The Starship's lower deck.
The hatch opened, and artificial gravity was disabled. A group of assault team members drifted into the cabin, pulling ropes. Like a tug-of-war, they dragged in a captive bound with zip ties, resembling a cocoon.
The airlock closed, and the cabin was pressurized. Soldiers welded a specially made steel chair to the floor. First, the captive was disinfected thoroughly, and then all his equipment was stripped away, leaving him naked and secured to the chair.
With each step, disinfection procedures were strictly followed, allowing no room for error.
However, the captive's behavior was very strange. He struggled fiercely at first, but soon quieted down. He looked around like a curious baby, even showing a look of excited anticipation.
Outside the cabin, Ou Zhanpeng and others witnessed the entire process. Ling Xiao, the boss, grumbled, "Why send the captive here?"
Ou Zhanpeng sighed, "Our place is large; where else would we send him?"
Everyone understood immediately.
The captive was four meters tall. Ordinary warships indeed lacked such space. The Starship, however, was different. The Prophet was even a meter taller than the captive, making it more than sufficient to accommodate him.
Fortunately, the Starship utilized holographic projection for control, allowing its control system to be scaled up or down. Otherwise, given the Starship's size, Ou Zhanpeng, even on stilts, wouldn't be able to operate such a large vessel.
Ou Zhanpeng looked at the captive in the chair and said after some thought, "Director, I suggest adding a few more restraints."
"Is that necessary?" Shan Qiuyu asked in surprise.
"Better safe than sorry," Ou Zhanpeng insisted.
Although the captive had been stripped bare, he knew better than anyone about the aliens' tricks. What if this transformation was common among aliens?
Shan Qiuyu gave Ou Zhanpeng a deep look and nodded, informing the assault team.
Several more restraints were added to the captive, firmly binding him to the chair.
On the surface, the captive appeared almost indistinguishable from humans, except for sparser hair and slightly paler skin. His facial features were somewhere between those of East Asians and Caucasians.
Inside the cabin, several medical personnel gathered around the captive, connecting various electrodes and detection instruments to him. They conducted a comprehensive examination from head to toe, meticulously recording every test result.
The captive was remarkably cooperative, showing no signs of resistance. He was as docile as a little white rabbit, astonishing everyone. He had fought fiercely with the assault team when captured, but now he seemed like a different person.
Had he accepted his fate after understanding his predicament?
"Report!" A soldier raised his hand in a salute and handed a paper document to Shan Qiuyu. "Director, this is the captive's gene sequencing report."
Shan Qiuyu flipped it open and casually asked, "What are the results?"
"Double helix, 24 pairs of chromosomes. 82% of his genes overlap with human genes."
Shan Qiuyu looked up in astonishment. "That low?"
The genetic difference between humans and chimpanzees was only 1.6%, yet they were entirely different species. The genetic difference with the four-meter-tall individual was a staggering 18%, yet they looked like the same species.
"The differences are significant, but the key locations are mostly consistent. It can be confirmed that Earthlings and the four-meter-tall individuals have a blood relationship at the genetic level," the soldier said.
"Alright, I understand," Shan Qiuyu signed his name and returned the document to the soldier.
Ling Xiao couldn't help but complain, "What kind of blood relationship is this?" He turned and noticed Ou Zhanpeng's calm expression, showing confusion. "Aren't you going to say anything?"
"What is there to say? What do you think is the genetic gap between us and the Prophets? And between the Prophets and the four-meter-tall individuals?" Ou Zhanpeng asked.
Ling Xiao was stunned, but Shan Qiuyu's eyes lit up. "This needs to be investigated thoroughly. Did you bring the Prophet's genetic samples?"
Ling Xiao rolled his eyes. Ou Zhanpeng shook his head, "We haven't even opened the hibernation pods. Where would we get the Prophet's genetic samples?"
"Then, after we return, we must do it quickly. The four-meter-tall individuals and the Prophets differ in height by only one meter. There might be a connection between them," Shan Qiuyu proposed a constructive hypothesis.
Ou Zhanpeng nodded. "Okay, we'll do it as soon as we get back."
While the cabin proceeded with its tasks, Ling Xiao felt bored. He yawned widely like a lazy hippopotamus. "Alas, we can't ask, we can't interrogate. What's the use of just measuring and testing them?"
"What else can we do if we don't measure? We learn what we can," Shan Qiuyu said.
Ou Zhanpeng suddenly made a new suggestion, "How about we go take a look at the white ship?"
