In the aftermath of the cataclysm, when people were as desperate as ants destroyed in an anthill, no one recognized the most crucial point: Humanity is technically now in a rapidly shrinking space, not in a moderately expanding universe as it has been in the past. These two spaces are fundamentally different, and this difference will usher in a new era of technology.

The first to feel this was the twelve-year-old Yangyang. Of course, in the end, it was Chu Tianle and his team who enriched a child's spiritual flash into a real theory.

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

1

In the first two years after its establishment, the Foundation did not receive large donations, except for small donations from ordinary people. At that time, the salvation action organized by the United Nations was booming, attracting the attention of the society, and invisibly reducing the attention of a non-governmental organization located in a remote mountainous area.

Ji Renrui once said, "**" This super machine is too big to accelerate immediately. His estimate was not entirely correct. That year, Abikar, from Somalia, took office as Secretary-General of the United Nations. The powerful man, who had served two consecutive terms as president, immediately pushed for the reform of the United Nations, quickly transforming a political salon that was only good at empty talk into an efficient former enemy command. He first established the SCAC, that is, the Operations Committee directly under the Security Council, to unify the direction of human action in response to the catastrophe; This was followed by a reform of the United Nations' contributions, which increased significantly to one percent of GDP and a total of about $1 trillion. The reform passed relatively smoothly because it was not spent on the UN bureaucracy, but for the bulk of the SCAC, which in fact was re-injected into the economic veins of countries through various projects.

The SCAC Executive Committee is made up of five active generals from the five permanent members, who serve on a rotating basis as the Chief Executive Committee, for an annual round. The current Executive Committee includes Martin Haley of the United States, Chang Linan of China, Nikolai Koroletsev of Russia, Walker Brown of the United Kingdom and Roland Mizo of France. They led the work of SCAC with military efficiency, hired a large number of scientists, and organized three major projects.

01 Project: Focusing on theoretical exploration, that is, studying the deep mechanism, development prediction and disaster avoidance measures of this catastrophe. It's a pity that its progress is not ideal, and after two years of intense research, it only verifies the correctness of Chu Yima's findings. But while it is a repetition of Chuma's work, it is also significant—it is a proclamation that the cataclysmic era is not the rhetoric of citizen scientists, but the prospect of reality.

Project 02: The mission is to coordinate and advance cold fusion research in countries around the world, because, in order to build a quasi-light-speed spacecraft, only cold fusion is more realistic among the foreseeable technological breakthroughs. The expert group estimates that, with abundant funding, cold fusion should reach the stage of engineering application within 30 to 50 years. As for whether the fusion spacecraft will be able to escape from the "turbulent waterfall", that is the next research topic. The project is progressing at a rapid pace.

03 Project: The mission is to improve or delay the ecological deterioration caused by the shortening of the distance between the sun and the earth. The decision has been made to prepare for the implementation of the "Lagrange Point Awning Program", which will place an awning between the Sun and the Earth, reflecting excess sunlight back into space. The awning is located at the first Lagrange point of the sun-terrestrial gravitational system, which is 1.5 million kilometers away from the earth, which is the gravitationally stable area, and the awning only needs a small amount of power (using solar energy) to fine-tune the attitude and maintain the correct position for a long time. Coupled with the rotation of the Earth, the matting effect of the awning will be applied evenly to the low and middle latitudes of the Earth. In this way, while keeping the total insolation of the earth from not increasing, the temperature of the earth from the equator to the north and south poles can be relatively uniform. Later, as the distance between the sun and the earth continues to shorten and the amount of sunlight continues to increase, the awning can carry out a series of subsequent launches. The project is not too technically difficult, but it is only intended to be in the preparatory stage. Because according to measurements and calculations, the current increase in sunlight is less than 1 in 10,000. The preliminary work of the 03 engineering team is to make all technical and engineering preparations, and once the threshold of 5/1000 increase in sunshine is reached, the series of launches of the awning will begin. The project is also progressing very well.

