506: Chapter 506 seems a bit strange.

Technical teams, military consultants, foreign affairs groups, social analysis experts...

People from all relevant fields were processing the data provided by Silver Wolf.

However, the deeper they went, a faint sense of dissonance rooted in the internal logic of the civilization began to sprout in the hearts of some keen analysts.

Regarding political and social structure, Silver Wolf's data clearly outlined the current power core of the Shankong Civilization, which was a relatively loose elite Alliance.

Chief Scientist Eric Vall, an elderly but highly prestigious titan of bioengineering, was the primary proposer and promoter of the probe project, regarded as a symbol of the civilization's spirit of exploration.

The data showed that he held an almost idol-like status in the academic community and among some of the populace.

Lina Sol, the rotating chairperson of the Joint Coordination Committee, was a female politician known for her skill in coordinating the interests of various parties. She was the nominal supreme leader of the current joint institution, but her actual power was limited by entities with no specific records.

The archons of the three major political entities—the Aetheran Federation, the Noah Star-State, and the Dawn Alliance—were Karl Horn of Aetheran, a hardliner who controlled the most conventional military force.

Meryl Penny of Noah, who came from a technocratic background. And Athos Altair of Dawn, a representative of traditional nobility and religious forces with far-reaching influence.

There was also an existence similar to a warlord leader, Rex, the Commander-in-Chief of the Interstellar Defense Force.

A veteran who rose from the grassroots and was known for strict discipline, he controlled the Shankong Civilization's most elite space fleet and planetary defense forces.

Additionally, there were several prestigious public intellectuals, artists, and philosophers who held immense influence at the level of public opinion and ideology.

This list covered almost all the top-level figures in every public field of the Shankong Civilization.

From their historical records, launching the probe was not the headstrong act of a single madman, but a "civilization-level project" approved by the Joint Committee after long debate, endorsed by major political entities, and even promoted through a public referendum to some extent.

This confirmed the previous preliminary judgment that "naivety is not an isolated case, but a social consensus."

As the data went deeper, some analysts began to feel vaguely that behind this consensus, it seemed to be more than just a simple yearning for the stars.

For some reason, they always felt a faint collective confidence based on a specific worldview, or even a peculiar arrogance.

Another noteworthy point was time.

According to the Shankong Civilization's own public and semi-public records, the probe captured by the Yaoqing Fleet was launched approximately sixty-five Shankong standard years ago, which is about sixty years in Earth time.

However, comparing the technology tree revealed by the probe itself with the latest technological data Silver Wolf grabbed from their current network, the analysis team discovered a baffling phenomenon.

In the past sixty-plus years, the Shankong Civilization's technological level, especially in basic fields like physics, engineering, and energy, had not only failed to make significant progress but had instead stagnated or even slightly regressed.

Some technologies that were still in the frontier exploration stage during the probe's era seemed to have been marginalized or abandoned according to later data.

In contrast, their Biotechnica, especially in fields related to neural interfaces, genetic fine-tuning, and organism-machine Fusion, maintained continuous iterations.

"This doesn't make sense," a technology history expert from the Eastern Federation proposed during an internal discussion. "For a civilization that has just acquired the capability for intra-stellar travel and is on the eve of a technological explosion, it's hard to imagine its basic technology stagnating for over half a century unless it encountered a major disaster or structural social confinement."

"Especially since they clearly still have a strong desire for technological development and exploration, as shown by launching probes outward."

"I actually think the probe project itself seems to have had an overly strong symbolic nature," another analyst added. "After the project succeeded, the relevant top teams either disbanded or shifted toward bio-adaptability research."

"How should I put it? It's as if while they were building a house, they reached a certain height they had set for themselves and then suddenly lost interest in continuing to climb upward, turning instead to finely decorating the existing floors."

"Could it be that something or some ideology restricted their climb?" someone whispered.

"But a shift in ideology of this magnitude should have some record, shouldn't it?"

Is this what Silver Wolf meant by something being wrong?

Everyone vaguely sensed an anomaly, but the existing data couldn't clearly point to any specific, terrifying conspiracy or crisis.

Public records of Shankong society showed that these sixty years had been relatively peaceful, with no large-scale wars, no devastating natural disasters, a stable economy, and flourishing culture and art.

The public statements and private communications of those in power showed nothing amiss either. Moreover, from the overall content, their identification with their own civilization's path was quite firm.

But that was exactly where the contradiction lay.

Why would a civilization that claimed to love exploration, yearned for deep space, and put great effort into it, suddenly turn all its attention inward after the probe left, as if it had completed some ultimate ritual, even allowing basic technology to stagnate?

Was their confidence and naivety rooted in pure idealism, or in some deeper, unperceived conviction?

"I can't figure it out," Researcher Zhou rubbed his temples. "It doesn't make sense logically, and it's hard to understand emotionally."

"But all existing data, whether public or internal, shows their society is running basically normally, with no signs of a large-scale systemic crisis."

"While there are political struggles and interest conflicts among those in power, they are all within the framework of their System, with no signs of life-and-death struggle."

