A group of tents of all sizes were erected on the periphery of the camp, which were rudimentary, but they were enough to shelter from the wind and rain. The tents were brought in from the Fishbone Base, where the residents who had been forcibly relocated to the surface had to live temporarily until the apartment building at Camp 27 was built.

The rows of rudimentary tents contrasted sharply with the hundred tin houses in the middle of the camp, like slums and rich neighborhoods.

It's funny to say that they had laughed at the immigrants who had entered the surface in two groups, saying that they would not live a comfortable life, and that they would have to go to the surface to suffer. But now the situation seems to be reversed, and those whom they once laughed at are now the ones they envy.

After passing through several simple tents, Jiang Chen walked to a tent located in the corner of the camp, only to see a gray-haired old man sitting at the door, as if waiting for him.

"You are Academician Qin?"

Looking at Jiang Chen standing in front of him, the old man smiled kindly and stood up.

"Yes, you must be that Jiang Chen?"

Jiang Chen nodded.

"You don't seem to be in good shape."

The old man waved his hand when he heard this, and said something that surprised Jiang Chen.

"It's okay, I'm cyborg."

Cyborg? Do cyborgs also age?

Jiang Chen's eyes narrowed slightly, but he quickly returned to normal.

"I heard that you have something important to ask me for, is this what is going on?"

"Of course not." Academician Qin shook his head, "There's just one thing I want to give to you." ”

said. He pulled out a black sphere the size of a baseball from his pocket.

Looking at that thing, Jiang Chen frowned. He always felt like he'd seen it somewhere.

Suddenly, his pupils constricted.

"Golden apples?" Jiang Chen said softly.

Academician Qin was stunned. Then he shook his head and said, "Is that what you call this thing?" But I'm afraid I'll disappoint you, this is nothing more than a communicator, a communication device based on Dr. Crain's special properties of the Krain particle, which is used as a 'mobile phone' for interstellar communication. Of course, this thing has run out of energy, and all it can give you is a coordinate. ”

Jiang Chen took the black ball and took it in his hand and looked at it carefully. Outwardly similar to the one he picked up from the U-235 submarine, but this one was noticeably lighter.

And. Presumably, this thing is the real "golden apple", not a copycat version of the "golden apple" made by the Third Reich based on gourd paintings. It's just that this thing is not used to broadcast out of order to other timelines, but to communicate across distances.

"Can this thing speak to the past?"

Hearing Jiang Chen's question, Academician Qin smiled, "Theoretically, it is possible, but just like Schrödinger's cat, even if you shout a sentence to the past, you can't verify whether anyone hears it, let alone whether the person who hears it can understand it." ”

"Is that so? I heard that this thing is extracted from the brain—" Jiang Chen muttered to himself thoughtfully.

"That's a fallacy." Academician Qin smiled, "It's true that the activity of Crainn particles can be observed in the brain extract, but how can it really be done with human brains?" ”

A parallel world. There are really people who have done this, Jiang Chen silently complained in his heart.

After a pause, Academician Qin looked at Jiang Chen and continued. "Honestly, this thing has lost its usefulness. The reason why I am giving it to you. Just wanted to state a fact to you. ”

"What facts?" Observing the metal ball in his hand, Jiang Chen asked casually.

"It's an experiment."

The movement of Jiang Chen's hand stopped. looked at Academician Qin.

"Experiments?"

"That's right, the experimental topic is to study how the structure of human society will evolve regularly in the face of extreme scarcity of resources." Academician Qin calmly told the astonishing facts.

Jiang Chen's expression was slightly surprised, or incredulous.

But he soon sensed that something was wrong.

What a coincidence. Is the PAC government so straw bale? This is a civil air defense project, and it is a civil air defense project built in a period of extreme deterioration of the international situation, so it should not be difficult to put more spare nuclear fusion batteries, right? It was set for 50 years, but it was forced to open in 20 years. and that Han Junhua, obviously not just a politician.

However, he never imagined that the entire Vault was just a laboratory, and everyone in the Vault was a guinea pig.

"In fact, from the very beginning, the energy was not enough. Even the benevolent Zhang Qiming will be chosen as the first director of the shelter, and the ruthless Han Junhua will be chosen as the second director of the shelter. None of them are suitable candidates for the director, but they can be studied as typical personalities. ”

"The results of the experiment will be sent to the colony ship Zheng He several light-years away through this device."

The experiment discusses the typical, excludes the distractors, and discusses the salient parts of the sample.

It's just that such an experiment happens to people, which is really a bit too cruel.

"It's just a small refuge, don't you think it's a microcosm of society?"

"Why are you talking to me about this?" Stuffing the metal ball into his pocket, Jiang Chen asked with a smile.

He's not from PAC, he doesn't have anything to do with the disbanded World Coalition, and he's not idle enough to worry about people light years away.

"I just wanted to give you an idea, and if you're lucky enough to face that choice, I'm sure you'll be able to understand something."

Ideas? That choice?

"Ideas?" Jiang Chen asked puzzled.

"Yes, I've been living in the shelter as a researcher for 20 years, and I've been thinking about another issue in addition to the subject I'm responsible for."

"What's the problem?"

"You've probably heard of reproductive segregation."

It's not an esoteric concept, even in 21st-century biology textbooks. Jiang Chen only recalled it slightly, and then nodded.

"Due to factors such as geographical isolation, different groups of the same organism reproduce in different habitats, and due to the inability to communicate genes, they undergo natural selection in different environments, which eventually leads to the formation of two completely different species."

Looking at Jiang Chen, Academician Qin nodded approvingly.

"It's still flawed in theory, but that's the case in general. In the case of geographical isolation, after tens of thousands of years of evolution, the same species will also evolve into two very different species. Geographic isolation is a prerequisite for reproductive isolation, so I don't know if you've considered a possibility. What happens if there is a cause of geographic isolation between people? ”

"Reproductive isolation?" Jiang Chen was stunned.

"No, it's ideological segregation." Academician Qin shook his head and threw out a concept that Jiang Chen had never heard of.

"Have you noticed that in just 20 years, people living underground and people living on the surface have been separated into two kinds of people? What if it's been 50 years? Or for a longer period of time. ”

Jiang Chen's face showed a thoughtful expression, waiting for him to explain.

"In different environments, civilization changes its own carrier and environment, which is called civilization evolution in sociology. It's as if ancient and modern people, although they did not have reproductive isolation, there was an insurmountable gap in their thinking. ”

"Looking at deep space light years away, do those colony ships flying into space also create some kind of chasm with us?"

"From the moment the colony ship accelerates to the third cosmic speed and escapes beyond the solar system, they are no longer earthlings. In other words, they have gathered the elite of the entire human civilization, and they have evolved into some kind of higher existence. ”

"So what? Whatever they evolved, they weren't on Earth anymore. Jiang Chen said indifferently.

Hearing Jiang Chen's words, Academician Qin just smiled.

"What did European colonizers bring to the American continent in the 16th century?"

"Killing?"

"No, it's civilization."

Does it make a difference? Jiang Chen just wanted to ask, but he was suddenly stunned.

Yes, because there is no difference

"The rebirth of civilization will be accompanied by bloody barbarism." Academician Qin said softly.

"You mean they'll come back?"

"Whether they come back or not, what they will do is for sure. And for us 'natives', the process is bound to be accompanied by suffering. Bleed? Sacrifice? What is really chilling, however, is that these actions may seem to them to be more legitimate. (To be continued.) )