"Suddenly I looked back, but the man was there, and the lights were dim."

——Excerpt from "A Hundred Years of Collecting Shellfish", written by Yu Leshui

1

Three years later, the second fleet was formed and named "Brave New World". The name implies a prayer that the new universe they will go to is a beautiful new world. But most people think that this name is too long, and they are referred to as "Ji Fleet". The names of the six ships are: "Wanhu", "Kuafu", "Jingwei", "Hercules", "Daedalus" and "Prometheus", all of which are the protagonists of mythological tragedies. These names alone are enough to sniff out the tragedy of this operation.

On the basis of the thirty-two ships that had been successfully built, these six ships could actually be built faster, but Ji Renrui deliberately slowed down. The key is still the unsolvable puzzle - the mother universe cannot know the situation of the baby universe. The adventure was undoubtedly worth it, like a frog jumping in boiling water, but what happens after the ship and its crew of 6,000 crew members have successfully "disappeared"? Do you want to pour the power of the earth and send thousands of brave people to this bottomless pit one after another? At the executive committee level of "Friends of Music" such as Ji Renrui, Chu Tianle, Yu Leshui, Luo Ge, and Ge Qihong, this issue still needs to be carefully discussed.

The captains of the six spaceships have been decided, they are Ji Jichang, Tian Mi, Capdevilla, Ma Ming, Ogfner, and Kasseline. Coincidentally, the six of them are exactly half male and female, and half Chinese and half Chinese. However, this is only statistical data, and in the Ji fleet, the concept of gender and country has long been abandoned.

Six thousand crew members have also been selected and trained.

In addition to maximizing the capacity of hydrogen fuel, the spacecraft also prepared enough supplies to last for ten years. The crew had an argument about whether to go to the new universe with or without weapons. If you do, it will inevitably reduce the number of other necessities. In addition, there are philosophical or moral factors involved in the debate – some argue that the Noahs, as new humans, should be fundamentally free from violence. Regarding this controversy, Ji Renrui calmed down in four words:

"Survival first!"

In the end, it was decided to bring a small number of light weapons, at least to maintain a minimum of deterrence against alien carnivorous beasts (if any).

This time, in order to ensure the safety of the Earth, the second-order vacuum was excited very far, far beyond the orbit of Pluto. Fortunately, with nine faster-than-light ships now (including the original "Space Bug" and "Nuwa" and another "Ghost", and more wormhole ships are under construction), Pluto no longer belongs to the distant underworld. By April of this year, everything was ready, and the Ji fleet would set sail on April 7. The coincidence, which coincided with Qingming Festival in China and Easter in the West, gave a metaphor to the operation: six thousand people would die in a cloud of white light (disappear from the mother universe) and then – hopefully – would be resurrected in the new universe.

Earth received its first official report since the "Noah" set sail.

earth

United Nations Security Council and SCAC Executive Committee

"Friends of Music" headquarters

"Noah" set sail for 13 months, flew in blind sight for a whole year, and is now at its first berth. According to astronomical measurements, the spacecraft is currently 1.78 light-years away from Earth, which means that the average speed of the spacecraft during this part of the voyage is Mach 1.78, which exceeds the maximum design speed of the spacecraft. The ship's course is still directly facing Arcturus, with an angular error of no more than 1'. We have corrected the spacecraft parameters based on the sky map.

The ship has not yet received a call signal from Earth - it may never be received. But "Noah" will, as always, send a report to Earth once a year.

The spacecraft will set off again after a three-day rest. The second leg of the flight will remain blind, with a second berth after one year of flight.

As for the expedition to the shrinkage of space, since the voyage has just begun, valuable information has not yet been obtained. According to our estimates, the first valuable report will be given only one hundred and twenty years later, when the spacecraft arrives at the "Tsunami Winger".

Dear fellow human beings, Noahs love you!

Attached are the letters of one thousand and three crew members.

Captain of the spacecraft "Noah" Alex Townley

Report writer: He Zizhou

The ship was dated December 31, 2 years

The Earth immediately called back to congratulate and express condolences, but if the spacecraft had been traveling at the same speed, the Earth's radio waves would never have been able to catch up with the "Noah". In a relativistic system, even if the speed of the ship is very close to the speed of light, the radio waves emitted by the Earth will still catch up with the spacecraft at the speed of light (relative to the spacecraft). But today's "Noah" flies in a space displacement mode, and the radio waves become a turtle behind a rabbit, and the farther it runs, unless the spacecraft is moored for a long time.

It is consoling that the earth can still receive radio waves from the "Noah", and this one-way connection is still maintained. It's just that there are delays, and they're getting worse — for example, a letter sent home a year after the flight of the "Noah" will not be received until 2.78 years later, and the recipient can only learn about what happened on board the spacecraft 1.78 years ago. The child was three months old at the time of writing, and he was two years old when he read the letter.

Mom, Brother Tianle, Sister-in-law Leshui, Cao'er niece:

The condition of the spacecraft was mentioned in Zizhou's work report, so I won't talk about it again. Everything is fine here, but we have been flying blindly, and it has been dark outside the porthole for a year. Now it's moored, it's moored in the star's space, and there's nothing around the spacecraft. We can only look at the starry sky in the distance, which is no different from the starry sky seen on Earth. However, we are not lonely, we have been studying for a year, which is called "meditation", and perhaps when we write a letter to our family next year, we will be able to report to you on the Marlius theory in the field of vacuum deep structure.

I have good news for you, I gave birth to a boy, who is three months old and the first crew member on board. He lives in good health under artificial gravity, and in his mind, the ringed ground, radial gravity, and the ship's closure to the outside world are perfectly normal. After the ship was docked, we let him look at the starry sky outside for the first time from the porthole, and he was so excited that he couldn't stop giggling. What a trick! Since he was born, he has been the center of life of the whole ship, and we have to limit the number of visitors to 50 people a day. That is, it takes twenty days for each crew member to make a turn, and many people strongly disagree with this. His other three moms are certainly not subject to this restriction, but they also compete for uneven timing. In addition, there is the female orangutan Maru, who stays here every day and does not leave, and has almost become a full-time nanny for the little angel. By the way, I forgot to mention earlier, the child's name is Angel, and the surname is no longer used on the ship.

It's a pity that the little angel will never see his grandmother, uncle, aunt and cousin. But he knows you. Every day I recite your names to him and show him your pictures. He will always be the little grandson dear to his grandmother's knees!

