We are unfortunate or fortunate to live in such times, where despair and hope, disaster and struggle, destruction and rebirth are all intertwined in this time and space. God's inadvertent quiver made the billions of people in the robe as anxious as ants—and the magnificence of life was sublimated in it. Now the waves have receded, and the beach is only covered with shells.

Then follow a hundred-year-old woman to pick up a few shells, even a petal of shells, has its natural iridescence.

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

1

The sunset in early summer is close to the top of the mountain, Yu Leshui visited the Xixia County Dinosaur Egg Museum, drove the BYD hybrid car back to the Laojieling State Guest House where he stayed in the past few days, and prepared to write a manuscript. Yu Leshui, 25 years old, just graduated from university last year and worked as an intern reporter in the social department of Beijing Youth Daily. What she wants to write is a series of travelogues, which are actually tourism promotions made at the invitation of local **, just a few articles that meet the situation, and with her qualifications, it is not her turn to cover hot news and major events. She would never have imagined that it was this trip to the mountains in southwest Henan that allowed her to "split faces" and bump into that historical moment.

Although it was only a timely article, she was really moved when she interviewed the museum. It's a place for her to revisit, having been with her parents since she was 10 years old. The heart of a ten-year-old girl is the most sensitive, and the feelings of that time have always remained in the depths of memory, and after the fermentation of adolescence, today will be transformed into the alcohol of the pen. The exterior of the museum is not very good, with more than a dozen dinosaur sculptures scattered in the courtyard, the shape is dull and lacks aura, but the essence of the museum is in those unadorned holes. Entering the cave is like traveling back in time to 70 million years ago. Beneath this barren sandstone surface, dinosaur eggs are stacked on top of each other, and the caves are everywhere and within easy reach. There are tens of thousands of dinosaur eggs in this area, compared to the hundreds found in the world. The corresponding geological era is the late or late Cretaceous period of the Mesozoic Era, when the dinosaurs that dominated the earth were about to bid farewell to the stage of history.

According to the information, due to some unknown catastrophic factor, many of these eggs were sterile at all before they became fossils. So, what kind of catastrophe did the dinosaur family encounter? Will a dinosaur mother who has been incubating for a long time and can't wait for the birth of her child screaming at the sunset? Why is there such a concentration of dinosaur eggs here, could it be that this is the last refuge of dinosaurs in the cataclysmic era?

The girl Yu Leshui was born with a sense of compassion, saying that she had cried for these dying dinosaurs at that time, but when she stood in a small stone cave, looking up at a nest of dinosaur eggs in a primitive state, she was really stunned. At that time, the father saw the excitement of his little daughter's feelings, and smiled and persuaded that we don't have to be sad for the dinosaurs at all. In any case, dinosaurs have dominated the earth for 170 million years, and no species can compare to them. How long has it been since humans entered the "leadership class" on Earth? It's only a few tens of thousands of years—even from the time of Homo erectus, it's only four or five million years, which is only one-fiftieth of the age of the dinosaurs. Although human beings are the spirits of all things, no one really dares to pack a ticket for whether they can continue the glorious and prosperous era of 170 million years like the dinosaurs. She didn't dare to say that she understood Dad's sigh back then, but she did remember it, and she still remembers it vividly. She plans to incorporate it into the interview.

Yu Leshui wrote a manuscript for this interview while turning left and right on the winding mountain road. It's a country road, but probably because of a large military unit nearby, the road is of unusually high quality, although the road surface is not wide, but it is as smooth as a mirror, and the car is very smooth, only the rustle of tires rubbing against the ground can be heard. Coupled with the fact that there are few vehicles and no surveillance cameras, it is a rare pleasure to get off the car. Yu Leshui opened the car window, let the strong wind blow his long hair behind him, and shouted a few times when the spirit was flying.

Before dinner, she returned to the Laojieling State Guest House, which is located in the deep mountainous area, and felt that the atmosphere was abnormal when she entered the door. The security guard at the door was gone, and a few people in civilian clothes were replaced, and their temperament was obviously not from the mountains, all of them had alert eyes and capable movements, and they were obviously high-level plainclothes security personnel. She secretly wondered, looking at this momentum, is there a big man coming to stay here? As soon as she parked BYD in the courtyard and came to the hall, the chubby hotel manager immediately greeted her with a smile on her face, full of "Henan flavor" Mandarin, and asked her if she was a guest in room 213, and apologized again and again, saying that the hotel was temporarily requisitioned to hold an emergency meeting, and the original guests could only be dispersed to a nearby farmhouse hotel, where the room fee will be refunded twice, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, ** behavior, we really can't do it." Time is too tight, so without permission, I have already taken out your luggage and put it on the sofa. Yu Leshui suddenly ate this closed door, a little swept away, and it was inevitable to be annoyed, but seeing that the manager's apology was so sincere, he had to laugh it. She went to the counter to check out the formalities, found her luggage on the couch, and prepared to carry it out the door.

A long black car Hongqi arrived at the door, and a plainclothes man stepped forward to open the door of the back seat, and a small old man with silver hair got out of the car. The old man's appearance and clothes were very ordinary, and Yu Leshui didn't recognize him at first sight, but the unassuming and obviously different bearing on the old man's body made Yu Leshui can't help but take a look at him. She recognized him and couldn't help but get her adrenaline pumping - could it be that the god of luck was going to favor her as an intern reporter? This is He Lao, He Guoji, an important member of the ** more than ten years ago, who has been retired for many years, but seems to be busier after retirement. It is said that he is alert, able to make good decisions, has a broad vision, is thoughtful, has a wide range of contacts, and his identity is not sensitive after retirement, so he often acts as a special envoy to deal with some urgent or confidential matters at home and abroad. The reason why Yu Leshui knew about these situations was because the editor-in-chief of the newspaper Ge had blown the wind for the reporters at a banquet. Mr. Ge, who is wide-hearted and fat, loves to joke but has a strong sense of dedication, said that if any of you are lucky enough to bump into this old man outside the capital in the future, you must keep an eye on it, and it will most likely dig up an explosive big news. Mr. Ge said, and also distributed a recent photo of He Lao to everyone, otherwise Yu Leshui would not be able to recognize it today.

A secretary-like man greeted him, ushered the old man in the door, placed him on the sofa in the hall, and whispered something. Yu Leshui hesitated for a moment at the door, deciding that he couldn't let go of this opportunity to be delivered to him. She plans to stay at a nearby farmhouse and then pause her scheduled series of interviews and keep an eye on it. Of course, looking at the situation here, the secrecy measures must be very strict, and I dare not say that I will definitely be able to bite a crack in the egg, so bet on luck. As soon as she left the hall with her bag in her hand, she heard a roar in the sky, a helicopter emerging from a hollow in the mountain, reaching overhead in an instant, and then landing in the courtyard, its rotors stirring up the fallen leaves in the sky. This is a six-seater military AC311, covered in camouflage. The hatch opened, and two armed policemen each helped two people down, and the two people who were supported were disabled. One is a middle-aged man, in his fifties, with a square face, slightly gray hair, and a very strong body, but his left leg is supposed to be prosthetic, and he walks with a noticeable lameness; The other was a big boy, in his early twenties, with a thin build, a body with a more severe disability than that of a middle-aged man, with flabby shoulders and a marked duck step in his walking, which was quite difficult to shake up and down. The two immediately evoked the memories of Yu Leshui more than ten years ago, but they couldn't remember their names for a while. She was nervously searching in her mind, but the older boy recognized her first, and shouted happily:

"Sister Yu! Sister Yule Water! ”

Yu Leshui suddenly remembered his name. "It's you, Chu Tianle! That's Uncle Ma! Uncle Ma is an old friend of his father, living in seclusion on a nearby mountain, and Tianle's mother and son met her nearby. She hurried towards the two of them, but a plainclothes man popped out like a native grandson, stuck in front, and waved his hand at her with a smile. The two armed policemen over there also hurriedly "hugged" the two, but actually dragged the two of them around Yuleshui and walked towards the house. Yu Leshui was puzzled by this scene, several soldiers were so unkind, and they didn't let the old people they met by chance say a few words of greetings? ! This is really abnormal, maybe the identity of the two of them at this time is criminal? Chu Tianle over there suddenly stopped, pulled out his left arm from the support of the armed police, first pointed to the sky with his left finger, and then hugged his hands into a ball, and closed it a few times to the center. The armed policeman who supported him was angry and stopped him in a low voice. Chu Tianle sent a naughty smile to this side, and left with the armed police with a grin.

Yu Leshui did not delay and drove away from the hotel immediately. At the moment when Chu Tianle smiled, she was already convinced that these two people were by no means criminals, and criminals would not have such a bright smile. They seem to have been caught up in some big secret. Chu Tianle's dumb riddle undoubtedly said: ** is trying to block a secret, and the order to block it comes from the highest level.

So what could be the shocking secret? Especially involving two disabled people living in seclusion in the mountains, plus a mysterious He Lao? But she didn't care about it at this moment, she had to leave here quickly, in case the security guards here woke up and enclosed her - at least she had seen the dumb riddle that Chu Tianle had played, and she had already been involved with that secret.

She drove out of the gate in a hurry, not noticing that He Lao was standing at the door of the hall watching her at the moment. This old man was not dazzled, and just now he saw the dumb riddle that Chu Tianle played to her. He glanced at the secretary, who nodded slightly, summoned a plainclothes man, and asked him to ride a motorcycle to follow the fishy car. The secretary walked to the counter to check the information registered by the female guest at the time of her stay.

2

It's not hard to find a hotel again. It is a famous tourist area, and there are many farm hotels, and the conditions are good and the prices are also affordable. Yu Leshui quickly found one, parked the car, washed up, and had a simple and delicious farmhouse dinner. She put her belongings in the house, took off her T-shirt and skirt, changed into sportswear, changed her high heels into hiking shoes, and quietly returned to the Laojieling State Guest House. She was going to scout around the courtyard wall of the hotel to see if there were any loopholes in the guards. Looking through the gate, there are not many parking spaces in the courtyard, only a dozen cars, and it seems that the scale of the "emergency meeting" that will be held is not large. The hotel is next to the mountain, and some places are very difficult to pass, so you have to use both hands and feet. Outside the west wall, there is a large persimmon tree with dense branches and leaves, facing the main building of the hotel. Yu Leshui pondered at it for a while, thinking that if he hid in a tree and peeked, he might be able to observe some of the situation in the courtyard, and if Uncle Ma and Chu Tianle happened to live in the room facing this side, maybe they could secretly contact the two of them through some means (such as reflecting sunlight with a small mirror). She plans to come here early tomorrow morning with her binoculars, and hide in the trees while there is no one at night, waiting for her chance. The persimmon tree is quite tall, the trunk is thick, and it is not easy to climb, but Yu Leshui has been wild since she was a child, and her parents have always indulged her, so climbing trees and swimming are not a problem. Although I haven't returned to my old business for some years, I won't lose my children's skills back then. Thinking of this, Yu Leshui can't help but be happy: as the saying goes, many skills are not pressing, art masters are bold, and the words of the older generation are definitely wise sayings.

As night fell, she returned to the farmhouse, showered, and slept in bed, full of pre-battle excitement for the secret operation that would begin tomorrow. There was only one thing she really couldn't figure out: what kind of secret would two disabled people living in seclusion in the mountains get into it?

