Chapter 252: Mozi and the New ETO

Lin Sen returned to the Solar System, as if the backbone of human society had come back; humanity also hoped that Lin Sen could achieve a new breakthrough in the complex relationship with the Trisolarans.

Lin Sen's first stop upon his return was directly at the Trisolaran Escape Capsule Protection Base, located in Jupiter Orbit.

The official purpose of Lin Sen's journey was to establish relations with the Trisolarans; naturally, his first move after returning to the Solar System was to meet with the Trisolarans, to avoid arousing their suspicion.

As for the matter of four-dimensional space, it was possible that the Trisolarans had discovered it through Sophons, but deliberately did not interfere, thus leading Lin Sen to misjudge the Trisolarans' judgment and thus, ensnare Lin Sen in a trap.

This was actually being locked in a chain of conspiracies; in comparison to humanity, the Trisolarans' cunning still fell short. Humanity now had many Sophon-Blocked Zones; the Trisolarans had no idea of the human ploys, and the best strategy was to hinder the technological development of humanity; continuing with conspiracies is most disadvantageous for the Trisolarans.

When Lin Sen arrived at the Trisolaran Protection Base, the first thing he saw was a massive circular disc-shaped metallic escape capsule, approximately 80 meters in diameter, which looked somewhat rusty on the surface.

Do not think that metals won't corrode in the vacuum of space where oxygen is absent. Cosmic rays and the impact of tiny meteorites in interstellar space may cause significant roughening of the metal surface, resulting in obvious corrosion, rust, and physical damage.

Continuous radiation and physical impacts can also cause damage to the structure on the metal surface, such as lattice defects, dislocations, microcracks, etc., even affecting its internal structure.

The main control hall of the Trisolaran Escape Capsule Protection Base was the only bridge for communication with the Trisolarans; humanity imposed strict management and control over exchanges with the Trisolarans, whose presence had a tremendous political impact in the human world.

Lin Sen arrived at the main control hall and said to the Trisolaran Escape Capsule outside the huge floor-to-ceiling window, "Hello, welcome to the Solar System."

The voice would be picked up by the microphone in front and transmitted to the Trisolaran Escape Capsule via electromagnetic waves.

Not only was the Trisolaran mechanical voice heard through the hall's broadcast system. The Trisolarans did not have speaking organs; this voice was synthesized by the Trisolarans themselves and transmitted into the hall through electromagnetic waves.

Trisolaran: "Hello, Mr. Lin Sen."

As expected, the Trisolarans did not respond to other humans, but they would not ignore Lin Sen. Whether it was a strategy or something else, it was a good start regardless.

Lin Sen: "You have always been unresponsive to the human government, do you have any concerns?

"You can rest assured regarding safety. You should understand the attitude of the human governance of the Solar System; we won't do anything excessive to you.

"You are the first group of Trisolarans to come to the Solar System; this is the first step towards peace between humanity and Trisolarans. We hope that both sides can listen to each other's voices, as peace takes effort from both parties."

Trisolaran: "We are not worried about safety, nor do we fear death. This escape capsule is equipped with a self-destruct feature.

"We have come to the Solar System because it has been a dream for hundreds of years. Perhaps our greatest dream is to die on the lands of Earth, that paradise.

"Even the regions of the South Pole and the Arctic on Earth are millions of times better than our Trisolaris during the Stable Era.

"We do not respond to humans not because we do not trust humanity, but because we believe our fate is in your hands; talking to them is pointless."

These words stirred some ripples in Lin Sen's heart; the cunning level of these Trisolarans was not low at all.

First came the declaration of self-destruction, stating their stance.

Then came the expression of longing for Earth's environment, which might be true, but essentially, it was a justification for their own thievery.

Last, while showing respect to Lin Sen on one hand, they were also preparing to drive a wedge between Lin Sen and the rest of humanity, clearly still on a mission.

Lin Sen: "I think there's more to it than that.

"You must have received orders from your home star not to leak Trisolaran intelligence.

"If you communicate too much with us, you worry you might leak your own intelligence.

