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

Chapter 91 Crimes that Harm the World

The Three-Body Problem game.

Qin Shi Huang was covered in coal dust, and the bronze sword in his hand looked as if it had been quenched in coal fire, turning charred black.

"What about Copernicus, Ptolemy, and Bruno?"

"He's not here!" Newton shouted from below.

"Are they still alive?" Qin Shi Huang asked.

"I don't know," Newton shouted again.

"Go ask the Lord."

“We can’t contact Sophon,” Newton said.

"Then forget it, let's wait for them." Qin Shi Huang sighed.

About ten minutes later, Copernicus came online.

"Why are you the only one left? Where are your partner Ptolemy and your follower Bruno?"

Copernicus coughed violently, clearly bringing his real-world physical reactions into the game. He had inhaled a large amount of toxic gas in Taiyuan. After recovering slightly, he respectfully said to Qin Shi Huang, "Your Majesty, Ptolemy is currently being treated in the hospital. She was rescued by the Wallfacer Luo Qing using a water dragon and is still in the intensive care unit. Her condition is not optimistic."

Qin Shi Huang frowned upon hearing this. He wanted to speak, but subconsciously coughed, which made Copernicus look up and immediately notice that Qin Shi Huang also had some burn marks on his body, such as his sword which was blackened by coal fire.

The Three-Body Problem game typically displays the player's character based on their real-world status.

Copernicus's gaze sharpened, but he did not speak; instead, he continued to kneel.

Qin Shi Huang coughed twice more, his brows furrowed, and asked, "What about Bruno?"

"My followers were roasted to death on the riverbed while covering my escape."

In the Three-Body Problem game, everyone was whispering rapidly, and the topic they were discussing mostly revolved around the word "earth fire".

Since the ETO organization was largely wiped out, this is the first time in three years that the remaining ETO has appeared in the Three-Body game, and the reason is obviously related to the subterranean fire that occurred in China.

There weren't many people here. Only Qin Shihuang came to the council, and the rest were Wallbreaker and Newton, with a total of no more than 30 people.

"Regarding the subterranean fire..." Qin Shi Huang sighed, "The subterranean fire is indeed an unpredictable disaster. To extinguish it, even with the water of the Bohai Sea, it would take a month to flood the area. This fire will hasten the arrival of the Great Depression..."

Yes, the Future History School is also one of ETO's research subjects. As organizations with different stances but both being elites of humanity, ETO and the Future History School have engaged in intellectual exchanges more than once.

The prediction of a major downturn by the Future History School was also recognized by the ETO.

Qin Shi Huang asked Copernicus, "Can Ptolemy be cured?"

Copernicus shook his head: "Even if we are cured, we are doomed. The reason why the three of us were forced into this state by the subterranean fire is because we did not want to be discovered by the rescue army. Three foreigners of different nationalities are already a very strange combination, not to mention that we are not clean... In short, even if Ptolemy is revived, she will have to face interrogation. It is uncertain whether her true identity will be exposed."

Those present fell into thought upon hearing this.

Mozi asked, "Mr. Copernicus, if Ptolemy is exposed, can you still complete the mission of assassinating Luo Ji by yourself?"

Copernicus nodded without hesitation: "No problem. My plan is completely unrelated to Ptolemy's; they are two parallel lines."

Mozi said, "Without Ptolemy, the success rate will eventually decrease."

“That doesn’t matter,” Copernicus said confidently. “Before this damned fire, she had already released the Curse 3.0 virus she was researching. She told me that this virus had already lurked in the underlying logic of the Internet. In the data of the Internet, this virus can iterate to Curse 5.0 on its own. At that time, it will have a new name: Virus Killer. Virus Killer will only be activated after Luo Ji wakes up from hibernation.”

After Copernicus finished speaking, he added, "From the moment the Curse 3.0 virus was released, Ptolemy's mission was already complete. We don't need to rescue her, nor do we have the power to do so. As for her daughter, I will help raise her."

"And what's your plan?" asked the white-bearded old man in the corner; that was Einstein.

“I can’t tell you.” Copernicus glanced at the last thirty-odd people in the Three-Body Problem game: “I can’t guarantee that there aren’t PDC spies among you. If the PDC becomes suspicious, then my methods won’t work.”

These blunt words left the remaining people present looking at each other in bewilderment.

“There are only a few of us left in the entire ETO, how could there be a traitor?” Leibniz asked in surprise.

Newton immediately retorted: "I think you are!"

