Chapter 485: Dark Forest! Humanity's United Fleet! God Bless Trisolaris!
The Three-Body Universe!
Staring at all the information displayed on the computer screen, Yang Dong, who now knew everything, sank into a profound state of despair and helplessness.
From the classified data her mother, Ye Wenjie, had left behind, she learned of the Trisolaran fleet marching toward Earth, and she learned the truth about the sophons disrupting humanity's scientific experiments.
A creation from the microscopic world was wantonly tampering with the cognitive boundaries of human scientists. At that moment, Yang Dong suddenly thought of the execution stake where the Inquisition burned the disciples of Copernicus.
For the advancement of human science, were the sophons not the most brilliant executioner of all?
Fruitless particle collider experiments, data records utterly defying physical laws—the culprit behind it all turned out to be nothing more than a civilization unwelcome in its own homeworld…
At that moment, the terror in Yang Dong's heart grew thicker. It wasn't that she feared the Trisolarans who would arrive centuries later, but rather the realization that all the laws of physics in this universe might very well be subject to arbitrary alteration by higher civilizations.
Was what humans saw as "nature" truly natural?
Perhaps real physics had ceased to exist from the very beginning, since the Big Bang itself.
In an instant, the superstring equations Yang Dong had once regarded as the truth of the universe fractured into countless snapped strings, shrieking with piercing wails inside her mind.
Her head throbbed violently; her temples swelled until she nearly fainted.
Countless fragments of memory surfaced. For no reason, Yang Dong recalled a line her mother, Ye Wenjie, had once spoken to her. She had always taken it as a small poem full of lyricism, but now it chilled her to the bone.
[Some light travels for billions of years to reach Earth, only to prove its own death.]
In despair, the bottle of sleeping pills rattled faintly in her palm. After swallowing an overdose in one gulp, Yang Dong seemed to see countless dark hands scrawling over the higher-dimensional membrane, rewriting the laws of physics.
Newton, Gauss, Einstein—all the scientific sages of the past, their lifelong pursuits could be summed up in five words: We were all wrong.
Soon, the medication began to take effect. Waves of pain and vertigo slammed into Yang Dong's nerves. The cramps twisting her abdomen forced her body to curl up like a shrimp.
Another fragment of poetry surfaced in her mind—this time from Faust: [All theory is gray, but the tree of life is ever green.]
In the final shred of consciousness, Yang Dong seemed to see that little girl squatting outside Red Coast Base, counting ants, as the boundless Dark Forest spread outward and devoured her bit by bit—
Until she was gone completely.
…
…
The War Moon Megastructure No. 007 burst out of the stargate, then slowed down, carefully scanning its surroundings.
This supermassive platform, carrying the Megacorp's core executives along with numerous warships and weapons, was currently the most advanced spaceborne carrier the Megacorp possessed.
The fleet's luck was good. Not long after emerging from the stargate, they discovered a blue planet in the system. After scanning and verification, it was confirmed to be none other than Earth of The Three-Body universe!
This outcome delighted them—after all, it spared them the time and effort of hunting down the Solar System.
Once their position was determined, Li Ang glanced back at the stargate, now sealed behind them. From this moment onward, there would be no reinforcements.
Every hardship had to be managed alone. Even sending out a distress signal would take a day before a reply could be received.
But Li Ang had considerable confidence in their integration of the Three-Body universe. With the Aether Resonance Engine—the ultimate weapon—in his hands, they at least held the qualification to negotiate even with godlike civilizations.
He promptly ordered the War Moon to enter orbit within the Solar System and activate its cloaking field, concealing itself for the time being.
This cloaking technology had come from the Halo vessel Mantle's Approach. Key warships and carriers were invariably fitted with such systems.
Once the cloak was engaged, no radar or detection device could locate the War Moon.
These were procedures everyone had long since memorized. Upon entering the Three-Body universe, each person knew exactly how to take their post and execute the routine.
The next step for Li Ang was to dispatch an advance team to land on Earth of this universe, to see what point in the timeline they had arrived in.
Had sophons already sealed Earth? Had the Trisolarans already launched toward the Solar System?