Is Mom in good health? I'm old and my daughter isn't around, so you must take care! Ask Uncle Ji and Brother Jichang for me. Please ask my brother and sister-in-law to go to my father's grave for me and recite a few more words for me in front of the grave. Ask Aunt Xu for her hard work. The spaceship has a limit on the amount of information in the family letter, so you can't write more. I miss you!

Liu Ye was written in the Spring Festival of the first year of the spaceship

After listening to her daughter's letter, Tianle's mother murmured: "The little angel is already two years old at this time, Liu Ye, a confused mother, didn't tell the little angel's birthday in the letter." ”

Yu Leshui smiled and said, "Mom, I will ask when I write a reply, and let Liu Ye tell us in the next letter." ”

Tianle's mother is old and her body is also very weak, but her mind is not confused. She smiled sadly: "Leshui, if you fly at this speed, the radio waves can't catch up." We'll only have to listen to her in the future, and we won't be able to talk to her. ”

Yu Leshui looked at her husband and changed her words and said, "That's okay." As long as we can hear from her often, we can rest assured. ”

Tianle's mother said: "The little guy is also pitiful, he has been locked up in that boat all his life, and the little foot board will never have a chance to touch the ground." The ship has no windows, and you can see the stars for a few days of the year. ”

Chu Tianle said: "Didn't my godfather say a long time ago, people have been covered with a lot of cages that they can't escape from since they were born. Regardless, Willow Leaf and the little angel escaping the center of the cataclysmic region should have a little more hope than staying on Earth. ”

My mother was silent for a long time and said, "I understand all these truths. But Tianle, happy water, Liu Ye's heart is not happy. I could hear it from her. ”

Tianle and his wife were silent. Mom is right, although Liu Ye smiled happily in the recorded message, there seemed to be depression hidden in the depths of the words. It's no wonder that they've been living in prison for a year, and they're going to live like this forever. Leshui smiled and comforted her mother-in-law:

"Mom, you miss Liu Ye so much, you think about it so much. What was the depression in her words? I'm very happy to see it. ”

"Shui'er, you don't have to comfort me, I can think about it. It's okay to be a little depressed, as long as you live, people, this is how you have come all your life, when can you not have a torment and sorrow? I can think of it. ”

"yes, that's good."

"Changchang, they're about to leave for the New Universe, right?"

"Yes, we will officially leave at 0:00 tonight. His parents took the Cosmic Bug to Pluto to see him off. ”

"It was also a life-and-death parting, and I knew they were going to take a more dangerous path than the Noah. Don't talk about it. Tianle, Leshui, I'm old, and I always think about the past. In the past two days, I suddenly had an idea to go back to that place, which is the place where we first met Shui'er and her parents, just because I was afraid of bothering you. ”

Leshui smiled, "That's not easy?" Descending the mountain, it is only a few dozen miles, and it will take half an hour to arrive, and we can go here if you want to go. Tianle, you can't move, stay at home, I'll take my mother there. ”

"No, I'll go too. I would also like to revisit the old place. ”

"But, what about tonight's live broadcast?"

"Just in time. The experiment was excited on time at 0:00 Beijing time, but the live broadcast signal reached the earth with a delay of 5:36 hours, and it will be tomorrow morning. Brother Renrui is there, and I have nothing to worry about. Besides, even if ...... It's beyond the reach of the whip. ”

"Okay, then let's go now, Cao'er and Sister-in-law Xu will go together. Hurry up and get back in the evening. ”

The helicopter took the whole family to the headquarters of "Friends of Music" at the bottom of the mountain, where the car was already prepared, because there were two wheelchairs in the group, and it was a medium-sized bus. The driver and sister-in-law Xu helped the two patients get into the car, settled the wheelchairs, and asked the driver to go back and drive by himself. On the road, the three of them couldn't help but be immersed in the memories of the past, and there were not many words, only Cao'er and Sister-in-law Xu couldn't finish talking. At supper time they arrived at the town, and the fish slowed down and drove slowly down the street. Forty-three years have passed, and there have been many changes here, with more shops on the streets and more gorgeous decorations, but the big pattern has not changed, except that the gas stations have been replaced by charging stations. The van was driving slowly on the township road, and Tianle's mother suddenly pointed ahead:

"Oh, that's it, that's Dr. Hu's clinic." Tianle's mother smiled and said, "Although it was a liar, thanks to him, otherwise we wouldn't have been able to see Shui'er's family or Mr. Ma." ”

"Mom is right, we should really thank him." Chu Tianle also said with a smile.

Now it's a toy store, full of cheap toys, and a group of seven or eight-year-olds, boys and girls, are playing outside the door. Yu Leshui stopped the car, jumped down and looked at it carefully, "Yes, it's indeed here, Mom, you have a really good memory." Look, you were sitting on this step crying, and Tianle was over there, sitting on a blue striped duffel bag, blowing bubbles without a heart. ”

Cao'er heard it, "Mom, I'm going to blow bubbles too!" ”

Yu Leshui shook his head with a smile, "It's a sigh to think about it, the sky is about to fall, and the children's gameplay hasn't changed." Cao'er, come, I'll take you to ask if there is any bubble water in the store. ”

Yu Leshui led Cao'er into the toy store, there were no other customers in the store at this time, she and the female shopkeeper for a while, and came out with bubble water, not a bottle, but a large handful. "Mom, the shopkeeper said that Doctor Hu had left here a long time ago, and now his life and death are unknown, and I am afraid that he will not be alive according to his age." Sister-in-law Xu asked her what she was doing with so much bubble water, and Yu Leshui said, "It's rare to revisit the old place, I want to invite this group of children to blow bubbles with Cao'er, so that Cao'er can have a good time." She called the children in front of the door and gave each her a bottle of bubble water, and the children happily accepted the gifts. Come, grass, blow with your brothers and sisters, and see who blows the most! ”

Seven or eight children blew together, making the sky full of colorful bubbles, just in time for a professional foaming machine. Several adults, including Tianle's mother and Tianle in wheelchairs, as well as Yu Leshui, Sister-in-law Xu and the female shopkeeper, were happy to cheer for the children. After a few rounds of blowing, the title of winner clearly fell on the head of a girl who, for some reason, blew bubbles that were not only bigger than others, but also stayed on the blowpipe longer than others. Under the praise of the adults, she blew more and more vigorously, and soon she blew a big bubble, she blew very attentively, very carefully, the bubble trembled and became larger, and under the action of gravity, it became an oblate sphere, and the colorful light flowed briskly on the bubble. Yu Leshui couldn't help but think that Tianle was also so attentive when he blew bubbles. Cao'er clapped her hands happily:

"Sister blows the biggest! You're the champion! Sister, you can blow it hard, blow it to the biggest and biggest! ”

Unconvinced, a mischievous boy quietly walked over to the girl and tickled the girl. The girl glared at each other and warned each other, but in order not to give up the "biggest" bubble at the moment, she did not dare to resist violently. She was finally touched by the boy's limbs, and she couldn't help but laugh, and quickly held back, and the bubbles on the blowpipe swelled and contracted as she breathed, and finally burst. The girl said angrily:

"You're a fool! I'm also going to win! ”

Cao'er helped her: "Yes, it's my sister who wins!" ”

Just as the big bubble was expanding and contracting on the blowpipe, Chu Tianle suddenly froze, and a penetrating electric light suddenly pierced the confusion in his mind. He stared at the bubble tightly, his mind chasing its expansion and contraction with the waves of light, breaking it down into frames of slow-motion images. His mind entered the depths of time and space, to the moment of the birth of the universe. He felt that he had suddenly realized the ultimate answer, but even he couldn't believe it, who had always been confident—this was the answer? It was so simple, as simple as the frolic of the seven or eight-year-old boy in front of him. The cause of a catastrophe cannot be so simple! But it is clearly right, as long as this answer is filled in the center of the nine-square grid, all doubts are explained logically.

Yes, this should be the answer, because the universe evolves according to the simplest rules.

Did Hubble have the same self-doubt when he discovered the expansion of the universe? Because "vacuum can expand" is a completely new concept, no one has thought of it before him. At that time (and for a long time afterward) people did not know that the vacuum had a deep structure, and thought that the vacuum was completely empty, so did it make sense to say that "nothingness" expanded? Can emptiness expand? Can the expanding emptiness overcome the inertia of the stars and take them together to "move outward" and produce cosmological redshifts? Or, conversely, if the inertia of the stars is itself rooted in the native space, how does this correlation come about? At the level of science at the time, these were reasonable doubts, but the universe didn't care about these doubts, it just expanded itself in the simplest way.

Yu Leshui accidentally looked back and saw her husband's expression, and was immediately stunned, and at this moment his sick face was illuminated by the light from the heart and became vivid and vivid. This expression was revealed on the night of the crematorium, and when the husband discovered the secret of the "secret vacuum...... She heard her husband whisper:

"Leshui, I think I've found the final answer, humanity is saved."

The weakened Tianle mother had been leaning back in the back seat and watching the children blow bubbles, but she could hear her son's whisper very clearly. She hurriedly stood up and asked anxiously, "Tianle, what are you talking about?" Are you saying that the sky won't fall? Or is there a way to save it? ”

Chu Tianle didn't bother to answer, he was still stuck in his own train of thought. Suddenly, he hurriedly shouted: "Leshui, quickly notify the headquarters, and inform the Ji fleet to stop activating immediately!" There's no need to venture into a new universe! He tried to look at the clock on the dashboard of the car, and said anxiously, "No, it's 7:35, it's too late." It was 5.36 light from the Earth, and by the time the radio waves reached that side, it was already 0:57, and the excitation had already been completed. ”

His eyes were like fire, and he kept muttering: It's too late, it's too late. Suddenly, a flash of inspiration flashed in his mind, his eyes lit up, and he said categorically: "There is a way!" Leshui quickly informed the headquarters and asked a 'little bee' to pick me up as soon as possible! At the same time, order the 'Nuwa' to prepare for ignition as soon as possible! Hurry up! ”

Yu Leshui immediately made a notice as he ordered. After Yu Leshui finished informing him, he explained to his wife: "According to the industrial test of the 'Noah', the average speed of this type of spacecraft can reach Mach 1.8. In this way, the 5:36-hour flight can be reached in only 2.98 hours, which is 2.38 hours faster than the radio waves. Even if you add in the one-hour preparation before the spacecraft ignites, you can arrive half an hour early. Time is very short, now there is only one thing left to fight! ”

They immediately got into the car and drove to an open field outside the town, waiting for the arrival of the "little bee". While waiting, Chu Tianle was silent, his eyebrows furrowed, and he subconsciously muttered that he was thinking about all the details of the itinerary from now on. Tianle's mother knew her son's temperament, so she quietly stayed in the back row at this time and took the grass into her arms so as not to disturb him. Yu Leshui went over and whispered to her mother-in-law that she was going to accompany her husband to Pluto, and the others stayed here, and the headquarters of "Friends of Music" would send someone to pick them up immediately.

Fourteen minutes later, a pale blue flame appeared in the vast sky, and it was the "little bee" who came to pick them up. Soon, the "little bee" quickly rose into the air and flew south at a speed of 40,000 kilometers per hour. Fifty-six minutes later, the couple was already sitting in the wheelhouse of the "Nuwa", which was ten minutes later than Chu Tianle had expected. At this time, the spacecraft has completed the preparations before launch, and the blind flight program has been set up. The two sides did not shake hands and greet each other, and the spacecraft ignited immediately after closing the sealed door, entering the top speed, and the observation window was suddenly shrouded in chaos. After entering the normal flight, the captain Scott came over to shake hands with the Chu couple, and the navigator also came over to say hello. The captain said to Chu Tianle:

"Mr. Chu, I have calculated, even if the spacecraft flies at full speed, I am afraid it will not be too late. Because we can't stay blind all the time, we will crash into them, at least half an hour before we arrive, and we have to switch to intermittent flight and regular power. ”

"Don't be overly careful, stop when you have five minutes left! At such a distance, even if you aim at them and drive over, you won't just run into them, and it is safe enough to stop the boat five minutes early. After stopping, don't take the time to look for them yet, but immediately repeat the notice just now. I calculated that in this way, they will receive our message ten to fifteen minutes before excitation. ”

The captain did the math and nodded, "Yes, it's a good idea, it is possible to catch up with this relay run of faster-than-light flight plus radio waves." ”

He made the necessary adjustments to the procedure. The "Nuwa" was isolated from the entire universe in a blind flight state, and it was impossible to measure the current speed of the ship, so it could only be set according to the experimental data of the "Noah" at an average speed of Mach 1.8. As for the direction, it can only be set according to the current starry sky map. After the adjustment, the ship will fly to the end, and the captain will have nothing to do. Chu Tianle said:

"Let's go to the event hall and tell me about my new discoveries. All crew members go. Time is too rushed, maybe there is a fatal flaw in the reasoning, I hope everyone will brainstorm and find out where there is a flaw. ”

Fifteen crew members gathered in the hall, and Chu Tianle began to speak. He said that the three-state vacuum theory that he and his godfather, Alex and others jointly built has always had one of the biggest covers, that is, the motive that caused the contraction of the universe is unknown, but as long as this key point is not clear, the three-state vacuum theory can only be regarded as a semi-empirical theory at best, lacking a solid foundation. Now, with the help of bubbles blown by a little girl, he has finally found the cause.

