Three-body: The Most Competent Wallfacer in History

In the year 376 of the Milky Way, after about twenty-five years of travel, Jiang Yu's fleet arrived about one hundred and fifty light-years from the Blue Maiden Star, converging with the Trisolarans.

Twenty-five years to travel one hundred and fifty light-years, such is the speed of the warp drive.

And theoretically, this speed could still increase by tens of thousands of times. When humanity reaches the limits of the warp drive, it will also be the moment humanity becomes godlike.

The Trisolaran fleet took twenty-five years to advance just twenty-five light-years.

When they discovered that the human fleet had indeed appeared at the predetermined location, the Trisolarans knew that human technology had really surpassed that of the Trisolarans.

At least for the time being, they had no means of achieving six times the speed of light.

Jiang Yu met with the Trisolaran representatives aboard the Grand Warship "Infinite Frontier" of humanity.

Since it was a human warship, the life support system naturally suited human survival, yet it was different from the environment suitable for Trisolarans, and both sides feared the microbes present on each other and the possibility of causing widespread disease.

Therefore, the Trisolarans had no choice but to wear protective suits when boarding the "Infinite Frontier."

This was a historic moment. Although humanity had destroyed extraterrestrial civilizations numerous times, such amicable talks with an alien civilization were unprecedented.

The texture of the Trisolarans' spacesuits was clearly different from that of the human spacesuits, appearing dull and like very fine sandpaper.

They had distinct limb structures, just positioned differently from humans.

One couldn't make out their features through the thick protective suits, but Jiang Yu had already seen what Trisolarans looked like during previous communications.

They looked more like the Silicon Star People, with skin somewhat like hard plastic, no distinct facial features, and what seemed to be a small solar panel crowning their head-like structure.

The form of the Trisolarans further confirmed the latest findings in biology: carbon-based life comes from a common ancestor, hence the similarity in body structures.

Firstly, animals living on land that possess complex brains and dexterous hands are more likely to spark the flame of civilization.

In contrast, it's much harder for marine life to develop a formidable civilization because they need to maintain a streamlined shape to reduce resistance with water.

This makes it difficult for their heads to increase in size, meaning brain evolution is also a challenge.

Secondly, marine creatures need to swim every day, which encourages the evolution of fins, but limbs that are flexible on land become quite useless in water.

The same is true for technological development. It's more than just twice as hard for marine life to develop a space industry compared to terrestrial life!

That's why many biologists now believe that it's not so much a coincidence that mammals like humans developed civilization but that mammals like humans are the type most likely to do so.

The few intelligent civilizations that humanity has wiped out in the past hundred years were terrestrial creatures with limb structures similar to humans.

It's not that human limbs are similar to those of other intelligent creatures, but rather that such a structure is relatively scientific, emerging as the most likely to stand out in the natural evolution.

The only difference being that some had four limbs, some six, and some had soft, tentacle-like structures.

Yun Tianming also had to wear a spacesuit to board the human warship because his body was engineered to adapt to the Trisolaran environment, rendering him unable to breathe freely upon returning to the human world.

Upon his arrival on the "Infinite Frontier," Yun Tianming first felt a gravity stronger than on the Trisolaran ships.

From the outside, the human vessels seemed much smaller than the Trisolaran spherical ships, but the stronger gravity suggested that human gravitational technology was much more advanced than the Trisolarans'.

Yun Tianming suddenly felt his eyes moisten. When he participated in the Staircase Program years ago, a big part of the reason was out of spite: "You send me to the stars, yet you send me to the enemy!"

Back then, Yun Tianming had even thought about sabotaging the Staircase Program, but it was only when the Trisolarans started to stimulate his brain in various ways.

That Yun Tianming began to view the situation from a civilizational perspective, finding no place for mercy or humanitarianism in the interstellar disputes.

Just as the Trisolarans kept tormenting his brain.

At that moment, Yun Tianming's only weapon was that his inner world remained impregnable to the Trisolarans, and he now understood Weide's intentions beyond what Cheng Xin could perceive.

It was during this period that he started plotting how to infiltrate another civilization, how to hint at its advanced technologies to humanity.

The harsher the Trisolaran tortures became, the more perfected his plans were.

This sense of revenge was the only pleasure for Yun Tianming, whose brain stood alone and defenseless.

Fortunately, the Trisolarans soon used genetic technologies to create a new Yun Tianming, allowing the original to escape the fate of being an experimental subject.

Later on, as the Trisolarans gradually came to view Yun Tianming as a kind of lucky charm, somewhat akin to a giant panda; after all, he was an intelligent being from another civilization. If they opened a zoo and charged admission, they would certainly make a fortune.

Before long, the Trisolarans created a body for Yun Tianming and granted him a degree of freedom.

Once he gained his freedom, Yun Tianming was finally able to enact his plans, carefully earning the Trisolarans' sympathy and favor, gradually integrating himself into the Trisolaran Civilization.

Yet no one wished for the downfall of the Trisolaran Civilization more than he did. Yun Tianming vividly remembered when the Solar System State's "Blind Zone System" became operational, he was even more delighted than Jiang Yu.

As for the massive interstellar war waged by humanity against the Trisolarans half a century earlier, it filled Yun Tianming with joy, although outwardly he had to pretend to be consumed by resentment and sorrow.

He was back, finally back!

Jiang Yu strode toward Yun Tianming. "You've worked hard these years, people will remember the contributions you've made."

Yun Tianming gripped Jiang Yu's hand tightly, a torrent of words rising within him, but suddenly he didn't know what to say.

The human world he had yearned for countless times was now within reach, yet he felt a surreal disbelief, fearing it was all just a beautiful dream.

Jiang Yu patted the back of his hand with his other hand. "Let's have a detailed chat later."

After saying this, he signaled Xiao Qi with a glance. Xiao Qi stepped forward and said, "Please come this way."

The spaceship had already prepared a body for Yun Tianming that could adapt to the human world; with surgery, he wouldn't need to wear the heavy spacesuit anymore.

Following Xiao Qi, Yun Tianming left. Jiang Yu turned to the Trisolaran representative. "We also welcome your arrival!"

Then the two parties began their final round of negotiations. The Trisolaran representative asked, "Can we introduce some technology from human society?"

Jiang Yu, however, smiled and countered, "Do you know why I named this vessel 'Infinite Frontier'?"