She wanted to say hello to the newspaper first, but for some reason, her phone kept getting through. So she sent a text message to the director of the social department:

"Sister He and the editor-in-chief: I bumped into Mr. He here, and there is a 'big' news, which may be delayed for a few days. Detailed progress will be communicated at any time. ”

She slept on the bed with her arms crossed, thinking about her thoughts in the sound of the drinking order next door, Chu Tianle's bright and naughty smile just now kept shaking in front of her eyes. When she met the Chu family's mother and son in this area, Tianle was a rather autistic boy. No wonder he was autistic, fate was indeed too cruel to this seven-year-old boy at the time.

In the summer of the age of ten, Yu Leshui drove here with his parents, it was a semi-public and half-private trip, and his father wanted to come to southwest Henan to inspect the Great Wall of Chu and other cultural relics, and by the way, he took his wife and daughter out to play. My father was a knowledgeable and good tour guide, and under his guidance, the ordinary scenery along the way showed a desolate and thick historical heritage. He said that although the Central Plains was relatively backward in modern times, it was one of the most important birthplaces of the Chinese nation, and in terms of provincial scope, it was among the best in the country. In China's more than 4,000 years of history from the Xia to the Qing Dynasty, the Central Plains has been the political, economic, and cultural center of China for 3,200 years, and more than 20 dynasties have built their capitals here, including the earliest dynasties in China: the Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties (Eastern Zhou). As far as the whole world is concerned, the Central Plains is also one of the most important centers of ancient human civilization. It's just that because the Xia Shang culture was discovered relatively late, its name is not very well-known. This is the birthplace of Pangu mythology, there are relics of the activities of Emperor Yan and Yellow Emperor, it is the burial place of Yin Shang's oracle bones, and the former residence of Laozi Zhuang Zhou. There are also Nanzhao ape man, Pei Ligang culture, Yangshao cultural relics, etc., and the Great Wall of Chu to be investigated this time is also the earliest Great Wall in China. Many surnames of the Chinese ethnic group originated in the Central Plains, and the famous Hakka people migrated from the land of Heluo in the Central Plains. Dad also joked at the time that it was because of his respect for history that he never participated in the fun of the rustic Central Plains people in society. Ten-year-old Yu Leshui listened to it with relish and realized the weight of history.

Of course, she could never have imagined that fifteen years later, this center of ancient civilization would become the center of the modern world because of an event.

That day, they visited the Dinosaur Egg Museum in Xixia County, stopped at noon in a small mountain town, and found a restaurant for lunch. When I got out of the hotel, I saw a mess on the street, with cars from the industrial and commercial offices and the health bureau parked, crowded with onlookers. Yu Leshui is the age of good things, my mother didn't hold it, she had already gone to the innermost part of the crowd to watch the excitement. It turned out that a local industrial and commercial office and the Health Bureau jointly seized a clinic. The clinic is small, a façade room, and the furnishings are simple and messy. The walls are full of plaques or pennants such as "Hua Tuo Reincarnation", "Wonderful Hand Rejuvenation", and "Three Generations of Traditional Chinese Medicine Family". The doctor, a thin old man in his fifties, wearing a wrinkled white coat, was begging the confiscator at the moment: "I have proper procedures, I never practice medicine to make money, but to accumulate virtue and do good, to serve the people." One of the older of the seizers said angrily:

"Forget it, Hu Laochen, you can save some spit. If nothing else, are you just saying that this 'three-generation family of Chinese medicine' is true or false? I know that your family has been working for three generations, and you didn't get a diploma until you were in your forties. The doctor's face was flushed and he couldn't speak. I'm afraid these pennants weren't given by the patient, they were made in the same store, right? It's too unprofessional to fake, and I don't know how to change my handwriting. Hu Laochen, if you don't receive a report from a patient, we won't come to seize you. If you want to say that we are here to seal it to save you, fortunately you haven't killed anyone yet, and when you kill a few people, you will have to wear the silver bracelet that doesn't cost money. ”

Yu Leshui was not interested in watching it anymore and squeezed out the crowd. Although she said that she was born to sympathize with the weak, but looking at the situation in front of her, the thin old man was definitely a liar and did not deserve sympathy. At this time, she saw a mother and son, who had obviously come from afar, the mother was carrying a rather large cheap striped bag, pulling a boy of about seven years old, both mother and son were dusty, tired, and the embarrassment of the situation was clearly written on their faces. That is Chu Tianle and his mother Ren Dongmei. At that time, Xiao Tianle was already sick, walking like a duck and staggering, and always stumbling for no reason. When the mother saw what was happening, she hurriedly put her travel bag on the ground, let the boy sit on it and wait, and squeezed into the crowd by herself. After a while, I heard her crying inside: "Why do you want to close Dr. Hu's clinic?" Please, my child is still pointing to Dr. Hu for help. ”

After that, on the way to send the mother and son to Uncle Ma's house, Yu Leshui learned everything about this boy in detail, and it can be said that because of the arrangement of fate, she went straight into the heart of this autistic boy. Fate was too cruel to Xiao Tianle. He suffers from a terminal disease, progressive muscular dystrophy, and pseudohypertrophy, the worst prognosis of all, which modern medicine has not been able to do so far. This disease is due to the dyst on the X chromosome

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Caused by a structural abnormality in the gene that prevents the cells from making anti-atrophic muscle proteins, eventually rendering the patient unable to walk or breathe. It is a sex-linked recessive genetic disease that only affects boys, and the proportion of the disease in the population is about 1 in 3,000 to 1 in 20,000. Patients generally develop the disease around the age of 5, become unable to walk by the age of 15, and die from heart failure and other causes at the age of 25 to 30.

Xiao Tianle followed his parents to famous hospitals across the country. At a young age, he was accustomed to hiding behind his mother, timidly looking up at the tall white-clothed gods, who always looked down on him with the usual indifference. Every time before the doctor gave the diagnosis, my mother always made an excuse to let him out, so he curled up alone in the folding chair embedded in the wall in the hallway, guessing what was being said in the room, and the faint fear gradually took root in his young mind...... Then Dad suddenly disappeared from his life, forever. He asked his mother where his father had gone, and when she heard this, she burst into tears without saying a word. Later, Xiao Tianle stopped asking.

They only found a savior half a year ago. Although Dr. Hu's white coat was wrinkled and the clinic was dirty and messy, he said with confidence: "I can cure this disease, and I will protect you from the roots!" It's just that the baby has to suffer, and if you want to get rid of the root of the disease, you can only fight poison with poison. The price of medicine is not cheap either. In the next six months, they have been using the ancestral prescription of Dr. Hu Shen to treat the disease, which is to apply a very poisonous liquid all over the body, and the skin and joints are ulcerated, so that Xiao Tianle trembles all over his body when he says the medicine, and his mother has to tie his hands and feet to the bed before applying the medicine. Mom cried and said, "Lele, you bear with it, Lele you must hold back!" It's a cure for you. "Xiao Tianle is a very obedient and brave child, and he really gritted his teeth and endured it. Suffering has made him precocious and sensible, and he has to work hard to cure his illness, both for himself and for his mother. At that time, Tianle's mother was only thirty-four or five years old, but she was already emaciated like an old woman in her fifties and sixties.

Half a year of treatment has no effect, but Dr. Hu said in advance that this stubborn disease will take two or three years to take effect. This time, the mother struggled to scrape together enough money to bring her child to the follow-up appointment. Now that she suddenly learns that the only savior turned out to be a liar, Tianle's mother was heartbroken in an instant, and her spirit completely collapsed. She sat on the stone steps in front of the clinic, her eyes lost and she muttered to herself, "What should I do?" What should we do?! Yuleshui's father Yuzifu and mother Zhang Jun are both hot-gutted people, and when they saw this, they hurriedly squeezed over and squatted in front of her to persuade them. Zhang Jun said: "Eldest sister (I later learned that Tianle's mother is younger than her), don't be sad, it's actually a good thing to know that this doctor is a liar, lest he delay the child, let's go to the big hospital for treatment." ”

Tianle's mother shook her head miserably, "Where else can I go?" Everywhere it should be. Besides, my mother and son are already exhausted, unless I go to sell my eyeballs and kidneys. She suddenly took Zhang Jun's hand, "Big sister, where can you sell organs, do you know?" I really want to sell kidneys. Big sister, help me, I must persevere, and I must not let the baby die in front of my mother. ”

This scene is very clear in Yu Leshui's memory, and it has always maintained a painful sharpness. At the age of ten, she was already keenly aware of the mother's words: she said, "I must not let the baby die in front of my mother", instead of saying "I will save the baby", it was obvious that she was desperate from the bottom of her heart, and now it was only the last struggle. There is also an ominous implication in this sentence, perhaps the mother has prepared to commit suicide with her son in a time of complete despair.

Yu Leshui's nose was sour and his throat was choking. She saw that her parents' eyes were also red.

She turned her gaze to the small patients outside the crowd. The boy sat alone on a shabby blue striped duffel bag, holding a small bottle of cheap bubble water toys that children often play with. He was blowing bubbles, blowing very attentively, the hustle and bustle in the crowd, his mother's crying, did not affect him at all! This stark contrast weighs on the hearts of onlookers. After that, Yu Leshui realized that Xiao Tianle's autism was actually a helpless escape. A gloomy mountain of calamity towered over the road of his life, and he had absolutely no power to climb it and no way to get around it, so he had to close his eyes and not look at it, hiding from it for a moment. Yu Leshui sympathized with him very much, walked over silently, touched his head, and sat next to him on the luggage. The boy looked at her, but didn't speak, still concentrating on blowing bubbles, just moving his body to make room for her. The boy had clear eyebrows and bright eyes, and because he was sitting at the moment, he couldn't see anything sick. But there is one thing that is different from the average little boy: his expression is very cold, and he covers himself in a cold shell, isolating his mind from reality.

He carefully blew out a large bubble, which hung at the front of the blowpipe, trembling and expanding, and the colorful sunlight flowed briskly and unpredictably on the film. The bubble was originally spherical in shape, but as it grew larger and larger, it became oblate spherical due to gravity. The boy pulled the blowpipe out of his mouth and blew lightly on the big bubble, which was blown apart and divided into a dozen small bubbles, different in size but equally colorful and rising. He stared at the bubbles, watching their vibrant colors slowly fade until they burst apart. Then he blows out a big bubble and blows it into a small bubble. After repeating this a few times, the boy spoke:

"Sister, look, I blew on the big bubble, and I was supposed to blow it up, but not only did it not burst, but it will automatically split into several small bubbles."

After that, Yu Leshui learned from Tianle's mother that Tianle was already quite autistic at that time, and even with his mother, he didn't talk much. It is quite unusual for him to take the initiative to say so many things to Yu Leshui at this time, maybe "you two are born to be destined" (Tianle's mother's words).

Seeing that he was so fateful but addicted to childish games, Yu Leshui felt bitter in his heart, and said softly:

"This phenomenon is because of surface tension. The surface tension of bubble water is relatively large, which can make the water film automatically coalesce into bubbles. Little brother, when you grow up and learn to read, you will understand after reading the books "Interesting Physics". ”

Xiao Tianle shook his head and stubbornly repeated what he had just said: "I can't figure it out. It was supposed to be broken, but it wasn't. ”

Seven-year-old Chu Tianle still can't explain his thinking to outsiders, in fact, even if he does, ten-year-old Yu Leshui won't understand. In the following decades, after fully understanding her husband's extraordinary talent and his amazing intuition about the physical world, and after years of getting along with the geniuses of the "Friends of Joy Academy of Sciences", she truly understood the confusion of seven-year-old Chu Tianle and understood where his thinking beam was focused. Yes, my explanation of surface tension is correct, but it is only dead book knowledge, not the perception of the heart; It's just a superficial explanation, not a deeper mechanism. However, Chu Tianle's jade-like soul is directly connected with nature. He didn't understand the law of entropy and self-organization at the moment, but he instinctively felt that the world should go into disorder. So after he blows sideways, if the big soap bubble bursts, it should be the "most natural" ending. But the large soap bubble did not burst, but only divided into a dozen smaller but equally delicate spherical structures. There is the hand of God interfering here, or there is a subtle order hidden in nature that works automatically. The meristem of a few small bubbles actually implies the most profound self-organizing mechanism for the evolution of the universe. The famous American physicist John Wheeler once said: We can only understand how wonderful the universe is if we first understand how simple it is. Seven-year-old Xiao Tianle has intuitively sensed these two points: simple and wonderful.

