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Chapter 173: Chapter 170: Communication
"Aliens?"
Du Dongyuan, Wang Chixi, and the others were taken aback.
They had envisioned several possibilities, but they had not expected Xie Yusheng to present such an outcome.
Aliens had come into the picture?
Was this a joke?
However, the old man Fu Yunshan, having heard what Xie Yusheng said, quickly thought of something and became pensive.
"Grandpa Du, you must have heard that my uncle owns an astronomical observatory. After my business failed, my family asked me to manage this observatory. It was there that I received a signal, a mysterious person claiming to be from Qian Star who made contact with me,"
Xie Yusheng explained.
"You received an alien signal at the astronomical observatory!?"
Du Dongyuan and several others in the room couldn’t help but widen their eyes.
Xie Yusheng seemed to realize he had misunderstood something and quickly said, "Although the sender of the signal claimed to be an alien, upon further tracking, it was actually a near-Earth signal, not from outer space. Therefore, I always thought it was a prank."
"A near-Earth signal?"
Several people exchanged looks.
"Yes, the signal actually originated from our Blue Star. I confirmed this several times,"
Xie Yusheng said.
Du Dongyuan and others looked at one another, "How did he communicate with you at the time?"
"This... To put it simply, it went like ’I, alien, send money...’"
Xie Yusheng started, seemingly realizing that this playful description did not fit the serious nature of the current scene. He hurriedly added, "The person claiming to be from Qian Star said they were an interstellar traveler, that their spaceship had crashed, and they needed help..."
He suddenly stopped.
Wait.
The Qian Star person claimed their spaceship had crashed?
Could the crash site be Blue Star?
Is that why he thought the signal’s source was also from Blue Star?
In that moment, he couldn’t help but ask, "Could it really be... aliens?"
Wang Chixi did not answer but continued, "Detail the information about your interaction with that alien... Forget it, it’s the Xie Family’s observatory, right? We’ll just go and copy the data."
"Um..."
Xie Yusheng stretched out his hand, "Perhaps... you might not be able to copy the data anymore."
"Hmm? Why?"
"I... I deleted it."
Xie Yusheng replied weakly.
"..."
At this moment, the meditative Fu Yunshan looked up, turned to Du Dongyuan and the others, "The first time we came into contact with Black Gold, we felt that this material was completely unlike any material system on our Blue Star... In fact, it shouldn’t belong to our Blue Star at all. The other party expressed it in a way we could understand. From this material... could there be a possibility..."
Du Dongyuan and the others immediately grasped what Fu Yunshan was suggesting.
"That Qian Star person... Are they really an alien?"
Wang Chixi gradually began to feel a tingle in his scalp.
The situation...
Seemed to be moving beyond the scope of his authority as the State-level Deputy Director of Defense.
"This matter needs to be reported to the headquarters."
Fu Yunshan reacted quickly, said to Wang Chixi, then added, "Also, contact the aerospace headquarters and link up with them. It would be better to send someone here directly; we’re heading to the observatory now."
After saying this, he turned to Xie Yusheng, "For the next while, I’m afraid you’ll need to follow us."
"I..."
Xie Yusheng was startled.
Was he to be kept under surveillance?
The reason...
He seemed to have truly become the first person to make contact with aliens!
However, realizing this didn’t make Xie Yusheng uncomfortable; instead, he felt a bit excited and even more thrilled.
The first person to make contact with aliens!
If true, he was highly likely to witness history.
"We are heading there immediately."
...
Wang Chixi had everyone in the room sign a strict confidentiality agreement.
Then he streamlined the team, keeping only direct contact Xie Yusheng, Du Dongyuan, and expert contact Fu Yunshan, along with him and a few public officials.
They quickly drove to the observatory.
On the way, phones of Wang Chixi and Fu Yunshan were constantly busy, contacting various departments.
Due to the potential involvement of aliens, the matter was quickly escalated and attracted attention. By the time Xie Yusheng returned to the observatory where he had spent over a year, it had already been secured by armed soldiers.
In addition, there were over a dozen professionals from unknown departments who had arrived early.
Upon seeing the group, they immediately gathered around, bustling with conversation.
"This..."
Xie Yusheng observed and felt it seemed a bit excessive.
But then again, if the mysterious being he had been in contact with was indeed an alien from Qian Star, no amount of attention from the local departments seemed too much.
After all, this was the first Third Kind encounter in history.
"Feeling unbelievable?"
Fu Yunshan joined Xie Yusheng unnoticed.
"Not really, if it’s true, this level of response does not seem exaggerated."
Xie Yusheng spoke and added, "I just feel..."
"Worried about making a big deal out of something small?"
Fu Yunshan smiled.
Xie Yusheng nodded.
"You’ve now signed a confidentiality agreement and contributed to the Black Gold and Heavenly Sword Missile, so telling you a bit more won’t count as leaking state secrets."
Fu Yunshan said, "The reason why everyone is reacting so quickly... is because we’ve long been prepared for contact with alien civilizations."
Xie Yusheng was startled.
Then he seemed to think of something, and looked up at the dome of the sky.
There...
The projection of the world was still there.
It seemed clearer than it had been two or three years earlier.