The SCAC is doing a pretty good job, and perhaps the only downside is that they don't pay enough attention to advocacy — no, that's not right. They attach great importance to propaganda and to interaction with the population, but they uphold the rigor of soldiers and scientists, and do not give the people false hope. They say that whether humanity can escape this catastrophe or not must wait for the deep mechanism of the catastrophe to be clarified. And it is estimated that it will take half a century to do this. They also said that according to the latest research, the maximum speed of a nuclear fusion variable-specific impulse magnetic plasma rocket can be increased to 1.5 percent of the speed of light, which may be able to rush through the "turbulent waterfall", but it is not yet possible to give a definitive conclusion.

These statements are completely true, but the people can't wait. Now they know that the catastrophe is certain (even if it is hundreds of years away), but whether they will be able to escape is uncertain. In other words, they were sentenced to death, but whether they would be granted amnesty will not be known until half a century later. The vast majority of the population did not possess such a stable psychological quality, and despair, mania, and anger began to accumulate beneath the surface of the water.

Suddenly, good news came from the "Friends of Joy".

In the past two years, the "Friends of Music" have always been a small group of people, and they have not even made up the original number of people in the executive committees of the two houses for a meeting. In comparison, the Executive Committee of the Friends of the Academy of Sciences is the most neat, including:

Chu Tianle, astronomer Zhan Xiang, crisis management expert Wu Zheng, paleontologist Ms. Wang Qingyin, climatologist Zhu Tianwen, astrophysicist Alex Townley, molecular biologist George Jacoby, mathematician James Gleick and science fiction writer Kang Buming. At the request of Ji Renrui himself, he became a non-voting member of the Executive Committee of the Academy of Sciences. Before Alex and his gang came to China, they had implemented a small strategy: they came in three groups and pretended not to know each other, so that they could grab as many as possible from the nine executive committee seats. But then they found out that this ploy was in vain, and they didn't care if they were "a gang" or not.

The executive committee of the Friends of Joy Foundation includes Yu Leshui, Ma Shiqi, Ge Qihong, and psychologist Ms. Dong Yuexia. Ma Shiqi said that he was only in name, but in fact he still spends most of his time on astronomical observations.

The Executive Committee of the Friends of Le Engineering Institute only had Ji Renrui sing a one-man show for a long time. Ji himself was not in a hurry about this, saying that once the engineering academy really started to act, talented organizers would naturally emerge. Now his main job is to whip the Academy of Friends of Music, urging them to screen out one or two solutions that can be implemented immediately. "Walk up first, then find your way!" "Just move forward, don't worry about the collapse behind you!" These are the two sentences on his lips. The members of the Academy of Sciences gave him a noble nickname: the Whip of God.

On this day, He Lao came to the mountains as a guest. Of course, he is not just a guest, after the establishment of the "Friends of Music" and the two courts, He Lao once made a suggestion to the highest level, saying that he estimated that this non-governmental organization could become famous, and it was best to send an ambassador-level liaison and give financial support. His suggestion was seriously considered at the top, but in the two years that followed, the "Friends of Music" did not make much of a name for themselves, and did not send a liaison. But in order to give an explanation to He Lao, ** asked He Lao to come forward to investigate again. This is actually a very polite refusal: if the results of the investigation are not satisfied, then ask He Lao to take the initiative to withdraw the original proposal.

Mr. He stayed at the Old Jieling State Guest House, which is today's headquarters of "Friends of Music". All the people at home at the headquarters came to meet with Mr. He, and in fact, everyone combined could not sit in one conference room. They chatted for a while, and Chu Tianle, Ma Shiqi and Yu Leshui asked about Yangyang's current situation, and asked with a smile why he didn't make trouble this time. He Lao said: "Of course he is making trouble, but he has to go to school and can't come." They all talk in English, which is the lingua franca in Le Zhiyou, in order to take care of a few foreigners who don't know Chinese. At this time, Ji Renrui hurriedly entered the conference room. Wu Zheng smiled:

"Oops, the 'Whip of God' is here again!" He smiled and said to He Lao, "He Lao, this is a whip that whistles above our heads every day. ”

Ji Renrui shook hands with He Lao, turned around and said unceremoniously: "Don't think that He Lao is here, I won't dare to whip you." I'll start in a moment. ”

Alex said impatiently, "You don't have to whip, it's useless." We only plan to plant fast-growing poplars with a growing period of 20 years, and we don't plan to plant American redwoods with a growing period of 5,000 years, but if you want us to produce fruit in one night, it can only be Chinese bean sprouts. Your request is unrealistic. ”

