At the beginning of 2273 AD, the monitoring team under the World Environmental Protection Organization (IUCN) took the lead in discovering that an unknown black mist appeared in the stratosphere above the South Pole. The black fog initially discovered was grayish in color and extremely grainy. The black fog appeared in the secondary circulation at the bottom of the stratosphere and was wonderfully balanced in the vertical exchange process of the atmosphere.
Three months later, people discovered this black mist in Antarctica and Oceania. Soon after, the black fog continued to spread and multiply, and most of it spread to Africa, South America and the equatorial regions with ocean currents and monsoons. A small amount rises to the stratosphere and is transported to all parts of the world along with basic circulation and large amounts of ozone and water vapor.
For a time, a faint black mist filled the world, and there were a lot of discussions on the Internet and forums. The most famous one was a prediction post on "FS Community" about "the end of the world is coming," but the rumor was quickly refuted by the official. At the same time, the triennial World Young Scientists Summit was held in advance in Shanghai in the Asia-Pacific region.
However, the black fog neither destroyed ozone molecules in the stratosphere nor caused various types of radiation or conventional pollution. The stratosphere is only eight kilometers from the surface at the poles. Because its horizontal gaseous components mix rapidly, it is a region where radioactive, dynamic and chemical processes will react strongly. The black fog molecules have not shown any biological activity at all, whether in the stratosphere or in various experiments. To put it simply, it is basically harmless.
By the end of 2273, after spending a lot of manpower and material resources, most of the world's top biochemical laboratories had no results, so it was rightfully put aside.
The atmosphere contains complex components, including soot, dust, hydrogen chloride, hydrogen sulfide, sulfur oxides, nitrogen oxides, carbon oxides, etc. emitted from human production and temporary disasters such as volcanic eruptions, forest fires, tsunamis, and earthquakes. , is originally an uncertain component in the atmosphere, but now one more black mist doesn't seem to matter. In the end, black fog, like winter smog or global warming, gradually became a natural phenomenon that people are accustomed to in their lives.
…
This day is June 21, 2273, the afternoon before the new "Qingke Summit" is held.
Zhang Cheng was walking on a small road in Shanghai with his backpack on his back. He was wearing sneakers, jeans, and a blue-gray T-shirt. He was walking while looking around at the scenery. He was still in school and was short of money. If it weren't for the invitation from the Science and Technology League, he wouldn't have had the chance to come to this city.
Shanghai is also known as the "Magic City", where high-rise buildings and alleys coexist. The architectural style is both Western European Renaissance style and the local style of Jiangsu and Zhejiang. There are plane trees, small bungalows, and a small but contemporary stone bridge over the river at the end of the street.
People were coming and going on the stone bridge, but Zhang Cheng stopped and saw a girl by the bridge.
The man looked about the same age as him, wearing a pair of heather gray plaid trousers and a white suit jacket outside his shirt. She has shoulder-length hair that is covered under a peaked cap, slightly curled up and hanging around her waist. Looking from the side, Zhang Cheng has a strange feeling of both rigor and liveliness.
Another thing that caught Zhang Cheng's attention was that the railing under the man didn't seem to be very strong...
"Hi, girl..."
"Huh? Ouch... Oops." "Plop."
Zhang Cheng did something bad with good intentions. The girl looked sideways and saw that he lost his center of gravity and fell into the water together with the rotten railing. Zhang Cheng hurriedly jumped into the river to save people. Fortunately, the water was not deep and was not even as high as a person's thigh. After a while, the two of them helped each other to the shore.
"Phew. Are you okay? Are you injured anywhere?"
The river water, which had been exposed to the sun for a long time, was almost warm, and there were no sharp stones in the river to hurt the girl, which made Zhang Cheng's guilt a little relieved.
"No...it's okay, thank you."
If you look closely, you can see that there is some subtle blue-black color in this girl's eyes, like someone who often stays up late. Moreover, his eyes were groggy, and when he spoke, his eyes were not focused, and he looked unexpectedly dazed and stupid.
Zhang Cheng was afraid that she had fallen into confusion, so he hurriedly asked: "What's wrong?"
The girl replied: "My...glasses are lost."
Zhang Cheng then slapped his head. Zhang Cheng, Zhang Cheng, it’s a waste that you have been short-sighted for all these years, but you didn’t realize that the thick-framed sunglasses she originally wore were actually integrated myopic sunglasses. No wonder his eyes looked wrong. Looking at the girl like this, I could probably tell whether he was a boy or a girl.
When someone lost his glasses, Zhang Cheng had no choice but to think that it was his own fault. Without saying a word, he jumped into the river again before the girl could stop him.
