The Map Unrolls, the Dagger Appears

At that thought, Pan Han fell silent.

He could think of only two possibilities.

One was that, just as Zhang Qi had said, his brain was capable of calculations on this level.

The other was that Zhang Qi had mastered some technology surpassing Trisolaran civilization—

Silence spread through the café like some slowly solidifying transparent resin, fixing even the dust motes floating in the afternoon sunlight in midair.

Inside the black Volkswagen Passat across the street, Shi Qiang turned up the volume on his surveillance headset by another notch.

This kind of silence was more draining on the nerves than any calculation.

"If you don't believe me, I can give you something even harder—"

Seeing this, Zhang Qi smiled. He lifted the latte, which was no longer very hot, and lightly tapped the warm white porcelain cup with his fingertips.

"N—No need—"

Pan Han took a deep breath, and his well-tailored dark gray suit rose and fell slightly with the motion.

He leaned back in his chair again, clasping his hands on the table, as though reevaluating the person before him—or suppressing some turbulent emotion.

No matter which possibility it was, he had no way to disprove it right now—

"Heh."

Hearing that answer, Zhang Qi smiled, set the cup back on its saucer, and said, "Then it's my turn to ask. Why did you create this game?"

"I came today mainly to explain that—"

Only after Pan Han had calmed himself did he speak.

"Oh?"

Zhang Qi made a gesture for him to continue.

"Under the normal process, players of this game should have pieced together the truth of the Three-Body World bit by bit, through the clues scattered throughout the game as they experienced civilization's destruction and rebirth time and again.

"You would experience Despair, struggle, and ultimately