Chapter 331 Humanity's Response

Solar System Alliance, Command Headquarters, Crisis Center, Virtual Conference Hall.

Holographic images interwove into a busy and tense scene, with virtually all important figures of the entire Solar System and their staff teams entering the meeting. Wallfacer International was also present, and the atmosphere was grave and full of urgency.

Ye Chen: "After our analysis, this spaceship that appeared suddenly is suspected to be an envoy spaceship from the Trisolaran Civilization.

"They clearly believe that the Trisolarans occupy the Solar System, and they have a simple understanding of us, but clearly not much.

"Because they are short on resources, they want to reach an agreement with us to enter the Solar System to replenish their resources.

"But they want to carry out temporary resource replenishment on Earth, which confuses us.

"Considering the technology and structure of the envoy spaceship, their level of civilization does not seem to be very high, which is puzzling, as the spaceship is also too big.

"What's even more baffling is that judging from its exterior structure and design logic, it should be suitable for landing directly on planets.

"Why would an interstellar spaceship need to land directly on planets rather than using landing capsules? All of this is beyond our conventional understanding."

Lin Sen was also looking at this "strange" spaceship, and he immediately understood that this must be the "Swallower."

Ever since a large number of dinosaur civilization relics were unearthed on Earth, Lin Sen had speculated that it was highly likely that Swallowers existed in this world, perhaps on their way home.

The fact that they need Earth as a resource replenishment almost certainly confirmed Lin Sen's speculation.

It's estimated that no one realizes yet that Swallowers don't just want to replenish resources on Earth, but instead want to replenish their resources with Earth itself.

Swallowers are going home!

Swallowers returning home now might even be good for human civilization. If humans continue on the current trend, there is a possibility that humanity will sink into complacency.

In another 300 years, even if his "Death Star" project is completed, if humans have become too comfortable, they might find it very difficult to leave the Solar System.

The eventual outcome might be that, when the Hines Strike arrives, some people will leave aboard lightspeed spacecraft, turning the entire Solar System into a low-lightspeed black hole, which is the last thing Lin Sen wants to see.

But with humanity's current technology, if Da Ya has the audacity to reveal its intentions of devouring people, Lin Sen wouldn't mind pulling out its teeth.

At that moment, Lin Sen slowly stood up, just as two centuries ago, calm and forceful:

"I think I might know who they are, of course, this is still just a guess, but we can test this assumption.

"About the fact that the Solar System is not ruled by the Trisolarans, I think we can straightforwardly disclose this. There is no need to hide it, we might have to interact with them in the long run.

"Their envoy spaceship is indeed huge, and I don't think it's a trap; it's because their bodies are too large, so their spaceship had to be built very big."

The crowd looked at Lin Sen in astonishment, filled with shock and confusion. This was humanity's second contact with an alien civilization, and Lin Sen was claiming to have guessed their identity? And that humans might have to coexist with them for a long time, which was simply unbelievable!

As incredible as it sounded, everyone present chose to believe him.

Everyone there, each one a veteran of two battles with the Trisolaran Civilization, held Lin Sen in awe.

In the past century, Lin Sen rarely appeared in public, but his status in people's hearts had never wavered.

Lin Sen then composed a message:

"Human civilization sends greetings to the unknown civilization.

We have successfully repelled the invasion of the Trisolaran Civilization, and today the Solar System remains our territory.

As the children of the Sun, this is our territory, and we must guard it well, not allowing anyone to damage it!

We can provide your civilization with the resources you need but will not allow Earth to be given to you!"

The meaning of the second and third sentences was indeed clear and unmistakable, declaring that the Solar System was still under human control and had not been invaded, and that humanity had defended its territory.

It was also a reminder that humans had successfully repelled the Trisolaran invasion and had the strength and confidence to resist any new threat.

But the last sentence, "We will not allow Earth to be given to you," left the people somewhat puzzled.

People were not clear why the unknown civilization needed to replenish resources on Earth, but Lin Sen's refusal to give up Earth was even more baffling.

Lin Sen further explained: "I suspect they don't want to replenish resources on Earth, but directly use Earth as a resource replenishment, they might intend to devour Earth.

