Chapter 349: No Power to Fight Back_1

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One might say the Solar System is too vast, or that The Waterdrop is too small.

In any case, if The Waterdrop were to remain in stealth mode, with humanity's current capabilities, it would be very difficult to find any trace of it.

A few intelligence officers had a profound discussion and also consulted many experts, ultimately concluding that if The Waterdrop really were lurking somewhere in the Solar System, then it would most likely be in one of three places.

First, inside the orbit of Venus, where most of the Solar System's known asteroids are in the main asteroid belt.

However, there are also tens of thousands of Near-Earth asteroids, and there are asteroids within Earth's orbit too, where the intense sunlight makes it difficult to spot them with optical telescopes.

It becomes necessary to use radio telescopes, or the new kind of neutrino telescopes to search for them.

Even if found, they could only be simply classified as either rocky or metallic constructs.

Moreover, after the five intelligence personnel confirmed with relevant departments, they discovered that before this, all telescopes were basically pointed out of the Solar System, except when studying the Sun, and never inward for detection.

This makes it easy for the Trisolarans to use a tactic akin to "the darkness beneath the lamp."

Second, beyond Jupiter's orbit, like the Near-Earth orbit, it isn't that there's only Jupiter and its moons on Jupiter's orbit, and neither is there nothing between Jupiter's orbit and Saturn's orbit.

In these areas, there are many small celestial bodies which might not be discovered for several centuries, as they hide in the shadows.

This is why these areas are considered by intelligence officers to be the most likely hiding spots for The Waterdrop.

Third is the main asteroid belt, where the multitude of celestial bodies is very complex, and several additional small bodies wouldn't be noticed by anyone.

However, the Solar System State now has over eight thousand mining platforms patrolling the main asteroid belt, which equates to over eight thousand human probes.

While in the vastness of the main asteroid belt, this number of spacecraft isn't worth mentioning, it does increase the risk of exposure.

Jiang Yu was very satisfied with the analysis of these five officers.

He went public with his conversation with 171266, primarily to test whether the First Legion, stationed within the Earth Civilization Circle, had become complacent.

The First Legion of the Solar System State has always been jokingly referred to as the "retirement legion," for it's in charge of Earth, the Moon, Mars, and later the Mercury Defense Zone, areas which are said to be devoid of any real danger.

However, this was where complacency could not be afforded; first, because of the ill-intentioned Venus nearby, and second, regardless of whether Jiang Yu's plans succeeded or not, Earth was going to experience a small-scale war.

Following this intelligence analysis, Jiang Yu finally relaxed. Considering the efficiency, positive attitude, and sufficiently broad perspective of these five officers, he had nothing to worry about.

If these officers had performed as carelessly as the PDC officials did towards Sophon and the Trisolarans, Jiang Yu reckoned he might have slapped the commander of the First Legion to death.

Even if it would displease Logic in the future, he would still have slapped!

The newly established intelligence group made active preparations for Jiang Yu, and three days later, in the afternoon, he returned to his residence as usual, had dinner with his daughter, played with her for a while, and coaxed her to sleep.

Then Jiang Yu brewed himself a cup of tea in the small pavilion in the courtyard, massaged his calves for a while, and finally lay on the lounge chair to appreciate the summer's night scenery.

After spending a long time in space, his leg muscles inevitably atrophied somewhat, and he had yet to fully adapt to Earth's gravitational environment.

Jiang Yu didn't turn on the lights; by the moonlight, he could see a vague silhouette of the distant woods, the pond, and the fruit trees.

A breeze of summer wind blew, causing these shadows to sway to and fro, as if they were dancing to a rhythm that perfectly matched nature's own.

The insect noises ebbed and flowed, occasionally accompanied by the croak of a frog.

In such a tranquil environment, Jiang Yu nearly fell asleep.

Suddenly, another line of text appeared before his eyes: Wallfacer, I am pleased to communicate with you once again.

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Jiang Yu's drowsiness was completely gone, "If you didn't show up, I would have fallen asleep by now, and I'm also very grateful for the intelligence you've provided before."

171266: I took advantage of my position to help you search with a Sophon, and we confirmed that the two "Waterdrops" are definitely in the main asteroid belt of the Solar System. Sadly, my authority is not sufficient to pinpoint their exact locations.

Jiang Yu said earnestly, "Don't do anything this dangerous in the future. Just knowing that the two 'Waterdrops' exist is already of great help to us. Leave the searching to us!"

The implication of these words was self-evident: I'm starting to believe you!

171266: Good. What should we talk about this time?

Jiang Yu was prepared: "Talk about your special Space City. I've received intelligence from Bai Xiao that that Space City was built on the ruins of interstellar wreckage?

"What kind of wreckage is that? Did you obtain your advanced technology from it? Are things like the 'Dark Square' common in space?"

The last question was the key to Jiang Yu's inquiry.

171266: "I'm pleased that you've asked the question yourself.

The intelligence Bai Xiao obtained back then was correct. I have seen his conversation with the former Sophon administrator and pieced together the answers he wanted, little by little.

Regrettably, that Space City is also top-secret in the Trisolaran World, and we ordinary Trisolarans have limited information as well.

Therefore, at that time, Bai Xiao could only get a vague answer. My position is higher than the previous Sophon administrator, so I know a bit more.

We do not know when that spaceship arrived in the Three-Body Star System; by the time we discovered it, it had lost all power and was reportedly significantly damaged.

Otherwise, we might have been like you, unable to open this spaceship for a long time when studying the 'Dark Square.'

We didn't find any intelligent life's bodies on the spaceship, so initially, the Academy of Sciences didn't prioritize this spaceship. They thought it was a heritage from a previous cycle of civilization.

Building a Space City around it was purely because many areas inside the wreck could be converted into airtight environments, saving a lot of construction resources.

It was said that only after in-depth research on the spaceship did we realize the technology aboard was completely different from that of the Trisolaran World. It didn't seem like a legacy of a past civilization.

It wasn't until after we had contact with humanity and confirmed the existence of other civilizations in the universe that we dared to determine it was a spaceship from another civilization.

Some of our technologies were inspired by the study of the spaceship, such as the unfolding of other dimensions of a proton.

Back then, we had already mastered Quantum Entanglement Technology, and it was the combination of the two that led to the design of Sophons.

As for whether such relics are common in the universe? I'm not sure, but when we explored other star systems using Sophons, we did encounter another kind of Advanced Civilization's spaceship.

It appeared to be a wreck but was highly aggressive. The Sophon hadn't even approached when it was destroyed by it.

Such discoveries made us hesitant to recklessly send out Sophons. Theoretically, an Advanced Civilization should have more sophisticated exploration methods than Sophons; why then have the Trisolaran and human worlds not been exposed to this day?

It's possible that we're just lucky, or more likely that Advanced Civilizations are also cautious about exploring.

Advanced Civilizations should be able to locate the Three-Body Star System using Sophons. Their means of exploration and preventing exploration must be many times more sophisticated than ours!

Only with a degree of confidence would they wander through the universe, launching a Dark Forest Strike.

Therefore, when facing a Dark Forest Strike, don't think about counterattacking! Because we're simply no match for them! This is all the intelligence I have."

After a long silence, Jiang Yu committed these words to memory, then said, "This intelligence is crucial for us! It has also solved the puzzles I've had for a long time!"

171266: I'm glad you're satisfied. Additionally, I inadvertently learned that the intelligence department, through some clues, has speculated that in the past forty years, the Solar System State's fusion engines have been upgraded twice, is that correct?

Jiang Yu immediately became alert!