Chapter 77: The First Peaceful Contact with an Alien Civilization

After leaving the Civilization Federation's star domain, the spaceship continued its journey for seven light-years.

This was the estimated direction from which the energy coin had come.

This area of space was incredibly vast, almost like a cosmic void. Within a radius of two light-years, there were no stars, no planets with significant mass, and not even enough interstellar dust to amount to 100 million tons within a billion square kilometers.

The surroundings were as silent as the deep sea.

Yet, in this vast space, there was a spherical object, only three kilometers in diameter. As soon as it was detected, the soldiers and officers on the spaceship knew it was an artificial construct.

They stopped their approach.

It would be unwise to get too close without knowing the enemy's intentions, as even if the other party had good intentions, approaching too closely might make them feel threatened.

The distance between the two parties was exactly 10 astronomical units.

After waiting for 17 days, the Civilization Federation's spaceship received a message, surprisingly written in Chinese characters.

The other civilization had clearly been observing the Civilization Federation for a long time and had gathered comprehensive information before sending the energy coin.

"Greetings, friends of the Civilization Federation. We are the Olive Branch Civilization, and we come in peace."

"We noticed the anomaly in your star domain a long time ago and explored in this direction, and we are fortunate to have encountered you."

"The universe is vast, and encountering another civilization is a matter of thousands of light-years. Meeting an advanced civilization is even rarer, and we want to establish a friendship and become partners in progress."

Olive Branch.

This was something that did not exist in the Civilization Federation.

It only existed in the history of humans in the Civilization Federation, as the emblem of a united nation in the Divine Revelation game.

It represented peace!

The other civilization had a profound understanding of the Civilization Federation.

"You might have obtained this information by entering the Divine Revelation game or by capturing and interrogating or extracting memories from our life forms."

The captain of the spaceship immediately thought of these possibilities upon reading this message.

Of course, the Civilization Federation would do the same if they encountered another civilization, but it was still infuriating to have it happen to them.

"Should we accept their goodwill?"

An officer beside the captain asked.

The captain shook his head.

"That's not for us to decide. Our task is to gather as much information about them as possible."

"Only by knowing ourselves and our enemy can we control the situation and avoid being at a disadvantage when we encounter them."

"Since they already understand Chinese characters, communication will be more accessible. Can we ask if we can enter their spaceship as guests?"

The surrounding soldiers and officers were taken aback.

They hadn't expected their commander to be so bold as to suggest boarding the other party's spaceship right away.

"Rest assured, before we left, the quark robots in our bodies were granted special permissions, and the other party cannot influence us in any way. If they try to control us, the quark robots will immediately destroy our cell structures, causing our deaths."

"Furthermore, our spaceship will automatically self-destruct if it is captured, preventing the other civilization from using it to infiltrate our Federation."

The captain spoke calmly, and the soldiers and officers around him remained composed.

They had come here prepared to die if necessary.

The message was sent.

The other party's response was swift, and within a day, they agreed.

"Yes!"

The captain instructed the soldiers to prepare the spaceship, and he decided to go himself.

The spaceship quickly left the battleship and reached the surface of the other party's spaceship after a few days.

A giant sphere shot out a beam of light, which automatically pulled the spaceship to a specific location. This technology was not surprising to those from the Civilization Federation.

Upon entering the sphere's interior, the captain and two officers disembarked.

They were amazed by what they saw.

There were no visible mechanical structures, and instead, it was a cubic world. The landscape differed from that of the Civilization Federation, with a grayish ground and crystal-like objects standing on it. When approached, these objects would disperse, forming cubic transparent cubes containing life forms.

The captain and his officers stood on the solid ground, and a white mist approached them from a distance, transforming into a Kaitian in front of them.

"Welcome, friends from the Civilization Federation!"

"We hope that our appearance in this form does not offend you. We believe it will make communication more convenient."

"Our true form is a collection of these cubic particles, and we enjoy breaking down anything into cubes and then reassembling them into anything we desire."

As they spoke, the captain and the Kaitian walked forward, stopping at a circular stone on the ground. The stone descended like an elevator, leading to a fantastic path.

The surroundings resembled a starry sky, and the ground beneath their feet felt like cotton, as if they were floating in the air.

Standing there, the stars around them suddenly grew tails, and in a cosmic dance, they found themselves in a star system.

"This is our civilization's location."

"It's about 280 light-years away from you, quite a distance, but with our civilization's spaceship speed, it won't take long."

"Our civilization is different from yours. We have only one main body and no affiliated civilizations."

In an instant, they found themselves on a highly developed planet. There was no empty land, as every inch of the planet was filled with buildings, some towering several thousand kilometers high. The entire planet was covered in a metallic armor of skyscrapers.

Countless giant spaceships came and went, and these spaceships could be assembled like building blocks to form even larger spaceships.

A 200-kilometer-long battleship flew over their heads, heading into space.

"Rest assured, these are not illusions."

As they spoke, a coin appeared in the alien's hand.

"You should have received our goodwill gesture, which included a gift. This is a bit of the technology our civilization has mastered."

"This coin is sufficient proof of our civilization's strength."

"Of course, we are not showing off our muscles but seeking an equal opportunity for cooperation."

"Our civilization has never cooperated with another, and everyone understands that we cannot distinguish friend from foe. However, in the form of your civilization, we have discovered a possibility for cooperation."

"You treat every civilization with great kindness, and we believe we can become friendly neighbors."

"After all, we don't want to start a war, something neither of us desires. There are more civilizations in this star system, and mutual conflict will only... as you say, lead to a situation where the fisherman benefits from the quarreling of the snipe and the clam."

Goodwill.

It was released at every moment.

This put the captain in a difficult position. He understood the saying, "A smile is the best way to disarm a foe."

This was the most challenging situation to handle.