At that time, Yu Leshui didn't know what to say, so he could only sit silently with Xiao Tianle, watch him blow out big bubbles, and then blow the big bubbles into many small bubbles. Watch the bubbles float in the air and burst apart. She saw her parents leave the crowd, the two discussed for a while, and then her father took out his mobile phone, talked to someone for a long time, and finally thanked him again and again with a happy face, obviously an important gain. Mom and Dad immediately walked back excitedly, squatting in front of Tianle's mother, Dad said softly: "This sister-in-law, my lover and I have made an arrangement for you mother and son, you see if it's okay." I have a friend named Mashiki who happens to be living in seclusion on a nearby mountain. He is a disabled person, and it is too difficult to live alone in the mountains, so I have long advised him to find a nanny, and now I want to ask you to help him. As for the child's illness, you don't have to worry about it, although Ma Shiqi lives in seclusion in the mountains, he has a wide range of contacts and has strong economic strength. We have just spoken to him, and he promised to do his best to contact him at home and abroad, and if the disease can be cured, he will be responsible for all the expenses. What do you think? ”

Hearing these words, Tianle's mother's distracted eyes suddenly glowed with a strange brilliance. She looked at the two benefactors in front of her in shock, and couldn't believe that the fate of mother and son could take such a sudden turn. She was speechless, choked, and just nodded her head repeatedly. Then she stepped aside and whispered the good news to her son. Here, Leshui's father smiled and said to his daughter:

"Help people to the end, let's just drive this lady and son to your Uncle Ma." Shui'er, do you think it's okay? ”

"Absolutely! Mom, Dad, you are the best people in the world! ”

"Really? Parents are so happy to have a daughter's evaluation! I also think we should be good people. However, the best good guy is your Uncle Ma, and he may spend hundreds of thousands of dollars for this. ”

"That Uncle Ma is also the best person in the world, and you are tied for the first place in the world!"

The family beckoned the mother and son to get into the car, turned around and drove towards the mountains. Yule Shuiyuan was sitting in the front row, and at this time he had to change places with his mother in the back row and squeeze together with the two of them. Along the way, she kept asking about Xiao Tianle, and asked in great detail. Tianle's mother answered all her questions one by one, and Xiao Tianle remained silent, but his pupils clearly shone with a strange brilliance, which was a flash of joy. Yu Leshui thought with relief, it seems that Xiao Tianle's autism is not serious, as long as he sees the hope in front of him, he will break out of that cocoon.

When the sun was about to set, Dad parked the car on the side of the road, talked to Mr. Ma on his mobile phone, asked about the remaining path, and then said to the mother and son:

"That's all the car can go here. You follow this path to the top of the mountain, and you will be there for about a dozen miles, and Mr. Ma will have someone waiting for you in front of you. Sister-in-law, no, you should be called the eldest sister, do you have any problems walking this way? "Tianle Mom even said that there was no problem." Well, we'll have to get down the mountain before dark, so let's say goodbye here. Good luck. ”

Tianle's mother took the child out of the car and reluctantly held Zhang Jun and Yu Leshui's hands. She wanted to say a few words of sincere thanks, but her throat choked and she couldn't say a word. She suddenly fell to her knees and kowtowed to the three benefactors. The Yu couple was taken aback, and hurriedly stepped forward to pull her, and Zhang Jun whispered:

"Don't do that...... Don't do that...... Big sister, hurry up...... You see, in front of the child......"

At that moment, the tears of the fish and water flowed down the ground. Looking at Chu Tianle, he lowered his head silently, tears swirling in his eyes, but he couldn't help but not flow out. Tianle's mother was pulled up, she wiped her tears, tied her luggage around her waist, squatted down, and asked Xiao Tianle to lie on her back. Tianle stubbornly shook off his mother's hand and staggered forward, Tianle's mother hurriedly said goodbye to the three of them and chased the child. Before turning into the back of the mountain, the two turned around and waved vigorously to this side, only to hear Xiao Tianle shouting:

"Goodbye uncle and aunt! Goodbye, Sister Leshui! ”

The three of them had been watching the two backs disappear in the mountains and forests. Dad turned the car off the narrow mountain road with difficulty and drove down the mountain, and the three of them didn't say much along the way, silently savoring the sweetness gushing from the bottom of their hearts.

Since then, the family has kept in touch with Mr. Ma. It's a pity that although Uncle Ma asked around, there was no cure for this terminal disease in the world. However, Uncle Ma said that the mother and son lived very comfortably and happily in the mountains, and later he recognized the sick and disabled Chu Tianle as his righteous son, and he was completely relieved here. In the meantime, Uncle Ma also made a phone call and said happily: "Do you know the old fish? You've sent me a genius! Don't look at this baby's crooked disease, the brain is more powerful. When I was in school, I always thought I had a brilliant brain, but I was far worse than him! Right now, I'm teaching him a freshman year of high school. ”

Chu Tianle was only eleven years old that year, and Yu Leshui, who was three years older than him, was just in the second year of junior high school.

Since then, Yule Water High School, going to college, has a heavy workload, has its own circle of friends, and has less contact with that side. She only occasionally knew from her parents' chatter that Chu Tianle had been learning from her godfather. Also, it seems that Uncle Ma and Tianle's mother are in love - but at the moment, what state secrets will these two disabled people get involved in? She really couldn't figure it out.

3

In the early hours of the next morning, Yu Leshui put on sportswear and hiking shoes, brought binoculars and small mirrors, as well as dry food and drinking water. She only brought a small bottle of drinking water, because the amount of water she had to drink was strictly controlled today. She was going to "squat" in the tree all day, and it would be inconvenient to want "convenience". When the innkeeper opened the door, she kindly said: "It's still dark, be careful when climbing the mountain, a girl's house, why don't you bring a companion?" Yu Leshui said with a smile: "I'm a bold person with excellent martial arts, auntie, you don't have to worry about it." She came to the outside of the hotel, found the big persimmon tree in the vast morning light, and climbed up with her hands and feet. The boy who climbs the tree is still there, but it is not as good as before. As she sat on the branch of a tree out of breath, she thought to herself that if this operation really digs up a super news, "Lady Climbing a Tree" is also one of the selling tidbits. Looking through the wall with her binoculars, the lights in the various rooms were not yet on, so she settled herself on the branches of the trees and calmly ate her breakfast.

The glow finally rose, and there was movement in the rooms. She used her binoculars to scour the rooms to see if she could find the two men. Blessed by the mountain gods, I really found it! The two lived on the second floor of the main building, a double room, and were going in and out of the bathroom at the moment. Although only vague figures can be seen from the outside, the disability of the two is a clear feature, so they will never be mistaken. She pulled out a small mirror, but the sunlight was far away, and she couldn't use the reflection to contact the two. She had to wait and pray that the two would not leave the house when the sun turned to this side. Just then, the phone rang, and it rang at an inopportune time! Yesterday, the phone seemed to have a problem, and it couldn't get through, but it rang now. It's not far from the yard, and it's quiet in the early morning, so it's hard to be heard by the guards inside. She hurriedly took out her mobile phone, an unfamiliar number appeared on the screen, she pressed the call button, lowered her voice and asked:

"Hey, who's that? I'm in a hurry. ”

In the phone was a man's calm voice, standard Mandarin: "Miss Yu Leshui, come down, I'm under the tree." She was taken aback and looked under the tree, and sure enough, there was a plainclothes person who was talking on his mobile phone with his face up. She panicked and didn't know what to do. I heard the phone say again: "Come down!" You don't have to hide in the tree and peek, He Lao invited you to go. ”

Yu Leshui could only smile bitterly, knowing that he had lost miserably this time. Since the other party knows his name and mobile phone number, he wants to use clever words to get by. She climbed down the tree, embarrassed to face the handsome plainclothes, and thought to herself that if a reporter took a picture of her dignity and posted it on the Internet, it must be similar to a chicken thief. Plainclothes said calmly:

"You are a girl, you are quite professional in climbing trees, I admire it. It's just that the level of anti-tracking is too poor. I've been with you since last night. Yu Leshui was even more embarrassed, thinking that he was being targeted by the other party when he climbed the tree quite "ladylike", and he really felt stripped naked. "Come with me, you can interview He Lao directly, so that you can write your 'big' news."

The three words "Tianda" were accented, and Yu Leshui guessed smartly that this clearly referred to the text message she sent yesterday. Yu Leshui was stunned for a moment, the embarrassment receded, and his anger suddenly filled his chest. "You ...... Violating citizens' freedom of communication? ”

Plainclothes said simply: "It depends on whether you, a citizen, break the law or not." ”

The angry Yu Leshui went out and said menacingly: "What did I do? What did I do? Can you handle me climbing trees and digging birds' eggs? She suddenly remembered the telescope dangling on her chest, and she didn't wait for the other party to point out this flaw, she first held up the telescope, "I brought the telescope to see what kind of bird it was, so as not to hurt the national protected birds." Can you handle it? Are you going to detain me? Show me the detention warrant! ”

This volley of indiscriminate artillery stunned the plainclothes. But the other party was not an idle person, and immediately smiled and said, "Did I say I was going to detain you?" Don't you blush when you spread rumors to your face? I just said that He Lao invited you to go and help you fulfill your wish and cover this big news. ”

Yu Leshui sneered: "I really want to thank you for your hospitality, but you are an overlord treat, you can't go away, right?" ”

"Where, where. However, if Miss Yu doesn't go, please don't mind if I follow behind, you can just pretend that you don't notice me. Then I followed me until the detention warrant arrived. He smiled, "But I don't think it's necessary, with Miss Yu's temperament, I will never dare to see Old He just because he is a big man." ”

Yu Leshui knew that he should accept it when he saw it, and he also changed his smile, "You are excited, I can't wait to go." Besides, it's a handsome guy like you who invites me, how can I save your face. Hey handsome guy, can you leave a name and phone number? Oh, I already have a phone number, so leave a name and I'll treat you to coffee when I get back to Beijing. ”

"Does this mean an affair? I'm so honored. But I don't have to keep my name. The boy should take the initiative to invite a treat, I have your phone number, and I know your name, that's enough. ”

The plainclothes took her to the gate of the Laojieling State Guest House very kindly and handed her to another plainclothes person. The second plainclothes man was reticent and said just one word: "Please." So he took her straight to a room on the second floor. It was a presidential suite, the living room was large, and the diminutive He Lao sat on a single sofa, and only his silver hair could be seen from behind the sofa. Sitting on the couch opposite—Chu Tianle and Uncle Ma! When Chu Tianle saw her, he happily shouted:

"Sister Leshui!"

