Chapter 338 Igniters
No. 7 reflected, "The spirit of the Mountain Civilization is indeed admirable. Whenever I think of their epic spanning a hundred thousand years of exploration and struggle, I am deeply moved.
"They even challenged the principle that survival and development are the primary elements of civilization, which may also be why they were willing to make contact with us."
The Military Governor said, "Yes, their yearning for space is boundless, and the speed of their technological development is remarkable. They might suffer from a lack of imagination, much like us.
"However, through their tenacious spirit of exploration, they still raised their Civilization Rank to 1.4, and their research into the microscopic world far surpasses ours.
"We made contact with them a hundred years ago, hoping they could bring us hope. If we did nothing, our death would indeed be certain, so we chose this risky gamble.
"Unexpectedly, they responded to us and were also willing to help us break free from the human crisis.
"But their demand is that we become their vassal civilization and join them in exploring the entire universe.
"In the eyes of the Mountain Civilization, the Dark Forest is merely a mountain peak that needs to be climbed. They are more willing to explore, more willing to take risks, and are always on the path of climbing than any other civilization.
"They also understand that in order to survive, maybe they should not keep climbing, but the very essence of their existence is to climb.
"Their civilization also has its limits, with mechanical thinking, lacking intuition, creativity, and emotions. They have recognized this and think we could help them and perfect them.
"In the end, we agreed to them, as we would rather place our trust in the Mountain Civilization than in humanity.
"They are also very cautious about war, which may relate to the wars they fought within the geological strata.
"Originally, they built a spacecraft the size of the Moon, hoping to use it for cosmic exploration.
"But upon learning about our story with humanity, they spent another hundred years building a hundred thousand super warships.
"Their warships are expected to arrive at the Trisolaran Star System in 50 years to help us lift the human blockade crisis. Afterwards, they will head to the Solar System, expected to arrive around the year 520 of the Crisis Era.
"I can see that rather than wanting to subjugate us to become their vassal civilization, they seem more interested in subjugating humanity to become their vassal civilization.
"They understand their strengths and weaknesses, and they may think that humanity could truly help them overcome their limitations.
"They also realize the threat of humanity but the cunning of humans is what they lack, which is also their 'mountain,' a mountain that the Mountain Civilization must climb."
In some ways, the Mountain Civilization is about challenging the rules; their desire for survival is not as avid as that of other civilizations.
The worldview and values of a silicon-based civilization may be different from those of carbon-based lifeforms; the urge to explore the universe is probably embedded in the deepest genetic codes of the Mountain Civilization, almost unchangeable.
But this characteristic is also the most crucial for breaking the Dark Forest. To survive, one should not climb the Dark Forest, but to break the Dark Forest, one must climb it.
No. 7 lamented, "Yeah, it's really amazing to think that three stellar civilizations have emerged within just 10 light-years.
"Why did the creator gather us all at such a close distance, and coincidentally, at a similar time point, we each independently developed the technology and capabilities just beyond our Home Star Systems.
"The three of us are destined to meet on this cosmic stage, but who knows what the final outcome will be?
"For a 1.1-rank civilization to overthrow a 1.2-rank civilization might be possible, Humanity did just that during the Battle of the Dust.
"But there is a watershed between a 1.3-rank civilization and a 1.4-rank civilization. Civilizations that enter rank 1.4 are in many ways beyond what a rank 1.3 civilization could imagine.
"I don't believe that humanity this time can resolve the Mountain Civilization crisis, with a 1.3-rank civilization overthrowing a 1.4-rank civilization.
"However, from the current trends, it seems that our three civilizations are vaguely moving toward a union. After being oppressed and blockaded by humanity for a hundred years, we might not be too opposed to this idea after all.
"There will inevitably be a war between them, but it's more like a struggle for the right to lead a united civilization.
"Born in this universe, we are the first to be eliminated.
"Ah, thinking about the Trisolaran Civilization soon becoming a vassal to others, whether to the Mountain Civilization or to humanity, I can't help but feel discontent."
