Chapter 219: Mistakes in Decision-Making (Extra for Monthly Votes)_1

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Kong Xiang's lips were purple, tightly grasping Jiang Yu's hand, "Do you still remember the poison you once gave to Tyler? I calculated the time before I came, I've taken the poison."

Jiang Yu felt a deep sorrow. No matter what Kong Xiang had done before, the mentor-student bond between them was genuine.

In the last moment of his life, Kong Xiang's expression became much more serene, "Walk forward, do not look back. Even for Bai Xiao and the others, do not let humanity perish."

With tears in his eyes, Jiang Yu nodded repeatedly, "In some time, Fang Chengjiu will rush over from Mars. Do you want to see him one last time?"

Kong Xiang faintly shook his head, "You see me off on my last journey. I won't meet anyone else.

"Launch my, my ashes into space. I want to see what's beyond the Solar System."

"Alright, I will make it happen," Jiang Yu promised.

Kong Xiang took a deep breath, "The thing I regret the least in this life is taking you as my student.

"Sorry, teacher, for holding you back," Jiang Yu said with remorse.

His voice grew fainter, and after he spoke those words, Jiang Yu felt Kong Xiang's grip on his hand slowly loosen.

Jiang Yu watched as Kong Xiang left this world in peace, feeling somewhat forlorn.

Ye Wenjie died, Chief Ji died, Chang Weisi died, his parents died, Bo Xiangdong died, Kong Xiang died.

No matter what their views on the world, on humanity were, their passing filled Jiang Yu with great sorrow.

Especially after waking from hibernation, the world had completely changed, which made Jiang Yu even more nostalgic for the past.

Jiang Yu guarded Kong Xiang silently grieving for a few minutes, before calling Number Three in, "Kong Xiang had a heart attack, he's dead."

Number Three didn't know how to respond and stood quietly to the side, waiting for Jiang Yu's next instruction.

Jiang Yu sighed deeply and said, "You must keep the fact that Kong Xiang came today a secret! Find two people to help me cremate him."

Regardless of their customs on Earth, when residents of Guanghan City die here, they must be cremated!

However, Guanghan City had not yet reached its first peak of population death, so the city had only one crematorium.

In front of the crematorium furnace, Jiang Yu looked at Kong Xiang's body, "Goodbye, teacher."

Two hours later, he received Kong Xiang's ashes and carried them to arrange a space burial. At the right moment, he launched the ashes at the third cosmic velocity into the void.

After finishing all these tasks, it was around 18:00. Jiang Yu had no appetite and told Number Three not to prepare dinner for him.

The following day at noon, Jiang Yu finally opened his room's door and said to Number Three, "Last night and this morning, I've been recounting Kong Xiang's life.

"I have sent the video to your mailbox. Keep it confidential, and make it public half a century later."

Jiang Yu did this for Kong Fangcheng's political future.

While Number Three had a service robot bring in lunch, she agreed, "Yes."

Jiang Yu sighed long, "I don't know how to judge Kong Xiang's life, let future generations discuss it."

Number Three said, "Educating a student like you is his greatest achievement."

Jiang Yu glanced at Number Three, "Cut the flattery!"

Number Three smiled, "I just saw you weren't in the best of moods, so I wanted to liven things up a bit.

"You haven't eaten for two meals, hurry up and eat."

Jiang Yu looked at the table set with four dishes and a soup, "Change to one dish in the future; I can't eat so much anyhow."

He picked up the chopsticks and a bun and asked Number Three, "Does Guanghan City have a news agency or something like that?"

"There are three news networks."

Jiang Yu took a bite of the bun, "Get a reporter from a news network this afternoon. I have some matters to entrust to him."

Number Three agreed with a sound, "I'll go find one right away."

After lunch, Jiang Yu rested for a while.

Around 15:00, Number Three brought a middle-aged reporter to Jiang Yu's room, "This is Reporter Xu from the esteemed Zhi Xin News Network."

Reporter Xu greeted Jiang Yu excitedly, "Greetings, Wallfacer."

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Jiang Yu extended his hand, "Please, have a seat."

