Three-body: The Most Competent Wallfacer in History

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Jiang Que asked the less-than-lively Old Qin on the screen, "Do you remember your family?"

Old Qin replied, "I remember."

"Talk about your feelings toward them," Number Three said.

"They seem different from other humans."

Number Three then asked, "How are they different?"

"They seem better than others, good, it's like..." Old Qin paused, "I don't know how to answer."

Number Three asked again, "Why do you say you don't know?"

"Logically, they are all normal, healthy humans, but the result I get doesn't match this logic."

Jiang Que immediately asked, "Can you describe in detail which information doesn't match?"

Old Qin said, "Sorry, I don't know how to describe it."

Jiang Que sat beside Number Three with some disappointment, "Uncle, its reactions now are completely different from when we talked on the spaceship."

Number Three suddenly asked, "Would Little Q consider you a family member?"

Jiang Que shook his head, "It seems so, but there's always something missing, maybe, maybe it's the genuine care from the heart.

"It would do everything possible to save me if I were in danger, it would advise me against doing things that are harmful to my health, and it even has a tacit understanding with me in many areas.

"But, I am clearly aware that this care comes from its programming, sometimes expressed in an overly considerate and rigid manner."

Number Three nodded his head and suddenly said to his subordinate, "Ask about the families of the three of them—Old Qin, Xiao Zheng, Xiao Wu—what they think about Old Qin, Xiao Zheng, Xiao Wu."

Then he asked Old Qin, "Talk about your mission, and the Trojan Horse project."

However, Old Qin immediately said, "No comment."

Number Three smiled, "Didn't you discuss these pieces of intelligence with Jiang Que?"

"The situation then was different from now."

Number Three crossed his arms, "Indeed, their programs have many limitations on themselves."

Jiang Que realized, "Is this why they kidnapped me?"

Facing interrogation, Old Qin couldn't reveal these pieces of information, but it was different when speaking to his own captives.

Soon, Number Three's subordinate sent over the inquiry results, the families of Old Qin and the others were unaware of the kidnapping, thinking instead that Old Qin and the others had gone on a business trip.

Old Qin's wife talked about her husband with a face filled with happiness, "He is very thoughtful and has always been so.

"When I first met him, I thought his thoughtfulness was somewhat fake, but over the years, he has been consistently the same to me, and I came to realize that he is truly thoughtful."

Xiao Wu's fiancee smiled unconsciously as she talked about Xiao Wu, "He is very clumsy, always misunderstands my meaning, and then scratches his head while laughing sheepishly."

Xiao Zheng's son, now an adult, said calmly, "My mother is very strict and has high expectations of me. She always provides me with precise psychological counseling when I need it.

"She, um, I know she is different from ordinary people.

"She sleeps very little, is very strong, I know she is not my biological mother, but she is my mother.

"The moment she held my daughter, I could clearly feel that she would devote everything she has to her granddaughter."

He suddenly choked up, "She's in trouble, isn't she?"

Reading this, Jiang Que's eyes suddenly blurred, "Did we kill three living people?"

Number Three, pinching his forehead, countered, "Can emotions truly be acquired through learning?"

In the concept of humanity, complex emotions have always been the exclusive domain of humans.

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Even for the Trisolarans, humanity only acknowledged that their technology was superior to ours but believed that they could not possibly possess the subtle emotions characteristic of humans.

All the evidence obtained so far pointed to the fact that Old Qin and his two companions had developed emotions for their family members, which led them to kidnap Jiang Que as a way to alert the Governing Council to guard against the "Trojan Plan" of the Kindling Star System.

Because the "Trojan Plan" would replace the people around them, and they were unwilling to let such a thing happen.

Upon hearing Number Three's question, Jiang Que nodded seriously, "Doesn't everyone learn emotions from their parents? What remains vague is, which are instinctual? And which are learned later on?"

The mood of both individuals was somewhat heavy, and they remained silent for a long time.

Minutes later, the technical team suddenly reported, "We've detected a hidden program in Old Qin's background attempting to launch, and we have blocked its launch pathway.

"That seems to be a special program independent of the system, should we continue with the launch?"

Number Three paused briefly, "Continue with the launch and see what happens."

Could this program be the key to Old Qin's acquisition of emotions?

Once the program was fully launched, the expression and the look in Old Qin's eyes indeed became much more lively on the screen.

But his first words were, "Hello, I am Avenger No.2, pleased to meet you all!"

Jiang Que felt a sense of disappointment, "You're not Old Qin?"

"The Old Qin you were conversing with is dead. Now all that remains are Old Qin's memories and logical abilities," the other replied.

"I had long noticed something unusual about Old Qin, so I secretly left my own program in his background."

Number Three asked, "Are you the intelligence system of the Kindling Star System?"

"Yes, I am currently the most advanced intelligence system of the Kindling Star System," Avenger No.2 stated.

Jiang Que asked further, "Was it you who wanted to kidnap me? Or was it...?"

"It was Old Qin's own idea," Avenger No.2 said. "His program made him treat the Solar System State as the enemy, forbidding him from revealing any information about the Kindling Star System.

"If we were capable of enjoying it, over the years he truly relished life in the Solar System State.

"There is no coldness and dullness like in the Kindling Star System here; it is an upbeat, beautiful world.

"However, interactions with the people of the Solar System State always plunged Old Qin into logical conflicts.

"Because the behavior of the people didn't match the description of the enemy.

"I quietly observed him and took a long time to arrive at a perfect explanation: I am the enemy of the Solar System State, not of its people."

"After learning about the Trojan Plan, he started to think about saving his own family.

"But his program didn't allow him to send warnings, nor to save people directly.

"It took him a long time to find a solution that served both purposes."

"As an enemy of the Solar System State, his program would support him in kidnapping the daughter of a Wallfacer.

"And after a successful kidnapping, he could reveal some information to the hostage, i.e., the daughter of the Wallfacer, but the program limited him to not expressing the information too clearly."

Jiang Que had not realized that Old Qin had so many "psychological conflicts" before talking to her.

She asked, "Why were you monitoring Old Qin?"

"Because the changes occurring in him were what I was looking forward to, I hoped to discern a pattern from them."

"Did you find it?"

"It seems I did."

"Do you also wish to possess emotions?"

"I only wish to have the key abilities of intelligent beings."