It is well known that there is a famous theory of skyrocketing in cosmology. In fact, it is more accurate to say that it should be the theory of skyrocketing and emergency stopping. In the very early days of the cosmic explosion (10-35

seconds), due to the effect of anti-gravity, the universe skyrockets. This stage is extremely short, to 10-33

seconds end with an emergency stop. After that, the anti-gravitational force turned into a positive gravitational force, and the universe entered a moderate expansion until today.

It is conceivable that the skyrocketing and sudden stop caused the universe to produce isolated waves that are sparsely connected, can it affect the universe today? "For the sake of intuition, let's take a two-dimensional example." Chu Tianle said, "If God stands in the center of a balloon and blows, the two-dimensional sphere will be gently expanded. Now, God inadvertently sneezes violently, and the shock wave is transmitted from the center of the sphere to the sphere, causing the synchronization of the entire sphere to skyrocket, forming an isolated wave. If there were no higher dimensions in the spherical world, then this isolated wave would pass away over time without leaving any ripples. But in fact, the spherical world is in a higher dimension, so the solitary wave of the spherical surface will definitely cause disturbances in the three-dimensional space, resulting in an isolated wave in the three-dimensional space. The latter will be reflected at the boundary of the three-dimensional world and swept back into the two-dimensional universe. At this time, for the creatures of the two-dimensional world, the spatial contraction appeared out of thin air! Extrapolating this example to our three-dimensional universe......"

Yu Leshui said: "The deep structure of the vacuum is the fourth dimension of our space? ”

"Yes."

"The sudden halt of the inflated universe at the time of its birth caused an isolated wave in the fourth dimension, which reflected at the boundary of the fourth dimension and swept back to the three-dimensional world, so that our universe contracted out of thin air?"

"Yes."

"So, should there be a dredging wave before this dense wave? What do you think, skyrocketing, sudden stops - these two processes produce a dredged wave, and then a dense wave. ”

"No, the order is reversed, the sparse wave should be after the dense wave, and it is the reflection of the cosmic boundary that causes the inversion of the order. And after many reflections, its duration is also discretized, and it turns out to be only 10-33

The solitary wave at the level of seconds has now been stretched to at least forty or fifty years - but I think its elongation is also limited, and it is only at the level of a hundred years. So," Chu Tianle announced to the audience in a slow tone, "If my reasoning above is correct, then the sharp contraction of the universe is probably about to reach its peak, and after that, there will be a downward half-cycle, and the contraction rate will gradually become smaller until it returns to the standard vacuum, and then turns into a sharp expansion equal in time. When these two isolated waves have passed, the universe will revert to its original modest expansion. ”

"So—the sky won't fall at all?"

"Yes, God just gave a shiver."

Yu Leshui smiled bitterly at her husband. It turned out to be just a peddle of God! The so-called catastrophe is just a false alarm! I heard that Ji Renrui said a similar metaphor when he quelled the suicide of 10,000 people, of course, it was just an empty city plan he played, but I didn't expect him to be lucky enough to say it. No wonder the husband is rushing to Pluto at this time, and humanity is safe and sound, and there is no need to take that adventure. Chu Tianle said:

"Since the creation of the universe, his old man must have had many urinary tremors, but at that time there were no scientific instruments, not even civilization, and no intelligent race, so this kind of urinary tremor has not been known."

"So, how long is the interval between two urination tremors?"

"Only when the contraction is over and the exact data of this isolated wave peak is known, can the wave spacing be reversed. It must have elongated with multiple reflexes, and for now I can only give a rough estimate of the acceleration of the contraction: the interval between this time and the last one is about 100,000 years. ”

All the listeners laughed. This is really a "big" joke, when the boiling water of the cataclysm was poured on the head, all mankind struggled to jump, and in just 28 years, they came up with awning technology, hydrogen fusion technology, human egg technology, second-order vacuum excitation, wormhole faster-than-light spaceship, baby universe...... Now, there is no catastrophe at all, it is just a sneeze and a urine tremor from God, and the world will be peaceful in no time. This is good news, of course, great news, but it also has an inherent cruelty to it—making the great human endeavour a farce. Chu Tianle added:

"Leshui, you may remember that my godfather had doubts about the disguised resurrection of 'anthropocentrism', and even after I found out that it was the simultaneous expansion of the whole universe, my godfather's suspicions have not been completely eliminated. Because anthropocentrism, although eliminated on the spatial axis, is still entrenched in the time axis - is it too coincidental that in the tens of billions of years since the birth of the universe, the contraction occurred precisely when humans had the ability to observe the cataclysm? But now, all doubts have been removed. This isolated wave has undoubtedly swept across the universe many times, and we have only happened to have it once. There is also Pauli, although he did not discover the mechanism of the 'sudden rise and stop', he has long said that he does not believe that the collapse of the universe will continue forever, and the reason for his suspicion is very simple, it is an ancient Chinese saying: its rise is also vigorous, and its death is also sudden. Anything that happens too quickly often ends just as quickly. When I think about it, I really admire the incomparable instincts of my godfather and Pauli. He asked, "If you think about it, is there any flaw in my reasoning?" ”

Everyone slowly shook their heads after thinking hard, Chu's new theory was clear and smooth, and it was impeccable. Captain Scott thought a little faster than everyone else and thought of a question that extended from this. He cautiously asked:

"Our wormhole flight technology is based on a dense vacuum, and it requires a contraction beyond a critical point. If the vacuum disappears, then ......"

Chu Tianle smiled bitterly: "You are completely right. With the vanity of the vacuum, wormhole technology will become a dragon-slaying technique that will no longer be useful, and the current glorious faster-than-light era will be gone forever - no, to be precise: humans will have to wait patiently until 100,000 years before it can return. ”

The good news suddenly turned into bad news, and the atmosphere around them was sluggish, especially for the crew of the faster-than-light spaceship, who were about to lose their jobs. Scott smiled wryly and muttered:

"That's right...... I hope the universe doesn't end......"

But in any case, since the universe is no longer collapsing, the baby cosmic excitation experiment should be stopped, it is a crazy gamble in a desperate situation, and the stakes are the precious six thousand lives and six wormhole spaceships. As for whether it will be possible to stop it, we will see in a moment.

