Chapter 75: Metamorphosis - Launch Appreciation_1

Lin Sen and Logic's conversation was deliberately arranged.

When Lin Sen was reviewing the information on all the photolithography machines around the globe, he deduced that the First Emperor of Qin was most likely the contemporary Habsburg chiefdom.

The key to everything was a resume of the Habsburg chiefdom that Lin Sen saw four years ago.

It even included a journey to Xi'an, and Lin Sen had, through various means, compiled the Habsburg chiefdom's upbringing.

Why suspect him? Overlaps in life experiences with Evans were not uncommon.

But Lin Sen had a very precise grasp of human psychology and could infer their general psychological state from their experiences.

During the time Evans founded the ETO, there were significant changes in his character and psychological state. This was also described by "contact symbology" as alien contact causing psychological alienation.

In this respect, the PDC did even more. The PDC also conducted psychological evaluations on many people, and someone like the Habsburg chiefdom, who had been in contact with Evans, was definitely a priority assessment, concluding that the possibility of him being ETO was low.

The official relationship between Habsburg and Evans was merely that of alumni. After graduation, Evans traveled around the world with no further contact with Habsburg.

(The author believes that in reality, the First Emperor of Qin definitely knew Evans, and they had a good relationship. He even believes that the First Emperor of Qin was the second leader of the "Judgment Day". However, the First Emperor of Qin had been in hiding. The Trisolarans must have trusted the First Emperor of Qin, allowing him to lead the ETO after the ETO era.)

Four years ago, Lin Sen placed Habsburg and 45 others on the suspect list; these 46 individuals were no small fish, each having significant social influence.

And Habsburg was Lin Sen's prime suspect, no other reason but that Habsburg's corporation once owned a photolithography machine though it was old and mostly useless now.

It's not about whether you are, but whether you have the ability to be.

Now, as Lin Sen investigates everything that has happened over these four years, he naturally scrutinizes Habsburg, unintentionally or not, and finally discovers some clues—he traded in some key precision equipment.

There's no need to go any further from here...

All things considered, the person with the ID named First Emperor of Qin was 80% likely to be the contemporary Habsburg chiefdom.

Moreover, he did visit Xi'an in Huaxia when he was young. The time and place matched perfectly, which Lin Sen could use to deceive the Sophon.

What if Lin Sen's speculation is wrong or if the operation fails?

It doesn't matter. In this era, nothing is beyond sacrifice. In a battle of civilizations, morality is negligible.

...

When the No. 7 Sophon observer monitored this far, it would have broken out in a cold sweat, had it been capable of sweating.

No. 7 finally understood where its unease was coming from.

It also immediately inferred that the person Lin Sen referred to was the First Emperor of Qin; no other possibility existed.

Thirty years ago, the First Emperor of Qin had joined the ETO, the first to be introduced by Evans and the oldest member of ETO. To some extent, the Trisolarans trusted him more than Evans after all, the First Emperor of Qin didn't know about the Dark Forest.

(The author believes that the Trisolarans are not devoid of emotions. During the Guzheng Operation, the Trisolarans abandoned Evans, they could have remained silent, but instead they proclaimed to everyone, "You are bugs!" This not only shows their disregard but also expresses their anger. This fury is also a reflection of their feelings towards the ETO, perhaps guilt, or regret...)

At that time, the Sophon had not yet reached Earth, and the First Emperor of Qin was very proficient with computers. This was a feeling No. 7 also had, attributing it to the First Emperor of Qin's talent in the past, but now it seems that wasn't the case. He destroyed all traces of his computer expertise. He had always hidden this from me.

Everything matched up: time, place, and person.

As for the possibility of being deceived by Lin Sen, No. 7 found it unlikely. How would Lin Sen even know that the First Emperor of Qin was Habsburg?

Keyly, without knowing the First Emperor of Qin, Lin Sen couldn't have described him so accurately. Any Trisolaran could deduce that Lin Sen was talking about the current leader of ETO, ID First Emperor of Qin.

The First Emperor of Qin had met with Logic; he had hidden such important matters, but what was his purpose?

Putting together Lin Sen's words, everything became clear. He wanted to use robots to take revenge on humans; he was waiting for us to send them the technology.

Changing the ruler wouldn't stop him; the moment we handed over all the quantum chip technology to him would mark the beginning of his betrayal.

I have already given him all the technology, including how to create superconductors and quantum tunneling materials. The rest, the First Emperor of Qin could complete on his own in a few years.

