Chapter 230: Revealing the Dark Forest

The Solar System's Governing Representative said, "The universe is a Dark Forest. Every civilization must hide itself; the moment it is exposed, it will be hunted down by the 'Hunters' around it."

"This... is this the current state of the universe? How could it be like this?

"The chasms between civilizations are so vast, with complete mistrust, following only the most basic laws of the jungle."

"Then... do we have such 'Hunters' around us?"

The representatives of the Solar System, humanity's elites, quickly understood the principles of the Dark Forest.

No matter what the underlying logic might be, one undeniable fact was that the Trisolarans certainly had solid evidence to prove the existence of the Dark Forest.

Trisolaris: "Yes, and a lot of it.

The nerves of the Dark Forest have been stretched to their limits in the struggle to survive. Once our coordinates are exposed, it will touch their most sensitive nerve.

Assume there are a million hunters in the forest (the number of civilizations in the hundreds of billions of stars in the Milky Way Galaxy might be hundreds of times this number). Perhaps nine hundred thousand of them might ignore this marker;

Out of the remaining hundred thousand hunters, maybe ninety thousand will detect that location and, upon finding no biological presence, likewise ignore it;

Then, among the last ten thousand hunters left, there are definitely some who will make the following choice: fire a shot in that direction just to try, because for civilizations that have developed to a certain level of technology, attacking might be easier and safer than detecting, and if there really is nothing at the location, they lose nothing.

We have been observing this piece of the universe for thousands of years. The most recent Dark Forest Strike happened 700 Earth years ago, 100 light-years away.

Perhaps they are already close to us, or maybe they are already among us. That is what we fear."

This message sent all of humanity into an ice cave, and the fear brought about by the unknown caused anxiety and dread to flood people's minds like a tide.

Just when humans thought they had overcome Trisolaris and were preparing to vent the emotions suppressed for 200 years, celebrating our great victory,

they were informed that there were countless "Hunters" even more powerful than the Trisolarans lurking in the darkness.

In less than 30 hours, all of humanity experienced unprecedented emotional turbulence, like riding a roller coaster for the soul.

From the joyous peak of victory over Trisolaris to the shock and fear of the more powerful "Hunters" lurking in the Dark Forest. The emotional drop and fluctuations were not just astonishment or panic but a profound test of the human will and spirit.

The Governing Representative of the Solar System said urgently, "Initiate universal broadcast control across humanity immediately. Set all high-power broadcast equipment to be strictly forbidden substances."

"Wait... If The Waterdrop has already sealed off the sun, then why do they need to negotiate with us?

"You should be afraid of us massively fleeing."

Logic said, "Let me answer that. We realized long ago that the Trisolarans might possess the capability to seal off the Sun.

"The reason is simple, if they didn't have such a capability, they wouldn't dare to invade the Solar System. That would be too dangerous for them.

"So, I used the Snowfield Project and meticulously deployed more than 20,000 nuclear bombs wrapped in a filmy substance.

"I deployed over 4,000 in the orbit of Jupiter, with 3,614 being effective. Once they explode, it will form 3,614 interstellar dust clouds around the Sun.

"Observing from afar, behind these dust clouds the Sun will flicker in visible light and other high-frequency bands.

"All the positions of the nuclear bombs were carefully arranged such that the Sun's flickering would send out three simple shapes, each with an arrangement of thirty dots, and tagging one of the dots; they can form a three-dimensional coordinate diagram.

"The marked dot is the location of the Trisolaran world. This is the Starshine Project.

"I was worried this plan would be detected by the Trisolarans and destroyed after the war began. So, using the remaining 16,000 nuclear bombs, I deployed a more powerful Starshine Project in the Kuiper Belt.

"Each point was created by exploding three or four nuclear bombs spaced a million kilometers apart, forming several connected dust clouds."

The Solar System's Governing Representative said, "This... is this the Wallfacer Project? It's simply inconceivable!

"Esteemed Wallfacers, can we propose negotiation terms?

"Let the Trisolarans provide us with the technology to send out interstellar broadcasts, preferably gravitational wave broadcast technology!"

Mr. Lin Sen said, "This universe is a Dark Forest, but I hope that sunshine can enter this forest, even just a little.

"I hope to coexist peacefully with the Trisolarans. 'Asking for their technology is actually not conducive to the long-term development of human civilization, something we who have experienced the Earth-Moon hegemonic period should understand even more clearly.

