Three-Body Problem 3: Death is immortal

Chapter 4 May 1453 A.D., The Death of the Magician

Constantine XI withdrew his thoughts temporarily, pushed away a pile of city defense maps in front of him, wrapped himself tightly in his purple robe, and waited quietly.

His sense of time was very accurate, and the vibration came on time, as if it came from the depths of the earth, thick and violent.The silver candlesticks hummed, and a cloud of dust fell from the top. This dust may have been quietly sitting on the roof of the Dafna Palace for thousands of years.They fell into the candlestick and sparked a spark.The shocks came when a 5-pound granite shell struck the walls at three-hour intervals, the time it took the Ottoman Urban Cannon to reload.The giant bomb hit the strongest city wall in the world. It was built by Theodosius II in the [-]th century AD, and it was continuously expanded and strengthened. It was the main reliance of the Byzantines in the face of powerful enemies.But now, the giant bomb can open a big gap in the city wall every time, as if being bitten by an invisible giant.The emperor could imagine the scene: before the broken stones in the air fell, soldiers and citizens rushed towards the gap, like a group of heroic ants in the dust.They used various things to fill in the gaps, including bricks, tiles and wood blocks removed from the buildings in the city, linen bags filled with sand, and expensive Arabian tapestries... He could even imagine the sky soaked in the golden brilliance of the setting sun. How the dust drifted slowly towards the city, like a golden shroud gently covering Constantinople.

During the five weeks that the city was besieged, the shock came seven times a day, at regular intervals, like the chime of a towering clock—the time of another world, the time of the heathen; , the bell of the double-headed eagle bronze clock marking the time of Christendom in the corner sounded particularly feeble.

It took a while for the shock to subside before Constantine struggled to bring his thoughts back to reality, and signaled the guards in front of the door to let the people waiting outside come in.

Minister Fazalan led a thin woman into the door quietly.

"Your Majesty, she is Diorena." The minister pointed to the woman behind him, and then signaled the woman hiding behind him to come forward.

The emperor saw the identity of the woman at a glance.The clothing styles of the upper and lower Byzantine nobles are very different. Usually the noble women’s clothing is covered with gorgeous ornaments, but the commoner women only wrap themselves tightly in white long gowns and long-sleeved coats, while Diorena What she wears is the coexistence of the luxury of the upper class and the conservativeness of the common people: she wears a white shirt with sleeves inside, but on the outside she wears a luxurious "Pala" cloak, which should have been draped over the "Tunica" embroidered with gold thread. "Outside; at the same time, she dared not use the purple and red that symbolize the upper class of the nobility, and the "Pala" was yellow.There was a sensual charm about her face, reminiscent of a flower that would rather rot beautifully than wither quietly—a whore, the kind who wasn't too bad.Her eyes were downcast and she was trembling, but Constantine noticed that her eyes glowed like a fever, with a kind of excitement and anticipation rarely seen in people of her class.

"You have magic?" the emperor asked Diorena, he just wanted to get this matter over with.Fazalan is a steady and down-to-earth person. The more than 8000 soldiers guarding the city now, except for the small standing army and the [-] mercenaries in Genoa, a large part of them are under the supervision of this capable minister. It was urgently recruited from among [-] citizens.The emperor is not very interested in the matter in front of him, just out of consideration for the minister's face.

"Yes, Your Majesty, I can kill the Sultan." Diorona knelt and replied, her trembling voice was as thin as a gossamer.

Five days ago, Diorena asked to meet the emperor in front of the gate of the Grand Palace. Facing the blocking guards, she suddenly took out something from her chest and held it up high. The guards were stunned by that thing. They didn't know What was that and where did it come from, but it was certainly not unusual.Diorona did not see the emperor, she was taken and handed over to the magistrate, and she was interrogated where the thing was stolen from, she confessed, they confirmed it, and then she was sent to Minister Fazaran.

Fazalan opened a thing wrapped in linen in his hand, and carefully placed it on the emperor's desk. Constantine XI's gaze immediately changed to that of those who saw it for the first time five days ago. Soldiers like—unlike them, he knew what it was.This is a holy grail of pure gold, which is studded with precious stones, and the golden light is crystal clear, breathtaking.The Holy Grail was cast in the era of Justinian six years ago in 910. There are two in total, which are almost identical except for the shape and distribution of gemstones. One of them has been preserved by successive emperors to this day, and the other was in Hagia Sophia in 537 AD. When the cathedral was rebuilt, it was placed together with other holy objects in a small, completely closed chamber deep in the foundation of the church.The one in front of me is obviously the latter, because the previous one has been imprinted with time and has become a bit dim - of course, it can be seen from the comparison with the one in front of it. This Holy Grail looks brand new as if it was cast yesterday.

No one believed Diorena's words at first, and people thought she had stolen it from one of her wealthy patrons, because although many people knew that there was a secret room under the cathedral, few knew the exact location; and There is no door between the huge rocks deep in the foundation, and there is no passage leading to the secret room. It is impossible to enter without moving the large project.Four days ago, considering the crisis in the city, the emperor ordered all the precious documents and sacred objects to be packed so that they could be transferred quickly in an emergency. Although he knew in his heart that all land and sea routes were cut off, once the city was broken, there would be nowhere to go .It took thirty workers three full days to enter the secret chamber, and they found that the stones surrounding the secret chamber were almost as large as those on the pyramid of Khufu.The sacred objects were all stored in a heavy sarcophagus in the secret room. The sarcophagus was sealed with twelve thick iron hoops vertically and horizontally. It took more than half a day to open the sarcophagus.When all the iron hoops were sawed off, and five workers struggled to remove the heavy stone cover under heavy surveillance, the first thing that attracted everyone's attention was not the holy relics and treasures that had been sealed for thousands of years, but the one placed at the very end. The bunch of half-fresh grapes on top!Diorona said that she had put the grapes in five days ago, and that, as she said, they had eaten half of them, and there were still seven berries left on the bunches.After checking all the relics against the list of relics engraved on a copper plate mounted on the coffin lid, the guards determined that a holy grail was missing.If the Holy Grail hadn't been found from Diorena and her testimony, even if everyone present testified that the chamber and the sarcophagus were intact, some people would have died.

"How did you get it out?" asked the Emperor, pointing to the Holy Grail.

Diorena trembled even more, obviously, even if she had magic, she wouldn't feel safe here.She looked at the emperor in horror, and it took her a long time to reply: "Those places, for me...for me are all..." She struggled to choose words, "They are all open."

"Then can you show me here, without opening the closed container and taking out the contents?"

Diorena shook her head in horror, unable to speak, just looking at the minister as if asking for help.

Fazalan answered for her: "She said that magic can only be performed when she goes to a certain place. She can't tell the place, and others can't follow her, otherwise the magic will be invalid, and it will be invalid forever."

Diorona turned to the emperor and nodded repeatedly.

The emperor snorted, "A person like her would have been burned to death in Europe."

Diorena slumped on the ground all of a sudden, her already thin body shrunk into a ball, looking like a child.

"Would you kill?" the Emperor asked, turning to Diorena.

Diorena just sat on the ground trembling, and she nodded under the minister's urging.

"Well," Constantine said to Fazaran, "try first."

Fazaran led Diorena down a long staircase. Every once in a while, there was a torch stuck on the wall, which cast small halos of light in the darkness. Each torch There are one or two heavily armed soldiers below, their armor reflecting the firelight, casting dancing light patterns on the dark wall.

The two ended up in a dark bunker, where the cold made Diorena wrap her cloak tightly.This used to be the place where the palace stored ice in summer, but now there is no ice in the bunker, and there is a person crouching under a torch in the corner.He was a prisoner of war, and judging from his tattered attire, he was an officer in the Anatolian army, the main force of the Ottoman Empire.He was very strong, staring at the coming man like a wolf in the firelight.Fazaran and Diorona stopped in front of the locked iron gate.

The minister pointed to the prisoners of war inside, "See?"

Diorona nodded.

Fazalan handed her a sheepskin bag and pointed upwards, "Let's go now, give me his head before dawn."

Diorena took out a Turkish scimitar from the sheepskin bag, like a waning moon shining coldly in the dark.She handed the knife back to the minister, "My lord, I don't need this." Then she half-hid her face with the front collar of her cloak, and turned and walked up the stairs, stepping silently.In the halo and darkness formed by the two rows of torches, she seemed to be changing shapes alternately, sometimes like a human, sometimes like a cat, until she gradually disappeared into the darkness.

Fazaran watched Diorena leave until she completely disappeared from sight, and then said to a guard officer beside him: "This place must be strictly guarded. He," he pointed to the prisoners inside, "cannot for a moment Relax surveillance!"

After the officer left, Fazalan waved his hand, and a man came out from the shadows. He was wearing a monk's dark cloak, and he just merged with the darkness.

"Stay away, it doesn't matter even if you lose her, but you must not let her notice." Fazalan whispered, the stalker nodded, and also quietly left.

Like every night since the battle began, Constantine XI did not sleep well this night.The shock of the enemy's cannon hitting the walls woke him up every time, and when he fell asleep again, the next shock was coming.Before dawn, he put on his clothes and got up and went to the study, only to find that Fazalan was already waiting there.He had almost forgotten about the witch. Unlike his father Manuel II and brother John VIII, he was more realistic, knowing that most people who entrusted everything to miracles ended up dying without a burial.

Fazaran waved to the door, and Diorona walked in silently.She didn't look much different from the first time she came, she was still frightened and trembling, and she was holding a sheepskin bag in her hand.The emperor knew that he had wasted time on this matter when he looked at the bag. The bag was deflated and there was no blood seeping, obviously no human head was contained in it.But Fazalan's face was clearly not that of a loser, his eyes were a little dazed, as if he was sleepwalking.

"She didn't get what she should have?" said the emperor.

Fazaran took the sheepskin bag from Diorena and put it on the desk, opened it, stared at the emperor with eyes fixed, as if seeing a ghost, "Your Majesty, I almost got it."

The emperor looked into the bag, and saw a piece of gray stuff inside, soft like old suet.Fazaran moved the candlestick over, and the emperor saw and recognized it.

"The brain, that Anatolian's."

"She cut his head?" Constantine glanced at Diorena behind her, who stood there shivering with her cloak tightly wrapped, her eyes like a frightened mouse.

"No, Your Majesty, the Anatolian died with his head intact and all parts of his body intact. I sent twenty men to watch him, five shifts at a time, staring at him from different angles. Cellar The guards are also extremely strict, and not even a mosquito can fly in..." Fazalan stopped talking, as if shocked by the memories below him, and the emperor motioned him to continue, "Less than two hours after she left, Ann The Natolian suddenly convulsed, rolled his eyes, and then fell flat dead. Among the watchers present was an experienced Greek doctor and veterans who had fought all their lives. They all said they had never seen People have this kind of death. After more than an hour, she came back with this thing, and then the doctor thought of cutting the head of the deceased, and saw that there was no brain inside, and it was empty."

Constantine carefully observed the brain in the bag again and found that it was completely intact, without any rupture or damage.This is the most fragile part of the human body, so it must have been picked off with great care.The emperor looked at Diorena's hand exposed outside the cloak. The fingers were slender and slender. He imagined the scene when these hands picked the brain, carefully, like picking a mushroom from the grass, picking a mushroom from a branch. a little flower...

The emperor looked away from the brain in the bag, and looked up at the wall diagonally above, as if he saw something huge rising in the sky through the wall.The vibration of the bombardment of the giant artillery appeared again, and for the first time, he did not notice it.

If there is a miracle, now is the time to manifest it.

Constantinople was almost hopeless, but not completely hopeless.After more than five weeks of bloody fighting, the enemy also suffered heavy losses. In some places, the corpses of the Turks were piled up as high as the battlements, and they were also exhausted.A few days ago, a heroic Genoese fleet broke through the enemy's blockade of the strait, entered the Golden Horn, and sent valuable reinforcements and supplies. People also believed that this was the vanguard of a large-scale reinforcement from Western Europe.There was a sense of war weariness in the camp of the Ottoman Empire, and most of the generals advocated agreeing to the final conditions proposed by the Byzantine Empire and withdrawing their troops.The reason why the defeat of the Ottoman Empire has not yet become a reality is only because of that person.

That person, the person who is proficient in Latin, well-versed in arts and sciences, and knowledgeable; the person who knew that he was firmly on the throne, but drowned his own brother in the bathtub just to get rid of hidden dangers; The man whom the slave girl beheaded in front of the whole army... that man was the axle of a huge and ferocious Ottoman chariot, and if the axle broke, the chariot would crash to the ground.

Perhaps, the miracle really appeared.

"Why did you ask for this mission?" asked the Emperor, still looking diagonally upward.

"I want to be a saint." Diorona replied quickly, apparently she had been waiting for this question for a long time.

Constantine nodded slightly.This reason is quite credible. Money or wealth is nothing to her now, and she can get all the gold coins in the world, but prostitutes are the women who are farthest from saints, and this honor is attractive to them.

"Are you a descendant of the Crusaders?"

"Yes, Your Majesty, my ancestors participated in the last Eastern Expedition." After a short pause, Diorona carefully added, "Not the fourth time[1]."

The emperor put his hand on Diorena's head, and she knelt softly.

"Go, child, kill Muhammad II, you will save the holy city, you will become a saint, and be admired by all people."

At dusk, Fazaran led Diorena up the wall at the gate of St. Romanus.Looking around, the battlefield has a panoramic view.Nearby, on the blood-soaked brown-black sand, corpses were strewn all over the ground, as if a rain of dead men had just fallen; a little farther away, large white gunpowder smoke from the mortars that had just fired a volley was drifting across the battlefield, becoming the scene here. The only light thing; in the distance, under the leaden sky, the camps of the Ottoman army spread as far as the eye could see, like a forest of crescent banners fluttering in the damp sea wind; Bosch in the other direction In the Prussia Strait, the battleships of the Ottoman Empire are all over the sea, looking like a piece of black iron nails from a distance, nailing the blue sea to death, making it unable to heave in the wind.

Diorena watched all this and closed her eyes intoxicated: This is my battlefield, this is my war.The legend of her ancestors that her father told countless times when she was a child came to her mind again: in a farm in Provence, Europe, one day auspicious clouds fell from the sky, and an army of children came out of the clouds. On their mighty armor, the crosses glowed red. Light, an angel led them, and at their call the Patriarchs joined.They crossed the Mediterranean Sea and came to the Holy Land to fight for God. Their ancestors grew up as Templar Knights in the Holy War, and later met a beautiful Holy Knight in Constantinople. They fell in love, and this was born. great family...

After growing up, Diorena gradually came to know some truths: the general framework of the story was basically correct. Her ancestors did join the Boy Scouts. At that time, the Black Death in Western Europe had just passed, and the countryside was barren. Joining the Boy Scouts was just for the sake of You won't starve to death if you eat a bite of food.However, the ancestor never participated in any jihad, because as soon as he got off the ship, he and more than 1 other children were nailed to their feet and sold as slaves. After many years, they managed to escape and wandered to Constantinople.There he did meet a female soldier of the Holy Lady Knights who was much older than him, but her fate was not better than his at all.At that time, the Byzantines were eagerly looking forward to the elite soldiers from Western Europe to deal with the heretics, but what they didn't want to come was a group of beggar-like helpless girls. They cut off all the supplies in a fit of anger. became prostitutes, and one of them became Diorena's grandma...

For more than 100 years, the glorious family of Diorena has never had enough to eat, and the father's generation is even more impoverished.Hunger made Diorena take up the business of grandma on her own, and when her father found out, he beat her up and said he would kill her if he found her doing it again, unless... unless she brought guests to the house, by He negotiates with the other party and collects money.Since then, Diorena has left home and continued her career. In addition to Constantinople, she has also been to Jerusalem and Trabzon, and even traveled to Venice by boat.She is no longer hungry, and she has good clothes to wear, but she knows that she is a grass that has fallen in the mud, and has been mixed with the mud under the constant trampling of passers-by.

Until the miracle appeared, or she broke into the miracle.

For the saint Joan of Arc who appeared in the European war more than 20 years ago, Diorena did not take it seriously. Joan of Arc just got a sword that fell from the sky, but what God gave Diorena could make her a woman second only to the Virgin Mary.

"Look, that's Fazih's tent," Fazaran said, pointing in the direction facing the St. Romanus Gate.

Diorona just glanced in that direction and nodded.

Fazalan handed her another sheepskin bag, "Here are three portraits of him, from different angles, wearing different clothes. Also, the knife must be carried, this time not only his brain, but his A whole head. Better to do it at night, he's not there most of the day."

Diorena took the sheepskin bag, "I also ask my lord to remember my words."

"Of course, you can rest assured."

Diorona refers to her warning: Do not follow her, let alone enter where she goes, or the magic will be lost forever.

The follower from last time told Fazaran that he followed Diorona from a distance after she left the bunker. She was very careful, turned around and turned, and finally went to the Brahne area north of the Odosius Wall.The minister was a little surprised when he heard that, it was the area where the enemy's artillery fire was the most intense, and no one dared to go there except the soldiers who were fighting.The stalker finally saw the target walk into a half-remained tower, which used to be part of a mosque, which was left when Constantine ordered the mosques in the city to be demolished, because during the previous bubonic plague epidemic, Several patients entered the tower and died inside, so no one wanted to go near it.After the battle, the tower was knocked down in half by an unknown bombardment.Following the instructions of the minister, the stalkers did not enter the tower, but investigated two soldiers who had entered it before. Before the tower was destroyed, they tried to set up a lookout post on it, but gave up after finding that the height was not enough.According to them, there was nothing there except for a few corpses that were about to turn into white bones.

This time Fazaran did not send a follower.He watched Diorena as she walked among the soldiers on the city wall, their armor covered in dust and blood, her "pala" cloak conspicuous among them, but those who were exhausted from days of bloody battle The soldiers paid no attention to her.She quickly walked down the city wall, and then passed through the gate of the second city wall. This time, she made no attempt to get rid of possible traces, and walked straight towards the Brahne district where she had been last time, and disappeared into the night that had just fallen. .

Constantine XI looked at a piece of water that was drying up on the floor, as if facing the disappearing hope.The water stains were left by the twelve sea warriors who had just left.Last Monday, they wore the dark red uniforms of the Ottoman Empire and turbans on their heads. They steered a small sailboat through the enemy's tight naval blockade to meet the European fleet that was rushing to help and inform them of the enemy's situation.But all they saw was the empty Aegean Sea, without even a shadow of the legendary Western European fleet.The disheartened warriors still fulfilled their duties, crossed the naval blockade again, and reported the bad news to the emperor.Now, Constantine finally determined that the European reinforcements were just wishful thinking. The cruel Christian world abandoned Byzantium, and it was really about to see the thousand-year-old holy city fall into the hands of pagans.

There was a restless uproar outside, and guards reporting a lunar eclipse.This is a clear omen, because there is such a maxim in the wind and rain of the millennium: As long as the moon shines, Constantinople will not fall.Through the long window, the emperor looked at the moon that had turned into a black hole, the celestial tomb.He already had a premonition that Diorena would not come back, and he would not get that head either.

Sure enough, one day and one night passed, and it was another day, and there was no news from Diorena.