Ji Renrui said bitterly: "Ladies and gentlemen, comrades, friends, brothers and sisters, when will you be able to throw away the pedantic spirit of scientists? ”

Alex said coldly: "We don't have a lot of pedantic spirit, but if we don't have any at all, we don't have any scientists." ”

Ji Renrui was also not polite, "Okay, today in front of He Lao, I will give you another lesson to the wise scientists." First, the work of the UN Security Council and the SCAC has been fruitful – I admire my senior classmate Abikar, who is a whistling whip of God that can even make the century-old carriage of the United Nations run fast. But their long-term plan is so far away from the population, which is already on the verge of a nervous breakdown, that what is needed most is not the hope that will be possible half a century later, but the placebo that can be taken then, even if it is just ordinary aspirin. You know, the use of placebo in medicine is not a fraud, but a serious, effective medical measure! Regarding the mood of the people, I think He Lao's feelings are more acute than yours, and you can consult him. ”

He Lao didn't speak, just nodded slightly, and this topic made his face sad.

"Second, Friends of Joy has to do something right away to attract talent and money, otherwise we'll be dried by the sun as quickly as a bubble." He turned to He Lao, "Is this consideration too selfish?" But the survival of the 'Friends of Joy' is for a noble goal, so I dare to say this selfish sentence out loud in front of He Lao. ”

He Lao smiled, noncommittal.

"Third, I know as well as you that based on the current level of science, there is no way to escape the catastrophe for the time being. But we can roughly set a direction, walk first and then find the way! Tens of thousands of years ago, when the ancestors of the Indians traveled east through the Bering land bridge, they did not know that there was a fertile North American continent behind the ice and snow; When the ancestors of Polynesians sailed east from the Malay Peninsula in small boats, they also did not know if there were any islands in the vast and dangerous Pacific Ocean. If these migrations had been led by cautious scientists, would these two great migrations have been possible? Therefore, the most important factor in driving human development is not the scientific attitude that you value, but the spirit of adventure! If our ancestors were able to do it, why can't we do it? Moreover, now that humanity has been put to death, it is forgivable to take a risk. In fact, even life itself is also 'walk up first and then find the way', the so-called 'evolution', in essence, is just a method of trial and error, in the process of trial and error, many creatures have embarked on the road of guillotine, but there are still thousands of species to this day. ”

His eloquence and passion touched the audience, and many nodded slightly. Chu Tianle smiled and said:

"Brother Ji, we all understand these truths, and we are working hard in this direction, but we haven't had time to screen out a suitable action plan yet."

"I can't wait, so I'm going to do it." Ji Renrui said with a smile.

At this moment, everyone came to their senses, even He Lao and Alex listened attentively. Yu Leshui urged him with a smile: "Let's talk about it, don't sell it." ”

"My plan is...... No, I'll have to get away with it. As we all know, one of the important signs of human beings coming out of ignorance is the existence of funeral customs. From a materialist point of view, this is the most meaningless act. The composition of human beings is originally ordinary matter, and it still returns to its original state after death, so that's it, so why bother with it? But everyone still wants to have a steamed bun and a tombstone. Imagine how many tombstones have appeared in human history. How much can be left now? How much will it be preserved after thousands of years? The present destroys the tombstones of those who came before them to build their own tombstones, and the descendants destroy the present to build the descendants. But that doesn't stop people from having a psychological need for graves and tombstones – even in today's cataclysmic times. "That's my plan: to build a tombstone for all members of the human race and send it out of the cataclysmic area before I can build an escape ship for the living." ”

Everyone silently chewed on the plan, and many shook their heads slightly. Kang Buming smiled and said, "You mean-'Cosmic Tombstone'?" ”

"Yes, the Cosmic Tombstone."

