Tao Yuda's words echoed in the command center.

Lu Yongchang frowned, thought for a moment and then said.

"you mean……"

"The other side is just like us, just a first-level or second-level civilization?"

"Yes, this possibility cannot be ruled out." Tao Yuda nodded and said in a deep voice.

"No, that's not right."

He Bilin's objection came from the side: "Academician Tao, according to you, what does the second sentence mean?"

"Why do they call us little guys?"

"Isn't this contradictory to the previous sentence?"

Tao Yuda raised the corners of his mouth slightly and said softly: "In my opinion, this is a deliberate cover-up."

"The purpose is to confuse our judgment."

"But how can you be sure that the first sentence is not a deception?"

He Bilin asked directly without any hesitation.

Tao Yuda's expression suddenly froze.

This is indeed a problem.

Lu Yongchang, who was in the first place, sighed slightly and waved his hand helplessly to interrupt the argument between the two.

This is the chain of suspicion...

Just two sentences can trigger an endless series of questions.

"Okay, in this regard, I suggest that we temporarily identify the other party as a civilization that is slightly stronger than us."

"And, for some reason, the other party's war power should be greatly reduced."

"In other words, it is a third-level or fourth-level civilization in a incomplete state."

Lu Yongchang's conclusion immediately attracted everyone's attention.

Facing everyone's confused looks, he explained softly.

"Everyone should understand what Tao Yuda and He Bilin said."

"There is a huge contradiction in these two titles."

"From the two titles, we can see the other party's civilized caution."

"on the other hand."

"It can be seen from the other party's second sentence that the other party immediately discovered our attempt to attack Ross 154."

"And we, until now, have not found any trace of the other side's civilization."

"The interstellar probe next to Ross 154 did not find anything unusual."

"Based on the above two points, we can roughly draw a conclusion."

"The other party should be an advanced civilization whose strength has been greatly damaged due to the influence of unknown factors."

"This so-called unknown factor may be war or civil strife."

Everyone's eyes showed surprise, and they nodded in agreement.

Fang Xu on the side frowned and suddenly said: "Yongchang, if you want to consider the title, shouldn't the other person's self-identification also be taken seriously?"

"The other party used the term 'I', not 'we'."

"Does this mean that the other party is an individual of advanced civilization?"

"If we are just individuals of advanced civilization, can we..."

Speaking of this, a cold light flashed in Fang Xu's eyes.

Lu Yongchang instantly understood the meaning of Fang Xu's words.

At this moment, his heart beat violently several times.

If, as Fang Xu said, the other party is just an individual of an advanced civilization, then with a huge fleet, humans might really be able to...

But soon, he suppressed the throbbing in his heart and slowly shook his head.

"No, I don't recommend doing this before the other party has completely revealed their malicious intent."

"If the other party is just an individual with a third-level civilization, we may still be able to fight."

"But if it's an individual from a level 4 or even level 5 civilization... I don't think we can win with our numerical advantage."

"Think about our current starships, and think about the starships of the previous Proxima Centauri civilization."

"It's just that the gap between first-level civilization and second-level civilization is so huge."

Fang Xu nodded silently, with a trace of regret in his eyes.

If it were possible to sink or capture a starship from an advanced civilization, the development speed of human civilization would surely increase a lot in an instant.

"Now, the second question."

Lu Yongchang shrugged and spoke again.

"There is no malicious intent in what the other party said, how should we understand it?"

"We can't believe them!" Fang Xu said immediately, "Thinking about the fate of the solar system and the Proxima Galaxy, I don't think an unfamiliar advanced civilization can be kind to us."

Lu Yongchang pondered for a moment and nodded slightly: "Then how should we deal with the exchange initiated by this advanced civilization?"

"Ignore it?"

"Or... respond positively?"

The moment the question was raised, the expressions of everyone present were moved.

The first person to speak was Academician Cao Liangcai.

"I don't think we can respond to each other's communications."

"This will give us some unpredictable consequences."

"Such consequences may be fatal to human civilization."

Fang Xu's voice also sounded: "Since the other party has chosen to communicate with us, we should take the opportunity to understand the other party's information."

"We know so little about the universe."

The moment Fang Xu finished speaking, Lu Yongchang's eyes moved slightly.

This is not wrong.

The current human civilization has a too shallow understanding of the universe.

If you can take this opportunity to learn some superficial information about various civilizations in the universe...

I think it will be of great help to the subsequent development of human civilization.

Thinking of this, Lu Yongchang stretched out his hand and pressed it in the air: "Everyone, be quiet."

The voices of debate in the command center quickly became quieter.

"Try to get in touch with the other party first."

Lu Yongchang said calmly: "No matter what, we need a chance to understand the civilizations in the universe."

"Otherwise, the situation of human civilization will only become more difficult in the future."

His speech brought the debate to an end.

Even Cao Liangcai nodded silently and agreed to the proposal after hearing the reasons given by Lu Yongchang.

…

An hour later.

A message was sent from [Earth] and flew directly towards Ross 154, which is 5.8 million kilometers away.

The information content is very simple.

【Hello】

There are only two words, not even punctuation.

Lu Yongchang stood on the podium, staring intently at the holographic projection in front of him.

In the holographic projection, there is a real-time image of Ross 154 from the interstellar probe.

19.33 seconds later.

Looking at the image in front of him that had not changed at all, Lu Yongchang's brows suddenly wrinkled.

"Calculate the time, the other party should have received the signal."

"Why is there no response?"

Time passes minute by minute.

20 seconds later, a piercing alarm sounded in the command center.

"Professor, a signal from Ross 154 with a frequency of 1420 MHz was received."

Lu Yongchang took a deep breath.

Coming!

The other party responded!
Chapter completed!