bioinnovel Chapter 465 The Second Transaction!
Chapter 465 The Second Transaction!
The atmosphere in the living room froze.
[Mode 3: Military Strength Assessment (Dispatch reconnaissance fleets to test a civilization's true military strength and war potential through small-scale conflicts)]
Qin Xiao stared at the words, his Adam's apple bobbing. He subconsciously reached for his waist.
There used to be a sidearm there, but now there's nothing. That empty feeling made him a little irritated.
"Force screening." Nie Qingcheng's voice broke the silence. She put down the tablet, stood up and walked to the projector. "It means that if they choose this mode, they will first send a small fleet over to find a reason to fight us."
"If we win, they'll know our strengths and weaknesses, and they'll decide whether to try to win us over or ignore us. If we lose..."
"If you lose, you just eat it," Zhang Yan replied.
"That's right." Nie Qingcheng turned around, her gaze sweeping over everyone present. "But that's not the problem now."
She tapped her finger in the air, bringing up the detailed information of the bounty order.
"Look carefully, the bounty was issued by the 'Reaper Alliance,' a level three civilization. The reason for the bounty is 'to study the construction genes and related technologies of their 9.6-point spatial barrier.'"
She paused, "Genes and technology, these two words are normal when viewed separately, but when viewed together..."
Guan Xing looked up: "They suspect that our barrier-building ability stems from some special biological characteristic."
"right."
Nie Qingcheng walked back to the sofa, but instead of sitting down, she leaned back. "A Level 3 civilization will not publicly offer a bounty for a living specimen of a Level 1 civilization unless they believe two things: first, that the Level 1 civilization is incapable of retaliating; and second, that the threat posed by the Level 1 civilization is so great that the entire Level 3 civilization alliance needs to step in to suppress it."
She looked at Zhang Yan.
"Our previous video only showed the combat capabilities of a single mech."
"In the eyes of a professional military civilization, that only proves that 'this civilization created a powerful tool,' not that 'this civilization as a whole is very powerful.'"
Qin Xiao understood: "So they think we're just country bumpkins who made high-tech toys, and they can just beat us up and steal them."
"More or less," Nie Qingcheng nodded. "But it's been three hours since the bounty was issued, and apart from a few clowns jumping around, no Level 1 or Level 2 civilizations have responded in the public chat. Why?"
With a swipe of her finger, she switched the projection to the live discussion interface of the public channel.
"Because our video, although it didn't showcase our overall strength, it did demonstrate something—unpredictability."
Nie Qingcheng's voice was cold, "A Level 1 civilization can create weapons that can cut through lunar craters and also upgrade the door network to a score of 9.6."
"This kind of technological leap across levels is called an 'anomaly' in the cosmic ocean."
"For most civilizations, anomalies are either treasures or scourges, but no one is willing to be the first to tackle the toughest challenge."
"So the bounty is just for show now," Zhang Yan said. "What can truly determine the fate of Earth is not this bounty, but that 'first contact'."
"Yes." Nie Qingcheng sat down again. "But we can take advantage of this window of opportunity."
She picked up her tablet and started typing quickly.
"The Reaper Alliance dared to offer a bounty, which means they're confident we won't dare to take the initiative. So we'll go out anyway." She looked up at Zhang Yan. "Not to fight, but to do business."
Zhang Yan looked at her.
"You have an idea?"
"Of course." Nie Qingcheng turned the tablet around, revealing a draft announcement she had just prepared. "We're not selling blueprints or products; we're selling services."
She read it aloud.
"H-001-Ω Civilization provides space barrier repair and optimization services."
"We undertake various barrier structure testing, gap repair, and frequency calibration services."
"Competitive pricing, multiple payment methods accepted. Contact: via private message on the monitoring protocol channel, ID: Door Locksmith."
There was a two-second silence in the living room.
Qin Xiao scratched his head: "Sister-in-law, do we... know how to fix other people's doors?"
"Yes," Zhang Yan said.
He remained silent, but every word Nie Qingcheng uttered went through his mind.
From the loopholes in the bounty order to the psychology of civilization, and then to the next course of action.
In less than ten minutes, she transformed an interstellar survival crisis into a business negotiation.
This is Nie Qingcheng.
"The 'higher-level protocol' of Tiangong Zhixin contains adaptation modules for different spatial barrier structures," Zhang Yan said. "Theoretically, as long as the other party's barrier is still within the basic framework, I can repair it."
"That's enough." Nie Qingcheng tapped the screen with her finger. "Now, change your name."
Zhang Yan looked down and saw the last signature on the draft announcement.
Locksmith.
He thought for a moment, then deleted those three characters from the input box and retyped four characters.
The Universe Cultivation Gate.
Nie Qingcheng glanced at it and the corners of her mouth curved into a smile.
"Release it."
Zhang Yan clicked send.
The announcement appeared on the observation protocol's public channel and was pinned for ten minutes.
At first, nobody paid any attention.
On public channels of this level, hundreds of transaction messages are sent every day. A service announcement from a newly connected Level 1 civilization is like shouting "My fried rice is delicious" in a vegetable market—it makes no ripples at all.
Until someone clicked on the video.
It's not the complete version of "splitting the meteorite crater with a single sword," but a different segment that Zhang Yan specifically selected.
Footage of him repairing the fifth door beneath the Antarctic ice sheet.
The runes on the ice wall lit up again under the energy of the Heart of Heaven, and the damaged structure gradually healed. The whole process was precise, efficient, and calm, without any unnecessary movements.
This video is more convincing than the battle footage.
Five minutes later, the first private message arrived.
[Private message: Coordinates L-445ε, Level 2 Civilization, hello, I saw your service announcement and would like to inquire about the space barrier gap repair service.]
Nie Qingcheng leaned closer to take a look.
"They arrived faster than expected," she said. "A level two civilization, ravaged by the colony?"
Zhang Yan replied.
[Zhang Yan: Please describe your barrier type, the extent of damage, and the time since the damage.]
The other party replied instantly.
[L-445ε: Our barrier is a single-layer film structure made of carbon-silicon composite lattice. The damage occurred seven standard dates ago, with a gap diameter of approximately 300 kilometers, accounting for 7% of the total barrier area. The cause of the damage... is some kind of high-dimensional erosion, very similar to the black filamentous residues shown in your video.]
Guan Xing suddenly spoke up: "A branch of the community."
Everyone looked at her.
"A single-layer membrane structure, a carbon-silicon composite lattice, is a common barrier construction scheme for Type II civilizations."
"This barrier has a large coverage area, but its defense level is low and it is very poor at resisting high-dimensional energy," said Guan Xing.
"The branches of the community love to attack these targets because they are easy to break through and can obtain a lot of basic energy."
"So they were eaten by the colony," Qin Xiao said. "No wonder they were in a hurry to find someone to fix it."
Zhang Yan continued typing.
[Zhang Yan: Repair requires establishing a remote connection to project a repair pulse onto your barrier through my energy source. Cost: A complete star map database containing the coordinates, ratings, and status information of all known civilizations. Payment method: One-time payment upon completion of the transaction.]
[L-445ε: Sure. But we need to confirm, are you really capable of remote repair? Our barrier is four thousand light-years away.]
[Zhang Yan: Yes. After establishing the connection, energy will be projected through a gate network relay. Accuracy will decrease, but patching the 7% gap shouldn't be a problem.]
[L-445ε: ...Okay. We agree to the deal. Please tell me how to establish a connection?]