Fazalan and his party rode up to the tower in the Brahne area. When they saw the tower, everyone was stunned: under the pale cold light of the just rising moon, the tower was intact and sharp. The top of the tower points directly at the night sky where the stars are just emerging.The stalker who led the way swore that the tower was indeed half missing the last time he came. The minister was accompanied by several officers and soldiers who fought in the area, and they also confirmed what the stalker said.The minister gave the stalker a cold look. No matter how many people proved it, the stalker must still be lying, because the intact minaret is the iron proof beyond all.But Fazaran has no intention of punishing anyone now, the end of the city is coming, and all of them will not escape punishment.At the same time, a soldier next to him also concealed something. He knew that the upper part of the tower that had disappeared was not destroyed by artillery fire. One night two weeks ago, there was no shelling, and the spire disappeared in the morning. It was also noted that the ground around the tower was free of any broken brick.The city wall here is the key bombardment area of ​​the Urban cannon. The huge stone bullets will penetrate the city wall and fall here at any time. Once, more than a dozen soldiers were killed at once, and the half of the tower will be destroyed at any time, so No one ever went to the Tower again.The other two who witnessed this incident with him were killed in battle, and he didn't want to make any further incidents, because no one would believe him if he said it.

Fazalan and his party entered the bottom floor of the tower and saw that the bones of those who died of the plague had been turned upside down by wild dogs, and there were no living people.They then went up to the second floor along the spiral staircase built against the wall. In the light of the torch, they saw Diorena curled up under the window at a glance. She was obviously asleep, but her eyes were still reflected between her half-closed eyelids. in flames.Her clothes were torn, covered with dust, her hair was disheveled, and there were two or three bloodstains on her face that looked like she had scratched them.The minister looked around. This is the top floor of the tower, which is a cone-shaped space, empty.He noticed that the place was covered with thick dust, which would leave obvious traces when touched, but there were very few traces around. It seemed that Diorena, like them, had come here for the first time.She was awakened quickly, and stood up against the wall with her hands clasped. A ray of moonlight from the window reflected her messy hair into a cloud of silver mist around her head; Returning to reality, and then suddenly half-closed his eyes and fell into a memory state, as if he was still nostalgic for the dream he had just walked out of.

"What are you doing here?!" Fazaran asked sharply.

"My lord, I... I can't go there!"

"where?"

Diorena still half-closed her eyes, obsessed with her own memories, like a child struggling to prevent an adult from pulling her away from her beloved toy. "It's big, nice, and comfortable. Here..." She suddenly opened her eyes and looked around in horror, "Here is as narrow as a coffin, and the outside...is also as narrow as a coffin. I want to go there!"

"What about your mission?" asked the minister.

"My lord, wait a little longer," Diorena desperately made the sign of the cross in front of her face, "wait a little longer."

Fazalan pointed out the window, "What can we wait for now?"

Waves of sound came from outside, listen carefully, the sound is divided into two distinct parts.

Part of the sound came from outside the city.Mehmet II has decided to launch a general attack on Constantinople tomorrow. At this time, the young sultan was riding through all the camps of the Ottoman army. He promised the soldiers: I only want Constantinople itself, the wealth of the city You and women are yours, and you can freely loot the city for three days after breaking the city.The whole army cheered for the sultan's promise, and the cheers were mixed with the sound of bugles and tambourines. This wave rose into the sky with the smoke and sparks of countless campfires, and became a thick murderous atmosphere gathered over the city.

The voice from the city of Constantinople was deep and sad.All citizens held a religious procession led by the Archbishop.Now, all will gather in the Hagia Sophia for the last requiem mass.This is a scene that has never been seen in the history of Christianity, and will never happen again: in the solemn chants, in the dim candlelight, the Byzantine emperor and the archbishop, the Orthodox Christians, the Catholics from Italy, the city guards in full armor The army, the merchants and sailors of Venice and Genoa, as well as countless citizens, gathered together before God, preparing to face the final bloody battle with their lives.

Fazalan knew that this matter could not go on, maybe Diorona was just a clever liar, she had no magic at all, which was a better result.But at the same time he is also facing a great danger: she is really magical, and has been to the enemy, and has returned after accepting the mission of the Ottomans.After all, the dying Byzantium can't give her anything, and even the honor of the saint is difficult to honor-it is difficult for the Orthodox Church and the Catholic Church to accept a prostitute and a witch as a saint.The target of her return this time may be the emperor or even himself.Urban [3] has been a lesson for the past.

The minister signaled to the stalker, who drew his sword and stabbed Diorena, piercing her soft chest, and piercing the crack of the bricks behind her.The stalker wanted to pull out the sword, but he didn't. Diorona's hand was also on the hilt. He didn't want to touch those hands, so he let go of the hilt, and hurried away with Fazalan and his party.During the whole process, Diorena didn't make any sound, her head slowly drooped.The cloud of silver mist left the moonlight and sank into the darkness.The inside of the tower was completely dark, and in the small spot of light on the ground that the pale moonlight illuminated, blood crawled like a thin black snake.

When Fazaran walked out of the tower gate, the sounds inside and outside the city disappeared. The silence before the war enveloped the land and sea at the junction of Europe and Asia, and the Eastern Roman Empire ushered in the last dawn.

On the second floor of the tower, the female magician who was nailed to the wall with a sword died. She may be the only real magician in human history.And about ten hours before that, the short magic era ended.The magic era began at 1453:5 on May 3, 16, when the high-dimensional fragments first touched the earth; it ended at 1453:5 on May 28, 21, when the fragments completely left the earth; it lasted 25 days and five hours.Afterwards, the world went back to normal.

On the evening of the 29th, Constantinople fell.

At the end of the day's bloody battle, Constantine XI faced the swarming Ottoman army and shouted: "Isn't there a Christian who will cut off my head?!" He took off his purple robe, drew his sword and rushed into the enemy formation. His silver armor was like a small piece of tinfoil thrown into the dark red water, and disappeared in an instant...

The historical significance of the fall of Constantinople did not emerge until much later, and when it happened the first thing people thought was that the Roman Empire had finally and completely disappeared.Byzantium is a millennium-long rut that ancient Rome has dragged behind. Although it has had glory, it has finally evaporated like water stains under the scorching sun.At that time, the ancient Romans whistled in the magnificent and gorgeous bath palace, thinking that the empire, like the bath beneath them, was built on a single piece of granite and would last forever.

Now people know that there is no permanent banquet, and everything has an end.

[The first year of the crisis era, life options]

Yang Dong wants to save herself, but she knows that there is little hope.

She stood on the balcony on the top floor of the control center, overlooking the dead accelerator.The circumference of the accelerator is twenty kilometers, and it can barely be seen from this height.It is not built in an underground tunnel as usual, but placed in a concrete pipe on the ground, which looks like a huge period in the sunset.

What is the period?Hopefully it's just physics.

In the past, Yang Dong had a basic belief: life and the world may be ugly, but they are harmonious and perfect at the micro and macro ends, and the everyday world is just a bubble floating on this perfect ocean.Now it seems that the everyday world has become a beautiful appearance, and the microcosm it contains and the macrocosm it contains may be even more chaotic and ugly.

This is terrible.

In fact, that’s all there is to it. She can live without physics. She can choose an industry that has nothing to do with theoretical physics, get married and have children, and live her life peacefully like every woman.Of course, for her, this is only half-life.

Another thing is about mothers.Yang Dong once discovered by accident that the information received in her mother's computer had a very high level of encryption, which aroused her strong curiosity.But the decrypted information is not put into the file shredder, it is just deleted.Like all elderly people, my mother is not familiar with computers and the Internet. She doesn't know that even if the hard disk is formatted, the information on it can be easily restored.Yang Dong did the first thing in his life behind his mother's back: he restored some of the deleted information.It was very informative, and she read it for days and learned the secrets of her mother and the three-body world.

Yang Dong was almost overwhelmed by the shock. The mother who depended on each other turned out to be another person, and it was the kind of person she couldn't even believe existed in this world.She didn't dare to ask her mother, she never dared, because if she asked, her mother would really become another person forever.Let the mother keep her secret, while Yang Dong pretends that the mother is still the original mother, and life can continue.Of course, this life is only half life for Yang Dong.

Living with Half-Life is actually nothing. According to her observation, quite a few people around are living in Half-Life. As long as they are good at forgetting and adapting, Half-Life can live peacefully and even happily.

But these two things add up to one life.

Yang Dong held on to the railing of the balcony, looking at the abyss downstairs, fear accompanied by temptation.She felt the railing under her own weight shake suddenly, and immediately took a step back as if she was electrocuted.She didn't dare to stay here any longer, so she turned back and walked into the terminal hall.

The terminals of the supercomputer are distributed here. This host is not connected to the accelerator and is only used for offline processing of results.The terminals that were all turned off a few days ago are now on again, which makes Yang Dong feel a little relieved, but she knows that this place has nothing to do with the accelerator now, and the host computer has been occupied by other projects.There was only one young man in the hall. He stood up after seeing Yang Dong. He was wearing a pair of wide-rimmed glasses with bright green frames, which looked very special.Yang Dong said that she just came to pick up some things left here.After knowing who she is, the green glasses became enthusiastic and introduced her to the project running on the supercomputer.

This is a mathematical model of Earth evolution that simulates the past and future evolution of Earth's surface morphology.Unlike previous similar projects, this model incorporates biological, geological, atmospheric, oceanographic and astronomical factors.The green glasses also turned on several large screens for Yang Dong to see. She saw that the data tables and curves displayed on them were completely different from the previous data tables and curves. They were all vividly colored graphics, as if overlooking the continents and oceans from a high altitude.The green glasses flexibly dragged the mouse to demonstrate that several parts of the graph are zoomed in and thinned into a forest or a river.Yang Dong felt that the breath of nature was permeating the place that was once completely occupied by abstract data and theories, and this feeling made her feel a kind of relief from the claustrophobia.

After listening to the introduction of the green glasses, Yang Dong took his own things, bid farewell politely and prepared to leave.When she turned and walked towards the door, she felt the green glasses still watching her.She was used to this kind of gaze from a man, and she didn't feel disgusted. Instead, she felt the comfort of the winter sun shining on her body.She suddenly had the desire to communicate with people, so she stopped and turned to face the green glasses.

"Do you believe in God?"

As soon as these words came out, Yang Dong herself was surprised, but when she thought about the model running here, this question was not too abrupt, so she was somewhat relieved.

The green glasses were also stunned by this question, and opened their mouths in a daze for a long time before carefully asking, "What kind of God?"

"It's God." Yang Dong said simply, the overwhelming feeling of exhaustion appeared again, and she didn't have the energy to explain anything more.

"I do not believe."

"However," Yang Dong pointed to the continents and oceans on the big screen, "the environment in which life can exist, and various physical parameters are very harsh, such as liquid water, which only exists in a narrow temperature range; This is even more so from a scientific point of view, if the parameters of the big bang deviate from one part in a billion billion, there will be no heavy elements, and there will be no life. Isn’t this a clear sign of intelligent design?”

The green glasses shook his head, "I don't understand the big bang, but the life environment on the earth you mentioned is not the case at all. The earth has produced life, and life is also changing the earth. The current earth environment is actually the interaction of the two. The result." The green glasses thought for a while, grabbed the mouse, "Let's simulate one." He called up a setting interface from a large screen, which was a large number of dizzying parameter windows, but he Remove the hook in the top selection box, and all the windows become virtual. "Let's remove the life option, and see what the earth has evolved without life. We can only draw a rough line, or else It takes too much time."

Yang Dong saw from a control terminal that the mainframe started to run at full power. The giant computers are all electric tigers, and the power consumption at this time is equivalent to that of a small county town, but she didn't stop the green glasses.

A newly formed planet appeared on the big screen, its surface red-hot like coal fresh from a furnace.Time passed in geological time, the planet gradually cooled, and the color and texture of the surface continued to change slowly, which seemed hypnotic.After a few minutes, an orange planet appeared on the screen, signaling the completion of the simulation.

"This is the roughest calculation, and it will take a month for an accurate simulation." The green glasses said, and at the same time moved the mouse, swooping down from space to the surface of the planet.The field of vision swept across the vast desert, flying over a group of strangely shaped peaks, those mountains were like huge pillars; then, flying over the bottomless Great Rift Valley and a circular basin like a crater.

"Where is this?" Yang Dong asked in confusion.

"Earth. If there is no life, the earth has evolved to the present, and the surface is like this."

"But... what about the ocean?"

"No oceans, no rivers, it's all dry."

"You mean, without life, there wouldn't even be liquid water on Earth?"

"It's probably even more amazing than that. It's a rough simulation of course, but at least it gives you a sense of how much life has influenced the way Earth is now."

"Can……"

"Do you think that life is just a thin, soft, sparse, fragile thing on the surface of the earth?"

"Isn't it?"

"Then you are ignoring the power of time. A team of ants keeps carrying rocks the size of rice grains. Give them a billion years and they can move Mount Tai away. As long as the time is long enough, life is stronger than rocks and metals Much more powerful than hurricanes and volcanoes."

"But the orogeny is mainly caused by geological forces."

"Not necessarily. Life may not be able to build mountains, but it can change the distribution of mountains. For example, there are three mountains, and plants grow on two of them. The mountain without plants will be weathered and flattened quickly. What is said here is quickly About 1000 million years is really not long geologically."

"How did the ocean disappear?"

"It depends on the records of the simulation process. It's too troublesome, but you can guess. Plants, animals, and bacteria have all played an important role in forming the current atmosphere. If there is no life, the composition of the current atmosphere will be very different. It may have Unable to block ultraviolet rays and solar wind, the oceans will evaporate, and the earth's atmosphere will first become a steamer like Venus, water vapor will evaporate from the top of the atmosphere to space, and after billions of years, the earth will become dry."

Yang Dong stopped talking, and silently looked at the dry yellow world.

"So, the current earth is a home built by life for itself, and has nothing to do with God." The green glasses embraced the big screen, obviously satisfied with his eloquence just now.

With Yang Dong's current state of mind, she didn't have the heart to talk about these things or read them at all, but when the green glasses removed the life option from the mathematical model, she suddenly had a shocking thought. Now, she finally asked solved that dreaded problem:

"What about the universe?"

"Universe? What happened to the universe?" The green glasses who were shutting down the simulation process asked puzzled.

"If there is a mathematical model like this to simulate the entire universe, like just now, when the life option is removed at the beginning of operation, what does the resulting universe look like?"

"Of course it's still the way it is now, if the results are correct. The changes I just said to the world by life are limited to the earth. In the universe, even if life exists, it is extremely rare, and its impact on the evolution process is negligible."

Yang Dong wanted to say something but couldn't say it in the end, so he bid farewell to the green glasses again, and tried to show him a grateful smile.She came outside the building and looked up at the first starry sky.

From the information on my mother's computer, we know that life in the universe is not rare, but the universe is very crowded.

Then, how much has the universe been changed by life now, and to what level and depth has this change reached?

The latter question especially frightened Yang Dong.

Knowing that she could not save herself, she stopped thinking and tried to turn her thoughts into a black void, but there was still one final question stubbornly lingering in her subconscious mind:
Is nature really natural?
[Crisis era 4th year, Yun Tianming]

Today, Dr. Zhang came to the ward for an examination, and when he left, he threw a newspaper to Yun Tianming, saying that his hospital stay was not short, and he should know some outside affairs.Yun Tianming was a little strange, because there was a TV in the ward, he vaguely felt that Dr. Zhang might have other purposes for doing this.

The first impression Yun Tianming got from the newspapers was: Compared with before he was hospitalized, the news about the Three-Body Problem and ETO (Earth Tri-Body Organization) was not so overwhelming, and finally there was a certain proportion of things that had nothing to do with the crisis.The nature of human beings to be happy with the situation is emerging, and things after four centuries are gradually giving way to life in this world.This is not surprising. He thought about when it was four centuries ago. China was the Ming Dynasty. It seemed that Nurhaci had just established the Jin Dynasty; the darkness of the Middle Ages in the West had just ended; Wait for more than 100 years.At that time, if someone worried about things 200 years later, it would be as ridiculous as worrying about the ancients.

As for himself, according to the current development of his illness, he doesn't have to worry about next year's affairs.

A piece of news caught his attention, on the front page, although not a headline, it is quite eye-catching:

The special session of the third Standing Committee of the National People's Congress passed the euthanasia law
This is a bit strange. The special meeting of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress was convened for legislation related to the three-body crisis, and this euthanasia law seems to have nothing to do with the crisis.

Doctor Zhang wants to see this news for himself?
A violent cough made him put down the newspaper and began to sleep hard.

On the TV news the next day, there were some reports and interviews about the euthanasia law, but they didn't attract much attention, and people's reactions were very flat.

That night, coughing and difficulty breathing, as well as nausea and weakness from chemotherapy, made it difficult for Yun Tianming to sleep.Lao Li, who was in the next bed, took the opportunity of helping him with the oxygen tube and sat on the edge of his bed. After making sure that the other two patients were asleep, he whispered to Yun Tianming, "Xiaoyun, I plan to leave early."

"Discharged?"

"No, Anle."

Later, when people mentioned this matter, they omitted the last word.

"How did you come up with this step? Children are very filial..." Yun Tianming sat up straight and said.

"It is precisely because of this that I plan to do so. If it continues, they will sell the house. In the end, there is still no cure. I must have a sense of responsibility for my children and grandchildren."

Lao Li seemed to realize that it was not appropriate to tell Yun Tianming about this matter, so he squeezed his arm secretly, and went to his bed.

Looking at the swaying tree shadows cast by the street lamps on the curtains, Yun Tianming gradually fell asleep.For the first time after his illness, he had a peaceful dream. In the dream, he was sitting in a small boat without oars. The boat was made of white paper and floated on the calm water. Cool light rain, but the raindrops do not seem to fall on the water, the water surface is like a mirror without a trace of ripples, the water surface is merged into this gray in all directions, and the shore cannot be seen, and the connection between the water and the sky cannot be seen... After waking up in the early morning, I recalled In the dream, Yun Tianming was very strange. In the dream, he was so certain that it would always drizzle, the water there would never have a ripple, and the sky there would always be the same dark gray.

Lao Li's euthanasia is about to begin.The word "proceed" in the press release has been carefully considered. "Execution" is obviously wrong, and "implementation" does not sound right. "Completion" means that the person must die. Not very accurate.

Doctor Zhang approached Yun Tianming and asked if he was in good health, could he participate in Lao Li's comfort ceremony.Dr. Zhang hurriedly explained: This is the first euthanasia case in this city, and there are representatives from all walks of life. It is only natural that there are patient representatives in the process, and there is no other meaning.Yun Tianming always felt that this request had some other meaning, but Dr. Zhang always took good care of him, so he agreed.After that, he suddenly felt that Dr. Zhang looked familiar and remembered his name, but he couldn't remember it for a while.The reason why I didn't feel this way before was because the communication between them was limited to illness and treatment, and the way doctors talked was different when seeing a doctor than at other times.

None of his relatives were present when Lao Li was in peace. He kept it from them, and only waited for the matter to be over before being notified by the Civil Affairs Bureau (not the hospital). This is legally allowed in euthanasia.Many news media came to interview, but most of the reporters were kept out.The euthanasia was performed in an emergency room of the hospital, where there is a one-way perspective floor-to-ceiling glass screen, the relevant personnel can stand outside the glass screen, and the patient cannot see it.

