Three bodies

Aa Aa said that Cheng Xin's eyes were brighter and more beautiful than before, maybe she wasn't lying.Cheng Xin used to have moderate myopia, but now her vision is extremely clear, and she feels like the world has been refreshed.

It has been six years since I returned from Australia, but the suffering of immigrants and these six years have hardly left traces on AA. She is like a fresh and watery plant, and the water droplets of years and sufferings are dripping from her smooth leaves. Rolled off and didn't stick at all.In the past six years, Cheng Xin's company has developed rapidly under her management and has become a giant in the low-Earth orbit space construction industry, but she doesn't look like the CEO of a big company at all, she still looks like a lively girl , but this is also normal in this day and age.

These six years didn't exist for Cheng Xin either, she spent it in short-term hibernation.After returning from Australia, it was diagnosed that her blindness was initially psychogenic, caused by a super-intensive mental shock, but later developed into a physical lesion, which caused the retina to detach and die.The treatment involves partial cloning of her genes and transplanting retinas grown from stem cells in the clones, a process that takes about five years.Cheng Xin was in deep depression, and spending five years in the dark would completely break her down, so the doctor put her in a short-term hibernation.

The current world has indeed been refreshed.The world cheered when it learned that gravitational-wave cosmic broadcasting had started. The "Blue Space" and "Gravity" became mythical ships of salvation, and the members of the two spaceships also became superheroes admired by all. The murder suspicion of the "Blue Space" in the dark battle was overturned, and it was confirmed that it was self-defense after being attacked.At the same time, the members of the Earth Resistance Movement who persisted in fighting on various continents during the immigration period also became heroes.When the ragged resistance fighters appeared in public, tears filled everyone's eyes.For a moment, the two spaceships and the resistance fighters became symbols of the greatness of the human spirit, and countless admirers unconsciously felt that they had always possessed this spirit.

What followed was a frantic revenge against the Earth Security Forces.In fact, objectively speaking, in this disaster, the security forces played a far more positive role than the resistance movement.They protected the city and other infrastructure during the migration, although it was preserved for the upcoming Trisolaran civilization, but ensured the rapid recovery of the world economy after the migration returned.During the return process of immigrants, due to food shortages and power outages, Australia fell into chaos out of control several times. It was also the security forces who entered Australia that ensured basic supplies and maintained order, ensuring that the large-scale evacuation ended without major casualties. completed within a month.In such chaos, without this well-equipped armed force, the consequences would be disastrous.But none of this was considered by the courts, and all members of the Vigilante were tried, and half were convicted of crimes against humanity.During the period of mass immigration, most countries resumed the death penalty, and it was not canceled after returning from Australia.In the past five years, a large number of former members of the Security Forces have been executed, and a considerable part of the crowd who cheered for this was those who were unsuccessful in the application for the Security Forces.

But things quickly returned to normal and people began to rebuild their lives.Since the city and industrial facilities were well preserved, all aspects were quickly restored, and in less than two years, the scars of the city completely disappeared, showing the splendid prosperity before immigration, and everyone began to enjoy life wholeheartedly.

This kind of peace is based on the fact that in Luo Ji's dark forest experiment, there was a period of 187 years between the broadcast of the coordinates of the star 3J1X150 to the universe and the destruction of the star, which is exactly the average of modern people life.At this time, human beings also had the lowest birth rate in history, and people didn't want to bring their children to a doomed world-but most people thought they could spend their lives safely.People have also seen the fact that the cosmic broadcasting ability of gravitational waves is much stronger than the original solar radio wave amplification. However, human beings quickly found a greater self-consolation: doubting the dark forest theory itself.

"Once Upon a Time Beyond Time" (excerpt)
Cosmic Persecution Delusions – Final Questions on the Dark Forest Theory

Although the dark forest theory has become a major background in human history for more than 60 years since the era of deterrence, academic doubts about its authenticity have always existed. Until the beginning of the era of broadcasting, no one had been able to prove it scientifically There is no conclusive evidence, and the few existing evidences lack a solid scientific basis.

Doubt 187: Luo Ji's dark forest experiment resulted in the destruction of the 3J1X187 star system.Whether the galaxy was actually destroyed by an external intelligent force has been debated.The biggest doubt comes from the astronomical community, and there are two main points of view: one point of view is that the observed light-speed objects that hit the star are not enough to destroy the star, and the destruction of the 3J1X[-] galaxy may be a natural supernova explosion. The parameters of the star are not well grasped, and it is impossible to determine whether it has the conditions for a nova or supernova explosion; but it cannot be falsified. Considering the time span from the broadcast of the coordinates to the destruction of the star, this possibility is quite large.The second view admits that the star was destroyed by a light-speed object, but thinks that the light particles may be a natural phenomenon in the Milky Way.Although no second light particle phenomenon has been observed so far, examples of massive objects being accelerated to extremely high speeds by natural forces have been observed. Some stars have been observed to be thrown out of the Milky Way at extremely high speeds by the gravity of star clusters. Some scholars It is believed that the super black hole at the center of the Milky Way is entirely possible to accelerate small-mass objects to very close to the speed of light. This light-speed object may be produced in large numbers in the center of the Milky Way, but it is difficult to find it because of its small size.

Doubt [-]: Three-body world’s fear of the dark forest.This is by far the most powerful proof of the Dark Forest theory, but the evidence held by the Trisolaran itself and the process of its demonstration have always been unknown, so it cannot be regarded as a direct proof scientifically.The Trisolaran world may establish a deterrent balance with human beings due to other unknown reasons, and finally give up the occupation of the solar system.There are many hypotheses about this unknown cause, although none of them is absolutely convincing, but none of them can be falsified.Some scholars put forward a theory of "cosmic persecution delusion", thinking that the Trisolaran world itself does not have the exact evidence of the dark forest theory, but because of its long-term extremely dangerous environment, it has produced a kind of cosmic society. Group persecution delusion, this kind of group delusion is similar to the religion in the middle ages of the earth, and it is believed by most Trisolarans.

Doubt [-]: "Lord of the Rings" confirms the dark forest theory. The "Lord of the Rings" apparently learned the word "Dark Forest" from the last part of the human historical data sent to it in the Rosetta system.The term appears frequently in the historical sources of the Era of Human Deterrence, and is understandably referenced by it.But in the conversation between "Lord of the Rings" and the expedition, this part is very short and vague, which is not enough to prove that "Lord of the Rings" did understand the meaning of the word.

Since the Age of Deterrence, the study of dark forest theory has become an independent discipline.In addition to theoretical research, a large number of cosmic observations and computer simulations have been carried out, and numerous mathematical models have been established from different angles. However, in the eyes of most scholars, this theory is just a hypothesis that cannot be verified or falsified.It is the politicians and the public who really believe in the dark forest theory, and the latter obviously choose whether to believe or deny it based on their own circumstances.After the onset of the broadcast era, the general public became increasingly inclined to believe that the Dark Forest theory was really a cosmic persecution delusion.

As all the dust settles, attention shifts from cosmic broadcasts to reviewing and reflecting on overall events from the end of the Deterrence Era to the present.Accusations and denunciations against the sword-bearer began to appear overwhelmingly. If the sword-bearer had started the universe broadcast at the beginning of the incident, at least the subsequent immigration disaster could have been avoided.But the main focus of public criticism is on the choice of sword bearer.This is a very complicated process. The political pressure formed by the world's public opinion contributed to the final decision of the United Nations and Fleet International at that time. People debated who should be responsible, but almost no one proposed that it was caused by the collective will of all people. result.Public opinion is relatively tolerant towards Cheng Xin herself. Her beautiful public image provides her with some protection. At the same time, she has also won sympathy for the suffering she experienced as an ordinary immigrant. People see her more as a victim.In general, the sword-bearer's abandonment at the last moment made history take a big detour, but it didn't change the overall process. After all, the cosmic broadcast was activated, so the discussion on that period of history quickly subsided. Cheng Xin It also gradually faded out of people's vision. After all, the most important thing at this time is to enjoy life.

But for Cheng Xin, life has become endless torture.Her eyes regained her sight, but her heart was still in darkness, and she was in the deep sea of ​​depression all day long.The mental pain is no longer so scorching and heart-piercing, but it has become endless.Pain and depression seemed to permeate every cell of her body, and she no longer remembered the sunshine in her life.She became more reticent, less receptive to outside information and less concerned with her rapidly expanding company. AA was very concerned about Cheng Xin, but she had to be busy with company affairs, so she didn't have much time to spend with Cheng Xin. It was Freys who supported Cheng Xin's life.

In that dark hour at the end of the immigration, Freth was taken out of Australia with the AA, and he stayed in Shanghai before returning home to Warburton before the evacuation was over.After Australia fell silent again, Freys donated his house to the government as an aboriginal folk museum. He set up a small tent in the nearby woods and really lived the primitive life of his ancestors.During the wind, meal and camp, the old man's body seems to be stronger than before.The only modern item he owns is a mobile phone. Every day he calls Cheng Xin several times, each time saying a few words:
"Son, the sun is up here."

"Son, the sunset here is beautiful."

"Boy, I've spent the whole day cleaning up the mess around the prefabricated houses, trying to make the desert look like it is."

"My child, it's raining here, and you should remember the damp smell of the desert in the air."

……

The time difference between Australia and China is about two hours. Cheng Xin gradually got used to the old man's schedule. Whenever she heard the old man's voice, she imagined that she was also living in the forest in the remote desert, isolated and peaceful. looming.

In the middle of the night, Cheng Xin, who was sleeping, was suddenly awakened by the ringing of the phone, and it turned out that it was Freis.It was 1am, around 14am in Australia.Frass knew that Cheng Xin was suffering from severe insomnia. If she didn't use a hypnotizer, she could only sleep two or three hours a day. He would never disturb her at this time.This time, his voice on the phone also lost its usual gentleness and calmness, and became hasty and tense: "My child, go out and look at the sky!"

In fact, Cheng Xin also noticed something abnormal in the room.During the difficult sleep just now, she was having a nightmare. The scene in this dream often appeared in the past: there was a huge mausoleum in the middle of the plain shrouded in night, and a faint blue light came out from the mausoleum, illuminating the nearby ground... Now, there is such a blue light outside.Cheng Xin went to the balcony and saw a blue star in the sky. Its brightness overwhelmed all other stars. Its position was constant and it was easy to distinguish it from space facilities operating in low-Earth orbit. It was a star in the solar system. stars outside.Its brightness was still increasing sharply, and soon the figures on the ground were captured, eclipsing the city's sea of ​​lights.About 2 minutes later, the brightness of the star reached its peak, brighter than the full moon, making it impossible for people to look directly at it, and the color of the light also changed from faint blue to pale, illuminating the city like daytime.Cheng Xin knew where it was. For nearly three centuries, it was the place people saw most of when they looked up at the night sky.

There were screams from the nearby giant tree building, and the sound of something breaking.

The luminosity of the star gradually weakened after reaching its peak, from white to red, and after about half an hour, it was completely extinguished.

Cheng Xin didn't pick up the phone when she came out, but she followed her through the call window, and she could still hear Freys' voice, which became calm and detached again: "Son, don't be afraid, what should happen will happen."

The dream of An Yi was completely shattered, the dark forest theory was finally confirmed, and the three-body world was destroyed.

[7th year of the broadcast era, Tomoko]

"Once Upon a Time Beyond Time" (excerpt)
New model for Dark Forest
The Trisolaran world should have been destroyed in three years and ten months of the broadcast era. The gravitational wave universe received a shock in such a short time after the broadcast, which was beyond everyone's expectations.

Since the Trisolaran galaxy has been under close surveillance, we have relatively detailed information on this incident.The impact on the Trisolaran galaxy is exactly the same as the impact on the 187J3X1 star that Luo Ji tested: it is a small-volume object that is extremely close to the speed of light, and it destroys the star with the help of the mass expansion produced by the relativistic effect.The one that was destroyed was one of the three stars of the Trisolaran galaxy, and the timing was very precise. When this star was hit, it had just captured the Trisolaran planet as its satellite, and the planet was completely destroyed when the star exploded.

When the "Gravity" launched the gravitational wave broadcast, it was about three light-years away from the Trisolaran galaxy. Considering the time for the gravitational wave to travel at the speed of light, the emission point of the light particles should be closer to the Trisolaran galaxy than the two spacecraft, and it is almost close to the Trisolaran galaxy. To the information immediately launched.This is confirmed by observational data, where the trails of light grains passing through dust clouds near the Trisolaran galaxy are clearly recorded.But there must be no other star systems in this range of space, which means that the light particles were emitted from some spacecraft.

Previous models of the Dark Forest Theory were mainly based on star systems, and it was taken for granted that hits to star systems whose coordinates had been broadcast were all from other star systems.If the spacecraft can also be the source of the strike, the situation becomes suddenly complicated.Compared with the precise grasp of the positions of the stars, except for the Trisolaran Fleet, human beings know nothing about the aircraft made by intelligent bodies in the universe. Their number, density, speed and course are all unknown, which makes the dark forest strike The source may be more complicated and confusing, and the attack may appear more quickly.In addition to the three-body galaxy, the closest star to the solar system is also six light-years away, but those ghostly alien spacecraft may pass close to the sun.The god of death, who was thought to be far away in the sky, suddenly appeared in front of his eyes.

For the first time, the human world has witnessed the destruction of a civilization, and such a fate will fall on itself at any time.The three-body threat that lasted for nearly three centuries disappeared, and now mankind is facing a more ruthless entire universe.

The expected worldwide panic did not appear. Faced with the destruction of the distant world four light-years away, human society just fell silent strangely. Everyone was waiting in a daze, although no one knew what they were waiting for.

Since the great trough of the Era of Crisis, although history has experienced several major turning points, the human world is generally in a state of a highly democratic, civilized, and high-welfare society.For two centuries, there has been a subconscious consensus among people that no matter how bad things get, someone will always take care of them.That belief nearly collapsed during the Great Migration Disaster, but on that darkest morning six years ago, a miracle happened.

This time people are also waiting for a miracle.

On the third day after the destruction of the Trisolaran system, Sophon suddenly invited Cheng Xin and Luo Ji to drink tea.She said that there was no other meaning, but that she hadn't seen her friend for a long time, so she went to catch up on the old days.

The United Nations and Fleet International attach great importance to this meeting.Now, this state of dazed waiting in the whole society is very dangerous. The human group is like a fragile sandcastle on the beach, which may collapse in the wind at any time.The upper management hoped that the two former swordsmen could bring back some stable information from Sophon. During the emergency meeting of the PDC held for this meeting, some people even hinted that even if such information was not available, some ambiguous information could be made up. Come.

After the launch of the universe broadcast six years ago, Sophon disappeared from the public view. Even if he showed up occasionally, he remained expressionless and only became the mouthpiece of the Trisolaran world.She has been staying in the small wooden villa in the sky now, and may be on standby most of the time.

On the branch hanging Sophon's villa, Cheng Xin saw Luo Ji.During the Great Migration, Luo Ji was always with the resistance movement. He did not participate in or command any actions, but he has always been the spiritual leader of the resistance fighters.Both the Security Forces and Water Drop are frantically searching for him and trying to eliminate him, but they don't know how he hides, even Sophon can't find his whereabouts.Now, the Luo Ji that Cheng Xin saw still had that straight and stern look, except that his beard and hair fluttering in the wind had turned whiter, and the seven years had barely left any traces on his body.He didn't speak, but the smile he showed when he greeted Cheng Xin made her feel very warm.Luo Ji reminded Cheng Xin of Freys. They were two completely different people, but they both brought something as strong as a mountain from the AD century, which gave Cheng Xin something to rely on in this strange new era.And Vader, that wolf-like vicious AD man who almost killed her. She hated and feared him, but she also felt a kind of dependence on him, which was really strange.

Tomoko greeted them in front of the villa, again in her gorgeous kimono, with flowers in her bun.The fierce ninja in camouflage disappeared without a trace, and she turned back into a woman like a spring among flowers.

"Welcome, welcome. I was supposed to visit the house, but then I couldn't use the tea ceremony to entertain you. Please forgive me. It's really a pleasure to meet you." Zhizi bowed, saying that Cheng Xin saw her here for the first time. The same time, the same soft voice.She led the two of them through the courtyard in the bamboo forest, over the small wooden bridge over the gurgling spring, and into the large pavilion-like living room.Then, the three of them sat down on the tatami, and Tomoko started fiddling with the tea ceremony, and the time passed in silence, letting the blue sky outside the window roll with clouds.

Seeing Sophon's gentle and elegant movements, Cheng Xin had mixed feelings.

Yes, she (they? they?) could have succeeded, and almost every time, but man has saved the day every time by tenacity, cunning, and chance.After three centuries of long journey, in the end, only the mother star homeland perished in the sea of ​​fire.

Sophon knew the news of the destruction of the Trisolaran world four years ago.After the light signal of destruction reached the earth three days ago, she gave a short speech to the international community, simply reporting the process of the disaster, and the cause of the disaster—the gravitational wave universe launched by two human spaceships. Broadcast - no comment, much less condemnation.People have reason to suspect that the Trisolarans who controlled this robot four years ago on the Trisolaran planet four light-years away have died in the flames, and now her controller may be in the spaceship of the Trisolaran fleet.Sophon's expression and voice are very calm when he speaks. This kind of calm is not the sluggishness when he just acted as a mouthpiece before, but the true embodiment of the controller's soul and spirit, showing the nobility and dignity that human beings cannot match in the face of destruction.Facing the ruined civilization of this parent star world, everyone felt a sense of awe that they had never experienced before.

Based on the limited information provided by sophons and human observation data, we can roughly outline the scene of the destruction of the Trisolaran world.

When the catastrophe occurred, the Trisolaran planet was in a stable epoch, orbiting one of the three stars with an orbital radius of about 0.6 AU.After the star is hit by light particles, a huge hole is punched in the photosphere and troposphere. The diameter of the hole reaches 0.6 kilometers, and four earths can be placed side by side.Whether by accident or on purpose, the light particles hit the star at the point on the planet's ecliptic plane.Seen from the Trisolaris planet, a bright spot with extremely high luminosity appeared on the surface of the sun, which was like the gate of a melting furnace. Shine on the planet.On the hemisphere exposed to the light spot, the life outside was scorched in a few seconds.Then, the material inside the star spewed out through the hole, forming a fountain of flames 10 kilometers thick.The temperature of the ejected solar material is as high as tens of millions of degrees, part of it falls back to the surface of the sun under the action of gravity, and part of it reaches the escape velocity and goes straight into space.Seen from the planet, the surface of the sun seems to grow a brilliant tree of fire.About four hours later, the ejected material traversed a distance of [-] AU, and the treetops of the fire tree intersected the orbit of the planet.After another two hours, the orbiting planet touched the treetops of the fire tree, and then orbited in the ejected material belt for [-] minutes. During this time, the planet is equivalent to orbiting inside the sun, and the ejected matter passes through space. After cooling, there is still a high temperature of tens of thousands of degrees Celsius.When the planet moved out of the belt of ejected material, it was already a dark red glowing object with a molten surface and a sea of ​​magma covering everything.There is a white trail behind the planet, which is the water vapor of the evaporated ocean; then the trail is blown away by the solar wind, and the planet becomes a comet with long white hair.

At this time, there is no life on the surface of the planet, Trisolaran has been destroyed, but the fuse of the disaster has just been lit.

The ejection belt has a huge drag on the planet, and the planet's running speed is reduced after passing through, and the orbit drops a little.The fire tree is like the claws stretched out by the sun, pulling down the planet again and again. As long as it passes through the eruption belt about ten times, the planet will fall to the surface of the sun. The long cosmic rugby game in the Trisolaran galaxy will come to an end, but this The Suns didn't live long enough to become champions.

Due to the pressure drop caused by the ejection of matter, the nuclear fusion reaction inside the star temporarily weakened, so the sun quickly dimmed, and finally only a hazy outline could be seen, which made the giant tree of flames on the surface of the sun more eye-catching and dazzling, as if it was in the sun. Drawn out with a sharp object on the film of the universe.With fusion extinguished and the internal radiation pressure no longer sufficient to support the star's outer shell, the sun began to collapse, and the eventually dimmed outer shell touched and squeezed the inner core, triggering the eventual explosion.

This is what the people on Earth saw three days ago.

The stellar explosion destroyed everything in the Trisolaran galaxy. Most of the spaceships and space cities that were fleeing in the galaxy were destroyed. Only a very few spaceships escaped by chance. The battered star acts as a shelter during the big outburst.

In the future, the remaining two suns will form a stable binary star system, but there will be no life to enjoy the regular sunrise and sunset.Exploding stellar material and shattered planets formed vast accretion disks around the two suns, like two gray graveyards.

"How many people escaped?" Cheng Xin asked softly.

"Including the fleet that has sailed far away, it's less than one-thousandth." Sophon replied in a softer voice, she was still concentrating on the tea ceremony, without looking up.

Cheng Xin had a lot of things to say, women to women, but she was a member of the human race, and the gap between her and Sophon could no longer be crossed.Thinking of this, she couldn't say anything, she could only ask the questions that the higher-ups instructed her to ask.The conversation that followed was called the "Tea Conversation" and had an important impact on the later course of history.

"How long do we have?" Cheng Xin asked.

"I can't be sure, the blow will come at any time, but according to the probability, there should be a period of time, maybe as long as a century or two, just like the last experiment you conducted." Sophon glanced at Luo Ji.The latter sat upright and remained calm.

"But……"

"The situation in the Trisolaran world is different from that of the solar system. First of all, the coordinates of the Trisolaran galaxy are broadcasted. If you are aware of the existence of Earth civilization from this, you must consult the information of the first communication between the two parties nearly three centuries ago; it will definitely be consulted. Yes, but the probability of consulting and deciding to launch a strike at the same time is relatively small; it will definitely happen, but it will take time. There is also a more important point: from a long distance, the Trisolaran system looks more dangerous than the solar system."

Cheng Xin glanced at Luo Ji in surprise, but the latter remained calm. She asked, "Why?"

Sophon shook his head resolutely, "I can never tell you this."

Cheng Xin brought the conversation back to the intended track, "The two existing strikes used light particles to destroy stars. Is this a common way of attack? Will the attack on the solar system be like this in the future?"

"Dark Forest Strikes all have two characteristics in common: one, casual; two, economic."

"Please explain."

"This is not a regular interstellar war. It just eliminates possible threats. The so-called randomness means that the release of coordinates is the only basis for strikes. There will be no direct detection of targets at close range, but strikes, because for super civilizations , the cost of close-range detection is higher than that of strike; the so-called economic means that only the lowest cost of strike is carried out, and the destructive energy in the target galaxy is induced with tiny and cheap projectiles.”

"Induced stellar energy?"

Sophon nodded, "So far, that's what we've seen."

"Is it possible to defend?"

Sophon smiled and shook her head, as if explaining her childishness to a child, "The whole universe is in the dark, and we are in the light. We are a bird tied to the top of a tree in the dark forest, illuminated by the spotlight, and the blow may from any direction."

"Judging from the nature of the two strikes, there should be a possibility of passive defense. Trisolaris also has spaceships that survived in this galaxy."

"Believe me, humans will never survive the blow. Flee."

"Interstellar escape, less than one in a thousand of us can escape."

"That's better than annihilation."

From our point of view, not necessarily.Cheng Xin thought to herself, but didn't say it.

"Let's not talk about this anymore, shall we? Please don't ask any more questions. All I can tell you is the above. I invited two friends to drink tea." Tomoko said, bowed to the two, and poured two bowls Green tea was handed to them respectively.

Cheng Xin still didn't ask many scheduled questions. She was nervous when she took the tea, but she knew it would be useless to ask any more.

Luo Ji, who had not said a word so far, was still very calm, and he was obviously more expert in the tea ceremony. He held the tea bowl in his left hand, and turned the bowl three times with his right hand before drinking.He drank slowly, letting time pass in silence.He didn't finish his tea until the clouds and mist outside the window were stained with the golden color of the setting sun. Then he slowly put down the bowl and said the first sentence:

"Can't I ask any more?"

Luo Ji's prestige in the three-body world has long been manifested in Sophon.From the very beginning, Cheng Xin noticed that Sophon was full of awe towards Luo Ji, unlike the gentleness and friendliness she showed towards herself. Whenever she faced Luo Ji, this awe would be revealed unabashedly in her eyes.She always kept a longer distance from Luo Ji than Cheng Xin, and bowed slower and deeper to Luo Ji.

Hearing Luo Ji's words, Sophon bowed deeply again. "Wait a minute, please," she said, and sat with her eyes downcast, as if in thought.Cheng Xin knew that a few light-years away in space, on the spaceship of the Trisolaran Fleet, the sophon controllers were discussing nervously.After about 2 minutes, she looked up and said:

"You can only ask one question, and I can only answer in the affirmative, negative or don't know."

Luo Ji put down the teacup slowly, but Sophon raised his hand again to stop him from speaking: "This is out of my world's respect for you. The answer I gave must be true, even if it may be harmful to the Trisolaran world , but there can only be one question, and I can only give three simple answers, please think carefully before asking."

Cheng Xin looked at Luo Ji worriedly, but the latter barely paused, and said decisively, "I've thought it over, and here's my question: If viewed from a distance on a cosmic scale, the Trisolaran world shows some dangerous features. , Then, is there some kind of security feature, or a security statement, that can show the universe that a civilization is safe and will not pose any threat to other worlds, thereby avoiding the attack of the dark forest? Earth civilization has a way to send such a security statement to the universe statement?"

To this question, Tomoko did not answer for a long time, and then lowered his eyes in thought.In Cheng Xin's mind, this period of time was astonishingly long, and with each passing second, her confidence weakened by one point. In the end, she was almost sure that Sophon's answer was no or she didn't know.But Sophon suddenly looked directly at Luo Ji with clear eyes—she had never dared to look him in the face before—she replied with one word, her tone was firm:
"Have."

"How?!" Cheng Xin blurted out.

Sophon looked away from Luo Ji, shook his head, and slowly refilled their tea, "There's nothing more I can tell you, really nothing, forever."

"Tea talk" puts something in the countless outstretched hands of those who wait begging for hope: the possibility of issuing a safety statement to the universe to avoid the blows of the dark forest.

"Once Upon a Time Beyond Time" (excerpt)
Cosmic Security Statement - Solitary Performance Art
After the "Tea Talk" was released, everyone was thinking about how to make a safety statement.From the World Academy of Sciences to the elementary school students, they are all thinking hard and putting forward countless plans.This is the first time in human history that all human beings have used their brains to solve a specific problem.

It soon became apparent that the safety statement was a growing mystery.

All release schemes can be roughly divided into two categories: declarative and self-harm.

The idea of ​​the statement school is very simple, that is, to broadcast a statement to the universe, declaring that the earth civilization is safe.This school is mainly devoted to the study of the expression of the statement.However, in the eyes of most people, this idea is almost mentally retarded. No matter how subtle the expression is, in this cold universe, will there really be "people" who believe it?Moreover, what the security statement requires is that all the countless civilizations in the universe believe it.

Self-mutilation is the mainstream. Their theory holds that the content of the safety statement must be true, which means that the statement includes two parts: "say" and "do", and "do" is the key point. Paying the price for survival and turning the civilization of the earth into a truly safe civilization is, to put it bluntly, self-mutilation of civilization.

Most self-mutilation programs focus on technology, advocating that humans actively withdraw from the space age and information age and establish a low-tech society, such as the electric and internal combustion engine society in the late 19th century, or even an agricultural society.Given the dramatic decline in world population, this scenario is feasible.In this way, the security statement becomes a low-tech statement.

Another extreme idea has emerged among the self-mutilation faction: intellectual self-mutilation.Use certain drugs or brain science technology to reduce human intelligence, and fix this low intelligence genetically at the genetic level, and a low-tech society will naturally come true.This kind of thinking is actually technological self-harm taken to the extreme, which is disgusting to most people, but it is still widely popular.On this assumption, a security statement is a mentally retarded statement.

There are many other trends of thought, such as the self-deterrence school, which advocates the establishment of some kind of self-deterrence system, once activated, it will be out of human control, and if the system detects unsafe human behavior, it will activate the destruction mechanism.

It's a feast for the imagination, with countless proposals ranging from ingenious, outlandish, to cult-like horror and evil.

But all of these schemes miss the essence of the security claims.

Sophon pointed out that an important feature of the Dark Forest strike is randomness, and the initiator of the strike does not conduct close-range detection of the target.In all the proposals that have been proposed, human beings are just performing performance art without an audience, no matter how sincerely they are done, no one can see it except themselves.Taking a step back, even if there are some paternal civilizations that conduct close-range detection of the earth, and even install sophon-like long-term monitoring systems in the earth and solar system, they only account for a very small part of the billions of civilizations in the universe .In the eyes of most cosmic civilizations, the sun is just a faint point of light countless light years away, without any detailed features, which is the basic mathematical structure of the dark forest state of the universe.

There was a naive era when scientists believed that they could detect signs of civilizations in distant star systems through long-distance observations, such as detecting the absorption spectra of oxygen, carbon dioxide, and water in planetary atmospheres, and the electromagnetic radiation emitted by civilizations, etc. There are even whimsical speculations such as signs of Dyson spheres.We now know that this is a universe where all civilizations are hiding themselves. If a star system shows no signs of intelligence from a distance, it may be because it is really in a barren state, or it may be a sign that the civilization in that galaxy has matured.

A security statement is essentially a cosmic broadcast, and requires all listeners to believe its content.

There was a distant star, a faint point of light in the night sky, and everyone who glanced at it said it was safe.This is the cosmic security statement.

An almost impossible thing to do.

There is also a puzzling mystery: Why didn't Sophon tell humans how to issue safety statements?

It is completely understandable for the surviving Trisolaran civilization to impose technological blockade on human beings.After the cosmic broadcast, the two worlds are facing hostility from the entire galaxy and even the entire universe, and they are no longer a major threat to each other, and they have no time to care about each other.As the Trisolaran fleet gradually drifted away in the vast space, the connection between the two civilizations gradually became as thin as a gossamer.But there is one fact that Trisolarans and Earthlings will never forget: the root of all of this now lies in Trisolarans, who first invaded the solar system, who tried to exterminate humanity and almost succeeded.If the humans on Earth make a technological leap, revenge is inevitable, and the most likely object of revenge is the new home that the surviving Trisolarans may find, and this revenge may be completed before the Earth civilization is destroyed by the blow of the dark forest.

But the safety statement is different. If this kind of statement can make the whole universe believe that the earth is safe, then the earth is also safe for the Trisolaran civilization. Isn't this what the Trisolaran world hopes to see?
Although there is no clue as to the path to a real security statement, and all serious research has only further demonstrated its impossibility, the public's desire to issue a statement as soon as possible is irresistible, although most people know that the existing programs cannot Solve any problems, but people keep trying.

A European non-governmental organization tried to set up a super-high-power radio wave transmitting antenna, and wanted to use the solar amplification function to broadcast the safety statement they compiled, but was quickly stopped by the police.All the water droplets in the solar system have been withdrawn six years ago, and the blockage of the sun’s magnification function has also been lifted, but this kind of launch is still very dangerous, and may expose the coordinates of the earth civilization in advance.

There is also an organization called "Green Savers", which has millions of members around the world, advocating that humans issue a safety statement to the universe by returning to farming society.More than 2 people in the organization returned to Australia and began to build a model farming society on a continent that had become empty again after the Great Migration. The farming life of the "Green Rescuers" in Australia was continuously broadcast live around the world.In this era, traditional farm tools can no longer be found, so sponsors have to make them specially for them.There is very little arable land in Australia, all of which are used to grow expensive high-end crops, so they have to open up wasteland on land designated by the government.However, the collective labor only lasted for less than a week and no one did it anymore. This is not because the "green saviors" are lazy. They can maintain their hard work for a period of time only with enthusiasm, but because of the modern human body. The quality has changed a lot. Although it is better than the people in the past in terms of flexibility and flexibility, it is no longer suitable for monotonous and repetitive manual labor, not to mention that manpower land reclamation is also a very heavy labor in the agricultural era.After the leader of the "Green Savior" expressed his respect to his peasant ancestors, everyone dispersed, and the cause of the demonstration farming society was lost.

The perverted understanding of the safety statement has also triggered some vicious terrorist incidents. Some "anti-intelligence" organizations have emerged that advocate the reduction of human intelligence. One of these organizations planned a large-scale operation to add a large number of a Drugs called "neuron blockers" that can cause permanent damage to the brain.Fortunately, it was discovered in time and did not cause much harm, except that it paralyzed New York's water supply system for a few hours.What is puzzling is that these "anti-intelligence" organizations require themselves to maintain high intelligence without exception, and strictly prohibit members of the organization from demonstratively using drugs or other technical means to reduce intelligence, claiming that they have the responsibility to be the last batch of "intelligence" organizations. people" in order to complete the establishment of a low-intelligence society and lead its operation.

In the face of the threat of death and the temptation of existence, religion once again became the center of social life.

Throughout history, the discovery of the dark forest state of the universe was a severe blow to the major religions, especially Christianity.In fact, this kind of blow appeared as early as the beginning of the Crisis Era. When Christians learned of the existence of the Trisolaran civilization, they immediately discovered that there was no place for Trisolarans in the Garden of Eden, and God never mentioned the Trisolarans in Genesis. body person.Churches and theologians embarked on more than a century of difficult reinterpretation of doctrine and the Bible.Just when it was able to justify itself, the monster of the dark forest appeared again. For a while, people knew that there were a huge number of intelligent civilizations in the universe. If each civilization had an Adam and Eve, then the population in the Garden of Eden would be the same as it is now. Almost on Earth.

But in the catastrophe of the Great Migration, a full-scale revival of religion began.Now, there is a widespread belief that humanity has been on the brink of destruction twice in the past 70 years, and both times it was miraculously escaped.These two escape events—the establishment of the dark forest deterrence and the activation of the gravitational wave cosmic broadcasting—have many common characteristics: they both occurred suddenly under the planning of a very small number of people, and their occurrence relied on many seemingly inconsequential events. The chances that may arise, such as two spaceships and water droplets entering the four-dimensional fragments at the same time, etc.; these are obvious miracles.In both times of crisis, the believers prayed devoutly on a large scale, and it was this devout prayer that finally ushered in the salvation of the Lord, although there was an irreconcilable dispute about which Lord it came from.

And so the earth became a cathedral, a prayer star, and everyone prayed for salvation as never before.In addition to the many global-scale services presided over by the Pope of the Vatican, people pray in small groups or individually on various occasions, and they silently say the same prayer before meals and before bed: Lord, send us revelation Come on, guide us to show our kindness to the stars and let the universe know we are safe.

There is a worldwide church in space in Earth's low-Earth orbit.It is said to be a church, but in fact it does not have any physical buildings. There is only a huge cross. The lengths of the two beams of the cross are [-] kilometers and [-] kilometers respectively. They can emit light, and its shape can be clearly seen on the ground at night. .During worship, the congregation, sometimes in the tens of thousands, hangs below the cross in space suits.Suspended with them, there are countless giant candles that can burn in a vacuum. The candlelight and the stars shine together. Seen from the ground, the candlelight and the crowd look like a piece of glowing space dust.Every night, there are countless people on the ground praying in front of the cross that appeared in the sea of ​​stars.

