Chapter 537: The Meaning of the Seeds! The Cosmic Return Movement Declaration! The Zeroers!
Li Ang couldn't understand why the Singer Civilization would install a decryption system on their own ship. Weren't they afraid that all their data would be leaked?
Or perhaps, none of the information on this ship was actually valuable, so they didn't care if it was exposed.
At that moment, Dr. Halsey offered an explanation. "I think the answer is right in the name itself. Since this ship is called a Seed, that means…"
"Its purpose is to take root and grow."
The implication was as clear as it could be — the mission carried by this ship went far beyond simply cleansing civilizations.
"But why would they do that? Isn't that redundant?" asked Jack Wells in confusion.
If the Singer Civilization had already decided to perform dimensional reduction, then why bother packaging their own information for others to understand?
"That's not hard to figure out," Halsey said. "The war between the Singer Civilization and the Fringe Civilizations was a matter of life and death. They couldn't be completely certain that their dimensional reduction would be fully successful."
"Even genetic modification can produce unpredictable results — let alone dimensional reduction. The Creator's base code isn't so easily rewritten."
"No one can guarantee that after completing their reduction, the Singers would be able to survive long-term in a two-dimensional world."
Her reasoning was sound. Always plan for the worst. To ensure the continuity of their civilization, they would need to scatter Seed Ships across the cosmos — vessels carrying, preserving, and perpetuating the memory of their homeworld.
That way, even if dimensional reduction failed, or if their homeworld was conquered and exterminated by the Fringe Civilizations, at least a tombstone would remain — one engraved with the words "Singer Civilization."
The purpose of each Seed Ship to wipe out lower civilizations that might expose them was, in a way, to clear the field — to make room for their own kind to thrive.
Halsey's explanation left everyone silent and contemplative. In that sense, these Seed Ships were the Singer Civilization's final testament — their farewell letters to the universe.
If even such an advanced civilization was pessimistically writing its own eulogy, then for the lesser ones, the tone of this universe was far too bleak indeed.
Li Ang remained quiet, deep in thought.
He didn't doubt Halsey's deduction, but something still felt off. If it was merely about defeat or the risk of failed dimensional reduction, that alone shouldn't have driven the Singers to write a "farewell letter" to themselves.
The universe was vast — surely there was somewhere else for them to go.
Even if they couldn't defeat the Fringe Civilizations, could they not escape? Couldn't they flee elsewhere to survive?
With their level of technology, they shouldn't have been as hopeless as the Trisolarans.
Just as Li Ang was about to speak, Alt Cunningham arrived with a freshly decoded message and presented it to everyone.
"Gentlemen, this is an important discovery decoded by the Science Nexus Department. After analysis, we confirmed that this message was transmitted using an ultra-membrane broadcasting technology."
"This Seed Ship received the transmission approximately two hundred years ago."
Hearing that, Li Ang immediately focused. In the Three-Body universe, only one civilization was known to possess such ultra-membrane broadcasting capabilities — the Zeroers.
Perhaps the Fringe Civilizations had similar technology, but only in theory. Even if they did, their coverage range could never match that of the Zeroers.
Because the Zeroer Civilization's broadcasts weren't limited to this universe — they reached across dimensions, to other microcosmic universes as well.
As the message unfolded, Li Ang saw the all-too-familiar opening line:
[Cosmic Return Movement Declaration]
As expected — it had come.
Just as Li Ang had told the corporate executives before, the Three-Body universe was originally eleven-dimensional. Back then, it possessed superluminal connectivity — one could cross from one end of the universe to the other within a single Planck time.
It was a glorious pastoral age.
Now, however, the universe was merely an expanding corpse. Its known size spanned 17 billion light-years and continued to grow.
Yet the speed of light was only 300,000 kilometers per second — meaning that light itself could never traverse the universe's full span, because it couldn't even outpace the expansion of space itself.
If the universe were a human being, it would be paralyzed — no neural signal could reach the entire body. The brain would be unaware of the limbs, and the limbs would not know the brain.
Each part was isolated from the others.
Such a universe was dying — and no one could stop its decay.
At this point, V and Jack Wells nodded in understanding. The Three-Body universe truly was different from all the others.