After Yun Tianming came in, he squeezed people from all directions to stand in front of the glass screen. When he saw the safe room for the first time, a mixture of fear and nausea surged up, almost making him vomit.The intention of the hospital was good. In order to be more humane, they decorated the emergency room, put on beautiful curtains, placed flowers, and even pasted many pink heart-shaped patterns on the wall.But the effect of this is counterproductive, like decorating the tomb as a new house, adding weirdness to the horror of death.

Lao Li was lying on a bed in the middle, looking very calm, Yun Tianming felt more and more heavy when he thought that they hadn't said goodbye yet.Two legal notaries completed the notarization process inside, and Lao Li signed the notarization certificate.After the notary came out, another person went in to explain the final operating procedures to him.This person is wearing a white coat, I don't know if he is a doctor.He first pointed to a large screen in front of the bed, and asked Lao Li if he could read the words displayed on it clearly. After Lao Li said yes, he asked Lao Li to try whether he could move the mouse beside the bed with his right hand and click the buttons on the screen. , and specifically stated that if it is inconvenient, there are other ways, and Lao Li can try it.At this moment, Yun Tianming thought that Lao Li had told him that he had never used a computer before, and that he had to wait in line at the bank to withdraw money, so this was the first time he used a mouse in his life.The person in the white coat then told Lao Li that a question will be displayed on the screen and repeated five times. There are six buttons below the question from 0 to 5. Every time Lao Li answers in the affirmative, press a button, the number prompted is a random one from 1 to 5 - the reason for doing this, instead of using the "yes" or "no" button, is to prevent the patient from pressing the same button repeatedly in an unconscious state; Then press 0, in this case the safety program will be terminated immediately.A nurse went in and inserted a needle into Lao Li's left arm, which was connected by a flexible tube to an automatic injection machine the size of a laptop computer.The previous instructor took out something and opened the layers of seals. It was a small glass tube with a light yellow liquid inside. He carefully put the glass tube into the injection machine, and then walked out with the nurse.Lao Li was the only one left in the comfort room.The Anle program officially started, the screen displayed the question, and at the same time a soft female voice read out:
Are you going to end your own life?If yes, please press 3 key; if no, please press 0 key.

Lao Li pressed 3.

Are you going to end your own life?If yes, please press 5 key; if no, please press 0 key.

Lao Li pressed 5.

Then the question was displayed twice again, the affirmative buttons were 1 and 2, and Lao Li pressed both.

Are you going to end your own life?This is the last reminder.If yes, please press 4 key; if no, please press 0 key.

In an instant, a huge wave of sorrow rushed into Yun Tianming's mind, almost making him faint. He didn't feel such extreme sorrow when his mother passed away.He wanted to yell for Lao Li to press 0, smash the glass, and kill that woman with a soft voice.

But Lao Li pressed 4.

The injection machine started silently, and Yun Tianming could clearly see that the light yellow liquid in the glass tube shortened quickly and finally disappeared.During this process, Lao Li didn't move a bit, and closed his eyes as if he had fallen asleep peacefully.

The people around quickly dispersed, Yun Tianming was still standing there motionless, holding the glass, he didn't look at the lifeless body, his eyes were open, but he didn't look anywhere.

"There is no pain at all." Dr. Zhang's voice sounded softly, like a mosquito flying to his ear, and at the same time he felt a hand on his left shoulder, "The injections consist of large doses of barbiturates, muscle relaxants and high concentrations Potassium chloride, barbiturate works first, and puts the patient in a state of sedation and deep sleep; muscle relaxants stop the patient from breathing, and potassium chloride stops the heart from tachycardia, which is about 30 seconds."

Doctor Zhang put his hand on Yun Tianming's shoulder for a while, then took it away, and then heard his light footsteps as he left.Yun Tianming didn't look back, but recalling Doctor Zhang's appearance, he suddenly remembered who he was.

"Doctor Zhang," Yun Tianming called out softly, the footsteps stopped, but he still didn't turn his head, "Do you know my sister?"

It took a long time to answer: "Oh, yes, high school classmate, I saw you twice when I was young."

Yun Tianming walked out of the main building of the hospital mechanically.Now he understands that Dr. Zhang is working for his sister, who wants him to die, oh, wants him to be happy.

Yun Tianming often recalls the happy time when he was a child playing with his elder sister, but when he grew up, the siblings gradually became estranged.There is no conflict between them, and neither of them has done anything to hurt the other, but they are still estranged inevitably. They both feel that the other party is two completely different people from themselves, and both feel that the other party despises themselves.My elder sister is a shrewd person, but not smart. She found a brother-in-law who was equally shrewd but not smart. As a result, her life was disgraceful. The children couldn’t afford a house when they grew up. The in-law’s family also had no place to live.As for Yun Tianming, he was withdrawn and withdrawn, and he was not much more successful than his sister in career and life. He had been living alone in the company's dormitory, and pushed his father who was in poor health to his sister to take care of him.

He suddenly understood what his sister was thinking.After I got sick, the serious illness insurance was not enough, and the more the disease went on, the more money I spent, and my father kept taking out his savings; but my sister's family had no money to buy a house, and my father didn't help, which was obviously biased.But now for my sister, spending my father's money is equivalent to spending her money, and the money is spent on hopeless treatments. If he is happy and my sister's money is kept, he will save a few days of suffering .

The sky was shrouded in gray clouds, it was the sky in his dream that night, facing the endless gray, Yun Tianming let out a long breath.

Well, if you let me die, I will die.

At this time, Yun Tianming remembered a novel by Kafka, in which the protagonist had a quarrel with his father, and the father cursed casually, "Go to die", and the son immediately responded, "Okay, I will die", as if to say "Okay, I'll take out the trash" or "Okay, I'll close the door," and then the son runs out of the house, across the street, onto a bridge, and jumps to his death.Kafka later recalled that he had a "cum-like pleasure" writing there.Now Yun Tianming understands Kafka, the man wearing a top hat and holding a briefcase, who walked silently on the dark streets of Prague more than 100 years ago, who was as lonely as himself.

Back in the ward, Yun Tianming found someone waiting for him, it was Hu Wen, a college classmate.Yun Tianming had no friends in college, and Hu Wen was the closest person to him—this was not because of the friendship between them, Hu Wen's character was the opposite of Yun Tianming's, he was the kind of person who knew everyone by himself , a wide range of friends, Yun Tianming must be the most fringe of his social circle - after graduation they have no contact.Hu Wen didn't bring flowers or anything like that, but a box of something like a drink.

After a brief sigh, Hu Wen suddenly asked a question that surprised Yun Tianming: "Do you remember that outing in freshman year? It was the first time we went out together."

Of course Yun Tianming remembered that it was the first time Cheng Xin sat beside him and spoke to him for the first time; in fact, if Cheng Xin ignored him for the next four years in college, he might not dare to approach her. say.At that time, he was sitting there alone looking at the wide water surface of Miyun Reservoir. Cheng Xin came over and sat down and asked him what he usually likes. Then they chatted and kept throwing pebbles into the water. The most general topic of classmates, but Yun Tianming still remembers every word clearly.Later, Cheng Xin folded up a small paper boat and put it into the water. Blown by the breeze, the snow-white paper boat slowly sailed into the distance, and finally turned into a small white dot... It was in his college life. The sunniest day ever.In fact, the weather was not good that day, it was drizzling, the water was covered with rain streaks, and the pebbles they threw were wet, but from that day on, Yun Tianming fell in love with the light rain, the smell of the wetland and the Wet pebbles, and often fold a small paper boat and put it on his desk.

He suddenly thought, did the world on the other side in the light rain that he dreamed that night come from that memory?

As for what Hu Wen said later, Yun Tianming didn't have a deep impression, but after his reminder, he still remembered it.Later, some girls called Cheng Xin away, and Hu Wen came and sat beside him and told Yun Tianming, don't be complacent, she is very good to everyone.Of course Yun Tianming knew this.

But the topic did not continue, Hu Wen pointed to the mineral water bottle in Yun Tianming's hand in surprise and asked him what he was drinking.The water in the bottle turned green, and there were still many messy things in it.Yun Tianming said, this is a real drink of nature by crushing weeds and putting them in.Because of his joy, Yun Tianming talked a lot that day. He said that if he had the opportunity in the future, he would definitely start a company to produce this drink, and it would definitely sell well.Hu Wen said, is there anything uglier in the world than this?Yun Tianming asked back: Is the wine good to drink?Is it easy to smoke?Even Coca-Cola doesn't taste good on the first try, as with anything addictive.

"Brother, that time, you changed my life!" Hu Wen patted Yun Tianming's shoulder and became excited, then opened the carton and took out a can of drink. The packaging was pure green, with a picture of a vast grassland, and the trademark was "Green Storm".Hu Wen opened the drink, and Yun Tianming took a sip. He was intoxicated by the scent of bitterness. He closed his eyes, as if he had returned to the lakeside in the drizzle, and Cheng Xin was sitting beside him again...

"This is an extreme version. Generally, some sweeteners are added on the market." Hu Wen said.

"Is this selling well?"

"Very well, the problem now is the production cost. Don't think that grass is cheap. Before it scales up, it is more expensive than apples and walnuts. In addition, there are many harmful ingredients in grass, and the processing process is also very complicated. But the prospect is very good. There are many big investors who are interested, Huiyuan even wants to buy my company, fuck it."

Yun Tianming looked at Hu Wen speechlessly, an entrepreneur who produced beverages with a degree in aerospace engines. He is an activist and a doer, and life belongs to people like him.As for those like myself, they can only be abandoned by life.

"Brother, I owe you." Hu Wen said, stuffed three credit cards and a note into Yun Tianming's hand, looked around and whispered in his ear, "There are 300 million in it, the password is here write."

"I have never applied for a patent." Yun Tianming said flatly.

"But the idea is yours. Without you, there would be no 'Green Storm'. If you agree, we will be settled legally with this money, but not emotionally. I will always owe you."

"You don't owe me anything legally."

"It must be accepted, you need money now."

Yun Tianming didn't refuse anymore, and accepted the money, which was considered a huge sum to him, but he wasn't too excited, because he knew that money could no longer save his life.But he still had a glimmer of hope. After Hu Wen left, he immediately went to consult, but instead of looking for Dr. Zhang, he found the vice president, a well-known oncologist in China, and asked him directly if he had enough cancer. Money, is there any hope of curing my illness?

After reading Yun Tianming's medical records on the computer, the old doctor shook his head slightly and told him that the cancer cells had spread from the lungs to the whole body, and that surgery was no longer possible. He could only do conservative treatments such as chemotherapy and radiotherapy, and it was not a question of money. .

"Young man, heal the immortal disease, and the Buddha saves the predestined people."

Yun Tianming's heart completely cooled down, and he also completely calmed down. He submitted the application for euthanasia that afternoon.The application was handed over to his attending doctor, Dr. Zhang. The latter seemed to be deeply guilty and did not dare to look him in the eyes. He just said that the chemotherapy should be stopped first, and there is no need to suffer that.

The only thing left now is how to spend that money.According to common sense, it should be given to the father, and then he will distribute it to the relatives who should give it, but that is equivalent to giving it to the sister.Yun Tianming didn't want to do this, he had already died according to her wish, and felt that he didn't owe her anything anymore.

Then think about what your dream is.Sailing around the world on a luxury yacht like the "Elizabeth" is very good. The money should be enough, but his physical condition does not allow him, and he may not have so much time.What a pity, if he could, he could have been lying on the deck in the sun, looking at the sea looking back on his life, or on a drizzly day, on the shore of some strange country, sitting by some small lake Throwing wet stones on the rain-patterned water surface...

Thinking about Cheng Xin again, he thought of her more and more these days.

In the evening, Yun Tianming saw a piece of news on TV:
At the 12th meeting of the United Nations Planetary Defense Council, Proposal No. 479 was passed, and the Stars Project was officially launched. At that time, the Stars Project Committee composed of the United Nations Development Program, the Natural Resources Committee and UNESCO will be authorized to implement it globally the plan.

This morning, the Chinese website of Project Qunxing was officially launched, marking the launch of the project in China.According to an official from the Permanent Representative Office of the United Nations Development Program in Beijing, the plan will be open to enterprises and individuals in China, but will not accept bids from social groups...

Yun Tianming's heart moved, he put on his clothes and walked out of the ward, and told the nurse that he wanted to go for a walk, but since it was time to turn off the lights, the nurse didn't let him go.He returned to the ward with the lights off, drew the curtains and opened the window. It turned out that the new patient on Lao Li's bed grunted a few times in dissatisfaction.Yun Tianming looked up, the city's light and fog made the night sky hazy, but he still saw those silver bright spots on the night, he finally knew what to use that money for.

He wanted to give Cheng Xin a star.

"Once Upon a Time Beyond Time" (excerpt)
Project Stars - Infancy at the Beginning of the Crisis

Some things that happened in human society in the first 20 years of the Crisis Era were difficult for people before and after to understand. Historians call it crisis infantilism.It is generally believed that infantilism is the result of the sudden and unprecedented threat to civilization as a whole; this may be true for individuals, but it may not be so simple for human societies as a whole.The cultural shock brought about by the three-body crisis has far-reaching effects far beyond people's original imagination.If you look for an analogy for it, in biology, it is equivalent to the ancestors of mammals climbing up from the sea; in religion, it is equivalent to Adam and Eve being expelled from the Garden of Eden; in history and sociology, there is no analogy at all. By analogy, everything that human civilization has experienced is insignificant compared to this one event.In fact, this event fundamentally shook the cultural, political, religious and economic foundations of human society.This shock reaches the deepest layer of civilization, but its influence quickly surfaced, interacting with the great inertia of human society, which may be the root cause of infantilism.

Typical examples of infantilism are the Wallface Project and the Stars Project, both of which were made by the international community through the framework of the United Nations at that time, which seemed incredible to people in other historical periods.The former has changed history, and its influence has penetrated into the entire history of civilization in the future, which will be discussed in another chapter; the latter disappeared shortly after its appearance and was soon forgotten.

There are two main motivations for Project Stars. One is the effort to improve the status of the United Nations in the early stages of the crisis, and the other is the emergence and prevalence of escapism.

The emergence of the Three-Body Crisis made all mankind face a common enemy for the first time, and naturally raised expectations for the United Nations.Even conservatives believe that the United Nations should be overhauled and given greater power and control over more resources, while radicals and idealists advocate the establishment of an Earth Federation and the United Nations as a world government.Small and medium-sized countries are more enthusiastic about the promotion of the status of the United Nations. In their eyes, the crisis is an opportunity to obtain technical and economic assistance from the big powers; while the big powers respond indifferently to this.In fact, after the crisis emerged, major countries quickly invested heavily in the basic research of space defense. On the one hand, they realized that space defense is an important field of international politics in the future, and what they do in it will directly affect the country. The foundation of strength and political status; on the other hand, these large-scale basic researches have long been wanted to be done, but they have been unable to do so due to the constraints of the national economy, the people's livelihood and international politics.Now, the three-body crisis is to politicians of major powers what the Cold War was to Kennedy, but this opportunity is a hundred times greater than that.But major powers have resisted bringing these efforts within the framework of the United Nations.Due to the growing enthusiasm for world unity in the international community, they have to give the United Nations many empty political checks, but they have invested little in the common space defense system it advocates.

In the history of the United Nations in the early days of the crisis, then-Secretary-General Saye was a key figure.She believes that the opportunity to create a new era of the United Nations has come, and advocates changing the nature of the joint meeting of major powers and international forums of the United Nations, making it an independent political entity with substantial leadership over the construction of the solar system defense system.To achieve this goal, the United Nations must first have sufficient resources at its own disposal as a basis, which was almost impossible at the time.The Stars Project is one of Say's efforts for this purpose. No matter what the result is, this move fully demonstrates her political wisdom and imagination.

The international legal foundation of Project Constellation is the "Space Law Convention". This is not a product of the Trisolaran crisis. Before the crisis came, the treaty went through a long process of drafting and negotiation, mainly referring to the "Convention on the Law of the Sea" and the "Antarctic Treaty." s frame.However, before the crisis, the "Space Law Convention" limited the scope of the solar system resources within the Kuiper belt. Due to the emergence of the three-body crisis, outer space had to be considered, but it was limited to the level of technology that humans have not yet landed on Mars. Prior to this period (50-year period), resources outside the solar system had no practical significance.Finding this a good fit as a blank check to the United Nations, the major powers added a clause on resources beyond the solar system to the treaty, stipulating that natural resources beyond the Kuiper belt were involved (on the meaning of the term natural resources, The annex to the treaty provides a lengthy definition, which mainly refers to resources that are not occupied by civilizations other than human beings. This definition also gives the definition of "civilization" in international law for the first time) development and other economic behaviors must be within the framework of the United Nations within.This clause has historically been called the "crisis surcharge."

The second motivation for Project Stellaris is Escapism.At that time, Escapism was just beginning to appear, and its consequences had not yet appeared, and it was still regarded as a final choice for human beings in the face of crisis.In this case, the value of extrasolar stars, especially those with terrestrial planets, becomes apparent.

The original proposal of the Stars Project was to propose that the United Nations host the auction of the ownership of some stars and planets outside the solar system. The objects of the auction were countries, enterprises, social groups and individuals, and the proceeds were used for the basic research of the United Nations on the common defense system of the solar system. .Say explained: The resources of stars are actually extremely rich. There are more than 100 stars within 30 light-years of the solar system, and tens of millions of stars within 1000 light-years. It is conservatively estimated that there are at least one-tenth of the stars. with planets.Auctioning a small part of it will not have any impact on the future development of the universe.

This peculiar proposal aroused widespread concern at the time, and the permanent members of the PDC (Planetary Defense Council) found that, although it was a bit unbelievable, in the foreseeable future, passing this proposal did not seem to have any adverse consequences for themselves; On the contrary, if it is vetoed, there will definitely be troubles in the political environment at that time.Nevertheless, after much debate and compromise, the scope of the auctioned stars was extrapolated from beyond the Kuiper belt to 100 light-years away, and the proposal passed.

Project Stellaris ended when it started, for one simple reason: stars couldn't be sold.A total of only seventeen stars were sold, all at reserve prices, and the United Nations only made a little over $4000 million.None of the buyers showed up, and public opinion speculated what they were spending so much money on for a scrap of paper, even though it had solid legal force.Maybe it's cool to have another world, even though it's always elusive (and some are invisible to the naked eye).

Say did not think the plan was a failure. She said that the results were expected, and that the Stars project was actually a political declaration of the United Nations.

Project Stellaris was quickly forgotten, and its emergence was a prime example of the abnormal ways in which human society behaved at the outset of the Crisis.The factors that gave birth to the Stars Project, almost at the same time, also gave birth to the great Wallfacer Project.

According to the address on the website, Yun Tianming called the domestic agency of Qunxing Project, and then called Hu Wen, asking him to know some of Cheng Xin's personal information, such as mailing address, ID number, and so on.He envisioned all kinds of words that Hu Wen might say to this request, sarcasm, pity, and exclamation, but the other party didn't say anything, just let out a soft sigh after a long silence.

"Okay, she may not be in the country recently." Hu Wen said.

"Don't say I asked about it."