He tried to get up to greet him, but he didn't get up after two attempts. Uncle Ma turned around and helped him up, and said to He Lao unhappily:

"Old He, I understand your caution, but it's a bit too much to trap this girl in." He said calmly, "Old He, let's not repeat the mistake of SARS. ”

He Lao didn't get up, pointed to the other single sofa and said, "Miss Yu, please take a seat." He turned around and said to Mr. Ma, "It's not me, it's Xiao Chu who swept her in, and she jumped in by herself." Besides, is this incident comparable to SARS? Mr. Ma, if the collapse you found is real, not to mention the real consequences, psychologically speaking, this is also a catastrophe that mankind has never experienced. As a politician, even if you can't save the crashed plane, you should at least try to stabilize the mood of the passengers, so as not to cause eccentricity due to panic and cause the plane to fall prematurely. After a pause, he gently rebuked, "Mr. Ma, such important information, you should notify ** as soon as possible, instead of notifying the observatory." ”

When Ma Shiqi heard this, he said abruptly: "Old He, you are right. However, we would like to ask the Observatory to confirm before reporting the case, so that it is safer to avoid us lying about the military situation. ”

"I understand your intentions, but your approach is likely to leak the secret ahead of time."

Yu Leshui was dumbfounded at this time: Big collapse! A catastrophe that humanity has never experienced before! These are terrible words. She blurted out, "What are you talking about?" Uncle Ma, what big collapse? ”

He Lao immediately turned his head sideways and glanced at her sharply, "You don't know? I've seen Xiao Chu gesture to you, and your text message says 'big news' - of course, your communications have been blocked at that time. ”

At this time, Yu Leshui completely forgot about the "infringement of citizens' freedom of communication", and honestly said: "I may have guessed wrong." I think Xiao Chu made such a gesture," she clenched her hand into a ball and pressed it to the center a few times, "It means that ** is trying to block a big secret." His gesture, "she pointed to the sky," she said, "meant that the order to blockade was given at the highest level. As for what exactly the news of the blockade is, I have no idea at all. ”

He Lao stared at her for a long time, and saw that she was a little embarrassed. His gaze was complex, and strangely enough, there seemed to be deep pity in it. "I see." He Lao sighed, "It's me who is all soldiers, and I shouldn't have involved you." "The girl in front of me is obviously a sunny girl, and she should spread her wings in the crimson glow, and not be broken by heavy disasters." Now that they have been involved, they have to move forward together. Girl, I'm afraid you'll have to be mentally prepared. You're too young to face what you've heard for a while. ”

Yu Leshui was not convinced, and turned his head to look at Chu Tianle, "He is three years younger than me." ”

He Lao shook his head, didn't answer the sentence, just waved his hand secretly. "Come in, it's a small retreat today. The attendees have arrived. Oh, girl, are you going to take off your binoculars? ”

Yu Leshui knew that he had good intentions, and it would be too ostentatious to bring this thing into the venue, so he did so with a red face.

The conference room is on the third floor, the area is not large, and there are more than a dozen people sitting in front of the oval table, most of whom are intellectuals with delicate temperament. There are more than a dozen people in the back row, and their momentum is obviously more "high-spirited", and they should be princes from all walks of life in the political and military circles. There is a screen hanging on the front wall, and the projector is typing a few words: a report on "Chu Yima's Discovery". The service staff was pulling the curtains, and Yu Leshui saw the big persimmon tree outside the courtyard at a glance, and couldn't help laughing, and whispered to Tianle:

"Oh, I was caught hiding in that tree for reconnaissance."

Tianle also smiled, his expression clearly appreciative. The two middle-aged people in the front row saw Chu Ma and the two and hurriedly greeted them and shook hands. The one in front was wearing a suit, not tall, with a round face and a calm expression. He said:

"Mr. Ma, Mr. Chu, hello. I'm Zhan Xiang from the National Astronomical Observatories. This is Xu Yifan of the Purple Mountain Observatory, we have been friends for a long time, but this is the first time we have met. We just learned that you two are a little inconvenient, so we are very admirable, very admirable. He intensified his handshake, and then turned back to introduce to the participants, "These two are the discoverers of the 'Chu Ma Discovery', Mr. Chu Tianle and Mr. Ma Shiqi. ”

Everyone smiled at them, they had just read the information sent by the organizers of the meeting, and they had a rough idea of what the "Chuma Discovery" was. Yu Leshui was shocked in his heart again, since these two were astronomers, it meant that "that incident" could be an astronomical catastrophe. There don't seem to be many cases in the history of astronomy that have been crowned with such and such a "discovery", and from this point of view, this must be an extremely significant discovery - but combined with He Lao's words just now, the more "significant" it is, the more ominous.

There were two vacant seats in the middle of the front row for Chu Ma and the two of them, and the staff added a chair at this time to let Yu Leshui sit next to Chu Tianle. He Lao began to speak, very concisely:

"Please turn off your mobile phones, except for Zhan Xiang and Xu Yifan, who have to keep in touch with the world's observatories." The participants immediately turned off their mobile phones. "Today's meeting in this mountain hotel is for the sake of secrecy, and the second is to pay tribute to the two of them. The two of them have limited mobility, so the venue is as close to their home as possible, and they live in the nearby Jade Emperor Summit. We are now in a meeting. ”

At this moment, a mobile phone ringtone, Zhan Xiang quickly took out his mobile phone and made an apologetic gesture to everyone. He Lao stopped and waited for him. Zhan Xiang listened to the phone and replied simply in English: "Got it, thank you for notifying you at the first time." ”

After pressing off the phone, he said to He Lao with a wry smile, "He Lao, I said that I can't hide this." It's not a hard thing to observe, as long as someone thinks of pointing the telescope and spectrograph there, and doing some simple calculations. Just now, the Sydney Observatory in Australia reported that a middle school astronomical team in the country has repeated the discovery of Chuma, and according to international practice, it has to be renamed Chu Yima and Green Discovery - Green is the student who made the discovery. However," he explained back to everyone, "Fortunately, Mr. He had a good idea before, and we followed Mr. He's instructions to send a notice of inquiry to all the observatories in the world, and at the same time made an agreement with the other party: all those who know must keep it strictly confidential until all the observatories have verified it and released it at the same time." This is a strategy to tie the observatories together, otherwise it is certain that one of the observatories would have announced the news long ago. But there was another agreement at the time: the secrecy period should not exceed one month at most," he calculated, "and it will be twenty-one days from today." Then we will have to—" he smiled wryly, "to be a raven of vengeance to the world." ”

He Lao said calmly: "Got it." We are now in a meeting. ”

The staff reissued the documents for the three new arrivals. Chu Ma and the others didn't look at it, but Yu Leshui buried his head and looked at it at a glance. Her heart sank deeper and deeper.

4

"Let's have a meeting. Today is a mini-retreat in preparation for the upcoming summit meeting. He Lao said, "Let me introduce the participants first. Chu, Ma, Zhan, and Xu have already been introduced just now. The people in the back row are observers, and today I only have ears and no mouths, so I don't need to introduce them. I'll only introduce the people in the front row. He introduced according to a list: astrophysicist Li Tianxiang, cosmologist Chen Qi, quantum physicist Hong Liping, climatological scientist Zhu Tianwen, astronaut Zhang Mingxian, paleontologist Wang Qingyin, anthropologist Ji Ruhai, mathematician Yan Bolai, psychologist Dong Yuexia, crisis management expert Wu Zheng, and science fiction writer Kang Buming. To the last writer, He Lao specially said a few more words, "At a similar important conference in China, it is the first time that a science fiction writer has attended. In fact, it is not surprising that the British science fiction writer Clark has always been the guest of honor at important NASA conferences in the United States. ”

Kang Buming is over the age of six, and his hair is prematurely gray, but he is in good spirits. His physiognomy is very distinctive: his earlobes are unusually large, and his eyebrows are relatively long, which makes him look like an arhat with long eyebrows. He nodded to He Lao and said with a smile: "The professional advantage of science fiction writers is that they can talk nonsense, so if I have suggestions or opinions for a while, please don't take them too seriously." Of course, one or two out of a hundred nonsense sentences are true. ”

"Oh yes, there was also a reporter in attendance, Miss Yu Leshui. We weren't going to invite the press, she jumped in by climbing a tree. He Lao's face was expressionless when he said this, and the audience didn't know if it was a joke or a fact, so they didn't laugh, but turned their eyes to Yu Leshui curiously. Chu Tianle smiled and quietly touched the fish's arm, and Yu Leshui smiled and touched it back. "Now that you've jumped in, let's be the only representative of the press. Of course, fish journalists must also abide by the confidentiality agreement just mentioned, and your report must be published after the official gazette. He looked at Yu Leshui, who was slightly embarrassed, and quickly nodded in agreement.

"There are a lot of scientific laymen here today, including me, so I hope that the experts will be as simple as possible when speaking. In order to save time, I have drafted a few questions, which I ask experts to use as a basis to give concise and reliable answers. Time is limited, so today I will try to give only conclusions and not elaborate on the intermediate process. If there is anything that cannot be covered by the above questions, there will be free statements thereafter. His gaze swept over everyone and fell on Zhan Xiang. The first question, what is going on with this Chuma discovery? What is the degree of certainty? ”

Zhan Xiang got up and walked to the projection screen: "I have communicated with Chu, Ma, and Xu many times, so I am speaking on behalf of the four of them. Let's start with a little bit of background knowledge. In the 20s of the last century, the great American astronomer Hubble discovered that the spectrum of distant celestial bodies has a redshift, and the redshift is proportional to the distance of the star from us, thus confirming that the entire universe is expanding uniformly, and this hypothesis has been recognized by the scientific community. This spectral redshift, which is associated with the expansion of space, is known as a cosmological redshift. In general, we can only observe this phenomenon on distant objects a billion light-years away, because the cosmological redshift values of NEOs are extremely small, covered by Doppler red-blueshifts and gravitational redshifts. Later, the astronomical community also confirmed that the expansion of the universe is still accelerating, probably caused by the repulsion caused by dark energy, because the acceleration is very small and has nothing to do with the issue at the moment, so I will not talk about it. All you have to remember is that we are in a moderately expanding universe. He repeated, "Remember these four words: gentle swelling." ”

Everyone nodded. He went on to say:

"In the Hubble formula, there is a proportionality constant in the direct relationship between the redshift and the distance of the star, that is, the Hubble constant, which is currently recognized as a more accurate value of seventy-five, that is, two stars with a distance of one million parsecs, that is, 3.26 million light-years, and their mutual recession speed is 75 kilometers per second. If converted to the annual expansion rate of space on a one-dimensional scale, it is roughly 7.67 parts per 100 billion. Extrapolating backwards from this rate of expansion, and taking into account relativistic effects, it is possible to calculate that the universe was born with a Big Bang 13.7 billion years ago. He turned his head to look at the people in the back row, "Everyone is familiar with this knowledge, right?" ”

Everyone nodded. He Lao said: "You mentioned gravitational redshift and Doppler red-blue shift, please explain it again. ”

"Oh, let me add a few words. There are three types of spectral redshifts. The first, the redshift caused by the relativistic effect of gravity is called gravitational redshift, and it has a very small value. The second, the redshift or blueshift caused by the movement of the star itself in space, is called the Doppler red-blue shift, which is related to the radial velocity of the star relative to the Earth. It can be intuitively said that the Doppler red and blue shift is because the light source drags the light backwards or forwards, stretching or compressing the wavelength; The third type, the redshift caused by the expansion of space, which I just mentioned, is called a cosmological redshift, in which the star does not move relative to the local space in which it is located, but moves relative to the far space. So intuitively speaking, it is the expansion of space itself that expands the wavelength of light. Everyone understands this knowledge, right? ”

The audience nodded again.

