I Found A Planet

After more than ten straight days of debauchery, Chen Jin left the villa at Junting Grand Court and returned to the Court of Happiness.

…

On Haierfa, at the Base of Operations, Nuwa was still gathering He3 on the moon and would only return after about a month.

Alice, who had temporarily taken over the environment remodeling project, reported a special situation.”Master, our exploration squad found a very special piece of ‘equipment’ in their excavation of the Lyons Air Force Base in Kensini.”

Alice projected an image. The image depicted a hemispherical device, similar to a helmet. The object had a diameter of about 1 meter and countless pipes and cables were studded on its surface. It had the appearance of a metallic hedgehog. But upon closer inspection, it seemed to look like a massive brain. The surrounding cables seemed like countless strands of nerve fibers.

He was starting to get goosebumps. Chen Jin asked, “What’s this?”

“Master, if my guess is right, this should be the terminal of the ‘Brainwave Control Device.’ This is the central device used to release mind control signals… It was under the influence of this device that countless voters became the hardcore supporters of the madman Lucio.” Alice said, “This device is the original killer that caused the destructive war to erupt.”

Chen Jin asked, “Can it still be used?”

“It can’t be used normally anymore. This equipment lacks a controller; this terminal has to be controlled by a human. It affects the brains of other people via the brain of the human controller.” Alice shifted her lens to the bottom of the hemispherical device. A half-reclining metal chair was found below the terminal. The ergonomics of the design seemed to be rather suitable for a human body; it seemed meant for a human.

Chen Jin suddenly thought of something. Professor X? “So you mean that this terminal cannot control anyone on its own. Only a human can use this device to control others?”

“Yes, master,” Alice said, “The structure of the human brain is very complicated. Even the most advanced supercomputer is unable to simulate or generate brainwave signals. Only the human brain can generate such signals. Those helmets used in simulations achieve the effects of perception for the user in the game merely through the use of electrodes to stimulate the regional nerves such as touch, smell, pain, perception, etc. But it cannot generate brainwaves and cannot be directly transplanted into the human’s brain. It is almost impossible to use only a metal device to affect and control the brains of billions of humans. But this device works as an amplifier by transmitting the brainwaves of a certain creature. It is entirely possible that its uses could be extended and it would then affect other humans wearing the ‘Brainwave Control Device.’ However, even with this amplifier, the human controller can only affect 10 people at the same time. The power of the brainwaves generated by humans is limited. But, on the day that Lucio was elected, more than 100 million people became puppets in a short period of time. This signified that the one controlling the terminal of the ‘Brainwave Control Device’ had brain waves that were tens of thousands of times stronger than a normal human. In other words, the controller of the terminal was not a human at all, but an…”

Alice paused, then slowly said, “Alien.”

The word hung in the air as she played a video. The video showed the exploration squad finding a crystal and ice coffin in a secret cold room while searching the Lyons Air Force Base, which was located underground. The length of the crystal and ice coffin was over two and a half meters. The robot wiped off the layer of frost on the surface of the coffin and the thing laying inside was revealed. Chen Jin was so shocked when he saw it that he nearly jumped out from his seat.

It was an alien! It had a massive head and was bald all over. The alien corpse even had a long and coarse tail! The corpse was well-preserved in the cold environment. There was no sign of damage to the body. But it still looked disgusting and ugly. His first reaction upon laying eyes on it was to destroy it. He wanted to annihilate every single one of them! It was too fugly! “Alice, you mean this is the thing that was controlling the terminal, and by extension, the humans? It is also the one that orchestrated the destructive war? Only the brain of an alien can release brainwaves that are ten thousand times stronger than a human?”

“Yes, master. It should be the real culprit that caused the destructive war.”

As he heard this, Chen Jin felt even more questions pressing on his mind. How did this alien come to Haierfa? How did it die? Just what were the specific methods it had employed to turn Haierfa into the state it was now?

“He was most likely a spy sent by the aliens. I’m not too clear on how it arrived at Haierfa. But what is certain is that they must have an interstellar flying device that can transport them from their mother planet all the way here. It is without a doubt that it was tasked with the mission to destroy our civilization. I have a clearer picture of many things now. Sealing off the scientific and technological progress is not sufficient to destroy a planet that has a population of more than 10 billion. That was simply a ploy by the aliens to delay things. The spies that were sent later was the killing blow. The Brainwaves Control Device was the weapon that they brought to destroy us. The reboot virus was insurance that made their plan foolproof. The death of this alien was due to the excessive use of its brainwaves by the terminal. The task of controlling hundreds of millions of people was beyond its ability to withstand and it died as the terminal drew on too much of its brainwaves. Hence, it must have at least one other colleague that took up where it left off. It completed the task of releasing the rebooted virus but went missing in the end. When the robots opened the coffin, they found a fist-sized hole at the back of the corpse’s head. It was as if something had been dug out. Lastly, some books were found under the alien corpse. They are filled with a strange script. I think that this is probably the journals written by the alien when it was alive.”

In the video, Chen Jin saw a few journals hidden under the ice coffin. Each journal was very thick. The journals opened to reveal many words written in an unknown script accompanied by several illustrations. Chen Jin quickly asked, “Alice, can you decipher the messages?” He was sure that these journals held a wealth of information!

“Of course,” Alice continued, “Together with Nuwa, we’ve deciphered 80% of the content in these journals and translated most of their meanings.”

It turned out that a mysterious alien force tens of light years away had released a “microparticle” that blocked the progress of Haierfa’s technology more than 150 years ago. A special service spaceship carrying two spies was also launched at the same time. The alien spaceship landed on an unknown location on Mars whereby they switched to a smaller capsule and arrived at Haierfa. The two spies lived in Haierfa for about fifty years and completed their mission of destroying human civilization. The alien that was lying in the crystallized ice coffin had died in the line of duty due to overexhaustion for the sake of completing the mission. The other spy might have died in the ensuing chaos, or perhaps he might have boarded that special service spaceship and embarked on his journey back to his mother planet of Mars… And taking away some “items” on the way back home.

Chen Jin’s expression grew stern. He immediately contacted Nuwa who was still on the Moon and said, “Nuwa, do not come back directly to Haierfa when you have completed the extraction for He3. Go to Mars and search for traces of the alien spaceship. You must confirm either the presence or absence of the other alien spy!”

It was lucky that a sketch of Mars was found in the journals. A red dot was marked on the sketch. According to other reference information on the sketch, one could roughly guess the location of the red dot… Nuwa could hurry straight to this location when she was ready. “I understand, master!”

He looked at those thick journals in the video. Chen Jin smiled coldly and shook his head. “You actually keep the habit of writing a diary every day even though you’re a spy who executes top secret missions. It seems that you’re no professional. Or perhaps you’ve underestimated this ‘inferior civilization’ and forgotten your position as a spy and your professional training. You didn’t come to carry out a mission undercover, but to travel and relax. You thought that you did not have to worry too much about work and you could easily complete the mission. Perhaps after a number of years, you will pay a painful price for the mistake made in this kind of intelligence work.”

Chen Jin had gained a general understanding of the aliens by reading those bulky journals. But they knew nothing about him.