At the dining table, listening to the old man's words, Yanagihara and Al both showed slightly different expressions.

Al's face showed a little dazed delight, she was happy at the progress the old man had made, but she didn't fully understand the meaning.

Yanagihara's face showed a kind of incomprehensible surprise.

To be honest, she had a hard time believing that the kind of research that the old man had done could yield any significant results overnight.

After all, astronomical observations require long-term tracking and comparison, and to confirm whether a planet meets the expected conditions, it is necessary to collect a large amount of data for reference and judgment. What's more, the old man is still looking for a planetary belt, in this case, the variables will undoubtedly be more huge, and the way of confirmation will undoubtedly be more cumbersome.

If a breakthrough could have been made so simply, people in the past would not have chosen to give up early.

But looking at the old man's calm appearance, Yanagihara couldn't conclude that he was lying.

After all, this lie didn't seem to make any sense at all, there were only three people present, and there was no need for the old man to hide the truth in order to deceive her and Al.

So what's going on here?

Yanagihara frowned in confusion before he looked at the old man and asked.

"Didn't you say that the recent wind and snow were too big for observation?"

As if he had expected Yanagihara to ask such a question, the old man replied with a faint smile and a calm expression.

"That's right, so I just re-examined the data last night, and it turned out that I made a big discovery by accident."

"You've determined the location of that planetary belt?" Yanagihara asked, still not letting go of his brow.

"yes, basically that's what you can say."

The old man took a deep breath, as if he had finally fulfilled his long-cherished wish, smiled softly, placed a document on the table, and continued to speak.

"That's all the data I've gotten so far, and it's not perfect, but it's got a clear direction. I'll try to make it as detailed as possible for some time to come. When the supply team arrives, I should be able to go back to the greenhouse with you. At that point, the article will be published in the Greenhouse Daily, and everyone will know that we have a new goal and a new journey. ”

Saying this, the old man's eyes seemed to show some expectation and yearning.

Everything was so just right, like a happy ending in a bedtime story.

It's a pity that Yanagihara has long passed the age of listening to stories.

She motioned to the old man, and after receiving permission, she picked up the papers on the table and flipped through them.

Admittedly, she doesn't see any flaws or loopholes, and the complex data and analogies make the report seem quite rigorous. At the same time, the professional threshold also made it impossible for her to see whether there were problems in the details.

But Yanagihara always had a strange feeling that made her feel that the report was not real.

Dinner was spent in such an indescribable atmosphere.

While Al had finished eating and went back to his room to rest, Yanagihara was still sitting in the dining room, looking at the report after the experiment documents.

The old man was not in a hurry to leave, he made himself another cup of coffee, and then sat opposite Yanagihara, drinking quietly.

It wasn't until Yanagihara put the report down that he smiled softly and asked out loud.

"How does it feel?"

"I don't know what to say." Yanagihara rubbed his brow and replied slowly.

The old man looked at Yanagihara's appearance, was silent for a while, and then suddenly said.

"Do you think this report is fake?"

This unabashed way of communicating made Yanagihara's movements pause.

But then, Yanagihara nodded and admitted.

"yes, it looks a little too perfect."

So much so that it's even a little untrue.

"Really?" The old man said, his gaze fell on the paper in front of the table, and after a moment, he should have chuckled helplessly, shrugged his shoulders and said.

"Well, it's really fake."

Instead of hiding the truth from Yanagihara, he uncovered his lies in an almost bland way.

Yanagihara's face turned weird, and she looked at the old man suspiciously.

"Why are you doing that?"

"Because, I want to change the status quo." The old man said word by word, reaching for the document on the table, placing it in front of him and flipping it open.

"Have you calculated how long it has been since humanity explored the unknown?" In the dim light of the dining room, the old man asked Yanagihara.

Yanagihara didn't answer, so the old man gave himself an answer.

"Oh, it's been a long time. It seems that from the day we entered the greenhouse, we never had the courage to leave. ”

"The exploration team will only operate within a safe range of activities, and the research station will always be just observing."

"But if you just huddle in a corner forever, how can you change the status quo?"

"It turns out that what we want is never survival, and in the face of natural choice, if a race does not progress, it will only decline, and eventually perish."

At the silent table, the old man slowly took a sip of coffee, and at the moment his expression was silent and a little gloomy.

"I don't want my race to stand still, so I know we need a direction, even if it's a false direction, but it will bring some new hope."

"Oh, you know what, a poet once told me that human beings are romantic because we are good at making a fool of ourselves."

"I'm sixty-three years old this year, and my years are numbered. Therefore, I want to spend the last period of my life to complete a romantic enough lie, and this lie will come from the starry sky that I have looked up all my life. ”

······

There was silence in the dining room for a long time.

In the silent silence, Yanagihara silently looked at the old man, and finally, probably at a moment when the wind sounded, she spoke up.

"Then aren't you afraid that when this lie is exposed, people's hopes will be completely dashed?"

Hearing this question, the old man smiled, and he pushed the document in his hand in front of Yanagihara again.

"Try extracting the names of all the planets in this area, and reading them with the first letter and the last letter together."

Yanagihara did as the old man requested, and then, she got such a sentence.

“Please tell people we have a future.”

Yes, the old man had left the heaviest entrustment of his life in the planetary belt he had "found", in that starry sky.

"I believe it." Under the light, the old man said.

"I've always believed that we are a great race, so there will be someone who will continue to walk in my place."

"So there will be somebody who will find that really right direction."