I live in the Martian wilderness!

[Mars Day 32, Late Night]

Inside Oasis One Shelter, the pinkish-white light resembled a living tide, and emerald green algae liquid flowed slowly.

Gu Yu, however, was wide awake.

He sat in front of the control panel, the photo of the girl from an unknown civilization minimized and hidden in the corner of the screen.

But those pale green eyes were like two stars suspended in the universe of his mind, impossible to shake off.

"Xuan," he said slowly, his voice a little hoarse, "reassess our exposure level."

On the screen, a star map of the solar system instantly appeared, with several red dotted lines representing signal paths extending out glaringly.

"Lieutenant Colonel, the signal we sent to Tianwen-1 a month ago, after being amplified, theoretically has already covered an area of ​​several light-years."

"However, since the signal strength decreases with the square of the distance, outside the Oort cloud, it will be submerged in the cosmic background noise and become meaningless."

"However," Xuanjian circled the entire solar system in red, "for any civilization that happens to 'pass by' the vicinity of the solar system and possesses highly sensitive detectors..."

"This signal is like a loud cry. We have irrevocably revealed the approximate coordinates of the solar system."

"Exposing the solar system..." Gu Yu muttered to himself, his fingertips icy cold. But he knew this wasn't the worst of it.

Revealing a star system is like shouting "I'm in this forest!" in a dark forest.

Although dangerous, the forest is so vast that hunters still need to spend a great deal of time and effort to pinpoint your location.

However, revealing the specific planetary coordinates, or even the surface coordinates, is like turning on a flashlight and shining it in your own face.

Gu Yu's voice became resolute, "Our primary principle is that we absolutely cannot engage in any proactive communication that might reveal our more precise coordinates before confirming the other party's identity!"

"Understood, Lieutenant Colonel. 'Communication silence' has been raised to the highest priority."

"Now, the most urgent task," Gu Yu's gaze returned to the mysterious girl's picture, "is to confirm who she is."

"Xuan," he said slowly, "start the highest alert protocol now! The Zhu Rong communication module is on standby 24 hours a day, and the Tian Suo sensor array is aimed at the direction of the signal source for passive monitoring across the entire frequency band."

"Understood, Lieutenant Colonel. The 'Watchmen' protocol has been activated."

"At the same time," Gu Yu's fingertips tapped lightly on the console, "we need to conduct a wargame simulation. You know what I mean."

"Our primary task is no longer survival, but being sentinels of defense! We must have pieces ready to respond to every possible situation on the chessboard."

Xuanjian's voice was calm as he said, "Understood, Lieutenant Colonel. Begin the simulation..."

"Possibility A: Friendly probe. If the other party sends similar pictures again, and the content does not contain obvious hostility, it is recommended to exchange information in a limited manner."

"For example, basic mathematical or physical constants, such as pi, the golden ratio, or a periodic table of elements that does not contain any biological information, could be sent to establish a communication bridge based on a universal language."

"Plan B: Silent observation." The star map on Gu Yu's HUD instantly became complex, with countless winding signal paths intertwining within the solar system.

"If the other party remains silent for a long time after receiving our message, there are two possibilities: one, the other party is just passing by and has lost interest in us; two, the other party is secretly observing and assessing our technical capabilities and threat level."

Gu Yu's expression turned serious: "If it's the second scenario, how do we counter-surveillance?"

"It's difficult, Lieutenant Colonel. The overwhelming technological advantage means that their reconnaissance methods may be beyond our comprehension. They may not even be at the electromagnetic level."

"We couldn't find where the 'camera' was, so all we could do was create enough 'false targets'."

"Let the entire solar system become a noisy 'forest' to drown out our own true voice."

On the star map, Xuanjian highlighted the Sun, Jupiter, Saturn, and other massive celestial bodies, as well as the asteroid belt and the Kuiper belt.

"I named it 'Noise Forest.' The core idea is to use massive celestial bodies within the solar system and a large number of inexpensive probes to construct a cosmic-scale 'information fog.'"

Gu Yu was instantly captivated by this grand vision: "Go on."

"This agreement requires Earth's full cooperation. We need to propose to command that Earth launch hundreds of inexpensive miniature probes equipped with simple signal generators!"

"These probes will be deployed to various orbits within the solar system, some around Jupiter, some into the asteroid belt, and some even to the Kuiper Belt."

"They will periodically emit meaningless but structurally complex 'camouflage signals' through gravitational lensing, following a pre-set random sequence."

Gu Yu instantly understood the brilliance of this move. For the distant observer, they would no longer be receiving just a signal from the direction of Mars.

They will suddenly discover that the entire solar system is alive! The signal could come from near Jupiter, from Saturn's rings, or even from the far side of the Sun!

"This will lead the other side to two fatal misjudgments," Xuanjian continued to deduce. "First, they will believe that there is a technologically advanced and massive civilization in the solar system that has achieved galactic deployment, rather than a lone survivor."

Second, the massive amount of false coordinates will completely overwhelm our real Martian coordinates, making it impossible for them to determine which one is the true source, thus significantly increasing their reconnaissance costs and decision-making difficulties.

"And for us," Xuanjian shifted the focus back to Mars, "after activating this plan, what you need to do is no longer remain silent and disguised."

"On the contrary, Lieutenant Colonel. You need to be the loudest bird in that noisy forest."

Gu Yu's pupils contracted sharply, and he immediately understood the cruel logic behind Xuan Jian's words.

"You mean...?"

"Yes, Lieutenant Colonel. Once Earth lays down a fog that covers the entire solar system, the Mars base will become a pawn that is deliberately exposed in this game."

On the star chart, Xuanjian highlighted the point of light representing Mars in a bright red, while the point of light representing Earth was shrouded in a shadow.

"We will communicate with those 'echo nodes' regularly and continuously, and even proactively send carefully designed messages towards their signal source."

"The goal is to actively draw all the spotlight to Mars. To convince them that Mars is the core and brain of this 'solar system civilization'."

"All threats will be focused on Mars. All shadows will loom over Earth."

Gu Yu listened quietly. This was a cosmic-level firewall built for Earth's civilization at the cost of Mars!

By proactively exposing a secondary target in exchange for the core objective—the ultimate information war for the absolute security of Earth!

Xuanjian concluded, "Lieutenant Colonel, Earth creates a noisy forest for Mars; then Mars becomes the most attractive prey for hunters within that forest—a poisonous target!"