212: Chapter 212: Alarming Cambridge University and the CETI organization, an observation group was established!

That morning, in a lecture hall at the University of Cambridge.

Professor Clark stood at the podium, facing over a hundred undergraduate and graduate students elective "Advanced Astronomy and Cosmic Frontiers."

He didn't immediately begin the scheduled course content; instead, he operated the projector, casting the J-Sphere concept diagram and the brief logic of the Dark Competition onto the large screen.

"Students, before we begin today's lesson, I'd like you to temporarily forget your textbooks."

Clark's gaze swept across the lecture hall.

"Today, let's collectively contemplate a bold hypothesis from an Eastern colleague."

"It concerns how we search for extraterrestrial intelligent civilizations, and even more so, the ultimate fate that all intelligent life in the universe might face."

Next, he briefly introduced the core concepts and reasoning of Formula J, as well as the hidden characteristics of the J-Sphere—distinguished by the energy used by a technological civilization; regardless, a certain stage of an intelligent civilization's development must involve using stellar energy!!!

Only this way is the most convenient and environmentally friendly!!!

Afterward, he spoke about the conjectures of Quantum Mechanics and the Dark Competition, introducing the concept of the first observer.

As the nearly sixty-year-old Professor Clark spoke, the whispers in the classroom gradually turned into silence. Gazes of shock and disbelief were constantly cast toward Clark. The students, who had been somewhat nonchalant, all sat up straight, their faces filled with excitement!

"So, Professor Clark," a graduate student with glasses raised his hand, "are you saying that the reason we can't find aliens might not be because they don't exist, but because they are all playing dead? The development direction of a technological civilization must use stars at a certain stage—indeed, that is the most convenient and eco-friendly!"

"And those technological civilizations that haven't reached the stellar-level civilization stage, their signals simply can't travel very far."

"So our predecessors in global astronomy focused their gaze on bright regions... My god, in that case, those dark regions have been severely neglected by us all along!"

"Even more incredible—our entire universe is actually engaged in a race we don't understand at all—who can jump out of the game's life-and-death speed first?"

"Correct. This hypothesis is currently the most reasonable one in global astronomy forums; it is a highly probable possibility."

Professor Clark said with a rigorous expression:

"It challenges our default assumption that intelligent life will inevitably expand and leave obvious traces, proposing the counter-intuitive view that highly developed intelligence might prioritize concealment."

"Its core lies in providing a very subversive and logically self-consistent new framework for our understanding of the fermi paradox and planning the direction of future searches."

As he finished, the lecture hall instantly erupted.

"This is simply too cool, cooler than any science fiction novel!"

"So the universe might be very crowded, but those with higher civilization levels than Earth are accustomed to fading into the darkness?"

"Dark Competition, such a reasonable conjecture. This was definitely proposed by a big shot in Quantum Mechanics. By the way, does our Earth even have the qualifications to participate?"

"Who exactly is this J? How did he think of all this? Are there big shots of this level in the East?"

"Professor, can you share the link to the paper? I want to read it immediately!"

After class, discussions about the J-Sphere, the Dark Competition, and the mysterious scholar J quickly spread from the classroom to every corner of Cambridge—

Cafes, laboratories, student dormitories... related hot topics also began to appear on the academic forums of the Fu Nation.

"A thought hurricane from the East, the J-Sphere and the Dark Competition hypothesis of the universe. Quite interesting, much better than those old, rigid professors from Xia Nation!"

"Wow, I didn't expect there to be capable people in the East. Before searching for aliens, one must first be able to find living things in complete darkness!"

"Is he a genius, or just a flash in the pan?"

"A genius, surely. A genius who doesn't belong to our era; some say he's a time traveler from the future!"

"I suspect he's a time traveler. You haven't seen his past content; it's all very hardcore. Especially predicting the future—one day, he directly predicted a hotel explosion in Magic City a day in advance, even the number of casualties was clear. He's definitely a time traveler from the future!!!"

"..."

That afternoon, Cambridgeshire, CETI branch, underground briefing room.

Professor Clark pushed open the conference room door. Inside, old fellows in sweater vests were drinking coffee.

Their topics ranged from the terrible weather to the fact that the filter of a certain radio telescope needed maintenance again.

The air smelled of stagnation.

At the head of the round table was Sir Martin Shaw, the head of the branch.

He saw the newcomer. "Clark, I hope you're not interrupting our coffee time because you've discovered another [Wow] signal."

Wow is a mystery in astronomy.

On August 15, 1977, a special signal was captured by the [Big Ear] radio telescope at Ohio State University in the USA while participating in the SETI project.

At that time, astronomer Jerry Ehman, who was studying the signal, was so shocked while browsing the data that he wrote 'Wow!' next to a string of abnormal data.

Therefore, many people in the world believe this was a Wow signal sent by aliens.

In reality, whether the signal itself was sent by an alien civilization or another celestial body is currently unknown!

"Haha, old Martin, the news I've brought this time is far more exciting than that."

Professor Clark half-jokingly plugged the USB drive into the interface and operated it, making the projection screen light up—

On it were prominently displayed Formula J and the J-Sphere concept diagram.

"This time, the news I've brought is sensational news from that rare scientific wasteland—the latest brainstorm from J in the East, fresh out of the oven."

"I think the way we've been looking for aliens for the past few decades might have been fundamentally wrong."

"Wrong? What do you mean?" A semi-bald middle-aged man in a suit responsible for data couldn't help but sneer. "Are you saying we should stop monitoring signals and instead watch the stars blink?"