Shan Qiuyu immediately nodded. "That's a good idea!"
The group donned their equipment and boarded the white ship in a shuttle.
Assault team members were everywhere on the white ship, searching every corner and confiscating any items of value.
The white ship's technological level far surpassed human warships, yet Shan Qiuyu always felt this warship was inferior to the Starship.
Under the guidance of a soldier, they entered the bridge. A pool of bright red bloodstains outside the hatch caught their attention.
Entering the control room, Ou Zhanpeng and Ling Xiao exchanged a tacit glance. Shan Qiuyu was surprised to find that the white ship also used a holographic control system, and some of the projections looked very familiar.
Ou Zhanpeng found them not just familiar, but identical!
"What is the relationship between the four-meter-tall individuals and the Prophets?" Shan Qiuyu wondered, then a possibility struck him. "Could it be that the Starship was built by the four-meter-tall individuals?"
"That should not be the case," Ou Zhanpeng said with certainty.
Shan Qiuyu was surprised. "What do you know?"
Ou Zhanpeng decided not to hide anything. "If the information we have is correct, the Starship base arrived in the solar system at least three million years ago."
Shan Qiuyu stopped in his tracks, utterly astonished. "Didn't you say you weren't sure if those images were real?"
"Some of them can actually be confirmed," Ou Zhanpeng said. "I saw the Prophet enclose the solar system in a temporal bubble after arriving on Earth and nurturing intelligent civilizations on Earth. The spaceship from Project 858 appeared in the data of the first generation civilization. If the dating of Project 858 is correct, then the approximate time of the Starship base's arrival in the solar system can be confirmed."
Shan Qiuyu finally understood where the three million years came from. "The dating of Project 858 cannot be wrong... Are you saying that the four-meter-tall individuals were also nurtured by the Prophets?"
Ou Zhanpeng surveyed the bridge. "The Prophets nurtured more than one civilization. As far as I know, the Prophets have nurtured four generations of Earth civilizations. The first generation was the giant civilization 3 million years ago; the second was the dwarf giant civilization 2 million years ago; the third generation was the pre-civilization about two meters tall, one million years ago; and finally, our generation."
Wow!
These words almost shattered Shan Qiuyu's worldview. Humans were aliens themselves?
Actually, it wasn't a big deal. Home is where the heart is. Humans were born and raised on Earth, so humans were Earthlings. Their origin, or who nurtured them, didn't matter.
"Then where did the previous civilizations go?" Shan Qiuyu eagerly wanted to know the ultimate fate of those prehistoric civilizations.
"I don't know," Ou Zhanpeng shook his head. "There is no visual data on this. These four-meter-tall individuals might be related to the first generation civilization."
He suddenly noticed a projection in the corner that was extremely similar to the star chart. He approached it and waved his hand, and the star chart instantly lit up.
Shan Qiuyu quickly stopped him. "Don't touch it randomly!"
Ou Zhanpeng shook his head, continuing his actions. "It's fine."
"Don't worry," Ling Xiao said. "He deals with these things all the time. It's nothing."
Shan Qiuyu remained worried, closely watching Ou Zhanpeng's movements.
As he reached out and manipulated the controls, a projection of the solar system appeared in the center of the bridge.
With another manipulation, the solar system quickly shrunk, becoming a brilliant starry sky. Without an astronomical background, one wouldn't think much of this star map. However, anyone familiar with the stars would realize that this was clearly a three-dimensional star map of the area around the solar system!
Alpha Centauri triple system, Sirius A blue dwarf, Sirius B white dwarf...
Ou Zhanpeng continued to operate, compressing the star map further. More celestial bodies appeared on the star chart. Moreover, he found the white ship's navigation logs, but the problem remained: he couldn't understand the text at all.
"Look at this!" Ou Zhanpeng took a picture of the navigation log. "The writing of the four-meter-tall individuals is very similar to the Prophet's writing, and shares many commonalities with Project 858. I'm sure that although the four-meter-tall individuals are not of the same lineage as us, they at least share a common origin."
As he spoke, the star map compressed again, and hundreds of light spots appeared densely on the star chart, dazzling the eyes.
"Here!" Ling Xiao exclaimed, drawing Shan Qiuyu's attention.
He then noticed that a few specially marked celestial bodies were on the edge of the star chart. Some were green, some were red, and a few were black.
In addition, there were several empty spaces without stars that were also marked in detail.
"What is this?" Shan Qiuyu asked.
"I don't know," Ling Xiao answered curtly.
Shan Qiuyu was furious. Whose troublesome children were these?
