Starting as a Wallfacer, his defection to the Three-Body Problem shocked the world.

After a long period of silence, Zhizi finally sent Lin Xuan a message.

"Observer, what task do you want us to assist you with?"

"Can I bring up anything?"

"Two principles need to be followed. First, your work cannot interfere with our original plans, such as lifting the technological blockade or stopping the pursuit of Luo Ji. Second, your requests must be within our capabilities. Sophons can only intervene at the micro level and cannot interfere at the macro level, so ETO can only assist you in fulfilling these requirements."

Lin Xuan nodded slightly; her thoughts were similar to his.

"It's alright, none of my requests will violate these two principles."

"When I went to the Wallfacer hearing before, you should have heard me say that I wanted to build an underground city."

"Is it for defending against our attacks on Earth?"

"No, no, I have another purpose for it, you don't need to worry about it."

Lin Xuan didn't know what was wrong with her. As a Wallfacer, she could chat with the Trisolarans as if they were her own people.

"This is actually quite difficult to handle."

Tomoko replied.

"I don't understand what kind of help you want from us. As far as I know, you've already completed the design concept for the underground city. What factors could possibly prevent your plan from proceeding smoothly?"

"money!"

What is money?

Lin Xuan was taken aback, then remembered the development gap between the Trisolarans and Earth's civilization. Perhaps they really didn't know what money was, or perhaps this ancient thing only existed in their history books.

"An alternative to the exchange of goods, namely a currency, used to facilitate the exchange of goods between individuals of the same civilization."

"understood."

"Have you Trisolarans never had the concept of currency?"

"Yes, but our currency exchange system is based on demand and contribution. All actions should be based on the interests of the entire community, and individual interests should not supersede the interests of the group."

Lin Xuan finally understood what the salvation faction was thinking.

If we disregard human factors, the Trisolarans' social system is indeed impressive, with all their actions driven by absolute rationality. However, this very rationality will also be the biggest obstacle to their civilization's progress.

To achieve a short-term leap in science and technology, three conditions are needed: energy storage, contradictions, and direction.

Energy storage refers to the way a civilization uses energy at a certain stage. Whether it was the First Industrial Revolution or the Second Industrial Revolution, they both started with a completely different way of using energy than before. It is like the firewood to light a campfire.

Contradictions are like sparks that ignite firewood; they possess the unity of opposites, which is also a major factor in promoting technological development. The Trisolarans share a common mindset, and their communication costs are extremely low, but humans are different.

Humans have extremely low communication efficiency compared to the Trisolarans; the same sentence can even express different meanings at different times and in different contexts.

Human communication can only achieve a general understanding, but an individual can never fully express their meaning to another person.

In China, the Chinese language is even treated as a major subject, with the aim of reducing the difficulty of communication between people.

This leads to conflicts among humans, which in turn breeds competition, and competition, in turn, accelerates technological development.

The direction is easy to understand; it's the process of scientifically discovering laws.

Now, the Sophons have locked down the limits of physics, preventing humanity from discovering the laws governing them, and because of the nature of their civilization, they are unable to generate internal contradictions.

Both civilizations thus found themselves in an awkward situation of scientific stagnation.

"Back to our previous question, I need ETO to provide me with enough funds to build the dungeon, but given the current state of humanity, the economic system is on the verge of collapse, so in reality, I need you to provide more resources."

That would be a huge number.

Tomoko said.

"Choose one of the two. If it really doesn't work, you can help me build Reach. You'll provide fewer materials for that project."

"veto."

"Really, I've calculated it. The first research spacecraft of the Asian Fleet, the Seeker, will be completed soon. Once we find available resources on other planets in the solar system, the establishment of Reach will be much smoother than we imagined. Do you want to consider taking on this job?"

"Observer, we accept your previous conditions."

Seeing that she hadn't managed to fool the Trisolarans, Lin Xuan didn't say anything more.

The construction of the underground city and the Reach space station were carried out simultaneously.

Lin Xuan was responsible for constructing the main structure of the three underground cities.

The three cities are located in London, New York, and Los Angeles, respectively.

The choice of city was based on the results of a public vote, and Luo City received a significant lead in votes, which even Lin Xuan hadn't expected. He had thought it would be within the territory of Shu Prefecture.

Because the underground city design provided by Lin Xuan looks like an inverted city mirrored on the surface, the underground city project is also known as the "Mirror Project".

……

"Shi Qiang, thank you for saving me again!"

Luo Ji sat in the hibernation pod, showing great gratitude to Shi Qiang.

He had lost count of how many times Shi Qiang had saved his life.

Since the last attack, ETO seems to have completely given up on assassinating Luo Ji, so PDC took this opportunity to quickly arrange for Luo Ji to go into hibernation.

Shi Qiang wanted to light a cigarette, but the staff member next to him glared at him.

Shi Qiang then realized that smoking was prohibited inside the hibernation center.

"Alright, brother, save your thanks for when we meet in the future."

Luo Ji was taken aback.

"Are you going to hibernate too?"

Shi Qiang nodded slightly.

"That Lin Xuan insisted that I hibernate with you, saying that way I could go to the future to continue protecting you."

“I told him not to talk nonsense. I belong to PDC, not Luo Ji’s personal bodyguard.”

"The results of it?"

"As a result, this guy went to the PDC as a Wallfacer and asked me to hibernate with him into the future. Damn it, that policy of delaying retirement to 90 is really going to happen to me!"

Shi Qiang was stunned when he learned of Lin Xuan's actions, but there was nothing he could do. He knew that the road ahead might be even more difficult, and since Lin Xuan had said so, he couldn't refuse.

"I don't remember you having a son. What will happen to him?"

You mean Shi Xiaoming?

"Correct."

"He's in jail. I only found out about this myself. He's been convicted of fraud for selling fake insurance and is in prison."

"Do you want me to get him out? As a Wallfacer, that's something I can do," Luo Ji asked.

Shi Qiang pursed his lips. He subconsciously wanted to take a puff of his cigarette, but then he remembered that he hadn't lit it yet.

"Brother, you don't need to worry about this. If I really wanted to get that kid out, I could do it with my authority, but it's a matter of principle."

“There are some things I can run for him, but not this one. He’s an adult and should be responsible for his actions.”

Shi Qiang wasn't exactly a person with a strong sense of justice. When he was a policeman, he disregarded the safety of hostages, used gangsters, and tortured people to extract confessions, making him a person with a "bad record."

If Chang Weisi hadn't recruited him to PDC, he might have had nowhere to go after being dismissed from his police career.

But Shi Qiang has always had his own set of principles for doing things, which is why he has been entrusted with important responsibilities time and time again.

Shi Qiang took one last look at Luo Ji before helping him close the lid of the hibernation pod.

"Alright, see you in the future!"

See you in the future.

……