Humanity is missing, luckily I have billions of clones.

Chapter 388 Gravitational Disorder!

Li Qingsong observed that some star beasts were still launching fierce attacks on their side at the front lines of the battlefield, while others had intentionally broken away from the battlefield and were maneuvering wildly in the vast starry sky. Moreover, their flight paths and targets seemed to follow certain patterns, as if... they were actively planning something.

Some star beasts are nothing but stars. What kind of formations could they possibly create? Could it be some new type of battle formation?

Li Qingsong certainly didn't believe in the so-called battle formations, but the coordinated battle formations that combined and controlled fire and defense networks to balance the defense and offense of various combat units did exist.

Although Li Qingsong didn't know exactly what these star beasts were up to, one thing was clear: whatever they wanted to do, he had to do everything in his power to stop them.

Guided by this principle, Li Qingsong's massive fleet immediately intensified its offensive, and the intensity of the battle instantly escalated.

But it seems a bit late.

Including those that subsequently gathered from outer space, the total number of enormous star beasts exceeded one million, each occupying different areas around the planet, and simultaneously releasing energy into space.

The next moment, Li Qingsong suddenly felt that the space where his fleet was located seemed to have become "unstable".

If we compare space to a vast ocean, then at that moment, this ocean was calm and tranquil. But at this moment, a fierce wind has risen on the surface, whipping up huge waves.

The curvature and fluctuations of space itself manifest as gravitational instability in the external world. At this moment, gravitational forces of varying heights, sometimes stopping and sometimes appearing, from all directions swept in, pulling Li Qingsong's warship so much that it could not even sail normally, just like a ship constantly rising and falling with the surface of the water in a giant wave.

Some of the weaker warships and spaceships were even torn apart instantly by these "raging waves," ending their lives in an explosion.

Only now did Li Qingsong fully understand that the giant star beasts' desperate attack on him earlier was probably not because they really wanted to break through his defenses, but because they were buying time for this unknown tactic of altering the curvature of space to cause gravitational disturbances!
"What kind of tactic is this? Gravitational disorder? This kind of tactic doesn't seem to be something that beings at the gravity stage could control!"

Gravity can alter the curvature of space, and conversely, the curvature of space can also affect gravity. Civilizations at the gravity stage do theoretically possess the potential to master this tactic.

Therefore, it doesn't seem unreasonable for these star beasts to use this tactic. However, after roughly understanding this method, Li Qingsong immediately realized that to launch this tactic, one must first have an extremely profound understanding of space.

Just like the purification of certain chemical substances, if ancient people had mastered the methods, they could indeed have purified them successfully.

But the key lies in the methods and approaches. These methods and approaches can only be mastered when technology has developed to a certain level.

At this moment, these star beasts have mastered the tactic of gravitational disturbance, much like ancient people mastered chemical purification technology. It is almost certain that a higher-level being has "taught" these star beasts this tactic!
That higher-level being... is at least at the Dark Force level, or even higher!

These star beasts are actually connected to dark forces, and even to spatial entities?

A sense of crisis suddenly flashed through Li Qingsong's mind.

Are we now withdrawing from the battlefield and leaving?
No way! We haven't figured out the whole story of the Morais civilization yet. If we retreat now, it's almost impossible to be so lucky as to encounter them again in the future.

On-site interrogation, or even forcibly taking this civilization away?
No, that won't work either! They are extremely hostile towards me, and I'm facing a full-scale attack from the Star Beast Calamity. I simply can't spare any time to deal with them!
In this case, then...

Kill and silence!
Destroy this Star Beast Catastrophe! Kill them all, so they can't find a powerful backer to sue them.

In any case, with his forceful intervention, the star beasts that roamed all over the cosmos were converging here. Apart from the ice giant they considered their nest, Li Qingsong could no longer find any star beasts anywhere in space.

Even if a few manage to escape, losing their group will likely take much longer to find someone to sue them, thus buying them time to escape.

I'll just leave when the time comes. The starry sky is so vast that even the Destroyer Civilization couldn't find me. Do you really think you can find me?!

This would both delay the potential retaliation against him and eliminate the threat from the Star Beasts, freeing him up to deal with the Morais civilization.

A thousand thoughts raced through his mind in an instant, and Li Qingsong immediately made his final decision.

So……

A powerful field!

This time, facing a precarious situation due to the gravitational disturbance tactical attack, Li Qingsong finally revealed his true trump card.

Billions of powerful field components were quickly deployed in the outer reaches of space, and hundreds of billions of reserve clones awoke from their hibernation ships and swiftly arrived at the control console.

With everything prepared, Li Qingsong decisively issued the order.

In an instant, the battlefield, which was already in chaos due to the change in spatial curvature, became even more chaotic.

The massive star beasts were instantly enveloped by energy, as if bombs had been detonated, due to the forced conversion of their own matter.

The explosion slowly subsided, and the curvature of space gradually returned to calm, like the clearing of the sky after a stormy sea.

In an instant, Li Qingsong killed more than 70 of the more than one million enormous star beasts!
The power of the Universal Force Field was finally put to practical use at this moment. The result greatly satisfied Li Qingsong.

"It truly lives up to its reputation as a strategic weapon I specially developed, and it is an attack that I launched at the cost of the lives of hundreds of billions of clones and decades of industrial accumulation."

Now, while these star beasts are in a state of panic and fear, quickly wipe them out, deal with the Morais civilization as soon as possible, and then evacuate immediately!

Li Qingsong launched another offensive. But the situation once again developed in a way that Li Qingsong did not expect.

Li Qingsong observed that after he had instantly killed 70% of his companions, these star beasts, although unable to launch attacks like those caused by gravitational disturbances, did not fall into panic and fear as he had expected.

