Chapter 352: The Enigma of the Tur Civilization

Du Qiu found himself increasingly conflicted the more he pondered.

Why would the Tur Civilization go to the trouble of specifying in their message that they are not impostors of the Dominant Civilization? Could it be that the Dominant Civilization often resorts to such deceptions?

Is the Tur Civilization so unafraid of the intelligent life within the Civilization Bastion that they don’t see any harm in being suspected of faking their identity?

And why declare that their warship has reached a state that can only be fixed?

By all rights, a Level 4 civilization should have nano-repair technology—provided they have enough resources, restoring a warship’s hull shouldn’t be an issue.

With such a glaring mistake, why expose it in the message?

Du Qiu could hardly have imagined that the Tur Civilization had already come into contact with both the Dominant Civilization and the Ge Ya Civilization in Dreamland, gaining a degree of insight into both major powers.

At the very least, they were well aware of the hierarchy between these civilizations. It was precisely for this reason that Du Qiu found it almost unbelievable that the Tur fleet had managed to survive the war.

There was no doubt that some hidden conspiracy lurked within the message. The Tur Civilization was not to be taken lightly.

“That’s right—I also believe the Tur Civilization is pulling a scam,” Liu Yaofeng opined. “It’s clearly all a ‘don’t leave, old friend’ ploy. They might just show up in the Solar System at the most unexpected moment!”

At that moment, Du Qiu was holding a meeting with Liu Yaofeng, Rein Leinar, Yuan Minhua, Qin Yun, Ning Shuangshuang, Hao Ren, and others to discuss the Tur Civilization’s message.

These individuals were not only Du Qiu’s friends and kin, but also key members of the board of Dream Technology.

After a pause, Rein Leinar cautiously remarked, “I think we can ignore the message for now. We have no idea how to open the Bastion to allow the Tur fleet entry.”

“There’s also no need to reply back at the moment. If we just wait patiently, the true objective of the Tur Civilization will become clear.”

“If their message rings true, once they fail to breach the Bastion, their only option will be to retreat for a regroup at the nearest Barnard’s Star system.”

“But if their message isn’t genuine, then after a while they’ll surely take a more forceful approach.”

“Waiting to see what happens could actually work in our favor. We can use this time to ramp up the production of our warships and fortresses. The longer they delay, the more warships we can field.”

“With 2,000 warships, we should be able to fend off their attack and force the evacuation of the Heaven Realm-class vessels.”

“If we manage 5,000 warships, we might even be able to counterattack using our defensive fortresses.”

“And if we muster even more warships, then it’s our turn to teach them a lesson.”

Rein Leinar’s words struck like a bolt of enlightenment, sparking a flurry of discussion on ways to boost warship production.

Noticing Hao Ren’s silence, Du Qiu immediately asked, “Hao Ren, why aren’t you saying anything?”

After the previous incident where Watanabe Minghui was beheaded right before his eyes, Hao Ren seemed to have changed. Once chatty and lively, he had become quiet and reserved.

When the Heaven Realm evacuated the Solar System, Hao Ren’s father had refused to abandon his homeland. Hao Ren, too, did not try to dissuade him; he simply left with a few siblings and relatives.

Staying in the Heaven Realm, Hao Ren immersed himself in the Dream World game, where his favorite character was a biologist.

Even though he lacked any real background in biology and progressed slowly in the game, he still devoted all his time to learning about it.

He even used his status as a company board member to seek out experts at the biological research institute—this was clearly his strong suit.

At that moment, upon hearing his mentor Du Qiu’s question via holographic projection, Hao Ren slowly looked up and said, “We know nothing about the Tur Civilization. We don’t even know if they are carbon-based, nor anything about their way of life.”

“So, in my opinion, we cannot interpret their message through our own narrow perspective.”

“I agree with Batty. We should simply act as if they don’t exist and concentrate on strengthening our military. That way, we’ll be ready to handle them whether they break into the Solar System or not.”

After Hao Ren finished his passionate speech, he took several deep breaths, as if surprised by the sheer volume of his own words.

A smile spread across Du Qiu’s face. “Hao Ren, it seems your study of biology is finally paying off.”

“Exactly—a whole new alien species is an enigma to us. We simply can’t take it for granted.”

Suddenly, Qin Yun asked, “Once our own strength grows, will we be able to break through the barrier set by the Ge Ya Civilization? We’re not going to be trapped in this Solar System Bastion, are we?”

This question left everyone at the meeting momentarily stunned.

Indeed, could it be that the Ge Ya Civilization is keeping Earth’s humans caged?

After all, judging by the work done by the Pleiadians on Earth, it clearly seemed like an evolutionary experiment.

A sudden wave of unprecedented crisis and unease washed over them.

If Earth’s humans were nothing more than lab specimens, wouldn’t the Ge Ya Civilization eventually return to inspect the results? And then, how would they deal with humanity?

Humans have always prided themselves on being the pinnacle of nature, never imagining that they were merely lab rats.

It was like realizing you were suddenly nothing more than a test subject—an idea that made everyone deeply uncomfortable.

“Everyone, don’t worry!” Du Qiu broke the oppressive silence with a smile. “Since the Pleiadians haven’t returned in over ten thousand years, I doubt they ever will.”

“Besides, based on our current pace of development, even if they do return, we won’t have to fear them.”

“Come to think of it, the Ge Ya Civilization might well be the inheritor of the Pleiadian legacy. Remember why the Pleiadians left Earth in the first place?”

“I remember—it was over ten thousand years ago when an AI uprising broke out, and the Pleiadians vanished without a trace,” Ning Shuangshuang interjected at the right moment.

“Exactly. Their disappearance was likely due to a successful AI rebellion that wiped out the Pleiadians.”

Yuan Minhua asked in astonishment, “If the Pleiadians were wiped out, yet the Ge Ya Civilization has never shown up in the Solar System, could it be that this invisible Bastion was built by the Pleiadians?”

Du Qiu explained, “My guess is the Pleiadians weren’t entirely exterminated. Some managed to escape and eventually evolved into the Ge Ya Civilization.

Judging by the message, the Ge Ya Civilization appears to have formed the Ge Ya Alliance, uniting many intelligent civilizations.

Considering that the Tur Civilization emphasized they weren’t impostors of the Dominant Civilization, and the fact that there has been a major war between the Ge Ya Alliance and the Dominant Civilization, I suspect that the Dominant Civilization might actually be a purely mechanical society established by artificial intelligence.”

In truth, Du Qiu’s theory was laced with insights he’d gleaned from Dreamland, but none of the others detected anything amiss—in fact, they found it rather plausible.

“Du Qiu’s theory is compelling. In my view, the Dominant Civilization created by AI must have a fierce aggressiveness—that’s why a civilization like the Tur would choose to join the Ge Ya Alliance and fight against them,”

Rein Leinar’s nod of agreement spurred the others to also see the sense in Du Qiu’s speculation.

What followed was a discussion led by Du Qiu on new countermeasures.

Since it was clear that the Tur Civilization couldn’t enter the Solar System for now, and Dream Technology wasn’t yet capable of matching a fleet of 7,680 of their warships—nor did we have the strength to launch a preemptive strike—

we still needed to actively research the mysterious Civilization Bastion.

Ever since the cube discovered on Mars, Du Qiu had halted further exploration in that area. Back then, his idea was simple—he didn’t want to disturb some delicate balance left by the Pleiadians.

In hindsight, that decision may have inadvertently worked in our favor.

But now that we’re aware of the Bastion, we must search for any traces of its setup left by the Pleiadians so that when the time comes to break through its defenses, we have a plan.