That ball of light gathered between Zhang Qi's crossed arms.
Doomsday.
As he watched the ever-condensing energy, that word inevitably surfaced in the Trisolaran leader's mind.
All their struggles, all their threats, all their schemes—before that absolute power, they had become nothing more than a joke.
"Quick! Bring that—that traitor here!"
But in the next moment, the Trisolaran leader came back to his senses and gave the order to the guards beside him.
His voice was hoarse and twisted. It sounded less like an order than the final cry for help of a drowning man.
The order was carried out.
Two Trisolaran soldiers responsible for security dragged another Trisolaran into the center of the council chamber.
"Wait! Zhang Qi! Look at this—look at him! You must know him!"
The leader used every ounce of strength in his body to broadcast toward the god beyond the planet.
He did not know whether the other party would listen, but he could only gamble.
The gathering cross-shaped radiance paused for an imperceptible instant.
That light, powerful enough to destroy stars, truly halted.
Zhang Qi's gaze pierced through Trisolaris's dense atmosphere, through the council chamber's sturdy alloy dome, and fell upon the humble figure thrown onto the floor.
From the thoughts leaking from the other party, he guessed the man's identity—
Listener No. 1379.
The first "person" who had spent day after day in a lonely post listening to the noise of the universe, who had ultimately received Earth's first cry, and who, in a moment of kindness, had sent a warning to that distant blue world.
"Isn't there a saying in your civilization: 'A drop of kindness should be repaid with a spring'?"
Seeing Zhang Qi's reaction, the leader seized this lifeline and continued, "Look, not every individual in our civilization bears ill