Kang smiled and didn't say much—it was clear that none of the people present, including the proposer of the suggestion, had read the science fiction novel "Cosmic Tombstone." Ji Renrui further said:

"Tombstones are digital, and all people's wishes can be fulfilled at a very small cost, and as I said earlier, 'leaving a name behind' is one of the strongest desires in the human subconscious, even if there is no posterity to read this tombstone. I think this action will effectively mobilize the enthusiasm of the people, attract the attention of the people, and vent the negative emotions of the people. In addition, the spacecraft carrying the space tombstone is a simple unmanned spacecraft that can be powered by existing chemical power, so it can become a reality within ten years. Alex shook his head, and just as he was about to speak, Ji Renrui cut it off first, "Of course, with the backward chemical drive, even if you make full use of the star for gravitational acceleration, it will not be possible to escape from the cataclysmic area, it will be like us who remain on Earth, and finally fall into the abyss of contraction." But I don't want it to actually get out, I just need to," he added, "to convince the people that it can get out." ”

The crowd was silent. Ma Shiqi coughed and said with a smile: "Xiao Ji, I have no objection to prescribing aspirin in good faith, but if the people know the real result, maybe the negative emotions will have a stronger backlash." ”

"That's exactly what I'm here for, otherwise I'll leave you behind and start this cosmic tombstone project on my own. I ask you to make up a reason that is enough to convince the people. I think with your intellect and knowledge, this is not a difficult thing to do, but your intellect has always flowed along a fixed riverbed, and I need to help you find a hole. Xiao Chu, Alex, Kang Buming," he deliberately named the names of the three people, "Let's put aside the other research first, and within ten days, you must help me make up a perfect theory, so that the spacecraft carrying the cosmic tombstone can theoretically escape from the cataclysmic area safely!" ”

The three people who were named looked at each other, and Chu Tianle took the lead in nodding, "Okay, I promise you." Kang Buming also nodded and said with a smile: "You are a big liar, but I promise to help you fulfill this big lie." Only Alex was reluctant, "I'll try." ”

"Thank you!" Ji Renrui turned to He Lao, "Can He Lao stay for a few more days this time?" At least stay for ten days, and see what results Xiao Chu and the three of them will come up with. ”

He Lao readily agreed, "Then I'm not welcome, I'll bother here for a few more days." I'm really retired now, and there's a lot of time. He said to Ma, Chu, and Yu: "I also want to see your home at the top of the Jade Emperor, and I also want to see Mr. Ma's youngest daughter Liu Ye, she should be almost two years old." ”

"Then we couldn't be happier, and we're here to wait. Little willow leaves are the happiest guests at home. Yes, she's almost two years old. Ma Shiqi said.

In the afternoon, Ma Shiqi returned to the mountain, preparing for the astronomical observation in the evening. Although the observatories of various countries are watching the changes in the blue shift of NEOs, and with their equipment and expertise, they must be doing better, but Ma Shiqi has not relaxed his responsibility. Before dinner, Chu Tianle said to his wife:

"That whip of God gave us three military orders, and I want to go back to the mountains for a few days and calm down to make up that lie."

"Okay, I'll ask Xiao Zhu to drive the helicopter over."

"I want you to go back with me, okay?"

Yu Leshui had something else to do the next day, but she immediately agreed: "Okay." ”

The helicopter landed on the top of the Jade Emperor Peak in the setting sun, and Xiao Zhu wanted to carry Xiao Chu according to the custom, but the latter refused with a smile, "The two of us want to sit on the top of the mountain for a while, you can go back first." The helicopter drove away, and Tianle said embarrassedly: "Leshui, can you carry me back?" I want you to carry it one more time. ”

It's a bit weird. Since she memorized it once, Tianle has been considerate of her and never let her carry it again, what's wrong with today? But she readily agreed, crouched down, and let her husband climb on his back. Tianle said, "Don't go home yet, go to the crematorium." ”

Yu Leshui muttered in her heart, thinking that her husband was a little abnormal today, and—despite the good views of the whole family, the name of the crematorium was a bit ominous after all. Chu Tianle on his back guessed her thoughts and smiled, "Leshui, don't think about it." That's the case, today's request from Brother Ji suddenly aroused a little memory in me. I remember the last time you carried me, a very important thought flashed through my head, but it quickly slipped away and failed to catch it. I've tried to remember since then, but to no avail. Today, I specially asked you to re-walk this mountain road on my back to see if I can touch the scene and pick it up. So—I have to work hard for you. ”

