Chapter 157: Reply Letter_1

Humanity's response to the intelligent signal from Mars went as follows:

Earth's civilization is a beautiful and peaceful one, and we look forward to communicating with you. Why haven't you come directly to Earth to communicate with us? Where do you come from? Why do you want to help Earth's civilization?

Representatives from PDC nations, as well as top scholars and scientists from around the world, all took part in this response initiative.

After minor modifications, the signal room of the Sky Eye was ready. Jiang Yu and representatives from various countries sat around a conference table in one corner of the room, while scholars from different countries were seated in rows of audience seats.

The launch operation was managed by Hong Hao, a Chinese astronomer stationed at the "Sky Eye." The whole launch process was actually very simple, only requiring the cooperation of two operators to complete.

After sending out the message, everyone tensely awaited a reply.

Given the current distance between Earth and Mars, there was a signal delay of more than twenty minutes. If the other party received Earth's message and responded immediately, "Sky Eye" would only receive it after forty minutes.

However, unexpectedly, the reply came just seconds later!

Hong Hao was somewhat unprepared and, after being stunned for a few seconds, proceeded to receive and decode the message.

Dr. Linge, an American astronomer sitting in the corner, almost shouted, "Did they use electromagnetic wave signals?"

Hong Hao answered in English, "Yes!"

The signal received this time, just like the last one, produced an image full of symbols after processing.

Dr. Linge said, "That's impossible! If they also used electromagnetic wave signals, does that mean they had sent the answer to our question twenty minutes before we even asked it?"

Ding Yi, a leading physicist from China, also participated in this operation.

He asked, "What has been discovered on Mars?"

Before Earth responded, several countries had satellites orbiting above the location from where the last signal was emitted.

After asking, Ding Yi laughed, "I forgot, our satellite signals will take twenty minutes to transmit back here."

A Russian physicist holding his forehead said, "Maybe they exist outside of time?"

Ding Yi replied, "Let's not jump to conclusions for now."

Seeing the envoys from various countries still looking bewildered, he explained to them, "Mars is now on the other side of the Sun. According to the delay in the information between us and Mars, the process of communication between the two sides should take at least forty minutes.

"However, we received the answer from them immediately after we sent our message.

"Since they also used electromagnetic wave signals, we must assume that they had sent the answer twenty minutes before we asked the question."

The representative from the United Kingdom still didn't understand, "Is it a coincidence? Did they just happen to contact us a second time?"

Dr. Linge frowned, "They exist outside of time!"

Ding Yi added, "What Dr. Linge means is that it's possible the other side exists outside of time. To them, it's as if they responded immediately after we sent out our information.

"But to us, observers on Earth, it appears as if they responded even before we sent out the information."

The UK representative glared at an impatient Dr. Linge, "What if they send their responses from near-Earth orbit?"

From the operation console, Hong Hao then said, "The 'Sky Eye' feedback indicates that the signal we just received indeed came from the direction of Mars."

Jiang Yu, sitting in the corner, almost burst out laughing. The puzzling operations that left everyone scratching their heads were actually the result of a little clever ploy he had played.

The reason why Jiang Yu joined the "communication group" was to know in advance Earth's response as well as the specific response time.

Therefore, Jiang Yu had Bil send information from Mars toward Earth around twenty minutes before Earth's response was due.

This ruse was designed to create the illusion of a God-level Civilization, completely bamboozling humanity's elite!

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The United Kingdom representative was still somewhat unconvinced, "No one can be sure it isn't just a coincidence, right? It's possible that the other party just happened to make contact with us for the second time."

Jiang Yu smiled and said, "Right, right, right, it could be a coincidence."

The United Kingdom representative immediately gave Jiang Yu a kind look, but if he knew the whole truth, he would probably cry at how foolish his own reaction had been.

Pei Yunqi, who was responsible for deciphering the work, handed over the information from Mars that had just been decoded to the representatives of various countries, "This is no coincidence."

The message from Mars that had just been received was as follows:

"We are the creators of civilization, to bring you to Mars is to test you. Earth's civilization is backward, ignorant, unambitious, and self-destructive. Although I am authorized to assist Earth's inferior civilization, if you do not have the will to improve yourselves, my aid will be delayed or even abandoned. Come to Mars! Here, you will find any answer you desire! I will not make contact with you again until you find me. Don't waste your time trying to reach me, for I do not exist."

After reading this reply, everyone was silent for a while. Especially when seeing how the other party described Earth's civilization, everyone felt a bit like they had been found out for doing something wrong.

The signal room fell silent for several minutes, until the Chinese representative suddenly asked, "What does 'the creators of civilization' mean?"

A scholar from France tried to explain, "The ancestral source of carbon-based life?"

The signal room once again plunged into silence.

It wasn't until Hong Hao suddenly said, "We've just received feedback from Mars orbit satellites, there has been no discovery of the signal's source."

Dr. Linge spread his hands, "The other side must have moved."

Hong Hao shook his head, "Not so, I have analyzed the 'Eye in the Sky' feedback, and the Martian signal was still emitted from the original place."

Ding Yi put forward his idea, "When the other party sends signals, could it be that they are not on the surface of Mars?"

Hong Hao replied, "We didn't find anything in the space around Mars either."

Everyone frowned, thinking of the phrase: I do not exist.

What does that mean?

Jiang Yu, however, let out a long sigh of relief in his heart.

The details of the "Zero Number Plan" had been hashed out by him three years ago, and at that time he was somewhat worried whether his little tricks could really fool humanity's elite.

Now, seeing the Deception Points scrolling like a screen inside Wallfacer's Shop, Jiang Yu deeply felt that he had mastered the essence of the Wallfacer.

...

After the public announcement of the second round of communications with the "Mars Intelligence Signal", human society fell into two opposing emotions.

One was fear, as the other party was in such close proximity to Earth, it was like having a stranger silently staring at oneself.

The other was excitement, as the previous defeatism induced by the Trisolarans had been swept away.

Many people had been living repressed lives for over a decade, and now it was as if they finally saw hope, and the streets were filled with laughter and cheerful voices again.

With the oppressive feeling brought by the Trisolarans gone, and no more influence of defeatism and anti-escapism, many people felt rejuvenated.

Especially space engineering in various countries, which once again became the hottest industry, not only recovering its previous scale at an extremely fast pace, but the nations were also increasing construction efforts.

Jiang Yu saw these feedback messages in the report from Di Fengyi and smiled sincerely.

Although everyone's enthusiasm was built on a false lie, the achievements were real and present in space.

Even if the lie was one day exposed, those achievements would not vanish alongside it.

The only worry Jiang Yu had at the moment was that the "Zero Number Plan" might affect the popularization of the "Dark Forest Law".

But no plan is perfect, Jiang Yu planned to get past the hurdle of "anti-escapism" first and then make amends later.

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