Those who face the wall, but are in the Nascent Soul stage.

Chapter 117 Mercury Cannon
The second month after Rediaz's 'death'.

Luo Qing announced the existence of "Mercury's core cavitation".

As the last conscious Wallfacer in the Wallfacer Project, Luo Qing gained unparalleled prestige. The lofty moral standards revealed by cultivators also garnered the support of the entire population for all his plans.

Luo Qing is naturally adept at using public opinion; his understanding of human civilization even surpasses that of humanity itself.

The bystander is the one who sees the bigger picture.

His immense strength, high moral character, and status as a Wallfacer—these three combined qualities made him a truly transcendent being.

Therefore, after announcing the "Mercury Void," Luo Qing immediately announced a Wallfacer project, which received widespread support from countries around the world.

[Developing the "Mercury Void" to serve as a refuge for human disasters is part of the plan.]

At the Planetary Defense Council's hearing on the Wallfacer Project, Luo Qing made no secret of the fact that "Radiaz gave me the inspiration."

Before the wall was breached, Radiaz publicly declared: "Mainstream defense plans should not always be focused on the planets on the outer reaches of the solar system. The strategic defense value of the planets in the inner reaches of the solar system should also be taken seriously."

The theory of the strategic value of inner planets did not receive widespread support and recognition during the time of Radiaz, but when it was revived by Luo Qing, it immediately received a large response.

A large number of 'future war fantasy theorists' participated in the discussion on the value of Mercury and quickly reached a consensus: 'In the final war, Mercury can exist as humanity's last fortress in the solar system. If humanity loses in the final battle of the solar system, then the Mercury base, which is backed by the sun, will become a 'Constantinople' belonging to all of humanity to continue to survive.'

While "great scholars debated the classics for Luo Qing," Luo Qing himself was not idle either.

He began appearing frequently on television and in public, and registered his own short video account.

As the originator of fantasy films, making short videos is a piece of cake for him.

It's ultimately more convenient to use one's own influence to announce things directly, rather than having the government help promote them. It also saves one from the problem of official propaganda departments failing to express their meaning clearly.

Therefore, Luo Qing's account contained a large number of popular science videos that left scientists bewildered.

For example, Luo Qing frankly stated in the video that the existence of Mercury's "vacuum" is a natural sanctuary. If humanity can fully develop this sanctuary, then in future solar system wars, it may be able to gain an invincible position.

This short video was filmed inside the "vacuum." To prevent the "vacuum" from being so dark that nothing could be seen, Luo Qing took out his [Radiant Sword].

[Radiant Sword] This is one of his few light-attribute swords. He threw this sword into the center of the "vacuum" and used it as a miniature sun.

This sword-shaped miniature sun illuminated a rock 'cavitation' 100 kilometers in diameter.

Thus, for the first time, humans saw clearly what this Mercury sanctuary looked like with the naked eye.

At the end of the video, Luo Qing said, "Humans are cave dwellers by nature, so there's nothing unacceptable about living in caves."

As for who helped film the video, it was naturally Radiaz, who was wearing a spacesuit, floating in the air bubble, and out of the camera's view.

About Mercury.

Mercury has a hard texture and a considerable volume (one-third the size of Earth), which makes it extremely difficult, if not impossible, to drill a hole through its surface and reach the Earth's core 'cavitation' 2000 kilometers away.

Humanity has imagined and exaggerated the level of science and technology of the Trisolaran civilization as much as possible, but humanity still does not believe that the Trisolaran civilization is capable of penetrating the entire planet Mercury.

This judgment is naturally based on the following: according to the history of the Trisolaran civilization as told in the Three-Body Problem game, the Trisolaran civilization never avoided disasters such as the three suns rising from the sky by burrowing into the earth's surface.

Leaving aside the terrifying catastrophes like the "Triple Star Alignment" and the "Still Flying Star," whose combined gravitational forces could tear a planet apart, according to human calculations, by hiding 5,000 meters underground, the Trisolaran civilization could almost shield itself from most ordinary Trisolaran disasters, including the "Three Flying Stars," the "Giant Sun in the Sky," and the "Two Suns in the Sky."

The fact that the Trisolaran civilization did not do so naturally indicates that they lacked the capability to build such underground cities.

Of course, the basis for this conclusion may not be accurate, and its authenticity is questionable.

