Chapter 369: The Impact of the Hines Strike

In the Era of the Divine Vessel, year 590, another significant event occurred.

Humanity witnessed, for the first time with their own eyes, the merciless strike of the Dark Forest Theory, and what was more alarming, the target of this catastrophe was the Kuruo Three Star System.

It was 58 light-years away from the Solar System, and over 110 light-years from Wang Liang One.

Why was it so startling? This star had another name, Centauri Theta.

Yes, that's right, it was also a star belonging to the Centaurus Constellation, in the same direction as the Trisolaran Star System.

The Hines Strike method was a Photoid Strike, a small-volume object traveling at a speed extremely close to that of light would, through the relativistic effect of mass inflation, destroy the star.

Soon after the Photoid Strike, the star's internal matter burst forth from fissures, forming a fiery fountain 50,000 kilometers thick.

Seen from afar, it was as if a brilliant tree of fire had sprouted atop the star, then the fire tree engulfed the orbiting planets. The planets were essentially in orbit inside the sun, and the fire tree, like demonic claws extending from the sun, dragged the planets down repeatedly, until finally, they crashed into the star's surface.

As the ejected matter reduced the pressure, the stellar nuclear fusion temporarily weakened, causing the star to dim rapidly, until only a faint outline was visible, which made the giant tree of flame on the surface of the star even more striking and dazzling, as if it had been carved into the universe's negative with a sharp instrument.

With the extinction of the fusion, the internal radiation pressure could no longer support the star's shell, and the star began to collapse, finally causing the dimmed outer shell to contact and compress the core, triggering the ultimate explosion.

Humans had the fortune to witness every detail of this process, which was eerily similar to the strike suffered by the Trisolaran Star System in the original timeline, making one lament the cold and merciless nature of the universe.

How this star came to be exposed under the gaze of the Dark Forest remains a mystery to this day.

Some even boldly speculated that it might be related to the message Ye Wenjie sent into the universe a millennium earlier.

Their speculative hypothesis is as follows:

A millennium ago, the message Ye Wenjie sent out in one direction passed the Trisolaris planet, continuing to propagate through the vast reaches of interstellar space, and its ultimate range might reach 2000 light-years.

And in this direction, a hundred light-years away, there happened to be a "Sweeper," and the message was received by them.

Although this "Sweeper" could not determine the exact coordinates of the star from which the signal emanated, in their perspective, the number of stars in this direction was not particularly numerous at close distances.

And Kuruo Three, Trisolaris, the Sun, Wang Liang One... these stars were strung together like a series of pearls along this mysterious path.

Of course, one needed to consider various factors such as the radial velocity of stars, the divergence and decay of electromagnetic waves, and more.

So they were also unclear if it was one of these stars that sent the message, and even the direction was just a rough estimate, but a monitor still faithfully saved this message in the voyage log.

Thus, Kuruo Three, Trisolaris, the Sun, Wang Liang One... these stars were marked lightly, yet with an ominous "weak mark." Perhaps with the passage of time, this "Sweeper" had even forgotten the existence of this mark.

However, hundreds of years later, when the "Sweeper's" trajectory inadvertently approached Kuruo Three, the intelligent system, like a loyal guard, reminded them of this forgotten mark once again.

The gaps of the Dark Forest-strained nerves, subconsciously perceiving this as a threat, led to the inadvertent destruction of Kuruo Three.

Although this is but a hypothesis, it weighed heavily on everyone's minds, forcing them to confront the massive implications lurking behind it.

This hypothesis, like a cold warning bell, sounded an alarm for the Divine Vessel Civilization concerning survival and annihilation.

If such a hypothesis held true, the "Sweeper" would most likely choose to move in the direction of the Trisolaran Star System next.

In the Trisolaran Star System, after hundreds of years of war, a variety of low-speed weapons had been abused, turning it into a beacon of danger in the universe.

So much so that within 20 light years, one might observe the "abnormalities" of the Trisolaran Star System.

And along the short four-light-year path that connects Trisolaris with the Solar System, there are countless traces of war, each marking the scars of past conflicts. If an observer were to approach the Solar System and carefully examine it, the Solar System would likely be exposed as well.

However, many people considered this speculation to be a form of persecution paranoia. According to the data from the Trisolarans and the Dinosaur Civilization, Hines Strikes in this area are quite common.

They could happen almost every 500 to 1000 years, and it has been nearly 1600 years since the Trisolarans observed the last Hines Strike.

This may well be the law of the evolution of universal civilizations, and has nothing to do with the messages sent out by Ye Wenjie.

But this time, the eye of the storm seemed closer to the Solar System, the blue jewel, than at any time before.

If there are indeed "Sweepers" slowly advancing towards the Solar System, following the threads of fate, it is quite possible that they would detect the subtle and dangerous anomalies between Trisolaris and the Solar System.

*

This event, like a star streaking across the night sky, once again ignited the raging fire of Human Civilization's exploration of cosmic sociology.

Humanity focused its attention on two topics:

First, the civilizational and environmental elements a civilization needs to possess in order to grow directly into a high-level civilization within its home star system.

For this, Humanity spared no effort, even borrowing computing power for civilizational levels from the Silicon-based Civilization of the Mountain Civilization, and combining the history and wisdom of the four civilizations in the union to establish dozens of civilization models.

They constantly adjusted the fundamental elements within and outside of civilization, like tuners of the universe, and performed tens of thousands of simulations in an attempt to glimpse the endless possibilities of civilization development.

This was akin to creating dozens of civilizations in a virtual universe, allowing them to go through tens of thousands of cycles of existence and extinction, enacting the developmental fates of civilization.

However, the results of the simulations were difficult to accept; in tens of thousands of cycles of civilization, no matter how carefully they adjusted the characteristics and environmental factors of the civilizations, these virtual civilizations could not cross the threshold to high-level civilization. They were like prisoners bound by the laws of the universe, forever unable to break free from the shackles of fate.

This caused even more people to believe that if a civilization lacked the courage and wisdom for external communication, it would inevitably imprison itself, never reaching the dazzling brilliance of high-level civilizations.

Second, how a civilization evolves step by step into "Sweepers".

Based on the first topic, one would naturally conclude that if a civilization wants to shine in its splendor, it must bravely take the steps to explore, even if it means clashing with other civilizations to spark interaction.

Even though this process could greatly expose oneself during the exchange, most civilizations would still choose this path full of unknowns and challenges.

Considering the current four civilizations, they could all be called civilizations of goodwill. Even the Dinosaur Civilization did not consider directly annihilating Humanity.

The initial exchanges between civilizations are inevitably filled with goodwill, though this goodwill may stem from reverence for and empathy with the unknown—that is still goodwill.

If the goodwill of the universe is evident, why is the whole universe a Dark Forest?

In the process of a civilization's development, what conditions and factors transform the generally benign image of the universe into a Dark Forest?

Is it a lack of reverence, or are there other, more hidden factors at play?