The Wallfacer: Everyone wants to break through my wall.

"What does their destruction have to do with you and me?"

Lin Feng continued, “In this universe, destruction is the norm. If you feel pity for the life that may exist in these five worlds I broadcast, please also have pity for the bacteria and viruses that die because of your body’s immune system. They are also living beings, and you are still alive in this world, which means you are taking away their lives every moment.”

“That’s different. I’m talking about civilization, you’re talking about life,” Cheng Xin said.

Lin Feng retorted, "How is it different? How advanced can humans be? Aren't we still eating, drinking, and defecating? Aren't we all feeding on negative entropy? Intelligent species that form civilizations are simply better at surviving than ordinary life forms. In the heat death of the universe, we all have to die, don't we?"

For a moment, Cheng Xin was speechless; she only felt sadness.

If you destroy five worlds, then you should bear the sins of those five worlds. Perhaps in those five worlds, there happens to be a civilization as advanced as humanity, where they also have joys and sorrows, family and friends, and their own curiosity about the universe.

Unfortunately, all of that is gone, because a human in the solar system was casually destroyed in an attempt to persuade another civilization to do something small.

What Cheng Xin found sad was nothing more than sentimental nonsense to Lin Feng. Why not feel sad about the food's feelings while eating?

When killing chickens and pigs, they struggle painfully as they are bled. Why doesn't anyone consider their feelings?

Seeing Cheng Xin still immersed in a heavy sense of guilt, Lin Feng said, "Cheng Xin, I have a task for you to complete."

“You cannot refuse, otherwise I will cancel the meeting between Yun Tianming and you,” Lin Feng added.

Cheng Xin forced herself to compose herself, not only for her meeting with Yun Tianming, but also for the five destroyed worlds.

If she failed to meet Yun Tianming, wouldn't that mean the destruction of the five worlds was completely worthless? A strong sense of morality made her naturally accept the task that Lin Feng hadn't even revealed the details of.

"What is the mission?" Cheng Xin asked.

Lin Feng said, "Join the light speed curvature spaceship research project led by Wade and develop light speed curvature."

Upon hearing Lin Feng mention Wade, Cheng Xin's eyes widened in surprise. She was astonished that she would actually run into Wade again.

Lin Feng continued, "Because the Trisolaran civilization developed light-speed warp drive spaceships, they left behind indelible slow-light trails within their own star system. These trails would attract the attention of passing spaceships in the universe, which is why the Trisolaran civilization relocated en masse. Once the Trisolaran star system is exposed, the existence of humanity in the solar system will also likely be exposed."

"Not many people know about this right now because I'm worried it might cause unnecessary panic, so I plan to announce it when the time is right."

"The light-speed warp drive spaceship is one of several human self-rescue projects, and we urgently need talents like you."

Lin Feng assigned Cheng Xin this task not so that she would research light-speed warp spaceships, but to keep her busy so that even sleeping was a luxury. This way, he could ensure that she wouldn't cause any trouble. This was also the reason he called her to the Taylor Department.

If this possibility is eliminated at the physical level, then the development in the original work will not occur.

Lin Feng had considered killing Cheng Xin outright, but Yun Tianming liked Cheng Xin. After all, she was a lone hero who ventured deep into the Trisolaran world. Even though she was abandoned by the human world, she did not completely abandon humanity in the end, providing humanity with three stories that hinted at various things in the universe.

Heroes fight on the front lines, and when they turn around, the person they love has been killed. What kind of situation is this? This goes against Lin Feng's personal principles. Besides, Lin Feng has made arrangements in other aspects. Cheng Xin cannot access the rights of the Swordholder. Even if she could, there are other Swordholders to protect her.

Unless she can instantly seize the authority of all the Swordholders and deprive the human colonies of their ability to use stellar broadcasting, she simply cannot do what was described in the original story.

"Wouldn't researching a light-speed warp drive spaceship leave a trail?" Cheng Xin asked worriedly.

From Lin Feng's words, Cheng Xin learned that light-speed warp drive spaceships leave a trail.

Lin Feng admitted, "It will remain, so the experiment will not be conducted in the solar system. The actual experiment will be carried out by the human fleet outside the solar system. Your job is to conduct theoretical research and tell the human fleet outside the solar system how exactly to build a light speed warp spaceship."

Cheng Xin felt relieved after receiving Lin Feng's reply. She was still worried about what would happen if all the humans in the solar system resisted her research on light-speed warp drive spaceships, since researching such things would leave a trail.

However, Cheng Xin's heart, which had just settled down, was quickly raised again by Lin Feng's next words.

"There's one more thing I need to remind you of," Lin Feng said.

"Do not leave the Taylor Group headquarters in any form. If you do, the Taylor Group fleet anchored outside will kill you and your ship immediately, regardless of the cost."

