Ye Wenjie, watch my moves closely.

"I understand," said the Science Administrator. "We have all carefully studied the first batch of Earth information we received, and the most noteworthy aspect is their history of civilization. Consider these facts: it took humanity hundreds of thousands of Earth years to progress from the hunting and gathering age to the agricultural age; several thousand Earth years to go from the agricultural age to the industrial age; and only two hundred Earth years to go from the industrial age to the atomic age; and then, in just a few dozen Earth years, they entered the information age. This civilization possesses a terrifyingly rapid evolutionary capacity! In the Trisolaran world, among the two hundred civilizations that have existed, including ours, none have experienced such accelerated development. The scientific and technological progress of all Trisolaran civilizations has been at a constant or even decelerating pace. Each technological era in our world requires essentially the same long period of development."

The leader continued, "The reality is that in 4.5 million years (approximately 450 years), when the Trisolaran fleet reaches Earth's planetary system, that civilization's technological level will have far surpassed ours due to its rapid development! After such a long voyage, traversing two interstellar dust belts, it's highly likely that only half of the Trisolaran fleet will reach the solar system; the rest will perish during the long journey. By then, the Trisolaran fleet will be utterly vulnerable to Earth's civilization—we're not going on an expedition, we're going to our deaths!"

"If that's the case, Your Majesty, there's something even more terrifying..." the military governor said.

"Yes, that's easy to see. The location of the Trisolaran civilization has been exposed, and in order to eliminate the future threat, Earth's interstellar fleet will launch a counterattack on our star system. It's very likely that the Trisolaran civilization will be wiped out by Earthlings before the expanding sun engulfs this planet."

The bright and promising future suddenly turned so bleak that the meeting room fell silent for a long time.

The leader said, "Our next step is to curb the scientific development of Earth's civilization. We began formulating this plan as early as when we received the first batch of information. Now, a very favorable condition has emerged to realize these plans: the response we received this time came from a traitor to Earth's civilization, so we have reason to suspect that there are quite a few dissenting forces within Earth's civilization, and we must make full use of these forces."

"Your Majesty, how easy is that? Our connection with Earth is as thin as a thread, taking more than 80,000 hours to complete a single response."

"Not entirely. Just like us, the discovery of extraterrestrial civilizations on Earth is a huge shock to society as a whole, and will have a profound impact on civilizations. We have reason to believe that alien forces within Earth's civilizations will continue to gather and grow."

"So what can they do? Cause destruction?"

"Over a time span of 40,000 hours, the strategic significance of any traditional wars and acts of terrorism is minimal, and they can be revived. Over such a long timeframe, there is only one way to effectively curb the development of a civilization and disarm it: kill its science. Now, let the Science Administrator briefly introduce the three plans we have formulated."

"The first plan is codenamed 'Staining,'" the Science Administrator said. "It will exploit the side effects of science and technology to instill fear and aversion towards science in the public. For example, the environmental problems caused by technological development in our world likely exist on Earth as well, and the Staining plan will fully utilize these factors. The second plan is codenamed 'Miracle,' which involves demonstrating supernatural powers to Earthlings. This plan aims to construct a false universe that cannot be explained by scientific logic through a series of 'miracles.' After this illusion persists for a certain period, it is possible that the Trisolaran civilization will become an object of worship for religious believers in that world. In Earth's intellectual circles, non-scientific thinking will overwhelm scientific thinking, leading to the collapse of the entire scientific thought system."

How do miracles occur?

"The reason a miracle is a miracle is that it is absolutely impossible for Earthlings to decipher. This may require us to introduce some technology that is above their current level to alien forces on Earth."

"This is too risky. Who will end up getting these technologies? It's playing with fire!"

"Of course, what level of technology needs to be input to produce miracles remains to be further studied..."

"Science Governor, please stop!" the Military Governor said, standing up. "Your Majesty, I would like to state my opinion: these two programs will hardly have any effect on the science that kills humanity."

"But doing something is better than doing nothing," the science official argued before the head of state could answer.

"That's all," the military governor said dismissively.

