black

Base Three differed significantly from both the primary and secondary bases. Its purpose was straightforward—mining, refining, and transporting the processed minerals back to the primary base. As a result, Base Three was relatively simple in design.

Fifteen days into construction, the majority of the rare earth expedition's materials had been transformed into factories and machinery. With progress moving at such a pace, the remaining supplies would last for only about three more days.

At this juncture, the supply convoy set out. Comprising three hundred heavy-duty robots, it carried a substantial load of materials towards Base Three.

The primary base had become a steadfast pillar, supporting the entire construction on Titan.

All of this was in service of building an interstellar fleet.

Under the shroud of night, the massive convoy moved silently forward, once again led by the Fengshen One helicopter. Xiao Yu first connected with Fengshen One via satellite, which then guided the convoy toward its destination.

Two days later, the convoy successfully arrived at Base Three. Some robots began their return journey, while others remained.

The lake adjacent to Base Three, named Lake Two by Xiao Yu, was now bustling with construction activity.

The framework of Base Three was beginning to take shape. With such a highly efficient, tireless, and error-free construction team, no task seemed too daunting.

Xiao Yu couldn't help but feel a tinge of pride. If the foremen on Earth knew about such a construction team, they would undoubtedly drool with envy.

Lake Two spanned approximately five square kilometers, with its deepest point reaching sixty meters. This methane lake, though modest in size, provided the most reliable fuel support for Xiao Yu's construction army.

Beside Lake Two, a solitary robot roamed, tasked with surveying the terrain and gathering geological data for Xiao Yu's next phase of construction planning.

It moved freely along the lakeshore, occasionally squatting to conduct ground inspections with its red-glowing sensors. After surveying five more geological points, it would complete its day's work and return for maintenance.

But after completing four surveys, Xiao Yu suddenly lost its signal.

In the center of Base Three stood a large radio station, responsible for communicating with satellites. Over a thousand robots at Base Three constantly relayed signals to it, which were then transmitted to the satellites. The satellites would pass the signal along to another satellite before finally reaching the primary base, where Xiao Yu would process it.

Xiao Yu would then transmit the processed signal back to the radio station, which would in turn relay it to the over one thousand robots laboring tirelessly at Base Three.

In essence, over ten thousand robots and billions of sensors on Titan served as Xiao Yu's eyes. The photon computer provided Xiao Yu with immense computational power, ensuring that any malfunction in a robot or sensor would be detected immediately.

The link between the radio station and the robots was real-time, meaning they were constantly in communication. Now, with one robot's signal suddenly vanishing, Xiao Yu noticed it instantly.

Xiao Yu promptly retrieved all the data on the missing robot.

"Hmm, Rare Earth Model Three, responsible for geological surveys. The signal was lost five hundred meters from Base Three, near Lake Two."

"Could the signal transmitter have failed?" Xiao Yu speculated, but quickly dismissed the idea.

The maintenance record clearly indicated that the robot had just received a new signal transmitter eight hours ago. And Xiao Yu had absolute confidence in the quality of his products.

This was no shoddy Earth-quality product; it was something Xiao Yu himself would use. Naturally, the quality requirements were stringent.

"Did the rising lake water submerge it? Impossible. According to calculations, Lake Two's next high tide is three hours away. Or perhaps something blocking the signal has appeared between the lake and the base? Again, unlikely. What on Titan, aside from me, could move?"

Perplexed, Xiao Yu sent out additional robots to investigate.

To prevent any accidents, Xiao Yu dispatched a team consisting of a flamethrower robot and four standard robots.

The nearest robots received the order and immediately abandoned their current tasks to head towards Lake Two. A searchlight beamed its light ahead, illuminating their path.

Xiao Yu slightly increased the computational power allocated to these five robots. Instantly, all the information they gathered was transmitted to Xiao Yu's mind, even secondary data that normally wouldn't require his direct attention.

In the pitch-black night, a powerful searchlight carved out a bright path. Along this illuminated road, the five robots advanced cautiously.

