Chapter 1165: Chapter 164: Contact
"There’s definitely something fishy!"
In the conference room, intense disputes arose as a member of the think tank in a suit said with a frown, "The Alskalisans claim they are sending an SOS signal through the Star Gate because of long-term water shortage and the gradual death of their people.
But according to the data we have, all the gate holders on Earth are high-level Transcendents who participated in the gate wars,
and every time they open a gate and transfer materials through it, they consume their own energy.
In other words, those who can use the gate are at least mid to high-level players.
The Alskalisans say they discovered and activated the Star Gate in an ancient civilization’s secret laboratory,
which brings two possibilities.
First, a Transcendent among the Alskalisans has bound and is using the Star Gate.
In this scenario,
that Transcendent would have to bear the cost of opening and maintaining the Star Gate, meaning their power is considerable.
Such a Transcendent could easily buy props and materials from the mall to help their people survive.
This clearly contradicts the Alskalisans’ description in their SOS.
Second, there is a difference between the Star Gate and the gates,
perhaps it doesn’t require a clear Transcendent to pay the toll, or there is an ancient civilization’s energy device left in the laboratory maintaining the Star Gate.
But this theory obviously lacks supporting evidence.
I think the Alskalisans’ claim is very suspicious."
"I agree with Academician Qian’s idea."
Another think tank member nodded: "In the first exchange, they sent over some pure water,
while comrades from Gru sent pebbles, an unmanned scout drone, and a living Messenger through the Star Gate.
However, the items sent through just vanished like a stone dropped into the sea, with no response at all.
In other words, the items sent over were captured, intercepted, or detained by the Alskalisans.
This is enough to prove that the Alskalisans are well aware of the basic principles of initial engagement between two unknown civilizations, which is to protect one’s information.
However, a few hours later, they sent over a dictionary expressing a willingness to engage in negotiation.
Aren’t they afraid that we on the other side of the Star Gate harbor malicious intent towards them?
Why would they lower their guard so easily?
It’s important to know that the items sent over by Gru comrades strictly adhered to the Global Occult Coalition’s negotiation guidelines for unknown civilizations given to national officials,
to protect human civilization information from being leaked to the greatest extent.
How do they know Earthlings are friendly and willing to help them?
Just hours before, they were extra cautious, not exposing any information,
how come now they suddenly expose themselves, directly saying that there are less than ten thousand of them left on their planet, a civilization-ending message?
This obviously doesn’t fit normal reasoning."
The people in the conference room fell into deep thought,
If the Alskalisans really are in a desperate situation, facing the extinction of their people, it is indeed possible for them to drop their guard and ask Earth for help,
but the problem is, it’s happened too fast.
According to the previous guesses of the think tank, negotiations between two unknown civilizations are bound to be full of endless probing, suspicion, and doubts,
even if the Alskalisans are extremely short of water and are on the brink of destruction,
hundreds of years have passed, so a few days of slowly probing and negotiating with Earth shouldn’t make a difference.
The conference room was filled with rounds of discussion, and after sending over the stone SOS, there had been no movement on the other side of the Star Gate, and Earth hadn’t sent anything over either.
"...If it’s just a matter of housing five thousand aliens, we can definitely help them solve it.
We can first send over a stone letter, telling them our thoughts and concerns,
and after receiving a reply, send a small amount of pure water through the Star Gate to meet their survival needs..."
In the conference room, Baraleika, representing the Gru Department, discussed hoarsely with representatives of the other two parties.
Cold Waterstone noticed Li Ang listening to their discussion with great interest and turned to ask politely, "Mr. Li, do you have any opinion?"
"Me?"
Li Ang waved his hand casually and said, "This has nothing to do with me.
But, eventually, at any rate, won’t you still have to go through the Star Gate yourselves?
If the Alskalisans are really as they said in the letter, at the end of their rope with no way out,
then while completing the rescue of the remaining Alskalisans on Earth, they can also occupy an entire planet there.
