203: Chapter 203: No, no, don't be serious! Is there really an alien civilization?

“???”

“Holy crap!!!”

“Is... is there really one?”

“What the hell? I was listening to this as a bedtime story, and you're giving me the real deal?”

“The hair on my arms is standing up, bro!”

“Hurry up and say it, man, I can't take it anymore!”

“This is more explosive than all the previous theories combined!” (Ps: I'm about to get serious now.)

Inside a faculty dormitory at Huaqing University.

Professor Wu stood up reflexively on the spot, shaking his head vigorously. “Discovered? In reality? This... this has exceeded the scope of reasonable speculation. Is he trying to turn science fiction into reality?”

Even Ouyang Baili, who had always admired Jiang Zhe, couldn't help but frown at this moment. “I'm siding with Old Wu this time. Theoretical deduction is one thing; although Xiao Jiang's deduction is very cool and sharp, and I like it, pointing out a real celestial body is another matter entirely.”

Li Mo, Guan Jingming, and the rest of the physics students all had very solemn expressions.

Catching up on lessons is one thing, and imagining is another, but once it involves something we've already discovered, the nature of it changes completely. One must be extremely cautious.

...

The High School Principal's office.

Old Yu, the physics teacher, was also frowning deeply. “This... Xiao Jiang is going a bit too far this time. Although it's a great gimmick, what he's about to say could easily mislead people. What if the students take it as truth?”

Principal Fu, Wang Shulin, and Xiao Wang couldn't help but feel worried for Jiang Zhe at this moment.

Inside the big screen, on the sofa.

Xiao Yu's mouth hung slightly open, startled by her brother's claim. “Huh? Big brother, I... I was just joking. I was afraid it was almost midnight and you'd suddenly log off, so I asked on purpose. I didn't actually think I'd find out for real. In reality, there... really is one?”

Jiang Zhe raised his hand to check his watch. It was nearly midnight. Since tomorrow was a day off anyway, what did it matter if he stayed a bit longer?

He said with a serious face, “Of course there is. It was a focus of major attention and discussion in 2025. It has a serial number, but its more widely known name is Tabby's Star. Its formal designation is KIC8462852.” (Ps: This star was discovered in the real world in 2011.)

As he spoke, he picked up the tablet next to him, quickly pulled up some data, and then turned the screen toward Xiao Yu.

“Look, this is within our Solar System. When a planet passes in front of the Sun, from the perspective of a distant star system—it causes a periodic dip in the Sun's brightness...”

He then pulled up a simulation diagram. “A planet the size of Earth, blocking the Sun's light, only reduces the brightness by about 0.01%, which is negligible.”

Xiao Yu and the viewers saw a small black dot in front of the massive Sun—it was Earth.

“Even for Jupiter, the largest planet in the Solar System, with a diameter about one-tenth that of the Sun—when viewed from afar during a Jovian transit, the Sun's luminosity only drops by 1%!”

“Yes, Xiao Yu, you heard right, just 1%!”

“And all of this is the normal planetary transit effect. As you can see, it's regular, smooth, and has a fixed period.”

“No matter how much the value of Jupiter's transit obscuring the Sun's light changes, it won't go from 1% to 2% or 3%, because the largest planet in the Solar System is Jupiter. The upper limit of a Jovian transit is its own volume, and the final transit result is 1%.”

Having said this, he paused for a moment to give Xiao Yu a chance to react.

Then, with a flick of his finger, Jiang Zhe switched the image to show a strange light curve.

“And what you're looking at now is Tabby's Star. This is an F-type main-sequence star located in Cygnus, about 1,480 light-years away from us, with a mass and volume larger than our Sun. This is its change in luminosity.”

He pointed to the bottomless, irregularly shaped pits on the curve, or the dipping lines within the white space that had no periodicity.

“Look here, in 2023 (Ps: 2011 in reality), the brightness suddenly dropped by 15%, and it lasted for nearly a week.”

“And here, in 2025 (Ps: 2013 in reality), a more staggering 22% deep dip. And here, and here—dozens of irregular and non-periodic deep dimming events. Its drops generally range between 5% and 22%.”

Jiang Zhe put down the tablet and looked at Xiao Yu's stunned face. “Xiao Yu, you have to realize, based on our comparison just now, how large would the cross-sectional area of an object have to be to block 22% of Tabby's Star's light?”

Xiao Yu and countless viewers were already dumbfounded, instinctively shaking their heads.

Jiang Zhe narrowed his eyes. “According to calculations, the size of that thing is at least equivalent to the length of four Jupiters lined up side-by-side!”

“Remember, it's the length of four Jupiters side-by-side. It doesn't mean it's just four times the size of Jupiter; it's far larger than Jupiter, probably over a dozen times.”

“And in the universe, for a celestial body with a mass over a dozen times that of Jupiter, the pressure and temperature at its core would be enough to trigger deuterium fusion, and it would become a glowing brown dwarf, or even a low-mass star.”

“But around Tabby's Star, no luminous companion star of corresponding mass has been detected at all. And that thing which blocked up to 22% of its light can be proven to be dark—an object that does not emit visible light.”

