Chapter 66: Suggestions_1

Jiang Yu received Chu Xu's ashes, and they were buried together with Ye Wenjie's.

With eyes red from crying, Yang Dong bid her mother the final farewell in front of Ye Wenjie's tombstone.

Jiang Yu lit a few cigarettes, placing them on the offering table in front of Chu Xu's grave, "From now on, you'll have to wait for my visits to have a smoke.

"Heh, that's not necessarily the case, who knows, maybe they sell them over there too. Don't be stingy, just buy them. After all, the money over there is just paper to me.

"If you need money, just appear in my dreams.

"I'll burn more for you, and you can open an account for me, save a bit on my behalf.

"Who knows, one day I might join you, and then there'll be no one to burn paper for me."

Jiang Yu also lit a cigarette for himself, sighed deeply, "Actually, you are lucky, leaving for that side right on time.

"Just wait and see, all sorts of chaos is coming!

"But don't lose hope, a small fraction of people remain clear-headed. Whether humanity has a future or not, it's all up to them now.

"What? Me? Ah, forget about it, I still haven't found my place.

"I can only do what I believe is right, but don't worry, now that I've become an advisor to the combat center, I'll definitely contribute my part."

Jiang Yu silently smoked the rest of his cigarette, then said to Yang Dong, "It's getting late, let's head back."

Yang Dong nodded, and as they walked some distance away, Jiang Yu caught a glimpse of a familiar name out of the corner of his eye.

On a closer look, it indeed was Pan Han's grave.

Jiang Yu laughed, "Hey mate, that's not very nice, eh? Why didn't you call me for the funeral?

"I did say I wanted to attend! Hahaha!"

...

Yang Dong resumed her single-minded work, her life seeming to get back on track again.

Meanwhile, under the protection of the armed police, Jiang Yu strolled through the streets, observing the marches and various forms of public unrest.

Once the information about the existence of Trisolaris was made public, it triggered a series of violent upheavals.

Many people began to give up on themselves, sitting numbly on the streets, lost in thought.

At the same time, incidents of violence and suicide sharply increased.

What puzzled Jiang Yu was that many people took to the streets to protest, supposedly demonstrating against the Trisolarans' invasion.

Jiang Yu treated the armed police protecting him to wontons and sesame pancakes in a small street shop.

The protesters outside chanted slogans and carried banners, slowly passing by the storefront.

When Jiang Yu went to pay at the counter, he asked the woman in her fifties running the place, "Everyone's off to the protest, how come you're still open come hell or high water?"

The owner laughed, "Hey, do people stop eating because of a protest? Besides, aren't the aliens coming in a few hundred years?

"If everyone goes to protest and neglects to eat, won't we starve to death before the aliens even arrive?"

Jiang Yu laughed and asked again, "Aren't you afraid of the aliens?"

"What's there for us to fear?" the owner replied. "We can't be expected to fight the aliens, can we?

"There are taller people to handle it when the sky falls!"

The man baking the pancakes chimed in, "Ah, it's just tough on the kids, after a few generations, they're the ones who will face the aliens."

The proprietress also said, "What I think is, we have to live our lives as we normally would.

"What's the use of these people marching? Do the aliens even listen to them?"

Jiang Yu felt much better listening to the old couple's conversation. After bidding goodbye to the elderly husband and wife, he left the small shop.

Since ancient times, people have had different opinions on the ordinary citizens within the country, based on different purposes.

Some say it's numbness, some say it's ignorance, and some say this is the cultural heritage.

No matter what, Jiang Yu felt what everyone was lacking the most right now was this kind of normalcy. If only there were a few more jokes about the Trisolarans, that would have been even better.

Unfortunately...

Jiang Yu glanced at the paramilitary police beside him, who also seemed somewhat perplexed. If he, Jiang Yu, had not time-traveled here, he probably would have been just as confused.

Preoccupied with these thoughts, Jiang Yu took the paramilitary police vehicle to the operations center; the second round of meetings was about to begin.

This time, in addition to the usual members who were military personnel, police officers, and scholars, there were also some political figures.

Still presided by Chang Weisi, the meeting had just begun when Jiang Yu bluntly started criticizing the turmoil caused by making all the intelligence public.

In the second round of meetings, the attendees were much calmer than during the first one. Many stood by Jiang Yu, and many engaged in self-criticism.

So Jiang Yu took advantage of the situation and suggested that everyone strengthen their propaganda efforts, to let people know that nobody cares about their marches.

One of the political figures naively asked, "Didn't they say that aliens have surveillance devices all over Earth, constantly monitoring every move of humanity?

"With so many people marching, the aliens should be able to sense our will, right?"

This time, Jiang Yu was determined not to lose his temper no matter how foolish the question was, "Did the operations center not come and tell you that the Trisolarans are here to exterminate humanity, to take over Earth?

"Why would they care about the will of the dead?"

He didn't give anyone a chance to continue questioning and took a drag of his cigarette, "I have a few personal suggestions here, and I hope everyone will listen carefully.

"First, starting with all of you, please give up all illusions. Our war with the Trisolarans is unlike any war on Earth.

"There are only two paths before us now, either to fight to the end, or to surrender and live a subservient life, waiting to be sterilized after the Trisolarans arrive, awaiting the extinction of humanity."

The atmosphere in the meeting room immediately became oppressive. In fact, everyone was thinking of a third option, but no one was willing to say it out loud.

After extinguishing his cigarette, Jiang Yu continued, "My second suggestion is to spend more time with your children, wife, and parents. Because of everyone's exemplary performance, they are now more lost than you.

"Four hundred years is neither long nor short, but we still need to manage Earth well now, in order to leave a glimmer of hope for future generations.

"My third suggestion is that I ask everyone to stay calm. Defending against the alien invasion is a century-scale project.

"For now, we can start with some of the most basic preparations, to get the foundation right first."

Then the questions began again, "How do we fight the Trisolarans?" "Does Advisor Jiang have any specific ideas?" and so on.

Jiang Yu replied lightly, "I'm just an advisor, only responsible for providing suggestions to everyone."

After the lengthy meeting ended, Jiang Yu went to the canteen with Shi Qiang for lunch.

As the two chatted while queueing, Chang Weisi suddenly lined up behind Jiang Yu.

Shi Qiang said with a chuckle, "Hey, the chief officer has come to dine in person!"

"Cut out the kidding," Chang Weisi replied with a smile. "I came to talk to Jiang Yu about something."

Shi Qiang kindly took both their trays and went to get food for them.

Chang Weisi found a place to sit down and said to Jiang Yu across from him, "The higher-ups are preparing to assign you a special task, and they asked me to do some preliminary ideological work with you."