NCCnovel Chapter 197 Little girl, you've been tricked again?
Chapter 197 Little girl, you've been tricked again?
Awakening from a nightmare, Thomas Wade's expression remained impassive.
This wasn't the first time he'd had nightmares. Ever since his father showed him the real world, Thomas Wade had lived in constant fear, unable to escape it.
"Meow meow meow."
The meows broke Wade's reverie. Looking up, he saw a chubby orange cat lying in the distance, lazily dozing off.
Wade left all the garrison troops on the ground, leaving only this cat in the deterrence center for his own company.
He doesn't need human companionship like Luo Ji, which is why Zhang Xiang was able to extricate himself from the nanny position.
When Luo Ji was the Swordholder, Zhang Xiang would come down and chat with him almost every day to ensure that Luo Ji's language skills wouldn't deteriorate due to prolonged isolation from the outside world.
Just then, a screen suddenly popped up on the blank wall next to them, revealing the face of the commander-in-chief of the ground garrison.
"Mr. Wade, Ms. Cheng Xin wishes to see you."
"Let her in."
Wade was not surprised by Cheng Xin's visit.
Cheng Xin was once his subordinate. If there is anyone in this world who understands him best, it must be Cheng Xin.
About half an hour later, the elevator doors in the deterrence center slowly opened, and Cheng Xin, wearing a beige trench coat, appeared in Wade's sight.
"I never imagined someone like you would be interested in keeping cats."
Cheng Xin glanced at the orange cat on the ground, a hint of surprise flashing in her eyes.
In her memory, Wade was a cold-blooded and rational person, and she found it hard to associate such a personality with a cat lover.
“My mother used to have a cat like this, but she passed away and the cat disappeared. I was quite bored living alone, so I decided to get one myself.”
Wade's face remained expressionless as he poured Cheng Xin a cup of tea and handed it to her.
"Thank you, but I'll just have some plain water."
Cheng Xin refused Wade's offer; she dared not drink anything he offered, for there was no guarantee he wouldn't poison it.
Upon hearing this, Wade was taken aback at first, then suddenly realized.
"So that's what he meant back then."
"what?"
"It's nothing, I just remembered some things from the past."
When Lin Xuan first met Wade when she infiltrated PIA, she also refused the tea he offered. Wade didn't understand why at the time, but now, seeing Cheng Xin's reaction, he suddenly realized why.
The other party was wary of him poisoning the water.
But why?
Wade was completely baffled.
Lin Xuan had only been a Wallfacer for a few days at the time, so she shouldn't have known him yet. Why did she show such fear towards him?
The other party didn't even use their Wallfacer privileges to see him directly, but instead tried to tamper with Cheng Xin and sneak into PIA.
At first, Wade didn't understand. He thought that Lin Xuan was just showing off her skills and then messing up. After all, it was incredibly difficult to infiltrate PIA.
But now, upon closer reflection, it's very likely that the other party was wary of me from the very beginning.
But why?
I don't know the other person at all.
Cheng Xin was unaware of what Wade was thinking. She waved her hand, summoned a chair, and sat down opposite Thomas Wade.
"I've come to see you today for two things."
"First, when the Ladder Project was being carried out, did you kill Vadim?"
"Yes."
Thomas Wade made no attempt to hide anything and frankly admitted it.
“He was the most suitable candidate for Project Ladder, even more suitable than Yun Tianming. It’s a pity that he concealed his illness, which left me with no legitimate reason to let him die.”
"That's because he's afraid his family will find out he's half-dead." Cheng Xin's tone carried a hint of anger.
"It's none of my business. I only care about the results. As long as the results are good, it's worth sacrificing anyone."
Wade felt no remorse for it; the word "regret" simply didn't exist in his vocabulary.
"Okay, let's not talk about that. Let's talk about the second thing." Cheng Xin suppressed her anger and calmed herself down.
“AA and I have taken over the Star Ring Group. You should know that.”
"Yeah, I heard about it."
"However, the Star Ring Corporation is now facing great resistance in the construction of the Ring World. Because of you, revolutions and uprisings have broken out in various places. Those are crazy people who are not afraid of death. Even if you threaten to destroy two worlds to threaten them, they will not stop their actions."
At this point, Cheng Xin changed the subject.
"But they all have one thing in common: they all use my name and declare beforehand that I know nothing about these things and have nothing to do with these self-proclaimed saviors."
Upon hearing this, Wade pondered for a moment and then understood what Cheng Xin meant.
