Chapter 133: Silent Bloodshed

Chapter 133: Silent Bloodshed

“Let’s find some people to chat with first and see what’s happening. Just looking around isn’t enough.”

Chen Feng walked forward first.

Tang Tianxin followed him.

A scale of thirty thousand people was just a small community on Earth, where information spread quickly.

So by now, almost everyone knew that the person in charge of this Spacecraft had become Chen Feng.

Almost everyone recognized Chen Feng. As soon as the two appeared, they were immediately noticed.

People enthusiastically approached them for conversation and small talk.

These people were very skilled at changing their expressions. One moment they maintained their previous demeanor, but upon noticing the two, their facial muscles completed a series of relaxation, tightening, and rearrangement in an extremely short time, vividly resembling the face-changing of Sichuan opera.

They themselves saw nothing wrong with it.

Chen Feng and Tang Tianxin did not show any discomfort, and their attitude was very much like leaders inspecting the grassroots.

However, after the two left the living area and returned to the small meeting room behind the Command Cabin, their mood became particularly heavy.

The situation had indeed reached a critical point where there was no time to delay.

Everything outside seemed orderly, but it was all a false illusion.

Dangers were lurking everywhere now.

The overall atmosphere was eerie, sinister, and tense, exactly like a taut violin string. It seemed capable of producing pleasant sound, but in reality, it could easily snap with the slightest touch.

And no one could predict in what form or direction it would break.

Chen Feng and Tang Tianxin discussed and came up with a basic response plan.

“Arrange for protective measures to be taken, announce that the Spacecraft is entering a state of imminent combat, block the flow between the living area and other sections, confiscate all weapons and store them all in the armory. The armory password can only be controlled by me. From now on, I will wear the Azure Star around the clock for emergencies.”

While refining Chen Feng’s plan, Tang Tianxin added, “During our earlier research, Qinglan believed the distance between us and the Invader Barrier was directly related to the passengers’ reactions.”

“The closer we are to the Barrier, the more obvious this phenomenon becomes?”

“Yes, we just don’t know when the qualitative change will occur. Should we slow down our approach to the Barrier and observe for a while longer?”

Chen Feng thought for a moment. “No, priorities must be set. I need an answer. For that answer, it doesn’t matter how many people die. After all… everyone will die eventually anyway.”

Tang Tianxin understood his meaning. “By the way, Qinglan previously sent you a research report. It’s a project completed by her colleagues at the Xuanwu Institute on Earth.”

“What report?”

“It’s related to my Go pieces.”

“I see.”

Back in his office, Chen Feng called up his Personal Smart Terminal, opened the report, and began reading it with great interest.

He didn’t have high expectations for this report.

The facts were as he expected.

Although Ou Qinglan used her personal connections and there was high-level attention from the World Government on this matter, the Xuanwu Institute allocated significant scientific resources to conduct a comprehensive analysis of Tang Tianxin’s pieces and board.

The analysis methods were varied, employing physical, chemical, and biological approaches.

They physically decomposed them, breaking them down into powder.

They performed atomic absorption spectroscopy to analyze their composition.

They conducted radiation experiments.

They continuously bombarded them with a high-energy particle collider.

They struck them with focused particle beams.

They tried to react them with all chemicals available to humans.

They used plants and animals to absorb them and observed the changes.

Through this series of tests, the Xuanwu Institute obtained a large amount of data.

But unfortunately, all this data was useless and could not indicate any abnormalities within the pieces.

All analysis results showed that these pieces and board were simply ordinary handicrafts.

The Xuanwu Institute even traced the origins and found the handicraft workshop that produced these pieces.

A thousand-year-old workshop with a long tradition.

The Xuanwu Institute also obtained other pieces and boards from the workshop and repeated the experiments several times, with identical results.

Still, they found no abnormalities, and nothing like the terrifying explosion described by Chen Feng occurred.

At the end of the report was a concluding conjecture signed by Ou Qinglan.

“All research results indicate that the Go pieces and board are not abnormal. We can only reverse-engineer the principle based on the outcome, assuming Chen Feng’s account is accurate, and then comprehensively analyze all measurement data. My theoretical speculation is as follows: Within the Go pieces exists some type of ultrafine particle with a mass level equal to or lower than that of a gluon. This particle can instantaneously release energy, or catalyze a material transformation, converting normal matter into Antimatter, thus forming an Antimatter Bomb. Its technological level should be the next, or the next-next level beyond quark energy science, or possibly its lead is immeasurable, representing a stage of Mass-Energy Conversion that humans do not yet understand. This is my personal conjecture and is not to be taken as a reference.”

After reading it, Chen Feng put down the report and sank into prolonged thought.

Intuition told him Ou Qinglan’s conjecture was likely correct.

But even if the conjecture was correct, it held no significance for changing the current situation.

No one knew the specific methods of the Invaders.

The technological gap between the Invaders and Earthlings was far too vast; it was simply incomprehensible.

It was like a Gundam suddenly appearing on an ancient battlefield, slaughtering gods who blocked its way and killing buddhas who stood in its path. Even the most brilliant ancient military strategist would be completely helpless.

Based solely on this inconsequential report, the Military would be unlikely to take any forceful measures to make numerous ship captains and generals surrender their personal hobby items.

Chen Feng again felt a wave of powerlessness.

Whether it was the pieces or the thought infiltration, these were attack methods that he himself, and indeed humans of this era, could not comprehend.

Humanity was still doomed to perish repeatedly, but he still could not see the true enemy, nor understand their attack methods.

