80: guess

"Father, the preliminary correlation comparison analysis is complete."

After several hours of high-intensity computation, the voice of white flower finally sounded in Lei Wen's ear.

However, her voice lacked the sense of clarity Lei Wen had hoped for; instead, it held a hint of confusion and uncertainty.

"Based on all available data," she said, presenting several complex deduction models on the screen in front of Lei Wen, "I have derived several possibilities, but each one lacks the critical chain of evidence to support it."

First hypothesis: [Extraterrestrial Seeding Theory].

This model posits that billions of years ago, when the Solar System was still in a chaotic primordial nebula phase, a super-ancient civilization with planetary-scale engineering capabilities arrived here.

They discovered that Earth possessed immense potential for bearing life, so they sowed a "seed" carrying the gene bank of their home planet's ecosystem—the ancestor of the blood orchid—along with that special meteorite acting as a catalyst, onto this planet.

Life on Earth was born as a result and began to evolve along a path similar to that of the super-ancient civilization's home planet.

And Earth itself, under this directed guidance, gradually awakened self-awareness, becoming a Gaia planet.

"This model perfectly explains why the blood orchid is an alien species containing gene fragments of all Earth organisms," white flower analyzed, "but it cannot explain why Earth later lost its Gaia consciousness."

Second hypothesis: [Lunar Symbiosis Theory].

This model is even bolder and more bizarre.

It posits that since the Moon was once a fragment separated from Earth, Earth and the Moon were originally two different functional modules of a single whole.

Earth was the "flesh" of this whole, responsible for nurturing life.

While the Moon was the "brain" or "soul" of this whole, responsible for maintaining the stability and balance of the entire system.

The blood orchid of the past should have been the "neurons" for information and energy exchange between the two.

"This model can explain why the composition of that associated rock layer is so similar to lunar rock, and it can also explain the existence of Gaia consciousness," white flower's voice carried a hint of uncertainty, "but in some distant geological era, a terrible impact struck exactly in Earth's 'brain' region, knocking a large pile of fragments off Earth. These fragments formed the Moon under gravity, and Earth then devolved into an ordinary life-bearing planet because it lost the 'brain' that carried its consciousness."

The third hypothesis is even more fantastical.

Third hypothesis: [Cosmic Consciousness Fragment Theory].

It posits that life was not born on planets, but that the universe itself possesses a kind of pan-consciousness.

By some coincidence, a small fragment of cosmic consciousness descended onto Earth and combined with the planet's ecosystem, forming the initial Gaia consciousness.

And the blood orchid is the embodiment and energy source of that fragment of consciousness.

"...Father," white flower concluded, "all three of the above hypotheses can find partial evidentiary support in the existing data, but they all contain huge logical gaps that cannot be verified."

"The final answer may still need to wait for whether the scientific expedition team in South America can make more critical discoveries."

Lei Wen looked at the three speculative models filled with magnificent imagination and remained silent for a long time.

Regardless of which one it is, the truth revealed behind it about Earth's past is far more magnificent and grand than all of humanity's previous myths and conjectures.

But he also knew that white flower was right.

Before more critical evidence appears, all of this remains only at the stage of conjecture.

And now, he no longer had time for a leisurely archaeological endeavor.

"Grey Wind, how are the preparations going?"

...

December 10, 2034.

In the main control center of the [God's Eye] radio telescope array located on the far side of the Moon, a burst of urgent alarms suddenly shattered the long-standing tranquility.

"Alert! Alert! The [Sentinel] deep space detection radar group has discovered thousands of regular echo signals in the Kuiper Belt region on the outskirts of the Solar System!"

"Signal characteristic analysis in progress... The signal sources are moving toward the interior of the Solar System at extremely high speeds! Repeat! Thousands of high-speed moving unidentified targets detected!"

The [Sentinel] deep space detection radar group was the outermost early warning defense line of Human Civilization, just built half a year ago with the assistance of Paradox Technology.

It consisted of thousands of unmanned probes distributed throughout the Solar System, using gravitational lensing effects and photoelectric echo detection technology to monitor any abnormal signal fluctuations within the Solar System 24 hours a day.

And now, it had finally captured the signal it least wanted to capture since it was built.

This news was quickly transmitted back to the supreme headquarters of the Earth Defense Force located at the Babel Space Station.

The entire headquarters instantly entered the highest level of combat readiness.

On the huge Star Map screen, thousands of red dots representing unknown threats were clearly presented before everyone, like spreading cancer cells.

"They are here."

Earth Defense Force Commander-in-Chief Wang Quanjin watched the sea of red dots surging like a tide, his voice steady and powerful, showing no signs of nervousness.

Standing beside him was his deputy, General Reinhardt, a German-descended general who had once demonstrated outstanding command talent during the American Union civil war.