People could even make out the outlines of large buildings amid the mountain ranges.
He thought back to how in recent years, the barriers to space and alien exploration had significantly lowered, and how the country seemed to intentionally guide private capital into this area, so...
Were they, Central Earth, and even the whole world, preparing for contact with this Immortal World, or perhaps an alien civilization?
"No wonder the response from above was so swift."
Xie Yusheng murmured to himself.
"During this period, similar incidents are said to have occurred several times, but... I have a strong premonition that this time... it’s real."
Fu Yunshan spoke calmly, yet with a hint of surpressed anticipation, "We might become the first group of contactees with an alien civilization, witnesses to human history."
Xie Yusheng listened, and for a moment, he felt a hint of anticipation for that internet troll... no, for that Qian Star friend.
If everything he said was not a joke, he...
A gleam flashed in Xie Yusheng’s eyes.
This Qian Star person was clearly inclined towards technology, so could he leverage his technological power to realize his own "Southern Heavenly Gate Chronicles" plan, to truly create a world-shattering game, fulfilling his lifelong dream?
...
A surge of professionals flooded in, swiftly operating those instruments.
Moments later, the technical experts shook their heads, "It’s been thoroughly deleted, and it’s been over two months already, the data has been overwritten."
"Without the communication data, we are fundamentally unable to build a character model for that suspected alien life form from Qian Star..."
Another person said with a dark expression.
Wang Chixi couldn’t help but glance at Xie Yusheng, making him shrink his neck.
At the moment when he deleted those things, he was simply thinking of saying goodbye to the past, who would have thought...
That these were actually the record of Blue Star’s first contact with aliens!?
If these things hadn’t been deleted...
Years later, they would probably be directly exhibited in museums.
Would that be a good promotional advertisement for "Southern Heavenly Gate Chronicles" at that time?
"Do your best to recover it."
A man with the appearance of a leader sighed.
The technicians immediately threw themselves into their work.
During this period, many experts and leaders rushed over, gradually increasing the size of the team.
Xie Yusheng gradually found himself pushed out of the circle, becoming a transparent figure on the fringe.
Although Xie Yusheng had deleted his Southern Heavenly Gate Chronicles and all communication records with that mysterious suspected alien, the technicians, after nearly a day’s busyness, quickly found the communication frequency.
After a series of checks and tracking, both parties, had established the basis for renewed communication.
At this time, Xie Yusheng had just woken up from a sleep, feeling completely refreshed.
Before he could go for breakfast, three middle-aged men approached him.
"Mr. Xie."
One of them said solemnly, "After our discussion, we’ve decided to attempt communication with the target codenamed ’Qian,’ and the communication process will still be conducted by you."
"Me?"
Xie Yusheng was startled.
This middle-aged man was introduced by Fu Yunshan to him; he seemed to be an authoritative figure in the field of human relations, Named Qiu Yuyu.
He seemed to hold additional positions, and appeared to have considerable authority in this ’Contact’ operation.
But...
"Is there anything else?"
Xie Yusheng was somewhat surprised.
"You deleted the data... thoroughly."
Qiu Yuyu sighed, "Although you relayed the content of communications with ’Qian,’ without firsthand experience, we can’t completely model the intelligence on the other side. In this case, the best approach is to stick with the familiar, so... we still plan to have you as the temporary communicator."
As he spoke, he added, "Of course, during your communication, we will provide some guiding hints to further discern his identity and purpose."
Xie Yusheng nodded, "I understand."
"Alright, we are ready to commence communication, please follow me."
Qiu Yuyu said.
Xie Yusheng immediately followed him.
At that moment, his mobile phone rang.
He looked at the display showing the name "Rain Princess" and frowned.
"We do not prohibit your communication with the outside world. You can talk to others, but you ultimately have not undergone professional secrecy training. I still need to remind you to heed confidentiality regulations and not to reveal unnecessary information during your conversation,"
Qiu Yuyu said.
"I understand."
Xie Yusheng nodded and directly pressed the "reject" button.
After pressing that button, his entire essence, energy, and spirit seemed revitalized a bit as he straightened up and followed Qiu Yuyu, quickly arriving at the control room.
At that time, all rooms outside the control room were already occupied, with numerous instruments that he could not recognize set up on top.
Inside the control room were similarly about a dozen people, each seemingly a top talent in their respective industries.
Seeing Xie Yusheng and Qiu Yuyu enter, everyone stood up at once.
"Director."
"Hmm."
Qiu Yuyu nodded and took a set of documents from someone’s hand, passing it to Xie Yusheng, "This is the simulated communication data we prepared; you can refer to it and send it out in the way you think is appropriate."
Xie Yusheng nodded, took the documents, and carefully flipped through them.
After a while, he turned to Qiu Yuyu, "I’m ready."
"Then..."
Qiu Yuyu took a deep breath, "Project ’Qiankun’ and the first... the second contact with suspected alien civilization target ’Qian,’ begins..."
As his command was issued, numerous instruments, both within and outside the control room, started up.
And Xie Yusheng, following routine, sent out the first message.
"Are you there? Did you understand the data? Do you need anything additional? I have a new set of detailed data here, if needed, please respond."
