Luo Quotes

Angry?” Luo Binghe viciously spat out two words: “I hate! “I hate myself!” […] “I hate myself for being useless. I hate myself for not being able to get anybody to stay. Never… has anyone been willing to choose me.

The world under heaven, after a long period of division, tends to unite; after a long period of union, tends to divide. This has been so since antiquity.

If only he had a physical copy of Proud Immortal Demon Way in his hand, he would have slapped it onto Luo Binghe’s face.

How does the saying go? When two locusts fight, it is always the crow that feasts.' Is that a Luo expression?' I asked. Sayid's face broke into a bashful smile. We have a similar expression in Luo,' he said, 'but actually I must admit that I read this particular expression in a book by Chinua Achebe. The Nigerian writer. I like his books very much. He speaks the truth about Africa's predicament. the Nigerian, the Kenya - it is the same. We share more than divides us.

The empire long united must divide, long divided must unite; this is how it has always been.

Success is not worth rejoicing over, failure is not worth grieving over.

The more they felt, the greater the damage they received.

It is a general truism of this world that anything long divided will surely unite, and anything long united will surely divide.

To kill deliberately is very wrong,” said Chen Gong. “I would rather betray the world than let the world betray me,” was Cao Cao’s reply. Chen Gong could say nothing.

He knew he would never forget Luo Binghe’s expression from the moment of his fall.

On and on the Great River rolls, racing east. Of proud and gallant heros its white-tops leave no trace, As right and wrong, pride and fall at once unreal Yet ever the green hill stay To blaze in the west-waning day...

You may return and tell Sun Quan to wash his neck: the executioner is coming.

The only thing Luo was really good at was telling stories. A pleasing talent to be sure, but a marginal one, with little future in it. Modern man has moved beyond the age of the Thousand-and-One-Nights, and modern societies everywhere, whether socialist or capitalist, have done away with the old storytellers — more's the pity.

I kept my door more securely locked than ever and passed the time with foreign novels. Since Balzac was Luo's favourite I put him to one side, and with the ardour and earnestness of my eighteen years I fell in love with one author after another: Flaubert, Gogol, Melville, and even Romain Rolland.

He is a perfect genius, god and devil combined, the greatest marvel of the age.

The hound and hare were both so wearied that the peasant got them all.

From the days of old, those who walk in the way have replaced those who deviate therefrom; those who lack virtue have fallen before those who possess it. Can one escape fate?

English, formerly the most widely used language, and Chinese, spoken by the largest population, had blended with each other without distinction to become the world’s most powerful language. Luo Ji learned later that the other languages of the world were undergoing the same fusion.

Victory and defeat are but ordinary events in a soldier's career, and why should you give up?

His voice was light and fluttering, the wind blowing most of it away, yet Luo Binghe could hear him just as distinctly as before. What he said was, "For all that has passed, I repay you today." Think of it as me doing one good thing at the end.

Those two axioms are solid enough from a sociological perspective … but you rattled them off so quickly, like you’d already worked them out,” Luo Ji said, a little surprised. “I’ve been thinking about this for most of my life, but I’ve never spoken about it with anyone before. I don’t know why, really.… One more thing: To derive a basic picture of cosmic sociology from these two axioms, you need two other important concepts: chains of suspicion, and the technological explosion.” “Interesting terms. Can you explain them?” Ye Wenjie glanced at her watch. “There’s no time. But you’re clever enough to figure them out. Use those two axioms as a starting point for your discipline, and you might end up becoming the Euclid of cosmic sociology.” “I’m no Euclid. But I’ll remember what you said and give it a whirl. I might come to you for guidance, though.” “I’m afraid there won’t be that opportunity.… In that case, you might as well just forget I said anything. Either way, I’ve fulfilled my duty. Well, Xiao Luo, I’ve got to go.” “Take care, Professor.” Ye Wenjie went off through the twilight to her final meet-up. The

The world under heaven, after a long period of division, tends to unite; after a long period of union, tends to divide.

