Gong Yiding's tone was unusually anxious. Ou Zhanpeng dared not delay, not even changing his clothes, and sprinted out, "What happened!"
Gong Yiding followed closely behind Ou Zhanpeng, "We received an emergency signal from Io!"
Ou Zhanpeng slammed on the brakes abruptly, turned, and rushed into the main control cabin. With a casual wave of his hand, the scene outside the base appeared in the center of the cabin.
Outside the spacetime bubble, the snail-paced surface of Io was emitting dazzling light!
Gong Yiding had already organized personnel to conduct tests. The boundary membrane allowed light and gravity to pass through, but after electromagnetic waves passed, they underwent a series of changes, causing information loss in the radio waves. Existing communication technology could not achieve direct communication across the boundary membrane.
The military did not need such technology either, so this research was only a preliminary exploration. To be prepared for any eventuality, in case of an emergency, Tianya Base would continuously illuminate the Starship with strong light to convey messages.
After confirming the situation was not a false alarm, Ou Zhanpeng immediately operated the system and urgently stopped the spacetime bubble, "Starship calling Tianya, Starship calling Tianya, please respond if received!"
"Star… I… Tianya, received… respond!"
Although the spacetime bubble was closed, its effects had not completely dissipated, and communication was severely disrupted.
Gong Yiding promptly reminded him, "Laser communication!"
Ou Zhanpeng immediately complied, "Tianya Base, please respond if received!"
This time, a clear reply was finally received, "Starship Base, this is Tianya!"
"What happened?" Ou Zhanpeng asked anxiously, his heart pounding like a nest of rabbits.
Could it be that aliens had returned?
"Starship, there's a situation on Europa. Something has emerged from the water; it might be the underwater base of the brain fish!"
Tianya Base's response was unexpected, leaving Ou Zhanpeng and Gong Yiding baffled.
Ou Zhanpeng asked in confusion, "Can't the fleet handle it?"
"The fleet is undergoing long-range training. We don't have faster-than-light communication capability here, so we can't contact the fleet. As a precaution, we had to send a signal for help."
Ou Zhanpeng suddenly understood. So that's what it was!
He immediately adjusted the angle, focusing his gaze on Europa. A polygonal artificial object was floating amidst the surging waves. Based on its apparent proportion, the object's volume was clearly not small.
"Tianya, I have seen the target. No anomalies detected for now. Where is the fleet? I'll contact them immediately!"
Tianya Base immediately reported a string of coordinates. Ou Zhanpeng glanced at them. Well, they were out training in the Kuiper Belt!
Operating the Starship, he opened a wormhole no larger than a palm, sending an unmanned drone carrying a message into it. After passing through the wormhole, the drone automatically released a communication signal, notifying friendly forces to return as soon as possible.
After receiving feedback from their own warships, the drone retreated and passed through the wormhole again, bringing back the friendly forces' reply.
The process was a bit complicated, but it was currently the only means of faster-than-light communication.
If communication were to be carried out through conventional means, it would take at least seven to eight hours for the fleet to receive the signal. By then, it would be too late.
However, before the fleet returned, Europa presented new changes. A hatch opened above the giant submarine, and a group of brain fish emerged from the submarine in their armor, surrendering.
There was a basis for saying so!
The brain fish, not understanding human customs, did not wave a white flag. However, they voluntarily disarmed themselves, stepped back a few paces, and lined up, appearing quite ceremonial, clearly conveying their intentions.
Ou Zhanpeng twitched the corner of his mouth, "This is interesting… these brain fish have some ideas!"
"So, do you think we should accept or not?" Gong Yiding asked.
"How can you ask me about this?" Ou Zhanpeng pushed the responsibility away, "This has to be decided by those above!"
"Then let's leave them hanging for a while!" Gong Yiding said.
The brain fish were clearly more patient than expected, waiting on the submarine, motionless.
It wasn't surprising, really. They were in armor, after all. What was the big deal about standing there without moving? It wasn't like a group of brain fish sunbathing on the deck?
More than ten minutes later, six wormholes simultaneously opened around Io. All six warships returned.
Ou Zhanpeng immediately contacted the fleet to explain the situation. Luo Tu was also astonished by this outcome. After a brief discussion with several other captains, he decided to dispatch a warship back to Earth to bring back the decision from above as soon as possible.
A warship's journey would be much faster than waiting for a signal.
Ou Zhanpeng suggested that this warship temporarily remain on Earth to maintain unimpeded communication.