"Hey, you, you, you... don't have to look for it."
"If you can find it, just wait for me."
The girl cursed: Glasses are nothing. The problem is that she can't see clearly now and there is no one around her. She is so scared...
This wait lasts from afternoon to evening. When Zhang Cheng handed the pair of glasses to the girl like a treasure, the latter just shook his dried clothes and said "thank you" angrily.
"Ah, I'm so sorry. I wanted to remind you. What's the matter? If nothing happens, I'll leave first..."
"etc."
As soon as he heard this voice, Zhang Cheng was excited. He hurriedly asked: "What are you doing?"
But the other party said leisurely: "I'm hungry and want to eat."
Yes, this is a treat for him. Zhang Cheng realized that he was wrong, touched his wallet with his right hand after scratching his head, and then nodded helplessly.
He was clearing the way in front, and the girl had already put on her glasses and jumped behind him. She seemed to be in a good mood. The place chosen was a local restaurant in a nearby square because it was close to the youth hostel where Zhang Cheng rented. His clothes were all wet, and the night breeze was too cool.
But what surprised him was that the girl was not afraid of him running away. She entered the restaurant first and waited for him. She sat in the corner and studied the menu carefully. By the time Zhang Cheng changed his clothes, clutched his wallet, and came to the restaurant with a look of death, as expected, a table of food had already been served.
"Hey, why did you come here? You're welcome. Eat it while it's hot."
"..."
Unexpectedly, the other party started using his chopsticks before he arrived. At this moment, his mouth was so full that he could not hear what was being said. What was also unexpected was that the food was not expensive, so he didn't have to stay and work to pay off his debts.
After dinner, the two of them went back to their respective homes without saying a single unnecessary word.
But at night, Zhang Cheng was still very surprised by one thing - how did she eat such cheap food so deliciously?
…
Early the next morning, Zhang Cheng got up and rushed to the conference center in the city.
Since the main topic of this "Youth Science Summit" is the newly emerged strange black fog, the "Science Alliance" did not invite young scholars in information science, technical science and management science. The attendees at this summit were either outstanding researchers in mathematical sciences and chemistry, or academicians in life sciences and earth sciences.
Compared with other organizations, the agenda of the Science Alliance is relatively open. Groups from various disciplines usually discuss first, and there is a summary meeting with all members present the next day. Zhang Cheng was unusually elected as an academician of the Academy of Sciences at the beginning of this year, and is now a newcomer focusing on physics. Although the attendees were all young scientists, most of them were seniors between the ages of 30 and 45. Zhang Cheng’s purpose of coming here was to find these people to answer questions and learn from their experiences.
In the round table hall, sitting next to the mathematical sciences group is the life sciences group. When the meeting reached its second session in the afternoon, Zhang Cheng always felt that there was someone across from him who looked very familiar. Wearing a white suit and flaxen permed hair, Zhang Cheng pushed up his glasses and couldn't help his eyes twitching - wasn't this the girl who fell into the water yesterday?
"It's you." Zhang Cheng walked over and said in surprise, just as the man looked up and saw him.
The girl's tone sounded very exciting, just like last night when she was eating.
"It's you, the one who invited me to eat our food."
"..."
Good guy, did you only remember the food? But in a blink of an eye, he understood that the two of them met by chance yesterday, and neither of them left their names. But this is the "Qingke Summit", why is the other party here?
Only then did they know each other's names, Zhang Cheng and Chen Xinyan.
After all, they should have known each other for a long time. For many years, the high threshold of the International Science Alliance and its affiliated institutions has kept countless people away. But this year, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Asian branch of the Science Alliance, made an exception and recruited two new people as trainee academicians, and they are two young people only 16 years old.
A young academician who is only 16 years old is an unprecedented first since the establishment of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Only those who achieve breakthroughs in major fields will receive this honor. Although there are precedents for this kind of situation in the history of the Science and Technology Alliance, it is only a handful of times.
Such people all have a common name - genius, whether it is innate or acquired.
As the daughter of the Chen family of this generation, Chen Xinyan became a blockbuster after being hidden for several years. She broke out in three special studies and was already a Ph.D. in biological sciences and medical sciences at a young age. Zhang Cheng, on the other hand, is taking it one step at a time, specializing in space-time physics for several years. His newly proposed "child-mother machine" theory has attracted the attention of several subject giants in the industry. It can be said that the research directions of the two people have no overlap, and they have never really seen each other until this moment.
The age limit for young scientists is 45, but most of those present were uncles and aunts. It was rare to meet a person of the same age, so Chen Xinyan took the person to a corner to chat, drinking tea and eating snacks.
