Zhou Ming returned to his bachelor apartment, and everything here was still exactly the same as when he left.
When I step on the familiar and slightly old floor, I look at the things in the room that have never changed, and listen to the hum of the fan from the computer host that is always on.
His thoughts finally calmed down little by little, and some subtle and unspeakable feeling floated in his heart. Zhou Ming stepped over the scattered debris on the floor, came to the closed window, and looked at the undulating scenery outside. Thick white fog.
He stared at the mist for a long time, then stretched out his hand to push the window. Of course, the window did not move at all. The flour on the windowsill and the several cans deliberately stacked did not maintain their original state, as if they were in the same place. Wordlessly conveying to myself a lonely and silent atmosphere.
For a long time, he stood quietly in front of the window, maintaining a posture as if he was gazing into the thick fog, without thinking about anything in his mind. After an unknown amount of time passed, he suddenly blinked. , like a stone sculpture that was awakened, turned its head to the side.
Next to the unmade bed, the computer monitor on the desk is glowing slightly, and the prompt box that the network is not connected still pops up from time to time in the lower right corner. The notebook where I took notes when I left is still thrown in the corner of the table. Which notebook has not been used by me for a long time?
flip.
Zhou Ming walked over, sat down in front of the desk and stared at the empty screen in a daze. Then he reached out and pulled out the keyboard and mouse that he had pushed to the corner. He clicked on the browser and typed a line of text in the search box. Does the sword world outside the thick fog still exist?
!The browser certainly doesn't give any valid search page.
After pressing the Enter key, the cursor on the screen flashed a few times, and then an error page popped up indicating that the network connection was interrupted and the remote server did not respond.
This result was naturally expected. Zhou Ming knew from the beginning that he had already used this fragile computer to make various attempts to communicate with the outside world a long time ago, when the thick fog had just blocked the room. .
He didn't expect anything different from before to appear on the screen this time. He just wanted to type that sentence without asking Ren Keren, nor did he expect any answer.
Listening to the monotonous hum of the fan in his ears, Zhou Ming took a breath, threw the keyboard and mouse back into the corner, then took the notebook, opened it to a blank page, and leaned down. On it was carefully written, "To the world outside the thick fog, and the people in the room say hello to you."
Not long after, I will arrive at this place on the other side of the door. It is a city-state located on the border. I go there to confirm something, but even if I don't confirm it, I think I already know the answer. Because in the weird world on the other side of the door, countless of the most unimaginable things are actually happening, and my intuition there has always been very accurate.
Based on this, I no longer expect a response from outside the thick fog, nor do I expect anyone to knock on my door or window through the thick fog. I am still not sure what happened in this world, but maybe... encounter It is not me who has changed, but you in my quiet and narrow cabin.
Everything is still the same as before. I have a bed, a sofa, a coffee table, a desk, and chairs. My wardrobe is next to the bed, and there is a large storage shelf. Most of the space above is still the same. Empty.
I haven’t cleaned my room for a long time. There is almost no dust here. I know that most of the dust in human residences comes from the skin debris shed by humans and the pollution caused by daily life, and I don’t move here most of the time. .
So most of the place here is actually still very clean... But even if there is no dust, the room now looks a bit messy, because I was in a hurry when I returned to the room several times before and didn't clean up my things before leaving.
It's not good to always be in such a mess... If everything is as I thought, I think I should make this room clean and tidy.
In addition... maybe I shouldn't say this, maybe it's meaningless to say this, but I hope you are all well outside the thick fog. Goodbye...I'm going to clean this room now. Zhou Ming exhaled softly, threw the pen back into the pen holder, carefully read what he just wrote, then closed my notebook and put it on the A corner of the desk.
Then he stood up silently and began to implement what he had planned in his notebook, cleaning and tidying up the room. Starting with the slightly messy bed, he folded the quilt, arranged the pillows and sheets, and then moved on to the things on the table. , the things on the coffee table, then the wardrobe, bookshelves, and clutter on the sofa and floor.
There was not much dust and no need to mop the floor. He simply wiped off all the dust on the surface of the furniture with just a piece of paper, and then threw it into the trash can.
