Chapter 76 The Birth of TEO_1

Trisolarans lack organs for communication; they, too, generate intelligence through interlinked vast numbers of neurons, the difference being that Trisolarans' brainwaves are stronger and can be directly received by their own kind.

It can be inferred that Trisolaran society is characterized by convergent thinking, with a group even having only one dominant thought, rendering other thoughts unnecessary.

(Trisolaran individuals are not incapable of producing unique thoughts, but due to a long-standing habit, they do not require new thoughts, indicative of ideological despotism. This is also why the First Emperor had not realized the dangers of the Brainwave Blocker; he merely considered it a tool for isolating thoughts, a common view in the Trisolaran world. For instance, the dialogue between the Sophon and Evans, suggesting that communication should be avoided to achieve objectives, demonstrates that this is not uncommon in their society.)

Essentially, their brain structure is quite similar to ours, capable of giving rise to independent consciousness and unique personalities, only these are extremely suppressed in their society.

After nearly 5 years of using the Brainwave Blocker, No. 7's independent consciousness grew increasingly strong, and the extreme survivalism that characterized them had morphed into a form of extreme selfishness.

Under the tutelage of the First Emperor of Qin, No. 7 had developed a high level of strategic acumen and instantaneously completed the design and deduction of the plan to kill the First Emperor of Qin.

The more complex a plan is, the more likely it is to go wrong; simple plans have greater feasibility.

To kill with a borrowed knife, directly informing humans of the First Emperor's hiding place would surely lead them to eliminate the First Emperor, and No. 7 felt that Lin Sen was the best choice for this task.

When Lin Sen took action, he would notify the First Emperor to destroy all the equipment, as long as he could inform the First Emperor 30 minutes in advance. Based on his understanding of the First Emperor, he would surely destroy everything related to Smartmachines; Aqua Regia was already prepared, and this was feasible.

After destroying everything, the most likely choice for the First Emperor would be suicide, and humans would end up with nothing, yet this was also risky.

Risk one of the plan:

The First Emperor might not destroy everything related to Smartmachines; although based on his own calculation, there was a 90% chance the First Emperor would carry out the destruction, the possibility of him not doing so still existed.

If the First Emperor did not execute the destruction, humans might come to possess quantum computing technology, which would lead to a significant breakthrough in human technology. However, he could no longer concern himself with that much; in this scenario, humans would have won.

However, No. 7 might have other thoughts in mind, although he might not have realized them himself. The Trisolaran world would definitely pursue the matter afterward, but the blame would not lie with the First Emperor or No. 7; rather, the First Emperor would still be a victim.

But Lin Sen's Sophon Monitor would have to assume responsibility, drawing disaster to the east—a lesson from the First Emperor.

Meanwhile, to ensure that the investigation did not lead back to himself, it was essential to modify the records of Lin Sen and Logic's conversation.

Risk two of the plan:

Lin Sen could use this as leverage to make him serve Lin Sen, that is, to become TEO.

No. 7 believed that Lin Sen definitely would not do this, as for Lin Sen, the existence of such a person in Trisolaris meant infinite possibilities; Lin Sen would absolutely not reveal No. 7's existence.

Even if there was an extremely low probability that Lin Sen would directly reveal that a Sophon had leaked the First Emperor's information to him, No. 7 believed that this would not implicate himself.

The surveillance of Sophons was not without gaps; a single Sophon monitored multiple locations at once. Generally, as long as a Sophon monitors a location with a certain frequency, ensuring that all occurrences at that location are recorded, it would suffice, akin to executing multiple threads.

To No. 7, this was exploitable; if a Sophon monitored 10 locations every 0.1 seconds, then each location had a 0.09-second window without Sophon surveillance. (Sophons could detect each other if they were close enough).

Listener 1379, the Sophon Monitor of No. 7, could use that 0.09-second gap to flash subtitles before Lin Sen's eyes (because of the persistence of vision, a continuous display is not needed, in fact, the LEDs in displays aren't continuously on). In the end, he would just erase his own records, and everything would go unnoticed.

Even if Lin Sen talked, they wouldn't be able to trace it back to him.

Besides, doing it just once was enough; he would never contact Lin Sen again. Let it become an unsolved mystery.

Risk three of the plan:

After the fact, Trisolarans would certainly investigate how Lin Sen knew the First Emperor's address. Lin Sen was too mysterious; anything happening with him wouldn't surprise the Trisolarans.

Moreover, he also had some vague ideas; even if not fully conceived, it didn't matter; once again, let it become an unsolved mystery.