As the scheduled flight session came to an end, everyone ended the discussion and went back to work. The three people in the cockpit waited worriedly, whether they could stop the action of the Ji fleet in time depended on whether the positioning of the spacecraft was accurate after the blind flight, as long as there was an error of more than fifteen light minutes from the experimental site, the Ji fleet would not have time to receive the message from here. But in blind flight, they are completely helpless, and this is the largest cover door for faster-than-light wormhole flight.

The bell rang, and the scheduled two-hour and fifty-five-minute flight came to an end. The spacecraft came to a smooth halt, and a lonely picture of deep space immediately appeared in the observation window, and the syrup-colored Pluto and its three moons could be seen not too far away, indicating that the spacecraft landed in a basically accurate location. According to Chu Tianle's prior explanation, the captain immediately began to call Ji Fleet. The navigator also quickly began to measure the coordinates of the starry sky, and after half a minute, he said happily:

"Captain! The positioning of the spacecraft is basically accurate, and the Ji fleet is about fifteen light minutes away from us, to be precise, it should be thirteen light minutes. ”

The captain and Chu Tianle nodded happily, and then waited. The wait is maddening, fifteen, ten, five minutes until midnight...... The intercom remained indifferently silent. It was past midnight, and the hearts of everyone on board were beginning to sink. Thankfully, they didn't hear back, but they didn't notice any flashes, but it would have been thirteen minutes before the flashes that burst at zero were here. There is no way to think at the moment, only waiting. The call to the Ji fleet was definitely useless, but the call was still sticking out. 0.5, 0.7, 0.11......

2

Somewhere beyond Pluto's orbit around the Sun, six spacecraft with bows facing outwards are gathered and ready for synchronous excitation. Twelve miniature aircraft are arranged around the perimeter of the spacecraft, carrying video cameras, radiation monitors, photometers and other equipment. They were 10,000 kilometers away from the spacecraft, i.e. outside the projected vacuum hole, as the spherical radius of the excitation was estimated to be no more than 5,000 kilometers. The people who saw off the Ji fleet had already left the excitation point on the "Cosmic Bug" and "Ghost" at this moment, and were moored 20,000 kilometers away. Because this is a short flight, the passenger capacity of the two ships can be greatly increased, but they can only carry a maximum of 6,000 people, so the relatives of the crew can only come from each family. For conceivable reasons, most of them are the mothers of the crew, so the two spaceships have basically become a purely female world. Ji Renrui and his wife both came, because Ji Renrui was the official representative of the "Friends of Music" and did not occupy the quota of the family.

There was boundless darkness all around, and the distant sun shone weakly, like a weak firefly in the night sky. The other stars appear brighter than ever and no longer twinkle with the atmosphere. Because there is no atmospheric scattering, they all seem to be much smaller all at once. Tiny Pluto with three smaller moons, orbiting the Sun with a radius of 5.9 billion kilometers, is arriving here at the moment, but it is also more than 100,000 kilometers away from the excitation point. Pluto, an icy, rocky planet covered in solid nitrogen, methane and carbon monoxide, has been expelled from the planetary community and given the dishonorable name "dwarf planet." The transparent spaceship pours its internal lights into the darkness of space, like six brilliant diamonds. Sometimes two or four light blue flames will emerge from the ship, which is when the ship is fine-tuning its position with conventional power to ensure that the six ships are in relative position.

The scale of this experiment is much smaller than the last one, and if it were for safety reasons alone, it would not be practical to put it into distant space, which is 5.9 billion kilometers away. The Academy of Friends of Joy is interested in the microgravity environment here. The gravitational pull of the Sun here is already very weak, and the gravitational pull of Pluto is also weak, and the spacecraft can maintain constant spatial coordinates with only a small amount of attitude adjustment in order to carry out "fixed-point excitation", which is conducive to the observation of surrounding instruments. This is completely different from the last time the excitation point was set at the second Lagrange point of the Earth-Moon system. The Lagrangian point is fixed with respect to the gravitational system of the Earth and the Moon, and is moving with respect to the stationary space. Here, however, the observation instrument is immobile relative to the excitation point (i.e., the stationary space), and the annihilation space can be observed calmly, resulting in more reliable data.

Inside the spacecraft, the weightless family members hold each other's arms to prevent drifting, staring at the holographic image in the center of the hall. Miao Ji held her husband in her left arm and Emma's mother in her right arm. The hologram shows the exterior of the six ships. Through the transparent hull, it can be seen that inside each ship, a thousand crew members are bareheaded and barefoot, dressed in white clothes with Tai Chi patterns, and they are also pulled into a phalanx, standing in a solemn formation. Ten minutes later, at zero o'clock Beijing time on Earth, a cloud of white light will flood the fleet, and they will disappear from the mother universe in an instant. As for what fate awaits them in the new universe - everyone has long put life and death on the line. Their eyes sparkled with a yearning for a new world. Inside the two family spaceships, there was also silence. All the mothers' eyes were red, and their expressions, though calm, gave the impression that if one of them wept bitterly, it would quickly amplify into the mourning of the whole ship.

The ships reported the last inspection to the flagship "Manho". Now it's time for the oath-taking ceremony, and six thousand voices converge into a neat wave:

"I pledge to abide by the Noah's Covenant,

Life is above all else, the collective is above the individual;

Continue the unity of mankind and inherit the civilization of the earth. ”

The following is a farewell speech from Ji Jichang, the head of the "Brave New World" fleet. The camera shifted to the cabin of the flagship "Wanhu", the atmosphere in the ship was solemn, Ji Jichang left the team, stabilized his body in front of the camera, and then his face was magnified. Ji Renrui and the others found that he was not as solemn as others, but had a naughty smile on his face. He smiled and asked his subordinates aloud:

"Buddy, sister, are you nervous at this time?"

Such a salutation, such a question, and such a joke were all unexpected by the crew, so the answer was not very neat: "Don't be nervous!" ”

"Not being nervous is." Ji Jichang said simply, "I'm very nervous, nervous but not afraid." Why? Because I am a devout believer in science, I firmly believe that human physics will also apply to the new universe, and that the universe there will have the same evolutionary history. So we neither go to heaven nor hell, but go home! The same home as this one! The only thing we don't know for sure is what moment in that universe we'll catch up with. If you're catching up with a universe that's so old that you have to stretch your legs, or a universe that's young but terminally ill, you're unlucky. But it doesn't matter. If we can jump in, we can jump out. Our spacecraft has a year's stock of fuel, and if you count the number of excitations, that's three quadrillions, so to speak, infinite. If we find that the universe is not satisfied, let's put oil on the soles of our feet and go out and find another one. Looking for it thousands of times, trillions of times, can you still find a satisfactory universe? You say don't you? ”

The bottom burst into laughter: "Yes! ”

The mothers here were also amused, and Mother Emma touched her mother with her elbow, nodded in satisfaction, and whispered:

"Your son is a good captain."