"Even if we get just one of you, since your thoughts are directly emitted through brainwaves with high intensity, our brainwave devices or Mind Tactility tools could pick up your thought information.

"That way, we would gain access to many of your key pieces of information. That's the real reason you don't wish to communicate with us, isn't it!"

Lin Sen did not hesitate to puncture the Trisolarans' lies; they were millennia-old foxes—what use playing coy?

What the Trisolarans feared most was humanity directly reading the Trisolarans' thoughts through their bodies, a technology humanity had long possessed.

Allowing a small number of Trisolarans to come to Earth, it is less of a compromise from the Trisolarans to humanity than it is No. 7 also wanting to use this attempt to determine the nature of relations with humans.

Trisolaran: "You seem to see through our hearts, you are the wisest Mr. Poison Snake.

"But we are not yet suitable to meet face-to-face with humans, perhaps you are not ready to accept us yet, which will take a long time.

"If you have any questions, we can answer them."

Being exposed in a lie only satisfied answering a few questions of yours.

Lin Sen: "Very good, this is a fine beginning.

"Let us start with getting to know each other. I've seen the food supply list provided to you by humans, and your energy needs seem quite low.

"However, I am a bit curious. You and humans are both carbon-based life forms, and your brain structures are similar.

"Human brains consume about 20% to 30% of the body's energy, and your brains need to emit strong brainwaves, which should require an even larger portion of energy to be consumed.

"In other words, you should also need a substantial amount of food, but in reality your energy requirements seem to be very low. Why is that?"

Trisolaran: "We do not wish for you to ask such questions as this touches on our privacy, which could enable you to deduce a lot of our key intel.

"But out of respect for you, we are willing to answer, and we ask you not to inquire into similar intel anymore, as this is not conducive to the trust between us.

"The reason for your question is that you have wrongly estimated the size of our brains. In fact, our brain energy consumption is also about 20% of the total body energy.

"We lack imaginative power, not only because our thinking is transparent but also because our brains are very small and incapable of complex imagination.

"Our computational speed is extremely fast. You might understand it as something akin to distributed computing algorithms used by computers and carried out collectively through the minds of many."

The Trisolarans understand that there is no need to keep some things secret they will sooner or later be known by humans, so it's better to be open and straightforward.

This also allows humans to lower their guard against the Trisolarans and even underestimate them. When you underestimate an adversary, it's also when you're at the greatest risk.

It also indicates that this deficit is too fatal for the Trisolarans; without a large number, the Trisolarans' thinking ability might not even be stronger than that of direct human children.

Lin Sen: "I apologize, I didn't realize this question was so important to you; that was presumptuous of me. Thank you for your answer."

One must not push the Trisolarans too hard and should offer comfort at the right times.

Lin Sen continued: "I feel it's not appropriate for you to directly communicate with the human governing bodies just yet, both sides still need a lot of time to adapt to one another.

"I suggest that you select a spokesperson among the humans whom you trust, to act as your representative and communicate with humanity. He will be the new ETO for this new era."

Trisolaran: "We dare not trust you."

Lin Sen: "I think there are still people in the human world whom you can trust; do you remember Mozi? He is still alive!"

This time the Trisolarans' answer came after about a 30-second delay.

Trisolaran: "I can indeed trust him, but can you humans trust him?"

Lin Sen: "Humans will not trust him, for though he is physically a human, he has become a Trisolaran. We plan to revoke his citizenship on Earth; you should offer him Trisolarian citizenship.

"I know your laws are basically meaningless, but now that we're dealing with many issues involving two civilizations, you also have to enact some legislation.

"Mozi will be the first Earthling with Trisolarian citizenship, and we will also regulate our laws to not recognize dual citizenship of the two stars. From now on, he will be a Trisolaran."

Lin Sen had left Mozi behind 200 years ago precisely in preparation for a situation like this.

The ETO has never betrayed the Trisolarans; they are the humans that Trisolarans trust the most, and Mozi is the last of the ETO in this world.

Lin Sen is not afraid to struggle against the Trisolarans; he fears that the Trisolarans would be unwilling to communicate with any Earthlings, even if those Earthlings are completely sympathetic to the Trisolaran cause.