Only the most elite scientists had the opportunity to speak face-to-face with Xiao Yu. To be brought aboard the Yanjing by Luka Two was in itself a testament to one’s capability.

In fact, for Xiao Yu’s subordinate races, even a single direct conversation with him was a supreme honor. Up to now, fewer than twenty scientists had ever received such treatment. It was enough to be a lifelong source of pride.

Xiao Yu fixed his gaze on the young scientist’s face, his eyes filled with inquiry.

The young scientist was clearly excited. Xiao Yu could tell from the way its hands trembled slightly, despite its best efforts to remain composed. It gave a light cough, trying to maintain calm.

“Your actions are indeed meaningless. The reason is simple. If that aging Specter isn’t monitoring you, then you have no need to do this at all. But if it is monitoring you, and your methods actually work, then the moment it loses its ability to monitor you, it will already be suspicious.”

“Exactly,” Luka Two nodded slowly and said. “That’s precisely what I meant. Jason is a very capable young one. After some more training, I believe he’ll have the ability to take over my position. When I die, he will carry on my legacy and continue to serve you, Master.”

Luka Two was already over three thousand years old. Though Xiao Yu had never slacked in his research into biotechnology, and always prioritized scientific personnel when distributing breakthroughs, Luka Two was nonetheless slowly aging. If no significant advancements in life sciences were made, Luka Two would almost certainly die within the next five hundred years.

Xiao Yu considered for only a moment before admitting that this young scientist, named Jason, was correct. But then, after a short pause, Xiao Yu realized something else.

“Suspicion varies in degree. Causing suspicion for this reason is better than letting it know the content of our conversation. If it knew we were secretly discussing how to deal with it, it would probably wipe us out immediately.”

“Exactly,” Luka Two agreed. Then he added, “That’s what I was going to say next. To solve this issue, I have a proposal, one that can address the basic problem of communication. It won’t arouse the aging Specter’s suspicion, and it will still allow us to exchange information.”

“Oh? Let’s hear it.” Xiao Yu was very interested.

“First, we must accept one thing, the security measures you’ve taken today cannot be used often. Even if suspicion grows gradually, the accumulation of countless minor suspicions will eventually reach the threshold that prompts the aging Specter to take action. We can’t initiate a shield strength test every time we need to talk, can we? So, my proposal is that we take this opportunity to devise a new method of communication.”

“That’s a good idea,” Xiao Yu said. “You’re right. We can’t run a shield test every single time we need to talk. In that case, I’ll construct a new language. It will be based on the one we use now, but the dictionary will be entirely different. Through the interpretation of a new dictionary, the same phrases will take on meanings completely different from before.”

Words and language are merely carriers of information. The words themselves hold no inherent meaning. Take, for instance, the character for ‘warship’ [‘舰’], it’s merely a combination of strokes and lines. It has no significance on its own. Only when humans assign it meaning does it become meaningful.

These meanings had emerged over centuries of development, gradually becoming a conventional set of rules. But since meaning could be assigned through such rules, it was entirely possible to construct an entirely new set of rules that gave a word a different meaning. Under one system, a particular character might mean ‘I’; under another, it might mean ‘you.’

What Xiao Yu needed to do during this period was to construct an entirely new set of rules for all Luka writing. This new system had to satisfy one condition: its logical structure had to closely resemble the original system. In other words, every sentence had to be interpretable under both systems. It could not be logical and coherent in one system but become gibberish under the other, otherwise, it would be too obvious.

This system was what Xiao Yu referred to as the dictionary. It would be a dictionary known only to Xiao Yu and the Luka race. No matter how powerful the aging Specter was, it would never be able to know its content.

“That’s a good plan,” Luka Two said.

“Very well. During this time, I will compile the new dictionary. It’ll take some time. Meanwhile, let’s begin formally discussing countermeasures. First, I need to explain the basic situation to you all.”

“Based on our previous assumptions, we concluded that the aging Specter was benevolent, which is why we approached it. But now, I’ve realized that conclusion may have been wrong. The fact that it has the ability to kill us and didn’t does not prove that it is benevolent.”

As Xiao Yu spoke, he shared his reasoning and the structure of his plan.

“What we must do next is use a lie to deceive the aging Specter, make it believe the strange flickering from the red dwarf star was caused not by my Specter companion, but by the Molian Civilization.”

Luka Two and the other scientists thought for a while before agreeing, “That does seem to be the case.”

“So, what kind of lie should we tell?” Xiao Yu raised the key question. “This lie must eliminate its suspicions. Otherwise, it’s highly likely to take some kind of restrictive action against us, and those actions could hinder our future plans.”

“Shifting the blame for this incident onto the Molian Civilization is a sound idea,” Jason said slowly while thinking. “A convincing lie must follow one basic principle: it must mix truth and falsehood, using truth for non-critical information and falsehood for the critical parts. That’s exactly how the aging Specter deceived you in the first place. By using a blend of truth and lies, it fooled us all.”

“I believe there are two elements of this deception that must be fabricated, the sender of the signal, and the content of the message. My suggestion is that both of these are falsified, while everything else is kept absolutely real, the more realistic, the better.”

“To make it sound reasonable, we must give the Molian Civilization a justification for sending us a signal via a star. For example… maybe they sensed danger here and didn’t dare approach. At the same time, they couldn’t use conventional communications, so they chose this method to send a message urging us to surrender. In return, they promise to grant us leniency or some form of favorable treatment.”

Xiao Yu thought it over and said, “Not bad. To the Molian Civilization, our fleet is a big prize. Their continued presence twenty light-years away shows how much they value us. Sending a message urging surrender makes perfect sense. That way, everything fits. And… this could also lay the groundwork for future plans.”

“Future plans?” one of the scientists muttered. But it didn’t dwell on the phrase. Instead, it added, “About that justification, I have a few points to add. First, from a psychological perspective, you must not act as if you’re overly concerned about this message. In other words, you should not be the one to bring it up to the aging Specter. You must wait for it to contact you first. Then, you should casually mention the message as if it were an afterthought.”

“Yes,” Luka Two said. “According to our research in psychology, the more casually a piece of information is presented, the more believable it becomes. This has been verified across all intelligent species in the over one hundred races under your command. We can consider it a universal trait of intelligent life. Doing so will increase the chances of deceiving the aging Specter.”

“I see…” Xiao Yu muttered, nodding.

“Secondly, just in case, you must create an additional dictionary. Verbal claims alone are always prone to suspicion. But if you have a documented decoding process and dictionary as evidence, the credibility of the lie will be much higher. As for the source of the dictionary, you can simply claim it was obtained during combat with the Molian Civilization.”

“That’s my suggestion. The final decision is yours, Master.” Having finished speaking, the scientist bowed respectfully to Xiao Yu and sat down.

“This scientist is also extremely meticulous. It seems Luka Two truly has raised several outstanding talents for me,” Xiao Yu thought to himself, then said aloud, “Your proposal is excellent. I will give it serious consideration.”

“We’ll use this approach to respond to the first crisis. Now we must discuss the next issue, how can we find a glimmer of hope for survival in the face of this crisis?”

Faced with that question, all the scientists fell silent.

Just then, a message suddenly entered Xiao Yu’s mind.

“My descendant, how is your decoding coming along? Have you discovered the true meaning behind the message yet?”