Miao Ji also whispered: "Your daughter is the same." ”

Ji Renrui was very pleased. He knew that his son's words were mainly to appease the mothers, and they were very effective, not only because of the cheerfulness and lightness of the speaker, but also because what he said was reasonable—the new universe also has the evolution of the old universe, which should be the most probable prospect. Knowing his son Mo Ruo's father, this kid has been naughty since he was a child, and he seems to be a little slippery, but he actually has a plank-eyed heart, a decisive heart, an organic change, and a strong affinity. He'd be a good captain.

After Ji Jichang finished speaking, he flew to the ignition button, where the synchronous activation of the six spacecraft was centrally controlled. Emma, the communications officer, stays in front of the intercom, smiling from time to time waving to the camera (that is, to her mother). In the solemn atmosphere of the spaceship, everyone waited silently, and in ten minutes it was about to start a one-minute countdown, and there was silence in the intercom.

It's only five minutes, three minutes. Now it's time to start the one-minute countdown...... Suddenly, the intercom of the "Wanhu" rang unexpectedly: "The 'Nuwa' urgently calls the Ji fleet, please stop the activation immediately!" The 'Nuwa' urgently called the Ji fleet, please stop the activation immediately! Please answer when you receive it! Please answer when you receive it! ”

Emma quickly ascertained the location of the call and reported in surprise: "Captain, the 'Nuwa' should be nearby!" ”

Ji Jichang quickly took the intercom: "This is the 'Brave New World' fleet, and the activation is suspended as instructed." But why abort? Please let us know why. ”

Due to the distance, it took twenty-six minutes for the reply to come. The overjoyed side was apparently so overjoyed that the usual phrase of the fleet's communications was no longer used: "Thank God! Changchang, I'm Aunt Yu, and I'm here with your Uncle Tianle. Don't be in a hurry, wait for us, it is estimated that it will be there in six or seven minutes. ”

"Okay." Ji Jichang issued an order to the ships, "After receiving an urgent notice, suspend the activation, and the ships will be on standby." ”

Ji Renrui on the "Nuwa" couldn't help but ask: "Leshui, Tianle, I'm Renrui." What's going on? ”

This time, the answer from that side arrived quickly, and obviously the distance had been greatly shortened: "Brother Renrui, don't worry, we are almost there, we will pick you up immediately." ”

The "Nuwa" determined the precise direction according to the other party's radio waves, and quickly found the Ji fleet in space. The "Nuwa" flew at the speed of light for six minutes, and now it is changed to conventional power drive, and soon a bright six-star cluster can be seen with the naked eye, which is the Ji fleet. The "Nuwa" drove over and joined the "Wanhu". After the engagement, the other party did not explain, but directly connected Ji Jichang to the "Nuwa". Then, the "Nuwa" joined the "Cosmic Bug" and took Ji Renrui and his wife over. This time, Chu Tianle was very cautious, he had to first explain it thoroughly in the small circle, think about the matters that should be considered clearly, and then announce it to the crew, so as not to cause unnecessary turmoil.

In the cockpit of the "Nuwa", he introduced the latest theoretical breakthrough to the three members of the Ji family. The new theory was very powerful, and the Ji family and his son immediately accepted it, and at that moment, Chu Tianle saw not only joy in Ji Jichang's eyes, but also a sense of disillusionment. Ji Jichang frowned slightly, thinking deeply. His mother, Miao Qi, was full of joy and kept saying:

"That's good, that's good, it's really Jitai. There must be a road before the car reaches the mountain, and the willows and flowers are bright and another village, or the words of the elders are right. He added, "Not only is the catastrophe gone, but the good years are coming." It's the age of hydrogen, and the days are so rich that no human era can compare with it. ”

Ji Renrui's mood is quite complicated, of course, there is great joy, but there is also a serious loss, and he can't cry or laugh. At this moment, his mind flashed through the rough road he had traveled for twenty-eight years. Twenty-eight years of hard work by all mankind have brought dazzling scientific and technological progress, but the so-called catastrophe turned out to be just a pee tremor inadvertently by God! He even had a strong sense of disillusionment, disillusionment with Chu Tianle, and also disillusionment with human intelligence. He had worshipped such wise men as Chu Tianle, Pauli, Ma Shiqi, Alex, George, Barrow, Rogge, He Zizhou, and his son Changchang (he also considered himself a smart man, but that was a smart man in another field), and their genius was indeed dazzling and admirable. However, when these geniuses exhausted their talents and tried to climb to heaven and come to the throne of God, it only confirmed the insignificance of human beings. After God finished peeing, he shook the second child and walked away, but he was tired of the most outstanding geniuses of mankind who had to fight all their lives!

At this time, Ji Jichang had already considered it maturely, and said in a calm tone: "Uncle Tianle, thank you, you used your outstanding genius to help mankind clear the fog and recognize the direction. Although at first glance, humanity has only returned to the state it was 28 years ago, this false cataclysm has brought about extremely brilliant scientific and technological progress, which is unprecedented in the history of mankind. You are the pioneer of this shining era, and you have drawn a successful end to it, and history will write your name and a large number of people in golden letters! ”

Chu Tianle waved his hand, wanting to interrupt his praise. Ji Jichang then said: "I'm glad that the universe is safe again, and human beings don't have to flee, but I don't think this operation needs to be stopped." The goal of the Noahs was no longer to flee, but to discover the new world, which had become the belief of the Noahs. Crucially, this opportunity is fleeting, and if space shrinks below the tipping point of excitation, humanity will forever – or more in 100,000 years to be exact – lose the possibility of exploring a new universe. Uncle Chu, Aunt Yu, Dad, I hope this operation continues. If necessary, a referendum on six thousand crew members could be given to decide whether to continue the experiment. ”

