Chapter 178 Are you the hunter or the prey?
Chapter 178: Are You the Hunter, or the Prey?
[The first stage of the plot, which served as a buildup, has finally ended!]
[Although the first stage of the Three-Body plot didn't involve war between the Strategists and the Three-Body World, it felt incredibly oppressive. Every frame gave off a complete sense of pressure!]
[You can say that again.]
[I was stunned the moment I saw the death countdown; my heart started racing involuntarily!]
[At that moment, I truly felt like a bug—a bug struggling helplessly before a high-level civilization!]
[But in the end, the bug actually bit a chunk of flesh out of a god!]
[The Operation Guqin got my blood pumping!]
[The strings have been pulled taut. From this moment on, the Strategists will officially enter the cosmic hunting grounds of the war with the Trisolaran Civilization!]
[Who is the hunter, and who is the prey?]
.
The pitch-black Three-Body livestream room showed no visual content.
All there was,
was merely a single line of cold, heartless text.
[Time Acceleration in progress]
Yes, at this moment, the Three-Body World was still undergoing the transition from the first stage to the second stage.
This dimensional acceleration spanning a century was very long within the Three-Body World, but for the real world, it was just a brief flash of a few minutes.
Three-Body World.
During the process of Time Acceleration, system notification bullet chats continued to flash before the Strategists.
This was the blood-red color of elimination.
Those Strategists who failed to complete the plot progression index and obtain an identity for the second stage were ruthlessly eliminated.
[System Notification: Since you did not achieve the plot progression index and failed to obtain a second-stage identity in the BOSS dungeon [Three-Body], you will not be able to enjoy the Time Acceleration granted by the system!]
[System Notification: You will die during the long passage of time!]
Yes.
Those players who did not complete the plot progression index would endure the agony of the long passage of time!
They could not enjoy Time Acceleration.
This meant they would be trapped in the Three-Body World for decades, even a century!
Until they died of old age or illness!
By the time these people returned to reality, a large portion of them would experience a daze, unable to distinguish between reality and the virtual world.
Indeed,
this was the negative side effect of being trapped in a dungeon world for too long.
All players who stayed in a dungeon world for an excessive amount of time would experience this daze; they would vaguely lose the ability to tell which was reality and which was virtual.
The war era was just that cruel.
Although Skynet explicitly stated that no punishments would be handed down to players during this Activity, was that really the case?
The answer was no.
Sometimes, the absence of punishment is the greatest punishment of all!
After all,
there is no such thing as a free lunch in this world.
Since you enjoyed the preferential treatment brought by The Activity dungeon, you naturally had to bear the penalties it imposed!
.
[System Notification: Time Acceleration complete!]
[The system has completed the transition from the first stage to the second stage of the [Three-Body] world!]
Very quickly,
the system-locked Time Acceleration ended!
A brand new image appeared in the Three-Body livestream room, and the audience's 'long' wait of several minutes also came to an end.
First,
what appeared before the eyes of all viewers was a line of notification text.
[System Notification: Due to the special nature of the second stage plot of the Three-Body World, [dark forest], there will be no key plot characters in this stage; every player is a key plot character.]
[Please use your identity wisely to find a way to break the deadlock!]
As the system notification faded, the second stage of the plot officially began!
The vast majority of viewers chose to watch Divine River, who had performed most outstandingly in the first stage.
Three-Body World.
Crisis Era, Year 205. The Trisolaran fleet is 2.10 light-years from the Solar System.
Divine River opened his eyes within the hibernation chamber.
At that same moment,
familiar system text surfaced before him, briefly recounting the major events that had occurred over the past century.
[Greetings, Strategist No. 11 of the Shenhe Civilization.]
[Congratulations on successfully passing the first stage of the plot and arriving at the second stage, [dark forest]. Next, please read the following information in detail.]
[1: Your second-stage plot identity is Wallfacer.]
[Identity Brief: In Crisis Era Year 3, when the Trisolaran fleet was still 4.21 light-years from the Solar System, the Alliance Army proposed the Wallfacer Project to deal with the Three-Body World. You were selected as The Fourth Wallfacer.]
[2: In Crisis Era Year 8, Wallfacer Taylor's plan was exposed by his Wallbreaker. His plan was to first destroy Earth's Space Force and then have their quantum ghosts resist the Trisolaran fleet. Taylor went mad and committed suicide.]
[In the same year, Wallfacers Rediaz and Hins entered hibernation, planning to wake up after computer technology had advanced further.]
[Recalling Ye Wenjie's exposition on 'Cosmic Sociology,' you had an epiphany and requested to use the Sun as a signal amplifier to send a message to the universe. The message pointed out the location of a planet 50 light-years away.]
[Afterward, you were infected by a genetic virus spread by the Blue Star Trisolaran Organization and had to enter hibernation for future treatment.]
[3: After Wallfacer Hins woke up, while advancing his plan, he accidentally discovered that the 'Mental Seal' could solidify people's thoughts. He established a Belief Center to help the Space Force build absolute confidence in victory.]
[4: After Wallfacer Rediaz woke up, he conducted hydrogen bomb tests on Mercury. His plan was exposed by his Wallbreaker: placing a large number of hydrogen bombs on Mercury to threaten the Three-Body World with the destruction of the Solar System. Rediaz was beaten to death by an angry mob.]
[5: Crisis Era Year 205. The Trisolaran fleet is 2.10 light-years from the Solar System. You have awakened.]
[6: Due to your significant contributions in the first plot stage, your Strategy Points will receive a corresponding increase. You now possess 10,000 Strategy Points!]
[7: The temporary weapon exchange panel is now open. Please complete your exchanges within three days of Three-Body World time. The temporary weapon warehouse will close after it expires.]
There was a lot of content in this notification.
The text was densely packed.
It took Divine River quite some time to digest it all.
"It seems,"
"that Strategists who obtain different identities will receive different background stories."
"My identity as a Wallfacer should be very important."
After whispering a few words to himself, Divine River rose from the hibernation chamber and walked toward the world outside.
"Oh, Dr. Divine River woke up so early?"
As he was walking out of the hibernation chamber area, Divine River encountered Big History.
The man who had helped him and Wang Miao so much a century ago.
"Big History?"
Divine River smiled, stepped forward, and high-fived Big History.
The two of them,
walked together toward the world beyond the hibernation chambers.
.
[Big History really did enter hibernation too!]
[With this guy's help, I think Divine River's strategy this time should be much easier.]
[Yeah.]
[By the way, where's Wang Miao?]
[I feel like without Wang Miao, the trio isn't complete.]
[Exactly! Where is Wang Miao?]
[Who knows? Based on the info from the system text, everyone's hibernation time should be different. Wang Miao probably hasn't woken up from his hibernation chamber yet?]
[Or maybe Wang Miao didn't enter hibernation at all?]