滚滚长江东逝水，浪花淘尽英雄。是非成败转头空。 　　　　青山依旧在，几度夕阳红。白发渔樵江渚上，惯看秋月春风。

Jos erehtyy tiestä, joutuu naisen luo.

Luo Binghe nodded solemnly. “Yes.” His face spread into a smile. “And Shizun is mine.

Luo Binghe’s eyes brimmed with “Compliments, please!” and “Head pats, please!

话说天下大势，分久必合，合久必分

Better to wrong the world than have it wrong me!

When all dreams wane, same are loss and gain

Solving this issue is as easy as turning over one's hand!

That must be Dong Zhuo!” cried Zhang Fei. “What’s the use of pursuing Lu Bu? Better seize the chief villain and so eradicate the evil by plucking up its roots.

It saddened her that Luo insisted on holding on to her as if they had started to share some vital organs during their twenty years of marriage. She wondered if this was a sign of old age, of losing hope and the courage for changes. She herself could easily picture vanishing from their shared life, but then perhaps it was a sign of aging on her part, a desire for loneliness that would eventually make death a relief.

He said sincerely, “As matters stand, I have nothing much to say. As expected, even if every trick is used, it is difficult to disobey destiny.” Luo Binghe sneered, “Destiny? What’s destiny? Is it allowing a four-year-old child to be bullied and humiliated without anyone lending a helping hand? Is it letting an innocent old woman die from anger and starvation?” With every sentence, he took a step closer aggressively. “Or is it letting me fight with a dog over a scrap of food? Or is it allowing the person who I wholeheartedly, genuinely admired to deceive me, abandon me, betray me, and personally push me down into a place worse than purgatory?!” He said, “Shizun, look. Am I strong enough the way I am now? “Do you know how I spent those three years underground? “During those three years in that endless abyss, all I did was spend every moment, every second, thinking about Shizun. “Thinking about why Shizun would treat me like this, why you wouldn’t even give me a chance to explain or beg for mercy. “You want me to acknowledge that this is the destiny that the heavens assigned me? “I thought about it for so long, and I finally understand now.

The arrow hit Xiahou Dun full in the left eye. He shrieked, and putting up his head, pulled out the arrow and with it the eye. “Essence of my father, blood of my mother, I cannot throw this away!” cried Xiahou Dun, and he put the eye into his mouth and swallowed it.

玄德曰：“屈身守分，以待天时，不可与命争也。”吕

孔明曰：“为将而不通天文，不识地利，不知奇门，不晓阴阳，不看阵图，不明兵势，是庸才也。亮于三日前已算定今日有大雾，因此敢任三日之限。公瑾教我十日完办，工匠料物，都不应手，将这一件风流罪过，明白要杀我。我命系于天，公瑾焉能害我哉！”鲁

云：掩目而捕燕雀，是自欺也，微

秋七月，有虹现于玉堂；五原山岸，尽皆崩裂。种种不祥，非止一端。

宠之以位，位极则残；顺之以恩，恩竭则慢。所以致弊，实由于此。吾今威之以法，法行则知恩；限之以爵，爵加则知荣。恩荣并济，上下有节。为治之道，于斯著矣

话说天下大势，分久必合，合久必分。周末七国分争，并入于秦。及秦灭之后，楚、汉分争，又并入于汉。汉朝自高祖斩白蛇而起义，一统天下，后来光武中兴，传至献帝，遂分为三国。 推其致乱之由，殆始于桓、灵二帝。桓帝禁锢善类，崇信宦官。及桓帝崩，灵帝即位，大将军窦武、太傅陈蕃共相辅佐。时有宦官曹节等弄权，窦武、陈蕃谋诛之，机事不密，反为所害，中涓自此愈横。

Her life only belonged to her, and she could do with it whatever she wanted

Just introduce a woman, conspiracies succeed; Of soldiers, or their weapons, there really is no need.

Unity succeeds division and division follows unity. One is bound to be replaced by the other after a long span of time. This is the way with things in the world.

