization at that time, so many of the original strategies and living habits had to be completely changed.

"The energy conversion efficiency reaches 97.8%,"

The chief technical officer excitedly reported to Chen Lin in front of him, "The output of the first phase alone is enough to support the operation of the entire solar system civilization for three thousand years!"

Chen Lin nodded slightly, and the audience burst into applause, but Chen Lin's gaze passed through the cheering crowd and fell on the dim light spot on the edge of the star map marked as "Harvester Ruins".

Although the Devourer bypassed the solar system last year, the mysteries it left behind remain unsolved - what do those emptied stars and those two-dimensional planets mean?
Even though the Red Dragon Association has dragged the entire human civilization into the second-level civilization, when they face super-existences like the Devourer, they still have a strong sense of powerlessness.

After all, if we calculate by the level of civilization, a natural interstellar creature like the Devourer is enough to destroy many so-called second-level civilizations just by its size.

"President," Vice President Li approached and lowered his voice, "The Planetary Development Agency just received a report from the Pluto Observatory that abnormal gravitational fluctuations were found in the outer part of the Kuiper Belt."

Chen Lin frowned and called up the real-time data.

At the edge of the solar system, some invisible "ripples" are disturbing the interstellar dust, forming regular ripples - like someone gently knocking on an invisible door.

“What did the Development Agency say?”

"The information they provided was not much, but data exploration showed that it was a reconnaissance ship from an external civilization. The Development Agency would like you to approve contact with them."

Chen Lin nodded slightly, his eyes still fixed on the ripple-like gravitational fluctuations.

"Contact is allowed, but activate the Level 1 alert protocol. All deep space defense arrays are on standby to ensure that the other party is parked outside the orbit of Mars."

"Also, tell Zhang Fengwu not to cause any accidents for me."

Vice President Li quickly conveyed the order, and a circle of red boundary lines immediately lit up on the holographic star map, marking the safe range for permitted contact. The entire process was completed so quickly that it took only a few minutes - if the Red Dragon Association had not mastered the means of interstellar communication, it would have taken a long time to transmit a message.

Now with instant interstellar communication, everything has become faster.

The orders issued by the Red Dragon Association can reach areas outside the solar system in a few seconds, which basically ensures that the Red Dragon Association has sufficient control over remote fleets.

After receiving permission from the association, the Development Agency began to dispatch reconnaissance ships to try to establish communication with the reconnaissance ships of this external civilization. Three hours later, a peculiarly shaped aircraft appeared on the outskirts of the Kuiper Belt.

This starship of an external civilization is streamlined throughout, and its surface is covered with a liquid metal-like substance that constantly changes color under the light of the stars.

The most amazing thing is that the spacecraft does not seem to have thrusters in the traditional sense - it glides gracefully through the universe like a feather blown by the solar wind.

"The energy readings are unusually stable,"

The Chief Technician stared at the data screen. "They are probably using space curvature drive technology, which is at least one generation more advanced than our current engines."

Chen Lin saw the first piece of information sent by the other party through the quantum communication channel. It was a pattern composed of a complex spectral sequence. After analysis, it presented a star map - a part of a certain arm of the Milky Way, in which a bright spot was flashing regularly.

"These are coordinates," the linguist quickly deciphered. "They come from the Cygnus Beta Galaxy 1300 light years away, and call themselves the 'Morning Star Community.'"

"What's their purpose?"

"Currently, the people from the Planetary Development Agency are still communicating with them via text, and the communication between the two sides is not very smooth yet."

Chen Lin nodded. He knew that this kind of thing itself could not be rushed, and the initial exchanges between the two civilizations were always tentative.

As contact deepens, more information is decoded.

This civilization has reached the early stage of level three and is adept at space folding technology. They tracked some kind of "cosmic-level energy disturbance" to the solar system, and data comparison showed that the characteristics of this disturbance were highly consistent with the traces left by the Devourer when it passed by last year.

