Cheng Xin awakens from hibernation in weightlessness, alongside AA, in a white spherical space filled with golden light from Jupiter. Still numb from revival, both women realize they are near the gas giant and see what appears to be a combined space city outside the porthole.

As Cheng Xin studies the view, she concludes that their location and the city are not hiding in Jupiter’s shadow but orbiting Jupiter as satellites. AA guesses they are on a spaceship, and an information window opens to reveal an aged Cao Bin, who tells them they are aboard the newest ship named Halo.

Cao Bin explains that it is May 19, Year 67 of the Bunker Era, meaning fifty-six years have passed since Cheng Xin and AA last awakened. He tells them that after the Halo City Incident, he and Bi Yunfeng were convicted but released after short sentences, that Bi Yunfeng has since died, and that the Jupiter cluster now contains fifty-two large cities, many combined into larger structures.

Cao Bin says the cities became Jovian satellites after the warning system improved, planning to hide only after an alert. His reluctance and the unmoving city outside the porthole disturb Cheng Xin and AA, and Cao Bin finally confirms that the dark forest strike has arrived.

Cheng Xin notices that the advance warning center behind Cao Bin is filled with data but paralyzed people, not urgent preparations. When AA asks why the cities are not entering Jupiter’s shadow, Cao Bin says there is no point because the bunker is useless; when Cheng Xin asks about the photoid, Cao Bin answers that there is no photoid, only “a slip of paper.”