胸怀韬略，腹隐机谋。

運籌決算有神功，二虎還須遜一龍。初出便能垂偉績，自應分鼎在孤窮。 Though fierce as tigers soldiers be, Battles are won by strategy. A hero comes; he gains renown, Already destined for a crown.

大喜，令

Truly, flowers open, only to be blown down by the wind.

Kukaan ei luo taidetta tai edes tiikerikakkua kuin yksi yksinäinen monoteistinen jumala. Jokainen joutuu tukeutumaan toiseen.

I’ve got to learn how to live. If I can’t swing that, it’ll be a damn shame,” Luo

There were still five years before Luo Binghe would leave the Endless Abyss and return to the Human Realm.

This action finally seemed more like Luo Binghe’s style, but too bad it was being used on him. Fuck, his stomach hurt so much—was this what it felt like when girls got their periods?!

让，呼为“阿父”。朝政日非，以致天下人心思乱，盗贼蜂起。 时巨鹿郡有兄弟三人，一名张角，一名张宝，一名张梁。那张角本是个不第秀才，因入山采药，遇一老人，碧眼童颜，手执藜杖，唤角至一洞中，以天书三卷授之，曰：“此名《太平要术》，汝得之，当代天宣化，普救世人；若萌异心，必获恶报。”角拜问姓名。老人曰：“吾乃南华老仙也。”言讫，化阵清风而去。角得此书，晓夜攻习，能呼风唤雨，

Ten thousand times the web could be destroyed, and ten thousand times the spider would rebuild it. There was neither annoyance nor despair, nor any delight, just as it had been for a billion years. Luo

In any case, right in this moment, the demon was wearing the infinitely lovely face of a cocubine. Being felt up all over by those lovely hands, Shen Qingqiu inevitably became embarrassed, and he involuntarily shrank back a little. This vision—that moment—struck Luo Binghe to his core. Until now, he'd only ever seen Shen Qingqiu's aloof and remote attitude, his derisive expression. But here and now, a faint, uncontrollable red flush formed on that face, and the way those eyes darted away... Also, Shen Qingqiu's upper body was completely bare but for the thin yet unbreakable immortal-binding cable and the red marks it left, and for Shen Qingqiu's long, disheveled, jet-black hair—neither of which concealed anything. Luo Binghe's chest was burning with a convoluted emotion that was impossible to describe.

So ended the division of land into three kingdoms, which were reunited into one empire under the rule of Sima Yan of the Jin Dinasty. This is what is meant by "Unity succeeds division and division follows unity. One is bound to be replaced by the other after a long span of time. This is the way of things in the world

The nurse picked up one of the umbrellas, which must have been fairly heavy, because she had to carry it over her shoulder. “Is it raining out?” She shook her head. “You think I’m carrying an … umbrella?” she said, unfamiliar with the last word. “If it’s not an umbrella, then what is it?” Luo Ji pointed to the device on her shoulder, imagining that she would say some peculiar name for it. But she didn’t. “It’s my bicycle,” she said.

The aborted research project wasn’t important in and of itself. What mattered was the instruction that Ye Wenjie had given him, so that’s where Luo Ji’s mind was stuck. Over and over again he recalled her words: Suppose a vast number of civilizations are distributed throughout the universe, on the order of the number of detectable stars. Lots and lots of them. The mathematical structure of cosmic sociology is far clearer than that of human sociology. The factors of chaos and randomness in the complex makeups of every civilized society in the universe get filtered out by the immense distance, so those civilizations can act as reference points that are relatively easy to manipulate mathematically. First: Survival is the primary need of civilization. Second: Civilization continuously grows and expands, but the total matter in the universe remains constant. One more thing: To derive a basic picture of cosmic sociology from these two axioms, you need two other important concepts: chains of suspicion and the technological explosion. I’m afraid there won’t be that opportunity.… Well, you might as well just forget I said anything. Either way, I’ve fulfilled my duty. He

As Luo Binghe looked down at Shen Qingqiu, he took in this sight, feeling like a nameless, agitating fire burned within his abdomen and the heart in his chest. He unconsciously moved and slid his thigh between Shen Qingqiu’s. Then, fearing that Shen Qingqiu would notice and kick him off the couch, he quickly moved his head over, letting Shen Qingqiu rap it with his fan to his heart’s content. “Even if I am a little beast, I am only Shizun’s little beast and no one else’s. So no one else is allowed to call me that.