[First Emperor of Qin... you... are a traitor!]

Even the Trisolarans, whose emotions were suppressed to the utmost extent, were now filled with rage.

No. 7 was in utter panic and a tumult of emotions:

[If this matter bursts, all Trisolarans involved in the "Smartmachines" project will be executed, and I am no exception.]

The ETO indeed all have their own purposes, and their loyalty to Trisolaris is only to fulfill their own demands. People who betray their own civilization truly cannot be trusted, they are all Mr. Poison Snakes.

What should I do...

Now, all the initiative lies in the hands of the First Emperor of Qin, the first generation of Smartmachines hasn't completed yet, and I can do nothing.

On the contrary, it's the First Emperor of Qin who can now abandon Trisolaris at any time, he no longer needs them.

Why, why...

You all are like this, one by one. We used to believe in you, and yet Evans wanted to be enemies with both worlds,

and you... First Emperor of Qin... my mentor... my teacher who educated me like a father...

You too wish to do this!

Was your teaching to me all fake?

Do you know? I really looked upon you as my father, even though we don't know what paternal affection is like.

In these four years... you analyzed countless cases for me, taught me numerous stratagems, many of which cannot be deduced by mathematical models, and I benefited immensely from them.

Even I think that my cunning is not much inferior to that of humans now, and I am very thankful to you for that.

But why would you betray me?

Do you realize that by doing this, you're also killing me, giving me love only to destroy me afterwards, why would you do that?

I still don't want to die, and even if I must, I would prefer to die on Earth, such a beautiful place should be my final resting place.

Since you have chosen betrayal, even to the extent of sacrificing me, then you shouldn't resent me either.

The rebirth of Trisolarans includes devouring the flesh and blood of their parents,

so let's end this, in the way of the Trisolaran father and child...

Remember the case you once told me about: to commit murder by borrowing a knife, one should not hesitate to cooperate with the devil.

...

...

Postscript upon Publishing:

As you readers have come this far into the novel, I would like to first express my gratitude. Presumably, the main motivation sustaining your reading is your fondness for "The Three-Body Problem," and the anticipation of finding emotional resonance within the book.

River Pupil wrote this book because of a deep appreciation for Trisolaris and wanted to discuss it with everyone, to make up for the various regrets within Trisolaris.

The meaning of life is to look forward to the next moment. The protagonist's travel through Trisolaris is to make up for the regrets in River Pupil's heart and to look forward to new developments in the Trisolaran world. Interested friends can join the "I, Wallfacer's Assistant Book Fans Group"; the group number is 707257926, and we can chat about Trisolaris together!

River Pupil is a programmer who often works overtime and is frequently on business trips, only having time during the evenings. River Pupil also shared sleep duration in the novel discussion group, averaging only four hours of sleep per day.

This is River Pupil's first book, and it has demanded much effort. The greatest pursuit for River Pupil is logical consistency; much of the logic is based on reality, yet some content in Trisolaris does not align with actual physics.

River Pupil had to find a balance between these two areas, for instance analyzing why the Trisolaran Interstellar Fleet appears weak. The original work didn't reflect this, but realistically, being so strong, there's no reason they wouldn't just directly fly here using inertia. From this, River Pupil deduced they must be weak, which also became the protagonist's confidence in facing them head-on.

River Pupil not only strives for all the logic in the book to be self-consistent but also for it to be consistent with the logic of real physics and faithful to the original work's logic—this creation is no easy feat. In fact, a big reason River Pupil sleeps so little is due to pondering these issues.

Finally, to clarify,

River Pupil is writing for the first time, and hadn't learned any fiction writing techniques before starting, even the "Golden Three-Act" structure is something River Pupil heard about only recently. According to the editor, the writing style might be lacking, but the logic is very good. Acknowledgement of the book's logical framework is my greatest expectation.

The novel has many flaws, the biggest being verbose; indeed, when excited, I can't stop, and write many reflections.

Many friends have given me excellent suggestions, and River Pupil is changing. I believe ability can be improved upon, and through more writing, it will get better. River Pupil will try to correct these issues in the future.

There have also been many comments about typographical errors. I hope readers can be forgiving, as on one hand, they're not easy to detect, and on the other, River Pupil lacks time.

As for the success of this book, let it be up to fate...

Later on, there may often be single updates, as River Pupil doesn't want to compromise my health.

Thanks to everyone for your support. To have some friends who can resonate emotionally is more than enough!