There is no sound in space.
The impact of the *Hunter* was silent.
But this collision shattered the shackles the Trisolarans had locked around the neck of human civilization for decades.
That armor now floated quietly in the pitch-black void.
It was no longer a suit of armor.
It was a coffin.
An inescapable cage tailor-made for a god.
Ripples occasionally washed across the absolutely smooth black surface of the armor, visible to the naked eye.
That was the Sophon, trapped in its two-dimensionally unfolded state, vainly ramming against it with all the energy it could muster.
It wanted to collapse, to escape.
But Zhang Beihai had used his own life and armor to trap it here securely.
Zhang Beihai, in his own way, had fulfilled the ultimate romance of a warrior.
...
Trisolaris, Monitoring Center.
Piercing alarms morphed into chaotic thought waves, bombarding every monitor.
"Alert! Quantum communication link with Sophon One has been severed!"
"Signal lost! Signal completely lost!"
The thought core of the young Monitor 1379 practically boiled with fear.
He stared at the signal source representing Sophon One on the holographic projection. At the exact moment the solar storm's energy peaked, it flickered, then extinguished.
"Report! Sophon One... has lost contact!" his thoughts trembled as he connected to the supreme command layer.
After a moment of dead silence, the Princeps's placid thought waves enveloped the entire center.
"What is there to panic about?"
The ruler's thought waves were unusually calm, even carrying a condescending indifference.
"It is likely interference from the solar storm. The energy levels are too high, temporarily blocking our connection."
"Order Sophon Two to enter sleep mode to evade the storm. Once the storm passes, immediately investigate Sophon One's status."
The ruler's thoughts were filled with unquestionable arrogance.
In his eyes, those Earthling bugs couldn't even comprehend the existence of the Sophons, so how could they possibly pose a threat to them?
This was merely an insignificant technical glitch.
The Trisolarans completely failed to anticipate that the Earth civilization they viewed as ignorant and backward had already raised the butcher's knife.
...
Earth, deep beneath the Nevada desert.
The deepest part of Spark Base, Black Domain Laboratory A-00.
This was the highest restricted zone of Earth civilization. Inside the massive annular space, the air was cold and thin.
The armor imprisoning the Sophon, guided by an invisible force field, slowly descended onto the platform in the center of the laboratory.
Luo Ji stood below the platform, flanked by dozens of top scientists with fanatical eyes.
They gazed up at the constantly rippling black armor as if looking at a holy relic.
Awe, obsession, and an indescribable excitement.
"Zhang Beihai has completed his mission," Luo Ji said softly, as if speaking to the scientists, yet also to that departed heroic soul.
"Now, it's our turn."
He raised his head, looking at the laboratory's dome that resembled the firmament.
"Activate the Synapse Condenser."
Following his command, a massive rift opened in the laboratory's dome.
An indescribably colossal machine slowly descended.
Its overall shape resembled a giant human brain magnified billions of times, its surface covered in countless fiber-optic tentacles sparking with faint blue arcs of electricity.
This was one of the core technologies from the tech tree Ian had left behind.
Humanity had exhausted an entire decade's worth of resources, and with the help of some key materials provided by Ian, they had barely managed to semi-replicate this machine.
The Synapse Condenser slowly descended, extending countless tentacles that wrapped entirely around the armor like living creatures.
"Bzz—"
Sharp probes ignored the Strong Interaction Material, phasing directly into the interior of the hull.
Their target was the trapped, frantically struggling Sophon.
"Connection... complete," a scientist's voice warped due to excitement.
Luo Ji walked up to the main console. On the screen, the complex data stream representing the Sophon's core jumped wildly.
"Initiate the Purification protocol."
Luo Ji's face was devoid of expression as he pressed the red button.
The next second, a massive and complex surge of energy poured in reverse through the Synapse Condenser directly into the Sophon's core!
Trapped inside the hull, the Sophon emitted an extremely faint sound, like shattering glass.
Its core, composed of pure logic and calculation, was forcibly dismantled, reassembled, and rewritten.
An hour later.
When the data stream on the main console finally settled down into a docile, smooth green curve, the entire laboratory erupted into earth-shattering cheers.
They had succeeded.
They had captured the Sophon alive and turned it into one of their own.
Luo Ji walked over to the communicator, looked at the completely tamed Sophon, and issued his first command.
"Report to your home planet."
"Tell them the solar storm has passed and everything is normal."
"The communication module was slightly affected and needs to enter a low-power sleep mode for self-repair."
A moment later, a cold, emotionless electronic voice sounded from the main console.
"Command confirmed. Message sent."
Four light-years away, the Trisolaran world received the 'normal' report from Sophon One.
The Princeps's thoughts completely relaxed.
He did not know that from this moment on, everything he saw would be a script meticulously woven for him by Luo Ji.
...
Over the next few months, Sophon Two was also captured and modified with the help of Sophon One.
Human civilization could finally stop living under surveillance.
And what the Trisolarans saw was a brand-new script directed personally by Luo Ji.
In this script, humanity's technological development gradually slowed down, even regressing due to energy distribution issues.
The PDC's hardline policies triggered massive global protests and riots; society was turbulent, riddled with internal conflicts.
The most brilliant scene was an 'assassination' directed by Luo Ji against himself.
During a public speech, he was shot by an 'angry citizen' with a sniper rifle, 'critically injured' on the spot, and left clinging to life.
Ultimately, he was forced to hand over all power, and the PDC returned to the hands of the dove faction led by Say.
When the Trisolaran Princeps saw through the Sophon that the man who had once terrified him was lying in a hospital bed like a dead dog, and saw human society plunge back into infighting and chaos, his thought-composed core generated an emotion akin to 'pleasure' for the first time.
"Look, bugs are bugs after all," he broadcasted thought waves full of superiority to the Consuls.
"Their strength was nothing but a flash in the pan. Their unity is merely a joke."
"Fleet, continue advancing."
While the Trisolarans completely let their guard down, the true Earth civilization cast off its final shackles and entered an unprecedented golden age of explosive development.
Lunar orbit, the *All Tomorrows* space station.
Inside the bridge.
Luo Ji stood before the massive viewport, looking at the azure planet.
"Chairman," an officer walked up behind him and reported, "the phase one automated mines within the Solar System have all been fully constructed."
"Very good."
Luo Ji turned around, his gaze sweeping over all the officers and technicians standing at the ready in the bridge.
"Then, initiate the next phase of the plan."
"The Solar System Resource Integration Plan begins now."
"Our target is the Kuiper Belt at the outer edge of the Solar System."
His voice, amplified through the speakers, echoed throughout the entire space station.
"The era of humanity's high-speed development..."
Luo Ji paused. "...has only just officially begun."