Kauneimmillaan valossa on hiukan hämäryyttä – meren yllä sammuva valo, kaupungin valot syyskesän yössä, viimeinen valo ennen kuin sydän jättää lyömättä. Elämää maapallolla ei olisi ilman valoa. Eikä olisi ihmistä, joka luo valosta kuvia ja musiikkia ja runoutta.

The roiling, restless fog is like chaos before a storm, swirling streaks resembling wintry clouds. Serpents lurking there can spread its pestilence, and evil spirits can havoc wreak, sending pain and woe to the world of men, and the storms of wind and sand that plague the border wastes. Common souls meeting it fall dead. Great men observe it and despair. Are we returning to the primal state that preceded form itself — to undivided Heaven and earth?

Humanistille ihminen on kaiken mitta ja ihmiseksi syntyminen suurin kunnia, joka elollista olentoa voi kohdata. Humanisti luo haavekuvan itsestään, omasta hyvyydestään ja lempeydestään, ja ulottaa sen koskemaan koko ihmiskuntaa. Mikään paha ei voi olla lähtöisin ihmisestä, koska ihminen on määritelmällisesti hyvä.

Suddenly there appeared a general, with a small following, who cried out, “Cai Mao and Zhang Yun are two traitors. The princely Liu Bei is a most upright man and has come here to preserve his people. Why do you repulse him?” All looked at this man. He was of middle height, with a face dark brown as a ripe date. He was from Yiyang and named Wei Yan.

仓廪

Hu’s heart clanged like fifteen buckets in a single well.

此人姓于，名吉，寓居东方，往来吴会，普施符水，救人万病，无有不验。当世呼为神仙，未可轻渎。

微子去殷，韩信归汉也。

左右曰：“可逐一点对姓名，收而杀之。”操曰：“当绍之强，孤亦不能自保，况他人乎？”遂命尽焚之，更不再问。

袁将军外宽而内忌，不念忠诚。若胜而喜，犹能赦我；今战败则羞，吾不望生矣。

第一

不可。刘备先从吕布，后事曹操，近投袁绍，皆不克终，足可见其为人。今若纳之，曹操必加兵于我，枉动干戈。

丕初生时，有云气一片，其色青紫，圆如车盖，覆于其室，终日不散。有望气者，密谓操曰：“此天子气也。

Oliver wondered if this was Tammy’s convoluted way of pining for a designer purse. A tactic that past girlfriends had used.

I hate how I'm useless. I hate how I can never keep anyone, how no one...has ever chosen me.

It's no use. Shizun, you don't need to do this. The nicer you are to me, the more afraid I become.

There was always going to be a ceiling for me. Whether I stayed in China or came to America. But here, in America, there's no ceiling for you.

He had sacrificed for me, and in turn, I had sacrificed parts of myself to make him feel as though it had all been worth it.

Poor. We were poor, but our poor wasn't the stealing bread kind. It was the kind where, if we ordered the Chicken McNuggets, we couldn't add a side of fries.

Don't dismiss Simplicity, simple is solid.

一日，到一家投宿，其家一少年出拜，问其姓名，乃猎户刘安也。当下刘安闻豫州牧至，欲寻野味供食，一时不能得，乃杀其妻以食之。玄值曰：“此何肉也？”安曰：“乃狼肉也。”玄德不疑，乃饱食了一顿，天晚就宿。至晓将去，往后院取马，忽见一妇人杀于厨下，臂上肉已都割去。玄德惊问，方知昨夜食者，乃其妻之肉也。玄德不胜伤感，洒泪上马。

吾观颜良，如插标卖首耳！

有女长成，却于溪中沐浴，男女自相混淆，任其自配，父母不禁，名为“学艺”。

You are able enough to rule the world, but wicked enough to disturb it.