"Don't worry, I'm not asking her directly."

The next day, Yun Tianming received a text message from Hu Wen, which contained most of Cheng Xin's personal information that he wanted, but there was no work unit.Hu Wen said that after Cheng Xin was transferred from the Academy of Aerospace Technology last year, no one knew where she was working now.Yun Tianming noticed that Cheng Xin had two mailing addresses, one in Shanghai and one in New York.

In the afternoon, Yun Tianming asked Dr. Zhang to go out, saying that he had something to do. Dr. Zhang insisted on going with him, but Yun Tianming declined.

Yun Tianming took a taxi to the UNESCO Office in Beijing.After the crisis emerged, the scale of the United Nations agencies in Beijing expanded rapidly, and the UNESCO Office occupied most of an office building outside the Fourth Ring Road.The Stars Project Agency had a large room. When Yun Tianming entered, he saw a huge star map. The intricate silver lines connecting the constellations were displayed on a velvety black background.Later he discovered that the star map is displayed on a large LCD screen from a computer, which can be partially enlarged and retrieved.The room was empty except for a pretty girl who was in charge of the daily reception.After Yun Tianming introduced himself, the girl happily ran out to bring a blonde lady.The girl said that this lady is the director of the UNESCO China Office and one of the leaders of the Stars Program in the Asia-Pacific region.The director also seemed very happy. He held Yun Tianming's hand and said in fluent Chinese that he was the first person in China who intends to buy Xingxing. He should have contacted a large number of media for interviews and held a ceremony, but he still respected his confidentiality and The request for a simple process - it's really a pity that this would have been a good opportunity to publicize and promote the Stellaris Project.

Don't worry, no one in China will be as stupid as me.Yun Tianming thought to himself and almost said this.

Then came in a middle-aged man wearing glasses and a suit and leather shoes. The director introduced him as Dr. He, a researcher at the Beijing Astronomical Observatory, who was in charge of the specific affairs of the stellar auction.After the director left, Dr. He first asked Yun Tianming to sit down, ordered the reception girl to pour tea for him, and asked him if he was not feeling well.Of course Yun Tianming's complexion did not look like that of a healthy person, but since the torture-like chemotherapy stopped, he felt much better, and he had the illusion of being reborn.He ignored the doctor's greeting, and immediately repeated the question on the phone: the star he wants to buy is a gift, and the ownership should belong to the recipient. He will not provide any information about himself, and he hopes to keep it absolutely confidential to the recipient .Dr. He said there was no problem, and then asked Yun Tianming what type of star he intended to buy.

"As close as possible, with planets, preferably terrestrial planets." Yun Tianming looked at the star map and said.

Dr. He shook his head, "From the amount of funds you provided, it's impossible. The auction reserve prices of these stars are much higher than that amount. You can only buy a bare star without planets, and the distance cannot be too close. To tell you the truth, even so, your fund amount is lower than the reserve price. After receiving the call yesterday, considering that you are the first domestic bidder, we lowered the reserve price of a star to the amount you proposed .” He moved the mouse and zoomed in on an area of ​​the star map, “Look, this is the one. Its quotation period has been extended many times, so you only need to confirm the purchase, and it will be yours.”

"How far is it?"

"286.5 light-years from the solar system."

"Too far."

Dr. He shook his head and smiled, "Sir, it can be seen that you are not a layman in astronomy. Then think about it, for us, how big is the difference between 286 light years and 286 billion light years?"

Yun Tianming acquiesced to this sentence.Not much difference really.

"But this star has one of the biggest advantages: it can be seen. In fact, I think that buying a star is mainly based on the appearance, and the distance, whether it has planets or not, is not important. Far stars that can be seen are better than near stars that cannot be seen. Much better, naked stars that can be seen are much better than invisible ones with planets, after all, we can only see."

Yun Tianming nodded to the doctor, Cheng Xin could see the star, that's good.

"What's it called?"

"This star existed in Tycho's star catalog hundreds of years ago, but it has no secular name, only an astronomical number." Dr. He put the mouse pointer on the bright spot, and a long string of characters immediately appeared next to it: DX3906 .Dr. He patiently explained to him the meaning of the name, including the type of star, absolute and relative magnitude, position in the main sequence, etc.

The purchase procedures were quickly completed, and Dr. He called two notaries to go through the notarization procedures.The chairwoman appeared, along with two officials from the United Nations Development Program and the Natural Resources Council.The girl brought a plate of champagne.After everyone celebrated, the director announced that the recipient Cheng Xin's ownership of DX3906 had officially come into effect. Then, she handed a noble-looking black leather folder to Yun Tianming with both hands, "Your star."

After the officials left, Dr. He said to Yun Tianming, "I'm just asking, you don't need to answer: If you guessed right, this star is for a girl?"

Yun Tianming hesitated for a moment, then nodded.

"Lucky girl!" Dr. He also nodded, and then sighed, "It's nice to have money."

"Come on, you," the girl at the reception who hadn't said much stuck out her tongue at Dr. He, "rich? Teacher He is just you, with 300 billion, and you are willing to give your girlfriend a star? Tch, don't forget you What I said two days ago." When the girl said this, Dr. He panicked and wanted to stop the girl from speaking out about his harsh comments on the Stars Project.At that time, he said that a group of charlatans played the United Nations trick ten years ago, but they sold the moon and Mars. It would be a miracle that someone would be fooled again this time.Fortunately, the girl didn't say that, "It's not just about money, it's about romance, romance! Do you understand?"

During the whole process, the girl has been secretly looking at Yun Tianming with the eyes of a mythical figure, and the expression on her face has also changed over time: at first it was curiosity, then it was awe and admiration, and finally, she stared at the star with the certificate of ownership of the star. When she was buying a luxurious wallet, there was only naked jealousy on her face.

Dr. He said to Yun Tianming: "The certificate will be sent to the recipient as soon as possible, using the address here. According to your instructions, we will not disclose any information about the purchaser. In fact, there is nothing to disclose. We have nothing to do with you. You know, until now, I don’t even know your surname?” He stood up and looked out of the window, the sky was already dark, “Next, I’ll take you to see your stars… oh no, The star you gave her."

"Will you watch it from the roof?"

"It's impossible to see it in the city. We have to go to the outer suburbs. If you don't feel well, we can go another day?"

"No, here we go, I really want to see that star."

Dr. He drove with Yun Tianming for more than two hours, leaving the city's lights far behind. In order to avoid the interference of the lights, he drove the car to the fields far away from the road.After the lights went out, the two got out of the car. In the late autumn night sky, the sea of ​​stars was very clear.

"You know the Big Dipper. Look along a diagonal of the quadrilateral, that's the direction. There are three stars forming a very obtuse triangle. Make a vertical line from the apex of the obtuse angle to the bottom, and extend downward, as I pointed out. That direction, see? Your star, the star you sent her."

Yun Tianming identified two stars, but Dr. He said no, "It's in the middle of them a little to the south. The star's apparent magnitude is 5.5, which can only be seen by trained observers, but today's weather is fine. , you should be able to see it. Let me tell you a way: don’t stare straight there, look away from the corner of your eyes, the corners of your eyes are more sensitive to weak light, and then look straight when you find it..."

With the help of Dr. He, Yun Tianming finally saw DX3906, a very dark dot that seemed to exist and seemed to disappear, and would be lost from his vision if he was negligent.Most people think that the stars are silver. In fact, if you look carefully, you will find that they have different colors. DX3906 is a kind of dark red.Dr. He told him that the star was only in this position during this season, and later he would give Yun Tianming a detailed record of observing DX3906 in different seasons.

"You are very lucky, as lucky as the girl you gave the star to." Dr. He said in the thick night.

"I'm not lucky, I'm about to die." Yun Tianming said, at the same time, he looked away, glanced in the direction of Dr. He, then turned his gaze to the night sky, and found DX3906 again easily.

Yun Tianming noticed that Dr. He didn't seem surprised by what he said, but just silently lit a cigarette, perhaps, he had already noticed something.After a long silence, he said, "If that's the case, you're still very lucky. Most people die without looking beyond the world."

The smoke exhaled by Dr. He floated in front of Yun Tianming, causing the dim star to twinkle.Yun Tianming thought, when Cheng Xin saw this star, he was no longer alive.In fact, the star he and Cheng Xin saw was what it looked like 280 six years ago. This faint beam of light traveled through space for nearly three centuries before reaching their retinas, and the light it emits now , it will take six years to reach the earth in 280, when Cheng Xin is no longer alive.

What kind of life will she spend?I hope she can remember that in the vast sea of ​​stars, there is a star that belongs to her.

This is Yun Tianming's last day, he wanted to see something special, but he didn't.He woke up at seven o'clock in the morning as usual, and the same beam of sunlight fell on the opposite wall in its usual position.Outside the window, the weather is neither good nor bad, the sky is gray blue as usual.There was an oak tree in front of the window that had lost all its leaves, not even the last one left.Today even breakfast was as usual.This day, like the past 28 years, eleven months and six days, is really nothing special.

Like Lao Li, Yun Tianming didn't tell his family about An Le. He wanted to leave a letter to his father, but he had nothing to say, so he finally gave up.

At ten o'clock sharp, according to the agreed time, he walked into the comfort room alone, as calm as usual every day for examination.He was the fourth one in the city to be relieved, so he didn't attract much attention. There were only five people in the relief room, two of them were notaries, one was a guide, a nurse, and a hospital leader. Dr. Zhang didn't come.It seems that I can leave quietly.

According to his instructions, the comfort room did not have any decorations, it was just an ordinary ward with clean and white walls, which also made him feel very comfortable.

He told the guide that he knew the operating procedures and that he was not needed anymore. The latter nodded and stayed on the other side of the glass screen.On the side of the euthanasia, after the notary left, he and the nurse were alone.The nurse was very beautiful, and she no longer had the fear and nervousness she felt when she did this for the first time. When she inserted the needle of the automatic injection machine into Yun Tianming's left arm, her movements were calm and steady.He suddenly had an inexplicable feeling for the nurse. After all, she was the last person in the world to accompany him.He suddenly wanted to know who gave birth to him 28 years ago. These two people are the few people in the world who really helped him. He should thank them, so he said thank you to the nurse.The nurse smiled at him and left, cat-like silent.

The euthanasia procedure officially begins, and the upper front screen displays:
Are you going to end your own life?If yes, please press 5 key; if no, please press 0 key.

He was born in a family of intellectuals, but his parents were both socially and interpersonally incompetent, and they were very poor.They did not have the status of aristocrats, but they insisted on giving Yun Tianming an aristocratic education. The books he read must be classical masterpieces, the music he listens to must be classical masterpieces, and the people they associate with must be those they think are well-educated and well-educated.They kept telling him how vulgar the people and things around him were, and how much higher their own spiritual taste was than ordinary people.Yun Tianming still had a few friends when he was in elementary school, but he never dared to bring them home to play, because his parents would definitely not approve of him being with such a vulgar child.In junior high school, with the further deepening of aristocratic education, Yun Tianming became alone.But it was at this time that the parents divorced.It was the father's third party, a girl who sold insurance, that caused the family to disintegrate.The mother remarried to a wealthy construction contractor.These two people are people whose parents try their best to keep their children away, so they also understand at this time that they are no longer qualified to educate their children.But aristocratic education has already taken root in Yun Tianming's heart, and he can't get rid of it, just like the handcuffs that can be wound up before, the more he tries to break free, the tighter the handcuffs become.Throughout middle school, he became increasingly withdrawn, sensitive, and withdrawn from people.

Memories of childhood and youth are gray.

Press 5.

Are you going to end your own life?If yes, please press 2 key; if no, please press 0 key.

In his imagination, university is an uneasy place for him. The strange environment and strange people are another difficult adaptation process for him.When he first entered university, everything was pretty much the same as he imagined, until he met Cheng Xin.

Yun Tianming was also attracted to girls before, but he never felt this way: he felt that everything strange and cold around him was suddenly filled with soft and warm sunshine.At first, he didn't even realize the source of this sunlight, like the sun through the clouds, the weak moon-like light emitted only shows the shape of the disk, and only when it disappears, people realize that it is Source of all light during the day.Yun Tianming's sun disappeared when the National Day holiday came. Cheng Xin left school and returned home, and he felt his surroundings suddenly darken.

Of course, Yun Tianming wasn't the only one who felt this way about Cheng Xin, but he didn't have the pain of sleeping and eating like other boys, because he had no hope for him at all.He knew that no girl would like a withdrawn and sensitive boy like him, all he could do was look at her from a distance, bask in the sunshine she brought him, and quietly feel the beauty of spring.

Cheng Xin's initial impression on Yun Tianming was that she was not talkative, beautiful and taciturn girls were relatively rare, but this did not mean that she was a cold beauty.She doesn't talk much but is willing to listen, with sincere concern, and her clear and quiet eyes when she listens tell everyone that they are very important to her.

Unlike those beautiful classmates in Yun Tianming Middle School, Cheng Xin did not ignore his existence, and greeted him with a smile every time they met.There were a few group activities where the organizers forgot about Yun Tianming whether it was intentional or not, Cheng Xin went to him specifically to inform him. Later, she became the first among her classmates to call him Tianming without his surname.In the extremely limited interactions, Cheng Xin gave Yun Tianming the most profound feeling: she was the only one who knew his fragility, and she seemed to be really worried about his possible harm.But Yun Tianming kept awake, he knew there was nothing more in it, as Hu Wen said, she was good to everyone.

Yun Tianming was deeply impressed by one incident: it was that outing, when they were climbing a hill, Cheng Xin stopped suddenly, bent down and carefully picked up something from the stone steps.Yun Tianming saw that it was an ugly bug, soft and wet, wriggling between her white fingers, and a girl next to her screamed: "It's so disgusting, why are you touching it?" !Cheng Xin gently placed the bug in the nearby grass, saying that it would be trampled to death here.

In fact, Yun Tianming had very little contact with Cheng Xin. During the four years in college, they only talked alone two or three times.

It was a cool summer night, Yun Tianming came to the roof of the library, this was his favorite place, few people came and he could be alone.The night sky after the rain was very clear, and the Milky Way, which is usually invisible, also appeared.

"It's like spilling milk on the sky!"

Yun Tianming followed the sound and found that Cheng Xin was standing beside her at some point, with the summer night wind blowing her long hair, much like the scene in his dream.Then, he and Cheng Xin looked up at the Milky Way.

"There are so many stars, it's like fog." Yun Tianming sighed.

Cheng Xin withdrew her gaze from the Milky Way, turned her head to look at him, pointed to the campus and city below, and said, "You can see the beauty below, too. Our life is here, not in the Milky Way so far away."

"But our specialty is not to go beyond the earth?"

"That's for a better life here, not for escaping from Earth."

Of course Yun Tianming knew that Cheng Xin's words were euphemistically pointing at his withdrawn and self-closing, so he could only respond in silence.That was the closest he was to Cheng Xin.Maybe it was a fantasy, he could even feel her body temperature, at that time he really wished that Night Breeze would turn around so that her long hair could brush against his face.

The four-year undergraduate career was over, Yun Tianming failed the postgraduate entrance examination, but Cheng Xin was easily admitted to the graduate school of this school, and then went home.Yun Tianming wanted to stay on campus as long as possible, just to see Cheng Xin after school started.The dormitory soon became unavailable, so he rented a small house near the college while looking for a job in the city.Submitted countless resumes, failed interviews one after another, and the holidays passed without knowing it.Yun Tianming came to the school to look for Cheng Xin, but he didn't see her. After inquiring carefully, he learned that she and her supervisor had gone to the postgraduate branch of the school's Institute of Aerospace Technology, far away in Shanghai, where she would finish her career. of studies.And it was on this day that Yun Tianming actually succeeded in applying for a job. This is Aerospace Systems, a company that converts aerospace technology to civilian use. It has just been established and has recruited a large number of people.

Yun Tianming's sun was gone, and with a chill in his heart, he walked into the society.

Press 2.

Are you going to end your own life?If yes, please press 4 key; if no, please press 0 key.

When he first started working, he had a little pleasant surprise and found that compared with those sharp-edged peers in school, people in society were much more easy-going and easy to associate with. He even thought that he was going to get out of loneliness and autism.But after helping the people who sold him to pay a few times, he finally discovered the danger here, so he missed the campus, stayed away from the crowd again, and retracted deeper into his spiritual volute.This is naturally disastrous for his career. Even in such an emerging national enterprise, the competition is fierce, and if he does not advance, he will retreat.Year after year, his retreats dwindled.

In the past few years, he had talked with two girlfriends, both of whom broke up quickly.It's not because his heart is occupied by Cheng Xin. To him, Cheng Xin will always be the sun behind the clouds. He just wants to look at her and feel her soft light. He never dared to dream of shortening the distance between them. distance.These years, he didn't inquire about Cheng Xin's news, but only guessed that with her intelligence, she should go to study for a Ph.D.As for her life, he didn't want to guess.The main obstacle for him to communicate with girls is his withdrawn character. He also tried wholeheartedly to build his own life, but there were many difficulties.

Yun Tianming's problem is that he can neither enter the world nor emerge from the world. He has neither the ability to enter the world nor the capital to emerge from the world, so he can only hang in the air painfully.He was at a loss as to how his future life path would go and where it would lead.

But the road suddenly came to an end.

Press 4.

Are you going to end your own life?If yes, please press 1 key; if no, please press 0 key.

His lung cancer was diagnosed at an advanced stage, which may have been delayed by a previous misdiagnosis. Lung cancer is the fastest-spreading cancer, and his time is running out.

When he walked out of the hospital, he had no fear, the only feeling was loneliness.Although the previous loneliness was constantly smoldering, it was blocked by an invisible dam, showing a tolerable static state.Now the dam was broken, and the solitude that had gathered in the past years fell from the sky like a black hurricane, more than he could bear.

He wanted to see Cheng Xin.

He bought a ticket without hesitation and flew to Shanghai that afternoon.When he sat in the taxi, his manic heart turned cold. He told himself that as a dying person, he could not disturb her. He would not let her know that he existed, and he just wanted to take a look at her from a distance. , just like a drowning person trying his best to rise to the surface of the water to take a breath, and then sinking down can die peacefully.

Standing in front of the gate of the Academy of Aerospace Technology, he calmed down further, only to realize that he had indeed completely lost his mind in the previous few hours.In terms of time, even if Cheng Xin is a Ph.D student and is now working after graduation, she may not be here.He went to ask the security guard at the gate. They said that the research institute had more than 2 employees, so he had to provide the specific department.He didn't have the contact information of his classmates, so he had nowhere to inquire further. At the same time, he felt very weak and had difficulty breathing, so he sat down not far from the gate.

It's also possible that Cheng Xin is working here. It's almost time to get off work, and she might be waiting for her at the door, so he waits.

The gate is very spacious, and a black low wall next to the telescopic fence is inlaid with gold characters engraved with the name of the unit. This is the original No. [-] Aerospace Institute, but now it has expanded a lot.He suddenly thought, is there another door in such a large unit?So I stood up with difficulty and went to ask the security guard again, only to learn that there were still four doors!

He walked back to the original place slowly, still sat down and waited, and he could only wait here.

He was faced with such a probability: Cheng Xin would still work here after graduation; she didn't go out today; she would go through one of the five doors after get off work today.

