Chapter 5 ETO's Trust Crisis_1

Time rewound to several minutes ago.

Within the Three-Body game.

ID as First Emperor of Qin, John von Neumann, Mozi, Aristotle, King Wen of Zhou, Newton, Confucius, Einstein... several high-level ETO members were watching the conversation between Logic and Lin Sen through Sophon's live broadcast.

Originally, they all had their own work, but Sophon considered this conversation important.

They paused their tasks to join this online meeting, analyzing the deeper implications behind the conversation between Logic and Lin Sen.

When Lin Sen presented the first layer of overt strategy for the Wallfacer project, First Emperor of Qin praised:

"Lord, this Lin Sen is correct, power and duty are equivalent, and the Wallfacer should be no exception.

No matter how much authority the Wallfacer bill bestows upon the Wallfacers, since it is granted by the bill, it can be taken back.

Power and duty are the same, I'm a bit impressed with this Lin Sen. Not like that Logic, thinking he could leisurely live out the rest of his life.

I even doubt that PDC is satisfying Logic's unreasonable demands.

Essentially, they are creating entanglements for Logic, and that man, who takes the world but lightly, will truly commit to his Wallfacer duties once he has ties."

The others all expressed agreement, and this made everyone realize that this Lin Sen seemed to be not so simple.

Next, as Lin Sen detailed the second layer of overt strategy in the Wallfacer project, First Emperor of Qin also fell silent for a while, then said:

"The Wallfacer project should contain this layer of overt strategy.

Lord, we have been misled by the four Wallfacers, failing to see that the Wallfacer project itself is an overt strategy.

I must say I'm now more and more admiring of the decision-maker behind the Wallfacer project."

"No matter what, all their efforts are futile, aren't they?"

Mozi spoke with the piety of a prayer:

"Lord, mankind is such an evil species; for thousands of years, they've been playing with those filthy stratagems, and those selfish and ignorant fools need the arrival of our great Lord... to be completely cleansed."

"Humans have long been adept at mastering and employing various tricks and people-handling skills, elevating this field to philosophical research even.

Humans are arrogant and myopic, they have not extended these to focus on the overall development and existential issues of humanity, they only engage in internal wisdom fighting, without the wisdom to survive," said Einstein indifferently.

"Indeed, he has provided us with a line of thought; perhaps, the mind maze of the Wallfacers is not complex, and all secret schemes will manifest on the surface of things. Sometimes, the surface of a thing is its truth.

I think I'm starting to grasp Tyler's plan, I'm not far from breaking his Wall, really must thank Lin Sen!" John von Neumann said.

"So soon? That calls for celebration!" Aristotle also spoke.

"Let's continue watching! As long as we can complete our mission to break the Wall for our Lord.

This kind of overt strategy, Lord… does not care about!" said First Emperor of Qin.

No sooner had First Emperor of Qin spoken than he heard, "For the Wallbreakers targeting the Wallfacers, PDC does not care!"

Years of cultivation allowed First Emperor of Qin to maintain his composure, with only a slight twitch at the corner of his mouth.

As if it mattered not, he said, "They don't care? They have no choice in the matter. The greatness of our Lord is beyond their comprehension.

They will pay the price for their arrogance and conceit, when the Wallfacers are broken, whether they can withstand the blow to their hearts, such a blow could shatter anyone.

I want to know whether they can bear it, unless he treats this world as nothing more than a game."

Aristotle looked at First Emperor of Qin, "Quite arrogant indeed, I really don't know where their confidence comes from!"

The live broadcast of Lin Sen and Logic's conversation continued. When it said, "ETO's work object has always been only themselves, the Trisolarans are just their tools,"

First Emperor of Qin couldn't help but lose his composure, raising his voice involuntarily: "Lord, do not believe his words, our loyalty to You is absolute!

You are our devout faith!

You are our great Lord, we have always called you the Lord.

We have always been Your faithful servants, we would never harbor any disrespectful thoughts toward the Lord."

The subsequent conversation in the live broadcast nearly made all ETO members choke, what was the idea of shooting oneself in the foot, it was like burying oneself under a mountain.

What's wrong with me respectfully calling the Trisolarans 'Lord'? I just want to quietly destroy all of humanity, why so targeted at me!

What's this about us definitely mocking the Trisolarans, the Lord is incomprehensible, even if we think of Trisolarans as tools in our hearts, but we dare not say so.

As First Emperor of Qin and the others were pondering over how to explain themselves, Sophon's subtitles appeared:

"No need to worry, we have studied a large amount of micro expressions, psychology, and human behavior, and believe through big data comparison that the credibility of his words is only 30%.

We consider him to be lying, and his explanation of the Lord apparently does not fit most humans' understanding of the word, only a few understand it that way."

First Emperor Qin was filled with mixed feelings, thinking to himself: "Lord, would that You didn't explain at all.

Lin Sen, you are truly an interesting opponent, your words, which hardly anyone believes, actually managed to convince the Lord there's a 30% credibility, indicating you are well aware of Lord's thought patterns.

