Chapter 499: Since Ancient Times, There Has Been Only One Road Up Mount Hua! An Open Conspiracy!
At that moment, everyone present instinctively drew in a sharp breath. This was truly the clumsiest method imaginable, a plan so absurd that even an idiot would find it ridiculous.
Yet at the same time, everyone could guess that this was something Paul had deliberately spoken aloud—a smokescreen meant to mislead the sophons, a lie dressed as truth.
"You've now officially entered work mode, Mr. Paul." Lin Yun fixed his gaze on him. Like everyone else, he too believed Paul had intentionally thrown out a decoy.
Although crude and laughable, its feasibility wasn't entirely zero. If it really could deceive the Trisolarans, it might at least drain a portion of their resources.
"I'm not joking. This is a plan I will absolutely carry out." Paul spoke with a serious expression, though he could tell from their faces that no one truly believed he would do such a thing.
Perhaps not even the Trisolarans would believe him—but that didn't matter. As long as he could conceal his true intentions, that was enough.
Soon, human news outlets began broadcasting and promoting the Face-Wall Plan surrounding Paul, trying to stabilize a collapsing, disordered human society.
Humans in the Trisolaran Universe were fragile, always pinning their hopes on the appearance of a great savior to rescue them from despair.
Paul's emergence fit perfectly into that fantasy. In this hopeless time, Face-Wall-er Paul became the only godlike figure who could offer them a glimmer of hope.
But when the details of Paul's plan were made known, some couldn't resist raising doubts. If this was merely a cover for the real plan, wasn't the disguise a bit too crude?
This outdated proposal had already been dismissed two centuries ago. To bring it up again now—humans could see through it, and so could the Trisolarans.
"A full ten thousand high-energy particle accelerators? Forget how ridiculous that sounds—does he really think the Trisolarans are that easy to fool? He's lost his mind."
"This is suicide! Back in the Great Depression, the global economy collapsed and countless people died—and that was before the Trisolarans even arrived. Are we trying to kill ourselves off first this time?"
"We cannot accept such an absurd plan. Best not to even attempt it—it's a waste of time. If we only have a few days left, I'd rather spend them living well."
"Do we even need the Trisolarans to assign a Break-Wall-er? Even I could tell him outright that God doesn't care."
"..."
No one really believed Paul intended to carry out such a deranged scheme. It was far too outlandish. The overwhelming majority assumed this was simply a facade concealing his true intent.
As for what Paul's real objective was—well, that was left to speculation.
Amidst heated public debate, the long-diminished United Nations rose back into relevance, taking authority from both Fleet International and Earth International, and convened a Face-Wall Plan hearing.
The purpose was to confirm Paul's execution roadmap and guiding strategy.
Whether his proposal was a smokescreen or sincere, there needed to be a concrete plan. Otherwise, talking about building ten thousand accelerators was nothing but empty words, leaving governments unsure whether to act.
At this hearing, besides Paul, there were also two Face-Wall-ers awakened from hibernation: Luo Ji and Hines.
Hines was a British scientist with political experience, versed in business ventures and research projects, a true all-around elite.
He had invented the Mental Seal, meant to instill humanity's unwavering belief in victory against the Trisolarans. In truth, however, his goal had been to implant defeatism, pushing humanity to flee the Solar System as soon as possible.
Hines' plan had once succeeded, until his own wife broke it. Yet the fugitive Zhang Beihai inherited the defeatist conviction and, carrying it, preserved the spark of hope for humanity.
Now, Hines had been stripped of his Face-Wall-er status and was here only as a former one, attending this hearing.
As for Luo Ji, at this point he too had given up his identity under unbearable pressure. If Jonathan hadn't found him, he would have buried human civilization at a grave and simply awaited the end.
Yet the emergence of the Universe Megacorp seemed to shift things.
In short, at this hearing, Paul alone stood at the podium, gesturing as he laid out his vision, while all others sat below, listening.
