Chapter 330 Humanity's Most Critical Moment

Meanwhile, at the Solar System Alliance, Command Headquarters, Hessen Warning Center.

A surveillance officer, with a look of panic on their face, was typing frantically and triggered the highest level of defense alert throughout the Solar System.

In an instant, an urgent message appeared simultaneously in the holographic images of all the combat conference halls:

[Alert! Alert! An unknown civilization's spacecraft has been detected exploring the Solar System, no attacks have been made yet.

Distance: 5000 astronomical units, position: Right Ascension 3 hours 32 minutes 55.8 seconds, Declination +9°27′29.7″]

This message, like lightning splitting the night sky, not only shook every decision-maker within the Command Headquarters but was also transmitted back to Wallfacer International in an instant through faster-than-light communication technology, causing a global tremor.

The source of this urgent intelligence report was a disguised surveillance satellite at the edge of the Solar System, all of which are equipped with faster-than-light communication capabilities.

Humanity had deployed a large number of disguised surveillance satellites around the periphery of the Solar System, achieving full surveillance at 2000 astronomical units and random surveillance within 10,000 astronomical units. This was why the spacecraft was only detected when it had come so close.

The reason humanity had not extended the primary surveillance range further was that the risk of exposure is directly proportional to the range of surveillance. The farther out the surveillance satellites are placed, the higher the possibility of their being exposed.

There exists an unbreakable rule of the speed of light in the universe: no attack can exceed the ultimate limit of light speed. Thus, a distance of 2000 astronomical units has been deemed by humanity as an extremely crucial early warning line.

Once an attack is detected at this distance, humanity will have 11 days to respond. These 11 days would become the watershed moment for humanity's survival or extinction.

The sounding of the alarm meant that all of humanity must act immediately, with no time for hesitation, no time for analysis and prediction.

As for what can be done in these 11 days, the actions necessary for humanity's survival are self-evident.

The current situation was slightly less tense; the unknown civilization's spacecraft was still 5000 astronomical units away, which meant humanity had 25 days to come up with a response.

Even though the crisis wasn't at its final juncture, this brief respite didn't relax anybody. Instead, it prompted an even more urgent sense of crisis.

The Command Headquarters had no choice but to urgently launch humanity's last resort, the "Ark" Project, and also immediately ordered: all Science Advisory Boards and Military Advisory Groups to analyze the technical level of the unknown civilization's spacecraft and possible attack methods based on the surveillance data returned.

Soon, the analysis results were in, though the outcome was somewhat unexpected.

The technological level of the enemy's spacecraft appeared to be quite poor, only equivalent to humanity's civilization at level 1.1. Their spacecraft propulsion system was a method humanity had long since abandoned, and the material properties of the spacecraft's surface were even more outdated.

But humanity would not relax its vigilance because of this; on the contrary, the atmosphere became even more somber.

However, this seemingly primitive appearance did not lead humanity to lower its guard, rather it made the atmosphere even more sobering. The vast size of the spacecraft was of particular concern, far exceeding the dimensions of standard spacecraft, even large enough to accommodate a small human warship.

Humanity's first thought was that it was a decoy—there could very well be advanced warships of an unknown civilization hidden inside the spaceship.

And one final question remained: why haven't they launched a Hines Strike yet? Instead, they continue to explore the Solar System.

More crucially, why would they disguise themselves and probe so close to the Solar System?

According to cosmic sociology, civilizations that launch Hines Strikes usually do so from afar, at a minimum distance of 0.5 light years, which is more than 30,000 astronomical units. It is difficult for them to ascertain whether there are any civilizations in a stellar system from such a distance.

If they are too close, the possibility of mutual discovery exists, presenting a danger for them too, as it is unclear whether there are high-level civilizations in the star system.

Their deployment of Hines Strikes is arbitrary and often aimless.

The current spacecraft clearly had a specific target. With its speed and direction, Earth was its destination.

All of this was too strange!

No matter how strange, the plans at Command Headquarters were like an arrow on the string, and the entire Solar System was operating like a vast machine, rapidly gearing up for action. Every minute, every second was now priceless.

Perhaps the civilization of the Solar System would come to an end, and humanity would need to pioneer a new civilization amongst the stars!

The most critical moment for humanity had arrived!

