Chapter 356: The Mountains and Trisolaris, The Civilization Alliance

Human warships fled in disarray, but they also continuously released unmanned drones to manufacture Sophon Blind Zones. Meanwhile, a large number of human sophons and some unmanned probes were bravely left behind, monitoring the attack trajectory of those lethal high-energy sophon beams, as humanity fought for every glimmer of hope for survival.

The Mountain Civilization knew that this might be their last chance to completely annihilate human warships. Therefore, they no longer pursued the neutron star warships that had already escaped to distant regions, but instead locked their sights on the ordinary human warships nearby, preparing to deliver a fatal blow.

The high-energy sophon beams of the Mountain Civilization were like chains dancing between the stars, each filled with destructive power. They shuttled constantly among dozens of astronomical units, weaving a vast and lethal web of death.

Under the shroud of this web of death, the once-mighty human warships appeared so tiny and helpless. One warship after another was mercilessly devoured by those dancing chains.

The wreckage of warships and the explosions of light intertwined, forming a tragic tapestry of war, while the sophon beams of the Mountain Civilization, like heartless reapers, continued their journey of destruction.

Although human warships had the ability to completely envelop themselves in sophon blind zones, during the urgent escape process, they were accelerating with all their might, seeking to flee the danger zone as quickly as possible. Therefore, it was impossible to manufacture a sophon blind zone in front of the warships in time to provide comprehensive protection.

Therefore, they chose escape routes with as many sophon blind zones as possible, hoping to find more refuge during the escape and to win more chances for survival for the warships and their crews.

At the same time, numerous human warships demonstrated extraordinary collaboration and spirit of sacrifice. During the escape, they formed columns with other warships, the leading ships creating an abundance of sophon blind zones in front to provide shelter for the following warships, while they themselves faced the threat of the Mountain Civilization's high-energy sophon beams.

This was the belief of humanity in that era.

And the high-energy sophon beams of the Mountain Civilization, like a precise hunter, roamed the interstellar space. They had likely locked onto the next potential gap in the sophon blind zones the human warships might pass through, waiting to deliver a fatal blow.

Human warships continuously changed their course during escape, trying to confuse the Mountain Civilization's sophon beams; while the Mountain Civilization kept adjusting the attack direction of their sophon beams, attempting to find a weakness in human warships.

This was a mutual gamble of wit and courage, where both sides utilized their tactics and strategies to the utmost.

Two hours later.

The second wave of attacks from the Mountain Civilization arrived as expected, but by then, the long and fierce confrontation had essentially drawn to a close. Relying on tenacious resistance and exceptional command, most of the human warships successfully accelerated to between 15% and 20% of the speed of light.

At that moment, the warships also stopped accelerating and released some unmanned drones to quickly deploy sophon blind zones around the warships; they temporarily gained safety. (The drones absolutely could not catch up to the warships during their acceleration.)

At this point, pursuing with high-energy sophon beams no longer made sense and was, instead, dangerous.

Looking back at this battle, a total of 2718 human warships were destroyed (the natural logarithm e ≈ 2.718), including 314 neutron star warships (the value of pi π ≈ 3.14).

Compared to the Mountain Civilization's predictions, human losses were much smaller. In the end, a total of 7924 warships successfully fled toward Sirius (the speed of light in a vacuum c ≈ 299,792.4 kilometers per second).

Humanity was gratified with such an outcome, but also deeply grieved, as it was achieved through the sacrifice of countless warriors. Yet, to have preserved so many warships under the onslaught of another civilization, they felt pride.

This initial attack launched by the Mountain Civilization against humanity also came to a temporary end.

But humanity could not let their guard down just yet; if the new wave of 2000 high-energy sophon beams continued to chase the Escape Fleet, human warships were still at risk of being destroyed by these beams if any vulnerabilities were exposed.

Furthermore, the warships' supply of resources was not infinite; it was also impossible for all warships to continuously deploy sophon blind zones indefinitely.

And the Mountain Civilization's sophons could not discern whether human warships were deploying sophon blind zones, leading to another prolonged process of mutual strategy. Human warships had to be extremely cautious in concealing their tracks and intentions, not exposing any weaknesses.

...

Four days after the first encounter with the Mountain Civilization, the Vanguard Fleet of the Mountain Civilization finally arrived at the Trisolaran Star System. This held immense significance for both civilizations.

Since the Dust Battle, Trisolaran Civilization had undergone over 200 years of profound reform and self-sculpting, revolutionizing their value system completely.

During this prolonged period, they also gradually developed a family system similar to yet distinct from humanity's. Unlike humans, the number of family members for Trisolarans was not limited; as long as they shared a common vision and acknowledged each other, they could form a family together.

The emergence of families also signaled that a tide of privatization and liberalization had swept over the Trisolaran world. These series of changes acted like potent catalysts, greatly stimulating the innovative vitality of society and the potential of individuals.

