150: Chapter 150 From Behind the Scenes to the Forefront: Responsibility and Journey
The emergency video conference lasted forty-seven minutes in a heavy atmosphere.
As the hologram of the last participant faded from the screen, only the low hum of equipment remained in the office.
Lin Mo leaned back in his chair and slowly closed his eyes, letting his high-speed brain take a brief breath.
The meeting process went more smoothly than he had expected.
When the representatives of the core GDC member states heard the fact that the "beacon" signal had increased three thousand times, they all showed the due shock and attention.
But when Lin Mo calmly presented the preliminary threat assessment of "Fuxi" and proposed that a global joint decryption plan had been initiated, the panic was quickly suppressed and replaced by a determination to fight with their backs to the wall.
"Since we cannot hide, let us find out what the enemy is actually saying" — this almost became the consensus of the participants.
The Dragon Country and the Polar Bear Country were the first to express their stance, stating they would open up their top cryptographer teams and supercomputing resources.
The European Union also cast a difficult vote in favor after brief internal communication.
Several neutral countries that had been wavering finally gritted their teeth and signed the deep cooperation agreement this time.
As for the Pretty Country... a rare silence appeared in the representative seat; the acting Secretary of State's face was livid, and in the end, they only vaguely stated that they "needed to return to the country for consultation."
Lin Mo did not care about the attitude of the Pretty Country.
When "soaring heavens" bloomed with light in space, and when the "beacon" was activated due to human activity, the wheels of history had already crushed the game logic of the old era.
Those willing to keep up could fight side by side; those who fell behind would only be left behind by the surging torrent moving forward.
"At least, the main forces have been mobilized."
He thought to himself, opening his eyes and letting his gaze fall on his personal terminal.
During the emergency meeting, the system interface had been flickering in the corner.
Opening it now, a sub-progress bar had appeared under the emergency task [Analyze Enhanced Signal]: [Global Joint Decryption Network forming... Current coordination progress: 41%].
Su Xiaowan's efficiency was astonishingly high.
But what truly caught Lin Mo's attention was a new line of golden text that had appeared in the center of the interface — it represented a main quest update:
[Main Quest (Phase Three): Civilization Navigator]
[Task Description: The host has moved from behind the scenes to the forefront, becoming the de facto scientific and spiritual core for this civilization to deal with the crisis. Please use this identity to further integrate global scientific research resources and will, and build a solid rear fortress and united front for the upcoming interstellar conflict.]
[Phase Goal: Within thirty days, facilitate the formal establishment of the "Blue Star Civilization Guardian Alliance" (GDA), and establish its core structure and action guidelines.]
[Task Reward: Points +15000, unlock [Principles of Collective Consciousness Network Construction (Primary)], and obtain one special "Civilization Spark" authorization.]
[Failure Penalty: Internal coordination efficiency of the civilization decreases, and the risk of collapse when facing high-level civilization impact increases.]
"Civilization Guardian Alliance... from GDC to GDA, from Defense Council to Guardian Alliance."
Lin Mo softly recited the meaning behind this change in name.
The GDC (Blue Star Defense Council) was more like a temporary coordination mechanism for dealing with specific threats, while the GDA (Blue Star Civilization Guardian Alliance) implied a deeper level of binding — shared technology, unified command, and even the transfer of partial sovereignty, truly becoming a civilization community capable of dealing with survival crises.
The system was forcing him, no, it was guiding him to twist human civilization into a rope faster.
Pressure like a physical mountain pressed on his shoulders.
Just a few hours ago, he was still thinking about how to improve the armor seams of "North Heaven Gate"; a few hours later, what he needed to think about was how to build a political framework for the entire human civilization capable of dealing with interstellar war.
This was the price of moving from behind the scenes to the forefront — transforming from an "engineer" focused on solving specific technical problems into a "navigator" who must oversee the overall situation, balance all parties, and lead the direction.
He stood up and walked to the huge panoramic star map.
His fingers swept through the air, and the star map quickly zoomed in, focusing on the Solar System.
The azure Earth slowly rotated in the center, the Moon, "Guanghan Palace" base, the preset patrol orbit of "soaring heavens"... individual light points marked the footprints of human civilization in space today.
And on the periphery of the Kuiper Belt, that frantically flickering red "beacon" was like an eye full of malice, coldly peering at all of this.
"Before, I only needed to consider how to turn blueprints into reality."
Lin Mo spoke to himself facing the star map, "Now, I need to consider how to make seven billion people believe in the blueprints I have drawn, and be willing to follow me, turning them into a wall to protect our home."
His gaze moved away from the "beacon", swept across the orbits of the inner planets of the Solar System, and finally stopped on a light point representing Mars.
A thought suddenly flashed through his mind.
"Perhaps... we need a more grand, more intuitive goal.
A 'journey' that can gather everyone's gaze together, transcend national differences, and truly belong to all of humanity."
He quickly sat back at his workstation and pulled up the interstellar database and resource distribution model of the system.
His fingers tapped quickly on the virtual keyboard, and lines of instructions and parameters were input.
