I live in the Martian wilderness!

[Mars Day 30, 10:00 AM]

Inside Oasis One Shelter, life is in full bloom.

The first 5-square-meter running track pool in the backyard has also reached a steady state, providing Gu Yu with sufficient protein every day.

The second 5-square-meter pond has also been filled with water, and the seedling cultivation of Haematococcus pluvialis is proceeding in an orderly manner.

For the first time on this red planet, Gu Yu's life fell into an almost boring calm.

He even had time to reread his favorite science fiction novel from college, Hyperion, or play a single-player game that he had already completed countless times.

The other side of the world seems to have tacitly accepted this peace.

Apart from exchanging reports of safety during fixed windows to confirm the voyage status of the Fire Seed Squad, Commander-in-Chief Zhang Jianguo did not issue any new instructions.

Everything is waiting for that historic meeting more than 120 days later.

"Lieutenant Colonel," Xuanjian's voice broke the silence, "according to your schedule, 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. is your free reading time."

Gu Yu yawned, just about to flip through the digital library to find the next book.

Sudden--

"Beep! Beep!—"

A short, sharp beep sounded without warning inside the command center!

Gu Yu sat bolt upright in his chair, his eyes instantly sharpening: "Xuan! What's going on?!"

"Abnormal signal! Lieutenant Colonel!" Xuan Jian's voice carried a hint of confusion. "The Zhu Rong has detected a high-strength encrypted signal! But... it's not currently the communication window for Tianwen-1!"

"Not Tianwen-1? The launch window has opened earlier? The probability is small, but not impossible. Receive it immediately! See what Earth has sent this time!"

[Attempting to decrypt... Protocol mismatch! Unrecognized encryption logic!]

Xuanjian's reply caused Gu Yu's brows to furrow instantly. The military encryption protocol for Tianwen-1 is fixed; how could it not match?

"Brute-force attack in progress... Computing power utilization 90%... Warning, the temperature of the neuron synchronization chip is rising."

Almost at the same time Xuan Jian issued the warning, Gu Yu felt a long-lost burning sensation deep in his temples. This was a normal phenomenon that occurred when Xuan Jian was performing extremely high-load calculations.

But this is the first time since landing on Mars.

After about a minute, Gu Yu asked in a deep voice, "Can't you solve it?"

"The logic is completely different... but it can be confirmed that the data packet contains an image."

Time ticked by, and the burning sensation grew stronger. A full three minutes later, Xuanjian's voice rang out again, carrying a hint of relief after completing a difficult task.

"Crack complete! Rendering image..."

Gu Yu held his breath as a noisy but crystal-clear image slowly appeared on the main screen.

He was stunned.

The image did not show any of the space equipment or data charts he had envisioned, but rather a person.

A young girl with long, jet-black hair casually draped over her shoulders. Her features were delicate and gentle, but her clear eyes were a pale green, exuding a tranquility like the deep sky.

What struck Gu Yu as odd was her attire: a simple white long gown with geometric patterns outlined in silver thread that appeared to be slowly flowing.

This style of clothing combines the charm of classical Chinese culture with an incredible sense of futuristic technology.

Her background is a room filled with soft light, the walls like flowing light curtains, on which some strange words are faintly visible.

"Xuan, zoom in on the text on the wall."

The image was enlarged, and the elegant and fluent text became clear.

"This is... Small Seal script?" Gu Yu said subconsciously, but immediately dismissed it, "No, the structure is more complex..."

"Reporting to the Colonel," Xuanjian's voice rang out, "this script has a 90.4% similarity in shape and structure to the ancient Chinese seal script."

"Semantic deduction based on glyph logic is underway... Translation complete."

The next second, a line of simplified Chinese text translated by AI appeared below the image.

"A very historical photo. Are you portraying a human from the planet Yinghuo a thousand years ago?"

......

Gu Yu's mind went blank for a moment, then went completely blank! His heart began to pound uncontrollably!

A word that all astronauts had learned in textbooks but never imagined they would encounter in person came to mind.

First contact!

An electric current of excitement, fear, and immense curiosity instantly coursed through my body.

He forced himself to calm down, his brain working at an unprecedented speed.

Mars... a sense of history... a thousand years ago...

These words were like a key, revealing details he had previously overlooked!

That photo was sent to Earth a month ago via the Tianwen-1 relay satellite. But inevitably, it also ended up as a "message in a bottle," sent to the other side of the universe!

So, he didn't receive a message in a bottle by chance; someone else picked up the bottle he threw out!

Furthermore, the other party even replied with a letter!

Yinghuo... that's an ancient name for Mars that's ingrained in the Chinese psyche.

And a thousand years... Could it be that in the other party's eyes, their picture is already history?

"But how is that possible?! Xuan, track the signal source!" He growled into the air, his voice hoarse with tension.

"Unable to pinpoint the source, Lieutenant Colonel. The signal's origin... is strange. It doesn't seem to be emitted from a fixed direction; it's more like... appearing out of nowhere near us."

"But I can confirm that it came from the opposite direction of the Earth."

The direction Xuanjian marked on the star map was a void where even the faintest stars could not be seen.

Gu Yu's body swayed uncontrollably, and he steadied himself by grabbing the edge of the control panel.

Should we report it?

No.

The thought was instantly crushed by absolute rationality the moment it surfaced!

What will follow if this is reported?

What happens when a civilization encounters a higher being that it cannot comprehend?

Is an entity that can bypass military agreements a friend? An enemy? A passing god, or a cold-blooded hunter?

Before figuring out who the other party is and what they want, he cannot simply throw this unknown, which could overturn the world order, directly to Earth.

He must become that valve!

"Xuan," Gu Yu gradually regained his composure, "extract this image and all the original data from the main communication log of the Zhu Rong and transfer them to my personal encrypted channel."

"Understood, Lieutenant Colonel. Data has been transferred. Should we completely erase the original reception records of the Zhurong?"

"Clear it," Gu Yu ordered without hesitation. This matter must be known to only a minimum number of people before it is confirmed.

He looked at the girl on the screen who was quietly gazing at him, and a plan took shape in his mind.

"Xuan, draft a new encrypted email. Remove the text from the image, add it as an attachment, and send it."

"Recipient... Qin Nuannuan."

"Okay, Lieutenant Colonel, the text has been processed. The recipient has been confirmed: Qin Nuannuan. Please dictate the contents of the email."

Gu Yu began to carefully organize his words in a tone that mixed business and personal matters.

"Warm greetings, Nuan Nuan."

"That dark red rose showed extremely strong vitality in the Martian environment. I will share the specific experimental data in a subsequent report."

"I need your help with a personal matter... It's extremely important and must be done in absolute secrecy."

"I'll send you a picture, can you help me find out which character she's cosplaying?"

"Don't tell anyone about this until you've reached a clear conclusion. Not your teacher, and not... your aunt..."

"Use the resources at your disposal to check; I need your answer during the next window. Remember, absolute confidentiality is required."

"—Gu Yu"

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

(P.S.: The curtain has been raised, let's move on to the next stage! The science fiction elements to come will be 7% hard and 3% soft. Can you guess where this girl comes from?)