It took only about ten minutes. The fleet received a reply from Earth: first clarify the reason, then accept the brain fish's surrender. If there was any unusual activity, they were to be annihilated unconditionally immediately!
Alright, they were still quite protective of these warships. They would rather have no prisoners than let the fleet take risks.
As for the reason, Ou Zhanpeng had some guesses.
It was nothing more than the continuously rising temperature that the brain fish, hidden underwater, could no longer endure. They either had to defend to the death like those on Europa, becoming a pot of fish soup, or surrender while they still had a breath of life, perhaps with a chance of survival.
Although humans were behind, they wouldn't go so far as to eat other intelligent beings like the brain fish, would they?
The brain fish were a group of bandits, not a group of heroes willing to die for a cause. When faced with a choice between life and death, they naturally knew how to choose.
Ou Zhanpeng couldn't help but let his thoughts wander: Europa has surrendered, will Io be far behind? Solving the brain fish problem that plagued Jupiter would be equivalent to completely eradicating a major threat to humanity!
Well, although there were still some brain fish hiding in the corners of the solar system, they were no longer a significant threat. Once the military had the capacity, they could completely annihilate the remaining enemies.
While the fleet was busy collecting prisoners, the Starship Base also received orders from above: to receive prisoners as soon as possible under conditions of safety and conduct interrogations on-site!
Receiving the order made Ou Zhanpeng's teeth ache.
Over the years, the military had captured numerous prisoners, and interrogation work had never stopped, yet the results were very limited. To obtain information from aliens as quickly as possible, during the last equipment overhaul, the military transferred all prisoners to the Starship Base, where a specialized team was responsible for interrogation.
Ou Zhanpeng had even gone to observe once. He discovered that the interrogation methods had long surpassed previous understandings. It wasn't traditional methods like whips, branding irons, or chili water, nor was it sleep deprivation or solitary confinement. Instead, it involved exploiting the aliens' inherent physiological weaknesses, using sound, light, electricity, infrasound, and various other physical means to break the target's will.
Just by observing once, Ou Zhanpeng felt a chill down his spine. He felt that if these methods were used on him, he would only be able to withstand one or two rounds before his spirit was broken.
However, the 4-meter-tall beings were stubborn, and their bones were hard. The interrogation team had used these methods repeatedly, cycling through them, but they still couldn't pry open their mouths.
The space pirates, on the other hand, were the opposite extreme. They confessed readily without any coercion.
It would be an exaggeration to call them all spineless, but many had soft bones and cooperated fully with the interrogation.
The problem was the language barrier between the two sides. Those asking didn't know how to phrase their questions, and those answering didn't know what to say clearly. The result was that the language of the space pirates had to be deciphered before interrogation could continue.
This was no small matter. The military recruited linguists who, starting with the most common things, gradually communicated with the captured space pirates. To this day, their language had not been fully deciphered.
The interrogation team had always suspected that the brain fish were merely feigning cooperation, deliberately disrupting the investigation, but they had found no evidence.
Not long ago, a breakthrough occurred. The interrogation team had a sudden inspiration and placed the 4-meter-tall beings and the space pirates together. Initially, they only wanted to see what the outcome would be, but unexpectedly, the two sides could communicate!
Judging by their expressions and tone, it was probably similar to shrewish scolding, but quarreling was also a form of communication.
What surprised the interrogation team even more was that this language belonged to neither the 4-meter-tall beings nor the space pirates!
It was later discovered that this language had a simple structure, was easy to learn, and therefore had spread extremely widely, almost becoming a universally accepted interstellar common language.
Before this, the space pirates had never revealed the existence of such a language. The interrogation team, upon obtaining evidence, almost exploded, severely punishing all the space pirates. Finally, they managed to make them a little more obedient.
Not long after, the interrogation work finally achieved a breakthrough.
According to the space pirates, they came from 47 light-years away, where there was an undeveloped habitable planet. The space pirates' stronghold was located on one of the planet's moons.
This series of convoluted explanations almost confused the interrogators. Why would they choose to hide on a moon instead of occupying the habitable planet?
Upon deeper investigation, they learned that the habitable planet's environment was acceptable. But what were space pirates? They were bandits! If they occupied a habitable planet, did they intend to reform and manage a colony planet properly?
The correct approach was to spread the word, publicly announce the location of the habitable planet, wait for other civilizations to receive the news and come for inspection, and then the space pirates would seize the opportunity to rob them, making a substantial profit.
