Chapter 360: Declaration of War_1

Sophon's speech made Jiang Yu's eyelids twitch, as the situation was much more severe than anticipated.

His mere presence had intensified the butterfly effect in the Trisolaran Universe, culminating in a massive outburst at this very moment!

Jiang Yu had planned for this moment for a very long time, and the Trisolarans, to ensure that nothing went wrong, had poured the entirety of their civilization's might into the struggle for deterrence.

Furthermore, it was unclear whether by coincidence or through Trisolaran deduction of clues, they had obtained intelligence about the Solar System State's new radar system.

The Solar System State had just equipped a batch of the most advanced new radars in the Kuiper Belt, with a detection radius of fifteen hundred astronomical units.

Based on the orbit of the Kuiper Belt, the Solar System State had completed a dispersed deployment, increasing the detection radius to over fifteen hundred and eighty astronomical units.

The Waterdrop remained undetected while lying dormant, but the moment it accelerated, its position was immediately detected, and the intelligent computer even predicted its trajectory.

It was discovered half a minute earlier than the military radars of PDC that were very close by!

However, this radar network wasn't for surveilling The Waterdrop; military radars on Earth, the Jupiter Civilization Circle, and other locations were meant to deal with The Waterdrop.

This radar was intended to prevent the stealthy infiltration of new armed forces into the Solar System.

If, as Sophon suggested, the vanguard fleet entered the detection range of the radar, it would certainly be discovered!

And yet, they were positioned at sixteen hundred astronomical units! Jiang Yu did not believe that this was a coincidence; in such interstellar wars, coincidences simply do not occur.

Military equipment in the Kuiper Belt required transportation from other civilization circles, and related personnel needed to be called in for calibration; it was impossible to conceal completely, unless every space city and ship were equipped with a "Sophon Blind Zone."

In terms of the financial capability of the Solar System State, this was barely feasible; however, other aspects of development would stall.

To defend at the expense of offensive capability was a loss not worth the cost!

Hence, Jiang Yu's Strategic Department had long listed new equipment and technologies that could potentially be discovered by the Trisolarans; the new radar system was never on that list, which showed that the Trisolarans' analysis of intelligence was more extensive than imagined.

Sophon's speech continued, "Please commence migration preparations immediately. If the migration operations have not started within two months, The Waterdrop will attack humanity's space cities and/or major cities.

If the Solar System State does not comply with my commands, once the vanguard arrives, it will immediately destroy all space cities and extraterrestrial colonies under the control of Sun Nation!

"..."

Frustrated, Jiang Yu lit a cigarette and asked Number Three beside him, "Have we still not found Sophon's location? What about the position of The Waterdrop after its escape?"

Humanity needed to fight now, not listen to this machine spout off.

Number Three responded, "Sophon has been very careful this time, eluding our surveillance; we have yet to pinpoint its exact location.

"As for The Waterdrop, due to its high maneuverability, Commander Zhuang Yue believes that if we follow it, it will exhaust us to death.

"Since they are no longer a threat, it is better to track their trajectory and wait at our ease."

Jiang Yu nodded in agreement and did not intend to overrule Zhuang Yue's strategy; after all, he was not a professional soldier, and blind command would only worsen the situation.

He extinguished the half-smoked cigarette in his hand: "Notify Rediaz, declare war on the Trisolarans!"

Number Three was startled, "Is that necessary?"

The two sides were already in a state of engagement.

"It's necessary!" Jiang Yu affirmed, "Let the people see our resolve!"

Thus, two hours after Sophon's lecture, the Solar System State officially declared war on the Trisolarans.

At the same moment, Sophon was attacked by space weapons from the Solar System State; although Sophon itself remained unharmed, the robot's body was destroyed in front of many witnesses.

But the Trisolarans were well prepared and had readied numerous robots for Sophon. Sophon immediately appeared elsewhere, hoping to maintain the imagination of Sophon.

Attacks from the Solar System State ensued; it was only because J135, when entering PDC territory, was obstructed by the PDC military, that Sophon managed to escape.

The declaration of war by the Solar System State sent morale among its citizens soaring. They strongly supported the Governing Council's policies, which included calling back retired soldiers, urgently recruiting new troops, and militarizing industrial production.

Citizens of PDC and Fleet International, meanwhile, were glued to their portable computers, learning that signal jammers truly existed.

Three days later, they were still watching intently at home when they received news that the Trisolaran Interstellar Fleet had crossed the first band of space dust four years ago.

Furthermore, after observing the second and third bands of space dust, it was confirmed that the Trisolarans' ships had reached the speed of light!

And they were expected to reach the Solar System within sixty days.

Sophon said that the Second Fleet would slow down six thousand astronomical units from the Sun; scientists explained that this was to avoid the effects of lightspeed engines on planets.

Despair and gloom engulfed everyone.

PDC and Fleet International then declared one after another that they were willing to obey Sophon's orders.

As a result, Sophon took over their military forces first, stating that it wanted to recruit ten million soldiers to maintain order during the great migration and to eliminate the forces of the Solar System State.

It was also announced that these ten million soldiers could live in regions outside Australia after the arrival of the Trisolaran Second Fleet on Earth.

Suddenly, there was a flood of enlistees, and it was said sixteen billion people signed up.

Desert North Farm also issued a call for volunteers to the entire Earth, calling on humanity to join the fight against the Trisolarans.

But due to PDC's interference, there were very few enlistees.

Even after opening online registration, there were only over six million volunteers.

Considering PDC and Fleet International were now completely serving the Trisolarans, to make matters worse, they blocked J135 from attacking Sophon, so the Solar System State also declared war on PDC and Fleet International.

A war within the Earth's world thus erupted.

In the Jupiter Civilization Circle, the commander of the Third Corps of the Solar System State repeatedly invited the armed forces of Fleet International to join the resistance against the Trisolarans.

But the armed forces of Fleet International still surrendered to Sophon.

So, the Third Corps immediately launched an attack on Fleet International!

In the Kuiper Belt, state-of-the-art radars detected the infiltration of the Trisolaran vanguard, and the Commander-in-Chief Ai Qi responded swiftly!

The entire Solar System entered into a state of full combat readiness.

...

Bob was a captain in the PDC, and today, they received a strange order: inspect the situation at the Seventh Division's camp.

According to intelligence disseminated by senior officers, the Seventh Division, which had been besieging Desert North Farm, had not sent out any news since last night.

Since dark clouds still blanketed the sky above the camp, satellites couldn't capture specific images of the site, detecting only that the Seventh Division's equipment was present but no infrared heat signatures.

Does that mean the equipment is there, but the people have vanished?

Several batches of reconnaissance drones had already been launched, but they lost contact before they could enter the camp's airspace. Sophon had explored the area but merely stated that the Seventh Division was gone and instructed the command center to give up on them.

The command center wanted to understand the details better, but Sophon was reluctant to continue serving them, so they had no choice but to send the air-combat-capable J89 Squad to scout.