Pulling Rank
"We don't know what level of civilization that spaceship is, but after it arrived, it directly loaded all the Quell Civilization's spaceships into its hull, and then launched a bunch of equipment that we couldn't understand into our home planet without saying a word."
From their appearance until they launched unknown equipment at our home planet, they remained unresponsive to all our attempts to communicate or inquire, until we finally couldn't resist attacking the equipment. Only then did the spaceship utter the words: "What a pleasant surprise."
Recalling that last communication, Pierce didn't know what the 'unexpected joy' was, but she knew what the so-called receding afterimage was.
That's faster than light.
An observer directly in front of the faster-than-light spaceship's path will not see any image of it until the spaceship comes to a complete stop in front of them, at which point a spaceship will suddenly appear. Simultaneously, because the previous light has not yet arrived, another image is created that appears to be moving backward. It looks as if the spaceship suddenly appeared and then flew backward into space at faster-than-light speed towards its origin.
Pierce didn't know what happened to the Kun-Tai Civilization's home planet after that spaceship appeared, but she was certain that it would never have any autonomy again.
After letting out a deep sigh and shaking off the painful memories, Pierce spoke with certainty, "That Human Civilization is definitely not a member of the Milky Way Galaxy Axis Alliance. The broadcast has been going on for so many years. If they were, they would have been picked up by a spaceship sent by the Milky Way Galaxy Axis Alliance long ago."
"Lord Pierce is right. That Human Civilization must be lying and bluffing. If it were any other civilization, they would have been fooled. Haha, it seems they were intimidated by our Great Fleet." Mo Tuotuo gesticulated wildly.
Pierce ignored him and looked directly at the group of Kuntai People, most of whom were in 'Tai' form, and said, "So do you think we should tell them the real reason we came here?"
"The real reason is definitely something we can't say." As soon as she finished speaking, a high-ranking member of the Kuntai People replied, "We certainly can't reveal anything about our home planet, but we can't avoid the fact that we came here to resupply."
I think that, without knowing whether the other side is a fleet or a civilization, we can first tell them we only need supplies from the Asteroid Belt. We could verbally offer them some benefits, such as Cold Nuclear Fusion, a technology I imagine Tier 1 Civilization would dream of. Right now, we're short on resources and energy, so it's best to avoid conflict for now.
Pierce agreed, "Yes, if they agree, then we can resupply while we find out their true situation. Our goal is to find out about the Asteroid Belt. Once we have that exact information, they won't have a say in what we say."
"Lord Pierce is right. The Asteroid Belt is only so big. As long as we can get close, we have plenty of ways to explore it slowly. Besides, they like to bluff, don't they? We can do that too. Let's see who can scare whom!"
"Okay, then let's reply to that 'friend' according to this idea!" Pierce shook his hand, indicating that the discussion would end here.
"By the way, Lord Pierce! Should we reply using their code, or should we send a signal from our own civilization along with a dictionary for them to decipher?"
"There's no need to do that," Pierce said, shaking his hand.
Three hours and 36 minutes later, an Electromagnetic Wave carrying a recognizable signal traveled 24 Astronomical Unit, accurately delivering the reply from the Kun-Tai Civilization to humanity.
Upon receiving the reply, the Mount Wudang-Class Warship immediately converted it into a neutrino signal and transmitted it to the Lyra.
And so, the reply from the Kun-Tai Civilization was presented to Yue Yuan and the others.
Oh, great Human Civilization, it is a pleasure to meet you here. Before we get down to business, please allow us to introduce ourselves. We are the Kun-Tai Civilization, Kuntai is our race. As you can see, we are a fleet that has just completed a long voyage, a fleet that is conducting interstellar exploration for our Kun-Tai Civilization. Oh, in your dictionary, it would be more appropriate to call it an expedition team, or an advance fleet, because our job is to conduct preliminary exploration for the expansion of our civilization.
Presumably, you are also an advance fleet, just like us. Since you arrived here first, according to Article 8 of the Principles of Coexistence among Milky Way Galaxy, this place should belong to you. But you must have just arrived recently, why haven't you even erected any interstellar beacons yet?
[I'm sorry, but if you had followed the eighth principle of the Milky Way Galaxy Civilization Coexistence Principles and established a beacon in this Star System, then this place would belong to you. However, you did not, so according to the covenant, this place does not belong to you.]
Of course, our Kun-Tai Civilization is not inflexible. We acknowledge that this place belongs to you. However, given that you haven't built a beacon, we have the right to resupply here without your consent. But to show respect and goodwill towards our Kun-Tai Civilization, we've decided to interact with you using technology, since it's a fact that you arrived here first.
All we need are resources from a small area of Asteroid Belt! Oh, by the way, our Kun-Tai Civilization's home planet is at XXX, YYY, zzz. If you are also members of the Perseus Commonwealth, you can come to our home planet to exchange ideas.
As you probably know, cultural exchange benefits both sides. Unlike the Milky Way Galaxy Axis Alliance, the Perseus Commonwealth does not prohibit technological exchange between civilizations of similar level, which is why we are willing to join the Perseus Community.
Upon seeing this rather lengthy reply, Yue Yuan twitched the corner of his mouth and fell silent. "Expedition team, advance team, why does that sound so familiar?"
"That's exactly what they said when they lied to the Silver Mist back then," Yue Yuan said. "And they even brought up some 'Eighth Rule for Civilizations to Coexist in the Milky Way Galaxy.' Rule my foot! They must have just made that up after seeing the nonsense about the 'Milky Way Galaxy Civilization First Convention' that humans made up. And what's with this Perseus Commonwealth? This Kun-Tai Civilization really dares to brag!"
Yue Yuan saw through Kun-Tai Civilization's charade at a glance.
It's not that he has supernatural vision, it's just that human experience tells him that such things are unreliable. Otherwise, the Solar System and the Centaurus Trinary Star System wouldn't have exploded, and not just into White Dwarf Star, but into nothingness.
As for the idea of exchanging technology, Yue Yuan immediately thought of his experience of being seduced by Silver Mist using Neutrino Communication.