Our country would indeed be fortunate if you wouldn’t object to suffering some bodily injuries to achieve our purpose.

What will befall us if you follow the counsel of cowards now, at the very moment we must rely on you—as if you were the great Mount Tai itself—to preserve the house of Sun?

羊质虎皮功不就，凤毛鸡胆事难成。

I have received the command from Heaven: May my time be always long and prosperous.

My sense of self-worth vanished when I was with him. I hated myself for not having seen the movies he mentioned, for not having any decent clothes or shoes, for having no class. I totally messed things up with him. But I couldn't stand somebody who sang the words to Luo Dayou's "Love Song 1990" at the same time he was all hung up on desire and money, because that was an endless blasphemy against beauty.

That was the thing with secrets -- no matter how much you pushed them down, they longed for freedom. And when the right person was in front of you, when the right time came, they sprung in search of the light.

今绍有十败，公有十胜，绍兵虽盛，不足惧也：绍繁礼多仪，公体任自然，此道胜也；绍以逆动，公以顺率，此义胜也；桓、灵以来，政失于宽，绍以宽济，公以猛纠，此治胜也；绍外宽内忌，所任多亲戚，公外简内明，用人惟才，此度胜也；绍多谋少决，公得策辄行，此谋胜也；绍专收名誉，公以至诚待人，此德胜也；绍恤近忽远，公虑无不周，此仁胜也；绍听谗惑乱，公浸润不行，此明胜也；绍是非混淆，公法度严明，此文胜也；绍好为虚势，不知兵要，公以少克众，用兵如神，此武胜也。

Ympärillä jäiset, mykät metsät, maa jäässä, ilma jäässä! Pieniä mökkejä viluiset savupatsaat hormien päissä horjumassa. Ei helkä laulu. Harvoin kuulee iloista naurua. Viluisia, kalpeita ja voipuneita kasvoja. Kuunnellaan jäykistyneinä pakkasen pauketta ja lumimyrskyjen ulvontaa. Huolta ja pelkoa kasvoilla; mummo katsoo ukkoon, nainen vilkaisee mieheen, pieni tyttö luo aran silmäyksen veljeensä. Sitten, kuin yhteisestä sopimuksesta katseet painuvat alas, ja alakuloinen huokaus puistattaa ihmisruumista.

The phoenix winging on the air Will choose no tree Except the wu. The scholar keeping to his lair Will have no lord Except the true. Oh, let me till these furrowed fields, By this sweet home That I call mine. In books and song I place my dreams And wait the time The fates assign.

Shen QingQiu lo fissò, e disse, “Vuoi diventare forte? Abbastanza forte da non avere pari, al punto che nessuno sotto questi cieli possa gareggiare con te?” Luo BingHe aveva una risposta a quella domanda già da molto tempo. Seduto solennemente, senza alcuna esitazione, rispose apertamente, “Si!” Quando lo vide rispondere con tanta decisione, Shen QingQiu nel suo cuore rilasciò un sospiro di sollievo. Pronunciò con urgenza ogni parola, “Ad esempio, se prima dovessi subire innumerevoli dolorose torture, soffrendo molte privazioni, fino a spingere il tuo stato fisico e psicologico vicino al collasso, vorresti comunque diventare una persona forte?

