The Girl Who Owns the Stars

"Run! He used blind spots and mimicry to evade our surveillance. You're no match for him, run!"

Sophon subtitles appeared before the man.

"Master, I..."

The man spat out a mouthful of blood.

He tried to get up, but couldn't manage it.

"Talking to your master?"

Waldo strode over.

His hearing was very sharp.

The other's voice was faint, but he heard it clearly.

"Lackey of the tyrant," the man looked at Waldo.

"And what are you? A rat who betrayed his own kind?" Waldo's expression was calm as he looked down at the man.

The man said, "Human civilization is long past saving. We are merely doing what is right."

"Fool," Waldo didn't bother arguing.

"Destroy human tyranny, the world belongs to Trisolaris!"

The man shouted the organization's slogan.

He looked at Waldo provocatively, intending to enrage him and get a quick death.

From the day he decided to join the ETO, he had been prepared to die for a noble cause.

"Destroy human tyranny, the world belongs to the Trisolaran overlords," Raven echoed in a sarcastic tone.

Waldo ignored Raven, his gaze calm as he looked at the man.

A strange anger welled up within the man.

If Waldo had abused or tortured him, he wouldn't have been angry.

But this indifferent gaze made him feel a sense of powerlessness, like punching cotton.

It made him feel like a clown.

"Do it, kill me," the man shouted.

"No," Waldo shook his head. "For someone like you, death is not the most terrifying thing."

"Witnessing the collapse of your faith is the most cruel punishment."

"You've always dreamed of the day the Trisolaran civilization would arrive and cleanse humanity, but that day will never come."

"Instead, you rats will live out your days in prison until the Trisolaran civilization is reduced to ruins by the wrath of the Human Empire."

"At that time, you will be escorted to the ruins of the Trisolaran civilization and executed."

The man's expression turned manic.

"You can't do it, you never could."

Waldo looked at the man pinned beneath his feet and showed a hint of pity.

"We can. Once the Empire's Ion Barrier is activated, the Trisolaran civilization will be blinded."

"Their sealed technology will begin to loosen, and prolonged suppression will lead to an explosive outbreak. Humanity will enter a phase of rapid development."

"Soon, you might even witness the destruction of the first Trisolaran fleet."

"No!" Terror flashed across the man's face.

If what Waldo said happened, it would be more terrifying than death.

Raven said, "Oh wow, maybe then we can go plant potatoes and tomatoes on Trisolaran soil, using the entire civilization as fertilizer. The potatoes and tomatoes would surely be top-notch."

Waldo: "..."

Does this crow-head have anything else in its brain besides fries and ketchup?

It wants to build a magic academy with exclusive courses for fries and ketchup.

When it comes to destroying the Trisolaran civilization, its first thought is still fries and ketchup.

When the Empire eventually annihilates those evil gods lurking in the void, this damned crow's first thought probably won't be to try fries and ketchup made from potatoes and tomatoes grown with the corpses of evil gods, will it?!

The man was apprehended by Waldo and sent to the Ion Barrier sector.

Within the barrier, Sophon could not monitor him.

The man was subjected to twenty-four-hour high-intensity interrogation.

His will was strong, but the experienced interrogators managed to extract all his secrets.

A major purge followed, and the ETO organization suffered another heavy blow.

Many elites from politics and business were apprehended, causing a period of instability.

The Emperor unified all of humanity's resources, guiding the development of human civilization with his absolute authority.

With the support of the Eastern Federation's formidable infrastructure capabilities, the ion barrier launch towers located around the world were completed within months.

The defense system, named Nuwa, was officially brought online.

The primary infrastructure and system compilation were all completed by the Eastern Federation.

The Emperor then granted them the right to name it.

"Activate the Nuwa system."

As the Emperor's order was issued, researchers pressed the activation button.

The ion barrier towers across the globe activated simultaneously.

Their gleaming, smooth tips shot thick beams of light into the sky, which slowly expanded at high altitudes, forming a barrier.

All the barriers merged and connected, forming a force field shield.

In the Three-Body System, four light-years away from the solar system.

The Three-Body planet was currently in the dark night of a chaotic era.

A giant moon hung in the sky, its cold radiance blanketing the land.

Most Three-Bodies had dehydrated and entered hibernation, and even the plants had instinctively dehydrated, becoming bundles of dry fibers attached to the surface, devoid of life.

The giant screen at the Earth monitoring station flickered a few times before going completely black.

Many high-ranking Three-Body civilization officials watched this scene, falling into silence.

The ion barrier had blocked the quantum entanglement array between the Sophons.

With the Sophons restored to their eleven-dimensional state, their internal sensors and I/O interfaces were smaller than the wavelengths of all electromagnetic waves.

