Those who face the wall, but are in the Nascent Soul stage.

Chapter 468 The Mystery of Luo Qing's Life and Death (4k)

"Tell me, does Yan Yan meet your requirements?"

Shi Qiang sat in his chair with his legs crossed, looking at Luo Ji like this.

"……conform to."

"Isn't that enough? You have a wife, you've lived in Eden, you've even brought the Mona Lisa to the living room for you to admire anytime, and you've even cultivated immortality. What more could you want?"

"No, is this the same thing? You never told me back then that Yan Yan was actually Number Ten's daughter. Good heavens, if you had told me this, I wouldn't have dared to do it even if I had the guts of a bear and the courage of a leopard..."

Luo Ji felt his head buzzing.

Shi Qiang shrugged: "You didn't ask, did you?"

"Is it something I can ask or not ask? You should have told me beforehand," Luo Ji said in a low voice.

In the courtyard outside the window, on the sun-drenched lawn, Zhuang Yan and Shi Qiang's daughter-in-law were exchanging parenting experiences. Although the number of children born through natural marriage in modern society is on the rise, it is still not considered mainstream. Therefore, Zhuang Yan's parenting experience is all the more valuable. These days, in Shi Xiaoming's wife's eyes, Zhuang Yan almost shines like the Virgin Mary.

As for the end of the courtyard, Luo Zhenxing, who was out of school on the weekend, was playing wildly with Shi Nini, who was just over a year old. They were teasing cats and dogs, climbing trees and digging holes, bullying geese and beating mushrooms (Shi Qiang's family had a glowing Puji that voluntarily coexisted with human families). They were having a great time.

Luo Ji watched this scene and then turned his head: "I asked her several times, but she was unwilling to talk to me about these things... It's my fault that I didn't think to learn about her past all these years."

Shi Qiang laughed: "You're like an eel, you slip away from any responsibility that comes your way. When you first woke up, I asked you if you wanted to go back to Eden, and you said you didn't. Then I asked you if you wanted to know where Eden was, and you said you didn't want to know... Tsk, people always try to avoid the past of beautiful things."

Luo Ji recalled when he first met Zhuang Yan. This girl seemed to have no suspicion of the world. She even drank when Luo Ji asked her to. She believed that the world was beautiful. There was even a special detail when they visited the Louvre. She often showed sadness because of the impending apocalypse. This sadness was different from the grief of ordinary people in the face of an apocalyptic crisis. Yes, only someone in a high position could raise such a daughter.

Shi Qiang emphasized, "Luo Ji, there's something I need to make clear to you beforehand. Shortly after I reported your request to the country, Yan Yan took the initiative to say she wanted to meet you. When I first saw this girl, I slapped my thigh and said, 'Wow, she's so damn perfect! She's practically the dream girl of a repressed pervert like you.'"
...When I later found out Yan Yan's true identity, I was also shocked.

I'm saying all this to tell you that Yan Yan isn't some girl specially tailor-made for you by the country, nor is she a secret agent. She graduated from the Central Academy of Fine Arts, had a powerful father and brother, and a wonderful life was within her grasp. She herself heard about this and wanted to give it a try… And although your requirements were submitted, the nationwide matching process hadn't even begun yet. It's just that everything was just right.”

"If you really had to go through a nationwide talent search, go through special training, and find a perfect girl who was flawless, would you really like her? Think about Mr. Weng, it's all about chance encounters, it's the same principle."

Luo Ji remained silent for a long time.

Anyway, thanks, Master Shi.

Shi Qiang slumped back: "Then there's nothing to worry about. Spend more time with Yan Yan. If possible, try to reunite her with her brother. If I'm not mistaken, since Yan Yan got together with you, she has almost completely cut off contact with her family and hasn't even made a few phone calls."

"Zhuang Yu, right? Damn, he's actually the commander of the Asian Fleet... and the commander of the Asian Fleet who was personally given a protective charm by Luo Qing. As far as I know, only a very few people can get such a protective charm. You can only say that this family is full of amazing people."

As Shi Qiang finished speaking, he couldn't help but exclaim, "My whole family has made a contribution to the world."

Luo Ji recalled Zhuang Yu's aged face, and a mix of emotions welled up within him. The siblings had an age difference of nearly two hundred years, and judging from his frank conversation with Zhuang Yu on Mercury, Zhuang Yan probably never imagined that Zhuang Yu was still alive.

...In other words, when Zhuang Yan accompanied Luo Ji into hibernation with her child in 2016, she went into hibernation with the mindset of saying goodbye to her family forever.

After leaving Shi Qiang's house, Luo Ji felt a tightness in his chest.

...

Following the progress of the Sunset Project, meeting with Hines, meeting with Rediaz, meeting with Zhuang Yu, and seeking out Da Shi were all just parts of Luo Ji's activities during this period.