"Are you trying to blackmail me with this?"
"It's not about blackmail. Knowing you as I do, you're a madman who doesn't care about anyone. As long as human civilization can continue, you would do it even if it means wiping out more than half of humanity."
“But I have a way to minimize or even eliminate the severity of this situation, which would be beneficial to your future plans. Otherwise, even if you don’t care, it would be detrimental to your plans to make enemies of all humanity.”
Upon hearing this, Wade suddenly laughed, a loud laugh.
"Little girl, tell me, whose idea was this?"
Wade stood up, circled Cheng Xin, looked her up and down, and said in a deep voice.
"Did Tomoko contact you?"
"Yes."
As Wade stared at her, Cheng Xin felt a chill run down her spine, as if he were not human, but some ferocious beast.
"Zhi Zi hopes to promote peace and common development between the two civilizations. If you continue to go your own way, then all of humanity and even the Trisolaran world will be your enemy."
"madness."
Wade slowly uttered two words, it was unclear whether he was referring to Cheng Xin or Zhi Zi.
"However, I will grant your request. As long as you can help me advance the construction of RimWorld, I can make some concessions."
The Star Ring Corporation is currently controlled by AA, and the construction of the RimWorld requires the Star Ring Corporation's assistance.
It is true that Vader has the means to threaten all of humanity, but his goal is to accelerate the construction of the RimWorld and shorten the construction period to as little as possible, to about a few years.
In this way, if he encounters a group of fearless people who dawdle and deliberately slow down the construction of the RimWorld, Vader will have a real headache.
He can't really stand against the whole world, at least not now.
Therefore, making certain concessions is acceptable to Vader. He doesn't care about his own life or the authority of the Swordholder; as long as the goal can be achieved, everything can be abandoned.
"Name your terms."
Wade looked at Cheng Xin with a face full of sarcasm.
The fact that humanity could reach a consensus with Zhizi and stand on the same side showed that the level of stupidity of mankind had exceeded his imagination, and Zhizi's choice to cooperate with Cheng Xin was even more absurd.
If he were to become a Trisolaran, he should start by beheading the Swordholder. At worst, he could initiate a broadcast to perish together with the enemy, which would be better than this kind of ineffective threat.
Once the RimWorld is built, humanity will possess a technological level surpassing that of the Trisolaran civilization. Even without the Swordholder, the Trisolaran civilization will no longer pose a threat to humanity.
Of course, without the identity of the Swordholder, Wade would be devoured alive by countless people, but as long as it could give humanity the power to contend with the Trisolaran civilization, Wade would not mind sacrificing himself.
"I have only one condition: we will assist in the construction of RimWorld in every way and obey your orders as the Swordholder. But if one day your orders threaten all of humanity, then I will stop you!"
Cheng Xin looked at Wade with a determined gaze.
"It's that simple?"
"Well, it's that simple."
"Alright, I agree. I took the position of Swordholder from you. If you feel it's not right, you can take it away from me at any time."
Wade's words startled Cheng Xin.
She originally just wanted to express her opinion, but she didn't expect that Wade would take the initiative to give up the identity of the swordholder.
But after much deliberation, she decided to give up on asking the other party directly for the identity of the swordholder right now, since Vader's promise might just be a joke and not to be taken seriously.
"Wade, although I don't know why you're so eager to build RimWorld, I still don't want you to push humanity too hard. RimWorld will be completed sooner or later, it's just a matter of time. Why are you doing this?"
"What are you afraid of?"
After Cheng Xin left the deterrence center, Cao Bin slowly walked out from behind Wade.
Since Wang Miao took over the construction of the Ringworld, Cao Bin has taken a break. He needs to analyze and digest a lot of research data from the Ringworld Accelerator, so he has secluded himself during this time.
"It really is a sure-fire deal. You got an empty check and it got you accelerated construction of RimWorld. Isn't that a good deal?"
Cao Bin looked at Thomas Wade with a smile.
"Who told you it was an empty promise?"
Cao Bin was taken aback.
"You really intend to give the identity of the Swordholder to Cheng Xin? You might as well give it to me!"
Wade took a deep breath.
"As long as the RimWorld is not successfully built, we will always lag behind the Trisolaran world in technology."
"Only by upgrading the technology of our entire civilization ahead of the Trisolaran civilization can we truly have the leverage to negotiate with them. The prosperity of the Deterrence Era is nothing but a bubble that can be burst at any moment. Before we have absolute strength, the Dark Forest will shroud each and every one of us."
