Chapter 502: Luo Ji's Curse! The Fundamental Axiom of Cosmic Civilization!
On the Endless-class carrier, Paul had just received the latest instructions from headquarters through encrypted channels—a plan personally designed by Consul Li Ang—that required him to carry it out.
Now, with only a little over ten hours left before the Droplets reached Earth, they had to complete all preparations within that time.
"Immediately contact the Asian Fleet and have them escort Dr. Luo Ji here. This is part of the plan. Go quickly."
Paul issued the order to Jonathan. A Wallfacer wielded unparalleled authority; no matter how outrageous the demand, humanity was compelled to fulfill it with all their strength.
Before even half an hour had passed, Luo Ji was brought before Paul.
When faced with Paul's sudden summons, Luo Ji was at first somewhat bewildered. He had already declined to resume his role as Wallfacer, intending instead to keep as low a profile as possible so he could carry out his own plan.
Never had he expected that Paul—someone with whom he had only crossed paths a few times—would have him forcibly brought aboard the Endless-class carrier, giving him no choice in the matter.
But in truth, this suited him just fine. It was a chance to have a proper conversation with this mysterious Wallfacer, and perhaps it might even aid him in grasping the truth he was striving to comprehend.
"Mr. Paul, what is it you want from me?" Luo Ji asked calmly. Clearly, the assassination attempt by sophons had left little psychological scar.
After all, he had already experienced firsthand the methods of the Trisolarans two centuries ago.
"It's really nothing serious. I just called you here to share some good news."
Paul smiled, leaving Luo Ji somewhat at a loss. With the Droplets practically at humanity's doorstep, what "good news" could there possibly be?
Could the Universal Megacorp have found a way to destroy the Droplets? But if that were the case, why call him specifically?
"Is that so? And what good news is this?"
Paul looked at him and spoke slowly: "Before your hibernation, you once cast a spell upon a certain star system—you broadcast its relative position to the surrounding systems, transmitting it outward with stellar-level power. Correct?"
Luo Ji blinked, not quite following Paul's line of thought. "Yes. That was a system called 187J3X1. Is there some problem with that?"
In truth, Luo Ji's memory of the event was faint. Had Paul not brought it up, he might never have remembered that he had done such a seemingly trivial thing.
"According to our observations, roughly fifty-one years ago, that star system was destroyed."
This was intelligence provided to Paul by the Asian Fleet: the curse Luo Ji had cast on 187J3X1 had truly annihilated a star.
"What! How do you know that star was destroyed? Can you determine the cause?" Luo Ji pressed urgently, like a drowning man clutching at a straw.
The cosmic truth he sought was already on the verge of revealing itself in his mind—he needed only a single piece of solid evidence to confirm it. If things were as he suspected, then his theory was real!
"187J3X1 was in a stable phase. It was impossible for it to suddenly explode within just a century.
"As for its destruction, our observations suggest it was struck by an object moving at nearly the speed of light. The object itself was very small—we've provisionally named it a 'photon-mass.'
"Though tiny, its relativistic mass was drastically magnified at that velocity. Upon impact, its effective mass equaled one-eighth that of the star, which instantly obliterated it.
"The surrounding planets were vaporized as well. The entire system fell into silence."
Paul's explanation made Luo Ji's eyes gleam with irrepressible joy. The result perfectly confirmed the theory he had carried within him.
The curse… worked!
Paul patted Luo Ji's shoulder and said with deep meaning: "Congratulations, Dr. Luo Ji. You have discovered humanity's ultimate weapon against the Trisolaran civilization."
"Now we hope you can cast the same curse upon Alpha Centauri, where the Trisolarans reside. If all goes well, this doomsday war will end here and now."
At first Luo Ji almost nodded in agreement. But on second thought, he immediately shook his head, voice tense:
"No. Alpha Centauri is far too close to the Solar System. This curse could drag us down along with them. The 187J3X1 system I chose was nearly fifty light years away."