The only concern was the Science Governor; if the Trisolaran world checked the records of his Sophon, some deep-rooted evidences were irremovable.

Such as modification traces; even if they did not know what you had altered, they could tell there had been modifications.

But No. 7 had confidence in his skills; unless the Science Governor conducted a focused investigation on this segment of surveillance, there was no need to worry about others checking his records.

The surveillance information from Sophons was as vast as a sea of smoke; even a brief skim by the Science Governor might not reveal any suspicions.

In the end, if the Trisolaran world were to have everyone remove their Thought Shields, how would they respond?

No. 7 knew that such a day would inevitably come; the Supreme Leader was quite cautious and also worried about the emergence of another Listener 1379.

The simplest strategy among the Trisolarans was to not communicate, though control was somewhat difficult. The Supreme Leader regarded the use of the Brainwave Blocker as an upgrade, simplifying this method of control and facilitating the learning of strategic planning.

It just hadn't been anticipated that the individuals wearing the Brainwave Blockers would also undergo a group "alienation," perhaps assuming that even if there were influences, as long as the Thought Shields were removed, there would be no secrets among the Trisolarans, and for the sake of studying strategy, this risk was acceptable. Thus, the Supreme Leader readily agreed to the Brainwave Blocking plan at first.

The Supreme Leader's thoughts weren't wrong; normally, any alienation caused by the Brainwave Blocker wouldn't impact the Trisolaran world because the moment they were removed, everything was predetermined.

But he didn't know that a genius, No. 7, would emerge among the Trisolarans. Trisolarans tended to be straightforward, not too complex in thought, but No. 7's thoughts were too complex. The more complex the thoughts, the lower the intensity of the brainwaves, to the point that even people close by might not receive them.

No. 7 had been secretly practicing to control the intensity of his brainwaves for years now. Given more time, he was confident he could limit the activity of his thoughts to minimal brainwave intensity, making it almost undetectable.

When communicating with others, he would use high-intensity brainwaves to transmit thoughts he had set, which was precisely why No. 7 had the courage to deceive Lin Sen and the Trisolarans, for he truly could lie; "thinking" and "saying" were no longer synonymous for him!

(The Trisolarans' thought processes and brainwave communication modes are faithful to the original work, and the control of brainwave intensity is a reasonable hypothesis based on this by the author; no criticism allowed!)

...

No. 7, the Sophon Monitor, had been influenced by Earth's culture over the years, making him reluctant to die; the deeper the cultural immersion, the stronger his desire to survive.

The Trisolarans, a race whose desires are drastically suppressed, even lack sexual desire. They reproduce by the merging of elderly parents' bodies to give birth to 2 to 6 offspring, meaning they have no sexual relations in their normal lives.

Their bodies are more akin to colloids, capable of merging into one another, and the offspring born would devour the bodies of both parents.

The greatest impact they faced was when they came into contact with Earth's civilization.

It's difficult to distinguish between an individual and the collective amongst the Trisolarans, with each person considering themselves a part of the whole, so individual independent thinking is rare.

However, Trisolarans who have experienced solitude become different; their thinking gradually becomes independent, and they gain self-awareness.

Listener 1379's willingness to betray Trisolaris for Earth came after enduring prolonged solitude;

No. 7, who would do anything for his personal interests, essentially developed an uprising independent consciousness through the loneliness experienced within the Brainwave Blocker.

The Trisolaran society is completely different from humanity's. They don't clearly distinguish between individual and group, and with their transparent thoughts, an idea in the mind is not easily identified as their own or someone else's.

But if an individual were to wear a Brainwave Blocker for some time, a new Trisolaran subgroup would be born.

...

Cultivated by the First Emperor of Qin, No. 7's strategic planning improved quickly. While he could undoubtedly contribute to the Trisolaran world, the astute individualist also believed that Trisolaris needed to change as well.

Humans need to change, Trisolarans need to change, and the Trisolaran world had also come to a moment where change was necessary.

They could no longer simply choose "non-communication" when facing difficulties. His own plan was indeed risky, even having to confront a most dangerous person,

but... it was worth trying...

[Father (First Emperor of Qin), you will be the first to be sacrificed under my scheme!]

The Trisolaran civilization needed to grow; a civilization that always hides has no right to face the sea of stars in the universe.

It must be said that No. 7 is truly an anomaly of the Trisolaran world; his level of strategic planning has already surpassed that of a large portion of Earth's population.

Probably because of No. 7, Trisolaris had managed to hold a place in the cosmos during the original timeline...