"For this reason, I will spare no effort to build the Ringworld. This will be in huge conflict with the interests of all mankind and even the Trisolaran civilization. Even if Cheng Xin is willing to help me, it will only be a case of drinking poison to quench thirst. In the future, mankind will definitely want to tear me, the swordholder, to pieces. But at that time, they will also be protected by the power I created."
Upon hearing this, Cao Bin remained stunned for a long time.
He knew about Wade's ideals and ambitions, but he didn't expect that the other party would even consider this aspect.
Yes, if Wade continues as he is now, there will be more and more voices against him around the world. It's just like Qin Shi Huang building the Great Wall to defend against foreign enemies. His mistakes were in his time, but his achievements will last for generations!
“I will definitely keep my promise to Cheng Xin, but not now. Since she wants to be the savior, let her be. Someone has to take the blame for this.”
"Damn, you really are a devil!"
Cao Bin almost burst out laughing.
That was incredibly sarcastic, Wade's move was absolutely despicable.
He will give Cheng Xin the right to choose, allowing her to stop him someday in the future.
Because at that time, Vader would definitely be an enemy of all mankind, and even if people knew that Vader's ideas were beneficial to mankind, no one would agree with Vader's ideas.
But if you give Cheng Xin the power to stop you, then it will be different.
If Cheng Xin stops Wade from continuing as the Swordholder, then if any unexpected events occur later, the blame will be firmly placed on Cheng Xin's head.
People always regret the path they didn't choose. Just like how people once disapproved of Luo Ji, but after Wade became the Swordholder, Luo Ji's popularity grew day by day.
Once Cheng Xin steps in and stops Wade, she will become the Swordholder. In the future, no matter what happens, people will remember Wade's good deeds and be more convinced that the idea of building the RimWorld is correct.
This was a contingency plan that Vader left for himself. In this way, even if he died or some other accident occurred, the construction of the RimWorld would not stop, but would instead be expanded indefinitely.
In essence, Cheng Xin was always just a victim who was sold out and then had to pay the seller for it.
Back then, during the Ladder Project, Wade used Cheng Xin's relationship with Yun Tianming to pull off this whole thing, putting all the blame on Cheng Xin.
Unexpectedly, two hundred years later, Wade is about to trick Cheng Xin again.
It's also the girl's fault for not learning her lesson. Of all people to mess with, why did she have to provoke Wade?
Isn't that black pot a sure thing to be eaten every time?
If Lin Xuan were here, she would definitely give Wade a thumbs up and say, "You truly are worthy of being called Wade."
In the original storyline, Wade used this method to pin a huge, black mark on Cheng Xin.
At that time, the Star Ring Corporation had already broken ties with Earth in order to research warp drive technology, and its armed forces were already prepared.
However, Wade knew he had no chance of winning against Earth, so neither Cao Bin nor Bi Yunfeng supported Wade's continued research into warp drive technology.
It can be said that the situation Vader faced back then was a hundred times worse than it is now, beset by internal and external troubles, practically at odds with the whole world. Moreover, at that time he did not yet have the identity of the Swordholder, but was merely the boss of the Star Ring Group.
As a result, Wade pulled a divine intervention, just like he did now, pulling Cheng Xin out of hibernation to stop him and firmly pinning the blame on this naive and innocent girl.
This move truly shocked Lin Xuan at the time. After all, no matter how you looked at it, Wade's actions seemed a bit shady. Warp drive had clearly posed a threat to humanity long ago, but Wade only dragged Cheng Xin out to take the blame after realizing he was powerless to reverse the situation. He even put on a vivid performance to make everyone believe that he had kept Cheng Xin's promise and stopped developing warp drive.
is it possible?
Who is Wade? He's a devil who will advance at any cost.
If the situation hadn't truly become irreversible, Cheng Xin probably wouldn't have been awakened even if he had slaughtered all of humanity.
It felt like the enemy had pushed all the way to the high ground and were about to finish the game in one fell swoop, but our team's Vayne handed over the main DPS role to Cheng Xin, who was AFK. Then, while the enemy was completely bewildered, the crystal exploded, and the main responsibility for the loss was placed on Cheng Xin, who was in charge of the main DPS role.
Both times, Wade made two major mistakes, relentlessly sabotaging Cheng Xin, but Cheng Xin herself was willing to jump into the trap. It was a case of one willing to hit and the other willing to be hit.