Ou Zhanpeng tapped a few times on his personal terminal, repeatedly photographing from different angles and continuing to manipulate the star map. However, the star chart stopped responding.
"Let's go, we're heading back!" he said.
Shan Qiuyu became even more bewildered. "Going back already?"
Ou Zhanpeng swung his arms. "The most important data has been obtained. What else is there to do here?"
Upon returning to the Starship, Ou Zhanpeng immediately brought up the star map and found that all the celestial bodies marked by the white ship were ordinary and unremarkable.
Ou Zhanpeng carefully compared them and re-marked all the celestial bodies and spaces marked by the white ship.
After a period of buffering, Shan Qiuyu realized what Ou Zhanpeng was doing.
Regardless of whether the marked celestial bodies were the home of the four-meter-tall individuals or the hideouts of space pirates, they represented forces that were not particularly friendly to humanity. To put it mildly, this star map was undoubtedly humanity's first distribution map of extraterrestrial forces.
Humanity was standing at a turning point to break out of its home galaxy. Having some understanding of the outside world before venturing out was entirely different from rushing out blindly without any knowledge.
It was like the Age of Discovery. Knowing where the islands were, where the ocean currents flowed, where the inhabitants were hospitable, and where they were hostile, would naturally make the voyage smooth.
Ou Zhanpeng clapped his hands and finished his work. He suddenly made a suggestion to Shan Qiuyu, "Director, if that white ship can be repaired, do it. If not, I suggest transplanting its control system to the broken ship."
"Transplant? Why?" Shan Qiuyu asked, perplexed.
Ou Zhanpeng said earnestly, "That system can make the broken ship move and control wormholes."
No need for further explanation, Shan Qiuyu immediately understood.
Although the Starship was powerful, it would soon return to base. Otherwise, without its central control, the Starship base's functions would be significantly affected. Any mishap could lead to great losses.
While the Starship was excellent, it had limitations. As long as there was a possibility, the military would not place all its hopes on a single warship.
If the white ship or the broken ship could be repaired, it would be different. Not only would the military acquire a second warship capable of jumping, but it would also establish an instantaneous bridge between Earth and the Starship base!
From then on, the journey from Earth to the Starship base would no longer require a long and arduous trip. Communication between Earth and Mars, and Jupiter would become smoother and more convenient, completely changing humanity's awkward situation of being confined to a corner of the galaxy.
Furthermore, it would serve as a stepping stone for humanity to venture beyond the solar system. At the appropriate time, a true long voyage could be launched to visit Proxima Centauri, Sirius, and other stars.
It would also be an effective countermeasure against space pirates and the four-meter-tall individuals, and perhaps one day, humanity could even launch proactive attacks, preventing war from ever reaching the solar system again!
Thinking of this, Shan Qiuyu was overcome with excitement, wishing he could immediately repair the warship, pilot it across the universe, and venture into the distant deep space to witness those different landscapes with his own eyes.
Shan Qiuyu also knew that achieving his aspirations would be very difficult, but if he didn't even dare to dream, how could his dreams ever come true?
He immediately grasped the key point and grabbed Ou Zhanpeng's arm. "How much support can you provide to Luojian Mountain? I mean, technical support!"
Ou Zhanpeng gave a wry smile. "It's not a matter of whether I want to or not. I simply can't provide it. If you're in a hurry, please assemble the research team as soon as possible and let us return to base quickly... I have a few unpalatable words to say, please bear with me."
"Go ahead!"
"We don't know the origin of the white ship, but they immediately resorted to aggression upon arriving on Earth. This in itself speaks volumes about their basic attitude towards us. What do you think the four-meter-tall individuals will do after learning their warship was destroyed on Earth? Will they negotiate with us for a peaceful resolution, or will they launch a full-scale invasion to fight to the death?"
"Those who are warlike will perish, but those who forget war will be in danger. We must guard against it!"
Shan Qiuyu sighed heavily. "Do I even need to ask? Space pirates are not good people, and the four-meter-tall individuals are no better. We must prepare for the worst!"
"That's exactly my point," Ou Zhanpeng said. "Actually, I know there are many capable people above. I, a small fry, don't need to butt in. But I can't help but say a few words."
Although the atmosphere was somber, Shan Qiuyu was amused by Ou Zhanpeng's words. "You don't need to be so modest. You are no ordinary person now. On the entire Blue Star, there is no one who would dare not to take your words seriously! We old guys are about to be phased out by the times. In the future, it will be up to you young people!"