Chapter 498: You Are All Insects!! The Wallfacer Restarts!
Aside from the droplets that were already on their way to the solar system, over a thousand Trisolaran warships would soon follow in their wake.
After witnessing such absolute crushing power, humanity on Earth finally realized who the real laughingstock was.
At that moment, every human being on Earth received a message—this included even the crew aboard the Endless-class carrier, Paul, and the others.
It was a string of words left on their retinas by the sophon through high-energy light refraction. Though it lasted only three seconds, every person saw that line of text with crystal clarity:
[You are all insects——!!]
The people of Earth had not yet recovered from the calamity of the Fleet International's total annihilation, and now, faced with such a provocatively mocking declaration, it was like pouring oil onto an inferno.
Instantly, the fear buried deep in everyone's hearts was ignited. The world that had only just begun moving toward a fragile harmony was suddenly thrown into the depths of chaos, a hell of despair.
When humanity's false pride was torn apart by the Trisolarans and trampled into the dirt, it was as if the turmoil of the Great Depression two centuries ago had been replayed upon this land.
Two hundred years may have seemed long and distant to ordinary people. Except for those who had gone into hibernation, no one alive could truly remember the pain and hardship of that era.
Learning of the Great Depression only from books and digital archives could never allow the new generations to truly comprehend despair and fear.
But that did not mean that modern humans were incapable of fear. The program was etched into their genetic code. And with the destruction of Fleet International, that instinct was fully awakened.
As fear and despair surged through society, turmoil no less severe than that of the Great Depression swept across the globe.
Some people, driven half-mad, wandered into the streets clutching half-empty bottles, swinging them around while muttering incoherently—sometimes shouting, sometimes weeping:
"We're all insects, pathetic little insects, just waiting to be crushed to death!"
Others echoed him, raising toasts to the Trisolaran civilization, to the arrival of doomsday—drunk on hopelessness, indifferent to all else.
All around them, more and more people hurled themselves from high places. An age of peace and comfort had nurtured countless fragile souls. In an instant, the pristine city-forests were strewn with broken bodies.
Crashed hovercars erupted in roaring flames. People gathered around bonfires, some walking into the inferno to burn themselves alive, others tossing in their luminous clothing and dancing in frenzied circles around the blaze.
At the end of the world, every abnormal act seemed justified, supported, even celebrated.
In several places, shattered underground pipes sent geysers of water spraying skyward. Children, ignorant of the apocalypse, splashed and played in the puddles, their silver-bell laughter forming a cruel contrast to the bodies shattering on the pavement nearby.
Across the vast city-forests, humanity split into two groups.
One, dulled and hollow-eyed, wandered aimlessly toward rooftops and ledges, then stepped off without hesitation, surrendering themselves to despair.
The other sought manic euphoria, numbing themselves with alcohol and drugs, chasing fleeting pleasures as though joy could still be stolen from ruin.
The once well-ordered traffic of the underground metropolises collapsed into chaos. Hovercars plummeted from the skies, crushing pedestrians below.
Riots and fires broke out across every city. Fire engines and police vehicles were overwhelmed, every stability-maintaining force pressed into service—yet it was like trying to extinguish a forest fire with a cup of water.
The whole world had gone mad. Even the few who remained rational could do nothing but hide at home, trembling, unable to act.
It was clear that the sophon's threat had achieved its goal perfectly: humanity had been terrified into submission.
Watching the tragedy unfold, Paul stood aboard the Endless-class carrier, sighing and shaking his head. He felt deep sorrow and pity for the humans of the Trisolaran Universe.
A people who could utter, "Give time to civilization, not civilization to time," could not possibly be as vile and base as this spectacle suggested—yet they had chosen the path of self-destruction.
They insisted on confronting a powerful enemy with the most misguided thinking possible.
At this moment, Morgan Blackhand walked up and said to Paul:
"There's a huge crowd gathering beneath the Endless. I think they've come seeking help—seeking salvation."
Through the AI scout's holographic projection, Paul could see the desert below was choked with vehicles.
In the darkness, the streams of headlights and glowing clothing screens turned the barren sands into a sea of fireflies, a radiant magic carpet of light stretching across the wasteland.
"Go and take a look. But be careful."
Morgan Blackhand gave the order.
Leaving those people waiting below was no solution. Someone had to step forward and calm them. And Paul, without doubt, was the best choice.
"Yes."
Paul descended from the Endless-class carrier to the ground, walking toward the gathered masses. At this point, both Fleet International and Earth International had publicly confirmed his true identity.
So everyone recognized him.
The instant they saw Paul approach, the crowd surged forward. Agent K and Luke Skywalker raised their weapons at once, blocking the frenzied people, keeping them from rushing too close.
Seeing this, the man at the very front simply dropped to his knees five meters from Paul, shouting:
"Lord! Please, save us!"
At once, the masses behind him also fell to their knees. Waves of glowing light rippled through the crowd as they prostrated themselves and cried out in unison:
"Almighty, merciful Lord! Save this collapsing world! Uphold the justice of cosmic civilization! Save the lowly species of humanity——!!"
The people gathered here came from many faiths, each worshipping different gods. Yet, in the face of the advancing Trisolaran civilization, they all knew none of their gods would descend to save them.
Only Paul—and his colossal steel warship—remained as humanity's last and only savior.
Just then, one man stepped forward from among the kneeling masses. He was the only one who had not knelt. Paul recognized him: Lin Yun, representative of the Asian Fleet at the Joint Fleet Council.
Lin Yun had once been an outstanding expert in aerospace engineering. In the early days of the Crisis Era, he had joined the Space Force and was among the officers awakened from hibernation even before Zhang Beihai.
Cold, decisive, a staunch materialist, he had never believed in saviors. In his eyes, the only force that could save humanity was humanity itself.