Yu Leshui was relieved, and said with a smile: "Then you can climb on my back and think about it, I don't work hard, as long as you can catch that inspiration, I will be fine if I carry it ten times or eight times." ”

After walking for a while, Tianle on his back asked, "The last time you carried me, you said a word, do you remember?" ”

Yu Leshui thought for a while, "I seem to be saying: your weight is very light, and I carry you on my back like a monkey with a red child on my back, and it is not effortless at all." ”

Tianle whispered: "It seems that this sentence evokes my inspiration, but what is it?" ”

After that, he fell into deep thought. Yu Leshui did not disturb him, and walked carefully along the mountain path. I took a break on the way and arrived at the crematorium. Tianle asked his wife to put him down, and he sat cross-legged on the edge of the cliff, facing the deep valley, and entered a state of meditation. Yu Leshui looked for a place behind him to settle himself and watched him silently. Time passed quietly, the sun had sunk behind the mountain, and Yu Leshui wanted to urge him to go home, because there was no way to get home from here, and it would be difficult to walk when it was dark, and they had not yet eaten dinner. But looking at the silhouette of her husband, he has obviously entered a state of "meditation" completely, his eyes are hot, his brows are slightly frowned, and his lips are slightly shaking. Yu Leshui listened carefully, he was saying, "Wrong? Wrong? ”

What's wrong? Yu Leshui guessed that at this moment in her husband's brain, an important inspiration was vibrating and forming, and it might dissipate suddenly, and it must not disturb him at this time. Then let's spend the night here. She wanted to go home and get some food, water, and a blanket, but her husband's demeanor was too obsessive, and the place where she meditated was too close to the cliff, and she didn't feel comfortable leaving. In the end, she made a choice, her husband's inspiration was the most important, and she would spend this night hungry and cold. She walked away softly and explained to her mother-in-law on her mobile phone so that she would not be worried, because she must have heard the sound of the helicopter landing. Then he turned off his phone and quietly returned. She snuggled up to her husband and hugged him to keep him cool and prevent him from making any dangerous moves in his obsession. She also carefully and quietly took out her husband's mobile phone and turned it off, so as not to disturb him in his thinking. The husband did not pay attention to her movements, and was completely indulged in feverish thoughts. His body was motionless, but he could clearly feel an invisible strong tension in his body, which was caused by the burning of his mind. In the thickening twilight, his eyes sparkled like wolf eyes.

There was movement below, and it was the mother-in-law who was climbing up lightly. Yu Leshui hurriedly greeted him and took the food, water and blankets sent by his mother-in-law. The two whispered a few words, and the mother-in-law left lightly, and Yu Leshui returned to her husband, put aside the food and water, wrapped his body in a blanket, and then sat down with him. The deeply settled husband did not react to all this.

A full moon had risen, and the moon was as cold as water, and the mountain breeze was cold. The sky was full of stars as if whispering. Yu Leshui's eyes gradually blurred, and his mind slid at will in a trance. She remembered that seven-year-old Xiao Tianle was sitting on a duffel bag blowing bubbles, and said seriously: I can't figure it out, the bubble should have burst, but it didn't burst...... At that time, he was exploring the mysteries of the universe with the sensitive mind of a child. She remembered that Tianle, biologist Wang Qingyin, and astrophysicist Alex had all said that the history of the universe was actually a history of cataclysm, and the birth of the universe itself was the greatest cataclysm, followed by the collapse of nebulae, the engulfment of galaxies, the collision of stars, and the explosion of novae and supernovae. The heavy elements such as oxygen, carbon, phosphorus, and iron in our bodies were thrown into the universe when novae and supernovae exploded, so life was born from cataclysm precisely in terms of its physical nature...... Tianle said that he did not recognize that there is a god in the universe who loves to play with balloons, but how did this local contraction come about? …… The husband just muttered that he was wrong, wrong, what was wrong? ……

She fell asleep unconsciously, probably for a long time, until the body in her arms suddenly "came to life", and she woke up suddenly. Seeing her husband's bright eyes in the dark, his expression was obviously relaxed, smiling easily, and the tension in his body was obviously released. Yu Leshui rubbed his eyes to sober himself up, and felt that his butt was sore and his arms were sore. She moved her hands and feet and asked her husband:

"Did you catch it, your inspiration to slip away?"

