Chapter 223: The Final Battle, The Most Crucial Choice of Trisolaris_1
Lin Sen staggered, breaking out in cold sweats, and hurriedly shouted,
"Wait... we shouldn't be doing this, we can join hands..."
"Hines, quickly send out a broadcast, tell Ye Chen to lead the federal fleet and escape!
"Humanity has truly failed this time..."
The brokenness in Lin Sen's voice, as well as the complete lack of logic between sentences, clearly indicated that he had lost his composure.
The Trisolarans, seeing Lin Sen's state, finally relaxed, casting aside their righteous indignation and their resolve not to believe Lin Sen's words to the wind.
It proved that, whether humans or Trisolarans, everyone only believes what they want to believe.
The leader breathed another sigh of relief,
"Next, we've essentially secured the battle situation, yes... the advantage is ours!"
No. 7 felt a swell of pressure in his head, that cursed phrase again, wondering if the Trisolarans would stumble yet again here.
At this moment, the four Waterdrops joined tails, their tips producing a blue halo.
This was a halo formed by the merging of the light from the four Waterdrops, thicker and brighter than that of a single Waterdrop. Though its size remained unchanged, the color shifted from blue to yellow and finally to red.
After that, another halo appeared in front of the first one, its color growing increasingly deeper.
As the number of halos multiplied, the Trisolarans came closer to victory, but No. 7 became more and more anxious.
No. 7's thoughts raced like a runaway wild horse, unable to come to a stop. He felt there was some crucial detail he was missing, his thoughts so rapid that even the thought shield struggled to keep up.
In a flash, the image of a man surfaced in No. 7's mind, followed by his plan... and in an instant, fear surged like a tide, overwhelming his entire soul.
Only at this moment did No. 7 have an epiphany, realizing the source of his ongoing unease was his neglect of a vitally important figure—Logic.
The formerly highly regarded, now greatly underestimated character was now stirring a storm in his heart.
Lin Sen had all along been downplaying Logic's role, resorting to hibernation early, as if Logic were still caught in a time 200 years prior.
As a result, the Trisolarans had focused their attention solely on Lin Sen, but in essence, Logic too was a Wallfacer, initially the most threatening of them all.
Logic's Snowfield Project plan seemed to be a cover for many large-scale broadcasts, but No. 7 had always felt this cover was excessive.
No. 7 had even incorporated all the deployment points of the starbusters into the calculation model, yet came to no conclusion.
On one hand, Logic had deployed two sets of starburster bombs for the Starburst Project—one in Jupiter Orbit, the other in the Kuiper Belt.
On the other hand, Logic also deployed a significant number of extra starbusters, and he did not directly use the Cradle System.
Under such circumstances, No. 7 could not infer any meaning from all of Logic's actions.
However, if one shifted the thought process in reverse, first plotting the coordinates of all stars within 50 light-years of the Solar System and transforming them into three three-dimensional coordinate maps,
and then combining this with Logic's Snowfield Project, it would be discovered that at every stellar coordinate, there was a starbuster deployed by Logic.
Not only were there corresponding bombs for every stellar coordinate in Jupiter Orbit, but there were also corresponding bombs for every star in the Kuiper Belt.
The Kuiper Belt had three starbusters deployed at each point, utilizing virtually all of the more than 20,000 starbusters provided by Command Headquarters...
Lin Sen still had the power to utilize Dark Forest Deterrence, but he was still acting...
There could be only one truth—Lin Sen had another plan...
No. 7 also wavered, and if not for his robust physique, he himself would almost be dehydrated.
With every ounce of strength, No. 7 broadcast the strongest possible brainwave to all Trisolarans: "Do not attack, this is a trap, Lin Sen must have anticipated the Waterdrop's attack."
Leader: "There are 2 seconds left before the Waterdrop's attack is launched, what is the reason to stop the attack?"
The Trisolarans communicated quickly, and a lot could be discussed within 2 seconds.
No. 7: "I'm not sure, but even now Lin Sen can still carry out Dark Forest Deterrence, and we cannot block off their means of sending out coordinates to the outside world."
He then quickly explained Logic's Starburst Project.