"You two stop arguing here." Qin Shi Huang was exhausted. He stared blankly at his charred bronze sword for a while before saying, "It's highly likely there's a traitor among us. You all need to be careful what you say."

Qin Shi Huang then asked, "How are the other wall-breaking people's preparations going?"

Mozi said, "I am fully prepared. Rediaz will die by my hand, but he will probably kill me too. This should be the last time I meet you all online."

"There's no need to be so pessimistic. You're just going to break down walls, not to kill people."

Mozi's expression was strange: "I'm going to break through the barrier? No, I'm going to thwart a devil's plan. I am the one on the side of justice." "Aristotle, what about you?"

"I'm still thinking about it, please give me more time."

"Hold on tight."

"These things can't be rushed; the more you rush, the more likely you are to make mistakes."

...

Three-body world.

The leader pondered, and his thought process resonated within the minds of all the Trisolarans, ultimately coalescing into a sense of unease:

"I don't know."

“Think it out and show it to us,” the military governor said.

The leader began to ponder, "Is it normal for a human being whose ideal is to destroy humanity itself, yet a human being with the same ideal to die while saving a child?"

The military governor also began to ponder this, but he found no answer.

Human research experts pondered: "Your Majesty, this is normal. We must realize that humanity is inherently contradictory."

The leader countered, "Contradiction?"

The term 'contradiction' is a loanword in the Trisolaran world, originating from Earth. Although the Trisolaran civilization has always claimed that humans are insects, in reality, they have never been less knowledgeable about these insects.

The Trisolarans' understanding of human society is similar to the Japanese understanding of the Qing Dynasty before the First Sino-Japanese War.

Anthropologists have pointed out that "human beings are inherently contradictory. For example, within the same individual, their ideals and humanity often conflict. For some humans, destroying civilization is their ideal, but sacrificing themselves to save others is their actual action. Double standards and self-expectations are both manifestations of this contradiction."

The military governor's displayed thinking: "Sir, this is not unfamiliar. In the past Trisolaran civilizations, there were also Trisolaran civilizations that sacrificed themselves for others, but most of them perished before entering the Industrial Revolution era."

...

The fire stopped expanding, and with the influx of large amounts of seawater, the area of ​​the burning coal seam, after reaching its peak, began to slowly shrink.

The only saving grace is that, compared to the incalculable economic losses, this mega-fire did not cause too many casualties.

However, the economic losses are simply unbearable for human society. As the world's largest single city, it is roughly estimated that at least several trillion US dollars have vanished.

This is almost equivalent to the gross domestic product of the United States in the 11th year of the Crisis Era.

In other words, three space elevators, an Antarctic base, and three space stations were all half destroyed by fire at this site.

The city disappeared.

Physically, everything disappeared. Almost all high-rise buildings softened and collapsed under the rising heat. Fires were as numerous as in hell. Faced with this situation, Luo Qing directly manipulated the Bohai Sea to fall down.

The Bohai Sea slowly submerged Taiyuan at a speed of 10 meters per second. From space, it appeared as a tiny, crystal-clear water droplet hanging over the Loess Plateau in eastern Asia.

Meanwhile, the sword-like aura that had separated the Pacific Ocean from the Bohai Strait in Shandong and Liaoning Peninsulas slowly dissipated.

Seawater from the Pacific Ocean gradually filled the Bohai Bay.

After the formation of the new Bohai Sea, the global sea level dropped by a negligible 3.85 millimeters.

Meanwhile, the Northwest Province, centered around coal-mining cities, was hit by prolonged torrential rains—the rising moisture made it one of the most humid regions in the world.

If nothing unexpected happens, the Loess Plateau will cease to exist under the long-term environmental influence. Since Luo Qing brought the subterranean fire under control, the humans who have recovered have begun to search for the cause of this super natural disaster.

Almost everyone believes that Liu Xin, the gasification coal expert who started this whole thing, is an out-and-out ETO, a traitor to humanity, and deserves to be torn to pieces!

Unfortunately, the truth is often not what people want. Liu Xin is a pure expert in the field of coal gasification and does not have the identity of ETO. PDC has investigated this point countless times.

Humanity didn't even have a proper law to judge him; they could only arrest him on the ridiculous minor charge of "endangering public safety by dangerous means."

Two days later, the charge was changed to "crime of endangering the world".

Given that the death penalty had been abolished in the vast majority of countries by the time of Crisis Era 12, Liu Xin was sentenced to a permanent imprisonment of up to 136000 years.

Of course, he definitely wouldn't live to see that day.

Two more chapters

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(End of this chapter)