Humanity is missing, luckily I have billions of clones.

Chapter 394 Burdening the Child
Just as Li Qingsong had predicted, once this group of star beasts entered the star system, they immediately launched a fierce attack on the human Morais alliance.

A continuous war immediately broke out in the vast starry sky.

As Li Qingsong had predicted, under the attack of the human-Morais alliance, hundreds of thousands of star beasts out of the total millions were quickly killed. The remaining star beasts, facing another full-scale attack from Li Qingsong, simply chose to flee.

Millions of star beasts withdrew from the current star system, and out of caution and prudence, Li Qingsong did not pursue them.

Although he easily withstood the attack of the star beast, Li Qingsong felt no excitement, only solemnity and doubt.

"Regardless of what these star beasts are up to, I must do my best first. Unless death truly comes, I will never give up hope, and I will never offer my neck to be slaughtered."

Post-war reconstruction work began rapidly. Li Qingsong quickly rebuilt the space-based and land-based defense systems that had been affected by the war, and replenished combat facilities such as interstellar mines, artillery emplacements, unmanned warships, and manned warships in preparation for the next battle.

The previous attack by the group of star beasts was like the sounding of an attack horn. Not long after they withdrew, Li Qingsong once again detected unusual movements of the star beasts.

In the C45 star system, a group of slender, stick-like star beasts gathered together and charged towards the star system where Li Qingsong was located.

Li Qingsong focused his attention once again.

After a fierce battle, hundreds of thousands more star beasts were annihilated by Li Qingsong, and the remaining star beasts fled again.

"Compared to the last time the star beasts attacked, this time the star beasts are much more technologically advanced. Although they are not as advanced as me, they are not far behind."

Their combat power has increased significantly compared to the previous group. Could it be... that the true purpose of that space-level star beast is to test the limits of my combat power?

Could it have some knowledge of my unique form of existence? Is its true purpose me, and the secrets that might be involved behind me?

At this moment, Li Qingsong couldn't help but think more about this strange and unusual situation.

As if to confirm Li Qingsong's conjecture, a third wave of star beasts arrived quickly after the second wave. Moreover, their "technology" level was further improved compared to the second wave, reaching a level roughly equivalent to Li Qingsong's.

Correspondingly, their combat power has also increased again, roughly equivalent to the group of star beasts that besieged the Morais civilization!
Without Li Qingsong, the Morais civilization alone might have been wiped out by these star beasts.

But with Li Qingsong present, the situation is naturally different.

Despite deploying all its conventional forces, this group of star beasts suffered the loss of hundreds of thousands of their comrades, and the remaining star beasts fled once again.

"This is already the third wave. How strong will the fourth wave of star beasts be? If we can stop the fourth wave, what about the fifth? If I defeat all the gravity-level star beasts, will... the dark force-level star beasts be mobilized?"
That space-level star beast, is it trying to squeeze my combat power to its limit in this way?

Li Qingsong felt increasingly heavy-hearted.

He felt as if a huge net was closing in on him from all directions, and the more he struggled, the tighter it tightened.

But in this situation, he couldn't stop struggling. Continuing to struggle meant he could live for the time being, but stopping meant certain death.

"Headmaster Morales, continue war preparations!"

Li Qingsong gritted his teeth and issued the order again.

No matter what, we must not give up until the very last moment!

The fourth wave of star beasts arrived as scheduled. This time, the star beasts' combat power had increased dramatically compared to the previous ones, and their "technology" level had completely surpassed that of Li Qingsong and the Morais civilization.

The devices that have evolved within them, such as energy cannons, gravity cannons, energy shields, and thrusters and detectors, have far surpassed the capabilities of those possessed by Li Qingsong.

This resulted in massive casualties for Li Qingsong. Several times they nearly lost planets, and the rate of loss of various unmanned combat facilities reached its peak.

Often, the arrival of a single star beast can wipe out all interstellar missiles, interstellar mines, and military satellites within a radius of tens of thousands of kilometers. Tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of interstellar missiles rush towards the star beast like piranhas and explode, but they cannot even penetrate the star beast's defenses and cannot inflict any damage on it.

