The Wallfacer Project

"Our thoughts."

The Trisolarans could not understand deception, disguise, or schemes.

Their thoughts were transparent. A single idea was broadcast to the entire group in an instant.

To them, thinking and speaking were the same thing.

But humans were different."

Chang Weisi paused, letting those words sink in.

"Every human brain is a world unto itself.

It can harbor gods, or it can harbor demons.

We can imagine a perfect, benevolent utopia and, that same afternoon, plot the vilest betrayal.

The Trisolarans can monitor everything about us except what goes on inside our heads.

And that is the one thing they fear."

"So our only chance is to use a kind of thinking they cannot understand."

Chang Weisi's voice grew low and forceful. "We need a vast strategic plan whose true purpose is known to no one but the person carrying it out.

That person will face the enemy alone and fight in his own way.

No matter how absurd or insane his actions appear, we must not question them. Any attempt to interpret them could be captured by Sophon and expose his true intentions."

"That—"

The American representative opened his mouth, scarcely able to breathe. "Isn't that a dictatorship? You're putting the fate of all humanity in one person's hands?"

"It's wallfacing.

The term comes from Buddhist scripture.

One faces a wall and contemplates alone until the path forward becomes clear.

We will choose several Wallfacers and grant them sweeping authority to draw on Earth's resources.

They will be our deceivers, our strategists—the daggers we thrust at the Trisolarans, hidden in the fog of human thought," Chang Weisi corrected him.

"Wallfacers..."

The French representative, Dubois, murmured the word. It carried an ancient, Eastern mystique that made him forget his objection for a moment.

"They will owe us no explanations