A2-05 The Night Before the Handover

The night before the handover.

You are staying in the apartment the United Nations prepared for you — a room suspended at the top of the city, with panoramic glass overlooking a sea of lights.

You cannot sleep.

Tomorrow, you will walk into that underground bunker and take the button from Luo Ji's hands. From that moment on, your right hand will forever hover above the key that could end human civilization.

You stand at the window, gazing at the night sky. You can see the stars — in this era, light pollution has been perfectly controlled, and even from the city center, the Milky Way is visible.

You search for a long time before you find it.

DX3906.

The star Yun Tianming gave you.

More than two hundred years have passed. Where is his brain now? Still drifting through space? Intercepted by the Trisolarans? If he was revived, what is he doing? Does he still remember you?

You don't know the answers.

At two in the morning, your communicator chimes.

It's Wade.

"Cheng Xin," his voice carries that same unsettling calm, "congratulations on winning the election."

You pause for a second. "Mr. Wade, calling at this hour is —"

"I have one thing to say to you."

"Say it."

"You will not press that button."

Silence.

"You know it, I know it, and the Trisolarans will know it too. The moment you were elected, the credibility of deterrence began to decline."

"You don't know me —"

"I know you better than you know yourself." Wade cuts you off. "Cheng Xin, you are a good person. Good people don't destroy two worlds. That is the problem."

"Then what's the purpose of this call?"

"A reminder. When the moment comes — don't hesitate. Hesitation equals surrender. The Trisolarans will destroy the gravitational wave antennas in the minutes you spend hesitating. By then, you'll want to press the button and you won't be able to."

"So — if you're going to press it, be ready from the very first second after the handover is complete. Don't wait for them to make the first move."

The call disconnects.

You stand in the darkness, your heart pounding.

Is Wade right? If the Trisolarans conclude that you won't press the button, they will launch an attack immediately after the handover — because that is when deterrence is at its weakest.

You need to make a decision: when you walk into that bunker tomorrow, what will your mindset be?