Recently, the side of the observatory facing the sun is an empty observation room. The floor-to-ceiling windows that occupy the entire bulkhead are made of a special transparent material, which isolates high temperature and radiation and makes the sun less dazzling.
Li Liang sat on the floor, Cain nestled on his shoulder.
Time seemed to move very slowly, and they silently stared at the 4.5 billion-year-old sun.
The surface of the sun that fills the field of vision sometimes erupts violently, and the flowing flames form a huge arch bridge, which is fleeting but extremely gorgeous. Sometimes fast-moving black spots appear, stirring up stormy waves.
Light and darkness come and go, rolling and flowing.
Li Liang felt that the sun was like a flaming coal briquette, but also like a life breathing blazing flames.
for a long time.
"Remember, when we were in Denali, you asked me what I would do if the world were mine."
"Well, you said you wanted to take a spaceship and stay closest to the sun until you die... Why the sun?"
"Once, when I lost my arm, I escaped from Mexico City and took a mining truck to Beijing. When I was crossing the wasteland, I lay in the bed of the truck, thinking that I was dead... so After a while, I don’t know why the sandstorm stopped, and I saw the sun. That was the first time I saw the sun.”
"Then what?"
Li Liang turned around and saw that Cain's side face was glowing red, and his forehead was covered with small beads of sweat.
"At that time, I thought it was very warm, warmer than everything combined. I thought, if I can survive, I must come here and do something closest to the sun."
"What's up?"
Cain sniffed, turned over and sat on Li Liang, held his face in his hands, and said seriously: "Go to bed with the man I love."
"ah?"
————————
The core module of the observatory.
Alex's mouth was dry as he spoke, and he finally finished telling Eugene Parker about the invasion of goblins and the reorganization of the legion. By the way, he also talked about the grand opening of the Gate of Spiritual Reason.
After hearing this, Eugene stared blankly into space, silent.
"Dr. Parker..." Alex didn't know what to say to comfort the forgotten old Eugene, so he wiped the sweat from his forehead and changed the topic, "Why is it so hot here?"
"Huh? Ah, maybe the air conditioner is broken."
"..."
Eugene slapped his forehead and stood up: "I just made something, please wait a moment."
The old man puffed out his cigarette and ran out of the cabin door. There was a jingling sound, and he dragged back a heavy machine with a groan.
"What is this?" Alex flipped the fan blade at one end of the machine, "Electric fan?"
"No, no, no, it's not an electric drive, it's an internal combustion engine." Eugene poured a bucket of gasoline into the fuel filler and took out a crank handle.
"Did you do this yourself?" Alex sat down in front of the fan, "Start it quickly and give me some wind."
"okay."
Eugene inserted the crank handle into the internal combustion engine, hummed it a few times, and with a roar, the machine started to work.
He ran over to Alex and sat down next to him. When the internal combustion engine drove the fan to rotate and blow out the wind, the two of them let out a long sigh of relief at the same time:
"Comfortable……"
After blowing for a while, Eugene narrowed his eyes and asked, "Do you know how this machine works?"
"Uh-huh," Alex was too lazy to speak.
"This is a piston internal combustion engine that mixes oil and air with air and ignites it in the cylinder to produce high-temperature and high-pressure gas. The expansion drives the piston to do work, and then outputs mechanical power through the crank and connecting rod mechanism."
"oh."
"You see, the piston reciprocates in the cylinder, and we feel very comfortable."
"oh."
"But remember to add engine oil, otherwise the piston and cylinder liner will rub directly and damage the surface of the parts."
"oh."
"So, keeping it lubricated will keep it working for a long time," Eugene said with a serious face. "Persistence is important."
"oh."
At this time, Eugene reached out and adjusted the gear, and the wind force decreased accordingly.
"Why downshift?" Alex asked dissatisfied.
"This machine is new, so be gentle when running it for the first time."
"oh."
After a while, Eugene increased the speed again.
"Don't you want to be gentle?"
"It doesn't matter, it's very strong..." Eugene lay down lazily, "It's better to be rough."
"yes……"
The strong wind blew against his face, and Alex closed his eyes, feeling extremely comfortable.
——————————
"Your heart is beating very slowly," Cain said in a lazy voice as he rested his head on Li Liang's chest.