In fact, due to his special status as a monk/Wallfacer and the honor of annihilating the Second Trisolaran Fleet, the Federal Government has already filled Luo Ji's daily schedule with activities. He is either on foreign affairs visits to the Great Ring or invited to the Solar System Fleet, keeping him very busy.

Luo Qing kicked his legs and found himself in a state of leisure.

Despite being busy, Luo Ji has been squeezing out time to work on his own things. First, he is perfecting his new cosmological theory and using himself as an experiment to figure out the essential attributes of so-called cultivation. But some things can't be rushed, so Luo Ji can only work on them slowly.

Not long after, Luo Ji found Thomas Wade in New York.

Although he didn't know what Wade had been busy with lately, he discovered many homeless vendors with buzz cuts near Wade's residence... presumably all of them were people from FISIB (Federal Interstellar Security Intelligence Bureau). Wade had actually been placed under house arrest!

The party founded by Veder is the Socialist Communist Party, which has already gained considerable influence in countries around the world and in federal governments. Since the federal government is a multi-party system, it has already gained a certain voice in the federal government.

However, the party is notorious for its radicalism, to the point of being unable to distinguish between left and right, and the federal government is often overwhelmed by Wade's actions.

During the trial of the Trisolaran prisoners of the Second Fleet six months ago, the Federal Government, for various reasons, only executed the captains of the three light-speed warships and the Trisolarans responsible for issuing direct attack orders such as the release of "degenerate matter bombs" and "anti-superhydrogen-4 annihilation bombs." Those Trisolarans engaged in logistics and clerical work were not executed. They were simply imprisoned on an isolated island on Earth called "Devil's Island."

—Then Alcatraz was destroyed by a nuclear bomb.

The three light-speed spaceships carried 17,000 Trisolarans whose remains were never found.

Immediately following the nuclear explosion, an unreported armed satellite bypassed the federal military's quantum network and dropped a space-based kinetic weapon onto Alcatraz—a long strip of white dwarf matter called "Luo Qing's Spear," which pierced directly through Alcatraz itself.

The attackers were afraid that the nuclear bombs wouldn't be enough to completely destroy the area, and that they might even have to finish off the attackers with a knife!

Ultimately, the entire Devil's Island was sunk by the 'Spear of Luo Qing'!
Fortunately, the island was guarded only by mechanical devices directly controlled by the Digital Republic, and there were no humans present, so no one was injured.

However, this unconstitutional act of manufacturing and detonating a nuclear bomb and using an armed satellite still crossed the bottom line of the federal government. Although there was no direct evidence, all indications pointed to the Socialist Public Party behind it. As the party's founder and leader, Thomas Wade was also restricted from public speaking, online activities, and contact with other members of the Socialist Public Party.

If it were just that, it would be fine.

But shortly after the sinking of Alcatraz, another artificial floating island near South America, its "Trisolaran storage dry container" facility, was also attacked by armed helicopters at low altitude. The helicopters used a large number of white phosphorus incendiary bombs, burning the storage dry containers containing approximately 10 dehydrated Trisolarans aboard the three light-speed spaceships to the ground.

At this point, all the invaders captured by the Second Fleet were dead.

This really infuriated the federal government.

Because those dehydrated Trisolarans hadn't even had a chance to be judged by soaking in water before they were all burned to death.

The armed helicopter was also unmanned; after burning the Trisolarans to death, it deliberately crashed into the fire. During the subsequent cleanup by the government, only laser markings remained on the fuselage. The markings read as follows:

Master, why waste words with a demon? Just kill it with one blow.

The federal government quickly drew a conclusion from this line: "Journey to the West, as a famous Chinese literary work, was a household name in the classic TV series at the end of the 20th century and left an indelible mark on the hearts of countless people. Considering that modern people are unlikely to read such obscure classics, it can be basically concluded that the perpetrators of this attack are people with a profound historical and cultural background."

The attackers once again targeted the Socialist Communist Party.

The prime suspect, Thomas Wade, has been placed under house arrest and is not allowed to leave. The area around him is surrounded by FISIB agents.

After Luo Ji had a basic understanding of the cause and effect, he decided to go and find Thomas Wade.

Considering that Thomas Wade's situation was somewhat sensitive, Luo Ji cast an invisibility spell and quietly flew into Wade's house. He then revealed his true form, startling Wade, who was watching the news.

"Dr. Luo Ji? What brings you here?"

"Oh, it's me. I've come to see what's going on with you. Why are you under house arrest?"

"This... is a long story."

Thomas Wade briefly explained the above points.

Luo Ji frowned: "You mean, you didn't kill all the Trisolaran prisoners?"

Wade smiled wryly: "It's really not us. There are extremist groups trying to shift the blame onto me... but the federal government doesn't believe us at all and has been conducting a high-profile investigation into me and other members of the Communist Party."

