Chapter 240: Conversation with No. 7

That night.

Lin Sen saw a line of text appear before his eyes, reconnecting with No. 7 after a century and a half. It was also their first exchange since the war's end.

In that half-year, No. 7 had basically taken complete control of the Trisolaran world. The transfer of power in the Trisolaran world, although not as complex as in the human world, was exceptionally brutal.

In the human world, even if one wishes to oppose when the tide is certain, one tends to choose submission. But if Trisolarans opposed, they would fight to the bitter end, and No. 7's succession was quite smooth.

No. 7 sought out Lin Sen this time still to address some personal doubts.

No. 7: "Mr. Viper, greetings!"

Even if Trisolarans have few emotions, one could still feel No. 7's resentment through the 4 light-years of space.

Lin Sen had to calm down his old friend first, "It's a great relief you're alright. I thought this failure would involve many, dragging you into it as well.

"Moreover, I assumed you would conduct a thorough investigation of all Sophon information, and I had been worried about your exposure."

No. 7: "Just as you surmised, many of our Governors have been replaced.

The Science Governor also performed a vast check on all the Sophons. What they examined was the surveillance information on you, searching for any missed details, but they haven't suspected me.

Your plan was indeed perfect, fooling us all."

Lin Sen: "If there have been many changes in your upper echelons, then your position must have been elevated? Congratulations on that first."

No. 7: "Thanks to you. But I replaced someone I deeply admired, and I would rather not have this position."

No. 7's emotional tone was clear, and from this remark, Lin Sen deduced that No. 7 was very likely now a Governor, quite possibly the Strategy Governor.

Lin Sen's victory over Trisolaris and the capture of The Waterdrop had ramifications so profound that they could doom the Trisolaran leaders of this battle.

In Trisolaran power structure, the Military Governor commands warfare, the Strategy Governor crafts war strategies, and the true decision-maker is the Leader.

Lin Sen did not know that when the Leader was preparing to attack the Sophon-Blocked Zone, No. 7 had already cracked Logic's Starshine plan, yet the Leader still decided to proceed with the attack.

If Lin Sen had known, he would have been relieved to have eliminated the Trisolaran Leader.

In Lin Sen's estimation, the main responsibility for the defeat would lie with the Strategy Governor, who was likely to be replaced. Given No. 7's prior status and strategic skills, it was entirely possible for him to become the new Strategy Governor.

The Military Governor had made some mistakes in this battle too, but for Trisolarans, those might not even be considered mistakes, so he might not be at risk.

As for the possibility of No. 7 becoming the Leader, Lin Sen hadn't dismissed it, but he thought the likelihood was too small.

Lin Sen: "You must have something you want to ask, getting in touch with me, right?"

No. 7: "I am very curious about many things. You proposed a resource exchange plan in the 7th year of the crisis. But you knew about The Waterdrop, which you called Whirlwind Stomp, in the 12th year of the crisis.

We have conducted meticulous analysis of this matter. According to our analysis, you had conceived the idea of using Particle Accelerators connected together, accelerating particles to hundred septillion electron volts, long before.

You made certain demands during the design of the Particle Accelerator, and these demands were the basis for the modifications of the accelerator. Otherwise, it would have been impossible for you to complete the modifications in eight days, which made us overlook the Particle Accelerator.

Even before The Waterdrop engaged in battle with you, it seems you already knew it was made of strong interaction material. Right after forming the Sophon-Blocked Zone amid the fog, you began the work of connecting accelerators.

All these indicate that you seemed to know our Waterdrop was made of strong interaction material, something we can't figure out how."

No. 7 finally asked the question that was on his mind: how could Lin Sen have possibly known about the strong interaction material.

Lin Sen: "Actually, you might consider a different perspective. You might have entered into a fallacy. The Particle Accelerator just happened to target The Waterdrop effectively, and your pursuit of rationality led you into a vicious cycle.

"But you could also think differently. If in the same situation, do you have anything that can withstand a strike from ultra high-energy particles?