"This is just a speculation, but we can see how they respond to verify my guess,"

Despite Lin Sen's explanation, the crowd felt even more puzzled, with many raising objections, considering it to be as fanciful as a fairy tale and utterly impossible. They argued that the message from the other party was most likely a problem with semantic translation.

Ye Chen also gave Lin Sen a deep look, confident he could see through anyone. But over the years, Ye Chen felt he had never truly seen through Lin Sen.

Every step Lin Sen took initially baffled people, but in hindsight, it would always turn out that Lin Sen's choice was the only choice. He seemed to have never been wrong.

Why Lin Sen could see through everything was what Ye Chen found most incomprehensible.

Now, at the critical moment of human communication with a new alien civilization, Ye Chen still chose to stand firmly by Lin Sen's side, believing in Lin Sen's judgment.

Thus, the message was sent to that unknown civilization without a single word altered.

...

Inside the Da Ya Envoy Spaceship.

Almost simultaneously, Da Ya and Shui Wa saw the message from human civilization.

When Shui Wa and the crew members saw the content, their emotions surged, and they embraced each other.

They could hardly believe it—humanity had actually won, they had actually defeated the mighty Trisolaran Civilization! This was their most thrilling moment in over 400 years.

Many among them were already aged, but to witness humanity's victory in the twilight of their lives was a joy beyond measure, leaving them with no regrets in death. The sweetness of victory was like refreshing spring water reviving their parched hearts.

However, Da Ya was somewhat perplexed. He furrowed his eyebrows and asked Shui Wa:

"If you haven't lied to me, then when you left, human civilization had just reached Level 0.8. And by then, the Trisolarans had already launched 20 unidentified objects toward Earth, which we guess were weapons made of strong interaction material.

"According to your era time, around the 200th year of the Crisis Era, humanity must have engaged in combat with these 20 strong interaction material weapons, and your technology was still under the Sophon Blockade.

"So, how could you possibly have defeated them? It's utterly impossible.

"Your only hope would have been to establish a deterrence system using the Dark Forest, and from your story, it's clear that humans like Logic and Lin Sen must have understood the Dark Forest Theory.

"But in around 400 years after the crisis occurred, Trisolaran Warships were also set to arrive in the Solar System, and they would surely have had a way to break the deterrence system, or at least continue the blockade of the Solar System.

"And looking at the current situation, with the Trisolarans retreating, it's almost certain that humanity had a major battle with them and repelled them. That means human technology must be at least at Level 1.1 now, but that's completely impossible, right?

"How could you possibly have advanced your civilization's technology level so quickly while microtechnology was still blockaded?"

Shui Wa and the crew still wore their proud and joyous smiles, but they too couldn't understand how this was possible.

After some thought, Shui Wa said, "I don't know this part either, but perhaps it is the will of humanity; no difficulty can stop us.

"Or maybe, as you said, it's a matter of the potential of civilizations. The weakness of the Trisolaran civilization is quite evident, the most likely explanation is that they were outsmarted by humanity.

"Before I left the Solar System, one of Lin Sen's carefully devised strategies succeeded in annihilating the ETO and securing a great deal of Trisolaran technology. Perhaps afterwards, Wallfacers implemented similar schemes several times over, garnering a significant amount of Trisolaran technology.

"Although I also understand that strategies may not have much effect in the face of an absolute technological disparity, I can think of no other explanation."

Da Ya nodded on hearing Shui Wa's words and said:

"That's possible. Since it has happened, there must be some explanation we are not aware of but that is logical.

"Forget it, it's useless to think too much.

"However, the reply from humanity is indeed very odd. It's normal for them to threaten us, and they are entitled to do so.

"But in the message I sent, I deliberately used ambiguous terms; shouldn't they have interpreted it as us needing to replenish resources on Earth?

"Why does it feel like they knew we intended to devour Earth? My original plan was to lead them into misunderstanding, to smoothly allow the era spacecraft to land on Earth, and then devour it.

"Within the deterrence system, established facts need to be accepted; they have no choice.

"But now with humanity's resolute response, we too are unsure of what to do.

"We're not afraid of going to war, but the consequences of a war are unpredictable. Without replenishment, I may have to proceed to the next stellar system, something we are reluctant to do."