At the end of the final inspection, Zhou Ming came to the window. He silently looked at the things on the window sill. After standing there for a long time, he reached out and put the tools he had tried to use to open the window, including hammers and wrenches, into the tool box on the side. , and then put the stacked cans and other sundries where they should be.
Then he wet a paper towel and held it with his left hand and pressed it against the window sill. He stayed in this position for ten seconds. Finally, he took a deep breath and slowly wiped the window sill. The flour that entered the room after opening the window was wiped clean with wet paper. Now the room is completely clean and tidy.
Zhou Ming exhaled, looked around the room calmly, confirmed the fruits of his labor, and then picked up a bag of garbage that he had just packed up. The black plastic bag was not very heavy, because it was mostly waste paper and empty cans. But when he picked them up, he still felt that the bag had some weight.
Carrying the bag of things that needed to be discarded, he came to the door of the bachelor's apartment and opened the door. The darkening and billowing fog was as usual, undulating at the door. All the secrets in the world seemed to be hidden in the thick fog. But it is so chaotic that it cannot be understood by reason.
Standing in front of the surging black fog, Zhou Ming hesitated for a moment, then raised his hand and threw the bag of garbage into the fog. The moment the plastic bag was released, he had a strong desire to throw it away. The urge to pull the bag back again.
It was as if those waste papers and empty cans were the only treasures left in this world, and he was the only gambler left in this young world, determined to keep every gram of material in this room.
However, this impulse was finally suppressed by him. He opened his hand and calmly watched the material bag fall into the other side of the door, disappearing in the surging mist.
.
He knew that those things would not reach the other side of the door. Only he himself could reach that world as Duncan. Other than that, all matter would disappear in the surging mist when passing through the door.
Now that the things that should be discarded have completely disappeared into the world outside the room, Zhou Ming wiped his hands and took a step forward, preparing to leave this place. On the other side of the door, Alice was still waiting for him to have dinner. .
But just as he was about to cross the door, a faint sound caught his attention. It was the sound of a computer fan suddenly speeding up.
Zhou Ming stopped instantly, retracted his steps and looked towards the direction of the sound. On the dimly lit computer screen, the interface that previously displayed the network connection interruption and remote server not responding prompts was flashing.
Then the prompt text suddenly disappeared, and then, the loading progress bar at the bottom of the page turned from red to green, and began to move forward slowly.
Zhou Ming felt that his heart was beating like it was exploding at this moment, and a feeling of suffocation permeated the waste department. The next second he suddenly closed the door and rushed to his desk in an instant.
The loading progress bar at the bottom of the browser interface is still moving forward. The faint green seems to be slow and firm, and the spreading firelight actually appears on the originally blank page. It is a picture.
Zhou Chrome stared at the picture that was gradually emerging, the moon... It seemed to be a perspective taken directly from a certain position in space. What was shown in the picture was the moon floating in the dark universe. The gray-white surface is dotted with craters and ravines.
There seemed to be many weird and alternating lines of light and dark. Even if he was not an expert in astronomy, Zhou Ming was extremely familiar with this classic image.
And he once again confirmed that the picture he saw in Tirianbei's office was indeed the moon... The details were exactly the same, and it was obvious that it could only be one person who had seen the moon with his own eyes. , only by carefully tracing it at a close distance can we draw the shape.
Zhou Ming slowly sat down on the chair, leaned back, and stared at the image of the moon that almost occupied the entire screen. After a long time, his eyes moved upward to where he had just entered. The line of text in the search box.
Does the world outside the dense fog still exist?
He was silent, and after a long time he suddenly woke up from his state of being like a stone sculpture. He quickly took the keyboard beside him and entered new text in the search box. This was the answer!
This is who gave the answer!
After typing this II question quickly, Zhou Ming stared at the computer screen in front of him. However, no one responded, and no new pattern or loading bar appeared on the screen. Only the cursor was spinning in place, like A silent and dull eye.
Apart from the low and gentle sound of the fan gradually returning, the only sounds left in his ears were his own breathing and heartbeat.
After a while, the moon image on the screen was refreshed due to a loading failure, and the interface turned pale again, leaving only a line of text. The network connection was interrupted or the remote server did not respond.
