Starting as a Wallfacer, his defection to the Three-Body Problem shocked the world.

Chapter 196 The Swordholder: Thomas Wade!

"Father, this is too high! I'll die if I fall!"

"Wade, all you need to do is move forward. This is my order. No matter what lies ahead, you must move forward!"

On a platform several meters high, a boy who looked only seven or eight years old was holding onto a pillar with one hand. In front of him was a wooden bridge made of iron chains.

The bridge is about ten meters above the ground, which is like a cliff to a seven or eight-year-old child.

Without any protection, if he were to slip even slightly, he would fall directly from mid-air and be smashed to pieces.

Beside him, a man in military uniform was looking at the boy above with a serious expression, his gaze as sharp as a hawk's.

"War could break out again at any time, Vader. Your mother and I cannot protect you forever. When we are gone one day, you must learn to make choices on your own."

World War II had ended, and the Axis powers had completely collapsed after the island nation also announced its surrender.

But the pain of war was etched into everyone's memory, and it was from that time that Vader's father suddenly began to involve Vader in daily training in order to prepare for the possibility of another war in the future.

This caused Thomas Wade a lot of trouble. His parents were both from the military, and they knew all too well how to train an ordinary person into a soldier who could participate in war.

The training that Vader underwent pushed his physical abilities to the limit in order to ensure that he could survive in the war that was likely to break out in the future.

Vader underwent at least dozens of different types of grueling training like this.

"You have no right to retreat. You can only move forward until you've exhausted every last bit of strength. So, child, don't hesitate!"

Hearing his father's words, Wade had no choice but to grit his teeth and stride forward.

Although there was no protection, the physical training that Vader's father had given him had paid off.

Even on such a steep bridge, walking was not as difficult as he had imagined. Once he overcame his psychological barriers, everything seemed to fall into place naturally.

But how could a father's training be so simple?

As Wade turned around, he saw that his father below had somehow pulled a pistol from his waist and was aiming it at him.

"boom!"

Without hesitation, the father pulled the trigger of his pistol. A bullet flew past Wade from behind, instantly breaking the bridge he was on into two sections connecting it to the area behind him.

"Father!"

Wade was startled. In his panic, he grabbed the chains on the bridge with his bare hands, and the cold metal instantly cut his hands in several places.

But he dared not let go, because at this moment he was no longer walking on the bridge, but was being half-suspended in the air by the chains.

If he loosens his grip even slightly, he will fall directly from the sky.

"Now, you can only keep moving forward. You have no way back. Climb up!"

The father's tone was devoid of any emotion, as if he had long anticipated this outcome.

Upon hearing this, Wade looked at the ground several meters above his feet, then at his hands, which were already covered in blood, and a sudden surge of determination appeared in his eyes!

"Forward! Forward!"

Only this one thought remained in his mind. He no longer looked back at the bottomless abyss behind him, but instead used all his strength to pull his body forward little by little!

When Wade climbed up the broken bridge, his mother was already waiting there. Seeing that her son had arrived safely, she rushed forward to treat Wade's wounds.

Although she felt sorry for her child, the mother never objected to her husband's way of educating the child.

Having experienced the horrors of war, both husband and wife knew that only those who had endured hellish torment could survive it.

"You did a good job, soldier!"

At this moment, the father also came up and did not hold back his praise for the child.

Whenever Wade completed a training exercise, his father would praise his achievements and address him as both an officer and a soldier.

……

The father's training of Wade went beyond physical training; he hoped that Wade could become a commander, rather than a soldier who could only be used as a pawn by politicians on the battlefield.

Therefore, in addition to regular physical training, Thomas Wade's elite education never stopped.

While children of the same age were enjoying their childhood, Thomas Weld's childhood was almost entirely occupied by all kinds of books.

Intelligence science, reconnaissance, counter-reconnaissance, military strategic command, materials engineering and weapon structural design...

The knowledge he has acquired covers almost every aspect.

Even aristocratic etiquette was a required subject for Thomas Wade.

Because his father said that perhaps one day, Wade would infiltrate a wealthy man's home as a spy to carry out a decapitation operation against an important enemy official, learning these basic etiquette rules was essential.

Therefore, Wade studied exceptionally hard, which surprised even his teachers.