The ancient civilization relics and leftover technology there can be unearthed and reverse-engineered,
and there’s no need to pay the Killing Field Game for purchases.
Such a huge wealth, Gru, the Global Occult Coalition, and the Special Affairs Bureau will not give up, they will definitely invest their strength in this excavation.
Since the results are already determined, further discussion seems a bit redundant."
"..."
Cold Waterstone and Baraleika exchanged glances and continued to ask: "What if the Alskalisans are lying?"
"There are two reasons to lie, interest and fear."
Li Ang replied casually: "I can’t imagine a reasonable fear cause from the other side,
but one thing is certain, just set the negotiation platform in their world to minimize potential losses."
"You’re saying we should go directly to their planet to negotiate?"
Cold Waterstone pondered briefly and looked at Baraleika.
The latter lowered his head in thought for a moment and then slowly said, "Let’s implement the new plan.
The technical department will make a new stone tablet message, telling them that we will send people through the Star Gate, bringing enough pure water and data recording devices,
to conduct more detailed and specific negotiations in their world."
"Send humans over?"
Someone in the decision-making level was puzzled: "Wouldn’t this be too risky?
Unlike in script tasks, script worlds are filtered by the Killing Field Game, with rarely any dangerous elements when being transported,
but the Star Gate is a completely different concept.
Behind the Star Gate, there might be deadly viruses, bacteria, parasites, or even meme contagions."
"Not a real human going over, but using this."
Baraleika took a small tin box containing gum from his pocket.
[Name: Labor Candy]
[Type: Consumable]
[Quality: Perfect]
[Special Effect: After chewing the gum, the user can blow on it to create a substitute with blurred details. The substitute has no independent consciousness, is remotely controlled by the user, and transmits perception back to the user. The substitute will consume 15% of the user’s energy, has 10% of the user’s attack power, and can endure 320% damage. The user can remotely order the substitute to self-destruct. The maximum duration of the substitute is 1 hour, and it will be destroyed after taking excessive damage.]
[Usage Conditions: None]
[Notes: A single user can have multiple gum substitutes, but the existence of multiple substitutes at the same time may cause confusion in the user’s mind.]
[Notes: The gum substitute can talk and communicate but cannot use equipment, items, or skills.]
[Notes: In the future, some companies will actively purchase this type of gum and distribute it to employees, increasing each employee’s work efficiency without paying more in wages. Whether Labor Candy will cause employees to develop split personalities is not within the company’s scope of consideration.]
Baraleika shook the small tin box covered with green plastic film and said, "The substitute created by this item is a mere gum dummy,
the user can feel the substitute’s sensations, but any injuries, pain, brainwashing, control effects, or meme infections suffered by the substitute will not be transmitted to the user, rendering it completely harmless.
We can have some Transcendents use gum substitutes,
with the Transcendents themselves staying put,
while the gum substitutes bring water through the Star Gate and negotiate with the alien civilization there.
Even if negotiations break down, the Transcendents won’t be harmed,
and we could find out the true intentions of the Alskalisans."
Hmm?
Li Ang glanced at the small tin box with slight surprise; the item in Baraleika’s hand resembled the Substitute Magic Doll he had seen at the Plague Doctor’s place when he first started out,
but in terms of special effects, the perfect quality Labor Candy undoubtedly outperformed the mere rare quality Substitute Magic Doll.
With this item, it truly can maximize the safety of the Messenger’s personal security and the information security of human civilization.
As the host, Baraleika made a decision, and the others had no further comments,
with each department performing their duties, everything was prepared promptly according to Baraleika’s instructions.
A stone letter was delivered to the Star Gate, notifying the Alskalisans that Earth would send a delegation and requesting reception.
The Alskalisans, after a few minutes’ silence, also delivered a stone letter agreeing.
After finalizing everything, three organizations selected a team of twenty Messengers,
including Baraleika, Cold Waterstone, Bai Haozheng,
and Li Ang was also invited to join—the reason being that Li Ang was knowledgeable and could assist in negotiations,
though the deeper reason was, of course, that Li Ang possessed a door on his own and had a deeper understanding of it than ordinary people.
