The Wallfacer: Everyone wants to break through my wall.

"The facts are clear: the Three-Body Problem shot an arrow to the moon."

Ding Yi patted the smooth, mirror-like surface of the water droplet. The facts were right in front of them; could they possibly question its non-existence?

"Then... what is it here for?" the lieutenant colonel blurted out.

Ding Yi looked away from the water droplet. "...Destroying you is none of your business."

This sentence brought a moment of deathly silence. Ding Yi's words were transmitted throughout the entire solar system via the channel, and the accompanying officers and humans were all pondering their meaning.

"Run!" Ding Yi suddenly said, speaking in a low voice. Then he raised his hands and shouted at the top of his lungs, "Foolish children, run!"

"Where do you want to run?" the female officer asked in a panic.

The lieutenant colonel realized what was happening and immediately called out to the combined fleets of the fleet alliance outside.

"Calling for the fleet! Evacuate! All personnel evacuate!"

The lieutenant colonel's panicked voice traveled at the speed of light throughout the two combat fleets and the entire solar system. Subsequently, the two combat fleets that were conducting military exercises near the droplet urgently dispersed, and their orderly formations were completely disrupted. All the warships were like sardines fleeing in all directions in the ocean, with no semblance of order from the previous moment.

Other humans in the solar system were also thrown into chaos, and panic spread throughout the human world at the speed of light.

Then, the water droplet did not make any movement.

After Ding Yi shouted, "Silly children, run!" the water droplet remained in the same state as before it was captured, standing there quietly.

This incident made headlines in major newspapers around the world and was jokingly referred to as 'the biggest farce in human history'.

In the human world, people firmly believe that the water droplet is a gift from the Trisolarans, representing the goodwill of the Trisolaran world towards humanity.

There are many ways to demonstrate its goodwill. For example, it can reflect all high-frequency electromagnetic waves and visible light 100%, making it completely blind. This self-blinding design is enough to prove the goodwill of the Trisolarans towards the human world.

For example, its shape. Water is the source of life. Using water as its shape is undoubtedly a metaphor that both are carbon-based organisms and should accept coexistence.

Furthermore, if the droplet was indeed a military probe or some other weapon, why didn't it choose to self-destruct or take action after arriving in the solar system? It carries extremely advanced technology, and if the Trisolarans were hostile, they certainly wouldn't have allowed the droplet to fall into human hands.

All these reasons are enough to convince humanity that the water droplets came with good intentions.

……

The day after Ding Yi's shout caused panic in the human world, major news media rushed to report that the water droplets represented the goodwill of the Trisolarans in an effort to appease the public as soon as possible.

"It seems there's nothing for us to do; the new era belongs to those in space."

Luo Ji turned to Lin Feng, who was eating at his house, and spoke.

Lin Feng paused in his eating, glanced at the news, and saw the TV presenter excitedly recounting the events.

"If only everything were that simple."

Lin Feng shook his head and buried his head in his food.

……

Four months after this incident, the Solar System Fleet Joint Conference was held, and Tang Tao represented the Taylor System at the conference.

At the meeting, Tang Tao proposed that the Taylor Group's research team also join the research on the droplet, but he was met with a perfunctory response from the fleet alliance and the coalition.

"Unfortunately, we have no plans to relocate the water droplet's storage location," the alliance representative said.

Tang Tao said, "Water droplets are the common property of all mankind, and no party has the right to monopolize them."

The fleet's joint representative said, "We completely agree with that, but we need to conduct a comprehensive observation of it. Only after the observation is completed and it is confirmed that there is no danger will it be opened to the Taylor research team."

“That’s right. The dangers of alien technology are still uncertain. Sending your research team into such danger would not be good for our relationship.” The alliance representative nodded.

Tang Tao's expression darkened.

They said that if there was no danger in the observation, it would be opened to the Taylor Group's research team; if the observation was never completed, it would never be opened to the research team.

However, the Taylor faction cannot stand on this issue, because only the Alliance and the Fleet Union were involved in welcoming the droplet; the Taylor faction did not participate.

After the joint meeting of the Solar System Fleet concluded, Tang Tao took the meeting minutes to the Taylor System.

The core senior management of the Taylor Group is experiencing unprecedented anxiety over this matter.