Rather than returning to school, he drove straight to the psychologist. “You may need a bit of adjustment, but it’s nothing serious,” the doctor said, after listening to his lengthy narrative. “Nothing serious?” Luo Ji opened his bloodshot eyes wide. “I’m madly in love with a fictional person from a novel of my own creation. I’ve been with her, I’ve traveled with her, and I’ve even broken up with my real-life girlfriend over her. Is that nothing serious to you?” The doctor smiled tolerantly. “Don’t you get it? I’ve given my most profound love to an illusion!” “Are you under the impression that the object of everyone else’s love actually exists?” “Is that even a question?” “Sure. For the majority of people, what they love exists only in the imagination. The object of their love is not the man or woman of reality, but what he or she is like in their imagination. The person in reality is just a template used for the creation of this dream lover. Eventually, they find out the differences between their dream lover and the template. If they can get used to those differences, then they can be together. If not, they split up. It’s as simple as that. You differ from the majority in one respect: You didn’t need a template.” “So this isn’t a sickness?” “Only in the way your girlfriend pointed out: You’ve got natural literary talent. If you want to call that a sickness, go right ahead.” “But isn’t imagining to this degree a little excessive?” “There’s nothing excessive about imagination. Especially where love is concerned.” “So what should I do? How can I forget about her?” “It’s impossible. You can’t forget her, so don’t make the effort. That will only lead to side effects, and maybe even mental disorders. Let nature take its course. Once more, for emphasis: Don’t try to forget about her. It won’t work. But as time passes, her influence on your life will decrease. And you’re actually quite lucky. Whether or not she really exists, you’re fortunate to be in love.” This

That you cannot distinguish between the able and the incompetent shows that your eyes are corrupt. Your failure to chant the Odes and the Documents shows that your mouth is corrupt. Your rejection of loyal advice shows that your ears are corrupt. Your ignorance of past and present shows that your whole being is corrupt. Your conflicts with the lords of the realm show that your stomach is corrupt. Your dream of usurpation shows that your mind is corrupt. To make a renowned scholar like me serve as drum master is a poor imitation of the tricks of such villains of old as Yang Huo who slighted Confucius, or Zang Cang who tried to ruin Mencius. Do you think you can hold men in such contempt and still become the leader of the lords of the realm?

Cao Cao was still laughing and talking when they all heard a raven cawing as it flew southward. "Why does the raven cry in the night?" Cao asked. Those around him replied, "It supposes the brilliance of the moon to be the dawn. That is why it has left its tree and cries." Cao laughed again. Already drunk, he set his spear in the prow of the boat and offered wine to the river.

Your rival has ten weak points, whereas you have ten strong ones. Although his army is large, it is not irresistible. “Yuan Shao is too caught up in ceremony and show while you, on the other hand, are more practical. He is often antagonistic and tends to force things, whereas you are more conciliatory and try to guide things to their proper courses, giving you the advantage of popular support. His extravagance hinders his administrative ability while your better efficiency is a great contribution to the government, granting you the edge of a well-structured and stable administration. On the outside he is very kind and giving but on the inside he is grudging and suspicious. You are just the opposite, appearing very exacting but actually very understanding of your followers’ strengths and weaknesses. This grants you the benefit of tolerance. He lacks commitment where you are unfaltering in your decisions, promptly acting on your plans with full faith that they will succeed. This shows an advantage in strategy and decisiveness. He believes a man is only as good as his reputation, which contrasts with you, who looks beyond this to see what kind of person they really are. This demonstrates that you are a better judge of moral character. He only pays attention to those followers close to him, while your vision is all-encompassing. This shows your superior supervision. He is easily misled by poor advice, whereas you maintain sound judgment even if beset by evil council. This is a sign of your independence of thought. He does not always know what is right and wrong but you have an unwavering sense of justice. This shows how you excel in discipline. He has a massive army, but the men are poorly trained and not ready for war. Your army, though much smaller, is far superior and well provisioned, giving you the edge in planning and logistics, allowing you to execute effectively. With your ten superiorities you will have no difficulty in subduing Yuan Shao.

Unity succeeds division and division follows unity. One is bound to be replaced by the other after a long span of time. This is the way with things in the world. At the end of the Zhou Dynasty* the empire was divided into seven competing principalities, warring against one another till finally they were united by Qin.† When Qin had fulfilled its destiny, there arose Chu‡ and Han§ to contend for the reign, and ultimately it was Han that united the country.