More tragically, these attack methods seemed to be merely the opponent’s appetizer.

Humanity simply wasn’t qualified to experience the Invaders’ true methods. The thought was indeed disheartening and despairing.

Chen Feng thought of Sergey again.

He couldn’t help but deeply envy the other’s madness and obsession.

If only I had that kind of drive.

He felt somewhat unworthy of this responsibility; he was too prone to discouragement.

As his mind wandered, a communication alert sounded. It was a message from Tang Tianxin.

“Come to the Bar in the living area quickly. Something’s happened.”

Chen Feng shot to his feet.

He asked first, “Did someone resist during the weapon confiscation?”

“No, the weapons have just been confiscated. It’s just that more and more people in the Bar are fighting to the death over mating rights.”

Chen Feng headed for the door, puzzled. “Mating rights? Didn’t that primitive desire disappear long ago?”

“It’s because they believe superior genes will inevitably produce more outstanding offspring. Some want to display their excellence by flaunting their strength. This kind of thinking has always existed, but never been so extreme as it is now.”

“Okay, I understand. Protect yourself first, I’ll be right there.”

“I’m fine. Everyone knows I’m carrying your child. Your genes are universally recognized as the optimal choice. They avoid me when they fight.”

“You must not let your guard down.”

“Yeah.”

Chen Feng quickly arrived at the living area.

It looked no different from before, still neat and orderly.

Worried about Tang Tianxin’s safety, he powered Azure Star to its maximum and turned into a gust of wind, then crashed right into the bar.

The noise from him breaking through the door was so loud that it instantly drew everyone’s attention to himself.

“Mr. Chen, you’re here?”

The bar attendant smiled and walked over.

Chen Feng was stunned at first, looking around, but he saw no chaos at all. Those who were drinking kept drinking, those chatting kept chatting.

The only and biggest chaos in the bar was himself.

Just as he was totally confused, Tang Tianxin darted through the crowd, running over to him.

Chen Feng said, “Isn’t everything fine here?”

“Come over here.” Tang Tianxin pulled Chen Feng forward, passing through the bar’s more than ten-meter-long aisle, and arrived at a booth.

Three or four young men and women were still sitting at the booth. On the floor, two men lay knocked out.

The two men had blood at the corners of their mouths, and their faces were bruised and cut open.

One had a broken hand bone, bent at a very twisted angle.

The floor was stained with blood, splattered here and there.

The situation at other booths nearby was similar.

Everyone else was calmly doing what they were supposed to do. Many people lay on the ground, but everyone acted as if they saw nothing.

Chen Feng: “These people are…”

Tang Tianxin took over: “They were all knocked out by me. If I didn’t stop them, they would surely keep fighting until one of them died.”

Chen Feng then pointed at those who were just watching and asked, “What about them?”

“Mr. Chen, this has nothing to do with us. Anyway, the guardians will come to clean up later.”

A girl from a nearby booth said with a smile.

Chen Feng asked, “Don’t you feel nervous or have any other feelings?”

Everyone shook their heads, indicating they completely didn’t understand Chen Feng’s words.

Chen Feng roughly understood the scene.

When two robots fight, gears flying and oil spraying everywhere, would the robots nearby have emotional reactions?

Of course not.

As everyone was talking, several guardians filed in to clean up the mess.

Just as the guardians were passing by the aisle ahead, two people from another booth started fighting.

The way these two fought was strange.

There was no roar, no yelling, no frantic screaming.

They just silently threw punches and kicks at each other, tangled together.

When the guardians passed by these two, they didn’t even turn their heads, simply ignoring them like air.

Chen Feng grabbed one guardian, “What are you doing? Aren’t you going to deal with the fight over there?”

The guardian instantly replied, “Yes, sir! Mr. Chen!”

Then, this guardian rushed over with a colleague, subdued the two, and pulled them apart.

But these two did not stop. They kept struggling, facing each other, trying to charge at one another.

Chen Feng asked other guests nearby, “Why don’t you stop them?”

The bar guest was briefly puzzled, “Mr. Chen, is that an order?”

“Not an order. A question.”

“What they are doing is the right thing. Why should I stop them?”

Chen Feng was stunned.

He didn’t know how to answer.

He then asked the two who still wanted to fight, “You fight in total silence. Why? Wouldn’t it be better to yell?”

The two answered in unison.

“Answering you, Mr. Chen. Yelling would waste our energy unnecessarily.”

While answering, the two still kept trying to move forward, trying to hurt their opponent.

Chen Feng roared at the guardians, “What are you still standing here for? Why aren’t you taking them away? Did you really only do something because I told you to, and nothing more?”

The guardians acted according to his words.

Tang Tianxin patted Chen Feng’s back, “See? This is the situation. If you don’t give the guardians new instructions, these four will keep doing this here until they are completely exhausted.”

Chen Feng nodded.

This truly gave him the creeps.

“Not good! Ou Qinglan’s experiment!”

Chen Feng suddenly realized. He couldn’t worry about this anymore and hurried toward the Medical Capsule.

Upon arrival, everything here was still stable, making him let out a long sigh of relief.

Researchers like Ou Qinglan also showed some changes, but before they changed, Chen Feng had already given them the highest-level order: to make this project their top priority.

Now, the more mechanical they became, the more they could focus on the project without distractions.

Lin Bu’s voice rang out: “Don’t worry. I’m watching over here. I’ll keep them so busy they won’t have time for other thoughts. The project progress seems to have sped up. We might really have a chance to analyze the content of that voice now.”

Chen Feng nodded, “That’s good.”