"Cool mint flavor, with xylitol."
Li Ang casually chewed the cube-shaped gum, and like the others present, blew out a large round balloon.
The balloon quickly deflated and solidified in the air,
gradually forming the outline of each user’s body surface.
Since the Labor Candy had been certified by the Killing Field Game System, there was no worry of the gum substitute developing self-awareness, doubting itself, or questioning the meaning of life.
Once everything was ready,
the Messenger team, carrying several tons of water in metal barrels,
stepped into the Star Gate under the gaze of all.
——————
When they opened their eyes again, everyone was already standing on a platform,
which looked like the central area of an abandoned laboratory,
broken stones and dust-covered, function-unknown research instruments could be seen everywhere,
purple weeds filled the floor cracks,
and the laboratory dome was cracked, with a dark red light shining through the crevices, covering everyone.
Li Ang looked back to see the Star Gate located at the center of the circular platform in the laboratory,
with cables extending around the platform, covered in dust, leading to unknown destinations,
while the Star Gate itself still shone with a red-black swirl light.
"They’re here."
Bai Haozheng’s suppressed voice sounded nearby. Li Ang turned his head, only to see pairs of eyes lighting up in what seemed like dark corners of the laboratory,
a group of lurking Alskalisans emerged from the shadows.
As described in dictionaries and letters, these alien species, grown under the red dwarf star’s illumination, had a body structure similar to humans,
with heads, torsos, limbs, and facial features very much alike.
They just had paler skin and no hair—possibly due to faint sunlight, making hair unnecessary and less likely to produce melanin.
The Alskalisans present in the laboratory appeared to be their tribe’s expedition team,
each wearing leather clothing, wielding blades, spears, and crossbows made from iron pipes, exuding a post-apocalyptic wanderer style.
However, some were also holding, though old and broken, next-gen weapons comparable to Earth’s, sometimes even slightly superior.
Engaging in friendly interactions with aliens wasn’t Li Ang’s forte,
he and Bai Haozheng remained silent, watching language and anthropology experts in the Messenger team step forward, engraving words on the stone slabs they brought—this linguist was a Transcendent of the Global Occult Coalition, having just decoded and mastered the Alskalisans’ language,
though still clueless about pronunciation, they could communicate through writing.
The Alskalisans opposing them also sent out the oldest-looking representative, with both sides engraving words and exchanging messages.
"The world of the screenplay doesn’t count as an alien planet, so strictly speaking, this should be the first time Earth has established diplomatic relations with a clearly alien civilization."
Li Ang said light-heartedly, "Are we the first group of Earth delegates for a third-contact scenario?
In the past, we could have been human heroes on global TV shows for a month, without replacing."
To prevent information leakage,
the Earth delegation communicated among themselves in another exceedingly rare language—the ancient language of the Chamicuro tribe, indigenous to South America.
"No, under the new Blue Book Plan formulated by the Global Occult Coalition, we should now be considered a fifth-contact scenario,"
Bai Haozheng spoke softly, "which is a more advanced human civilization making direct contact with extraterrestrial civilizations using friendly information.
Although there’s nothing really worth celebrating,
these Alskalisans... are indeed rather backward."
In appearance, the aliens before them seemed like Earth’s primitive tribes still pursuing a hunter-gatherer lifestyle,
but Li Ang could still glean some clues from small details.
Like humans, they had ages that were reflected in their appearances,
with most of this team being middle-aged, some younger and older individuals,
suggesting a healthy age structure with a high survival rate for middle-aged people experienced in wilderness exploration.
Additionally, the hunting weapons they held evidenced that they searched the city’s ruins for edible meaty animals,
while the presence of next-gen weapons indicated that these aliens maintained some ability to repair ancient technology, and should not be regarded merely as ignorant primitives.
Li Ang watched coldly as both representative teams negotiated, piecing together an overall view of the alien civilization or alien tribe in his mind.