The farther they moved from Base Three, the closer they came to Lake Two.

Xiao Yu silently calculated the distance.

At this range, the searchlight from Base Three had lost its effectiveness.

"The missing robot is nine hundred meters to the left of the robotic team's current position. Good, turn on the headlamps, max out the power, and increase the speed to maximum."

Xiao Yu issued new orders. Within a fraction of a second, these commands were transmitted to the five robots via satellite and the ground radio station.

The five robots immediately adjusted their course and activated their headlamps, cutting through the night with beams of light.

"The methane concentration in the air hasn't increased, which means the lake hasn't risen. The seismograph hasn't detected any seismic activity, so there hasn't been any geological shift. Then what could have caused this robot to disappear?"

Xiao Yu pondered silently, guiding the robots forward.

He couldn't afford to be careless. In the deadly, perilous expanse of space, any oversight could lead to catastrophic consequences.

Suddenly, Xiao Yu noticed something unusual.

The ground here was all orange-red, the color of lanthanide oxides. But ahead, three hundred meters in front of the robotic team, the ground had turned completely black.

Xiao Yu's heart skipped a beat.

"Something's wrong," Xiao Yu commanded the robotic team to halt, staring intently at the black area.

The blackness was moving. It was creeping from the direction of Lake Two towards Base Three. Xiao Yu calculated its speed, finding that the blackness was advancing at five meters per minute.

"Is this... a life form?" Xiao Yu's mind raced, rapidly increasing the computational power allocated to the five robots. Simultaneously, he ordered the Fengshen One helicopter to take off immediately, heading towards the area, estimated to arrive in fifteen minutes.

During this time, Xiao Yu conducted a thermal imaging test.

"Impossible," Xiao Yu muttered in astonishment. The black area had an average temperature of minus one hundred fifty-six degrees Celsius, while the surrounding orange-red ground was at minus one hundred sixty-two degrees Celsius.

The black area was six degrees warmer than its surroundings.

Xiao Yu knew this temperature difference signified something, but the notion of the blackness being a life form was hard to accept. Although there were extremophilic bacteria in Earth's polar regions, where the lowest temperatures reached minus sixty degrees, it was incomparable to this environment.

"Could it be that in the vastness of the universe, nature's wonders have truly created a life form capable of surviving in conditions colder than minus one hundred sixty degrees Celsius?"

Xiao Yu found the idea incredibly hard to believe.

At minus one hundred sixty degrees, a human would freeze into a statue of ice, and even a slight knock would cause their head or arm to shatter like stone. Even steel would lose its hardness and toughness in such cold. The bases and robots Xiao Yu built were fortified with nickel and cadmium for their special anti-freezing properties; otherwise, they would have frozen long ago.

In such an environment, could there really be life? Xiao Yu struggled to accept this hypothesis.

Fengshen One helicopter had already arrived. In the fifteen minutes it took, the mysterious black area had advanced eighty meters, leaving just two hundred twenty meters between it and the robotic team.

The helicopter's massive searchlight beamed down, casting a bright circular spotlight. Within the light, a dense black mass was visible. Under Xiao Yu's watchful gaze, the blackness within the spotlight began to wriggle as though it had sensed the light, surging towards it.

The blackness grew higher and higher. Within five minutes, the thickness of the black material within the spotlight had increased by a centimeter, forming a small mound compared to the flat surroundings.

"These... things are phototactic," Xiao Yu concluded.

It was still unclear whether these things were living organisms, so Xiao Yu could only refer to them as "things."

"Exploration team, advance," Xiao Yu resolved to uncover what these things were, even at the cost of sacrificing the five robots. The mere thought of them left Xiao Yu deeply unsettled.

How could one sleep soundly with unknown threats lying so close by?

One of the robots in the exploration team began to advance slowly, while another followed ten meters behind, closely monitoring the situation.

The distance gradually closed.

Two hundred meters… one hundred fifty meters… one hundred meters… fifty meters… one meter…