"Got it back." Tianle said with joy.

"Okay, we didn't work hard in vain today. You can eat something, it was sent by my mother, and it has been sent for a long time, and I have never dared to disturb you. Eat it, I've already eaten it just now. ”

Tianle took the cold food and water, and mechanically put it into his mouth, repeating: "I grabbed the inspiration that slipped away, and I figured it out completely." Leshui, I thought—" he said cautiously, "maybe I already have an aspirin on hand, and it's not even just a placebo, but it actually works." ”

"You mean—there's already a real way out?" Yule Water surprise is inexplicable.

Tianle shook his head, "It's too early to say this, I can only say that there is already a glimmer of light in the dark tunnel." What time is it? ”

Yu Leshui looked at his phone, "Two o'clock in the morning." ”

Tianle looked at the darkness under the cliff, and said with a smile, "I can't go back tonight anyway, so I'll tell you what I've gained." He pushed aside the leftovers.

"yes, yes, I can't wait! Oh, wait a minute. Yu Leshui found a suitable stone seat, sat down first, took Tianle's thin body into his arms again, and wrapped the two of them in a blanket. Now you can talk about it. ”

Tianle completely relaxed his body, leaned comfortably on his wife, raised his eyes to look at the starry sky, and began to tell in a soothing tone.

Tianle said: "When you carried me on your back and said, 'Sun Monkey carries Red Child', I was evoked a little association: in the story of "Journey to the West", the demon Red Boy once disguised himself as a toddler who was tied and hung on a tree, in order to coax the Tang Seng who was overflowing with kindness, Wukong used the method of shrinking the ground to jump over the tree where the Red Boy was tied and hung in order to avoid trouble. It was the three words 'shrinking the ground' that sparked sparks in my thinking, and the shrinking method is the mythical version of space shrinkage. But there are actually insurmountable contradictions in the land shrinking method, and if Sun Monkey knows a little physics and thinks about it from a technical point of view, he will find that his spell is not easy to achieve.

"There are two ways to shrink the land, the first is to simply dig up ten miles and eight miles of land in the road ahead, which is probably what Sun Monkey did, otherwise he would not have been able to jump over the tree where the red boy was hanging. But if you do this, the world on the other side of the river, ten miles away, will instantly join the riverbank, so it will have great speed and will collide violently. The second method is to make the first 100 miles shrink evenly by 10 percent, so that the 10 miles can also be subtracted, and the process is smooth and there is no collision, but in doing so, the monkey will not be able to avoid the red child, the red child who has lost 10 percent weight in the same proportion. ”

It was just a little intellectual game, and it was over after thinking about it, but then he always felt that he was ignoring something, something important to the situation at hand. What is it? He had been thinking about it for half the night, and finally caught it. This mind game is actually a tortuous reflection of some kind of thinking in his subconscious - the movement of the stars in the cataclysmic area towards the sun is not because a piece of space has been dug up, but because the space has contracted as a whole!

Yu Leshui asked confusedly: "You said 'wrong, wrong', what do you mean by that?" But you're not wrong, I remember you kept saying 'the overall contraction of local space'. ”

Tianle smiled bitterly: "But my later inference made a very stupid mistake. To the shame of this generation of scientists, not a single scientist has discovered my mistake in the past two years. However, it is not surprising that there is no shortage of precedents in the history of science, such as von Neumann, one of the greatest mathematicians of the 20th century, who used mathematical proofs to overturn de Broglie's theory of guided waves. At that time, von Neumann's flamboyant genius overwhelmed everyone, and no one doubted his conclusions, even the equally brilliant De Broglie admitted defeat. But in fact, Feng made a stupid mistake in his proof, which was not discovered by Bohm and Bell until decades later. Bell – the discoverer of Bell's inequality – unceremoniously says that von Neumann's proof is not only wrong, but also stupid! I really don't know if any experts or even college students have actually studied it since it was announced. It's better to think that great people like von Neumann make mistakes once in a while. ”

Yu Leshui smiled and said, "Don't blame yourself. Do you know a proverb? Eagles sometimes fly lower than chickens, but chickens can never fly as high as eagles. Your stupidity is the stupidity of an eagle and can be forgiven. Tell me about your mistakes. ”

"Okay. As I said at the Old Boundary Ridge meeting, a ship can't rush through the faster reverse rapids. ”

"Yes, that's what you said."