"President Chen,"

The diplomatic hologram of the other party suddenly said in fluent Chinese, "We have observed that you have successfully implemented the Dyson Sphere Project. But with all due respect, this is like lighting a torch in a storm - you are attracting attention that should not exist."

The communications room suddenly became quiet.

Chen Lin noticed that when the other party said the last half of the sentence, there was an unnatural delay in the translator, as if it was deliberately weakening a sensitive word.

"Can you explain it in more detail?"

Chen Lin asked back calmly.

The three-dimensional projection of the Morning Star Diplomat suddenly twisted for a moment, and anxious ripples appeared on its liquid metal surface: "Some beings will hunt along the energy gradient. Your large-scale transformation of stars is like a bonfire in a dark forest. It will always attract the attention of some beasts in the forest."

……

Zhou Rui took off his space suit and walked into the wheat field under the dome.

The escape to the outer galaxy three years ago caused him to lose half of his fleet, but he also brought back key data about the Devourer - the geometric patterns displayed by those black veins at the microscopic level are now being used to improve the quantum transmission technology of the Dyson sphere.

The ears of wheat rustled between his fingers. The light from the Dyson Sphere Relay Station in the distance shone through the dome, dyeing the entire field a light gold.

This genetically modified wheat can complete the entire cycle from sowing to harvesting within 72 hours and is the staple food of the Martian colony. Although these things were originally called genetically modified foods on Earth and were always promoted as unhealthy, in today's interstellar era, these genetically modified staple foods are actually extremely normal things.

But at this moment, Zhou Rui's attention was all on the encrypted channel flashing on his personal terminal - the Morning Star Community contact briefing that the Red Dragon Association had just sent out to the public.

"Commander Zhou!"

An engineer came running over, panting. "Deep Space Probe-7 sent back images. You have to see this!"

A holographic screen unfolded above the wheat waves, revealing an icy dwarf planet.

Its surface should have been barren, but now there stood six symmetrical black square monuments, made of exactly the same material as the Devourer's veins.

The most creepy thing is that a dark red ball of light with a diameter of one kilometer is suspended in the center of the square monument - it pulsates quietly like a sleeping heart.

Zhou Rui's pupils suddenly contracted. This scene was completely consistent with the "hunting mark" mentioned in the Morning Star diplomat's warning.

He thought about it for a while, and quickly connected to Chen Lin's quantum communication: "Director, we may have found the 'lighthouse' left by the Devourer!"

At the same time, in the contact zone outside Pluto's orbit, the Morningstar spacecraft suddenly changed its form.

Countless tiny bumps appeared on the surface of the liquid metal, like hairs suddenly standing up on the skin. "You have triggered the early warning mechanism."

The diplomat's projection began to flicker erratically. "We can only wish you good luck."

"Damn it!"

Chen Lin slammed the table suddenly. "I've encountered this mess again. How come I haven't had a peaceful day since I came up?"

He finished his complaints quickly, but still had to take seriously the situation that would arise next. The think tank and the top leaders of the entire association would need to clean up the mess.

……

On the bridge of the flagship "Xuanyuan", the captain was staring at the dwarf planet on the holographic star map - six black square monuments surrounded the dark red light ball, like some kind of ancient sacrificial site.

"The energy readings continue to climb,"

The technical officer behind him said in a tense voice, "The activity of the 'seed' has increased by 48% in the past 300 hours. It is absorbing the surrounding dark matter!"

Zhou Rui stood in front of the tactical table, his fingers sliding quickly on the holographic interface: "The Planetary Development Agency's fleet has been assembled, a total of 47 battleships, equipped with the latest antimatter cannons and quantum collapse bombs, but according to the intelligence provided by the Morning Star Community, physical attacks may not be able to completely destroy it."

"Then try another approach."

The captain turned to the science team, "Analyze the structure of the monuments and find their energy nodes!"

The fleet deployed outside the dwarf planet's orbit within three days, surrounding the target in a fan shape.

The first group of drones rushed towards the black monolith. Their mission was simple - to scan the energy flow on the surface of the monolith at close range.

However, just as the drone approached within 100 kilometers, something strange happened.

