Chapter 398: The Game with the Guardian

Era of the Divine Vessel, year 12388.

The First Fleet, a titanic wave of steel formed by a million warships, resembled a vast nebula. Its scale was so immense that it could make the brightest stars dim in comparison.

They traveled using light-speed jumps, like thousands of frogs leaping over boundless rice paddies. In an instant, they burst forth with astonishing power, fiercely plunging into the seemingly impregnable defensive lines of the Guardian Civilization, which Humanity had dubbed the "Dark Border."

Each warship transformed into an arrow piercing through the silence, aimed at the unknown abyss.

This was a corner forgotten by time, silenced through millions of years. Countless years silently accumulated, burying the memories of the past deep under the dust of history.

Yet, in this dead silence woven with oblivion, with the arrival of this unprecedented joint force of Humanity and the Dinosaur Fleet, the ancient slumbering land was once again awakened, and the silent land once again boiled over.

The roaring of the warship engines, like the roars of ancient beasts, shattered the long-standing tranquility. This was the clarion call of war, and a brave declaration against the unknown.

This shocking scene was like dropping a massive bomb into the profound silence of the universe, abruptly awakening the Guardian Civilization from its endless temporal slumber.

Their eyes, long unaccustomed to scrutinizing the external world, finally opened anew, locking onto the rapidly approaching Divine Vessel First Fleet. A cosmic contest unprecedented in history thus began.

*

In a unique sector of the "Dark Border."

At this moment, a High-level Monitor stared intently at the screen before him, his gaze suddenly freezing. 20,000 astronomical units away, a lightning-like alert from the faster-than-light communication monitor pierced the quiet.

He did not hesitate to sound the first-level war alert, and the shrill alarm instantly echoed throughout the command center. At the same time, he swiftly adjusted all nearby monitors to focus solely on the swiftly approaching First Fleet.

This sector of the Guardian Civilization had long been the lord of this starfield, or rather, this 8,000-light-year-long arm. The 26,000-light-year-long Orion Arm was in fact divided into three segments by two Black Fog City Walls, each guarded by three major Guardian Civilizations.

However, due to the excessively extended defensive line, there weren't many warships near the "Dark Border" of the Guardian Civilization, only 20. Yet, these 20 warships constructed a defense as impenetrable as walls of bronze and iron. Their presence could even block an invasion by another civilization of the same level for a while.

The chief commander of the Guardian Civilization Fleet stood at the highest point of the command center, gazing at the distant starry sky. His eyes revealed curiosity and pride, as if scrutinizing the approaching challengers.

"It has been millions of years since a civilization dared to challenge our authority," he said slowly, "I never expected we would encounter challengers again. The courage and audacity of this Unknown Civilization are indeed commendable, especially given their massive fleet size—something likely only a highly collectivized society could possess."

He turned slightly, looking at the staff beside him, "Have you analyzed their technological level? What are your thoughts on why they've chosen such a desperate tactic?" His voice was deep and powerful, exuding an undeniable authority.

The chief staff calmly and respectfully responded, "According to the information relayed by the monitors, it's highly probable that the opposing civilization's level is at the threshold of 1.9, though there's a slight chance they've reached the domain of 2.0, but definitely not 2.1.

"It is evident that this is a civilization that has quietly emerged inside our star region. Considering our Home Civilization's policy of clearing this star region, their growth to this magnitude is not from an ordinary caliber; their resilience and wisdom must be remarkable.

"Their decision to adopt such a desperate strategy is clearly not reckless, suggesting they must have a backup plan. Thus, the fleet we have detected cannot possibly represent their full strength

"Their audacity is indeed admirable; such a scale of fleet, even if not their entirety, likely constitutes over half their civilizational mass."

"They must also anticipate that a fleet of this size will hardly escape our devastating strike, but their true intent is probably to lure us out for further analysis, to see if there's a chance to launch a surprise attack on us, though such a likelihood is minimal."

"This decision must be a choice of last resort for them.

"We speculate that they might have always been lurking in some corner of this starfield, maybe stuck at a technological bottleneck or aware of our Home Civilization's scrutiny, finally deciding on this breakout route in a desperate attempt to find a sliver of opportunity."

The weathered Guardian commander, having witnessed the rise and fall of countless stars, gazed at the distant stars enveloped by fate and let out a long sigh:

"Billions of years have passed, and this seems to have become their inevitable destiny—constantly nurturing, relentlessly advancing, yet still only able to leave their Home Planet, like a drifting lone boat, flying further and further but still bound by this space."

"Those who cannot soon achieve a technological breakthrough will eventually be exposed.

"And they must defeat us before then, to break free from these shackles and reach the broader universe."