It seems three Wallbreakers aren't enough, I need to be added as another Wallbreaker for you now. You have a purpose in seeking out Logic, and I will find out what it is. You are too dangerous!"

At this moment, First Emperor of Qin was also oblivious to the trap in Lin Sen's words and didn't give any reminders to Sophon. Why?

Lin Sen's dialogue was still ongoing, and Sophon felt that something was missing. Perhaps influenced by some book of strategy, it displayed a few more lines of subtitles:

"We believe in your loyalty.

Lin Sen is clearly trying to sow discord in our relationship. We need you,

we will not believe him, and we will not believe that you see us as mere tools.

The Wallbreaking plan is not just a necessity for us, it is a token of our trust in you..."

Suddenly, Sophon terminated the live broadcast of the conversation. Since the live stream from Sophon was delayed by 10 seconds from real-time, this represented an advancement in Trisolaran stratagem.

The last thing ETO heard was "they are about to let out a cry of indignation..." and then Trisolaris immediately cut off the broadcast.

Moreover, Sophon ceased to display subtitles, making the scene somewhat eerie...

This made ETO think that the Trisolarans had fallen for Lin Sen's deceitful words.

Due to their extremely rapid thought processes, the Trisolarans immediately realized that Lin Sen's words might have inadvertently exposed what they feared most.

Even though big data analysis indicated that the "universe" Lin Sen spoke of referred to Earth and the Trisolaran world, they were worried that ETO might misconstrue it, fearing that someone might recklessly send signals to other civilizations in the universe.

The Trisolarans, lacking in stratagem, did not know how to explain this to ETO and decided not to offer any explanation at all.

The key point was the psychological suggestion given by Lin Sen to the Trisolarans earlier: ETO was not to be trusted.

All of this led the Trisolarans to choose to cut off the live broadcast immediately; decisiveness was the Trisolarans' greatest strength.

The atmosphere in the room became weird and awkward, leaving the ETO members utterly perplexed.

First, they said they trusted us, and then they added, unnecessarily, "we will not believe that you see us as mere tools."

What kind of bizarre logic is this?

Lord, what exactly is your understanding of strategy?

After several unanswered calls, the feelings inside ETO were exceedingly complex.

As for the Trisolarans, whose thoughts are transparent and who are unskilled in stratagems, they probably have yet to grasp that the very concept of trust only exists within the realm of strategy.

All stratagems are built on habit and trust; without these two elements, strategy is inconceivable.

Fearing human stratagems, the Trisolarans chose to institute ETO, but they also reserved their trust from them due to fear.

ETO understood this, and the abrupt end to the broadcast indicated that perhaps the dialogue between Logic and Lin Sen contained hidden threats to the Trisolarans.

On the other hand, it also showed that the Trisolarans truly are mere children when it comes to strategy!

Only children cover their eyes after making a mistake, thinking if they cannot see others, then others cannot see them. Such endearing ignorance.

The present ETO members were actually feeling quite uncomfortable, and it wasn't because of the Trisolarans' trust crisis.

They understood that the Trisolarans had never trusted them; the Trisolarans didn't even understand what trust meant.

They were among the first to make contact with the Trisolarans. In "Contact Semiotics," the contact effect is magnified through the psychological and cultural lens of the human collective.

They developed a god-like reverence for the Trisolarans. But the Trisolarans they came to know lacked more and more of that divine aspect, and this mental shock was the greatest of all.

First Emperor of Qin knew that Lin Sen had planted a thorn between Trisolaris and ETO, and at this point, further explanation was futile.

The Trisolarans were still children in terms of strategy and would need to be taught gradually. Only when the Trisolarans, now adept in strategy, presented themselves before human civilization, would that be the doom of mankind.

A wild idea even sprang to mind for First Emperor of Qin: to teach the Trisolarans a lesson in real strategy, to make them pay a price.

To let Trisolaris feel pain, to experience pain, and to learn true strategy through suffering.

What they could not learn from books, I shall teach...

What First Emperor of Qin didn't know, or perhaps did know, was that Sophon was also monitoring him constantly.

His emotions were clearly different from those of other ETO members. Behavioral analysis based on big data indicated a shift in First Emperor of Qin's attitude towards Trisolaris, thus heightening the Trisolarans' vigilance against him.

John von Neumann, Mozi, and Aristotle were all watching First Emperor of Qin, all relatively speechless. They all knew their own situation; the biggest problem was still the crisis of trust.

Teaching the Trisolarans strategy might be possible, but instilling trust in them would be far more difficult than humans defeating the Trisolarans.

The Trisolarans, unskilled at strategy and unclear about the true meaning of trust, perhaps did not wish to know it.

Human society is filled with lies, thus making trust precious. The dynamic equilibrium between trust and lies forms the cornerstone of the structure of human society.

But the Trisolarans neither need nor understand these things, which increases the gulf between humans and Trisolarans even further.

First Emperor of Qin declared, "The mission of ETO now, is to assist the leader in Wallbreaking! Go and proceed with your respective tasks!"

With that, he logged off.

He needed to deliberate carefully on how to have the leader accept his teachings on strategy.