Ultimately, it often takes the sheer number of space-based and land-based air defense bases, along with the countless energy projectiles bombarding them for an extended period, to barely force these star beasts back.

When even deploying over 30 wooden star-level warships couldn't guarantee that their defenses wouldn't be breached, Li Qingsong had no choice but to reveal his first trump card.

"Power outage! It's your turn!"

"Yes!"

Under Li Qingsong's command, millions of electromagnetic lifeforms, escorted by Li Qingsong's fleet, rushed to the star, gathered the star's energy, and transmitted it over a distance of billions of kilometers to the vicinity of the planet that was being besieged by star beasts, instantly killing tens of thousands of star beasts.

Taking advantage of the situation, Li Qingsong launched a final offensive and finally resolved the crisis here.

With this wave of star beasts retreating again, Li Qingsong gained a few more years to catch his breath.

"Based on the current rate of combat power improvement, the next one to arrive... should be a star beast at the peak of gravity."

Although these star beasts have a rather simplistic tactic, all engaging me in direct combat, unlike the star beasts of the past who knew how to hide within planets and leverage their environment to enhance their advantages, thus preventing them from unleashing their full combat potential, but... can I really contend with a peak gravity level being?

In the context of orthodox intelligent civilizations, the pinnacle of gravity would mean a warp drive speed of approximately 7 to 8 times the speed of light, an acceleration of hundreds of meters per second squared, extremely high-intensity energy and gravitational shields, a gravity cannon with a gravitational limit of 1,000 times Earth's gravity, and, adding the positive and negative forces together, a pulling force of over 2000 times Earth's gravity, as well as projectiles with a muzzle velocity of up to 100,000 kilometers per second, and interstellar missiles with an acceleration exceeding 2000 meters per second squared...

The rows of data laid out before Li Qingsong felt a heavy weight in his heart.

At this moment, I am only at the mid-stage of gravity. Even if I take all my trump cards into account, I would still be at a disadvantage against an ordinary intelligent civilization at the peak of gravity, not to mention the star beasts and calamities whose combat power is generally higher than that of intelligent civilizations of the same level!

But... if I can't stop it, I might die!

"Never mind all that, just do it with all your might... I have no other choice but to follow this path."

With this heavy burden, Li Qingsong once again threw himself into the work of war preparedness.

At the same time, Li Qingsong also devoted a considerable amount of his energy to scientific and technological research and development during this period.

No matter how difficult the situation, we cannot give up on scientific and technological research and development. This is our only hope for survival!

Also because of the current difficult situation and the possibility of annihilation at any time, scientists from the Morais civilization and many races under Li Qingsong have devoted themselves to this work.

Under these circumstances, a series of technological breakthroughs emerged. Of course, these were merely breakthroughs at the application level, and their practical applications were not particularly significant.

Time slipped by quietly. Finally, just as another wave of star beasts was about to set sail and attack them according to the established pattern, Li Qingsong achieved a breakthrough in fundamental theory.

It's about dark matter.

As early as the electroweak stage, human civilization recognized the wonder of dark matter. However, it has never been able to figure out what kind of matter it is or why it has such peculiar characteristics.

Even now, despite advancements in technology to the gravitational level and a significant improvement in our understanding of dark matter, we still haven't fully grasped its mysteries.

Now, a major breakthrough has occurred.

Through data simulation and theoretical calculations, scientists have finally gained a macroscopic understanding of the possible forms of dark matter—at least a portion of it.

Negative pieces, or rather, fast pieces!
Looking at these calculation processes and results, Li Qingsong was deeply shocked. His instinctive feeling was that it was somewhat absurd, but the rigorous and detailed theoretical calculation process forced him to admit that it was indeed highly probable.