"Mr. Paul, we meet again."
Lin Yun came forward and saluted. It was a salute offered for the lives of the hundreds of thousands of soldiers under his command—lives that would have been lost to the droplets had Paul not held them off.
"I must apologize. We once questioned your judgment in council. But now everyone knows the truth. You were right."
"We cannot even stop a single Trisolaran probe, let alone hope to defeat them."
After secretly feeling relieved that seven hundred star-class warships of the Asian Fleet had survived, Lin Yun grew deeply worried about the second half of the Doomsday Battle.
Humanity had indeed preserved its last remaining strength, but this did nothing to reverse the situation. With just a few light charges, the droplets could easily reduce their warships to nothing.
In this battle of annihilation, relying on humanity's conventional physical power was utterly useless.
"What do you intend to do?" Paul remained calm. He had witnessed too many cases of people reaping the bitter fruit of their own choices. The current losses were nowhere near enough to stir any emotion in him.
"The Fleet Council hopes you can serve as the fifth Wallfacer in human history, leading the Universal Megacorp together with Earth and the Fleet International against the Trisolarans."
The ones responsible for the disaster at hand were humanity themselves.
By rights, Paul had given his warnings, blocked Fleet International, and even offered his own solutions, but none had been accepted.
Now that the situation had rotted to this point, Paul bore no responsibility at all. Even if he flew his Endless-class carrier away and abandoned them, it would be entirely reasonable.
Faced with Lin Yun's invitation, Paul merely smiled faintly. "And why do you believe I can save you? Perhaps our warships are no stronger than your star-class ships."
"I don't know. But it's the only way left." Lin Yun gave a bitter smile. At this point, who else could they trust?
Now, the crowd in the desert turned their hopeful eyes toward Paul. The Universal MegaMegacorp behind him was their last hope.
If the Endless-class carrier chose to leave now, humanity here would truly fall into eternal damnation. Suicide born of despair might even seem a merciful release.
"Look at these suffering people. To the devout, you are a messenger of God, bringing salvation.
"To the atheists, you represent another advanced human civilization, a hero with compassion and superior technology. Apart from you, no one can save them."
Lin Yun was clever, knowing how to persuade by forcing Paul onto the moral high ground, leaving him little room to refuse.
As expected, Paul nodded lightly with a sigh. "Very well. What do you want me to do for you?"
At this moment, Morgan Blackhand was Paul's direct superior, while Morgan himself received orders from Li Ang. Until further instructions arrived, Paul could only act according to his own judgment.
Seeing Paul turn the question back on him, Lin Yun was momentarily stunned, then answered: "You are now a Wallfacer. You can use any resources on Earth, including the entire Asian Fleet."
"It's we who will act and carry out your orders."
Paul fell silent for a moment. Since the Consul had not yet given new instructions, it meant the situation had not reached the most desperate stage. All he had to do was continue along the established plan.
"Then I can propose my own Wallfacer Plan now, can't I?" Paul asked.
"Yes. You don't need to give any explanation—just issue the command. We will do our utmost to meet your demands." Lin Yun nodded.
As a Wallfacer, Paul could never reveal his true intentions, but he still had to make moves that appeared puzzling—misleading the Trisolarans.
After a moment of serious thought, Paul turned and shouted to the kneeling crowd:
"I must tell you all this: I have never been a messenger of God, nor the representative of some super-civilization. I cannot save humanity by my strength alone.
"But you can save yourselves through your own efforts."
Through the Endless-class carrier's broadcast system, everyone scattered across the desert could hear Paul's words clearly.
Naturally, this sparked murmurs and discussion. They didn't understand what more they could possibly do.
Paul continued:
"Since ancient times, there has only ever been one road up Mount Hua. Now, we have no choice but to take a path even more foolish than building the United Fleet—a path so clumsy the Trisolarans will scoff at it."
"And that is to build more high-energy particle accelerators for collision experiments!"
The sophons' chief function was to disrupt human particle accelerator experiments, thereby enforcing technological blockade. This prevented humanity from advancing in the study of fundamental matter.
The rich, microscopic world would forever remain closed to human exploration.
Weapons like the droplet, forged from strong-interaction material, or sophons themselves—supercomputers—were fundamentally the result of the Trisolarans' mastery of the microcosm.
Humanity was clever, but they lost precisely on this point.
"If we can build enough high-energy particle accelerators, so many that the sophons cannot keep up with interference, sooner or later we will obtain correct results.
"Once we break this shackle, humanity's fundamental technology will leap forward, giving us the power to stand against the Trisolarans."
"..."
Before Paul could finish, Lin Yun interrupted, unable to hold back: "That's an impossible task."
After all, sophons could move on Earth at nearly the speed of light.
With that speed, they could patrol any accelerator in the world. The moment humanity initiated an experiment, sophons could intervene, introducing errors into the data. Calculations showed that sophons could control ten thousand accelerators at once.
And to build a single qualified accelerator required at least two to three years.
In that time, would the Trisolarans not create even more sophons?
Lin Yun's doubts were not without reason. But Paul had his counterpoint: "Sophon production also consumes substantial resources. And from Alpha Centauri to the Solar System still takes five years of travel time.
"If the Trisolarans want to engage us in an arms race by sending more sophons, then from manufacturing them to delivering them, it would take at least ten years."
The more Lin Yun listened, the more bewildered he became. Could it be… Paul intended for humanity to devote itself solely to building particle accelerators for the next decade?
This method seemed absurdly clumsy.
And indeed, Paul's next words were:
"Gather all of humanity's strength and resources, and build over ten thousand particle accelerators on Earth as quickly as possible!
"We'll race against the sophons. Let's see who's faster: their blockade or our construction."
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