Some experts raised objections, suggesting that the Trisolaran civilization might possess burrowing technology far beyond human imagination. However, these rare doubts were quickly swept away by the overwhelming tide of fervent supporters of Luo Qing's Wallfacer Project. Unlike the struggling Radiaz, no one dared to 'disobey' Luo Qing's Wallfacer Project.

Therefore, the development of the Mercury refuge has received unanimous support from various countries.

Not to mention that the most difficult step in developing the Mercury 'cavitation' shelter will be completed by Luo Qing himself.

Luo Qing was in charge of drilling a hole in Mercury, and humans were responsible for entering the cavitation bubble through the hole to carry out construction. The construction period for this Wallfacer Project was roughly set at 100 years.

A 2400-kilometer-long hole is not something that can be easily dug out. Mercury is solid, and it gets harder the deeper you go. Compared to digging a super-deep well of 3 meters, the scale is 80 times smaller.

Even for Luo Qing, it would take three months to dig this hole. After all, it's different from digging an ultra-deep well. An ultra-deep well is gone if it explodes, but this hole, as a future material transportation channel, must be stable enough and smooth enough.

Luo Qing dug the tunnel while simultaneously tamping down the tunnel walls.

Since Mercury is still rotating, the best location for the opening is either the South or North Pole, where Mercury's rotation rate is minimal, almost zero.

The depth of the hole, originally planned to be 2400 kilometers, quickly became 4800 kilometers.

Luo Qing decided to dig out a well-ventilated apartment for 'Kongpao' – he would start digging from Antarctica and emerge from the Arctic.

Dig through Mercury's north and south poles!
Another advantage of this is that humans do not need to build special elevators to enter and exit the cavitation bubble. A person wearing a metal spacesuit can simply leap into the bottomless hole and fall rapidly into the cavitation bubble under the influence of gravity.

Humans can capture jumpers wearing metal equipment and stop them from jumping off the ground by creating an electromagnetic field in the 'cavitation'.

This will be the largest cordless bungee jumping event in human history.

Moreover, even if the person inside the 'cavitation bubble' doesn't care, that person will still be spinning back and forth in the Antarctic and Arctic tunnels under the influence of gravity, and eventually come to a complete stop at the center of the 'cavitation bubble'.

If the 'cavitation' is filled with air, and there is air friction, the jumper's braking efficiency will be higher.

At yet another hearing on the Wallfacer Project, Luo Qing said, "Since the Mercury 'Void Bubble' refuge plan has been approved, it means that Mercury will become the last base after Earth falls. I believe that under these circumstances, it is necessary to deploy high-yield weapons of mass destruction on Mercury, such as stellar nuclear bombs, to resist the invasion of the Trisolaran fleet."

“That’s the way to do it,” the American representative was the first to jump out in agreement.

Luo Qing smiled.

The initial plan was to build 10,000 stellar nuclear bombs, half of which would be transported to Mercury.

The era of massive nuclear weapons has arrived.

Here's a summary of the various Three-Body problems.

[Three Flying Stars]: All three suns have moved away from the planet, and the Trisolaran planet has entered a period of eternal night. Decades of darkness have plunged the planet into extreme cold, and civilization has been destroyed by the low temperatures.

[Giant Sun in the Sky]: When a sun captures a planet and gets too close, the planet's temperature rises sharply in a short period of time, and civilization is destroyed in flames.

[Double Suns in the Sky]: Two suns appear simultaneously, the planet's surface is burned by the high temperature, and civilization can hardly survive.

[Triple Sun Alignment]: When three suns align, their gravitational pull is superimposed, triggering massive geological disasters such as the ocean being sucked up and the air being lost, leading to the destruction of civilization.

[Still Stationary Flying Stars]: If a distant sun (flying star) aligns with a planet in a straight line and remains stationary, it may mean that the sun is approaching the planet. If all three flying stars are suspended and stationary, it could mean that the planet is being torn apart by the gravity of the three suns.

[Stellar Attraction]: A special case mentioned in the original work, where stars attract each other, potentially leading to the destruction of the Trisolaran planet by its gaseous layer. (The Trisolaran system once had nine stars, but all were swallowed by their respective gaseous layers, leaving only the Trisolaran star.)

Note 1: This chapter is adapted from "Earth Cannon" (considering that Antarctica has been transformed into a hibernation base, making it unsuitable as a tunnel exit, and that the Earth's interior is in a molten state, so the protagonist cannot connect the North and South Poles).
Note 2: Today's number two and tomorrow's number four are part of the plan.

(I really can't finish writing before midnight tonight, so I'll post all four chapters together tomorrow.)
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(End of this chapter)