Even the Trisolaran civilization has become an object of prayer.Historically, the image of the Trisolaran civilization in the eyes of mankind has been constantly changing.At the beginning of the Crisis Era, they were powerful and evil alien invaders, and they were also deified by ETO during the Three-Body Movement on Earth; after that, the images of the Three-Body World gradually descended from devils and gods to humans. After the establishment of the Dark Forest Deterrence, the three The position of the Trisolarans in the eyes of human beings has been reduced to the lowest, and they have become a group of barbarians with low culture and rely on human beings; After the activation, especially after the destruction of the Trisolaran system, they became the same victims as human beings.After learning about the security statement, the initial reaction of the human society was the same, strongly urging Sophon to announce the method of issuing the statement, and warning her not to commit the crime of destroying the world.But soon people realized that for a world that is going away in the interstellar world and still possesses high technology beyond the reach of human beings, any fury and condemnation are useless, and the best way is to ask.The request turned into begging. Gradually, amidst the begging and the increasingly strong religious atmosphere, the image of the Trisolaran world changed again.Now that they have mastered the method of issuing safety statements, they are the salvation angels sent by God. The reason why human beings have not received their salvation is because they have not fully demonstrated their piety.So the begging of Sophon turned into prayer again, and Trisolaran became a god again.Sophon's residence has become a holy place. Every day, a large number of people gather under the giant tree building. The largest number of people is several times the number of Mecca pilgrims in previous years, forming an endless sea of ​​people.The penthouse, at a height of more than 400 meters, looks very small from the ground, appearing and disappearing in the clouds and mist generated by itself.Sometimes Tomoko's figure would appear in front of the villa, and the details could not be seen clearly, only her kimono was like a small flower in the cloud.This is rare, and therefore sacred, and there is a sea of ​​people of all religions expressing devotion in their own way.Some intensified their prayers, some cheered, some poured out tears, some knelt down, and some threw themselves on the ground.At this time, Sophon just bowed slightly to the crowd below, and then retreated quietly.

"Even if salvation really appears, is there any meaning? Human dignity has been lost." Bi Yunfeng said, he was one of the candidates for the Sword Bearer, and became the main commander of the Asian branch of the Earth Resistance Movement during the Great Migration.

There are still many sane people like him who have done a lot of in-depth research on security statements in various disciplines.Explorers have gone through trials and hardships, trying to find a method for issuing safety statements with a solid scientific basis, but all studies gradually point to the same conclusion.

If the possibility of making a safety claim were to exist, it would require some kind of entirely new technology, far beyond the current state of science in the world of Earth, and unheard of by human beings.

For the "Blue Space" spacecraft that has disappeared into space, the faces of children in human society have changed again.The spaceship changed from the angel of salvation to the ship of darkness and the ship of the devil again.It hijacked the "Gravity" and issued an evil curse of destruction on the two worlds. Its crimes cannot be forgiven. It is the ultimate form of Satan.Those who worship Sophon also issued a petition on behalf of mankind, hoping that the Trisolaran Fleet will search and kill the two spaceships as soon as possible, so as to maintain justice and the dignity of the Lord.As with other prayers, this appeal received no response from Sophon.

At the same time, Cheng Xin's image in the eyes of the public also slowly changed. She was no longer an unqualified swordsman, but once again became a great woman.People dug up an old prose—Turgenev's "Threshold" to describe her. She bravely crossed the threshold that no woman dared to approach, and then, under the unimaginable pressure of ordinary people, also Facing the endless humiliation that will be suffered in the future, he did not send a signal of destruction to the universe at the last moment.As for the consequences of her giving up the deterrence operation in the end, people no longer think about it, but feel her love for human beings, and the pain caused by this love even made her blind.

From a deep analysis, the public's affection for Cheng Xin is actually a response to her subconscious maternal love.In this era when the family has disappeared, maternal love has also become thinner, and the heavenly high welfare society suppresses children's need for maternal love.But now, the human world is exposed to the cold universe, and the scythe of death will fall at any time. The civilized baby of human beings is abandoned in the eerie dark forest. He burst into tears and just wanted to hold his mother's hand.At this time, Cheng Xin happened to be the object of maternal love. This young and beautiful woman from the AD century was a messenger of love sent by her ancestors, and she was the embodiment of maternal love.When the public's affection for Cheng Xin was integrated into the increasingly strong religious atmosphere, the image of the Virgin Mary of a new era was gradually established again.

For Cheng Xin, this cut off her last hope of surviving.

Life has long been a burden and torture for Cheng Xin.The reason why she chose to live was because she didn't want to escape what she should bear. To live was the fairest punishment for her huge mistake, and she had to accept it.But now, she has become a dangerous cultural symbol, and her growing admiration will become another cloud of fog in front of people who are already lost. At this time, it is her last responsibility to disappear forever.

Cheng Xin found that she had made this decision with ease, like a person who had long planned to go on a long journey, but finally let go of all the mundane duties and was able to set off lightly.

Cheng Xin took out a small medicine bottle, and there was only one capsule left in it. It was a medicine for short-term hibernation. She had been hibernating with this medicine for six years. die in agony.

At this time, Cheng Xin's consciousness was as transparent and empty as space, with no memory, no obvious feeling, and the surface of the mental water was as smooth as a mirror, reflecting the setting sun of life, as natural as every dusk... Yes, if a world can be wiped out in a flick of a finger, the end of a person should be as calm and indifferent as dewdrops rolling down a blade of grass.

Just as Cheng Xin put the capsule in her hand, the phone rang, and it was Freys calling again. It was dusk here, and it was already night in Australia.

"My child, the moon is very good here. I saw a kangaroo just now, and the immigrants didn't eat them all."

Freys never used video calls, as if he was confident that his words were more vivid than images. Even though he knew he couldn't see her, Cheng Xin still smiled, "That's great, Freys, thank you."

"Son, everything will be fine." The old man hung up the phone after finishing speaking. He shouldn't have noticed anything unusual. Every time they talked, they were so brief.

AA just came here in the morning and happily told her that she had won the bid for another big project: building a bigger cross on the synchronous orbit.

Cheng Xin suddenly realized that she still had two friends. In this short, nightmarish history, she only had these two real friends. If she ended her life, what kind of blow would it be to them?Her transparent and ethereal heart suddenly constricted and throbbed, as if being grasped by many hands.The calm surface of the spiritual water was broken, and the sunlight reflected on it burned like a fire.Seven years ago, she failed to press the red button in front of all mankind, and now thinking of her two friends, she can hardly swallow this pill that will bring relief.Once again, she saw her boundless weakness, she was nothing but a woman.

Just now, the river in front of her was frozen, and she could easily walk to the other side; but now, the river surface has melted, and she can only wade through the black water.It will be a long torture, but she believes that she will get to the other side, maybe hesitate and struggle until tomorrow morning, but she will finally swallow that capsule, she has no choice.

Just then the phone rang again, and it was Sophon, and she invited Cheng Xin and Luo Ji to drink tea tomorrow, saying that this was her last farewell to them.

Cheng Xin slowly put the capsule back into the medicine bottle. She had to go to this meeting, which meant that there was enough time to wade through that painful river.

The next morning, Cheng Xin and Luo Ji went to Sophon's penthouse again, and they saw a large sea of ​​people gathered several hundred meters below.Sophon announced to the whole world last night that he was leaving. The number of believers who came to worship today was several times higher than in the past, but there were no prayers and shouts as in the past. The crowd was in silence, as if waiting for something.

In front of the villa, Tomoko said the same welcome words as the previous two times.

This time the tea ceremony was conducted in silence, and they all understood that what should be said between the two worlds had already been said.

Both Cheng Xin and Luo Ji clearly felt the presence of the sea of ​​people below.The silent sea of ​​people on the ground is like a big sound-absorbing blanket, which makes the silence in the teahouse even deeper. There is a sense of oppression, as if the white clouds outside the window have become more dignified, but Tomoko's movements are still so gentle and graceful, and the fine porcelain tea sets can't touch each other. Without making a sound, Sophon seems to be fighting against this solemn time and space with softness and elegance.More than an hour passed, but Cheng Xin and Luo Ji didn't feel it was too long.

Sophon held the prepared tea to Luo Ji with both hands, "I'm leaving, please take care of yourself." Then he held the tea to Cheng Xin, "The universe is big, life is bigger, maybe we will meet again by fate in the future."

In the silence, Cheng Xin took a sip of green tea, closed her eyes and savored it, a burst of refreshing bitterness, like drinking the cold starlight.The tea was drunk slowly, but it was finally finished.Cheng Xin and Luo Ji got up to say their final farewells. This time Sophon sent them off a long way, all the way to the branches along the spiral staircase.At this time, the white clouds ejected from the villa disappeared for the first time, and the sea of ​​people was still silent on the ground below.

"Before parting, I have to complete one last mission and deliver a message." Sophon said, bowing deeply to the two, then stood up and looked up at Cheng Xin with meaningful eyes.

"Cheng Xin, Yun Tianming wants to see you."

[7th year of the broadcast era, Yun Tianming]

"Once Upon a Time Beyond Time" (excerpt)
long ladder

At the beginning of the Era of Crisis, the enthusiasm of human society has not been extinguished by the great trough. In order to build the defense of the solar system, the resources of the earth world have been concentrated to complete a series of feats.These huge projects have reached or broken through the limits of technology at that time, such as the space elevator, the test of a stellar nuclear bomb on Mercury, the breakthrough of controllable nuclear fusion technology, etc., have all been recorded in the annals of history.These projects laid the foundation for the technological leap that followed the Great Depression.But the ladder plan doesn't fit there, and it was forgotten even before the Great Trough.In the eyes of historians, the ladder plan is a product of passion and impulsiveness in the early stages of a typical crisis, a rash venture without careful planning.In addition to the complete failure of the ending, there is nothing valuable in technology. Later aerospace technology developed in another direction.

No one thought that after nearly three centuries, the Staircase Project brought a ray of hope to the desperate civilization of the earth.

How the ladder aircraft carrying Yun Tianming's brain was intercepted by Trisolaran may always remain a mystery.

Near the orbit of Jupiter, one of the sails of the ladder aircraft broke, and the aircraft deviated from the scheduled route. The earth also lost its orbital parameters, and the aircraft was lost in the vast space.However, Trisolaris was able to intercept the spacecraft later, and it must have mastered its orbital parameters after the sail broke. Otherwise, even with the Trisolaran technology, it would be impossible to search for such a small object in the vast space outside the solar system.The most likely guess is: after the ladder aircraft took off, at least during the acceleration section, Sophon has been following it and grasped its final orbital parameters.However, it is unlikely that the sophons followed it during the long voyage. The aircraft later passed through the Kuiper belt and the Oort nebula. In these space regions, it may be slowed down or yaw due to interstellar dust, but It seems that the yaw did not happen, otherwise Trisolaris would not know the new orbital parameters.Therefore, there is a certain element of luck in the interception of the ladder aircraft.

The interceptor of the ladder aircraft can basically be determined to be the spaceship of the Trisolaran First Fleet, most likely the spaceship that has not slowed down.At that time, it was out of the fleet a long time ago, and it was expected to arrive in the solar system a century and a half ahead of schedule. After arriving, it could only pass through because of its high speed; the purpose of this spacecraft has always been a mystery.After the establishment of the Dark Forest Deterrence, this spaceship turned with the First Fleet, and the Earth side did not know its course parameters, but if its course after turning was in line with the direction of the First Fleet, it may be the same as the ladder after the yaw. Aircraft meet.Of course, even if they meet, there will be a huge distance between the two when they intersect. If the spacecraft does not have the precise orbital parameters of the aircraft, it is impossible to search and locate it.

The exact time when the aircraft was intercepted can only be roughly estimated, thirty to fifty years ago, it is impossible to be earlier than the era of deterrence.

The motive of the Trisolaran fleet to intercept the ladder aircraft is understandable.Until the end, the real physical contact between the Trisolaran world and the human world was limited to water droplets, so getting a physical biological specimen of a human being is still somewhat tempting to them.

Yun Tianming must now be in the Trisolaran First Fleet, and most of the spaceships in this fleet are flying in the direction of Sirius.His condition is unknown, whether his brain was cultured alone or transplanted into a cloned body, but people are most concerned about another issue.

Is Yun Tianming still working for the benefit of mankind?

This worry was not unreasonable. Yun Tianming saw that Cheng Xin's request was granted, which meant that he had already integrated into the Three-body world, and might even have a certain social status in that world.

The next logical but shocking question is: Has he participated in the history since the beginning of the Deterrence Era, and has he had anything to do with what happened between the two worlds in this half century?

But after all, Yun Tianming appeared at the critical moment when the earth's civilization was in a desperate situation, and he really brought hope.When people heard the news, their first reaction was that their prayers were answered, and the angel of salvation finally appeared.

Looking through the porthole of the carrier cabin, the world in Cheng Xin's eyes was a guide rail with a width of 1000 centimeters, which extended infinitely upwards and downwards until it was too thin to be seen.It has been an hour since the departure, and now it is more than 3 kilometers away from the sea level, and has already crossed the atmosphere and entered space.The earth below is on the night side, and the outlines of the continents are hazy and unreal.The space above is pitch black, and the terminal station at a height of more than [-] kilometers cannot be seen at all, making people feel that the guide rails point to a road of no return.

As an aerospace engineer in the [-]st century AD, Cheng Xin only entered space for the first time after nearly three centuries.No acclimatization is required to fly on any space vehicle, but the technical support team put her on a space elevator because of her possible discomfort.The carrier cabin runs in a straight line at a constant speed almost throughout the entire process, there is no overweight, and there is no obvious drop in gravity in the cabin.Gravity is gradually reduced until complete weightlessness occurs at the terminal station in geosynchronous orbit.Sometimes, Cheng Xin sees a small dot flying by in the distance. It may be a satellite running at the first cosmic speed. At this altitude, only running at their speed in the direction of the orbit can produce weightlessness.

The surface of the guide rail is very smooth, almost no movement can be seen, and the carrier cabin seems to hang statically on the guide rail.In fact, the running speed of the carrier module at this time is about 3000 kilometers per hour, which is equivalent to a supersonic aircraft. It takes about [-] hours to reach the synchronous orbit, which is indeed a very low speed in space.Cheng Xin remembered that in a discussion in college, Yun Tianming once said that, in principle, low-speed spaceflight is completely possible. As long as a constant upward momentum can be maintained, one can travel at the speed of a car or even at the speed of walking. In space, it is even possible to go to the orbit of the moon, but it is impossible to go to the moon, because at that time the moon has a relative speed of more than [-] kilometers per hour with the people who walk past it. Fast flight.Cheng Xin still clearly remembered what he said at the end: Near the orbit of the moon, watching the huge moon fly past overhead must be shocking.Now she is in what he said was low-speed spaceflight.

The carrier cabin is in the shape of a capsule, with a total of four floors. Cheng Xin is on the top floor, and the people accompanying her are on the three floors below. No one bothers her.She was in a luxury business class, like a five-star hotel room, with a very comfortable bed and a bathroom, but it was much narrower, about the size of a university dormitory.

Recently, she always thought of her college days and Yun Tianming.

At this altitude, the shadow area of ​​the earth is very small, the sun appears, everything outside is drowned in the glare, and the surrounding portholes automatically reduce their transparency.Cheng Xin lay back on the sofa, and continued to look at the guide rail through the porthole above.The endless line seemed to hang down from the Milky Way, and she tried to see or imagine movement on the rails, and the gaze had a hypnotic effect, and she gradually fell asleep.

In the haze, Cheng Xin heard someone calling her name softly.It was a male voice, and she found herself in a university dormitory, lying on a lower bunk, but the room was empty.She saw light and shadows move on the wall, like streetlights shining through the interior of a moving car.Looking out of the window, I found that behind the familiar sycamore tree, the sun quickly crossed the sky, rising and falling every few seconds. Even when the sun rose, the sky behind it was dark, and the stars appeared together with the sun.The voice was still calling her name, and she wanted to get up to have a look, but found that her body was floating from the bed, and books, water glasses, and laptops were also floating around...

Cheng Xin woke up from the dream, and found that she was really floating, and she was already a short distance away from the sofa.She reached out to grab the sofa and pull herself back, but inadvertently pushed her body away, all the way up to the top porthole.In weightlessness, she turned around and pushed the window lightly, successfully making herself fall back onto the sofa.Everything in the cabin remained the same, but the weightlessness caused some dust that had fallen before to fly into the air, shining brightly in the sunlight.Only then did she realize that a PDC officer accompanying her had come up from the lower level. Maybe he was calling her just now, but now he just looked at the scene in front of him in amazement.

"Dr. Cheng, you said this is the first time you've entered space?" the official asked, and after receiving Cheng Xin's affirmative answer, he shook his head with a smile, "No, really not."

Even Cheng Xin herself didn't feel like it.The first experience of weightlessness did not make her feel flustered or uncomfortable, and she was able to deal with it calmly, without nausea or dizziness, as if she naturally belonged here, in space.

"We're almost there," said the officer, pointing to the dormer window.

Cheng Xin looked up, and the first thing she saw was the guide rail of the space elevator, but now she could already see the movement from its surface, indicating that the carrier module had slowed down.At the end of the guide rail, the shape of the synchronous orbit terminal station can already be seen, which is composed of multiple concentric circles connected by five spokes.The original terminal station only has a small part in the center. Those rings were expanded in different eras, and the outer rings are newer.The entire terminal station is slowly rotating.

Cheng Xin also saw that more and more space buildings appeared around them. They were all built with the convenience of the elevator terminal station. They had different shapes and looked like exquisite toys from a distance. Only those buildings passing by can make the viewer feel its hugeness.Cheng Xin knew that among them was the headquarters of her space construction company—the Star Ring Group, where AA was working now, but she couldn't recognize which one it was.

The carrier module passed through a huge frame structure, and the sunlight was cut by the dense frame. When it rose from the other end, the terminal station had already occupied most of the space above, and the Milky Way just shone through the gap between the rings.This huge structure was pressed down from above, and when the carrier cabin entered the terminal station, the surroundings became dark, like a train entering a tunnel.A few minutes later, bright lights appeared outside, and the capsule entered the terminal hall and stopped.The surrounding hall was spinning, and Cheng Xin felt a little dizzy for the first time, but after the carrier compartment was separated from the guide rail, it was fixed in the middle by a clamp. After a slight vibration, it also rotated together with the terminal station as a whole, and everything around it was still. .

Cheng Xin walked out of the carrying cabin with four escorts and entered the circular terminal hall.Since they were the only carrier pods arriving at this time, the hall seemed empty.Cheng Xin's first impression of this place was that it was familiar. Although there were information windows floating here and there, the main body of the hall was made of metal materials that are no longer used now, mainly stainless steel and lead alloy, and the years can be seen everywhere. It seems that she is not in space, but in the waiting hall of an old railway station.They took the first space elevator built by humans. This terminal was built in the 15th year of the Crisis Era. It has been used continuously for more than two centuries, and it has not been closed even during the Great Depression.Cheng Xin noticed the criss-cross railings in the hall, which were set up for people to move in a weightless environment.This is obviously an early facility, because personal weightless thrusters are now used. It is small in size and fixed on a belt or shoulder when in use. It can generate thrust on people in weightlessness, and the direction of movement is controlled by a hand-held controller.Most of those railings were made of stainless steel, and some were even made of copper. Looking at their surfaces worn by countless hands over the past two centuries, Cheng Xin thought of the deep ruts in front of the ancient city gates.

The escort gave Cheng Xinshang her first lesson after entering space—teaching her to use the weightless thrusters, but Cheng Xin was more used to holding on to the railing to float.When they reached the exit of the hall, Cheng Xin was attracted by several posters on the wall. They were all very old paintings, and most of them were about the construction of the solar system defense system.One of the paintings was filled with the image of a soldier. He was wearing a military uniform that Cheng Xin was unfamiliar with, and stared at the outside of the painting with fiery eyes. Below it was a line of bold characters: The earth needs you!On a larger painting next to it, a large group of people of different skin colors form a dense wall of people holding hands. The background is the blue flag of the United Nations, which occupies most of the picture. Great Wall!Cheng Xin does not feel familiar with these paintings, because their style is older, reminiscent of the era before she was born.

"These are works from the early days of the Great Trough," said an accompanying PDC official.

It was a short autocratic era, the whole world was in a military state, and then collapsed, from belief to life, everything collapsed... But why keep these paintings until now, for memory or to forget?
Cheng Xin and his party entered a long corridor from the exit of the hall. The cross section of the corridor was circular and stretched straight forward, so long that there was no end in sight. Cheng Xin knew that this was one of the five spokes of the circular terminal station. .At first they were still floating in weightlessness, but soon gravity (centrifugal force) appeared. Although it was weak at first, they suddenly had a sense of direction up and down.The original corridor suddenly turned into a bottomless deep well, and the drifting turned into a fall, which made Cheng Xin dizzy, but there were many guide railings on the walls of the "well". Stay on the railing to slow down.

They quickly passed the first crossroads. Cheng Xin looked at another corridor that intersects vertically, and found that the ground rose upwards in both directions, like a small valley. Obviously this was the first intersection of the terminal station. ring.Cheng Xin saw a sign glowing red at the two entrances of the corridor, which read: Terminal One Ring, Gravity 0.15G.There is a neat row of airtight doors on both sides of the upwardly curved corridor, which open and close from time to time.There are many pedestrians, who can stand upright in microgravity, but apparently have to jump and travel with the help of weightless thrusters.

After passing through the first ring, the gravity continued to increase, and free fall was no longer safe. Escalators appeared on the wall of the "well", with two upward and two downward paths.From time to time, Cheng Xin passed by the people on the escalator next to her, and found that they were dressed casually, no different from the residents of the above-ground city. There are many large and small information windows on the wall of the "well". Some of the news that is being broadcast shows the picture of Cheng Xin boarding the space elevator more than 20 hours ago. At this time, Cheng Xin was surrounded by four escorts. In the middle, plus she was wearing wide sunglasses, she was not recognized.

During the subsequent descent, they passed seven more rings successively. As the diameters of the rings increased sequentially, the upward slope of the ground on both sides also gradually slowed down.During this process, Cheng Xin felt that she was passing through the layers of time in a "well".In more than two centuries, the terminal station has been expanded ring by ring from the inside to the outside, so the deeper the stratum is, the newer it is.The construction materials of each ring are different from the previous ring, and they all look much newer than the previous ring. Its construction and decoration style show the section of an era.From the oppressive, indifferent and uniform military color of the Great Depression, to the optimism and romance in the second half of the Crisis Era, to the free and lazy hedonism in the Deterrence Era.Before the fourth ring, the cabins in the ring were integrally built together with the ring, but since the fifth ring, the ring itself only provided a construction space, and the building facilities in the ring were all planned and constructed later, showing rich diversity sex.Passing through each ring from top to bottom, the characteristics of the space station gradually disappear, and the colors of the world become more and more intense.When arriving at the eighth ring, which is the outermost ring of the terminal station, the architectural style and environment inside the ring are no different from the small cities on the ground, like a bustling pedestrian street, and the standard gravity has grown to 1G, Cheng Xin almost forgot that this is space [-] kilometers above the ground.

But the scene of the earthly city quickly disappeared, and a small motor vehicle took them to a place where they could directly see space.This is a flat hall marked "A225 Port" at the entrance. Dozens of small space vehicles of various shapes are parked on the wide plane like a square. One side of the hall is completely open to space. You can see the The rotation of the terminal station moves the stars.Not far away, a group of strong lights lit up, illuminating the entire port. The light group gradually changed from orange to pure blue. The spaceship that had just started its engine slowly moved out, quickly accelerated, and rushed directly from the opening of the port. into space.Cheng Xin saw a technological miracle that people had taken for granted. She had never understood how to maintain air and air pressure in an incompletely enclosed space building.

They walked through rows of aircraft and came to a small empty square at the end of the port.A spaceship was parked alone in the middle of the square, and there was a small group of people beside the boat, apparently waiting for Cheng Xin to arrive.At this time, on the side of the port that was open to space, the Milky Way was slowly moving past, its light casting long shadows on spaceships and people, making the small square like a big clock face, and those shadows were the moving hour hands.

That group of people was the joint PDC and Fleet team formed for this meeting. Cheng Xin knew most of them, and they all participated in the handover of the sword bearers seven years ago.The leaders are still the rotating chairman of the PDC and the chief of staff of the fleet. The chairman has changed, but the chief of staff is still the one from seven years ago. The longest seven years in human history have left vicissitudes on their faces.After the meeting, everyone did not speak, but shook hands silently and sighed silently.

Cheng Xin looked at the spaceship in front of her. The short-range space vehicles had different shapes, but they were not as streamlined as people imagined in the past.This one was the most common shape, spherical and very regular, and Cheng Xin couldn't even tell which side the propeller was on.The size of this spaceship is about the same as a minibus in the past. It has no name, and only a line of serial number is printed on the outside. It is a very ordinary thing, and Cheng Xin will take it to meet Yun Tianming.

The meeting point is at the gravitational balance between the Earth and the Sun: the Lagrangian point.

Three days ago, after parting ways with Cheng Xin and Luo Ji, Sophon informed the Earth side of the details of the meeting.She first clarified the basic principle of this meeting: this is just a matter between Yun Tianming and Cheng Xin, and has nothing to do with any third party.During the meeting, the content of their conversations will also be strictly limited between the two of them, and they must not involve any technical, political, and military aspects of the Trisolaran world. Yun Tianming can't talk about these things, and Cheng Xin can't ask such questions.No third parties are allowed to be present during the meeting, and no records of any kind are allowed.

The meeting place is in space at the Lagrangian point between the earth and the sun, 150 million kilometers away from the earth, through the real-time communication established by Sophon with the Trisolaran First Fleet, real-time conversation and image transmission can be carried out.

Why meet and communicate in space millions of kilometers away?In the age of neutrino communications, the isolation of space at this distance is not much different from that on the ground.According to Tomoko's explanation, this is just a symbol to let the meeting take place in an isolated environment to show that it has nothing to do with the two worlds.The reason for choosing the Lagrangian point is just to keep the stability of the meeting position, and at the same time, according to the practice of the Trisolaran in space, the gravitational balance point between celestial bodies is the meeting place.

The above was what Cheng Xin already knew, and then she was told something more important.

The chief of the general staff took Cheng Xin into the spaceship. There was not much space inside, only four people could sit there.As soon as they sat down, the spherical bulkhead in front became transparent, becoming hemispherical portholes, like the visor of an enlarged space suit.The reason for choosing this type of spaceship may be mainly due to its wide field of view.

There are no direct manual controls inside the modern spacecraft, and the control displays are all projected in the air, so the cabin is empty.If an AD person enters here for the first time, he may think it is an empty shell without any equipment.But Cheng Xin immediately saw three unusual things, obviously installed later.They were three discs, pasted above the front domed portholes, in green, yellow, and red, reminiscent of traffic signals from the past.The chief of staff explained their purpose to Cheng Xin:
"These are three lights, controlled by Sophon. The meeting and communication process is monitored and monitored from beginning to end. If they think the content of the conversation is normal, the green light will be on; if they want to warn about inappropriate content, the yellow light will be on."

The chief of the general staff suddenly fell silent when he said this. After a while, he seemed to have made up his mind, and then he explained the function of the red light to Cheng Xin:

"If they think you already have information you shouldn't, a red light goes on."

He turned around and pointed to the opaque part of the bulkhead behind them. Cheng Xin saw a small unnoticeable metal body stuck there, like a weight used in an ancient balance.

"This is an explosive, also controlled by Sophon, which detonates three seconds after the red light is on, destroying everything."

"Which side is everything?" Cheng Xin asked, the first thing she thought of was not herself.

"Only the Earth side. Don't worry about Yun Tianming's safety. Sophon has clearly told the Earth side that even if the red light goes on, only the spaceships will be destroyed, and Yun Tianming will not suffer any harm."

“The red light may come on during the conversation. If the whole meeting goes through normally, but they re-review the listening conversation and find something inappropriate, then the red light may come on. Now, I’m going to tell you the best An important point..."

The chief of staff was silent again, Cheng Xin's eyes were as calm as water, she nodded slightly to him, encouraging him to continue.

"Be careful. The green, yellow, and red lights are not lit in sequence. There may not be a warning before the red light. It may jump directly from the green light to the red light."

"Okay, I see." Cheng Xin said, her voice was very soft, like a breeze blowing.

"In addition to the content of the conversation, there is another factor that may turn on the red light: Sophon found that there is a recording device in the spaceship, or there is an information forwarding device. But please rest assured that this will never happen. The spaceship has been checked repeatedly. There is no The recording equipment and communication equipment are all dismantled, and even the log function of the voyage is eliminated. All voyages are carried out autonomously by the AI ​​in the boat, and there will be no communication with the outside world in any form before returning. Dr. Cheng, you understand what this means What are you wearing?"

"If I don't come back, you will get nothing."

"I'm glad you understand that, and that's exactly what we want to emphasize to you. Do what they say, talk only about what's between you and nothing else, not even metaphors and insinuations. Always keep this in mind: If you don't come back, Earth gets nothing."

"In that case, if I come back, Earth will still get nothing. General, I don't want this to happen."

The chief of staff wanted to see Cheng Xin, but he didn't look directly at her, only looking at her projection on the transparent cover in front.Her image was superimposed on the sea of ​​stars, those beautiful eyes calmly reflected the starlight, he suddenly felt that the stars were revolving around her, and she became the center of the universe.He forced himself again, and without further dissuading her from taking the risk, he said the following:
"This," the chief of staff pointed to the back, "is a miniature hydrogen bomb. According to your TNT equivalent at that time, it was [-] tons, and it could blow up a small city. If it happened, everything would happen in an instant, without any pain."

Cheng Xin smiled calmly at the chief of staff again, "Thank you, I understand."

Five hours later, Cheng Xin's spaceship set sail from the port. The overload of 3G pressed Cheng Xin tightly against the back of the seat. This was the upper limit of the excess weight that ordinary people could comfortably bear.From a rearview window, she saw the glow of the spaceship's engines reflected off the terminal's massive hull, and the boat looked like a tiny spark wafting from a giant furnace.However, the terminal itself was also rapidly shrinking, and the huge structure that Cheng Xin was in just now soon became a small speck, but the earth still occupied half of the space in a huge way.

The people from the special team repeatedly emphasized to Cheng Xin that this flight itself was nothing more than ordinary, and it would not be more special than the one she took on a civil airliner before.From the terminal station to the Lagrangian point between the earth and the sun, it will fly about 150 million kilometers, which is one hundredth of an astronomical unit. It is a short-range space flight, and the spherical boat she takes is also a short-range space vehicle.But Cheng Xin remembered that an important reason for her to choose aerospace three centuries ago was a great feat in the middle of the AD century. In that feat, twelve men successively landed on the moon, but their voyage Just one-fifth of that distance.

Ten minutes later, Cheng Xin witnessed a sunrise in space.The sun rose slowly from the arc-shaped edge of the earth, and the waves of the Pacific Ocean had been wiped away by the distance, reflecting the sunlight as smoothly as a mirror, and the large clouds were like snow-white soap foam affixed to the mirror.From this position, the sun is much smaller than the earth, like a radiant golden egg conceived in this dark blue world.As the Sun rises fully above the arcing horizon, Earth's sun-facing side is illuminated in the shape of a giant waning moon.This big crescent is so bright that the rest of the earth is hidden in the shadows. The sun and the meniscus below seem to form a giant symbol in the universe. Cheng Xin feels that it symbolizes new life.

Cheng Xin knew that this was probably the last sunrise she would see.In the coming meeting, even if both parties faithfully followed the rules of the conversation, that distant world might not allow her to return alive, and she had no intention of following the rules.But she felt that everything was perfect and she had no regrets.

As the spaceship travels, the illuminated side of the Earth gradually expands in view.Cheng Xin looked at the outline of the mainland and easily recognized Australia. It was like a large dead leaf floating in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.The continent was moving out of shadow, and the light-dark line was in the middle of the continent, indicating that it was just morning in Warburton, and she imagined the desert sunrise that Freys had seen from the edge of the woods.

The spaceship passed Earth, and the acceleration stopped when the arcing horizon finally moved out of the porthole's view.As the overload disappeared, Cheng Xin felt as if the arms hugging her were suddenly loosened.The spaceship glides unpowered towards the sun, and the light of the star drowns out all the stars.The transparent cover was dimmed, and the sun became a non-glare disc. Cheng Xin manually dimmed it further, making the sun look like a full moon.There was still a six-hour journey, and Cheng Xin was floating in weightlessness, floating in the moonlight-like sunlight.

Five hours later, the spacecraft rotated 180 degrees, and the engine began to decelerate in the forward direction.When the spaceship turned around, Cheng Xin saw the sun slowly move away, and then, the stars and the Milky Way flowed through the field of vision like a long scroll unfolding on an axis.Finally, when the spaceship stabilized again, the earth appeared in the center of the field of view again, and now it appeared to be only the size of the moon seen from the ground.The grandeur it showed before Cheng Xin's eyes a few hours ago has disappeared without a trace, leaving only fragility, like an embryo filled with azure amniotic fluid, taken out of the warm mother's womb, exposed to the cold and cold of space. in the dark.

After the engine started, Cheng Xin was embraced by gravity again.The deceleration lasted about half an hour, and then the engine ran intermittently for final attitude adjustments.Finally, gravity is lost again, and everything falls silent.

Here is the Lagrangian point between the earth and the sun. At this time, the spaceship has become a satellite of the sun and moves synchronously with the earth.

Cheng Xin looked at her watch, the flight time was very accurate, and there were still 10 minutes left before the meeting.The space around her was still empty, and she tried to make her mind empty as well.She has to prepare for a large amount of memory, and only her brain can record the meeting information. She wants to turn herself into an emotionless tape recorder and video camera, and record as many things as possible in the next two hours. see everything.It's not easy to do this, Cheng Xin imagined the space she was in, where the gravitational forces of the sun and the earth canceled each other out to zero, and it was a bit more empty than other spaces, she was in this empty space of zero In the center, it is an isolated existence, which has nothing to do with any part of the universe... She used this kind of imagination to drive the complicated emotions out of her consciousness little by little, and gradually reached the blank and transcendent state she wanted.

In space not far away, a sophon was unfolding in a low dimension. Cheng Xin saw a sphere suddenly appearing in front of it, with a diameter of three to four meters, only a few meters away from the spaceship, blocking the earth and occupying most of the field of view.The surface of the sphere was a total reflection mirror, and Cheng Xin could clearly see the spaceship and the reflection of herself on the sphere.She didn't know if this Sophon had been lurking in the spaceship or had come here alone.The reflection on the sphere quickly disappeared, and the sphere gradually became translucent, unfathomable like a big hockey puck.For a moment, Cheng Xin felt like it was a hole dug out in space.Then, countless snowflake-shaped bright spots floated up from the inside of the sphere, forming a flickering spot of light on the sphere.Cheng Xin saw that it was a white noise image, like a snowflake on a TV screen that couldn't receive a signal.

The white noise lasted for about 3 minutes, and the image from a few light-years away appeared in the sphere, very clear, without any disturbance or distortion.

