Chapter 129: Flying Saucer

Chapter 129: Flying Saucer

"Welcome back." Ji An was already waiting when Gu Jinsheng stepped out of the mech.

"What's the situation at H Base now?"

Gu Jinsheng shook his head. "I brought back everyone who wanted to relocate to the Capital Base."

"That’s good enough." Ji An said with concern, "Go run a radiation scan right away."

"I stayed in the mech the whole time."

"Still, do it for my peace of mind." Ji An urged.

"Alright." Since Ji An was worried, Gu Jinsheng decided to get checked—it wasn’t a big deal for him anyway.

"Perfect, I’ll check over your mech while you’re at it."

After Gu Jinsheng left, Ji An got into the mech to examine it. This mech was built by Ji An himself—no one knew its parts better than he did.

The original concept for the mech was to enable space combat, interstellar travel, and even space jumps.

Space is filled with intense radiation, just as deadly as H-radiation. So during its construction, Ji An developed a new synthetic metal designed to block even extreme radiation, even achieving 100% protection in lab tests.

Lab tests confirmed this. Later, when the mech was completed, Gu Jinsheng had only used it in combat, never taken it to space or high-rad zones. Thus, this feature had never been tested—until now, when Gu Jinsheng visited an H-radiation area. Ji An wanted to see whether the radiation had any effect on the mech.

Ji An worked the mech’s controls—its sensors were responsive, showing no abnormalities.

His fingers moved deftly across the screen, but as he tapped, he accidentally opened a video Gu Jinsheng had recorded.

It showed the devastation at H Base. Gu Jinsheng must have recorded it for researchers to study and analyze.

Ji An scanned it briefly and went to close it when his finger hovered over the screen—then he suddenly leaned in closer.

On the screen, tiny black dots blinked in and out of view at high speed.

At a glance, they might be mistaken for screen noise. But Ji An, as the mech’s creator, knew every detail of its design. Such anomalies shouldn’t exist unless the mech was critically damaged and on the verge of destruction.

Yet Gu Jinsheng’s mech was perfectly intact—there was no way this should happen.

Perhaps all researchers had an innate sense of rigor. Ji An locked onto the black dots, zooming in to observe them.

Even magnified, he still couldn’t make them out clearly, but their vague disk-like shape could be discerned.

Their movement was incredibly fast—way faster than hovercars or mechs.

They seemed to jump in and out of the frame randomly, but Ji An suspected they were operating within specific boundaries.

"An'an, Xiao An..." A familiar voice called from behind, startling Ji An.

"Did I scare you?" Ji An turned to see Gu Jinsheng’s handsome face before him.

"No, I was just lost in thought." Ji An asked, "How were your test results?"

"Zero radiation." Gu Jinsheng replied.

"That’s great." Ji An smiled. "Seems the mech’s radiation shielding really does reach 100%. This is fantastic—maybe one day we really can cruise freely through space in mechs or starships, just like in sci-fi movies."

"I believe in you. That day will come." Gu Jinsheng’s gaze softened—a warmth reserved only for Ji An.

"What were you looking at just now that had you so zoned out?" Gu Jinsheng asked.

"Actually, I have some questions for you. Did you pick up on anything weird when you were at H Base?"

"No."

"Did Owen find Du Ruanlan, or any clues about her?"

"No," Gu Jinsheng repeated. "Why do you ask?"

"Check this out."

Ji An enlarged the small black dots he had discovered earlier and showed them to Gu Jinsheng. Even someone as stone-faced as Gu Jinsheng couldn't hide the clear shock in his eyes.

"What do you think these black dots look like?" Ji An asked.

Gu Jinsheng's throat felt dry, and when he spoke again, his voice was hoarse. "UFOs."

"Good, we're thinking the same thing." Ji An frowned, his expression grave. "Do aliens really exist?"

This discovery was a bombshell for the entire world—enough to eclipse Charles's use of H-weapons on the Capital Base.

This was too big. Ji An and Gu Jinsheng immediately pulled an emergency high-level meeting. Except for those with mission-critical assignments, attendance was mandatory. Those unable to attend in person were required to join via video conference.

"Commander in Chief, did you find anything at H Base?" Owen, disappointed at failing to uncover any leads on Du Ruanlan, had just returned to Luo City Base when he received Gu Jinsheng's call for another high-level meeting. Owen knew Gu Jinsheng wasn't the type to call meetings lightly. In all his years at the Capital Base, Gu Jinsheng had rarely called meetings.

In fact, most matters that required discussion were dealt with via memos. Only the most critical issues merited a brief video conference.

The last time attendance in person had been mandatory was when the topic was Charles's plan to use H-weapons against the Capital Base. Even then, not all high-ranking officials had been required to attend. But this time, even those unable to be present had to join via video.

This alone showed how serious the situation was. What could possibly be more urgent than Charles's H-weapon threat?

