Chapter 152: Implementing Plan Zero_1

Di Fengyi first locked the door of the ward from the inside and then cranked Jiang Yu's hospital bed up, allowing him to sit up halfway in bed.

There was a television in the ward, and Di Fengyi played the materials he brought on it.

The materials were mainly news clips, reporting on the "anti-escapeism" movement sweeping across the globe.

The first piece of news reported that many protesters were sitting quietly around the newly built space elevator, blocking roads and preventing any traffic from entering or leaving.

As the news played one after another, many places had evolved into violent conflicts, with protesters smashing the offices of the Lunar City Project Team.

The Bil group was forced to temporarily suspend the team's work.

Di Fengyi explained from the side, "Fortunately, much of the team's work has been transferred to the Moon, which is why the work progress was not greatly affected."

The news also featured supporters of Jiang Yu confronting the protesters.

Jiang Yu's cultural company has been in normal operation, and for years has been actively promoting the idea that "anti-escapeism" is increasingly resembling self-mutilation of civilization.

To Jiang Yu's relief, most of his supporters had not been influenced by the ideology of "anti-escapeism."

Jiang Yu collected his thoughts and continued to watch the news; the global protest movement had started a month ago.

By now, all space projects had suffered significant setbacks. If it wasn't for Jiang Yu's prior insistence on installing equipment that converted carbon dioxide into starch on the space station, many astronauts would be starving.

All the space facilities on the ground were now almost completely paralyzed.

Even though military and police were deployed, and despite the loss of lives, the movement showed no signs of ending, and the actions of the protesters were intensifying.

After the materials Di Fengyi brought finished playing, he turned off the television and whispered, "Just as you anticipated, behind 'anti-escapeism,' there are manipulators; otherwise, the protests around the world couldn't have erupted simultaneously.

"The opponent's operation is like boiling a frog in warm water; by the time PDC realized the danger, the situation was already out of control.

"Now, the protesters have spent much of their energy, and as far as we know, some of them are starting to question their current actions.

"Everything is exactly as you predicted three years ago; now is the time when the protesters are exhausted and when it's the best time for us to make a move."

Other than Jiang Yu, Di Fengyi was the only one who knew the full details of the "Zero Plan," and he was utterly in awe of Jiang Yu's foresight from three years ago.

But even he only knew the full scope of the plan, not its purpose!

The purpose of the "Zero Plan" had always been hidden in Jiang Yu's heart alone.

Di Fengyi paused before saying, "The preparatory work for the first stage of the 'Zero Plan' is all ready, and 80% of the preparation for the second stage is also completed."

Jiang Yu smiled at the air in the sickroom, with a hint of weakness, "Teacher, get ready for the surprise that's coming next!"

He said to Di Fengyi, "Execute the 'Zero Plan'!"

Di Fengyi opened his laptop and, after some operations, handed it to Jiang Yu.

The weakened Jiang Yu used all his strength to press the Enter key.

Then, in spoken form, he input a phrase into the system executing the plan.

Jiang Yu's voice immediately turned into lines of text resembling symbols.

At the same time, a weak radio wave was emitted from a secret base several kilometers away, sent to the Moon, and from there, it headed straight for Mars.

The "Zero Plan," hidden for three years, officially began execution.

This plan was a true Wallfacer Project, and even with full knowledge of the plan, Di Fengyi only roughly understood Jiang Yu's purpose at this moment.

He suppressed the excitement in his heart and methodically packed up his laptop, "The achievements of the biological group, I will report back to you in a few days.

"Please make sure to rest, and I'll come to report on the progress of 'Plan Zero' tomorrow."

Jiang Yu nodded, and whispered a warning, "Proceed with everything according to the previous arrangements! We must be cautious!"

"Yes!" Di Fengyi responded and quickly departed.

...

Two hours later, Chile, Tololo Mountain Intercontinental Observatory in America.

Cater, a staff member of the observatory, came running with a video phone in hand: "Dr. Linge, it's a call from the White House!"

This Dr. Linge was the very same astronomer who, three years ago, had used "Hubble II" to observe "The Brush" for the first time.

Linge, who had been lost in thought while watching the sunset, snapped to attention, took the phone, and said, "Hello, this is Linge." While speaking, he waved his hand, signaling Cater to leave.

From the phone came a clear voice, "Doctor, this is Blyman, the science advisor from the President's office. The president has asked me to verify, is your report earlier true?"

Linge took a deep breath, "In the past hour, I have made calls to all the major observatories in America, and the results have been consistent!

"Two hours ago, we received strange signals from Mars, and we can confirm that it's an intelligent signal, unlike the random signals we've received before."

Blyman asked, "Is it possible to decode it?"

Linge's hand trembled slightly, "It's an electromagnetic wave signal. The amount of information wasn't too substantial, but after processing, we obtained an image filled with symbols, and a simple computer program.

"The symbols on the image appear to be some kind of writing, and the accompanying computer program is likely a universal decryption program. We'll need language experts and computer scientists to crack it."

"You seem quite excited?"

Linge almost laughed nervously, "We've received an image! That suggests the sender also has visual organs, or at least, they knew that they could communicate with Earthlings through images.

"If it's the latter, then we are once again at an absolute disadvantage, as if facing the Trisolarans!

"Mr. Blyman, get excited or start shaking! Earth seems to be favored or cursed — aside from the Trisolaran Civilization, we have actually received a message from another civilization."

Blyman continued to ask, "To my knowledge, there's no life on Mars; where does the signal originate from?"

Linge confidently asserted, "That's exactly what's so terrifying. I have just used satellites in Mars Orbit to observe, and there's nothing but rocks and sand at the signal's source."

"Could the signal be from other countries' Mars probes?"

Linge replied, "I've checked the location of Mars probes and satellites from America, China, Russia, and the European Union.

"Even satellites from India and Japan that have been decommissioned have been accounted for, and there's no human equipment at the location of the signal."

"Doctor, there's no life on Mars; it's impossible for signals to emit from there without cause!"

Linge spread his hands, "This is precisely why I'm so unsettled — Mars is too close to us!

"Unlike Trisolaris, even if we were to engage in warfare, it would be four centuries away.

"Mars is only a few tens of millions of kilometers from us!"

Blyman paused for a moment, "One last question, have other countries also received this signal at the same time?"

Linge nodded, "China's Sky Eye, Russia's Academy of Sciences Observatory, and so on. The signal's frequency band is wide, so even some civilian observatories would have certainly received the same information."

Blair said, "Thank you, Dr. Linge, for your explanation. I must also remind you to keep this strictly confidential.

"You must understand, if this news is made public, the whole world will be as unsettled as you are."