Just as Morgan Blackhand, V, and the others were captivated by Earth, Li Ang suddenly pointed at Jupiter on the holo-display, motioning the AI to magnify the sector.
The shipboard AI, Loki, immediately complied, expanding Jupiter's projection until it filled the entire command center. At once, the space around them was enveloped in the orange-yellow glow of Jupiter.
Its abyssal hydrogen-helium atmosphere, its oceans and cyclones, formed mesmerizing patterns—but everyone knew how terrifying the reality within truly was.
Especially that enormous Great Red Spot. Viewed close, it felt like the gaze of a cosmic beast, wide-eyed and staring straight at them. Though the War Moon was no small construct, five times the size of Earth, compared to Jupiter it was still minuscule.
"Boss, is there something new about Jupiter?"
V stepped forward, asking curiously.
He examined the planet's surface closely, but detected nothing out of place. In this universe, Jupiter appeared no different from the Jupiter they knew.
Li Ang, however, wasn't looking at Jupiter itself. His eyes were fixed on the debris orbiting the planet.
Compared to Jupiter's enormity, these drifting objects seemed tiny and inconspicuous. Without magnification, they would have been impossible to see clearly.
Even magnified, they could barely make out that the objects seemed to be extracting gases from Jupiter, and that they were divided into three distinct groups, each occupying different sectors.
"Those are three separate space fleets. They're replenishing their fuel supplies."
Before anyone could deploy probes for confirmation, Li Ang had already given the answer.
Sure enough, as the image continued to zoom in, they finally saw the fleets in their entirety. By sheer numbers, the warships orbiting Jupiter numbered at least two thousand.
On average, each starship was about four times the size of a conventional aircraft carrier—roughly equivalent to a Hyperion-class vessel. To the Megacorp, such ships were useful only as escorts.
Yet when two thousand of them arrayed in rectangular formation across space, the sight was still spectacular—impressive enough in sheer momentum.
Clearly, these three fleets had made Jupiter their refueling depot. In orbit were also three massive space stations, each serving as the respective headquarters of a fleet.
"So, humanity of the Three-Body universe has already developed space power of this level. Truly unexpected."
At first, Morgan Blackhand wasn't entirely certain these were human warships. But when he spotted English letters and numbers painted on their hulls, his doubts were erased.
It was undeniable: two thousand starships lined up together created an overwhelming visual impact. Yet for an experienced naval marshal who had seen countless battles, Morgan Blackhand felt more puzzled than awed.
Because in a real deep-space combat environment, such a formation would never be able to bring out the full power of a fleet. They'd only line up like this for a parade.
Moreover, all two thousand of these ships were frigate-class. Even the largest among them didn't reach the standard of a destroyer.
As for full-sized space carriers—those were simply out of the question.
So here's the problem.
Any civilization capable of building two thousand frigates should already have the industrial capacity to produce a few destroyers, or even a single large carrier.
Yet all three fleets stationed around Jupiter consisted only of these smaller frigates. Could this really be the space warfare doctrine designed by humanity in The Three-Body universe?
Since the Three-Body universe is full of intricate details, Li Ang hadn't yet had time to carefully analyze Earth's exact circumstances for the others.
Morgan Blackhand still wasn't aware of the consequences brought about by the sophon blockade on humanity's fundamental physics research—namely, the impossibility of constructing large warships.
These starships, with tonnage ranging only from three to five million tons, were already the cutting edge of human technology.
As everyone discussed the three different fleets, Li Ang was already able to determine the current point in time.
The eve of the Doomsday Battle, Crisis Era Year 205, A.D. 2208!
They were in the Three-Body universe, right in the Dark Forest arc.
And the three fleets before their eyes—the Asian Fleet, the European Fleet, and the North American Fleet—these two thousand ships formed the combined space forces humanity was counting on against the Trisolarans.
This was the answer humanity gave after nearly two centuries of preparation.
But tragically, this hard-won answer would soon be struck down with a merciless, scarlet zero—delivered by the Trisolaran droplets.
Crafted from strong-interaction force materials, the droplets tore through humanity's warships without resistance, plunging human civilization into utter despair.