In other universes, faster-than-light travel was achievable — through hyperspace corridors, wormhole travel, or FTL drives of countless kinds.
But in the Three-Body universe, none of those methods worked.
The root cause of this tragedy lay in the endless interstellar wars between civilizations — in the widespread use of light-speed reduction and dimensional strikes, which had strangled the vitality and future of the cosmos.
Now, the Zeroer Civilization was calling upon all others to join them in restarting the universe — to return everything to its origin.
"Can that really be done!?"
Luo Ji looked at Alt Cunningham and the others in disbelief. He had never heard Li Ang's prior analysis of the Three-Body universe's situation, so he didn't yet grasp the full implications.
"From a technical standpoint, it might be possible," said Halsey calmly, hands in her pockets. "You can't pull a low-dimensional universe back up to higher dimensions — that's impossible. But if you keep reducing it all the way to zero, and then continue pushing past that zero, you might bring the universe back to its Big Bang state."
"When the clock passes zero, a new day begins."
Luo Ji was about to say that sounded like a good thing, but then realization dawned on him. How could the Zeroer Civilization possibly know what the universe's original, pastoral era was like? And how could they be so sure that reducing everything to zero would cause a restart?
That primordial age had been over a hundred billion years ago — perhaps even further back.
If the Zeroers had truly lived since that time and had personally witnessed the universe being degraded bit by bit into what it was now, then only one conclusion could be drawn:
The Zeroers were the true culprits behind the universe's dimensional decay.
Anyone who urges others to "see the big picture" is not part of it. Anyone who tells others to "pay any price" is rarely the one paying it.
Such rhetoric might fool newly born, naïve civilizations — but it could never deceive humanity, who were born into schemes and stratagems.
"Technically possible," Luo Ji muttered, "but practically impossible…"
Yet everyone heard him clearly.
"Correct," said Li Ang approvingly. "You've already seen through the truth of the Three-Body universe."
He looked at Luo Ji with genuine admiration. "As expected of humanity's first Swordholder — you've deduced the Zeroer Civilization's motives from just this little bit of information."
But Luo Ji didn't feel the slightest pride at the praise. Instead, he turned to Alt and the others. "Most of the advanced civilizations out there are unlikely to accept this so-called declaration movement."
"Are we really just going to stand by and watch this universe sink into eternal silence?"
Li Ang didn't answer. He simply waited patiently for the next piece of decoded data to come through.
Fortunately, not long after, Alt Cunningham returned with another crucial transmission.
It was a letter of persuasion sent by the Edge Civilization to the Singer Civilization. The message inside was short—just a single sentence—but the amount of information it contained was staggering.
The Edge Civilization was asking the Singers to join the Zeroers' camp and together call upon other civilizations to return their cosmic matter, advancing the plan to restart the universe.
That one sentence revealed at least three key points.
The first was that the Edge Civilization had already joined the Zeroers' faction. And since the Zeroers—a godlike civilization within the Three-Body universe—had permitted their entry, it meant they tacitly acknowledged the Edge Civilization's technological level.
At the very least, within the three-dimensional universe, the Edge Civilization was clearly among the top tiers.
The second point was that the Edge Civilization was also urging the Singers to join the Zeroers. This, too, was an indirect acknowledgment that the Singers' technology was advanced enough to qualify for inclusion.
But the Singers hadn't responded in the two centuries since. Instead, they had been actively preparing for dimensional reduction—proof that they neither trusted the Edge Civilization nor the Zeroers.
As for the third point—it called for all civilizations to return their "micro-universe matter."
Only the most advanced civilizations could possibly master micro-universe technology, siphoning material from the greater cosmos to create their own pocket universes. Needless to say, a lower civilization like humanity had no part in that.
The Singers had received the Zeroers' cosmic restart declaration two hundred years ago. Yet humanity still hadn't heard a word. That alone showed just how low humanity's standing was in the Three-Body universe.
In short, this message made it clear that the struggle among higher civilizations had already reached a life-and-death stage.
Resources were limited, and only a handful of civilizations could survive the next cosmic cycle. The seats at that table were few—and every ancient powerhouse and rising upstart was fighting for one.
The Zeroers couldn't fairly distribute the available positions, but since the cosmic restart had to proceed, they simply drove their subordinates to fight, to seize, to wage war against the former giants.
