One month is not a long time.
But in such a tense environment, it felt like an eternity.
When the month ended, the surrounding scans were halfway done, and nothing had been found.
At this time, Yan Xia asked Ella to investigate Proxima Centauri, and they discovered that there was only a narrow passage between Proxima Centauri b and Proxima Centauri c.
Beyond this passage, the civilization on Proxima Centauri b did not venture, and even their battleships remained on the planet's surface. Beyond a distance of 0.1 light-years from the planet, everything was completely blank.
"This civilization is like an ant trapped within a circle."
"Although it can see and move outside the circle, the smell of ink makes it detest and fear the outside, causing it to stay within the circle."
This was Yan Xia's assessment of this civilization.
"Ella, what do you think is the level of this civilization?"
After a month of observation, they had gathered more information.
By analyzing the speed of their ships, their energy utilization, their development speed, and various other factors, they could make a comprehensive evaluation.
"Around Level 1.8."
"This is an extremely powerful civilization, possibly developed over tens of thousands of years."
"Judging by the number of their ships, they have an extremely large population, at least 10 billion."
Each 0.1-level difference in civilization corresponds to a tenfold difference in total energy.
Strictly speaking, Yan Xia's fleet, combined with the Hundred-Eyed Race's technology, could reach Level 1.7 after about 100 years of development.
This civilization was much stronger than Yan Xia's current fleet.
Originally, Yan Xia had planned to retreat.
But after discovering this unique characteristic of the civilization, he decided to observe for a while longer.
"We should be able to simulate the appearance of their ships."
"We need to infiltrate their civilization and gather information."
...
Half a month later, a spaceship with a box-shaped front and dozens of pipe-like independent thrusters at the back, resembling a steel jellyfish, approached the civilization.
After 4 light-years of travel, it reached the outer space of Proxima Centauri c.
However, it was destroyed soon after approaching.
Almost immediately, within 2 light-years, the passage between Proxima Centauri b and Proxima Centauri c was closed.
The lights on the dark side of the planet went out, and even the defensive battleships in the outer space of the two planets shut down.
On the third day.
A half-meter-wide robotic spider landed in a remote area of Proxima Centauri c, surrounded by piles of old industrial waste. Numerous trash-processing machines were working on processing the waste.
Due to the presence of civilization, this planet was no longer as cold as initially thought. After injecting large amounts of greenhouse gases, it had become habitable.
The trash-processing machines did not have any humanoid features; they were just simple box-like shells with two mechanical arms for grabbing trash.
They floated in the air using electromagnetic force and could handle tons of heavy objects with their computational power.
The robotic spider jumped onto one of the trash-processing machines, squeezed through a gap in its shell, entered its body, and then disassembled and modified its core.
The trash-processing machine fell to the ground, seemingly broken.
None of the biological creatures paid any attention, and the other trash-processing machines continued working on their tasks. These machines were clearly not very intelligent.
After the robotic spider modified the circuit board inside the trash-processing machine, it extracted its own control crystal and welded it onto the machine.
The trash-processing machine came back to life and began to dismantle the robotic spider, mixing its parts with the trash. Then, it started working like the other trash-processing machines.
This went on for a week.
The trash-processing machine slowly moved towards the edge of the landfill.
It saw the lifeforms of this world.
They were bulky, about two and a half meters tall, with rough, rock-like skin. They had three pairs of legs like rhinoceroses and a sturdy torso that was parallel to the ground, similar to Earth animals. They had no tails, and their bodies were not very long horizontally, making them appear somewhat cramped.
Their heads were like fleshy tumors, covered in ten pairs of bone spurs, with a diameter of over half a meter. Despite their large heads, they only had one eye, slightly larger than the trash-processing machines. Vision did not seem to be their primary sense.
From their shoulders, a pair of limbs extended, capable only of grasping, while their main limbs were four flexible tentacles extending from their sides.
These creatures resembled legendary monsters, but they were indeed the rulers of this planet.
Like the Hundred-Eyed Race, they were at the extreme end of what was aesthetically pleasing to humans.
Their mouths were the most human-like part, with sharp teeth like a praying mantis, and their four flexible tentacles resembled pincers at the mouth, used for feeding. However, as they evolved, these tentacles took on a more primary function.
The trash-processing machine listened to the sounds made by these creatures, which, unlike their appearance, were rich in rhythm and light, with strong penetrating power.
Moreover, these sounds were in the ultrasonic range, beyond the hearing range of the trash-processing machines.
None of the intelligent creatures noticed that a trash-processing machine was observing them in the landfill.
They moved back and forth, seemingly as complex as a human society.
The trash-processing machine collected this information and transmitted it as light signals into space, which were eventually received and analyzed by Ella.
"Light can convey more complex information than sound."
"Through analysis, I have mastered their language, and now I will translate it for you, Yan Xia."
Yan Xia was lying on a massage chair, enjoying the massage from the mechanical arms.
Ella played the information she had received.
"Have you heard? We discovered traces of an alien civilization and shot down their ship."
"Nonsense, I was nearby, and that ship deviated from its course due to an accident."
"That was just an imitation ship built by an alien civilization to infiltrate us."
"A real alien civilization?"
"The universe is so vast; how can we be the only civilization? There must be others."
"If there is a higher-level civilization, we must hide ourselves so that they don't discover us."
"Wait, do you mean that a higher-level civilization has already discovered us?"
"Don't worry, the higher-ups haven't sent out any messages yet. It might just be a misunderstanding."
"According to current theories, the universe is a battlefield where all civilizations are hostile to each other. Like us, they hide, and if a civilization is discovered, the higher-level civilization will inevitably destroy the lower-level one."
"That's right, as long as we keep hiding, we won't be discovered by alien civilizations. We are still too weak and need to keep developing, pushing ourselves to the limit..."
Yan Xia sensed a sense of familiarity in these words.
"The Dark Forest Theory?"
Ella nodded.
"Yes, this civilization seems to be hiding, afraid of being discovered and destroyed by alien civilizations."
"Their battleships are retracted on the planet's surface, and their previous reactions were mostly due to this consensus."
Yan Xia felt a sense of wonder.
It seemed that reality was even more magical than fiction.
He laughed.
"Ella, perhaps we can conquer this civilization."