Having just contacted Li Nannan, Jiang Ye received several more messages in the group chat.
" @Jiang Ye Xing Jiang Ye, we're drilling deep wells on our planet too, and we've also encountered geode worms, over twenty-eight thousand of them."
" @Jiang Ye Xing Jiang Ye, is there anything to know about these geode worms? We have these things near our planet's underground laboratory."
"They really have them everywhere. I found them on my planet, and on two of its moons. The ones on the moons are dead geode worms, while the ones under the planet are alive. These things seem to rely on high heat to survive. The moons often rotate to positions without sunlight, and they don't have magma, so the geode worms freeze to death or starve."
Jiang Ye typed his reply:
"Currently, these are all just speculations, but I have found some traces resembling writing in the geode worm gathering areas. The specific form is orderly dot matrices on smooth earth walls. If anyone finds similar dot matrices, you can send them to the military for research by their alien language experts. If the data volume is large enough, and we can understand the geode worms' communication, we might be able to decipher the stellar disease in advance. The loss of stellar energy is very likely being fed to these geode worms, but why these geode worms are storing stellar energy is unclear for now. It could be for weapon purposes, or other reasons."
Exploration continued for a week, with over 160,000 little dogs deployed.
On Thursday evening, the vanguard of the little dogs finally encountered the geode worms.
Inside a massive cave, at least eight to nine thousand geode worms were crowded together, rubbing against each other like snakes waking from hibernation. Whether it was a worm spewing fire or some other heat source, the temperature in the entire cave reached a scorching 78 degrees Celsius.
The little dogs intended to attack but received orders from the geode mechanical soldiers.
Cease attack, monitor closely, collect data, and blockade the cave entrances and exits.
The geode worms seemed oblivious to the little dogs, merely writhing together, and some were even consuming each other.
Jiang Ye was excited upon receiving the news, staring at his desk as he processed the information coming from underground.
[No large geode worms found, all geode worms are extremely small. There are large amounts of calcium and metal debris at the cave edges. This might be a nursery, and these geode worms are newly hatched larvae. The debris could be eggshells or molted skins left after hatching.]
[Some geode worms ate the debris. This debris might also be food left by parent worms for their offspring.]
[Observed many geode worms being crushed to death and quickly eaten by their companions. Their writhing together might be a form of struggle.]
[The dead small geode worms did not emit flames or high energy; they are just very ordinary insects.]
[Observed some eaten geode worm debris, identical to the debris mentioned at the cave edges earlier.]
[Revised speculation: If these are newly hatched larvae, then the parent worms did not leave them their first meal after birth. Weak companions who cannot win are the first meal. At least one thing is certain: geode worms exhibit cannibalistic behavior.]
[Revised speculation: This place, besides being a hatching chamber, might also be a battlefield for two different groups of geode worms. Perhaps a small-scale war is underway.]
[Requesting a degree of tentative intervention, such as killing a few geode worms at the edges to observe their reaction.]
Jiang Ye pressed the voice key and ordered, "Kill a few to test."
Several long-waiting little dogs immediately charged forward, using their saw blades to cut open a few geode worms, splashing debris, and then quickly retreated.
Observation continued:
[Nearby geode worms were not alarmed. The ambient temperature remained at 78 degrees Celsius.]
[The killed geode worms were eaten by their companions.]
[Requesting to expand the killing to observe their reaction.]
Jiang Ye frowned. "Alright."
Hundreds of little dogs watching nearby instantly mobilized, eagerly leaping into the cave. Their saw blades whirred, turning swarms of geode worms into minced fragments.
The efficiency of the slaughter was remarkably high. These little dogs were combat robots themselves; observation was secondary, and killing was their primary function. Before Jiang Ye could even react, five to six hundred geode worms had already been ground into dust.
The sudden intrusion of outsiders and the large number of dead companions finally threw the geode worms into a panic.
After a brief commotion, the struggling worms began to flee.
In complete chaos, the worms scurried in all directions, pushing and shoving each other. Many got stuck, and even more died during their escape.
Only a thousand geode worms managed to escape the cave, leaving along over twenty small branching paths. The rest were all cut down by the frenzied little dogs.
Jiang Ye watched, feeling a bit of a chill. These cheap little dogs were truly ferocious. Fortunately, they wouldn't attack humans. If a pack of mad little dogs were released in the city center, casualties would surely be in the thousands.
The little dogs dug holes through the piles of corpses and pursued along the small paths.
"Don't kill them, just chase. Let these worms lead the way," Jiang Ye ordered via voice command.
His heart began to race. If all went as expected, these little worms would lead them back to their main base along their own paths.
The little dogs pursued relentlessly.
Little dogs from nearby branching paths also mobilized in this direction, leaving only a few at the junctions to guard the way.
The situation was like chasing a lost sheep; there were more paths after the branching ones, but now they could see the sheep's hindquarters.
His phone suddenly rang.
Jiang Ye frowned. It was Shao Wan calling. What could be happening at this hour?
He answered.
"Terrorist attack, the shale mine was bombed by civilian drones. The remote controller's vehicle was just shot down by an anti-aircraft missile. The local police are rushing over," Shao Wan said urgently. "I'm bringing people over immediately."
"Is it serious?" Jiang Ye asked.
"Not serious. The small drone was detected by radar as it approached the mining area. Director Xu was inspecting the mine tonight, and she reacted quickly, immediately ordering an evacuation," Shao Wan said. "There are no casualties for now, but production has stopped."
"Something's not right," Jiang Ye frowned. "Don't go to the shale mine. It might be a diversion."
"What do you mean?"
"All cities should enter a state of emergency. 48 hours of curfew and street sweeps. You gather all police officers first and have them patrol and guard densely populated areas and important locations," Jiang Ye said. "I'll deploy the army into the city to assist."
"That serious?" Shao Wan was surprised. "The mine attack wasn't that big, the explosives were only equivalent to three or four assault grenades."
"I don't know, but we won't regret doing this," Jiang Ye hung up.
Jiang Ye's right eyelid twitched.
He called Tang Hanliu. "All cities are to enter a state of emergency. There was a terrorist attack at the mine, and we need to search for culprits. There will be a curfew for 48 hours, and checkpoints will be set up on the streets during the day."
Tang Hanliu sounded a bit confused. "Ah? Ah! I... okay, I'll arrange it immediately! Television, radio, and newspapers."
"As soon as possible," Jiang Ye said.