Three-body: The Most Competent Wallfacer in History

Hearing Number Three's inquiry, Jiang Yu smiled and said, "There's no need to destroy all plants, just eliminate those that could potentially develop intelligence or aggressiveness."

Number Three expressed concern, "What if raising tigers becomes a trouble..."

"Are these tigers? They're nothing but a bunch of sick cats that we can easily deal with." Jiang Yu said, "However, we must constantly make them appear as tigers, so that people remain vigilant at all times.

"When everyone tirelessly acknowledges this, they will naturally take the initiative to eliminate such vegetation."

He continued, "In moments of human peril, we must try to be as cruel as possible, putting aside all emotions that we shouldn't have.

"But as people gradually develop, we must pay attention to spiritual progress, which is the source of civilization."

Jiang Yu added, "Although the universe is dark and dangerous, isn't the process of conquering the universe a kind of romanticism of life?

"Such thoughts are a manifestation of humanity's growing self-confidence, and we can't suppress this sentiment any longer.

"We must let everyone take on the challenge of the Dark Forest by themselves, rather than always forcing them to do so."

Number Three then reported on the progress that the Solar System State had made over the past decade or so.

The development of the matter-stream engine had been much faster than expected, and most of the warships had been equipped with this type of engine.

The fleet following Jiang Yu was now seriously outdated.

The designed lifespan of warships ranged from two to five hundred years, and a large number of warships retired from service were converted for civilian use.

After all, there is still a large market for nuclear-powered ships among civilians.

Especially in the star lanes within the star system and between neighboring planetary systems, nuclear-powered ships still have distinct advantages over matter-stream engine ships.

Other industries and technologies have also made significant progress, but not as conspicuously as the matter-stream engine.

Additionally, the construction of the fifteen new provinces has also progressed rapidly, with most of them now capable of supporting the New Continent Star System.

This has provided the Solar System State with more resources to invest in the military and scientific research.

Finally, Number Three reported that the combat plan against the Trisolarans had already begun, and the fleet of Starship Earth building the bait star system had already departed.

Jiang Yu suddenly thought, "I've had a question for a long time: why are the Trisolarans so adamant about colonizing the Solar System?

"Logically, wouldn't it be more prudent for them to colonize other planets quietly after acquiring the technology for light-speed travel?

"Why would they take such enormous risks to engage in a life-and-death struggle with humanity?"

Number Three said, "The previous guess of the Strategic Department was that the Trisolarans' actions are a form of strangulation of humanity.

"As the Solar System State made rapid progress, the Trisolarans experienced a heightened sense of crisis; if they do not strangle the Solar System State, humanity is very likely to surpass the Trisolarans in technology and other areas!"

Jiang Yu rubbed his temples, "I always feel that such a motivation is still not sufficient.

"Just now, an idea suddenly occurred to me. Are they so determined to colonize the Solar System because the life forms in the Solar System are quite comprehensive?

"There, there were once First Epoch life forms on Venus, Third Era Organisms, and humanity as a Fourth Era life form.

"If I am not mistaken, there are likely Second Era Life Forms as well, though we have never discovered them.

"We know that the Trisolarans have always faced difficulties in terms of life, so wouldn't such a planetary system be tremendously attractive to them?"

Number Three pondered for a few seconds before speaking, "It's possible, after all, Sophon can observe Third and Fourth Era organisms but can't conduct complex experiments."

At this point, Number Three was slightly taken aback, "Was I, along with Jiang Shiliu and Thirty-Six... Were we all part of a batch of experimental subjects that the Trisolarans were using to conduct initial biological experiments through ETO?"

"But then, the Trisolarans were afraid that too many of their technologies would flow into Earth, so they stopped their experiments after a while."

Jiang Yu uttered, "Regarding the Trisolarans' Poison Apple Project back in the day, I felt like they were hiding something.

"After humanity suffered a major genetic blow, we all thought the Poison Apple Project was just masking the issue with immune system deficiencies.

"Now it seems what they were really hiding was the purpose of those experiments.

"The results from the first round of experiments might have been a big help to them.

"Considering the information received from the Trisolarans, it's very likely the results of those experiments helped the Trisolarans find a way to conceal their own thoughts and led to the precursor of 'Earth Organization.'"

All these details, which at the time seemed a bit abrupt, now connected together, and both Jiang Yu and Number Three felt more and more that this must be the case.

Then Number Three voiced a question in her mind, "But we had already thoroughly explored the Solar System back then, so why didn't we ever find any traces of Second Era Life Forms?"

Jiang Yu speculated, "Let me assume, what if the plants on Earth are distant relatives of the Second Era Life Forms?

"Although No. 7 Bacterium believes that Third and Fourth Era organisms are two completely independent life forms, on the same planet, two life forms would definitely learn from each other.

"Or the later life forms would surely draw from the earlier ones. Jiang Que's guess makes a lot of sense. In the beginning, Fourth Era organisms might well have borrowed the patterns of Third Era organisms.

"We can consider such borrowing an influence of Third Era organisms on Fourth Era Life Forms.

"Then, could Third and Fourth Era organisms also have borrowed the survival patterns of Second Era life forms, or could Second Era Life Forms have directly influenced Third and Fourth Era organisms?"

He cleared his throat and continued, "Given that Third Era organisms are found everywhere on Earth, might Second Era Life Forms be the same?

"Are they so familiar to us that we've always overlooked them?

"Then, the category of species that fit this speculation would be plants.

"Firstly, their cellular structure is vastly different from that of animal cells, so much so that they don't seem to be 'born of the same parents.'

"Biologists have long believed there was a period during which animal and plant cells evolved separately.

"But what if there was never a period of divergence, and the two species simply originated from different sources?

"Moreover, No. 7 Bacterium's description of Second Era Life Forms as highly tenacious fits plants because, in terms of vitality, plants are much stronger than animals, at least most animal limbs to this day cannot regenerate.

"As for the ability to survive in space, I believe that gradual changes in the universe led to changes in Second Era Life Forms as well.

"Take Earth as an example, at first, the living environment on Earth was not much different from outer space, and it was much later that it gradually became stable and warm.

"In order to occupy more living space, the Second Era Life Forms would certainly have had to give up some things."

Jiang Yu finished his speculation in one breath, and the two were silent for a long while.

Finally, Number Three broke the silence, "This speculation could shock the entire biological community."

Jiang Yu waved his hand, "Let the biologists worry about that, I still need to focus on preparing for the upcoming visits.

"To speak the truth, the diversity of life is indeed an eye-opener."