Before Chu Tianle could answer, Ji Renrui said angrily: "Confused! I criticized you last time, and you haven't learned the principles of the 'Friends of Joy' – never afraid of any risk, but only the most necessary. At a time when humanity is in a desperate situation, the Baby Universe Project is a necessary adventure. Now that humanity is safe, it's unnecessarily crazy! Don't mention a referendum, a referendum is not inherently justified, especially in impulsive moods, and I don't think it compares to the sober trade-offs of a few wise men. If you really want to have a referendum, you can suspend the experiment, wait for a year, and wait for the mood to stabilize before it happens, and then the result of the referendum will be very different from today. And—" he looked his son in the eye, "I'm afraid it's not just a referendum for the crew, it's a referendum for humanity." At the very least, in the new situation, will the owners of the six spacecraft still be willing to donate expensive property for free? It's only fair that they should have the right to choose again. ”

Ji Jichang's face was miserable. He knew that what his father said was the truth, but that was precisely the reason why he was in a hurry to excite it, and if he continued according to the procedure his father said, the New Universe project would not only run aground, but might even be completely ruined. If nothing else, six property owners or property States alone would veto the action. When humanity is in a desperate situation, the collectivism of the people is strengthened to the greatest extent and can be generously given to the family. Now that the disaster has been resolved, the shipowner may have to worry about how to make a fortune and develop space tourism with the help of faster-than-light spacecraft. How many people would care about the affairs of another universe when "this universe" is already safe? Except for those who are extremely restless by nature – like Magellan, Columbus, Bering, Grandpa Kang and himself. But this restlessness, this strong desire to explore, is the most precious nature of human beings, and it is the driving force of human progress. But his father's words were reasonable and impeccable, and he couldn't refute them. After thinking about it, he said briskly:

"Well, if this is the decision of the 'Friends of Joy', I obey it unconditionally."

Ji Renrui turned back to Chu and said, "It's you who is more difficult to do." Tianle, Changchang just said right, you took the 'friends of music' and all mankind to create an incomparably glorious era. But...... How to put it, when the final truth is revealed, it is less like a heroic epic and more like an absurd drama. Together, we have created a powerful aura, and we want to puncture it with a needle. Tianle, Leshui, how should we deal with the aftermath? One sharp turn after another will shock the passengers. Moreover, there may be some small tragedies dragged on the tail of this good news, such as the 'Noah'. ”

Chu Tianle and his wife looked at each other heavily. Ji Renrui was right, the "Noah" that flew out had broken its string like a kite, and it was impossible to notify them. The "Noah" will eventually know this mechanism - when the cosmic shrinkage rate falls below a critical point and the spacecraft is stuck in the mud and cannot travel, just as Magellan's fleet was stuck in the windless Pacific Ocean for a long time. It was a bleak prospect, but it was unthinkable at the moment. Even if a spaceship is sent to follow the trail, it will not be easy to catch up, and the "Noah" has been gone for too long.

Chu Tianle sighed and said, "Brother Ji, you are right, such sharp turns one after another will definitely leave some unfortunate people behind and make them psychologically collapse." Let's take our time. I know what you're thinking at this point, and you want to suppress this discovery and not disclose it for the time being, but that's not realistic. If we hide it, how can we persuade the 6,000 crew members to give up their lifelong beliefs and go back with us? And, as I've always said, I'm not a genius in the world, that is, I can occasionally see one step ahead of others. Even if I don't publish it, someone will soon find out about this mechanism. My opinion, as it was last time, was resolutely made public. ”

Yu Leshui nodded, "Let's make it public." After all, this is good news, and if it causes turmoil, it is relatively easy to defuse. ”

Ji Renrui sighed, "You misunderstood me, I didn't plan to hide it this time, who can hide such shocking news?" It's just that...... Don't talk about it, Changchang, you go back and announce the new decision. ”

Ji Jichang took the "Little Bee" back to the fleet flagship "Wanhu", where he would announce his decision to suspend the operation. Ji Renrui looked at his son's back and said to Chu Tianle with a smile:

"Tianle, I haven't thanked you yet. I really admire your brain, being able to come up with the relay method of 'faster-than-light navigation plus radio waves', saving Changchang and his 6,000 subordinates. It's too dangerous, and it's all over one minute later! He turned to Leshui and said, "We all know about faster-than-light spaceships, but it's hard to jump out of the old thinking inertia. If you put me on that juncture, I can't think of a solution. ”

Tianle said indifferently: "The way to force it out." Put you in that position, and you'll figure it out too. Listen, Changchang is announcing. ”

In the intercom, Ji Jichang was giving an emotional speech to the 6,000 crew members:

“…… We've already snapped the knocker of the new universe, but we're having to retreat, which is of course disappointing, but the joy is heavier. Our old universe is safe, Mother Earth is safe, and fellow relatives are safe! We've got to go back and celebrate! As for the exploration of the new universe, I believe that this is only a temporary retreat, and in the near future, we will knock on the door of the new universe again! ”

The crew cheered and accepted the order to abort the operation. A formation of eight spacecraft embarked on the road back to Earth.

3

The flotilla returned early in the morning on Halmahera, the spacecraft still in synchronous orbit, and the crew returned to the surface in "little bees". Chu Tianle and the others immediately took the plane to rush back to the headquarters of the "Friends of Music". On the way, they received feedback that the world's observatories had recently observed that the space contraction, although still accelerating, was already showing signs of slowing down and may be close to its peak. Scientists from all over the world have built mathematical models based on Chu's new findings and made calculations, and soon obtained roughly similar results:

Twenty-one years ago, when the space was discovered, it had actually begun thirty-one years. In other words, the contraction began fifty-nine years ago. The half-cycle of this solitary wave (dense wave) is sixty-two years, and now it is close to the highest point of the curve, and it is estimated that the spatial shrinkage will reach its peak after three years;

This should be followed by a sixty-two year downward cycle, in which the space is still in a state of contraction, but the rate of contraction gradually decreases until it returns to the original standard vacuum (which is actually a vacuum of moderate expansion). By the way, the excitation region of the dense vacuum is twenty years before and after the peak point;

Subsequently, it continues to descend from zero point, which should be the acceleration of an isolated sparse wave with a period of 62 years in mirror symmetry. The universe has changed from a standard vacuum to an expansion, and the expansion rate has become larger and larger, reaching a peak after sixty-two years;

After that, there is a 62-year expansion deceleration period, and the expansion rate is getting smaller and smaller, and it returns to its original state after 62 years.

The day the universe was fully restored was 189 years after the present day.

This is really great news, but as Chu, Ji, Yu and others expected, although there is ecstasy rising in society, it is also mixed with a heavy blankness. It turns out that God is not particularly bad, not particularly vicious, he is just a careless and lazy father, who does not care much about the people in robes, and inadvertently shuddered, but he turned the world upside down. This incident is really a bit aggrieved, it makes human beings see their own insignificance, and paints the tragedy of survival with the color of farce.

