With the support of a ninth-level civilization, do you want me to believe in electronic gods?

Chapter 369: Varela Star Phantom
EL13697101 universe, New Varela, Great Star Plains.

The cold winter is over. The barren plains are green again, and the frozen snow on the distant mountains is beginning to melt gradually.

The snow water gathered into a river, flowing majestically from the southwest of the plain and finally merging into the ocean.

Compared with before winter, the Starry Plains at this time has obviously changed significantly.

Buildings made of high-strength concrete rise from the ground on this vast plain, and the well-developed smooth roads divide this plain into functional areas with distinct characteristics - residential, office, production, industry...

A huge, cylindrical nuclear fusion reactor sits quietly in a corner of the plain, providing sufficient energy for the super-large urban cluster covering the entire plain.

Thanks to the rich technical reserves of the original resistance army and the atlas of planetary resource distribution provided by Chen Fan, in just one winter, the Varela civilization living on the Star Plains took a big step from the primitive and backward agricultural era into the industrial age.

In the central area of ​​Star City, on the rooftop of the Varela Central Parliament Building.

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

She frowned slightly and stared at the sky in the distance.

A sound of slightly weak footsteps came from behind, interrupting the woman's thoughts.

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

Hearing Xu Huai's call, a faint smile flashed across Meng Zhixin's face, whose hair was already completely white, but then he also cast his gaze towards the cloud-filled sky in the distance.

Looking at the huge monster in the sky, Meng Zhixin's eyes suddenly showed a bit of sadness.

"The first exploration team has sent back news."

Meng Zhixin coughed 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 more tightly.

She pursed her lips and looked up at the sky in the distance again.

In the dense clouds, huge and dilapidated starships were quietly hovering in the air, and their hulls still bore traces of the devastation left by the great war.

Some smaller starships are suspended above the ground, while larger starships stand between heaven and earth, and even hover outside the planet's atmosphere!
Thanks to the soft light from unknown sources inside the fleet, the Varela people across the entire Star Plains 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 back to his senses: "Yes."

"Three nights ago, this fleet descended without warning over the forest east of the Great Star Plains."

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

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

"The next day, according to the order issued by the Central Council, the detection drone flew over the forest and tried to detect the fleet, but..."

"The drone passed right through the fleet. No matter how hard we tried, the drone could not make contact with the fleet."

"This fleet is like a phantom, visible but untouchable. I even doubt..."

Before he could finish his words, 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 looked a little pale, and a trace of fear and panic flashed in the depths of his eyes: "Someone!"

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

……

Silence.

The rooftop of the Central Parliament Building fell into a deathly silence in an instant.

After a long while, Meng Zhixin let out a long breath, and his expression became dignified: "What do you mean someone? Who is it?"

"Calm down! Speak properly!!"

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

Xu Huai's expression froze.

Unlike the first exploration team, the second exploration team was mainly responsible for exploring the forest below the unknown fleet.

Combined with the information previously reported by the staff, an astonishing guess arose in Xu Huai's mind.

Is it...

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

The staff member was very excited: "According to the information reported by the exploration team, these creatures look somewhat similar to humans, but there are 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 these humanoid creatures communicating with each other, and even... they were wearing mechanical armor of unknown purpose and various equipment that looked like weapons!" After these words came out, not to mention Xu Huai, even Meng Zhixin's face showed some horror! !

"What did you say?!"

Meng Zhixin asked sharply, "What is the current situation of the second exploration team? Has there been any conflict between the two sides?"

“Probably… no.” The staff member stammered, “According to the description of the second exploration team, those humanoid creatures seem to be unable to see them.”

"It's like..."

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

"It's like an unknown fleet flying over the forest." The staff gritted their teeth, "You can see it, but you can't touch it!"

"The second exploration team has made many attempts. 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 attack!"

"Which fleet did these humanoid creatures come from?" Xu Huai's face changed slightly and he quickly made a guess.

Contrary to Xu Huai's expectations, the staff shook their heads and said, "There is no direct evidence to prove this. According to the exploration team, these humanoid creatures can't seem to see the fleet above the forest."

"They had no real interaction with the fleet."

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

suddenly.

A loud cry of surprise came from the east of Xinghui City and flowed into everyone's ears along with the cool breeze.

Xu Huai subconsciously looked towards the east of Xinghui City.

Just one glance and she took a breath:
"Then, what is that?!"

In Xinghui City, a tall tower that looked like an illusion and glowed with a faint fluorescent light suddenly appeared on the flat road without any warning.

Around the tower, humanoid creatures in mechanical armor were patrolling as if they were alone, as if they didn't notice 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 a panic, and even basic production work has been affected to varying degrees."

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

"What you mean is..." Xu Huai's heart moved.

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

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

Because of this, as soon as he discovered the unknown fleet, he chose to explore and resolve it on his own.

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

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

……

Administration of Hazardous Technologies, Biological Laboratory.

“…That’s roughly the situation.”

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

Phantom figures walked through the city as if no one was around. Neither the solid concrete walls nor the flesh and blood of the Varela people could stop these illusory humanoid creatures.

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

The largest starships even covered half 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 the 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 ruined fleet that was flashing soft fluorescence in the night sky, and a huge wave of emotion rose 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 if he said it out loud:
This ghost fleet...

Could it be that they couldn't find him, so they chose to "wait for him" in his native civilization? !
"...Mr. Chen Fan?" Meng Zhixin's voice came from the communication channel, interrupting his reverie, "Look, next..."

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

"Give me some time, I'll be back soon!!"

(End of this chapter)