Episode 18 recap: Ye Wenjie revealed the true situation of the Red Coast
At that time, Ye Wenjie hurried back to her office. She quickly learned from Lei Zhi Cheng that she was being reassigned to the Monitoring Department again. Lei Zhi Cheng vividly described the core focus of the work, while Yang Wei Ning remained cautious and wary of Ye Wenjie. He angrily prepared to report Lei Zhi Cheng's actions to their superiors.
After Yang Wei Ning left in anger, Lei Zhi Cheng sat down and revealed the true situation to Ye Wenjie. The purpose of bringing her back was actually quite simple. The Red Coast monitoring devices were often disrupted by electromagnetic radiation from solar flares and sunspots. Lei Zhi Cheng had also unexpectedly come across Ye Wenjie's research paper, which showed her deep understanding of solar activity. Ye Wenjie's predictive model was also the most accurate in the country. Therefore, he wanted to bring her in to assist with this issue. However, after she arrived, her capabilities proved outstanding, so Lei Zhi Cheng decided to assign her more important work.
Lei Zhi Cheng expressed his trust in Ye Wenjie, but this trust was limited to himself. He acknowledged that in the future, Ye Wenjie would need to earn the trust of the organization through her efforts. He hoped that one day he could sincerely address her as "Comrade Ye Wenjie" face to face. When Ye Wenjie heard all this, she was overcome with emotion and tears streamed down her face.
Afterwards, although she participated in the work, there were still many limitations. Ye Wenjie quickly discovered the problems within the Red Coast project. She reported the situation to Yang Wei Ning, who responded with a strange attitude, often becoming angry. However, Ye Wenjie didn't mind, as it made her realize that Red Coast was far more complex than she had imagined. Yang Wei Ning's attitude and the unusual occurrences could only mean that the true intentions behind the establishment of Red Coast were extremely secretive.
Later on, Ye Wenjie quickly realized that everything Lei Zhicheng had told her was false. The Red Coast was neither an offensive weapon nor a means to monitor enemy spacecraft. Lei Zhicheng's care, promotion, and protection of Ye Wenjie were all fake. That's why Yang Weineng had been obstructing her all along, and he was truly a rare good person in those times.
Yang Weineng later revealed the true nature of the Red Coast to Ye Wenjie. It was ultimately a tool for exploring extraterrestrial civilization, and Ye Wenjie herself was the creator of the entire Red Coast self- system.
Upon hearing this, Wang Miao suddenly understood a lot. The Ye Wenjie in front of him continued to recount the past. At that moment, it was the height of the intense rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union. Human madness had reached its peak in history. Nuclear submarines and nuclear weapons were hidden in some corner of the world, ready to be launched at any moment. Once launched, they had the power to destroy hundreds of cities and kill billions of people. Each country had a strong sense of crisis regarding these technological mutations.
Ye Wenjie also acknowledged the terrifying nature of nuclear weapons, but she knew that there were even more terrifying things in the universe. There were black holes, there was antimatter. Compared to nuclear weapons, they were nothing more than gentle candles. Ye Wenjie explained her previous work to Wang Miao, emphasizing that although the technology was primitive in that era, it was still more advanced than people imagined. The core part of the Red Coast reception system was immersed in liquid helium at minus 269 degrees. At that time, the Red Coast successfully transmitted messages to the universe.
Ye Wenjie shared many details about the Red Coast with Wang Miao. She felt that he now had the answers. The only thing she could admire was the forward-thinking of the Red Coast project's highest decision-makers. If the Red Coast succeeded, the world would not be as it is now. Wang Miao understood that it was too early to talk about success or failure at this point. Even if the radio waves sent out at that time reached today, they would not have traveled far in the universe. The Red Coast project seemed to prove one thing: there truly was only intelligent life on Earth in the universe. Without Lei Zhicheng, the Red Coast base would have been destroyed long ago. Since the Red Coast was classified as a military immigrant zone, the military had completely abandoned it. The Chinese Academy of Sciences could not afford the operating costs, and everything came to an end.
During that time, Ye Wenjie often pondered about life on Earth by herself. It was a mere coincidence within the vastness of the universe, and the universe was like an empty palace, while humanity was just a tiny ant within it. In this moment, Ye Wenjie looked at the scene before her, where everything had changed but the person had changed, too. She stood once again on the platform she had visited before, gazing at everything around her.
(Ye Wenjie is the culprit) Firstly, Ye Wenjie witnessed all the evils of humanity: betrayal, betrayal, abandonment... Her outlook on the future of humanity is pessimistic. I absolutely agree that humanity needs to be saved.
However, she cannot place her hopes on higher-level extraterrestrial beings because that would be gambling, and the stakes are the lives of people around the globe. You can only represent yourself; you cannot represent the thoughts of all humanity.
Can you guess whether extraterrestrial civilizations will treat you well or harm you? If they have the ability for interstellar travel, they must be immensely more powerful than us.
To put it simply, there won't even be a chance for rebellion. Of course, there might be friendly civilizations, but who can truly understand the real intentions of extraterrestrial beings?
As long as Earth holds value for extraterrestrial beings, the probability of invasion is very high. The world is cruel, where the weak are preyed upon by the strong. Look at the history from World War I to World War II and beyond, even the United States after World War II.
Whenever something valuable to themselves appears, plundering occurs. Not to mention higher-level extraterrestrial civilizations! Even if they don't find Earth's resources valuable, it's not impossible for them to destroy it before leaving.
She is a sinner, and everyone who hurt and betrayed her, causing her to make such choices, is also a sinner. But why did these people become aggressors... Why did no one stop them... Ultimately, it is the collective consciousness of humanity that has led to this outcome.