"But nine days ago, we suddenly received an email from Chuma and Ma, informing them of an astonishing discovery: all near-Earth stars within 35 light-years of each other have added blue shifts of different sizes to their spectra after deducting the original red and blue shifts, forming an anomaly that is clearly centered on the solar system. Stars with anomalies include Sirius 8.7 light-years away, Nanhe-3 11.4 light-years away, Cowherd 16 light-years away, Vega 26.5 light-years away, and many dark stars that are not well known to the public. Among them, the Cowherd star, the α star of Aquila, has the largest blueshift increment. Since the universality and consistency of the blue-shifted increments of the stars, all pointing towards the Sun, it can be concluded that this is not due to a random change in the radial velocity of a single star, but rather to a contraction of the entire space. However, the shrinkage space must be local, because the blueshift value gradually decreases outside the Cowherd star, which is obviously only affected by the contraction of the region, and the blueshift cannot be detected by the 35 light-year Beihe 3 and 36.7 light-year Arcturus. He paused slightly, "If, as we assumed, the blueshift is caused by the contraction of the local space, and the shrinkage is assumed to be uniform, then within the shrinkage region, its magnitude should be proportional to the distance." This is basically consistent with the observations within the Cowherd. ”

Astronaut Zhang Mingxian asked: "Since these blue shifts are caused by space contraction, they should belong to the 'cosmology' blue shifts you just mentioned, right?" ”

"Yes, in essence, yes. I have been careful not to use this name for fear of misunderstanding, because the true cosmological redshift encompasses the entire universe, whereas the blueshift I just mentioned only occurs in a small local space. Therefore, it would be more accurate to say 'spectral blueshift due to local space contraction'. ”

Zhang Mingxian nodded. Zhan Xiang continued: "As I said earlier, the maximum blueshift is in the Cowherd Star, and the blueshift at 5,000 angstroms in the spectrum reaches 0.15 angstroms. According to the following formula—"

He typed out the formula on the projection screen:

V=C△λ/λ1

[1]

"According to this formula, the Cowherd Star has an additional velocity of 9.21 kilometers per second towards the Earth. You may think it's a small number, but when you compare it to cosmological redshifts, it's staggering. According to the Hubble formula, the redshift velocity of the Cowherd is only 0.004 kilometers per second, which is only 1/25,000th of the above velocity! So," he said in an accentuated tone, "it's a violent, terrible collapse of local space, which can be called a contraction. ”

The venue was extremely quiet.

"It's hard to describe what this picture looks like, I can only use a two-dimensional analogy." He shot a balloon on the screen that was slowly inflating, "If the sphere of this balloon is a two-dimensional universe, and the balloon slowly expands in the three-dimensional dimension, the two-dimensional sphere also expands. But suddenly a giant hand reached out to clasp a sphere and squeezed it inward, "On the screen, five fingers stretched out from outside the second dimension tightly clasped the sphere of a balloon, and five fingers tightened inward," That's the picture I just said. This astonishing collapse is too unbelievable, but in the past nine days, the National Astronomical Observatories, the Purple Mountain Observatory have all confirmed it, and later there will be 240 observatories around the world, all of which are like this. ”

Xu Yifan interjected: "Let me add one point. Among the various observational data of the universe, only the data on the radial velocity of the star is the most reliable, and there is no error. Therefore, there is no need to doubt this local contraction. ”

In everyone's shock, Zhan Xiang continued: "The collapse alone is not too terrible, but the terrible thing is that its shrinkage rate is still uniformly accelerated. According to their data, the blue shift value of the Cowherd Star increases by about 0.01 angstroms per year, and the corresponding blue shift velocity increases by 0.58 kilometers per second per year. But it's actually quite large, a thousand times the speed of the Cowherd's red-shifting according to the Hubble constant! Please note that this speed of 0.58 kilometers per second is only added by the Cowherd every year! The observatories are not in a position to immediately review this growth rate, but I have carefully reviewed the observation records of Chu Ma and believe that it is reliable. From these data, it can be seen that the space contraction began roughly 30 to 32 years ago. ”

"What could be the cause of this local space collapse, or contraction?" He Lao asked.

Zhan Xiang smiled bitterly, "I don't have a clue." We considered all sorts of the craziest hypotheses for this, but we had no clue. The most likely cause is the sudden appearance of a giant black hole near the Sun, which is pulling stars and space within 35 light-years towards the center, causing a partial collapse. But this assumption certainly doesn't make sense. First of all, if there is such a black hole, the closer the object is to the black hole, the faster it should collapse, but according to observations, the contraction rate of this local space is roughly uniform. Moreover, a black hole of this size should have a strong accretion effect, a strong X-ray burst, and even a gravitational anomaly that can be felt. But in reality there is nothing, and the vicinity of the solar system has been calm. Also, the blueshift increments mentioned above are based on the standard sun[2]

The Sun orbits the center of the Milky Way at a very high speed of 220 kilometers per second. If there is a black hole, then it should also have exactly the speed of the sun to get the current stable measurement. But could this sudden black hole only be an 'outsider' that broke into the solar system and gained exactly the same speed as the sun? It's too coincidental to be possible. ”

Xu Yifan said: "He Lao just said that he should only give conclusions as much as possible, not intermediate processes, but the research on the causes of collapse can only be said to be intermediate processes at the moment, and if you want to draw conclusions, I am afraid it is still a very distant thing." He shook his head in confusion, "Indeed, we can't imagine any reason for such a violent partial collapse, and the fact that the collapse has no reason always gives me a strong feeling - unless the cause is in a higher dimension outside of three dimensions. I mean: it could be a higher dimensional natural factor, or even ...... It could be human intervention in a higher dimension. He said self-deprecatingly, "If you just use different dimensions as a metaphor like Zhan Xiang, everyone can accept it." But if it is explained as the real cause of the catastrophe, I am afraid that it will not be easy to be accepted, for example, Chu Ma and the two firmly disagree. However, Sherlock Holmes once said: after ruling out all possible hypotheses, we have to consider those that seem impossible at all. ”

Chu Tianle looked at his godfather, who motioned for him to speak. Chu said calmly: "Who is going to pull this three-dimensional sphere with a scale of tens of light years? Four-dimensional intelligent creatures? Is it similar to an almighty God? Essentially, this is a repeat of Newton's mistake of attributing the first impetus to God. Neither my godfather nor I agree that there is a God in the universe who loves to play with balloons. ”

His condition had affected his speech, and some of his words were slurred. Ma Shiqi cooperated with him tacitly, and repeated and corrected all the unclear words in time. After Chu Tianle finished speaking, none of the scientists present at the meeting expressed their opinions, but many people nodded subconsciously, obviously agreeing with his refutation of Xu. Xu Yifan shook his head slightly and did not speak again.

Yu Leshui heard him mention playing with balloons, and suddenly thought of the scene where he focused on blowing bubbles more than ten years ago, and couldn't help but look at him sideways. She thought that today's Chu Tianle was far from the autistic little boy, and there was a god-like calmness in his tone. He Lao just said that he was "too young" and didn't say Chu Tianle, he should have understood his maturity. He Lao said:

"To put it simply, it is this partial collapse that came for no reason, but the collapse itself is beyond doubt. Isn't that so? ”

Zhan Xiang nodded: "That's right, that's right." ”

"So, I have to ask the most crucial question: Will it cause the destruction of human civilization? If yes, how long does it leave for humans? ”

All the attendees, especially those in the back row, pricked up their ears. If the previous introduction is relatively vague and theoretical, and ordinary people can only see a vague ghost, then now it will "collapse" into a concrete demon and become a sharp knife that directly stabs people's hearts. Zhan Xiang, as well as Chu, Ma, and Xu, were obviously very aware of the weight of this answer. None of them want to be "crows of revenge", but they can't avoid the responsibility that falls on their shoulders. Zhan Xiang was silent for a moment, and said bitterly:

"Responsibly, we can only make an accurate estimate if we first understand the cause of the collapse. But the situation is too urgent for us to sit back and wait for that day. At the moment, we can only make rough predictions based on existing observations, so there are uncertainties in forecasts, but we think that the general trend will not be wrong. He looked at He Lao, who motioned for him to continue. As I said earlier, what is terrible is not the speed of contraction that is already there, but its acceleration. The new blue-shift velocity of the Cowherd Star is 0.58 kilometers per second every year, and the corresponding one-dimensional contraction rate of the space is △ψ which is increasing by 12 billionths per year. If this trend continues, then, in a few years, the one-dimensional contraction of this space will be calculated according to the formula on the screen—"

He made a formula:

Lt

=(/L0

=(1-△Ψ)(1-2△Ψ)(1-3△Ψ)(1-4△Ψ)…… [1-（

-1）△1Ψ]≈(1-

△Ψ)

/2

"Let's not talk about it far, even if it's a few hundred years from now. According to the current acceleration of space contraction, in two hundred years, the one-dimensional scale of this local space will shrink by three thousandths, that is, the distance between the Sun and the Earth will be closer to three thousandths, which will lead to an increase of six thousandths of the earth's insolation. And these figures are rising exponentially, and in 500 years, the increase in sunshine will reach 30 per 1,000; A thousand years later, more than one hundred in a thousand. As for the consequences of this, please ask Mr. Zhu, a climatologist, to tell us. ”

Zhu Tianwen thought for a moment and said, "It doesn't matter if such a change in light is short, but in less than two hundred years, its cumulative effect will cause the earth to become a hot hell, causing the existing ecosystem to completely collapse." As for whether new ecosystems can evolve in the hot hell, this is unlikely, because the changes are too steep. ”

Two hundred years. This number made everyone in the venue subconsciously shake their heads.

Zhan Xiang continued: "After the space shrinks, the gravitational pull of the sun on the earth will increase in the same proportion as the sunshine, but it will not fall into the sun. According to the law of conservation of momentum, it will revolve around the Sun at a faster rate and the length of the year will be shortened, which will also cause unpredictable effects in the biosphere. And this is only two hundred years from now, what if it is five hundred years from now? What about a thousand years from now? That's a short time on an astronomical scale, but by then the collapsed area must have turned into a hell of heat and gravity. Not to mention that the end result of the contraction could be," he paused, "a black hole." ”

There was silence in the room, the air seemed to have become extremely sticky, Yu Leshui felt that it was difficult to breathe, and his heart was like a thousand pounds of boulder. This great collapse will wipe out the solar system and the human species. The fate of mankind is not even comparable to that of extinct dinosaurs, not even a pile of sterile eggs. And this generation will also be like the dinosaur parents of the year, screaming at the approaching sun. He Lao chose the meeting place near the remains of the dinosaur egg, could it be an arrangement in the dark? Yule is open-minded by nature, and has never been the kind of delicate woman who faints when she sees blood, but when she suddenly bumps into such a "catastrophe" (she thought angrily, saying the word "collapsed" today does not have a bit of rhetorical color), in any case, her heart is still too tender.

Only then did she really understand He Lao's words before the meeting, and understood his compassionate gaze at her.

Looking at Xiao Chu and Uncle Ma with side faces, their expressions were relatively calm. After all, they have known about these situations for a long time. But Yu Leshui thought about what kind of pressure they should have been under in their hearts in the past five years when they were alone with this secret.

