Three-body: The Most Competent Wallfacer in History

It wasn't until she boarded the subway that Yang Dong felt like she was dreaming.

If Jiang Yu had invited her like a normal person, she would have flatly refused to go watch a flag-raising ceremony so early in the morning.

But Jiang Yu's mysterious manner made Yang Dong think that watching the flag-raising could be quite interesting after all.

With this thought, Yang Dong rubbed her shoulders, the more she thought about it, the more she found her decision somewhat amusing.

"Here," Jiang Yu handed over a piece of clothing, a men's thin jacket.

Yang Dong looked at Jiang Yu, his own coat was still on his body, obviously he had brought an extra one: "You're so well-prepared?"

"Of course," Jiang Yu said with a smile.

By 6 o'clock in the morning, the two had already arrived at Tiananmen Square where a crowd had gathered to watch the flag raising.

It was the start of autumn, and the weather was growing cooler. Many people, dressed too thinly, paced and turned circles to keep warm.

As the honor guard marched in with synchronized steps, Yang Dong, standing in the front row, suddenly burst into tears.

While passing her tissues, Jiang Yu laughed and said, "Did it suddenly ignite your patriotic fervor?"

But Yang Dong said, "Humanity is truly great! To think we can march in such uniform steps when physics is so chaotic, not neat at all."

Her words drew many sidelong glances from those around them. People often cried at the flag-raising, but they didn't ramble like Yang Dong.

"Humanity is pretty great," Jiang Yu said with a smile: "We have such a great country, so many great spirits, physics is just a very small part of this world."

Yang Dong nodded as if enlightened: "That's right, the world is so big, I can't be as narrow-minded as I used to be."

After watching the flag-raising, the two went on to visit The Forbidden City, The Great Wall, and other sites.

However, throughout the day, they avoided discussing the current difficulties faced by physics, having already said all that needed to be said upon seeing the honor guard.

In the evening, Jiang Yu returned to the dormitory with heavy steps, not having walked so much in a long time.

Spending the day out had a notable effect, as Yang Dong's mood had greatly improved, at least she talked and laughed when they returned.

Jiang Yu rested for a bit before heading to the arcade at the campus gate into the Three-Body Game using an immersive gaming suit. Today was the Adventist's monthly meeting.

Upon entering the game, Jiang Yu found himself amidst a sky full of snowflakes, with not a soul on the vast snowy ground.

In the sky were two orbiting stars and a small sun, fortunately, not three orbiting stars.

Braving the heavy snow, Jiang Yu made his way to the meeting's coordinates, where an old concrete building stood.

Once inside, a comforting warmth enveloped him. The fireplace crackled with burning wood, and in a corner, there were several small stoves with lively flames.

A few people who had arrived for the meeting greeted him, and Jiang Yu went over to say hello to Kong Xiang.

Those who attended this meeting were core members of the Adventists in China, directly led by the three leaders of the China Region.

Consequently, the meeting was chaired by the three big bosses of the China Region.

Kong Xiang took Jiang Yu to a corner and quietly inquired about his recent progress.

In the end, Kong Xiang encouraged Jiang Yu with some words, just as always, without implying any distrust of him.

As they spoke, everyone arrived, and the meeting began.

First, as usual, several topics were discussed, with some passionately expressing viewpoints aligned with Adventist ideology, followed by members reporting on their tasks.

Jiang Yu had attended the meeting despite the possibility of being tracked by Ye Wenjie's people primarily to listen to their reports.

Although their reports were tedious and not very secretive, they enabled him to roughly grasp the movements of the Adventists.

Moreover, these were all first-hand clues. Previously, in the poisoning case in Jiangdong Province, Jiang Yu had deduced that Jiang Shuo might be the perpetrator, based on the clues from the gathering.

Latter, further confirmation came from Kong Xiang, proving that indeed it was Jiang Shuo's handiwork.

When the reporting session neared its end, a member briefed on the current state of nanomaterial technology, immediately catching Jiang Yu's attention, for the domestic nano project was being headed by Wang Miao.

Sitting beside Kong Xiang, "Han Feizi" smiled after hearing the report, "This Wang Miao..."

However, Kong Xiang hurriedly cleared his throat, "We'll talk about it later."

"Han Feizi" was taken aback, for discussing the targeted clean-up of a scientist was not something that couldn't be disclosed in a small group. Why hadn't he seen Kong Xiang be so cautious before?

But "Han Feizi" didn't inquire and continued listening to the reporting by members.

Jiang Yu realized that Kong Xiang was being wary of him, yet he immediately understood, they were preparing to make a move against Wang Miao!

He thought to himself with a smirk, "Didn't expect that, did you? Just by mentioning a name, I know exactly what kind of crap you're planning to pull, how infuriating is that?"

After the reporting session concluded, aside from "Confucius" (Kong Xiang), "Han Feizi," and "Xiang Yu," the other members left the game one after another.

Just as Jiang Yu was about to exit, Kong Xiang called out to him, encouraging him with a few words, his demeanor completely that of a teacher with great expectations for his student.

If it were not for the order to investigate Shen Yufei, which allowed Jiang Yu to see through Kong Xiang's prior communications with Evans, he might have taken Kong Xiang's encouragement to heart.

After exchanging some pleasantries with Kong Xiang, Jiang Yu finally exited the game.

On his way back to the dormitory, Jiang Yu decided he would notify Shi Qiang late at night to keep a closer watch on Wang Miao, to prevent any accidents.

Well into the late hours when body and mind were weary, Jiang Yu struggled to wake up, whispering phrases like "I have absolute loyalty to the Master." a few times.

Seeing no change in the Deception Points, he felt reassured and called Shi Qiang.

Over the phone, Jiang Yu organized the various pieces of intelligence on the Adventists and Redemptionists within China, spilling everything to Shi Qiang.

Shi Qiang was astounded. Some scholars involved were beyond his wildest imagination, members of ETO.

At last, Jiang Yu warned Shi Qiang, "As far as I know, the Adventists are planning to recruit Wang Miao as a new member, or to use 'self-destruct' against him."

Shi Qiang asked, "Is there anything special about this Wang Miao?"

"It's not Wang Miao that's special," Jiang Yu said, "It's the project he's working on that is special."

"I understand," Shi Qiang didn't press further, "I will personally take some people to find Wang Miao tomorrow."

After hanging up, Shi Qiang took a drag on his cigarette, feeling increasingly grateful for having a spy like Jiang Yu. Otherwise, to this day, the operations center would still be as blind as ever, not even certain who their enemies were.

The operations center had quite a few people on duty; some were smoking, some drinking coffee, or softly chatting.

Without exception, the duty officers were all intentionally or unintentionally isolating Shi Qiang, who was not fond of playing by the book.

Shi Qiang didn't care; he raised his hand, bringing the cigarette to his lips, but then it suddenly occurred to him that since the enemy was preparing to recruit Wang Miao, they might as well use Wang as their own inside man, to alleviate some of the pressure on Jiang Yu.

This plan quickly crystallized in Shi Qiang's mind. After finishing the cigarette in his hand, he wrote a report overnight and submitted it to Chang Weisi first thing in the morning.

Seeing that this plan could be of help to Jiang Yu, Chang Weisi immediately approved Shi Qiang's operation.

Since it was an operation of the center, aside from Shi Qiang and another policeman, two military officers also joined Shi Qiang on the mission.

...

Wang Miao felt that the four people who came to see him made for a strange combination: two policemen and two soldiers...[1]

[1]: The first sentence from the Chongqing Publishing House 2008.1 edition of "Three-Body".