blogombal Chapter 4 The Dark Forest
Chapter 4 The Dark Forest
Ye Wenjie choked.
It's him.
Li Youyu.
This ordinary duty officer, who had only caught her attention yesterday, appeared twice, like a ghost, at the crossroads of her fate.
She had originally planned to visit him after being discharged from the hospital and returning home to find out more about him, but Lei Zhicheng's sudden conversation made her completely forget about it.
Ye Wenjie pondered for a moment, then raised her head, her gaze resolute. "What makes you think you can? Who can you save? Can you change this world?"
Her hands never stopped moving, and the edges of the thick safety rope were already flakes. Li Youyu quietly looked at the somewhat crazy woman in front of him, neither stepping forward to stop her nor saying anything more.
He has the patience to work things out slowly.
Speaking of which, the tasks the system gave us were really bizarre.
In the original work, Ye Wenjie is the commander of ETO and is responsible for bringing about the arrival of the Trisolaran civilization.
How could he possibly push her to become a Wallfacer who protects humanity?
This was almost impossible for Ye Wenjie, who had already lost faith in humanity.
but...
Isn't that interesting?
He pulled Ye Wenjie, this woman who had suffered so much, out of the abyss and watched her speak at the United Nations, saying things about protecting humanity.
Just thinking about it, Li Youyu thought it was wonderful.
It's fortunate that the system didn't throw him too far. If it had been thrown to the early 21st century, when ETO exploded, even if Li Youyu had the abilities of Sun Wukong, he wouldn't have been able to make Ye Wenjie a Wallfacer.
Given the current situation, it's still not too late.
Ye Wenjie is undoubtedly on the verge of turning to the dark side.
Since her father passed away, her husband Yang Weining has been the only one who gives her light.
Once she personally cuts the rope binding Yang Weining's life, it means she has severed her humanity, completely degenerated into a believer of the Trisolaran civilization, and turned the meaning of life into revenge to destroy all mankind.
It was impossible for Li Youyu to gain even the slightest bit of trust from her.
But it was precisely at this moment that Ye Wenjie's defenses were most vulnerable.
Reason and emotion were frantically vying for control of her consciousness.
Reason prevails; Yang Weining falls off a cliff, and Ye Wenjie evolves into a god.
Emotion prevails, Yang Weining goes home, and Ye Wenjie regresses to her human form.
Li Youyu needs to seize the opportunity during the lull between two states of lucidity to gain a foothold in Ye Wenjie's mind.
He did not intend to intervene and forcibly rescue Yang Weining.
That would only backfire and push Ye Wenjie closer to the Trisolarans.
He let Ye Wenjie choose for herself.
The safety rope was very thick, and Ye Wenjie rubbed it for a while before cutting off a third of it.
If another third comes in, the safety rope will break on its own due to excessive tension.
Ye Wenjie started working on her target and gradually became more talkative.
"Since you know what happened, you must know what will happen to me after things are exposed."
"Do I have a choice?"
"I had no choice!"
"You have no idea what I've been through, you have no idea what I'm thinking!"
"Do you know how I survived?!"
"Evil people have their saviors, why don't good people have one?"
"Good people deserve to have guns pointed at them!"
"Why should such a civilization continue to exist?"
Ye Wenjie was venting.
She tried to mask her emotional side by constantly venting.
She wanted to reopen her wounds in front of Li Youyu, using her bloody past to convince herself to cut the ropes.
Li Youyu only replied with one sentence.
"I told you, I can save you."
"snort."
Li Youyu's arrogance drew a cold laugh from Ye Wenjie.
She didn't know how Li Youyu knew that he had sent messages with the alien civilization. Perhaps he was just making things up, or perhaps Political Commissar Lei had given him some kind of eavesdropping technology.
but,
A shift worker who doesn't even know the mass-energy equivalence equation actually has the audacity to want to be a savior.
This is truly a case of being a frog in a well and having a limited view of the sky!
Blind ignorance!
How is he any different from those people outside?
They're all idealistic lunatics!
Ye Wenjie was still hoping that Li Youyu could say something.
I'm really disappointed.
At this moment, snow fell heavily in Ye Wenjie's inner world, symbolizing the dying embers of her emotional flame.
Li Youyu's arrogance successfully fueled her desire for revenge, which led her to want to destroy the world.
But just then...
Li Youyu spoke:
"Ye Wenjie, let me tell you a story."
"Imagine there are 1 million hunters with guns in the forests of the Greater Khingan Mountains. They will fight each other for ten days until only one person survives. The survivor will receive a reward of 100 kilograms of gold."
Coincidentally, within those ten days, a young herb-gathering boy entered the forest.
His family was very poor, his mother was seriously ill, and the burden of the whole family rested on his shoulders.
He was very lucky this time, finding a century-old ginseng in the forest.
By selling the ginseng, he could cure his mother's illness and add some tiles to the leaky house.
He couldn't help but shout.