Once both parties were seated, Jiang Yu got straight to the point, "I've asked you here because there is some information that can be disclosed publicly. I'd like you to use the media to announce it."

Reporter Xu asked, "Is it okay to record this?"

Jiang Yu nodded, and Reporter Xu turned on the portable video recorder embedded in his chest clothing, "Please, go ahead."

Jiang Yu took out the note given to him by Kong Xiang, "The top leadership of ETO consists of seven people. There is one named Bai Xiao; he's one of our own...

"...and there's Wei Keke...

"...I once said that if members of ETO defected, I would arrange for them to start a new life in Moon City. That was directly addressing people like Bai Xiao..."

Jiang Yu spent over an hour detailing the deeds of Bai Xiao and the others, though he did not disclose the intelligence provided by Bai Xiao.

During the times when Jiang Yu's explanations were not very clear, Reporter Xu used a questioning approach to make Jiang Yu's descriptions more structured.

At the end of the description, Jiang Yu said, "Their identities could not be made public before in order to protect them.

"Now that the ETO is long gone and they have silently sacrificed for humanity, their heroic deeds should be known to everyone."

Reporter Xu nodded. To be honest, he was quite shocked by Jiang Yu's description. He had not expected that the ETO, always regarded as nothing more than scum, could have such heroes within its ranks.

Reporter Xu became a resident of the Hermit Federation over twenty years ago.

He was still on Earth when ETO was plotting those apocalyptic plans.

If the Wallfacers hadn't spoken out, he wouldn't have known that he had been saved twice.

After a moment of reflection, Reporter Xu quickly came back to his senses, "I remember Bai Xiao was defined by the PDC as the 'arch-criminal' of ETO. How should this report deal with the PDC's conviction?"

Handled improperly, it could easily lead to a diplomatic incident.

Jiang Yu sneered, "Just say that I said it, report the facts! I'd like to see if the PDC dares to come and argue with me!"

Reporter Xu asked again, "Then how should we describe the Trisolarans' reaction in this incident?"

He explained, "You've said that no one understands the Trisolarans better than you.

"Logically, after the Trisolarans' Sophon severed contact with ETO, they should still monitor the actions of ETO's top leadership.

"When they find out that people like Bai Xiao have been 'With Cao Cao in body, but with Han in heart,' what would be the Trisolarans' reaction?"

After pondering for a moment, Jiang Yu replied, "Here you need to be careful not to state it outright, but between the lines, you must convey one thing: that the Trisolarans can also make mistakes!

"Take, for instance, the Trisolarans severing contact with the ETO—they thought they had everything under control!"

Previously, Jiang Yu had thought his identity as a Black Square man might bluff the Trisolarans for a while.

It turned out the Trisolarans were not taking him seriously anymore. They must have conducted a detailed analysis over the past seventy years and decided that the Black Square people had knowledge but could not change the weak situation on Earth.

Or they might have simply guessed that Jiang Yu's Black Square identity was not to be trusted.

For the Trisolarans, the priority was to send The Waterdrop to the Solar System as soon as possible to "cut off" Earth's lifeline. Then, even the Black Square man would not be able to make any trouble.

Jiang Yu continued with a smile, "But what they didn't anticipate was that they had unwittingly provided Bai Xiao and the others with a great deal of vital information!

"I suspect the Trisolarans wanted to hit someone upon learning the true identities of Bai Xiao and his companions.

"But the truth of the matter is, they can no longer influence Earth's situation!

"And no one is willing to take their orders anymore.

"From this perspective alone, their decision was a colossal blunder.

"At this very moment, the Sophon watching me convey these words to Trisolaris can only respond with a wry smile—if they're capable of such a gesture.

"Regardless, there is no longer any fertile ground for the ETO to thrive, the mainstream values now regard the ETO as an adversary!

"I could care less about the surveillance from Sophon now, which just shows the consequences of their strategic error.

"The next battle with the Trisolarans will be a century from now, when their spaceships arrive in the Solar System!

"Only then might they have the opportunity to influence Earth's situation again."