The dark red ball of light suddenly pulsated violently, an invisible ripple spread out, and the signals of all the drones disappeared at the same time. The surveillance footage finally froze at the moment when they were "flattened" into a two-dimensional plane by some force.

"Space dimensionality reduction attack!"

The Science Director yelled, "Same technology as used by Galactus in the Outer Systems!"

The captain slammed his fist on the console. "Activate Plan B! All ships retreat to a safe distance and prepare to launch the countermeasures!"

The device was actually modified by the Red Dragon Association based on the dimensional technology left over from the Reaper civilization. It can create a miniature "pseudo-vacuum" in local space and can theoretically annihilate material structures of any dimension. It can also be regarded as an exclusive weapon for dealing with this incident.

The hedge device detached from the belly of the Xuanyuan and flew towards the dwarf planet with a blue tail flame.

At the same time, the black square monument seemed to sense the threat. Dark red lines lit up on the six monuments at the same time, and the pulsation frequency of the light ball suddenly increased.

"The curvature of space begins to distort!"

The navigator's voice was filled with panic, "We are being pulled towards a dwarf planet!"

The entire fleet seemed to be caught in an invisible vortex, and the metal of the ships groaned under the heavy burden.

The captain of the Xuanyuan ship stared at the countdown.

5 seconds... 4 seconds...

The surface of the light ball cracked, and the familiar "eye" opened again, with the shadow of the entire fleet reflected in the pupil.

3 seconds... 2 seconds...

The hedge device suddenly disintegrated, and the outer shell peeled off to reveal its core - a crystal clear dodecahedron, which was a replica of the high-dimensional structure left behind by the Devourer.

1 seconds!
The dodecahedron collided with the ball of light, and there was no explosion, no flash, only absolute darkness spreading across the surface of the dwarf planet.

All monitoring equipment failed at the same time at that moment, and the laws of physics seemed to lose their meaning at this moment.

When the view was restored, the dwarf planet still existed, but the six square monuments and the light ball had disappeared without a trace.

Instead, there is a perfectly circular depression on the surface of the planet, and the interior is as smooth as a mirror, as if a piece of space had been "dug out" by some entity.

"We...succeeded?"

Zhou Rui looked at the scan results in disbelief.

The scientific team quickly gave the answer: "The 'seed' was indeed eliminated, but it sent out some kind of signal at the last moment. According to tracking, the signal pointed to the center of the Milky Way."

The captain of the Xuanyuan ship's face suddenly became solemn. He knew what that meant - the Devourer might come back!

But they couldn't care less about that at this moment. They had successfully completed the task assigned to them by the association. At least in the short term, they didn't need to worry about the threat of the so-called Devourer.

……

At this time in the office of Shangdu, Vice President Li pushed an encrypted document in front of Chen Lin: "The Morning Star Community sent a new warning that there is a super civilization relic in the center of the Milky Way. The Devourer is likely to have 'awakened' from there."

Chen Lin looked at the Dyson sphere network holographically projected in the room. It was the brilliant light of human civilization shining brightly in space.

"Pass the order down," he said slowly, "activate the Spark Plan that we set up earlier and begin sending an expeditionary fleet to the Andromeda Galaxy."

"Also, we must do our best to analyze all the technologies provided by the Reaper and Morningstar. Next time, we may face the real Dark Forest hunters."

Chen Lin said to Vice President Li: "Nothing happened when we didn't come into contact with anything in outer space. Now that we have come into contact with it, aliens and external civilizations have begun to appear as if they were strolling through the streets, without the slightest sign or psychological preparation..."

Vice President Li also laughed immediately: "President Chen's words are very vivid, but we are not the Red Dragon Association back then. Many challenges now would have been civilization-destroying to us back then, but we can still solve them easily."

"That is true at present,"

Chen Lin sighed slightly, "But what about the future? The things we have encountered in the past few times have become more and more outrageous. I always feel that there is something big waiting for us."

"Ugh……"

"I'm so tired!" (End of this chapter)