"Well," Li Liang stroked her sweaty back, "So, when we were in the ASK Building before... it didn't happen in the real world."
"Laplace helped me get into the depths of your consciousness that time," Cain chuckled, "but I know you changed your clothes afterwards."
"I don't."
"You have it, I heard it all."
"Absolutely not."
"Uh-huh, tough talk," Cain changed to a comfortable position and closed his eyes, "In the past, every season of "Hans and His Friends", I always watched the last episode over and over again, and the ending was often a Weddings, or someone giving birth to a child, the villain is dead, it seems that the protagonists will no longer have worries in the future..."
"Justice triumphs over evil, lovers finally fall in love, and this is how happy endings are."
"If only this was where we ended up."
————————
Zhongjingxiacheng District.
In Yinshi Business District, on a quiet street, an inconspicuous floating boat was parked on the roadside.
"Mr. Tao, Mr. Yao, I'm sorry for disturbing your family reunion," Lawrence said without much apology in his tone.
Tao Chong waved his hand quickly: "It's okay, it should be."
As he spoke, he carefully glanced at Yao Zhengping beside him. He had to "betray" the leader who had helped him countless times for the sake of his wife and daughter. Until now, he still feels guilty and feels a little ashamed every time he meets.
However, Li Liang kept his promise and did not embarrass Yao Zhengping's family. Instead, he gave him many preferential treatment, which made him feel a little better.
"What did you find?" Yao Zhengping looked blank.
"According to plan, we released Via's wife at the end of last month and closely monitored her every move. We found that she deliberately detoured every once in a while and passed nearby. Yesterday evening, she detoured for the fifth time. We noticed She stayed at the entrance of Jung's Spring for several minutes, seemingly hesitant to go in."
"Then what?" Tao Chong asked.
"Then we compared Via's movement trajectory and found that he also went to Jung's Spring before committing suicide and stayed for an hour before coming out."
"I understand," Yao Zhengping nodded, "Via left something for his wife."
Lawrence's face was expressionless: "Yes, you two have searched many places that Via has been to, but there has been no new discovery. Perhaps, there will be a breakthrough this time."
ten minutes later.
A group of people took advantage of the night to walk into the Jung Hot Spring.
As soon as he entered, Tao Chong discovered that the so-called hot spring was just an ordinary cheap bathhouse with outdated facilities. Only workers like him would come here to bathe.
Passing through the front hall and the narrow aisle, you arrive at the men's locker room. There are two rows of dirty iron cabinets, most of which have open doors. Going around the locker room is a bathing area of less than 200 square meters, surrounded by a circle of showers. There is an unfilled pool.
Danshui is not cheap, and ordinary small bathhouses are reluctant to fill up a pool of water. Pauper guests just use the shower to take a shower. If you want to take a bath, it depends on the owner's mood.
At this moment, the entire store is controlled by Spades, and there are no customers.
"My people haven't touched anything here, you can start."
With Lawrence "supervising" the work, Tao Chong immediately started rummaging around, looking for all information related to the Natural Sect, especially the most likely place to hide things - the locker room cabinet.
He opened every cabinet and looked around, and found that they were all empty. Every time he found a cabinet, Yao Zhengping reached in and groped around, as if he was looking for some hidden compartment.
"It's been scanned, and there's no secret space," Lawrence said casually.
Tao Chong thought thoughtfully: "If something is left for his wife, it should be placed in a place where a woman can easily access it, so it should not be here, but in the female guest department."
Lawrence was noncommittal and motioned for him to help himself.
The group of people walked out of the men's department and headed to the women's department.
When passing through the front hall, Tao Chong noticed that Yao Zhengping glanced at the clock on the wall impatiently. He took a look at it and found that the clock was broken and the hour and minute hands stopped at seven forty-five.
Probably, Lao Yao thinks this trip is just a waste of time...
really.
They also searched the female guest, but found nothing, no hidden compartments, and no clues related to the Natural Sect.
Tao Chong was unwilling to give in, and he and Yao Zhengping also ransacked the front hall.
"Nothing," Yao Zhengping's face turned livid, "We were fooled. The old woman deliberately found an irrelevant place to expose her flaw, just to see if we were spying on her."
Lawrence narrowed his eyes and remained silent.
"What to do now?" Tao Chong sighed.