After all, few students seriously study aristocratic etiquette. In this era that is about to enter the new century, only some old European countries still have some impoverished nobles who use these etiquettes. For the United States, which is about to become the world's superpower, learning these things is not as important as one might imagine.

But when the teacher learned that Thomas Wade was learning these things for assassination and infiltration, he taught him with extra care, imparting almost all of his life's knowledge to Thomas Wade.

Wade came from a very wealthy family. His father had distinguished himself in World War II, which placed his family in the upper-middle class throughout the country.

Therefore, going to university is relatively easier for the rich, and Wade successfully received his university admission letter in his early teens.

Having been instilled with an almost devilish elite education by his father from a young age, Wade's academic performance was ridiculously strong.

The reason why the privileged class can ensure that their families remain prosperous for hundreds of years is not only due to their original means of accumulating wealth, but also because they attach greater importance to the education of their children than ordinary families.

They know exactly what their children should learn, and can use minimal time investment to give their children far more advantages than their peers.

After completing his university studies, Wade also developed some of his own ideas, which led to some disagreements with his father's original plans.

He planned to start his own company. At that time, aerospace technology was booming, and many internet giants were also emerging.

Therefore, Wade wanted to enter the aerospace field and start a technology company called "Star Ring Group," focusing on artificial satellites and aerospace, to build a vast intelligence empire.

If he had actually succeeded, Musk might not be in the picture now.

But an unexpected event occurred: his mother passed away due to illness, forcing Wade to respect his father's wishes and continue his studies in military and intelligence science.

In fact, Wade never understood why his father was still so eager for him to climb the ranks and gain a higher position in the military, even though the war had ended many years ago and peace and development were the main themes of the future world.

But it wasn't until several years later that he truly understood his father's thoughts.

His father also died. This soldier, who had fought for his country all his life, ultimately died in that war, becoming a pawn that politicians could discard at will.

Before his death, his father left Wade with only one sentence.

"War has never left us, and the threat can come at any time. Before the unknown future arrives, you can only exhaust all your strength and keep moving forward, forward, forward by any means necessary!"

At that moment, Thomas Wade felt a deep-seated fear and despair.

What he once saw as a peaceful world is now a mountain of corpses and a sea of ​​blood!

Fear of the future clung to him like a leech, constantly urging him to move forward.

Unconsciously, the pistol that had been aimed at him in his childhood reappeared behind him, like the scythe of death, waiting to reap his life at any moment.

"Forward, you have no way out, Vader!"

Later, as his father wished, he successfully joined the army and participated in the country's foreign wars.

It was from that time on that he completely abandoned his original self and became a devil like his father.

During the war, he repeatedly disregarded the lives of civilians, ordering his troops to launch indiscriminate attacks, resulting in the massacre of a large number of civilians, and repeatedly violated the Geneva Convention by carrying out humanitarian cleansing of prisoners of war.

Even some of his colleagues disapproved of his actions, considering Thomas Wade a madman comparable to an art student.

But for those in power, they love such madmen; only such people can be driven by the ambitions of politicians.

The higher-ups even gave this madman the nicknames "weapon of war" and "god of slaughter on earth."

But this did not reassure Wade at all; he could only fall asleep by numbing his brain with large amounts of alcohol and cigars.

Later, when the war was lost, the troops led by Vader were almost wiped out. But in despair, Vader displayed a command ability far beyond that of ordinary people and led the remaining troops to escape successfully.

This perilous experience is forever etched in his mind.

From then on, he firmly believed that his father's theory was absolutely correct, and that people can only unleash their full potential in the most desperate situations.

He began to intensify the training of his soldiers, resulting in numerous casualties during training.

He enjoyed seeing people with that look of despair, because in Vader’s view, the potential that comes out of despair is quite astonishing!

Although the troops trained by Wade were incredibly brave on the battlefield, it still could not change the overall defeat in the war. In the end, Thomas Wade was sent to a military court for his various atrocities during the war, but with the strong protection of the military high command, he still managed to survive and was demoted to a secondary position to work in the intelligence department.

It wasn't until 2007, with the outbreak of the Crisis Era, that Thomas Wade was re-enlisted in the PDC and became the director of the intelligence agency PIA.

In this desperate world, only this ever-advancing demon can charge forward without hesitation, betting its own life and the lives of all humanity on the table to gamble with the Trisolarans.

And at this moment, he was the swordsman who could instill fear in both worlds—Thomas Wade.