Chapter 201 Unnatural Inferences

Half a month later, Beijing.

The late autumn night already had a chill. Lin Mo stood by the window of the conference room in the small gray building, looking at the ginkgo trees outside—half the leaves had turned yellow, shimmering with a golden light under the streetlamps.

Behind him, five people were sitting around the conference table, staring at the data on the projection screen.

"The thirty-seventh verification," Zhang Yuanli's voice came from behind him. "The prime number sequence is complete, starting from 2 all the way to 101, without a single one missing."

Lin Mo turned around and walked back to his seat.

Zhang Yuanli pointed at the waveform diagram on the screen: "Look, everyone. In the first thirty seconds of the signal, the pulse intervals correspond to prime numbers: 2 seconds, 3 seconds, 5 seconds, 7 seconds, 11 seconds... all the way to 101 seconds. Then a ten-second break, followed by the next set."

Academician Chen Yuanshan frowned. "Could it be a coincidence? Prime number sequences aren't entirely absent in nature—"

"Academician Chen," Zhang Yuanli interrupted him, pushing up his glasses. "I've worked in number theory for forty years; what kind of coincidence haven't I seen? But do you know the probability of 25 consecutive prime numbers appearing?"

He paused and stated a figure:

"Less than 10 to the power of negative thirty."

The conference room fell silent.

Wang Mingyuan took over: "It's not just prime numbers. There's also Pi—3.1415926... all the way to a hundred decimal places. Each digit corresponds to a pulse width. When decoded, it's exact."

He pulled up another chart: "This is the waveform for the Pi section. I printed out the first hundred digits and checked them one by one. Look—"

On the screen, two columns of data were displayed side-by-side. On the left were the digits of Pi, and on the right was the decoded pulse width. From 3 to 9, from 1 to 5, from 4 to 9—everything matched.

Li Wei said softly, "Pi is a transcendental number, infinite and non-repeating. Nature cannot produce such precise mathematical patterns."

Senior Colonel Zhou Zhiguo had been silent, but now he suddenly spoke:

"I only have one question—is this thing something they intentionally made decodable for us?"

Everyone looked at him.

Senior Colonel Zhou Zhiguo continued, "Prime numbers, Pi—these are the foundations of mathematics. Any intelligent civilization, as long as they've developed mathematics, will certainly understand them. By using this encoding, they are saying—'We are intelligent life, and we are speaking in a language you can understand'."

Zhang Yuanli nodded. "Senior Colonel Zhou is right. This isn't a code; it's an introduction."

Academician Chen Yuanshan was silent for a long time before finally speaking:

"I've worked in astronomy for sixty years, always believing we weren't alone in the universe. But now that this day has actually come..."

He shook his head and didn't continue.

Lin Mo looked at this octogenarian Academician, a wave of complex emotions rising in his heart.

"Academician Chen," he said, "how do you feel?"

Academician Chen Yuanshan looked up, his gaze complex:

"Academician Lin, you might not believe it if I say it—I'm a little afraid."

Afraid.

Hearing this word from a highly respected Academician stunned everyone.

Academician Chen Yuanshan said slowly, "All my life, I've been looking up at the stars, imagining what was out there. But now, the starry sky is responding to us—and yet I don't know what it is that's responding."

He looked at the waveform diagram on the screen:

"They are 4.37 light-years away from us. A signal's round trip takes nearly nine years. In nine years, what will happen? We don't know. What do they look like? We don't know. What do they want to do? We don't know that either."

The conference room was deathly quiet.

Wang Mingyuan said softly, "Academician Chen, you're right. But we have no choice. The signal has arrived; we can't pretend we didn't receive it."

Academician Chen Yuanshan nodded and gave a bitter smile:

"I know. That's why I said I'm a little afraid, but I'm not backing down. Having lived for over eighty years, to be able to see this day before I close my eyes—it's worth it."

The discussion continued.

Zhang Yuanli pulled up the latest analysis results:

"Besides prime numbers and Pi, we've also discovered something else."

He switched to the next chart—a sequence of seemingly chaotic pulses.

"This is the second half of the signal. The first half is mathematical language; the second half... might be some kind of encoding. We've tried various ways to decode it, but so far, we haven't succeeded."

Wang Mingyuan leaned in to look: "Could it be an image? Or sound?"

Zhang Yuanli shook his head: "I'm not sure. But there is a pattern—the length of this encoding is an integer multiple of the first two sections. If the first two sections are the 'preface', then this section might be the 'body'."

Li Wei suddenly said, "Could it be coordinates?"

Everyone looked at him.

Li Wei said, "I mean—if they want to tell us where they are, or tell us a certain location, using coordinates would be the most logical. And coordinates can be encoded with prime numbers."

Zhang Yuanli's eyes lit up: "That makes sense! Give me a week; I'll try this line of thinking."

Lin Mo nodded. "Alright. Professor Zhang, focus your efforts on this encoding. Everyone else, continue verifying the mathematical sequences to ensure nothing was missed."

He looked at Senior Colonel Zhou Zhiguo: "Senior Colonel Zhou, what about security?"

