Chapter 16 The Terrifying Hines_1
```
"I hope you are right!" Hines glanced at Lin Sen and then at Logic.
Perhaps this mindset was that of a qualified Wallfacer. Since humanity's crisis was inevitable, it was better to face it head-on than to worry incessantly. If this battle was a one-way trip, then so be it.
Hines wasn't sure if Lin Sen's "If it's a one-way trip, then it's a one-way trip" had any other implications, but Logic and Lin Sen couldn't possibly know about his plan; it was impossible for someone to see through it at this point.
In the original work, Hines's ostensible plan was to use the Thoughtcontrol Stamps created from brain analysis cameras (devices that could imprint inviolable beliefs into human brains, which with his intelligence he had long predicted could be developed—the specific principles would be explained later) to stamp the conviction of certain victory for the Space Force members with weak wills, maintaining the combat morale of the troops.
In reality, he had secretly modified a symbol in the Thoughtcontrol Stamp, inflicting the Space Force with the conviction of humanity's certain defeat.
During the battle of doomsday, those imbued with the belief of inevitable defeat might seize command of the warships and hijack them for escape, thereby preserving the seeds of human civilization.
All four Wallfacers were extremely outstanding and great, but Lin Sen believed Hines was the most suited for the role.
His plan was the most deeply concealed,
he deceived everyone, including Sophon,
and even in the original work, whether his being broken by a Wallbreaker before the battle of doomsday was genuine remained a question.
Hines's wife, Keiko Yamasuki, was a high-ranking member of the ETO, with a Trisolaris game ID of Aristotle and was also his Wallbreaker.
Keiko Yamasuki had observed him for decades, yet he never showed any sign of flaw, not even daring to dream.
The only slip was when he awoke from a nine-year hibernation with a hint of fear in his eyes—a look of fear identical to that of someone awakening from hibernation after being stamped with a Thoughtcontrol Stamp.
It was simply unimaginable, what kind of person could achieve such a feat!
You think that's everything?
For Hines, this was trivial.
When analyzing him closely, one would find his actions deeply terrifying.
First, why would he stamp those in the Space Force with weak convictions with the belief in humanity's inevitable defeat? During the battle of doomsday, the mainstream thought would be humanity's certain victory, whereas the common belief of his era was the exact opposite.
Stamping the conviction of humanity's certain defeat in this era wasn't pointless but wasn't of significant necessity, either—the true greatness of this stamp would only emerge 200 years later.
There was only one possibility, that Hines had foreseen that 200 years later, the prevailing belief of the Human Space Force would be in humanity's certain victory, and those with victory conviction wouldn't execute an escape.
This point might be contested, arguing that Hines didn't foresee humanity's future victory but simply added more security to the escape plan, which happened to be crucial later on.
Though somewhat superfluous, it could still make sense—but if Hines's scheming was only at this level, how could he possibly deceive his intimate partner for decades or modify the symbol in the Thoughtcontrol Stamp without Sophon detecting it, despite the fact that the Thoughtcontrol Stamp code had billions of lines? After all, Trisolarans excel in complex calculations.
Secondly, Hines secretly made five Thoughtcontrol Stamp machines, of which he hid four. The Belief Center was shut down in Crisis Year 31, and the Thoughtcontrol Stamp machines there were sealed.
However, the other four Thoughtcontrol Stamp machines were smuggled out by the ETO, which used them in turns until the battle of doomsday, stamping countless humans with the belief in "humanity's certain victory."
The Space Force members stamped at the Belief Center, even if they hibernated into the future, would definitely have their identities verified—whether they underwent Thoughtcontrol was something the future Space Force would undoubtedly know, and they would have no chance of executing an escape. This was unrelated to whether Hines was broken or not, as those stamped with the conviction of victory at the Belief Center wouldn't be recognized anyway.
So how could Hines ensure the success of his plan?
There was only one truth: Hines exploited the ETO. He knew they would smuggle out the other four Thoughtcontrol Stamp machines, and then over the next 200 years stamp an untold number of people with what they thought was the conviction of humanity's certain victory but was in reality the conviction of certain defeat.
The ETO fell completely into his trap, laboring for him for 200 years for nothing.
If Hines hadn't realized that the true substance behind Trisolaris's fear of anti-escape was their dread of human escape, and that humanity's certainty of victory was the biggest obstacle, he wouldn't have assumed the ETO would actively stamp so many people with the conviction of "humanity's certain victory."
Why Hines secretly made four additional stamp machines is also telling.
Firstly, the secrecy was to evade the PDC, not the ETO monitored by Sophon. Thus, the secret manufacture was for the ETO's use, with only the ETO being kept in the dark.
It might be argued that Hines perhaps wanted to secretly stamp conviction onto humanity himself, which wouldn't necessarily mean it was for the ETO's use.
Indeed, if it were too obvious, the ETO, not being fools, would surely have noticed—except the ETO placed too much trust in Sophon and never suspected that the machines might be flawed.
It was his ruse; Hines went into hibernation in Crisis Year 21, deciding to go straight to the end. He had no time to use the Thoughtcontrol Stamp machines in the next 200 years. To make the other four machines effective, only the ETO could be relied upon.
Secondly, why four machines? Because exactly four machines could be used continuously until the battle of doomsday. Hines must have understood that once he hibernated, the stamp machines would be sealed, and only the ETO could make them effective.