Cheng Xin had guessed countless times what she would see, maybe only voices or words, maybe seeing a brain in culture fluid, maybe seeing Yun Tianming's complete self... Although she thought the last possibility was very small, but She still imagined the environment Yun Tianming might be in in that situation, and thought of countless ways, but what she saw now definitely exceeded her imagination.

A field of golden wheat in the sun.

The wheat field is about half an acre in size. It is growing well and it is time to harvest it.The soil in the field is a bit weird, it is pure black, and the crystal faces of the particles reflect the sunlight, forming countless twinkling stars on the land.In the black soil next to the wheat field, there is a shovel, which is very ordinary in shape, and even its handle looks like wood.On the shovel hung a straw hat, evidently woven of wheat straw, a bit worn, with straw protruding from the frayed edges.There is another field behind the wheat field, which is planted with green crops, which seem to be vegetables.A gust of wind blew, and there were waves of wheat in the wheat field.

On top of the black soil garden, Cheng Xin saw a sky, or a dome, from another world.It was made up of a large mess of pipes, thick and thin, all dark gray in color, tangled and tangled like a mess.Among the thousands of pipes coiled in a heap, two or three were glowing with strong luminosity, like several winding filaments.The exposed part of the luminous pipe shines light on the wheat field, becoming the sunlight for the crops to grow, and at the same time marks its direction in the mess of pipes with light.Each luminous pipe only lights up for a short time and then goes dark, and at the same time another pipe lights up again, and two to three pipes keep glowing at every moment. This conversion makes the light and shadow on the wheat field constantly changing In, like the sun in and out of the clouds.

What shocked Cheng Xin was the chaos of the tubes.This is definitely not caused by negligence in ordering. On the contrary, it takes a lot of effort to form this kind of chaos. This is a kind of chaos that has reached the extreme, as if any little order in it is taboo.This seems to imply a completely different aesthetic orientation from human beings: chaos is beautiful, and order is ugly.Those glowing pipes gave this mess a strange life, as if the sun was shining through the clouds, and Cheng Xin couldn't help thinking for a moment, was this an extremely deformed artistic expression of the clouds and the sun?Immediately, she felt that the whole mess of pipes was like a huge brain model, and the alternately lit pipes symbolized the establishment of neural circuits... But reason made her deny these fantasies, and a more reasonable guess is: this may be A cooling system or something like that is not built for the farmland below, it just takes advantage of the light it emits.From the appearance alone, the engineering concept displayed by this system is completely incomprehensible to human beings. Cheng Xin was both puzzled and fascinated by it.

A man came from the depths of the wheat field, and Cheng Xin recognized him from a distance as Yun Tianming.Yun Tianming was wearing a silver jacket, made of a kind of fabric similar to reflective film, as old as that straw hat, and looked ordinary.His trousers were not visible among the wheat and were probably made of the same material.He slowly approached in the wheat field, and Cheng Xin could see his face clearly. He looked very young, the same age when he parted from her three centuries ago, but he was much healthier than then, and his face was a little tanned.He didn't look at Cheng Xin, but pulled out an ear of wheat, rubbed it in his hands a few times, then blew the husk off, threw the grains into his mouth and ate them as he walked, and just walked out of the wheat field.When Cheng Xin felt that Yun Tianming might not know his existence, he raised his head, smiled and waved to Cheng Xin.

"Hello, Cheng Xin!" Yun Tianming said.He looked at her with joy in his eyes, but it was a natural joy, just like a young man working in the field when he saw a girl from the same village come back from the city, as if three centuries of time did not exist, a few light years The distance does not exist, they have been together.This was something Cheng Xin hadn't expected at all. Yun Tianming's gaze was like a pair of generous hands stroking her, relaxing her extremely tense spirit.

At this time, the green light of the three lights pasted on the porthole came on.

"Hello!" Cheng Xin said, emotions that spanned three centuries surged deep in her consciousness, like a smoldering volcano.But she resolutely sealed off all emotional outlets, and just said to herself silently: remember, just remember, remember everything. "can you see me?"

"I can see it." Yun Tianming nodded with a smile, and threw another grain of wheat into his mouth.

"What are you doing?"

Regarding this question, Yun Tianming seemed a little inconceivable, he waved his hand to the wheat field, "Planting!"

"Are you planting for yourself?"

"Of course, what else should I eat?"

Yun Tianming looked different in Cheng Xin's memory.During the period of the ladder project, a terminally ill patient who was haggard and weak; earlier, a lonely and lonely college student.At that time, although Yun Tianming closed his heart to the world, he exposed his state of life to the outside, and one could get a general idea of ​​his story at a glance.But the current Yun Tianming only showed maturity, and he couldn't see a story from him. Although the story definitely existed, and it must be more tortuous, weird and magnificent than the ten Odyssey epics, it couldn't be seen.Three centuries of lonely drifting in the depths of space, the unimaginable life journey in another world, and the countless trials and tribulations that his body and soul were destined to experience, all left no trace on him, leaving only a mature, sunny heart. Ripe like the golden wheat behind him.

Yun Tianming is a victor in life.

"Thank you for the seeds you sent." Yun Tianming said with a sincere tone, "I planted them all, generation after generation, and they all grew very well, only the cucumbers did not grow, which is not easy to grow."

Cheng Xin secretly pondered the meaning of these words: How did he know that the seeds were given by me (even though they were replaced with better ones in the end)?Did they tell him, or...

Cheng Xin said, "I thought it could only be grown without soil, but I didn't expect there to be land on the spaceship."

Yun Tianming bent down and picked up a handful of black soil, allowing the soil to flow out slowly from between his fingers. The falling black soil flickered with crystal light, "This is made of meteorites, this kind of soil..."

The green light is off and the yellow light is on.

Obviously, Yun Tian could also see the warning, he stopped talking, raised one hand and smiled, this gesture and expression was obviously aimed at the listener.The yellow light goes off and the green light comes on again.

"How long has it been?" Cheng Xin asked.She purposely asked such a vague question that there are many possible interpretations, which could refer to how long he had planted the field, or how long his brain had been transplanted into a cloned body, or how long the staircraft had been intercepted. Long time, or whatever it meant, she wanted to give him enough space to deliver the message.

"It's been a long time."

Yun Tianming gave a more vague answer.He looked calm as before, but the yellow light just now must have scared him, he was afraid that Cheng Xin would be hurt.

Yun Tianming went on to say: "At first I didn't know how to farm, and wanted to see how other people farmed, but you know, there are no real farmers anymore, so I can only learn to grow by myself. I gradually learned, but fortunately, what I need is also available. not much."

Cheng Xin's guess just now was confirmed, and the meaning of Yun Tianming's words was very clear: if there were real farmers on the earth, he would be able to see them farming, that is to say, he could see the information sent back by the sophons from the earth!This at least shows that the relationship between Yun Tianming and the Three-Body World is quite close.

"The wheat grows so well, should it be harvested?"

"Yes, this year is good."

"Years?"

"Oh, the engine is running at high power and the year is good, otherwise..."

The yellow light is on.

Another guess was confirmed: the mess of pipes in the sky is indeed something like a cooling system, and the energy they emit comes from the spacecraft's antimatter engines.

"Okay, let's not talk about this." Cheng Xin said with a smile, "Want to know about me? After you left..."

"I know, I've always been with you."

Yun Tianming was still so calm and composed when he said this, but Cheng Xin's heart trembled.Yep, he's been with her all the time, watching her life in real time through Tomoko, he must have seen how she became the sword bearer, saw her throw that red switch in the final moments of Deterrence Era, and watch Her ordeal in Australia, watching her lose her sight in excruciating pain, and later, watching her hold that capsule in her hand... He went through all the suffering with her, as you can imagine, when he watched When she was struggling in purgatory a few light years away, she must have been in more pain than her.What kind of comfort would it be if she knew earlier that the man who loved her so much was always by her side across the distance of light years.But to Cheng Xin at that time, Yun Tianming had already been lost in the vast depths of space. Most of the time, she thought he had long since ceased to exist.

"I want to know how good it is..." Cheng Xin murmured, as if talking to herself.

"How is it possible..." Yun Tianming shook his head lightly.

The emotions that had been suppressed in the depths surged again, and Cheng Xin tried her best to restrain herself, not to let the tears flow.

"So, what about your experience? Is there anything you can tell me?" Cheng Xin asked. This was a naked adventure, but she had to take this step.

"Hmm...let me think..." Yun Tianming pondered.

The yellow light came on, and this time it came on before Yun Tianming said anything substantive. It was a serious warning.

Yun Tianming shook his head resolutely, "No, there is nothing I can tell you, really nothing."

Cheng Xin didn't say anything more. She knew that she had already done what she could do for this mission. As for what Yun Tianming was going to do, she could only wait.

"We can't talk like this anymore." Yun Tianming sighed softly, and said the following words with his eyes: For you.

Yes, it's too dangerous, the yellow light has come on three times.

Cheng Xin also sighed inwardly.Yun Tianming gave up, her mission could not be completed, but it was the only way, she understood him.

Once they give up their mission, this piece of space with a diameter of several light years that accommodates them becomes their private world.In fact, if it is only between her and him, there is no need for words at all, they can tell everything with their eyes.Now, when her attention was slightly diverted from her mission, Cheng Xin felt something more in Yun Tianming's gaze, which brought her back to her college days.At that time, Yun Tianming often cast such gazes on her. He did it very covertly, but the girl's intuition could feel it.Now, this gaze merged with his maturity, like sunlight passing through the distance of light years, immersing her in warmth and happiness.

But this kind of silence that Cheng Xin was willing to last forever didn't last long, and Yun Tianming spoke again.

"Cheng Xin, do you still remember how we spent time together when we were young?"

Cheng Xin shook her head lightly. This question was caught off guard and incomprehensible. When I was a child? !But she managed to hide her surprise.

"In those countless nights, we used to talk on the phone before going to bed. We made up stories and told stories, and you were always better than me. How many stories did we make up, hundreds of them?"

"There should be, a lot." Cheng Xin used to be a person who couldn't lie, and she was surprised that she could be so calm now.

"Do you remember those stories?"

"Most have forgotten, childhood is far away from me."

"But it's not far from me. Over the years, I've retold those stories, those stories I made up and yours."

"Talk to yourself?"

"No, not to myself. When I come here, I have to bring something to this world... What can I give them? After thinking about it, I can bring childhood to this world, so I will tell us The children love the stories I made up. I even published an anthology called "Fairy Tales of the Earth", which is very popular. This is our book. I didn't plagiarize your work. The stories you made up are all Sign your name, so you are a famous writer here."

According to the extremely limited understanding of the trisolaran race, the way the trisolarans combine the two sexes is to fuse the bodies of both sides into one, and then the fused body will split and split into three to five new young lives. This is Their descendants are also the children Yun Tianming mentioned.However, these individuals inherit part of their parents' memories, and have matured to a certain degree of thought after birth, so they are not real children in the human sense. There is really no childhood in the Trisolaran world.Both Trisolarans and anthropologists believe that this is one of the root causes of the huge differences in the social cultures of the two worlds.

Cheng Xin became nervous, she now knew that Yun Tianming had not given up.The critical moment has come and she has to do something, but with extreme caution!She smiled and said, "Since we can't say anything else, those stories can always be told, right? It's really only about us."

"I made it up or you made it up?"

"Tell me what I made up, and bring back my childhood." Cheng Xin answered without any hesitation. Even she was amazed at the speed of her own thinking. In just a split second, she understood Yun Tianming's intention.

"That's good, then we won't talk about anything else, just tell stories, the stories you made up." When Yun Tianming said this, he spread his hands and looked up. He was obviously speaking to the listeners, and the meaning was very clear. : This is fine, it must be safe content.Then he turned to Cheng Xin, "We still have more than an hour, which one should we talk about? Then I'll talk about, um..."The King's New Painter."

Thus, Yun Tianming began to tell the fairy tale called "The King's New Painter", his voice was deep and soothing, as if reciting a long old ballad.At first Cheng Xin was trying to remember, but gradually she became immersed in the story.Time passed in Yun Tianming's fairy tale.He told three consecutive stories: "The King's New Painter", "The Gluttonous Sea" and "The Prince of Deep Water".When the third story ends, a countdown appears on Tomoko's display, showing that the meeting is only 1 minute away.

The time of parting is approaching.

Cheng Xin woke up suddenly from the fairy tale dream, something violently hit her heart, which made her unbearable.She said: "The universe is big, life is bigger, and we will definitely meet again." The words came out of her mouth, and she realized that she had repeated Sophon's words.

"Then let's agree on a meeting place, besides the earth, another place, a place in the Milky Way."

"Then the star you gave me, it's our star." Cheng Xin said without thinking.

"Well, in our star!"

In their affectionate gaze spanning light years, the countdown resets to zero, the picture disappears, turns into a snowflake of white noise, and then returns to the original total reflection mirror.

The green light in the cabin went out, and none of the three lights were on at this time.Cheng Xin knew that she was on the final line of life and death.On a battleship of the Trisolaran First Fleet a few light years away, the content of her conversation with Yun Tianming was being replayed for review, and the red light of death would turn on at any time, and there would be no yellow light warning before.

On the surface of the sophon sphere, Cheng Xin saw the image of the spaceship again, and saw herself in the boat.The spherical spaceship is completely transparent to Sophon's half, looking like a delicate round necklace pendant, and he is his portrait painted on this small disc.Wearing a snow-white ultra-light space suit, she looks pure, young and beautiful.What surprised her the most was her gaze, which was clear and peaceful, without revealing the waves in her heart at all.Thinking that this beautiful pendant will hang on Yun Tianming's heart, she felt a little comfort.

After a period of time that was hard for Cheng Xin to judge, Sophon disappeared and the red light did not turn on.The outer space is still the same, the blue earth reappears in the distance, and the sun behind it, they have witnessed everything.

Overweight appeared, the spacecraft's engines started to accelerate, and the return journey began.

During the several hours of returning home, Cheng Xin turned the spaceship into opaque, completely sealed herself off, and turned into a memory machine again, repeating in her heart the words and stories Yun Tianming had said and told over and over again. .Acceleration stopped, weightless coasting, engine reverse direction, deceleration, all of which she didn't notice until after a shock, the hatch opened and the lights of the terminal port came through.

She was greeted by two of the four officials who accompanied her. They had indifferent expressions and simply greeted each other before leading Cheng Xin across the port to a sealed door.

"Dr. Cheng Xin, you need to rest. Don't think about the past anymore. We didn't have much hope for anything." The PDC official said, and asked Cheng Xin to go through the sealed door that was just opened.

Cheng Xin originally thought that this was the exit of the port, but found that she had entered a narrow room. The walls were covered with some kind of dull metal, which was extremely airtight. After the door was closed behind her, there was no trace of it.This is by no means a place to rest, the furnishings are quite simple, only a small table and a chair, and a microphone is placed on the table; microphones are basically extinct in this era, and are only used for high-fidelity recording.The air in the room has a pungent smell like sulfur, and the skin feels slightly itchy. The air is obviously full of static electricity.The room was full of people, all members of the special team were here.As soon as the two welcoming officials entered the room, the indifferent expressions on their faces disappeared immediately, and their eyes became as dignified and concerned as the others.

"This is Sophon's blind spot." Someone said to Cheng Xin.Only then did she know that human beings have been able to shield sophons, although it can only be done in such a small closed space.

The chief of the general staff said: "Now please repeat the entire content of your conversation. Don't miss any details that can be recalled. Every word counts."

Then, everyone in the special team quietly withdrew, and the last one to leave was an engineer. She warned Cheng Xin that the walls of the shielded room were live and must not be touched.

Cheng Xin was the only one left in the room. She sat down at the small table and began to repeat everything she remembered.An hour and 10 minutes later, she was done.She drank a little water and milk, rested for a while, and then began to retell the second time, and then the third time.In the fourth retelling, she was asked to recall from the back to the front.The fifth was with a team of psychologists who put her in a semi-hypnotic state with some kind of drug, and she didn't even know what she was saying.Before I knew it, more than six hours had passed.

When the retelling was finally completed, the special team crowded into the screened room again.Only then did they shake hands and hug Cheng Xin, tears welling up in their eyes, saying that she had accomplished a great project brilliantly, but Cheng Xin was still in the numb state of the memory machine.

It wasn't until Cheng Xin was in the comfortable reentry capsule of the space elevator that the memory machine in her brain was turned off, and she turned back into a woman.Extreme exhaustion and a tidal wave of emotion overwhelmed her at the same time, facing the blue earth getting closer and closer below, she cried.At this moment, only one voice remained in her mind:
Our stars, our stars...

At the same time, on the ground more than 3 kilometers below, Sophon's villa was reduced to ashes in a ball of flames, and the robot that was the incarnation of Sophon was burned at the same time.Before that, she announced to the world that all sophons in the solar system would be evacuated.

People are dubious about Tomoko's words.It is only this robot that may leave, and a small number of sophons remain in the solar system and the earth for a long time.But it is also possible that she is telling the truth. Sophons are precious resources. The remaining Trisolaran civilization is in the state of starships and cannot produce new sophons for quite a long time. Monitoring the solar system and the earth is no longer meaningful.If the fleet enters the sophon blind zone, sophons in the solar system may be lost.

If it is the latter case, it means that the two worlds of Trisolaris and the earth have completely severed their connection, and become strangers in the universe again.The three centuries of war and grievances have become a passing cloud in the universe. Even if they meet again by fate as Sophon said, it will be a matter of the distant future, but neither world knows whether they have a future.

[Yun Tianming's fairy tale in the 7th year of the radio era]

The first meeting of the Intelligence Interpretation Committee (IDC) was also held in the sophon shielding room.Although most people tend to think that sophons have disappeared, and the solar system and the earth are "clean", they still adopted this secrecy measure, mainly because of the consideration that if sophons still exist, it may threaten Yun Tianming's safety.

What is currently released to the public is only the conversation between Yun Tianming and Cheng Xin, and the main body of the information that Yun Tianming passed on—the three fairy tales are still kept in a state of absolute secrecy.In a transparent modern society, it is difficult to keep such important information secret from the Fleet International and the United Nations to the whole world, but the countries quickly reached an agreement on this.If the intelligence subject is released, there may be an upsurge of interpretation around the world, which may endanger Yun Tianming's safety.Yun Tianming's safety is so important, not just for his personal consideration, at present, he is still the only one who is in the alien society and goes deep into the interstellar, in the future, his importance will be irreplaceable.

At the same time, the confidential interpretation of Yun Tianming's intelligence marks the further enhancement of the power and action capabilities of the United Nations, making it a step closer to a real world government.

This shielded room was larger than the one Cheng Xin had used in space, but it was still quite cramped as a conference room.The currently established shielding force field can only maintain uniformity in a limited space volume, and the force field will be distorted and lose its shielding effect when the volume increases.

There were more than 30 people present at the meeting, besides Cheng Xin, there were also two people from the Yuan Dynasty, who were two of the former candidates for sword-bearer: accelerator engineer Bi Yunfeng and physicist Cao Bin.

Everyone wears one-piece high-voltage protective clothing, because the metal walls of the shielded room are live, and people inside need to prevent accidental contact.In particular, people are required to wear protective gloves in case someone habitually clicks on the wall to try to activate the information window.In the shielding field, no electronic devices can function, so there are no information windows in the room.In order to keep the force field uniform, the furnishings here were minimized as much as possible, mainly people's seats, not even conference tables.The protective clothing worn by the participants was originally worn by electric workers during high-voltage operations. In the simple metal room, this group of people is like an ancient factory workshop meeting before the start of work.

None of the attendees complained about the shabby and crowded place, the pungent smell and skin discomfort caused by the static electricity in the air.They have been living under Sophon's surveillance for nearly three centuries, and now they are suddenly free from the voyeurism of another world. The people in the shielded room have an unprecedented sense of relief.Sophon shielding technology was realized shortly after the end of the Great Immigration. It is said that the first batch of people who entered the shielding room suffered from a kind of "shielding syndrome". People confide in their privacy.A reporter described it in poetic language: "In this narrow paradise, people have opened their hearts, and our eyes are no longer reserved."

IDC is an organization jointly established by Fleet International and the United Nations Planetary Defense Council, and its mission is to interpret the intelligence delivered by Yun Tianming.It is divided into 25 groups according to different disciplines and specialties. The participants this time are not professional scientists, but the leaders of each group, that is, members of IDC.

The chairman of IDC first paid tribute to Yun Tianming and Cheng Xin on behalf of Fleet International and the United Nations. He called Yun Tianming the most heroic warrior in human history, and said that he was the first human being to successfully survive in an alien world—in the heart of the enemy, in that In the unimaginable environment, he fought alone, bringing hope to the earth civilization in distress; Cheng Xin, with her courage and wisdom, risked her life to successfully receive the information from Yun Tianming.

At this time, Cheng Xin asked the chairman to speak in a low voice.She stood up and looked around the venue, and said: "Everyone, everything in front of you is the final result of the ladder plan. This plan is inseparable from a person. Three centuries ago, it was because of his persistence , and used his courageous leadership and outstanding creativity to make the Staircase plan come true against all odds. This person was Thomas Vader, then director of the Strategic Intelligence Directorate of the Planetary Defense Council, and I think we should also pay tribute to him. "

The venue was silent, and no one agreed with Cheng Xin's proposal.In the minds of most people, Vader is a symbol of the dark humanity of the AD century, the opposite of this beautiful woman who was almost killed by him, and it is always chilling to think of him.

The chairman (he himself is the current director of PIA and Wade's successor three centuries later) did not respond to Cheng Xin's words, but continued the meeting's agenda: "For the interpretation of intelligence, the committee has a basic Principles and expectations. It is impossible for intelligence to provide any specific technical information, but it is possible to point out the correct research direction and provide a correct theoretical concept for unknown technologies including light-speed spaceflight and space safety declarations. If this is done , has brought great hope to the human world.”

"The information we got is divided into two parts. One part is the conversation between Yun Tianming and Dr. Cheng Xin, and the other part is the three stories he told. Preliminary analysis shows that important information is hidden in the three stories, and the conversation part can be There are not many things to interpret. Since we will not focus on the dialogue part in the future, here is a summary of the information we have obtained from the dialogue.”

"First of all, we learned that Yun Tianming has done a lot of long-term preparations for this information transmission. He has created hundreds of fairy tales, and the three stories containing intelligence are mixed in these stories. He tells and publishes the anthology This is a long process, and it is not easy. If the information hidden in the three stories is not seen through during this process, the enemy will think these stories are safe in the future. But Even so, he added another insurance policy to the three stories."

The chairman turned to Cheng Xin, "I want to ask a question: Is it really like what Yun Tianming said, did you know each other when you were children?"

Cheng Xin shook her head, "No, we are just college classmates. He and I are indeed from the same city, but our elementary and middle schools are not in the same school. We definitely didn't know each other before university."

"You bastard! Does he want Cheng Xin's life for lying like that?!" Ai AA, who was sitting next to Cheng Xin, yelled loudly, drawing dissatisfied looks from everyone.She was not a member of the IDC, but attended the meeting as Cheng Xin's advisor and assistant, and this was also due to Cheng Xin's insistence. AA has made some achievements in astronomy, but here her qualifications are too low, and everyone despises her. People think that Cheng Xin should have a more competent technical advisor. Even Cheng Xin herself often forgets that AA used to be a the scientist.

A PIA official said: "It is not too dangerous to do so. Their childhood was before the Crisis Era, when sophons had not yet arrived on Earth, and they could not be the targets of sophon detection at that time."

"But later they will check the information left over from the AD century!"

"It's not easy to find the information of the two children before the Crisis Era. Even if you check the household registration or school registration records at that time, knowing that their primary and secondary schools are not in the same school, it can't prove that they didn't know each other at that time. And You didn't expect that at all," the PIA official made no secret of his contempt for AA's lack of professionalism, "Yun Tianming can use sophons, he must have tried to inquire first."

The chairman went on to say: "This risk is necessary. Yun Tianming replaced the author of the three stories with Cheng Xin, which further convinced the enemy that these stories are safe. During the more than an hour of telling, the yellow light did not stop once. Liang, later discovered that when all the stories were told, Sophon’s limited meeting time had already passed by 4 minutes. In order for Yun Tianming to finish telling the last story, the listener kindly extended the meeting time by a total of 6 minutes , which shows that they are no longer wary of these stories. Yun Tianming has another important purpose in doing this, and he uses it to convey a clear message: there are intelligence hidden in the three stories."

"As for the other information that can be deciphered from the conversation, we all agree that Yun Tianming's last sentence is more important—" the chairman said, making a gesture with his right hand in the air. This is a habitual action, trying to click on the holographic information window, when he realized that it was impossible, he said that sentence himself, "'Then let's make an appointment at a meeting place, besides the earth, and another place, another place in the Milky Way.' This sentence There are two possible meanings, first, he hinted that it is impossible for him to return to the solar system; second—"The chairman paused, and waved his hand again, this time as if to drive away something, "It's actually not important , let's move on."

The air in the conference room was a little heavy, and everyone knew the second meaning of this sentence: Yun Tianming had no confidence in the earth avoiding the impact and surviving.

The staff began to distribute documents at the venue. The documents had a blue cover, only numbered and no title. In this era, paper documents are already very rare.

"Everyone, please note that the document can only be read here, and cannot be taken out of the meeting room, nor can it be recorded. Most of the people present here are contacting its content for the first time. Now let's read it together."

The venue fell silent, and people began to seriously read the three fairy tales that might save human civilization.

Yun Tianming's first story:
The Kingdom's New Painter
Long, long ago, there was a kingdom called the Kingdom of No Story, which has never had a story.In fact, for a kingdom, no story is the best, and the people in a kingdom without stories are the happiest, because stories mean twists and turns and disasters.

The Kingdom of No Story has a wise king, a kind queen, a group of upright and capable ministers, and hardworking and simple people.Life in the kingdom is as peaceful as a mirror, yesterday is like today, today is like tomorrow, last year is like this year, this year is like next year, there has been no story.

Until the prince and princess grow up.

The king has two sons, Prince Waterdeep and Prince Smoothie, and a daughter, Princess Dewdrop.

Prince Deep Water went to the Tomb Island in the Taotie Sea when he was a child, and never came back. The reason will be explained later.

The Smoothie Prince grew up with his father and queen, but it also worried them deeply.The child is very smart, but he has shown a tyrannical character since he was a child.He asked his servants to collect many small animals from outside the palace, and he played imperial games with these small animals. He proclaimed himself the emperor, and the small animals were his subjects, and the subjects were all slaves. At that time, all the small animals were killed, and Bingsha stood in the blood on the ground laughing wildly... After the prince grew up, his personality became more restrained, he became taciturn, and his eyes were gloomy.The king knew that it was just that the wolf hid its fangs, and there was a nest of hibernating poisonous snakes in Bingsha's heart, waiting for the chance to wake up.The king finally decided to cancel Prince Smoothie's succession to the throne, and Princess Dewdrop will inherit the throne. The Kingdom of No Story will have a queen in the future.

If there is a ration for the virtues that the father and queen pass on to their offspring, then what the Smoothie Prince lacks must have been given to Princess Dewdrop.The princess is smart, kind, and incomparably beautiful. When she comes out in the daytime, the sun will shrink its radiance. When she walks at night, the moon will open her eyes. When she speaks, the birds will stop singing, and the wasteland she walks on will grow gorgeous flowers.Luzhu becoming a queen must be supported by all the people, and the ministers will do their best to assist. Even Prince Ice Sand didn't say anything about it, but his eyes became more gloomy.

Thus, the storyless kingdom has stories.

The king officially announced the decision on his sixtieth birthday.On this night of celebration, the night sky is decorated with fireworks into a colorful garden, and the brilliant lights almost turn the palace into a transparent crystal palace. Amidst the joyful songs and laughter, the fine wine flows like a river...

Everyone is immersed in happiness, and even the ice-cold heart of Prince Smoothie seems to be melted. He changed from the gloom of the past, and respectfully congratulated his father on his birthday. May the light of his life shine on the kingdom forever like the sun .He also praised his father's decision, saying that Princess Luzhu is indeed more suitable to be a monarch than himself.He blessed his younger sister, hoping that she would learn more about governing from her father, so that she could take on important responsibilities in the future.His sincerity and kindness moved everyone.

"My son, I am so glad to see you like this," said the king, stroking the prince's head. "I really want to keep this good time forever."

So a minister suggested that a giant oil painting should be made to draw the scene of the celebration and hang it in the palace as a memorial.

The king shook his head, "My painter is old, the world has been covered with mist in his dim old eyes, and his trembling old hands can no longer paint our happy smile."

"I was just going to say this," Prince Smoothie bowed deeply to the king, "my lord father, I'm going to present you with a new painter."

After finishing speaking, the prince gestured to the back, and the new painter walked in immediately.This is a big boy, about fourteen or fifteen years old, wrapped in a monk's gray cloak, like a frightened little mouse in this resplendent palace and jeweled guests.When he was walking, his thin body shrank into a branch, as if he was always avoiding the invisible thorns around him.

The king looked disappointed at the painter in front of him, "He is so young, can he master that profound technique?"

The prince bowed again, "My father, his name is Needle Eye, he is from Helsingen Mosken, and he is the best student of the ethereal master painter. He has been learning painting from the master painter since he was five years old, and he has studied painting for ten years now." In [-], he got the true biography of the ethereal painter. He is as sensitive to the colors and shapes of the world as we are to a red-hot iron. This feeling is solidified on the canvas through his god-like brush. Except for the ethereal painter, he is unparalleled in the world. The prince turned to the eye-of-the-needle painter, "As a painter, you can look directly at the king, which is not considered rude."

The Eye of the Needle painter looked up at the king, and immediately lowered his head again.

The king was a little surprised, "My child, your eyes are very sharp, like a sharp sword unsheathed beside the flames, which is extremely disproportionate to your age."

The eye of the needle painter spoke for the first time: "Supreme King, please forgive the offense of a humble painter. This is the eyes of a painter, he must paint in his heart first, I have painted you, and your majesty and wisdom together In my heart, I will draw it into the painting."

"You can also look at the queen," said the prince.

The needle-eye painter glanced at the queen, bowed his head and said, "Most respected queen, please forgive the offense of a humble painter. I have already painted you, and your nobility and elegance in my heart, and I will paint it into the painting." .”

"Look at the princess again, the future queen, you have to draw her too."

The eye of the needle artist looked at Princess Dewdrop for even less time, and after a glance like lightning, he lowered his head and said: "The most admired princess, please forgive the offense of a humble artist. Your beauty hurts me like the sun at noon, For the first time, I feel the weakness of my brush, but I have already painted you and your incomparable beauty in my heart, and I will paint it into the painting."

Then the prince asked the needle-eye painter to look at the ministers.He looked side by side, his gaze resting on each of them for only a moment, and finally bowed his head and said: "Most respected adults, please forgive the offense of a humble painter. I have put you, and your talents and wisdom Draw it together in your heart, and I will draw it into the picture."

The feast continued, and the Prince of Smoothie pulled the Eye of the Needle painter to a corner of the palace, and asked in a low voice, "Do you remember everything?"

The needle-eye artist lowered his head, and his face was completely hidden in the shadow of the cloak hat, making the cloak look empty, with only the shadow inside and no body. "Remember, my king."

"Remember everything?"

"My lord, remember them all. Even if I draw a close-up of each hair and fine hair of each of them, I can draw them accurately and accurately."

The banquet didn't end until midnight, and the lights in the palace gradually went out.It was the darkest time before dawn, the moon had already set in the west, and the dark clouds covered the night sky from west to east like a curtain, and the earth seemed to be soaked in ink.A chilly wind blew, the birds shivered in their nests, and the flowers closed their petals in terror.

Two fast horses came out of the palace like ghosts and galloped westward. Riding on the horses were the Ice Sand Prince and the Eye of the Needle painter.They came to a deep bunker more than ten miles away from the palace.This place is in the deepest part of the sea of ​​night, damp and gloomy, like the abdomen of a sleeping cold-blooded monster.Their shadows flickered in the torchlight, their bodies just two black dots at the end of the long shadow.The eye-of-the-needle artist unwrapped a painting that was as tall as a man. He opened the canvas that wrapped the painting and showed it to the prince.This is a portrait of an old man. The old man's white hair and beard surround his head and face like silver flames. His eyes are very similar to those of a needle-eye painter, but there is a depth in the sharpness. This painting shows the painter's superb skills. Bixian, lifelike.

"My lord, this is my teacher, the ethereal painter."

The prince looked at the painting, nodded and said, "It's wise for you to draw him first."

"Yes, my lord, lest he draw me first." said the needle-eye painter, carefully hanging the painting on the damp wall. "Okay, I can make a new painting for you now."

The needle-eye painter took out a roll of snow-white things from a dark corner of the bunker, "My lord, this is the trunk of the snow wave tree in Mosken, Helsingen. Roll paper, the best drawing paper! My paintings can only be magical when painted on snow wave paper." He put the trunk paper roll on a stone table, pulled out a section of paper, and pressed it against a large piece of obsidian Then use a sharp small dagger to cut off the pressed paper along the stone slab. After lifting the slate, the paper has been spread flat on the stone table. It is snow-white, as if it can emit light by itself.Then the painter took out various painting tools from the canvas bag, "My lord, look at these paintbrushes, they are made from the ear hair of a wolf in Mosken, Helsingen. These cans of paint are also from Helsingen Mosken, this red jar is the blood of the giant bat there; the black jar is the ink of the deep-sea squid there; the blue and yellow jars are all extracted from the ancient meteorites there... All these jars are made with a kind of To reconcile with the tears of the great bird called the moon-carpet."

"Hurry up and paint." The prince said impatiently.

"Okay, my king, who should I paint first?"

"king."

Needle-Eye Painter picks up a brush and begins to paint.He painted very casually, using different colors to dot a little here, and draw a line there. The colors on the drawing paper gradually increased, but no shape could be seen, just like exposing the drawing paper to a colorful rain. Raindrops kept dripping onto the paper.The picture is gradually filled with colors, a mess of colors, like a garden trampled by horses.The paintbrush continues to wander in this maze of colors, as if it is not the painter who is moving the brush, but the brush is leading his hand.The prince watched suspiciously from the side. He wanted to ask questions, but the emergence and gathering of colors on the screen had a hypnotic effect, which fascinated him.Suddenly, almost instantly, like the shimmering surface of water frozen, all the color blocks are connected, all the colors have a meaning, and the shapes emerge and soon become finely defined.

Now the prince could see that what the needle-eye artist painted was indeed the king. The king on the picture was the same costume he saw at the banquet, wearing a golden crown and a gorgeous dress, but his expression was quite different, and there was nothing in the king's eyes. Instead of majesty and wisdom, it reveals an extremely complex thing, such as waking up from a dream, confusion, shock, sadness... Behind all this is a huge fear that is too late to emerge, just like seeing the closest person The moment when the sword was suddenly drawn.

"My king, the painting is finished, I have drawn the king into the painting." Needle-eye artist said.

"You have drawn him into the painting, very good." The prince looked at the portrait of the king and nodded in satisfaction, his eyes reflected the light of the torch, like a soul burning in a deep well.