This moment is very similar to his whole life, persistently watching a slim hope.

People who got off work began to come out, some walked, some rode or drove. The flow of people and vehicles changed from sparse to dense, and then from dense to thin. After an hour, only sporadic people and vehicles came in and out.

There is no Cheng Xin.

He was sure that he would not miss her, even if she drove out, then she might not be working here, or she might not be working here today, or she might have walked through another door while working here.

The slanting sun made the shadows of buildings and trees longer and longer, like many sympathetic arms embracing him.

He still sat there until it was completely dark.Later, he can't remember how he climbed into a taxi to the airport, how he flew back to the city where he lived, and returned to the bachelor dormitory where he lived.

He felt himself dead.

Press 1.

Are you going to end your own life?This is the last reminder.If yes, please press 3 key; if no, please press 0 key.

What is your own epitaph?In fact, he is not sure that he will have a tomb. It is very expensive to buy a cemetery around Beijing. Even if his father wants to buy it for him, his sister will not agree. She will say that the living people do not have a place to live.The most likely possibility is that his own ashes are placed in a small grid on Babao Mountain.But if there is a tombstone, it should say——

Came, loved, gave her a star, gone.

Press 3.

Before that, commotion had already appeared on the other side of the glass screen. Almost at the same time Yun Tianming pressed the death button, the door leading to the comfort room was knocked open, and a group of people rushed in.The first to come in was Director An Le, who rushed to the bed and turned off the power of the automatic injection machine; the hospital leader who came in later simply pulled out the power socket from the wall; the last was the nurse, who yanked the hose on the injection machine , pulled it off the machine, and at the same time pulled out the needle on Yun Tianming's left arm, causing him to feel a tingling pain in his left wrist.Then, as people gathered around to check the hose, he heard a relieved remark, as if to say: Fortunately, the liquid hasn't come out yet.Then, the nurse started to deal with Yun Tianming's bleeding left wrist.

There was only one person left on the other side of the glass screen, but she lit up the whole world for Yun Tianming. She was Cheng Xin.

On Yun Tianming's chest, he could clearly feel Cheng Xin's tears dripping onto his clothes and seeping in. When he first saw Cheng Xin, he felt that she had hardly changed. Only now did he notice that her original shawl hair had changed into neck-length short hair, gracefully bent.Even now, he didn't have the courage to brush the hair that had haunted him so much.

He is such a waste, but at this time, he is already in heaven.

The long silence is like the tranquility of heaven, Yun Tianming wishes this tranquility to last forever.You can't save me, he said to Cheng Xin in his heart, I will follow your advice and give up euthanasia, but the result is the same.You take the star I sent you to find happiness.

Cheng Xin seemed to have heard the words in his heart, she slowly raised her head, their eyes met so closely for the first time, closer than in his dreams, her beautiful eyes that were especially sparkling with tears broke his heart .

But then, Cheng Xin said something completely unexpected: "Tianming, do you know? The euthanasia law was passed for you."

[Crisis Era 1-4 years, Cheng Xin]

When the Three-Body Crisis broke out, Cheng Xin had just finished her studies and started working, joining the research team that developed engines for the new generation of Long March rockets.This is an important and core place in the eyes of others, but Cheng Xin's enthusiasm for her profession has long faded.She gradually realized that chemical-powered rockets are like the big smokestacks in the early days of the industrial revolution. At that time, poets praised the forest-like smokestacks, thinking that they were industrial civilization; now people also praise rockets, thinking that they represent the space age.In fact, relying on chemical rockets may never enter the real space age.The emergence of the Trisolaran crisis made this fact even more obvious. It is simply a dream to build a solar system defense system relying on chemical power.At one time, she deliberately kept her professional field from being too narrow, and took many courses in nuclear energy.After the crisis broke out, work in all aspects of the system was urgently accelerated, and the long-delayed first-generation aerospace aircraft project was also launched quickly. The research group she was in also undertook the preliminary design of the aerospace engine of the aerospace aircraft.Cheng Xin's professional prospects seem to be very bright, her ability is widely appreciated, and in aerospace systems, a large proportion of chief designers are majored in engines.But she firmly believes that the chemical aerospace engine is a sunset technology. In it, neither the individual nor the team can go very far. Stopping in the wrong direction is equal to moving forward, and her work means devoting herself to the wrong direction. very distressed.

Soon an opportunity arose to break free from the engine profession.The United Nations began to establish various agencies related to planetary defense. These agencies are different from the previous UN organizations. It is administratively led by the Planetary Defense Council (PDC), but it is mainly composed of personnel sent by various countries.Space Systems draws a large number of personnel of all ranks into such agencies.The leader talked to Cheng Xin and said that there was a post they wanted to transfer her to, as an aerospace technology assistant to the director of the Technical Planning Center of the Strategic Intelligence Bureau of the Planetary Defense Council.At present, the intelligence work against the enemy in the human world is mainly concentrated on the channel of the Trisolaran organization, trying to obtain information about the Trisolaran world through them.However, the Strategic Intelligence Agency of the Planetary Defense Council, referred to as PIA, is an intelligence agency that directly targets the Trisolaran fleet and its home planet for reconnaissance, and has a strong background in aerospace technology.Cheng Xin accepted the job without hesitation.

PIA is headquartered in a six-story old building not far from the United Nations Building. This building was built at the end of the 18th century. It is solid and thick, like a large piece of granite.Cheng Xin, who had flown across the ocean, walked into the building for the first time, and felt a chill in the castle.This place is completely different from the intelligence center of the earth world she imagined, more like a place where Byzantine conspiracy is produced in whispers.

The building was empty, and she was the first to report.Among a pile of newly unpacked office equipment and cardboard boxes in the office, she met Mikhail Vadim, director of the PIA Technical Planning Center, a burly and strong Russian in his 40s, with a gurgling voice. It took Cheng Xin a long time to realize that he was speaking English.Sitting on the cardboard box, he complained to Cheng Xin that he had been an aerospace professional for more than ten years, and he didn't need any aerospace technical assistants. All countries tried their best to send people to PIA, but they couldn't bear the money.Thinking that there was a young girl in front of him, he comforted Cheng Xin, who was a little disappointed, and said that if this institution made history in the future—this is entirely possible, although it may not be a good history—then the two of them were the first to come. people.

Cheng Xin was a little happier when she met her colleague, and she asked the director what he had done professionally. Vadim said lightly that he had participated in the failure of the former Soviet Union's "Buran" space shuttle in the last century. Design, and later served as the deputy chief designer of a certain type of cargo spacecraft, and later his qualifications were somewhat vague, saying that he had worked in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for two years, and then went to "a certain department" to engage in "the kind of work we are doing now." .He told Cheng Xin that it was best not to inquire about the work experience of the colleagues who came later.

"The chief is here too. His office is upstairs. Go and meet him, but don't waste too much of his time," Vadim said.

Walking into the director's spacious office, a strong smell of cigars hits his face.The first thing that caught Cheng Xin's attention was the large oil painting on the wall. Most of the vast picture was occupied by the sky covered with lead clouds and the gloomy snowy field. A piece of dark stuff, looking closely, it is a dirty building, most of which are low-rise board houses, with a few two- and three-story European-style buildings in between.Judging from the river and other terrain in the front of the frame, this may be New York in the early 18th century.The painting gave Cheng Xin the greatest feeling of being cold, but it fit the image of the person sitting under the painting.There is a smaller oil painting next to this painting. The main body of the picture is a classical style sword with a golden gauntlet. The blade is sharp and sharp. It is held in a hand covered with bronze armor. to the forearm; the hand with the sword was lifting from the blue water a wreath of red, white, and yellow flowers.The color tone of this painting was the opposite of that of the larger painting. It was gorgeous and bright, but it concealed an ominous and weirdness. Cheng Xin noticed that there were obvious bloodstains on the white flowers of the corolla.

The director of the PIA, Thomas Wade, was much younger than Cheng Xin had imagined. He looked younger than Vadim, and he was also more handsome than the latter, with classic lines on his face.Cheng Xin later discovered that this classical feeling mostly came from his expressionless face, like a cold statue lifted out of the oil painting behind.He didn't look busy, the big desk in front was empty, without computers and files, and he was concentrating on studying the butt of the cigar in his hand. When Cheng Xin came in, he just glanced up, and then continued to study the butt.When Cheng Xin finished introducing herself and asked him for more advice in the future, he raised his head. Her initial impression of that gaze was tired and lazy, but there was a hint of sharpness in the depths that made her uneasy.There was a smile on his face, but it didn't make Cheng Xin feel warm and relaxed at all. The smile was like ice water oozing from a crack in the ice on the frozen river, slowly spreading on the ice.Cheng Xin tried to smile back, but Vader's first words froze her smile and her whole being:
"Would you sell your mother to a brothel?" Vader asked.

Cheng Xin shook her head in horror, not to mean that she would not sell her mother to a brothel, but to wonder if she heard it wrong.But Vader waved his cigar holder and said, "Thank you, go about your business."

After hearing Cheng Xin's meeting with the director this time, Vadim laughed it off, "Hehe, this is a sentence...a sentence...it's just a sentence that has been circulated in the industry. It may have originated during World War II. Veterans often use it to make fun of it. Newbies, it says: We are the only industry on earth whose core is deceit and betrayal. For some accepted norms, we should be appropriately...how should I say...flexible. PIA is composed of two parts, one part is A professional like you, and another part from the intelligence and secret warfare departments of the army, these two kinds of people think and behave very differently-fortunately, I am familiar with both, and I will help you to adapt to each other."

"But we are directly facing the Trisolaran world. This is not traditional intelligence work," Cheng Xin said.

"Some things just don't change."

Follow-up personnel arrived one after another, mainly from the permanent members of the Planetary Defense Council.Everyone is polite to each other, but full of suspicion and mistrust.Professionals look like they have never been in touch with each other, and they are always afraid of being stolen by others; intelligence personnel are very active and friendly, always wanting to steal something.As Vadim said, these people are more interested in intelligence with each other than in spying on Trisolaran.

Two days later, the first plenary meeting of PIA was held. In fact, the personnel were still not present at this time.In addition to Wade, PIA also has three deputy directors from the UK, France and China.Deputy Chief Yu Weimin from China spoke first. Cheng Xin didn't know what department he was from in the country. He belonged to the kind of person who can only remember his face after seeing him three times. Fortunately, his speech was not as long and procrastinated as domestic officials, and was very concise. Clear, but speaking of clichés from when such institutions were founded.He said that all of you present here are essentially state dispatched personnel, and are obviously under dual leadership. PIA does not require or expect them to put their loyalty to this institution above national responsibility, but given that PIA is engaged in the defense of human The great cause of civilization, I hope you can strike a better balance between the two.Since the PIA is directly facing the alien invaders, it should undoubtedly be the most united group.

When Deputy Director Yu started to speak, Cheng Xin noticed that Wade was kicking on the table leg with one foot, and slowly pushed himself away from the conference table, as if he was staying out of the way.After each official asked him to speak after finishing his speech, he waved his hand and declined.In the end, there were no more officials to say, so he opened his mouth.He pointed to the uninstalled office equipment and packing boxes piled up in the conference room, "these things," obviously referring to the transactional work when the organization was established, "please do it yourself hard, don't use them to take up my time , and can’t occupy their time.” He pointed to Vadim, “Thank you! Please stay with the aerospace professional personnel from the Technology Planning Center, and the meeting is adjourned.”

There were more than a dozen people left, and the venue was much quieter.As soon as the old oak door of the meeting room was closed, Vader spit out a sentence like a bullet: "Everyone, PIA is going to launch a probe to the Trisolaran fleet."

Everyone was dumbfounded at first, and then looked at each other.Cheng Xin was also very surprised. Of course, she hoped to get rid of chores and enter professional work as soon as possible, but she didn't expect it to be so fast and straightforward.At present, PIA has just been established, and none of the branches in various countries and regions has been established, so it does not meet the conditions for formal work.But what shocked Cheng Xin the most was the idea Vader proposed, no matter from a technical or other perspective, it was incredible.

"Are there any specific indicators?" Vadim asked, the only one who remained calm.

"I have consulted privately with representatives of the permanent members on this idea, but it has not been formally brought up at the PDC meeting. As far as I know, the permanent members are most interested in one indicator, which is a must for them to agree to invest in. Compromised death conditions: Let the detector reach one percent of the speed of light. Other countries have different opinions on other indicators, but they can all be negotiated at a formal meeting."

"That is to say, if the acceleration phase is considered, but the deceleration is not considered, the probe will reach the Oort Nebula in two to three centuries, where it will contact and detect the Trisolaran fleet that has begun to decelerate?" A person from NASA [4 ]’s adviser said, “This, it seems, should be the thing to do in the future.”

"Future technological advancement is now an uncertain thing, and if humans have been at a snail's pace in space, we should start climbing sooner rather than later," Vedder said.

Cheng Xin thought that there might be political factors in it. This was the first human action to directly contact an alien civilization, and it was crucial to the status of PIA.

"However, according to the current speed of human spaceflight, it will take 3 to 400 years to reach the Oort Nebula. If the probe is launched now, the enemy fleet may not fly out of the house when it arrives [-] years later."

"So one percent of the speed of light is an indicator that must be achieved."

"Increase the current space speed by a hundred times? This is absolutely impossible at present."

Vader firmly slammed his fist on the table, "Don't forget that we have resources! In the past, spaceflight was just a marginal business, but now it has entered the mainstream, so we have huge resources that were unimaginable before! We use resources to change the principle, Focus enormous resources on that tiny thing and propel it to one hundredth of the speed of light with brute force!"

Vadim looked up instinctively, and Vader was keenly aware of what he was looking at, "Don't worry, there are no reporters or outsiders."

Vadim shook his head with a smile, "I don't want to offend you. The word about using resources to change the principle will make people laugh. It's okay to talk about it here, but don't say it at the PDC meeting."

"I know you're already laughing at me."

Everyone was silent, and everyone just wanted this discussion to end quickly.Wade glanced across the meeting room, and suddenly said, "Ah, not everyone, she didn't laugh at me." He raised his hand and pointed at Cheng Xin, "Cheng, what do you think?"

Under Vader's sharp gaze, Cheng Xin felt that what Vader was pointing at her was not a finger, but a sword.She looked around blankly, is it her turn to speak here?

"We should promote MD here." Wade said.

Cheng Xin was even more at a loss, MD, Mai Dao?Medical PhD?

"You are Chinese, don't you know MD?"

Cheng Xin asked for help and looked at the other five Chinese present, they were also at a loss.

"During the Korean War, the U.S. military discovered that your captured soldiers knew so much. You handed over the combat plan to the grassroots troops for discussion, hoping to get more good ideas from the soldiers' discussions. This is MD. Of course, in the future, you will be captured. We don't want you to know that much when you're captured."

There were several laughs in the venue, and now Cheng Xin knew that MD was "Military Democracy".Participants also endorsed the proposal.These technical elites in the aerospace industry certainly don't expect to hear anything valuable from a technical assistant, but most of them are men, at least in the process, they can admire her without any scruples.Cheng Xin tried her best to keep her dress dignified and low-key, but it didn't make her attractive.

Cheng Xin said, "I have an idea..."

"Using resources to change the principle?" An elderly French woman named Ke Manlin said in a contemptuous tone. She is a senior consultant from the European Space Agency. She felt very uncomfortable when she noticed the men's eyes focused on Cheng Xin. uncomfortable.

"Bypass the principle." Cheng Xin nodded politely to Ke Manlin, "At present, the resource that is most likely to be used, I think, is nuclear weapons. If there is no technological breakthrough, that is the largest energy body that humans can put into space. Imagine There is such a spaceship or probe with a huge radiation sail, which is a membrane similar to a solar sail that can be propelled by radiation; not far behind the radiation sail, nuclear energy is continuously generated at certain intervals. explode……"

There were a few more laughs, and Ke Manlin laughed the loudest, "Honey, you provided us with a cartoon-style scene: a spaceship carrying a large number of nuclear bombs, with huge sails, and a Schwarzenegger-like It's really cool to have a man as strong as a grid throw nukes over the stern of a boat and let them go off there." Amidst more and more laughter, she continued, "You'd better do it all over again freshman year Homework, calculate the thrust-to-weight ratio [5]."

"The principle of change didn't work, but the savagery did, and it's a pity that a beauty like you did it," said another consultant, pushing the laughter to a crescendo.

"The nuclear bomb is not on the spaceship." Cheng Xin said calmly. Her words were like covering the surface of a gong with a hand, which stopped the laughter around him. "The spaceship is composed of sails and detectors, and it is as light as a piece of Feathers, are easily accelerated by the radiation from a nuclear explosion."

The venue fell silent. Everyone was wondering where the nuclear bomb was, but no one asked.When everyone was laughing just now, Vader had been sitting there with a frozen face, but now, that kind of ice-like smile slowly emerged on his face.

Cheng Xin took a dozen paper cups from the water dispenser behind her, and placed them one by one on the table at equal distances, "The nuclear bombs are distributed along the first short flight path of the spacecraft, and they are launched there in advance using traditional propulsion methods." She moved along the row of cups with a pen, "The moment the spaceship passed each nuclear bomb, the nuclear bomb exploded behind the sail, generating propulsion."

The eyes of the men moved away from Cheng Xin one by one, and now they finally began to seriously consider what she said, and for the time being, their admiration for her was temporarily ignored. Only Ke Manlin kept staring at Cheng Xin, as if they didn't know her.

"We can call this method route propulsion. This part of the route is called the propulsion segment. It only accounts for a very small part of the entire route. Estimated by one thousand propulsion nuclear bombs, it can be distributed in the five astronomical distances from the earth to Jupiter. On the unit, it is even shorter, and the propulsion segment is compressed within the orbit of Mars, which is achievable with current technology."

Sporadic voices of discussion appeared in the silence, and gradually became denser, like sporadic raindrops turning into heavy rain.

"You don't seem to have this idea just now, do you?" Vader, who had been listening intently to the discussion, asked suddenly.

Cheng Xin smiled at him and said, "In the past, there was such a concept in the aerospace industry, called the pulse propulsion method."

Ke Manlin said: "Dr. Cheng, we all know the concept of pulse propulsion, but the propulsion source is loaded on the spacecraft. It is indeed your creation to place the propulsion source on the route. At least I have never heard of this idea."

The discussion that calmed down a bit continued, and soon surpassed the heat just now. These people are like a pack of hungry wolves meeting a large piece of fresh meat.

Vader patted the table, "Don't get entangled in the details now. We are not doing a feasibility study, but discussing the feasibility of conducting a feasibility study on it, to see if there are any obstacles in the big picture."

After a brief silence, Vadim said: "The big advantage of this solution is that it is easy to start."

The people here are all smart people, and they quickly understood the meaning of Vadim's words: the first step of the plan is to send a large number of nuclear bombs into the earth's orbit. China's "Peace Guardian", Russia's "Topol" and China's "Dongfeng" can all directly send nuclear bombs into low-earth orbit, and even medium-range ballistic missiles plus booster rockets can do this.This approach is much cheaper than dismantling missiles and nuclear warheads on the ground, the solution to the massive nuclear arms reduction agreement reached after the crisis emerged.

"Okay, let's stop discussing Cheng's route advancement now. Other plans?" Vader glanced at everyone except Cheng Xin with a questioning look.