Only the ETO could stamp countless individuals over the next 200 years, and their identities would be absolutely secret; only they could potentially hijack warships for escape. He had calculated everything.
A person capable of exploiting the enemy in such a way deserves reverence for his intelligence, strategy, cunning, and caliber—the thought is profoundly chilling.
Thirdly, according to the original work, Hines was exposed by his own wife, a member of the Steel Mark Clan (specifically those stamped with the conviction of humanity's inevitable defeat), just before the battle of doomsday.
Since the Human Space Fleet couldn't identify the Steel Mark Clan members, fearing they might hijack the warships for escape, executive captains were assigned to all warships. All orders from the original captains to the warships' command systems had to go through the executive captains.
```
The candidates chosen to serve as Executive Captains were soldiers from the reinforcements for the future plan, who absolutely couldn't have been part of the Steel Mark Clan. They had entered hibernation before the Thoughtcontrol machines were developed.
Ironically, it was this very order that enabled Zhang Beihai (introduced later) to become the Executive Captain who successfully hijacked the warship for escape.
When Bill Hines was wallbroken, he said on one hand, "Defeatism and escapism from two centuries ago are truly laughable."
On the other hand, he claimed he wouldn't repent, having imprinted himself with the Thoughtcontrol: everything he had done in the Wallfacer Project was correct.
There was a clear contradiction in Hines here. Earlier it had been said that Hines should have foreseen a future where humans universally harbored the conviction of certain victory; how could defeat and escape then be laughable?
Even Logic in the future knew that humanity's achievements were superficial, that humanity was in danger when facing the Trisolarans without a breakthrough in foundational theory.
Ding Yi even explicitly stated he saw no hope at all. How could Hines, a top-tier scientist, fail to see this?
For Hines to call defeatism and escapism laughable showed that this was still his deception, finding the best cover for his actions with "I too was imprinted with Thoughtcontrol."
Even though Hines appeared to be wallbroken on the surface, he was still deceiving others, suggesting it was still a part of his plan!
Hines's true escape plan should have been:
If his plan had not been wallbroken, it might have been that amongst those 2,000 star-level warships, there were key individuals who were of the Steel Mark Clan. There was a chance, however slim, that they would hijack the warships and escape before the Doomsday battle—a gamble worth taking, however small the odds.
If his plan had been wallbroken, he would have to pretend to be completely exposed, exaggerating the danger posed by the Steel Mark Clan to induce the Human Fleet to make another extreme choice.
Choosing soldiers from the reinforcements for the future plan, who would have been impossible to be part of the Steel Mark Clan—soldiers who understood war far more profoundly than future humanity and were fully aware of the essential differences between humans and the Trisolarans. How could they not recognize what even Logic understood?
Among them, there might have been defeatists who had seen through everything and who might therefore have chosen to hijack warships and escape.
No plan can be executed perfectly according to one's design, but Hines had almost done it. Everything was part of his plan; everything was a stake on that one in ten thousand chance.
But you see the third, even the fourth layer,
Thinking this is the limit, while Hines stood beyond the atmosphere.
Fourth, it's possible that Hines had long known that his wife was a member of ETO and his Wallbreaker, and his being wallbroken was intentional.
Perhaps some might think all of the above is just coincidence, which is possible, but several details from the original text suggest otherwise.
First, according to Hines's plan, it is doubtful whether the current warship captains are part of the Steel Mark Clan. However, it's certain that there were soldiers within the reinforcements for the future plan with the same escape-driven mindset as Zhang Beihai.
Hines's escapism was based on his own scientific understanding, and he had a clearer insight into the people of his own time.
A key piece of evidence was that the fleeing warships were not only the "Natural Selection", hijacked by Zhang Beihai, but there were also the "Bronze Age" and "Quantum" in another direction.
This implies that among these Executive Captains, there was more than one "Zhang Beihai." Hines may not have known about Zhang Beihai specifically, but he knew that there were many silent Zhang Beihais, waiting for that opportunity.
Having his wife expose his own weakness, then wallbreaking him, Hines might have believed that the probability of having disillusioned escapees among the soldiers from the reinforcements for the future plan was higher than the chance of key personnel in the fleet being from the Steel Mark Clan.
Moreover, whether the Steel Mark Clan could truly lead humanity to escape was doubtful; Hines trusted the "Zhang Beihais" more. They chose to flee because they saw through everything, not because they were of the Steel Mark Clan.
Second, when Hines was wallbroken, he told his wife who was the Wallbreaker, "I should have seen it coming, Huizi, I really should have."
His wife, a follower of Timothy Leary, and for someone as cunning and slippery as Hines, likely meant he saw through his wife's every action in day-to-day life.
There might be a fifth point. Among the four Wallfacers, only Hines's end was the most successful,
This says it all…
...
It was all part of Hines's plan,
A Wallfacer both terrifyingly powerful and seemingly the weakest.
From the outcome of human destiny, Hines's plan was the truly successful one.
The Escape Fleet preserved the seeds of human civilization, continuing their development until the end of the universe, leaving their mark on it.
Meanwhile, the Solar System, as well as humanity saved by Logic, perished, leaving only two people behind. This was also why Lin Sen was unwilling to employ the Dark Forest theory.
It's chilling upon careful reflection!
This is Bill Hines!
A Wallfacer, both polite and everlasting!