Chapter 101 Discussion in the Trisolaran World_1
At this moment, the Trisolaran world was also engaged in a discussion.
Supreme Leader: "Lin Sen's actions have become more and more unpredictable, and the power of ETO has been reduced to its lowest, thus even losing the last member of ETO; they are almost worthless now.
"Ultimately, we still lost in strategy!"
Strategy Governor (No. 7): "Now, all we have on Earth are the Sophons; our power there has also been reduced to the lowest. Logic and Lin Sen have also understood the Dark Forest, and it seems we have failed. But if we look at this from another angle, it could actually be beneficial to us."
Supreme Leader: "Your thinking is always unique. So how should we look at this issue from another angle?"
Strategy Governor (No. 7): "Fundamentally, what we fear the most is human escape and Logic utilizing the sun's signal amplification feature to expose our coordinates.
"The fear of humans escaping is two-fold: first, we worry that if human technology advances, they will return to destroy us; since we have made contact, we are an eternal threat to them, so they must eliminate us.
"Second is the concern that they might be discovered by other civilizations, where discovery equates to destruction. Such destruction would involve us and annihilate us along with them. In summary, what we are truly afraid of is the Dark Forest.
"Lin Sen and Logic have broken the wall of the Dark Forest. As long as they now stand on the broadcast tower, we have lost; we have no power to stop them.
"The worst has already happened, so there's no need for us to worry anymore. Any future situation will result in something that is favorable to our development.
"Lin Sen has a fearless, even arrogant heart. He does not want to be confined to the Solar System; he wants to reach higher, to obtain the sea of stars, so he did not directly use the Dark Forest to deter us.
"He thinks using Dark Forest deterrence is a sign of civilization's retreat and represents that they are completely confined by the prison of the Dark Forest.
"Indeed, this is the case. If they dare to use the Dark Forest to deter us, although we would not dare to destroy them, for our own safety, we would completely and thoroughly blockade them, giving them a complete prison.
"Not just in reality by completely blockading the Solar System, but also by creating a prison in their minds, locking them forever in the Solar System.
"Survival has never been something easy to obtain. Dark Forest deterrence isn't their umbrella but rather a shackle around their necks. Lin Sen must have seen this, but it's useless; such a shackle of fate cannot be so easily unlocked.
"He once said, weakness and ignorance are not obstacles to survival, but pride is.
"He is the most arrogant of all, sacrificing his most powerful weapon for the possibility of a future and preparing to wage a fair and square battle with us. This is the ultimate arrogance, and for it, he shall pay the price.
"Although the situation is currently very unfavorable to us, the greatest disadvantage has already been removed due to their arrogance. There is an Earth saying, 'In death ground, fight.' We are not afraid.
"Now one thing is clear; they will not use the Dark Forest deterrence until they see our strength, and that is also our opportunity.
"Our greatest advantage is that they are unaware of the Waterdrop's strength. We monitor everything in the Solar System, and once the Waterdrop arrives, as long as we blockade the sun immediately, victory will be ours.
"Before the sun is blockaded, as long as the secret of the Waterdrop remains undiscovered by them, the victor will definitely be us.
"Survival has always been the hardest gift to obtain. Yet they arrogantly challenge the cosmic rules. They could have had a slim chance to live on, but we will deny them even that. Their pride will cost them their last opportunity."
"Right now, all we can do is nothing, to hide... to wait... to wait for changes in human society. If the human governments continue to be like the current PDC, then we shall never make contact with them; not even in secret."
"Of course, we can't be arrogant either. Humans have shown us their strength, or I should say, the terror of Lin Sen. He can capture the First Emperor of Qin simply by seeing a name, he persuaded Mozi to defect with just a single sentence, he saw right through Aristotle with one glance. We can't harbor any illusions about him."
Supreme Leader: "You have indeed grasped the essence of the problem. This is not our failure, but rather coming back from the brink."
"We have paid for our arrogance, and they will surely pay for theirs."
"I'm gratified that after experiencing failure, you haven't lost the determination to confront humanity. That is what I had hoped for."
Military Governor: "I agree with the Strategy Governor's view. The crux of this battle is whether we can keep The Waterdrop hidden upon entering the Solar System."
"But I do have a question, the Strategy Governor believes that Lin Sen and Logic, upon witnessing The Waterdrop, are unlikely to use the Dark Forest. But if they come to see victory as elusive later on, would they mobilize the Dark Forest ahead of time?
"Logic and Lin Sen have only inferred the existence of the Dark Forest from the information left by Ye Wenjie. They might not even be sure it's correct. This is actually more dangerous for us, because the mental pressure he bears when sending that information is minor; thus the likelihood of him sending it is greater, and in such a case, the deterrence is even greater against us."
Strategy Governor (No. 7): "The problem is indeed as such. Not being certain whether the Dark Forest is correct is actually more dangerous because it makes it easier to use it.
"But we have no other choice. The Solar System is our hope. This path is difficult to tread, and one misstep could topple our civilization, but we have no other choice.
"What we need to understand is, ever since our encounter with human civilization, the rate of technological explosion in Trisolaris has far outpaced any other period in our history. This may also be a result of the contact effect.
"It must be said, the human world has changed us. With our current rate of technological explosion, after 2 centuries, perhaps we can achieve the sixth generation of controlled nuclear fusion, perhaps our technology will develop to a point where we can live independently without relying on star systems.
"At that time, whether or not to colonize the Solar System may not be as urgent, and humans will no longer pose any threat to our foundation.
"As for human civilization, let them survive as they wish. We respect them, and we are glad to have such opponents. They truly have taught us a lot. Having such a neighbor may well be God's gift to us.
"God has not abandoned us. We are the apple that God has bitten into. Our flaws are evident, but our neighbors have compensated for many of them. If possible, we truly wish to let them live on!"
Supreme Leader: "We have no other choice. Human survival has come too easily; so easy that they still fight amongst themselves; easy enough that victory is within their grasp, but they don't cherish it; easy to the point where they even think of challenging the rules of the universe.
"They are arrogant, but I also envy them. God favors them, but God has not abandoned us either.
"All we have is an unyielding heart. Having gone through over 200 cycles of destruction and rebirth, we fear no hardship. I will surely make a comeback from this desperate situation!"
The Trisolarans quickly unified their thoughts and established their policy towards humans. This also confirmed one thing—Trisolarans were experiencing a technological explosion.
In the original timeline, there were two speculations about the technological explosion in Trisolaris. The first is the contact symbol study effect. This is not the superficial idea that once a monopoly is formed with an alien civilization, it will generate massive economic and military implications.
It's that such contact has a profound psychological impact on the civilization, and its role in spurring technological advancement is far greater than that of wars. At its core, it is a revolution of thought. Especially for the Trisolarans, their thoughts over the past few decades have equaled the total of their tens of thousands of years, so one can imagine the impact of this revolution of thought on their technology.
The second is that the Trisolaran civilization might have encountered extraterrestrial relics in their explorations, much like how the Blue Space encountered the Four-dimensional Fragment. It's possible that the Trisolarans faced a similar opportunity, but Lin Sen believed the likelihood was small—a neighboring pair of star systems containing two sets of civilization relics is too low a probability. As for Sophons encountering Sophon Blind Zones, space is inherently complex and dangerous, so it can't be assumed that Sophon Blind Zones are related to civilization relics.