The First World-Saving Mission

As Luo Ji's voice fell, screens around the world once again went blank.

Three seconds.

Five seconds.

Ten seconds.

This time, the Trisolarans did not respond immediately.

Everyone in the hall held their breath.

Luo Ji stood at the podium, his expression calm as spiritual energy slowly circulated within him, extending his senses to their limit.

Though the divine sense of peak Qi Refinement was faint, it was already enough to vaguely detect an unusual presence above the hall, three chi directly over his head.

Sophon was there, transmitting every word and expression of his back to the Trisolaran World four light-years away.

He waited a full fifteen seconds.

Then, new text finally appeared on the screens.

"Negotiation is acceptable. Location: Earth. Time: your choice. Representative: Sophon."

"But before negotiations, you need to see something first."

Luo Ji's brow furrowed slightly. "What?"

There was no answer on the screen.

The text vanished, replaced by an image.

More precisely, it was not an image, but a live feed projected directly through Sophon onto every screen in the world.

It was space.

Against the pitch-black backdrop, the feed swept rapidly past the Earth–Moon System, then extended outward, crossing the Asteroid Belt, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune before finally reaching the edge of the Solar System—the Kuiper Belt.

This was a chasm roughly 4.5 to 7.5 billion kilometers from Earth, beyond the reach of human probes even now.

"So..." Luo Ji said, "what are you trying to say?"

The image began to zoom in, passing countless frozen celestial bodies.

Then everyone's pupils contracted.

Amid those celestial bodies was an artifact.

Among those dwarf planets, asteroids, comets, and the like, there was an artifact.

It was shaped like a perfect sphere, its surface smooth as a mirror, without any seams, markings, or visible structures.

It simply drifted there, orbiting under gravity.

Luo Ji's pupils suddenly shrank.

This was wrong. He did not recognize it.

And in the original fate, this thing had never appeared at all!

His instincts were screaming a warning.

This thing was more dangerous than any weapon known to the Trisolarans!

"What is that?"

Luo Ji suppressed his emotions and asked.

Text reappeared on the screen.

"This is our 'Painter.'"

"It has been dormant in the Solar System's Kuiper Belt for ten Earth years."

A wave of stifled gasps erupted through the hall.

Ten years!

A Trisolaran probe had been hiding there for ten years, yet humanity had known nothing at all!

"You sent a probe to Earth ten years ago?"

Luo Ji's expression remained calm. "That's impossible. The Trisolaran Fleet's top speed is one percent of light speed. It would take four hundred years to travel from the Three-Body Star System to Earth. Your fleet is still on the way—how could the probe have arrived ten years ago?"

New text appeared on the screen.

"Who told you that Painter came from the Three-Body Star System?"

Luo Ji fell silent.

An icy chill rose from the base of his spine, spreading along his backbone and throughout his body. Every hair on his body stood on end!

Painter had not come from the Three-Body Star System.

It had come from somewhere else.

That meant that somewhere, at an unknown distance from Earth, there had to have been a civilization—either one destroyed by the Trisolaran Civilization that had left Painter behind, or a relic of some even more advanced civilization!

Everyone in the hall fixed their eyes on the screen.

The statesmen, generals, and reporters had all forgotten etiquette and discipline.

Some stood up. Some covered their mouths. Others let their phones slip from their hands, where they struck the floor with crisp cracks, yet no one bent down to pick them up.

Shi Qiang stood below the stage, one hand gripping his gun handle so tightly that his knuckles turned white.

He felt a chill unlike anything he had ever known.

Not because the enemy was powerful, but because he had no idea what the enemy was.

Sai sat in the front row, her face as hard and cold as marble. Only her faintly trembling fingers betrayed the tension within her.

Luo Ji took a deep breath, circulating spiritual energy through his body as he swiftly calmed himself.

"Ten years ago, you sent Painter into the Kuiper Belt."

His voice returned to calm, even carrying a trace of cold severity. "Is this what gives you confidence?"

New text appeared on the screen.

"You cannot ask that question."

"Fine, then I'll put it another way." Luo Ji stared at the line on the screen. "What can Painter do?"

There was a moment of silence.

Then a new image appeared on the screen—a simulated demonstration.

A virtual planet appeared on the screen—its size, color, and orbital parameters completely identical to Earth's.

Then Painter began to move. It did not collide with the planet. It approached it.

When it reached the planet's core region, the surface of the sphere suddenly split open—not in an explosion, but blooming like a flower.

From the center of the sphere, an invisible force was released.

Gravity.

Not ordinary gravity, but gravity of extreme intensity—irresistible gravity.

That virtual planet began collapsing inward—the crust shattered, the mantle erupted, and the core was compressed.

In mere seconds, a planetary body was compressed into a singularity the size of a fist.

A black hole.

Then the simulation ended.

The screen returned to the image of Painter floating silently in the Kuiper Belt.

"Is this your threat?" Luo Ji's face remained impassive, his voice calm.

"This is not a threat. It is a last resort. If we determine that humanity cannot accept coexistence, Painter will be activated. The Trisolaran Civilization will not perish. We will build a new home around the black hole left after Earth's destruction."

Luo Ji gave a cold laugh.

What was there to fear about annihilation?

"Trisolaran Civilization, I am giving you two paths."

His voice turned cold and resolute.

"First, activate Painter and destroy Earth."

"Second, abandon your threats against humanity. Withdraw Painter. Withdraw all Sophons, leaving only one for communication. Acknowledge the dignity and sovereignty of human civilization. Then we will sit down and discuss a future both civilizations can accept."

"You have ten seconds to choose."

Luo Ji raised his hand and began the countdown.

"Ten."

"Nine."

The text on the screen flickered wildly.

The Trisolaran World was engaged in fierce discussion.

"Eight."

"Seven."

"Five."

A response appeared on the screen.

"We need time. This matter requires a vote by the entirety of the Trisolaran World."

Luo Ji did not stop counting.

"Three."

"Two."

"Stop!"

"This is not an ultimatum."

The text on the screen appeared faster and faster. "This is a negotiation. We acknowledge your threat level, but we will not make a decision out of fear."

Luo Ji's countdown stopped at "two."

He looked at the line on the screen and slowly lowered his raised hand.

"How long?"

"Three Earth days."

"Three days from now, the Trisolaran Civilization will deliver its official reply through Sophon."

"During this time, Painter will not move, Sophons will not increase in number, and everything will remain as it is."

Luo Ji was silent for a moment, then nodded.

"Three days. Three days from now, I'll wait here for your answer."

"So you'd better think it through."

He turned and walked down from the podium.

This time, no one stopped him.

Everyone in the hall stood dumbstruck, watching the words on the screen slowly fade away, watching Painter's image vanish from the screens, watching everything return to calm.

As though everything that had just happened had been nothing more than a dream.

But Luo Ji knew that dreams were beautiful, and what awaited them now might be hell.

Suddenly, a message came through the chat group.

Luo Ji halted, his consciousness entering the group chat interface.

A vivid scarlet system message hovered in the center.

"Ding dong!"

"World-Saving Mission triggered!"

"Mission Background: The Trisolaran Civilization has activated the 'Painter' protocol. If negotiations break down three days from now, Painter will create a black hole at Earth's core, and human civilization will face a catastrophe of extinction."

"Mission Objective: Prevent the Trisolaran Civilization from using Painter, or eliminate Painter's threat."

"Mission Difficulty: SSS-rank"

"Recommended Executor: Immortal"

"Mission Reward: 10,000 group contribution points, choose one of three legendary gift packs"

"Failure Penalty: None"

"Note: If the world is destroyed and group members die, no new members may join for one year."