ATDIWR Chapter 129

Chapter 129 Flying Saucers and Aliens

“You’re back.” Gu Jinsheng had just disembarked from his mecha when Ji An, who had been waiting for a long time, greeted him.

“What’s the situation at H Base now?”

Gu Jinsheng shook his head. “Those willing to come and live in Jing Shi Base with me, I’ve already brought them back.”

“That’s good then,” Ji An said, somewhat worried. “Go quickly and get a radiation test.”

“I didn’t leave the mecha.”

“Still, I won’t be at ease until you do,” Ji An urged.

“Alright.” Since Ji An was concerned, Gu Jinsheng decided to get a test done. It was no trouble for him anyway.

“Perfect. I’ll check over your mecha.”

After Gu Jinsheng left, Ji An climbed into the mecha and began inspecting it. This mecha was built by Ji An himself, and no one knew every single part of it better than he did.

The initial concept for the mecha was to be able to fight in space, traverse the universe, perform spatial jumps, and so on.

There is high-intensity radiation in space, not less than H radiation. So, when building the mecha, considering radiation aspects, Ji An developed a new synthetic metal. This metal, during experiments, showed high strength in isolating radiation, even achieving 100% radiation protection.

These were experimental data. Later, the mecha was created, and Gu Jinsheng had been using it in combat, but he had never been to space or high-radiation areas. Thus, this feature of the mecha had not been utilized. Now that Gu Jinsheng had been to an area with H radiation, Ji An wanted to see if the H radiation had any impact on the mecha.

Ji An operated on the mecha’s control panel. The mecha’s sensors were sensitive, showing no anomalies.

Ji An’s fingers skillfully operated on the light screen, and as he clicked around, he accidentally opened a video segment recorded by Gu Jinsheng.

It showed the tragic state of H Base now. Gu Jinsheng must have recorded this video for the researchers, for them to study and analyze.

Ji An roughly looked it over and was about to close it. But just as his index finger was about to touch the? on the light screen, Ji An suddenly leaned closer to look.

On the light screen, there were several rapidly moving small black dots that disappeared and reappeared.

If you didn’t pay attention, you might mistake these small black dots for static on the light screen. But Ji An was the creator of this mecha, and he knew all its characteristics clearly. This situation should not occur at all unless the mecha was severely damaged and on the verge of destruction.

But Gu Jinsheng’s mecha was perfectly fine at the moment and shouldn’t be having this problem.

Probably all researchers have an innate meticulousness in their bones. Ji An locked onto these small black dots and zoomed in to observe.

After these small black dots were enlarged, although it was still impossible to tell exactly what they were, they could vaguely be discerned as disc-shaped objects.

And their movement speed was extremely fast, several times faster than that of hovercars and mechas.

They seemed to jump in and out of the frame without regularity, but Ji An felt that they were operating within certain specific ranges.

“An An, Xiao An…” A familiar voice called out from behind, startling Ji An.

“Did I scare you?” Ji An turned around and saw Gu Jinsheng’s handsome face appear before him.

“No, I was just too absorbed in thought.” Ji An asked, “How were your test results?”

“Zero radiation,” Gu Jinsheng replied.

“That’s good,” Ji An smiled. “It seems the mecha’s radiation protection can really reach one hundred percent. This is fantastic. Maybe one day we can truly roam freely in space in mechas or spaceships, just like in sci-fi movies.”

“I believe you, that day will definitely come.” Gu Jinsheng’s eyes were gentle. Only when looking at Ji An would his eyes show such warmth.

“What were you looking at just now that you were so absorbed?” Gu Jinsheng asked.

“Speaking of that, I really do have something to ask you. Did you find anything unusual when you went to H Base?”

“No.”

“Then did Owen find Du Ruanlan? Or any clues about Du Ruanlan?”

“No,” Gu Jinsheng gave a negative answer again. “Why do you ask?”

“Come here and take a look.”

Ji An enlarged the small black dots he had just discovered and showed them to Gu Jinsheng. Even with Gu Jinsheng’s usual poker face, Ji An still saw obvious shock in his eyes.

“What do you think these small black dots look like?” Ji An asked.

Gu Jinsheng’s throat felt dry, and when he spoke again, his voice was hoarse. “Flying saucers.”

“Excellent, we thought the same thing.” Ji An frowned, his expression serious. “Do aliens really exist?”

This discovery was explosive news for the entire world. It could even completely overshadow Charles’s move against Jing Shi Base.

This finding was too significant. Ji An and Gu Jinsheng immediately convened a high-level meeting. Except for those with urgent missions who absolutely couldn’t leave, everyone had to attend. For those who couldn’t attend in person, Gu Jinsheng required them to at least participate via video conference.

“Commander-in-Chief, did you find anything at H Base?” Owen was very disappointed that he hadn’t found any clues about Du Ruanlan. As soon as he returned to Luo City Base, he received news from Gu Jinsheng that another high-level meeting was being convened. Owen knew that Gu Jinsheng was not a leader who liked to hold meetings frequently. After joining Jing Shi Base for so many years, Gu Jinsheng had rarely held meetings before.

In reality, for matters that required meetings, Gu Jinsheng would replace them with written notices. Only for matters that absolutely required a meeting would he hold a brief video conference.

The last time a mandatory in-person meeting was required at Jing Shi Base, the theme was Charles’s move against Jing Shi Base. Even for such an important meeting, Gu Jinsheng didn’t require everyone to attend. But this time, even high-level officials who couldn’t be present in person had to participate in the video conference.

