Three-body: The Most Competent Wallfacer in History

No matter what that "strip of cloth" was, it was an incident worthy of Reed's alarm.

In the vast universe, anything besides natural celestial bodies could be a product of civilization and could potentially lead to the discovery of an interstellar civilization.

After receiving Reed's alarm, Song Xingrui, the commander of the Second Reconnaissance Corps, asked Reed the reason for the alarm.

Song Xingrui also understood the importance of this discovery and immediately dispatched two probes to see what had happened to the probe where the accident occurred.

In the vastness of space, an interstellar probe with a diameter of several meters was extremely small, and the small optical telescopes on the mothership could not discern the specific situation of the distant probes.

At the same time, Song Xingrui reported the matter up the chain, as it could be a clue about the Singer civilization.

After a few dozen seconds, Jiang Yu received the news and instructed the reconnaissance corps, "Be careful with the approach, first of all, try to avoid startling the snake. Secondly, find out as soon as possible whether this is a clue from the Singer civilization or from the enemy of the Singer civilization."

"Be extra cautious not to find a new enemy for humanity instead of finding the Singer civilization."

Following the Wallfacer's instructions with caution, over an hour later, the two probes sent by the "Reconnaissance Mothership" finally arrived next to the probe involved in the accident.

With the optical telescopes of the two probes fully extended, even in an area without any stars in the vicinity, the telescopes on the probes could still use the scant amount of reflected light to make out certain details.

Through the probes, Jiang Yu saw from two different angles that the circular accident probe seemed to be covered with a layer of gray-black tattered cloth.

A few "strips of cloth" clung tightly to the accident probe as if they were covering it with a quick curtain.

As the two probes moved closer, Jiang Yu observed more details of the "curtain," which looked stiff and rough, and seemed to have spots on it.

Suddenly, the "strip of cloth" moved slightly!

Song Xingrui speculated, "It's very likely that this is a probe from another civilization, and I suggest that the mothership sends a small laboratory here, so we can dissect it without other civilizations discovering our mothership."

Jiang Yu nodded, "Watch out for the armed forces of other civilizations!"

Since this was a probe from another civilization, it was possible that ships like the mothership of another civilization might be nearby.

After some time, the small laboratory dispatched by the mothership reached the designated location.

The accident probe flew into the laboratory, while the other two probes stayed outside as a guard.

Song Xingrui had informed the armed mechanized engineer in advance, asking him to supervise the dissection and speculate the probe's function and explain the structure of the enemy probe.

Inside the Interstellar Laboratory was a brightly lit little room.

Under the bright lights, the appearance of the "curtain" became clearer; its rough exterior resembled a layer of hard plastic shell.

But this layer of plastic shell also seemed soft, and the structures on those "strips of cloth" resembled hard plastic shells yet seemed to bend at will.

The spots on it, when exposed to the lights, seemed to respond to the light itself, emitting a rhythmic flashing.

Jiang Yu ordered the Milky Way computer, "Find a few experts in philology and civilization studies."

These flashes could likely be the other party attempting to communicate with humanity.

Jiang Yu added, "First, try to communicate with the other party using electromagnetic waves and other signals."

As per Jiang Yu's instructions, Song Xingrui tried to communicate with the other party using various methods, but the other party continued to flash spots regularly, with the frequency of flashes remaining the same as before, showing no signs of response.

Nor did it emit any sound waves, or other types of signals like neutrinos or gravitational waves.

Several scholars were also helping Song Xingrui with ideas, but after many experiments, they received no response from the other side.

On the other hand, mechanical engineers tried to use X-ray technology to look at the "Curtain's" condition. No matter what wavelength was used for the photography, they only saw some shadows and couldn't discern any specific mechanical structures inside.

Jiang Yu also took a look at the interior of the "Curtain" through the X-ray equipment, which the Second Corps' accident detectors could easily use to view the mechanical structure within.

But the area of the "Curtain" looked hazy, and they could only see some dense, fine thread-like structures.

"It's a bit like taking a CT scan of an octopus's bone structure," joked Jiang Yu, then he asked, "What does this result represent?"

The mechanical engineer answered, "There are two possibilities, one is that the outer structure of the other side has a design that avoids X-ray penetration."

"The second possibility is that the internal structure of the other side uses a material we have never encountered."

Jiang Yu nodded, "I hope it's the first factor."

Since observations, communication, and X-rays failed to yield any useful information, Jiang Yu ordered, "Dissect it!"

Usually, when a probe is captured by another civilization, it self-destructs immediately to ensure its information isn't obtained by others.

Now that it hadn't self-destructed, there were only two possibilities: either the probe's civilization was confident their information couldn't be obtained by others.

Or it had no self-destruction system installed.

Only by disassembling it could they determine the reason for this piece of "Curtain."

Under the direction of the mechanical engineer, five flexible mechanical arms extended from the wall of the laboratory, some grabbing the "fabric strips," while others readied electric saws for cutting.

At the engineer's command, the electric saw descended onto a "fabric strip." The outer structure of the "Curtain" was very hard, and sparks even flew from the electric saw.

But it seemed very soft inside, slicing to the bottom of the "fabric strip" in an instant.

During the cutting, the "Curtain" showed an obvious reaction; it appeared to struggle but was firmly held by the other mechanical arms.

Suddenly, a "fabric strip" was quickly cut off, and after being separated from the "Curtain," it continuously stretched and contracted.

The mechanical arm brought the cut section to the camera, and Jiang Yu and others saw a ring of gray-black shell on the exterior of the "fabric strip," with a silver-gray, jelly-like solid structure inside.

The jelly-like solid structure was very elastic and extremely sturdy, not as fragile as jelly.

Inside these jelly-like structures were numerous densely packed filament-like structures.

The mechanical engineer was utterly confounded on the spot; he had never seen such a mechanical structure!

The Reconnaissance Corps' commander, Song Xingrui, was stunned for a long time, then abruptly said, "It kind of looks like, it reminds me of..."

"Muscle tissue!" Jiang Yu shared the same opinion.

In the communication channel, the other experts were inwardly exclaiming that it was impossible!

The accident detector had been in outer space all along, and since this part of space was very far from a star, the average temperature was down to minus two hundred degrees Celsius. What life form could withstand such low temperatures?

The mechanical engineer suddenly reminded them, "Everyone, look at the main body!"

All gazes turned towards the "Curtain," where they saw that black-purple liquid was slowly oozing from the cut wound. This liquid quickly coalesced and formed a gray-black shell.

It was unclear who exclaimed, "It's healing itself!"