It was also the most urgent and perilous moment in human history.

Sometimes the world is unpredictable; crises can often burst forth like a sudden violent storm, yet they can also dissipate quickly when least expected.

Just over a tense dozen minutes after the peak, the patrolling disguised satellite transmitted another unexpected message, a broadcast sent by an unknown spacecraft towards the Solar System.

"Greetings to the worlds that receive this message.

We are envoys from the Trisolaran Civilization, and encounters in the Dark Forest are a rare event.

We accidentally learned of your history and deeply sympathize with the various challenges and ordeals you have endured, and we understand the need for you to have invaded this star system in search of a new home.

We have no intention of waging war against you, and like you, we are unwilling to expose this star system.

However, the resource consumption of our mother civilization has also reached its final stages and requires Earth as a temporary replenishment.

Compared with us, you should be more in need of this stellar system, and we both have the foundation for peaceful coexistence."

This message was directly conveyed in Chinese, and Big Tooth knew that the Trisolarans would definitely understand it without the need for translation.

Humanity received this message and immediately organized an interdisciplinary team of experts to conduct an in-depth analysis and interpretation from multiple dimensions, concluding the following points:

First, the civilization claiming to be from Trisolaris must have captured either the escaping Human Warship or Shui Wa's spacecraft, through which they learned about the Solar System and that it had been invaded by the Trisolarans.

They believed it was almost impossible for mankind to resist the Trisolarans, hence they mistook the current occupants of the Solar System for Trisolarans.

Second, if the other party had not lied, they were in fact revealing their own civilization's coordinates – akin to letting the other party control their lifeline.

In the Dark Forest, such an act is nearly impossible; one's Home Star System is not something to be disclosed to others. If it's entirely false, there's actually no need to inform at all – silence is better than a lie,

The greatest possibility is that this star system is just a way station for them, and they might truly come from Proxima Centauri.

The mention of a mother civilization implies that their mother civilization is on its way here, coming from the direction of Proxima Centauri.

If we could closely observe their mother civilization, one could roughly judge their level of civilization – if it's completely beyond understanding, humanity would have no choice but to flee.

Third, their mother civilization's resource consumption has reached its final stage, requiring replenishment on Earth. This statement has a certain degree of credibility; however, the specific amount of their remaining resources cannot be known.

Humanity must also remain highly vigilant, as this may contain a trap.

Fourth, their level of civilization does not seem to be much higher than that of the Trisolaran Civilization. They are not willing to wage war, instead using the Dark Forest Theory as a bargaining chip for threats.

Of course, these conclusions are all based on the presumption that the other party is not lying, but if this broadcast was entirely fabricated, why would they send this message?

After urgent analysis by sociologists, logicians, and cosmic sociologists, the most simple and crucial conclusion was reached:

The other party will not carry out a Hines Strike.

This also eased the minds of all concerned — the plans for humanity's Ark were on standby, and the Lightspeed Spacecraft was ready for a long journey.

If this line of information had arrived a few days later, the Solar System would have probably become a low-lightspeed black hole by now, or you might call it a Light Tomb – tomb as in a grave.

PS: Although the Swallower is evil, it appears to be very sincere. Some believe that after 60 million years of interstellar journey, it must have gone through the deceit and deception of many stellar civilizations, so it is unlikely to be sincere.

The author believes they should be honest because they probably didn't have much contact with other civilizations. If they encountered civilizations weaker than theirs, they would exterminate them; if stronger, they would be exterminated.

There would be no exchanges or deceit, and their nature would remain intact. They are willing to communicate with humanity only because humanity is special to them.

Of course, there is also a possibility that in higher-level civilizations, lies are rare since they do not bring any benefits, nor do they serve as a protective color. Naturally, lies become unnecessary.

In "Swallower," the elder Dinosaurs sighed long and left tears: "Before me and my offspring lies the endless night and ceaseless warfare; in the vast universe, where is home?"

At this moment, perhaps they too had nothing to really care about! Lies are meaningless to them.

In this book, they realize that the potential of their own civilization has been exhausted. Toward civilizations from the same Home Planet of Earth, they are somewhat pleased, somewhat disdainful, and even... jealous.

However, the later text also adds another explanation regarding the Swallower and the Li Bai Civilization.