"I agree with your assessment. The 'Dyeing' and 'Miracle' projects can only disrupt the development of Earth's science," the leader told the military governor. Turning to the assembled attendees, he continued, "We need a decisive action to completely stifle Earth's science, locking it at its current level. Here, we need to grasp the key point: the comprehensive development of science and technology depends on the development of basic science, and the foundation of basic science lies in the exploration of the deep structure of matter. Without progress in this area, science and technology as a whole cannot achieve significant breakthroughs. In fact, this is not only aimed at Earth civilization, but also at all the targets the Trisolaran civilization seeks to conquer. We have been making efforts in this area long before we first received extraterrestrial messages, and recently our pace has accelerated considerably. Look, what is that?"

The head of state pointed to the sky, and the officials looked up in that direction and saw a ring in space, gleaming metallically in the sunlight.

"Isn't that the dock for building the second space fleet?"

"No, that's a giant particle accelerator under construction. The plan to build a second space fleet was cancelled, and its resources were all used for the Sophon Project."

"The Sophon Project?!"

"Yes, at least half of the people here are unaware of this plan. Now, I'd like to ask the Science Officer to introduce it to everyone."

"I knew about the plan, but I didn't expect it to have progressed this far," the industrial governor said.

Education and Culture Minister: "I know, but it feels like a myth."

"Project Sophon, in short, is about transforming a proton into a super intelligent computer," the science governor said.

"As a widely circulated science fiction, everyone has heard of it," the agricultural governor said. "But for it to become a reality is still too sudden. I know that physicists have been able to manipulate nine of the eleven dimensions of the microscopic world, but we still can't imagine that they can stick a small pair of tweezers into a proton and build a large-scale integrated circuit inside it."

"Of course not. Etching of micro-integrated circuits can only be done on a macroscopic scale, and only on a macroscopic two-dimensional plane. Therefore, we need to unfold a proton into two dimensions."

"How would the area be if a nine-dimensional structure were unfolded into two dimensions?"

"It's huge, you'll see," the science governor said with a smile.

----

Time flies, and 60,000 Trisolaran times have passed. The first sophon manufacturing project in the Trisolaran world has failed.

The sophon was reduced to one dimension, becoming a line that was 1.5 thousand light-hours long.

These nearly massless filaments reflect visible light and fall under the influence of gravity, like a rain of light.

The one-dimensional silk rainstorm lasted for more than twenty Trisolaran periods, and its omnipresent nature disturbed everyone in the Trisolaran world.

Fifty times the length of a three-body cycle, the two-dimensional expansion of the proton begins again.

This time, an unusual phenomenon appeared in the sky: countless eyes filled the sky, and an immense sense of terror swept through the Trisolaran world.

No one expected that a microscopic civilization could exist inside the proton.

In order to protect the survival of civilization, the microscopic civilization merged all its "eyes" into one, turning them into a reflector, which focused sunlight onto the surface of the Trisolaran planet. The enormous energy burned everything in the path of the light beam.

For the safety of the planet, the Trisolaran space defense forces launched several nuclear missiles at the proton screen that had been deployed in space, destroying this microscopic civilization.

Thirty times the time it takes for the Trisolarans to complete their final two-dimensional proton expansion experiment, the Trisolarans saw another Trisolaran world in space.

Finally, everyone realized that the experiment had been a success.

The mirage that appeared above the Trisolaran world was light reflected from a proton that had been unfolded into a two-dimensional plane.

In geosynchronous orbit, thousands of spacecraft approach to perform integrated circuit etching on the giant membrane that the protons spread out.

Circuit etching is a massive undertaking, requiring tens of thousands of tripartite measurements.

The head of state withdrew his gaze and said to the propaganda chief, "Repeatedly broadcast the scientific facts of the destruction of microscopic civilizations to the whole world, so that people understand that the destruction of civilizations is a very common thing in the universe."

"Why, Your Majesty?"

The propaganda official asked.

"I discovered that after we announced the three plans—the staining, the miracle, and the sophon—some extremely dangerous pacifist sentiments emerged in the Trisolaran world. They yearned for Earth, regarding it as paradise, and hoped for peaceful coexistence between the two civilizations."