No one spoke, and some people hesitated to speak, obviously feeling that it was difficult for their own ideas to compete with Cheng Xin.Everyone's eyes gradually focused on her again, but the eyes were different from last time.

"This kind of meeting will be held twice again. I hope there will be more plans and options. Before that, the route promotion plan will be immediately carried out a feasibility study, so let's give it a code name."

"Every explosion of a nuclear bomb will increase the speed of the spacecraft by one level, much like climbing a ladder, it is called the ladder plan." Vadim said, "Except for one percent of the speed of light, the feasibility study of this plan One more important metric is needed: the quality of the detector."

"Radiation sails can be made very thin and light. According to the existing material technology, the area of ​​[-] square kilometers can be controlled at about [-] kilograms, which should be enough." A Russian expert said that he once presided over the That failed solar sail experiment.

"That leaves the detector itself." Everyone's eyes focused on one person, who was the chief designer of the "Cassini" detector.

"Considering the basic detection equipment, as well as the size of the antenna and the mass of the isotope power source required to send back an identifiable signal from the Oort Nebula, the total weight should be two to three tons."

"No!" Vadim shook his head resolutely, "It must be as Cheng said: light as a feather."

"Compress the detection function to the minimum, about one ton, which is a bit too little, and I don't know if it will work."

"Let's go to the left, and including the sail, the total weight is one ton." Vader said, "It should be light enough to push one ton with the power of all human beings."

For the next week, Cheng Xin slept almost all on the plane.She is now part of a team led by Vadim, traveling among the four space entities of the United States, China, Russia and the European Union, arranging and coordinating the feasibility study of the ladder plan.Cheng Xin has been to more places this week than she expected to go in her lifetime, but she can only see the outside scenery from the car windows and the meeting room windows.It was originally planned that major space agencies would form a feasibility study group, but this was not possible. Feasibility studies can only be carried out by space agencies of various countries. The advantage of this is that the results of various countries can be compared and more accurate results can be obtained. However, The workload of PIA has increased a lot.Cheng Xin felt an unprecedented enthusiasm for work, because this was her proposal after all.

PIA soon received four preliminary feasibility study reports from the United States, China, Russia and the European Space Agency, and the results were very close.First of all, there is a little good news: the area of ​​the radiation sail can be greatly reduced to only 25 square kilometers, and with further optimization of materials, its mass can be reduced to 180 kilograms.Then there is a big bad news: in order to achieve the [-]% speed of light required by PIA, the overall mass of the detector must be reduced to one-fifth of the plan, which is [-] kilograms. The mass of the sail is removed and left for the detection And the communicator is only [-] kg away.

After hearing this information at the briefing, Vader said indifferently: "Don't be depressed, because I have brought even worse news: In the most recent meeting of the Planetary Defense Council, the proposal for the ladder plan was rejected. "

Four of the seven permanent members voted against the ladder plan, and the reasons for the veto were surprisingly consistent: unlike the concerns of PIA's aerospace professionals, they had little interest in the way of propulsion, mainly because they believed that the detection effect of the probe was extremely limited , in the words of the representative of the United States: "It is almost equal to zero." Because the probe has no deceleration capability, even considering the deceleration of the Trisolaran fleet, the two sides will pass each other at a relative speed of at least 5.00% of the speed of light (if the probe is not decelerated In the case of capture by an enemy ship), the detection window is very narrow.Due to the quality limitation of the detector, it is impossible to carry out active detection such as radar, and only passive detection of information reception can be carried out.The receivable information is mainly electromagnetic waves, and the enemy's communication must have long ago not used electromagnetic waves, but neutrinos or gravitational waves, which are currently beyond the reach of human technology.There is another important reason: due to the existence of sophons, the detector plan is completely transparent to the enemy from beginning to end, making the chance of success even slimmer.In short, compared with the huge investment in the plan, the gains are very small, and it is more of a symbolic meaning, and the major powers are not interested in it.What they are most interested in is the technology to advance the detector to one percent of the speed of light. It is because of this that the other three permanent members voted for it.

"They were right," Vader said.

Everyone fell silent and mourned for the ladder plan.Of course Cheng Xin was the most uncomfortable, but she comforted herself that as a young man with no qualifications, she took this first step very well, far exceeding her expectations.

"Cheng, you are very unhappy." Vader looked at Cheng Xin and said, "You obviously think that we are going to retreat from the ladder plan."

People looked at Vader in surprise, and the meaning conveyed by their eyes was very clear: what else can they do if they don't retreat?
"We will not retreat." Vader stood up and said as he walked around the conference table, "From now on, no matter if it is a ladder plan or any other plan, you can only retreat if I order you to retreat. Before that, you can only retreat. Can move forward." He suddenly changed his usual calm and indifferent tone, and roared hoarsely like a wild beast, "Forward! Forward!! Forward by whatever means!!!"

At this moment, Wade was right behind Cheng Xin, and she felt like a volcano was erupting behind her, she was so frightened that she tightened her shoulders and almost screamed.

"So what's the next step?" Vadim asked.

"Send someone there."

When Vader uttered these words, he resumed his icy tone. Compared with the earth-shattering roar just now, this short sentence was too unobtrusive, like a lingering sound that slipped out.It took a long time for people to realize that what Vadim was talking about was the next step Vadim asked, the next step of the ladder plan, not to send this person to the PDC or other places close by, but to send this person out of the solar system, to the One light-year away in the cold Oort Nebula to scout the Trisolaran Fleet!

Vader repeated his usual action, pushing himself away from the conference table with a kick of the table legs, and waited to listen to their discussion.But no one spoke, the same as when he first proposed launching a probe to the Trisolaran Fleet a week ago, everyone was chewing hard on his ideas, unraveling the ball of thread he threw.Soon, they discovered that the idea was not as absurd as it first appeared.

Human hibernation technology has matured, and this person can complete the voyage in hibernation. The mass of a person is calculated at 110 kilograms, and the remaining [-] kilograms are equipped with hibernation equipment and a single cabin (it can be as simple as a coffin).But what about the future?When encountering the Trisolaran Fleet two centuries later, who revives him (her), and what can he (she) do after awakening?
These thoughts are running in everyone's mind, no one said it, the meeting room is still silent, but Vader seems to have been reading everyone's thoughts, when most people think of this step, he said:
"Send a human into the heart of an enemy."

"This requires the Trisolaran fleet to intercept the probe, or to intercept the person." Vadim said.

"It's very possible, isn't it?" Vader said "Isn't it?" He rolled his eyes up, as if speaking to some other people above.Everyone in the meeting room knew that Sophon was floating around like a ghost at this time, and there were some "attendees" listening to their speeches in that distant world four light-years away.Everyone forgets about it from time to time, and when they suddenly remember it, there's an eerie sense of smallness in addition to fear, feeling like one of a bunch of ants being stared at by an urchin with a magnifying glass.Thinking of any plan that one makes, the enemy always sees it before the superior, and any self-confidence will collapse. Human beings have to struggle to adapt to this kind of war that is fully transparent in the eyes of the enemy.

But this time, Vader seems to have somewhat changed the situation.In his vision, the complete transparency of the plan to the enemy is a favorable factor.For the one being launched out of the solar system, they undoubtedly know the precise orbital parameters and can easily intercept it if they choose.Although the existence of sophons has given them a thorough understanding of the human world, the curiosity to directly study a living human specimen may still exist, and the Trisolaran Fleet may intercept the hibernating man.

In the traditional human intelligence warfare, it is meaningless to send a spy whose identity is fully exposed into the enemy's interior, but this is not a traditional war. It is a great feat for a human being to enter the interior of the alien fleet, even if The same goes for his (her) identity and mission being exposed.What he (she) can do there is not what needs to be considered now, as long as he (she) successfully enters there, there are infinite possibilities; and the transparent thinking and strategy defects of the Trisolaran make this possibility more attractive.

Send a human into the heart of an enemy.

"Once Upon a Time Beyond Time" (excerpt)
Human Hibernation - Humans Walk Upright for the First Time in Time
A new technology may look completely different from a sociological perspective, but few people look at it from this perspective when it is in conception or when it is just born.For example, a computer was originally just a tool to improve computing efficiency, so that some people think that five computers in the world are enough.The same is true of hibernation technology. Before it became a reality, people believed that it only provided terminally ill patients with a future cure opportunity; thinking further, it was just a means of long-distance interstellar navigation.But when this technology is about to become a reality, a mere glimpse of it from a sociological perspective reveals that this may be something that completely changes the face of human civilization.

All this is based on a belief: tomorrow will be better.

In fact, people have this belief only in the last two or three centuries. Earlier, this idea might have been ridiculous.For example, compared with the ancient Roman era thousands of years ago in Europe, the Middle Ages were not only poorer materially, but also more depressed spiritually; as for China, the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties were much worse than the Han Dynasty, and the Yuan and Ming Dynasties were much worse than the Tang and Song Dynasties.After the Industrial Revolution, the human world showed an uninterrupted upward trend, and people's confidence in the future was gradually built up. This confidence reached its climax on the eve of the Three-Body Crisis.At this time, the Cold War had passed for some time. Although there were unpleasant things such as environmental problems, they were only unpleasant. Human beings have made rapid progress in material enjoyment, and they are in a state of elation and horseshoe disease. If people predict ten years from now , the results may be mixed, but for 100 years, few people doubt that it is heaven.Determining this is easy, just look at what life was like 100 years ago.

So, few would want to stay in the present if they could hibernate.

Examining hibernation technology from a sociological point of view, people find that, as a biological breakthrough, human cloning is really insignificant compared with the troubles caused by hibernation-the latter problems are only ethical, and only Christian culture can feel headaches ; but the hidden danger of hibernation is real and affects the entire human world.Once this technology is industrialized, some people will go to the future paradise, and the rest can only build a paradise for them in the disheartened reality.But most worrisome is one of the future's greatest lures: immortality.With the advancement of molecular biology, people believe that immortality will definitely become a reality in one to two centuries, so those lucky people who hibernate now have stepped on the first step of immortality.In this way, for the first time in human history, even death is unfair, and the consequences are really unpredictable.

This situation is very similar to the escapeism after the outbreak of the crisis, so that later historians call it pre-escapeism or time-escapeism.Before the crisis, governments of various countries adopted stricter suppression measures against hibernation technology than human cloning.

But the three-body crisis changed everything. Overnight, the future changed from heaven to hell. Even for terminally ill patients, the future has lost its appeal. Maybe when they wake up, the world is already in flames, and they can’t even take painkillers.

After the crisis emerged, the restrictions on hibernation technology were fully lifted, and this technology soon entered the practical stage. For the first time, human beings have the ability to greatly span time.

In order to investigate hibernation technology, Cheng Xin came to Sanya, Hainan.The largest hibernation research center of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences is actually located in this hot place. At this time, the inland is in the middle of winter, but here is as comfortable as spring.The hibernation center is a snow-white building shaded by green trees. Currently there are more than a dozen people hibernating inside, but they are all short-term experimenters. There is not a single hibernator who really wants to cross the century.

When Cheng Xin asked if it was possible to reduce the mass of a person's hibernation equipment to one hundred kilograms, the person in charge of the center burst out laughing: One hundred kilograms?One hundred tons is difficult!Of course, the person in charge knew that his words were a bit exaggerated. During the visit and introduction that followed, Cheng Xin learned that hibernation did not freeze people like ordinary people imagined. Its temperature was not too low, around minus [-] degrees Celsius. During hibernation, the blood in the human body is replaced by an unfrozen liquid. Under the action of the extracorporeal circulation system, the main organs of the human body still maintain the minimum physiological activities, but this activity is extremely weak and slow. "It's like computer standby." The person in charge said.All the equipment for a hibernating person, including the hibernation chamber, extracorporeal life support system and cooling equipment, has a total weight of about three tons.

When discussing the miniaturization of the equipment with the center's technicians, Cheng Xin suddenly discovered an amazing fact: If the human body temperature in hibernation is to be maintained at minus [-] degrees Celsius, then in the cold outer space, the hibernation cabin does not need Cool, but heat!Especially during the long voyage away from the sun outside the orbit of Neptune, the space temperature is close to absolute zero, and maintaining minus [-] degrees Celsius is almost like burning a boiler. Considering the endurance time of one to two centuries, it is most feasible to use isotope batteries for heating, then In other words, the [-] tons mentioned by the person in charge is not too much of an exaggeration!

At the report meeting back at the headquarters, after summarizing the survey results from all parties, people once again fell into deep depression. Unlike last time, they had expectations for Vader.

"Why are you looking at me like this? I'm not God!" Vader scanned the venue and said, "What did your country send you here for? Surely it's not retirement and just reporting bad news? I have no way to solve this The problem is your business!" After he finished speaking, he kicked the legs of the table vigorously, and amidst the harsh sound, the chair slid farther than ever before, and at the same time, he violated the rule of no smoking in the conference room for the first time, and lit a cigar .

Eyes were turned to the new hibernation technologists, who were silent, not thinking, but with a kind of professional dignity: these bigots were demanding something impossible. do.

"Maybe..." Cheng Xin spat out two words timidly, and looked around hesitantly, she was still not used to MD.

"Forward, forward by any means!" Vader spat the words at her along with the smoke.

"Maybe...it's not necessary to send a living person," Cheng Xin said.

People looked at each other in blank dismay, and then looked at the hibernation experts inquiringly. They all shook their heads, saying that they didn't know anything about not sending away living people.

Cheng Xin went on to explain: "Quickly freeze people to ultra-low temperatures, below minus 110 degrees Celsius, and then launch. No life support and heating systems are needed. There is only a single-person space capsule, which can be made very small and thin. Adding the human body, the total mass About [-] kilograms should be enough. This person is definitely in a state of death for humans, but what about Trisolarans?"

A hibernation expert said: "The biggest obstacle to resurrecting a rapidly frozen human body is to prevent the destruction of the cell structure during the thawing process, just like frozen tofu, which becomes spongy after thawing, oh, you probably have never eaten frozen tofu. ?” The expert from China asked the Westerners present, and everyone said that even if they hadn’t eaten it, they knew what was going on. “As for the Trisolarans, maybe they have some way to prevent this kind of damage, such as In a short period of time, one millisecond, or even one microsecond, the entire human body can be thawed to normal body temperature at the same time, which is impossible for human beings. Of course we can achieve one millisecond thawing, but at the same time the human body will be vaporized by high temperature.”

Cheng Xin didn't pay much attention to what he said, and now her thoughts were focused on one point: who would be the person who was sent into space after being frozen to minus 200 degrees Celsius.She tried to move forward by any means, but her steps were still trembling.

"Very good." Wade nodded to Cheng Xin. In her memory, this was the first time he praised a subordinate.

The current PDC permanent council meeting will consider the latest plan of the ladder plan. Judging from the private consultations between Vader and representatives of various countries, the expectations are very optimistic, because the essence of this plan is actually the first direct contact between human beings and extraterrestrial civilizations. Meaning is a level above mere detectors.In particular, the human who entered the Trisolaran Fleet can be said to be a bomb implanted in the heart of the enemy. Using his or her absolute superiority in strategy, he (she) may change the direction of the war.

Since the Special UN General Assembly announced the wall facing plan to the world tonight, the PDC meeting was postponed for more than an hour, and the people of PIA could only wait in the hall outside the venue.In previous meetings, only Vader and Vadim had been able to enter the PDC room, and the others had to wait outside, only to be called in when the consultation involved one of their specialties.But this time, Wade asked Cheng Xin to go to the meeting with them, which was unusual for a low-level assistant.

When the special session of the General Assembly ended, they saw a man surrounded by reporters swarming up. That man was obviously the just-announced Wallfacer. The people of PIA were all hanging on the fate of the Staircase Project, and they had little interest in it, only one or two people went out to watch.When the famous assassination happened, no one here heard the gunshots, only saw the sudden riot outside through the glass door.Cheng Xin ran out with the others, and was immediately dazzled by the searchlights of the aerial helicopter.

"Hey hey hey! A Wallfacer was killed just now!" A colleague who went out earlier ran over and shouted, "I heard people who saw him say that he was shot several times and blew his head off!"

"Who are the Wallfacers?" Vader asked coldly, the incident in front of him still didn't arouse his great interest.

"I don't know too well. I heard that three of them are candidates who have attracted attention. Only this one, the one who was killed," he pointed at Cheng Xin, "is your compatriot, but no one knows him, an unknown junior .”

"There are no unknown juniors in this extraordinary era." Vader said, "Any ordinary person may be entrusted with important tasks at any time, and any prominent person may be replaced at any time." When he said the last two sentences, he looked at Cheng Xin when he said the first sentence. , looked at Vadim in the last sentence, and then he was called aside by a PDC meeting secretary.

"He's threatening me." Vadim whispered to Cheng Xin beside him, "When he lost his temper yesterday, he said that you could replace me."

"Vadim, I..."

Vadim raised a hand to Cheng Xin, and the light from the searchlight passed through his palm, revealing the blood inside. "He's not kidding. The personnel operations of this organization don't need to follow the rules. But you are calm, down-to-earth, hard-working, and not lacking in creativity, especially your sense of responsibility, which goes beyond the work level. I saw it in the girl. Cheng, really, I'm glad you can replace me, but you can't replace me." He looked up at the chaos around him, "Because you won't sell your mother to a brothel, in this respect you Still a kid, and I hope you always will be."

Someone stepped between them in a hurry, it was Ke Manlin, holding a document in her hand, Cheng Xin looked at it as a stage report of the feasibility study of the ladder plan.She held the document up for a few seconds, and instead of handing it to anyone, she slammed it on the ground.

"Damn!" Ke Manlin yelled angrily. Even amidst the overwhelming roar of the helicopter, several people around her turned their heads to look, "Pigs, they are all pigs! Pigs that only roll in the muddy puddle of pleasure!"

"Who are you talking about?" Vadim asked in surprise.

"Everyone! All mankind! We landed on the moon half a century ago, but now we still can't get anything out, can't do anything!"

Cheng Xin picked up the documents on the floor and looked through them with Vadim.Sure enough, it was a phase report of the feasibility study. It was written very professionally, so nothing could be seen at a glance.Vader also came back at this time, the secretary of the PDC meeting had just informed him that the meeting would start in 15 minutes.Seeing the director, Ke Manlin calmed down a little.

"NASA has completed two thrust tests of small nuclear explosions in space. The results are in this report. In order to reach the rated speed, the overall mass of the aircraft is still ridiculously large, and it needs to be reduced to one-tenth of the current level. One-tenth! That means there are only ten kilograms left! They even sent good news that the radiation sail can be reduced to ten kilograms, and the payload, they are very merciful and say that there can be half a kilogram, but no more , because the increase of the load will inevitably lead to the thickening of the sail line, and the increase of the load by one gram will increase the sail line by three grams, making it impossible to reach one percent of the speed of light. So we only have half a kilogram, ahaha, half a kilogram! Just like ours As the angel said: Light as a feather."

Vader smiled and nodded, "We can let Monielle go, my mother's cat, but she has to lose half of her weight."

