Chapter 143: Falling Behind_1

The people in the meeting room fell silent; Jiang Yu's words made them uncomfortable, but they didn't know how to refute him.

Jiang Yu's speech continued, "I remember reading a phrase in a book:

At some point, humanity developed an illusion, believing that survival had become something easy to achieve!"

"Abandon this illusion! Only with the determination to stake everything can we possibly survive!"

"Only if we survive first can we afford to talk about morality! Otherwise, if humanity perishes, whose morality are you even discussing? With ghosts?"

"Even if you want to discuss it, go talk to the Trisolarans!"

"If upon hearing about human moral values they decide not to invade the Solar System, you will be humanity's greatest heroes!"

Jiang Yu smiled, but no one in the venue could muster a smile.

Indeed, fundamentally speaking, it was the Trisolaran invasion that provoked the human world into these crazy acts.

But would the Trisolarans even listen to their moralizing?

Jiang Yu added, "Since none of you have much to say, then get to work and shoulder the responsibilities you're supposed to bear, trying to find a way out for humanity!"

A researcher asked, "If we find a way for humanity to evolve, will we win this war?"

"I don't know!" Jiang Yu laughed. "But without trying, how can you be sure we won't win?"

"And please remember, this project does not stipulate that Super Soldiers should only be cultivated through evolution.

"Achieving artificial evolution would be ideal, but that's only one of the means.

"Our ultimate goal is to cultivate a force capable of fighting the Trisolarans.

"During this process, breakthroughs in the field of genetics might become crucial for the future!"

The venue fell into a brief quiet again, some people pondering the relationship between morality and survival, while others were already finding their work deeply meaningful.

Seizing the momentum, Jiang Yu continued, "Since everyone's here, let's also discuss the direction of our future work."

He asked Bo Xiangdong, "Are there other test subjects?"

Bo Xiangdong shook his head, "There are only these two test subjects that are representative."

Jiang Yu nodded, "Then let's discuss the achievements you have made in the last five years."

Bo Xiangdong said, "There are two technological achievements, one is the artificial womb, and the other is accelerating the growth of Clones.

"The artificial womb goes without saying, we've designed the first incubator that can develop a zygote into a full-grown embryo.

"Accelerating the growth of Clones is to avoid the psychological pressure on the staff, so that no experiments of any kind will be performed on the test subjects during their childhood.

"Of course, we will follow the most basic humanitarian principles and will not conduct live experiments; the so-called 'experiments' are just a series of observations and discovering their maximum potential through communication.

"Their DNA stimulation experiments using different methods are already completed before they are born; after they are alive, it is actually time for us to observe the results of the experiments."

"Now, in about one year and seven months, we can cultivate a Clone to around the age of ten compared to a normal person."

Jiang Yu was taken aback, "Are these two technologies new achievements? I remember there was cloned sheep, test-tube babies, and the like before?"

Bo Xiangdong laughed and said, "You may have been misled by those science fiction movies. Test-tube babies are just about artificial insemination—they still require a woman's womb to develop."

"Cloning is the same, except it starts with a more pure form of DNA rather than the original fertilized egg."

Jiang Yu nodded, "Our technology in cloning humans is much less advanced than we imagined."

"Right," Bo Xiangdong said, "Because any experiment involving cloning humans was strictly prohibited before we knew about the Trisolaran invasion!"

Jiang Yu sat back in his chair, "Now that we're in the Crisis Era, we shouldn't let the moral standards of the Common Era restrict us!"

He paused and added, "But we still need to have a bottom line—stick to what I always say, try to minimize their suffering, no live experiments, no organ trafficking!"

"Alright, continue with the results!"

Bo Xiangdong said, "There's another theoretical breakthrough: with modern human technology, there's no way to stimulate genes to promote human evolution!"

He sighed deeply before continuing, "We owe a debt of gratitude to Team Leader Jiang for providing us with the data, and Jiang Shiliu for her cooperation."

"According to Team Leader Jiang's information, Jiang Shiliu was called the perfect human by the Trisolarans."

"We sent a team to Shanghai to test Jiang Shiliu. Her coordination abilities are unmatched by normal people, and her intelligence crushes all of us here—perhaps even doubling ours."

"We took samples of her DNA for observation, and found they were not much different from that of a normal person."

Jiang Yu again had an ominous premonition, "What does that imply?"

Bo Xiangdong replied helplessly, "It means that our genetic technologies are on a completely different level from the Trisolarans! We can't even understand the results of their experiments!"

"It's likely that we need to look at an even more microscopic level to unravel this mystery, but with Sophon present, this kind of research simply cannot be done."

"That's why I plan to change our approach, looking into chimeras for inspiration to unlock the potential of the human body."

"Additionally, Jiang Shiliu has expressed her willingness to help us design some sensor-based intelligent prosthetics that integrate artificial intelligence technology with the human body through surgery."

"However, she has one condition: she wants to take those experimental subjects who have completed their effective observation, or those whose time is running out, into her care."

Jiang Yu thought of Number Three, who was always with Jiang Shiliu, "Agree to her request, and cooperate with her actions as much as possible."

This way, Jiang Yu felt that some of his own sins might be lessened.

At that moment, he suddenly sat up straight, realizing that this might only be the beginning of breaking away from past moral standards!

Let there be sins, then. Ever since the Trisolarans discovered the Earth civilization, humanity didn't have the luxury of being indecisive anymore.

The meeting proceeded with just Jiang Yu and Bo Xiangdong discussing, but the mood of the other attendees was influenced to some extent by the two of them. At the very least, they felt less repulsed by their work.

...

Far across the ocean in America.

Tyler had been in a state of agitation recently. Just as he was about to go underground to temporarily calm his nerves by observing the "dance" of the confined mega-nuclei in magnetic fields, a visitor arrived unexpectedly.

The visitor was dressed in a crumpled suit, with a similarly wrinkled tie. He was thin, with a pale yellow complexion suggesting malnourishment.

Tyler found him somewhat familiar and was just about to ask why the visitor was looking for him when the visitor spoke first in a humble tone, "Wallfacer Frederi Taylor, I am your Wallbreaker!"

Tyler suddenly remembered—the visitor's photograph was in the information that Jiang Yu, another Wallfacer, had given him five years ago!