Handong University, East Campus.
The grass was a vibrant green.
Having just obtained [Psionic Ability: Precognition] and theoretically resolving his immediate Sophon crisis, David looked up at the teaching building labeled B13 and took a deep breath.
If his memories were correct, Ye Wenjie—the leader of the ETO (Earth-Trisolaris Organization)—was currently inside this very building.
Feeling the "Safe" feedback from his [Precognition], it was clear that Sophon surveillance was not currently focused on him. Although Sophons possessed the technology for reversible low-dimensional expansion and high-dimensional folding, it didn't mean the super-quantum computer's processing power was infinite. According to the original story, even for high-ranking UN officials, the Sophons couldn't maintain 24-hour, zero-blind-spot surveillance.
So...
David walked into the office building.
The tiles beneath his feet and along the walls had been polished to a high shine by the school staff, nearly clear enough to reflect a person's shadow. Since it was still a week before the official start of the semester, there were very few people in the building—only staff on duty and students who had returned early for make-up exams.
David went up to the second floor and knocked on the office door bearing Ye Wenjie's name and photo.
Knock, knock, knock!
"Please come in, the door isn't locked."
A gentle yet firm female voice reached David's ears. Pushing the door open, he saw Ye Wenjie sitting there in a light yellow blouse, her hair tinged with grey. She set down her pen. David noticed her eyes held that specific softness and intellectual depth unique to scholars.
Even at fifty-two, Ye Wenjie didn't give David any sense of elderly frailty. If not for the occasional wrinkle on her forehead and the grey at her temples, David might have mistaken her for a young counselor newly hired by the school.
"Professor Ye."
David suppressed his internal turmoil. He pulled his make-up exam application from his jacket and handed it to the female professor.
"Only a thirty-three?"
Ye Wenjie put on her glasses, holding David's grade report with both hands. She pursed her lips and spoke.
"Even if it's not for the sake of physics, you shouldn't be scoring this low, right?"
"..."
There was a hint of mild reproach in her tone, but when David looked up, he saw eyes that held a trace of a smile. Clearly, Ye Wenjie was just teasing him.
"I'm sorry, Professor Ye. I'll do my best to pass the make-up exam this time," David replied sincerely, lowering his head.
"It's no big deal. At worst, I'll just take you through the shallow waters of physics one more time this year... By the way, has the foundation's subsidy for this semester been released yet?"
"Not yet," David answered, meeting Ye Wenjie's slightly playful gaze.
"Is your money holding up?"
In this life, as a transmigrator, David had naturally inherited the "Protagonist Template." No car, no house, and both parents deceased. Fortunately, because his grades were excellent in primary school, he had received support from the Peiji Foundation—a fund established by Ye Wenjie and other scientists for students from difficult backgrounds. Combined with the insurance payout from his parents' passing, he was able to continue his education.
As the founder of the fund and a professor rehired by Handong University after her retirement in 2004, Ye Wenjie naturally understood his background.
"To be honest, it's a bit tight," David admitted, considering his upcoming plans.
"How much do you need?"
Ye Wenjie stood up and pulled a grey wallet from a lady's briefcase hanging on a nearby rack.
Using his enhanced post-reincarnation vision, David caught a quick glimpse. The wallet was thin; aside from a few red hundred-yuan bills, the rest were five and one-yuan notes. To a poor student like David, it was a significant sum, but for a physicist of Ye Wenjie's caliber, it looked undeniably meager.
"Five hundred is enough."
Calculating the cost of a train ticket to Beijing to find Yang Dong—who was currently working for "Frontiers of Science"—and the cost of accommodation required to stop her suicide, David didn't stand on ceremony.
"..."
Five hundred yuan was not a small amount in this era.
However, Ye Wenjie only hesitated for a moment before counting out four red bills and two fifties, handing them to David.
"Yang Dong can be quite hurtful with her words sometimes. I apologize on her behalf," Ye Wenjie said as she pressed the money into David's hand, a flash of apology in her eyes. "But her relationship with Ding Yi has always been very good, I..."
She paused briefly.
"You don't need to say it, Professor."
David looked at the cash in his hand and then at the woman who had supported him for ten years. His expression turned solemn.
"I respect Senior Yang's choice. I will handle this matter properly."
If David's original plan to save Yang Dong was merely to have another hand for future scientific research, then now, even if only out of gratitude for Ye Wenjie's kindness, he could not stand by and watch Yang Dong die.
"Please don't worry."
Seeing the firm gaze of the young man before her, Ye Wenjie felt an inexplicable sense of peace. Since the passing of her father, even her close friend and lover Yang Weining had rarely made her feel this way.
"Alright."
Ye Wenjie nodded and took two business cards from her drawer.
"These are the cards for Yang Dong and Ding Yi's physics lab. I heard they are preparing for a new round of cosmic radiation observations using the launch of Shenzhou 19. If you're interested, you can go see them for me."
"..."
Sometimes David suspected Ye Wenjie was a "troll." After all, could such a good person really exist in the world?
Yet the reality unfolded right in front of him. Compared to a poor student like him, Ding Yi was superior in every way—almost excessively so. Not only did he hold two doctorates in Philosophy and Quantum Physics, but he also had a Master's in Mathematics. He was a first-tier national professor, the youngest academician in the Academy of Sciences, the chief scientist for the National Neutron Decay Research Project, and a Nobel Prize nominee.
David seriously doubted if his "memory-less" self had been cursed to have the nerve to confess to Yang Dong, a woman who was an equally brilliant young scientist.
Standing at the gates of Handong University under the bright sun, David took a deep breath and contemplated his next move.
Beijing was a must. Yang Dong, Ding Yi, Wang Miao, Shi Qiang, Chang Weisi, and the large number of scientists committing suicide were all there. If things went smoothly, David would be able to build his research team quickly.
And of course, there was the most important thing.
The game Three-Body.
He wasn't referring to the Trisolarans themselves, but the virtual reality game that possessed technology far beyond reality. David already had a plan for how to hide his identity while harvesting more emotional energy.
However, as David strolled along the sidewalk, lost in thought while waiting for a traffic light...
"Stop right there!"
A booming shout rang out from behind him.
David turned his head and saw a middle-aged man with stubble, wearing a police uniform and holding a Type 54 pistol. The man bolted past him, charging forward.
_____________________
Ainz's Dictionary:
Sophon - A Sophon is essentially a proton that has been unfolded into higher dimensions, engineered, and then compressed back into normal space, turning it into a super-advanced quantum computer and surveillance device.
Yang Dong - A theoretical physicist and daughter of Ye Wenjie
Ding Yi - A brilliant but somewhat eccentric physicist
Wang Miao - A nanomaterials researcher and the main protagonist
Shi Qiang - A tough, practical police detective
Chang Weisi - A military general
Ye Wenjie - A brilliant astrophysicist whose life is shaped by the trauma of the communist Cultural Revolution, after witnessing humanity's cruelty, she becomes deeply disillusioned with mankind. Literal race traitor.
ETO (Earth-Trisolaris Organization) - The ETO is a secret, global organization founded by Ye Wenjie, made up of humans who align themselves with the alien Trisolarans after first contact is established.
The "Three-Body" Game - In The Three-Body Problem, the Three-Body game is a mysterious virtual reality experience used by the ETO. It is a highly advanced VR simulation that players enter using special equipment, placing them inside a strange world with unpredictable and extreme conditions. The objective is to understand and solve the physics governing that world with 3 suns.