Chapter 253: Cheng Xin, Terrifying as Such

Trisolaran: "We can accept this plan!"

"Perhaps our initial contact with humanity wasn't a mistake, but abandoning them was. They have provided immense help to us and taught us many things."

"We are also thankful that Mozi has lived to this era, we owe them an apology."

Lin Sen: "Mozi, acting as your spokesperson, is mainly there to teach you how to coexist with humanity in the Solar System, as you have said, humanity has not yet accepted you. Furthermore, the casualties you inflicted on us thirty years ago were too great; it will take a long time for their resentment to diminish."

"Of course, you also can't fully trust Mozi. He was once loyal to you, but that loyalty was based on his disappointment with humanity and his blind adoration of you."

"After all, he is also a devotee, what he needs is just an object worthy of his loyalty; it doesn't necessarily have to be you."

"You have already lost your first battle against humanity, like a god fallen from the altar. When you appear before him as prisoners, you can't be one hundred percent sure of his loyalty anymore. I believe you can figure this out on your own, so I won't say more."

"Don't put too much faith in your human behavioral prediction model either. Your model still has some difficulty in recognizing disguises, otherwise, you might have won the war."

Trisolaran: "Thank you for the reminder, we will be cautious, our journey may still be long."

Lin Sen: "This might not even be a reminder, perhaps it's deliberately sowing discord between you and Mozi?"

"By entering the Solar System, objectively, you are now in a symbiotic relationship with humanity, and many things need to change—I'm not sure if we can truly achieve symbiosis."

"It's still the same saying, we can't decide whether to do something based on the likelihood of the outcome; what we do is to try and cast off the shackles of fate, and perhaps rationality is the heaviest shackle of all."

"For you, this is even more difficult, as you have relied on rationality to get to this point; casting it aside is naturally harder."

"In dealing with humanity, you need to remember to trust humans, but also to never fully trust anyone."

"We will send another peace envoy to you, she will act as the liaison between humanity and the Trisolarans."

"I have a suggestion, let's choose Cheng Xin!"

"She was the liaison for the Staircase Program, which sent a brain to you. I don't know if you have received that brain, but if you have, please treat him well."

"You should know the relationship between that brain and her."

The Trisolarans were somewhat bewildered internally; how could the topic switch so quickly, they had not yet figured out Mozi, and now another Cheng Xin has appeared?

Trisolaran: "Cheng Xin is indeed a kind child."

"She may be a good choice to serve as a bridge of communication between humanity and the Trisolarans."

Lin Sen appeared a little angry: "I just said, you can't fully trust anyone, how could you forget so quickly?"

"Regarding Cheng Xin, you say she's kind... Do you truly understand her?"

Trisolaran: "We have also paid attention to the Staircase Program and are quite familiar with Cheng Xin's history; she really is a kind child, isn't she?"

Lin Sen: "What you understand is only her appearance, and perhaps this is also what she has shown to you. To understand a person, you should analyze them based on their actions."

"Cheng Xin is undoubtedly a genius, the scheme she proposed to accelerate the spacecraft using radiation sails indeed proves she is one of the geniuses among geniuses, but that is only one percent of her true ability."

"With her ability, couldn't she have calculated that such a scheme could only accelerate a brain? After proposing the plan, she kept silent, waiting for others to utter the statement 'send only the brain,' thus allowing her to take an innocuous role behind the scenes."

"You say she is kind, but could a kind person join the Strategic Intelligence Bureau, and the PDC Strategic Intelligence Bureau at that?"

"Could a kind person let Yun Tianming suffer the cruelest, most inhumane hell? Does she really not know what Yun Tianming would go through? Can't she feel Yun Tianming's love for her at all?"

"When selecting participants for the Staircase Program, why did she recommend Yun Tianming? Was it without thought, or deliberate? Isn't it some quality in Yun Tianming that made both Cheng Xin and Wade notice him?"

"I've seen the files from that time; to proceed with the Staircase Program, the Euthanasia Law was enacted. I think you know better, when Cheng Xin found Yun Tianming, did she know that Yun Tianming had chosen euthanasia?"

"From the timeline, Cheng Xin simply couldn't have known. Then I want you to speculate, if Yun Tianming had not chosen euthanasia, what would she have done upon arrival? Would she have lured him, or even pressured him into euthanasia? And then propose sending his brain."

"Yun Tianming understood all this; he knew that hell was not underground but in the heavens, and even more so, that hell was not in the heavens but in the human heart, in that ghastly human heart."