In the palace more than ten miles away, in the king's bedroom, the king disappeared.On the big bed with four statues of gods on the bed legs, the bedding still had the residual warmth of his body, and there were his indentations on the sheets, but his body disappeared without a trace.

The prince picked up the completed painting from the stone table and threw it on the ground, "I will frame this painting and hang it on the wall here, and come and see it often when I have nothing to do. Let's draw the queen next."

The needle-eye artist flattened another piece of Snowwave paper with an obsidian slab, and began to draw the queen's portrait.This time the prince did not stand aside to watch, but paced back and forth, and the monotonous sound of footsteps echoed in the empty bunker.This time the painter worked faster, and it took only half the time to finish the previous painting.

"My king, the painting is finished, I have drawn the queen into the painting."

"You drew her into the picture, very good."

In the palace, in the queen's bedroom, the queen disappeared.On the big bed with four angel statues on the legs, the bedding still had the residual warmth of her body, and there were her indentations on the sheets, but her body disappeared without a trace.

In the deep courtyard outside the palace, a wolfhound sensed something and barked a few times, but its barking was immediately swallowed up by the boundless darkness, and it itself fell silent in unprecedented fear, shrinking into a corner and trembling uncontrollably and become one with the darkness.

"Shouldn't it be time to draw a princess?" the Eye of the Needle artist asked.

"No, paint her after the ministers are finished. The ministers are more dangerous than her. Of course, only those ministers who are loyal to the king are drawn. You should remember their appearance, right?"

"Of course, my lord, remember them all, even if you draw a close-up of each hair and fine hair of each of them..."

"Okay, hurry up and finish the painting before dawn."

"No problem, my king. Before dawn, I will draw the ministers who are loyal to the king, as well as the princess, into the painting."

Needle-eye artist flattened several sheets of Xuelang paper at a time, and began to paint like crazy.Every time he finished a painting, the people in the painting disappeared from the bed.As the night wore on, the people the Smoothie Prince wanted to kill turned into portraits hanging on the walls of the bunker one by one.

Princess Dewdrop was awakened in her sleep by a knock on the door, which was so urgent and loud that no one had ever dared to knock on her door like this.She got up from the bed, and when she came to the door, she saw that Auntie Wide had already opened the door.

Aunt Kuan is Luzhu's nanny and has been taking care of her since she grew up. The relationship between the princess and her even exceeds that of her biological mother, the queen.Aunt Kuan saw the captain of the palace guard standing outside the door, his armor still carried the chill of the dark night outside.

"You are so rude! How dare you wake up the princess?! She has been suffering from insomnia for the past few days!"

The captain of the guard ignored Aunt Kuan's scolding, but hurriedly saluted the princess, "Princess, someone wants to see you!" Then he stepped aside, revealing the person behind him, an old man with white hair and beard like silver flames Surrounding the head and face, his eyes are sharp and deep. He is the person in the first painting that the needle-eye painter showed the prince.His face and cloak were covered with dust, and his boots were covered with mud, evident from the long journey.He was carrying a huge canvas bag, but what was strange was that he was holding an umbrella, and what was even more strange was the way he held it: he kept turning the umbrella.If you take a closer look at the structure of the umbrella, you will know why he did this: the umbrella surface and the handle of the umbrella are jet black, and a small ball is fixed at the end of each rib, which is some kind of translucent material. Made of stone, it has a certain weight.It can be seen that several umbrella supports inside the umbrella are broken, and the umbrella cannot be supported. Only by rotating the umbrella continuously and shaking the small stone ball at the end of the umbrella bone can the umbrella be opened.

"Why do you let outsiders in so casually, you're still such a weird old man?!" Aunt Kuan pointed at the old man and asked scoldingly.

"Of course the sentinel didn't let him into the palace, but he said..." The captain of the guard gave the princess a worried look, "He said the king is gone."

"What are you talking about?! Are you crazy?" Auntie Kuan yelled, but the princess still didn't make a sound, just clutching the nightgown on her chest with both hands.

"But the king is indeed missing, and so is the queen. I sent someone to check, and their bedrooms are all empty."

The princess let out a short cry, and held Aunt Kuan with one hand so that she could stand still.

The old man said: "Dear princess, please allow me to explain things clearly."

"Let the old man come in, you guard the door." The princess said to the captain of the guard.

The old man twirled the umbrella and bowed to the princess, as if he respected the princess for calming down so quickly.

"What are you doing with that umbrella? Are you a circus clown?" Auntie Wide said.

"I have to keep this umbrella up or I'll disappear like a king and queen too."

"Then come in with an umbrella," said the princess, and Auntie Wide opened the door wide so that the old man could pass through with the umbrella.

After entering the room, the old man put the canvas bag on his shoulders on the carpet, heaved a sigh of exhaustion, but still turned the black umbrella, and the small stone balls on the edge of the umbrella shone in the candlelight, casting a circle on the surrounding walls. Spinning starlight.

"I am an ethereal painter from Mosken in Helsingen, and the new needle-eye painter in the palace is my student," said the old man.

"I have seen him," said the princess, nodding.

"Then has he seen you? Has he seen you?" Ethereal Painter asked nervously.

"Yes, of course he saw me."

"It's terrible, my princess, that's terrible!" Ethereal Painter sighed, "He is a devil, he has mastered the painting skills of devils, he can draw people into paintings."

"What nonsense!" Aunt Kuan said, "Aren't you called a painter if you can't draw people into paintings?"

The ethereal painter shook his head, "That's not what he meant. After he drew people into the painting, the people disappeared outside, and the people became dead paintings."

"Then send someone to find him and kill him soon?!"

The captain of the guard poked his head in from outside the door and said: "I sent all the guards to look for it, but they couldn't find it. I wanted to go to the Minister of Military Aircraft. He could dispatch the guards outside the palace to search, but the old man said that the Minister of Military Aircraft It’s probably gone by now.”

The ethereal painter shook his head again, "The imperial guards are useless. Prince Ice Sand and Needle Eye may not be in the palace at all. Needle Eye can kill anyone in the palace if he paints anywhere in the world."

"You mean the Smoothie Prince?" Auntie Kuan asked.

"Yes, the prince wants to use the needle-eye painter as a weapon to get rid of the king and those who are loyal to him, and seize the throne."

The ethereal painter saw that none of the princess, aunt wide, and the captain of the guard at the door seemed surprised by his words.

"Let's think about the important matter of life and death first! The eye of the needle may draw the princess at any time, and he may already be drawing it."

Aunt Kuan turned pale with fright, she hugged the princess as if she could protect her in this way.

The ethereal painter continued: "Only I can get rid of the needle's eye. Now he has painted me, but this umbrella can protect me from disappearing. As long as I paint him, he will disappear."

"Then you can draw here!" Aunt Kuan said, "Let me hold the umbrella for you!"

The ethereal painter shook his head again, "No, my paintings can only be magical if they are drawn on Xuelang paper. The paper I brought has not been flattened, so I can't paint on it."

Auntie Kuan immediately opened the artist's canvas bag, and took out a section of the trunk of the Xuelang tree.Aunt Kuan and the princess took out a piece of paper from the trunk paper roll, and the paper surface was white, and the room became much brighter in an instant.They tried to flatten the paper on the floor, but no matter how hard they tried, as soon as they let go, the piece of paper snapped back into place and rolled back.

The artist said: "No way, only the obsidian slabs from Mosken in Helsingen can flatten the snowwave paper. That kind of obsidian slabs are very rare. I only have one, and the eye of a needle stole it!"

"Is this paper really not smooth with other things?"

"It's not flat. It can only be flattened with the obsidian slabs of the Mosken of Helsingen. I hoped to get it back from the eye of the needle."

"Helsingen Mosken, obsidian?" Aunt Kuan patted her head, "I have an iron, which I only use when ironing the best evening dresses for princesses, and it is produced by Helsingen Mosken, which is obsidian of!"

"Maybe it will work." The ethereal artist nodded.

Aunt Kuan turned and ran out, and soon came in with a shiny black iron.She and the princess pulled out a section of Xuelang paper from the paper roll again, pressed a corner of the paper with an iron on the floor, and released it after a few seconds, and the corner of the paper was flattened.

"You come to hold an umbrella for me, and I'll press it!" Ethereal Painter said to Aunt Kuan.When he handed her the umbrella, he told her, "This umbrella has to be turned open all the time, once I close it, I'll be gone!" Seeing that Auntie Kuan continued to turn the umbrella open and held it above his head, he felt relieved. I squatted down and pressed the paper with an iron, and I could only press small pieces next to each other.

"Can't you make a support for this umbrella?" the princess asked, looking at the spinning umbrella.

"My princess, there used to be an umbrella." The ethereal painter said while pressing the paper with an iron. "The origin of this black umbrella is very unusual. In the past, other painters in Mosken, Helsingen also had this kind of umbrella." Painting skills, in addition to people, they can also draw animals and plants into the paintings. But one day, a deep dragon flew over. The great painters painted it, but it was still swimming and flying outside the painting. Later, the painters raised money to hire a magic warrior, and the warrior killed the deep dragon with a sword of fire, and the fight left Helsingen silent. The sea in Sken is boiling. Most of the corpses of the deep dragon were charred, so I collected a small amount of debris from the ashes and made this umbrella. The umbrella surface is made of the wings of the deep dragon. The ribs, handle and support of the umbrella are all made of its black bones. The gemstones on the edge of the umbrella are actually stones taken from the burnt kidney of Yuanlong. This umbrella can protect the person holding it from It was drawn into the painting. Later, the umbrella bone was broken. I used a few bamboo sticks to make an umbrella support, but found that the magic power of the umbrella disappeared. After removing the new umbrella support, the magic power recovered. It doesn't work to open the umbrella inside, you can't add any foreign matter into the umbrella, but now I don't have Yuanlong's bones, so I can only open the umbrella like this..."

At this time, the clock in the corner of the room rang, and the ethereal painter looked up, it was already early morning, and the sky was about to dawn.He looked at the Xuelang paper again, the flattened section protruded from the paper roll, lay flat on the floor and would not be rolled back, but it was only one palm wide, far from enough to draw a picture.He dropped the iron and let out a long sigh.

"It's too late, I still need a lot of time to draw the picture, it's too late, the eye of the needle will finish drawing the princess at any moment, you—" ethereal painter pointed to Aunt Kuan and the captain of the guard, "Has the eye of the needle seen you?"

"He must have never seen me," Aunt Kuan said.

"I saw him from a distance when he entered the palace, but I don't think he saw me," said the captain of the guard.

"Very good," the ethereal painter stood up, "you two escort the princess to the Taotie Sea, and to the Tomb Island to find Prince Deep Water!"

"But... even if we get to the Taotie Sea, we won't be able to go to Tomb Island. You know there are..."

"Let's think of a way when we get there. This is the only way to survive. At dawn, all the ministers who are loyal to the king will be painted in the painting, and the imperial guards will be controlled by Frost. He will usurp the throne, and only Prince Deep Water can stop him. "

"Won't Prince Deep Water be drawn into the painting by the eye of a needle when he returns to the palace?" the princess asked.

"Don't worry, it won't be. Needle Eye can't draw Prince Deep Water. Shen Shui is the only person in the kingdom that Needle Eye can't draw. Fortunately, I only taught Needle Eye the western painting school, and I didn't teach him the oriental painting school."

The princess and the other two didn't quite understand what the ethereal painter said, but the old painter didn't explain further, but just continued: "You must let the deep water return to the palace, kill the needle's eye, find the portrait of the princess, and burn that painting, The princess is safe."

"If we can also find the portraits of the King Father and the Queen Mother..." the princess grabbed the ethereal painter and said eagerly.

The old painter slowly shook his head, "My princess, it's too late, they are gone, they are the two portraits now, if you find them, don't destroy them, keep them as a memorial."

Princess Dewdrop was overwhelmed by great grief, she fell to the ground and covered her face and cried bitterly.

"My princess, this is not the time to be sad. If you want to avenge the king and queen, you must go on the road!" The old painter said, turning to Aunt Kuan and the captain of the guard, "You should pay attention, before finding and destroying the portrait of the princess Before, the umbrella had to be held by her all the time, and she couldn’t leave it for a moment, and she couldn’t close it.” He took the umbrella from Aunt Kuan’s hand and continued to turn it, “The umbrella can’t be turned too slowly, or it will close; It can’t be too fast, because this umbrella has been around for a long time, and it will fall apart if it is turned too fast. The black umbrella has aura, and if it is turned slowly, it will make a sound like a bird. Listen, that’s it—” the old painter said The umbrella turned a little slower, and the umbrella surface was slowly drooping under the weight of the stone balls on the edge. At this time, it could be heard singing like a nightingale, and the slower the umbrella turned, the louder the sound.The old painter accelerated the speed of turning the umbrella again, and the sound of birdsong became smaller and disappeared. "If it spins too fast, it will make a bell, like this—" The old painter continued to speed up the speed of the umbrella, and he could hear a burst of bells from small to loud, like wind chimes, but more urgently, "Okay, now Put the umbrella on for the princess." He said, and handed the umbrella to Auntie Kuan.

"Old man, let's take an umbrella and go together." Princess Luzhu raised her tearful eyes and said.

"No, the black umbrella can only protect one person. If two people drawn by the needle's eye hold an umbrella together, they will all die, and the death will be worse: half of each person is drawn in the painting, and the other half stays outside... Quickly open an umbrella for the princess, if you delay for a moment, the danger will increase, and the eye of a needle may draw her at any time!"

Aunt Kuan looked at the princess and then at the ethereal painter, hesitating.

The old painter said: "It was I who taught this painting skill to that bastard, I deserve this crime. What are you waiting for? Want to watch the princess disappear in front of you?!"

The last sentence made Auntie Wide tremble, and she immediately moved the umbrella over the princess.

The old painter stroked his white beard and smiled calmly, "That's right, the old man has been painting all his life, and it's a worthy death to become a painting. I believe in that evil skill, it will be a delicate and good painting..."

The body of the ethereal painter gradually became transparent, and then disappeared like mist.

Princess Luzhu looked at the space where the old painter disappeared, and murmured, "Okay, let's go to Taotie Sea."

Aunt Kuan said to the captain of the guard at the door: "Come here quickly to hold the umbrella for the princess, and I'll clean it up."

After taking the umbrella, the captain of the guard said: "Hurry up, there are people from Prince Smoothie outside now, and we may not be able to leave the palace after dawn."

"But I have to bring something for the princess, she has never traveled far, I will take her cloak and boots, her many clothes, water for her to drink, at least... at least the Helsingen Mermaid The good soap produced by Sken, the princess can only fall asleep after bathing with that soap..." Aunt Kuan walked out of the room nagging.

Half an hour later, in the first light of dawn, a light carriage drove out of the palace through a side door. The captain of the guard was driving the carriage. In the carriage sat Princess Luzhu and Auntie Kuan who held her umbrella. They were all replaced by civilians. attire.The carriage quickly disappeared into the distant mist.

At this time, in the gloomy bunker, the painter of the eye of the needle had just completed the portrait of Princess Dewdrop, and he said to Prince Ice Sand that this was the most beautiful painting he had ever painted.

Yun Tianming's second story:
Taotie Sea

After leaving the palace, the captain of the guard drove wildly all the way.The three of them were very nervous. They felt that there was danger in the shadowy trees and fields passing by in the endless night.After dawn, the car drove up a small hill, the captain of the guard reined in his horse, and they looked at the way they had come.The land of the kingdom spread out below them, and the road they came from was like a long line dividing the world in two. The end of the line was the palace, which was far away in the sky, like a small pile of toy blocks lost in the distance.No pursuers were seen, apparently the Smoothie Prince thought the princess no longer existed and was drawn into the painting.

From now on they can travel in peace.In the process of dawn, the surrounding world is like a painting in progress. At first, there are only hazy outlines and vague colors. Later, the shapes and lines of the scenery gradually become clear and fine, and the colors become rich and lively.The moment before the sun rises, the painting is complete.The princess who lived in the palace all the year round has never seen such large blocks of bright colors: large greens of forests, meadows and fields, bright reds and bright yellows of flowers, silvery morning sky reflected by lakes, snow white of early sheep... When the sun rises, it seems that the painter who drew this painting grabbed a handful of gold powder and sprinkled it boldly on the whole picture.

"It's so nice outside, we seem to be in the painting." The princess admired.

"Yes, princess, but you are alive in this painting, but you are dead in that painting." Auntie Kuan, holding an umbrella, said.

These words reminded the princess of her father and mother who had passed away, but she held back her tears. She knew that she was no longer a little girl now, and she should take on the heavy responsibility of the kingdom.

They talked about the Prince of Waterdeep.

"Why was he exiled to Tomb Island?" asked the princess.

"People say he's a monster," said the captain of the guard.

"Prince Deep Water is not a monster!" Auntie Kuan retorted.

"People said he was a giant."

"Sham Shui is not a giant! I hugged him when he was young, he is not a giant."

"You'll see when we get to the seaside. He must be a giant. Many people have seen it."

"Even if Deep Water is a giant, he is also a prince. Why should he be exiled to the island?" the princess asked.

"He was not exiled. When he was a child, he took a boat to go fishing on Tomb Island. At that time, glutton fish appeared in the sea. He couldn't come back, so he had to grow up on the island."

……

After the sun rose, there were more and more pedestrians and carriages on the road.Since the princess had hardly been out of the palace before, people did not know her, but even though she still wears a veil and only shows her two eyes, people who see her still marvel at her beauty.People also praised the handsome Kong Wu of the young man driving the car, and laughed at the strange umbrella that the old mother held for her beautiful daughter and her strange way of holding it.Fortunately, no one questioned the purpose of the umbrella. It was sunny today, and people thought it was a parasol.

Unknowingly at noon, the captain of the guard shot two rabbits for lunch with a bow and arrow.The three of them sat down to eat in a clearing among the bushes by the roadside.Princess Dewdrop touches the soft grass beside her, smells the fragrance of green grass and flowers, looks at the light spots cast by the sun through the leaves on the grass, listens to the birdsong in the forest and the flute of the shepherd boy in the distance, she is very excited about this new world. Full of curiosity and surprise.

Aunt Kuan let out a long sigh, "Oh, princess, it really hurts you to be so far away from the palace."

"I think the outside is better than the palace," said the princess.

"Wow, my princess, what's better outside than in the palace? You really don't know, there are many difficulties outside. It's spring now, it will be cold outside in winter, hot in summer, windy and rainy outside, and all kinds of people outside Yes, outside..."

"But I didn't know anything about the outside world before. I studied music, painting, poetry and arithmetic in the palace, and I also learned two languages ​​​​that no one spoke, but no one told me what it was like outside. How can you rule a kingdom?"

"Princess, the ministers will help you."

"The ministers who can help me are all drawn in the painting... I still think it's better to be outside."

There was a day's journey from the palace to the sea, but the princess and her party did not dare to take the road, and they avoided towns when they encountered them, so they did not arrive until midnight.

Princess Dewdrop had never seen such a vast starry sky, and experienced the darkness and silence of the night for the first time. The torch on the car could only illuminate a small area around her.Beyond that, the world is a big blur of black velvet.The hooves of the horses were loud, as if they were going to shake the stars down.The princess suddenly grabbed the captain of the guard and told him to stop the carriage.

"Listen, what's that sound? Like the breath of a giant."

"Princess, this is the voice of the sea."

After walking for a while, the princess saw many objects faintly visible in the night on both sides, like big bananas.

"What are those?" she asked.

The captain of the guard stopped the car again, took off the torches on the car and walked to the nearest one, "Princess, you should know this."

"ferry?"

"Yes, princess, it's a boat."

"But why is the ship on land?"

"Because there are glutton fish in the sea."

In the light of the torches, it can be seen that the ship is very old, half of the hull is buried in the sand, and the exposed part looks like the bones of a giant beast.

"Ah, look there!" The princess pointed to the front and exclaimed again, "It seems that there is a big white snake!"

"Don't be afraid, princess, it's not a snake, it's a wave, and we're at the beach."

The princess got out of the car with Aunt Kuan who was holding an umbrella for her, and she saw the sea.She had only seen the sea in paintings before, and that painting was about the blue ocean under the blue sky, which was completely different from the black ocean under the night sky. This broad and mysterious starry sky seemed to be another liquid starry sky.The princess walked towards the sea involuntarily, but was stopped by the captain of the guard and Aunt Kuan.

"Princess, it's dangerous to be too close to the sea," said the captain of the guard.

"I don't think the water is deep ahead, can it drown me?" The princess pointed to the white waves on the beach and said.

"There are glutton fish in the sea, they will tear you up and eat you!" Auntie Kuan said.

The captain of the guard picked up a broken plank, stepped forward and threw the plank into the sea.The ship board swayed a few times on the sea surface, and soon a nearby black figure emerged from the water and rushed towards it. Since most of it was underwater, the size of the thing could not be seen, and the scales on its body shone in the light of the torch.Immediately after that, three or four black shadows swam towards the board quickly, scrambling to form a ball in the water, accompanied by the sound of rushing water, and the sound of sharp teeth clicking, and within a blink of an eye, the black shadows And the planks are gone.

"See? They can bite a large ship into pieces in a very short time." said the captain of the guard.

"Where's Tomb Island?" Aunt Kuan asked.

"In that direction," the captain of the guard pointed to the dark place where water and sky connect, "you can't see it at night, but you can see it at dawn."

They camped on the beach.Auntie Kuan handed the umbrella to the captain of the guard, and took a small wooden basin from the carriage.

"Princess, you can't take a bath today, but you should at least wash your face."

The captain of the guard handed back the umbrella to Aunt Kuan, saying that he was looking for water, and disappeared into the night with the basin.

"He's a good boy." Auntie Kuan said with a yawn.

The captain of the guard came back soon, and brought a basin of clean water from somewhere.Auntie Kuan washed the princess's face. She took a piece of soap and dipped it in the water. After a slight squeak, the surface of the basin was immediately filled with snow-white foam, which bulged into round balls and continued to overflow from the edge of the basin. Come.

The captain of the guard stared at the foam for a while, then said to Aunt Kuan, "Let me see that bar of soap."

Auntie Wide carefully took out a piece of snow-white soap from the package, and handed it to the captain of the guard, "Hold it, it is lighter than a feather, it has no weight at all, and it floated away as soon as you let go."

The captain of the guard took the soap, and it really didn't feel like it weighed a bit, like holding a ball of white shadow. "This is really Helsingen Mosken soap, does it still exist?"

"I only have two dollars left, the whole palace, I think the whole kingdom, and I only have these last two dollars left, which I specially reserved for the princess some years ago. Well, the things in Helsingen Mosken are all good things , Unfortunately, there are fewer and fewer now." Aunt Kuan said, taking the soap back and carefully putting it back into the package.

Looking at the ball of white foam, the princess recalled her life in the palace for the first time after her trip.Every night, in her exquisite and gorgeous bathing palace, there is a large group of such foam floating on the big bath, and the lights are illuminated from different directions, and the large group of foam is suddenly white, like a flower caught from the sky during the day. Clouds; suddenly changing into neon colors, like piles of gems.Soaking in that ball of foam, the princess will feel her body become soft like noodles, and feel that she is melting and becoming a part of the foam. The comfortable feeling makes her no longer want to move, and she can only be carried out by the maid to dry off. Then carry her to bed to sleep.That wonderful feeling can last until the next morning.

Now, the princess's face, which had been washed with Helsingen Mosken soap, was light and soft, but her body was stiff and tired.After eating something casual, she lay down on the sand, first with a blanket, but later found it more comfortable to lie directly on the sand.The soft sand layer carried the temperature of the sun during the day, and she felt like being held in a big warm hand, and the sound of the waves was like a lullaby, and she soon fell asleep.

After an indefinite amount of time, Princess Dewdrop was awakened from her dreamless sleep by the sound of a bell ringing from a black umbrella spinning above her.Auntie Kuan was sleeping next to her, and the one holding the umbrella was the captain of the guard. The torch had already been extinguished, and the night covered everything like velvet. The captain of the guard was a silhouette in front of the background of the starry sky. lift his hair.The umbrella rotated steadily in his hand, like a small dome covering half of the night sky.She couldn't see his eyes, but she could feel his gaze, and he looked at her with countless blinking stars.

"I'm sorry princess, I turned too fast just now." The captain of the guard said in a low voice.

"What time is it?"

"It's late at night."

"We seem to be far away from the sea."

"Princess, this is low tide. The sea water has receded, and it will rise again tomorrow morning."

"Do you take turns holding the umbrella for me?"

"Yes, princess, Auntie Kuan has been beating her all day, and I will be beating her a little longer at night."

"You have been driving for a day, let me hold an umbrella for a while, and you can sleep too."

After saying these words, Princess Luzhu herself was a little surprised. In her memory, this was the first time she thought of others.

"That won't work, princess, your hands are so delicate and will blister, let me hold an umbrella for you."

"What's your name?"

It's been a day since she went together, and she only asked his name now.In the past, she would think it was normal, and it would be normal to never ask, but now she feels a little guilty about it.

"My name is Changfan."

"Sail?" The princess turned her head to look, and they were now beside a big boat on the beach, where they could avoid the sea wind.Unlike other ships that were stranded on the beach, the mast of this ship was still there, like a long sword pointing at the starry sky. "Is the sail a big cloth hung on this long pole?"

"Yes, princess, that's called a mast, on which the sail hangs, and the wind blows the sail to propel the ship."

"The sails are white and white on the sea, which is very beautiful."

"That is in the painting, the real sail is not so white."

"You seem to be from Helsingen Mosken?"

"Yes, my father was an architect in Mosken in Helsingen, and he brought the whole family here when I was very young."

"Do you want to go home, I mean Helsingen Mosken?"

"I don't really think about it. I left there when I was a child. I don't remember clearly. It's useless to think about it. Now it's never possible to leave the Kingdom of No Story."

In the distance, the waves are noisy, as if repeating the words of Changfan over and over again: never leave, never leave...

"Tell me about the world outside, for I know nothing," said the Princess.

"You don't need to know that you are the princess of the kingdom without stories. Of course the kingdom has no stories for you. Actually, princess, people outside don't tell stories to children, but my parents are different. They are Hercules The Ilsingen Moskens, they told me some stories."

"Actually, my father said that there used to be stories in the Storyless Kingdom."

"Yes...princess, you know that the kingdom is surrounded by the sea, right? The palace is in the center of the kingdom. If you walk in any direction, you will end up at the sea. The kingdom of No Story is just a big island."

"I know that."

"In the past, the sea around the kingdom was not called the Gluttonous Sea. At that time, there were no gluttonous fish in the sea, and ships could sail freely on the sea. There were countless ships traveling between the Storyless Kingdom and Helsingen Mosken every day. At that time The Storyless Kingdom is actually called the Story Kingdom, and life was very different back then than it is now."

"Ok?"

"At that time life was full of stories, full of changes and surprises. At that time, there were several prosperous cities in the kingdom, and the royal palace was not surrounded by forests and fields, but a prosperous capital. Everywhere in the city, you can see the city from Helsingen. The rare treasures and strange implements of Sken. No story kingdom, oh no, the products of the story kingdom are also continuously transported from the sea to Helsingen Mosken. At that time, people's life was unpredictable, like riding The fast horse gallops between the mountains, sometimes rushing to the top of the mountain, sometimes falling into the deep valley, full of opportunities and dangers. The poor may become rich overnight, and the rich may become impoverished in an instant. When you wake up in the morning, no one knows what will happen today , What kind of people do you want to meet. There are excitement and surprises everywhere.”

"But one day a merchant ship from Helsingen-Mosken brought a curious little fish, finger-length, black, unremarkable, in a hard cast-iron bucket. The fish seller A businessman was performing at the market in the kingdom. He put a sword into the water in an iron bucket, only heard a harsh "click click", and the sword was bitten into jagged teeth when it was pulled out again. This fish The glutton fish is an inland freshwater fish that grows in the dark pools deep in the Mosken cave in Helsingen. The glutton fish sells well in the kingdom's market because their teeth are small, but like As hard as diamonds, they can be used as drill bits; their fins are also sharp, and can be used as arrowheads or knives. Therefore, more and more glutton fish were transported from Helsingen Mosken to the kingdom. During a typhoon, a ship The fishing boat sank in an accident off the coast of the kingdom, and all the more than 20 barrels of glutton fish carried on the boat were dumped into the sea."

"People have discovered that gluttonous fish can grow rapidly in the sea, grow much larger than on land, and can reach as long as one person. At the same time, they reproduce very fast, and the number increases rapidly. Gluttony fish began to eat all the fish floating on the sea. Things, no matter how big a boat is, it will be gnawed into pieces. When a large boat is surrounded by a school of glutton fish, a big hole will be gnawed out of its bottom, but it is too late to sink, right on the sea surface Bitten to pieces, as if melting away. The school of fish swims around the coast of the story kingdom, and soon forms a ring barrier in the sea around the kingdom."

"The story kingdom is thus surrounded by glutton fish in the surrounding sea, the coast has become a place of death, there are no more ships and sails, and the kingdom is closed, cut off from Helsingen Mosken and the whole outside world , lived a self-sufficient pastoral life. The bustling city disappeared, turned into small towns and pastures, and life became more and more peaceful and flat, with no changes, no excitement and surprises. Yesterday was like today, and today is like tomorrow. Adapted to such days, no longer longing for other lives. Memories of the past, like strange objects from Helsingen Mosken, are becoming increasingly rare. People even forget the past intentionally, and forget the present. In general Just don’t have stories anymore, and build a life without stories, and the kingdom of stories becomes the kingdom of no stories.”

Princess Luzhu was fascinated by what she heard, and the long sail stopped for a long time before she asked, "Are there glutton fish everywhere in the ocean?"

"No, it's just the coast of the Kingdom of No Story. People with good eyes can sometimes see seabirds floating on the sea far away from the shore to hunt for food. There are no glutton fish there. The ocean is huge and boundless."

"That is to say, besides the Storyless Kingdom and Helsingen Mosken, there are other places in the world?"

"Princess, do you think there are only these two places in the world?"

"That's what my court teacher said when I was a child."

"He doesn't even believe it himself. The world is very large, with endless seas, countless islands, some smaller than kingdoms, some larger than kingdoms; and continents."

"What is a continent?"

"A land as vast as the ocean can't be reached by riding a fast horse for several months."

"The world is so big?" The princess sighed softly, then suddenly asked, "Can you see me?"

"Princess, I can only see your eyes now, and there are stars in them."

"Then you can see my longing. I really want to sail on the sea in a sailboat and go to far, far places."

"Impossible, princess, we will never leave the Kingdom of No Story, never... If you are afraid of the dark, I can light a torch."

"Ok."

After the torch was lit, Princess Dewdrop looked at the captain of the guard, but found that his gaze was directed elsewhere.

"What are you looking at?" the princess asked softly.

"There, princess, look at that."

The long sail refers to a small clump of grass growing in the sand around the princess. There are a few small drops of water on the grass blades, shining crystal in the firelight.

"That's called dewdrops." Chang Fan said.

"Oh, is that me? Like me?"

"Like you, princess, are as beautiful as crystal."

"They'll be even more beautiful in the sun after dawn."

The captain of the guard uttered a sigh, so deep that it was not sounded at all, but the princess felt it.

"What's the matter, Changfan?"

"Dew drops evaporate quickly in the sun."

The princess nodded lightly, her gaze dimmed in the firelight, "It's more like me, as soon as this umbrella is closed, I will disappear, I am the dew in the sun."

"I won't let you disappear, princess."

"You know, and I know, we won't be able to reach Tomb Island, and we won't be able to bring Prince Deep Water back."

"In that case, princess, I will hold an umbrella for you forever."

Yun Tianming's third story:
deep water prince
When Princess Dewdrop woke up again, it was daylight and the sea had turned from black to blue, but the princess still felt completely different from what she had seen in the painting.The vastness that had been hidden by night was now visible, and the sea was empty in the light of the morning sky.But in the princess's imagination, this emptiness is not caused by the gluttonous fish, the sea is empty for her, just like the princess's palace in the palace is empty waiting for her to move in.The desire that she said to Changfan at night is now stronger, she imagines a white sail that belongs to her appearing on the vast sea, drifting with the wind, and disappearing into the distance.

It was Auntie Kuan who held the umbrella for her now, and the captain of the guard greeted them on the beach ahead and let them pass.After they left, he pointed towards the sea and said, "Look, that's Tomb Island."

The first thing the princess saw was not the tomb island, but the giant standing on the small island, which was obviously Prince Deep Water.He stood upright on the island, like a lone peak on the sea.His skin was sun-tanned, his muscles strong like rocks on a butte, and his hair, blowing in the sea breeze, was like a grove on a summit.He looks a lot like Smoothie, but stronger than Smoothie, and he doesn't have the gloom of the latter. His gaze and expression give people a feeling of openness like the sea.At this time the sun had not yet risen, but the top of the giant's head was already bathed in the sun, golden and shining like fire.He built an arbor with his giant hands and looked into the distance. For a moment, the princess felt that she had met the eyes of the giant, and she jumped and shouted:

"Brother Sham Shui! I am Luzhu! I am your sister Luzhu! We are here!"

The giant didn't respond, his eyes swept from here to elsewhere, then put down his hands, shook his head thoughtfully, and turned to the other direction.

"Why doesn't he notice us?" asked the princess anxiously.

"Who would notice the three little ants in the distance?" said the captain of the guard, and then turned to Aunt Wide, "I said Prince Deep Water is a giant, you see it now."

"But he was really a little baby when I held him! How did he grow so tall? But the giant is good, no one can stop him, he can punish those wicked people, and get back the portrait for the princess! "

"Then let him know what happened here first." The captain of the guard shook his head and said.

"I want to go, we must go! To Tomb Island!" said the princess, grabbing the long sail.

"It's hard to get through, princess. After so many years, no one has been able to land on Tomb Island, and no one on that island has been able to come back."

"Can't think of a way?" The princess was so anxious that she shed tears, "We came here to find him, you must know what to do!"

Looking at the princess with tears in his eyes, Chang Fan was very disturbed, "I really can't do anything, it's right to come here, you must stay away from the palace, otherwise you will die, but I knew it was impossible to go to Tomb Island. Maybe... you can Send him a letter with a pigeon."

"That's great, let's go find the carrier pigeon!"

"But what's the use of that? Even if he receives the letter, he won't be able to make it through. Even though he is a giant, he will be torn to pieces by the glutton fish in the sea... Let's have breakfast first and then figure out a way. I'll prepare it. "

"Oh, my basin!" Auntie Kuan yelled, because of the high tide, the sea water surged up on the beach, and the wooden basin that the princess used to wash her face last night was rolled into the sea.The basin had already floated a certain distance into the sea, and the basin was turned upside down, and the washing water in it formed a snow-white soap bubble on the surface of the sea.You can see several glutton fish swimming towards the basin, their black fins cut through the water like sharp knives, and the wooden basin is about to be smashed to pieces under their sharp teeth.

But an incredible thing happened: the glutton fish did not gnaw on the wooden basin, but all swam into the foam. When they touched the foam, they immediately stopped swimming, and all floated to the surface of the water. , All turned into a lazy look, some slowly wagging their tails, not for swimming but to express comfort; some were lying on their backs on the water with their white belly exposed.

