Chapter 81 Section VI

Jiandibo stared at Burano's figure, and the image appeared out of nowhere in the space in front of the bulkhead, flickering and hazy due to the interference caused by the protective cover.The man next to her was blurred like a cloud of fog, and this was because Candiba couldn't waste any energy, he had to focus all his attention on the mayor. There was no doubt that she could not have seen the image of Candib.So she doesn't know he has a companion and can't make any judgments based on his expressions or body language.In this regard, she is clearly at a disadvantage. Everything he said was true, and if he was willing to expend enormous psychic energy, he could indeed shatter that shield.But in this way, her mind is bound to be permanently damaged.

Yet everything she said was equally true, and if she were eliminated, Seldon's plan would be thwarted as badly as the damage done by the mules.In fact, this time it may be even more serious, because now that the project is about to enter the second half, there will not be much time to remedy this mistake. To make matters worse, there is still an unknown Gaia, watching from the sidelines——at this time, its mental force field is still extremely weak, hovering on the verge of nothing. Jiandibo quickly contacted Nuowei's mind again, only to find that the radiance was still there, unchanged at all.

Nuo Wei couldn't feel the soul's probing at all, but she turned her head and asked timidly in a low voice: "Master, there is a fuzzy mist there, are you talking to it?" It must have been the slight connection between the two minds that made her feel this way.Jiandi coffin quickly put a finger to her lips, and said to her: "Don't be afraid, Nuowei, close your eyes and have a good rest." Then he raised his voice again and said, "Mayor Burano, you've made the right bet on this one. I don't want to kill you right away because I think if I explain it to you, you're going to be able to talk about it." Reasonable, the two of us don't have to fight to the death."

"Suppose you win today, and I really surrender to you, what will happen? You and your successors will have inflated self-confidence, and over-reliance on the spiritual force field shield, and will definitely be eager to expand their power to Everywhere in the galaxy. By doing so, you will actually delay the establishment of the Second Empire, because by doing so, you will also destroy the Seldon Project." "I'm not at all surprised that you didn't want to wipe me out right away," Burano said. "And I think since you're still sitting there, you have to admit that you don't dare touch me at all."

"Don't kid yourself with narcissistic nonsense," Chandib said. "Listen, most of the galaxy is still not under Al Qaeda's sphere of influence, and anti-Al Qaeda polities make up a large percentage of it. Even within Al Qaeda Federation, there are Certain members are obsessed with their past independence. If the base decides to move quickly because I surrendered to you, then the greatest weakness of the rest of the galaxy—disintegration and indecision—must disappear immediately, and they will be forced to unite out of fear Arise. Besides, there may be rebellion within the Union."

"You are scaremongering, you want to scare me with scarecrows." Burano said: "We have enough power and can easily defeat all enemies. Even if all non-base worlds unite against us, even if half of the Federation It is not a problem at all for the world to rebel at the same time." "It's just okay for the time being, mayor, don't make the mistake of looking at the immediate future and not having a vision. You can only pay lip service to the establishment of the Second Empire, but you can't make it last forever. You have to fight again every ten years to barely maintain a situation."

"Then we'll fight until those worlds are exhausted, just like yours are exhausted now." "Just like I am getting more and more courageous now, it is impossible for them to be tired. And this situation will not last long, because the fake empire you created will soon face another bigger crisis. Since it It can only be maintained temporarily by a strong military force. After relying too much on military means, an unprecedented situation will appear, that is, the base generals are more important than the civilian government and hold greater power. The false empire will split into many military regions , the commanders of each district will also become self-respecting warlords, and then form a state of anarchy, and in the end they are doomed to return to the wild. Before the implementation of the Seldon plan, Seldon estimated that the barbaric period would last for 30,000 years, but if so As a result, the wild period is bound to last longer."

"This childish threat can only frighten children, and even if the mathematics of the Seldon Project had predicted it, it would have predicted probabilities, not certainties." "Mayor Burano," said Candiba earnestly, "forget about the Seldon Project, you don't understand the math and you can't see the patterns. But then again, maybe you don't Need to know that. You are a seasoned politician, and quite successful, as you can see from where you are now; Use your political wisdom, recall the political and military history of mankind, and refer to your understanding of human nature, think about how ordinary people, politicians, and military officials usually act, how they react, and how they interact , to see if what I said is correct.”

Burano replied, "Even if you're right, Second Foundation, we still have to take the risk. With good leadership, and technological advancement—psychomechanics and physics going hand in hand—we can Overcoming all odds. Hari Seldon did not correctly estimate these developments, he simply could not. In the whole Seldon project, why did we consider that the first base would develop a psychic force field shield? Why should we stick to it? This plan? We would rather risk abandoning the Seldon plan and build a new empire on our own. In any case, it is better to abandon this plan and fail than rely on it to succeed. Become a bunch of puppets, secretly manipulated by the Second Foundation behind the scenes."

"You say that only because you don't understand the consequences of this failure, what it will bring to all of humanity in the galaxy." "Maybe!" Burano replied stubbornly. "Are you starting to feel tired, Second Foundation?" "Not at all! Let me propose another plan that you haven't thought of, so that I don't have to surrender to you, and you don't have to surrender to me. Now, we are near a planet called Gaia." "I know that quite well." "But did you know that it might be the birthplace of the mule?" "I need more actual evidence, otherwise it's useless for you to speak out."

"There is a psychic force field around this planet, and it must be home to a large herd of mules. Even if you fulfill your dream of destroying Second Foundation, you will still be a slave to this planet of mules. What has Second Foundation done to you? Injury? I mean real injury, not imaginary or theoretical. Now ask yourself, how much disaster can one mule do to you?" "I'm still hearing nothing but empty talk from you." "As long as we stay here, I can't provide further evidence. Therefore, I propose a temporary truce between the two sides. If you don't trust me, you can continue to open the protective cover, but please cooperate with me once. Let's approach this planet together. Planet, after you are convinced that it is dangerous, I will immediately remove its mental force field, and then you will order your fleet to capture it." "and then?" "Then, at least we don't have to worry about other enemies. Only the first base and the second base are left. The decisive battle will soon become clear. And now, you see, neither of us dare to fight because you and I Both bases are tied to each other and are under attack from both sides." "Why didn't you say it earlier?" "I thought that I could convince you that we were not enemies, and that we might be able to cooperate. Since this effort has clearly failed, I suggest that the two parties try to cooperate at least once." Burano didn't answer right away. She lowered her head and pondered for a while, and then said: "You are singing a lullaby to lull me to sleep. If this planet is full of mules, how can you relieve the mental force field by yourself? ? This kind of thinking is so absurd, I have to suspect that your proposal has ulterior motives." "I'm not alone," Chandib replied, "I have the whole power of the Second Foundation as my backing, and this powerful power can be transmitted to me, and then turned against Gaia. Of course , I can also use this power at any time to easily push away your protective cover, just like blowing away a cloud of mist." "In that case, why do you need my help?" "One of the reasons is that it doesn't make much sense to just remove the force field. The second base can't do this work endlessly, just like I can't go on chatting with you forever. We need your fleet to launch an actual offensive .Besides, if I can't convince you with words that the two bases should consider each other allies, perhaps by cooperating on a major adventure, you can be converted. What words can't achieve, may be brought back to life by action. .” There was another silence before Burano said, "I'd like to get closer to Gaia if we could cover each other, but I've promised nothing else." "That's enough." After Jiandibo finished speaking, he immediately leaned over to face the computer. At this time, Nuowei suddenly said: "You can't do this, master. Up to now, there is no serious problem, but please don't take any further actions. We have to wait for the representative Trevize from Terminal Star to come."