The Military Governor consoled, "Temporary weakness doesn't equate to future weakness. As long as we can survive this time, we still have hope, and hope is our most precious thing."
"I have always been reading the history of humanity, and I am very interested in the story of King Goujian of Yue.
"Defeat is defeat, he did not dwell on the past, willingly becoming a servant to his enemy. Enduring hardship and biding his time, he eventually took advantage of his foe's vulnerability and utterly annihilated them.
"A phrase from Lin Sen left a deep impression on me, 'A century of life gathered, a century of lessons learned, in two hundred years we will meet the uplifted heads of Trisolaris,' which almost mirrors the story of King Goujian.
"I believe that we will certainly be able to secure enough living space for Trisolaris."
No. 7 sighed, his tone filled with helplessness and hope, "Let's hope so!
"We Trisolarans, facing the extreme scarcity of resources, often have to gamble everything at critical moments.
"If we win, we can create a brand-new future, filled with limitless possibilities; if we lose, it means losing everything, falling into an abyss from which we cannot recover.
"In the long war with humanity, unfortunately, we have gambled and lost every time, and now we are left to barely survive in this vast fog, searching for a glimmer of hope.
"And now, we even have to make a greater gamble, becoming 'Igniters' ourselves.
"Ye Wenjie became an 'Igniter,' and she was also nailed to humanity's pillar of shame, bearing endless curses and blame.
"It wasn't until Lin Sen led humanity to defeat us that some within humanity began to reevaluate Ye Wenjie.
"As for Ye Wenjie, whether she pushed humanity to the brink of destruction or gave it an opportunity for rebirth from the ashes, nobody can say for sure now.
"We can only understand that Ye Wenjie became an 'Igniter,' but human civilization was lucky to meet Lin Sen, the 'Torchbearer,' otherwise humanity would most likely have perished in this 'fire.'
"Now we have become 'Igniters' too, and who knows how future histories will judge us.
"Perhaps we will be, like Ye Wenjie, nailed to the pillar of shame of Trisolaran civilization.
"As for the future, we have no clue; we merely pray that this time, Trisolaris has not gambled incorrectly!
"We… cannot afford another mistake!"
The Military Governor spoke with a grave expression, "We ask not to be of service to Trisolaris, but to be faultless before our own conscience.
"Not to be confused by appearances, not to be deluded by our hearts, no matter how the situation changes in the future, we can only first do our best.
"Perhaps the conflict between the Mountain Civilization and human civilization could also be an opportunity for us."
Just then, the Sophon Governor hurriedly entered, requesting an audience with The Head. His expression was stern, clearly bringing significant news.
Sophon Governor, "The Head, just now through the surveillance of the Sophons, a colossal planetary-class spacecraft was spotted approaching the Solar System at a rapid pace from 3 light years away, and it is estimated to reach the Solar System in 30 years.
"Preliminary judgment suggests that this spacecraft comes from the direction of Proxima Centauri. At the same time, we have intercepted a directional reply broadcast message sent by humanity to an unknown civilization along this route.
"We speculate that an unknown civilization must have had a spacecraft that arrived in the Solar System 2 years ago and has already made contact with humanity.
"Because our sophons dare not approach within 8000 astronomical units of the Solar System, and the broadcast from the unknown civilization is directed into the Solar System, we do not know the content of the message from the unknown civilization.
"We have only received the reply from humanity to the unknown civilization. Since this broadcast is a low-power signal, the signal we received is very weak, and some content has not been deciphered.
"Based on this reply, we can speculate that the unknown civilization may already know about our past invasion of the Solar System. They might need to enter the Solar System for resupplying materials and energy.
"This is a new civilization, and we have not been able to determine their Civilization Rank for the time being."
This news was undoubtedly shocking for the Trisolaran world. Now, this small space had seen the appearance of a fourth civilization, and the cosmic order was once again disrupted.
At this moment, the Trisolarans need to urgently analyze what impact this new unknown civilization could have on them. With such a complex situation, the future of the Trisolarans is filled with even more uncertainty.
After hearing this, The Head's expression grew solemn, and he immediately called a Council of Regents meeting to address this sudden turn of events.