Chapter 329

The dual black hole engines in the ship's energy chamber activated, and the ship vanished.

Two years later......

The ship then crossed a distance of about 2.5 million light‑years, and the Void Wanderer officially entered the fringe stellar region of the Andromeda galaxy.

However, as the ship ventured deeper, an eerie atmosphere began to spread across the bridge.

"Report, Qin Consultant."

The scientist in charge of long‑range detection, his voice tinged with a hint of confusion, said, "The detector's scan range has been expanded to ten thousand light‑years, and the result…… is very strange."

"Speak."

Qin Hao's eyes were fixed on the constantly refreshing data stream on the main screen.

"Too quiet."

The scientist replied, "According to our galaxy model, a large mature galaxy like Andromeda,"

its fringe region should be filled with various cosmic rays, stellar winds, and the electromagnetic background radiation of civilizational activity.

but here…… there is nothing, clean as a room that has just been swept.

Qin Hao's brows furrowed.

Clean?

The word that should least appear in the universe is "clean."

This means that something has "cleaned" this region of space.

"Qian Yin, analyze the composition of this space."

Qin Hao turned to Qian Yin beside him and said.

Qian Yin immediately activated the ship's deep‑spectrum analyzer; a few minutes later she arrived at a chilling conclusion.

"The values in this space…… are extremely low, abnormally low. It's as if something not long ago 'formatted' all the energy and information here."

"Formatted?"

Long Feng, standing nearby, grinned and said, "Can even this be formatted?"

"Continue forward, maintain maximum alert."

Qin Hao's expression turned grave.

He had a premonition that they would soon see the results of the "formatting."

After sailing for about another half day, the ship's life‑detection system suddenly sounded an alarm.

"Earth‑like planet detected! It's in the third orbit of the star system ahead! Scan shows the planet's surface is littered with extensive artificial ruins!"

Everyone's spirits were lifted.

At last we have a discovery!

The Void Wanderer slowly approached that ochre‑colored planet.

From space, the planet's surface could be clearly seen, dotted with the outlines of huge cities,

and even some broken orbital elevators and space stations, drifting in geosynchronous orbit.

This is undoubtedly a civilization that once reached interstellar travel capability.

"What about life signs?"

Qin Hao asked.

"……None."

The detection officer's reply instantly extinguished the hope that had just flared up: "The entire planet shows no life signs whatsoever—not even a trace of microbes."

A planet, with only the ruins of cities, yet not a single living being.

"Land and investigate."

Qin Hao made the decision.

"This could be very dangerous," Long Feng warned.

"I know."

Qin Hao looked at the ruins on the screen and said, "But we must find out what happened here."

Long Feng, you take a marine squad down.

Qian Yin and Song Xiao Lu, you two will act as scientific advisors and accompany the team. Remember, wear the highest‑level protective suits and do not touch anything directly.

"Yes!"

A small landing craft detached from the Void Wanderer and set down on what appeared to be the best‑preserved central plaza of a city.

Long Feng led twelve fully armed space marines, who immediately established a perimeter.

Qian Yin and Song Xiao Lu, under their protection, began sampling and analyzing the surrounding environment.

The sight before them was eerie to the extreme.

The city's skyscrapers, hover‑cars on the streets, sculptures in the parks—everything was intact, not even a speck of dust.

Yet everything here exhibited a dull, ashen hue and gave a strong sense of emptiness.

A marine, curious, lightly tapped the hull of a nearby hover‑car with his tactical glove.

"Whoosh—"

The hover‑car, which looked rock‑solid, collapsed like a sandcastle, instantly turning into a pile of gray‑white powder.

"Don't touch anything!"

Long Feng barked.

Qian Yin immediately analyzed the powder with her instruments, her face turning deathly pale.

"Qin Consultant…… these buildings…… their internal material structure has been hollowed out.

only a fragile 'shell' remains. It's as if…… as if something has sucked out all the energy and information they contained.

Been sucked away?

Qin Hao heard this report on the bridge, and the words left by the guide instantly surfaced in his mind——"To feed on civilization."

Could this be what "eating" means?

It's not physical destruction, but rather, from a deeper level, draining away all traces of a civilization's existence?

"Xiao Lu, what have you found over there?"

Qin Hao asked via the communicator.

Song Xiao Lu's voice trembled slightly:

"I... I found something in the library ruins of this city."

Only see Song Xiao Lu standing beneath a magnificent domed building.

The interior of the building is likewise empty, but right on the pedestal at the center, a palm-sized piece floats silently.

Pitch-black all over, emitting a faint glow, a diamond-shaped crystal.