The venue was silent for a long time, and science fiction writer Kang Buming coughed lightly and said carefully: "Science has long confirmed that the solar system will perish and the universe will also perish, but the universe is measured in tens of billions of years. Now you say: This small universe in which human beings live has an unknown terminal disease, and will not live to live for many years, and may die in the order of a thousand years, or even be unsuitable for human existence in 200 years, does this mean? ”

Zhan Xiang nodded, "You literalized my words, but you said it well, that's what it means." ”

After a long silence, paleontologist Wang Qingyin motioned for someone to hand over the microphone. This is a petite middle-aged woman, dressed in a Chinese turtleneck top, with a casual demeanor, a gentle smile, and a calm tone — but the content of her speech is anything but peaceful. She said:

"The evolutionary history of organisms has actually been accompanied by astronomical and geological cataclysms. There have been six mass extinctions of life on Earth, all of which are almost certainly related to the catastrophe of heaven and earth. Historically, some people have questioned that the 'catastrophic theory' is too bizarre, but considering the long astronomical or geological time, the 'catastrophic theory' is actually the 'uniformity theory', and the catastrophic theory is the most normal phenomenon in the universe. For example, craters all over the moon are a convincing example of how accidental cataclysms add up to normal uniformity. If we open our horizons a little more, the frequent nova explosions, supernova explosions, gamma bursts, X-ray bursts, engulfment between binary stars, annexation between galaxies, and devouring of surrounding celestial bodies by black holes are irresistible. Are there any life or civilizations in these cataclysmic areas? There is no reason to conclude that if not, then these lives or civilizations have quietly become extinct in the cataclysm. Therefore, the astronomical catastrophe of human beings encountering this small-scale cosmic scale is actually a normal phenomenon in the universe. It is difficult for us to accept emotionally, just because although the period of peace between cataclysms is relatively short compared to astronomical and geological time, it is long enough for human lifespan, which creates an illusory sense of security. ”

She spoke in a very calm tone when she told these facts, but her calmness made the listeners feel cold. After a pause, she added: "As for whether this catastrophe is man-made, I don't think I need to waste time on it. Alien catastrophes are only suitable for science fiction genres, while natural catastrophes are real and must be faced by humanity. She probably felt that this was not polite to a science fiction writer, so she nodded apologetically to Kang, who laughed it off.

There was silence in the venue for a long time, and Elder He sighed, "I've been thinking about an idiom for the past few days: people are worried about the sky. More than 2,000 years ago, a man was always worried that the sky would fall, so he became the laughing stock of 2,000 years. In fact, he is the real sober man in history. He waved his hand, "Don't talk about that gossip." Let's talk about it, if what Zhan Xiang said is true, what else can human beings do. ”

Kang Buming immediately said: "The matter of increasing the light is easy to solve. Scientists have a well-established plan to set up huge mirrors to gather sunlight at the first Lagrangian point of the solar-terrestrial gravitational system at a distance of 1.5 million kilometers from the Earth. This could buy humanity hundreds of years. Another option is to colonize Mars, which is a little farther away from the sun and could also buy humanity hundreds of years. Of course, this is only a palliative, not a cure. ”

After a pause, he added: "It is also possible to migrate to Uranus and Neptune, which are far away from the Sun, roughly 20 astronomical units." When space shrinks and distances are greatly reduced, there will be a significant increase in sunlight and may also become habitable for humans. But after I thought about it, I'm afraid not, although these ice giants are called 'ice', their mantles are actually superheated fluids formed under high pressure such as water, ammonia, methane, etc., and once the temperature rises sharply, it will immediately become Satan's hell. And at the end of the day, it's only going to buy a limited amount of time, and in the long run, humans still have to ......," he paused, "and escape." ”

When it comes to escaping, people naturally turn their attention to astronaut Zhang Mingxian. It was a thin, middle-aged man who was silent and reserved at the meeting. He realized everyone's gaze, and pondered for a long time in embarrassment, before he said carefully:

"As for the way to escape, I can only talk about the chemical rocket that I am only familiar with. The maximum speed that a rocket can reach depends on two things: first, the speed of the ejected substance, Ve, which is currently 4 kilometers per second and will not exceed 10 kilometers per second in the foreseeable future; Second, the ratio of the initial mass to the final mass of the rocket is unlikely to be greater than twenty in the foreseeable future. Based on these two figures, the maximum speed of a chemical rocket will not exceed 30 kilometers per second. This is certainly not enough for interstellar travel, orders of magnitude worse, let alone intergalactic travel. There is also a well-established method of using the gravitational field of the stars to accelerate, which has been used by humans for a long time. However, due to the distance between the stars, there are too few available gravitational fields, and it can only be used as an aid. Other more advanced ideas, such as working or non-working fluid rockets powered by nuclear fission or nuclear fusion, ion rockets or light sail drives that use stellar light as a continuous energy source, laser power station drives, ramjet drives that collect space hydrogen atoms along the way, and photon rockets that use positive and antimatter annihilation as energy sources, are still in the category of science fiction, and at most belong to the category of theoretical hypotheses, and it is difficult to enter the engineering implementation stage in the foreseeable future. ”

Everyone was waiting for him to continue, but he had finished his speech and had been silent ever since. The meeting was a little cold, and there was a faint dissatisfaction, and even the presiding officer of the meeting, He Lao, also showed that the technical expert's caution was right, but at such an extraordinary moment, this gentleman was too cautious. Apparently his vision is too narrow and his thinking is too rigid, perhaps this is the difference between an "expert" and a "master". When he confirmed that he had finished speaking, Kang Buming coughed lightly and said euphemistically:

"Caution is the first day of a technologist's nature, especially at such an important conference. Therefore, Mr. Zhang's caution is understandable that he does not want to discuss any technical assumptions that cannot be guaranteed to be implemented. Then I'll do the trick for you, as I said earlier, science fiction writers can talk nonsense. He said with a smile, and then spent 20 minutes analyzing the above "science fiction" driving methods in detail, analyzing their advantages and disadvantages. Judging from his statement, he does have extensive knowledge in this field. In the end, he concluded: "In my estimation, nuclear fusion technology should be able to achieve a breakthrough within a hundred years. In this case, if you want to achieve an interstellar or intergalactic escape within a hundred years, the feasible and only feasible way is to use a variable-ratio impulse magnetic plasma rocket powered by nuclear fusion. Its jet Ve can reach a thousand kilometers per second, and the rocket can reach a maximum speed of three thousand kilometers per second, that is, one hundredth of the speed of light. He turned to Zhan, Xu, Chu, and Ma, "I wonder if you can escape from the collapsed area at this speed?" ”

Chu Tianle immediately said: "I have calculated with my godfather that this order of magnitude is not enough. If it were able to maintain this speed, and not taking into account the time it took to set off for the acceleration phase, it would take 3,500 years for it to fly out of the cataclysmic region of thirty-five light-years. It's long enough, but it's acceptable, the problem is that it can't even maintain this speed. As space shrinks, and the rate of contraction increases at a uniform rate, the ship is like a boat sailing against the current, the longer it goes, the more the current becomes, and the further it goes, the faster the current becomes, at least in the area within the peak of the contraction. So the flight of the spacecraft will be a uniform deceleration motion. To know how long it took for a spacecraft to fly out of the cataclysmic region of thirty-five light-years, all you need to do is solve a quadratic equation. He shook his head and said, "We did, but unfortunately it didn't have a real solution, because the ship was already at negative velocity before it reached the boundary." At that time, in the cataclysmic peak region, space will pour inward at a speed of more than one hundredth of a light. Intuitively, the ship can't rush faster against the rapids. ”

This conclusion made everyone's hearts sink.

Zhan and Xu used different methods to make calculations, and the results were not large. The consensus estimate is that humans need to reach at least one-tenth of the speed of light to escape the subsidence, and they must set sail within a hundred years, otherwise the speed of the reverse jet stream will get higher and higher. Chu Tianle said.

The two nodded, agreeing with the conclusion. Not only Mr. Zhang shook his head at this conclusion, but even science fiction writer Kang Buming shook his head, "One-tenth of the speed of light is too high, and human technology in a few hundred years will definitely not reach this level." However, perhaps because he did not want to cause excessive pessimism, he immediately changed his tune and said, "No, no, I am afraid that I would go too far when I said, 'I will definitely not be able to achieve it.'" Many inventions in the history of science and technology are sudden and unconventional, for example, no scientist predicted the computer, but it appeared suddenly, and its development is faster than expected. Therefore, it is not impossible that some kind of completely new spaceship propulsion technology will emerge in this hundred years. ”

Chu Tianle continued his train of thought, "Moreover, the above estimate has not taken into account other negative factors, including: Will the cataclysmic area be expanded? It is likely to be expanded, but it has not yet been confirmed by observations. And even—at the junction of the original 'moderate expansion' and the new 'sharp contraction', will there be a tear, tearing out a closed river of weak water that cannot be crossed, and enclosing humanity in it? You may think that the vacuum doesn't matter if it's torn. But the vacuum is not empty, it must have a deep structure, otherwise it would not be able to bend due to gravity, and it would not be possible to produce quantum fluctuations. "Please note that this abrupt change from mild expansion to violent contraction has never occurred in the 13.7 billion years of the universe — perhaps it is too much, so it will be changed to: at least humanity has never experienced it." This phenomenon is completely new, and we cannot just take it for granted. He paused for a moment as usual, allowing his godfather to make the necessary translation of his fuzzy accent, "In a word, this sudden local collapse is too evil, and until the cause of it is known, it is impossible to predict in which direction and to what extent the crack it caused will expand - but Mr. Zhan is right just now, the situation is very urgent, we can't sit and wait for death, we can only grope as we go." This is a dilemma. ”

This conclusion has cut off almost all hope. The atmosphere in the room was even more suffocating. After being silent for a long time, seeing that no one spoke, Chu Tianle smiled and said:

"Just now Mr. Kang said that our universe has a terminal illness, in fact, I have been terminally ill since I was five years old, and I spent my childhood in the torment of fear. Later, thanks to my godfather," he looked at Ma Shiqi next to him, "when I was seven years old, he decisively told me the truth, cut off my back road, and gave me the courage to live." The Art of War: Death and Resurrection. What kind of courage can humanity burst out when it is put in a desperate situation? Maybe it can make the impossible possible. So, the estimates we just made may be too pessimistic. ”

The atmosphere of the venue was slightly relaxed, and people all smiled and signaled to Chu Tianle. They weren't convinced by Chu's comfort, but at least the brave boy sent a small warm current to everyone's hearts. Yu Leshui next to her happily took his arm, and now she was really impressed by this big boy who was three years younger than herself.

Since then, the free speech phase has been largely cold. Today's participants are all first-class scientists or technologists, but they are all cautious people who don't say something inconsequential in the myriad of situations in their hearts. The catastrophe was so sudden, that the calm river of civilization had suddenly fallen into a waterfall, and that the conventional experience was now invalid, leaving the minds of wise scientists at a loss. It has always been said that science can transform nature, but by "nature" we mean "local environment". No one has ever dared to say that science can transform the entire universe. For the universe, human beings are still, and probably will always be, a swarm of ants. Yu Leshui noticed that He Lao was also secretly locked on his eyebrows. This minister has always been adept at handling various incidents, but those events are human internal wrestling, and now human beings are wrestling with God, and the two are not comparable. If you want to make decisions now, you don't rely on life experience, but on scientific intuition, and He Lao is not good at this. In comparison, the most confident people in the venue were Chu Ma and the others, who faintly became the center of the venue. This is because of a special reason - they made the discovery five years ago, so they have five more years of thinking time and five more years of mental preparation than others. Yu Leshui was particularly surprised by Chu Tianle, a big boy. Judging from what he just said, there is no doubt that his knowledge, vision, personal cultivation, mentality, and professional attainments in astronomy have reached a very high level. As the saying goes, "there is poetry and books in his belly", his belly must be full of books, not literary books but scientific books, and these inner knowledge are the support of his external bearing. Inside his sick and crooked body, the flame of genius burned brightly, and you could feel its burning heat just by the side.

