The moon in the sky had gradually set, and the stars had quietly hidden their figures. There was already a bright color in the eastern sky, but that bright color was only confined to the horizon, and it could not affect the whole sky or the world.

It was early in the morning, the world was still in the dark stage, and the sun had not yet fully risen. In this winter morning, few people would choose to get up so early, but Xiao Yun sat up from the bed abruptly at this time, and then gasped for breath.

There was automatic climate control in the room, but it was broken and didn't work. So the temperature in this room is not high, and it can even be said that it is a little cold. Xiao Yun's naked chest was exposed to the slightly cold air, and if you looked closely, you could see the fine beads of sweat coming out from under the skin.

I don't know how many times it is, since Xiao Yun returned from the "Raqqa" galaxy, Xiao Yun has fallen into an endless nightmare. In the full month after returning home, Xiao Yun woke up from a nightmare for at least half of the morning, and every time he woke up, Xiao Yun would break out in a cold sweat, and this time was no exception.

Those scenes kept swirling in Xiao Yun's mind, no matter how hard Xiao Yun tried to forget, they always stayed in Xiao Yun's mind and refused to leave.

Explosive debris, tragically dead teammates, dark skies, monstrous monsters...... All these elements were intertwined into a big net in Xiao Yun's mind, entangled Xiao Yun to death, and he never wanted to relax a little.

In an accurate sense, seventeen years have passed since this incident, but if you only count the time when Xiao Yun was sober. That's less than five years. Because the Raqqa galaxy is also nine light-years away from one of the farthest observatories of human civilization. And that observatory is ...... from the solar system Twenty-five light years. A distance of thirty-four light years. Xiao Yun traveled at twice the speed of light for seventeen years in twelve years of hibernation and a total of almost five years of sobriety before returning from the Raqqa Galaxy to the solar system and to his home on Earth.

In the exact sense, it is seventeen years, and only counting the time of sobriety is five years, but if it is measured by Xiao Yun's own personal feelings...... Xiao Yun felt that it happened yesterday. It seems that his teammates died tragically in the last moment, and it seems that the base that he and his teammates have worked so hard to build was occupied in the last moment......

Xiao Yun breathed for a few minutes before he slowly calmed down. Xiao Yun raised his head and saw the familiar decorations in the room. There was already a faint glow of light spilling into the room through the curtains. Everything in this room is shrouded in a hazy beauty.

After finally confirming that he was on Earth, Xiao Yun's mind stabilized. At this time, it was obviously impossible to continue sleeping, so Xiao Yun climbed down from the bed, picked up something to eat, and prepared to report to the Academy of Computing Sciences after a while.

Despite that tragic happening, life still has to go on. As a member of the Academy of Computational Sciences under the Central Academy of Sciences, Xiao Yun's research tasks are also very heavy.

But just then, there was a knock on the door. Xiao Yun put on his coat a little irritably, walked over and opened the door. I saw two cold faces.

One of them shook the document marked "Deep Space Security Investigation Bureau" in front of Xiao Yun, and then said, "Hello Xiao Yun." We have been tasked with investigating the attack on unidentified life in the Raqqa system that you have experienced. We have some questions for you and hope to get your cooperation. ”

Now that human civilization has truly stepped into the interstellar era and has imprinted its footprints on hundreds of extraterrestrial galaxies, the investigation and data collection of extraterrestrial civilizations have once again gained people's attention. The Bureau of Deep Space Safety Investigation is one such agency, which is responsible for investigating all incidents that may be related to extraterrestrial civilizations encountered by humans in the course of their starry exploration. So what Xiao Yun experienced would inevitably attract their attention.

The fact is that counting this time, Xiao Yun has been questioned seven or eight times by the people of the Deep Space Security Investigation Agency during the time since he returned to Earth. The personnel of the investigation bureau retrieved in detail the navigation log and surveillance footage of the "Stardust" spacecraft that Xiao Yun was riding, carefully analyzed every part of the spacecraft that was damaged or affected by external objects, and repeatedly asked Xiao Yun many questions in a serious and even somewhat cumbersome manner.

This may be a sign of seriousness and responsibility for the people in the Investigation Bureau, but it is not the case for Xiao Yun. Every time he was interrogated, for Xiao Yun, it was equivalent to revealing the scars of the past once again, and exposing the pain in his heart again. Therefore, Xiao Yun has always been angry with the people in the Investigation Bureau.

