Chapter 509: Now, I Will Speak to the Trisolaran World!
"But this plan isn't without possible improvements."
After rejecting Chisagi Fox's proposal, Alt Cunningham shifted the conversation: "We can rapidly construct a powerful electromagnetic field covering the entire base platform here on the Moon of War."
"With the stellar engines, the morphing metal, and the aid of the Fire Seed Source, turning every energy engine into an electromagnetic launch device only requires a single command."
The Moon of War beneath Alt Cunningham and the others was itself a colossal megastructure made of vast morphing metal. It wasn't just an ordinary base platform—it was a gigantic Transformer, capable of reshaping and assembling itself into anything at will.
"As long as we can prepare the right design protocols in advance, once the sophons enter the Moon of War, we can issue the command and instantly release a strong electromagnetic field, immediately seizing all intruding sophons."
Alt Cunningham's optimized plan did sound more reasonable. Though there were still risks, this was the best way to maximize control over the sophons.
Just as everyone was silently considering that this might actually work, Song Zhaomei suddenly poured cold water over the discussion:
"Here's the problem: how do we ensure all five sophons arrive at the Moon of War at the same time? The Trisolarans aren't the type to put all their eggs in one basket."
"Most likely they'll send one droplet first to probe, not all five at once."
Her reminder was well-founded. For Universal Megacorp, technical issues could be solved. It was strategy that demanded greater wisdom and foresight.
Even if they did manage to capture three sophons with this method, the remaining two would remain untouchable. Until micro-domain technologies matured, those two sophons would continue to act as the Trisolarans' eyes.
And the Trisolarans wouldn't walk into the same trap twice.
Universal Megacorp would end up paying the price of exposing themselves without blinding the enemy entirely. Their advantage of lurking in the shadows would be lost.
Clearly, only by taking down all five sophons at once could they claim true victory and turn the balance of risks and benefits entirely in their favor.
But could they really lure all five sophons into the Moon of War simultaneously?
The staff of the Science Hub had already worked so hard to tackle the technical side. Abandoning things now would be a waste.
After a long silence, V finally spoke: "Perhaps my idea could be worth a try."
All eyes immediately turned to V. The seasoned veteran and commander always managed to offer unexpected insights. Maybe his idea could break the stalemate.
"What idea?" Chisagi Fox pressed.
"Our goal is to draw all five of the Trisolaran sophons to the Moon of War in a short span of time, so we can catch them all at once."
V first calmly restated the mission. But Chisagi Fox shook his head with a bitter smile, dismissing its feasibility.
"That's impossible. The Trisolaran civilization isn't stupid. They'd never send all their sophons to an unknown place."
"True. But right now the Trisolarans don't have many cards left to play. Under unfavorable conditions, this seemingly rational species may yet act irrationally."
V's answer left Chisagi Fox frowning. As a strict scientist, he struggled to accept ideas that strayed beyond rational logic.
"Very well, then. What does your plan require?" Alt Cunningham asked, looking at V.
"A device capable of transmitting signals with stellar-level power—ideally something like the one Ye Wenjie once used."
Three centuries ago, Ye Wenjie had used the Red Coast Base transmitter to amplify radio waves via the Sun, sending humanity's call beyond the solar system.
That marked humanity's first communication with the Trisolarans, who replied three times with the warning: Do not respond.
But Ye Wenjie had firmly believed humanity was beyond saving, that only the arrival of a savior could rescue civilization.
The Trisolarans, however, were no saviors. They were just another group of cosmic refugees in the Trisolaran Universe—a species on the brink of extinction, desperate to survive.
The tragedies of individuals and the stains of an entire era all traced back to that mysterious Red Coast Base. Ye Wenjie's guidance and Luo Ji's epiphany were inseparable from that place.
Now, V's plan was to build a new signal transmission tower on the Moon of War—a new Red Coast, designed to lure in the Trisolarans' sophons.
For Universal Megacorp, this was hardly a challenge.
The Red Coast Base of The Three-Body Problem had been built in the 1960s, and its signal transmission devices were primitive by modern standards. Constructing a new signal tower now was a matter of minutes.
The only real question was: what exactly did V intend to do with a device that wasn't even particularly advanced?
Use it to send signals to the Trisolarans? Was that really necessary? Would they risk exposing themselves just to put on a show for the enemy?
Everyone was puzzled, but V only smiled calmly: "Relax. This is nothing more than a bluff. But to make sure the Trisolarans fall for it, it has to look real."
Chisagi Fox stared at him, still unable to follow his line of thinking. "If you're going to transmit signals and negotiate with the Trisolarans, why not simply use this method to persuade them to surrender?"
"It's not like we've never talked other species into surrendering."
He wasn't wrong. Back in the Warhammer universe, Universal Megacorp had offered surrender terms to the Necrons, effortlessly bringing that key civilization under their control.
They had obtained shards of the C'tan star gods and secured a powerful new ally.
Put plainly, all the Trisolarans wanted was a new homeworld. Did this war really need to be fought at all?
But V was adamant: "This war must be fought. Sacrifices are inevitable!"
Governor Li Ang had already decreed that the Stargate could only be opened again once the unification mission was complete. Until then, none of them could pass through it back to the prime universe.
The Trisolarans weren't fools. If Universal Megacorp promised them a new homeworld, they would send a droplet to inspect it.
But with the Stargate sealed, there would be nothing to inspect.
That left only one path: war.
They had to fight until the Trisolarans were utterly subdued. Negotiation was not V's goal—forcing the Trisolaran civilization to surrender was.
What's more, according to the Megacorp's data archives, V understood exactly what kind of species the Trisolarans were. They would stop at nothing for survival.