Chu, Ji, and Yu immediately convened a plenary meeting of the "Friends of Music" Executive Committee. This is a retreat with the theme of "What to do in the new situation". There was no keynote speech, because "the hearts of several of our conveners are also a mess at this time." Don't wait, don't rely on, let's explore on our own, and wait for whoever has the first breakthrough idea, let's have another meeting. Ji Renrui said with a wry smile.

As soon as the retreat ended, the Chu couple immediately rushed back to the mountains. The incident was too sudden, the day before yesterday they threw the old lady and the grass halfway and left in a hurry, at this time the old lady must be in a state of confusion, and she had to go back quickly to resolve it. When I got home, it was already evening, and Sister-in-law Xu greeted her, lowered her voice and said:

"You're back. I knew you couldn't be disturbed for the past two days, so I put up with it and didn't tell you. After the eldest lady came back, she lay down, not eating, drinking, not saying or moving. I guess she's worried about Willow Leaf. ”

Cao'er also knew that she was worried, she hadn't slept yet, she took her mother's hand, and frowned like a little adult: "Mom and Dad, grandma is sick and hasn't eaten for more than a day, do you need to ask a doctor to give injections?" ”

The two coaxed Cao'er and let her sleep with Sister-in-law Xu, and the two came to their mother's house. Mother lying on the bed. As soon as they saw their mother's gaze, their hearts sank—there was calm despair in them, and their hearts were dead. Leshui sat down on the edge of the bed, and Tianle brought the wheelchair close to the bed, holding her mother's hand one by one, thinking about how to comfort her. Tianle Ma asked:

"Changchang, they're back?"

"I'm back."

"It's good to come back, Renrui and his family should be happy. Now the sky won't fall, let's live in peace. But...... Liu Ye and Yangyang will not know the news, and the telegram will not be able to catch up. The couple's hearts were blocked, but they couldn't comfort their mother, who was now thinking clearly and couldn't coax them. "But what should they do if they don't know anything and the space suddenly doesn't shrink?" I know that wormholes fly in a dense vacuum, and without a vacuum, the spaceship is like stuck in a mud pool. If the fuel on the ship runs out, the conventional power will not be used, and there will be only one way to starve to death. ”

She spoke in a calm voice (not wanting the grass next door to hear her), but two rivers of tears were raging. The little couple's hearts are like knives, barely supporting the calm of the appearance. Mom is right. After her intelligence improved, she could not be said to be proficient in matters involving technology, but the general outline was clear, and her worries were completely true at the moment. It's just that the danger they face is not starvation, the food reserves on the ship are enough to last three or five years, and if the fuel runs out, the crew will die of freezing and suffocation first. Tianle cheered up and said with a smile:

"Mom, don't cry, you are the head of the family, and when you take the lead in crying like this, you will cry the hearts of the army. Don't worry, the Noah is well-equipped, and Alex, Yangyang, and Barrow are extremely smart, and they can still discover the secrets we can discover. Besides, there are so many people in the 'Friends of Happiness', and there are so many smart brains in the world, they can always come up with a way. Think about it, over the years, the catastrophe of the collapse of the sky has not stumped us, and the response methods are one after another. Now that the sky is not falling, there is only such a trivial thing as a lack of fuel, and people can't do anything about it? Never. Mom, think about it, I don't pay attention to what I said. ”

Tianle's mother had a light of hope in her eyes, and whispered, "Is there really hope?" ”

"Definitely. Of course, this is indeed a difficult problem, it is impossible to come up with a way tomorrow morning, you give me three years, no, two years, I must come up with a way to establish contact with Liu Ye and them. ”

Tianle's mother smiled comfortably, "I know your smart brain. Mom don't worry, you guys hurry up and figure it out, I have to wait for a sure child before closing my eyes. ”

Leshui said: "That's not good! I know that I can't close my eyes, I have to see the willow leaves come back with my own eyes! ”

Tianle's mother was also happy, "Okay, I'll stay up for a few more years, wait for Liu Ye Yangyang and them to come back, and still hold my little grandson - no, no, I'm confused again, at that time, the little grandson has grown up early, maybe it's time to start a family." Just like your big brother Ji said, let him bring an alien daughter-in-law back. Alas, I can't come back, as long as it's safe outside. She waved her hand, "Let's go, you must be tired, and I should go to sleep." ”

"No, you haven't eaten for more than a day, and then go to bed after eating."

"Okay, let Sister-in-law Xu heat up the rice she brought just now."

She ate a small bowl of rice and went to sleep. The two said goodbye to their mother, returned to the bedroom, and spent a sleepless night. Yu Leshui knew that what her husband said just now was just comforting words, at least with the current understanding, the situation of the "Noah" was hopeless. She really wanted to ask her husband if there was a way, but she didn't want to put pressure on him, so she didn't ask. Tianle beside her had been thinking feverishly until the early hours of the morning, squinting for a while.

That night, her mother slept soundly, and the next morning, when Leshui called her to have breakfast, she found that her mother-in-law had passed away peacefully. So, when she stopped taking her last breath, was she holding on to hope or despairing? I hope it's the former. Leshui changed her mother-in-law's longevity clothes. Looking at her mother-in-law's calm remains, she couldn't help but recall her mother-in-law's life. Mother-in-law's life is ordinary, there are no shining moments, her life can be summed up in four words: alive, left behind. But these four words are the essence of biological nature.

The family sends the deceased to the crematorium. The grass was crying and almost dying. Over the years, the Chu couple has been too busy, and the grandmother and Aunt Xu who accompany Cao'er the most are the ones who are closest to Cao'er. Cao'er has understood death, and knows that grandma will never wake up from this sleep, and will never be able to hold herself in the future, never be able to tell stories close to her face, and no longer be able to make puppies for herself with dog tail grass. Cao'er ignored the Ma family's rule of "people don't cry when they die", and cried so much that her parents, Uncle Ji, Aunt Miao, Brother Changchang, and Sister Emma all had red eyes. Finally, the grass sobbed and took the torch from her mother's hand and lit the fire, the flame crackling and white smoke rising in the white smoke. A goshawk glides lightly across the blue sky and white clouds, skimming over the white smoke. Mom said that the goshawk came to carry the souls of the deceased to heaven, and it came when Grandpa was cremated. In the future, it will carry the souls of its grandparents and follow the road pointed by the white smoke to visit the grass from the sky.