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

"The speed of human scientific development has always been constrained by humanistic morality, but this is not entirely a bad thing. Once we deviate from humanistic morality as the steering wheel, then science will be like a train that has derailed, and only destruction awaits it."

Hines recalled these words, which he had once spoken to Keiko Yamasugi.

At that time, he had only recently become a Wallfacer.

He and Keiko Yamasugi each own a house in Japan and in the UK, but he prefers to stay in Japan.

Every night, the moonlight shines through the bamboo forest onto him, giving him a rare sense of peace.

"Honey, you've been having trouble sleeping for days."

Keiko Yamasugi's voice rang out behind her. Her voice sounded somewhat ethereal and echoed through the forest, silencing the summer insects.

"Huizi, I don't think I can do it. I've really tried to think about it, but my mind is blank and I can't think of anything."

“No one could have come up with this.” Keiko Yamasugi placed a hand on Hines’ shoulder, feeling the warmth emanating from him, which finally calmed Hines down a bit.

Keiko Yamasugi slowly walked up to Hines, separating them by a few bamboo stalks.

This is where they think; both are experts in neuroscience, and most of the inspiration for their previous research came from here.

Therefore, the two of them generally do not bring overly intimate gestures to this sacred place.

In this place permeated with the atmosphere of Eastern philosophy, the two of them always appeared to treat each other with the utmost respect.

"Bill, you should relax a bit. You just need to do your best."

Keiko Yamasugi's words did not alleviate her sorrow this time.

"Huizi, this is impossible. Every step we take in our plan will consume a huge amount of resources."

"Then why not do it this way?" Keiko Yamasugi answered very quickly this time, clearly having been thinking about this question for a long time.

"Why don't we choose a direction to study? Even if we don't complete the Wallfacer Project in the end, we will have done something quite meaningful in the process. For example, Lin Xuan has been dedicated to the research of biological computers, hasn't he?"

“Huizi, that’s exactly what I was just about to say.” Hines let out a long breath, as if sweeping away all the vexation in his heart.

"Since I can't come up with that plan myself, why not help others come up with it?"

"Do you mean the other Wallfacers?" Keiko Yamasugi asked.

Hines shook his head slightly.

"No, no, they're not much better than me. Taylor was even broken through by Lin Xuan just a few days ago. Whether that's true or not, Taylor's plan is too obvious. We shouldn't count on them."

"The people I'm referring to are our descendants."

"Descendants?"

"As you probably know, Huizi, it takes at least 20,000 years for the natural evolution of organisms to produce noticeable results, while human development has only been around for about 5,000 years, and modern technological civilization is only 200 years old. So, to put it bluntly, the brains of those who are studying science now are nothing more than those of primitive humans."

Keiko Yamasugi seemed to be deep in thought.

"That's an interesting point of view. So, are you trying to use some means to accelerate the evolution of the human brain?"

"Yes, I want to improve the intelligence of the human brain."

"You know, the word 'intelligence' is too vague. What you specifically mean is..."

"The intelligence I'm referring to is broad, encompassing not only logical reasoning ability in the traditional sense, but also learning ability, imagination, creativity, and the knowledge and experience a person accumulates..."

"Do you have a general idea?"

Seemingly realizing she had asked too many questions, Keiko Yamasugi quickly changed her tune.

“If this is related to your Wallfacer project, you can choose to keep it from me.”

Hines shook his head slightly.

“I hope so, but I don’t have a general idea yet. However, Lin Xuan’s idea is very good, and I think we can learn something from it.”

Keiko Yamasugi understood the meaning behind the other person's words after only a moment's thought.

"You mean to connect computers to the human brain?"

"Yes, my idea is to use computers as an amplifier of human intelligence, directly connecting the human brain to the computer, and bringing everyone's thoughts together, just like what Lin Xuan did."

“No wonder you were so excited when you saw him at the museum last time. It seems fate has brought you two together.” A hint of joy appeared on Keiko Yamasugi’s face. She was happy for Hines.

"Yes, but we took completely opposite paths. I aimed to improve the human brain, while he wanted to use the human brain to improve the computing power of computers. On this point, our ideas were almost identical."

A smile appeared on Hines' face, a smile that concealed smugness and a joy at finding a kindred spirit.

"It's just that our majors are different. I've checked his resume. He's currently a freshman at the University of Science and Technology of China, majoring in artificial intelligence and related technologies. I, on the other hand, am a neuroscientist. We both firmly believe in our professions and have embarked on paths that are similar to each other but diverge from each other."

“This is very exciting, Keiko. He and I are like two Japanese swordsmen. We spar with each other, constantly find each other’s weaknesses, and then improve our swordsmanship. I can’t believe he’s so young.”

Upon hearing this, Keiko's expression relaxed considerably.

“Darling, I’m glad you’ve found your direction, but as a Wallfacer, your plan is a bit too…”

"It's too indirect, isn't it? But what else can we do?"