"Face-Wall-er Paul Atreides, I'd like to ask whether your Universe Megacorp will assist in building these ten thousand high-energy particle accelerators.
"And furthermore, has your technology truly not surpassed the current limits of physics? How then was that Endless-class carrier built?"
The chairman of the UN committee, Galnin, voiced his inquiry.
He was a Russian, with deep, piercing eyes that seemed able to see through a person's inner thoughts.
Building ten thousand accelerators wasn't something to be taken lightly. Even a false front had to retain some semblance of plausibility.
"That Endless-class carrier is the entirety of Universe Megacorp's assets. Our physics hasn't achieved any real breakthroughs. Even so, we will assist in constructing the accelerators."
Paul's tone and bearing made it seem as though he genuinely meant to carry out the plan, which left Galnin visibly disappointed.
If this was the best the Face-Wall-er could offer, then perhaps they shouldn't have chosen him at all.
"This is impossible. Two hundred years ago, the Trisolarans already had enough sophons to interfere with our particle experiments. Now, they've surely sent even more."
"Building ten or twenty thousand accelerators will change nothing. Even multiplied tenfold, it's still impossible."
Galnin's doubts echoed the very questions on the minds of ordinary people. Even setting aside the astronomical cost—could tens of thousands of accelerators truly break the sophon blockade?
Humans developed technology—did the Trisolarans not? In two centuries, it wasn't only humanity that sought solutions. The Trisolarans were no less clever.
For all anyone knew, they might already have deployed enough sophons to block over a hundred thousand accelerators.
But as soon as Galnin's words fell, Hines shook his head and said: "The Trisolarans can't produce sophons that easily."
"Back during the Guzheng Project two centuries ago, we learned much of their civilization. The resource drain of sophon engineering is astronomical."
"The Trisolarans consumed the resources of an entire second space fleet just to create their first sophon. If not for that, the fleet now facing us would be far larger."
Although Hines also felt Paul's method was idiotic, in some sense it was a slow but perhaps workable blunt instrument.
"So you're saying this plan is viable?" Galnin frowned tightly. Scientists always thought in such counterintuitive ways that it was impossible to grasp their logic.
"From an economic perspective, yes, constructing ten thousand accelerators would strain human society to the breaking point. But likewise, producing sophons places a similar burden on the Trisolarans."
Hines spoke plainly. Even Luo Ji, seated nearby, couldn't help glancing over at him. He couldn't tell if Hines truly believed this, or if he was deliberately helping Paul conceal his real Face-Wall plan.
"Please, be more specific."
Galnin turned to Hines.
"The Trisolaran goal is simple: to occupy the Solar System and colonize it. But occupation is only the first step. How to migrate their population into the system is itself a major problem."
Heinz said calmly, "To put it bluntly, a sophon is just a proton, and what it can do is extremely limited. That kind of AI crisis and chaos like in the underground cities—it's impossible for it to keep manufacturing something like that.
For any large-scale construction decision humanity wants to make, sophons simply can't stop it. At most, they can perform micro-scale interference in precision fields.
For the Trisolarans, sophons are absolutely a luxury item not suitable for mass production.
If the Trisolaran civilization really wanted to keep blocking human technology by consuming enormous resources, grounding their third space fleet and even their fourth space fleet, then where would they find the resources for migration?
Once you sort through this basic logic, it suddenly becomes clear that Paul's plan doesn't seem wrong at all.
"So I believe the Trisolarans won't send more sophons—unless they discover that we truly intend to go ahead, building over ten thousand accelerators to play a resource competition with them."
Heinz's explanation plunged everyone present into silence.
They hadn't expected sophon construction to be so difficult.
But they couldn't really be blamed.
After all, the Water Drops had crushed their proud Fleet International with overwhelming force, casting the shadow of death over everyone. Many details had simply been overlooked.
If the cost of a single sophon equaled that of an entire Trisolaran fleet, then this seemingly absurd plan might not be so unacceptable…
At this moment, Luo Ji's eyes suddenly lit up. He said, "I understand now!"