Luo Ji thought to himself, "Good heavens, an organization that Wade calls an extremist organization can only be a terrorist organization."

Luo Ji hesitated for a moment before saying, "Wade... I believe you, but as far as I know, you do have this kind of ability. So, what evidence do you have to prove that you didn't do it?"

Wade confidently testified: "My attack plan was not so brutal at all. Burning dehydrated Trisolarans to death is too ruthless... My plan was to use weather weapons to generate directional storms, whip up tsunamis and crash into the dry warehouse, revive these Trisolarans by soaking them in water, let them admire this beautiful Earth, tell them that they can live permanently on this beautiful Earth, and while they are ecstatic, invade and detonate the controlled nuclear fusion power plant on the island, slowly boil the seawater on the island, and finally tell them that humanity is powerless to save them, letting them die in despair."

Luo Ji: "...Stop, stop, stop! No, no!"

Wade said regretfully, "But my plan hasn't even been implemented yet, and that's the biggest evidence! The intertwining of hope and despair is what I most want to see, Dr. Luo Ji, do you understand!"

Luo Ji covered his forehead: "I don't understand, but I believe you didn't do it."

Wade added, "Then I'll trouble Dr. Luo Ji to clarify for us. Being under house arrest is not a pleasant experience. You should also tell the federal government not to be so wary of me. We would never harm Mr. 1379, the wiretap operator. I have great respect for them."

Listener 1379 and its "Three-Body Earth Organization" members previously lived in Australia.

Because of the two attacks on the Trisolarans on Devil Island and Dry Warehouse Island, the federal government was on high alert and extremely suspicious. Members of the Trisolaran Earth Organization are now under the full protection of the federal government.

Luo Ji thought for a moment: "I will talk to the president of the federal government about this. Also, these two attacks were indeed too serious, as they actually used nuclear bombs and space-based kinetic weapons... I will investigate the organization behind them more thoroughly."

Wade thanked him sincerely: "Then I'll leave it to you. Please clear our names as soon as possible."

Luo Ji grinned but didn't say anything.

...

After leaving Wade's place, Luo Ji went to see the chairman of the federal government and told him about the matter, but to his surprise, the chairman of the federal government just nodded.

“I know it wasn’t Mr. Wade who did it, but we can only ask him to put up with it for now… Besides, the Socialist Communist Party’s fire is burning too big and needs to be cooled down. Our main purpose in listing Mr. Wade as a suspect is to lower the guard of the mastermind. Based on the intelligence that our intelligence personnel from various countries can provide, we suspect that both attacks are related to the ETO.”

Luo Ji frowned: "Wasn't ETO wiped out?"

After the defection of the fifth generation of leaders, led by Liu Xiu, and the swift assassination by Tu Hengyu, ETO can be said to have been completely wiped out... Einstein could not be considered an ETO member at all, and he had already passed away a year and a half ago.

Federal Government Chairman: "They were indeed wiped out. I only said it might be related to the ETO, not that it was the ETO that did it. There are very few specific clues, and we have to search slowly."

You might not know this, but in the past two months, there have been multiple assassination attempts targeting Liu Xiu… Yes, the leader of the ETO, who is now permanently imprisoned in a Beijing jail. However, that prison has already suffered four sporadic “attacks,” ranging from earthquakes and plane crashes to even a macro-electron ball lightning attack disguised as a thunderstorm, and most bizarrely, a meteorite strike.

Fortunately, they were all repelled by the garrison troops, and the meteorite was also destroyed by Beijing's ballistic missile system. Currently, we plan to transfer Liu Xiu to Australia in a high-profile manner; we'll see if those people will take the bait.

Luo Ji: "This... I didn't expect it to be this troublesome."

The Federal Government Chairman smiled: "With the external crisis gone, internal conflicts naturally surfaced. However, things on Earth are not a big deal; we can deal with them gradually. In comparison, the elderly and refugees are what we should be concerned about."

Luo Ji nodded: "It's really not a big deal. Let's resolve internal conflicts internally. If you really need my help, just come to me."

The federal government chairman exclaimed, "You are increasingly resembling Luo Qing in style."

As if a 'keyword' had been detected, a call suddenly came in from the Big Ring Telescope. On the other end of the line were the head of the Big Ring "Light Cone" astronomical optical telescope system and Long, who was in charge.

"Mr. Chairman, visible light from two light-years away has been transmitted back! It's a great battle involving multiple gods! My God! This is unbelievable, you should take a look—and remember to call Dr. Luo Ji."

“I’m right here,” Luo Ji said.

A sophon of Earth quickly unfolded in a low dimension in front of the two, transforming into a ten-meter-long screen, and began to synchronously transmit the images being observed by the light cone telescope.

For the two of them, this was a live broadcast with a signal delayed by four light-years.

The mystery surrounding Luo Qing's life and death seems to be gradually revealed during this live broadcast.

(End of this chapter)