The thought of a fleet being annihilated, along with its crew, in the first instance, regardless of cost, sent chills down Cheng Xin's spine.

"Why...?"

Cheng Xin looked at Lin Feng in disbelief. She couldn't understand why she would be being watched by a fleet.

At this moment, Cheng Xin realized that the Taylor Group headquarters was the prison where she was being held, only it was much larger than a regular prison.

"At the time, it was because it was part of the plan."

Lin Feng revealed a meaningful smile.

Chapter 280 Death's Harmless Imprisonment

Aside from causing considerable impact on the Trisolaran world and on Cheng Xin herself, Cheng Xin's actions did not cause much of a stir in the human world of the solar system.

The present era is different from the original story. All major human political entities in the space political sphere are actively recovering from the losses of the apocalyptic war. In order to avoid being suppressed by the Taylor system in the future, a large amount of resources are being poured into reconstruction.

The governments of the two planets, Mars and Earth, are dealing with a series of administrative issues following the equalization of wealth.

The governments of both planets are completely unfamiliar with administrative management after equalizing wealth. If they follow the old administrative management methods, it will inevitably lead to an excessive gap between the rich and the poor again, and the Taylor faction will cause trouble for them again. Therefore, they must take a completely unfamiliar path.

Against this backdrop of exploration, neither planetary government wanted to create any super-rich individuals. Therefore, even if the star DX3906, which Yun Tianming gave to Cheng Xin, were discovered to be a habitable planet with the same mass as Earth, as in the original story, no human government would consider taking it back and buying it.

Without such an acquisition, Cheng Xin's status, wealth, and influence would not have seen a leap forward; she would have remained just an insignificant figure in the vast group of hibernators.

At most, her looks are just outstanding among female hibernators, nothing more.

Even so, Lin Feng did not dare to lower his guard against Cheng Xin, which is why he sent Cheng Xin to the Taylor Group headquarters instead of other places.

Lin Feng wouldn't feel comfortable leaving Cheng Xin anywhere else, always worried that something unexpected might happen. So he kept Cheng Xin at the Taylor Group's headquarters, right under his nose, with him personally acting as her guardian. Any bad signs, even if they appeared, would be nipped in the bud immediately.

Cheng Xin herself did not have much of a desire to resist this house arrest, because she knew very well that resistance was completely meaningless. When faced with a behemoth like the Taylor Group, even a heroine who was not inferior to a man would have to admit defeat, let alone Cheng Xin, who was not a heroine.

Forcibly leaving the Taylor Group headquarters would mean facing the onslaught of firepower from a space fleet.

Although it is only an industrial fleet, the main fleets for regular combat purposes are still being rebuilt by the major human political entities. However, the Taylor system's industrial fleet can be used as half a main fleet. Otherwise, when Lin Feng threatened Mars and Earth's human societies to equalize wealth, the major human political entities would not have backed down.

In addition, there is the factor of Yun Tianming. Since Lin Feng can force the Trisolarans to make a statement and allow her to meet with Yun Tianming, he can naturally force the Trisolarans to never let her see Yun Tianming again, and even coerce the Trisolarans to kill Yun Tianming. Cheng Xin, who cares about Yun Tianming, will not choose to leave the Taylor Group headquarters even if someone comes to rescue her.

As Lin Feng had planned, Cheng Xin was locked up in the Taylor Group headquarters, both physically and mentally.

Some time later, news that Luo Ji would be stripped of his Swordholder status appeared in various human political entities, whether in the space political circle or the political circles of Earth and Mars, and the public was shocked.

Because Lin Feng consciously guided public opinion, and because only a little over ten years had passed since the Doomsday Battle, people still held Luo Ji in high esteem.

Of course, some people make a fuss about what happened before Luo Ji became a Wallfacer, and curse him as a scumbag, but such voices are few and far between. They do not dominate public opinion and are not as infamous as in the original work. Some people even went to the government to speak out and protest for Luo Ji, questioning whether the government was planning to discard him after he had served his purpose.

In response to the public's questions, the government offered an explanation, essentially stating that Luo Ji was just an ordinary person who had not received any formal military training and whose will was not firm. Holding the sword for a long time could lead to two possible outcomes: either the deterrent effect would be greatly reduced, resulting in the loss of deterrent capability, or Luo Ji would suffer a mental breakdown, leading to the destruction of both the Trisolaran and human worlds.

The people of the former are certainly not afraid, and even if Luo Ji loses his deterrent ability, there are other Swordholders outside the solar system to support him, so the Trisolarans dare not act rashly. However, if the latter happens, it means that no one can save humanity.

For this reason, the voices protesting against Luo Ji soon disappeared, and humanity quickly accepted the government's decision to strip Luo Ji of his Swordholder status.