This showed how important the matter was. They wondered what could be more important than Charles’s move against Jing Shi Base.

Could it be news about that person…

“Is there news about Du Ruanlan? Is he still alive? Does he still have his human memories? He…”

Ji An gently patted Owen’s back. “I’m sorry, this matter probably has nothing to do with him.”

The light that had just risen in Owen’s eyes quickly disappeared, and deep disappointment flooded his vision.

After all the high-level officials had arrived, Ji An played the video for everyone to see.

Initially, everyone watched with confusion, but the more they watched, the more their hearts pounded with alarm.

The meeting room was silent. No one had the courage to break the silence first. It was as if the meeting room was filled with some protective magic, and once someone opened their mouth to voice certain guesses, the magic would be broken, and they would no longer be protected by it.

But the answer was lingering on everyone’s tongue, on the verge of being blurted out.

“What do you think this looks like?” Since no one was speaking, Ji An had to ask first.

Everyone’s gaze was fixed tightly on Ji An, burning as if to bore a hole through him.

“Flying saucers.” Wan Xueying opened her mouth several times, but finally spoke the answer she was unwilling to believe.

This answer was like a heavy hammer, simultaneously striking the hearts of everyone in the meeting room. Everyone was severely hammered.

“Jinsheng and I also think so, which is why we convened this emergency meeting to discuss it with everyone.”

Everyone looked at Gu Jinsheng again. Gu Jinsheng always had a poker face, revealing nothing.

“Director Ji, do you believe in the existence of aliens?” A high-level official asked.

“Scientific research is about bold imagination and careful verification. It’s not about believing or not believing, but about having suspicion. The next step is verification.”

Ji An paused the video on the small black dots.

“Even if these disc-shaped objects are not flying saucers and are not related to aliens, we at least need to know what they are exactly? Why are they appearing here? Do they have any impact on us humans?”

“Director Ji, where did this video come from?” Wan Xueying asked.

“Jinsheng filmed it. He specifically recorded the scene after the H weapon explosion at H Base this time, originally intending it for researchers to study. While checking the mecha, I unexpectedly discovered these black dots.”

“In a setting with elements like the Apocalypse, Zombies, and H War, the sudden appearance of flying saucers doesn’t seem very out of place when linked to aliens,” Zhou Qin said with a wry smile.

“Oh my god, does the heavens really refuse to give us a way out? If it really is aliens, then their civilization must be far above ours. The technology they possess might be even more sci-fi than what we see in sci-fi movies. How could we possibly beat them? Do we still have a chance to survive?”

“Don’t be so pessimistic,” Kong Zhongcheng said heartily. “Look on the bright side, maybe their civilization isn’t as advanced as ours.”

Jiang Fuzhong shook his head. “That’s impossible.”

“It’s not entirely impossible. You should have seen a movie called ‘The Three-Body Problem’ before the Apocalypse, right? That movie mentioned the Dark Forest principle.”

Simply explained, it likens the universe to a dark forest. When a person walks alone in a pitch-black forest, all their actions become cautious, and they even adjust their breathing to be as light as possible.

Because there are hunters like them lurking in the forest, and once anyone is exposed first, they will surely be eliminated by others.

In this forest, others are hell, they are eternal threats, and any life that exposes its existence will soon be eliminated. This is the picture of cosmic civilization, and this is one explanation for the Fermi paradox.

Kong Zhongcheng said, “Assuming aliens really exist and they discovered us first, according to the Dark Forest principle, they would definitely eliminate us first. But they haven’t attacked yet, which can only mean that their civilization isn’t as advanced as ours and they can’t defeat us.”

Wan Xueying sighed, “Have you ever considered another possibility, which is that their civilization is so much higher than ours that they don’t need to even bother with us?”

“For example, a tiger would never feel threatened by a rabbit. If it’s not hungry, and the tiger discovers a rabbit, it might not hunt immediately but observe in secret,” Zhou Qin added.

“I think the latter is more likely,” Owen said, temporarily forgetting about Du Ruanlan, captivated by the matter of aliens.

“So, aliens discovered our civilization, but they haven’t attacked us. What exactly is their purpose?”

No one could provide an answer.

“Our primary goal now is to figure out whether those disc-shaped objects are indeed flying saucers piloted by aliens,” Ji An said.

Everyone nodded.

Gu Jinsheng began assigning personnel. Tracking aliens was not a simple task; it required Power Users with high ability levels and flexible minds.

Gu Jinsheng himself was the most suitable among them, so he included himself in the list.

“Count me in,” Ji An demanded, seeing that his name was not on the list.

“You are a researcher and not suitable for fieldwork,” Gu Jinsheng rejected.

“I am a Mental-type Power User. When it comes to flexible thinking, no one here is quicker than me.”

No one dared to refute this. Compared to Ji An in terms of intellect, even the phrase “teaching a master to paint” would not suffice to describe it.

“Worst case, I’ll be in your group. That’s fine, right?” Ji An feared Gu Jinsheng would disagree, so he had to compromise.

Only then did Gu Jinsheng reluctantly add Ji An’s name.

“Oh, right, should we inform the public in Jing Shi Base about this matter?” Wan Xueying asked.

“For now, let’s not. This is different from other matters. We cannot fully confirm the existence of aliens at this point. Issuing a notice now would only cause unnecessary panic.”

Ji An had other considerations. “Furthermore, I am unsure of the level of the alien civilization and whether they might be monitoring our communication equipment, so it’s best not to stir up trouble for now.”