The three looked at it in amazement, and the princess said, "I know how they feel. They are very comfortable in the foam, and they are as soft as if they have no bones, and they don't want to move."

Aunt Kuan said: "The soap from Mosken in Helsingen is really good, but it's a pity there are only two yuan left."

The captain of the guard said: "Even in Helsingen Mosken, this soap is very precious. Do you know how it is made? There is a magical forest in Helsingen Mosken. Those trees are called magic bubbles. The trees have grown for thousands of years and are very tall. Usually there is nothing special about the magic bubble tree, but if there is a strong wind, the magic bubble tree will be blown out of soap bubbles. The stronger the wind, the more bubbles will be blown out. Helsing Genmersken soap is made of that kind of bubbles. It is very difficult to collect those soap bubbles, and the bubbles float very fast in the wind, and they are completely transparent, so it is difficult to see them when you stand there. You can only see them if you run as fast as them. Only the fastest horse can catch up with the bubbles in the wind. There are no more than ten such fast horses in the entire Helsingen Mosken. When the magic bubble tree blows bubbles When making bubbles, the soap maker rides a fast horse and gallops with the wind, and collects the bubbles with a gauze net bag on the horse. Those bubbles vary in size, but even the biggest bubbles, after being collected in the net bag and burst, There is only a small spot that is invisible to the naked eye. It takes hundreds of thousands or even millions of bubbles to make a piece of soap, but if each magic tree bubble in the soap is dissolved in water, it will It can produce millions of bubbles, which is why soap has so many bubbles. The bubbles of the magic bubble tree are weightless, so the real pure Helsingen Mosken soap is also completely weightless, and it is the lightest in the world Auntie Kuan’s soap may have been a gift from the Helsingen Mosken mission when the king was coronated, and later..."

Changfan suddenly stopped talking and stared at the sea thoughtfully.There, in the foam of the snow-white Helsingen Mosken soap, the glutton fish were still floating lazily, and in front of them was the intact wooden basin.

"There seems to be a way to get to Tomb Island!" Longfan pointed to the wooden tub on the sea and said, "Think about it, what if it's a small boat?"

"Don't even think about it!" Aunt Kuan yelled, "How can the princess take such a risk?!"

"Of course the princess can't go, I'll go." The captain of the guard looked away from the sea, and from his firm eyes, the princess could see that he had made up his mind.

"You go alone, how can you make Prince Deep Water believe you?" said the princess, her cheeks flushed with excitement, "I will go, I must go!"

"But even if you get to the island, how can you prove your identity?" The captain of the guard said, looking at the princess in civilian attire.

Aunt Wide didn't say anything, she knew there was a way.

"We can recognize each other by blood," said the princess.

"Even so, the princess can't go! It's too scary!" Aunt Kuan said, but her tone was no longer so decisive.

"Will I be safe if I stay here?" The princess pointed to the black umbrella spinning in Auntie Kuan's hand and said, "We are too noticeable, Bingsha will know our whereabouts soon, here, I just escaped temporarily." That painting can’t escape the pursuit of the imperial guards, so it’s safer to go to Tomb Island.”

So they decided to take a risk.

The Captain of the Guards found one of the smallest boats on the sand, and dragged it by horse to the water's edge, just where the surf licked the prow.No sail was found, but two old oars from another ship.He let the princess and Auntie Kuan who held the umbrella board the boat, put the Helsingen Mosken soap on the sword that Auntie Kuan had brought out, and handed it to the princess, telling her to soak the soap in the water as soon as the boat was out of sea.Then he pushed the boat into the sea until the water was waist-deep before jumping into the boat and paddling with all his strength, and the boat carried the three of them towards Tomb Island.

The black fins of the glutton fish appeared on the surrounding sea surface, and they surrounded the boat.Sitting in the stern, the princess dipped the Helsingen Mosken soap worn on the sword into the sea water. Immediately, a large ball of foam rose from the stern, shining bright white in the morning sun. The foam ball quickly expanded to the height of a person. , and maintain this height at the stern, and spread out as the ship moves forward, forming a snow-white piece on the sea surface.The gluttonous fishes swam into the foam and floated in it, enjoying the unparalleled comfort as if lying on a snow-white plush blanket.It was the first time for the princess to see the glutton fish so closely, they were black except for their belly, like machines made of steel, but they became lazy and docile as soon as they entered the foam.The boat moved forward on the calm sea, trailing a long trail of foam behind it, like a band of white clouds falling on the sea.Countless gluttonous fish swim from both sides and enter the foam, as if making a pilgrimage in the cloud river.Occasionally, a few glutton fish swimming from the front gnawed at the bottom of the boat a few times, and even bit off a small piece of the wooden oar in the hand of the captain of the guard, but they were quickly attracted by the foam behind and did not cause major damage.Looking at the snow-white foamy cloud river on the sea behind the boat and the gluttonous fish intoxicated in it, the princess couldn't help but think of the heaven that the pastor talked about.

The coast gradually moved away, and the boat approached Tomb Island.

Aunt Kuan suddenly shouted: "Look, Prince Deep Water seems to be shorter!"

The princess turned her head and looked. Auntie Kuan was right. The prince on the island was still a giant, but he was obviously shorter than he looked on the shore. At this moment, he still turned his back to them and looked in other directions.

The princess retracted her eyes and looked at the long sail of the rowing boat. At this time, he looked more robust and powerful, with strong muscles bulging, and the two long oars were like a pair of flying wings in his hands, pushing the boat forward steadily.The man seemed to be a sailor by nature, apparently more comfortable at sea than on land.

"The prince saw us!" Auntie Kuan shouted again.On Tomb Island, Prince Deep Water turned to this side, pointing in the direction of the boat with one hand, his eyes revealed surprise, his mouth was still moving, as if shouting something.He must be amazed, except for this small boat that appeared on the sea of ​​death, the foam behind the boat spread out, and its width gradually increased. From his height, it seemed that there was a trailing snow-white boat on the sea surface. Comet tail.

They soon realized that the prince was not shouting at them, and several people of normal height appeared at his feet.From this distance, they looked small and their faces could not be seen clearly, but they must all be looking in this direction, and some were waving.

Tomb Island was originally a deserted island with no aborigines. Twenty years ago, when Shenshui went fishing on the island, he was accompanied by a guardian, a palace teacher, several guards and servants.As soon as they landed on the island, groups of glutton fish swam to this coast, blocking their way back to the kingdom.

They found that the prince looked shorter now, as if the closer the boat was to the island, the shorter the prince was.

The boat gradually approached the shore of the island, and people of normal height could be seen clearly. There were eight of them in total, and most of them wore the same rough canvas clothes as the prince. Dilapidated, most of these people hang swords.They ran towards the beach, and the Prince followed at a distance, and now he looked only twice as tall as the others, and was no longer a giant.

The captain of the guard rowed faster, and the boat rushed towards the shore of the island. A wave slapped the shore like a giant hand pushing the boat forward. The hull of the boat shook, almost knocking the princess off the boat, and the bottom of the boat touched the sand.Those who had already run to the beach looked at the boat and hesitated, apparently afraid of the glutton fish in the water, but four people still ran forward to help stabilize the boat and help the princess get off the boat.

"Be careful, the princess can't leave the umbrella!" Auntie Kuan said loudly when she got off the boat, while keeping the umbrella above the princess. She was very skilled at holding the umbrella at this time, and could keep the umbrella rotating with one hand.

Those people made no secret of their surprise, looking now at the spinning black umbrella, and now at the sea passing by the boat - where the white foam of Helsingen Mosken soap and countless glutton fish floating on the sea form a The black and white sea route connects Tomb Island and the Kingdom Coast.

Prince Deep Water also stepped forward. At this time, his height was no different from that of ordinary people, and he was even shorter than the two tall men in this group.He looked at the man and smiled, like a generous fisherman, but the princess saw the shadow of her father from him. She threw down the sword and cried with tears in her eyes: "Brother, I am your sister, Luzhu!"

"You are like my sister." The prince nodded with a smile, and stretched out his hands to the princess.But several people prevented the princess from approaching at the same time, and separated the three visitors from the prince. Some of them had their swords out of their sheaths and were staring vigilantly at the captain of the guard who had just disembarked.The latter ignored the matter here, but picked up the sword dropped by the princess to examine it. In order to avoid the other party's misunderstanding, he carefully held the tip of the sword, and found that after this voyage, the piece of Helsingen silence worn on the sword Sken soap only consumes about a third of it.

"You must prove the identity of the princess," said an old man. He wore a well-trimmed uniform and a weather-beaten face with a decent beard. He obviously tried his best to maintain the kingdom in these isolated years. official appearance.

"Don't you know me? You are the Guardian of the Dark Forest, you—" Aunt Kuan pointed to another old man, "It's Teacher Hirota."

Both old men nodded.Teacher Hirota said, "Aunt Kuan, you are getting old."

"You're getting old too." Aunt Kuan said, wiping away her tears with a hand that rotated an umbrella.

The guardian of the dark forest was unmoved, and still said meticulously: "For more than 20 years, we don't know what happened to the kingdom, so we still have to prove the identity of the princess." He turned to the princess, "Excuse me, are you willing to confess with blood dear?"

The princess nodded.

"I don't think it's necessary. She must be my sister," said the prince.

"Your Highness, this must be done," said the probation officer.

Someone brought two very small daggers, and gave one each to the probation officer and the teacher.Unlike the rusty sabers of these men, the two daggers were shining coldly, as if they were new.The princess stretched out her hand, and the guardian scratched her tender index finger lightly with the dagger, and took a drop of blood from the cut with the tip of the knife.Teacher Hirota also took a blood sample from the prince's finger. The guardian took the dagger from the teacher and carefully mixed the two drops of blood on the tip of the knife. The blood immediately turned pure blue.

"She is Princess Dewdrop." The guardian said solemnly to the prince, and then bowed to the princess together with the teacher.Several other people knelt down on one knee while holding on to the hilt of their sword, then stood up and stepped aside, allowing the prince and princess to embrace each other.

"I hugged you when I was a child, and you were only this big at that time." The prince said with a gesture.

The princess cried to the prince about what had happened in the kingdom, and the prince held her hand and listened quietly, his weather-beaten but still young face always calm and composed.

Everyone gathered around the prince and princess, listening to the princess' narration quietly. Only the captain of the guard was doing a strange thing.Sometimes he ran away at a fast pace, looked at the prince from a long distance on the beach, and then ran back to look at him from a close distance, repeated this several times, and then Auntie Kuan stopped him.

"I'm still right, the prince is not a giant." Auntie Kuan pointed at the prince and said in a low voice.

"He is both a giant and not a giant." The captain of the guard also lowered his voice and said, "It's like this: when we look at ordinary people, the farther away he is, the smaller he is in our eyes, right? But the prince is not like this, no matter how far or near, He is the same size in our eyes, from a close look he is of normal height, but from a distance he is still so tall, so he looks like a giant from a distance.”

Aunt Wide nodded, "It seems to be true."

After listening to the princess' narration, Prince Deep Water simply said: "Let's go back."

There were two boats back to the kingdom. The prince and the princess sat in the small boat, and the other eight people took another larger boat. It was the boat that carried the prince and his party to Tomb Island 20 years ago. Can also drive short distances.In the channel when they came, the foam dissipated a little, but countless glutton fish still floated on the sea surface and hardly moved. , no more action.The dilapidated sails of the big ship were still usable, driving ahead, clearing a way for the small boat behind from the floating school of glutton fish.

"You'd better put the soap in the sea, just to be on the safe side, what if they wake up?" Auntie Kuan said with lingering fear as she looked at the gluttonous fish swarming around the boat.

The princess said: "They are always awake, but they are very comfortable and don't bother to move. There is only one and a half pieces of soap left, don't waste it, and I will never bathe with it again."

At this time, someone on the big boat in front shouted: "The Imperial Guard!"

On the shores of a distant kingdom there appeared a cavalry, rushing up the beach like a black tide, and the armor and swords of their riders gleamed in the sun.

"Go on." Prince Deep Water said calmly.

"They are here to kill us." The princess turned pale.

"Don't be afraid, it's all right." The prince patted the princess's hand and said.

Princess Dewdrop looked at her brother, now she knew he was better suited to be king.

Due to the favorable wind, the return journey was much faster even though there were glutton fish floating lazily in the channel.When the two ships approached the beach almost at the same time, the cavalry of the imperial guards surrounded them and blocked them densely, like a fortified wall.Both the princess and Aunt Kuan turned pale with fright, but the experienced captain of the guard put his heart down a bit. He saw that the opponent's swords were all in their sheaths, and their spears were all upright; more importantly, he I saw the eyes of the Imperial Guard soldiers on horseback. They were all wearing heavy armor, and only their eyes were exposed on their faces, but those eyes stared at the foamy channel with glutton fish floating on the sea, showing deep awe in their eyes.An officer got off his horse and ran towards the ship that had just landed.All the people in the big ship jumped out of the boat, and the warden, the teacher, and some guards with swords kept the prince and princess behind.

"This is Prince Waterdeep and Princess Dewdrop, don't be rude!" Warden Darkwood shouted, raising an arm to the Janissaries.

The officer who ran over held the sword stuck on the beach with one hand, and bowed to the prince and princess on one knee, "We know, but we were ordered to hunt down the princess."

"Princess Luzhu is the rightful heir to the throne! And Bingsha is the traitor who murdered the king! How can you listen to him?!"

"We know, so we won't carry out this order, but Prince Smoothie was crowned king yesterday afternoon, so the Guards don't know whose command to listen to now."

The guardian wanted to say something more, but Prince Deep Water came up from behind and stopped him. The prince said to the officer: "Well, the princess and I will go back to the palace with you, and we will settle the matter after we see the smoothie." .”

In the most luxurious palace of the royal palace, the smoothie wearing the crown is drinking and carousing with his loyal ministers.Suddenly someone came to report that Prince Deep Water and Princess Dewdrop commanded the imperial guards and came from the coast to the palace in a hurry, and it would be an hour later.There was a dead silence in the palace.

"Deep water? How did he cross the sea? Did he grow wings?" Bingsha said to herself, but she didn't show panic like the others, "It's nothing, the Imperial Guard will not be commanded by deep water and dew unless I Dead... the Eye of the Needle artist!"

Following the call of Ice Sand, the Eye of the Needle Painter came out of the shadows silently. He was still wearing the gray cloak and looked even thinner.

"You, take Xuelang paper and drawing tools, ride a fast horse to the direction where Shenshui came, take a look at him, and then draw him. It's easy for you to see Shenshui, you don't need to approach him, as soon as he appears in the sky, you can seen from afar."

"Yes, my lord," whispered Needle Eye, and went away as noiselessly as a mouse.

"As for Luzhu, a girl can't make a big deal. I will snatch her umbrella as soon as possible." Smoothie said, picking up the wine glass again.

The banquet ended in a depressing atmosphere, and the ministers left worriedly, leaving only Smoothie sitting gloomily in the empty hall.

After an unknown amount of time, Bingsha saw the eye of the needle artist walking in, and his heart immediately became aroused, not because of the empty hands of the eye of the needle, nor because of the appearance of the eye of the needle - the painter didn't seem to have changed, he was still the same A cautious and sensitive look, but because he heard the painter's footsteps.In the past, the painter walked quietly, sliding across the ground like a squirrel, but at this moment, Bingsha heard his pattering footsteps, like an uncontrollable heartbeat.

"My lord, I have seen Prince Deep Water, but I can't draw him." Eye of the Needle said with his head down.

"Did he really grow wings?" Bingsha asked coldly.

"I could draw him in that way, and I could draw every feather of his wings so vividly, but, my lord, the Prince of Waterdeep has no wings, and it's more terrible than that: he doesn't conform to the principle of perspective."

"What is clairvoyance?"

"All the scenery in the world, in our field of vision, is near larger and far smaller. This is the principle of perspective. I am a painter of the Western School of Painting, and the Western School of Painting follows the principle of perspective, so it is impossible for me to draw him."

"Is there a school of painting that doesn't follow the principle of perspective?"

"Yes, oriental painting school, my king, look, that's it." Needle Eye pointed to a scroll ink painting hanging on the wall of the hall. The thick and colorful oil paintings next to them have very different styles. "You can see that the painting doesn't pay attention to perspective. But I haven't studied the Oriental painting school, and the ethereal painter refused to teach me. Maybe he thought of this day."

"You go." The prince said blankly.

"Yes, my lord, the Prince of Water Deep is coming to the palace, and he will kill me, and he will kill you. But I will not wait for him to kill, I will kill myself, and I will paint a painting that will reach its peak. My masterpiece, with my life." The Eye of the Needle Painter left after speaking, and his footsteps became silent again when he left.

Bingsha summoned the guards and said, "Bring me my sword."

The sound of horseshoes came from outside, faintly at first, but soon approaching, as rapid as a torrential rain, and finally stopped abruptly outside the palace.

Bing Sha stood up, raised her sword and walked out of the palace.He saw that Prince Deep Water was walking up the long and wide stone steps in front of the palace, Princess Dewdrop was following him, and Aunt Wide was holding a black umbrella for her.On the square below the stone steps, there was a black array of Imperial Guards. The army just waited silently, without clearly expressing which side to support.When Bingsha saw Prince Deep Water for the first time, he was twice the height of an ordinary person, but as he got closer and closer on the steps, his height gradually decreased in Bingsha's eyes.

For a moment, the smoothie's thoughts returned to my childhood more than 20 years ago.At that time, he already knew that the gluttonous fish were swimming towards the waters of Tomb Island, but he still tricked Deep Water into fishing on Tomb Island.At that time, the father fell ill due to anxiety. He told Shen Shui that there is a fish in Tomb Island, and the cod liver oil made from it can cure the father's illness.Shen Shui, who has always been steady, believed him, but he never returned as he wished. No one in the kingdom knew the truth. This has always been his proudest thing.

Ice Sand quickly interrupted his thoughts and returned to reality. Shen Shui had already walked onto the wide platform in front of the palace, and his height was almost the same as that of a normal person.

Bing Sha looked at Shen Shui and said, "My brother, you and your sister are welcome back, but you must understand that this is my kingdom, I am the king, and you must immediately declare your surrender to me."

Shen Shui put one hand on the hilt of the rusty saber at his waist, pointed at the smoothie with the other and said, "You have committed an unforgivable crime!"

Bingsha smiled coldly, "The eye of a needle cannot draw your portrait, but my sharp sword can pierce your heart!" He drew his sword out of its sheath.

The sword skills of Bingsha and Shenshui are comparable, but because the latter does not conform to the principle of perspective, Bingsha has difficulty accurately judging the distance between himself and the opponent, and is at an obvious disadvantage.The duel ended quickly, and Bingsha was pierced through the chest by Shenshui's sword, and rolled down the high steps, dragging a long bloodstain on the stone steps.

The Janissaries cheered, and they declared their allegiance to Prince Waterdeep and Princess Dewdrop.

Meanwhile, the Captain of the Guard searches for the Eye of the Needle painter in the palace.Someone told him that the painter went to his studio.The studio is located in a secluded corner of the palace, and is usually heavily guarded, but due to sudden changes in the palace, most of the guards left, leaving only one sentry.This person was originally Chang Fan's subordinate, and he said that Needle Eye entered the studio half an hour ago, and stayed there the whole time and never came out.The captain of the guard broke in.

The studio had no windows, and the candles in the two silver candlesticks were mostly burned out, making the place as bleak as a bunker.The captain of the guard didn't see the painter of the eye of the needle, and there was no one there, but he saw a painting on the easel, which was just finished and the paint was still wet. It was a self-portrait of the eye of the needle.It is indeed an exquisite masterpiece, the picture is like a window leading to another world, and the eye of the needle is looking at this world on the other side of the window.Although the upturned corner of Xuelang paper proved that it was just a lifeless painting, the captain of the guard still tried his best to avoid the sharp gaze of the person in the painting.

Changfan looked around and saw a row of portraits hanging on the wall, including the king, queen and ministers who were loyal to them, and he recognized the portrait of Princess Dewdrop from it at a glance.The princess in the painting made him feel that the dark studio was as bright as heaven, and the eyes of the person in the painting captured his soul and made him intoxicated for a long time.But Changfan finally came to his senses. He took down the painting, removed the frame, rolled up the painting, and lit it on the candle without hesitation.

Just after the painting was burned, the door opened, and the real Princess Dewdrop walked in. She was still wearing the plain civilian clothes, and she was holding a black umbrella.

"Where's Aunt Kuan?" Chang Fan asked.

"I didn't let her come. I have something to tell you."

"Your portrait has been burned." Changfan pointed to the ashes still glowing red on the ground and said, "There is no need to open an umbrella."

The princess slowed down the speed of the umbrella in her hand, and soon the singing of nightingales appeared. As the umbrella surface drooped, the singing of birds became louder and more urgent, and finally the singing of nightingales became that of jackdaws. Neighing, that was the last warning before the god of death came.When the umbrella was finally closed, the umbrella became quiet with the rattling of the stone balls along the edge of the umbrella.

The princess is safe and sound.

The captain of the guard looked at the princess, let out a long breath, and then looked down at Ashes, "It's a pity, it's a good painting, I really should let you see it, but I don't dare to drag it any longer...it's so beautiful. "

"Is it more beautiful than me?"

"That's you." Changfan said affectionately.

The princess took out the piece and a half of Helsingen Mosken soap, and as soon as she let go, the weightless snow-white soap floated in the air like a feather.

"I want to leave the kingdom and go sailing on the sea, will you come with me?" asked the princess.

"What? Didn't Prince Deep Water announce that you will be crowned queen tomorrow? He also said that he will assist you with all his strength."

The princess shook her head, "My brother is more suitable to be king than I am. Besides, if he hadn't been trapped on Tomb Island, he should have inherited the throne. If he became king, he would stand on the high ground of the palace, and the whole country could see him. And Me, I don't want to be a queen, I think it's better outside than in the palace, and I don't want to stay in the kingdom of no stories all my life, I want to go to a place with stories."

"That life is hard and dangerous."

"I'm not afraid." The princess's eyes glowed with the light of life in the candlelight, making Changfan feel that the surroundings were bright again.

"Of course I'm not afraid, princess, I can follow you to the end of the sea, to the end of the world."

"Then we will be the last two to leave the kingdom," said the princess, grabbing the half-floating bar of soap.

"This time we're sailing."

"Yes, a white sail."

The next morning, on another coast of the kingdom, someone saw a white sail appearing in the sea. Behind the sailboat was a white cloud of foam, sailing into the distance in the morning sun.

Afterwards, the people in the kingdom never heard of Princess Dewdrop and Long Sail.In fact, the kingdom does not get any news from the outside world. The princess took away the last piece and a half of Helsingen Mosken soap in the kingdom, and no one can break through the blockade of the glutton fish.But no one complained, people have long been used to this kind of life, after this story is over, there will be no stories in the kingdom of no stories forever.

But sometimes in the dead of night, some people tell stories that are not stories, but imaginations about the experience of Princess Luzhu and Changfan.Everyone's imagination is different, but people think that they have been to countless magical countries and lands as vast as the sea. They are always on the voyage and journey, no matter where they go, they always live happily together.

In the venue, those who had read the story began to whisper, and more people were still immersed in the world of the kingdom, the sea, the princess and the prince.Some were meditating, and some were staring blankly at the closed document, as if they could see more content from the cover.

"That princess looks a lot like you." AA whispered to Cheng Xin.

"Focus on the business... Am I that delicate? I'll hold that umbrella myself." Cheng Xin said, she was the only person in the meeting who didn't read the document, and she had already memorized this story by heart.In fact, she really thought about it more than once, whether Princess Luzhu was based on herself, there must be her own shadow in it, but the captain of the guard is not like Yun Tianming.

Does he think I'll sail away, with another man?
The chairman saw that all the participants had read the document, so he asked everyone to express their opinions, mainly on the direction of the next work of the IDC groups.

The members of the literature group asked to speak. This is a professional group that was added at the last thought. It is mainly composed of literary writers and scholars who study the history of literature in the AD century, because it is considered that they may be useful.

The member of the literature group who asked to speak was a writer of children's literature. He said: "I know that in the future work, my group will have the least right to speak, so I will say a few words first while I have this opportunity." The document with a blue cover in his hand, "Unfortunately, I think this information cannot be interpreted."

"Why do you look at it that way?" asked the chairman.

"First of all, clarify what we want to get from it—the strategic direction of human beings in the future. If this information really exists, no matter what the content is, its meaning must be certain. It is impossible for us to use vague and ambiguous information as a strategy. direction, but ambiguity and ambiguity are precisely the characteristics of the context of literary works. For safety, the real intelligence information contained in these three stories must be hidden deeply, which increases the ambiguity and uncertainty of information. Certainty, so the difficulty we will face is not that we cannot decipher information from these three stories, but that there are too many possible interpretations, none of which are certain."

"Finally, a digression: Pay tribute to Yun Tianming as a fairy tale writer. If it's just a fairy tale, this story is pretty good."

On the second day, IDC's interpretation of Yun Tianming's information was in full swing.Soon, people felt that the fairy tale writer did have a foresight.

Yun Tianming's three stories contain rich metaphors, hints and symbols. Any plot can be interpreted with many different meanings. Each meaning has certain reasons and basis, but it is impossible to determine which one the author wants. Therefore, any interpretation cannot become strategic intelligence.

For example, the plot of drawing people into paintings at the beginning of the story is considered to be a relatively obvious metaphor and hint, but different experts in different disciplines have different understandings.Some people think that painting symbolizes the digitization or informatization of the real world, so this plot may imply the digitization of people, implying that human beings escape the blow of the dark forest through their own digitization.Scholars who hold this view also note that the people who are painted in the painting are safe from the real world, so the digitization of human beings may also be a way to issue a cosmic safety statement.But another point of view is that this plot has a metaphor of spatial dimension, the drawing paper and the reality are two different dimensional spaces, and the characters are drawn into the painting and disappear in the three-dimensional reality, which makes people think of the "Blue Space" and the The encounter between the two ships of "Universal Gravity" in the four-dimensional space fragments, the author may imply that human beings use the four-dimensional space as a refuge, or issue a safety statement to the universe through the four-dimensional space in some way.It is also believed that the height of Prince Deep Water that does not conform to the principle of perspective also implies a four-dimensional space.

For another example, what is the metaphor of the gluttonous fish?Considering their large number, hidden state and strong aggressiveness, some people think that they symbolize the civilization groups in the universe in the dark forest state, and making the glutton fish forget their attacks in comfort implies some aspects of the universe's security statement. unknown principles.Another view, on the contrary, suggests that the gluttonous fish implies some kind of artificial intelligent machine, which is small in size but can reproduce itself. Space dust and comets are used as raw materials to replicate themselves in large numbers, and the number grows exponentially, eventually forming an intelligent barrier similar to the Kuiper belt or the Oort cloud around the solar system.This barrier has various possible functions, such as intercepting light particles attacking the sun, or making the solar system assume a special shape that can be observed from a distance for the purpose of issuing safety statements.This interpretation is called the "Fish Shoal Vision", and it is the most important one among all the interpretation results, because compared with other interpretations, the "Fish Shoal Vision" has a clearer technical outline, and it is also the first project established by the World Academy of Sciences to carry out in-depth research. An interpretation of the research.However, IDC did not have much hope for the "Fish Shoal Concept" from the beginning. This idea is more likely to be realized technically, but further research has found that if the "Fish Shoal" wants to replicate itself to form in the outer reaches of the solar system The barrier will take tens of thousands of years. At the same time, from the perspective of the function of the intelligent machine, whether it is its defensive effect or the possibility of issuing a security statement with it, it is only a dream in the water... "Fish school concept" is ultimately Was reluctantly given up.

There are also the spinning umbrella protecting the princess, the mysterious snow wave paper and obsidian, the magical soap... All of these have been interpreted into a large number of different meanings.

But as the fairy tale writers say, all these meanings seem to be true, but they are not sure.

However, not all the contents of the three stories are so obscure and ambiguous. At least one thing, IDC experts believe may contain certain information, and may even be the key to unlock the mysterious door of Yun Tianming's intelligence.

This is the strange place name: Helsingen Mosken.

Yun Tianming told Cheng Xin three stories in pure Chinese. People noticed that most of the names of places and people in the stories were Chinese names with clear meanings, such as Kingdom of No Story, Taotie Sea, Tomb Island, and Princess Luzhu. , Ice Sand and Prince of Deep Water, Needle Eye and Ethereal Painter, Captain of the Long Sail Guard, Aunt Kuan, etc., but such a transliterated place name suddenly appeared, and it was very long, and the pronunciation was so weird.But this weird name recurs in the story with an unnatural amount of frequency: the Eye of the Needle and the Ethereal painters are from Moersken, Helsingen, the snowwave paper they paint on is Mosken, Helsingen, The pressed obsidian slate and the iron are from Helsingen Mosken, the Guard Captain Longsail is a man born in Helsingen Mosken, soap from Helsingen Mosken, Helsingen Mosken The gluttonous fish... The author seems to be repeatedly emphasizing the importance of this name, but there is no more specific description of Helsingen Mosken in the story.Whether it is a large island like the Kingdom of No Story, a continent, or a group of archipelagos is unknown.People don't know which language this name belongs to. Yun Tianming's English level was very average when he left, and he didn't know any third language, but the possibility that he learned it later was not ruled out.This word is not like English, and it is not even sure whether it belongs to the Indo-European language family; of course, it cannot come from a trisomic language, because a trisomic language is expressed without sound.

Scholars have spelled Helsingen Mosken in various known languages ​​on Earth, consulted various professions, searched on the Internet and in various professional databases, but found nothing.The brightest minds in every discipline are helpless in the face of this strange word.

People in each professional group asked Process Xin, did she really remember the pronunciation of this word?Cheng Xin gave an affirmative answer. She had noticed the unusualness of this place name at the time, and focused on memorizing it. In addition, this place name appeared repeatedly in the story, so there should be nothing wrong with it.

IDC's intelligence interpretation has stalled.Such difficulties were expected. If human beings can easily decipher strategic information from Yun Tianming's story, then the Trisolarans can too, so the real intelligence information must be hidden deeply in the story.The experts in each team were exhausted, and the static electricity and pungent smell in the sophon shielding room made them very irritable.Each group split into several factions, each quarreling with each other, based on different interpretations of the story.

As the interpretation stalemate emerged, doubts gradually emerged within IDC as to whether the three stories contained meaningful strategic intelligence information.This kind of suspicion is more aimed at Yun Tianming himself. After all, he only has a bachelor's degree in the [-]st century AD, and now he can't even reach the level of knowledge in junior high school.In his limited work experience before carrying out his mission, he was mostly engaged in grassroots transactional work, without advanced scientific research experience, let alone the theoretical ability of basic science.While he was able to learn after being intercepted and cloned, doubts remain about his ability to understand Trisolaris' super technology, and especially the underlying theory behind such technology.

To make matters worse, some complications inevitably made their way to IDC as the deciphering work progressed.In the beginning, everyone was working together to guess the future of mankind, but later, the shadows of various political entities and interest groups began to appear in the interpretation work.Fleet International, the United Nations, various countries, multinational corporations, major religions, etc., are all interpreting stories according to their own political will and interests, turning intelligence interpretation into a tool to promote their own political views.For a while, the story was like a basket, and everything could be put in it, which made the work of interpretation change.The debate between the different factions has also become more political and utilitarian, frustrating everyone.

But the stalemate in the IDC's interpretation of intelligence has had a positive effect, which is to make people give up the illusion of miracles.In fact, the public has long since stopped this kind of fantasy, because they don't know the existence of Yun Tianming's information at all.Bottom-up political pressure has prompted Fleet International and the United Nations to shift their attention from Yun Tianming's information to finding the chances of survival for Earth civilization based on existing human technology.

From the perspective of the universe, the destruction of the Trisolaran world is imminent, giving the human world the opportunity to conduct comprehensive and detailed observations of the process of the destruction of stars, and this observation has obtained a large amount of complete data.Since the destroyed stars are very similar to the sun in mass and sequence, it is possible for humans to accurately grasp the mathematical model of the catastrophe when the sun is hit by the dark forest.In fact, the research in this area started on a large scale from the moment the light signal of the destruction of the Trisolaran world reached the solar system, and the results of the research directly led to the birth of the Bunker Project.Now, the bunker project has replaced Yun Tianming's intelligence and has received unprecedented attention from the international community.

"Once Upon a Time Beyond Time" (excerpt)
Project Bunker - Ark of Civilization on Earth
[-]. Prediction of the strike time of the dark forest in the solar system.

Optimistic forecast, 150 to 80 years; general forecast, 30 to 70 years; pessimistic forecast, [-] to [-] years; human survival plan is planned in a [-]-year period.

[-]. The number of people who need to be saved.

According to the current rate of world population decline, there will be about 70 million to [-] million people in [-] years.

[-]. The overall prediction of the attack on the dark forest.

Based on the observation data of the destruction of Trisolaran stars, a mathematical model of the catastrophe when the sun is hit by the same blow is established.Calculations of the model show that if the sun is attacked by light particles, all terrestrial planets within the orbit of Mars will be destroyed.In the initial stage of the attack, Mercury and Venus will completely disintegrate, the earth will retain a part of its volume and maintain its spherical shape, but its surface will be stripped, with a depth of about [-] kilometers, including the entire crust and a part of the mantle; the surface of Mars will be stripped by a part About one hundred kilometers.In the later stage of the strike, all the earth-like planets will reduce their orbits due to the resistance of the sun’s erupting material, and finally fall to the sun’s remnant core and be completely destroyed.

Mathematical models show that the destructive power of solar eruptions, including the impact of radiation and diffused stellar matter, is inversely proportional to the square of the distance, that is, the destructive power decreases sharply as the distance from the sun increases, which makes the Jupiter-like planets farther away from the sun able to survive the blow.

In the initial stage of the strike, the surface of Jupiter will be violently disturbed, but its overall structure will remain intact, and Jupiter's satellite system will remain basically unchanged.Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune are only generally disturbed at the surface, and the structure remains intact.The diffused solar matter will have a certain impact on the orbits of the three Jupiter-like planets, but in the later stage of the impact, the exploded solar matter will form a spiral debris nebula, and its rotational angular velocity and direction will be consistent with the Jupiter-like planets , no longer exerts enough drag on the planet to lower its orbit.

It is certain that the four giant planets of the solar system: Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune will remain intact after the blow of the dark forest.

This important forecast is the basis for the bunker plan.

[-]. The abandoned human survival plan.

1. Interstellar escape plan:

Technically not feasible at all.In the planned time period, it is impossible for human beings to have super-large-scale interstellar voyage capabilities. The number of people who can escape to the stars accounts for less than one thousandth of the total population. Before the fuel of the spacecraft is exhausted and the ecosystem is exhausted, find The odds of habitable exoplanets are slim.

Since the plan can only accommodate a small percentage of the population, it violates the most basic values ​​and moral principles of human society, and it is completely unfeasible politically, which may lead to violent turmoil and complete collapse of human society.

