The first century after the end of the Trisolaran War.
Humanity was no longer the humanity of the past.
Under the dual effects of Luo Ji's iron-fisted rule and the "Humanity Supreme" mental brand, the civilization's development curve had been forcibly bent into a vertical line.
With the solar system and the terraformed former Trisolaran star system serving as twin cores, thousands of stable Stargates acted like a spiderweb, firmly binding all resource-rich and habitable planets within a thousand light-years to humanity's war chariot.
The prototype of an interstellar empire spanning a thousand light-years had emerged.
...
At the center of the Milky Way, near the supermassive black hole Sagittarius A*.
Here, space-time was warped to the extreme by gravity, preventing even light from escaping.
Yet, right beside this event horizon representing the universe's ultimate death, an indescribably magnificent artificial celestial body floated silently.
It was composed of countless modular mirror arrays, resembling a giant eye made of diamonds orbiting the black hole.
[Sentry Array].
Humanity's ultimate surveillance system.
"Report, sir. High-intelligence reaction signals detected in Sector 7749 of the Perseus Arm."
Inside the Sentry Array's main control room, a young operator in a white uniform lazily tapped the console while chewing gum.
Before him was a complete, real-time dynamic star map covering the entire Milky Way.
Every blinking dot on it represented a planet.
The entire galaxy held no more secrets from humanity.
"Oh? What tier of civilization?"
His commanding officer, a middle-aged man with slicked-back hair, asked without turning around, a coffee mug in hand.
"Based on preliminary energy readings, they've just touched the threshold of a Tier 1 civilization and are currently developing controllable nuclear fusion." The young operator curled his lips, his tone carrying undisguised superiority. "It's a silicon-based species. They look... well, like a bunch of walking rocks."
"Heh, rocks?"
The officer took a sip of coffee and waved his hand casually.
"Initiate standard contact protocol."
"Yes, sir."
...
The Perseus Arm, a yellowish-brown planet.
When a human fleet that blotted out the sun sailed directly out of a torn spatial rift like a divine miracle, this silicon-based civilization—which had just unified its home world and was ambitiously preparing to march into the sea of stars—was completely dumbfounded.
After a brief moment of shock came anger.
They chose armed resistance.
Countless nuclear missiles trailed long exhaust flames as they flew toward the human fleet.
However, these weapons couldn't even get close. Midway through their flight, they were decomposed into basic particles by invisible force fields.
The bridge of the human fleet's flagship, the *All Tomorrows*.
Li Wei was now a Marshal of the Human Empire.
A century of time hadn't left many marks on his face, but his falcon-like eyes had grown even deeper and colder.
He watched the futile resistance of those "rock people" on the screen without a shred of emotion.
"Fools who don't know what's good for them."
He uttered those few words.
Then, he issued an order.
"Bring out the Neutron Sweep. Teach all the bugs peeking at us a lesson."
The order was given.
A Colossus-class weapon, as massive as a small moon, was slowly dragged out of a temporarily opened giant Stargate.
Its appearance made the planet's host star pale in comparison.
No charging, no aiming.
An intense beam of light, impossible to look at directly, fired from the Neutron Sweep's muzzle, instantly enveloping the yellowish-brown planet.
The beam flashed.
The planet remained intact.
But in that instant, all organic matter and silicon-based life on it were completely annihilated.
Erased entirely at the DNA level.
The entire process was broadcast live via the Sentry Array to every known life-bearing planet in the Milky Way.
On this day.
The universe's Dark Forest law was forcibly rewritten by humanity in the most brutal, unreasonable manner possible.
The forest no longer needed hunters.
Because a god had descended.
From then on, all discovered lower civilizations chose absolute submission without exception.
They were integrated into the "Human Civilization Auxiliary System," obediently handing over ownership of their home worlds to become the empire's lowest-tier laborers and resource providers.
Meanwhile, those uncivilized, primitive intelligent species were placed into "Nature Reserves."
Like captive animals, they were provided for human scientists to study and observe.
...
G-581d, an ancient planet that had been terraformed by an unknown power tens of millions of years ago.
Here, a human scientific expedition discovered the ruins of intelligent beings buried deep underground.
When the genetic regression report of the remains was placed before Luo Ji, the man revered as a god by all of humanity revealed a grave expression for the first time.
"Dinosaur People?"
"Yes, Chairman." Lin Fan, the Chief Scientist of the Academy of Sciences, stood respectfully to the side. "According to genetic comparisons, their ancestors were indeed the intelligent dinosaurs that lived on Earth sixty-five million years ago."
"But..."
Lin Fan's tone grew strained as he pulled up a 3D scan of the remains.
"Their skeletons exhibit... extremely grotesque signs of modification."
On the screen, the skeleton of the Dinosaur Person looked like a failed piece of art that a madman had molded at will.
The ribs had been forcibly snapped and stitched back together at angles that defied biomechanics.
The spine was drilled with countless useless holes.
The skull had been shattered and pieced back together into a non-functional, twisted shape filled with pain and torment.
"This kind of modification serves no practical purpose," Lin Fan's voice trembled slightly. "Its only function is to inflict the maximum amount of eternal agony."
Luo Ji looked at the skeleton and fell silent.
A ripple finally appeared in his eyes, which were usually as placid as an ancient well.
This method...
This way of treating life as a toy and taking pleasure in inflicting pain.
It was exactly the same as the atrocities committed against the Star People by that terrifying entity known as the "Qu," whose memories had been forcibly implanted into him and the other PDC higher-ups.
So that was it.
As early as sixty-five million years ago.
Before humanity was even born.
The Qu's demonic claws had already reached into the Milky Way.
Humanity was not the first.
And they certainly wouldn't be the last.
Luo Ji slowly closed his eyes as an unprecedented sense of urgency washed over him once more.
Just then, an emergency communication request interrupted his thoughts.
It was the supreme director of the Genetics Academy.
"Chairman!" As the call connected, the director's usually composed face was now filled with shock and ecstasy. "We... we've made a groundbreaking discovery!"
"Speak."
"Genes! It's human genes!" The director's voice trembled with excitement. "With the exponential increase in our lifespans and physical constitutions, a completely new sequence has begun to spontaneously... awaken within the genetic code of the new generation of humans!"
"This sequence allows them to... to directly interfere with reality!"
Luo Ji's eyes snapped open.
"What do you mean?"
"Psionics!" the director exclaimed. "We've named it 'Psionics'! Chairman, just moments ago, a newborn baby, without the aid of any external force, managed to levitate his milk bottle using nothing but his own mind!"
"This... this isn't an isolated case!"
"We've tested all newborns from the past month, and over thirty percent of them are showing varying degrees of 'Psionic Awakening' signs!"
"It seems our humanity is undergoing a metamorphosis into a completely new, unknown form of life!"