Rejecting Tsinghua and Peking Universities: I Will Lead Harbin Institute of Technology to World Lead

Three years have passed quietly amidst the busyness and waiting.

The Mars terraforming project is halfway complete. The oxygen production facility is operating at full capacity, continuously converting carbon dioxide in the Martian atmosphere into oxygen. The latest monitoring data shows that the oxygen concentration in some areas is already sufficient to meet the normal living needs of organisms—of course, auxiliary equipment is still needed, but it no longer requires complete reliance on artificial oxygen supply.

The first batch of cyanobacteria released proliferated wildly in the Martian lake, turning the water in that area a pale green. Their photosynthesis further accelerated the accumulation of oxygen, laying the foundation for more complex life forms.

The melting of the polar ice caps continues, and the reserves of liquid water are steadily increasing. Orbital reflector arrays are precisely reflecting sunlight onto the Martian surface, and the global average temperature has risen by a full eight degrees Celsius compared to three years ago.

Mars is slowly awakening from a lifeless red planet.

Lin Feng stood in the command center, watching the real-time updates of various data on the holographic projection, a faint smile appearing on his lips. Everything was progressing according to plan. In three years at most, humanity's first terraformed home planet would truly appear.

By then, Mars will no longer be a fantasy in science fiction, but a second Earth that can be truly set foot on and inhabited.

However, this rare tranquility was completely shattered in the next second.

"Reporting, Commander Lin!" came the urgent voice of the captain of the light-speed warship over the emergency communication channel, his tone filled with barely concealed shock. "We've discovered a moving planet! And it's moving at an extremely high speed!"

Lin Feng's smile froze instantly.

"A moving planet?"

Almost instinctively, he activated the real-time video transmission from the light-speed warship. On the holographic projection, the construction footage on Mars was quickly switched, replaced by that familiar dark sea of ​​stars.

In the center of the image, a giant planet is moving at high speed.

Its size far exceeded that of Earth, its surface covered with gray-black rocks and eerie dark red patterns. Without an atmosphere or liquid water, it resembled a lifeless, rogue planet. But what truly made Lin Feng's pupils constrict was its speed.

too fast.

The planet was traveling at a speed no less than that of a light-speed warship, and even a fraction faster. It traced an almost straight path in the darkness, its goal clear, as if guided by some unseen force.

"What's going on?" Lin Feng frowned, this was the first time he had encountered such a situation.

Rogue planets do exist in the universe—planetary stars ejected from star systems and adrift in interstellar space. However, rogue planets typically move very slowly, almost at a standstill by human standards. Planets moving at near the speed of light are unheard of.

unless……

"General Lin!" The captain's voice came through the communication channel again, this time more urgent. "It seems the other side sent us a signal! But... we can't understand it!"

The scene shifted, and the light-speed warship's communication system received a complex, encrypted message. That message was transmitted back to Earth in real time and displayed on the holographic projection in front of Lin Feng.

Lin Feng glanced at it once, and his pupils suddenly contracted.

He had seen this message before.

The distorted symbols, the strange arrangement, and the special encryption structure are exactly the same as the mysterious script found in the ruins of Atlantis.

The high-dimensional being that once controlled Gaia, imprisoned the consciousness of tens of thousands of players, and issued subordinate invitations from above has finally... revealed itself.

Countless thoughts flashed through Lin Feng's mind in an instant. For three years, that invitation from the unknown had hung over his heart like the Sword of Damocles. Now, the sword had finally fallen.

"The enemy is here." Lin Feng's voice was calm, but it instantly plunged the entire command center into a deathly silence.

Everyone heard those words. Everyone knew what they meant.

Those were not friendly neighbors, not a civilization with which we could communicate. They were beings who treated humanity as experimental subjects, as potential appendages. Their tone was condescending, their methods ruthless. Now, they have arrived.

"Try to shake them off," Lin Feng commanded in a deep voice. "Activate the warp drive at maximum power and change course. Don't fight them head-on; first, probe their intentions and reaction speed."

"yes!"

The light-speed warship responded swiftly. Its hull shuddered, its warp drives activated at full power, and space itself warped once more. The massive vessel traced an arc in the darkness, attempting to escape the strangely moving planet.

However, the planet in the picture changed direction at almost the same time.

Like a persistent, insidious disease, it followed the trajectory of the light-speed warship closely, its speed increasing rather than decreasing. The distance between the two was slowly but steadily shrinking.

Lin Feng's brows furrowed even more. Light-speed warships represented the pinnacle of human technology, their warp-driven speeds exceeding the limits of conventional physics. But that planet of theirs could travel at an even faster speed and change direction with such agility.

That was not a naturally formed rogue planet at all.

That was a ship.

A planetary-level super spaceship that uses an entire planet as its vessel.

"President Lin, we can't shake them off!" The captain's voice was filled with barely suppressed tension. "They're faster than us! At the current speed difference, they'll catch up to us in seventy-two hours at most!"

The command center was deathly silent. Everyone was watching Lin Feng, awaiting his decision.

Lin Feng's gaze was fixed on the rapidly approaching planet on the holographic screen. On its surface, the dark red patterns seemed to shimmer faintly, like traces of some kind of energy flow. Silent, massive, and cold, it exuded an undeniable sense of oppression, slowly closing in on humanity's most advanced warship.

"Continue sailing at maximum speed." Lin Feng's voice remained calm. "Activate all shield systems and put weapon systems on standby. Do not attack first, but be fully prepared."

"yes!"

On the light-speed warship, everyone was on high alert. Shield generators were operating at full power, weapon systems were unlocked, and quantum communication remained uninterrupted. Every crew member knew that what was about to happen might be the most important contact in human history—or perhaps, the first interstellar war.

Lin Feng stood in the command center, his fingers lightly tapping on the control panel. His brain was working at an unprecedented speed, analyzing everything before him.

The appearance of that planetary-sized spaceship was no accident. They knew of the existence of the light-speed warship, and they proactively sent that message in Atlantean script. They were declaring their existence and testing humanity's reaction.

The question is, what do they want?

Is it to issue another supplementary invitation? Or to directly demonstrate power and force humanity to submit?

Lin Feng didn't know. But he did know one thing—whatever they wanted, it would never be the kind of peace that humanity longed for.

He slowly raised his head, looking at the moving planet on the holographic screen that was getting closer and closer. The dark red patterns were particularly striking in the darkness, like some kind of ominous mark.

"Come on," he said softly, a hint of coldness in his voice, "Let's see what you really are."

Three years ago, they imprisoned tens of thousands of humans in the virtual world as experimental subjects and samples for stress tests.

Three years later, they arrived in front of humanity in their planetary-sized behemoths.

This time, it's no longer a confrontation across the internet.

This time, it's a real, face-to-face... battle in the stars.