London, England, in an upscale apartment near Charing Cross Street.

"Ding Dong"

At this time, the doorbell rang, and Anna Isabel, who was making breakfast in the kitchen, heard the movement, wiped her somewhat wet hands, and walked out quickly to open the door.

Seeing that the person who came was her friend Lilith, Anna smiled, hugged each other, and kissed her on the cheek: "Lilith hasn't seen her for a long time." ”

"yes, it's been more than three months. Lilith kissed Anna back, and immediately felt that her skin seemed to be much smoother than before, and couldn't help but ask in surprise, "Your skin seems to be much better than when you were in London." ”

"yes. You know, the weather here in London is just terrible. Anna said as she took Lilith's hand and entered the house.

"It looks like you're doing well in Hong Kong, and your skin is much better. ”

Lilith closed the door and followed her inside, glanced at what was being cooked in the kitchen, and asked curiously, "What are you cooking?"

"I'm making a cheese sandwich, would you like to try it?" Anna smiled.

"Well, I just got a little hungry. ”

"Okay, you sit in the living room for a while, and I'll be done in no time. ”

Looking at Anna who walked into the kitchen, Lilith nodded, she used to come to this house often, so she was not very curious, so she sat directly on the sofa, turned on the TV, and tuned to BBC TV.

While watching a TV show, Lilith's eyes were suddenly attracted by a stack of paper full of words on the table, and she picked it up and looked at it.

"Anna, can I see this on your desk?"

"What?"

"I said I could look at the stack on your desk?"

"Yes. ”

After receiving the reply, Lilith turned her head and looked at the manuscript paper in her hand, the title of the book "1999 - Our Journey is the Sea of Stars".

A sci-fi book?

"The cold, dark, and silent universe is so fascinating that people can't look at it directly, and the mysteries that are boundless and endless that human beings can't discover in their lifetime have always prompted human beings to continue to make progress, keep exploring, and hope to get more information from the universe.

The boundlessness of the universe brings human beings not only shocking the soul, but also doubts...

Wondering if the universe is so big, are human beings and the earth the only intelligent life in the universe, and are there more intelligent lives beyond the earth?

From Giordano Bruno in the Renaissance in the fifteenth century to the famous Fermi paradox in modern times, mankind has never stopped exploring and learning about the universe, extraterrestrial civilizations, and extraterrestrial life.

On October 7, 1969, the American Voyager 1 probe was successfully launched, which marked the beginning of a long and boring space journey for mankind to explore the universe and explore unknown life.

Travel Log:

In March 1979, Voyager 1 traveled 630 million kilometers in space, and when the Earth was closest to Jupiter, it successfully "visited" Jupiter up close and saw the aurora on the back side of Jupiter.

In November 1980, he "visited" Saturn up close and sent back more than 10,000 color photos.

In October 1985, Voyager 1 headed toward the center of the galaxy.

In July 1989, Voyager 1 first cut off contact, and two months later, it reconnected to Earth Signal.

In January 1995, Voyager 1 successfully reached the "transition zone" at the edge of the solar system, which means that it will soon enter interstellar space.

In August 1998, Voyager 1 again cut off contact for seven months.

On January 1, 1999, the NASA Aeronautics Department was again connected to Voyager 1.

This reconnection has brought endless grief and pain to mankind and the earth, and after a photo of a barely visible color was transmitted back to the earth, humanity fell into excitement, fear, and shock......"

In the kitchen, Anna carried two plates, each with a cheese sandwich on them, and after putting them back on the table in the living room, she glanced at Lilith, who was still reading the manuscript, and opened her mouth to shout, "Lilith, we can eat sandwiches!"

"Huh? Okay. ”

When Lilith heard the voice, she glanced up sharply, then got up and walked to the table, holding up a stack of manuscripts in her hand and asked Anna, who walked into the kitchen, "You wrote this?"

"No, it's a friend I met in Hong Kong. Anna came out of the kitchen with two cups, opened the fridge again, looked up, and asked, "Do you want milk or orange juice?"

"Orange juice. Lilith chose one and asked again, "Written by the Chinese?"

"Well, what's wrong?" Anna handed Lilith the poured orange juice.