The curse broadcast the relative position of 187J3X1 and thirty surrounding stars. If he replaced it with Alpha Centauri, the Solar System's position might also be exposed.
That curse would spell mutual destruction for both humanity and the Trisolarans!
"We can use this curse to threaten them."
Paul smiled faintly. This was only the beginning of the plan.
Luo Ji fixed his gaze on him. He too had considered using the curse as leverage against the Trisolarans, but unless things reached absolute desperation, he truly did not want to employ it.
If the Universal Megacorp could deal with the Droplets, there was no need to take things so far.
After a brief hesitation, Luo Ji finally said to Paul: "It's already too late. The Droplets will reach Earth in barely ten hours.
"And we are not prepared to cast the curse. Before we can transmit it, the Droplets could easily destroy every signal generator on Earth."
If it had been so simple, Luo Ji would already have done it. But alas, it was far too late.
Yet Paul's voice rang out again the very next moment: "What if I told you your curse can be broadcast from here?"
"What… did you say?"
Luo Ji's eyes widened, his mind racing through countless possibilities.
To make sure other civilizations could receive the signal, one usually needed to amplify electromagnetic waves using a star like the Sun. But there was another way—gravitational-wave broadcasting.
It didn't require a stellar amplifier. A single spacecraft equipped with a gravitational-wave transmitter could accomplish it.
The problem was that with humanity's current technology, gravitational-wave broadcasting was far beyond reach.
Using the Sun could work, yes—but preparing for that now was impossible. Their conversation was already under sophon surveillance, and the Droplets could turn at any moment to blockade the Sun.
"Correct. Present-day human civilization has not developed gravitational-wave broadcasting. But this Endless-class carrier embodies the cutting-edge technology of other civilizations.
"I intend to use this ship to transmit a gravitational-wave broadcast and threaten the Trisolarans to halt their advance on the Solar System. To buy us more time, I've decided to have the Endless leave Earth."
Paul spoke with calm assurance, as though he had already grasped the Trisolarans' vital weakness.
Back when the Universal Megacorp conquered the Halo universe half a century ago, they had obtained highly advanced gravitational-field devices from the Pillar of Autumn-class battlecruiser.
Adapting those into gravitational-wave broadcasting was hardly difficult.
Now the time had come to put them to use.
Luo Ji was astonished by Paul's proposal. Glancing around at the ship, he realized—it truly could accomplish gravitational-wave broadcasting. The technology brought in from beyond Earth's development was indeed extraordinary.
"Can you really do it?" Luo Ji asked, a little incredulous.
Paul only gave a faint chuckle, without answering his question.
In truth, whether the Endless-class carrier could actually transmit a gravitational-wave broadcast didn't matter at all. Even if the technology didn't exist, Paul would still claim that the Megacorp had mastered it.
After all, only a few days had passed since the rise of the Universal Megacorp. The Trisolarans couldn't possibly piece together the Megacorp's origins from such limited information.
So these words were aimed more at the sophons—to let the Trisolarans know the Megacorp held in its hands a cosmic truth powerful enough to annihilate both civilizations.
As for whether the Trisolarans believed it or not, Paul was certain they wouldn't take the gamble.
The Trisolarans were an eminently rational species. Humanity, however, had never been that way.
Human emotions were disturbed by countless factors. Even something as ordinary as the day's weather could alter a person's entire mood.
To the Trisolarans, such unstable creatures seemed like emotional monsters—bombs that could go off at any moment. If given control of a civilization-ending weapon, humans would surely drag everyone into mutual destruction.
Being just as shrewd a Wallfacer himself, Luo Ji quickly caught the true meaning in Paul's expression. The Trisolarans didn't understand human schemes. Whether the technology existed or not, its deterrent effect was already real.
Once, the Trisolarans had used the ETO to sabotage the Wallfacer Project, and with their nearly omnipotent sophons, they had crushed one human strategic plan after another.
But those days were long gone.
The ETO had already been wiped out.