But there is no way to do this, and the investigation of the Deep Space Security Bureau has been written into the regulations of space exploration practitioners, no matter who it is, no matter what his identity, as long as it involves deep space exploration, then the Investigation Bureau has the right to interrogate him.

So Xiao Yun could only suppress the impatience in his heart. Xiao Yun turned around and walked into the room, facing the two people from the Investigation Bureau with his back, and then said coldly: "Please come in." ”

The two Bureau of Investigation officers showed no sense of unpopularity. They followed Xiao Yun into the room with a serious face, and then sat down opposite Xiao Yun unceremoniously. One of the investigators took out a recording tool, and the other asked: "Xiao Yun, the Raqqa galaxy belongs to a place that our human civilization has never set foot in, human civilization has extremely strict rules for exploring such a star field, and all the people in the Stardust spacecraft have identities and professional backgrounds related to deep space exploration, as an artificial intelligence expert, why did you follow the Stardust spacecraft to the Raqqa system?" ”

This is the fifth time Xiao Yun has been asked this question. Xiao Yun has heard that some investigators like to ask the same questions repeatedly and then record all the answers, and find a breakthrough by comparing the differences between these answers, and it is clear that Xiao Yun is facing this situation at the moment.

But Xiao Yun knew he wasn't lying. So in addition to becoming more and more impatient, Xiao Yun did not have the slightest panic or nervousness in his heart. Xiao Yun said: "The Raqqa galaxy is a sub-brown dwarf galaxy, and its host star is a cold star, and according to the research of our Academy of Computing Sciences, we believe that a special chip material may be formed in such a cold star, and the computer made of this chip material will have very powerful computing power, so I applied to follow the Stardust spacecraft after learning that the Central Academy of Sciences began to organize a multi-departmental exploration plan for the Raqqa galaxy." ”

Brown dwarfs are amazing stars that are so low that they can't trigger hydrogen fusion. They are more like a kind of being between a planet and a star than a real star, or they are failed stars.

There are many such stars in the universe, but because they are too faint and too cold, it is not easy to find them.

Compared to brown dwarfs, sub-brown dwarfs are more difficult to find. Sub-brown dwarfs are less massive than brown dwarfs, and they can't even trigger the fusion of deuterium and lithium, but they don't look like planets if they're planets. Because they have the same formation process as normal stars, they are formed by the collapse of nebulae, and they are much more massive than planets in the usual sense. To say that they are stars, they are too small and too cold.

The Raqqa galaxy is one such star system. Therefore, although the Raqqa galaxy is only a few dozen light-years away from the solar system, human civilization still did not discover this star until recently. The Raqqa system is unable to trigger an internal nuclear fusion reaction, and it only maintains its stability under electron degeneracy pressure - the same form as white dwarfs. But its surface temperature is much lower than that of a white dwarf, just a few hundred degrees Kelvin -- a temperature about the same as the human body.

It is precisely because Xiao Yun believes that there will be a very special material on this kind of star in the research process, and this special material is very suitable for the development of more advanced computer chips, so Xiao Yun, as an artificial intelligence expert, will apply to follow the Stardust spacecraft to this star system to explore.

After hearing Xiao Yun's answer, the researcher was silent for a moment, and then continued to ask: "Based on the information we have obtained so far, we know that you are the only one in the entire Academy of Computing Sciences who thinks that a special material on a cold star will help in the development of a new type of computing chip. ”

Xiao Yun replied with some annoyance, "So you think it's a conspiracy for me to follow the Stardust spacecraft to the Raqqa system?" You think it was a premeditated affair that I killed the rest of the ship's crew, disguised myself as an unknown alien creature, and then escaped alone? ”

"We don't think so, we have surveillance data to prove your innocence." "We're just thinking," the investigator said...... between you, and those unknown extraterrestrial beings you are talking about...... Does it matter. ”

Xiao Yun was stunned for a moment, and then asked, "Why do you say that?" ”

The researcher replied, "Because ...... There were three hundred and sixty-seven people in all, and all but you died. So what do you think is your luck? Or is it because of some kind of necessity? (To be continued.) )