Soon, a preliminary concept began to take shape on the holographic screen —
That was no longer just a defense plan, but a systematic civilization upgrade blueprint with protection as the core and development as a consideration:
First step, using GDA as the framework, establish a unified scientific research, resource allocation, and military command system, accelerating the expansion of the "North Heaven Gate" fleet and the construction of the "North Heaven Gate" defense system.
Second step, launch the "Mars Transformation Outpost Plan".
Utilizing fusion energy and new ecological technology, establish a second permanent base on Mars, not only as a strategic depth and backup civilization node, but more importantly as a springboard and testing ground for humanity to truly move towards the interstellar space.
This goal, full of hope and pioneering spirit, was enough to stimulate the enthusiasm of the global public for participation.
Third step, and the most ambitious one — launch the preliminary survey for the "Oort Cloud Early Warning Defense Line".
Push the defense line to the edge of the Solar System, striving for earlier warning time and a broader strategic buffer.
Of course, the premise of all this was to decipher the "beacon" signal as soon as possible and clarify the specific nature and time limit of the threat.
While he was thinking, the office door was gently knocked.
"Enter."
The door opened, and Su Xiaowan walked in carrying a tray, on which was a cup of steaming clear tea and some simple meals.
"Consultant Lin, I have already organized the meeting minutes and the preliminary action outline.
You haven't eaten anything since this morning, have a little something first."
Her tone was natural, carrying just the right amount of concern, neither appearing overly intimate and intrusive, nor failing to clearly express her care for his health.
Lin Mo did indeed feel hungry and tired.
He took the teacup, the temperature coming through the cup wall, just right.
"Thank you. How is the progress on the decryption team?"
"The joint network has been initially built, and the system, as the core node, has already connected to part of the computing power of the Polar Bear "Snowstorm" supercomputing center and the Europa "Oracle" quantum computing array.
The first round of brute-force decryption and pattern analysis has started, but the opponent's encryption method is very peculiar; it is not a traditional mathematical password, but more like an "information structure lock" based on unknown physical laws."
Su Xiaowan reported quickly, while placing the meal in a position easy for him to reach, "We might need new ideas."
"Information structure lock..."
Lin Mo pondered, took a sip of tea, the clear tea fragrance slightly refreshing his spirit, "Perhaps we are too obsessed with "decryption" itself.
If we cannot understand the content for the time being, can we first analyze the "purpose" of the signal?
For example, its energy distribution characteristics, which frequency bands carry information, and which are used for positioning or energy transmission?
Also, after the signal was enhanced, did it produce any observable disturbances to the background radiation within the Solar System?"
Su Xiaowan's eyes lit up: "You mean, bypass the content and first analyze its behavioral patterns and physical effects?
This is indeed a new direction! I will immediately arrange for the astrophysics and signal engineering team to cut into this direction!"
"At the same time," Lin Mo put down the teacup, his gaze sharp, "Notify Captain Long Zhantian to use "soaring heavens" as a platform, equipped with the latest model of broad-spectrum signal collection and analysis equipment, and under the premise of ensuring safety, get as close as possible to the direction of the signal source for close-range reconnaissance.
Sometimes, getting one light-minute closer can increase the quality of information obtained by an order of magnitude."
"Yes! I will go coordinate it immediately!"
Su Xiaowan was swift and decisive, turning to leave.
"Wait," Lin Mo called her back, pointing to the meal, "You haven't eaten yet either, right? Take a portion, don't work on an empty stomach."
Su Xiaowan's footsteps paused, and she looked back at him.
Lin Mo's eyes were calm, but that natural concern for a companion was sincere.
Her heart warmed slightly, she did not decline, picked up a portion of the simple meal, and smiled: "Thank you, Consultant Lin.
Then... regarding the concept of establishing the GDA, do you need me to prepare any materials in advance?"
"Not yet. Wait until there are preliminary results from the signal analysis, and we have stronger bargaining chips in our hands before talking about it."
Lin Mo shook his head, "For now, concentrate all our efforts on cracking what that "eye" is actually saying.
This is the foundation for all our next steps."
"Understood!"
After Su Xiaowan left, Lin Mo finished the simple meal alone.
The food replenished his energy, and the tea calmed his mood.
He looked at the system interface again.
[Global Joint Decryption Network forming... Current coordination progress: 68%]
["soaring heavens" reconnaissance mission order has been issued, expected to arrive at the optimal observation point in 2 hours.]
Very efficient.
He closed the system interface and opened his own notes document.
His fingers paused on the virtual keyboard for a moment, and then he began to type the title:
《Preliminary Concept on Establishing the "Blue Star Civilization Guardian Alliance" (GDA) and Launching the "Civilization Watch" Long-term Strategy》
On the first line of the document, he wrote:
"We are standing at a turning point in the history of civilization.
The threat comes from deep space, but hope originates from ourselves.
Scattered, we will be a fragile flame in the dark forest; united, we will be an inextinguishable star illuminating the path ahead.
From this day on, our journey no longer belongs to any single country, but to all of humanity, to the rights and dreams of this blue planet beneath our feet that shall continue..."
Outside the window, the virtual landscape quietly switched.