Deep Space Wandering Fleet
Chapter 400 - 398 Preliminary Friendly Agreement

Chapter 400: Chapter 398 Preliminary Friendly Agreement

As the Taipu people were ensnared in their fantasies, unable to extricate themselves, the lead robot solemnly said, "Respected people of Ao Country, greetings. We come from a distant human civilization, bringing trade and friendship."

"We are travelers of the stars, originating from the far Solar System. We adhere to principles of fairness and mutual consent and hope to collect cultural and knowledge artifacts from your civilization, as well as biological samples from your planet, or even certain unique technologies, including but not limited to physics, mathematics, art, music..."

"After the transaction is completed, we will pay a certain amount of compensation, which could be technological knowledge or material resources..."

The robot listed a long string of very procedural regulations in a calm and steady tone.

These regulations had also been drafted long ago.

Since there had been no direct attack nor had they heard any imperative commands, the president standing at the forefront let out a sigh of relief, his greatest fear being... hearing the aliens suddenly declare a war of conquest. After all, many movies depicted it just like that, with a resounding proclamation before the onset of battle.

Now, this was a pretty good start.

He bent down, slightly raising one hand, and made a gesture of greeting typical of his country.

A few generals in the back surreptitiously waved their hands, and some soldiers who were ready to attack at any moment pulled back and hid.

Every Taipu person present was solemn and serious; why the aliens could speak their civilization’s language was completely unnecessary to consider. Where exactly the Solar System was located in the Milky Way was also beyond consideration...

Of course, the main concern was safety, including whether there was a possibility of being swallowed by aliens. These military scholars had discussed it for a long time beforehand, but the ultimate outcome was overwhelmingly negative. The enemy occupied the atmosphere; striking the ground was all too easy, while the Taipu people had no weapons capable of reaching above the atmospheric layer.

Under such disadvantages, having one’s life and property depend on the moral integrity of others was surely unnerving!

Besides, the thoughts in the president’s mind raced; what he thought most about was... whether what they said was true or false.

If true, then this was a great opportunity; how could they maximize their benefits?

"Trading with this human civilization isn’t just our country... How will they choose? If they curry favor with the aliens and gain alien technology, what should we do?"

"Never mind, sending off these plague gods safely wouldn’t be too bad either. As long as no disputes arise, that’s enough. As for benefits..."

In a moment’s time, the president had thought about many things, including the nation, his own family, and even his own place in the history of civilization, considering them all. Vyng for the chestnuts from the fire is a quality these politicians ought to have.

...

Wang Junpeng controlled the robot, looking around. Through special VR equipment, the robot’s view could be completely restored to human eyes.

The sky of this planet was a deep blue, with a slightly weaker brightness than that of the once Earth.

In the sky around, some tens of kilometers away, a large number of airships were faintly visible.

Of course, the robot’s vision was not comparable to humans, like a telescope, magnifying hundreds of times was no problem. Wang Junpeng soon adjusted the focus of his eyes, seeing every detail of the airships tens of kilometers away. Such airships served as transportation just as buses were widespread in Earth’s cities.

"The main bulk trade of this civilization relies on airships, but their capacity is still not sufficient; more is done through rivers, so the main cities are all located on large rivers or coastal areas."

"...As for a lot of the inland countries, they’re naturally much more backward in terms of transportation, inevitably poor and remote."

"It’s true, to significantly enhance the carrying capacity of airships, one must make much larger airbags. The cost of air buoyancy still can’t compare with that of water."

"I’m most interested in whether the Enlightener Civilization has left a series of traces on this planet? This civilization, it seems, should be quite a young civilization. It doesn’t appear to have developed modern technology for more than a few hundred years, and it is very possible that it was influenced by the Enlightener Civilization."

"There hasn’t been any discovery... However, traces of the Enlightener Civilization are all from 150,000 years ago, which is a really long time. Since the Tai Pu Civilization had written records, it’s only been about 22,000 years. Therefore, when the Enlighteners arrived, they must have been at a very primitive stage, without any related written records... We have to rely on the power of this civilization itself to find any clues."

"I wonder if they have any archaeology."

While they were chatting like this, the leading human robot reached a certain friendly agreement with the Tai Pu people.

Some human scientists were allowed, with the accompaniment of soldiers from the Tai Pu Civilization, to visit certain buildings in the city, including museums and concerts, on the condition that they could not visit privately; they had to be accompanied by Tai Pu people and had to notify their plans in advance.

This condition was easily accepted by the humans; the opposing president did not want to expose the existence of aliens in front of the public, which would cause panic. This was quite understandable.

At the same time, a few scientists from the Tai Pu Civilization were also allowed to board the human transport spaceship for what was called a "safety check."

Of course, it was called a safety check, but it was in fact just a small intention of the Tai Pu Civilization. They wanted to know more details about the construction of the transport ship, what exactly was inside it, and to confirm the true purpose of the humans.

When the humans really agreed to this request, His Excellency the President was genuinely shocked—he had never expected the other party would agree. It seemed they were more amiable than expected.

After the negotiations were completed, some scientists were so eager that they wanted to go up and visit immediately, not even caring about security issues!

For their part, the humans didn’t really care...

This was a real spaceship, after all, and this civilization didn’t even have airplanes; how could they run before they learned how to walk?

Could they simply copy the entire spaceship just by looking at it?

Of course not.

And so, two hours later, O’Brien, dressed in a Biological protective suit and filled with curiosity, touched the large transport machine whose surface was slightly hot, probably due to the fierce friction with the atmosphere just moments before.

"The reason our civilization has not developed flying machines is because of the lack of advanced material technology. The faster the speed, the greater the friction... This material..."

"It would be great if we could trade for the method to produce this material. Right, our engine technology is also insufficient... There’s too much that’s insufficient."

His heart was racing.

Even in public, even though he was itching to take a piece for study, he dared not. In case he damaged the other party’s spaceship and triggered a war between them, he would truly be the sinner of the entire civilization!

They could only swallow their saliva, gasping frantically.

The Tai Pu people were allowed to visit only a small section, but this section was crazy enough with Controlled Nuclear Fusion Technology, Laser Weapons, and electromagnetic guns, everything included.

"Is this a missile? No, a nuclear bomb? Antimatter?"

Although the Tai Pu Civilization also had nuclear bombs, they lacked the appropriate launch technology and could only use airships for deployment, risking the bombs exploding on themselves—of course, global intimidation was not possible.

With various emotions, the Tai Pu people visited for a while and then came down with hard scalp...

But for the president of Ao Country and the think tank behind them, it was a relief; such intimidation was normal.

If there really were no weapons, they might even suspect these aliens had some unimaginable scheme; unknowns are the scariest. But now, it seemed everything was within a comprehensible range.

...