"Such amazing matter exists in this universe? Negative particles... particles with negative mass? Corresponding to various positive particles such as protons and neutrons?"
At the same time, because their mass is negative, their speed is faster than light. Just as a particle with positive mass can never be accelerated to the speed of light or faster than light, these negative particles can never be slowed down to the speed of light or sub-light?

At this moment, these insights have only allowed Li Qingsong to glimpse the tip of the iceberg of the mysteries of dark matter, and he is still a long way from achieving a true technological breakthrough.

In summary, these insights can only serve to accumulate knowledge and broaden horizons; they are unlikely to have any practical application.

but……

Suddenly, an idea popped into Li Qingsong's mind.

Since a portion of dark matter consists of superluminal negative particles with negative mass, and the dark force civilization has already mastered the mysteries of dark matter, it is highly likely that they can already manipulate these negative particles, then…

When my probe ship arrived at the star system where the Dark Force Star Beast was located, it inexplicably disappeared without any movement. Could it be that it was attacked by the Dark Force Star Beast's negative force?
This is very possible!
Li Qingsong couldn't think of any other possibility besides the negative instantly canceling out the mass.

So... could this kind of negative particle attack be used on stars?
In his own deduction, the energy released by detonating a star could potentially open up a spatial channel, provided that he is in contact with the external clone, and he could use this spatial channel to escape.

Our side is currently hampered by the lack of the capability and technology to detonate this low-to-medium mass star, making it impossible to create an energy burst of this magnitude.

The principle behind a core collapse-type supernova explosion is that the core fuses into iron, instantly loses its internal support, and collapses under its own gravity, resulting in violent collisions and backlashes between the outside and the inside.

If this kind of negative mass attack were applied to stars, wouldn't it be possible to use these negative mass particles to instantly neutralize the matter in the star's core, artificially causing the star's matter to instantly and violently collapse and collide with the core, thus artificially triggering a supernova explosion?
Of course, even if such a low- to medium-mass star is artificially detonated, the energy released will be much weaker than that of a real supernova explosion. But don't forget that in your calculations, the energy required to open a space tunnel is also weaker than that of a real supernova explosion!

Furthermore, he will face an attack from star beasts at the peak of gravity next time. If he can repel them again, the next ones he will most likely face are star beasts at the dark force level.

I don't think I can master this method of attacking stars for the time being, but dark-force level star beasts are very likely to possess it!
So... could I think of a way to guide those dark-force level star beasts to attack the star, thereby triggering a weakened version of a supernova explosion and opening up a space passage?

As for what I will face after the spatial passage is opened and I escape, and whether the space-level star beast can easily capture me again, that's a matter for the future. I'll worry about that later; I have to take things one step at a time.

At this stage, the right thing to do is to focus on detonating stars.

After reviewing the entire plan, Li Qingsong's heart gradually became more excited.

No matter how difficult the whole plan is, or how many variables there are, at least now I have finally found that glimmer of hope and finally have a clear goal!

Li Qingsong immediately summoned scientists from various races under his command, as well as researchers from the Morais civilization, and revealed his plan in detail.

"Dark-level star beasts might possess the power to destroy stars. Could we use their power to trigger stellar explosions, open up spatial portals, and escape? This, this..."

From any perspective, the plan seemed far-fetched, even somewhat absurd. But every participant had to admit that, at this stage, with the net tightening ever more, this plan was their only hope!
"I still adhere to the same principle: one must eat one bite at a time, and walk one step at a time. Regardless of how many obstacles or unknown risks this plan may face in the future, we must start from the very beginning."

What we need to do now is simple: go all out to withstand the fifth wave of attacks from the gravitational peak-level star beasts, repel them, and force them to send out dark force-level star beasts to attack us next.

Once this step is complete, then we can devise a plan to lure the Dark Force Star Beasts and use their power to destroy the star!

A long silence fell over the room. Finally, inspired by Li Qingsong, resilience and perseverance gradually appeared on the faces of the attendees.

"Yes!"

……

In the vast expanse of space, a group of even larger and more ferocious star beasts have embarked on their journey to this star system.

(End of this chapter)