When civilizations reach that level, it's nothing but mutual annihilation—each wielding godlike means to see who can endure.
And among them, the Edge Civilization—masters of mathematical law weapons within three-dimensional space—was certainly one of the strongest.
Had the Universal Megacorp not recovered the Trisolarian Civilization, perhaps in time, the Trisolarans themselves would have secured a seat among the Zeroers, surviving the apocalypse as a micro-universe civilization in the microscopic realm.
Based on those three points, Li Ang could now be certain—the unified action of the Three-Body universe was already doomed.
"Mission complete. It's time for us to leave."
Li Ang's sudden statement left everyone momentarily dumbfounded. They didn't immediately understand what he meant by "leave." Was he talking about leaving the Solar System—or leaving the entire universe?
"Boss, you mean… leaving the Solar System to find a new base?" V asked tentatively.
"No. We're leaving the Three-Body universe itself. There's no hope left of saving it."
Li Ang's resolute tone left V and Morgan Blackhand utterly puzzled. Why now? They hadn't even fought the Singers yet, let alone challenged the Zeroers. How could reading two letters make him decide to retreat?
Were they afraid of the Singers' two-dimensional strike? But hadn't they already discovered that an encapsulation force field could effectively slow down the spread of dimensional reduction?
"Boss, I don't understand," Morgan pressed, unwilling to accept it. The Universal Megacorp had never given up on any multiverse they'd entered.
"The Zeroers have already completed their consolidation. Nearly every high-tier civilization in three-dimensional space now serves under them. The only ones left for us to negotiate with are the ancient elites—those who already command micro-universe technology."
"But those old hands who've survived countless cosmic resets are even harder to deal with. They're impossible to satisfy. To win them over would cost us a fortune in resources, and even then…"
"There's no guarantee they'd remain loyal to us."
Li Ang knew well that the Zeroers were old foxes—tricksters who'd long perfected the art of coaxing civilizations into surrendering their matter so they themselves could survive the cycle. Dealing with such beings was a fool's game.
He might hand out blank checks—but never to ingrates or treacherous wolves.
He had no interest in playing the naïve scholar to their cunning monsters.
Li Ang quickly reviewed their current gains. To him, reclaiming the Trisolaran Civilization was already a major victory.
After all, the Three-Body universe's core protagonists were the Trisolarans themselves. With that promising species in their fold, the Universal Megacorp's future expansion would only accelerate.
Seeing Li Ang's mind made up, Song Zhaomei and Lucius—along with the other executives—quietly breathed a sigh of relief. Outwardly calm, they were inwardly thankful to finally be leaving this accursed place.
V and Jack Wells were still reluctant, but they obeyed the order nonetheless.
Only Luo Ji stood there blankly, watching them. Leaving this universe? Did that mean returning to their original one?
For a brief moment, Luo Ji forgot that the Universal Megacorp wasn't native to this cosmos—that they were, in truth, a composite super-civilization from beyond.
"Boss… is there really no way we can negotiate with the Zeroers? Maybe we could still save some of these civilizations."
Paul Atreides regretted the words the instant they left his mouth. Even Luo Ji had stayed silent—why should he be the one clinging to hope?
After so long acting as humanity's Wallfacer, he had almost begun to believe himself a true savior.
Li Ang ignored the question. Without turning back, he simply said, "I'll be taking Earth and Trisolaris from this universe. The rest… will have to rely on fate."
Once they left the Three-Body universe, Li Ang would activate the Aether Phase Engine.
By draining the universe of its energy, the engine could trigger a restart—with roughly a 30% success rate. Nearly one in three odds.
Honestly, that was already quite high.
The Three-Body universe was destined for eternal death. Oblivion was its rightful end. If it managed a restart, it would only be because it had the good fortune to encounter the Universal Megacorp—a living Bodhisattva among civilizations.
Otherwise, with its endless regress of suspicion and betrayal, the Three-Body universe could never have rebooted itself.
"Get ready."
"Yes, sir…"
Everyone exchanged uncertain looks before leaving the scientific nexus one by one. Only Luo Ji was stopped by Li Ang, who asked him to stay behind for a quiet talk about what came next.