Chairman Galnin was startled, then glared at him in annoyance. "Understand what? You think this is an easy calculation?"
He still considered the plan's feasibility very low.
"Gentlemen, what do you think is humanity's most obvious advantage compared to the Trisolarans?" Luo Ji asked the assembly with excitement, the gloom on his face finally giving way to a trace of brightness.
Heinz's earlier words had sparked something in him—perhaps this was the very core of defeating the Trisolarans!
"You're not going to say it's that our thoughts can be hidden while the Trisolarans' thoughts are transparent, are you? That's an old cliché."
Heinz looked at Luo Ji impassively. Compared to absolute technological superiority, what did opaqueness of thought even matter? Wasn't it common enough for sheer strength to crush cleverness?
"No, that's only the reason the Wallfacer Project was created, not our greatest advantage." Luo Ji shook his head with a smile.
"Then what is it?" Heinz frowned. He disliked anyone acting mysterious in front of him.
"It's resources! We have the entire solar system's resources."
Luo Ji's voice echoed through the council chamber, reaching everyone's ears: "The solar system has eight planets. Even under sophon blockade, we still managed to transfer our industrial system into space.
Especially the most polluting and resource-consuming space industry—it has been almost completely moved to the Jupiter base.
This is indisputable fact. Fleet International, based at Jupiter, built starships nearby and drew on Jupiter's hydrogen–helium oceans for energy.
That's how we managed to support two thousand stellar-class warships.
Without other planets' resources, Earth would have long been exhausted."
"Go on."
Chairman Galnin raised his brows, as if hearing something of real interest.
"The Alpha Centauri system, where the Trisolarans live, has three stars whose irregular movements destroyed most of its resource-rich planets, leaving only a handful.
So their resources are extremely limited. That's why our warship numbers could so easily surpass theirs.
The Trisolarans' technology is indeed advanced, but they simply don't have enough resources to engage us in this construction competition."
Luo Ji's words rang like thunder. For so long, humanity had either overly idolized the Trisolarans or belittled them.
That was why they had always strayed, making one mistake after another.
Only now, with Luo Ji's reminder, could they begin to truly analyze objectively the strengths and weaknesses of both civilizations.
To defeat the Trisolarans, the very first step was to learn to face reality—to see clearly both sides' strengths and weaknesses.
"So you're saying this plan really is feasible?" Galnin still looked doubtful, but he couldn't find a point to refute.
Heinz, after a moment of thought, also gave a silent nod. "If the question is whether we can break through the sophon blockade, then this method is indeed feasible…"
At those words, the whole hall erupted in commotion.
This was what everyone cared about most—whether a path to salvation could be found.
"Gentlemen, as I said before, humanity's greatest advantage lies in the eight planets of the solar system, and we already have the means to harvest those resources.
A sophon can move at near-light speed. Compared to light speed, Earth is a very small sphere. It takes less than 0.14 seconds to orbit Earth.
So a sophon can interfere with ten thousand accelerators on Earth at once.
But if we spread those ten thousand high-energy particle accelerators across the planets—for example, on nearby Mars—it takes light 182 seconds to travel from Earth to Mars, and over 1,300 seconds at its farthest.
Clearly, a sophon cannot simultaneously interfere with experiments on both Earth and Mars."
By this point, even the dullest councilors understood what Luo Ji meant.
Humanity's three great fleets could all base themselves in Jupiter's orbit. Was building a few high-energy accelerators on Mars really that difficult?
"Good!"
One councilor suddenly slapped the table in excitement. More and more of them felt that Paul's seemingly foolish, yet subtly ingenious idea was brilliant—almost a perfect open conspiracy.
Even if the Trisolarans knew exactly what they intended to do, they would likely still be powerless against it.
With so many resources in the solar system, why should they leave them untouched, only to let the Trisolarans profit for free?
(Show your support and read more chapters on my Patreon: [email protected]/psychopet. Thank you for your support!)