Chapter 249: Chapter 248: Deterrence
“The Harville Civilization is a peace-loving one. For countless eons, we have always done our utmost to avoid conflict with any civilization or existence. We have always adhered to a model of independent development, quietly advancing within this Vast Cosmos.
We eagerly look forward to peaceful and friendly exchange with you, who have come from afar. Regrettably, however, an Interstellar System cannot support two civilizations.
To avoid any misunderstandings between us, we sincerely hope you will alter your course and travel to other Star Systems. At that time, we would eagerly welcome you to dispatch a visiting fleet to our civilization. If you agree, we can also dispatch a visiting fleet to visit your civilization’s home.
We sincerely wish for your civilization to endure for eternity in this Vast Cosmos, and we also sincerely hope that the flower of peace may blossom between our two civilizations.
Respectfully, the Supreme Leader of the Harville Civilization, on behalf of all its intelligent life.”
This message was accompanied by numerous words and sentence structures for reference, allowing Li Qingsong to parse their language and writing system to understand its meaning.
This was the same method Li Qingsong had used when communicating with the Blutuk Civilization.
Li Qingsong called these reference words and sentence structures a “dictionary.” It now seemed apparent that sending one’s own civilization’s “dictionary” to another civilization with which one wished to communicate was a common practice in the Cosmos.
When he first received this message, Li Qingsong was quite surprised.
He hadn’t expected that a randomly chosen Interstellar System would already be inhabited by a civilization.
This civilization clearly understood the art of survival. They knew to use “environmentally friendly” methods during large-scale resource collection or construction to minimize their impact and reduce their chances of being detected.
If not for this, Li Qingsong would have surely detected signs of a civilization during his earlier scans of this Interstellar System and would not have chosen it as his destination.
It was now obvious that the civilization had seen his fleet’s deceleration trail, realized they were approaching, and consequently sent this message.
‘I’ve been fleeing across the Cosmos for several thousand years, traveling a total distance of several hundred light-years. Over such a vast distance, it’s only normal to occasionally encounter another civilization.’
Li Qingsong thought to himself, ‘Based on my previous deductions, given the existence of numerous Celestial Calamity civilizations that prey on “orthodox intelligent civilizations,” peace is fundamentally impossible, even between two civilizations with mutual goodwill.’
‘The safest option upon encountering another civilization is to give it a wide berth immediately.’
‘If I insist on entering this Star System and continue to decelerate, it will likely lead to war.’
‘This message, besides clarifying their stance and their desire to avoid war, is also filled with deterrence…’
The deterrence wasn’t explicitly stated in the message’s content.
Li Qingsong keenly perceived that the very act of sending the message was how this self-proclaimed “Harville” Civilization was intimidating him.
His fleet was currently about 4.6 trillion kilometers, or 0.5 light-years, away from the system’s primary star.
And this message had been sent via electromagnetic waves!
To transmit an electromagnetic signal over a distance of 0.5 light-years without it decaying into the cosmic background radiation, allowing him to still easily decipher its contents… one could only imagine how powerful the transmitter must be.
What kind of formidable technology did such immense transmission power imply?
From this point alone, Li Qingsong could deduce that the Harville Civilization’s technological level was certainly above his own.
Li Qingsong didn’t believe every intelligent civilization could have had the same good fortune as him or possessed his unique abilities.
So, for an ordinary intelligent civilization to develop independently in the Vast Cosmos to the Strong Core Civilization stage, and even surpass his own level of technology…
To what degree must this civilization’s resilience, wisdom, survivability, adaptability, and internal organization have developed?
Consider this: even with his own abilities, breaking through the electroweak stage to reach the Strong Core stage had been fraught with countless difficulties. How much harder would it be for an ordinary intelligent civilization to develop to the Strong Core level?
No civilization that could survive and develop to a certain stage in the Cosmos was a pushover.
Li Qingsong decisively halted his deceleration and immediately maneuvered the fleet to change course, beginning to fly in a new direction.
The fleet was so massive that changing its course was not something that could be done overnight. Even if they began adjusting their trajectory now, inertia would still carry the fleet closer to the star—to a minimum distance of about 0.3 light-years—before they finally passed by it.
Given the current distance between them, Li Qingsong also lacked the ability to transmit an electromagnetic signal that far.
But that didn’t matter. The change in the fleet’s engine trail should be clearly visible to the other party, allowing them to determine that his course had been altered. It wouldn’t lead to a misjudgment.
Time passed quietly, and soon, Li Qingsong’s fleet reached its closest point to the star.
From there, Li Qingsong sent a message in the human language, along with a dictionary.
“To the esteemed Harville Civilization, we are the Human Civilization from the distant Deep Space. We are passing through this area by chance and were previously unaware that this Star System was already occupied by your civilization.
We are in complete agreement with your proposal and deeply concur with your judgment that ‘an Interstellar System cannot support two civilizations.’
We have already adjusted our course and will be departing this Star System to find another in which to reside.
Should the opportunity arise in the future, we also sincerely look forward to a friendly exchange with your civilization.
Respectfully, the Supreme Leader of the Human Civilization, on behalf of all its intelligent life.”
After this small interlude, Li Qingsong paid the matter no further mind.
‘Friendly exchange? Forget it. Right now, I just want to be left alone. It’d be best if no one bothered me.’
Time passed quietly. As Li Qingsong’s fleet continued to move away from the Interstellar System, he suddenly sensed that something was wrong.
He saw flashes of engine trails coming from within the Interstellar System.
Analyzing their intensity, the fleet had to be quite large. At the same time, based on their trajectory… it seemed this fleet would intercept his own in several years!
Li Qingsong’s heart instantly grew heavy.
At that moment, another message arrived.
“To His Excellency, the Supreme Leader of the Human Civilization, after careful deliberation, we have decided to offer you a planet for your settlement.