After humanity witnesses Trisolaris’s destruction, the old Trisolaran threat ends, but the universe feels more dangerous because Earth may now be exposed to the same kind of dark forest attack. Rather than collapsing into hysteria, society becomes silent and expectant, conditioned by centuries of welfare and past rescues to wait for another miracle.

Three days after the light of Trisolaris’s destruction reaches Earth, Sophon invites Cheng Xin and Luo Ji to tea. The UN and Fleet International hope the former Swordholders can obtain reassuring information, and the PDC even hints that false reassurance might be useful if real answers cannot be found. Cheng Xin meets Luo Ji on the way and finds him unchanged in bearing despite his years hiding with the Resistance during the Great Resettlement.

Sophon receives Cheng Xin and Luo Ji with ritual gentleness, once again presenting herself as a graceful hostess rather than the violent enforcer of the Resettlement. Cheng Xin reflects on the irony that Trisolaris nearly destroyed humanity several times but has now lost its own world. The chapter then reconstructs the attack: a photoid struck one of Trisolaris’s suns, opened a vast wound in the star, burned the planet’s exposed side, created a plume of solar matter that liquefied the planet, destabilized the star, and finally caused an explosion that destroyed most ships and habitats in the system.

Cheng Xin asks how many Trisolarans survived, and Sophon says no more than one-thousandth of the population, including distant fleets. Cheng Xin then asks how long Earth has before an attack. Sophon says it could happen at any time, though probability may grant Earth one or two centuries, partly because attackers must infer Earth’s location from old communications and partly because Trisolaris appears more dangerous from afar than the Solar System, a point Sophon refuses to explain.

Sophon explains that dark forest attacks are casual and economical: exposed locations are struck without reconnaissance, using the cheapest method to trigger destructive energy already present in a star system. Sophon says humanity has no defense and should flee, even if only a fraction can escape; Cheng Xin silently rejects that logic according to human values. Sophon then refuses further questions from Cheng Xin.

Luo Ji, silent until late in the meeting, asks one question after Sophon’s controllers debate whether to answer. He asks whether a civilization can display a sign of harmlessness—a cosmic safety notice—to avoid a dark forest strike. Sophon, bound to answer truthfully with only yes, no, or I don’t know, finally says yes, but refuses to explain how. The Conversation of the Way of Tea gives humanity a fragile new hope: survival might be possible through broadcasting such a safety notice.