She couldn't help but think back to the terminally ill boy who was cold and autistic fifteen years ago. How did he accomplish such a drastic transformation in his fifteen years of life in the mountains? Yu Leshui suddenly had a strong desire to get to know him deeply and closely, and to write an interview. As for this "big" bad news - whatever, even if it comes tomorrow morning, Yu Leshui will not commit suicide tonight, she will grit her teeth and stand up until that moment comes. In this case, you might as well open your mind and do a few things according to your wishes, anyway, other worldly affairs, such as work, future, marriage, and even a woman's beauty, have become dispensable. The trees are about to fall, and they can't take care of these beautiful eggs. Yes, so decided. She came out of her reverie and heard He Lao saying:

"Hey, guys in the back row, today you only have ears and no mouths, but do you want to choose a representative to say a word or two?" The people in the back row looked at each other, and no one took the initiative to speak. He Lao named and said, "Xiaolin, say it." He introduced to everyone, "His name is Lin Bingzhang, the chief thinker of the National Development and Reform Commission. ”

Lin Bingzhang, who is in his early forties, stood up from the back row. Obviously, this is also a cautious person, and after thinking for a while, he said carefully: "I am afraid that it is difficult for the general public to believe that a small blue shift on the spectrograph means a cataclysm." But a devout person of science would believe it. The crowd nodded silently, but he then changed his tone, "But—the pious are prone to lose objectivity. ”

Although this sentence is a euphemism, it is actually a serious doubt about the prophecy of the cataclysm. Zhan, Xu, Ma, and Chu looked at each other, obviously disagreeing with his last sentence. Zhan Xiang sighed:

"We also hope that this is a lie, but the spectrograph has no faith and will not lose its objectivity."

Although the atmosphere in the venue has been very sluggish, this sentence still makes everyone smile. Lin Bingzhang himself smiled generously and sat down. He Lao made a final summary:

"Today was supposed to be a retreat, and I didn't want a clear result, so let's open it here. I would like to ask you to think carefully about what you will be attending at the top of the next meeting, and I hope that you will be able to give some practical advice at that time. Kobayashi's brief speech just now is very valuable, and it includes two points: 1. Is this catastrophe of partial cosmic collapse completely real? 2. If it is true, how to convince the general public, including policymakers, to believe it? These two points need to be done carefully. In addition, I would like to ask Xiao Zhan and Xiao Xu to continue to negotiate with the observatories around the world and strive to postpone the announcement date as much as possible, even if it is worth one more day. Zhan Xiang wanted to say something, He Lao guessed what he meant, and preemptively said, "Of course, delaying it for too long may also cause unofficial leaks, which is even more disadvantageous, you can weigh it yourself at this point in time." You will also have to consult with the observatories to draw up a press release in advance, and my opinion is that the catastrophic changes should be watered down as much as possible in the press release. This is not a cover-up, but a responsibility to society. You might as well rub in what Mr. Kang and Xiao Chu just said. I agree with them on this point, I just don't believe it, all of a sudden humanity is at a dead end, there is no way to think about it, God won't fuck it like this! Also, be careful to keep it secret before posting, especially you, the fish reporter who barged in halfway. ”

Yu Leshui said dryly: "Don't worry, Elder He, I will seal my mouth tightly." ”

"Mr. Ma and Xiao Chu, will you go home after the meeting? I'll arrange for a helicopter to take you there. ”

"Let's take a walk around the street and come back in the evening," Ma said. ”

Yu Leshui immediately said: "Uncle Ma, Tianle, I want to go to your house too!" Uncle Ma and Xiao Chu both nodded happily, and Yu Leshui happily took their arms. Her happiness inevitably seemed "heartless" in the current atmosphere, He Lao subconsciously shook his head and said sullenly:

"I'm going to go back to Beijing and report to my superiors. Well, I really don't want to give them this result. Meeting! ”

5

It was difficult for Chu Ma and the two to get out of the mountain, and they did some private things in the afternoon: haircuts, shopping, and shopping. Yu Leshui entrusted the car to the farmhouse hotel for safekeeping, and accompanied the two of them around the market town. In the evening, they took large bags and small bags, including gifts from He Lao, and took a helicopter to Ma's house. The pilot was a baby-faced soldier surnamed Zhu, and there were two armed police escorts on board. The setting sun is already level with the top of the mountain, and the glow reflects the green of the mountain. There is a characteristic of Baotianman's mountain, although the cliff is steep and deep, the top of the mountain is flat. The helicopter landed on the top of the mountain, and the armed police helped the two disabled people down. Yu Leshui jumped out of the helicopter and was fascinated by the mountain scenery at sunset. The clear stream and waterfall, the sound of pine waves, the clear air, and the huge trees hugging thick everywhere. I really didn't expect that in the heart of China, after thousands of years of development by the Chinese nation, there is still a pocket-sized primeval forest area here. The armed police sent the two back to their residences, and Yu Leshui followed behind, dialed the arrows and bamboos beside the road, pulled the dogwood on the rock, and went to the clear spring to drink saliva, and frolicked with the red-bellied golden pheasant and tiger phoenix butterfly, which was quite self-satisfied. The vitality of nature seeped into her heart, and most of the gloom in her heart dissipated.

Xiao Chu's illness was already quite serious, and Yu Leshui at the venue didn't notice it, but after walking on the mountain road for a while, he was obviously unable to support it. The armed police squatted down to carry him, he excused himself in every possible way, and Ma Bobo said softly:

"Lele, let the armed police comrades carry you."

Chu Tianle no longer insisted, and leaned on the back of the armed police. Yu Leshui's heart sank, and he couldn't help but think of the scene when Xiao Tianle insisted on not wanting his mother to carry him fifteen years ago. With his character, he will not let the armed police carry it unless it is absolutely necessary. It seems that he is terminally ill and that time is running out for him.

When she was about to arrive at Ma's house, she saw a white building on the top of a hill not far away, with a spherical roof and a double lobe at the top. Dad said that Uncle Ma used to study astronomy, and later engaged in industry, with assets of more than 100 million. Unfortunately, at the peak of his life, he suffered a car accident, his wife and daughter died, and he lost his left leg, which was traumatized. Later, Uncle Ma handed over the company to someone else to take care of it, and came to the mountains to live in seclusion, regaining his love for astronomy in his youth. Because there is no light pollution in the mountains, it is easy to observe the stars. But Yu Leshui never knew that Uncle Ma had built a small private observatory here! No wonder the two of them made that discovery.

Tianle's mother Ren Dongmei greeted her at the gate of the hospital. Yu Leshui saw from afar that she was pregnant, and she should be more than five months old. When she got closer, she didn't recognize Tianle's mother anymore. When they met the mother and son fifteen years ago, Tianle's mother was haggard and aging, like an old woman in her fifties; And now she was black and red, and her body was strong, as if she were not yet forty years old. She ran over briskly, first held Yu Leshui's hands, and hurriedly asked her parents how they were doing; then took his son from the back of the armed police and settled him on the chaise longue; He was busy serving tea and pouring water for the guests. The two soldiers didn't stop long, and returned after a few sips of water. Tianle's mother thanked them again and again, and went out to see them off.

Yu Leshui also went out. She was a little secretly curious about Tianle's mother's pregnancy and her relationship with Uncle Ma, and wanted to avoid the two men's side inquiries. But there was no need for her to listen "sideways". Sending the armed police away, Tianle's mother noticed her gaze, and was a little embarrassed, but then she made her words clear very quickly:

"Miss Leshui, will you laugh at me? I'm almost fifty years old, and I still have a big belly. Besides, there is no name between me and Mr. Ma. We also want to get a marriage certificate, but Tianle has no news from his father, and he needs to go to the court to dissolve the marriage, and the procedures are very troublesome. I had to take care of two disabled people, and it was difficult to get down the mountain, so I dragged it down...... In my opinion, it doesn't matter if you have a name or not. I have been fascinated for the past two years, I don't want to give birth to a baby for Mr. Ma, you know that he has no children and no daughters, his only daughter went with her mother in that car accident, I have to leave him a blood in the world. He is sixty years old this year, and it will be too late if he doesn't have children. You said that since Pangu opened the world, Nuwa Niangniang created people, isn't everyone living to stay behind? ”

Yu Leshui couldn't stop laughing when he heard it. This woman with little culture looks at life in this way, and her mind is really simple. But if you think about it, her words actually distill the essence of life. Biologists say that the nature of living things is actually eight words: to preserve oneself and to continue for future generations. The "alive" and "posthumous" she just said are the colloquialism of these eight-character heavenly strips, and they are the most concise and incisive expressions. She also remembered that when she visited with her father fifteen years ago, he had introduced this area as the birthplace of Pangu mythology[3]

These Chinese myths have penetrated with the river of blood of the Chinese nation. It is a dark river that flows under the surface of society, usually unnoticed by people, but it is incomparably powerful and incomparably long-lasting, and fancy things such as mortal law, politics, and fashion cannot shake its foundation at all. Tianle's mother went on to say:

"I said that I wanted to give him a baby, and Mr. Ma was happy to do so...... Leshui, what are you laughing at? Laugh at me for not being rude? ”

Yu Leshui laughed, "Where, where." I'm glad to hear you. Auntie, you underestimate me, how could I be so conservative and rigid. I think it's a very romantic thing to be able to have a child for the man I love, and I don't care about the name or anything. Auntie, I admire you so much. You go on to say. ”

Tianle's mother was very happy, "Tianle also repeatedly persuaded me to have one, and he said that after he left, someone had to accompany me and his godfather." He said that, and I finally made up my mind. ”

Yu Leshui's heart was shocked. Quickly glanced at Tianle's mother, and her eyes were very calm at the moment. This was the first time she had heard Tianle's mother talk about Tianle's death in a calm tone. The calmness shocked her, but she got used to it. Tianle's mother is the best mother in the world, burning a lifetime of love for her son. But for more than ten years, she has been grinding with the ears and temples of the "Grim Reaper", and has regarded it as an ordinary member of the family, and life and death are so "homely" and seamless. Looking at Tianle Ma, Yu Leshui couldn't help but have an association, she felt that this woman was like an old oak tree in the mountains, the tree was not high, the crown was not big, it was far from being beautiful and beautiful, but it was rooted in the stone crevices, and its vitality was extremely tenacious. She had just mentioned death, and Yu Leshui couldn't help but think of Chu Ma's discovery, and asked tentatively:

"Auntie, the two of you went out for a day's meeting, do you know what it is?"

Tianle's mother said nonchalantly: "I know." What did Chuma find out, to put it bluntly, that the sky was about to fall. ”

"Then you ......"

"I didn't put this at ease. It's not that I don't believe in the two masters, they are both literary and opera stars, and they are too smart to say, even the country invited them to give lectures, and this matter must not be fake. The ancients said that there is a catastrophe in 500 years, and this is a catastrophe, so that our generation can catch up. But the calamity has started and ended, just like Nuwa Niangniang at that time, half of the sky has collapsed, isn't it? Make up for the heavens, people still have to live, God will not be so conscienceless and block all roads. Besides, even if the sky really falls after 500 years, it will not delay me from giving birth to the baby in my belly. Children beget grandchildren, grandchildren beget children, 500 years is enough for 20 generations...... Leshui, what are you laughing at? ”

Yu Leshui couldn't help laughing out loud, and the gloom in his chest all dissipated in the laughter, "Nothing, nothing." Auntie, I just feel happy to hear you. Auntie, I'll have to stay here a few more days and listen to you more. Auntie, are you welcome? ”

Tianle's mother was happy, "Then you still need to say?" I've been looking forward to meeting the Yu family for a long time, and you are my great benefactor. ”

Uncle Ma's mountain residence is simply a place for cultivating immortals. Outside the courtyard are towering trees, birds chirping, and squirrels poking their heads through the branches. The bamboo fence in the backyard faces a cliff, and the mountain wind rolls up from the valley, sending gusts of pine waves. On the east side of the courtyard is a stone wall, and there is a mountain spring in the crack in the stone, which flows through the courtyard and flows into a pool of water on the ground, which is supposed to be the source of water for the home. The sky is blue and transparent, and the air is very fresh. The furnishings in the home are quite simple, but the study is a circle of wall-filled bookcases, piled with all kinds of books, especially in the fields of astronomy and physics, which makes the "fairy wind" of the mountain residence add a scientific "Tao bone". In such a fairyland, especially with a cheerful person like Aunt Ren, that gloomy prospect is at least temporarily away.