2. Long-distance evasion plan:
Feasibility is low.The content of the plan is to establish human settlements in space far enough from the sun to avoid solar eruptions.According to the model calculation, referring to the protection level of the human space city in the foreseeable future, the safe distance is [-] astronomical units from the sun, which has already crossed the Kuiper belt.The space region at that distance is poor in resources, and it is difficult to find raw materials for building a space city; also due to resource problems, even if a space city is built, human beings will face insurmountable difficulties in surviving in it.

Five, the bunker plan.

Use the cover of the four giant planets Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune to avoid the solar eruption caused by the strike of the dark forest.It is planned to build space cities on the backside of the four major planets for all human immigrants. These space cities are close to the major planets, but they are not their satellites, but they orbit the sun synchronously with the planets. The back side of the big planet is shielded and protected by the planet during a solar outburst.It is planned to build 500 space cities, each of which can accommodate about [-] million people.Among them, there are twenty constellations behind Jupiter, twenty constellations behind Saturn, six constellations behind Neptune, and four constellations behind Uranus.

The materials for building the space city are taken from the satellites of the four major planets, as well as the rings of Saturn and Neptune.

Sixth, the technical problems of the bunker plan.

The technologies involved in this plan are basically within the reach of human beings. Fleet International already has rich experience in building space cities, and already has a considerable-scale space base on Jupiter.There are also some technical challenges that are expected to be overcome within the time frame of the program, such as position maintenance for the space city.The space city is not a satellite of the four major planets. They remain relatively stationary with the planet on the back side of the planet, and are very close to the planet. Gravity will pull the space city towards the planet, so a position maintenance engine must be installed on the space city. , to offset the gravitational force of the planet, and keep the distance between the space city and the planet.It was originally planned that the location of the space city is located at the second Lagrangian point of the giant planet [67], which is the gravitational balance point located outside the giant planet, and there is no problem of maintaining the position, but it is found that it is too far away from the shelter planet to play a protective role .

[-]. The survival of human beings in the solar system after the dark forest strikes.

After the sun is destroyed, the space city will rely on nuclear fusion energy to survive.At this time, the solar system will be in the state of a spiral nebula, and the debris nebula formed after the sun erupts will contain almost inexhaustible fusion fuel resources, which can be easily collected in large quantities, and it is also possible to collect abundant fusion fuel from the remnant core of the sun , can meet the long-term energy demand of human beings.Each space city could have an artificial sun within it, producing sunlight comparable to that received by the Earth before the impact.From the point of view of energy, at this time, the reserve of human resources should be many orders of magnitude larger than that before the attack, because for the nuclear fusion resources of the solar system, the consumption of the space city is only a few hundred million billionths of that of the sun—in this sense It is said that the destruction of the sun has actually stopped the super waste of nuclear fusion resources in the solar system.

The surface of Jupiter's moon Europa is entirely covered by oceans as deep as 160 kilometers. It contains abundant water resources, and its reserves are larger than the oceans of the earth, which can meet the needs of space cities.In addition, there are a lot of water resources inside the nebula.

After the strike, when the nebula-state solar system is basically stable, all space cities will break away from the planets that serve as shelters, and search for a more suitable living space in the solar system.You can stay away from the ecliptic plane where the nebula gathers to avoid the influence of the nebula, and collect various resources from the nebula at the same time.Due to the disintegration of the terrestrial planets due to the solar eruption, various mineral resources in the solar system will be free in the nebula at this time, making it easier to develop and collect, which provides conditions for the construction of more space cities.Judging from the resources in the debris nebula at this time, the only limit to the number of space cities is water resources, but the water resources of Europa alone are enough to support 1000 space cities with a population of 2000 million to [-] million.

Therefore, the remnant nebula of the solar system after the strike can provide a comfortable life for tens of billions of people and provide enough room for human civilization to develop.

[-]. The influence of the bunker project on the earth world.

This is a project of all mankind to build a new world on an unprecedented scale. The biggest obstacle to start it is not in technology but in international politics.The public is generally worried that the bunker project will exhaust the earth's resources, bring about a major social, political and economic retrogression on the earth, and even a second big trough.But Fleet International and the United Nations agree that this danger can be completely avoided. The bunker project will become a complete extraterrestrial project, and [-]% of the resources required will be taken from the space of the solar system outside the earth, mainly from the satellites of the four major types of Jupiter planets, and Saturn. , Uranus and Neptune's rings will not have any impact on Earth's resources and economy.On the contrary, when the development of space resources reaches a certain scale, it can even feed back the earth's economy.

Nine, the overall steps of the bunker project.

It takes 20 years to establish an industrial system for resource development in the giant planetary belt, and another 60 years to build a space city. There is a ten-year overlap period between the two stages.

[-]. About the possibility of the second attack on the dark forest.

The macroscopic effect of the first blow will make most distant observers think that the civilization of the solar system has been destroyed.At the same time, since the sun no longer exists, there is no super energy source in the solar system that can be used for economical strikes.Therefore, the possibility of a second Dark Forest strike is very small. The state of 187J3X1 star after its destruction to the present also partly proves this point.

As the start of the bunker project approached, Yun Tianming gradually faded out of the sight of the international community. IDC's interpretation of intelligence is still in progress, but only as a routine work of the Planetary Defense Council, from which the hope of deciphering real strategic intelligence Getting smaller and smaller.In the IDC, someone actually connected the bunker plan with Yun Tianming's information, and deciphered several pieces of information related to the bunker plan.For example, the umbrella, which was previously considered a natural allusion to the defense system, has now been suggested that the stone ball on the edge of the umbrella symbolizes the Jupiter-like planets of the solar system.There are four giant planets in the solar system that can be used as shelters, but there is no information about the number of umbrella ribs in Yun Tianming's story. From a common sense, four umbrella ribs are obviously less.In fact, not many people believe this statement intellectually, but now, Yun Tianming's story has become something similar to the "Bible" for them, and unknowingly, what they are looking for in it is no longer the truth strategic intelligence, but some kind of solace in reality.

But at this moment, there was an unexpected breakthrough in the interpretation of Yun Tianming's information.

On this day, Ai AA came to find Cheng Xin.She had long since stopped attending IDC meetings with Cheng Xin, instead concentrating all her energies on getting the company involved in the bunker project.Humans will build a new world outside the orbit of Jupiter, which undoubtedly has almost unlimited development prospects for space construction companies.Coincidentally, Cheng Xin's company is called Xinghuan Group, and the Xinghuan of the Jupiter-like planet is the main source of raw materials for building the space city.

"I want a bar of soap," said AA.

Cheng Xin ignored AA's request. She didn't take her eyes off the e-book in front of her, and asked AA a question about fusion physics.Since she first woke up, she has been working hard to learn modern technology.As far as his profession is concerned, the aerospace technology of the AD century has all disappeared now, and even a small spaceship uses nuclear fusion propulsion.Cheng Xin could only start with basic physics, but she learned quickly.In fact, the gap between the times did not cause learning obstacles. The large-scale update of basic theories was only a matter after the beginning of the Deterrence Era. After learning, many scientists and engineers from the AD century were able to adapt to their majors again in the new era.

AA turned off Cheng Xin's e-book, "I want soap!"

"I don't have soap. You don't really think that soap has the magical effect in the story, do you?" Cheng Xin meant, when will you stop being so childish.

"I know, but I love bubbles and I want to bathe in them like a princess, so I want soap!"

The modern way of washing has nothing to do with foam. Soap and other washing products have disappeared more than a century ago. Now washing mainly uses two methods, ultrasonic and cleaning body.The cleaning body is a nano-robot invisible to the naked eye. It can be dissolved in water or used dry, and can clean the surface of objects and skin in an instant.

Cheng Xin had no choice but to go out with AA to find soap. In the past, when she was in depression, AA often pulled her out to relax like this.

Facing the giant forest in the city, they thought for a long time, and they felt that the only place where they could find soap was the museum.In a museum showing the city's history, they found soap.It was in an exhibition hall displaying daily necessities in the AD century. The light inside was very dark, and the items in the showcase were illuminated by spotlights. They were all things from the AD century, including various household appliances, clothing, and furniture.The items are well kept, spotless and some even feel brand new.Cheng Xin couldn't emotionally accept the fact that these were cultural relics more than two centuries ago, and she didn't feel like she hadn't seen them for a long time, as if they were still scattered around her yesterday.From the first awakening to the present, after so many things, the new era is still a dream to her, and her spirit stubbornly lives in the past.

The soap is placed in a daily necessities display case, together with other cleaning products, such as soap and washing powder.There was a trademark Cheng Xin was familiar with printed on the surface of the soap, and that piece of soap was white, just like the one in the story.

The curator of the museum said at first that the piece of soap was a cultural relic and would not be sold, and then asked for a lot of money.

"The money to buy this bar of soap can be used to build a small daily chemical factory." Cheng Xin said to AA.

"What is a daily chemical factory?"

"It's a factory that makes soap."

"What's the matter! I've been your CEO for so long, you should give me a gift! Besides, it may increase in value in the future!"

So they bought the bar of soap.Before Cheng Xin suggested that if AA wanted to take a bubble bath, it would be better to buy the bottle of shower gel, but AA said that she wanted soap because the princess used it.After carefully taking out the soap from the display case, Cheng Xin held it in her hand and looked at it. It was two centuries ago and could still smell a faint fragrance.

After returning to the residence, AA couldn't wait to unpack the cultural relic-grade vacuum packaging, and took the soap into the bathroom. After closing the door, there was the sound of water from the bathtub.

Cheng Xin knocked on the bathroom door and said, "You'd better not bathe with soap, it's alkaline, you've never used it, it's not suitable, it will hurt your skin."

AA did not answer.After a while, when the sound of running water stopped, the bathroom door opened.Cheng Xin saw that AA was still completely dressed, so she waved a blank piece of paper in her hand and said to Cheng Xin, "Can you make a boat?"

"Is this skill also lost?" Cheng Xin took the paper and asked.

"Of course, paper is rarely seen these days."

Cheng Xin sat down to stack the boat.Her thoughts went back to that afternoon in the drizzle when she was in college, she and Yun Tianming were sitting by the water, on the surface of the water shrouded in drizzle and mist, the little paper boat she folded gradually drifted away.Then, she remembered the last white sail in Yun Tianming's story...

AA took the small paper boat with a canopy that Cheng Xin had folded, praised how beautiful it was, and then signaled Cheng Xin to go into the bathroom as well.On the washstand, she used a small blade to cut off a small piece of soap, then pierced a small hole in the tail of the small paper boat, inserted the small piece of soap into the small hole, raised her head and smiled mysteriously at Cheng Xin , gently lower the paper boat into the bathtub that has been filled with water and the water has calmed down.

The boat moved forward, sailing from shore to shore on this small piece of water.

Cheng Xin immediately understood the principle: after the soap dissolved in the water, the tension of the water surface behind the boat was reduced, but the tension of the water surface in front of the boat remained unchanged, so the boat was pulled over by the tension of the water surface ahead[68].But this thought was fleeting, and Cheng Xin's thoughts were immediately illuminated by a flash of lightning!In her eyes, the calm water in the bathtub turned into a pitch-black space, and the small white paper boat sailed at the speed of light in this boundless void...

But another thought immediately occupied Cheng Xin's mind: Yun Tianming's safety.The thought is like a hand snapping at the strings of the thought, stopping it from vibrating.She forced herself to look away from the boat, looking as disapproving and uninterested in the matter as she could.The boat had already driven to the other side of the bathtub and docked lightly on the side. She reached out to pick up the paper boat from the water, shook the water and threw it on the sink.She resisted the urge to flush the paper boat down the toilet, but was determined not to put it in the water again.

It's dangerous. Although Cheng Xin herself tends to believe that there are no sophons in the solar system, it's better to be cautious.

Cheng Xin's gaze met AA's, and she found that the other's eyes seemed to be the mirror image of her own, emitting the same light of excitement from an epiphany.She immediately looked away, and said lightly: "I won't play with you anymore, you can take a bath if you want." After speaking, she walked out of the bathroom.

AA also came out with Cheng Xin, and they poured two glasses of wine and started chatting broadly.First, we will talk about the prospect of Xinghuan Company in the bunker project, then recall their college life in different centuries, and then talk about their current life. AA asked Cheng Xin why she hadn't met a man she liked in New Era for so long. Cheng Xin said that she still couldn't live like a normal person, and said that AA's problem was that she had too many boyfriends. Lovers bring here, but it's best to only take one at a time.They also chatted about the fashions and hobbies of women in the two eras, which are the same and which are different... They just vented their excitement through words, not daring to stop, it seems that once they are silent, the surprise hidden in their hearts will turn into Bubbles.Finally, at an unnoticed gap in the babble, Cheng Xin softly uttered two words:
"Curvature—"

She said the last two words with her eyes: drive?
AA nodded slightly, her gaze said: Yes, curvature drive!

"Once Upon a Time Beyond Time" (excerpt)
Dynamics of curved space

The space of this universe is not flat, but has curvature. If the whole universe is imagined as a large membrane, the surface of this membrane is curved, and the entire membrane may even be a closed soap bubble.Although parts of the membrane appear planar, spatial curvature is ubiquitous.

As early as the AD century, there have been many very ambitious ideas for space travel, one of which is space folding.Imagine that the curvature of the large-scale space is infinitely increased, folded in half like a piece of paper, and paste two distant points on the "paper" that are tens of millions of light-years apart.Strictly speaking, this plan should not be called space navigation, but should be called "cosmic dragging", because it does not sail to the destination in essence, but drags the destination by changing the curvature of space.

Only God can do this kind of thing that swallows the universe. If the limitations of basic theories are added, God may not be able to do it either.

For navigation using the curvature of space, a gentler and more partial idea appeared later. If a spaceship in space can iron out a part of the space behind it in some way to reduce its curvature, then the spaceship will Being pulled by the space with greater curvature in front, this is the curvature drive.

Curvature drive cannot reach the destination instantly like space folding, but it is possible to make the spacecraft sail at a speed infinitely close to the speed of light.

But until Yun Tianming's information is correctly interpreted, the curvature drive is still a fantasy, just like the hundreds of fantasies about flying at the speed of light, no one knows whether it is feasible in theory or technology.

AA beamed and said to Cheng Xin, "Before the Era of Deterrence, it was fashionable to wear clothes with images. At that time, people were all shiny and colorful, but now they are only like children, and classical clothing has become the mainstream again."

But AA's eyes said something else, and her eyes dimmed: This interpretation looks plausible, but it is impossible to confirm it, and it probably won't be recognized.

Cheng Xin said: "What surprises me the most now is that precious metals and precious stones no longer exist. Gold has become a common metal, and these two wine glasses are made of diamonds... Do you know? At that time, we had such a small A diamond like this, so small, is an eternal luxury for most girls."

Her eyes said: No, AA, this time is different, this time for sure!
"At least aluminum was cheap for you back then. Before electrolytic aluminum appeared, aluminum was also a precious metal. I heard that the crown of the king was made of aluminum."

How to be sure?

Cheng Xin knew that it was impossible to express it with her eyes this time. The IDC once wanted to configure a sophon-shielded room for her residence, which would require installing a lot of equipment that was very bulky and noisy. She thought it was troublesome and refused to agree. regret.

"Snow wave paper." Cheng Xin said softly.

AA's dim eyes were instantly rekindled, and the light of excitement was brighter than last time.

"Is this paper really not smooth with other things?"

"If it is not flat, it can only be flattened with obsidian slabs from Mosken in Helsingen..."

……

At this time, the clock in the corner of the room rang, and the ethereal painter looked up, it was already early morning, and the sky was about to dawn.He looked at the Xuelang paper again, the flattened section protruded from the paper roll, lay flat on the floor and would not be rolled back, but it was only one palm wide, far from enough to draw a picture.He dropped the iron and let out a long sigh.

A roll of paper, a roll of paper with a curvature, is pulled out and ironed to reduce the curvature.

This image is an obvious hint to the shape of the front and back space of the spaceship when the curvature drives it, and it cannot be anything else.

"Let's go." Cheng Xin stood up and said.

"Let's go." AA also said that they were going to the nearest sophon shielding room.

Two days later, at the meeting of the IDC committee, the chairman announced that all professional groups had endorsed the curvature-driven interpretation.

Yun Tianming told the earth world: The three-body light-speed spacecraft is driven by the curvature of space.

This is an extremely important strategic intelligence.Among the many ideas of light-speed navigation, it has determined that space curvature drive is feasible, which points out a clear strategic direction for the development of human spaceflight technology, like a lighthouse lit up in the dark night sea.

Equally important, this successful interpretation reveals Yun Tianming's pattern of hiding intelligence in the three stories, which can be summed up in two points: double-layer metaphor and two-dimensional metaphor.

Double-layered metaphor: The metaphor in the story does not point directly to the intelligence message, but to another, simpler thing that metaphorizes the intelligence message in a way that is easier to interpret.In this example, the boat on which the princess rides, Helsingen Mosken Soap and the Gluttonous Sea are all metaphors for one thing—a paper boat driven by soap, and the metaphorical goal of the soap boat is driven by the curvature of space.In the previous interpretations, one of the important reasons why people were confused was that they interpreted the story according to the habitual thinking of single-level metaphor, thinking that the plot of the story is a direct metaphor of intelligence information.

Two-dimensional metaphor: This model is used to solve the problem of information uncertainty generated by literary language.After a double-layer metaphor is completed, a single-layer metaphor is added to fix the meaning of the double-layer metaphor.In this example, the curling and ironing of the snow wave paper is used to imply the spatial form driven by curvature, and to confirm the metaphor of the soap boat.If the story is regarded as a two-dimensional plane, the double-layer metaphor only provides one coordinate for the real meaning, and the additional single-layer metaphor is equivalent to the second coordinate, which fixes the position of the meaning on the plane, so this single-layer metaphor Also known as meaning coordinates.It is meaningless to take the meaning coordinate alone, but combined with double-layer metaphor, it solves the problem of ambiguous meaning in literary language.

"An exquisite system." A PIA intelligence expert praised.

All the committee members congratulated and paid tribute to Cheng Xin and AA, especially AA, who had always been underestimated, was now impressive and her status in the committee had improved a lot.

But Cheng Xin's eyes were moist.She thought of Yun Tianming, imagining how this man who fought alone in the long night of outer space and in the strange and sinister alien society, in order to convey information to human beings, how he worked hard, designed such a metaphor model, and then created in the long lonely years Come out hundreds of fairy tales, and finally carefully hide the information in three of them.Three centuries ago he gave Cheng Xin a star, and three centuries later he gave humanity another hope.

The subsequent interpretation work went much smoother. In addition to the guidance of the newly discovered metaphorical model, people also tacitly accepted an unproven rule of exclusion: the first successfully interpreted information was related to escape from the solar system, and the remaining information had Most likely it's about security claims.

But readers soon discovered that the other intelligence information hidden in the three stories was much more complicated than the first intelligence.

At the next IDC committee meeting, the chairman brought an umbrella specially made by him. It was the same as the umbrella given to the princess by the ethereal painter in the story. It was black, with eight ribs, and each end had a There is a small stone ball.Umbrellas in the true sense have long since disappeared from modern life. Modern people use something called a rain shelter to cover the rain, which is the size of a small flashlight, and blows airflow upwards to blow away the rain.Of course, people know that the umbrella once existed, and they have seen it in movies and TV shows, but few people have seen the real thing.Everyone fiddled with this thing curiously, and found that it can be opened by the centrifugal force of the stone ball during rotation as described in the story, and it can also emit corresponding sound alarms when the rotation speed is too fast or too slow.Everyone's first feeling is that it is very tiring to spin and open an umbrella like this. It is admirable that the princess's nanny can hold an umbrella like this for a whole day.

AA also took the umbrella and spun it open. Her hand strength was relatively weak, and the rotating umbrella quickly dropped down, and the sound of birds warning that the speed was too slow appeared.

Since the first time the chairman opened the umbrella, Cheng Xin had been staring at it intently. Now, she suddenly pointed at AA and shouted, "Don't stop!"

AA increased the speed of the umbrella, and the birdsong disappeared.

"Turn it faster." Cheng Xin stared at the umbrella and said.

AA tried her best to turn the umbrella, and the wind chime sounded to warn her that the speed was too fast; then Cheng Xin asked her to turn it slower, until the bird chirping sounded again, and repeated this several times.

"This is not an umbrella!" Cheng Xin pointed at the spinning umbrella and said, "I know what it is!"

Bi Yunfeng next to him nodded, "I know too." Then he turned to Cao Bin, the third man present, "This is something that only the three of us can think of."

"Yes." Cao Bin looked at the umbrella and said excitedly, "Even in our time, this thing is very strange."

Some of the rest of the participants looked at the three living ancients, and some looked at the umbrella. They were all baffled, but they were also excitedly looking forward to it.

"Steam engine centrifugal governor." Cheng Xin said.

"What's that, a control circuit?" someone asked.

Bi Yunfeng shook his head, "There was no electricity when that thing was invented."

Cao Bin began to explain: "It was something that appeared in the 18th century. It is a device used to adjust the speed of a steam engine. It is mainly composed of two or four suspension rods with metal balls on their heads and a rotating shaft with a sleeve. Just like this umbrella, except that the number of umbrella ribs is less. The rotating shaft of this device is driven by the steam engine to rotate. When the steam engine rotates too fast, the iron ball lifts the suspension rod due to centrifugal force, driving the sleeve to rise, and the shaft connected to the sleeve When the steam door is closed small, the speed of the steam engine is reduced; when the speed of the steam engine is too low, the decrease of the centrifugal force causes the cantilever to close inward, like closing an umbrella, pushing the sleeve down, and opening the steam door to increase the speed... This is the earliest industrial automatic control system."

Thus, people know the first metaphor of the umbrella.But unlike the soap boat, the centrifugal governor of the steam engine does not have a clear metaphor. People can think of many things it metaphors, and there are two things that are more certain——

Negative feedback automatic control, constant speed.

Therefore, the interpreters began to search for the meaning coordinates corresponding to this double-layered metaphor, and soon found it: Prince of Deep Water.The height of Prince Deep Water does not change with the distance in the eyes of the observer. This can also be interpreted in many ways, and there are two more obvious ones:
An information distribution system whose signal does not attenuate with distance, a physical quantity that is constant in any frame of reference.

Compare with the result of the interpretation of Umbrella and immediately find a certain combination:

A constant velocity that does not vary with the frame of reference.

This obviously refers to the speed of light.

To the surprise of the interpreters, for the umbrella metaphor, they found a third meaning coordinate:
"...the Helsingen Mosken soap is made of that kind of bubbles. It is very difficult to collect those soap bubbles, and those bubbles float very fast in the high wind... the fastest horse can catch up with the wind Bubbles... I use a tulle net to collect the bubbles right away... The bubbles of the magic bubble tree are weightless, so the real pure Helsingen Mosken soap is also completely weightless, the lightest in the world thing……"

Fastest and without mass (weight), it's a pretty sure-fire single-layer metaphor: light.

To sum up, the umbrella is a metaphor for light or the speed of light.And capturing the bubbles of the Bubble Tree has two possible meanings:
Gather light energy and slow down the speed of light.

Interpreters all believe that the first possible meaning has little to do with human strategic goals, so they all focus on the second possible meaning.

The clear meaning of the intelligence is still not seen, but a second possible meaning has been discussed among the interpreters, and the discussion has mainly focused on the relationship between slowing the speed of light and issuing a cosmic safety statement.

"Imagine that if the speed of light in the solar system, that is, the space within the orbit of Neptune or the Kuiper belt, is reduced, it may produce an effect that can be observed remotely on a large cosmic scale."

The idea got people excited.

"But does it have any safety implications for space observers? Would it make us seem safer to imagine reducing the speed of light in our solar system by a factor of ten?"

"There is no doubt about it. In that case, even if humans have light-speed spacecraft, it will take one tenth longer to fly out of the solar system. Of course, this is of little significance."

"If you want to have a safety meaning for the universe, it is obviously not enough to reduce the speed of light by one tenth. It may be necessary to reduce it even more, such as to one percent of the original, so that observers can see that this is a self-constructed human being. It is believed that it will take a long time for us to fly out of the solar system, so as to increase the observer's sense of security for the civilization of the solar system."

"If that's the case, it's not enough to reduce it to one thousandth of the original speed. Think about it, it doesn't take too long to fly out of the solar system at a speed of [-] kilometers per second. In addition, if humans can fly out of the solar system at a radius of [-] Changing a basic cosmological constant in the space of ten astronomical units is equivalent to announcing to the universe that the earth civilization has mastered very high technology, which is not a security statement, but a dangerous statement.”

……

From the double-layered metaphor of the umbrella and the two meaning coordinates of Prince Deep Water and Magic Bubble Tree, the interpreters can clarify its meaning, but they cannot get definite strategic information.This metaphor is no longer two-dimensional but three-dimensional. Some people speculate whether there is a third meaning coordinate?As a result, interpreters searched repeatedly in the story, but failed to find signs of its existence.

At this moment, the mysterious place name "Helsingen Mosken" was suddenly interpreted.

To study the word, IDC added a Linguistics group, including a linguist named Palermo, who studies the historical evolution of language.The main reason why he was admitted into the group is that he is different from other scholars in this major. He does not only focus on a single language family, but is familiar with ancient languages ​​of multiple language families in the East and the West.But Palermo didn't know anything about this word, and he didn't get any useful clues after he entered the IDC. The reason why he was able to successfully interpret it was completely accidental and had nothing to do with his linguistics major.

Waking up in Palermo one morning, his girlfriend, a blond Nordic girl, asked him if he had ever been to his home country.

"Norway? No, I've never been." Palermo replied.

"Then why did you repeat those two ancient place names in your dream?"

"What place name?"

"Helsingen and Mosken."

Thinking that his girlfriend has nothing to do with IDC, the word came out of her mouth with a strange feeling, Palermo smiled and shook his head, "That's a complete word, Helsingen Mosken, you take it from different If the location is disassembled, more place names will definitely be obtained.”

"Both places I'm talking about are in Norway."

"So what? It's just a coincidence."

"But let me tell you, ordinary Norwegians are not very familiar with these two place names. They are ancient place names, and they have changed now. I only know about them after studying Norwegian history. They are both in Nordland County, Norway."

"My dear, it may still be a coincidence, because the word can be split at will in pronunciation."

"Enough! You're lying! You must know that Helsingen is the name of a mountain, and Moesken is a small island, a small island in the Lofoten archipelago."

"I really don't know. I say it may be a coincidence because there is a phenomenon in linguistics: For a long word with no specific spelling but only pronunciation, without understanding its meaning, some people like to subconsciously Break it up, and break it up to your liking, that's who you are."

What Palermo didn't say is that during the IDC team's research on the word, he encountered this situation of splitting at will at will many times, so he didn't care about his girlfriend's words, but her next words changed everything:
"Well, let me tell you one more thing: Mount Helsingen is next to the sea, and you can see Mosken Island from the top of the mountain. Mosken Island is the closest island to Mount Helsingen!"

Two days later, Cheng Xin stood on Mosken Island, looking across the sea at the cliff of Mount Helsingen. The cliff was black, perhaps because the sky was covered with lead clouds. White waves.Before coming here, I heard that although it is located in the Arctic Circle, it is affected by the warm North Atlantic Current and the climate is relatively mild.But the current sea breeze still made Cheng Xin feel very cold.It is located in the Lofoten Islands in northern Norway. A series of steep islands are etched by glaciers, forming a 160-kilometer-long barrier between the Western Fjords and the North Sea, like a wall. The Arctic Ocean is separated from the northern tip of the Scandinavian peninsula, and the inter-island strait has fast-flowing water.In the past, there were very few residents here, and the main population was fishermen during the fishing season.Now, seafood mainly comes from farming, and the marine fishing industry has disappeared, and this place has become desolate again, probably similar to the earlier Viking era.

Mosken is only a small one of the many islands in the archipelago, and Mount Helsingen is also an unnamed mountain. This is the place name in the AD century.

Facing the desolation and chill at the end of this world, Cheng Xin felt calm in her heart.Not so long ago, she thought her life was over, but now, there are so many reasons for life to go on.She saw a gap in the blue sky on the edge of the leaden cloud.Just now, the sun emerged from the gap in the clouds for a few minutes, immediately changing the appearance of this gloomy world, much like the description in Yun Tianming's story: "It seems that the artist who drew this painting grabbed a handful of gold powder and sprinkled it boldly. To the whole picture." Her current life is like this, with hope hidden in the maze, and warmth in the cold.

Ai AA and several IDC experts including Bi Yunfeng, Cao Bin, and linguist Palermo also came together.

Mosken is a small island with no permanent residents. There is only one old man named Jason living on the island. He is over 80 years old and a man from AD. His square and weather-beaten Nordic face reminds Cheng Xin of Frey. s.When asked what is special about Mosken Island and Helsingen Mountain, old Jason pointed to the western end of the island:
"Of course, look there."

It was a white lighthouse, and it was only dusk now, and the tower lights were already shining rhythmically.

"What's that for?" AA asked curiously.

"Look, the children really don't know what it is..." Jason shook his head and said with emotion, "It was used to guide ships in ancient times. In the century AD, I was an engineer who designed lighthouses and navigation lights , in fact, there were many lighthouses in use on the oceans up to the Age of Crisis, and they are all gone now. I have come here to build this lighthouse, to let the children know that there was such a thing before."

People from IDC were interested in lighthouses, which reminded them of steam engine centrifugal governors, also an ancient technological device that has disappeared.But a little probing revealed that this was not what they were looking for.The lighthouse has just been built, using light and strong modern building materials, and the construction period is only half a month.Jason also affirmed that there had never been a lighthouse on this island in history, so judging from the time, this thing has nothing to do with Yun Tianming's information.

"Is there anything else special about this area?" someone asked.

Jason shrugged against the cold sky and sea, "What can there be? I don't like this desolate ghost place, but on other islands, they won't let me build lighthouses."

So everyone decided to take a look at the Helsingen Mountain across the strait.Just as they boarded the helicopter, AA had a whim and wanted to cross the sea in Jason's boat.

"Of course, but boy, the sea is rough today, and you will get seasick." Jason said.

AA pointed to Mount Helsingen across the sea and said, "It's such a short road, can you get seasick?"

Jason shook his head again and again, "You can't go directly through this sea area, not today, you have to go around there."

"why?"

"Because there is a big vortex there that can swallow all ships."

The people in IDC looked at each other, then stared at Jason together, and someone asked, "Didn't you say there is nothing special?"

"I'm a local, the maelstrom is nothing special to us, it's part of this ocean, it's there all the time."

"Where is it?"

"There, it's not visible from this direction, but it can be heard."

Everyone quieted down, and heard a deep and powerful rumbling sound from the sea, like thousands of horses galloping in the distance.

The helicopter took off to explore the great vortex, but Cheng Xin wanted to take a boat to see it first, and everyone else agreed.There was only Jason's small boat on the island, which could only safely seat five or six people. Cheng Xin, AA, Bi Yunfeng, Cao Bin, and Palermo boarded the boat, and the rest boarded the helicopter.

The small boat bumped away from Musken Island. The wind at sea was stronger and colder, and the salty water foam kept splashing on his face.The surface of the sea was dark gray, eerie and unpredictable in the fading light, and the rumble gradually increased, but there was still no eddy to be seen.

"Oh, I remembered!" Cao Bin suddenly shouted in the wind.

Cheng Xin also remembered, she thought Yun Tianming knew something about this place through Sophon, but now it doesn't look that complicated.

"Ellen Poe." Cheng Xin said.

"What? What's that?" AA asked.

"A 19th-century novelist."

Old Jason said: "Yes, Edgar Allan Poe wrote a novel about the Great Whirlpool of Mosken. I read it when I was young, and it was somewhat exaggerated. I remember he said that the water wall of the Whirlpool was inclined at 45 degrees, how could it be so steep? .”

Text-based narrative literature died a century ago, but literature and writers still exist, though the narratives are told with digital images.Now, classical literary novels have become cultural relics. After the Great Depression, a large number of ancient writers and works were lost, including Edgar Allan Poe.

The roar grew louder. "Where's the vortex?" someone asked.

Old Jason pointed to the surface of the sea and said, "The whirlpool is lower than the sea surface. Look at that line. You can see the big whirlpool just beyond it." The big arc stretches into the distance.

"Cross it!" Bi Yunfeng said.

"It's a life-and-death line. Once the ship passes by, you can't come back." Jason said, staring at Bi Yunfeng.

"How long does it take for the ship to be sucked into the big vortex?"

"Four, 10 minutes to an hour."

"Then it's okay, the helicopter will rescue us up."

"But my boat..."

"We'll pay you for one."

"Cheaper than soap." AA interjected something Jason couldn't understand.

Jason drove the boat over the wave strip cautiously. The boat swayed, then became stable, and was seized by some force, as if entering a track under the sea surface, sliding along the same direction as the wave strip .

"The ship was caught by the vortex! Oh my god, it's the first time I've seen it so close!" Jason shouted.

As if they climbed to the top of a mountain and looked down, the Mosken Great Whirlpool unfolded in front of them.This huge funnel-shaped depression has a diameter of about 1000 meters. The inclined water wall does not have the 45-degree inclination mentioned by Poe, but it must have a [-]-degree inclination. The surface of the water wall is dense and smooth, as if solid.The ship has just entered the sphere of influence of the large vortex, and the speed is not too fast. The speed of the vortex gradually increases downwards, and the speed reaches the highest at the small hole at the bottom, and the breathtaking roar comes from there , that roar showed a power and madness that crushed and sucked everything.

"I don't believe you can't get out. You follow the tangent line and charge forward with maximum power!" AA shouted to Jason.The latter did as she was told.This is an electric boat, and the sound of the engine is like a mosquito in the roar of the vortex.The boat accelerated close to the bubble line, was about to rush over it, and then turned feebly downward, leaving the bubble line, like a stone thrown over the top of a parabola.They tried a few more times, and each time they slid down, deeper and deeper each time.

"See, that line is the gate of hell, as long as it is a ship with conventional power, if you cross it, you will never go back!" Jason said.

Now that the ship had slipped deeper, the foam line was no longer visible, and the sea was completely invisible. Behind them was a ridge of sea water, and only the top of the slowly moving mountain could be seen from the far edge opposite the great eddy. .All felt the terror of being captured by an irresistible force, with only some comfort from the helicopters circling overhead.

"It's time for dinner, kids," said old Jason.The sun behind the clouds has not yet set, but in this summer in the Arctic Circle, it is already past 21 o'clock at night.Jason took out a large cod from the cabin, saying that he had just caught it, and then took out three bottles of wine, put the fish on a large iron plate, poured a bottle of wine on the fish, and clicked it with a lighter caught.Within five minutes of the fire, he was eating meat from the still-burning fish, claiming it was the local cooking method.So they ate fish, drank wine, and enjoyed the view of the Great Whirlpool.

"Son, I know you. Are you a sword bearer?" Jason said to Cheng Xin, "You must have come here for an important mission. But be calm, calm, since the end of the day cannot be avoided, you should enjoy it." Now."

"If there were no helicopters up there, would you still be so calm?" AA said.

