A few months later.
After that global livestream that had decided humanity's fate, the world returned to calm.
Just like the Olympics or the World Cup, after the revelry ended, life still had to go on.
Mortgages had to be paid, KPIs had to be met, and the children's tutoring classes couldn't be stopped.
Whether the universe was a Dark Forest seemed an issue too distant and extravagant compared to next quarter's bonus.
People were still more concerned with the daily necessities in their own bowls.
Yet beneath that calm, another group of people remained tense and sleepless night after night.
At the headquarters of the First Space Fleet, countless feeds overlapped across the enormous curved screen wall of Moon Base, each one representing a monitoring unit beyond the Solar System. Zhang Beihai rubbed his eyes and lifted his cup for a sip.
It was pure black coffee, bitter enough to make one nauseous.
But he had gradually gotten used to the taste—
"C7 Observation Post, report your status."
Zhang Beihai drew a deep breath and addressed the distracted staff member beside him.
"Reporting, Commander. Everything is normal at C7. The Kuiper Belt's gravitational field is stable."
The young observer's voice came through the headset, carrying a trace of unconcealed exhaustion.
"Stay alert. Don't miss any anomalies.
"We don't know where they'll come from, nor do we know what their strike will look like—"
Zhang Beihai warned, his tone growing more solemn.
At that moment, in one corner of the main screen, a red warning icon representing an anomalous reading flashed silently.
"Report! The G7 Deep Space Detection Array has detected abnormal gravitational ripples! Coordinates—"
Then a technician's voice abruptly rose, trembling uncontrollably. "Inside the Kuiper Belt, 5.9 billion kilometers away!"
The air in the entire command hall froze instantly.