When the leader heard No. 7's analysis, he too was nearly unable to hold up, realizing that Lin Sen always had the capability to carry out Dark Forest Deterrence.
Was everything Lin Sen had done up to now, including now, all part of an act?
Did he not even care about destroying the Sophon-Blocked Zone?
Up to this point, had everything been within Lin Sen's calculations, and what then was Lin Sen's ultimate goal?
The Führer said with a tremble, "It's too terrifying, humanity is too terrifying.
"How could their cunning possibly reach such a level?
"But... if we do not launch an attack, what other methods do we have to deal with humans?"
No. 7 was also trying hard to maintain its own shape, having been scared by Lin Sen:
"We have failed to a certain extent.
"The best choice is to make The Waterdrop immediately leave the dense fog, but not too far away, to confront them.
"If they use Dark Forest Deterrence, we can only engage in negotiations. Because the victory humanity has achieved would actually decrease their deterrent level, their terms can't be too excessive.
"If they don't use Dark Forest Deterrence, it indicates they might have an even greater scheme, and all we can do is try our best to maintain the situation.
"No matter what, we can still bluff, and we still have hope."
The Führer: "That is to say, we also haven't figured out Lin Sen's scheme, these are all just our speculations.
"This brings us back to the standoff situation Lin Sen mentioned.
"Perhaps, Lin Sen wants us to be wary, afraid to attack.
"We don't even know if launching an attack to destroy the Sophon-Blocked Zone is more advantageous for us, or if continuing the standoff is more advantageous."
No. 7: "Indeed, what we can confirm right now is only that Lin Sen is lying. As for the rest, we still have no clue.
"We must admit, compared to the cunning of humankind, we still appear too naive."
The Trisolarans are now also in a logical loop; attacking might be exactly what Lin Sen wants, but not attacking might also be exactly what Lin Sen wants, and that's what's driving the Trisolarans crazy.
The most critical thing is, there's no time left...
The Führer seemed to make a certain resolution and said gravely:
"Hesitate and you will be in turmoil.
"We have reached the most crucial moment of the decisive battle, and the strike must be launched.
"It's like encountering a treasure chest in a desperate situation. If we open it, it might be the key to escaping the predicament, but it could also be a trap set by the devil.
"Trisolarans have not come this far easily; we fear no difficulties and shrink from no challenges, our spirit is to never retreat.
"Tri-Solar Day can't destroy us, the Great Rip can't destroy us, the only thing we don't do is shrink back in the face of difficulty, even if it's death, we will face it bravely.
"No matter what is in the chest, we need to open it and face it, this is our Trisolaran spirit.
"If Lin Sen really has other schemes, we are willing to accept failure.
"If not, we will miss the best opportunity.
"Risk and opportunity exist together, although we have ultimately been outwitted by humans in terms of strategy, we absolutely cannot lose in spirit.
"This strike, I will launch; the destiny of Trisolaran civilization is in my hands.
"If successful, I will become the greatest Führer in the history of the Trisolaran world; if I fail, I will become the greatest sinner in the history of the Trisolaran world.
"Let me bear the success and failure of our civilization!"
...
At this moment, the fourth ring at the tail of the four The Waterdrops had lit up, as if activated by some mysterious force.
Then, an extremely thin energy beam burst forth from the center of the 4 parallel rings, aiming directly at the core of the Sophon-Blocked Zone.
Under the counterforce of this attack, The Waterdrop retreated at high speed.
Although this energy beam was extremely thin, no one dared to underestimate its power.
The nanoscale particle fog seemed to be ignited by the beam, exploding into a dazzling light in an instant. The glowing fire followed the direction of the beam, continuing forward with an irresistible momentum, directly towards the center of the dense fog.
It could be anticipated that, in two seconds, the last barrier of humanity, the Sophon-Blocked Zone, would be destroyed by this beam.
At this moment, people once again profoundly realized the great strength of the Trisolarans, their technological prowess far surpassing human imagination.
Many experts analyzed the energy density of this thin line after the battle, and it was nearly a thousand times that of the main cannon of a human warship; this kind of attack is something even neutron star material could not withstand.
This was also the most powerful strike ever made by the Trisolarans up to this point; it was not just a crushing blow to human technology, but also to human will.