The Wallfacer: Everyone wants to break through my wall.

……

Ding Yi had a pipe in his mouth but couldn't smoke it. Smoking was prohibited inside the spaceship, so Ding Yi could only satisfy his craving with an empty pipe, feeling extremely disappointed.

At this moment, the Quantum of the Seas they were aboard was holding its final meeting before the interception. During the meeting, Ding Yi saw the image of the water droplet.

The droplet's size was about what was expected, 3.5 meters long, with a streamlined shape like a drop of mercury, a rounded head, a sharp tail, and a smooth, mirror-like surface—no, even more like a mirror than a mirror.

Its appearance is so lifelike that many people thought that the water droplet was a liquid structure and could not possibly have an internal mechanical structure when it was observed remotely before.

"Mr. Ding, you seem to have something on your mind," said the captain of the Quantum.

"I feel very bad."

Ding Yi spoke in a low voice, pointing with his pipe at the holographic projection of the water droplets.

An officer standing next to Ding Yi asked in bewilderment, "Why? It doesn't look dangerous at all; it's like a work of art."

“That’s why I feel so bad.” The elderly Ding Yi shook his head and continued, “It doesn’t look like an interstellar probe, nor like a weapon, nor even like a spacecraft moving in space, but like a work of art. Don’t forget the original purpose of the Trisolaran fleet when it came to our solar system two centuries ago.”

"It's not a good sign when something is too far removed from our understanding of it."

Ding Yi's words sparked discussion among some people on the Quantum of the Seas.

"This thing is really strange. Its surface is completely sealed, without a single opening. How can something like this propel itself in space? At the very least, it should have an engine nozzle."

"But it does emit light, which has been observed before, but we don't know where that light comes from."

Ding Yi asked, "What is its mass?"

"There is no precise value yet. The rough value obtained by the high-precision gravitational wave instrument is approximately less than ten tons," an officer replied.

"Then it's at least not made from neutron star matter."

……

The officers fell into discussion, while Ding Yi, upon hearing the results of the probe, secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

Chapter 220 A Surface as Smooth as a Mirror

Two massive fleets moved in unison to either side of the droplet, and then moved in the same direction and at the same speed as the droplet.

The gleam of the engines made it difficult for viewers of the live stream to make out the shape of the warship. It was as if countless suns had appeared in the dark night sky, unabashedly displaying their power to the world with light and heat.

The warships were arranged in neat rows, and this plane formed by the sun proclaimed humanity's dignity and invincible power to the entire universe.

Faced with the sheer scale of the human fleet, a tiny drop of water is like a speck of dust falling into the center of a plate; if one is not careful, it will vanish into the vast light.

At that moment, humanity in the solar system erupted in jubilation. Everyone cheered and jumped for joy, tears streaming down their faces. Many people wept with excitement. Never before in history had there been such a moment. Everyone felt so fortunate and proud to be a member of humanity.

The Taylor fleet, located an astronomical unit away from the droplet and in a state of constant readiness for emergency combat, was immersed in a mix of excitement and bittersweet emotions.

"There should have been a place for us there. I'm so unwilling to accept this."

Glory, glory that was within their grasp, was taken away right before their eyes.

How could the soldiers of the Taylor fleet be willing to accept this?

The fleet commander said, "Mr. Taylor's caution must have its reasons. Aren't the advanced technologies that humanity possesses today enough to prove his wisdom?"

“I have never thought of questioning Mr. Taylor’s wisdom, but he is not a god after all, just an ancient man who lived two centuries ago. His judgment is inevitably affected by the limitations of history. This may be the only opportunity for the human fleet to make its appearance,” a captain replied with great regret.

They could have received the same honor, but they lost the opportunity simply because they were cautious, which made them very resentful.

The fleet commander didn't accuse anyone of being careful with their words. This moment was destined to be recorded in history, but there was no place for their Taylor fleet in history. Even the commander of the Taylor fleet couldn't help but have some opinions about Lin Feng.

Another captain in the fleet expressed another concern of his.

"If the fleet alliance or coalition gains access to Trisolaran technology and completes the missing technology tree before we do, our Taylor system will become very passive."

Then someone added in the channel, "And there was the last Wallfacer hearing two years ago. I just can't understand why he voted in favor. The Solar System Fleet Joint Conference completely terminated the Wallfacer program, which will inevitably lead to an ideological crisis within the Taylor system. The loss of faith will inevitably breed serious problems within the Taylor system."

The fleet commander said, "With Mr. Taylor's intelligence, it's impossible that he couldn't see through this. If that's the case, then he must have a reason for doing so."

"Let's focus on managing the tasks at hand. We can discuss other matters in a meeting when we get back to headquarters."

Upon hearing the fleet commander mention the current mission, some captains became even more dissatisfied.

They deserve a share of the glory, but now they can only watch helplessly as their former rivals claim it, while they stand by and watch it all unfold like bystanders.

"Right now? What could there be right now? It's just a Trisolaran detector. The instruments on the Quantum of the Seas that read gravitational waves have already confirmed that the total mass of the detector will not exceed ten tons. If you replace ten tons of total mass with antimatter, then it's just five tons of antimatter and five tons of matter."

"Five tons of antimatter might be very powerful on a planet's surface, but in the space environment, its power is just so-so, because the vacuum restricts the transfer of energy."

No one thought the water droplet could be that dangerous; its mass meant it was unlikely to cause much damage, which was why they were so dissatisfied with Lin Feng's decision.

Being cautious is fine, but this is going too far.

