Chapter 50: Ice Lake Enlightenment 1_1

After dinner, Logic appeared to be preoccupied and did not join his wife. He found Lin Sen, hoping that Lin Sen would accompany him for a stroll along the lakeside.

Logic had been thinking recently, ever since Lin Sen told him that the Wallfacer's fate was inescapable, he had started to think. In fact, he had been subconsciously pondering since the moment he became a Wallfacer, considering sociological aspects of the universe and... the reasons why the Trisolarans wanted to kill him.

Lin Sen had made him lock away the conversation with Ye Wenjie in the safe, making him realize that it might be more serious than he thought. Over the past six months, he had been thinking, and he might have understood something, yet he felt something was missing. That evening, the warmth of family and the chilly weather stirred an inexplicable impulse and disquiet in him.

Lin Sen spoke up, "I've been noticing you seem to have something on your mind, can you share it with me? Perhaps, I can help dispel your worries."

Logic said, "Aren't you curious about what Professor Ye actually talked to me about that even led the Trisolarans to issue an assassination order against me?"

Lin Sen knew that Logic seemed to have figured out something, and maybe it wouldn't be long before he understood his mission.

Lin Sen spoke again, "So you mean to say, you have some clue about the 'mystery' left by Ye Wenjie? We all know how important this mystery is. A 'mystery' that could terrify a civilization... Are you really prepared to bear it?"

Logic said, "I haven't completely unraveled the mystery yet, but I do have some leads. I feel a strong unease, even a chill. I don't know if I should continue. There's an intuition telling me not to go forward anymore. Ahead lies an abyss, which really torments me! My sense of responsibility tells me I must go on, but my heart actually does not wish to face it.

You are my best confidant, and I don't know if I should tell you. Despite not being clear about the ultimate mystery yet, I can feel its danger. It's too unfair to you. If you knew, you too might be threatened."

Lin Sen knew the time was ripe, Logic's sense of responsibility to humanity would not stop him from continuing to think, and he was also just a step away from the threshold, the inevitable is always coming.

Letting the Trisolarans know that Lin Sen had learned of the Dark Forest forced the Trisolarans to do some things in a state of tension and impulse, which was part of the plan.

Lin Sen walked ahead to the lakeside and stepped onto the ice surface, where a thin layer of ice had formed on the lake, sturdy enough to hold the weight of a person. Lin Sen continued walking forward. Logic wanted to say something but, seeing Lin Sen continuing towards the center, quickly followed him.

After walking a distance, Lin Sen's words carried through the cold wind to Logic's ears, "I will always be the one who understands you the most. We both are lonely, and I am willing to share any burden with you.

At this moment, we are as if walking on thin ice, not knowing if we can reach the other side. Excessive worries are unnecessary. We just need to tread carefully and keep going, that's all.

Human civilization is also walking on thin ice. It was not easy for us to reach this day, and likewise, it was even harder for the Trisolarans. None of us will give up the right to continue surviving, and the greatest respect for those who interrupt it is to eradicate them.

We admire the Trisolarans, their yearning for order and regularity brought them to this day, and we reached today by conquering. Neither of us is more civilized than the other. We both have a heart that refuses to give up, a heart that yearns to live on.

Human civilization has progressed from primitive agriculture to this day through a path marked by bloodstains, our blood and the blood of our enemies. The Trisolarans are strong, and this battle is perilous, but was the struggle of our ancestors with the Neanderthals any less dangerous? The Neanderthals nearly eradicated our ancestors. In natural selection, our ancestors struggled against the icy wilderness, against ferocious beasts, and against the Neanderthals. Each step was fraught with danger, and in the end, only they survived.

I don't know what the Trisolarans fear. They have endured the destruction and rebirth of their civilization time and again, yet they still persist. They should be fearless, with nothing able to shake them. But they issued orders which seem absurd to the common man, which speaks volumes about what lies behind them.

Survival has never been something that can be easily obtained, not in the past, not now, and certainly not in the future.

The road to the other side is fraught with immense difficulty; we might fail, the Trisolarans might fail too. Both of us want to see what lies on the other side. If we fail, we hope that the Trisolarans will see it for us. As for who can make it to the other side, Trisolarans or us... it's all the same."

The road is long, even if the Trisolaris crisis is resolved, we will face other crises in this universe. We have nothing but to tread carefully and persevere.

We do not know if we can reach the other side, but we will not give up. Even if we fall into the dark depths of the lake, our civilization must shout out its presence in the universe.

We existed, and our defiance is the same as the Trisolarans', like the massive metal fist in the Trisolaran pendulum ritual that swings towards the sky, releasing our cries!"

Logic was terrified, as if he had thought of something. "You just mentioned other crises... are you talking about other alien civilizations... falling into the dark depths of the lake"?

In an instant, Logic entered a state he had never experienced before. Everything around him went quiet, and only his own thoughts were active. Each leap of thought made him feel the cold, as if something was about to freeze behind the cold, something was about to awaken, Death awaited its final awakening...

Logic had been pondering the conversation with Ye Wenjie; that discussion was, in fact, a suggestion given by Ye Wenjie to Logic, to study cosmic sociology.

Cosmic sociology postulates the existence of a huge number of intelligent civilizations in the universe, as numerous as the stars in the sky. This is actually easy to understand; the Trisolaran Star System, with its harsh conditions, could give birth to the Trisolaran civilization, let alone other star systems.

There's a formula called the Green Bank Equation, which is a speculative calculation of the number of intelligent civilizations in the Milky Way Galaxy. It considers factors such as the number of stars born each year in the galaxy (the dense matter in the arms of the galaxy constantly forming new stars), the probability of stable stellar environments, the likelihood of stars having planets, the chances of planets being in habitable zones, and the probability of life arising on those planets to estimate the number of intelligent civilizations in the galaxy.

Even though many predictions lack reliable evidence and are just assumptions, they ultimately estimate that there could be around 20,000 intelligent civilizations in the Milky Way (the formula believes three-star systems have no potential for life). But given that a three-star system like the Trisolaran Star System has an intelligent civilization, the number of civilizations in the entire Milky Way must be terrifying. The number of intelligent civilizations could even be in the millions (with the galaxy having 200 to 400 billion stars), far surpassing the estimates of the Green Bank Equation.