Chapter 134 Transformation in Persistence_1
Day Ten.
Feng Zi slept for nearly a full day and night, replenishing most of his vitality.
Suddenly, the entire mountain began to shake violently, much more intensely than any previous tremors, as if the cave could collapse at any moment.
Extreme cold set in; even wrapped in an electric blanket, the bone-chilling cold was inescapable, as if even time itself were to freeze.
His breath would instantly turn to ice, and his skin felt both stinging and numb; Feng Zi estimated the temperature inside Cat Ear Cave must have dropped below negative fifty degrees Celsius.
Each breath had to be taken with utmost care, each one causing his lungs to ache severely.
Feng Zi's constitution and willpower far exceeded that of ordinary people, and even facing such a harsh environment, he tried to adapt, to push the limits of his endurance.
All thoughts of the outside world were set aside, impossible to ponder; the only thing he could think about was how to breathe the next second, where to focus his mental energy the next moment, maintaining absolute reason.
Each passing second was excruciatingly difficult; Feng Zi could only persevere... persevere...
...
Day Twelve.
Feng Zi had reached his limit; he didn't want to hold on any longer, preferring to face the torment outside than to remain in such agony, even though death would be instant.
At this moment, Feng Zi's mind was in a trance, his consciousness dissipating.
He was swamped by feelings of loss and depression he had never experienced before, as if his soul were being swallowed by endless darkness.
The true horror lies between life and death, without knowing death, how can one know life.
The mountain might collapse the next moment; what meaning was there to his perseverance?
If the end result was the same, why keep enduring? Better to sleep now and at least find a moment of comfort before death.
Even if he survived the storm, would the world still be the same? A world in ruins, akin to hell on Earth. Could humanity maintain its civilization after such a disaster?
Such a blow might be the end of humanity; civilization as we know it never existed and perhaps never will.
All signs pointed to an inevitable outcome; persistence was meaningless, human effort cannot triumph over nature.
But... was he willing to accept that?
The mountain had been protecting him, and it hadn't fallen yet, had it?
Perhaps humanity needed a mountain!
One last struggle; there were just a few days left in the storm. Maybe he wouldn't last, but with the way stones were now falling from the mountain, it could collapse at any moment.
Well then, let's see which of us falls first!
This is my final act of defiance; maybe the mountain will collapse the next moment?
Persevere... persevere... just a little longer...
...
Day Thirteen.
Feng Zi waited like this, only able to lean against the wooden bed frame, determined not to fall, for if he fell on such trembling ground, he would surely never wake up again.
The seconds ticked by, minute by minute.
Sometimes, Feng Zi instinctively opened a can and slowly chewed on some food, sometimes he stared blankly into the dark, and sometimes he turned on the light to inspect the falling rocks.
Under such low temperatures and pressures, his body seemed numb, and hallucinations easily crept into his brain:
Deep in the black void of the universe.
Feng Zi commanded hundreds of star-level warships, yet he could not see his enemies.
In interstellar warfare, there were no crisscrossing ships, no shelling exchanges, there was perhaps only one thing: absolute stealth.
Feng Zi's gaze seemed to penetrate the mountain above, through the atmosphere, beyond the Solar System, into the depths of dark space.
The clash between cosmic civilizations had begun...
In the depths of the dark universe, warships possessed various weapon systems of immense power, with the most powerful being near-light speed directed energy weapons such as laser beams, high-energy particle beams, and so on.
Traveling at high speeds, the warships made all detection methods ineffective in such a battlefield.
If radar was used to detect the enemy, by the time the radar waves reflected back, the enemy's artillery would be following close behind.
Visible light basically couldn't track the opponent, and both sides were essentially blind.
Even using Sophons for detection, the enemy would have defensive measures.
They could even create many Sophon traps, like Sophon Blind Zones. Sophons were not invincible; they came with too many limitations and perhaps were not suitable scouts.
The most critical point was that all known messages could not be trusted as true or false, not even the existence of the enemy could be determined.
It seemed a simple law of warfare followed in the universe... exposure meant destruction.
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What is the essence of interstellar wars? Is it the instinct for civilizations to expand?
Is it a struggle for living space?
Perhaps it's both, perhaps neither, perhaps it's just about eliminating threats.
On a cosmic scale, the essence of war prevents any possibility of communication between the opposing sides. In absolute secrecy, no piece of information is trustworthy, and conducting such wars is perhaps the ultimate torment.
How similar it is to the Trisolaran crisis facing humanity.
We cannot have substantive communication with the Trisolarans. Even though they are watching us every moment, we can't trust them.
Wait… in an interstellar war, exposure means destruction. What about between civilizations?
