Elsewhere, in the Three-Body World.
Enormous buildings like metallic mountain ranges stood silently.
The Leader's council chamber lay at the very heart of it.
A flawless black sphere floated in the center of the council chamber.
At this moment, an image from four light-years away appeared on the sphere's surface.
A blue sun.
It had abruptly appeared within Earth's atmosphere, dyeing the planet's sky an eerie purplish blue.
"What is that?"
Looking at the image transmitted back by Sophon, the Leader of the Three-Body World murmured in disbelief.
The sight before him was simply too absurd—
"Reporting to the Leader, based on spectral analysis and back-calculation through gravitational lensing, it is a mass of high-density plasma confined by an ultra-powerful magnetic field."
The Technical Consul glanced at the data on the screen before him, considered it briefly, then answered, "Its energy density—according to our model's calculations, if it were to lose containment, it would be sufficient to directly break down half of Earth into fundamental particles."
"Directly break down half of Earth?"
The Leader repeated the Technical Consul's words. Ripples spread across the mirrored surface of his body as intense emotions churned within him. "So your conclusion is that our greatest enemy, that human called Zhang Qi, spent twenty years and mobilized the power of an entire civilization just to create something that could blast himself and half the planet into the sky?"
The Leader's voice suddenly rose. "Do you think that's possible?!"
The Three-Body Leader's roar crashed back and forth between the metal walls of the council chamber.
How much had they paid for that man, for that variable named "Zhang Qi"?
And now, the Technical Consul was telling him that the plan carried out by their greatest obstacle was actually to blow half of Earth into the sky?