"Your guess is spot on, Crowley!" Clark said with a mischievous grin. Then he clicked the mouse, bringing up the [List of Abnormally Dimming Candidates] and the weird light curve of Tabbys Star.

"Crowley, you guessed right. We are going to watch how they blink, especially how they dim for no apparent reason. According to this J-Sphere hypothesis, advanced civilizations aren't loudspeakers; they are submarines."

"Their first priority isn't to transmit signals, but to develop technology. Once they reach a certain level, they will completely absorb the light of their own star..."

"The story goes something like this..."

He spent some time recounting the details from Jiang Zhe.

He spent more time explaining the Dark Competition conjecture in Quantum Mechanics—all cosmic civilizations are climbing the technology tree, with the goal of jumping out before the Big Heat Death of the universe to become the first observer.

In this race, once technology develops to a certain point, it will inevitably head toward the sea of stars.

And before entering the sea of stars, there is another necessary goal: [Absorbing the light of the star as energy!!!]

The moment Jiang Zhe's core concept appeared in this conference room, the entire briefing room went silent for a few seconds. Then, everyone's faces were filled with the inconceivable and the incredible!

"WTF? Wrapping up a star? My god, the engineering difficulty of this is no less than me running for 24 hours in minus one hundred degrees!"

"But logically, shit, if some damn civilization could really do it, they absolutely would. If it were us, if Earth's energy wasn't enough, we'd do the same!"

"So the Great Silence of the universe isn't because there's no one, but because everyone is diving, and everyone is playing dead?"

"This idea is so damn dark, yet it's so bloody self-consistent. No more nonsense, I really like this J!"

Several young and middle-aged researchers looked at the various specific data reports on the large screen with burning eyes, unconsciously swearing.

The older Sir Shaw and several other old men stared intently at those light curves and Jiang Zhe's new concepts, their expressions shifting wildly and unpredictably!

"Clark!" After a long time, Sir Shaw finally spoke. "These data, these anomalies—we have them all in our database. We used to archive them as natural wonders or unsolved mysteries. And you're saying, if we apply the prerequisite of the J-Sphere..."

"They might no longer be mysteries, but footprints left by star civilizations." Clark nodded repeatedly, finishing the sentence with a look of certainty. "Footprints left by advanced civilizations at their own doorsteps that we consistently failed to recognize."

As he finished, the sound of people gasping for breath could be heard throughout the briefing room.

This statement was too impactful!

They had lived for fifty or sixty years, and this was the first time they had heard of such a cutting-edge hypothesis in the world!

Sir Shaw couldn't help but frown deeply, then looked at Clark with a stern gaze. "The J who proposed this J-Sphere, is he the same Xia Nation person who came up with the Black Hole Universe and the 36-degree Sun?"

"Yes, it's him. Actually, there's much more, it's just that it hasn't appeared in our eyes in the form of papers."

"I've looked into it privately. There's also the akashic records, which is the zero-point field of Quantum Mechanics; he can even calculate a person's future... Professor Stephen and I have been arguing—he's either a visitor from another world or someone from the future!"

"Regardless of what kind of person he is, he is a talent!!" Sir Shaw narrowed his eyes. "Can we contact him? I mean, in any form, under any conditions. A professorship at Cambridge, chief consultant for CETI, even a seat in our Royal Society. As long as he's willing to come, nationality, resources—everything is not a problem. We need such a mind and novel ideas. I very much hope to lead the CETI organization to new heights within my lifetime!"

If people like them could be the first to specifically discover a true alien civilization...

Then, in future global history, Sir Shaw's name would certainly be mentioned.

This was far more powerful than leaving a name in the history of a single country. Now, he saw a super talent, and that was Jiang Zhe. Only J could satisfy a heavyweight person like him who wanted to leave his name in global history!!!

This question made everyone present, young and old, prick up their ears, their eyes burning with desire. Who wouldn't want to pull such a young super talent into their team?

Just one realistic suggestion could potentially allow them to take a step further in astronomy, or even other disciplines!

They needed new ideas, new blood, new everything!!!

Professor Clark smiled forcedly. "Sir, Professor Stephen and I thought the same thing immediately. But I, Stephen, and my colleague Michael have looked into it through some informal channels. This person J, and the things in his head, seem to be strictly protected by Xia Nation. It's not just ordinary importance; it's the highest level!"

"If you want to contact J himself, I'm afraid before you even see his face, you might be taken away by the agents or people near him!"

"What? Protected?" Sir Shaw was stunned for a moment, then understood something, a hint of regret in his eyes. "I see. No wonder, no wonder. What a pity!"

He shook his head vigorously to clear his mind.

"Forget it. Since we can't recruit him, our thinking must keep up. Clark, you immediately take the lead in forming a group called the Non-Standard Cosmic Features Research Group. Use J's thinking as a filter to go through all the unsolved mystery data in our astronomy from beginning to end. Find similar or suspected data, and then prepare a report. I want to adjust some of the observation time of the [Lovell] telescope to specifically stare at these dark stars hidden in the darkness!!!"

He stood up and scanned the room. "Gentlemen, we may have missed a genius, but we must not miss the path he pointed out."

"Even if the end of this road is a wall, we have to touch that wall with our own hands!"

"Meeting adjourned!"

The meeting ended, and the scholars left with shock and their assignments.

...

(PS: CETI is an organization for Communication with Extraterrestrial Intelligence, an organization in astronomy specifically dedicated to finding and communicating with alien civilizations. In this world, there is no single headquarters; except for Xia Nation, every other developed country has one.)