The date for the redesign of the Swordholders within the Solar System is set for the day next year when Luo Ji successfully deters the Trisolarans. The redesign of the Solar System's deterrence system will be completed near dawn on that day.

As for why this is the case, it is naturally because doing so has greater historical symbolic significance.

Although Lin Feng had complained at the Solar System Fleet Joint Meeting that this so-called historical symbolism was nothing more than human wishful thinking, humans are, after all, humans, and that's how society operates. Unless there's an emergency, things are settled like this.

"Was Cheng Xin's awakening just an accident?" Lin Feng asked rhetorically.

"The current investigation results seem to indicate that the hacker who infiltrated the hibernation system deliberately awoke a group of people to make it appear as if the system itself had a bug, and Cheng Xin was among them," Edith replied.

Edith brought back the investigation results: Cheng Xin's awakening, just as she suspected, was a system error caused by human intervention.

However, the result was somewhat unexpected. There was no powerful force behind it; it was just an illegal act by a hacker.

When Edith and her team, along with the Earth government's police, arrested the hacker, he was having a sweet romance with a hibernating girl.

After being arrested, the hacker confessed that he had hacked into the hibernation center's system when he was bored and accidentally became deeply attracted to a girl in the list of hibernators.

Then he browsed the girl's resume and learned about her past, which made him even more attracted to her and unable to forget her.

In the months that followed, the hacker dreamed about the girl constantly.

Ultimately, the hacker deliberately created this hibernation system glitch, causing the girl to awaken from hibernation. To cover it up as an accident, the hacker chose to awaken a group of people as well, and Cheng Xin was among them.

The hacker's operation was successful; he successfully began a relationship with the hibernating girl before being arrested.

Is it believable?

Lin Feng cast an inquiring glance at Edith's image. After all, he had only been paying attention to Cheng Xin for a short time, and Cheng Xin had already awakened from hibernation, which was indeed very suspicious.

Edith pondered for a moment before answering, "Judging from all the signs, that's how it is. Perhaps Cheng Xin's awakening really is just a coincidence."

A hacker is infatuated with a hibernating girl and, not wanting to miss out, hacks into the hibernation center's system, secretly causing the system incident—the whole process is perfectly plausible.

Moreover, this hacker has no history of joining any organization or faction in his past online records.

It looks like something a young man in the throes of new love would do on a whim.

Chapter 281 I'll only give you thirty seconds to decide

Lin Feng thought for a moment. Now that Cheng Xin was at the Taylor Group headquarters, under his personal supervision, and with a fleet as a military guarantee, it would be difficult for anyone to pull any tricks against her, regardless of whether someone was using Cheng Xin to cause trouble.

Lin Feng said, "Then let's leave it at that. If you continue to act as you please on Earth, the Earth government will probably start spouting a lot of nonsense again."

Earth is, after all, the home ground of the Earth government. Human political entities all have their own administrative power. The Earth government will make certain concessions because of the Taylor system's military force, but this does not mean that it will continue to indulge them indefinitely. Everything should have its limits.

"What are your plans regarding Luo Ji?" Edith asked.

When Edith asked Luo Ji how to make arrangements, Lin Feng raised an eyebrow.

After losing his identity as the Swordholder, Luo Ji lost all his privileges. He was no longer a Wallfacer or a Swordholder, but just one of countless ordinary people, the kind who would be lost in a crowd.

However, ordinary people are powerless in any era. Edith's question also had another layer of meaning: she wanted to know whether to provide protection for Luo Ji and his family.

Lin Feng said, "It depends on his personal wishes. If he wants to stay on Earth, he can stay on Earth; if he wants to go to space, he can go to space. Let the hero choose the life he wants. I still have that much power."

Upon hearing the word 'hero,' Edith knew how resolute Lin Feng's attitude was in this matter. She smiled and replied.

"Okay, I'll ask him on your behalf whether he wants to live in space or on the ground."

……

Time flies, and a year has passed in the blink of an eye.

The amount of resources being extracted from Venus has doubled every month due to resource export restrictions imposed on the Taylor system by Mars and Earth.

Of course, the Space City Federation's help was indispensable in this process.

It was precisely because they invested heavily in the finished space cities that the Taylor Group had enough industrial building materials to carry out large-scale industrial construction, which enabled the industrial development on Venus to proceed so rapidly.

Otherwise, it would waste a lot of time on rough and fine processing of various building materials.

Thanks to the resources of Venus, the Taylor system quickly recovered its strength. The Space Force and the Space City Federation were also rapidly rebuilding their capabilities. Many talented individuals from Mars and Earth flocked to the space political arena to seek their opportunities.

The space environment within the solar system is gradually resembling its former bustling state, with more and more transport ships traveling between various space cities and facilities.

These remarkable industrial changes failed to capture people's attention because something more important drew their focus elsewhere.

That is a change in the structure of the solar system's deterrence architecture.