"Hey, Zhang Cheng, right? Tell me, what on earth can this black mist be?"
"It is non-toxic and harmless, and the scientific research institute has not analyzed the special molecular structure. Maybe it is really environmental pollution."
"Hey, do you believe those nonsense in the live TV room?" Chen Xinyan peeled off a nut and curled her lips and said, "Those two climatologists who are not worthy of their name, what they say does not match up."
She swallowed what was in her mouth and said disdainfully: "If you don't know, you don't know. Why are you using those professional terms to fool ordinary people?"
"Yes." Zhang Cheng nodded, "If the black fog could be explained simply by climatology or meteorology, the headquarters would not call us for a meeting."
"If you ask me, just one sentence. Antimony (Sb) is an important metal resource, and our country has the largest Sb reserves in the world."
Chen Xinyan continued to peel the fruit, her delicate white fingers gleaming pink, and inadvertently attracted Zhang Cheng's eyes.
She shook her hand, grinned at Zhang Cheng and said, "What? Do you smell it? Hand cream, strawberry flavored."
The rose-red lips curled up at the corners of her mouth. Chen Xinyan suddenly came close to her face and said mysteriously: "Don't you boys like girls who wear makeup?"
Zhang Cheng held back his racing heart, moved back and said, "Maybe I just like girls who are beautiful without makeup."
"Bonus!" Chen Xinyan thought deeply and gave him a thumbs up.
Zhang Cheng shrugged and asked, "What did you mean just now?"
"What that?"
"Just the antimony."
"Oh, I also heard it from someone in the science team before. Antimony, the element symbol is... you understand."
She dipped her index finger in the tea without any style and drew a big "SB" symbol on the table. After I finished painting, I shook the water stains in the air. Zhang Cheng looked at it and immediately felt pain in his head.
"As for Black Mist, today's discussion is indeed very difficult to produce any results. What can be done has been done in the laboratory a long time ago." Zhang Cheng thought for a while and judged, "In addition to asking our various disciplines to put forward some suggestions , it is estimated that after the meeting, the research on the black mist will be put on hold indefinitely."
"Bingo~"
Chen Xinyan looked at him and smiled again. This smile seems to come from the heart, touching a slight beauty mark at the corner of the eye, and seems to make the whole space brighter.
"There is always other research to do," she mocked. "Without results, there is no profit. These guys are very smart. Otherwise, how can they say they are just some antimony."
Chen Xinyan suddenly asked: "Have you seen the doomsday prophecy post on the forum?"
"No." Zhang Cheng answered honestly. A few days ago, he was immersed in deducing formulas and had no time to browse around on the Internet.
"Oh, it means that the black fog will spread, erupt, and form a biological crisis, the end of the world, or something like that."
"Huh? If you can relate so well, you should write an article." Zhang Cheng laughed and said, "Why didn't he say that all this was a conspiracy by aliens?"
"He probably wanted to say it, but he didn't write it in." Chen Xinyan thought for a while and analyzed.
Seeing the other party's serious look, Zhang Cheng followed her words and continued, "Let's not talk about whether the existence of the walking dead violates the three laws. Even if the black mist can really cause biological mutations, there must be something wrong. Bacteria? Virus? Could it be fungus?"
Chen Xinyan also became interested, so she asked casually: "Which one do you think it will be?"
"I think...oh, that's not right." Zhang Cheng came back to his senses, "Biological science is your specialty, why are you asking me the other way around?"
"No matter what, it won't be invisible under the microscope, right?" Chen Xinyan frowned, "After so many experiments and no response, there are only two results. Either it is completely harmless, or the harm is extremely hidden. It is difficult to deal with and is beyond the current level of human scientific research.”
"Isn't it the same as you didn't say anything?" Zhang Cheng said with a sneer.
"Hey, you asked me and I knew?" Chen Xinyan stood up, patted the confetti on her hands, and said with a sly smile, "I can't explain this to you, because I'm just a little white rabbit~"
"What are you doing standing up?"
Chen Xinyan said matter-of-factly: "When you're full, let's go for a walk. Do you want to go?"
"Just slipped away like that?"
"It just slipped away."
"Is it so upright?"
"It's so upright!"
…
Chen Xinyan changed into a white dress under her suit jacket. That afternoon, the sea was sparkling, and Chen Xinyan faced the setting sun, lifted up her skirt and walked barefoot on the beach.
The blue and white waves splashed with the sound of the wind, gradually covering up the footprints of the two people one after another, and layer by layer, they were photographed deep in Zhang Cheng's memory.