Senior Colonel Zhou Zhiguo nodded. "All data is triple-encrypted, all communications are through dedicated lines, and paper documents are locked in safes. Aside from the seven people present, no one else has had contact with this information."

Lin Mo looked at Academician Chen Yuanshan again: "Academician Chen, astronomically speaking, is it possible to observe this direction through other means?"

Academician Chen Yuanshan thought for a moment: "FAST could try to aim there, but it would require an application. If we apply, it will leave a record."

Lin Mo was silent for a while, then said:

"Don't apply yet. The most important thing right now is secrecy. Once we've decoded more information, we'll consider the next step."

Academician Chen Yuanshan nodded. "Understood."

After the meeting ended, the others left one by one.

Lin Mo stayed in the conference room alone, looking at the remaining data on the screen.

Fang Lin pushed the door open and entered, carrying two cups of tea.

"Still thinking?" She placed the tea in front of Lin Mo.

Lin Mo picked up the tea, took a sip, and didn't speak.

Fang Lin sat down beside him, also looking at the screen.

After a long silence, she suddenly asked:

"Lin Mo, are you afraid?"

Lin Mo turned to look at her.

Fang Lin smiled. "When Academician Chen said he was afraid just now, I didn't say anything. But actually, I'm afraid too."

Lin Mo was silent for a few seconds, then said:

"I'm not afraid."

Fang Lin raised an eyebrow. "So certain?"

Lin Mo shook his head. "It's not certainty; it's that I don't have time to be afraid."

He pointed at the data on the screen:

"We've only decoded a small portion of this stuff. There are even greater unknowns ahead. If we start being afraid now, we might as well stop working."

Fang Lin looked at him, her gaze filled with complex emotions:

"You're calmer than I imagined."

Lin Mo gave a bitter smile:

"Director Fang, I'm not calm. I just know that being afraid is useless."

He stood up and walked to the window:

"Three years ago, when I first got the blueprints for Room-Temperature Superconductivity, I was afraid too. Afraid of failure, afraid of being questioned, afraid of betraying trust. Later, I found that fear is useless. What will come will come; all we can do is move forward."

He turned around and looked at Fang Lin:

"It's the same this time. The signal has come; regardless of who they are or what they want to do, all we can do is first understand what they are saying."

Fang Lin was silent for a long time.

Then she smiled:

"Lin Mo, do you know, sometimes I feel like you don't seem like someone in their early thirties."

Lin Mo was taken aback. "Then what do I seem like?"

Fang Lin thought for a moment. "Like someone who has lived several lifetimes."

Lin Mo didn't speak.

Fang Lin stood up and patted his shoulder:

"Go back and get some rest early. There's work to do tomorrow."

She walked to the door, then turned back:

"By the way, has the data from Li Xiao's side been transmitted?"

Lin Mo nodded. "Once a day. She's also analyzing it."

Fang Lin nodded. "That girl is reliable."

The door closed.

Lin Mo stood alone in the conference room, looking at the night outside.

The leaves of the ginkgo tree rustled in the wind.

In the distance, Beijing's lights were bright.

He remembered what Academician Chen had said:

"The starry sky is responding to us."

Yes, the starry sky had responded.

But what was the response?

He didn't know.

But he knew one thing—

Humanity is no longer alone.

Late at night, Lin Mo returned to the hotel.

His phone rang; it was a video call request from Li Xiao.

"Senior Brother!" Li Xiao's face appeared on the screen, flushed with excitement. "I've discovered something!"

Lin Mo sat down. "Speak."

Li Xiao pulled up a chart. "This is the batch of data transmitted today, the encoding from the second half. I tried Professor Zhang's approach—using prime numbers as coordinates and mapping them onto a 2D plane—"

She pointed at several points on the chart:

"Look, the distribution of these points isn't random. They form some kind of pattern!"

Lin Mo stared at the screen.

On the chart, dozens of points were scattered across the coordinate system. At first glance, it looked messy, but looking closely—there was indeed a pattern.

Some points connected to form what looked like an arc.

Some points clustered together, like a nebula.

And there was one point that was particularly bright and prominent.

Li Xiao's voice rang in his ears:

"Senior Brother, I think this might be a star map. That brightest point—could it be their location?"

Lin Mo stared at that point, his heart racing.

4.37 light-years away, in the direction of Centaurus.

That brightest point corresponded exactly to—

Proxima Centauri.

He took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down:

"Li Xiao, encrypt this discovery and send it to Professor Zhang tomorrow. Let him verify it mathematically."

Li Xiao nodded. "Understood!"

"Also," Lin Mo said, "for now, don't tell anyone about this besides me, you, and Professor Zhang."

Li Xiao was taken aback, then nodded solemnly:

"Got it, Senior Brother."

After hanging up the video call, Lin Mo sat on the edge of the bed for a long time without moving.

Outside the window, the night sky was clear.

Low in the southeastern sky, that dim star remained silent.

But now, Lin Mo knew—

It was speaking.

Using prime numbers, using Pi, using star maps.

Using a language that humanity would one day understand.