Chu Tianle leaned on the recliner to take a nap, and Uncle Ma was already taking care of dinner. Tianle's mother hurriedly pushed him to rest, took over the cooking by herself, and Yu Leshui also went to help her. Although it is far from the world, it has its own power supply and all the appliances in the kitchen. The two quickly made a table of game, including rock cabbage, Diqulian'er, wild leeks, etc., and the four of them had a lively dinner. After the meal, Yu Leshui's mobile phone may have just been unblocked, showing a lot of text messages and missed calls at once. She quickly replied briefly. There were two text messages from two men with whom she was having an affair and wanted to ask her out for the weekend. She declined, now is not the time to fall in love. The reply to her parents was very vague, because she was not good at revealing that she was currently here with Uncle Ma, so she only said that she was too busy in the past two days and would talk back in a few days. The newspaper was asking her about the progress of the interview, apparently not receiving the text message she sent last time, and her reply was very simple:

"I'm covering a new big story in the mountains, don't contact me for ten days."

Then it simply shut down. She thought that Sister He of the social department of the newspaper company, maybe she would add the editor-in-chief, she must have stared at this leave of absence for the first cut and then the play, maybe she would be furious. But with her current state of mind, the constraints and rules of the world are really downplayed.

There are only two bedrooms in this mountain house, and the enthusiastic Aunt Ren wants to vacate the master bedroom for her, but Yu Leshui resolutely refuses. So, they added a movable bed to the living room. Uncle Ma said:

"Shui'er, you should rest early, I should go into the cage." He explained with a smile, "Referring to the telescope's main focus cage." Over the years, as long as it is sunny, Tianle and I have never missed observations. He looked at Yoshiko and said, "But I've been alone for more than a year." The three of us in my family have a new division of labor, your aunt mainly uses her hands, I mainly use my eyes, and Tianle mainly uses my brain. ”

In other words, Chu Tianle's body no longer allowed him to "enter the cage". Yu Leshui immediately said:

"Uncle, I'll go too!"

Uncle Ma hesitated a little, "You're going too?" It's hard to walk at night. The main thing is that there are not two people in that cage, and I have to observe all night, and no one accompanies you. ”

"It's okay, I'll wait at the bottom of the cage alone." Yu Leshui laughed, "I'm sorry, I'm a bit of a fetishistic fanatic. You two have made a great discovery, and I want to touch your divination tools with my own hands. ”

Chu Tianle suddenly said, "I'll go too, I'll accompany Sister Yu below." Seeing that the two old men were a little hesitant, he said indifferently, "It's okay, I can go up, it's just a little slower." Godfather, you go first, don't wait for me. ”

Without waiting for the two old men to speak, Yu Leshui immediately said: "Of course it is best if you can go Tianle!" Don't worry about walking, I'll carry you. Don't be surprised, aunt and uncle, I can do it. At school, I loved sports, and I was able to climb rocks and mountains. I climbed a big persimmon tree outside the hotel in the early hours of this morning to investigate, but I was caught in plainclothes, or I wouldn't have been able to enter the venue. ”

She exposed her family ugliness so much, which made Uncle Ma laugh, "That's the case, no wonder He Lao said that you climbed a tree and jumped in, it turns out that there is indeed such a thing." ”

Chu Tianle didn't want a girl to carry himself, so he shook his hand vigorously, saying that he was not going. But Yu Leshui didn't care, and forced him to pull him up from the recliner and carry him on his back. She felt a little sad on her back, and she could feel the skinny bones on her back. Tianle is not tall, about 1.65 meters, and his weight is even lighter than the weight that this height should have. She joked:

"Hey, so light! I carry you like Sun Dasheng carrying a red child, no need to work hard. Let's go. ”

Uncle Ma no longer dissuaded, and said briskly: "Okay, let's go." Dongmei, you're home alone tonight. ”

This mountain road is indeed not easy to walk, but fortunately, it is not long, and Yu Leshui took a break in the middle and arrived. Uncle Ma took Tianle from her back, placed him in a chair, and turned on the light switch. Yu Leshui gasped and looked around at the furnishings in the house. Under the spherical dome is mainly an astronomical telescope, which is a very old piece of equipment, stupid and stupid, black and not slippery, and even equipped with an old-fashioned copper double knife electrical switch, a relic of the last century. Its main focus cage is equally worn-out and wobbly when it ascends. Uncle Ma opened the roof, pointed the tube at the night sky, and turned the roof to adjust the direction. He asked Tianle to stay below, and led Yu Leshui to climb to the observation platform to visit. He said that this is a 36-inch Newtonian reflecting telescope, which was eliminated by an observatory in the United States. It's old and a bit of a dysfunctional, but overall it works. "It's a luxury for an amateur astronomer to have a telescope like this." A Newtonian telescope uses a large concave mirror at the bottom to focus the starlight and reflect it onto a small mirror suspended over the head, which then directs the focused light from the side to the eyepiece, camera, spectrometer or spectrograph. The observer must be in mid-air to adjust the focal length.

He also introduced several other devices, such as stellar spectrographs, CCD photocouplers, computers, etc., which are all of the latest in the world. After a general introduction, he returned to the focus cage, turned off the lights, and began to observe. Yu Leshui groped his way to Chu Tianle's side and sat down next to him. For a moment neither of them spoke, staring at the stars in the dark sky through the trough viewing window on the roof. Today is a moonless night, there is not a single light in the field of vision, the night sky is dark and quiet, so quiet that you can hear the oscillation of the stars and the whispering of the stars. Two pairs of eyes burned and glowed in the darkness. Chu Tianle was afraid of affecting the observers, so he lowered his voice and said with a smile:

"Sister Yu, you have already touched the magic weapon used for divination, are you a little disappointed? An old piece of scrapped equipment has no mystery at all. ”

Yu Leshui also lowered his voice and said, "On the contrary, I feel very awe. I always had a hard time believing that it was possible to pry open the secrets of the universe with these man-made, hard-nosed things. ”

"The ultimate secret of the universe must be the easiest. In these years of study, I have a strong feeling that scientists are always innocent, and cosmologists are the most naïve among them, and what they want to do is to use childlike simple and intuitive imagination to solve the ultimate secret of the universe. ”

"Like a kid blowing bubbles?"

Chu Tianle keenly guessed what she was referring to, and said with a smile: "Yes, just like when I blew bubbles." ”

Leaving the gloomy atmosphere of the conference room and coming to Ma's house, Yu Leshui's mood was much more cheerful, but the devil couldn't avoid it anyway. She sighed: "Tianle, is that disaster really inevitable? Just now I heard Aunt Ren say something, which coincided with He Lao's words, she said: God will not be so unconscientious. ”

She thought that Chu Tianle had made an optimistic statement at the meeting, so she should agree with this. Unexpectedly, Chu Tianle shook his head and simply denied this sentence, "No, such optimism is meaningless. God doesn't deliberately do evil, nor does he deliberately not do evil, he only acts according to his own rules, and does not consider the meaning of these rules for life. Throughout the entire history of biology, 99.9 percent of species have been extinct, so in terms of objective effect, God has mostly done evil. ”

Yu Leshui approached him as if he was afraid of the cold, and complained: "You are so cold and ruthless, you are reluctant to say even a word of relief." So, your optimism at the end of the meeting was fake, right? ”

"No, that's not optimism, it's contemplation. No matter how hopeless the situation is, I will try to survive and do my best to obey God's destiny. After all," he said calmly, "that's how I've come over all these years." ”

Yu Leshui has known that patients with muscular dystrophy usually die between the ages of 20 and 30. Tianle is twenty-two years old this year, so the rest of his life is really short. Just now, Tianle's mother mentioned her son's death in a normal tone, but Yu Leshui couldn't do this. She didn't want empty words to comfort her, it was useless for Chu Tianle. After thinking about it, she said sincerely:

"Either way, your life is full."

Chu Tianle smiled: "You are right. This is thanks to my mother, godfather, and your whole family for their help fifteen years ago. The fate of our mother and son changed on that day. Sister Yu, I have always wanted to have an opportunity to express my gratitude in person. ”

Yu Leshui waved his hand, those things are not worth mentioning. She said, "Talk about you, about the fifteen years since you entered the mountain." No, from the time you were born. What a rare opportunity to have an in-depth interview with tomorrow's world celebrities, and when Chuma finds out about it, the interview will be published at the same time, and I, an intern journalist, are sure to be an instant hit. She laughed and laughed at herself, "The sky is about to fall, isn't it ridiculous to care about earthly names at this time?" Ridiculous or not, you better fulfill me. ”

Chu Tianle also smiled and quipped: "Is it a little early to interview my life?" I originally wanted to live to be 100 years old and then write a memoir, and the name is ready, "A Hundred Years of Collecting Shellfish". You've advanced this by a full seventy-eight years. ”

Both of them laughed, Yu Leshui put away the banter, and said solemnly: "Tianle, I'm serious." I want to show the public how a terminally ill person can live tenaciously and live a fulfilling life. When the news of the universe's terminal illness is made public, society will inevitably fall into panic, and at that time, this article should have a bit of a positive motivational effect. ”

Chu Tianle did not answer immediately. There was a squeak overhead, it was Uncle Ma who was manually adjusting the rotation of the roof, and the telescope was equipped with a rotor clock that was not very useful. Then there was a slight sound overhead, it was Uncle Ma fine-tuning the tube to correct the error in the operation of the base. The adjustment was over, and Uncle Ma was transformed into a black sculpture again, motionless in the trough-shaped canopy.

"Okay, let's talk about it then. In fact, to be honest, it's not too early for me to sort out my life now, just two or three years in advance. ”

He calmly said this sentence with sadness in it, but it made Yu Leshui's heart hurt like tears. She gently held Chu Tianle's hands and comforted him wordlessly. It was a long conversation that lasted all night, and in order not to disturb Uncle Ma, both of them tried their best to keep their voices low. During the conversation, she kept holding Tianle's hand with both hands, so she didn't make any transcripts or recordings, but she didn't need to record them, and all the words were deeply imprinted in her memory. She also had a strange feeling that night, as if there was some calm and indifferent listener above her head all the time while the two were whispering. Of course, Uncle Ma hung overhead, but at that height he couldn't hear it, not to mention that he had been intoxicated with astronomical observations. Then the stars are listening, and the heavens are listening. After doing so many sins (letting a boy be imprisoned by illness all his life, making 99.9% of living species extinct, and making the spirit of all things suddenly face a violent spatial collapse), at this time he is still calm, no sorrow, no joy, no guilt and no regrets. It's not surprising that his old man was originally a cold-faced and ruthless guy.

[1]

where V is the speed of the light source, C is the speed of light, λ is the wavelength of the light source at rest, and △λ is the red-shift or blue-shift of the wavelength at the time of reception. The stellar spectrum is taken as λ1 = 5000 angstroms near the three absorption lines of Ηβ and οIII.

[2]

Suppose the Sun's orbit is circular, revolving around the Milky Way with an average radius and speed, it is a standard Sun.

[3]

Specifically, it is the source of Huai Blasphemy that originated in Tongbai Mountain.