It is the only thing in the city's ruins that has not turned into an "empty shell."

"Nobody should approach it."

Qin Hao immediately ordered, "Xiao Lu, use the spatial device to bring it back."

Soon, this mysterious crystal was sent to the laboratory of the Void Wanderer.

After repeated scans confirmed it posed no physical or energetic threat, Qian Yin attempted to input a trickle of mental energy into it.

"Hum!"

The black crystal burst with light, and a blurry holographic image was projected into the lab's midair.

The perspective of the image seems to be that of an ordinary resident of this city.

In the picture, there is a prosperous and harmonious scene. On the streets, intelligent beings resembling Earth's lizards come and go, their faces lit with happy smiles.

Suddenly, the sky darkened.

Not an eclipse, nor dark clouds.

But an indescribable "shadow" from a higher dimension, enveloping the entire world.

Immediately after, a piercing screech, loud enough to rend souls, echoed in every creature's mind.

The picture began to shake violently, as if the cameraman were running in terror.

Those around him collapsed one by one in anguish, their bodies quickly turning ashen and withered, finally turning to dust that blew away in the wind.

The whole process took less than ten seconds.

All life simply "evaporated" into thin air.

At the end of the image, the camera panned toward the sky.

Within that twisted shadow, something seemed to flash by.

But the image is too blurry to discern any definite form.

The image ends here.

In the lab, a deathly silence.

Everyone who watched the footage felt a chill surge from the soles of their feet to the crown of their heads.

"This is... the Devourer..."

Qian Yin murmured, her face ashen.

Long Feng also felt a fear rising from deep within.

This isn't war, it's slaughter?

No, not even slaughter; it's more like a... feeding.

Qin Hao's expression was equally grave.

He can now basically confirm that the Devourers attack civilizations not to seize resources or territory.

Their target is civilization itself—the mind and soul of intelligent life, and even all the knowledge and information accumulated by a civilization.

They treat civilization as a kind of "food."

This is more despairing than any form of physical destruction.

"Beep beep beep—"

Just then, the bridge suddenly blared an urgent alarm.

"Report! The long-range deep-space detector has picked up an abnormal signal!"

"What signal?" Qin Hao immediately asked.

"A... a distress signal!"

The detecting officer's voice full of uncertainty: "In a star system eight hundred light-years away from us, there is a weak but extremely regular energy fluctuation."

After preliminary decoding, the signal's content is the universal cosmic language for 'Help!'

A distress signal?

In this "formatted" dead silent star field?

Everyone's gaze focused on Qin Hao.

"I think this is definitely a trap."

Long Feng said without hesitation.

"I agree."

Qian Yin also nodded, "After the Devourers have cleared this area, they wouldn't leave any survivors. This signal is likely something they deliberately released to lure other civilizations' explorers."

Qin Hao looked at the blinking red dot on the star map, silent.

Reason told him that Long Feng and Qian Yin were right; acting rashly would likely lead him straight into the enemy's encirclement.

But...

"We have to go and see." Qin Hao finally made a decision.

"Why?" Long Feng didn't understand.

"Because we need intelligence."

Qin Hao's eyes were sharp: "We know nothing about the Devourers—how do they attack?"

"What is their exact form? What is their level of technology?"

"These questions cannot be answered without seeing them with our own eyes."

"But this is too dangerous!"

"So we must go about it in a smarter way."

Qin Hao's lips curled into an arc: "Order the Void Wanderer to activate Dimensional Phase Shift and enter a semi-invisible state."

"Our goal is not to rescue people, but to become an unseen ghost, to reveal the enemy's trump card."

Dimensional Phase Shift is a fifth‑level technology of the Star Language Civilization.

It can cause the starship's substance to half‑detach from three‑dimensional space to the edge of four‑dimensional space.

In this state, the starship cannot be detected by any conventional means of the three‑dimensional universe, yet it can still observe the three‑dimensional universe.

This is perfect stealth technology.

The order was given, and the Void Wanderer's hull began to turn transparent, eventually vanishing completely from its original spot.

The starship silently flew toward the galaxy that had sent out the distress signal.

The atmosphere on the bridge was tense to the extreme.

Everyone held their breath.

Just then, the linguist who had remained silent, Song Xiaolu, suddenly shivered and rubbed his arms.

"Strange..."

He muttered, "How do I feel… as if something is watching us?"

Qin Hao's heart jolted.

He immediately extended his mental power to its maximum range, carefully scanning every inch of the surrounding space.

However, nothing was found.

But his intuition told him that Song Xiaolu's feeling was correct.

They had already been targeted by some unknown entity.