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

Chapter 64 I Think, Therefore I Am (Seeking monthly votes, available for purchase on May 1st)

The aircraft carrier deck was very stable. Although there were some waves outside, Ding Yi felt as if he were standing in the middle of a wide road. This solid and open space gave him a great sense of security.

His two weeks working on the International Space Station were not long, and he has already readjusted to Earth's gravity.

Compared to Ding Yi, who was slightly hunched over and looked to be in his thirties, Jiang Xingchen, who stood tall and straight, seemed more like a soulless shell.

"Do you want to continue listening to about macro-fusion?" Ding Yi asked, turning his head.

"I think I don't need it," Jiang Xingchen said.

"It's about Lin Yun."

"Why do you keep bringing him up?" Jiang Xingchen asked, slightly annoyed.

Ding Yi waved his hand: "I am a married man... Her name is Yang Dong. Don't always be hostile towards me. I mean, since fate has linked you, me, Lin Yun, and Dr. Chen together in the macro fusion crisis ten years ago, then please listen to me patiently."

"Say what you want to say," Jiang Xingchen said weakly.

"I have met Lin Yun in the quantum state."

"Your fairy tales are quite good," Jiang Xingchen sneered.

Ding Yi said helplessly, "I really saw it. You may not believe it, after all, you were on the Everest at the time, confronting the US Seventh Fleet and their weather control weapons with the North Sea Fleet."

To lend credibility to his words, Ding Yi listed two names:

"Rather than saying I saw him, it would be more accurate to say that Colonel Xu Wencheng and I saw Lin Yun incidentally while accompanying General Lin Feng to the fusion point."

Ding Yi described the scene to Jiang Xingchen.

"The macro-fusion that Lin Yun stimulated was aimed at electronic components, namely chips. At that time, the Gobi Desert also saw the same blue sun as the previous two days. Lin Yun disappeared within this blue sun. After the blue sun disappeared, the entire Gobi Desert was melted into a completely smooth giant mirror—smoother than the mirror-like canyon that Luo Qing carved out in the Geneva Jura Mountains." (In reality, after two weeks of weathering, the smoothness of the mirror-like canyon had been greatly reduced, and the mirror effect had almost completely disappeared, turning it into an ordinary artificial canyon.)
Ding Yi continued, "On that giant mirror, I saw the rolling clouds reflected in the sky. The mirror surface seemed to be another parallel world of the sky, where the sky and the ground were the same color. It was under this scenery that Colonel Xu Wencheng and I accompanied General Lin Feng and saw Lin Yun."

Ding Yi's description was so realistic that it aroused even more jealousy in Jiang Xingchen's heart. However, her suppressed rationality turned jealousy into inner pain, which she ultimately let go and digest in silence.

Ding Yi seemed oblivious, or perhaps he was good at rubbing salt into people's wounds. He continued, "Just before the yellow sand hanging over the Gobi Desert covered the giant mirror, Lin Yun appeared. She was about four or five hundred meters away from us, but we could see her very clearly."

Ding Yi adjusted his glasses. "You know I'm very nearsighted, but I saw her extremely clearly at the time. I can tell you with certainty that Lin Yun was real and visible. The sound of her footsteps as she walked towards General Lin also confirms this. She has a physical form... Do you want to hear more?"

Jiang Xingchen waved his hand weakly. Ding Yi didn't know if it meant 'yes' or 'no,' so he had no choice but to continue describing.

Ding Yi described the following scene:
Endless clouds flowed across the giant mirror-like expanse of the earth, and Lin Yun truly seemed like a light cloud floating among them. At this moment, the sky was a pale blue, but mostly dominated by white, as was the giant mirror of macro-fusion melting. Heaven and earth were enveloped in this dreamlike environment, and Lin Yun walked upon the giant mirror, her reflection incredibly clear. Because the cold winds of the Gobi Desert were always particularly fierce at dusk, Lin Yun's short hair was blown into disarray, which she brushed aside from time to time. She was still wearing the military uniform she had left in, the collar neat and clean, almost white.

Ding Yi said, "I remember her clear and calm eyes—she was always a clear and calm person. Lin Yun stood there, like ice. This ice communicated with her father, General Lin Feng, for more than ten minutes before finally turning into a crystal shadow and disappearing. After returning, General Lin Feng passed away less than two years later, you know that."

"Enough, stop." Jiang Xingchen interrupted Ding Yi.

"Is it interesting to tell fairy tales to me? You're an expert in physics, surely you understand more than I do? Everyone here knows about the observer effect. Even if she could actually appear in front of everyone, she would instantly collapse into a state of destruction and disappear completely due to strong observation!"

Ding Yi said, "See? This is what happens when you only have a superficial understanding of physics."

Jiang Xingchen was taken aback: "What do you mean by that?"

Ding Yi made no attempt to hide his disdain: "You think I'm making this up? I said those words to Dr. Chen ten years ago!"

Jiang Xingchen asked blankly, "But how could she, in her quantum state, be observed for so long without collapsing?"

Ding Yi: "I used to be just as confused as you, but I understand now! When I discovered macroscopic quantum states, I posed a question in Science: What's the difference between a conscious quantum state and an unconscious quantum state? We've all overlooked an important factor." "What factor?"

“An observer, a non-external observer, a self-observation belonging to a conscious quantum state individual!” Ding Yi’s voice became increasingly resolute.

"Okay, even so, what's the use of self-observation?"

Ding Yi's tone was calm, but he gave Jiang Xingchen an answer that was like a thunderbolt: "Self-observation can cancel out other observers, thus maintaining the quantum state from collapsing."

"This is impossible."

"Nothing is impossible! Since it happened, it is real and scientific! Everything is possible!" Ding Yi brought up this statement once again.

silence.

There was a long silence.

"Is there any chance she'll come back?" Jiang Xingchen asked.

Ding Yi noticed that Jiang Xingchen was trembling slightly, very lightly, but he could still feel it.

"It might not be possible. I can't say for sure. An entity that disappears under macro-fusion has a greater state of existence than a state of destruction in the short time after the resonance is completed. This is a prerequisite for the entity to be observed and seen. However, as time goes by, the state of destruction will be greater than the state of existence. Normally, you will not be able to see it."

"So, when I'm on the verge of death, when I go from being a strong observer to a weak observer, I'll be able to see it, right?" Jiang Xingchen said with a wry smile.

Ding Yi nodded: "Theoretically, that's true, but I don't recommend you say it out loud. She might be watching you right now. Let's go, leave this place, you great hero of the Macro Fusion Crisis."

Jiang Xingchen remained motionless.

Ding Yi tried to pull the soldier nailed to the deck away; he tried hard, but failed.

Ding Yi decided to ignore him and turned to walk towards the island superstructure.

Jiang Xingchen's voice drifted from afar: "Ding Yi, if the figure that collapsed into a quantum state reappears in the macroscopic world, what does that mean?"

Ding Yi said impatiently, "This means that self-observation is greater than external observation of the macroscopic world, that consciousness determines matter, that..."

Before Ding Yi could finish speaking, he heard a familiar voice add the last sentence.

"It means—I think, therefore I am,"

Ding Yi turned around in astonishment, only to see that the person take a step forward, the quantum collapse into a state of existence, the physical entity reappeared, and appeared in front of the two of them.

"It's been a long time. I extend my greetings to you both on behalf of Lin Yun."

Luo Qing smiled.

...

...

...

The Trisolarans' world has collapsed.

(End of this chapter)