"That's the conclusion that's wrong, and it's stupidly wrong!"

"Why? I think that picture is very intuitive and logical. At least," she said half-jokingly, "I've seen realistic depictions of space collapsing rapidly in quite a few science fiction novels." ”

"No, that collapse speed is just the visual speed caused by the contraction of space, it is false, not real speed! Let's look back at our original universe with a moderate expansion as a whole: galaxies 10 billion light-years away can reach redshifts close to the speed of light, but that's a false speed, the cumulative expansion of tens of billions of light-years in space. Although the universe is only expanding moderately, the cumulative expansion of tens of billions of light-years can cause that astonishing visual speed! However, if a human spacecraft could fly there, it would be calm; Just like a spaceship tens of billions of light-years away, if it came to us, it would see the same calm. Therefore, there is no reverse turbulence at the edge of the cataclysmic area, and the human escape ship will calmly sail out of the cataclysmic area. ”

"Really?!" Yu Leshui was so excited that he almost screamed. After two years of despair, humanity suddenly had hope and could escape! She hugged her husband in her arms hard, "Tianle, I'm so happy." There is no need to give aspirin to the population. I think that even the Cosmic Tombstone Project can be abandoned and directly changed to an immigration spaceship, okay? ”

Tianle shook his head slowly, "I'm afraid it's not right yet." ”

"Why?"

"We've just pried open the first door to Hell, and there's one more down there—the expansion of the Cataclysmic Zone. It will definitely ripple outward, the question is how strong and how fast it will spread. I haven't thought it through yet. I'm so tired at this point that I want to sleep, so I'll talk about it when I'm mature when I'm thinking about it. ”

Yu Leshui looked at him and said softly, "Okay, you can sleep on me." ”

Chu Tianle leaned on his wife's shoulder and quickly fell asleep. In the first half of the night, his mind burned too violently, and he slept very deeply. Yu Leshui couldn't sleep, and her husband's discovery made her excited. Although there is a second gate to hell ahead, there may be a third or a fourth...... But in any case, being able to pass the first hurdle is a big victory, and it also provides courage for continuing to break through in the future. She looked affectionately at Tianle beside her, this bony body had a precious brain in it, which was worthy of being cherished by his relatives and the world. Suddenly, Tianle in his arms whispered:

"Leshui ......"

Yu Leshui lowered her head to see that her husband did not open his eyes when he spoke. So he's talking in his sleep? She whispered, "Tianle, what do you want to say?" ”

Tianle still didn't open his eyes, and muttered in his mouth: "Leshui, as a husband, I'm sorry that I can't satisfy you in that regard...... Don't be bitter about yourself, find a good man to accompany you......"

Yu Leshui was stunned for a moment, listening to his snort, obviously still asleep. Then, he said this sentence in a dream that he had always wanted to say but could not speak. Yu Leshui sighed movingly, lowered her head and kissed her husband, hugging him a little tighter.

The sky is gradually brightening, and when I look down, I can already faintly see the outline of the house at home; Looking up, the dome of the observatory is more clearly visible because it is lined with the faint morning light. Godfather is still observing inside, I don't know if he had any new gains last night? Tianle was still asleep, and Yu Leshui quietly hugged him, his heart overflowing with love and pity. When the morning sun shot its first rays of light in the recess, she heard a crisp shout:

"Brother Tianle! Sister Leshui! Are you awake? ”

Looking down, Tianle's mother was holding the willow leaf and waving to this side. Tianle in his arms opened his eyes, and Yu Leshui whispered:

"Awake? Then let's go back, Mom is telling us to eat. ”

Ji Renrui gave the three of them a ten-day deadline, and Chu Tianle only took one day to submit the file in advance. In the morning, he went through his thoughts again and discussed it with his godfather, who expressed his complete agreement. In the afternoon, he summoned everyone to meet at the headquarters to have a consultation on his ideas, and He Lao also participated. Kang Buming said admiringly: "So fast! I don't have a plan yet. Alex frowned suspiciously. At the beginning of the meeting, Tianle said his new conclusion in a few words, and the atmosphere of the audience suddenly cheered up! Alex shouted angrily:

