That gray "cloud" was completely silent, yet it carried an aura of primordial chaos from the dawn of creation.
Like a puff of smoke exhaled by the Grim Reaper, it slowly but irresistibly enveloped the entire Trisolaran escape fleet.
Aboard the flagship *Trisolaris*, a Trisolaran crew member monitoring the life support systems suddenly erupted with sheer terror in his mind.
The sturdy alloy console in front of him was melting.
It was disintegrating directly from the inside out.
The hard metal seemed to lose its fundamental physical structure, turning into a puddle of writhing, spreading gray sludge.
"W-Warning! The console... is decomposing!"
Before his mental shriek could spread across the public channel, he "looked" at his own limbs in horror.
There was no pain, no sensation whatsoever.
Yet he could only watch helplessly as his body, starting from where it touched the gray sludge, turned into the exact same gray inch by inch.
Assimilated.
Devoured.
Erased from this world, bit by bit.
Panicked thought waves screamed frantically across the fleet's communication network.
"Help! What is that thing?!"
"My limbs! My limbs are disappearing!"
"Ah—"
However, these desperate wails lasted for less than a few seconds.
Then, there was dead silence.
Swaths of absolute dead silence.
In the communication channels, the points of light representing living minds extinguished in massive clusters at an astonishing speed.
On the bridge of the *Trisolaris*, the Princeps's thought body fluctuated violently from extreme terror.
He looked out through the massive viewport.
It was a hellish scene.
The ships carrying the last hope of their civilization, regardless of size or strength, were rapidly dissolving under the shroud of that gray smoke.
They were like ice cubes thrown into boiling oil.
Hull armor, power engines, weapon systems... everything silently disintegrated, becoming fresh nourishment for that gray fog of death.
He could "feel" the indescribable terror of his compatriots in every ship during their final moments before their consciousnesses were completely decomposed.
Then, as if sensing something, he abruptly turned his head.
The bodies of the several Consuls beside him were turning transparent at a visible rate, then transforming into wisps of gray dust that scattered into the air.
Finally, that grayness spread to his own body.
It was over.
Everything was over.
In the final moment before his consciousness was entirely devoured, a single thought flashed frantically in his mental core like a lifeline.
The splinter fleet!
The splinter fleet led by the Chief Navigator decades ago!
They had escaped ahead of time!
They were the last spark of the Trisolaran civilization! The final hope!
They would definitely get away! It was impossible for humanity to find them!
Just as this sole thought of hope arose amidst his despair, the space in front of him suddenly lit up.
Luo Ji's holographic projection appeared once more.
He wore an almost cruel smile, a smile that froze the Princeps's mental core.
"Right, I forgot to tell you something," Luo Ji's voice was light, yet it carried a chill from the abyss of hell.
"Did you think that splinter fleet that fled early could escape our grasp?"
"I'm sorry to say."
"The moment they deviated from the main space lane, our *Voyager* left a tiny 'beacon' on their flagship."
"No matter which corner of the universe they flee to, we can find them."
"In fact... right before you were even ready, they were already 'cleaned up' by us."
Boom!!!
The Princeps's mental core felt as if it had taken a direct hit from a supernova.
His final hope was utterly crushed in the most cruel, nonchalant manner possible.
It wasn't despair.
It was a profound, dark, and indescribable emptiness that went far beyond despair.
They... the Trisolaran civilization... had become a joke.
He himself was like a self-righteous, pathetic clown... played entirely for a fool.
In endless remorse, the Princeps's consciousness began to collapse and dissipate.
However.
Just as he was about to be completely decomposed by the Nano Plague, an irresistibly powerful force field firmly imprisoned his remaining, shattering core of consciousness.
He did not die.
Luo Ji's voice echoed in his ears one last time, like an eternal curse.
"You won't die."
"I will build you the most comfortable cage and keep you alive."
"You will witness with your own eyes as human civilization steps over your corpses and marches toward the true sea of stars."
"Repent well in eternal torment."
...
When the news of the Trisolaran civilization's complete erasure reached Earth.
The entire planet plunged into unprecedented revelry.
New York, Shanghai, London, Moscow...
Countless people flooded the streets. They embraced, they wept, and they screamed hysterically.
"We won! We won!!"
"The Trisolarans are gone! We completely crushed them!"
"Long live Chairman Luo Ji! Long live human civilization!!"
"Humanity Supreme!"
This slogan, which had once only circulated within the PDC, now echoed in every corner of the globe.
Luo Ji's status had far surpassed that of any leader in history.
He became the one and only living god on Earth.
Soon, after the nanobots completely "cleaned up" the Trisolaran star system and even drained the energy of its three stars, a magnificent project began.
The Trisolaran system, a place that once nurtured a great civilization, and the three stars that brought nightmares to the Trisolarans, had now become humanity's resource warehouse.
A Stargate connecting the Solar System and the Trisolaran system was rapidly constructed.
Massive amounts of pure energy were continuously transported back to the Solar System.
Human civilization had completely broken its final shackle.
Over the next hundred years.
Humanity entered a super golden age of explosive development that defied all description.
Their lifespans easily surpassed a thousand years.
Their technology iterated frantically on a daily basis.
Using the resources of the Trisolaran and Solar systems as a foundation, humanity's footprint began to expand wildly into surrounding star sectors.
One planet.
Ten planets.
A hundred planets...
In just a short century.
Centered around the Solar System, all habitable and resource-rich planets within a radius of hundreds of light-years were planted with the flag of human civilization.
The prototype of an interstellar empire spanning hundreds of light-years began to take shape.
Humanity became the most powerful and terrifying hunter in the Milky Way.