Starting as a Wallfacer, his defection to the Three-Body Problem shocked the world.

Chapter 238 Outbreak

Interception measures were initiated at the same time the Navigator launched its attack on the Trisolaran fleet.

Around the Trisolaran homeworld, there is a ring of prism devices resembling ice cones. These devices are scattered throughout the universe, and from a distance, they echo the distant stars and blend into the entire universe.

When they sensed danger, these prism devices began to adjust their positions, arranging themselves in a "Z" shape.

Then, an energy beam, originating from the Trisolaran home planet, headed straight for the Navigator, seemingly to intercept the missiles carrying the "budding" virus.

There is only one beam of light, but there are many missiles.

However, when the beam of light passes through the first prism, it is quickly refracted into five beams.

Then, the five beams of light continued to refract outwards and passed through another set of prisms.

5...25...150.

The beams of light were refracted more and more, spreading densely throughout the universe like a golden ocean.

The crew of the Navigator felt a surge of pressure as they watched the massive net rushing towards them. Only Captain Zhang Beihai remained calm and composed, seemingly unconcerned about the ship being swallowed up by the Trisolarans.

"accelerate!"

As Zhang Beihai gave the order, the stern engine of the Navigator spewed out a dazzling plume of flame. At the same time, an arc-shaped barrier rose at the bow of the ship, putting the entire vessel into warp drive mode in just a few seconds.

This scene left the Trisolarans not far away completely stunned.

The scientific administrator broke out in a cold sweat and quickly communicated with his companion using brainwaves.

"This is a warp drive? No, how is this possible? Humans only recently mastered warp drive technology, how could it start up so quickly!"

The education official standing nearby was puzzled and asked in return.

"What's the difference? It seems like the only difference is that it starts up a bit faster than ours. Humans have always kept their technology hidden from us, so there's nothing too surprising about them being able to develop this thing, right?"

The science administrator, too lazy to explain, directly transmitted the data and his own ideas to the education administrator.

With the current technological development of the Trisolarans and human civilization, their warp drive can only reach speeds close to the speed of light, and they are still bound by the speed limits imposed by Einstein's theory of relativity.

But this is not the limit of warp drive speed; it is just the beginning.

Just as when cars were first invented, their actual speed was not as fast as a person walking, the warp drive spaceships created by the Trisolarans and human civilization can only outperform antimatter engines, but are comparable in terms of zero-point energy.

This is why humanity hesitated in developing Zero Energy and Warp Drive. After all, Zero Energy offered the highest short-term returns, while Warp Drive, although the key to breaking the barrier of faster-than-light travel, was ultimately something no one dared to gamble with the fate of an entire civilization.

However, after the war ended, the Trisolaran and human civilizations entered a brief honeymoon period. The arrival of the Deterrence Era led both civilizations to almost simultaneously choose the path of warp drives.

But even now, a faster-than-light spaceship has not been figured out.

But today, at this very moment, the Navigator has taught all the Trisolarans a lesson.

In the first second, the Navigator began to move and accelerate.

In the second, the Navigator completed its full-power acceleration.

In the third second, the navigator entered warp drive mode, and the entire warship moved faster than the speed of light in the blink of an eye. When everyone reacted again, it had already appeared at a distance of 5 astronomical units.

From everyone's perspective, the Navigator appeared as if it had teleported from one place to another.

The people inside the spaceship felt no discomfort whatsoever. However, when they came to their senses, the Trisolarans' interception beam had already passed them by.

This is the advantage of the warp drive; the spaceship's position only changes relative to the surroundings, and the people inside no longer need to enter deep-sea mode.

"Buzz!"

As the missiles approached the Trisolaran transport ship, they spread out instantly, and waves of radio waves, carried by these missiles, began to spread in all directions.

That's right, the "budding" virus is different from traditional biological viruses; its carrier is a special frequency radio wave.

But this does not mean that its destructive power to living beings will be greatly reduced. All the Trisolarans present, including the humans on the Navigator, instinctively covered their heads and knelt on the ground.

This move was a case of injuring the enemy a thousand while damaging oneself eight hundred.

Even the captain, Zhang Beihai, and the vice-captain, Chu Yan, were not spared. They both squatted down, clutching their heads and their faces contorted in pain.

But soon, things took a turn for the better. On the human side, everyone only felt intense brain pain for the first moment after the virus was released, but after the pain subsided, they felt completely fine and had no sensation at all.

The pain the virus caused them was only momentary; many people hadn't even realized why they suddenly had a headache before the virus's spread had already ended.

However, the Trisolarans were not so lucky.

Large numbers of Trisolarans began to use themselves as a medium to spread the "Sprout" virus to their fellow Trisolarans.

While others are being attacked, they will subconsciously spread the virus to more people.

This cycle repeated itself, and the number of people infected by the virus began to increase. Many people were attacked by the virus 26 times in just ten seconds. Soon, there were widespread cases of Trisolarans suddenly dying due to mental breakdown.

Although they couldn't see the Trisolarans' pained expressions, the people inside the Navigator couldn't help but wear smiles.

The Tender Sprout Virus is a biological virus specifically designed for the Trisolarans.

This biological virus only breaks out when the host attempts to communicate with the outside world using brainwaves.

Therefore, unless the Trisolarans begin to communicate verbally like humans, they could potentially be infected with the Sprout Virus simply by transmitting consciousness and thoughts via brainwaves.