Chapter 378: The Sea and the Puddle_1
People of the Solar System State, as well as those who had just become immigrants to it, and even those who had been tried as war criminals by the Solar System State, were not too concerned about the consequences of the universe broadcast.
Because they believed that the Wallfacer had already had a plan in place to deal with it, they just needed to work hard and follow the commands of the Wallfacer.
Jiang Yu was initially somewhat gratified by the public's trust, and he reminisced that if he had had such a rallying power at the beginning of the Wallfacer Project, his plan would have been much easier.
But then Jiang Yu felt pressure, for since the change of the Swordholder, the butterfly effect had been growing, and he would have fewer and fewer God's View perspectives to draw on for reference, and he might make some mistakes.
Now he had such great rallying power, and the mistakes he might make could lead to catastrophic consequences.
Therefore, Jiang Yu issued instructions not to blindly trust and not to engage in hero-worship; he wanted everyone to come forth with suggestions at any time, advocating collective brainstorming in response to the Dark Forest Strike.
In the following month, nearly a hundred million emails arrived at the Wallfacer Office, all from ordinary citizens with their views on the Dark Forest Strike.
Jiang Yu let out a long sigh of relief, as long as the vitality of the people was still there.
He established a special group, insisting that the members read every email and respond.
Those emails that were valuable were to be selected for further processing.
However, considering the excessive workload, it was appropriate to make some use of Galaxy II.
For the Solar System State, the second year after deterrence passed amidst the joy of victory, the passing of the former Governor, and the imaginative plans to deal with the Dark Forest Strike.
At the end of the year, the Solar System State, PDC, and Fleet International decided, after communication, to start using the Broadcasting Era from the following year.
Unlike the Solar System State's calmness, in the first year of the Broadcasting Era, the citizens of PDC, while resuming normal production and life, were filled with a sense of despair.
Cheng Ping realized that some people were going to start causing trouble again, so he began pushing hard to send more people into outer space.
Only by ensuring that there was enough labor near Earth's orbit, the Moon, and Mars, could PDC have hope for the future.
At this time, the military fortress in the Kuiper Belt received a report from Xiang Hao, Jiang Yu's ambassador to Starship Earth.
Only then did people learn of the entire process of the cosmos broadcast undertaken by Starship Earth, and the citizens of PDC immediately hailed it as the savior.
They had long forgotten the dark side of Starship Earth's humanity they once slandered, likening them to beasts in human skin.
With the news from Xiang Hao, the previous despair and the voices questioning the Dark Forest were temporarily suppressed.
This gave Cheng Ping a long-awaited sigh of relief.
A couple of weeks later, Xiang Hao reported on the process of Guan Yifan and others exploring the Four-dimensional Fragment.
The scientific community of PDC didn't pay much attention to this, but it caused a sensation in the scientific community of the Solar System State.
Because many physicists who had studied string theory previously were rather puzzled about the dimensions of the current universe.
If the universe is four-dimensional, they couldn't prove the fourth dimension no matter what.
If they say the fourth dimension doesn't exist, but some symbols of four-dimensionality remain.
Now everyone finally understood that the Four-dimensional space was shrinking or, rather, collapsing, so the dark matter that people discovered must be a product of the collapse of the four-dimensional world.
The reason why humans couldn't see it with the naked eye is simply because, even if the fourth dimension collapsed, many things couldn't become three-dimensional, so humans, as three-dimensional beings, had no way to observe them.
It was like a brick wall falling down and becoming a plane spread out on the ground; the original height was gone, but the bricks that made up the wall were still there.
Xiang Hao's report, however, provided a direction on how to utilize dark matter: to make use of dark matter might require crossing the boundaries of dimensions to a certain extent.
At the same time, many scholars believed that there was a huge riddle in Guan Yifan's dialogue with the Magic Ring:
Guan Yifan asked, "Where do you come from?"
Magic Ring: Ocean.
Guan Yifan: "Is this four-dimensional space like an ocean to you, or rather, to your creators?"
Magic Ring: It is a puddle, the ocean dried up.
Guan Yifan: "Why have so many ships, or graveyards, gathered in such a small space?"
Magic Ring: When the ocean dries up, fish gather in puddles, and as puddles also dry up, the fish will all disappear.
Guan Yifan: "Are all the fish here?"
Magic Ring: The fish that dried up the ocean aren't here.
Guan Yifan: "I'm sorry, that's rather cryptic."
Magic Ring: The fish that dried up the ocean went onto land before the ocean dried up.
Many people recalled the final statement made in court by the captain of the "Bronze Age," Neil Scott:
"Life's departure from the ocean to land marked a milestone in the evolution of Earth's creatures, but those fish that went ashore were no longer fish."
At this time, Scott had retired and was vacationing on Mars with his wife and grandchild.
When many people met the white-haired Scott, they asked about his specific thoughts when he made that statement.
After reminiscing for a while, Scott shook his head and said, "The specifics are forgotten, but I remember it was describing an essential change."
The answer was already quite clear, the "fish that went onto land" obviously described an "essential change."
But a new question arose: what kind of change?
…
Bernice had already been on Earth for half a year, and now that the Earth Province was running smoothly, it was time for her to return to Jupiter City.
The day before her departure, Jiang Yu invited her to dinner at a farm.
When Bernice saw that even Number Three was not present at the dinner table, she knew Jiang Yu must have an important instruction for her.
Indeed, after three dishes and a soup were served, Jiang Yu took a couple of bites and then said, "You've been a Governor for over half a year, what do you think about your job?"
Bernice put down her goblet and said, "I've been waiting for you to ask this question so I could confirm my thoughts."
Since it was not an official dinner, the atmosphere was rather relaxed.
Bernice continued, "I think my focus should be on planning a series of immigration programs, as well as actively implementing more plans to counter Dark Forest Strikes."
Jiang Yu nodded: "That's right. During Rediaz's governance, he had the entire nation tense, ready to unite and fight the Trisolarans."
"Your job is not as heavy as his, but it requires enough flexibility, because we do not know when the enemy will come, or in what form."
Bernice picked up her goblet again, swirled it gently, and took a sip: "If, and I mean if, our technology makes a new leap, can we, like in the 'Second Battle,' conquer the Hunters of the Dark Forest?"
"There will be such a day," Jiang Yu replied with a smile. "But for now, we are still prey that can be targeted by hunters at any time. Let's not think about countering them for the time being.
"Remember the last Black Cuboid Person's assessment of the Trisolarans? An enemy we defeated at such great cost, is just a 'low-level' civilization in the universe.
"The 'Second Battle' allowed human civilization to move from insignificance to barely making it into the 'low-level' category.
"And 171266 once said that Hunters daring to roam the universe are those confident in their own civilization.
"The gap between us and them is vast, very vast, and it is not something that can be bridged in just a century or two."