Could it be word about *her*...?

"Is there news about Du Ruanlan? Is she alive? Does she still have her human memories? Is she—"

Ji An gently patted Owen's back. "I'm sorry, but this likely has nothing to do with her."

The hope in Owen's eyes drained instantly, replaced by deep disappointment.

Once all the high-ranking officials had gathered, Ji An played the video for them.

At first, the footage was puzzling, but as it continued, it freaked everyone out.

The meeting room fell into silence, no one daring to be the first to speak. It was as if some unspoken pact hung in the air—one that would shatter the moment someone voiced their suspicions, leaving them exposed.

Yet the answer hovered unspoken, ready to burst forth.

"What do you think these are?" Ji An finally asked when no one spoke.

All eyes locked onto him, burning with an intensity that felt like it could bore holes through him.

"UFOs," Wan Xueying said after several hesitant attempts, voicing the answer no one wanted to believe.

The words hit like a ton of bricks, landing heavily on everyone's hearts.

"Gu and I thought the same, which is why we called this emergency meeting—to discuss it together."

The group then turned to Gu Jinsheng, but his face, as always, gave nothing away.

"Director Ji, do you believe in the existence of aliens?" a senior official asked.

"Science thrives on bold hypotheses and meticulous verification. It’s not a matter of belief, but of skepticism followed by evidence."

Ji An paused the video on several small black dots.

"Even if these saucer-like objects aren’t actual UFOs and have nothing to do with aliens, we at least need to figure out what they are, why they appeared here, and whether they pose any threat to humanity."

"Director Ji, where did this video come from?" Wan Xueying asked.

"Gu Jinsheng recorded it. He specifically filmed the aftermath of the nuke blast at the H base this time, originally intended for researchers to study. I spotted these dots by chance during a mech inspection."

"In a world already dealing with the apocalypse, zombies, and nuclear war, the sudden appearance of flying saucers and the connection to aliens doesn’t seem too abrupt," Zhou Qin said with a mirthless grin.

"God, is the universe really determined to screw us over? If it really is aliens, their civilization must be far more advanced than ours. Their tech could make our sci-fi look like child’s play—how could we possibly fight them? Do we even stand a chance?"

"Chill out," Kong Zhongcheng said with a shrug. "Look on the bright side—maybe their civilization isn’t as advanced as ours."

Jiang Fuzhong shook his head. "That’s impossible."

"Stranger things have happened. Remember that old pre-collapse film *Three-Body*? It mentioned the Dark Forest Theory."

To put it simply, think of the universe as a pitch-black forest. When someone walks alone in a pitch-black forest, every action becomes cautious, even breathing as lightly as possible.

Because the forest is full of hunters just like them, and the first to reveal themselves gets a bullet.

In this forest, other beings are the devil—constant danger. Any life that reveals its existence will soon be eliminated. This is the landscape of cosmic civilizations—one explanation for the Fermi Paradox.

Kong Zhongcheng said, "If aliens are real and found us first, according to the Dark Forest Theory, they’d wipe us out immediately. But they haven’t made a move, which can only mean their civilization isn’t as advanced as ours—they can’t defeat us."

Wan Xueying sighed, rubbing her temples. "Have you considered another possibility? That their civilization is so far beyond ours that they don’t even see us as a threat."

"Like how a tiger wouldn’t sweat a rabbit. If it’s not hungry, it might observe the rabbit from the shadows rather than hunt it immediately," Zhou Qin added.

"I think the latter is more likely," Owen mused, pushing thoughts of Du Ruanlan aside by the alien discussion.

"So if aliens have discovered our civilization but haven’t acted, what exactly are their intentions?"

No one had an answer.

"Our immediate priority is to determine whether those disc-shaped objects are indeed alien-piloted flying saucers," Ji An said.

Everyone nodded.

Gu Jinsheng began assigning personnel. Alien-hunting wasn’t exactly a walk in the park—it required top-tier supers with brains and brawn.

Among them, Gu Jinsheng was the most suitable, so he included himself in the team.

"Count me in," Ji An said, noticing his name wasn’t on the list.

"You’re a researcher, not suited for fieldwork," Gu Jinsheng rejected.

"I’m a psychic super. If we’re talking about quick thinkers, no one here is quicker than me."

No one dared to refute that. Challenging Ji An’s intellect? That’s bringing a knife to a gunfight.

"Look, I’ll stick with you—happy?" Ji An compromised, fearing Gu Jinsheng’s refusal.

Gu Jinsheng finally caved and scribbled his name in.

"By the way, should we inform the public in the capital base about this?" Wan Xueying asked.

"Let’s hold off. This is different from other matters—we can’t confirm the existence of aliens yet. Blabbing now would just start a panic."

Ji An had another concern. "Plus, we’ve got no clue how advanced they are or whether they’re monitoring our communications. It’s best not to rock the boat for now."