"As long as they cross this step, they will rise like a phoenix from the ashes and soar to the heavens. Even though the new, vast universe will present them with more brutal challenges, they now possess the credentials to engage with it."

"Strategy Office," the unwavering and resolute voice of the Guardian suddenly declared,

"Implement war operations according to Plan 3!"

Plan 3 involved deploying four warships that would stealthily approach the vicinity of the First Fleet.

The moment the First Fleet entered a specific distorted space, the warships would simultaneously block all the Fleet's exits from making a light-speed jump.

Following that, a massive tactic of spatial rending would thunderously unfurl, obliterating all warships from the unknown civilization in one fell swoop.

*

The Human and Dinosaur Civilization's First Fleet Command, commonly known as the First Fleet Command.

At this moment, the First Fleet had already entered the "Dark Border," yet no traces of the Guardian Civilization had been detected. However, the First Fleet Command understood that once the Guardian Civilization appeared, it would be with an attack as potent as a universe-storm arriving out of nowhere.

Currently, a silent yet fierce strategic contest was taking place between the First Fleet Command and the Guardian Civilization.

The Guardian Civilization's delayed emergence indicated, on one hand, their plan to annihilate the First Fleet once it entered a special area. On the other hand, it also suggested that the Guardian Civilization's warship numbers might be limited. If they had sufficient numbers, they would have already launched an attack without waiting, as cat and mouse games are strictly avoided on the interstellar battlefield.

However, the subtlety of this contest lay just in this aspect. On the surface, the First through Fifth Fleets seemed like bait facing annihilation, but this was the key to the strategy – a meticulously designed trap within a trap.

The real contest between the Divine Vessel Civilization and the Guardian Civilization focused on choosing the moment to attack, a crucial factor deciding the victory for either side.

The Guardian Civilization's delay not only provided Humanity with its first victory in this strategic contest, but it might also signal the First Fleet Command's overwhelming and awe-inspiring light-speed jump plan. It likely prompted the Guardian Civilization to anticipate a contingency plan from the Divine Vessel Civilization, while also illustrating the tragic heroism of a civilization's desperate charge. For a civilization that had guarded this area for countless years, this was surely a moving scenario.

In this situation, the most likely choice for the Guardian Civilization would be to wait for the First Fleet to blunder into the myriad spatial traps within the "Dark Border."

Yet, this seemingly passive situation provided the Divine Vessel Civilization a precious opportunity to anticipate the Guardian Civilization's move. The moment of the attack would coincide with the First Fleet stepping into a specific space trap, turning this moment into a pivot point in the contest between the two sides.

To this end, another layer of the First Fleet's operational plan involved forming a vast detection matrix with millions of warships, leveraging both the Micro Civilization's high-dimensional detection technology and the Mo Civilization's energy sensing technology. This matrix would explore the labyrinthine distorted space in hundreds or thousands of astronomical units nearby and identify potential 'traps.'

The first step in contesting with the Guardian was successfully anticipating their anticipation.

However, within the space ahead, unavoidable 'trap' zones existed. When one steps into them, reliance on the second step of the strategy to prevent the Guardian Civilization from launching an attack becomes necessary.

This strategic capability is not only a test of technology and wisdom, but also a refinement of mindset and confidence.

And this confidence was painstakingly built step by step by Lin Sen as he led Human Civilization in its contest with Trisolaris.

The current Divine Vessel Civilization could be said to continue persistently even without Lin Sen.

PS: The Guardian Civilization mentioned here is not the Singer; it still belongs to the primary stage of a Second Type Civilization, acting as a Lord of an Arm.

The author considers the Singer as a higher stage of a Second Type Civilization, akin to a hegemon of the entire Arm. They likely rule the Orion Arm, while the fringe worlds they combat could possibly belong to a hegemon of the Perseus Arm.

As to whether a Higher Civilization needs a governed territory, the author believes that in the Trisolaran Universe, it is necessary because of the ease with which space can be disrupted. Every civilization inevitably craves stable living space. The Dark Forest theory happens to maintain the stability of this space through a culling policy.

This book, therefore, sets forth classes of civilizations like Lords and Hegemons. However, in a universe where space is highly stable, even capable of faster-than-light travel, the author paradoxically does not believe that Higher Civilizations also require governed territories.

This book encompasses civilization conflicts, but it's not primarily about them. The description of the war with the Guardian Civilization mainly addresses what the author views as the aspects of the Dark Forest and the forms of warfare among Higher Civilizations.

Once the battle commences, it shatters space, with the range of both parties' weapons spanning dozens to hundreds of astronomical units. Another critical aspect is that neither party can exceed the speed of light.

Information becomes the key to victory, necessitating the establishment of defensive lines, inevitably extending the duration of the war indefinitely.