In the brutal Trisolaran Universe, that trait was a strength—without it, they never would have endured until the very end of the cosmos.
In V's eyes, this seemingly small and easily bullied civilization was absolutely the "Xiao Yan–style underdog protagonist" who should never be underestimated.
In the original story, after the Trisolarans integrated with human civilization in terms of culture and technology, they learned intrigue and deception. They learned human abstract thinking, but humanity never learned Trisolaran rationality.
And so, in the embrace of mercy, they perished beneath a two-dimensional strike.
Once the plan of action was finalized, the Universal Megacorp immediately began a series of operations.
Electromagnetic wave transmission devices, quantum-field activation equipment—all of it was being prepared in an orderly fashion.
Before capturing the sophons, what V wanted to do was strike fear into the Trisolaran civilization, to throw them into panic. No matter how rational a civilization might be, once its mind was unsettled, mistakes were inevitable.
A signal-transmission platform similar to Red Coast Base was quickly built. Compared to the Universal Megacorp's megastructures, this small project was nothing at all.
Thanks to a highly automated AI construction system, a massive, old-fashioned antenna was erected, aimed at the sky, pointing toward the sun like a colossal cannon.
The Megacorp's staff moved swiftly, making preparations to fire signals toward the sun. Borrowing the sun's stellar power to broadcast the signal outward, every step followed almost exactly the process Ye Wenjie had once carried out.
Naturally, V's plan had already received Li Ang's approval. When everything was ready, all that remained was to deactivate the War Moon's energy cloaking shield and deliberately expose its existence.
In truth, not everyone supported V's plan. After all, the risks really were high.
Who could guarantee that the higher-dimensional civilizations of the Three-Body universe would not lock onto the solar system once the star-gate was opened? By revealing themselves now, they would surely be placing themselves in danger.
But V wanted everyone to adapt as quickly as possible to the harsh, cold cruelty of the Trisolaran universe. The Universal Megacorp was no low-tier player—it had every qualification to lay its cards openly before higher civilizations.
The time had come to show their hand.
"Are you certain you really want to do this?"
Before giving the final order, Alt Cunningham turned to V and asked.
V gazed up at the heavens, nodded, and replied, "Begin."
Sensing V's unshakable resolve, Alt said no more and immediately gave the order to shut down the War Moon's energy shield, lifting its cloaking state.
In an instant, the invisible disguise vanished completely from the War Moon. In the velvet-black depths of space, a massive celestial body suddenly appeared, stationed at the edge of the solar system.
The gravitational pull of the surrounding planets did nothing to shift its position. The War Moon remained fixed there, as though inviting the sophons to come.
And the sophon that had long been circling the War Moon finally saw its chance. It darted inside, sweeping across the interior with a near-greedy gaze, striving to capture everything and transmit it all back to the Trisolaran headquarters.
At the same time, the other two sophons in the solar system hurried toward the War Moon as well, designating it as the core surveillance zone. Trisolaris now paid far more attention to the Megacorp than to humanity.
After all, Earth's humans couldn't produce anything meaningful anytime soon—delaying particle-interference experiments for a little while hardly mattered.
Of course, all of this was within V's expectations.
Since he dared to reveal the Megacorp's headquarters, naturally he had his preparations. And the Trisolarans, for their part, were never going to waste such an opportunity.
At this moment, the Trisolarans still could not determine why the War Moon had lifted its cloaking state, nor how long it would remain visible.
But regardless, this might be their only chance to gather more intelligence on the Universal Megacorp. The risk was worth taking.
Watching through the sophons' perspective, the Trisolaran leaders were bewildered by the sight before them. They knew the Universal Megacorp was no simple matter.
But the real question was: how had such a massive body slipped into the solar system unnoticed?
By rights, an object of this scale entering the system should have caused a stir at the very least. It should have been impossible to hide from sophon surveillance.
Yet the War Moon had appeared out of nowhere. How could this not shock and confound the Trisolarans?
But V had no intention of offering them an explanation. Once the timing was right, he turned toward the sophons and declared:
"Now, I will speak to Trisolaris."
V began with a self-introduction, stating his position within the Universal Megacorp. Then he displayed the button in his hand, speaking to the empty sky:
"This is a signal transmitter. With the press of my finger, the signal tower will send electromagnetic waves to the sun. Amplified by the sun, the stellar-powered signal will spread beyond the solar system."
"This time, the spell to be broadcast is the relative coordinates of Trisolaris and thirty surrounding stars. The sun will become a beacon in the galaxy, spreading the location of your homeworld across the universe."
"You know exactly what this means. I will give you three minutes to respond."
The War Moon possessed natural defenses akin to an atmosphere. The flickering stars gradually dimmed, as if closing their eyes. On the surface it seemed that V was speaking to the air, but in reality his every move had already seized the Trisolarans' full attention.
Every gesture, every word of V's was faithfully recorded by the sophons and transmitted to Trisolaran high command, without a single detail omitted.
And then V continued:
"We command the technology to move planets. We can leave the solar system before it or Trisolaris is destroyed and seek another homeworld."
"In other words, the life and death of humanity and Trisolaris alike rests in our hands. Even if both the solar system and the Trisolaran system vanish, it will not affect our survival."
"If you remain silent and refuse dialogue, when time is up, I will press this button."
As soon as his words fell, V moved on to the next step in his lure:
"Don't think you can use sophons to interfere with the signal tower's transmission. Besides the base behind me, there are more than ten other towers hidden in the most secret locations, all controlled by this button in my hand."
Of course, it was all a lie.
The Universal Megacorp had not prepared so many towers. V said it only to force the Trisolarans to deploy all their sophons to the War Moon, drawing them in to block the supposed signal devices.
As long as five sophons arrived, the plan would succeed!
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