……

The Quantum of the Seas, on which Ding Yi and his crew were aboard, remained a thousand kilometers away from the droplet. The droplet's total mass was less than ten tons, so even if antimatter annihilated and self-destructed inside the droplet, it would be difficult to harm the Quantum of the Seas, which had strong radiation resistance.

The capture operation was carried out by a small unmanned spacecraft that traversed a thousand kilometers, taking an hour and a half to complete the distance.

This footage, broadcast live by the fleet, spread at the speed of light throughout the entire solar system. Humanity held its breath, and the entire human world came to a standstill. Even the internet, which had never been silent since its inception, became empty.

The small unmanned spacecraft carries a large number of observation instruments. After scanning the water droplet, the first piece of information obtained by the spacecraft is its extremely low temperature.

Its temperature is lower than the surrounding space, approaching absolute zero.

A small unmanned spacecraft, with a 50-meter-long robotic arm deep inside, carefully captured a water droplet. After the robotic arm held the droplet quietly for ten minutes, and the target still showed no reaction or abnormality, the robotic arm began to retrieve the droplet.

The scene of the robotic arm grabbing the water droplet was like an ancient ape reaching out to grasp a pearl. The water droplet looked so fragile that many people worried it would break under the spaceship's steel claws.

Fortunately, such a thing did not happen, and many people in the human world are truly grateful.

Ding Yi and his group boarded the shuttle and left the Quantum of the Seas, entering the small unmanned spaceship that was capturing the water droplets.

"It's so beautiful, like a tear of the Virgin Mary."

Upon seeing the water droplet, the female officer who accompanied Ding Yi exclaimed in admiration.

Unlike the female officer, Ding Yi coldly observed the water droplets, saying, "I saw something else."

"A more magnanimous state of mind, one that transcends self and others, and strives to encompass everything through complete self-isolation."

The female officer laughed and said, "You're too philosophical; we don't understand."

“Dr. Ding, we should start as soon as possible; we don’t have much time left.” Another lieutenant colonel who accompanied him reminded Ding Yi that he had to be the first to touch the water droplet before the others.

"Be careful not to break it; the water droplet looks very fragile," the female officer reminded Ding Yi.

Ding Yi touched the water droplet, and then others touched it. The lieutenant colonel who had just reminded Ding Yi was quite surprised.

"I can't feel any resistance at all; the surface is unbelievably smooth."

The lieutenant colonel took out a portable electron microscope and observed the surface of the water droplet.

"What is the magnification?" Ding Yi asked.

"One hundred times."

The lieutenant colonel pointed to a series of numbers on the microscope and then increased the magnification of the microscope to one thousand times.

It remains exactly the same as before magnification, smooth as a mirror.

Is the microscope broken?

The lieutenant colonel muttered to himself while holding an electron microscope. He magnified the female officer's spacesuit visor a thousand times, and the once smooth, teardrop-like visor became as rough as a rocky beach.

The lieutenant colonel then held the microscope up to the water droplet to observe it, and it remained as smooth as a mirror.

“Increase the multiplier by tenfold,” Ding Yi said.

This time it was magnified ten thousand times, which is beyond the scope of optical microscopy. The colonel switched to electron microscopy, and the result was still as smooth as a mirror.

Inside the small unmanned spaceship, everyone felt their understanding of the world being turned upside down, and their breathing became heavy.

Even the smoothest surfaces that human technology can process become extremely rough when magnified thousands of times.

"Adjust it to 100,000 times," Ding Yi continued.

However, what they saw was still an incredibly smooth surface.

One million times!

Smooth as a mirror...

Ten million times!

Smooth as a mirror...

At this magnification, large molecules can be seen, but the microscope screen still shows a smooth, mirror-like surface, with no difference between before and after magnification.

Chapter 221 The Greatest Farce in Human History

When Ding Yi asked to increase the magnification further, the lieutenant colonel said helplessly, "That's the maximum value. This is the maximum limit of an electron microscope."

"A perfectly smooth surface? Does such a thing really exist?" the female officer exclaimed in amazement.

“The surface of a neutron star is absolutely smooth.” Ding Yi stared at the water droplet in front of him with a serious face.

The lieutenant colonel quickly shook his head in denial, "Impossible. Its mass is normal. Neutron star matter is 10^14 times the mass of the same volume of liquid water. If the density of the water droplet were that of neutron star matter, the mass of such a volume could never be less than ten tons."

Subsequently, Ding Yi and his team examined the area where the water droplet had previously come into contact with the robotic arm. The smooth surface was the most vulnerable to scratches, but their observations showed that it remained as smooth as a mirror.

Ding Yi then took out a geological hammer and, ignoring the others' attempts to stop him, began to smash the water droplets.

Ding!

The crisp and melodious sound could only be heard by Ding Yi himself, as it occurred in a vacuum environment.

Ding Yi quickly grabbed the colonel's microscope to examine the area that had just been hit.

Smooth and mirror-like!

"We can only guess now." Ding Yi gave up and tossed the geological hammer aside. "The molecules of the water droplet are arranged neatly like a guard of honor, and they are also bonded together. The molecules are as if they are nailed down, and they do not vibrate on their own."

"That's why the temperature of a water droplet is absolute zero!" the female officer exclaimed in realization.

The lieutenant colonel found this speculation completely unacceptable. "Is that even possible? Isn't that much easier than aligning the sun and the eight planets in a straight line? Can something like that be done with electromagnetic force?"

“There is more than one kind of force; this should be the strong interaction force,” Ding Yi said.

The lieutenant colonel swallowed hard. "This...this is equivalent to shooting an arrow at the moon! How can such a short-range force extend into an atomic nucleus?"