"Perhaps this is just the uniqueness of this civilization?" someone tried to explain.

"It's also possible that the information we have isn't deep enough, or that some key information is hidden in a way we don't yet understand," General Jing Yuan summarized. "Young Miss Silver Wolf's reminder is worth being wary of, but now is not the time for deep investigation."

"The priority is to establish formal communication. Since the other party's society is stable on the surface and the decision-making core is clear, we will proceed with contact as planned."

Doubts were temporarily set aside.

After all, from a utilitarian perspective, a civilization with stagnant technology and internal stability that posed no threat to higher civilizations was a perfect target for "dumping."

As for those things that felt wrong, they could be left for later investigation.

Thus, after careful deliberation and polishing by the foreign affairs group and the Eastern Federation's diplomatic team—even referencing some of the Shankong Civilization's artistic and philosophical expression habits—the first formal greeting message was sent to all the leaders on that list.

The core content of the message was as follows.

"To the esteemed leaders of the Shankong Civilization."

"We are a human civilization from the Milky Way Galaxy. From the deep sea of stars, we have received your messenger sent sixty years ago, carrying boundless friendship and the light of wisdom."

"The open-mindedness, passion for exploration, and deep yearning for peaceful coexistence contained within have deeply moved and impressed us."

"In response to this sincere greeting spanning vast time and space and a boundless river of stars, and in the hope of opening contact between us in the most efficient and unambiguous way, we have chosen this direct but prudent path to communicate with the helmsmen of your civilization."

"We solemnly declare that this action is intended only to establish a bridge for dialogue. It has caused no harm to any of your information Systems, nor has it touched any private Domains that should not be intruded upon. We respect the independence and dignity of every civilization."

"Now, we sincerely and with the greatest goodwill invite you, the esteemed leaders, to engage in dialogue with us at a time you deem safe."

"May this letter bring the first ray of starlight of understanding and friendship between two distant civilizations."

"We await your favorable reply."

The message was sent.

Almost at the same instant, in different corners of the Aetheran system several light-years away, those individuals at the Peak of power experienced the most shocking and terrifying moment of their lives, and perhaps in the history of their entire civilization.

Eric Vall, the elderly Chief Scientist, was alone in his quiet laboratory, performing his daily routine meditation before a complex biological neuron culture model.

This was his way of keeping his mind pure and gaining inspiration.

Suddenly, the personal terminal that never left his wrist and the main control screen in the center of the lab both displayed some information.

Lines of elegant, unfamiliar text slowly emerged.

His wrinkled hand froze in mid-air, his breathing stopped, and his cloudy eyes stared intently at the words.

The probe... had been found? Found by a civilization from another galaxy? They... were already able to talk directly like this?

A surge of great joy appeared in his heart, followed by disbelief, which quickly turned into a bone-chilling cold that instantly swept through his entire body.

Lina Sol, the rotating chairperson of the Joint Coordination Committee, was presiding over a tedious meeting regarding the allocation of interstellar mineral quotas.

The speech script and agenda list on the display in front of her suddenly disappeared, replaced by that letter from beyond the heavens.

The meeting room instantly fell silent as all the officials saw the same information appearing on their terminals or desks.

The professional smile on Lina's face froze. She subconsciously tried to operate her terminal to close the interference, only to find that all control buttons were malfunctioning.

The message was right there.

She felt a wave of dizziness, her heart pounding. Her first thought was that they were being hacked! But in the next second, the wording and content of the message made her realize that this was something much bigger than an intrusion.

Karl Horn, the Archon of the Aetheran Federation, had just finished inspecting a military exercise and was taking a nap on his private high-speed shuttle.

Inside the cabin, red lights suddenly flashed but no alarm sounded. All displays, including the private entertainment screen in front of him, switched to that letter.

He snapped upright, his soldier's instinct immediately putting him in a state of high alert as he barked questions at the pilot and security chief. The response he received was "System out of control, unknown signal source, unable to block, unable to trace."

He stared intently at the words "Human Civilization" and "Milky Way Galaxy" on the screen, his fists clenching until they cracked, his face turning ashen.

Could it be that those restless dregs had made some technological Breakthrough? Or was it a prank by an internal political rival?

The other leaders, whether in their home studies, prayer rooms, or command centers, all received this unavoidable greeting at the same time through their terminals or the equipment in front of them being taken over.

Panic, disbelief, immense shock, and a vague excitement at the probe having an echo intertwined in the hearts of the different leaders.

They never expected that a symbolic event from sixty years ago would actually have a response sixty years later.

In a manner almost like a miracle, it descended directly upon them, calmly telling them, "We received it, we have come, and we are at the door."

"Now, do you want to talk?"

This was a gentle and polite display.

It was also a suffocating display of power.

Almost as soon as their shock subsided slightly, all the leaders made the same reaction.

Use every emergency contact method to reach each other.

An emergency meeting? No, that was no longer enough.

What was needed now was an immediate, face-to-face emergency consultation at the level of civilizational survival!