"It's stupid!" He looked at everyone and explained, "I'm not scolding Chu and Ma, I'm scolding myself. As the proposers of a certain theory, they are prone to make mistakes due to fixed ideas, which is normal, and the most stupid are us bystanders. Yes, Chu's correction is correct, because the cataclysmic region as a whole is evenly contracted, so those terrible blue-shift speeds dozens of light-years away are visual speeds rather than real speeds, and there is no turbulent reverse jet current at the edge of the cataclysmic area. ”

There was a commotion of excitement in the audience. He Lao also understood, and said unhappily: "This mistake is a little bigger. Does this mean that you are completely wrong when you say that humanity will not be able to escape the cataclysmic zone? This can influence fundamental decision-making in human society. ”

Alex nodded abruptly, "Yes, the original point of view is wrong, at least it needs to be greatly corrected." Of course, humanity is not resting on its laurels anymore. Although there is no reverse turbulence at the edge of the disaster area, the cataclysm will certainly not be abruptly interrupted at a radius of 35 light-years, but will definitely ripple outward, and I think it will propagate outward at the speed of light in the form of gravitational waves. ”

These words made Yu Leshui very frustrated, "Spread at the speed of light? Doesn't that mean that there is no hope for humanity to escape? No matter how advanced a ship is, it can't move faster than the speed of light. ”

"Not really. The contraction wave travels at the speed of light, but the intensity of the contraction should be inversely proportional to the square of the distance and will soon decay to zero. Therefore, the escape ship does not need to race against the speed of the wave, it only needs to sail to safety. ”

"Oh, that's right."

Everybody has expressed their views. Today's new progress has ignited the light of hope for everyone, and the atmosphere at the venue is very excited, and even He Lao is deeply infected. Masch also spoke, agreeing with Tianle's new view and Alex's prediction that the cataclysmic region would ripple outward at the speed of light, but he also pointed out that so far, stars 35 light-years away, such as Beihe III and Arcturus, have not observed the increase in blue shift. Of course, it is also possible that they have collapsed, but their spectral changes have not yet reached Earth. Ji Renrui has been listening carefully, repeatedly asking about the technical details that he doesn't understand. Finally he stood up and said:

"Thank you very much Tianle for handing in the answer sheet in one day. What's the fuel in that head of yours? I think it's even more powerful than nuclear fusion. Research and research, and simply use it to power the ship. ”

Chu Tianle teased him: "Then thank you for the whip of God." In the future, you don't have to whip us, just whip the ship's ass, and the ship will immediately reach the speed of light as soon as it sees you swing the whip. ”

"Really? I can't pump the ship, but I'll pump you harder. Tianle, you have greatly increased the hope of human escape, and it is not a placebo! I'm excited. But the escape ship for the living is a distant thing after all, and I have to think about my immediate plan first, which is the Cosmic Tombstone Project. I think the arguments that Tianle and Alex just made are enough to convince the public. So," he said with a smile, "you go on, I'm going to get out of here and get down to my business." ”

George Jacoby, a molecular biologist, stopped him, "Wait. Mr. God's Whip, your Cosmic Tombstone project is very inspiring to me, but with Chu Tianle's new conclusion, I think it is too conservative, and we can take another big step forward - don't worry, it is still a plan that can be implemented immediately. Please wait a few days while I clear my mind and we'll have another meeting. ”

"Good! I am very pleased with your proposal! How many days do you need? ”

"Give me ten days, too."

Ji Renrui was very dissatisfied, "Where do you need ten days?" Bibi Xiaochu's work efficiency, don't you blush when you ask for this? I'll only give three days, and I want to let him see the results before He Lao leaves. He had keenly guessed that He Lao's trip was so calm, perhaps he had a mission delivered by the highest level and made a special trip here to investigate. Then, it is best to rush before He Lao leaves and give him a result with enough weight.

George thought for a moment and nodded helplessly, "Okay, three days is three days." Mr. God's Whip, I really shouldn't have taken this task on my own initiative. ”