Chapter 389: New Intelligence on Orphan Planet_1

Venus: Give me one million tons of metal, one million tons of water, and I'll tell you the true purpose of the Trisolarans!

Jiang Yu was taken aback, having never expected that Venus would make such a demand: "What kind of metal?"

He always felt as though he was on the verge of realizing something, but what exactly that was seemed difficult to articulate at the moment.

Venus: Any metal will do.

Jiang Yu's mind whirled, suddenly grasping the elusive clue echoing through his mind: "No need to beat around the bush; I'll give you one hundred thousand tons of aluminum, and we'll both save time."

It was a good half minute before Venus asked, "How did you know these things?"

Jiang Yu laughed, "I know more than you can imagine! If the answer you provide is superficial, then I'm sorry, this deal will be voided, and the metal and water I promised to give you will not be delivered until thirty years later."

Venus: Why thirty years later?

Jiang Yu: "I will use those thirty years to evacuate everyone from Earth and the Moon and to prepare for their protection. Only then will I dare to commit to giving you what you want, to make you stronger!"

Venus: Acceptable.

Jiang Yu was astounded, as Venus had agreed just like that!

Venus: Let me reiterate our deal—you tell me the real reason why the Trisolarans are invading the Solar System, and in return, you give me one hundred thousand tons of aluminum and one million tons of water!

Jiang Yu: Agreed, but with the added condition that you tell me what you need so much water for.

The demand for aluminum was the result of Jiang Yu partially guessing and partially knowing.

He remembered from experiments done by the team studying the Black Square that only ginger juice and liquid aluminum induced a response from the Black Square.

It was now known that ginger juice was the "password" set by the Black Cuboid People, but why did liquid aluminum react?

Linking the arrival of the Black Cuboid People to the Solar System, specifically targeting Venus, and now Venus's demand for metal, Jiang Yu speculated if aluminum was truly what they needed?

Jiang Yu was quite curious about what Venus needed so much aluminum and water for, but asking directly would reveal his hand, and Venus might lie about some of the answers.

So, he thought it best to ask about the water instead, to see if he could deduce the purpose of the aluminum.

But Venus replied, "I cannot possibly tell you the use of the water. Even if you bombard me into the Sun, I will not reveal it!"

Since the refusal was so adamant, it must be related to the First Epoch Life Form or the core secrets of Venus.

Jiang Yu rubbed his chin, "Alright then, can you at least tell me what that white layer on your surface is?"

Venus: You're too fond of bargaining, but alright, it's a deal!

Jiang Yu: "Deal!"

Venus: One major reason the Trisolarans must invade the Solar System is the diversification of life forms within it. Life in the Three-Body Star System has evolved so rapidly to survive that it's almost depleted the life essence. If their species want a future, they need to extend the life essence to some extent!

Jiang Yu felt the hair on the back of his neck stand up: "Life essence!"

He vividly remembered Thirty-Six once proposing the concept of "life essence," and the Trisolarans had even revised some of their understanding of life because of concepts introduced by Thirty-Six.

Venus: Want to know what life essence is? If so, it will cost one million tons of aluminum and ten million tons of water!

Jiang Yu smiled, "No need, because our scholars proposed the topic of life essence over two hundred years ago, and to my knowledge, there've been significant breakthroughs sixty years ago. I don't need to waste an opportunity to trade with you."

Venus: What a pity. As for that white protective layer, you could think of it as my armor.

Jiang Yu continued, "You need to be more specific, how is this 'armor' made? And why is this 'armor' not visible on the surface normally?"

Venus: Of course, it's for Stealth. If you don't land on me and see the life forms on my surface, I'm just like any normal terrestrial planet! As for the armor, it is formed, not made, a forging method suitable for life forms like us who can ignore time. It's unsuited to you; by the time such armor would form utilizing my methods, your civilization may already be extinct."

Jiang Yu asked, "Another question: are the orphan planets wandering the universe First Epoch Life Forms, or are they the work of other intelligent lifeforms that have pushed their planets out of their planetary systems? Or is it both?"

After a pause of about ten seconds, Venus finally said, "That question will cost two hundred thousand tons of aluminum and two million tons of water."

Jiang Yu: "Deal!"

Venus: "The darkest parts of the Dark Forest lie beyond the planetary systems. Earth today is like an actor under a Spotlight in the Dark Forest, while beyond the Spotlight, there is nothing but beasts. In the vast darkness, when two orphan planets meet, they are most likely to engage in a war that results in the dismemberment of one. The First Epoch Life Forms also thrive in muddying waters there. There are many types of First Epoch Life Forms, not all of them take the form of a planet. Some resemble a nebula, some a cloud of space dust, and some are, in fact, nothing at all—bolts of cosmic cooling substance at absolute zero.

There, both First Epoch Life Forms and planets controlled by three-dimensional civilizations are found. Naturally, the most numerous are the planets cast out of planetary systems or those wandering after their systems have been destroyed for various reasons."

Jiang Yu: "One last question, I need to know how do you control your own orbit and how did you previously manage to attack Earth and our fleet? And how did you capture the 'Enterprise'? Why capture the 'Enterprise'?"

Venus: Two hundred thousand tons of aluminum, two million tons of water!

Jiang Yu: "Deal!"

Venus: This is actually a matter of manipulation in space. To you, space seems vast and infinite, but that isn't exactly true. Any object with mass causes space to bend, and these curves which you call curvature are nearly within reach from my perspective between my location and Earth's orbit!

Jiang Yu pondered, "You can enter curvature travel at any time?"

Venus: "Roughly speaking, but it's a little different because I can see the ruins of higher dimensions. From my perspective, I have many points in space where I can jump. As for how I deviate from my orbit, of course, I utilize gravitational fields. I believe you've also discovered that gravity is a universal force across dimensions, and to me, gravity is visible, like swinging ropes. I just need to grab onto these ropes to 'swing' through space."

"Capturing the 'Enterprise' was also a trick performed in space. To me, space has many 'Holes.' Similar to your concept of wormholes, formed from the accumulation of massive amounts of dark matter, but also different, as they do not cross temporal dimensions but allow for brief 'jumps' through space."