However, fate intervened. The eager space pirates did not encounter any fat sheep. Instead, they inadvertently discovered that the light and shadow of the solar system were somewhat blurred!
This was a very unusual phenomenon, so the space pirates sent scout ships to investigate. As a result, they discovered Earth, whose natural environment was far superior to the previous habitable planet, and on Earth, there was a backward human civilization.
The interrogation team speculated that the scout ship that discovered Earth was likely the broken ship that appeared in Earth's orbit 64 years ago!
Upon receiving the news, the space pirates were overjoyed and immediately decided to seize Earth.
The superior habitable planet was, needless to say, a rare commodity. The backward human civilization was even more so. Whether as slaves or pets, they could fetch a good price in the interstellar black market.
Not only that, but the solar system was a heavy element system, and other planets also had considerable value. It was simply a treasure trove waiting to be developed!
However, when the space pirates began their operation, they couldn't contact the broken ship.
Fearing interference from other forces, the space pirates immediately dispatched more warships to seize Earth.
Unexpectedly, as soon as they arrived in the solar system, they encountered the White Ships lingering on the outskirts of the system. The two sides engaged in fierce combat, resulting in heavy casualties.
But before any outcome could be determined, the boundary membrane disappeared. The space pirates, caught between the White Ships and the Starship Base, were completely annihilated.
Ou Zhanpeng, who received the interrogation records, felt something was amiss. The battle that resolved the black ships did not capture any prisoners. Who confessed the content that followed? Did they have precognitive abilities? Or were the brain fish maintaining contact with the outside space pirates?
He later learned that most of this information came from the space pirates' confessions, with some additions made by the interrogation team based on past facts, making the credibility extremely high.
Regarding the origin of the White Ships, the space pirates knew a little. They heard that the White Ships came from another direction, a star domain about 45 light-years from the solar system, called the xx Star Kingdom.
At this point, the interrogators added an explanation.
The word xx means light and can be translated as radiance, brightness, splendor, gleam, and so on.
It wasn't that the translators weren't diligent. It was precisely because the interstellar common language was not precise enough that it was simpler and easier to learn and communicate.
By human standards, this faction should be translated as the Bright Empire, the Glorious Republic, the Light Federation, or something similar. Any of these could be used.
But a literal translation would simply be the Light Kingdom, or slightly modified as the Kingdom of Light.
It was very direct and clear. As for the specific form of governance, it was impossible to tell from the characters alone.
This was truly an eye-opener. Ou Zhanpeng never imagined that the interstellar common language would be like this.
The universe is vast, and there are all sorts of wonders!
But thinking about it, only such an extremely concise language could be widely accepted by various interstellar civilizations.
According to the space pirates' confessions, this Glorious Star Kingdom was merely a fringe force of humanity. They possessed two habitable planets with average environments. Their purpose in coming to Earth was likely to seize habitable planets.
The term "fringe force" caught Ou Zhanpeng's attention. He really wanted to know how forces were divided in the vast expanse of the universe, who was hostile to whom, and who was friendly.
Unfortunately, no matter how they interrogated, the space pirates couldn't explain it clearly. The only certainty was that the space pirates had poor relations with all interstellar civilizations.
The space pirates also had no impression of the prophet or the race that built the broken ship in Ou Zhanpeng's dream.
The space pirates also stated that on this matter, humans and space pirates had common interests, and they intended to cooperate with humans to jointly resist the invasion of the Glorious Star Kingdom.
They also said that human society was complex, but they couldn't explain how. Space pirates, on the other hand, were much simpler: it was all about the survival of the fittest and stepping on those below.
The brain fish had done very well within the space pirate group using this approach. As long as humans were willing to cooperate, they could introduce Earthlings and make humans a part of the space pirates.
Reading this, Ou Zhanpeng couldn't help but laugh out loud in anger. So even a pirate den had so many rules? How were these space pirates' brains wired?
The White Ships' intentions were definitely not pure. But at least they announced their arrival before taking action, which was barely considered courtesy before resorting to force. The space pirates, however, acted without a word. If not for the prophet destroying the broken ship with a single shot, Earth would have already been ravaged by the space pirates.
To seek cooperation with space pirates was akin to seeking a tiger's skin. What if the space pirates demanded that humans give up Earth or made other excessive demands?
As long as humans still had brains, they would never dig their own graves.
However, the space pirates also reminded Ou Zhanpeng that they must quickly figure out the White Ships' intentions... Well, that is, the Glorious Star Kingdom's intentions. Just waiting for the enemy to attack was not a solution!