At this point in the narration, he nodded slightly. “And an object several times larger than Jupiter, yet non-luminous, with an irregular structure that results in an irregular light curve, and a motion pattern that isn't the periodic transit of other planets, orbiting or obscuring a star...”

“Xiao Yu, now, combining this with the concept of the [J-Sphere] we just discussed, what do you think that is?”

By now, he had almost explicitly stated it. Xiao Yu was so shocked she was speechless.

Meanwhile, the tens of millions of viewers in the livestream had already begun their own private checks while Jiang Zhe was presenting the data and comparisons.

As the results surfaced one by one, every single viewer was stunned.

Even Wang Shulin, who was silently staring at the backend data, instinctively blurted out, “Holy shit!”

“Damn! Tabby's Star, the light curve is real, a 22% drop!!!”

“My god, a dark object the size of four Jupiters? How the hell can that be a natural phenomenon?”

“J-Sphere, it's definitely a Jiang Sphere!!!”

“Did international astronomical agencies really monitor signals from there?”

“In the direction of Cygnus, 1,480 light-years away... what we're seeing in 2026 is what it looked like 1,480 years ago. In other words, over 1,400 years ago, when we were still in the Northern and Southern Dynasties period, they were already building this kind of mega-engineering project?” “The more I think about it, the scarier it gets!!” “If this is true, we humans really aren't alone in the universe, and our neighbors might have already developed to a level we can't even imagine. They might have even discovered us long ago, it's just that we don't have the means to communicate with them!!”

At this moment, countless viewers felt their scalps go numb.

It's not that there are no aliens in the universe; there are, very much so. It's just that human technology can't discover them, and even if humans do find them, they can't communicate!!!

Inside Qingfeng Temple.

Celestial Master Zhang and Wang Chongyang stared dumbfounded at the comparison data on the big screen.

Wang Chongyang couldn't help but ask, “Xiao Zhang, does metaphysics teach us how to deal with alien civilizations?”

Celestial Master Zhang replied with a look of surprise, “Extraterrestrial Demons?”

Meanwhile, Professor Zhang Qinian had already stood up excitedly and was pacing back and forth in the living room, the joy on his face beyond words. It seemed as if someone finally understood him!

“Tabby's Star, I knew it. KIC8462852—all its anomalous features: no regularity, great depth of light change, varying durations, and a lack of evidence for a companion star.”

“Explaining it with traditional dust clouds, planetary debris, or giant star activity is full of holes!”

“If we introduce the variable of [artificial construct], then everything makes sense!”

“Even a partially completed J-Sphere would be enough to produce such bizarre light variations!”

He looked at the screen, his eyes shining. “I didn't know the concept of the J-Sphere existed before, until today—”

“In the direction of Cygnus, a living civilization that might be implementing a stellar-level energy project!”

“This is no longer just imagination; this is the strongest candidate target based on existing observational data!”

“The path Xiao Yu's Brother pointed out might be closer to the truth than all our global traditional search methods combined!”

“And all of this is only because the concept of the J-Sphere was proposed by him tonight!!!”

Zheng Ming looked at the excited Professor Zhang, feeling his worldview shaken once again. He quickly held back the agitated Professor Zhang. “Pro... Professor Zhang, is... is this evidence really that solid? Could it be too much of a coincidence?”

“Coincidence?” Zhang Qinian turned to look at him, his gaze instantly becoming sharp. “Xiao Zheng, scientific discovery sometimes requires a bit of coincidence and bold correlation.”

“When all natural explanations seem very far-fetched, considering a non-natural explanation is itself a part of scientific exploration.”

“Tabby's Star is just such a coincidence placed in front of all astronomers, challenging the limits of human cognition!” (Ps: Many international astronomers acknowledge this..)

On the other side, in the High School Principal's office.

Old Yu, the physics teacher, looked at the data comparison presented by Jiang Zhe and was also plunged into a state of shock and contradiction.

As a rigorous physics teacher, he liked theoretical fantasies, but he didn't like real fantasies appearing in the real world!!!

But...

All this evidence was solid, coming from astronomical databases, and paired with Jiang Zhe's simple and blunt J-Sphere concept.

This piece of evidence and this concept directly stripped away an unsolved mystery completely and nakedly!!!

“22% obscuration, four times the size of Jupiter, dark!”

He murmured to himself in disbelief, eventually only able to take a sharp breath. “I can't believe it, but if the data is correct, this... this is truly extraordinary. No wonder the international astronomical community has been debating this star for so long!”

Principal Fu, Wang Shulin, and Xiao Wang looked at each other, all seeing the bewilderment on each other's faces.

What's going on? Is this for real???

Just then, inside the big screen, Xiao Yu on the sofa quietly spoke while taking a sharp breath:

“Bi... big brother, is it... is it... is it for real? That Tabby's Star, could it... really be?”

Jiang Zhe looked at Xiao Yu's shocked expression, suddenly grinned, and then gave a gentle wink.

“Of course it's real. And, what's even more interesting?”

He paused for a moment, his lips curling slightly. “In the radio data analysis of a specific academic astronomy circle, near that Tabby's Star, there really was something that fired a... super strong...”

“Laser!!!”

As those words fell, Xiao Yu and countless viewers' pupils suddenly constricted, and their scalps tightened.