Chapter 520: Pre-war Meeting (Extra for Everyone's Monthly Tickets)_1

Everyone's soul needs a place to reside, and that place is home.

Since the Solar System was devoured by a Two-Dimensional Fragment, Earth had become the modern humanity's sanctuary for their souls, and its significance grew ever mightier.

By now, many had understood why Jiang Yu insisted on taking Earth with him as he fled.

Earth is the birthplace of humanity; with it, our concept of our own kind remains whole.

Earth also seems like a thought cherished by wanderers afar, knowing no matter where they go, how far they travel, they have roots.

In the vastness of space, Earth continuously enriched humanity's spiritual world—it was the hometown of wanderers.

On nights of restless wandering, the thought of home always kindled warmth in one's heart.

So Earth must not be lost!

Number Three's suggestion was, "Establish a new deterrence with the Trisolarans!

"Earth is too important for us, both now and for future generations!

"We'd rather not destroy the enemy's First Fleet than put Earth at risk.

"And now we can easily establish a new deterrence, reach out to the Trisolarans, and as long as they keep the First Epoch Life Forms away from Earth, we will halt our assault!"

Everyone knew that Venus was a crippled First Epoch Life Form, and if it were one in its prime, Earth would be in great danger!

The head of the Strategic Department then suggested, "Can we replicate the signal emitted by the Trisolarans and make some modifications before sending it out?

"Of course, we don't know what the modified signal means, but we can change some of the content and broadcast it multiple times.

"First, it would serve as a smokescreen; if there's any description of Earth's location in the signal, our action could confuse Earth's position.

"Second, First Epoch Life Forms also abide by the Dark Forest Law; this could lead them to mistakenly believe there are many First Epoch Life Forms nearby.

"Those that have survived until now must be extremely cautious, and perhaps they won't come following the signal."

The others also shared their thoughts, but their proposals were not as reliable as these two.

Jiang Yu cleared his throat, and everyone immediately fell silent and turned to him.

Jiang Yu said, "You probably haven't learned a foreign language, have you?"

The crowd was slightly startled, not understanding his point.

In the Solar System State, Chinese language and characters had always been the official language and script, and languages like English or French were generally learned only when required by one's job.

The history department had majors that taught these languages, as they were needed for archaeology.

Jiang Yu continued, "I remember when I first learned English, I dared not speak it readily because my spoken English was poor.

"But if someone else spoke English, I could understand what they meant!

"Have you ever considered that the Trisolarans' grasp of the First Epoch Life Form's language might be as rudimentary as my English was back then?"

The group gradually caught on to Jiang Yu's implication. It was the most plausible scenario.

"Can the Trisolarans then clearly communicate Earth's location using the First Epoch Life Form's language?" Jiang Yu went on:

"Earth is moving rapidly, and in the empty void of space, a miss is as good as a mile!

"I reckon that the First Epoch Life Forms receiving the Trisolarans' signal would have a hard time locating Earth immediately! They are more likely to find the remnants of the enemy's First Fleet hiding in the planetary system.

"If I'm not mistaken, the real danger may lie with the Second Group Army!

"The Trisolarans intend to use the First Epoch Life Forms to counter humanity's surprise attacks!"

Jiang Yu spoke gravely, "There's one more thing everyone should be aware of! If the Trisolarans are calling for 'reinforcements' in this way, it indicates that there are First Epoch Life Forms nearby.

"Otherwise, they could simply use a cosmic broadcast to announce the location of Star System Three.

"The galaxy has trails; a Dark Forest Strike should be imminent!"

"Of course, it's also very likely that in their calculations, the time for the First Epoch Life Forms to reach Star System Three is almost the same as when the Second Group Army arrives.

"Otherwise, we wouldn't be able to use this strategy to set a tiger to fight a wolf!"

The conference room fell silent, and Number Three sighed, "We were set for an assured victory, but now the more we analyze, the more we feel restricted and constrained."

Hao Ying suggested, "Let's not fight this battle then. At present, we still need to prioritize caution."

The conference room became quiet again—indeed, the risk was too great once the battle broke out!

Cao Yang suddenly said, "Has anyone considered that the Trisolarans might just want us to retreat knowing the difficulty?

"If they wanted to set a tiger to fight a wolf, they could have used a cosmic broadcast at the right time, yet they chose this method.

"Perhaps this is just a feint to create an opportunity for the First Fleet to escape!"

Hao Ying said, "But we can't take that risk!"

Belinsky, however, believed, "The opportunity is rare; if we let these Trisolarans go today, they may bring us enormous losses in a few centuries!"

The discussion of the new plan had just begun when Jiang Yu gently tapped the desk and revealed the decision he had already resolved upon, "We have to fight this battle, and we must commit to it wholeheartedly!

"Gentlemen, there are two ways to live in this Dark Forest—one is to sneak and hide, and the other is to stride out barefoot without fear of those with shoes!

"Let the winds blow from all directions; I shall stand unyielding!"

"Since we now do not know what the Trisolarans are plotting, let's hit them hard and shatter all their schemes!

"Cao Yang and Zhuang Yue will handle the specific tactics, with Zhuang Yue in charge of frontline command.

"Although Earth cannot be lost, it must not become our burden; if need be, we can temporarily retreat and fight back later!"

Finally, Jiang Yu said, "From the moment we left the Solar System, we no longer had a way back; we must forge ahead relentlessly!

"We must always be the ones who dare to go barefoot!"

After a brief silence, everyone applauded Jiang Yu in unison.

Sometimes, retreating a single step leads to continuous retreat, but Jiang Yu always drives everyone forward!

...

Today was especially long for Shi Mingwei and Yun Tony. They had been fully engaged in the debate, only to be summoned to a meeting right after it ended.

It was only after the military personnel had discussed and reached a feasible military plan that the meeting concluded.

The detailed military plan would be further discussed in subsequent meetings by the military personnel, with only the final results reported to the Wallfacer.

Upon exiting the conference room, Jiang Yu gestured for Yun Tony and Shi Mingwei to follow him.

The two exchanged a smile, as the lengthy day had yet to come to an end.

Leading the way, Jiang Yu stopped at the door to his office and said, "Yun Tony, come in first."

Shi Mingwei nodded and waited on the bench outside.

Jiang Yu sipped a drink handed to him by the robot attendant, waiting for the automatic door of the office to close before saying, "Galaxy III, set up a secure space!"

The so-called secure space would first activate a small Blind Zone system within the office wall cavity, to stave off high-end detectors such as Sophon.

Then the intelligent system would go silent, meaning all sound recording devices in the office would be shut down. The following conversation would not even be heard by Galaxy III.

Yun Tony was taken aback—the Wallfacer had something to tell him that necessitated creating a secure space.

He only heard Jiang Yu say, "The Paradise civilization has been completely eradicated by humanity of the future!"