"I admit that Earth's civilization is very destructive in the Trisolaran world. For our people, it is like sacred music from heaven. But we have also found that the humanistic ideas of Earthlings can lead many Trisolarans astray. We are a civilization that prioritizes rationality. We do not need any unnecessary care. The spirit we uphold is rationality and numbness."

"The past two hundred cycles of civilization have proven that civilizations possessing so-called humanities and arts are the most fragile and short-lived; even a minor catastrophe in a period of chaos is enough to wipe them out."

"I need to destroy the microscopic civilizations so that the people of the Trisolaran world can accept the fact that Earth's civilization will inevitably be wiped out by us."

---------

The Trisolaran leader stood atop the pyramid, gazing into the distance.

At this moment, the Trisolaran homeworld is enjoying the brief blessings of the Eternal Era.

There were no shooting stars in the sky, only a gentle sun hanging in the center. As the brightness dimmed slightly, the most precious scenery of the home planet, the cosmic starry sky, appeared above the head of the leader.

But the leader had no appreciation for beauty. He ordered the science governor to point the optical telescope in geosynchronous orbit at the location of the solar system four light-years away. After an exposure of 20 three-body hours, the optical telescope captured the faint light emitted by the sun.

At the leader's command, the Sophon, having completed the initial circuit etching, projected magnified sunlight onto the surface of Trisolaris. At that moment, the Trisolarans in the northern hemisphere saw the exceptionally bright star in the sky.

"Oh, Sun," the leader raised his head and looked directly at the sun, his gaze seemingly piercing through countless distant distances, landing on the stable and beautiful Heng star system four light-years away.

"Ye Wenjie, look, those three stars seem a little dimmer."

Li Youyu blinked and looked towards the direction of the Centaur Alpha constellation in the low southern sky.

The three stars in the Trisolaran world dimmed, signifying that they would soon enter a brief era.

No, perhaps it has already arrived.

The light that Li Youyu saw was emitted by the Trisolaran system 4.2 years ago.

For Li Youyu, the current Three-Body world represents the future 4.2 years from now.

"Would you be interested in sending some more messages to the Trisolarans?" Li Youyu asked.

Ye Wenjie smiled faintly and said, "What should we say to them? Should we tell them we want to coexist peacefully? Or should we beg them not to come?"

"Neither," Li Youyu said, "it's a pacifier."

"nipple?"

"Do you remember the message you received four years ago?"

Ye Wenjie nodded.

Four years ago, the Trisolaran world's No. 4 listener sent her a reply, advising her not to answer, lest the location of Earth be exposed and she be invaded.

It was this well-intentioned reminder that led Ye Wenjie, who was in a state of confusion, to develop unwarranted expectations of the Trisolaran civilization.

"The reaction of Monitor No. 1379 is not an isolated case in the Trisolaran civilization."

Li Youyu and Ye Wenjie strolled away from the clock statue, saying as they walked, "The Trisolarans are an extremely cold civilization. There is no entertainment, no art, no humanities. Everything they do is to survive. Everyone lives in fear of dying at any moment. The stable and abundant Earth civilization is a deadly poison to the Trisolarans."

"Just as you or Evans might look forward to the arrival of the Trisolaran civilization, there must also be dangerous ideologies within the Trisolaran world that seek to protect Earth's civilization. The pacifier I'm referring to is the continuous transmission of Earth's spiritual entertainment information to the Trisolaran civilization, using a wealth of entertainment products to undermine the Trisolarans' cold rationality, just like a pacifier for babies."

"The Trisolaran civilization, devoid of cold rationality, could not even survive a brief chaotic era. I think the Trisolaran leader will do everything in his power to suppress such a dangerous ideology."

Ye Wenjie said.

"Of course I don't believe that this little bit can easily dismantle them, but it's always good to buy them some time and cause them some trouble. We need to utilize the mutated power within the three bodies, so..."

Li Youyu looked at Ye Wenjie and said, "The matter of contacting the Trisolarans will be left to you and the Future Historians. You will decide what specific information to reveal to them."

"Is it possible?"

Ye Wenjie was amused by his outrageous strategic plan and nodded, "Of course."

"We need to come up with a new name for your organization," Li Youyu thought for a moment, "How about Nuwa? She'll be like a pacifier for the Trisolarans, forever their strict mother as long as human civilization exists!"