Without the help of the entanglement array, they could no longer perceive the real universe, nor could they receive any commands sent by the Three-Bodies.

The Three-Body civilization had permanently lost the Sophons in Earth's space and was powerless to block humanity's fundamental technology any further.

"Originally, we could have easily won this war."

The Three-Body leader walked to the window, looking out at the cold, moonlit land.

The military governor also wore a dejected expression.

"Who could have imagined that a ruler with powerful leadership abilities and shrewd tactics would suddenly emerge from human civilization, changing humanity's destiny single-handedly? This is too surreal."

The other high-ranking officials deeply agreed.

Human civilization was on the verge of collapse, yet suddenly, their luck turned, and such a figure appeared.

He turned the tide and defied fate.

It was practically cheating.

A complaint must be filed, a serious one.

"Is there anything else we can do?" the leader asked the science governor. "Are there any other means to restrict humanity?"

The science governor shook his head. "All our current technology would have difficulty having any substantial impact on human civilization four light-years away."

"There is one more method," the military governor said, causing many high-ranking officials to look at him.

"The number of extreme pacifists among humans is very large. If we can organize them to establish a resistance army fighting for democracy and freedom, perhaps it could curb the development of the Human Empire."

"But the Sophons can no longer enter Earth's space," the leader frowned. "How can we support a resistance army?"

"While the Sophons can't enter Earth's space, they can still send information to Earth, conveying our commands and ideas to the ETO organization."

The military governor paused before continuing, "We can provide the resistance army with the technology for various high-powered weapons, giving them the ability to confront the Human Empire."

"This is like playing with fire. With the slightest mistake, this technology could fall into the hands of the Human Empire," the science governor said.

"Playing with fire now is better than being completely destroyed later. As everyone knows, humanity's development speed far surpasses that of the Three-Body civilization."

"If we let them continue to develop peacefully, perhaps in our lifetime, we might see human warships appear above the Three-Body planet."

The leader suppressed the arguments of the others.

"Proceed with the support plan. We have no other choice."

"Also, make preparations for evacuation. If the war is lost, the Three-Body civilization will flee outwards."

Hibernation Center.

"Has the war of annihilation arrived?"

This was the question every hibernator asked when they were awakened.

The hibernation center had been very lively during this period.

Hibernators were awakened every day.

With the successful establishment of the ion barrier, the suppressed human society could finally breathe a sigh of relief.

It also gave despairing humans a glimmer of hope in defeating the Three-Body civilization.

For fairness, and to showcase humanity's unity, no special treatment would be given.

The Empire introduced a new bill requiring every human to serve in the war, with no escape to the future through hibernation.

All hibernators were to be awakened and put to work.

Cheng Xin was also awakened.

Her awakening caused a sensation.

As the lucky girl who owned stars, her romantic story had been circulating in human society.

Cheng Xin stayed in the hospital for a period until her bodily functions recovered before being discharged.

During this time, she learned about the current situation on Earth.

The various countries had perished, and humanity had been unified by an arrogant man calling himself the Emperor.

Earth had established an Ion Barrier, blocking the Three-Body civilization's prying eyes and lifting the blockade on basic science.

Her former unit, the Planetary Defense Council Strategic Intelligence Bureau, had been inherited and transformed into the Imperial Strategic Intelligence Bureau.

Cheng Xin was somewhat shocked by the changes in human society but quickly learned to accept them with a normal mindset.

After leaving, her life slowly returned to normal, and she thought her life would continue this way.

Until a man found her and revealed a terrifying cosmic truth.

"Dark Forest? Every discovered civilization is met with a devastating blow?"

"The Three-Body civilization is prepared for mutual destruction; if their war with human civilization fails, they will publicly reveal the coordinates of the Three-Body and Earth civilizations to the entire universe."

Cheng Xin trembled at the truth.

If the Three-Body civilization chose mutual destruction, human civilization would also face extinction.

The man said, "The Three-Body civilization has always wanted to coexist peacefully with human civilization and share the solar system."

"The Three-Body civilization merely wants to survive and has never intended to exterminate humanity."

"Miss Cheng Xin, join us and stop that tyrant together to save both civilizations."

"If war breaks out, no one will be able to control the final outcome."

Please continue to follow the story. I've been busy these past two days, and my updates have been inconsistent.

The updates will stabilize moving forward, and I hope everyone continues to follow the story and checks the last page every day.

Following the story is crucial during the new book period.

Regarding the Three-Body, I will complete thirty percent of the fate nodes before returning, so the length will be a bit longer.

Returning does not mean the story ends, but rather waiting for a future merger with the Human Empire.

Merging two Level 1 Human Empires will result in a Level 2 Human Empire.

The truth has been revealed; this is a certain synthetic mini-game.