When everyone else is happy working, Vader is always in a gloomy state; when everyone is desperate, he is light-hearted and humorous, always like this.At first Cheng Xin thought it was the demeanor of a leader, but Vadim said that she doesn’t know how to judge people, and it has nothing to do with leadership demeanor or morale boosting, it’s just because Vader likes to see others despair, including himself even in despair .There was a pleasure for him in appreciating human despair.Vadim is a very honest person, but Cheng Xin was a little surprised to make such a dark evaluation of Vader, but now it seems that Vader is indeed appreciating the despair of the three of them.

Cheng Xin felt that her body had lost its support, and the fatigue of many days was showing. She sat softly on the lawn.

"Stand up," Vader said.

For the first time, Cheng Xin didn't listen to his order and just sat down. "I'm really tired," she said dully.

"You, and you," Wade pointed at Cheng Xin and Ke Manlin, "Such senseless loss of control will not be allowed in the future, you can only move forward, by any means!"

"There is no way ahead, just give up." Vadim looked at Vader and said earnestly.

"You think there is no way because you haven't learned to use unscrupulous methods."

"What about the meeting, cancel the agenda?"

"No, the agenda is on schedule. There is no time to prepare the papers, we can only dictate."

"Diculate what? A half-kilogram detector or a five-hundred-gram cat?"

"neither."

Wade's last words made the eyes of Vadim and Ke Manlin light up, and Cheng Xin regained her vitality in an instant, jumping up from the lawn like a spring.

At this moment, the ambulance carrying Luo Ji, who was shot, drove away surrounded by military police cars and helicopters, and the sea of ​​lights in New York returned to light.On this bright background, Vader is like a black ghost, only the cold light in his eyes appears and disappears from time to time.

"Only brains," he said.

"Once Upon a Time Beyond Time" (excerpt)
Fire Dragon Water, Repeater Crossbow and Ladder Plan

Such a weapon once appeared in the Ming Dynasty of China, which consisted of a mother arrow (fire dragon) with multiple small rockets inside and a booster rocket on the mother arrow.The weapon is launched from the surface of the sea, with a booster rocket propelling the mother arrow out of the water to fly adjoining the water, and the mother arrow shoots out a small built-in rocket in flight.In addition, continuous bows and arrows also appeared in ancient wars, which are recorded in both the East and the West. The Chinese records first appeared in the Three Kingdoms period.

The above two weapons combine backward technologies in an advanced way, trying to produce capabilities that seem to be ahead of the times.

Looking back at the ladder plan at the beginning of the crisis era, it is such a thing.It tried to use the backward technology at that time to propel a very light payload to one percent of the speed of light. Such an aerospace speed would have required technology a century and a half later to achieve.

At this time, human probes have already flown out of the solar system and can land the probes on the satellites of Neptune, so the technology of deploying nuclear bombs on the propulsion section of the route is relatively mature.The difficulty is to control the flight path of the aircraft to precisely intersect with each nuclear bomb, as well as the detonation control of the nuclear bomb.

Each nuclear bomb must be detonated when the radiation sail just flies over it, and the distance varies from 3000 meters to ten kilometers, depending on the explosive yield of the nuclear bomb.As the speed of the sail increases, the control precision required is getting higher and higher, but even if the speed of the sail reaches one percent of the speed of light, the control precision is above the nanosecond level. With the technology at that time, it can still be achieved after hard work. of.

The aircraft itself does not have any power, and its sailing direction is completely controlled by the explosion position of the nuclear bomb. Each nuclear bomb on the route has a position control engine, which can be precisely positioned before the sail arrives. The distance between the two is only a few hundred meters when they cross. Adjusting this distance allows the explosive thrust to form different angles to the sail, which in turn controls the heading of the craft.

The radiation sail is a soft film that can only drag the payload behind the sail, which makes the entire aircraft look like a huge parachute placed horizontally along the direction of navigation. According to different equivalents, the nuclear explosion is 3000 meters to [-] meters behind the parachute. Happened at miles.In order to avoid the impact of nuclear explosion radiation on the space capsule, the sails are very long, so that the space capsule leans back as much as possible. This distance is as long as [-] kilometers. The surface of the space capsule is covered with evaporative cooling materials, which evaporate continuously during each nuclear explosion. , continuously reducing its own weight while cooling down.

If this super parachute lands on the earth, when its falling object touches the ground, the parachute itself is still in space at a height of [-] kilometers.Those sail cables will be made of nano-material "flying blades", only one-tenth the thickness of spider silk, invisible to the naked eye, weighing only eight grams per [-] kilometers, but strong enough to drag the space capsule when accelerating , and will not be cut off by nuclear radiation.

……

Fire dragons and repeating crossbows failed to play the role of two-stage missiles and machine guns. Similarly, the ladder plan could hardly bring mankind into a new era of spaceflight. It was just a desperate effort with the technology at the time.

The cluster launch of the "Peace Guardian" intercontinental missiles has been going on for half an hour, and the trails of the six missiles launched before overlap together, soaked in moonlight, like a silver road to heaven.From then on, every 5 minutes, a ball of fire rose up into the sky along the silver bridge, and the shadows of trees and people around moved like a second hand in its light.The first batch of thirty missiles will launch three hundred nuclear warheads, ranging in yield from 50 to 250 million kilotons, into Earth orbit.At the same time, in Russia and China, "Topol" and "Dongfeng" missiles are also being launched continuously.This looked like the end of the world, but Cheng Xin's professional eyes could tell from the curvature at the end of the road to heaven that this was not an intercontinental attack track, but a space launch track.Those things that could have killed hundreds of millions of people are now gone forever, using their huge energy to propel that feather to one hundredth of the speed of light.

Cheng Xin looked up at the sky with tears in her eyes, and every time the light was emitted, her tears were extraordinarily crystal clear.She said to herself time and time again in her heart: Even if it is only this step, the step-by-step plan is worth it.

But the two men next to them, Vader and Vadim, were indifferent to this magnificent scene, they didn't even bother to look up, they just smoked and talked about something indifferently, Cheng Xin knew what they were talking about.

Candidates for the ladder plan.

At that meeting of the permanent members of the PDC, for the first time, a proposal that had not yet been formed into a text was passed, and Cheng Xin also saw the eloquence of the usually taciturn Vader for the first time.He said that if Trisolarans could resurrect a deep-frozen human body, they would also be able to resurrect such a brain and communicate with it through some kind of external interface.For a civilization that can unfold protons into two dimensions and etch circuits on them, this is not a very difficult task.In a sense, a brain is no different from a complete person, it has the consciousness of the person, the spirit of the person, the memory of the person, and especially, the strategy of the person.If successful, this is still a bomb that enters the heart of the enemy.Although the permanent members of the Council do not consider the brain to be equivalent to a person, they have no other choice, especially since a large part of their interest in the ladder plan lies in the technology that advances to one percent of the speed of light, and the proposal was approved by five votes Passed in favor, with two abstentions.

The ladder plan was launched in an all-round way, and the difficulty of selecting candidates gradually emerged.For Cheng Xin, she didn't even have the courage to imagine that person. Even if his (her) brain could really be intercepted and revived, the future life (if that can be called life) would be very difficult for him (her). Saying that too would be a nightmare.Every time she thinks of this, her heart feels like being clenched tightly by an ice hand that is also at an ultra-low temperature of more than minus 200 degrees Celsius.But the other leaders and executors of the ladder plan do not have such psychological obstacles as hers. If PIA were a country's intelligence agency, the matter would have been resolved long ago.However, the PIA is essentially just an intelligence joint meeting composed of the permanent members of the PDC. At the same time, the ladder plan is completely transparent to the international community, so this matter has become extremely sensitive.

The key problem is this: before sending out this person, he or she must be killed.

As the dust settled from the fears at the beginning of the crisis, another voice gradually became the mainstream of international politics: to prevent the crisis from being used as a weapon to destroy democracy. People in PIA have received repeated instructions from their own government to be cautious in selecting candidates for the ladder plan, and must not let others take advantage of it.

Faced with this difficulty, Wade also proposed his own solution: push through the PDC, which then passes through the United Nations, to establish euthanasia laws in as many countries as possible.Unlike before, he wasn't too confident in coming up with the idea.

Three of the seven permanent members of the PDC soon passed euthanasia laws, but they all clearly stated in the law: euthanasia is only applicable to patients with terminal illnesses that cannot be cured by current medical technology, which is far from the requirements of the ladder plan , but it is almost impossible to go one step further.

Candidates for the ladder plan can only be found among terminally ill patients.

The roar and flames in the sky disappeared, and the launch came to an end.Vadim and several PDC observers got into the car and left. Only Vadim and Cheng Xin were left here. He said to her, "Let's see your star."

Cheng Xin received the certificate of ownership of DX3906 four days ago. It was a huge surprise, which made her fall into a sense of happiness that she had never felt before, and she was momentarily dizzy.Throughout the day, she kept saying to herself in her heart: Someone gave me a star, someone gave me a star, I have a star...

Her joy was so radiant as she went to report to the Director that Vader couldn't help but ask her what happened.She told him and showed him the certificate.

"A piece of waste paper." Vader threw the certificate back to her disapprovingly, "If you were wiser, you would have sold it at a reduced price earlier, so you won't get nothing."

His words didn't affect Cheng Xin's mood at all, in fact, she had expected him to say that.For Wade, all Cheng Xin knew was his work experience: first he was in the CIA, then he was promoted to the deputy director of the US Department of Homeland Security, and then he came here.As for his private life, except for the day when he revealed that he had a mother and his mother had a cat, she didn’t know anything about it, and she hadn’t heard anyone say it. She didn’t even know where he lived. He seemed like a working machine. Out of work it shuts down somewhere unknown.

Cheng Xin couldn't help telling Vadim about Xing Xing again, and the latter warmly congratulated her, saying that she made girls all over the world jealous, including all living girls and all dead princesses, because it was certain that She is the first girl in human history to get a star.Let me ask, for a woman, what could be happier than someone who loves her giving her a star?
"But who is he?" Cheng Xin asked herself.

"It shouldn't be difficult to guess. First of all, it is certain that this person is very rich, and his assets should be at least nine figures. Only then can he spend several million to give a gift that is only symbolic."

Cheng Xin shook her head.From school to work, Cheng Xin had many admirers and suitors, but none of them were so rich.

"At the same time, this person has a high level of education, and he is a very unusual person in spiritual cultivation." Vadim said, and he couldn't help sighing, "To this level of romance, even in love novels and movies, I think he Mom never saw it."

Cheng Xin was also sighing.When she was a girl, she was also intoxicated by rose-colored dreams. Now, although she is still young, she has begun to laugh at herself for those dreams, but she never thought that this star that suddenly floated in reality would be so romantic and legendary. It has gone far beyond her teenage dreams.

She didn't need to think about it to be sure that she didn't know such a man.

Maybe it's just a distant crush who impulsively uses a small part of his huge wealth to fulfill a fantasy and satisfy a wish that she will never know the truth about. Even so, she is very grateful to him.

At night, Cheng Xin climbed to the top of the New World Trade Center, impatient to see her own star.Before that, she had carefully read the stargazing information sent with the certificate, but the sky over New York was overcast that day.The next day and the third day were also cloudy, and the clouds were like a giant palm teasing her, clutching her gift and not letting go.But Cheng Xin wasn't lost. She knew that what she received was a gift that was most unlikely to be lost. DX3906 was in the universe, and it might outlast the earth and the sun. She would see it one day.

At night, she stood on the balcony of the apartment for a long time, looking at the night sky and imagining the appearance of the star.The sea of ​​lights in the city reflected a dark yellow halo on the clouds, but she imagined that it was the rose color illuminated by her DX3906.She dreamed of the star, in the dream she was flying on the surface of the star, it was a rose-colored planet, there was no scorching flames, only the coolness like spring breeze, the surface of the star was a clear ocean, and the water could be clearly seen Rosy algal blooms...

After waking up, she laughed at herself: As a graduate of aerospace, she never forgot in her dream that DX3906 has no planets.

On the fourth day after receiving the star, she and several PIA people flew to Cape Calaveral (due to the location requirements of space launches, intercontinental missiles cannot be launched from the original deployment position, but can only be concentrated here), and participated in the first batch of missiles launch.

At this moment, the night sky is cloudless, and the trail of the missile is dissipating.Cheng Xin and Vadim looked at the stargazing guide again. They were no strangers to astronomy, and they quickly found the location, but they didn't see the star.Vadim took out two military binoculars from the car, used them to look in that direction again, and easily found DX3906, then took the binoculars away, and could see it with the naked eye.Cheng Xin stared at that dark red spot of light intoxicatedly for a long time, trying to imagine the unimaginable distance, trying to transform this distance into an image that can be grasped.

"If I put my brain on the stair plan aircraft and fly to it, it will take 3 years to get there."

She didn't get an answer, so she turned her head and found that Vadim was not looking at the stars with her, but was leaning on the car and looking straight ahead, and he could vaguely see his melancholy face in the night.

"Vadim, what's wrong?" Cheng Xin asked with concern.

Vadim was silent for a long time before answering: "I am evading responsibility."

"What responsibility?"

"I'm the perfect fit for the ladder plan."

Cheng Xin was very surprised. She had never thought about it before. After he reminded her, she suddenly realized that it was true: Vadim has a solid professional background in aerospace, and also has rich experience in diplomatic work and intelligence work. He is psychologically stable. And mature... Even if you choose among healthy people, he is the most suitable person.

"But you are a healthy person."

"Yes, but I'm still running away."

"Has anyone hinted to you about anything?" Cheng Xin first thought of Wade.

"No, but I'm still running away. I just got married three years ago, and my daughter is just over a year old. My wife and daughter are very important to me. I'm not afraid of death, but I really don't want them to see me as worse than death."

"But you have no such responsibility at all. Neither the PIA nor your government has ordered you to undertake this mission, nor can there be such an order."

"Yes, I just want to tell you... After all, I am the most suitable person."

"Vadim, human beings are not an abstract concept. Love for human beings begins with love for each individual person. First, take responsibility for the person you love. There is nothing wrong with it. It is absurd to blame yourself for this! "

"Thank you for your comfort, Cheng Xin, you deserve this gift." Vadim looked up at Cheng Xin's star, "I really want to give them a star too."

A point of light lit up in the night sky, and then another, and a figure appeared on the ground. It was a nuclear explosion propulsion test in space.

The work of selecting candidates for the Staircase Project must be carried out urgently, but this task puts little pressure on Cheng Xin. She only participates in some of the routine work, mainly to check the candidates' aerospace professional background, which is a prerequisite for selection. .Since candidates can only be limited to terminally ill patients in the three permanent members of the euthanasia law, it is almost impossible to find someone with the super quality required by this mission, PIA strives to find as many candidates as possible through various channels .

It happened that one of Cheng Xin's college classmates came to New York at this time. After they met, they talked about the whereabouts of other classmates.At that time, Cheng Xin didn't think much about it, and immediately went to Deputy Director Yu Weimin, the person in charge of the ladder project candidates, and recommended Yun Tianming as a candidate.

For the rest of Cheng Xin's life, she recalled that moment countless times, and each time she had to admit: She really didn't think much about it.

Cheng Xin wanted to go back to China once, because of her classmate relationship with Yun Tianming, Yu Weimin asked her to represent PIA to discuss this with Yun Tianming, she immediately agreed without thinking too much.

After listening to Cheng Xin's narration, Yun Tianming slowly sat up from the bed, Cheng Xin told him to lie down, but he just said blankly that he wanted to be alone for a while.

Cheng Xin, who left lightly, had just closed the door when Yun Tianming burst into hysterical laughter.

What a fool!Is there anyone more stupid than him? !He thought that if he gave a star to the person he loved, that person would love him?Flew over the ocean with holy tears to save him?What a fairy tale.

No, Cheng Xin came to let him die.

The next simple inference made him choke with laughter: judging from the time when Cheng Xin arrived, she definitely didn't know that Yun Tianming had chosen Anle.In other words, if Yun Tianming hadn't chosen to be in peace, she would also let him be in peace when she came, seduce him, and even force him to be in peace.

Wrong, the death she gave him was not a happy one.

My sister let him die just because she was afraid that he would waste his money, which is completely understandable, besides, she really wanted him to die in peace.But Cheng Xin wanted him to be the one who died the worst.Yun Tianming is afraid of space. Like everyone who studies spaceflight, he is more aware of the dangers of space than others, and knows that hell is not in the underground but in the sky.And Cheng Xin wanted a part of him, the part that carried his soul, to wander forever in that boundless, infinitely cold, dark abyss.

This is still the best result.

If his brain was intercepted and revived by the Trisolarans as Cheng Xin wished, it would be a real nightmare.Those ruthless aliens will first connect his brain with a sensory interface, and then experiment with various sensory inputs. The most attractive to them is of course the sense of pain. They will let him experience hunger, thirst, and whipping in turn. The feeling of suffocation, the feeling of suffocation, the feeling of tiger bench and electric torture, the feeling of Ling Chi... They will search his memory to see what torture he fears the most, and they will find out that it is from a certain pervert. What I saw in the historical records: first beat the man to pieces, then wrapped his whole body tightly with gauze, and when the blood dried up a day later, the whole gauze was torn off with a hiss... If they searched, they would find him and then they would put into his brain the feeling of tearing the gauze.The person who really experienced that torture in history died soon, but his brain couldn't die, at most it was shock, and it seemed to them as normal as a chip lock, after restarting, you can try again, try again and again, Out of curiosity, or just for entertainment... He has no possibility of liberation, he has no hands and body, and it is impossible to commit suicide by biting his tongue. His brain is like a battery, filled with painful currents over and over again, and it will last forever , never ending.

He continued to laugh until he couldn't breathe. Cheng Xin pushed the door open and asked with concern, "Tianming, what's wrong with you?!" His laughter stopped abruptly, turning himself into a zombie.

"Yun Tianming, on behalf of the United Nations Planetary Defense Council's Strategic Intelligence Agency, I ask you: Are you willing to fulfill the responsibility of a human citizen and accept this mission? This is completely voluntary, and you can refuse."

Look at her holy majesty, look at her ardent expectations, she is fighting for human civilization, she is defending the earth... How is it like this around, look at the afterglow of the sunset through the window, cast on the white wall like a pool of dirty Dirty blood; the lonely oak outside is but a dry bone sticking out of a grave...

A miserable smile appeared on the corner of Yun Tianming's mouth, and gradually spread out.

"Okay, I accept," he said.

[Crisis era 5-7 years, ladder plan]

Vadim died after his car overturned the parapet of the Hamilton Bridge and plunged into the Harem River.It took a day to salvage the car.After dissecting the body, it was found that Vadim was suffering from leukemia, and the loss of control of the car was caused by sudden blindness caused by fundus hemorrhage caused by leukemia.

Cheng Xin was deeply saddened, and Vadim cared for her like a big brother, helping her adapt to work and life in a foreign country. Cheng Xin was particularly moved by his broad mind.Cheng Xin is very proactive in her work, and her intelligence is very eye-catching. Although she is out of a sense of responsibility, she must steal Vadim's limelight everywhere, but he is very generous, always encouraging Cheng Xin to become more and more talented. Show your talents on the big stage.

Regarding Vadim's death, people in the department had two completely different reactions: most of the professionals, like Cheng Xin, mourned for their leader; while those ruthless spies were all whispering their regrets: Jim's been submerged in water for so long that his brain is useless.

