Ye Wenjie, watch my moves closely.

Chapter 20 The Way Down the Mountain

The continuous heavy snow has turned the Greater Khingan Mountains white, and the sunlight falling on the snow reflects a dazzling white.

Such good weather is rare in the mountains during winter.

An old man and a young man walked down the mountain one after the other. The jungle rustled beside them, and soldiers in snow camouflage uniforms stood up and saluted the old man.

"Little one, you can tell your story now."

The old man leaned on his cane and walked slowly.

"You already know the origins of the Trisolaran civilization, so I won't go into detail. What I want to tell you is the story after Ye Wenjie sent the signal."

Li Youyu sorted out his thoughts, recalling Evans's establishment of the Second Red Coast Base, the suicide of scientists at the scientific frontier in the early 21st century, the proton blockade of human technology, the United Nations' implementation of the Wallfacer Program, the Great Depression of Humanity, the Doomsday War, and the 2,000 shots fired during the Spring Festival.

The old man was able to listen at first, but when he heard the 2,000 rings during the Spring Festival, he slipped and almost lost his footing.

"That's really something..."

The old man swallowed the word "stupid" and changed his words, saying, "It was a really low-level strategic miscalculation."

Upon hearing that Zhang Beihai had died from an attack by his own kind, the old man sighed, "He was lucid, what a pity."

"but,"

The old man pondered, "The fact that fleeing ships are attacking each other is a thought-provoking issue; their standoff is reminiscent of the US and the Soviet Union back then. But even two opposing countries exercised restraint, so why would these ships with similar stances attack their own kind without hesitation?"

The old man was even more perceptive than Ye Wenjie.

Li Youyu didn't beat around the bush and talked about the Dark Forest Theory and the Deterrence Era created by Luo Ji.

The road down the mountain is long, but it's far from enough compared to the story of The Three-Body Problem.

The two stood at the entrance of Qijiatun, and Li Youyu began to tell the story of how humans were driven to Australia by the Trisolarans.

"Little baby,"

The old man stopped. "You mean we're just characters who came into being based on your world?"

"That's right."

"Ha ha ha ha."

The old man laughed a few times and said, "But my past is real. So, did he become me, or did I become him?"

Li Youyu remained silent.

This is a question that even the greatest philosophers would probably find difficult to answer.

"Alright, don't worry about it."

The old man said calmly, "The tragedy of this little girl, Ye Wenjie, stemmed from people's malice. She had a very difficult life."

"There are many scholars like her father who I failed to protect; it's my fault."

"I can understand her disappointment with the world."

"You've done a great job."

The old man smiled weakly and continued, "Judging from your description and what I know about the Trisolaran civilization, they should have already set their sights on the solar system. Four light-years is a very short distance on a cosmic scale. Whether Ye Wenjie replies or not, they will come anyway."

"Yes."

It had been less than two years since Ye Wenjie replied to the Trisolarans, and the Trisolaran civilization's first fleet had already set sail for the solar system. No matter how advanced the technology, building a space fleet was by no means something that could be accomplished in two years.

There can only be one explanation: they were already preparing long before they received the message.

"What are you planning to do? Rely solely on the Dark Forest intimidation tactic?"

"This is a lose-lose situation."

Li Youyu replied.

After humanity broadcast the coordinates of the Trisolarans into the universe, the Trisolaran home planet was first struck by light particles, but Earth, having exposed its location, was also subjected to dimensional reduction by the Singer civilization's two-dimensional foil.

From beginning to end, human civilization has never defeated the Trisolarans.

The old man's gaze was intense. He didn't press further, but instead said, "The part of your story that makes me think it's the most fantastical thing is how different countries united in the face of extraterrestrial civilization."

"I think so too."

Li Youyu said, "I think Political Commissar Lei is right about something: once the Trisolarans arrive, they will be engulfed in a sea of ​​people. The people are the protagonists of this epic."

"Good lad!"

The old man's voice suddenly rose, and he changed the way he addressed Li Youyu, "It's a pity I'm too old to live to see that day, otherwise I really want to have a go with the Trisolarans."