"I will, son, let me tell you, I will. I was only 40 years old when I was terminally ill in the first century AD, but I was very calm and didn't intend to hibernate at all. I was hibernated in shock and I didn't even know it. Wake up It was already the era of deterrence when I came here. At that time, I thought it was reincarnation in the afterlife, but I found out that there is no such thing as an afterlife. Death just retreated a little farther, and it was still waiting for me in front... On the night when the lighthouse was built, I was far away on the sea Watching it shine, I suddenly realized: death is the only lighthouse that is always on, no matter where you sail, you must eventually turn to the direction it guides. Everything will pass away, only death will live forever.”

At this time, it had been 10 minutes since entering the vortex, and the boat had slid down one-third of the total height of the water wall. The inclination angle of the boat body was getting larger and larger, but due to the centrifugal force, the people in the boat did not slide to the port side.At this time, all they could see was the wall of water, and even from the opposite side they could not see the distant peak.None of them dared to look at the sky, because in the vortex, the boat rotated together with the water wall, relatively almost stationary, so they could hardly feel the rotation of the vortex, and the boat seemed to be clinging to the slope of a still sea basin ; but if you look at the sky, the rotation of the large vortex is immediately apparent, and the cloud-covered sky rotates at an increasing speed as a whole, making people dizzy.Due to the increase in centrifugal force, the surface of the water wall under the boat is denser and smoother, with a stronger sense of solidity, like ice.The roar from the sucking hole at the bottom of the great vortex suppressed everything, making it impossible for everyone to talk.At this time, the sun emerged from the gap in the western clouds again, and shot a beam of golden light into the great vortex, but it could not reach the bottom, and only illuminated a small part of the water wall, making the depth of the vortex look even darker.A large amount of water mist sprayed out from the roaring sucking hole at the bottom of the vortex, forming a rainbow in the sunlight, and magnificently spanning the whirling abyss.

"I remember that Edgar Allan Poe also described the rainbow in the vortex, which seemed to appear under the moonlight. He said that it was a bridge connecting this life and the next life!" Jason said loudly, but no one could hear him clearly.

The helicopter came to rescue them, hovered two or three meters above the boat, and hung a ladder for the people on board to climb up.Then, the empty boat drifted away, continuing to circle in the vortex, and the unfinished cod on the boat was still burning with faint blue flames.

The helicopter hovered directly above the large vortex, and the people on board looked at the large swirling puddle below, and felt dizzy and nauseous after a while.So someone issued an instruction to the driving system to make the helicopter rotate in the air at the same speed as the vortex, so that in their eyes, the vortex below did stop, but the whole world outside the vortex began to rotate, the sky, the sea and the mountains all changed. Revolving around them, the big vortex seemed to be the center of the world, and the dizziness didn't ease at all. AA spat out all the fish he had just eaten.

Looking at the big vortex below, another vortex appeared in Cheng Xin's mind. It was made up of 1000 billion stars, radiating silver light and revolving in the ocean of the universe. One revolution in 5000 million years was the Milky Way; the earth was in it Not even a speck of dust, and the Mosken vortex is just a speck of dust on Earth.

Half an hour later, the boat spun down to the bottom of the vortex, and was instantly swallowed up by the sucking hole. Amidst the roar, the clicking sound of the hull being broken and shredded could be vaguely heard.

The helicopter sent Jason back to Mosken Island, and Cheng Xin promised to send the boat to pay him as soon as possible, and then bid farewell to the old man.The helicopter flies to Oslo, where the nearest sophon shielding room is located.

During the voyage, everyone was thinking in silence, without even making eye contact.

There is no need to think about what the Mosken Great Vortex implies, it is too obvious.

Now the question is, what does slowing down the speed of light have to do with black holes?What do black holes have to do with cosmic security claims?
A black hole itself does not change the speed of light, only the wavelength of light.

Imagine reducing the speed of light to one-tenth, one-hundredth, or even one-thousandth of the current speed of light in a vacuum, which are [-] kilometers per second, [-] kilometers per second, and [-] kilometers per second, respectively. Do black holes matter?I can't see it for a while.

There is a hurdle here, and conventional thinking is more difficult to overcome, but it is not too difficult.After all, these people belong to the most intelligent group of human beings, especially Cao Bin. As a physicist spanning three centuries, he is good at extreme thinking, and he also knows the fact that as early as the AD century, there were A research team has slowed the speed of light in a medium to 17 meters per second in the lab, slower than a speeding bicycle.Of course, this is fundamentally different from slowing down the speed of light in a vacuum, but at least it makes the following scenario seem less crazy.

Going down again, reducing the speed of light in vacuum to one ten-thousandth of what it is now, that is, thirty kilometers per second, does it have anything to do with black holes?It seems that there is no essential difference from the previous one, and still nothing can be seen... No, wait!
"Sixteen point seven!" Cao Bin blurted out the number, and his eyes radiated light, which quickly set the surrounding eyes on fire.

7000 meters per second, the third cosmic speed of the solar system, if it cannot reach this speed, it is impossible to fly out of the solar system.

The same goes for light.

If the speed of light in the vacuum of the solar system drops below 7000 meters per second, light will not be able to escape the gravitational force of the sun, and the solar system will become a black hole[69].

Since the speed of light cannot be surpassed, if light cannot go out, then nothing can go out, and nothing can fly out of the horizon of the black hole in the solar system[70]. This galaxy will be completely isolated from the rest of the universe and become an absolutely closed world.

Such a world would be absolutely safe from the rest of the universe.

It is not known what the black hole of the solar system with a low speed of light looks like from a distance, but there are only two possibilities: the solar system disappears in the eyes of backward observers; for advanced observers, the black hole with a low speed of light should be able to be observed remotely , but the observer immediately understands that it is safe.

There was a distant star, a faint point of light in the night sky, and all who looked at it said: That star is safe—a thing that was once thought impossible, is now true. It is possible to do it.

This is the cosmic security statement.

The Taotie Sea, they thought of the Gluttony Sea, and the Storyless Kingdom that was forever closed by the Gluttony Sea.In fact, this meaning coordinate is not necessary, the previous interpretation is already very clear.

Later, people called the low-light-speed black hole a black domain, because compared with the original light-speed black hole, the Schwarzschild radius of the low-light-speed black hole is very large, and the interior is not a space-time singularity, but a vast area.

The helicopter was flying above the clouds, and it was already past 23 o'clock at night, and the sun was slowly setting in the west.The midnight sunset shines into the cabin, and in the golden warm light, everyone is imagining, imagining the life in the world where the speed of light is 7000:7000 meters per second, imagining the light of the sunset in that world at [-]:[-] meters per second .

So far, most of the jigsaw puzzles of Yun Tianming's information have been completed, and there is only one piece left: the painting by the eye of the needle painter.I can't decipher its double-layered metaphor, and I can't find the meaning coordinates.Some interpreters believe that the painting may be a meaning coordinate of the Mosken vortex, which symbolizes the horizon of the black hole, because from the perspective of an external observer, any object entering the black hole will always be fixed on the horizon, much like being painted Into the painting.But most interpreters disagree with this idea. The meaning of the Mosken vortex is very obvious. Yun Tianming also used the Taotie Sea to further fix its meaning. There is no need to set another meaning coordinate.

This metaphor cannot be interpreted in the end, like the broken arm of Venus.The painting of the eye of the needle has become an eternal mystery. This plot forms the basis of the three stories. Judging from the elegant cruelty, exquisite cruelty and beautiful death it reveals, it may imply a huge secret that is at stake.

[The 8th year of the broadcast era, the choice of fate]

"Once Upon a Time Beyond Time" (excerpt)
Three Ways of Life for Earth Civilization

[-]. Bunker plan

The choice with the greatest hope of success is based entirely on the existing technology of human beings, and there are no theoretical unknowns.In fact, the bunker project can be regarded as a natural continuation of human development. Even without the threat of the dark forest attack, human beings have reached the era of large-scale migration to the solar system, but the bunker project is more concentrated and its purpose is clearer.

This was entirely Earth World's own plan, and Yun Tianming's intelligence did not mention this choice.

[-]. Black field plan

Issue a cosmic security statement by turning the solar system into a low-light-speed black hole.This is the most technically difficult of all options. It needs to change the basic constants of the universe in a vast space with a radius of 75 astronomical units (about [-] billion kilometers). It is called God's project, and there are huge unknowns in theory.

However, once the Black Territory Project is successful, the security provided to Earth civilization is the highest among the three options.In addition to the guarantee produced by the cosmic security statement, further research has also found that the black domain itself is an efficient defense barrier.The high-speed attacking body from the outside world, such as light particles, enters the low-light-speed area, and its speed greatly exceeds the speed of light immediately. According to the principle of relativity, it can only run at low light-speed, and the remaining huge kinetic energy is transformed into a huge mass. The attacking body first The mass of the part that enters the low speed of light area will increase sharply, and the speed will drop suddenly, while the rear part that is still in the original light speed area will hit the front at the original light speed, and this effect will completely destroy the attacking body.According to calculations, even a super-solid object like a water drop made of strong-interaction materials will be completely smashed when passing through the boundary of the black domain.Therefore, people call the black domain the cosmic safe.

The Black Domain Project has another advantage. Among the three options, only it can save human beings from being displaced in space and live in the familiar earth world for a long time.

But the earth civilization will pay a huge price for this. The solar system will be completely isolated from the rest of the universe, which is equivalent to reducing the diameter of the universe in which humans are in from 160 billion light-years to 16.7 astronomical units.It is still unknown what life is like in a world where the speed of light is [-] kilometers per second, but what is certain is that electronic computers and quantum computers in that world can only operate at extremely low speeds, and humans may retreat to low speeds. In a technical society, this is a stronger technical lock than Sophon.Therefore, in addition to self-isolation, the black domain safety statement also has a technical self-mutilation side, which means that human beings will never have the power to fly out of the self-made low-light speed trap.

[-]. Lightspeed Spaceship Project

Curvature-driven technology is theoretically unknown, but the implementation difficulty is significantly lower than that of black domain technology.

The speed of light spacecraft can hardly provide any security for the earth civilization, and this technology can only be used for interstellar escape.This is the one with the most unknown factors among the three options. Even if it is realized, the future of human beings entering the vast outer space will be dangerous and unpredictable.At the same time, due to the danger of escapism, the realization of this plan is full of political obstacles and traps.

But some people are destined to be obsessed with light-speed spaceships, and the reason is not survival.

For humans in the broadcast age, it is wise to have all three plans running at the same time.

Cheng Xin came to the headquarters of Xinghuan Company. This was her first time here. She had never been involved in the company's affairs before.Subconsciously, she always thinks that this huge wealth does not belong to herself, nor does it seem to belong to Yun Tianming, what they own is the star, and the wealth brought by the star belongs to the society.

But now, the Halo Company may be able to realize her ideal.

The company's headquarters occupies a whole giant tree. The biggest feature is that all buildings are fully transparent, and the refractive index of the building materials is similar to that of air. The internal structure is fully displayed, and people moving inside and countless information windows can be seen. , the buildings suspended in the air are like colorful transparent ant nests.

In the conference room at the top of the tree, Cheng Xin met most of the executives of Xinghuan Company.They were all young, sharp-minded, and full of energy. Most of them met Cheng Xin for the first time, and they made no secret of their respect and love for her.

They didn't talk about the company's future until the meeting was over and only Cheng Xin and AA were left in the spacious conference room.Right now, Yun Tianming’s information and its interpretation results are still kept secret. For Yun Tianming’s safety, Fleet International and the United Nations plan to gradually announce the interpretation results to the international community in another way, trying to make it look like a research in the human world The results, in the middle, require some deliberately misguided research to cover up.

Cheng Xin has gotten used to the transparent floor under her feet and no longer feels afraid of heights.There are several large information windows floating in the meeting room, displaying real-time images of several projects under construction by the Star Ring Company in the earth orbit, one of which is the giant cross in the synchronous orbit.After Yun Tianming appeared, the public's illusions about miracles gradually disappeared. With the launch of the bunker project, the religious atmosphere in the world quickly faded. The church's investment was suspended. The cross became an unfinished project and is now being demolished. The next word "one" seems to be more meaningful.

"I don't like the Black Domain." AA said, "I think it should be called the Black Tomb, dig your own grave."

Cheng Xin looked at the city below through the floor and said, "I don't think so. In my era, the earth was isolated from the universe. People lived on the ground and rarely looked at the stars in their lives; It was even more so in the previous era. People have lived like this for 5000 years. You can’t say that it’s not life. In fact, the solar system is basically isolated from the universe now. Those who are really in outer space are those on the two spaceships. More than 1000 people."

"But I feel that if you are separated from the starry sky, the dream will disappear."

"How could it be? There was happiness and joy in ancient times, and there were no fewer dreams than now. Besides, the starry sky can still be seen in the black field, but, alas, who knows what it looks like... Actually, from a personal point of view , I don’t like Heiyu either.”

"I know you don't like it."

"I like lightspeed ships."

"We all like light-speed spaceships, Halo should build light-speed spaceships!"

"I thought you disagreed, it would take a lot of basic research."

"You think I'm just a businessman, yes, I am, and so is the board of directors. We all pursue the maximization of interests, but this is not inconsistent with the light speed spacecraft. From political considerations, the government will definitely devote its main force to the bunker project and the black field , The light speed spacecraft is an opportunity left to the enterprise... We work hard to participate in the bunker project and use part of its profits to study the light speed spacecraft.”

"AA, I think this way: Regarding basic research, the curvature drive and the black domain may overlap in the basic theory part. We wait for the government and the World Academy of Sciences to finish this part, and then develop in the direction of curvature drive."

"Yes, from now on, we should start to establish the Starlink Academy of Sciences. We should start recruiting scientists. There are many people among them who are obsessed with light-speed spacecraft, but they can't find too many opportunities in national and international projects..."

AA's words were interrupted by a large number of information windows that suddenly poured out. Windows of various sizes emerged from all directions, like a colorful avalanche, and quickly buried the original several large windows showing real-time images of space engineering.People call this phenomenon "window avalanche", and its appearance means a sudden major event.But this kind of sudden flood of information often makes people feel overwhelmed for a long time in shock, and instead can't figure out what happened—Cheng Xin and AA are in this state now, and they see that most of the windows are filled with If complex text and dynamic images are lost, only those pure image windows can quickly see the content.Cheng Xin saw a few faces looking up in a window, and then the camera zoomed in quickly until a pair of big terrified eyes filled the frame, and she heard a loud scream... A new window stabilized at the last Ahead, AA's secretary appeared on the screen. She stared at Cheng Xin and AA from the window with a terrified expression on her face.

"No! Hit the alarm!" shouted the secretary.

"What exactly is going on?" AA asked.

"Didn't the first observation unit of the solar system early warning system just start up? Light particles were discovered immediately!"

"In what direction and at what distance?"

"I don't know, I don't know anything, all I know is..."

"Is it an official alert?" Cheng Xin asked calmly.

"Oh, it doesn't seem to be, but all the media are spreading it wildly, so it must be true! Let's go to the launch port and escape for our lives!" The secretary disappeared from the window after finishing speaking.

Cheng Xin and AA walked through the densely packed information windows to the transparent wall of the meeting hall, and saw the chaos in the city below.The number of flying cars in the air suddenly increased, the traffic became chaotic, and all vehicles were rushing through the crowd at high speed.A speeding car crashed into a giant tree building, causing a ball of fire, and then, two more flames and smoke columns appeared in the city...

AA picked out a few information windows to check carefully, while Cheng Xin contacted the IDC committee members, most of their phones were busy.Cheng Xin only got in touch with two committee members, one of whom was as unaware of them as they were, and another PDC official told Cheng Xin that he could confirm that the No. He doesn't know either.He also confirmed that neither Fleet International nor the United Nations had issued an official Dark Forest strike alert, but he wasn't optimistic.

"There are two possibilities that the official did not issue an alarm. One is that it is really all right, and the other is that the light particles are too close, so there is no need to send it again." The PDC official said.

AA only got one piece of definite information from the information window: the light particles hit along the ecliptic plane at the speed of light. As for the direction and the current distance from the sun, there are different opinions, and the time of hitting the sun is even more different. There is a month, some say only a few hours left.

"Let's go to Halo," said AA.

"is there time?"

The "Halo" is a commercial spacecraft of the Halo Corporation, and is now parked at the company's space base in geosynchronous orbit.If the alarm is true, the only hope of escape at present is to fly to Jupiter by spacecraft, and avoid the big explosion on the dark side of Jupiter when the light particles hit the sun.Now it is the 25-day Jupiter opposition, at the speed of an interplanetary spacecraft, it takes about 30 to [-] days to fly from the earth to Jupiter, which is exactly the longest estimate of the remaining time that AA just saw. But this information is extremely unreliable, because the solar system early warning system that has just begun to be built cannot provide such a long warning time.

"Then we have to do something, we can't wait to die here!" AA said, pulling Cheng Xin and running out of the conference hall.Outside was the treetop parking lot, and they got into a flying car. AA remembered something and got out of the car again. She came back a few minutes later, carrying a long box like a piano box. She took out the contents of the box and threw the box out of the car.Cheng Xin knew that thing, although it fired lasers instead of bullets, it was a rifle.

"What are you doing with this?" Cheng Xin asked.

"The launch port must be overcrowded, who knows what will happen." AA said, throwing the rifle on the back seat and starting the flying car.

Every city now has a space launch port, which is mainly used as a launch pad for space shuttles, just like the airports of ancient times.

The flying car flew towards the launch port and merged into a mighty air traffic flow.This swarm of locust-like vehicles all flew towards the launch port, and the traffic cast a flowing shadow on the ground, as if it was the blood flowing from the city.

In the direction of the destination ahead, there appeared a dozen white lines that went straight into the blue sky. They were the wakes of space shuttles. They rose high into the sky, and then all turned to the east, disappearing into the depths of the sky.New white lines are still rising from the ground, extending into the sky, each white line has a fireball at the head, the luminosity seems to be brighter than the sun, it is the flame of the fusion engine of the shuttle.

Cheng Xin saw a real-time picture from the information window in the car, which was taken from low-Earth orbit in space.She saw countless rising white lines appearing on the brown continent, continuously extending, increasing and intensifying, as if the earth was growing white hair, and the small fireballs at the head of the white lines were like a large piece of fireflies floating into space—this is It is the largest collective escape of mankind from the earth.

When we arrived at the sky above the launch port, we could see a large array of space shuttles below, about 100 of them, and there were still shuttles being moved out of the huge hangar in the distance.Aerospace planes have long been eliminated, and the current space shuttles take off vertically.Different from the spaceships of various shapes that Cheng Xin saw at the port of the terminal station of the space elevator, the shuttles are all regular and streamlined, with three to four tail fins. They are now erected in disorder in the berthing area of ​​the launch port, like a piece of A jungle of steel plants.

AA has already notified the hangar in the car to move a shuttle from Transit to the parking area.She quickly found the shuttle from the sky, and drove the flying car to land next to it.

Cheng Xin saw shuttles of different sizes parked all around. The small one was only a few meters high and looked like an enlarged cannonball. It was hard to imagine that such a small aircraft could fly out of the earth's deep gravitational well and into space.There are also many large shuttles, some as big as ancient large civil aviation airliners.The shuttle of Xinghuan Company is small and medium-sized, about ten meters high, and the whole body is covered with metal mirrors, reminiscent of water droplets.The shuttle lands on wheeled landing gear and is ready to be towed by a service vehicle to the launch point.A roar came from the launch area in the distance. It was strange that it reminded Cheng Xin of the sound of the Mosken vortex.The ground trembled, making her calf numb, a mass of strong light came on from the launch area, and a shuttle machine with flames trailing its tail rose into the air, and quickly disappeared into the sky, so the trail extending to the sky increased again. one.A large cloud of white mist poured over, with a strange burning smell. This mist did not come from the shuttle's engine, but the cooling water evaporated from the cooling pool under the launch pad.Everything is shrouded in a humid and hot steam, which makes people more restless.

Just as they were about to board the shuttle along a slender gangway, Cheng Xin saw a group of children in the gradually dissipating mist.They gathered not far away, all looked to be primary school students under the age of ten, all dressed in neat and beautiful school uniforms, a young female teacher was leading them, her long hair was blown by the air waves, and she was standing there looking around Looking around, a look of helplessness.

"Can you wait a moment?" Cheng Xin asked.

AA looked at the group of children and knew what Cheng Xin was going to do, "You go, we have to wait for the launch position, the queue is long."

In principle, space shuttles can take off on any flat place, but in order to prevent the ultra-high temperature plasma ejected from the fusion engine from causing danger to the surroundings, they all take off on the launch pad. There are cooling pools and diversion grooves under the launch pad. The plasma can be directed in a safe direction.

Seeing Cheng Xin walking over, the female teacher rushed over and grabbed her before she could ask a question, "Is this shuttle yours? Please save the children!" Her wet bangs were pressed against her forehead On the ground, tears and mist flowed down her face together, she stared at Cheng Xin, as if she wanted to grab her tightly with her eyes.The children also gathered around, and their expectant eyes focused on Cheng Xin, "We are from the space summer camp, and we were supposed to go to the synchronous orbit, but after the alarm came, they didn't let us board the plane, let others go up Already!"

"Where's that shuttle?" AA who came with him asked.

"It's already taken off, please..."

"Take them along." Cheng Xin said to AA.

AA stared at Cheng Xin for a few seconds, the meaning of that gaze was very clear: there are too many people on earth, can you save them?In the end, she shook her head under Cheng Xin's still firm gaze and said, "You can only bring three."

"But this shuttle can seat more than a dozen people!"

"But the 'Halo' can only take five people under the maximum acceleration state, and only has five deep-sea fluid [71] compartments. The extra people will be crushed into meatloaf."

This answer surprised Cheng Xin. Deep sea fluid is only used in interstellar spacecraft with super-high acceleration power, and she always thought that "Halo" was an interplanetary spacecraft.

"Okay, okay, then bring three!" The teacher let go of Cheng Xin and grabbed AA instead, fearing that he would lose this opportunity.

"Choose three." AA pointed to the children and said.

The female teacher let go of AA and stared at her blankly, as if she had fallen into a deeper fear than before, "Let me choose?! God, how could I..." She looked around in fear, not daring to look Around the children, she looked distressed, as if their eyes were burning her.

"Okay, I'll choose." AA said, then turned to the children with a smile on her face, "Listen, students, I will ask three questions, and we will take away whoever answers correctly first." She ignored Cheng Xinhe The female teacher raised a finger with a surprised gaze, "Question 1: There is a light, which is turned off. It flickers for a minute, then flickers again after half a minute, and then flickers again after 15 seconds. In this way, it flashes every half of the previous interval, how many times did the light flash in 2 minutes?"

"One hundred times!" A child blurted out.

AA shook his head, "No."

"A thousand times!"

"No, think about it."

After a while of silence, a timid voice came from a quiet little girl, barely audible in the noisy noise: "Countless times."

"You, come here." AA pointed to the girl and said, and when she walked over, he took her behind him, "The second question: a rope with uneven thickness, it takes an hour to burn from one end to the other. How do you use it for a 15-minute timer? Watch out, not evenly!"

This time, none of the children said in a hurry, they were all thinking, but soon a boy raised his hand, "Fold the rope in half and burn it from both ends!"

AA nodded, "Come here." She pulled the boy behind her and stood with the girl who had answered the question correctly before, "Question 82: 50, 26, [-], what's the next number?"

For a long time no one answered.

AA repeated: "82, 50, 26, the next number?"

"Ten!" a girl yelled.

AA gave her a thumbs up, "Good boy, come here." Then, she motioned to Cheng Xin, and walked towards the shuttle with the three children without looking back.

Cheng Xin followed them to the bottom of the gangway, looked back, and saw the rest of the children gathered around their teacher and looked at her, like watching the sun that was setting for the last time and would never rise again.The scene was blurred by tears, and when she climbed the gangway, she could still feel the desperate eyes of the children behind her, piercing her heart like a thousand arrows.She had felt this feeling in the last moments of being a sword bearer, and she had felt it when she heard Sophon announce the human extinction plan in Australia. It was a sharp pain that was more painful than death.

The interior of the shuttle is very spacious, with [-] seats in two rows, but the cabin is upright, like a well, and you need to climb the steps to get to the seats.Just like the feeling in the spaceship, Cheng Xin felt that the aircraft was just an empty shell, and she didn't know where there was room to install the engine and control system.She thought of chemically powered rockets from the AD century, towering like skyscrapers with little payload at the top.Almost no driving equipment can be seen in the shuttle cabin, only a few information windows floating.The AI ​​of the shuttle seemed to know AA. As soon as she came in, those windows surrounded her. When she helped the children and Cheng Xin fasten their seat belts, those windows followed her all the time.

"Don't look at me like that. I gave them a chance. To survive, they have to compete." AA whispered to Cheng Xin.

"Auntie, will they die down there?" the boy asked.

"Every one of us is destined to die, it's just sooner or later." AA said, sitting in the seat next to Cheng Xin. She wasn't wearing a seat belt and just looked at the windows. There are 29 in line!"

There are eight launch pads in the launch port. After each launch, the launch pads need to cool down for 10 minutes before they can be used again. During this period, cooling water needs to be added to the cooling pool.

Only from the perspective of escape, the waiting period is not too important, because it takes a month to fly to Jupiter, and if the blow comes before that, the outcome will be the same whether it is in space or on the earth.But here's the problem: Any delay and it might never take off.

At this time, the society was already in chaos. Driven by the survival instinct, more than 1000 million people in the city flocked to the launch port.Space shuttles in this era are equivalent to airplanes in the AD century, which can only carry a small number of people in a short period of time; and owning a shuttle is like owning an airplane in ancient times, which is out of reach for most people.Now even with the capacity of the space elevator, less than one percent of the population on the ground can be sent into low-Earth orbit within a week, and less than one in a thousand people can finally embark on the voyage to Jupiter.

There are no portholes on the shuttle, but there are several information windows showing the images outside from various angles, and it can be seen that dark crowds are swarming into the berthing area.People gathered around each space shuttle, pumping their fists and shouting at the top of their lungs, hoping to squeeze into one of them.At the same time, in the outer area of ​​the launch port, a large number of flying cars that had landed earlier took off one after another. The cars were all empty, and the owners of the cars flew them into the sky by remote control to prevent the shuttle from launching.There are more and more flying cars in the sky, hovering over the launch pad, forming a black barrier. If this continues, no one will be able to leave soon.

Cheng Xin narrowed down the information window and turned to comfort the three children in the back seat.At this moment, AA exclaimed: "Oh my God!" When Cheng Xin looked back, she saw that the screen was enlarged to the maximum, almost occupying the entire field of view in the cabin. On the screen, a group of dazzling fireballs appeared in the shuttle. machine jungle.

Someone actually started the launch amidst the crowd in the mooring area!
The temperature of the plasma ejected by the nuclear fusion engine is dozens of times higher than that of the ancient chemical engine. If it is launched on a flat ground, the high-temperature plasma can instantly melt the surface of the ground and shoot out in all directions. No one within a radius of 30 meters can survive.It can be seen from the picture that many black spots flew out from the place where the flames appeared, and one of them hit the top of a nearby shuttle, leaving a black mark there, which was a piece of charred human body.Several shuttles around the fireball went down, probably from melted landing gear.

The crowd fell silent for a moment, and people looked up. The shuttle that probably burned dozens of people to death roared up from the parking area, dragged a white trail straight up into the sky, and then turned to the east.People seemed to be in disbelief at what was happening before their eyes.Only ten seconds later, another shuttle took off from the parking area, and this time it was closer to them. The roar, flames and heat wave made the crowd go from stagnation to extreme frenzy.Next, the third, fourth... The shuttle planes in the parking area were forcibly launched one after another. In the flames, the charred human body flew across the air dragging the fireworks, and the parking area became a crematorium!
AA bit her lower lip and looked at the tragic scene, then closed this window with a wave of her hand, and started to click and operate on another small window.

"What are you doing?" Cheng Xin asked.

"take off."

"Stop."

"Look at—" AA threw another small window to Cheng Xin, which showed several shuttles around - above the nozzles of the rear engines of each shuttle, there was a ring of heat dissipation rings, composed of a large number of small heat sinks. Composed of sheets, used for heat dissipation of the fusion reactor.Cheng Xin saw that the cooling rings of the surrounding shuttles were emitting a dark red light, indicating that their fusion reactors had activated and were about to take off. "Instead of letting them fly first, let's fly!" AA said.If one of these shuttles were to start its engines, it would risk melting the landing gear of surrounding shuttles, including this one from the Halo, causing them to dump on the already molten ground.

"No, stop." Cheng Xin's voice was calm but extremely firm. She had experienced bigger disasters than this one, and this time she was able to face it calmly.

"Why?" AA's voice became equally calm.

"Because there is a crowd below."

AA stopped operating and turned to face Cheng Xin, "In that case, soon, we, the crowd, and the earth will all become pieces together. Among these pieces, can you tell which ones are noble and which ones are despicable?"

"At least for now, the moral bottom line is still there. I am the president of the Star Ring Company, and the ownership of this shuttle belongs to the Star Ring Company, and you are also an employee of the company. I have the right to make this decision."

AA and Cheng Xin looked at each other for a long time, then nodded, reached out to close the operation window, and then closed all the information windows, isolating this place from the frenzied world outside.

"Thank you." Cheng Xin said.

AA didn't answer her, jumped up as if suddenly remembering something, picked up the laser rifle from a row of empty seats, left the seat and walked down the ladder, saying at the same time: "You all fasten your seat belts, It could fall down at any moment."

"What are you going to do?" Cheng Xin asked.

"We can't go, and they can't fucking go!" AA yelled, brandishing his rifle.

AA opened the door and stepped out, closing the door tightly to prevent people from entering, then descended the gangway to the ground, raised his rifle and fired at the tail of the nearest active shuttle.A puff of blue smoke rose from the place where the tail was hit, and a small hole was pierced.The hole is only as thick as a finger, but it is enough. The monitoring system of the shuttle will detect the defect of the tail, and the AI ​​system will refuse to execute the launch procedure. This kind of refusal is beyond the highest system authority, and it is impossible for the people inside the shuttle to disarm it.Sure enough, the cooling ring of the shuttle went dark, indicating that the fusion reactor had shut down. The AA fired continuously in a circle, piercing a hole in the tail fin of each of the eight surrounding shuttles.In the chaos of the crowd amidst the heat and smoke, no one even noticed what she had done.The hatch of a shuttle with a darkened cooling ring opened, and a gorgeously dressed woman stepped out. She looked around the bottom of the shuttle, and soon discovered the small hole in the tail, cried hysterically, and then fell to the ground. Roll over, banging your head on the landing gear.No one paid any attention to her, people only saw the cabin door she forgot to close, and they rushed forward desperately trying to squeeze into the shuttle that could no longer take off, and quickly crowded into a large pile. AA walked up the gangway of the "Star Ring", pushed Cheng Xin back who had just poked her head out, and followed behind, then quickly closed the cabin door.After entering, AA immediately vomited.

"Outside... it smells like barbecue," AA said after the vomiting subsided.

"Are we going to die?" asked a girl poking her head out of an upper seat.

"We will see a very, very spectacular scene of the universe." AA said to her mysteriously.

"What does it look like?"

"Anyway, it's the most spectacular, the sun will turn into a big firework!"

"and then?"

"Then...it's nothing, what can you have if you don't have anything, right?" AA went up and patted the heads of the three children one by one and said, she didn't intend to trick them, since they can answer such questions, they won't Lack of the intelligence to see the reality in front of you.

When the two sat down next to each other again, Cheng Xin put one hand on AA's and said softly, "AA, I'm sorry."

AA smiled at Cheng Xin, this smile was very familiar to Cheng Xin, AA had always been a little girl in her eyes, but she was a strong little girl, she felt both mature and powerless in front of AA.

"Don't take it to heart, it's all fuss anyway, and the end result is the same, so it's better to save a little worry like this." AA said with a long breath.

If the "Halo" is really an interstellar spacecraft, it will fly to Jupiter much faster. Although the distance between the Earth and Jupiter is not enough for it to accelerate fully, the voyage will only take about two weeks.

AA seemed to see Cheng Xin's thoughts, "Even if the solar system early warning system is fully established, the warning time will only be one day... But calm down and think about it, I feel that the warning may be fake."

Cheng Xin didn't know if it was because of this thought that AA gave in to her so easily just now.

AA's words were quickly confirmed.Cheng Xin received a phone call from the IDC member who was also a PDC official, telling her that Fleet International and the United Nations had jointly issued a statement that the alarm was purely misinformation, and there was no sign of any attack from the Dark Forest. AA clicked on several information windows, most of which were showing the announcements made by the United Nations and the fleet spokesperson.Looking outside again, shuttle launches have stopped in both the launch area and the berthing area, the chaos continues, but it won't get any worse.

When the outside calmed down a bit, Cheng Xin and AA got out of the shuttle, and what they saw was like a tragic battlefield.There were charred bodies everywhere, all charcoal black, and some were still blazing.The fleet of shuttles staggered, some fell to the ground, and some leaned against each other.A total of nine shuttles were forcibly launched from the parking area, and their trails in the sky are still very clear, like open wounds.The crowd was no longer manic. Some people were sitting on the hot ground, some were standing still, and some were walking aimlessly. It seemed that they couldn't figure out whether everything in front of them was a nightmare or reality.Police forces are maintaining order and ambulance work has begun.

"The next alarm may be true." AA said to Cheng Xin, "You can go with us to the back of Jupiter, where Halo is going to build a space city for the bunker project."

Cheng Xin didn't answer AA, but asked, "What happened to the 'Xinghuan'?"

"This is not the original 'Halo'. It is a newly built small interstellar spaceship. It can take 20 people in the planetary state and five people in the star state. This is specially built by the board of directors for you. Jupiter's office."

The difference between an interplanetary spacecraft and an interstellar spacecraft is like the difference between an inland river ferry and a [-]-ton giant ship on the ocean. Of course, the difference is not reflected in the size. , they have the most sophisticated propulsion system, equipped with an ecological cycle system that is not found on interplanetary spacecraft, and each subsystem has three to four redundant backups.If Cheng Xin really took the new "Halo" to the dark side of Jupiter, no matter what happened, the spaceship would be enough to keep her alive for the rest of her life.

Cheng Xin shook her head, "You go to Jupiter, you take the 'Halo' to go, I don't get involved in the company's specific affairs, just stay on Earth."

"You just don't want to be one of the few who survive."

"I am with billions of people, and no matter what happens, if it happens to billions of people at the same time, it is no longer scary."

"I'm very worried about you." AA hugged Cheng Xin's shoulders and looked at her with concern. "I'm not worried that you will die with billions of people. I'm afraid that you will encounter something more terrible than death."

"I've already encountered it."

"If you keep going towards the ideal of a spaceship at the speed of light, you will definitely encounter it again, but can you still bear it?"

The false alarm incident is the biggest social turmoil since the Great Immigration. Although it was short-lived and caused very limited losses, the impression it left on people is unforgettable.

Shuttles were forcibly launched from crowds in most of the thousands of spaceports around the world, and more than 1 people died in the flames of nuclear engines.There was also an armed conflict at the base station of the space elevator. Unlike the riot at the launch port, this conflict was between countries. Some countries tried to send troops to control the international base station on the equatorial ocean. It was only because the false alarm was lifted in time that it did not escalate into a war. .In orbit around Earth, and even on Mars, there have been crowds of people vying for spaceships.

