Deep Space Wandering Fleet-Chapter 226 - Surrendered
Chapter 226: Chapter 226: Surrendered?
Chapter 226: Chapter 226: Surrendered?
That night, at midnight.
Zhang Yuan tossed and turned in bed. The internal chaos was essentially resolved, yet, for some reason, he was still in a state of insomnia.
Compared to the grand terror brought about by the aliens, the minor troubles of the civilians in the rear were in fact trivial, merely to remind the higher-ups that the public is blind and shortsighted and that it’s necessary to improve overall quality and so on. Of course, that simple patriotic enthusiasm also deeply moved those in the higher echelons.
The most pressing matter now was to urgently produce a few small electromagnetic guns that could intercept nuclear bombs. If their speed could exceed one hundred kilometers per second, then the interception success rate would be quite high.
But achieving a speed of one hundred kilometers per second wasn’t something that could be done just by talking about it; it required very good materials, and there were still several key difficulties in producing these materials which couldn’t be resolved by simply making a decision…
As a result of his insomnia for most of the night, he was called up again by Captain Zhao.
“Old Zhang! Come quick!”
“What’s the matter now… There isn’t another rocket coming over, is there?”
Zhang Yuan didn’t dare to delay; his heartbeat sped up rapidly, and he hurriedly jumped out of bed.
“No, it’s not that…” Captain Zhao hesitated for a moment before saying, “It seems like… they have surrendered!”
“What… what? Surrendered?”
Zhang Yuan widened his eyes, almost doubting what he had heard.
This fact was utterly beyond his expectations, leaving him astonished… for quite a few seconds.
“Anyway, hurry up and come over!”
Zhang Yuan hurried back to the Captain’s Room. Since it was already three o’clock in the morning, apart from some on-duty personnel, most were asleep. Only a few information scientists, including Dr. Li Zhendong from the Information Security Department, were inside.
Li Zhendong’s face was swollen to the color of liver, and he eagerly said, “This electromagnetic wave was just received. The language is the common language of the Milky Way given to us by the Gaia Civilization. We’ve been studying it for quite a while, so it didn´t require much deciphering to understand.”
“Take a look!”
Zhang Yuan stared intently at the screen, which read: “Unknown civilization, or should I say, Human civilization, greetings. I am Ganyador, the leader of the Gleize Civilization. We are a civilization that loves peace and is friendly…”
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He couldn’t help but wipe his nose, thinking that every civilization claims to “love peace,” much like the countries on Earth.
“…Just a few days ago, a civil unrest erupted within our planet. The warmonger faction’s leader Davian attempted to launch a civilization war and fired that rocket…”
“After the rebellion failed, he committed suicide by swallowing his gun. Fortunately, those nuclear bombs did not bring you serious damage…”
“I think, given that our Planet System is so vast, we could set aside disputes and develop together, rather than engage in a life-or-death interstellar war…”
The tone was very friendly, and there was even an invitation at the end, inviting the leader of the Earth Era to their planet to discuss joint development matters.
Zhang Yuan simply didn´t know what to say…
The entire message was suffused with a strange eeriness, and Zhang Yuan felt extremely odd, really odd. There was something indescribably unsettling about it, making his skin crawl.
Set aside disputes and develop together?
Could it be a trap?
That was his first thought.
Zhang Yuan always felt something was amiss about the situation. Just a few days earlier they were launching nuclear attacks, and now suddenly… they had surrendered?
Even if it were a trap, it wouldn’t be this foolish.
“Old Zhao, we can’t exactly call it surrender, can we?”
“It does seem to have that sort of implication… Peaceful coexistence, perhaps? But having communication is definitely better than none.”
After pondering for a while, everyone felt like a monk scratching his head in confusion.
“An invitation?” Zhang Yuan said with a frown, “…They can’t possibly think that capturing our diplomats will make us obediently follow orders, can they? Are they a civilization similar to the Insect Race, with a single absolute intelligence core? Or an Artificial Intelligence missing a screw in its head?”
The current development model of human civilization, honestly speaking, wouldn’t have too much trouble without anyone.
If he, Zhang Yuan, were to die, civilization would still develop forward. Although losing him, a talented individual, would be a great loss, it certainly wouldn’t be unmanageable.
Even if Captain Zhao, the highest-ranking leader, were kidnapped, they would try to rescue him if possible, and if not, he would be given up without hesitation by the other leaders. After all, another person could be appointed as captain…
“It’s hard to say… Could they really wish for peaceful coexistence?” Captain Zhao said, furrowing his brow and falling into deep thought, “We must not underestimate an intelligent alien civilization. If they are foolish to such an extent, then we have nothing to worry about… And if they are a singular intelligence, it’s even less likely they would send such an invitation.”
Several information specialists who were decoding the secret were discussing vigorously.
“I think, maybe the other side has run out of means to attack us, and is trying to buy time?”
“Or maybe, they’ve observed the High-dimensional Fragment absorbing the nuclear bomb… and they’ve felt a fear from the unknown?” Li Zhendong said with a mix of annoyance and amusement.
“It could also be a probe… Yes, to test our desire to attack!”
After discussing for a long time, no satisfactory conclusions were reached. Since it was very late and they were feeling rundown, everyone had to go back to their respective homes to rest for a bit.
…
The next morning, after only two or three hours of sleep, Zhang Yuan woke up with dark circles under his eyes, checking the time to see it was only half-past six—hardly long at all.
Lin Xuanyuan was still sleeping sweetly beside him, untroubled by the world… Well, with a reliable man by her side, not even the sky falling down would disturb her beauty sleep.
Zhang Yuan rubbed his eyes, took a moment to wake up fully, and then reached for his mobile phone on the bedside table. The news that “they want to negotiate” had already reached many, with the various discussion messages on his phone having crazily exceeded six thousand!
He didn’t bother to look at them. After getting out of bed, he grabbed a piece of bread from the food cart and ate it on his way to an emergency meeting.
Even now, he was somewhat incredulous about “them wanting to negotiate.” It sounded quite fantastical… but it was indeed happening.
Even if it was a deception, it would only prove that the aliens think differently than humans.
In the meeting room, many people gathered, bringing together a discussion with points that Zhang Yuan and a few others had not considered.
One of the scientists said, “Ladies and gentlemen, since this message was sent in the language of the Gaia Civilization, can we assume that this civilization has also encountered the Gaia Civilization? And that they have some common knowledge about cosmic civilizations…”
To have encountered the Gaia Civilization, that would be too coincidental, wouldn’t it?
The probability is too low!
Zhang Yuan said, “It’s not necessarily that they have encountered the Gaia Civilization… I’m more inclined to think that this is a galactic lingua franca. The mother civilization that invented this language is powerful enough, and its influence in the Milky Way is significant enough, that over time it became the common language for diplomacy among cosmic civilizations.”
“Because the Planet-level Spaceship we encountered used the same language. That’s the Noah Civilization, right?”
Captain Zhao nodded, “Zhang Yuan’s point makes sense, and I’m inclined to believe that this is a Galactic lingua franca as well.”
“So, assuming this Gleize Civilization—let’s tentatively call them that—once encountered other aliens, that’s why they know all this…”
Zhang Yuan couldn’t help but wipe a bead of sweat from his brow, damn, isn’t this eerily weird…
“Then…” another expert stood up and said, “Is it possible that this form of surrender is a kind of interstellar etiquette? Once you surrender, you can no longer be completely annihilated? Like during the Middle Ages in Europe, where in wars between nobles, if you were captured, you could redeem yourself by paying some ransom?”
“That can’t be so harmonious…” Zhang Yuan muttered to himself.