Or more precisely—they had been discarded by their own masters, the Trisolarans.
Luo Ji and Paul both understood clearly: these transparent-minded beings, incapable of grasping deception and intrigue, could never truly comprehend human thinking.
In that moment, no more needed to be said. Their exchange of glances was enough to carry the whole conversation.
Luo Ji nodded and replied, "I understand. I'll head back, organize some documents, make arrangements. After that, I'll stay here and continue working."
"Then I'll trouble you with that." Paul smiled. Everything was moving according to plan.
…
…
After returning to Earth, Shi Qiang—recently awakened from hibernation—heard from Luo Ji that the curse had taken effect.
This former leukemia patient, once Luo Ji's loyal bodyguard and companion, had now been cured through advanced future medicine. He was ready at any time to throw himself back into the fight.
But when he learned the curse had truly worked, Shi Qiang found it hard to believe. "So you're saying just a few words of some incantation can make entire star systems vanish? My god, what kind of sorcery is that…"
At that moment, Shi Qiang still had no grasp of the Dark Forest's reality. To him, it all sounded like a fairy tale.
"What, you don't believe it?" Luo Ji asked.
Shi Qiang shook his head like a rattle drum. For an educated adult, such a thing was impossible to take seriously. If he were three years old, maybe then he'd believe it.
"Fine then, I'll tell you a few truths. They're ideas I suspected long ago but never had proof for. Now, I finally do."
Luo Ji led Shi Qiang to the roadside. The area bordered on the wilderness—nearly deserted. Evening had already fallen, and only distant starlight and streetlamps lit their way.
"Let me make this clear," Shi Qiang muttered, "I'm a simple man. Don't give me complicated words. Keep it easy."
Luo Ji chuckled, then spoke plainly: "There are two fundamental axioms of cosmic civilization. First: survival is the primary need of every civilization. Second: civilizations grow and expand continuously, while the total matter in the universe remains constant."
Hearing this, Shi Qiang blinked. To him it sounded like stating the obvious. Which civilization wasn't like that? Even Earth's nations—or a colony of ants in their mound—behaved the same.
Seeing Shi Qiang still unconvinced, Luo Ji didn't rush. Patiently he explained: "Shi Qiang, the total matter of the universe doesn't increase. But civilizations—life—keep growing. Anything that expands exponentially is terrifying."
"Take humanity's spaceflight speed right now. In just a million years, humans could spread across the entire galaxy. And in cosmic terms, a million years is just the blink of an eye."
Remember, even genetic evolution for a species takes tens of millions, hundreds of millions of years. On a geological timescale, a million years is nothing.
By now Shi Qiang was beginning to grasp what Luo Ji was saying. He wasn't highly educated, but his mind was quick. With just a hint, he could catch the point.
"You mean the universe is already crammed full? But that doesn't add up. We've been watching the skies for ages, and all we've found is the Trisolarans."
"Other than them, we haven't seen any alien civilizations at all…"
Shi Qiang blinked again.
"That's exactly my next point. Now, give me a cigarette."
Taking one from Shi Qiang, Luo Ji lit up. Shi Qiang assumed he just wanted company for a smoke, but instead Luo Ji walked two or three meters away.
In the pitch-dark wilderness, their two cigarettes glowed like faint stars—precisely the imagery Luo Ji wanted.
"What we hold here represents two civilized planets. Suppose in this whole universe, there are only these two. Now—do you feel it?" Luo Ji asked.
"Yeah, I get it. It's dark, it's empty, but with just these two lights… it does feel like something," Shi Qiang admitted.
The evening breeze brushed past, and he could already feel the cold loneliness of the cosmos.
"Good. Now let's call them the Shi Qiang Civilization and the Luo Ji Civilization. The distance between them is a hundred light years. You've detected my presence, but you know nothing else about me. Meanwhile, I don't even know you exist."
Luo Ji began sketching out his thought experiment, and Shi Qiang quietly played along, listening to the rules of this simple cosmic game.
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