Thirty-eight days after the end of deterrence, the Ringier-Fitzroy observation station detects 415 new trails in an interstellar dust cloud near the Trisolaran system. The evidence shows that Trisolaris launched a Second Trisolaran Fleet five years earlier, meaning Trisolaris had already predicted humanity’s weakening commitment to dark forest deterrence and the likely failure of the next Swordholder.

At first, humanity treats the discovery almost as a repetition of the first Trisolar Crisis. Because the fleet appears to be traveling at speeds similar to the First Trisolaran Fleet, analysts assume it will not reach the Solar System for two or three centuries. Most people believe their own lives will remain undisturbed and refuse to sacrifice the present for distant generations.

That assumption collapses three days later when observers detect the same 415 trails in a second interstellar cloud. Since the First Trisolaran Fleet took five years to cross that distance, while the new fleet did so in only six days, the conclusion is unavoidable: the Trisolarans have achieved lightspeed travel.

Further observation confirms that the fleet entered lightspeed soon after leaving the first dust cloud and has already dropped out of it near the Solar System. Telescopes reveal 415 bright deceleration lights about six thousand AU from Earth. The ships have slowed to 15 percent of lightspeed and, at their observed deceleration, will reach the edge of the Solar System in about one year.

The fleet’s behavior reveals another important clue: the ships do not enter or exit lightspeed close to either star system. Instead, they use conventional propulsion for about six thousand AU at each end of the journey, implying that lightspeed transitions may cause catastrophic effects within a vast radius. The apparent safe distance suggests propulsion power far beyond stellar scale, deepening the threat now facing humanity.