"The more cunning one is, the more innocent they might appear on the surface, to the extent that nobody can see through their disguise.

"People like Cheng Xin are either truly naive and sweet, or they are more cunning than everyone else, her deception having fooled everyone. Her only flaw is that her disguise is too perfect.

"Such people scare me, yet you consider them kind. It seems you all still have a long way to go in terms of strategizing."

The Trisolaran's head was buzzing:

Who am I? Where am I? What am I supposed to do? My CPU is almost fried!

Cheng Xin, terrifying indeed!

Is she really that frightening? According to our behavioral psychology analysis, she shouldn't be!

Should we trust her or not? Perhaps even Lin Sen is deceiving us. The key question is, does Lin Sen have any purpose in deceiving us?

He just wants us not to trust Cheng Xin, but we weren't planning to trust her in the first place...

Of course, Lin Sen did this deliberately. Today's words will surely reach everyone's ears. From now on, the name Cheng Xin will strike fear into everyone's hearts.

Everything Cheng Xin has done will be overly interpreted; no one will dare to trust her again, her kindness, love, and sanctity... all seen as a facade, no one daring to believe in someone even the Wallfacers are afraid of.

It's not that humanity or Trisolarans can't detect the slightest flaws in Lin Sen's words, but in many respects, Cheng Xin's actions are indeed inexplicable, and there are too many coincidences, which can only lead people to believe they are intentional.

The key point is that a person like Lin Sen wouldn't have any reason to target an ordinary person with whom he has no intersections.

Trisolaran: "Why are you telling us this? Now we even dare not communicate with her."

Lin Sen: "There are several reasons. First, I am concerned that she might have too much power in the future, which could be uncontrollable. She has done so much, surely for some purpose, so I remind you to stay alert.

"Second is to deter you. You must also have some schemes, and you need to consider whether she can see through them. She will be the first barrier you face.

"Third, I hope you will treat Yun Tianming kindly. You should be aware of his relationship with Cheng Xin. That Cheng Xin handed Yun Tianming over to you must have been a torment for her. If you treat Yun Tianming too harshly, Cheng Xin might also take actions that could be detrimental to you, which would be bad for our coexistence.

"Fourth, I hope you can grow. When you see through Cheng Xin, you will no longer fear any of humanity's strategies."

Lin Sen wouldn't let the Trisolarans off the hook until they were defeated, portraying Cheng Xin, a naive and Holy Mother figure, as a person of immense depth and machinations due to various coincidences.

Prejudices in the heart are like a great mountain, but once humanity and Trisolarans are convinced of Cheng Xin's deep schemes and cunning, like the rebuttals of a Wallfacer, everything will lose its meaning.

This is the "Wallfacer Effect".

...

Subsequently, the human world revived Mozi and Cheng Xin and sent them to the protection base of the Trisolaran escape capsule.

Lin Sen had once told Mozi that in the future, his lord would need him. Unexpectedly, 200 years later, humanity had indeed defeated the Trisolarans and captured more than 200 Trisolarans.

After Mozi was revived and learned of the 200 years of history, and that humanity had defeated the Trisolarans, his emotions were complex. He was relieved that there was still a place for him in this era but struggled to accept the defeat of the Trisolarans.

Mozi, following Lin Sen's arrangement, joined the Trisolarian Citizenship and would forever serve the Trisolarans. Humanity could never accept him again. He would become the sole representative of the Trisolarans among humanity.

As for Cheng Xin, when she awoke, she found everyone looking at her strangely as if they were afraid of something.

At first, she thought it was because she was unaccustomed to this future society. But when she learned the real reason, she felt like crying and wanted to confront Lin Sen for treating her this way.

However, by then, Lin Sen had already left, and there were others to make arrangements for Mozi and Cheng Xin.

PS: The analysis of Cheng Xin in this chapter is based on the original work, especially the Euthanasia Law.

In the original work, there is a description that says, "The next logical deduction was even more hilarious to Yun Tianming; considering the time of Cheng Xin's arrival, she definitely did not know that Yun Tianming had already chosen euthanasia. In other words, if Yun Tianming had not chosen euthanasia, after her arrival, she would have induced him, or even forced him to euthanize."

There's no need to elaborate on Cheng Xin's brilliance; choosing Yun Tianming might have been a coincidence. But could she really not have calculated that the radiation sails could only send one brain?"