Cheng Xin's grief was gradually dominated by a doubt: How could it be such a coincidence?The thought made her shiver when it first came up. If there was a conspiracy behind it, then it was too dark and terrifying for her to bear.

She consulted the medical experts in the technical planning center, and learned that it is possible to cause leukemia artificially, and it is possible to cause the disease if the victim is placed in a radiation environment, but it is difficult to control the radiation dose and time, which is not enough to cure the disease in a short time Internal pathogenicity, high enough to cause radiation sickness instead of leukemia, which will cause the victim to die quickly.From the point of view of time, if Vadim was murdered when the PDC started to promote euthanasia, the current condition of the disease is consistent with the time.If there is a murderer, it must be extremely professional.

Cheng Xin once checked Vadim's desk and apartment with a high-precision Geiger counter, and found nothing abnormal, and a small amount of radioactive residue could be explained normally.But she saw pictures of Vadim's wife and children under the pillow. The beautiful wife is a ballet dancer 11 years younger than him, and the little daughter is even more heartbreakingly cute.Vadim once said to Cheng Xin that, perhaps out of professional neuroticism, he never put their photos on the table or bedside table, subconsciously thinking that this would expose them to some kind of danger, he just wanted to I only took it out to read... Thinking of this, Cheng Xin's heart ached.

Whenever she thought of Vadim, Cheng Xin's thoughts would involuntarily turn to Yun Tianming.Now, he has gathered together with seven other candidates under special care to a secret base not far from the PIA headquarters, and undergoes various tests in order to produce the final candidate from among them.Ever since meeting Yun Tianming once in China, Cheng Xin's heart has always been shrouded in dark clouds. At the beginning, the cloud was only faintly visible, and then gradually became thicker, making it hard for her to see the light of day.

Cheng Xin recalled the first time she saw Yun Tianming.It was when she was freshman, and the students of this major took turns to introduce themselves. She saw Yun Tianming quietly staying in a corner, and the first time she saw him, she immediately and truly felt his loneliness and loneliness. Fragile.She had seen the same withdrawn boy before, but she had never felt this way, as if sneaking into his heart to peek.The men Cheng Xin likes are the sunny type, he is sunny and bathes the girl's heart with sunshine, Yun Tianming is exactly the opposite of this kind of man.But Cheng Xin always had a desire to care about him. She was always careful when communicating with him, for fear of accidentally hurting him. She had never been so careful with any boy before.That time when a classmate talked about Yun Tianming, Cheng Xin found that although he had been forgotten to a distant corner of his memory, and if someone hadn't mentioned him, he might not be able to recall him anymore, but once he remembered, the image of him in that corner was very clear. .

That night, Li Xin had a nightmare, dreaming of her star again, but the rose-colored algae in the ocean above gradually turned black, and then the entire star collapsed into a black hole, a black hole that did not emit light at all, like space being dug out. piece.Around the black hole orbited a small fluorescent object, imprisoned by the black gravity and never able to escape - a frozen brain.

Cheng Xin woke up, looked at the halo cast by the lights of New York on the curtains, and suddenly understood what she had done.

In fact, she was just conveying PIA's request to Yun Tianming, and he could completely refuse.She recommended him for the lofty purpose of defending the civilization of the earth. His life has come to an end. If she arrives a little later, he is no longer alive. She even saved him!It's really nothing, she really hasn't done anything to disturb her conscience.

But at the same time, she also knew for the first time that those people sold her mother to a brothel just by saying such words.

Cheng Xin then thought of the hibernation technology, and now there are the first batch of real hibernators, most of whom are terminally ill patients looking for opportunities for treatment in the future.Yun Tianming still had a chance to survive. Although it might be difficult for him to enter hibernation given his social status, it should be possible with her help. In fact, she deprived him of this opportunity.

As soon as she got to work the next day, Cheng Xin went to see Wade. She originally planned to find Yu Weimin, but she still thought it would be better to meet the director directly, since the final decision was in his hands anyway.

Like every time she went to Vader's office, Cheng Xin still saw him staring at the burning cigar in her hand.She rarely saw him doing the usual leadership work, such as making phone calls, reading documents, talking and holding meetings.She didn't know when Vader was doing these things, she could see that all he was doing was brooding, brooding, endless lonely brooding.

Cheng Xin told Wade that she thought that candidate No. [-] was unqualified, so she withdrew her recommendation, and at the same time requested that No. [-] be removed from the list of candidates.

"Why? He's at the top of the test."

Cheng Xin was greatly surprised by Wade's words, and at the same time his heart turned cold.In the test of candidates, a special general anesthesia is first used to make all parts of the body and most of the senses of the testee lose consciousness, but the consciousness remains awake, so as to simulate the state that the brain exists independently of the body.The content of the test is mainly psychological, to examine the ability of the testee to adapt to a heterogeneous environment, but the designer of the test does not know the internal environment of the Trisolaran Fleet, so he can only simulate it based on guesswork.In general, such tests are very harsh.

"His education is too low," Cheng Xin said.

"Your academic qualifications are very high, but if you want your brain to complete this task, it must be the worst one."

"His personality is withdrawn. To be honest, I have never seen such a withdrawn person. He has no ability to integrate into the surrounding social environment."

"This is the biggest advantage of number five! The environment you mentioned is the human environment. A person who is well integrated with this environment also has a sense of dependence on it. Once he is cut off from the human environment, And put it in a completely alien environment, it can produce a fatal mental breakdown. You just happened to be an example of that."

Cheng Xin had to admit that what Wade said made sense, not to mention being in a different environment, even the test itself might break her down.In fact, she knew in her heart that at her own level, it would be impossible for the top leader of PIA to give up a candidate for the ladder plan, but she didn't want to give up easily. She wanted to put all her eggs in one basket and slander the people she wanted to help.

"The most important thing is: He has been isolated from the crowd for a long time, and he has no sense of responsibility to mankind, let alone love!" After saying this, Cheng Xin herself doubted whether this was true.

"There are things on earth that he misses."

When Wade said this, he was still staring at the cigar, but Cheng Xin felt that his gaze was reflected from the head of the cigar to her, and carried the heat of the small dark fire.Fortunately, Vader did not go further on this topic.

"Another advantage of Number Five is that he is very creative, which more or less makes up for his lack of professional background. You know? One of his simple ideas made another classmate of yours a billionaire."

Cheng Xin had just read about this from the candidate information, and knew that among her classmates were rich men with nine-figure assets, but she didn't believe that Hu Wen was the one who gave away the stars, not at all.He wasn't the kind of guy who, if he really wanted to show her his love, he'd give her a fancy car or a diamond necklace or something, but not stars.

"Actually, according to the due standards, all the candidates are far behind, but there is no way. You have strengthened my confidence in No. [-], thank you."

Wade finally raised his head from the cigar, and looked at Cheng Xin with a slight sneer. Like before, he was admiring her despair and pain again.

But Cheng Xin wasn't completely desperate. She attended an oath-taking ceremony for the candidates of the Staircase Project.According to the "Space Convention" revised after the crisis, any human being who uses the resources of the earth to fly out of the solar system for economic development, immigration, scientific research and other activities must swear an oath of loyalty to human society.This was supposed to be a provision for the future.

The oath was held in the General Assembly Hall of the United Nations. Unlike the wall-facing plan announced a few months ago, this ceremony was not open to the public, and very few people participated. In addition to the seven candidates for the ladder plan, there were also the UN Secretary-General and the PDC who presided over the ceremony. chairman.There were only two rows of people sitting in the front row of the auditorium, mainly those who participated in the ladder plan of PIA including Cheng Xin.

The process of taking the oath is very short. The person taking the oath puts his hand on the UN flag in the hands of the Secretary-General of the United Nations, and utters the prescribed oath to the effect that he will always be loyal to human society and will not do anything that harms the interests of human beings in the universe.

The oath was performed according to the serial number of the candidates. There were four people in front of Yun Tianming, two of them were from the United States, one was Russian and the other was British.Behind Yun Tianming was an American woman, and his Chinese compatriot.All the candidates showed obvious sickness, and two of them were still in wheelchairs, but they were all in good spirits. Their lives were like a lamp whose oil was almost exhausted, and the wick was turned on at the last moment. flame.

Cheng Xin saw Yun Tianming. He was more haggard than the last time she saw him, but he looked very calm.He didn't look at Cheng Xin.

The swearing-in of the four people in front of Yun Tianming went smoothly. Among them, the American in a wheelchair, a physicist who was over [-] years old and suffering from pancreatic cancer, insisted on standing up from the wheelchair and walked onto the rostrum to complete the ceremony. swear.Their weak but persistent voices echoed faintly in the empty hall.The only episode in the middle was that the Englishman asked himself if he could take an oath on the Bible, and the answer was yes, so he put his hand on the Bible and finished his oath.Then, it was Yun Tianming's turn.

Even though Cheng Xin is an atheist, at this moment she really wishes she could hug the "Bible" that the British were pressing just now, and pray to it: Tianming, say your oath, swear to be loyal to mankind, you will, You are a man with a sense of responsibility and love. As Wade said, there are things you are nostalgic for here... She watched Yun Tianming walk up to the rostrum, saw him walking in front of Say holding the United Nations flag, and then she nervously Close your eyes.

Cheng Xin did not hear Yun Tianming's oath.

Yun Tianming took the blue flag from Sai's hand, and gently placed it on the podium next to him.

"I don't swear. I feel like an outsider in this world. I haven't had much joy, happiness, or love. Of course it's all my fault..." When he said this, his eyes slightly Cheng Xin, who was below, trembled slightly as if hearing the doomsday judgment, "But I don't take an oath, I don't recognize my responsibility to human beings." Yun Tianming calmly said explain.

"Then why did you agree to take on the mission of the Staircase Project?" Sai asked, her voice was soft, and she looked at Yun Tianming calmly.

"I want to see another world. As for whether I am loyal to humans, it depends on what the Trisolaran civilization I see looks like."

Sai nodded and said lightly: "No one is forcing you to take an oath, you can go down now. Next one, please."

Cheng Xin trembled as if she had fallen into an ice cellar. She bit her lower lip tightly, trying not to let her tears flow out.

Yun Tianming passed the final test.

Wade looked back at Cheng Xin from the front seat, this time he could appreciate purer despair and pain.He said with his eyes:

Have you seen his quality?

But... what if he was telling the truth?she asked back.

If we believe this, the enemy will believe it too.

Wade turned around, and glanced back at Cheng Xin as if remembering something.

This game is really fun, isn't it?
Then things took a turn for the better. The last candidate in the serial number, Joyner, a 43-year-old American woman, a NASA space engineer suffering from AIDS, also refused to take the oath, saying that she was almost forced to come here. If she didn't come, she would be despised by the people around her, her relatives would leave her, and she would be thrown in the hospital to die.No one knew whether Joyner was telling the truth, let alone whether she was inspired by Yun Tianming.

But in the middle of the next night, Joyner's condition suddenly deteriorated. The pneumonia caused by the infection caused her respiratory failure and she died in the early morning.Since she died of an illness, her brain was not taken out of the living body to be rapidly frozen according to the normal procedure, and she had already died due to lack of oxygen and could not be used anymore.

Yun Tianming was elected as the mission executor of the Stepped Project.

The last moment finally came, and Cheng Xin was notified that Yun Tianming's condition had deteriorated rapidly, and he was about to undergo brain surgery.The surgery was performed at the Brain Surgery Unit at Westchester Medical Center.

Cheng Xin stood outside the hospital. She didn't dare to go in, but she couldn't bear to leave, so she could only stand there and chew on her pain.Wade, who came with him, walked forward, stopped after a few steps, turned around and admired Cheng Xin's pain for a few seconds, and then threw the most fatal blow to her in satisfaction:

"Oh, and one more surprise: your star was given by him."

Cheng Xin was stunned and froze there. Everything around her was changing rapidly in her eyes, as if what she saw before was just a projection of life, and a certain real color appeared at this moment. exist.

Cheng Xin turned around and ran towards the hospital, entered the gate, and ran through the long corridor.Outside the brain surgery area, she was stopped by two guards. She struggled desperately, but was grabbed tightly.She took out her ID and stuffed it to the other party, and continued to rush to the brain surgery operating room.There were many people standing outside the operating room, seeing her rushing towards her, she dodged in shock, and Cheng Xin slammed open the door of the operating room with the red light on.

Everything is over.

A group of people in white clothes turned their heads at the same time. The body had already been pushed away from another door. There was a workbench in the middle of them. On it was a stainless steel cylindrical heat-insulated container about one meter high. The white mist produced by the ultra-low temperature liquid helium has not yet dissipated. Due to the low temperature, the mist slowly flowed down against the outer wall of the container, flowed over the surface of the workbench, and disappeared above the floor like a miniature waterfall.The container in the white mist didn't seem like something from the world.

Cheng Xin rushed to the workbench, and the low-temperature white mist was blown away by the airflow she brought. She felt hugged by a burst of cold air, but the cold air disappeared immediately. She seemed to have briefly touched something she was chasing, and the thing immediately Leaving her, drifting to another dimension of time and space, she lost it forever.Cheng Xin fell down in front of the liquid helium container and burst into tears. The torrent of grief flooded the operating room, the entire building, and New York City. Above her became a lake and a sea, and she was almost suffocated at the bottom of the sea of ​​sorrow.

After an unknown amount of time, Cheng Xin felt a hand on her shoulder. This hand might have been put on it long ago, but she only felt it.A voice was speaking to her, or had been speaking for a long time, and she had just heard it.

"Son, there is a hope," said the old, slow voice, and then repeated, "There is a hope."

Cheng Xin was still sobbing almost suffocated, but the voice gradually caught her attention, because it wasn't an empty consolation in her imagination, the content of the words was very specific.

"Son, think about it, if the brain is revived, what is the ideal container for it?"

Cheng Xin raised her tearful eyes, and through the hazy tears she recognized the speaker. This white-haired old man was an authority on brain surgery at Harvard Medical School, and he was the chief surgeon in this brain resection operation.

"Of course it's the body that the brain originally belonged to, and every cell in the brain carries all the genetic information of the body. It's entirely possible for them to clone the body and transplant the brain to it. In this way, he is a complete body. gone."

Cheng Xin stared blankly at the ultra-low temperature container in front of her, tears streaming down her face. Suddenly, she seemed to remember something, and said something that surprised everyone present:

"Then, what does he eat?!"

Then, Cheng Xin turned around and ran out, just as eager as when she came.

The next day, Cheng Xin came to Wade's office.She looked as haggard as those terminally ill candidates, and put an envelope in front of Vader.

"I request that these seeds be carried in the capsule of the aircraft."

Vader poured out the contents of the envelope. There were more than a dozen small plastic bags. He looked at them one by one with great interest, "Wheat, corn, potatoes, these are... a few vegetables, right? This, pepper?"

Cheng Xin nodded, "I remember he likes to eat."

Vader put all the pouches back in the envelope and pushed it to her, "No."

"Why? This mass is only 18 grams!"

"We're going to work on reducing the mass by 0.18 grams."

"As if his brain weighed 18 grams!"

"The problem is that he didn't weigh the 18 grams. Adding this mass means that the final speed will be reduced, and the rendezvous with the enemy fleet may be many years later. Besides," Vader began to show his icy smile, "that's a brain , no mouth and no stomach, what's the use of these? Don't believe that clone myth, they will feed the brain in a suitable incubator."

Cheng Xin really wanted to snatch the cigar from Wade's hand and throw it in his face, but she restrained herself and silently took the envelope back, "I'll ask my superiors over you."

"Probably useless. Then?"

"And then I quit."

"That won't work. You're still useful to PIA."

Cheng Xin also sneered, "You can't stop me, you have never been my real superior."

"I know that, but you can't do what I don't allow."

Cheng Xin turned and left.

"The ladder plan needs someone who is familiar with Yun Tianming to go to the future."

Cheng Xin stopped.

"But it has to be someone from PIA. Would you like to go? Well, you can submit your resignation now."

Cheng Xin continued to walk towards the door, but her steps were much slower, and she finally stopped. Wade's voice came from behind again: "You must make your choice clear."

"I agree to go to the future." Cheng Xin said weakly while holding the door, without looking back.

The only time Cheng Xin saw the ladder craft was when its radiation sail was deployed in geosynchronous orbit. The 25-square-kilometer giant sail briefly reflected sunlight to the northern hemisphere. At that time, Cheng Xin had already returned to Shanghai. An orange-red light group appeared on the pitch-black sky, and it gradually dimmed and disappeared after 5 minutes, like an eye slowly closing after looking at the earth in space.The subsequent acceleration process is invisible to the naked eye.

The only thing that comforted Cheng Xin was that the seeds were brought with her, but they were not the ones she took, but carefully selected by the aerospace breeding department.

The giant sail weighing 45 kilograms dragged the spherical cabin with a diameter of only 850 centimeters with four 510-kilometer-long spider threads. It was reduced to [-] grams at the end of the acceleration segment.

The accelerated voyage extends from the Earth to the orbit of Jupiter. During this voyage, 97 nuclear bombs of various yields have been deployed in advance, two-thirds of which are fission nuclear bombs, and the rest are hydrogen bombs.They are like a string of space mines, and the acceleration process of the ladder aircraft is the process of triggering these nuclear mines in sequence.In addition, there are a large number of detectors patrolling the acceleration segment to monitor the course and speed of the ladder aircraft and adjust the position of the next nuclear bomb in time.The flashes of nuclear explosions are constantly shining behind the giant sail at regular intervals, like a beating heart, and the hurricane of radiation strongly pushes this light feather.When the [-]th nuclear bomb exploded close to the orbit of Jupiter, monitoring showed that the vehicle had reached a predetermined speed: one hundredth of the speed of light.

But it was at this moment that the fault appeared.The monitoring system found that the sail began to curl through the spectrum analysis of the light reflected by the giant sail. It is speculated that the biggest possibility is that a sail rope is broken.But the 98th nuclear bomb was still detonated, and the sail with only three sails got a wrong speed component at this time, and deviated from the planned course.The sail continued to curl, the radar reflective surface shrunk sharply, the monitoring system lost it, and also lost its orbital parameters, and it was impossible for humans to find it again.If you miss by a tiny bit, you can miss by thousands of miles.As the years go by, the aircraft will become farther and farther away from the intended course, and the hope of rendezvous with the Trisolaran fleet and being intercepted will become less and less.According to its last approximate direction, it will fly past its first star in more than 6000 years, and fly out of the Milky Way in 500 million years.

But Project Staircase was at least half successful, and humans succeeded in propelling a craft—albeit as light as a feather—to quasi-relativistic speeds.

Cheng Xin had no reason to go to the future, she seemed to continue her life completely changed by the Staircase Project, but PIA still let her hibernate.Her mission became the future liaison of the STEPS program; envisioning the program as being useful for human spaceflight two centuries later required someone who knew it all, not just dead data.In fact, the real purpose of sending her may be to hope that the ladder plan will not be forgotten or misunderstood in the future.During this period, there were other large engineering projects that sent liaisons into the future for the same purpose.

If someone really commented on the meritorious deeds of Qianqiu, one person can now be sent to explain the misunderstanding caused by the years.

When Cheng Xin's consciousness was blurred in the cold, she felt a tinge of comfort: Like Yun Tianming, she was about to drift in the boundless darkness.

(End of this chapter)