In addition to those scum who ran for their own lives and ignored the lives of others, another thing that was also disgusted by the public was discovered in the false alarm incident: in geosynchronous orbit and on the back of the moon, there are dozens of small interstellar and quasi-stellar spacecraft. Under construction in secret.The so-called quasi-stellar spacecraft refers to a space vehicle that has the ecological cycle system of an interstellar spacecraft, but is only equipped with an interplanetary propulsion system.Some of these expensive ships under construction belong to big corporations, and some belong to the super rich.These spaceships are very small, and in the interstellar state, that is, in the state of long-term survival completely dependent on the ecological cycle system, most of them can only accommodate a few people.They have only one purpose: to hide behind the giant planet for a long time.

The solar system early warning system under construction can only provide an early warning time of about 24 hours. If the dark forest attack really comes, within this time, it is impossible for any existing spacecraft to send people from the earth to the nearest shelter—— Jupiter and the earth are actually hanging on the sea of ​​death alone.This is a fact that people have seen clearly for a long time. The scramble for life during the false alarm process is just a collective madness driven by the overwhelming desire to survive, and it is actually meaningless.At present, there are more than 5 people living on Jupiter for a long time, most of them are space army soldiers at the Jupiter base of the fleet, and there are also some staff who are preparing for the bunker project. They have good reasons to stay there, and the public has nothing to say.But once those secretly built interstellar spacecraft are completed, their quick-rich owners can hide in the dark side of Jupiter for a long time.

From a legal point of view, at least at present, there is no international law or national law that prohibits groups or individuals from building interstellar spacecraft, and taking refuge on the dark side of a giant planet is not considered to be escapism, but here is the biggest inequality in human history. : Inequality in the face of death.

Historically, social inequalities have emerged primarily in the areas of economics and social status, with all people essentially equal in the face of death.Of course, inequality in death has always existed, such as uneven medical conditions, different survival rates in natural disasters caused by the gap between rich and poor, survival differences between soldiers and civilians in wars, etc., but it has never appeared Such a situation: a small number of people who account for less than one ten-thousandth of the total number of human beings can hide in a safe place to survive, while the remaining billions of people are waiting to die on the earth.

Such massive inequality would not have been tolerated even in ancient times, let alone in modern society.

This phenomenon directly caused the international community to question the light speed spacecraft program.

Living in a spaceship behind Jupiter or Saturn, although it can survive the attack of the dark forest, is not an enviable life. No matter how comfortable the ecological cycle system can provide, after all, it is living in a cold and desolate environment isolated from the world. The outer reaches of the solar system isolated.However, the observations of Trisolaris Second Fleet show that it takes almost no time for the curvature-driven spacecraft to accelerate to the speed of light, and the light-speed spacecraft may sail from the earth to Jupiter in a few tens of minutes. In this way, the early warning time provided by the solar system early warning system That's more than enough, and the privileged and super-rich with light-speed spaceships can live comfortably on Earth, leaving billions of people behind when the blow hits, a prospect that's absolutely unacceptable to society.The horror scene in the false alarm incident is still vivid in people's minds. Most people believe that the appearance of the light-speed spacecraft may cause worldwide turmoil, and the light-speed spacecraft project faces unprecedented resistance.

The generation of false alarms is due to the rapid amplification effect of sensitive information in the super-information society. Its source and cause is the abnormal phenomenon discovered by the first observation unit of the solar system early warning system. The discovery of the abnormal phenomenon is real, but this discovery is not related to Light particles are irrelevant.

"Once Upon a Time Beyond Time" (excerpt)
Space Outpost - Solar System Early Warning System
As for the light particles, the earth world only observed twice when the 187J3X1 star and the Trisolaran galaxy were destroyed, so little is known about it, only that its running speed is very close to the speed of light, for its volume, initial mass and when it is close to the speed of light The relativistic mass of is unknown.But light particles can indeed be regarded as the most primitive weapon to attack stars, destroying the target only by the kinetic energy generated by its huge relativistic mass.If you have the technology to accelerate objects to the speed of light, you only need to fire a "bullet" with a very small mass to produce a huge destructive capacity, which is indeed "economical".The most valuable observational data about light particles was obtained before the destruction of the Trisolaran galaxy. Scientists discovered an important phenomenon: due to the extremely high speed of light particles, in violent collisions with thin atoms and dust in interstellar space, Emits intense radiation ranging from visible light to gamma rays, which has distinct signatures.Due to the extremely small size of the light particles, direct observation is completely impossible, but this radiation can be observed.

At first glance, a light particle attack is unpredictable because it travels at almost the speed of light, travels almost parallel to the radiation it generates, and reaches the target at the same time—in other words, the observer is outside the event light cone—but the real The situation is more complicated.Since an object with rest mass cannot fully reach the speed of light, although the speed of light particles is very close to the speed of light, there is still a small difference from the exact speed of light. This difference makes the radiation emitted by the light particles faster than the light particles themselves Some, if the flight distance of the light particles is long enough, the difference will become larger and larger.In addition, the trajectory of light particles attacking the target is not an absolute straight line. Due to its huge mass, it is inevitably affected by the gravitational force of nearby celestial bodies, and the trajectory will be slightly curved, which is more than the curvature of pure light in the same gravitational field. Much larger, corrections are required when approaching the target, which makes the distance traveled by the light particle slightly longer than the radiation it emits.

Due to the above two factors, the radiation emitted by the light particle will reach the solar system before the light particle itself, and this time difference is the early warning time. The 24-hour warning time is estimated based on the farthest distance at which light particle radiation can be observed at present. In this case, the radiation reaches the solar system about 180 AU ahead of the light particle.

But this is only an ideal situation. If the light particles are launched from the spacecraft at close range, there will be almost no chance of warning, just like the fate of Trisolaran.

The Solar System Early Warning System program established 35 observation units to closely monitor photoparticle radiation in space from all directions.

Two days before the false alarm event, the Solar System Early Warning System-[-] observation unit.

Observation Unit No. 70 is actually the Ringer-Fitzroy Observatory at the end of the Crisis Era. More than 200 years ago, it was this observatory that first discovered the strong interaction probe heading towards the solar system—water droplets.Today, the observatory is still located in space outside the asteroid belt, but the equipment has been updated.For example, in the visible light observation part, the lens area of ​​the telescope has increased a lot. The diameter of the first lens has increased from 2000 meters to 500 meters, and a small town can be placed on it.The materials for these giant lenses are taken directly from the asteroid belt.Initially, a medium lens in the lens group, 25 meters in diameter, was created and used temporarily to focus sunlight on asteroids, melt rocks to create high-purity glass, and then create other lenses.The individual lenses are suspended in space in a row, the lens group stretches for [-] kilometers, and the lenses are so far apart that they all look like isolated and unrelated things.The observatory is located at the end of the lens group and is a small space station that only accommodates two people.

The resident personnel in the observatory are still a combination of soldiers and scholars. The former is responsible for early warning observations, and the latter is engaged in astronomy and cosmology research. Therefore, the relationship between Dr. Ringer and General Fitzroy, which began three centuries ago And the dispute that occurred continued.

When the largest telescope in history was commissioned and successfully captured an image of a star 47 light-years away for the first time, the astronomer in the observatory was as excited as seeing the birth of his son.Contrary to ordinary people's imagination, when observing stars outside the solar system, the previous astronomical telescopes can only increase the luminosity, and it is impossible to see the shape. No matter how powerful the telescope is, the stars seen are just a point, just bright some.But at this time, in the field of view of this super telescope, the stars showed a disk shape for the first time. Although it was very small, like a ping pong ball tens of meters away, no details could be seen clearly, but for the ancient visible light astronomy Observation is still an epoch-making moment.

"Astronomy has removed its cataracts!" Wiener said with tears in his eyes.

Lieutenant Vasily, the early warning observer, disagreed, "I said, you should understand our identity: the outpost sentry. In the past era, we should be standing on the wooden sentry box on the border, surrounded by uninhabited Gobi or snow fields, We looked at the direction of the enemy country in the cold wind, and once we found tanks or cavalry on the horizon, we called or lit the beacon to inform the rear that the enemy was about to invade... You must find this feeling of a sentinel, don't always treat this place as an observatory .”

Weiner's eyes temporarily left the terminal screen displaying the image of the telescope, and looked out the window of the space station, only to see a few irregular rocks floating near and far.Those are asteroid remnants left over from making lens glass. They rotate slowly in the cold sunlight, which brings out the desolation of space even more, which is really what the lieutenant said.

"If a light particle is found, it might be better not to sound the alarm, which is useless anyway," Wiener said. "It's a kind of luck to die suddenly and unknowingly, but you have to spend dozens of Torturing hundreds of millions of people for 24 hours is simply a crime against humanity."

"In that case, wouldn't we two be the most unfortunate?"

The observatory received an order from the Fleet General Staff to adjust the direction of the telescope to observe the Trisolaran galaxy. This time there was no dispute between Wiener and Vasily, and the astronomers were also very interested in the destroyed world.

The positions of the suspended mirrors began to be adjusted, and the ion thrusters on the edge of the mirrors emitted blue flames. Only then did the positions of the distant lenses be displayed, and the blue light spots also outlined the overall shape of the super telescope in space. The 25-kilometer-long lens group turns slowly. When the telescope points in the direction of the Trisolaran galaxy, the position of the lens group is fixed. Then, each lens moves back and forth in the axial direction to focus. Finally, most of the light spots are extinguished, and only A few light up like fireflies from time to time, that is the lens is fine-tuning the focus.

In the original field of view of the telescope, the image of the Trisolaran galaxy looks plain, just a small white patch on the background of space, like a feather in the night sky, but the image is processed and enlarged to full screen, revealing a magnificent nebula.It has been seven years since the star erupted, and what we are seeing now is three years after the eruption.Under the action of gravity and the angular momentum left by the original star, the nebula gradually changed from a sharp radial shape to a soft and fuzzy cloud cluster, and then was flattened by the centrifugal force of rotation, showing a clear and delicate spiral shape.Above the nebula, two other stars are visible, one showing a disk shape and the other being just a point of light farther away, discernible only by its movement against the background of stars.

The two stars that survived the catastrophe fulfilled the dream of Trisolaran generations, forming a stable binary star system, but now no life can enjoy their radiance, and this galaxy is completely unsuitable for life.Now it seems that the Dark Forest Strike only destroyed one of the three stars, not just for the economy, but also for a more sinister purpose.In the case where one or two stars still exist in the galaxy, the nebular matter is continuously inhaled by the stars, and this process produces a huge amount of strong radiation, making the current Trisolaran galaxy a melting pot of radiation, and it is a danger for life and civilization. The domain of death.It is the excitation of this strong radiation that makes the nebula glow by itself, making it look so bright and clear.

"It reminds me of the sea of ​​clouds on Mount Emei that night," Vasily said. "It's a mountain in China, and the moon is the most beautiful view from the top of that mountain. That night, the mountain was full of clouds, and you couldn't see the end." , illuminated by the full moon in the sky, a piece of silver, much like what you see now."

Looking at the silver cemetery 40 trillion kilometers away, Weiner was also filled with emotion, "Actually, from a scientific point of view, the word destruction is not accurate. Nothing was really destroyed, let alone destroyed. The total amount of matter is still there, and the angular momentum is still there, but the combination of matter has changed, just like a deck of playing cards, just shuffled again... But life is a straight flush, and nothing will be lost after shuffling. "

Weiner looked at the image again and made an important discovery, "My God, what is that?!" He pointed to the space in the image some distance away from the nebula and said, proportionally, it is about thirty astronomical distance from the center of the nebula. unit.

Vasily stared there. After all, he didn't have the trained eyes of an astronomer, so he couldn't see anything at first, but later he could see the faint outline on the dark background, outlining a roughly circular shape. , like a soap bubble in the night sky.

"It looks very large. Its diameter is...about ten A[72]. Is it dust?"

"Absolutely not, dust is not in this form."

"Haven't you seen it before?"

"No one has ever seen it. It's so transparent, with such a thin border, that it couldn't be seen by the largest telescopes before."

Weiner pushed the image farther away again, wanting to see the positional relationship between the nebula and the binary star as a whole, and wondering whether the rotation of the nebula could be seen.In the field of view, the nebula is once again a small patch of white in the dark sky.At this moment, in the distant space about [-] AU from the Trisolaran galaxy, he saw another "soap bubble", many times larger than the one just now, with a diameter of about [-] AU, about one The size of a planetary system, which can accommodate a Trisolaran galaxy or a solar system.Werner told Vasily about this new discovery.

"Oh my God!" Vasily exclaimed, "Do you know where this is?!"

Weiner stared at it for a while, then tentatively said: "The Trisolaran Second Fleet has entered the position of the speed of light?"

"Correct."

"Are you sure?"

"My previous duty was to observe this airspace, and I am more familiar with it than the palm of my hand."

An obvious fact: the curvature-driven spacecraft will leave a track when it accelerates into the speed of light.

The first, smaller orbit is inside Trisolaris, and there are several possibilities for its occurrence.Perhaps, Trisolaris did not know that the curvature drive would leave flight tracks at first, and they accidentally produced flight tracks in the galaxy during the test of the curvature engine or the light speed spacecraft; left in the galaxy.But one thing is for sure, this is definitely not what they hoped for, and they definitely tried to eliminate the track, but they couldn't. 11 years ago, Trisolaris Second Fleet spent a year on a regular voyage, and only activated the curvature engine to enter the speed of light when it was [-] AU away from the parent galaxy, just to keep the flight track as far away from the parent galaxy as possible. It's too late.

At that time, this move has always confused people, and the most reasonable explanation is: this is to avoid the impact of the energy overflow of 415 spaceships when they enter the speed of light on the Trisolaran world.Now it seems that it is to avoid exposing the civilization of the mother star due to the curvature-driven track.This is also the reason why the Second Fleet hastily departed from the speed of light at a distance of [-] astronomical units from the solar system.

Weiner and Vasily looked at each other for a long time, the fear in their eyes deepened, and they were both making the same speculation.

"Report immediately," Werner said.

"But it's not yet the regular communication time. Reporting at this time is tantamount to an alarm."

"This is the alarm! Warning to humans not to expose themselves!"

"Don't worry too much. Humans have just started to study light-speed spaceships. It would be good to build them in half a century."

"But what if a preliminary test could produce that trajectory? Perhaps such a test is being done somewhere in the solar system!"

Therefore, this information was sent to the Fleet General Staff with a neutrino beam at an alarm level, and then forwarded to the United Nations PDC headquarters, not wanting to be misrepresented as a light particle attack alarm through abnormal channels, which triggered world turmoil two days later .

The curvature-driven track is left by the spacecraft when it enters the speed of light, just like the burn marks left on the launch pad when the rocket takes off from the ground. After the spacecraft enters the speed of light, it flies with inertia and no longer leaves a track.It is reasonable to speculate that the spacecraft will also leave such a mark when passing from light speed to sub-light speed.It is not yet known how long the track can remain in space. It is speculated that this may be some kind of spatial distortion caused by curvature drive, which may remain for a long time, or even permanently.

It is reasonable to assume, as Sophon said, that from a distance, the Trisolaran galaxy appears more dangerous than the solar system precisely because of the curvature-driven trajectory of the ten AU diameter patch inside the Trisolaran galaxy—which makes the The dark forest strikes of the galaxy came incredibly quickly.The track and coordinate broadcasts confirmed each other, which made the danger value of the Trisolaran galaxy rise sharply.

In the following month, the Observation Unit No. [-] discovered six curvature-driven tracks in space in different directions, all of which were approximately spherical in shape, with large differences in size, ranging from fifteen to two hundred astronomical units in diameter They are different, but they are all similar in shape, and one of them is only [-] astronomical units away from the solar system, which is obviously left behind when the Trisolaris Second Fleet broke away from the speed of light.The rest of the places have nothing to do with the Trisolaran Second Fleet judging from their directions and positions.It can be considered that curvature tracks are universal in the universe.

This is another direct evidence of the existence of a large number of advanced intelligent civilizations in the universe following the discovery of the two spacecraft "Blue Space" and "Gravity" in four-dimensional space fragments.

One of the tracks is only 1.4 light-years away from the sun, and it is already close to the Oort Nebula. Obviously, a spaceship once stayed there, and then entered the speed of light and left, but no one knows when this happened.

The discovery of the curvature-driven trajectory has completely killed the already-questioned light-speed spacecraft plan.Both Fleet International and the United Nations have quickly promoted international legislation, and various countries have also enacted laws one after another to completely ban the research and manufacture of curvature-driven spacecraft. prohibited by law.

As a result, only two of the three choices facing human civilization remain: the Bunker Project and the Black Domain Project.

"Once Upon a Time Beyond Time" (excerpt)
fear of the endless night
On the surface, there are obvious reasons for the death of the light-speed spacecraft project: avoiding the resulting curvature-driven trajectory to expose the existence of Earth civilization in advance, or increasing the danger value of the solar system in the eyes of space observers, and incurring the faster coming of the dark forest .But there are deeper reasons behind this.

From the first century to the end of the crisis era, human beings are full of longing for the starry sky, but the first few steps towards the universe are full of failures and pains.The tragic doomsday battle made human beings painfully aware of their fragility in the universe, and what also traumatized people's hearts was the dark battle between human beings.What happened later, whether it was the trial of the "Bronze Age" or the hijacking of the "Gravity" by the "Blue Space" and sending out cosmic broadcasts, deepened this trauma and raised it to a philosophical level.

In fact, the general public is only indifferent to the plan. They think that even if the light speed spacecraft is built in their own lifetime, it is not their own thing.The public pays more attention to the bunker project, which is the most realistic way of survival after all; of course, they also pay attention to the black field project. Three centuries of fear experience make people strongly yearn for a safe life, and the black field can provide this kind of life; as for the isolation from the universe , of course people feel sorry, but the solar system itself is big enough that this kind of regret is acceptable.People pay less attention to the Black Domain than the Bunker Project, because ordinary people can also see the super difficulty of this technology. The public generally believes that it is difficult to complete such a god project with human strength.

Compared with the indifference of the general public, the fanatical support and firm opposition to the light speed spacecraft project come from the elite.

The faction that supports the development of light-speed spacecraft believes that the ultimate safety of human beings comes from the expansion and colonization of the Milky Way. In this cruel universe, only outward-looking civilizations can survive, and the peaceful corners will eventually perish.Most people who hold this point of view do not oppose the Bunker Project, but they all have a strong aversion to the Black Field Project, thinking that it is digging their own grave. Although they admit that the Black Field can guarantee the long-term survival of human beings, for the entire civilization, That life is indistinguishable from death.

Opponents of lightspeed ships are mostly for political reasons.They believe that human civilization has gone through hardships and finally entered an almost ideal democratic society, but after flying to the stars, human beings will inevitably experience social regression.Space is like a magnifying glass, which can instantly magnify the dark side of human beings. A line from Sebastian Snyder, a defendant in the "Bronze Age" trial, was used as a repeated slogan by them:

When human beings are truly exiled in space, totalitarianism only takes 5 minutes.

The prospect of sowing countless seeds of totalitarianism in the Milky Way from the democratic and civilized earth is something that some people are unwilling to accept even if they die.

The human civilization in its infancy once opened the door of the house and took a look outside. The boundless dark night outside frightened him. Facing the vastness and depth in the darkness, he shuddered and closed the door tightly.

[8th year of the broadcast era, the Lagrange point of the earth and the sun]

Cheng Xin once again came to space at the gravitational balance point between the earth and the sun. At this time, seven years had passed since she met Yun Tianming. This was a much easier space journey. here.

The bunker program simulation test was jointly sponsored by Fleet International and the United Nations to test the effectiveness of using outer giant planets as shelters during solar outbursts in space.

A super hydrogen bomb was used to simulate the erupting sun. Now the nuclear bomb power index no longer uses the TNT equivalent. The power of this hydrogen bomb is equivalent to about 100 million tons.In order to more realistically simulate the physical environment of the solar eruption, the hydrogen bomb is also wrapped with a thick shell to simulate the stellar material ejected during the solar eruption.The eight planets were all simulated with stones from the asteroid belt, among which the diameter of the four stones simulating the terrestrial planets was about ten meters, and the stones simulating the giant planets were much larger, all four were about 4000 meters.These eight stones are suspended around the hydrogen bomb according to the ratio of the orbital distance of the eight major planets, forming a miniature solar system.The nearest "Mercury" is [-] meters away from the "sun", and the farthest "Neptune" is [-] kilometers away from the "sun".Experiments at the Lagrangian point are designed to reduce the gravitational influence of the planet and the sun and keep the system stable for a considerable period of time.

From a scientific point of view, this experiment is actually completely unnecessary, and a computer simulation using a large amount of data that has been obtained can obtain quite credible results.Even if a physical experiment is necessary, it can be carried out in a laboratory, albeit on a small scale, but carefully designed to achieve a high degree of precision.From a scientific point of view, this large-scale experiment in space is clumsy to the point of mental retardation.

However, both the initiators and the designers and implementers of the experiment knew that the ultimate goal of the experiment was not scientific research, but essentially a costly propaganda to establish the confidence of the international community in the bunker program.This requires that the experiment must be very intuitive, visually impactful, and easy to broadcast live to the world.

After the lightspeed spacecraft project was completely rejected, the earth world has a situation very similar to that at the beginning of the Crisis Era.At that time, the world was making efforts in two aspects to defend against the invasion of Trisolarans. One was to establish the mainstream defense plan of the solar system defense system, and the other was the wall-facing project.Now, the mainstream survival plan of human beings is the bunker plan, and the black domain plan is similar to the wall-facing plan, an adventure full of unknown factors.The two plans are running in parallel, but for the Black Field Project, what can be done so far is only basic theoretical research, and the involvement is relatively small; the Bunker Project has a huge impact on the international community, and a huge effort must be made to obtain public support.

Originally, in order to detect the shelter effect of the "giant planet" in the experiment, it is only necessary to place corresponding detection equipment behind the stones, and at most it is to increase the experimental animals.But in order to achieve a sensational effect, the organization decided to hide real people behind the boulder and recruit volunteers from all over the world.

Ai AA suggested Cheng Xin to sign up for the experiment. She thought it was an excellent free advertisement for Xinghuan Company to participate in the bunker project and establish a public image. At the same time, both she and Cheng Xin knew that the experiment was carefully planned, but It looks exciting and basically not dangerous.

Cheng Xin's spaceship was parked on the backside of a rock that simulated Jupiter. The rock was irregularly shaped like a potato, 110 meters long and 70 meters wide on average, which was equivalent to the size of a large building on Earth.This is the closest rock to the hydrogen bomb as a bunker for people, at a distance of [-] kilometers.It took more than two months for this stone to be pushed here from the asteroid belt. During the push, an idle engineer with artistic talent painted the surface of Jupiter with paint on part of the surface of the stone. There are stripes and the Great Red Spot, but from the overall effect, the stone is not painted like Jupiter, but like a space monster, and the Great Red Spot is its eye.

Same as last time, Cheng Xin's spaceship flew towards the dazzling sunlight, but after entering the shadow of the stone, because there was no sunlight scattering in space, everything went dark in an instant, and the sun on the other side of the stone seemed to be It didn't exist anymore, and Cheng Xin felt as if she was under a cliff at midnight.

Even without the obstruction of boulders, the hydrogen bomb that simulates the sun fifty kilometers away cannot be seen from here.But in the other direction, one can see a rock that simulates Saturn. According to the ratio of the distance between the orbits of the planets, it is exactly one hundred kilometers away from the "sun" and fifty kilometers away from "Jupiter", which is about the same size as the latter. Illuminated by daylight, it is clearly visible against the backdrop of space, and from this distance the shapes are just barely discernible.Cheng Xin could also see "Uranus" two hundred kilometers away, but that was just a bright spot, difficult to distinguish from the background of the stars.The rest of the "planets" are invisible.

Together with Cheng Xin, there are 100 spaceships moored on the backside of "Jupiter", using them to simulate the [-] space cities that the bunker project plans to build on Jupiter.These spaceships were lined up in three rows behind the rock, with Cheng Xin at the front, about ten meters away from the rock.There are more than [-] volunteers in the spaceship. Originally, AA planned to come with Cheng Xin, but the company’s affairs prevented her from leaving. Cheng Xin’s spaceship may be the only one on the back of “Jupiter” with only one person on board. .

From this direction, the blue Earth is at its brightest at a distance of 150 million kilometers, where more than 30 billion people are watching the live broadcast of the experiment.

The countdown shows that there are still 10 minutes before the start of the test.The voice in the communication channel fell silent, at this moment, a male voice suddenly appeared:
"Hello, I'm next to you."

Cheng Xin immediately recognized who it was, and shivered involuntarily.Her boat is at the end of the five boats in the front row. Looking to the right, it is a spherical spaceship next to her. It is very similar to the one she took last time. The transparent cover almost occupies the hull of the boat. Halfway through, five people could be seen in the boat, and Thomas Vader was sitting on her side waving to her.Cheng Xin was able to recognize Vader at a glance because he was not wearing a light spacesuit like the other four people around him, but was still wearing that black leather jacket, as if to show his contempt for space.He still has no fake hand, one sleeve is empty.

"Let's dock, and I'll go to your place." Wade said, and started the docking procedure without Cheng Xin's consent. His spaceship started the fine-tuning thrusters, and slowly approached Cheng Xin. Cheng Xin had no choice but to start her own docking program.After a slight vibration, the two boats leaned together, the hatch was sealed and docked, the door slid open soundlessly, and Cheng Xin's ears buzzed when the air pressure on both sides was balanced.

Vader floated over from the opposite side. He may not have much experience in space, but like Cheng Xin, he seemed to belong to this environment by nature.Although he only has one hand, his movements in weightlessness are very stable, as if there is still gravity acting on him.The cabin was very dark, and the light from the earth shone on the opposite rock, and then reflected in. In this hazy light, Cheng Xin took a look at Vader, and found that time had not left too many marks on him. Not much had changed in Australia eight years ago.

"Why are you here?" Cheng Xin asked, trying to keep her voice calm, but it was always difficult for her to do this in front of this person.If it is said that these years of experience have made everything in the world in Cheng Xin's mind as smooth as the huge rock in front of her, Wade is the only place on this rock that is still sharp.

"I finished my sentence, a month ago." Wade took out half of a cigar from his coat pocket and put it in his mouth, of course he couldn't light it here, "Mutation of sentence, a murderer, only 11 years out, I know it's not right Fair, to you."

"We all obey the law, there's nothing unfair about that."

"Compliance in everything, like lightspeed ships?"

Vader was still the same as before, cutting to the point quickly like a sharp knife, without wasting any time.Cheng Xin didn't answer.

"Why did you choose the light speed ship?" Vader asked, turning his head and looking straight at Cheng Xin without any scruples.

"Because only in this choice, people are capitalized." Cheng Xin said, bravely meeting his gaze.

Vader nodded and took the cigar out of his mouth, "Very well, you are capitalized."

Cheng Xin looked at him questioningly.

"You know what's right and you have the courage and responsibility to do it, which is amazing."

"But?" Cheng Xin said these two words for him.

"However, you don't have the ability and mental strength to accomplish this kind of thing. Our ideals are the same, and I also want to build a spaceship at the speed of light."

"what do you want to say in the end?"

"give me."

"Give you what?"

"Everything you have. Your company, your wealth, your power, your status, and if possible, your glory and reputation. I use these to build light-speed ships, for your ideals, for capitalized people."

At this time, the fine-tuning propeller of the spaceship started again. The gravitational force of the rock in front was very small, but it still pulled the spaceship forward slowly and approached the rock face. The propeller gently pushed the spaceship away from the rock and returned to its original position. bit.The blue flame from the plasma vent illuminated the rock face, and the big red spot painted on it looked like a huge eye that suddenly opened. It was unknown whether it was this eye or Vader's words just now, which made Cheng Xin's heart tighten.Vader looked at the giant eye, cold and sharp, with a hint of sarcasm.

Cheng Xin didn't speak, it was impossible for her to say anything at the moment.

"Don't make a second mistake." Wade said, every word of these words was like a heavy hammer hitting Cheng Xin's heart.

When the test time came, the hydrogen bomb detonated, and since there was no atmosphere in space to block it, almost all of its energy was released in the form of radiation.On the live broadcast screen shot from a distance of [-] kilometers from the center of explosion, a fireball appeared next to the sun, its brightness and size quickly surpassed the sun itself, and the camera’s hood kept reducing its transparency. If someone looked at it from this distance Failure to observe it can result in permanent blindness.When the fireball is at its brightest, there is nothing in the picture except a piece of snow, and the flame seems to engulf the entire universe.

Cheng Xin and Wade, who were in the shadow of the boulder, couldn't see this. The broadcast screen was turned off in the spaceship, but they could see the brightness of "Saturn" behind them suddenly increase, like a supernova.Immediately afterwards, the molten magma on the side of the boulder facing the "sun" flew around. The magma was dark red when it passed the edge of the boulder, but after flying a certain distance toward the backside, the strong light from the nuclear explosion reflected on it. The brightness surpassed the red light emitted by themselves, and the finely divided magma turned into radiant fireworks. From the spaceship, it was as if watching a silvery waterfall falling mightily towards the earth from the top.At this time, the four smaller rocks simulating the terrestrial planet have been broken and disappeared, while the boulder simulating the giant planet is like four groups of ice cream blown by the flame of the blowtorch, and the side facing the radiation is quickly melted and becomes regular and smooth The spherical shape of each boulder drags a longer and longer tail of silvery magma behind each boulder.Ten seconds after the radiation arrived, the ejecta of simulated star matter produced by the shell of the hydrogen bomb hit the boulder, causing the stone to vibrate violently and slowly move outward.The thrusters of the spaceship started, maintaining the distance between the hull and the boulder.

The fireball lasted for about 30 seconds and then went out. Space seemed to be a hall with suddenly turned off lights, and the light of the sun one astronomical unit away appeared dim.With the disappearance of the flame, the light from the red-hot half of the boulder appeared. It was very bright at first, like burning, but soon turned dark red in the severe cold of space, and the solidified magma formed a long circle around the edge of the boulder. long burrs.

All fifty spaceships behind the four boulders were unharmed.

The five-second-delayed image was sent back to the earth, and the whole world was jubilant, and hope for the future exploded like a hydrogen bomb, and the purpose of the simulation test of the bunker plan was achieved.

"Don't make a second mistake," Vader repeated, as if what had just happened was just a brief noise interrupting their conversation.

Cheng Xin looked at Vader's spaceship which was next to here. The four men in spacesuits in the boat were all paying attention to this side, not paying attention to the spectacular event that just happened.Cheng Xin knew that there were tens of thousands of people who had signed up for the experiment, and only well-known or important people could be selected. Since Vader had just been released from prison, those four people were obviously his, and the spaceship might also belong to him.As early as 11 years ago, when he ran for the sword-bearer, he had many loyal followers and countless supporters. It is said that he also set up an organization, maybe all of this is not groundless.He is like a piece of nuclear fuel, even when quietly sealed in a lead container, it can make people feel powerful and menacing.

"Let me think about it," Cheng Xin said.

"Of course we need to think about it." Vader nodded to Cheng Xin, and left silently in weightlessness, moving back to his own spaceship, then the hatch closed, and the two boats separated.

In the direction of the earth, the cooled lava debris was floating in front of the background of the starry sky, like a piece of lazy dust in the sunlight, Cheng Xin felt that something in her heart was relaxing, and she herself became like a piece of floating dust.

On the way back, when the distance between the spaceship and the earth had shrunk to within 30 kilometers and there was basically no communication delay, Cheng Xin called Ai AA and told her about her meeting with Vader.

"Do as he says and give him what he wants!" AA replied without hesitation.

"You..." Cheng Xin looked at AA in the information window in surprise. She originally thought that AA was the biggest obstacle in this matter.

"He's right, you're incapable of doing this, it's going to ruin you completely! But he can, the bastard, the devil, the murderer, the careerist, the political hooligan, the technocrazy... he can, he can do it The mental strength and ability of this matter, let him do it, this is hell, let him jump into it."

"how about you?"

AA smiled, "Of course I won't work under that guy, I'll take my share. After the Lightspeed Spaceship Prohibition Act comes out, I'm afraid of it too. I'll do something easy. I like it." I hope you can find this kind of thing."

Two days later, Cheng Xin met Wade in the transparent hall of Xinghuan's headquarters.

"I can give you everything you want," Cheng Xin said.

"Then you went into hibernation," Vader said following Cheng Xin's words, "because your existence may affect our career."

Cheng Xin nodded, "Sure, that's my plan too."

"We will wake you up on the day of success, and that is also your success. If the light speed spaceship is still illegal at that time, we will take all responsibility; if the light speed spaceship is accepted by the world, the honor belongs to you... It may be half a century or even longer Time passes, we are all old, but you are still young."

"I have a condition."

"Say."

"When this cause may endanger human life, I must be awakened. I will have the final decision and can take back all the powers given to you."

"I do not accept this condition."

"Forget it, I can't give you anything."

"Cheng Xin, you know what kind of business we will be engaged in. Sometimes, we have to..."

"Forget it, let's go our separate ways."

Wade looked at Cheng Xin, and something rare appeared in his eyes: hesitation, even helplessness—this kind of thing was difficult to see in his spiritual world before, just like water is difficult to see in fire. "Let me think about it," he said, and walked to the transparent wall, looking out at the urban forest.On that night three centuries ago, at the United Nations Square, against the background of New York lights, Cheng Xin had also seen this black figure.About 2 minutes later, Wade turned around. He didn't come over, but just looked at Cheng Xin from a distance in front of the transparent wall.

"Okay, I accept."

Cheng Xin remembered that three centuries ago when he turned around, he said, "Send cerebra only." This sentence later changed history.

"I don't have much to restrain you, I can only trust your promise."

A smile like icy water spilled over Vader's face, "Actually, you know very well that if I break my promise, it would be a kind of luck for you, but unfortunately, I won't, and I will keep my promise."

Vader came over and adjusted the leather jacket on his body with one hand, but it only made more wrinkles on it.He stood in front of Cheng Xin and said solemnly: "I promise: If there is any possibility of endangering human life during the development of the light speed spacecraft, no matter what form it is, we will wake you up, and then you will have the final decision and can Take back all my powers."

After listening to the meeting, AA said to Cheng Xin: "Then I will hibernate with you, and we must be ready to take over the Xinghuan Company at any time."

"Do you believe he will keep his promise?" Cheng Xin asked.

AA stared straight ahead, as if staring at Vader who was somewhere, "I really believe that this devil will, but as he said, it may not be a good thing for you. Cheng Xin, you I could have saved myself, but I still couldn’t.”

Ten days later, Thomas Vader became the president of the Halo Company and took over the company's affairs in an all-round way.

At the same time, Cheng Xin and Ai AA went into hibernation.Their consciousness gradually blurred in the cold, it felt like drifting down a big river for a long time, and finally landed on the bank exhausted, and stopped still, watching the big river flowing in front of them, watching the familiar water surface drifting into the distance.

In the long river of time when they temporarily withdraw, the human story continues.