Andrew's voice echoed through Zhang Qi's office. Through signals hijacked by Sophon, his words detonated like an invisible bomb in the minds of seven billion people around the world.
Silence.
Several seconds of global, deathly silence.
Then came landslides and tsunamis.
In the Planetary Defense Council's emergency conference room, the communication channels flooded with snowflake-like streams of questions from national leaders and military high command.
Technicians hammered at their keyboards, sweating profusely as they tried to retake control, but every attempt felt like crashing into an invisible wall.
The chairman slumped in his chair, took off his glasses, and rubbed fiercely at the space between his brows until the skin turned red.
"Quantum civilization—descending—"
He muttered to himself. Put together, those words carried an indescribably eerie quality.
"Utter nonsense! This must be an Earth-Trisolaris Organization plot to disrupt our morale!"
A hawkish general roared during the video conference.
"But his logic—it sounds—damn it, it actually makes sense!"
Another congressman who looked like a scholar retorted, his voice trembling uncontrollably. "We've all seen the speed of Dr. Zhang Qi's technological breakthroughs. That simply isn't a normal rate of development!"
Arguments, suspicion, panic—every kind of emotion fermented among the crowd.
Some firmly believed this was slander against a human hero. Others began to waver, because the "anomalies" Andrew spoke of were things everyone following Zhang Qi's project had vaguely noticed before.
Even more people simply waited in confusion, waiting for the man seated behind that desk to give the final answer.
The breath of the entire world seemed to hang on a single thought from him.
"Heh—"
Just then, a soft chuckle broke the silence in the office.
Then came applause.
Clap.
Clap.
Clap.
Zhang Qi rose from his office chair and began clapping, as though he were applauding Andrew's performance.
The