Earth Era

Part 7

The sudden alarm startled the group, prompting them to reflexively look up at the sky. Lu Yuan stopped the car and asked, "What's going on?"

"It's an air raid alarm!" Qin Feng said, and everyone's eyes widened in shock.

It had been over three years since the last alien attack. During this time, the air raid alarm had never sounded. Now that it did, something was definitely wrong—this couldn't be a drill!

"Get in the car! I'll take you back to base!" Lu Yuan shouted.

The three immediately got into the car, but before they could close the doors, the vehicle lurched forward abruptly. Along the way, they saw many fighter jets streaking overhead, while rows of Marine Corps vehicles were already mobilizing on the streets. It was such a familiar scene—could it be that the aliens were attacking again? Everyone was filled with suspicion.

Lu Yuan dropped off Qin Feng and the others at the base gate, then drove off with Xiao Ya straight to the air defense zone.

Qin Feng went straight to the command room to find his father, while Zhong Yuanjie and Ruan Xiaoyu waited outside for him. The command room was not a place they could enter casually at their level, but Qin Feng was an exception—such was the privilege of being the son.

The command room was a huge circular hall, with a central holographic projection platform and hundreds of people seated in front of light-brains around it. Despite the large number of people, the room was unusually quiet, with only the sound of keyboards clicking away. Qin Feng's father stood at the center of the projection platform, hands behind his back, while the images on the platform kept changing.

"What's going on?" Qin Feng approached and asked.

"There's a marauder suddenly appearing in Zone 51," his father said without turning around.

"How is that possible?!"

"Why wouldn't it be possible?"

"Uh... How did it get in?"

"It's not 'they', it's 'it.'"

"Just one?"

His father nodded. "Perhaps it never left..."

"How did it survive for over three years? Where was it hiding?"

"Do we need to consider that?" His father turned to the side and said, "Notify Team 6 to proceed with caution; they've entered the marauder's attack range."

Someone nodded and spoke into the microphone on the desk, "Team 6, be advised, you have entered..."

Qin Feng stood behind his father for a while but couldn't make sense of it all. He shrugged and saluted, saying loudly, "Qin Feng, Marine Corps member from Zone 22, requests to join the battle!"

His father paused for a moment, then said calmly without turning around, "It's not your turn yet."

"Why not? I'm a regular Marine now. Why can't I participate in the battle?"

His father remained silent.

After a while, seeing that his father still had no intention of speaking, Qin Feng shrugged and left.

Outside the door, Zhong Yuanjie and Ruan Xiaoyu asked anxiously, "What's going on?"

"An alien marauder attacked Zone 51," Qin Feng said.

"What?!" The two widened their eyes. "How is that possible?"

"Why wouldn't it be possible?" Qin Feng relayed his father's words to them verbatim.

The two looked at each other, feeling somewhat at a loss. "So... should we do something?"

Qin Feng chuckled, "Looks like they find you troublesome. Let's go back to the dorm."

At night, Qin Feng tossed and turned in bed, unable to sleep. He felt like something was off, but couldn't quite put his finger on it. He wanted to ask Xiao Ya what she was doing, but hesitated before picking up his phone and ultimately decided against it.

He didn't know what was wrong with him, but a sense of unease was growing inside him. Eventually, he got up and went to Zhong Yuanjie's room. Seeing the door still open and light inside, he pushed it open and walked in, only to find Zhong Yuanjie eating noodles.

Zhong Yuanjie grinned when he saw Qin Feng enter. "Want some?"

"No, thanks." Qin Feng grinned back. "It's so late, and you're still eating? No wonder you're fat."

"I was hungry," Zhong Yuanjie mumbled with his mouth full.

"Why wouldn't they..." Suddenly, Qin Feng seemed to realize something and asked, "Do you think those aliens need to eat?"

"Of course, they do. Otherwise, they'd starve," Zhong Yuanjie replied casually.

"How do you know?"

"Everything needs to consume something. Plants need light and water, animals need food, phones need charging, cars need fuel, and even the universe needs nourishment..."

"Like... black holes?"

Zhong Yuanjie nodded. "Nothing exists without consuming 'food', so aliens are no exception."

Qin Feng furrowed his brows. "Then... do a piece of paper, a grain of sand, or a lead ball also need to 'eat'?"

Zhong Yuanjie wiped his mouth and asked, "What are objects made of?"

"Molecules, atoms, nuclei..."

Zhong Yuanjie waved his hand. "You don't need to go into that much detail. Just think about molecules—do they need energy to move? Will they 'die' if they run out of energy? If the molecules that make up an object 'starve' due to a lack of energy replenishment, the demise of the object is only a matter of time."

After pondering for a moment, Qin Feng asked again, "How long do you think marauders can hold out without eating?"

"I have no idea. You'd have to ask them," Zhong Yuanjie said with a smile. "But I can go hungry easily even for one meal. However, judging from their size, they probably can't hold out for long. It takes a lot of energy to move such massive bodies. They might be able to sustain themselves for a long time with photon batteries."

"For how long?"

"Well... around twenty years, if they're using batteries. But with their technology, it could be longer. Why do you ask?"

"Then they couldn't be 'hungry'..." Qin Feng muttered to himself.

"Who? Who's hungry?"

"The marauders!"

"The, the marauders are hungry?" Zhong Yuanjie asked bewilderedly.

"You're hungry!" Qin Feng rolled his eyes and said, "Suppose those marauders are using batteries. With their technology, they definitely wouldn't run out of power in a short time, right?"

Zhong Yuanjie nodded, still not understanding what Qin Feng was getting at.

"Then, let's suppose they don't use batteries and instead eat like regular beings..." Qin Feng paused for a moment, then suddenly exclaimed, "I got it! This is a conspiracy, a trap!" With that, he rushed out of the room.

Zhong Yuanjie blinked in confusion. "What, what's going on? Hey, hey, where are you going?" He followed Qin Feng out.