"Bill, you're right. Maybe this is the only thing we can do."

"But this project will be unprecedented in scale, taking a century, or pessimistically, two centuries. If it is really accomplished, then these highly intelligent people will have at least two centuries to come up with a solution."

……

The memory ends here, and consciousness returns to reality.

Hines was plunged into darkness, and he felt unable to move.

But he wasn't nervous about it; he saw it as a sign that his hibernation was over and that he had been awakened by the world again.

"How much time has passed?"

Before he went into hibernation, he asked Lin Xuan to help him develop an image analysis machine. This kind of instrument, which only existed in his mind, was something he didn't know how long it would take to develop.

Twenty years, fifty years, one hundred years?

Or, in the worst-case scenario, four centuries have passed, and humanity has yet to overcome this technological challenge before its defeat.

"puff!"

The first thing he regained was his hearing; he heard the hissing sound of the air pressure valve.

Then comes the physical sensation; the temperature of the hibernation chamber gradually rises from below zero to maintain it at the optimal temperature for human comfort.

Finally, there was the visual aspect. Hines opened his eyes and saw only a hazy white mist.

Gradually, the white mist began to clear, and he discovered a figure standing within it.

"Dr. Hines, welcome back."

Lin Xuan smiled as she watched Hines slowly crawl out of the hibernation pod, reached for a towel, and draped it over his head to prevent him from catching a cold due to the temperature difference.

"How much time has passed now?"

Hines stretched his stiff body, a normal phenomenon after hibernation. The body feels frozen and needs to rest for about 3-5 days before strenuous activity can begin.

"Not long ago, it is now the 20th year of the Crisis Era, and only about 15 years have passed since you went into hibernation."

In the original storyline, Hines' hibernation started much later than expected, around year 8 of the Crisis Era, while Keiko Yamasugi's hibernation started even later.

However, the plot had already deteriorated to this point, and Lin Xuan was too lazy to care anymore.

Where is Keiko Yamasugi?

Hines asked the question that concerned him most, even though hibernation had no concept of time, as if only a moment had passed.

But Hines knew that he hadn't seen her for almost a decade, and the longing that transcended the dimension of time made him want to see her right now.

"Your wife went into hibernation five years after you did."

"what?"

Hines was taken aback, which shocked Lin Xuan.

"How could she... Damn it, I should have stayed with her all the time, I really should have stayed with her all the time."

Hines was filled with remorse. He had kept Keiko waiting for so long. She must be missing him terribly right now.

"She's paving the way for your future work. I advised her before to hibernate as soon as possible."

"But Miss Keiko is unusually persistent in your plans. She works tirelessly for you every day. As you know, there are many things to do, and once you start working, it never ends."

Lin Xuan made up a reason to fool Hines.

After all, he couldn't very well tell him directly, "Your wife is an ETO and has been busy carrying out terrorist attacks around the world for the past few years, could she?"

“Where is she hibernating? I’ll go and wake her up. It’s time for us to meet.”

Lin Xuan sighed helplessly, looking at the man in front of her with disappointment.

"Dr. Hines, it seems you really don't understand romance at all."

Upon hearing this, Hines was taken aback.

"Mr. Lin Xuan, I don't quite understand what you mean."

Lin Xuan pointed to the hibernation pod behind Hines.

"Miss Huizi has worked tirelessly for your plan for the past five years, which shows how much she cares about its success."

"But what have you done? You hibernated for fifteen years, and now you want to wake her up again to make her work for you?"

Upon hearing this, Hines quickly waved his hand.

"No, that's not what I meant. I just wanted to apologize to her, after all, I made her worry about me for so long."

“Then you shouldn’t have woken her up now,” Lin Xuan said.

“Dr. Hines, I think that since Miss Keiko is so eager to see your plan succeed, why not wait until the plan has yielded results before waking her up?”

"When Miss Keiko wakes up, you can share the results of this plan with her and feel the joy together. Wouldn't that be wonderful?"

"Or is your love for Miss Keiko just a simple attachment? She was able to work alone for your plan for five years, yet you couldn't give her the first gift upon her awakening. Isn't that a bit too unreasonable?"

Upon hearing this, Hines quickly offered an explanation.

"No... I'm just too excited."

He calmed down and carefully considered Lin Xuan's words, and then realized that what Lin Xuan said made a lot of sense.

“Okay, okay…you’re right, Lin Xuan. I should present her with a big gift for waking up, so that she won’t have to wait for the results of the experiment so alone.”

By this time, Hines had been completely fooled by Lin Xuan.

All he could think about was the look of surprise and delight on Keiko Yamasugi's face when she woke up and saw that he had completed the experiment and obtained the results.

However, Lin Xuan estimated that what Yamasugi Keiko might not be a pleasant surprise, but rather a shock.