They knew about the technology contained in the water droplet. Because it was a live broadcast, Ding Yi and his team's speculation about the water droplet was known to everyone. Strong interaction material, even when magnified ten million times, is as smooth as a mirror and reflects electromagnetic waves almost 100%.

If this material were applied to warships and even construction projects, the alliance and fleet would inevitably leave the Taylor system far behind.

A core member of the Taylor Group expressed his concern: "The situation is very serious. The technology on the droplet detectors far exceeds our existing understanding of materials science. If the fleet alliance and the alliance master these technologies, the Taylor Group will completely lose the ability to compete with them."

"That's why I opposed canceling the combined military exercises to welcome the Water Drop in the first place. Now, the Alliance and the fleet are using this as a reason to hold us back. Whether we can study the Water Drop depends entirely on their mood," a core member of the Taylor faction complained.

When Lin Feng asked the Taylor faction not to participate in the military exercises to welcome the Water Drop, he explicitly opposed it, but because Lin Feng was the core of the Taylor faction, the Taylor faction had to comply with his request.

“Mr. Taylor had his reasons for issuing those instructions,” Tang Tao said.

The core member who had been refuted by Tang Tao shook his head in disappointment. "Come on, he himself has accepted the joint meeting's decision and admitted that the Wallfacer program has been banned. He is no longer a Wallfacer."

"Watch your words. His wisdom has enabled humanity to achieve what it has today. He is a figure who has propelled humanity forward on numerous occasions," Tang Tao said with a stern face.

The other party met Tang Tao's gaze without flinching, saying, "Mr. Taylor can't keep pushing humanity forward forever. He's human too, and he'll make mistakes in his judgments."

Seeing that the meeting was about to degenerate into a pointless argument, the meeting's facilitator stopped them.

"We cannot blame Mr. Taylor; the problem lies with us. We relied on Mr. Taylor too much. Two centuries before his hibernation, people were generally shrouded in the shadow of the Trisolaran crisis. People from that era all share this sentiment. The hibernating society remains a staunch opponent of the UN Sunshine Project," the meeting moderator said.

Some time later, Lin Feng received a message from Davis.

The message was quite complex, enough to fill a book when printed out, with numerous details that could be misleading. But in essence, it boiled down to one sentence: when core members of the Taylor faction deemed it unnecessary, they could choose to follow Lin Feng's arrangements differently.

"Is this considered a reduction of power?" Lin Feng asked.

“You could have used much harsher language to criticize me,” Davis replied hesitantly from the other end of the line.

Lin Feng, who was on Earth, shook his head with a wry smile. "What right do I have to criticize you, Davis? I guessed this day would come a long time ago, but I didn't expect it to happen so recently."

There was a moment of silence on Davis's end, then he suddenly asked.

"Do I need to take action?"

"No need. Tell them it doesn't matter if I'm stripped of my power, but we must maintain our state of combat readiness," Lin Feng said.

"Are you still worried about the water droplets?" Davis asked rhetorically.

Lin Feng did not give a direct answer, but said, "Just do as I say; it's part of the plan."

"understood."

Chapter 222 The Day of Destruction Has Arrived After Three Years

Having missed the first opportunity, the Taylor system's leadership did not want to miss the second chance to capture the water droplets. Observations showed that nine more water droplets would arrive in the solar system three years later.

If they miss capturing these droplets, they will never have another chance to catch up with the Alliance and the Fleet Union. The political landscape of the solar system will become polarized, not between the Taylor system and the Alliance, but between the Alliance and the Fleet Union. The Taylor system and the Fleet World will become politically weak, just like the political circles of Earth and Mars.

Therefore, although the Taylor Group remained on standby due to Lin Feng's orders, they showed a much more enthusiastic and serious attitude towards the next encounter with the Water Drops than the Alliance and the Fleet Union, as if they wanted to send all their main fleets to seize the remaining nine Water Drops.

Given this, how could the alliance and fleet unite possibly grant Taylor's wish?

The more high-tech products like water droplets, the better. Even displaying them at home is better than having competitors use them to enhance their technological capabilities.

Not to mention, the alliance and fleet are uncertain whether the other nine droplets are the same type as the droplets they captured this time. If they are different, wouldn't that mean that the Taylor system can study new types of droplets that they have never studied before?

For various reasons, the Alliance, the Fleet Union, and the Taylor Group engaged in fierce competition.