"Your weapon could be The Waterdrop or something else; humanity's most common guess was that it was some kind of super radiation source. But regardless of its nature, ultra high-energy particles can cut through it.

"Everything must adhere to simple physical laws. Ultra high-energy particles can strike any known entity, and that's enough for us to spare no expense in building it.

"We can't see everything clearly, but we can be prepared for anything.

"This is also why you failed. You were too fixated on seeing everything clearly."

"And I simply need to choose a direction and go for it, if I fail, then so be it, perhaps life is just a series of gambles."

Can I tell you that I have traveled across? I hope this explanation makes it easier for you to accept, does it not elevate my style quite a bit?

No. 7: [Is this the reason you can see farther?

Become too obsessed with seeing everything clearly and you end up unable to see what's right in front of you.

Our way of thinking is the result of hundreds of millions of years of evolution, we are now unable to change it, even if we could improve strategically, it would just be higher-level mathematical calculations.]

Lin Sen: "The value of each civilization lies in its uniqueness.

"The paths you can't see clearly, we can help you see; the paths we can't walk steadily, you can help us walk.

"The complementarity of our civilizations is too strong.

"We are both learning from each other, but we each know that we can never become the other.

"I have always pursued the union of our two civilizations, but your fear of us even exceeds your fear of the Dark Forest, you are not ready to unite with us for the time being.

"It's not just you, even human civilization is not ready to accept a union with you. Some extremists among them, if given the chance, would even directly seize deterrence power and demand access to the Trisolaran technology archive.

"These people might even disguise themselves as peacemakers, to deceitfully gain your covert support. If I'm not wrong, you also plan to collaborate with certain forces within humanity, trying to hinder the development of human technology.

"This is where you need to have sufficient foresight, the ones who appear less harmful might be hiding the most malignant intentions.

"Despite the many difficulties ahead, we can still strive for it.

"Even if our union cannot be achieved, we can still maintain a competitive relationship between us, just like the Earth-Moon Lagrange balance war.

"We are both developing through this competition to see if there's a chance for a breakthrough into a higher-level civilization."

Lin Sen really wanted to directly say the Holy Mother cannot be trusted! He hoped No. 7 would get the hint.

No. 7: [You understand, too, that such a balance will eventually be broken.

Even now, a war between our two civilizations is something we cannot prevent.

The Earth-Moon Lagrange balance war was mainly due to our assistance. Yet, at this moment, we are both in a state of life-and-death struggle, willing to do whatever it takes to eliminate each other.

Do you really believe there is a possibility for us to unite?]

Lin Sen: "You sought me out because you also can't see the path forward, and you too wish to unite the two civilizations to try and find a breakthrough from the Dark Forest.

"All deductions indicate this is a dead end, continuing to hide might still offer a chance of survival.

"If we continue competing like this with humanity, one or both of us will eventually be destroyed.

"So, you are afraid of this path.

"I don't know if this path is the right one either; I am scared of it as well.

"But if we don't overcome our fears and are unwilling even to try, then that's truly regrettable.

"In these past 200 years, although most of my plans have succeeded, every step was treading on thin ice. We can't be certain of reaching the other side, but we can only keep going.

"Throughout human history, there's been a phenomenon of continuous wars lasting thousands of years between agrarian and nomadic civilizations. Despite constant conflicts, neither could completely conquer the other.

"In the lengthy wars, the strengths of the two sides often shifted back and forth. Sometimes, agrarian civilizations held the advantage, while at other times, nomadic civilizations were on top.

"Yet, these fluctuations in power were not static; they exhibited a cyclical pattern.

"In this process, both sides kept learning and borrowing from each other, jointly pushing forward the progress of civilization.

"It was not until the industrial era that humanity broke the boundaries between agrarian and nomadic lifestyles, finally merging together.

"With a hopeful desire, I seek to partner with you to break the barriers of the Dark Forest and establish a more beautiful civilization."