Irene jolted and retreated behind Hawking.
Hawking, on the other hand, looked very calm. After a brief moment of blankness, he instantly accepted the claim that Huang Ji was not human.
Even though Huang Ji looked exactly like a human.
Hawking felt no fear whatsoever. What he felt more was excitement and curiosity.
"Then who exactly are you, Hua?" Hawking's electronic voice said.
"I am merely an enthusiast of primitive civilizations," Huang Ji said, as if stating a fact.
"..."
Hawking fell silent.
He had a great deal to say, but his body limited the speed at which he could express himself.
Just as he grew anxious, the words he had wanted to say appeared directly on the computer screen and were played through the synthesizer.
The synthesizer said, "I have considered the existence of aliens, and even made deductions about them many times. After all, my main field is cosmology..."
"Huh? Oh, oh, oh... Hahahaha... ABCD... What did you do, Hua?"
Whatever Hawking wanted to say appeared immediately on the wheelchair's personal computer, with a delay of less than a second.
"A trivial bit of technology," Huang Ji said.
He had merely used the Buddha Bone Finger to transmit Hawking's intended words into the computer. Of course, in Hawking's eyes, it seemed like brain-computer interface technology.
Earth had such technology as well, but it was still very immature and required a large number of neural sensors. Yet Huang Ji seemed to have done nothing at all, making brain-computer interface technology as seamless as a gentle rain.
Hawking immediately said, "Among the aliens I have imagined, you are the most unbelievable kind. An enthusiast of primitive civilizations... To be honest, I never considered that."
"What, then, do you imagine interstellar civilizations to be like?" Huang Ji asked noncommittally.
"In my