Chapter 416

Above the deep void, the massive photovoltaic wings of Nan Tian Men flipped and paused for one second before resetting; when the control command was reactivated, those thousands of photovoltaic wings flipped again.

Four standard-decoded characters clearly appeared on the deep-space monitoring station's screen, projected into the command hall of the Zhen Tian warship.

At that moment, the air seemed to fall utterly silent; countless eyes turned to the monitoring screen, and one by one, people slowly rose to their feet, every face etched with shock.

"Don't resist—is this a threat to us?" Liu Shijie said, his face filled with horror.

"What does this message mean?" Information engineer Wu Junping said grimly: "Is this the Dark Civilization's response to the Shuguang City incident?"

"But this message was received on the Day of Revelation…"

"This message makes no sense—if faced with a threat to life, how could one not resist?"

Instantly, a chorus of hushed whispers spread through the Yuewang Project team; an atmosphere of anxious tension began to spread.

Chu Yan frowned and glanced at Ye Lan beside her, noticing that Professor Ye was now intently staring at the four large characters; after a long while, he spoke.

"I think the key lies in identifying the subject within the context of this message."

Chu Yan narrowed her eyes: "Are you suggesting this message may not have come from the Dark Civilization?"

Many others turned to look at her at once.

Ye Lan shook his head: "There's a strong possibility, but we can't be certain. First, if this message originated on the Day of Revelation, and we only just completed our observation, it may not be related to Shuguang City's resistance at all. Second, the subject of the context—who is this message directed to? Is it a warning or an admonition? We don't know. Third, human logic cannot accept such a command to die; its meaning remains unclear…"

Upon hearing Ye Lan's words, those around him all wore expressions of confusion.

"But right now, we can only treat this as a warning from the Dark Civilization toward humanity," said Huo Jiang, commander of the Tie Wei Brigade, his expression grave. "This is the most reasonable hypothesis. As for context or wording, we've discussed this before: the Dark Civilization's thought patterns and behavioral logic are entirely alien to ours."

Ye Lan nodded, then turned to Yang Xu, who had remained silent beside him: "Yang Zongshi, what do you think?"

"I agree with General Huo," Yang Xu took a deep breath, his gaze thoughtful, then added:

"But Professor Ye is right—we cannot treat the reception of this message on the Day of Revelation as definitive evidence. If this dark matter signal possesses quantum superposition properties and is unaffected by the time dimension, it may indicate that this message originated from a higher-dimensional entity."

Huo Jiang looked bewildered and turned to him: "Higher dimension? Yang Zongshi, elaborate."

Yang Xu adjusted his glasses and explained: "Simply put, for us humans—three-dimensional beings—time is linear. We exist along the axis of time, unable to alter it, unable to change the past or see the future. But if we elevate to the fourth dimension, every 'now' across time becomes observable. In other words, a four-dimensional entity can witness both the beginning and end of any event simultaneously. To them, we're like characters in a TV show, and time is merely a progress bar—they can observe our past and future at will."

Ye Lan nodded: "Yes. If this message is unaffected by the time dimension, then the sender must already know the 'recipient's' outcome. From this perspective, the meaning of 'Do Not Resist' becomes entirely different."

"So when you mentioned warning and admonition before, you meant two different things?" Chu Yan asked.

Ye Lan nodded, and Yang Zongshi added:

"Exactly. From a theoretical standpoint, we are the 'recipients' of this message. But if the Dark Civilization possesses higher-dimensional power, logically, it wouldn't need to send us such a message at all—because our outcome is already fixed."

"But if our outcome is fixed, then Shuguang City wouldn't have succeeded in its counterattack, and Xing Yuan wouldn't have transmitted that 'confusion' emotion, would it?" Chu Yan suddenly realized.

Ye Lan exhaled slowly and said calmly: "That's true—but all of this is speculation."

She looked toward the monitoring screen: "Whether this is a warning or an admonition, whether it came from the Dark Civilization or some higher-dimensional entity, for us, it is a vital reminder."

"A reminder that humanity is but ants."

At these words, the air in the command hall seemed to freeze. Ye Lan's gaze swept across the room, then settled on Yang Xu.

"Yang Zongshi, from now on, we must monitor Nan Tian Men's photovoltaic wings continuously. Theoretically, while we do this, the future has already occurred…"

…

Yongcheng Port, Docking Terminal, the Infinite.

Viola projected the Nan Tian Men observation footage, leaving the Infinite's crew bewildered.

"It's kind of scary…" Shasha's face was pale; the other girls looked equally uneasy, and Shizhi had already hidden behind Long Zhijie.

"It feels like communicating with an alien civilization," Kiki crossed her arms. "Just these four characters?"

"Looks like a provocation," Qian Dele said.

"What does this even mean? Is it meant for us?" Luo Yang frowned; beside him, Lu Chang shrugged, utterly lost.

Mo Nika's gaze was calm as she spoke: "A civilization capable of eradicating Blue Planet doesn't need to provoke. This sounds more like an order."

Chen Sixuan looked at Lin Xian and noticed his face was equally confused.

"Lin Xian."

"Hmm?"

"What do you think?"

Lin Xian took a deep breath and looked at Ding Junyi: "I don't understand. We should ask Director Ding."

At once, every eye turned to Ding Junyi.

Ding Junyi kept her hands in her pockets, her expression calm: "Do you have some misconception about scientists? I'm in biology. I don't specialize in astrophysics, and my quantum mechanics knowledge is limited to casual chat."

Lin Xian smiled: "Aliens are still biological entities—strictly speaking, within your field."

Ding Junyi sighed and adjusted her glasses: "The Phoenix Society's Wangxing Team is probably already in emergency discussion. But based on what you've told us, quantum superposition under time loops involves spacetime distortion or Penrose processes for black hole energy extraction, enabling quantum entanglement communication—this level of power reaches Kardashev Type II or even Type III civilization standards, approaching or already possessing higher-dimensional technology. So now, the critical question for us is: who sent this message, and to whom?"

"What if it was sent to us?" Shu Qin asked.

Ding Junyi shrugged: "Then all we can do is pray. We're not even sure we can defeat the Dark Abyss. With this kind of power, even a thousand years won't give us a chance."

She turned to leave, returning to her research, but Lin Xian called out: "Director Ding, do you think this message didn't come from the Dark Civilization?"