Trisolaran Civilization achieved unprecedented leaps in technology, arts, philosophy, and many other fields. They not only made significant scientific breakthroughs but also pioneered new schools and thought systems in the arts and philosophical domains.

However, as with any comprehensive social reform, the process was accompanied by challenges and growing pains. While enjoying the fruits of change, the Trisolaran world also experienced several profound downturns. Social turmoil and technological setbacks posed unprecedented tests to Trisolaran Civilization.

Fortunately, thanks to the extrapolation of the Trisolaran Society model and the proactive layout by The Head and other high-level officials, Trisolaran Civilization was ultimately able to safely navigate through each crisis. Nevertheless, after several severe downturns, the population of Trisolaran Civilization had dwindled to fewer than two billion.

Today's Trisolaran Civilization is scattered across thousands of mist-enshrouded areas. Under the strong suppression of humanity, their resources are completely divided, and they have formed completely isolated islands from one another.

They still can use Sophons for communication and exchange, but the technological systems between regions show enormous disparities. Now, they can finally merge together.

This seems to imitate humanity's once-isolated island plan, and their standoff with humanity seems to be another imitation of the Lagrange plan.

The Trisolarans suppressed human technology for over two hundred years, and later, humanity similarly suppressed the Trisolarans for over two hundred years. It seems like a cyclical fate, where every drink and peck is preordained—a cause for every effect.

Long before the coming of Mountain Civilization, the Trisolaran leadership began to leak information about this new civilization to all Trisolaran Civilians, bit by bit.

After years of development and subtle, pervasive propaganda, the Trisolarans gradually shifted from initial strangeness to acceptance and anticipation.

But when they learned that the future of Trisolarans required an alliance with Mountain Civilization, they did not show too much repulsion.

After all, Trisolaran Civilization had fallen into an unprecedented plight, and since Mountain Civilization did not intend to destroy them, this was already the greatest kindness in the universe. How could the Trisolarans oppose it?

Moreover, an alliance with Mountain Civilization might well be their last lifeline. Even if they became vassals of Mountain Civilization, as long as Trisolaran Civilization still existed, there would still be hope for the future.

There is not much deception between civilizations; they often follow a simple and cruel logic.

For Mountain Civilization, deceiving the Trisolarans was completely unnecessary. The cost and risk of preserving Trisolaran Civilization far outweighed the cost of obliterating it.

And the specific benefits of the alliance with the Trisolarans were unpredictable; exchanges between civilizations are filled with unknowns and variables.

This is one of the reasons the Trisolarans could accept becoming vassals to Mountain Civilization.

A simple concept of Mountain Civilization was to view the Dark Forest as a mountain that they needed to climb.

The conditions Mountain Civilization proposed to Trisolaran Civilization turned out to be quite similar to what humanity once offered the Dinosaur Civilization.

These conditions not only essentially guaranteed the independence of Trisolaran Civilization but also gave Trisolarans an equal status within the civilizational union.

The requirement was to climb the "mountain" in the universe with Mountain Civilization forever, though what exactly this "mountain" was had yet to be revealed.

Even if Human Civilization offered more favorable terms, Trisolaris would choose Mountain Civilization.

One reason was that Trisolarans and the Silicon-based Civilization had more in common fundamentally, with more compatible ways of thinking and values.

More importantly, Mountain Civilization showed an unprecedented sincerity and openness; they were not as good at deception and concealment as humanity.

Since Trisolaran Civilization currently did not possess the energy for full-civilization interstellar travel, Mountain Civilization constructed a giant spaceship skeleton for them, nearly one percent the size of the Moon. This spaceship skeleton was not only huge in scale but also equipped with Mountain Civilization's most advanced propulsion system.

At this moment, accompanied by the impressive 2000-strong Mountain Civilization vanguard fleet, a massive spaceship skeleton slowly sailed into the Trisolarans' view. The colossal size of the spaceship skeleton, like a moving star, filled the Trisolarans with unprecedented shock and hope.

The Trisolarans only needed to relocate all of their industrial facilities, naval ports, warships, and resources to this Moon-sized giant spaceship skeleton, and carry out further construction and modification on it.

The Trisolarans understood that Mountain Civilization would definitely leave backdoors or contingencies in the propulsion system of the giant spaceship skeleton, but they had no other choice.

To greet this historic moment, the Trisolarans led all their military forces out of the Mist Zones and gathered atop this gigantic spaceship skeleton.

Trisolaran engineers and scientists swiftly took action. With aspirations and determination for the future, they processed the spaceship skeleton once again, to shape it into their true homeland.

Mountain Civilization's main fleet would arrive in one year, meaning the Trisolarans had only one year to complete the construction of this mother ship for Trisolaran Civilization.

And at this moment, it also marked the official union of Mountain Civilization with the three-body problem.