Chapter 166: Setting Out_1

In the interrogation room, Du Sheng shook his head, "Impossible, Sophon..."

Jiang Yu replied with a smile, "Sophon doesn't tell you everything, does she? At least she didn't tell you about the 'Dark Forest' plan."

Du Sheng shook his head again with a smile, indicating he didn't believe Jiang Yu's words.

Jiang Yu didn't continue on this topic. After all, the message he wanted to convey through Du Sheng to ETP had already been delivered.

Jiang Yu leaned back in his chair and leisurely took a puff of his cigarette, "Let's play a game of wallbreaking. I'll switch roles and be your Wallbreaker!"

With a shake of his head, Du Sheng chuckled, "Don't bother, I only know about your 'Zero Number Plan' and will only disclose information related to it."

Jiang Yu extinguished his cigarette and said earnestly, "Your 'anti-escape ideology' has one basic purpose: to make humanity abandon the space enterprise, the only weapon against the Trisolarans.

"You are afraid of humanity venturing into space, because once humans do, there are infinite possibilities!"

Du Sheng smiled and said, "Even if humans enter space, it's just like swinging wooden sticks to attack the masters' invasion fleet, the masters don't care."

"No, they do care!" Jiang Yu insisted, "It is precisely because they care that they want you to stop humanity from entering space.

"If they didn't care, they would have simply let humans go into space!"

With a cold tone, Du Sheng said, "Preventing humans from entering space is because..."

At this point, he smiled, "Almost fell for your trick!"

He clamped his mouth shut as if to indicate he wasn't willing to say another word.

"You don't have to say it; we know your purposes very clearly," Jiang Yu said with a somewhat playful look at Du Sheng:

"Your goal is to let human hedonism and appeasement policies prevail, to utterly lose the will to resist... let me think, you have other motives as well."

Seeing Du Sheng's somewhat frivolous expression, Jiang Yu quickly corrected himself, "Another major scheme of yours is the 'Poison Apple Project,' with the main purpose of controlling the destiny of all humanity.

"So to control the destiny of all humanity..."

In a flash of insight, Jiang Yu realized, "Hehe, how can the destiny of humanity possibly be in the hands of you despicable traitors?

"You don't want humanity to leave Earth because once humans go to space, the conspiracy of the 'Poison Apple Project' will be exposed, right?"

Seeing the shock on Du Sheng's face, Jiang Yu knew he had guessed correctly. He was somewhat annoyed; why hadn't he linked the two things together before?

After a brief moment of shock, Du Sheng scoffed again, "Even if you obtain the relevant information, the masters don't care, nor do we.

"Because humanity's stupidity will exceed your expectations. So many people..."

Suddenly, a line of text appeared before his eyes: Do not continue any further.

Du Sheng was initially agitated. Since his capture, Sophon had never contacted him.

Of course, he had prepared himself to be abandoned, but now that Sophon's message suddenly appeared before him, amidst his excitement, he immediately realized that Jiang Yu hadn't obtained any information at all; everything was just his speculation.

Taking advantage of this pause, Jiang Yu smiled and said, "Why aren't you talking? Is it because Sophon won't let you? Is it because you're afraid that everyone will know about the 'Poison Apple Project's' plot?"

Du Sheng looked at Jiang Yu coldly, "I want to elaborate on Jiang Yu's 'Zero Number Plan'..."

Jiang Yu smiled and said, "It's no use! Our conversation has just been broadcast live by the media.

"Now the whole world knows that 'anti-escape ideology' is your ETO conspiracy!

"It turns out that the brain implant technology and genetic modification technology on the market are Trisolaran, they are an ETO conspiracy!"

Only then did Du Sheng realize that Jiang Yu had been deceiving from the start. He wasn't trying to extract any information from him but was using his reactions to expose ETO's intentions to the public.

Jiang Yu smiled and said, "You don't understand what it means to be a Wallbreaker. A Wallbreaker causes a fatal blow to the opponent. It is not just about breaking through the opponent's psychological defense and guessing their plan.

"Baluo didn't understand this either, which is why he failed."

Jiang Yu rose to his feet, and as he walked out, he said, "ETO hates me to the bone and will do everything in their power to discredit me!

"The Trisolarans and ETO are very scared of humans making contact with other advanced civilizations, so ETO will do everything possible to stop us!"

After finishing, Jiang Yu strode off, leaving Du Sheng utterly defeated.

And just as 'Confucius' had predicted, Jiang Yu had blocked all his paths.

Even if he disclosed all the details of "Plan Zero," even if the ETO released every frame of Jiang Yu implementing the plan, no one would believe it anymore.

...

Two months later, on the Moon, aboard the "Mars Explorer" spaceship.

The voice from the Xichang Launch Center came through the communicator, "Let's go through the final check one last time. Thrusters!"

The astronaut from Moon City, Mi Jingtiao, responded, "Normal!"

Xichang, "Return trip!"

The German astronaut in charge of communication, Theodore, said, "Normal!"

Xichang, "Course monitoring!"

The astronaut from America, Rolf, said, "Normal!"

Xichang, "Computer control!"

Rolf, "Normal!"

Xichang, "Network connection!"

The astronaut from the United Kingdom, Bole, said, "Normal."

Xichang, "Navigation system!"

The Russian astronaut Bishkov said, "Normal!"

Xichang, "Communication system!"

Theodore, "Normal!"

Xichang, "Life support system!"

Bole, "Normal!"

The commander from China, You Haoming, said calmly, "Reporting to Xichang, pilots are in position, all systems of the spaceship are operating normally, requesting launch!"

Xichang, "Initiate launch countdown, launching in ten seconds!"

You Haoming started the timer, "Ten, nine..."

Jiang Yu was watching this launch at the Xichang Launch Center, and his heart, just like the astronauts on the spaceship, was filled with excitement.

Humanity was finally about to travel to another planet!

You Haoming finished the countdown, "...three, two, one, launch!" He pressed the engine ignition button; the body of the ship trembled noticeably for a few seconds, and then it seemed like nothing happened.

The cameras outside the spaceship captured the moment of launch.

Huge waves of gas stirred up much of the Moon's dust.

The structure of the spaceship resembled a four-winged bamboo dragonfly; its main body was a cylindrical shape, with a large ring at the center that shared the same axis as the cylinder. Four passages connected the ring and the cylinder.

After acceleration ended, the ring would constantly spin, creating a region with gravity on the spaceship by using centrifugal force.

Since there was no air resistance on the Moon, this structure did not add any burden to the ship's ascent.

If it were ascending from Earth, such a design would be unthinkable; it probably wouldn't even reach the atmosphere before the ring would break under the pressure of the air and thrust.

Due to the weak gravity of the Moon, the spaceship ascended rapidly, and it only took a few minutes to enter the Moon's orbit.

Once in the proper position, the engine ignited a second time, and the spaceship swiftly left the Moon's orbit, speeding into the vastness of space.

You Haoming finally announced, "Launch successful!"

Applause came from Xichang, "Good luck, and godspeed!"

After the applause ended, Jiang Yu stood up and said, "Crisis Era Year 12, January 17th, Lunar Renzi Year, Twelfth Month, Seventeenth Day.

"From today, humanity has finally stepped out of the cradle, beginning to toddle.

"This is a day that will certainly be recorded in history books; ladies and gentlemen, we are all witnesses of this great moment."

Jiang Yu's words prompted another round of applause.

On the spaceship, Commander You Haoming said, "Comrades, take one last look at our cradle, Earth, for our journey begins now!"