Chapter 30 Zhang Beihai Gods and Beasts_1

Standing by Wu Yue's side, Zhang Beihai remained determined in his gaze, thinking he shouldn't have come. He originally thought his role was to coordinate between the Wallfacers and the Space Force, acting as a liaison, but after careful scrutiny of the Wallfacer's plan today, he couldn't help but admire the designer of the plan, recognizing that it had a certain feasibility.

However, Zhang Beihai had his own plan, and no one could shake his conviction, which he inherited from his father and which represented the highest pursuit of his life.

By participating in this meeting today, he conceded that the Wallfacer's plan did indeed pose a threat to Trisolaris, which would increase the Trisolarans' scrutiny of him. Only by acting without drawing any attention from anyone, including the Trisolarans, could he increase the likelihood of his own plan's success.

Before Mr. Lin Sen could speak, Zhang Beihai cut in, "Mr. Lin Sen, I agree with your analysis of the form of warfare in the doomsday battle. We can't fight this battle according to the scenario set by the enemy.

I've also pondered the tactical situation for the final battle, and I'm confident about defeating the enemy, a belief based on a solid foundation. Your insights today have given me new inspiration. The battle may have been ignited by them, but we will dictate how it's fought.

However, I believe your plan is steeped in defeatism and your approach could lead to instability within the military, which might cause a complete collapse of our space armed forces.

I think you may have underestimated the enormity of this conflict. The discrepancy in strength between us and the enemy is unprecedented in the history of human warfare. If we cannot firmly eliminate defeatism, we're bound to lose this war.

You should understand that the doomsday battle tolerates no chances of luck; it's impossible to consider both a fight to the death and an escape. Forgive my bluntness, but your plan seems wishful and is riddled with too many loopholes.

The strength of our future forces to resist the Trisolaran Interstellar Fleet is already insufficient, and if your plan is to truly achieve its goal, it would require thousands of battleships to venture into deep space, to battlefields akin to the gates of hell—and doing so would significantly weaken the Human Fleet's power. Furthermore, will we even have over a thousand battleships in the future?

Such a plan is clearly unrealistic and goes against human nature.

To gauge the Trisolarans' attitude toward an escape, it's irrational to dispatch the vast majority of human forces into deep space—forces that may never be able to return home.

It's less an escape battle and more like you believe we cannot win, having a large-scale Deep Space Fleet always ready to flee. Thus, your plan is a severe case of defeatism.

I apologize, but allow me to withdraw from your plan; it's not suited for me.

Please forgive my offensive words!"

Lin Sen: "I don't understand where your unwavering belief in victory comes from, but I accept your withdrawal.

What needs to be corrected, though, is that this is part of the Wallfacer Plan. You need to get used to wholly trusting it and likewise wholly distrusting it.

I have read your thoughts on defeatism, and you believe that the Space Force should be fully committed from now on, not doubting the ultimate meaning of their work, not waiting passively, not considering going into hibernation straight to the doomsday battlefield for a final battle, dying without regret while preserving the last dignity of the military. You also reject the notion that if we fail in this war, there will be no humans in the universe, and that fighting to the end is meaningless.

I agree with your views on defeatism, but I think you're still children when it comes to warfare. What you're involved in are wars within civilizations, and you're nowhere near prepared for a civilizational war in the universe.

My idea is to try and bring the war of civilizations we'll fight in the universe onto familiar grounds of conflict.

You're not ready yet. You need to think more, as the war of civilizations might not be as you imagine. It can be as cruel as purgatory, destroying you without regard, or as gentle as a spring breeze, wishing you to sleep like a baby.

I've also read some works by famous science fiction authors of this era, and they all oversimplify interstellar wars. Their imaginations are indeed powerful, with concepts like the Death Star Weapon, Transition Weapon, Planet-Destroyer Ships, and so on."

But to me, they're just a group of peasants with weapons capable of destroying heaven and earth, engaging in a medieval cavalry and hack-and-slash.

So... you... need to think more!"

Zhang Beihai paused for a moment, staring into Lin Sen's eyes, silent for a long time before saying, "Wars within a civilization can be compromised, but there is no possibility of compromise in a war between civilizations. This requires us to remain steadfast in our conviction of victory, so please approve my withdrawal."

Having said that, he turned and walked away. Zhang Beihai was actually moved by Lin Sen's words; his father had said the same thing to him, but he had a clear understanding of his mission. He couldn't afford to live under the "halo" of the Wallfacer, as that would be a disaster for his plans.

Lin Sen knew that in the original timeline, the war between civilizations in the Dark Universe was more brutal than anyone could imagine. The fate of the two civilizations was determined the moment they encountered each other—it's the cruelty of the universe.

When Trisolaran civilization met Earth's, it was either destruction or rebirth. The Trisolarans must do everything in their power to eliminate Earth's civilization, as Trisolarans develop slowly and if the Earthlings were to escape, they would inevitably not tolerate the existence of another civilization once they made technological breakthroughs.

The nature of the two civilizations determines their future, hence the Trisolarans must strike first.

The Dark Forest theory is a deeper manifestation of this phenomenon. Lin Sen didn't want to use the Dark Forest deterrence against the Trisolarans (threatening them with broadcasting the coordinates of the Trisolaran civilization to the universe, thereby deterring them from invading the Solar System), as that would attract even more powerful civilizations. Besides, deterrence by its nature is destined to collapse. Present-day humanity cannot use it, nor do they have the right to do so.

If the entire Solar Fleet were to be wiped out, the Deep Space Fleet would choose to flee. But are those who flee still human? They will become a new humanity; they were already a new humanity when they left home. With the moral agony and collapse of their value system, new values will also begin to coalesce.

In the new value system, others are like hell, a perpetual threat.

The Roman philosopher Plotinus said, "Man is placed between gods and beasts." Gods are what all creatures aspire to, encompassing all the wonderful visions of humanity.

The new value humans (the new humanity) are beasts, the very beasts we despise. But becoming beasts, they will qualify to enter the universe, irrespective of whether they carry sufficient resources when fleeing.

In the original timeline, the dark campaign that erupted among the five Escape Fleet ships because of insufficient resources was the best representation of this; the lack of resources was just a catalyst, but the real reason was that they had already embraced a new set of values.

On the current timeline, the same still holds true, for the Escape Fleet can either choose to become the new humanity or face death.

The Dark Forest is even darker than humans can imagine. Perhaps the initial civilizations of the universe also thought about living peacefully with other civilizations, but the war between civilizations is not subject to human will or the will of civilizations. More and more civilizations abandon the divine to choose the beastly, resulting in our current Dark Universe.

Zhang Beihai is undoubtedly a beast, a beast with the greatest love. During the final battle, he hijacked the "Natural Selection" to flee, joining with the other four pursuing warships to form Starship Earth, a seed of human civilization.

But the five warships' resources were not sufficient to travel to other star systems. In order to plunder that most precious resource from one another, a dark campaign broke out among them. Others were the embodiment of hell.

Zhang Beihai saw everyone on the five warships as his children, prepared to press the attack button and kill them all like a father slaughtering his offspring.

But his conviction, steadfast for two centuries, wavered in the last moment. Perhaps he exhibited a trace of divinity, and that divinity resulted in others launching their attacks first.

He was content; his children had grown up, metamorphosed from youth into adulthood. His children had matured in an instant and fired at "father." The entire crew of "Natural Selection" was sacrificed.

In the end, Zhang Beihai left with a contented remark, "It's okay, it's all the same!"