The two generals, representing the strongest military forces of the East and West of Human Civilization, stood side by side at this moment, with an elite staff team from countries around the world behind them.

"The Earth Defense Force's Second and Third Small Fleets will immediately set sail from the Babel Space Station port and head to the designated defensive positions outside Jupiter's orbit to construct the first line of interception!"

"Order the defensive space stations deployed in the asteroid belt to enter combat status; disengage safeties on all electromagnetic railguns and nuclear missiles, and be ready to conduct saturation strikes on any enemy ships that break through the first line of defense at any time!"

"Order all non-combat personnel at Guanghan Palace Base to enter underground shelters immediately; base defense forces will take over all surface defense platforms and prepare for lunar surface operations."

"The voyager will lead the First Fleet to construct the final line of defense around Earth."

General Wang Quanjin steadily issued one order after another.

At this moment, the war machine of Human Civilization, carefully built to cope with this war, was finally fully revealed.

Humanity's space power was no longer in the embarrassing state of having only that lonely voyager acting as a lone commander.

Over the past period, with the near-free technology disclosure and industrial support from Paradox Technology, the entire Earth's space industrial capacity had erupted with astonishing potential.

Paradox Technology had carried out drastic military modifications on the mature and reliable hull platform of the jinglei-class transport ship.

They replaced its engines with more powerful fifth-generation Hall thrusters, giving it higher maneuverability.

They added additional armor made of higher-density EL7 steel to key parts of the hull.

They installed medium-caliber electromagnetic rapid-fire cannons and close-in defense laser weapon systems on the bow and both sides.

These "magically modified" jinglei-class transport ships were renamed as starfish-class multi-role frigates.

Although their single-ship combat effectiveness still seemed somewhat lacking in true interstellar warfare, they excelled in their low cost and ease of mass production.

Paradox Technology even fully opened up the complete set of technology and equipment for producing these ships to all capable nations.

Under the common and immense pressure that "aliens are coming," major industrial nations on Earth erupted in a frenzy of mass production.

Over the past half year, the number of starfish-class frigates had been growing crazily, like bamboo shoots after a spring rain.

Today, the total number of these multi-role frigates in the Earth Defense Force's sequence has reached over a thousand.

And this number is still growing at a rate of at least 5 ships per day.

They will be the largest steel barrier guarding Earth's home.

In addition to the mobile fleets, Earth's nations had also used the cheap transport capacity of the jinglei-class over the past six months to launch and deploy more than a dozen small unmanned defensive space stations at various key strategic nodes around Earth, as if scattering beans.

Although these space stations could not maneuver, they were like super turrets fixed in space.

Each space station was equipped with at least one large-caliber electromagnetic railgun capable of piercing a frigate in one shot, as well as tens of thousands of nuclear missiles capable of long-duration cruising and secondary acceleration in space.

They coordinated with the mobile fleets to form a three-dimensional defense system with great depth and dense firepower for humanity.

...

After receiving the news that the alien main fleet was about to arrive, Earth's society inevitably experienced a period of chaos.

The fear of the apocalypse hung over everyone's heart like a shadow.

Various cults and criminal gangs emerged from dark corners like sharks smelling blood, attempting to seize final profits in this doomsday carnival.

However, they soon discovered in despair that this world was no longer the one they were familiar with.

What greeted them was not chaotic order and panicked crowds.

But the iron-fisted crackdown by GDS, the global security contractor under Paradox Technology that possessed legal authorization from the United Nations.

Tens of thousands of [Velociraptor] combat robots and armed drones appeared precisely in every corner of the world like reapers descending from the sky.

Any organization or individual attempting to create chaos or incite riots would be "invited" for tea at the first opportunity, or simply "purified" physically.

After the initial growing pains, the entire Earth society did not collapse; instead, it erupted with unprecedented cohesion under this immense external pressure.

All capable major powers entered a wartime state.

All military factories were producing military supplies 24 hours a day without interruption.

A large number of citizens were silently contributing their strength in their respective positions.

At a public press conference of the Earth Council, the spokesperson for the Defense Force, General Reinhardt, the German-descended general, delivered a short but powerful speech facing cameras from all over the world.

"...I know that many of you are feeling afraid and desperate."

"Our enemy is very powerful, powerful enough to exceed all of our imaginations."

"But I want to tell you," his voice was firm and powerful, striking everyone's heart like a war drum.

"Behind us is our beautiful home, our beloved family, and all the glory and dreams that our civilization has inherited over tens of thousands of years."

"We have nowhere to retreat."

"Even if the enemy breaks through all the defensive barriers we have constructed in space, even if their flames of war eventually burn to the land beneath our feet."

"Every soldier in our ground forces will also fight to the last moment on our own home planet to defend our home!"

"We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills!"

"We shall never surrender!"