Chapter 57: The Promise of Trisolaran Civilization_1

The Strategy Governor continued, "Humans will occupy resources originally intended for the development of their space force in order to defend their homeland. Don't humans wish to exchange resources with us? We'll exchange with them and see how many resources they can afford to consume here.

Yes, our goal is to deplete their resources. We aim to delay them, preventing them from having sufficient resources to rapidly develop a space force. The best outcome is that they lose the ability to flee.

As for the possibility of humans enhancing their own technology in the constant wars, there's no need to worry. Our smartmachines aren't more advanced than theirs. Our main strategy is to rely on numbers and continuous Sophon monitoring to confront and exhaust them.

Advanced technology won't give them an advantage on the battlefield. Hence, even war won't result in significant breakthroughs in their applied technologies, especially since terrestrial weaponry usually proves ineffective in interstellar warfare.

The key lies in this plan, which also requires an extremely small expenditure of resources. Our advantage is our height in computer science and microscopic physical technology, while our disadvantage is the lack of resources.

These two plans are nothing but straightforward stratagems, using technological supremacy to drain their resources and disrupt human society to halt their progress."

Supreme Leader, "Science Governor, is the second plan feasible? Can we retrofit humans' photolithography machines to make quantum chips? Does this plan entail any other risks?"

Science Governor, "Supreme Leader, existing human technology does not support transforming their photolithography machines to manufacture quantum chips. We would have to impart a few more technologies to them, considering human quantum computing is only just beginning.

But I believe we can impart these technologies. Once the retrofit is complete, we can have the ETO destroy the relevant equipment by producing enough quantum chips. If all the retrofitted equipment gets destroyed, the smartmachine project will have passed its most dangerous phase. The risks involved are negligible, with the probability of humans cracking the plan less than one in a million.

The other parts of the plan can be implemented, and the risks involved are that humans might obtain advanced artificial intelligence software, which is almost harmless to us."

Supreme Leader, "But can we trust the ETO? You seem to be overlooking this greatest risk."

Science Governor, "According to our behavioral models, the ETO is trustworthy. We won't reveal the 'smartmachine' plan to the ETO; we just need them to retrofit the equipment. We need to find someone who possesses photolithography machines yet lacks expertise in quantum technology to retrofit the quantum photolithography machine.

Once the production of quantum chips is complete and the first generation of smartmachines is finished, their trustworthiness becomes irrelevant. By that time, we will have our own definitive power over the Earthlings."

Supreme Leader, "Can you assure that the ETO is absolutely reliable? Moreover, could the ETO guess your 'smartmachine' plan? Your plan seems still to carry high risks."

The Strategy Governor and Sophon Governor were somewhat rattled but managed to conceal their concern from the Supreme Leader with the brainwave blocker.

The Sophon Governor added, "Our countermeasure is to transmit only a tiny part of the technology each time, interspersing the quantum chip technology within other technologies to prevent them from deducing our intentions.

We will make it a long-term task, taking four or even more years to gradually realize the production of the first-generation quantum chip while ensuring one hundred percent surveillance of the ETO.

We have to be alert to any abnormal actions. If we don't preemptively detect any anomaly with the ETO, we would become targets ourselves."

Unbeknownst to the Sophon Governor, his very words soon cultivated a Trisolaran spy within humanity, eventually leading to the spy replacing the Strategy Governor and the Sophon Governor's permanent dehydration.

Supreme Leader, "Agreed, every plan entails risk. You need to recognize this, as there is no such thing as a perfect plan.

You must constantly stay vigilant about every aspect of your plan. If there's another oversight like today's, it means you're unfit for your current positions.

Regarding the 'smartmachine' plan, it is an ambitious one. I approve the plan. The Industry Governor and the Science Governor must fully cooperate with the Sophon Governor to complete the 'smartmachine' plan."

Industry Governor, Science Governor, Sophon Governor: "Yes, Leader."

Leader: "Strategy Governor, there's no doubt your plan is of a very high level, even surprising to me."

Strategy Governor: "We always use Brainwave Blockers, when we convey thoughts, isn't there always something that changes, more or less?

The majority of our thought communication is a form of mental imagery. With Brainwave Blockers, what we usually share are incomplete images, forcing the recipient to get accustomed to completing these images, thus training our imagination, which is the foundation of strategy.

Recently, we have been using Chinese to transmit information, which is to convert individual symbols back into our thought images. It was very difficult at the beginning.

But with long-term practice, we found that we could imagine certain scenes out of thin air. Moreover, we discovered we could understand some of Earth's books without the aid of computers, like 'Romance of the Three Kingdoms'.

Even though we can't understand it all, it's much more profound than interpreting it as a mathematical derivation story about three kings. It's a comprehensive contest of politics, military, and intelligence between three kingdoms, waging war and compromising with each other, struggling for survival in the cracks. It's truly a paradise of stratagems.

So-called strategy is about analyzing one's own advantages and the opponent's disadvantages. I used a computer model to analyze our 342 advantages over Earthlings and their 37 advantages over us, and then ranked these advantages.

We used to worry about divulging technologies to Earthlings and even prohibited any teaching of technology. That's unnecessary. We don't need to overly worry. As long as we maintain our advantages and have our own forces inside Earth, taking some risks to impart some technologies is also an acceptable idea.

Humans wouldn't worry that primitive people learning to use sticks would threaten them. We're actually not worried; it's just that we're accustomed to not taking any risks. Our survival has been so arduous that we've had no time, nor opportunity, to afford the cost of taking risks.

This habit has helped us face many disasters, but it may not be suitable for Trisolarans anymore."

Leader: "What you've said makes sense and is a mark of our strategic maturity. Lin Sen learned about the Dark Forest and faced it calmly, and so can we.

In this universe, civilizations are born and destroyed every moment; we needn't feel sentimental about it. The greatest civilization we've encountered is the Proton civilization; their existence was within a single proton, which was their universe. When we expanded the proton into three dimensions, their universe was destroyed.

We were beings even more immense than gods to them, incomprehensible beings, yet they still launched an attack on us. They turned the expanded proton into a huge lens, focusing sunlight to strike at us, almost destroying us. It took more than 70% of the censure bullets stored by our civilization to destroy the Proton civilization.

That war made us realize that even with a chasm-like gap between civilizations, there's always a possibility for them to overcome us. They engaged in battle with us without hesitation, holding on to hope, however faint it might be.

Although there is a huge technological gap between Earthlings and us, they are not without the possibility of a counterstrike. If a civilization existing within a proton could potentially destroy us, all the more an adversary like Earth civilization.

We need to give it our all; they don't have to verify the Dark Forest, just face us, face the cold, dark universe. We will do the same.

We've come this far, having invested more than they have, and we're not afraid of challenges.

Weakness and ignorance are not obstacles to survival; arrogance is. Against Earthlings, we will give it our all.

In this battle, whichever side wins will carry the glory of the other, treading on thin ice, advancing to the other side.

This is our unspoken promise to Earthlings; they're worthy of our promise, and at the same time, it's a promise to the Proton civilization."