In this cosmic arena, Luo Ji faced not the fancy moves of Chinese sword fighting, resembling dance more than war; nor the flourishes of Western sword fighting, designed to show off the wielder’s skill; but the fatal blows of Japanese kenjutsu. Real Japanese sword fights often ended after a very brief struggle lasting no more than half a second to two seconds. By the time the swords had clashed but once, one side had already fallen in a pool of blood. But before this moment, the opponents stared at each other like statues, sometimes for as long as ten minutes. During this contest, the swordsman’s weapon wasn’t held by the hands, but by his heart. The heart-sword, transformed through the eyes into the gaze, stabbed into the depths of the enemy’s soul. The real winner was determined during this process: In the silence suspended between the two swordsmen, the blades of their spirits parried and stabbed as soundless claps of thunder. Before a single blow was struck, victory, defeat, life, and death had already been decided.

After a long while, when Luo Ji recovered a little of the consciousness that had totally disappeared, he had sensations of cold, a cold that seemed to emanate from within his body and diffuse outward like light to freeze the entire world. He saw a snow-white patch in which there first was nothing but infinite white. Then a small black dot appeared in its very center, and he could gradually make out a familiar figure, Zhuang Yan, holding their child. He walked with difficulty through a snowy wilderness so empty that it lost all dimension. She was wrapped in a red scarf, the same one she had worn seven years ago on the snowy night he first saw her. The child, red-faced from the cold, waved two small hands at him from her mother’s embrace, and shouted something that he couldn’t hear. He wanted to chase them through the snow, but the young mother and child vanished, as if dissolved into snow. Then he himself vanished, and the snowy white world shrank into a thin silver thread, which in the unbounded darkness was all that remained of his consciousness. It was the thread of time, a thin, motionless strand that extended infinitely in both directions. His soul, strung on this thread, was gently sliding off at a constant speed into the unknowable future.

You don’t need to pity them. Really, let me tell you: don’t. The reality of the universe is not something to envy.” “Why?” Yifan lifted a hand and pointed at the stars of the galaxy. Then he let the 3G force pull his arm back to this chest. “Darkness. Only darkness.” “You mean the dark forest state?” Guan Yifan shook his head, a gesture that appeared to be a struggle in hypergravity. “For us, the dark forest state is all-important, but it’s just a detail of the cosmos. If you think of the cosmos as a great battlefield, dark forest strikes are nothing more than snipers shooting at the careless—messengers, mess men, etc. In the grand scheme of the battle, they are nothing. You have not seen what a true interstellar war is like.” “Have you?” “We’ve caught a few glimpses. But most things we know are just guesses.… Do you really want to know? The more you possess of this kind of knowledge, the less light remains in your heart.” “My heart is already completely dark. I want to know.” And so, more than six centuries after Luo Ji had fallen through ice into that lake, another dark veil hiding the truth about the universe was lifted before the gaze of one of the only survivors of Earth civilization. Yifan asked, “Why don’t you tell me what the most powerful weapon for a civilization possessing almost infinite technological prowess is? Don’t think of this as a technical question. Think philosophy.” Cheng Xin pondered for a while and then struggled to shake her head. “I don’t know.” “Your experiences should give you a hint.” What had she experienced? She had seen how a cruel attacker could lower the dimensions of space by one and destroy a solar system. What are dimensions? “The universal laws of physics,” Cheng Xin said. “That’s right. The universal laws of physics are the most terrifying weapons, and also the most effective defenses. Whether it’s by the Milky Way or the Andromeda Galaxy, at the scale of the local galactic group or the Virgo Supercluster, those warring civilizations possessing godlike technology will not hesitate to use the universal laws of physics as weapons. There are many laws that can be manipulated into weapons, but most commonly, the focus is on spatial dimensions and the speed of light. Typically, lowering spatial dimensions is a technique for attack, and lowering the speed of light is a technique for defense. Thus, the dimensional strike on the Solar System was an advanced attack method. A dimensional strike is a sign of respect. In this universe, respect is not easy to earn. I guess you could consider it an honor for Earth civilization.