Chapter 16: The Rising Passage (Please Bookmark)_1

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When Jiang Yu saw the gift Yang Dong had given him, which was the same local specialty she had given to Ding Yi, he almost lost even the will to complain.

Big Sister, have a little more sense, will you? You're going to make your boyfriend think something's off!

You could have totally waited until your boyfriend had left, and then given it to me in private!

Amidst his silent complaints, Jiang Yu quickly took his leave. Just as he was about to step out the door, he heard Ye Wenjie ask Yang Dong why she had come back again.

Yang Dong replied that she had arranged to meet with a teacher the next day.

Jiang Yu didn't listen to the rest of the conversation, but, piecing together Yang Dong's past doubts, he guessed that Yang Dong was intending to contact her own teacher to figure out why the particle collision experiment had been halted.

Jiang Yu went downstairs to pick up the broom and continue sweeping. Following this train of thought, he guessed that Yang Dong must have completely lost hope in physics after learning the truth.

It was very possible that Yang Dong's suicide had occurred during this recent period, so Jiang Yu planned to ask Da Shi to have someone keep a close watch on Yang Dong.

After a while, Ding Yi came downstairs. Before getting into his car, he lit his pipe and seemed to mutter to himself, "Everything is uneven! Including you, including me, including the entire universe."

Jiang Yu knew Ding Yi was addressing him: "Professor Ding, please don't misunderstand, Sister Dong just doesn't pay much attention to social niceties."

"I know, and I've gotten used to it," Ding Yi said with a somewhat desolate smile. "I just don't want her to fall into despair over a career she plans to dedicate her life to, but I do feel the need to talk to someone about it."

He didn't seem to care whether Jiang Yu understood or not: "Sorry, I've said some strange things."

Jiang Yu could tell right away that Brother Ding Yi had been thoroughly dealt with by Sophon!

He remembered Ding Yi's name being mentioned in the "Miracle Project": "Teacher Ding, it's only in darkness that light seems meaningful.

"Laozi said that too, oh, I mean Laozi as in Laozi. He also said: 'Disaster may be the foundation of fortune; fortune may be lurking in disaster.'

"Hope may be hidden in despair."

Ding Yi looked at Jiang Yu in astonishment for a moment, then laughed, "Laozi is certainly not a physicist."

"Physics is just an extension of Western philosophy; in Eastern philosophy, it's merely a 'technique.' Even if the 'technique' is sophisticated, compared to 'the way,' it's just a method."

Thoughtfully, Ding Yi finished the tobacco in his pipe and nodded to Jiang Yu before driving away.

Not sure whether the big shot genuinely understood or was just pretending, Jiang Yu felt it would be wise to ask Da Shi to keep an eye on Ding Yi as well.

That night, while his classmates were asleep, Jiang Yu quietly got up and whispered a few sentences: "My loyalty to the Lord is absolute." "I truly support the Lord's occupation of the Solar System." and similar phrases.

Seeing no significant change in the Deception Points, he reassured himself and used his classmate's computer to send the "Poison Apple Project" file to Shi Qiang.

The reason he divided the stolen files into two batches to send to Da Shi was based on the idea of reaping double the reward for one action.

While Jiang Yu was prepared to gamble for humanity, he hadn't reached the height of selflessness.

Gambling for the sake of humanity was what he, born a human, ought to do, but always keeping one's guard up, never baring one's heart – these were the basics of survival.

As far as Jiang Yu was concerned, there was no contradiction in these two ideas.

In the email, Jiang Yu also mentioned that he had noticed something wrong with Ding Yi and Yang Dong, asking Da Shi for help keeping an eye on them.

After doing all this, Jiang Yu lay back down in bed. Just as he was about to fall asleep, Shi Qiang sent him a text asking if it was a good time to talk.

Jiang Yu sighed, took his phone, and went to the bathroom.

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The phone connected, and Shi Qiang cheerfully said, "Little brother, your efficiency is really high. Just a week has passed, and you've obtained another key intelligence report."

"Kong Xiang is almost squeezed dry by me," Jiang Yu said, "he doesn't have any important information left. What I need to do next is to continue to stay undercover."

"Right, right, right, that's what I was thinking." There was a clicking sound from Shi Qiang's side, as if he was smoking, "Little brother, this plan has got me confused, just two technologies, can they really cause such a disaster?"

"You can find an expert in sociology to help you analyze it."

"That's because I can't find anyone trustworthy!" Shi Qiang laughed, "I can only ask for your advice, little brother."

"How do I explain this to you?" Jiang Yu thought for a moment before saying, "The genetic modification technology document states it very clearly; I won't repeat it here. Let's just talk about the Brain-Implant Learning Technology.

"Da Shi, education has always been society's only channel for the lower classes to ascend to the upper echelons. Imagine, when you have studied hard for eight or nine years and are finally about to take your middle school exams, someone has a minor surgery and catches up with all your years of effort.

"How terrifying that would be, even if you study all your life, you could never catch up with the knowledge storage updates from someone's brain-implant chip in just a few hours.

"Da Shi, at this point, the only channel for upward mobility, education, would be permanently closed.

"It would be as if the masters will always be masters, and the slaves will always be slaves, never to overturn their fate."

Shi Qiang took a long breath, "You intellectuals really have extreme ways to harm people!"

Jiang Yu shook his head, smiling, "Don't lump me in with them!"

Then he thought of something again, "Right, this document is highly classified, be careful to keep it secret."

"Don't worry, only Chief Chang and I have seen it over here." Da Shi paused before continuing, "The Chief asked me to seek your opinion on how we should respond to this plan of the enemy?

"If we package it up, say we've seen through their plan after investigating and immediately expose it to solicit public denunciation, could that be a way to solve this problem?"

Jiang Yu's mind roared as he figured out a lot of things, "Don't disclose it, don't ever disclose it!"

He had finally realized the second level of the Trisolarans' planning in supporting the "Poison Apple Project." Even if the ETO wasn't successful, the two technologies in the plan would still be obtained by Earth.

Then the higher-ups on Earth would help them complete this plan, and the completion might even be more outstanding.

First of all, these technologies would definitely only be in the hands of a few, and to enjoy the conveniences of these technologies, there would always be a transaction involved.

Even if the price is cheap, there will still be people who can't afford it, since many people in the world still go hungry, how can they afford these technologies?

So, a large swath of the poor are eliminated.

Those who do have access to these technologies are just evading a disaster.

As things stand, there will always be a hierarchy in human society, new forms of plunder and oppression will emerge.

The higher-ups will always enjoy the best technology, but it may not be the case for those below.

Therefore, oppression and resistance will still lead to infighting among those who first enjoyed these technologies, a struggle for the right to live for themselves and their offspring, more intense than any internal strife we have now.

When the Trisolarans come to the Solar System and launch a couple of "Genetic Missiles" toward Earth, humanity will be finished.

This is an open conspiracy! The Trisolarans might be like infants when it comes to schemes, but that doesn't mean they haven't achieved anything in terms of open conspiracies.

On the contrary, because they do not understand schemes, maybe all their energy is devoted to studying overt conspiracies.

Shi Qiang asked, "So how do we counter their plan?"