As Zhang Qi spoke, the conference hall fell silent.
In that silence, even people's breathing became clearly audible.
Then, in the next instant, the silence was torn apart.
It was not a single deafening bang, but a piercing cacophony formed by countless tiny sounds converging in an instant.
The dull scrape of chair legs against the carpet, the sound of documents being unconsciously crumpled, exclamations and questions in different languages—all mingled together.
"Why?"
Then, the PDC's rotating chairwoman, a woman from France, braced both hands against the table and rose to her feet.
She questioned Zhang Qi—
"Why us?"
"With the power that Giant has displayed, it has no need for us at all.
"To it, we should be no different from stones by the roadside."
Her question cooled the conference hall, which had only just begun to boil over.
Yes, why?
Did a god need ants to help remake the world? It sounded like—a joke.
"There are two main reasons."
"First, its form of life is far too different from the cognitive models of us—or rather, of most carbon-based lifeforms.
"Ordinary lifeforms find it difficult to understand it, just as creatures living on a two-dimensional plane cannot imagine the concept of 'height.'
"If a civilization like ours serves as its representative, communication will become much easier.
"Second, human civilization, unlike the Trisolaran Civilization, is an emotional civilization.
"At the same time, our level of development sits at a very delicate point. We are not too strong—strong enough to make other civilizations wary of us.
"Nor are we too weak. We have preliminarily acquired the ability to conduct long-distance interstellar travel—"
"So, to the Giant, we are an excellent partner.
"We can serve as a sample, demonstrating one possibility to the outside world—"
As Zhang Qi spoke, his gaze swept