Three-body: The Most Competent Wallfacer in History

Jiang Yu brought back a set of immersive gaming equipment, which made his roommates green with envy.

The boss of the dorm even asked, "Is working part-time that lucrative?"

Everyone knew that Jiang Yu had only started his part-time job a month ago, and they were surprised that he had earned enough for a whole set in just one month!

Jiang Yu did not deny it, but when the other dorm mates clamored about also wanting to work part-time and saw Jiang Yu snickering, they knew this guy wasn't telling the whole truth.

In fact, Jiang Yu didn't know how to tell them the truth; if they knew it was a gift from Yang Dong, these guys would surely start using their imagination and come up with all sorts of wild guesses.

After a good night's rest, the next morning, while his roommates were still fast asleep, Jiang Yu had already logged into "Three-Body".

A gigantic sun occupied a fifth of the sky, the earth was full of cracks caused by drought, and as far as the eye could see, there was barrenness without a trace of life.

Arriving at the coordinates given by Ye Wenjie, Jiang Yu found an iron door built on the rocks.

Pushing the iron door open, a cool breeze blew out, refreshing Jiang Yu completely.

He followed the stairway inside the door downwards and quickly arrived at a cool underground world.

At the bottom of the staircase stood a female player wearing a fox mask, who said to Jiang Yu, "Teacher Ye said you would come early, and she was right."

Jiang Yu smiled and said, "I wanted to get a sense of the situation earlier."

The female player said, "I'm Daji, Teacher Ye asked me to receive you and to give you some basic information about this gathering."

The two sat down on stone benches, and Daji explained the existence of the Trisolarans and the program of the Redemptionists. She also provided information about the Redemptionists' faith in the Trisolarans and more.

As the attendees gradually arrived, Ye Wenjie, whose game name was Zhurong, announced the start of the gathering.

First, Ye Wenjie introduced Jiang Yu to everyone with great emphasis, and then she explained the Adventists' sabotage to the ETO program and personally warned Jiang Yu to adhere to his current principles and not to be misled by the Adventists' ideology.

Jiang Yu earnestly promised to do so, as he was not fond of the Adventists' ideas to begin with.

In his mind, he quipped, "Typical of someone from that era to place great emphasis on ideological development within the Redemptionist ranks."

The other members who attended the gathering began to speak, prompted by Ye Wenjie.

Soon Jiang Yu realized that this gathering was of a much higher level than the Adventist gatherings he had attended before. Almost all the attendees were representatives of the Redemptionists from various countries.

Through their discussions, Jiang Yu discovered that the Redemptionists understood the Adventists better than he had thought. They had inferred from the recent actions of the Adventists that the latter seemed to be planning something big.

One member even received reliable intelligence that the Adventists had a secret research base.

According to the intelligence, the research base was large and not on the "Judgment Day" vessel but should be located somewhere in Asia.

For Jiang Yu, this was also important information; he remembered that the documents of the Poison Apple Project seemed to have mentioned a research base.

Jiang Yu made a mental note of the member's analysis and speculation, planning to discuss it with Da Shi when he had the chance, to see if they could deduce the approximate location of the base.

After the members responsible for the struggle against the Adventists finished their exchange and received new instructions from Ye Wenjie, those involved in the Redemptionists' "rescue" work began to report and share their progress.

Most of them were engaged in various research programs aimed at saving Trisolaris. Some of the plans left Jiang Yu open-mouthed in astonishment; Shen Yufei's hope to solve the three-body problem was just one such project.

Others were planning, if the motion of the three suns was uncontrollable, whether it was possible to find a way to control the orbit of Trisolaris?

Jiang Yu smacked his lips, "The Wandering Earth", anyone?

Still other members were researching interstellar spaceships, hoping to allow the Trisolarans to flee the Three-Body Star System and end the nightmare of civilizational cycles.

Their plans were diverse and showed even more imagination than those of the Adventists.

A small part of them was trying to save Humanity, and it was these people's plans that pulled Jiang Yu back to "Earth." Otherwise, he would have thought he was attending a meeting at the "Three-body Star Division in the Solar System."

At the end of the gathering, the members started discussing the real-world meetings of the Redemptionists.

After eavesdropping for a while, Jiang Yu learned that the Redemptionists convened once a year in the real world, just like a team-building event.

The most recent real-world gathering was scheduled for next month, in Beijing.

It occurred to Jiang Yu that it might be the large meeting Wang Miao had attended, the one where Da Shi had managed to nab the whole Redemptionist group in one fell swoop!

That's not team building—that's a massive death trap!

The gathering in the game ended soon, and Ye Wenjie kept a few people behind to talk to them in private.

Jiang Yu was among those who were asked to stay.

As the talks were one-on-one, Daji escorted Jiang Yu and a few others to the edge of the vast space.

In casual conversation, Jiang Yu got to know the others and soon noticed a commonality. Judging from the way they talked, all those who were kept behind were quite young.

They also made a pact to have a drink together during their meetup in Beijing.

It was only at the end that Ye Wenjie spoke to Jiang Yu, "Xiao Yu, what do you think about this gathering?"

"I did not expect Humanity to not be alone," Jiang Yu said with a smile. "Nor did I expect that so many people have done so much for Humanity and our neighbors. Here, I have a strong sense of belonging."

Ye Wenjie nodded, "We are all not alone, with many people sharing our ideals."

She paused, her tone suddenly becoming serious, "But the Adventists are getting more and more out of hand now. They have killed so many people and will sooner or later expose the existence of our organization.

"I have heard some rumors. Many countries have established multiple operation centers aimed at dealing with us. At such a time, the Adventists continue to act high-profilely, they surely can't last long."

Jiang Yu thought to himself, "You sure have a godly foresight."

Ye Wenjie changed the subject abruptly, "Do you know Kong Xiang?"

Jiang Yu's heart skipped a beat, worrying that Madame Ye might have already known his real purpose for approaching her.

He tried to keep a poker face, "I do. Dean Kong has even made special arrangements for me, teaching me some of his research findings individually."

This was something everyone at the social science academy could verify.

Ye Wenjie nodded, "Kong Xiang does have the vision to recognize that you are raw jade."

She smiled and said, "You might not be aware, but Kong Xiang is actually the biggest leader of the Adventists in the China Region!"

Jiang Yu could not hide his surprise. He had not expected that Teacher Kong's meticulous disguise had already been seen through by Madame Ye!

Ye Wenjie added, "I hope you can find an opportunity to get close to Kong Xiang and obtain some information about the Adventists from him."

Me... Jiang Yu didn't even feel like cursing anymore; he wondered if he had acquired the constitution of a perennial undercover spy since his time travel. Why did everyone want him to be a spy?

Ye Wenjie continued to persuade him, "I know this might be difficult for you, but many of our agents planted near Evans have had their covers blown, and we can no longer steal core information from the Adventists."

Jiang Yu thought to himself, "This old lady is a real tiger, planting spies right under Sophon's nose without being detected would be a miracle!"