Cannon fodder in the Interstellar

Lin Ruihai asked Ruo Manni if she could infer anything from the rebirther’s words.

“What do you think yourself?” Ruo Manni responded with a question instead of an answer.

“In the previous life, it wasn’t until mid-October of the third year of the apocalypse that someone discovered the energy in crystal cores and began attempting to develop its use. It wasn’t like this life, where it was already being researched by September of the second year. That’s because there was no Lin Kexin in the previous life. Humanity was already on the brink of extinction at that time, so those bombs couldn’t have been launched by humans on Earth.”

The siblings fell silent, both aware of the unspoken truth. There was no need to say it explicitly—it was undoubtedly the work of aliens. In the third year of the apocalypse in the previous life, aliens must have sent spaceships to Earth. Upon discovering the presence of intelligent life, they likely decided to eliminate all of it.

Now, in this life, with so many intelligent beings still alive on Earth, would these aliens resort to the same direct and ruthless method?

“Our surveillance satellites haven’t detected any signs of aliens so far,” Ruo Manni said to Lin Ruihai. “Hebrew has already deployed monitoring systems throughout the solar system. If any spacecraft appears, we’ll know. Just to be safe, always keep your protective suit on, no matter what.”

Lin Ruihai nodded. His parents, wife, son, and in-laws were all under his sister’s protection. With his specialized protective suit, surviving on his own wouldn’t be difficult.

“Take care of yourself. Mom, Dad, Sister-in-law, and your nephew are all doing well. Your nephew can walk now—he’s a lot of fun,” Ruo Manni added.

“You all stay safe too.” A loving smile appeared on Lin Ruihai’s face. He received messages from his wife daily, so he was well aware of his son’s progress.

“Don’t worry about us. They can’t even detect our presence. Even if they launch missiles at us, we can neutralize them,” Ruo Manni said confidently.

Their base in Antarctica was equipped with shielding technology, making it impossible for the aliens to locate them. Moreover, any alien spacecraft entering the solar system would immediately be detected.

After communicating with Lin Ruihai, Ruo Manni considered whether to provide him and his group with shielding devices, which would prevent the aliens from targeting them with precision strikes.

Hebrew Adam, overhearing this, objected: “The aliens are already well aware of Earth’s current technological capabilities. If they detect something unusual, their main fleet might arrive on Earth ahead of schedule. With Earth’s current level of technology, there’s no way to resist them. We’ve already issued warnings. If they don’t listen, that’s their problem.”

“If we detect any alien spacecraft, we’ll intercept them and prevent them from launching missiles at Earth,” Ruo Manni stated firmly.

“Yes, intercepting their spaceship will allow us to locate the coordinates of their home planet. We’ve already discussed this, so there’s no need for you to be uneasy,” said Hebrew Adam reassuringly.

The day after Ruo Manni’s conversation with Lin Ruihai, the satellite network stationed at the edge of the solar system reported unusual activity.

“An alien spaceship has arrived,” announced the members of the Gus Empire, their eyes gleaming with excitement.

After a year of relatively peaceful life, they had grown restless. One by one, they volunteered to intercept the alien spaceship.

Based on the satellite scans, Hebrew Adam assessed the alien spaceship’s technological level and determined that it was inferior to that of the Gus Empire.

Inside the spacecraft were two oddly shaped aliens. Even if they had certain abilities, space combat was determined by the overall performance of starship mechas. The alien civilization’s technology was clearly at a lower level, and the Gus Empire’s mechas were far superior.

After some thought, Hebrew Adam decided to leave Hua Deli and Mina-Olli behind to guard their base while he and Ruo Manni led the other eight to intercept the spaceship.

The ten of them deployed their mechas, which were equipped with stealth technology, making them invisible to Earth’s satellites.

Although the alien spaceship was fast, it couldn’t match the speed of their mechas. Ruo Manni and her team intercepted the ship near Neptune.

Once the alien spaceship realized it had been intercepted, it immediately launched an attack.

After engaging the aliens, Ruo Manni and her team quickly confirmed that this alien civilization’s technology was two levels behind that of the Gus Empire.

To put it into perspective, if the Gus Empire represented a Level 5 civilization, this alien technology would be considered Level 3, while Earth’s current technology barely qualified as Level 1.

Ruo Manni, wanting to preserve the alien spaceship intact for Lin Kexin to study, instructed the team to cease fire. Instead, she used telekinesis to attack the two aliens directly.

It was clear that the aliens had no understanding of mental force attacks. Ruo Manni’s strike was successful, and the two aliens immediately fainted in the cockpit.

The Gus Empire team forced their way into the spaceship, and the next phase of the mission fell to Dean Atchison and Tamaki Kazia. Their task was to decode the ship’s artificial intelligence and extract information about the alien civilization.

Faced with a completely unfamiliar alien civilization they had never encountered before, and lacking a solid starting point, the initial decoding work proved challenging for Dean and Kazia.

It wasn’t until they discovered a translation module in the spaceship’s AI, which converted alien language to Earth languages, that they found their breakthrough. From that point, everything progressed smoothly. In less than half a day, they fully decoded and gained control of the spaceship’s AI.

From the data retrieved, they pieced together a shocking truth: Earth’s apocalyptic disaster was not a natural occurrence. It was secretly orchestrated by an interstellar mercenary group. As the Gus Empire team had speculated, their goal was to turn Earth into a crystal core cultivation base.

The spaceship itself, from its performance to its construction materials, was far inferior to the technology of the Gus Empire. They had no interest in claiming it.

Furthermore, this was a trial meant for Earth’s civilization to face. While they had helped Earth overcome this immediate threat, the larger challenge was still ongoing, and Earth would have to handle the rest on its own. Thus, the Gus Empire team piloted the alien spaceship directly to the skies above the capital base of Earth.

The sudden appearance of what was unmistakably an alien spaceship caused widespread panic among Earth’s inhabitants. By now, many people were beginning to realize that the apocalyptic disaster might have been caused by alien interference. Seeing an alien spaceship hovering over the capital base of X-country only heightened their fears.

However, the military remained calm because they had received a message just minutes earlier informing them that the aliens onboard the spaceship had already been subdued. The spaceship was now under the control of their allies.

Sure enough, when the spaceship landed in the capital base, a group of familiar young people disembarked.

It was both unexpected and not surprising at all—after all, who else could have captured an alien spaceship?

Lin Kexin, who had rushed to the scene upon hearing the news, looked at the alien spaceship with the same fervor as a werewolf spotting a beautiful maiden.

“Don’t be so eager. We’ve already fully decoded the alien AI system. Do you want a copy?” Ruo Manni said, pulling Lin Kexin back just as she was about to charge onto the spaceship.

Turning to Song Changlong, who was responsible for Lin Kexin’s safety, Ruo Manni added, “There are also two subdued aliens inside.”