They are even more ferocious, attacking more fiercely, and fighting with a reckless, suicidal attitude.

If it were simply that, it wouldn't be a big deal; it would just require a little more effort to destroy. But... the number of star beasts emerging from that ice giant to provide support has increased once again!

Li Qingsong originally thought that the ice giant was just a habitat for the star beasts.

In the previous battles, these star beasts should have been almost exhausted, and there wasn't much left on that ice giant.

This can be seen from the fact that the number of star beasts emerging from beneath the ice giant's cloud layer has been decreasing.

But unexpectedly, there were such a huge number of star beasts hidden beneath the clouds of the ice giant.
Or perhaps, it wasn't that the star beasts were originally hidden there, but rather... their reproduction?
Are all the star beasts that appeared later newly bred? Otherwise, why would they resort to this piecemeal tactic? Why not just send all the star beasts into battle at once?
After a moment of consideration, Li Qingsong gradually began to lean towards the second hypothesis.

If that's the case, then simply dealing with the star beasts on this rocky planet won't be enough.

So……

At that moment, Li Qingsong's fleet suddenly split into two parts. One part continued to besiege the rocky planet, suppressing the Morais civilization's fleet and preventing them from breaking out. The other fleet, however, went against the river formed by numerous star beasts that flowed from the ice giant, and through continuous killing and attacks, forced the river back to the ice giant, and then completely surrounded the gas giant as well.

At this moment, Li Qingsong finally confirmed his previous guess.

This ice giant is indeed more than just a habitat; it is a true nest where the star beasts can thrive and multiply.

The probe that flew into the ice giant star allowed Li Qingsong to witness firsthand the reproduction process of the star beasts.

A huge gash split open in the belly of a massive star beast, and a hundred-ton cub star beast roared into birth. It then immediately began to gulp down the gas inside the ice giant star, like a whale devouring a swarm of shrimp. The shrimp were left behind, while the seawater was filtered out.

The same is true inside this ice giant. Useless gases are expelled directly from the body, while useful elements remain inside.

The young star beast's body is growing rapidly. In just ten days, its mass has increased from less than a thousand tons to more than three thousand tons, and it is still growing rapidly!

Elsewhere on the ice giant, Li Qingsong also saw many star beasts growing to a certain size, some weighing five thousand tons and others ten thousand tons. It seemed that they each had different weight limits due to their different "bloodlines". Once they reached their weight limits, these huge star beasts would roar and rush out of the clouds into space, launching a fierce attack on Li Qingsong's fleet.

Li Qingsong attempted to create some special models of spaceships suitable for combat within the atmosphere, based on the original Jupiter aircraft, and deployed them into this pale blue ice giant.

But soon, Li Qingsong discovered that this was completely useless.

Leaving aside the question of whether these star beasts can be defeated and eliminated inside the atmosphere, simply finding them under the thick clouds is a major problem.

Although ice giants are smaller in mass and volume than gas giants like Jupiter, they are still extremely large, with a radius of about 2.5 kilometers and a volume dozens of times that of Earth.

Inside them also exists a hot and dense fluid composed of water, ammonia, and other volatile substances, with extremely high pressure and temperature, similar to the liquid metallic hydrogen oceans of gas giants.

Evidence suggests that these star beasts can even penetrate the fluid layer and penetrate deep into the core of ice giants—a place that even with Li Qingsong's current level of technology, he cannot reach.

In summary, as long as this ice giant star exists, these star beasts will always be well protected and cannot be completely destroyed by themselves.

Given the characteristics of these star beasts—their inability to communicate, their cruelty and ferocity, and their sole focus on killing and attack—as long as they are not eliminated, they will continue to produce offspring, constantly occupying a great deal of my energy, leaving me with no time to deal with the Morais civilization.

This is really a tricky situation.

Li Qingsong's mind raced, and a cold smile appeared on his lips.

As long as this ice giant exists, you think I can't do anything to you? Then I'll destroy this ice giant! Let's see where you can hide then!
While maintaining absolute suppression of the Morais civilization, preventing them from escaping in the chaos, Li Qingsong also sent his massive fleet to the rocky planet closest to this ice giant.

Originally, Li Qingsong, who was simultaneously fighting against the Star Beast Cataclysm and the Morais Civilization, did not have much energy to start the construction of an industrial system.

However, the industrial creations that Li Qingsong needs this time are relatively simple and less difficult, so they can be completely handed over to the Primordial AI, thus freeing up his somewhat strained biological intelligence.

On this desolate planet, a massive industrial system was rapidly established and completed in just one year. Afterwards, countless factories began to roar, producing one thing under the control of the Primordial AI.

Yes, it's just producing one thing, and for Li Qingsong at this moment, it doesn't involve much technology.

Otherwise, Li Qingsong would not have been able to carry out production while simultaneously confronting two levels of gravitational forces.

This thing has only one purpose: to extract air.

The gases that make up this ice giant will be extracted and sent into space!

It's clearly just a large vacuum pump.

This pump has a long pipe that reaches 500 kilometers in length, with some jet fixing devices at the top, so that one end is always facing space, while the other end is sunk into the interior of the ice giant 500 kilometers below, equipped with some fans, ramming and pressurization devices.

At this end, under pressure several times that of Earth's atmosphere, and with the combined operation of those fans and multi-stage pressurization devices, the gas that makes up this ice giant is accelerated to a speed of 21 kilometers per second when it reaches the pipe outlet.

The escape velocity of this ice giant is only 20.6 kilometers per second!

Once an object's speed exceeds 20.6 kilometers per second, it will break free of its gravitational field, enter space, and never return.

At this moment, the first batch of 10,000 giant air extraction machines that Li Qingsong "installed" inside this ice giant star have begun to operate.

(End of this chapter)