"We should create whatever technology we need for ourselves. Science and technology cannot be locked away, and the past 200 years have proven that our potential is limitless. We must not let limited technology constrain our boundless progress."

Trisolaris: "We agree to grant this technology to humanity.

Mr. Lin Sen, rest assured, we will not include any flaws in this technology.

Lin Sen: "I am not worried about this technology, but what about my other technologies?"

"When you truly understand what trust is, you will realize that being guarded is also a form of trust."

No. 7 really wanted to roll its eyes at Lin Sen: Okay, being guarded is trust, then I trust you very much.

Trisolaran: [We lost this war, we were defeated by the Wallfacer's strategems, and even more so by your cooperation.

Mr. Lin Sen's plan involved an interlocking series of steps, and ultimately we were defeated by your final escape and resource exchange plan.

This was the earliest plan you proposed, and we have always underestimated these plans, thinking each time that it was the final layer, only to find that there would be an even deeper layer.

Your plans seemed to be never-ending, and of course, your acting and leading were also key to your success, which we greatly admire.

Furthermore, the cooperation you had with Logic, Rey Diaz, Hines, Tyler, Ye Chen, Feng Zi... and others was astounding to us.

Rey Diaz was the founder of the Human Warship, and in the end, he successfully used antimatter to destroy one of our Waterdrops during the warship's modification.

Hines's Thoughtcontrol combined with Tyler's Ball Lightning gave birth to the Sophon-Blocked Zone and the Mental Quantum Sensing Array; without these two things, Humanity could not have captured our Waterdrops.

Ye Chen, with his extraordinary command ability, destroyed another one of our Waterdrops, the only Waterdrop Humanity has honorably destroyed in direct combat, even if Ye Chen's acting was a key factor.

Feng Zi was someone who independently deduced the Dark Forest based on his own military genius and maintained the balance of war for the Earth-Moon Camp for over a century through his own strength.

Maintaining a balance in the war is innumerable times more difficult than defeating the opponent. This balance of war also led to a rapid increase in strength for both sides, and half of Humanity's development over these two centuries should be credited to Feng Zi.

You are the true hope of human civilization!]

That was how the Trisolarans appraised Humanity, skilfully avoiding some issues. Since Trisolaris had already lost, why not praise these people highly.

Lin Sen: "But I think that the Trisolaran development over these 200 years has also been tremendous.

"First is the advancement in strategems, you are no longer as afraid of contact with Humanity as you were 200 years ago.

"Your strategies in this war have far exceeded human expectations.

"Next is your breakthrough in technology. If I'm not mistaken, you should have achieved controlled nuclear fusion of the sixth generation. As long as you have water, you'll never again lack resources.

"Your living space has been greatly expanded, and with an unlimited supply of resources, you will certainly be able to create a more splendid civilization.

"I have a dream that maybe one day, the brilliant sunlight will shine into the Dark Forest.

"Beneath the brilliant sunlight, children will play together!

"I believe you must have similar thoughts, it's just that you do not yet trust us, I hope that time will change all this."

Trisolaran: [Our children also wish to live under brilliant sunlight!

But you and I both know that this takes time!

We still need to wait and see...]

Ye Chen: "On behalf of all Humanity, I welcome you, Trisolarans!"

The negotiations between Humanity and the Trisolarans seemed to have no substantive content, merely conveying a mutual intention to cooperate, but peace had finally arrived, albeit briefly.

Both sides knew that, not long into the future, this peace would certainly be broken.

To Humanity, the Swordholder was merely one method to prevent the Trisolarans, but not the only one. Humanity was more intent on a direct confrontation with the Trisolarans in the theater of war.

PS: Contrary to what most think, it's not two axioms and the chain of suspicion, or a technological explosion, that deduced the Dark Forest. It's the fact that the Dark Forest truly exists which led to the deduction of the two axioms and the chain of suspicion, and the technological explosion.

In later chapters, this concept will also be introduced, and several reasons have also been summarized in previous chapters:

One, the civilization expanded too quickly, sharply reducing living space.

Two, the universe is easily damaged and not readily restored. Destruction is harder than construction. For example, the technology of the two-dimensional foil is simple and economical, but once demoted, even the god-level civilizations cannot repair it.

Three, the war the universe experienced early on nearly crippled it, and even the Sweepers today are in essence protecting the universe, preventing more civilizations from reaching high-level development, as that would accelerate the decay of the universe.