Li Youyu stopped there: "Now, Ye Wenjie, tell me, can his wish be fulfilled?"
"..."
This strange-sounding story slowed Ye Wenjie's movements.
What does Li Youyu mean?
Hunters fight fiercely in the forest to compete, and before spotting their target, everyone must lurk like ghosts in the woods, trying their best not to make a sound.
The hunter must be careful, for the forest is full of other lurking opponents just like him.
If he discovers any other life, whether it is a hunter or not, an angel or a devil, a delicate baby or a frail old man, a fairy-like girl or a god-like boy, there is only one thing he can do: shoot and destroy it.
The young boy gathering herbs revealed his presence.
Even if a hunter doesn't.
But what if there were a hundred, a thousand, or ten thousand?
A chance occurrence led to an inevitable outcome.
The drug boy will die.
His mother never saw him again.
Ye Wenjie's mind worked very quickly, but she always felt that there was something hidden in the story, something very important.
But just as she was about to discover it, the thing slipped away and hid again.
"Forest, hunters, fighting... the sounds..."
Ye Wenjie, as if possessed, changed the story's setting to the universe and then replaced each key element:
"Universe, civilization, competition...spectrum...?"
"No, that's not right."
"Universe, civilization, survival... observation...?"
"No, that's not right either..."
Ye Wenjie suddenly realized something, repeated it several times, then looked up at Li Youyu as if seeking confirmation:
"Are you telling me about some kind of law of the universe?"
No wonder they discovered the Trisolaran civilization; their minds work incredibly fast.
Li Youyu silently praised him.
When he first read The Three-Body Problem, he didn't realize it until Luo Ji explicitly stated the Dark Forest Theory.
After a brief lapse in concentration, Li Youyu refocused and said, "To defeat the Trisolarans, we don't need guns, cannons, or even people."
The universe is that dark forest, and the Trisolaran civilization is nothing more than a mere apprentice.
I only need to reveal its location slightly, and it will....
Bang~
Li Youyu made an explosion gesture, his gaze falling on Ye Wenjie's faded hat brim.
"so..."
"Ye Wenjie, am I qualified to be a savior?"
Persuasive methods based on truth, goodness, and beauty can only fool unenlightened children.
To break down Ye Wenjie's defenses, we must give her a wake-up call!
Ye Wenjie lowered her head and slowed her movements even more.
However, the safety rope was also nearing its breaking point.
In Ye Wenjie's inner world, the flame of emotion was rekindled.
"Should we believe him...?"
"Perhaps he can relieve my pain..."
"No, we can't trust him. How can one person stand against the wheels of time? He'll be crushed like his father..."
"Kill him, kill Lei Zhicheng, then find a way to kill Li Youyu..."
"Why not give him a chance, and give yourself a chance too..."
Ye Wenjie's thoughts raced through her mind.
The safety rope was just one strand away from snapping.
She hasn't made up her mind yet.
Pain, torment.
She even hoped that Li Youyu would speak up at this moment and make her choose to give up.
But he didn't say anything.
They still stood two meters away from me, neither interfering nor speaking.
"Wenjie, I'm back!"
Just then, a shout came from the cliff face.
The storm in Ye Wenjie's heart was instantly dispelled by the flames.
Snapped!
A sudden change has occurred!
The safety rope began to break along the break. At the edge of the cliff, Yang Weining, who had not yet fully emerged from the ground, lost his balance and fell down with a scream.
Ye Wenjie reacted quickly, throwing away the hacksaw and grabbing the safety rope with both hands.
Sizzle--
Ye Wenjie couldn't possibly hold onto the weight of two grown men.
She and her companion fell together toward the cliff.
But Ye Wenjie never let go, letting her husband fall.
"Help...someone...!"
Ye Wenjie braced her feet against the rocks, gritting her teeth as she looked back for help.
Li Youyu had already made his move.
He took the broken rope from Ye Wenjie, wrapped it around his waist, and threw the other safety rope downwards in one smooth motion.
Ye Wenjie quickly ran forward, getting closer to the cliff, and grabbed the broken rope with her hands.
She looked down and saw that Lei Zhicheng, a former soldier, had already fastened his seatbelt quickly.
Yang Weining is a scholar and not good at handling dangerous situations. In addition, he had exhausted a lot of energy while inspecting the grounding electrode, so his arm started to feel weak and began to fall straight down.
Just as he was about to escape the rope's reach, Lei Zhicheng reacted quickly and grabbed him.
"Old Yang...you son of a bitch..."
Lei Zhicheng gritted his teeth, his face turning bright red, "I need to lose weight!"
Ye Wenjie covered her mouth, not daring to make a sound.
Lei Zhicheng struggled to lift Yang Weining until he successfully transferred the seatbelt before letting go.
A short while later, the two survivors lay on the edge of the cliff, panting heavily.
Ye Wenjie tightened her grip on her bleeding hand, pursed her lips, and whispered two words to Li Youyu, "Thank you."