The only comfort was that, for now, these three fleets still existed—meaning the Doomsday Battle hadn't yet begun.
But judging by the sight of these heavily armed, battle-ready starfleets, the life-and-death struggle between the two civilizations was about to start.
From these key details, Li Ang quickly deduced the situation between Earth and the Trisolarans.
At this moment, the Trisolaran fleet was still 2.1 light-years away from the Solar System. But their vanguard weapons—the droplets—were already nearing the system!
Humanity's fundamental physics research remained locked down by sophons, and these two thousand frigates represented the absolute limit of what human science could produce.
According to the plot of the original novel, what was about to happen was the tragic "New Year's Eve Two Thousand Firecrackers": the complete annihilation of the human fleet.
However, the Universal Megacorp had now arrived here, and they were certain to alter this doomed battle in some way.
Yet Li Ang couldn't be sure whether their arrival might trigger other unforeseen variables, for this universe was full of advanced civilizations.
The Megacorp's technological might could easily deal with Trisolaran droplets, but in the face of a two-dimensional foil weapon, their only option would be to flee aboard the Death Star.
Worse still, they had to be on guard against sneak attacks by other civilizations—someone might unleash a light-speed particle strike at any moment. In this cold and pitch-black Dark Forest, there was never a shortage of lurking hunters with shotguns at the ready.
In a universe where the threats far surpassed any others, Li Ang knew he had to treat every opponent with both respect and killing intent—even the seemingly insignificant Trisolarans.
"Enter the council chamber at once."
With a single command, Li Ang led the Megacorp executives into the chamber, where he would brief them on the first opponent they were about to face—the Trisolarans.
One by one, the executives took their seats and received the information dossiers on the Trisolarans.
From Li Ang's narration, the image of a civilization four light-years outside the Solar System came alive—a people of Alpha Centauri, surviving in the extreme instability of three suns with chaotic orbits.
Fear of death, and the desperate urge to survive, had driven the Trisolarans to pour enormous resources into exploring other star systems.
Yet under the law of the Dark Forest, all their signals and explorations to the outside should never have received a response.
The likely outcome should have been resource exhaustion, their homeworld torn apart by the Roche limit of the triple-star gravity, and the complete extinction of Trisolaran civilization.
But fate favored them: Ye Wenjie received their signal and established contact. Once they had Earth's precise location, the Trisolarans threw everything into preparing to flee to the Solar System.
Even so, their interstellar navigation technology wasn't particularly strong.
This was because, for so long, they had squandered vast resources shouting into the void: "Is anyone out there?"
It was, in truth, a foolish and futile endeavor.
In the vast and silent Dark Forest of the cosmos, the Trisolarans behaved just like Earthlings first stepping into modern civilization—naive and reckless—earning only the scorn of the higher hunters.
That they managed to encounter Earth, an even more naive civilization, before being wiped out themselves could only be described as "Heaven bless the Trisolarans."
In the Three-Body universe, the Trisolarans were undeniably the protagonists.
Through contact with humanity, they completed their own cognitive evolution, achieved a technological explosion, and discovered the method of creating pocket universes to survive cosmic catastrophes.
By mastering micro-universe technology, the Trisolarans rose into the ranks of god-tier civilizations, while humanity was tragically reduced to two-dimensional "paper cutouts" under the strike of the dimensional-reduction weapon.
With such fortune, Luo Ji's curse hardly mattered.
After all, the Trisolarans had always been courting disaster—Luo Ji's doomsday spell was merely the final straw. The true cause was always the Trisolarans themselves.
Yet despite their constant missteps, the Trisolarans had never been arrogant.
They seized every sliver of hope for survival, kept learning and improving, and never let go of even the tiniest chance to breathe.
Even if it meant playing the servant to foolish, conceited humanity for centuries, the Trisolarans endured it gladly—and even prepared to learn abstract thought and art from them.
Thus they underwent yet another transformation, enduring all the way to the end of the Three-Body universe.
Such a civilization truly deserved the reward of becoming god-tier.
Yet by the time they had achieved this final victory, the chance to transcend the cycle and step into a bright pastoral age was already gone. What awaited them was only Infinity emptiness and death.
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