"Thank you. Lilith took the orange juice and thanked her, took a sip and put down the cup and said: "It's very well written, although I haven't finished reading it, but only the first few chapters can guess that this should be a good science fiction, before this I always thought that Chinese didn't know what science fiction was, but it seems that I was narrow-minded." ”

"If you go to Hong Kong, you will find that there is actually no difference between London and London, but the air and environment are much better than London, and Evan is really talented. Anna smiled, she had already finished reading this book, and I have to say that the writing was really good, especially the "Law of the Dark Forest" mentioned in the article, which shocked her when she first read it.

In her opinion, this is not just just an ordinary science fiction, in which the doubts and questions about the philosophy of the universe are vividly written, especially at the end of the article, when mankind receives a signal from the alpha civilization of the centaur galaxy, there is another suspected peace-loving galaxy civilization that sends out the three radio waves of "don't answer, don't answer, don't answer", and the book ends here.

Anna doesn't know how the book will be written, but she is looking forward to the next development of the plot, whether humans believe in the unknown civilization that emits "don't answer" radio waves, or the alpha civilization from the Centauri galaxy that is connected to humans.

"He?Evan?"

Lilith noticed that Anna was using the word that he was not her, and smiled, "Do you like oriental men who are full of exotic styles?" ”

"The smell of silk?" said Anna, grimacingly.

"Don't you forget the silk headscarf we bought in Chinatown in Thorn Street, Westminster before you left London? ”

"Well, whatever you want. Anna shook her head, helpless at her friend's words, put down the milk in her hand, and began to eat the cheese sandwich slowly, replying, "I'm just friends with him, but Evan is very funny." ”

Lilith hurriedly put down the cup as if she was watching a play, sat down next to her, and asked, "Your name is Evan, is it handsome?"

"Not bad. Anna smiled, Huo Yaowen's appearance seemed quite handsome to her, at least it was very much in line with her appetite.

"Oh, it looks like there's a play. ”

"Well, I said it, just friends. Anna didn't want to discuss this issue too much, and pointed to the sandwich on the table and said, "Eat your sandwich." ”

Lilith snorted, picked up the sandwich on the table and started eating, took a few bites, still couldn't bear the gossip in her heart, and asked, "Well, this is pretty good, does that man named Evan want you to know his talent?"

"No, he asked me to bring it to England and submit it to Bergman Publishing. ”

Lilith said casually: "Can you submit it?" You can give it to our company to try, this book is very good, I think our company should consider it." ”

"Aren't you a teaching assistant at school?" said Anna.

"I quit my job when I felt uninterested, I worked as a teaching assistant for a month, only to find that teaching was still too boring for me, I quit the second month after you left, and went to work at Thames Publishing, and I am still a small clerk, responsible for sorting out the schedule for my boss, or pouring coffee or something, although there is no room for me to play, but I think sooner or later I will prove my ability!!"

After saying that, Lilith waved her fist, indicating that she was very powerful.

"That's good, if you like the job. ”

"Then you agreed? I think this book is great, although I only read the first few chapters, but it seems to have seen the world in the next 30 years, a very small mobile phone, not only can listen to music, watch movies, but also read books, link the world's mobile phones, easily write letters to people abroad, the other party can receive it immediately, this is amazing. ”

"It's really well written, I like the rest of the story, especially the law of the dark forest, it's really ......"

"No, no, no, don't tell me, I think when I'm done with this sandwich, I'll sit on the couch by myself, sip afternoon tea, and read the book slowly. ”

"Okay, but I don't have any good afternoon tea here, only Brooke Bond's PGTechs black tea. ”

"This is fine, I often drink this at home, by the way, what do you think of my proposal just now? ”

"I need to ask Evan about this. Huo Yaowen asked Anna to submit his manuscript to Bergman Publishing, but now his friend Lilith said that he hoped to switch to Thames Publishing, so Anna was a little hesitant.

"This is also a question: Although Bergman Publishing Company is good, we at Thames Publishing Company are not bad either. ”

"I know, but Evan asked me to submit to Bergman, and if I want to submit to your company, I'll need to ask him what he means. ”

Lilith didn't force it, just nodded and said, "You can submit the article to Bergman first, if not, leave it to our company to be responsible, it just so happens that I lack an opportunity." ”

"Yes. Anna nodded in agreement.

If Bergman Publishing Company is not successful, it seems that it is not bad to transfer to Lilith's Thames Publishing Company, I think Evan should not refuse, anyway, it is to find a publishing company in the UK, as for how to cooperate in the future, it is not up to her.

...