……

Lin Feng lived in New Life Village for a while, just like Luo Ji, and started living the life of an ordinary person. Shi Qiang, on the other hand, was quite busy because he was a police officer, but judging from Shi Qiang's enthusiasm for his work, Lin Feng guessed that he was also enjoying it.

Six months after the fleet's departure to welcome the water droplet, Lin Feng saw a familiar person arrive at New Life Village 5.

"Dr. Ding, we meet again." Lin Feng greeted the man from afar.

“Mr. Taylor, I didn’t expect to see you again. I just moved here recently.”

Ding Yi stepped forward, somewhat surprised, and looked at the simply dressed Lin Feng. Comparing it to two centuries ago, it was like seeing the US president not sitting in the White House, but running off to a farm on the border to be a farmer.

Lin Feng smiled. He was too lazy to explain the complicated situation in the Taylor Department. He glanced at Ding Yi, who was carrying a bag of luggage, and helped carry one as well, just to show respect for the elderly and care for the young, since Ding Yi was much older than him now.

"I haven't heard from you since that incident six months ago," Lin Feng said as he walked.

The incident Lin Feng mentioned was naturally the one in which Ding Yi shouted "Run!" on a small unmanned spaceship, triggering a wave of panic throughout the human world.

Upon hearing Lin Feng bring this up, Ding Yi sighed with regret, "I went to participate in a research project on the strong interaction force of water droplets."

Lin Feng understood; military projects naturally wouldn't allow researchers' information to be leaked due to confidentiality regulations.

Then, Lin Feng thought of Ding Yi appearing here, still carrying luggage, and his breathing became a little rapid.

"Oh? Is there a result? How was the incredible strong interaction force of the water droplets utilized?" Lin Feng asked excitedly.

Ding Yi shook his head, his hair completely white. "I have no clue. The outside is completely sealed off, and almost no waves can penetrate the smooth outer shell of the water droplet."

"I was forced to leave the research team because I wanted to use antimatter to disintegrate the water droplet. In addition, when I first came into contact with it, I used a geological hammer to hit the water droplet. They probably won't give me any more chances to get close to the water droplet in the future."

Speaking of this, he was very frustrated. At present, no human means can detect the inside of the water droplet. The only way is to use antimatter to break it open, but the higher-ups do not allow him to do so.

Lin Feng asked, puzzled, "Was there a problem with the geological hammer that time? Water droplets are strongly interacting materials, stronger than any other substance in the solar system. Your strike that time didn't even leave a mark."

"Because this involves political metaphors. The water droplets represent the goodwill of the Trisolaran world. What does it mean for me to hit 'goodwill' with a geological hammer? The same goes for the research team preventing me from using antimatter. If I destroy the 'goodwill' of the Trisolaran world, then what's left is 'malice'? So I was fired."

After Ding Yi finished speaking, he let out another very regretful sigh.

As the first person to come into contact with a water droplet, and also a researcher studying water droplets, the combined joy of these two experiences should have been an even greater joy. However, he ended up packing his bags and leaving.

"That's a shame." Lin Feng said dismissively, somewhat disappointed. He had thought Ding Yi had made some progress in her research, which was why she had extricated herself from the military research project. It turned out she had been removed from the research group.

It is said that because of that incident involving the water droplet, Ding Yi's prestige in the human world plummeted, becoming a laughing stock for people.

"So I thought..." Ding Yi hesitated.

"what happened?"

Lin Feng pressed further, realizing that Ding Yi had something difficult to say.

Ding Yi, with unwavering resolve, frankly asked Lin Feng, "In two and a half years, nine more water droplets will arrive in the solar system. Could you allocate one of those droplets for my research?"

Ding Yi came to this village not simply to settle down, but for the other nine water droplets.

He learned from Davis that Lin Feng was in this village, so he moved here specifically, thinking that if one attempt didn't work, he would come to talk to Lin Feng every day until a deal was reached, just like when he first went to the Solar System Fleet Joint Conference to be the first person to touch the droplet.

Lin Feng laughed and said, "That's easy, Dr. Ding. You know me. I'm the kind of person who never hesitates to do anything for scientific research. Let alone one, as long as you can produce tangible results, five is no problem."

Ding Yi's face lit up with joy. "If that's the case, then I'll be very grateful to you, Mr. Taylor."

"I was just about to go to Luo Ji's house for a free meal. Come on over, it'll be more fun with more people."