From the moment Earth's civilization was exposed to the Trisolaran civilization, perhaps the outcome was destined.
What would be the case if there were numerous civilizations in the stars...
At this moment, Feng Zi seemed to regain some clarity of thought. He thought of many things...
Feng Zi didn't understand sociology, but he understood military affairs which demonstrate simpler mathematical characteristics than sociology.
The universe is like a dark forest, where we all reside in darkness.
The pitch-black tranquility of deep space hides the ultimate malice of the universe.
At an unknown moment in time, Feng Zi felt a bone-chilling cold.
Finally, Feng Zi's body could no longer sustain itself, and he collapsed!
...
Day fifteen.
Feng Zi awoke to find himself covered in debris, but fortunately, his thick clothing protected him, and he was not seriously injured, though his body ached fiercely.
Fortunately, he was still alive. It seems that after he fell, the most intense part of the storm had passed, and the tremors in the mountain had greatly subsided, preserving his life.
Now the mountain stood firm, with barely any tremors left.
Checking the time, it had been 14 days since the beginning of the storm, and he estimated that the storm would end completely in another day or two.
His eardrums no longer hurt and he could clearly hear sounds of impact above the Cat Ear Cave.
The hardest moment had passed, the atmospheric pressure was gradually returning to normal, and the temperature of the Cat Ear Cave was rising, around negative 20 degrees Celsius.
It seemed everything would be over soon, but Feng Zi knew that he could not go back to his previous self after experiencing enlightenment in the Cat Ear Cave.
He might need to see Lin Sen.
Day sixteen.
The outside had quieted down, the air pressure had returned to its original state.
Although it was still quite cold, with temperatures around negative twenty or thirty degrees Celsius, with additional clothing and a cold suit, it would be possible to move around outside.
After a long sixteen days, he had finally survived.
Feng Zi pried open the slab of rock blocking the entrance to the Cat Ear Cave, and as soon as he opened it, he felt a gust of cold air, but this had little effect on Feng Zi, who was well protected.
Feng Zi not only wanted to see what the landscape looked like after the natural disaster but also needed to search the cave for any remaining water resources, as his drinking water was running low.
First, Feng Zi reached the entrance of the cave, which had shifted from its original position, moved inward by at least a meter or two, and widened significantly.
A thick accumulation of mud, ice, and snow piled up near the entrance, almost burying it.
Feng Zi sighed, realizing that if the debris had been any thicker, the cave might have been sealed off completely, and he would have suffocated inside.
He was indeed very fortunate and hoped that human civilization could be just as lucky.
PS: Personally, I think that the worldview of Trisolaris has always been one of fatalism. Everything is predetermined and impossible to change.
For instance, whether Ye Wenjie chooses to reply to the message or not, the Trisolaran invasion was inevitable. Sophon development started before the Trisolarans received Ye Wenjie's first broadcast message. Moreover, the Trisolaran Leader sent the fleet as soon as they received the message and didn't wait for Ye Wenjie's reply. The Solar System was the nearest and best option from the Trisolaran Star System.
For example, the escape of the Bronze Age ship would lead to certain death, whether it chose to return to Earth or continue fleeing. Blue Space chose the Cygnus star system 14 light-years away with two gas giants, a direction set by Zhang Beihai, maybe 200 years ago – the only correct choice. But the Bronze Age ship chose a direction towards Taurus, over 100 light-years away – a forced return. Anyone familiar with astronomy would know that within 10 light-years of the Solar System, there is actually no choice.
The above may explain Liu Cixin's lack of clarity on astronomy; the astrophysical world of Trisolaris is different from our real world.
Then there's Cheng Xin; choosing her as the Swordholder was the mistake. During the Trisolaran invasion, whether she pressed the button or not, nothing could be changed.
Cheng Xin's decision to let Wade stop resisting was wrong, but would resistance have changed anything? No, it wouldn't, and the plan to turn the Solar System into a Dark Domain after fleeing would not have been executable. This isn't a defense of Cheng Xin – the author doesn't like Cheng Xin but wouldn't blindly criticize her either.
So, in the author's writings, to change such a world governed by fate, one must be prepared to pay a painfully steep price, a price too enormous to imagine. The first step is to change the societal ideology of human civilization.
In history, every ideological change of society has been bloody; why should modern humanity be able to do it simply? By listening to a few words from the Wallfacers?
The author doesn't write thoughtless fiction; he ingeniously manages the ideological transformation of civilization with the hand of natural disaster, sparing mass human deaths, and that alone took a tremendous amount of brainstorming.
The author doesn't pursue everyone's approval of his views, as these views are generally hard to accept. However, the author seeks the logical progress of societal development.
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