In the village, Yang Weining pushed Ye Wenjie out to bask in the sun, and the women of Qijiatun chattered and gathered around.

The old man looked out from the village entrance and could see the happy expression on Ye Wenjie's face. He suddenly said meaningfully, "You can't let Ye Wenjie live in the utopia you've built forever."

The old man said, "Ye Wenjie in your story hasn't disappeared. She's just been locked in a cage of kindness that you've built, but it's not very strong."

"Ye Wenjie's world is very small, so small that she cannot fully understand the complexity of human beings. Because of this, she may revert to her original self at any time after suffering a blow."

"If you want her to believe you, you have to believe her first, believe that she has realized through repeated experiences that human society can detoxify itself."

"By keeping her in Qijiatun, you're pushing things to the other extreme."

Li Youyu nodded thoughtfully.

In the original story, after Ye Wenjie was exonerated, she returned to the city and met her mother and the people who had killed her father. Their attitude made Ye Wenjie despair of humanity once again.

This is Ye Wenjie's unresolved issue, and even if Li Youyu tries to prevent them from meeting, the issue will not disappear.

He was thinking of letting Ye Wenjie stay in Qijiatun for a while longer to accumulate enough energy before going out. After the old man's guidance, he suddenly understood.

"As for you,"

The old man said, "Don't waste your time outside. Even a prophet has a hard time overcoming obstacles in reality."

"My words still carry some weight. The Chinese Academy of Sciences will allocate a department to you specifically for matters related to the Three-Body Civilization. You will determine the direction. Lei Zhicheng and Yang Weining will be transferred to work under you. The level of secrecy will be equivalent to that of the Red Coast, and the funding will come from state appropriations. You will report directly to me. Any questions?"

any questions?

Of course there's a problem!

"I don't have a universal sense of responsibility, and I'm just an ordinary person who can't save the world."

Li Youyu's only responsibility was to push Ye Wenjie into the position of the walled-up one; he didn't care about anything else.

"Hehehe, the country can't just leave you out there alone, little kid. I'm not asking for your opinion."

"And are you really just an observer?"

The old man looked at Li Youyu with a smile, "I don't think so."

Seeing that Li Youyu remained unmoved, the old man offered his highest price: "With your own strength alone, it won't be enough to push Ye Wenjie to become a Wallfacer in twenty years, so this is also a deal."

"You'd better not have too high expectations. I don't have much of a dedication. This department might be even worse than Red Coast. It'll produce no results at all; it'll just be a place where people draw salaries without working."

"Kid, are you facing the wall in front of me?"

The old man sized up Li Youyu, this young man who kept saying he had no sense of responsibility, yet he had saved Yang Weining and Lei Zhicheng, and was even trying to cure Ye Wenjie.

This is an extremely difficult path.

If he were in Ye Wenjie's shoes, he would have had a simpler way of making her a wall-facer, someone who was inexperienced in the ways of the world.

What a person says and what they do should be considered separately.

After thinking about it, Li Youyu agreed.

The reason is simple: it saves trouble.

Before Luo Ji was targeted for assassination by the ETO, the Wallfacers selected by the United Nations came from Britain, the United States, and Venezuela, and there was no quota for Asians.

Now that there is national power behind it, things will be much easier.

Anyway, the precautions have already been taken, so don't blame him if something goes wrong.

"Sir, I have another suggestion: let's stop using government funding and make our own profits and losses."

At this stage, the national treasury is short of funds, and investment in science and technology is a bottomless pit. If life continues to be as tight as Hong'an's, Li Youyu is in for a tough time.

"Are you worried that asking for too much money will burden the old man?"

The old man said, "What's the big deal about bearing some bad reputation? I've survived a hail of bullets. Let future generations judge my merits and demerits."

"Sir, I do have ways to make money. I don't handle the patents that the department develops for civilian use; I only want one percent of the profits."

"One percent?"

The old man waved his hand and said, "One percent is nothing! Fifty percent! If you have the ability, take it."