Chapter 156: The Viridian Bribery

“What is this? An unmanned spacecraft?”

On this day, the monitoring operators spotted a tiny, spherical vessel not far from the Noah, resembling a classic UFO.

“… Federation … gift … Federation … gift…”

The radio on the spherical craft constantly broadcasted its coordinates, making it incredibly easy for humanity to locate it.

It had to be related to the Viridian Empire. The staff quickly submitted an urgent report.

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Inside the conference room, the council members were bewildered.

“This must be a delivery drone. Didn’t the Viridians mention they were willing to donate 0.3 units of ’Anti-Entropy Field Aggregation Particles’ to compensate for our losses here? They used this drone to deliver the gift!” one of the council members exclaimed, suddenly slapping his forehead.

People suddenly remembered the transmission; everyone had been so frantic these past few days that they had almost forgotten it entirely. With the sun about to go supernova, who cared about gifts?

So, this was the compensation the Viridian Empire was offering to the Federation? And this… was an “Anti-Entropy Field Aggregation Particle”?

Jason frowned. He had no idea what this so-called particle was, but it sounded incredibly valuable. The Viridians appeared extremely confident that this item could bribe humanity into calling off their attack…

As Jason pondered this, his eyes suddenly lit up. What was inside didn’t matter right now. For humanity, the true prize was the delivery method itself, a small, fully intact, unmanned spacecraft!

Its diameter was only about two meters, quite tiny. Yet, this little probe had traversed 85 astronomical units in just two weeks!

What did that mean?

Its flight speed was phenomenal, averaging one-thirtieth the speed of light, reaching 10,000 kilometers per second. This completely shattered the limits of current Federation spacecraft!

“Dispatch an automated retrieval bot immediately,” Jason ordered.

Humans made for excellent scavengers… no, they had obtained this through a bluff, so it couldn’t really be called scavenging. But why refuse a free gift?

Many of the scientists immediately grasped the implications, practically vibrating with excitement. What did a pristine, operational drone represent? It meant a complete engine, a functioning power core, and an entirely new technological framework to reverse-engineer!

This was lightyears ahead of the dilapidated, mostly useless alien wreckage they had studied before.

The Viridians could never have guessed that the supposedly “almighty” Federation would be salivating over a simple delivery drone…

Would a truly advanced interstellar civilization be this eager to scavenge?

“Ahem!” Jason coughed lightly to rein in the room.

Scientific research had to wait. They needed to survive this impending apocalypse first; only then would these manic scientists have the luxury to study the probe.

Soon, the retrieval bot brought the drone back, depositing it in an isolated containment room on the Martian surface.

Because they wanted to study the drone intact, they had to be incredibly careful during the hazard inspections.

Having learned from past mistakes, humanity was now excessively cautious with unknown alien artifacts. Even if the probability of a Viridian trap was low, it was better to be safe than sorry.

The drone looked like a classic flying saucer. A transport bot carried it into a hermetically sealed chamber, where it was sterilized and scanned. After fifteen minutes, several white lab mice were introduced to the room to monitor for biological threats.

This containment bunker featured heavily reinforced walls built deep into the Martian rock. Even if the drone contained an antimatter warhead, a detonation wouldn’t breach the Noah.

Everyone was on edge; despite their excitement, they couldn’t risk a catastrophic failure now.

“Alright, the bot is cleared to open it,” Jason said. “Let’s see what precious gift the Viridians have brought us.”

He was intensely curious: what kind of item could be used to bribe an entire civilization?

Humanity was woefully ignorant about the wider universe; they had no concept of interstellar currency. Logically, this “Anti-Entropy Field Aggregation Particle” had to be unimaginably valuable…

Whatever it was, establishing its value would be a massive leap forward. This knowledge was critical; if humanity survived and engaged with other civilizations, they wouldn’t be completely in the dark regarding trade.

The drone’s midsection featured a glass-like dome. Beneath it were three prominent, raised buttons labeled with the Arabic numerals “1, 2, 3”!

The discovery caused a brief stir, but the room quickly settled. The Viridians had already learned English to communicate; using Arabic numerals wasn’t a stretch, especially since those numbers were included in the dictionary cipher humanity had transmitted.

Mathematics was the universal language of intelligent life. The Viridians using numerical labels simply confirmed that both species shared similar logical frameworks.

Under remote control, the robotic arm lifted the transparent cover, exposing the three buttons. A moment of hesitation washed over the room. What if the sequence was a trap, a localized virus release or a targeted explosive?

“Logically, there’s no reason for a trap. If they haven’t seen through our bluff, killing us would only trigger retaliation.”

“True…”

Murmurs filled the room. Opening the container shouldn’t be dangerous, but with alien tech, nothing was certain.

“Open it,” Jason commanded, his eyes glued to the monitor. They had to open it eventually; there was no point in stalling.

The bot pressed the three buttons. With a soft *beep*, a circular hatch slid open on the drone, revealing an ornate metal case inside.

The robotic arm unlatched the case. Inside lay a spherical, crystal-like object. It was roughly the size of an egg, shimmering brilliantly under the harsh facility lights.

“Is that… the Anti-Entropy Field Aggregation Particle?”

The room erupted in debate. It looked exactly like a piece of quartz or polished glass. Could basic crystals truly be the currency of interstellar empires?

Jason was equally baffled. If crystal was the standard trade unit, that made no sense. With the Noah’s manufacturing capabilities, they could synthesize tens of thousands of perfect crystals every single day.

Artificial crystal was simple to make: just add 24% lead oxide to standard silicon dioxide glass. The result possessed the same clarity and brilliance as natural crystal. Did other planets lack silicon? Or lead? That was impossible…

“Wait, look closer! There’s something inside it!” a sharp-eyed technician suddenly shouted, cutting through the confusion.

The outburst was so loud that everyone immediately fell silent, their eyes snapping back to the main monitor.

“Magnify the image!”

As the camera slowly zoomed in, Jason finally saw what was suspended within the crystal matrix.

It was incredibly tiny, thinner than an ant’s leg. It was a miracle the technician had even spotted it.

In that split second, a cold sweat washed over Jason. His heart pounded against his ribs as a single, wild thought screamed in his mind:

Is that… The Perfect Element?!

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