"No one will know that we have been here. You two will go back to the north of the city first. I will report the situation here tomorrow."
"All right."
Tao Chong was about to walk out when suddenly, Lawrence's voice sounded again: "Wait a moment."
Before he could react, four members of the Spades approached and began to search his body. Yao Zhengping was not spared. His whole body was searched, including his mouth, ears, and even...
"What do you mean!"
After the search, Tao Chong yelled angrily.
Lawrence raised his hand: "Sorry, it's just routine, please come back."
————
Yao Zhengping didn't get up until ten o'clock in the morning. After a hasty meal, he and Tao Chong continued to sort out various doctrinal records of the Natural Sect and sort out the various clues discovered so far.
He was busy until the evening. As usual, he walked along the trails in the villa area in the north of the city and slowly walked towards Beicuiping Park.
Since the joint meeting opened North Cuiping Park to the public, there have been more and more pedestrians on this road. Many people are willing to come to the park after get off work to breathe fresh air and smell the real grass.
As the sky darkened, Yao Zhengping walked across the lawn and walked slowly into the public restroom.
He locked the door of the cubicle, listened for a moment, and took out an old bracelet from his pocket.
This is an extremely early product of Activision, with powerful functions. The biggest difference from the current castrated version is that it can read the real-time video storage chip.
"The Romance of Fairy Wood"
The chip that Yao Zhengping was about to read was found at Junge Hot Spring.
There is a "crack" on the wall where the men's department enters. It looks like a natural crack in the wall, but it is actually an ancient symbol that can only be recognized by the early followers of the Natural Sect. It represents one of the five confessions in the doctrine, "time" .
Tao Chong didn't recognize this symbol, but he was deeply impressed.
The watch in the front room "happened" to be broken, and the hour and minute hands pointed somewhere on the counter. While rummaging through it, he found a chip at the bottom of a coin basket, swallowed it in his stomach, and pulled it out in the morning.
At this moment, he put on his headphones and put the chip close to the bracelet. A palm-sized image popped up, which was a video.
In the dim scene, Via sat in front of the camera, her face pale. She was stunned for a while before speaking:
"I have worn the mask for so long that even I have forgotten whether I am a priest of the Natural Sect or the deputy secretary-general of the Alliance for the Destiny of Mankind... Sometimes I will get angry when I hear that workers are being squeezed and see who is wasting food. , I would also get angry... Probably, at that time, I really thought I was Mr. Via in their mouth... Ho ho ho..."
"When someone sees this video, I should be dead. To be honest, I hope the person who sees the video is not you. Nancy, you actually knew that I was lying all along, right, but you didn't expose it. I...I don't want you to see me like this...Others, ho ho, it doesn't matter who they are..."
"Anyway, this world is going to end."
"Before the Holy Son left, he told me that after a long discussion, the Creators will finally announce the result of the judgment to the world... This world is actually a room. When the judgment is announced, all the heretics and evil gods will be shut out, and the cruel natural disasters will Torture every disobedient and let them die in mourning..."
"Twin gods, if you are watching this video... you know, it's too late, you can't do anything but watch everyone you know die in front of you, oh, by the way, the Son of God Say, you can't escape either. The closer you are to the evil god, the more miserable your death will be... Hahaha, I really want to see your expression now..."
In the camera, Via laughed heartily, but when she raised her head, her face was stained with tears.
"The Holy Son said that when that woman betrayed the sect, it was the day of my death. He was right, I had to die, but... ho ho ho ho, I leave this image behind and want to express my gratitude to anyone who sees this image. People say, you guys are so ridiculous."
"This hypocritical and empty world is so ridiculous."
Video playback ends.
Yao Zhengping expressionlessly threw the chip into the toilet, watched it being flushed down, then opened the door and walked out of the cubicle.
Half an hour later, he returned to the villa in the north of the city and found Tao Chong who was eating.
"Xiao Tao, do you still remember the last words Wea left before committing suicide?"
"Well, the woman sent by Sonoya said that before Via died, she shouted that the Day of Judgment was coming. The Creator would announce the final judgment to the entire world, and all sinners would live in despair and illness worse than death. Loyal believers Will be reborn in the eternal land... Alas, this doomsday prophecy seems to have been made a long time ago, but I didn't expect that he would still remember it at the last moment."
"Hoho, no one would care about a doomsday prophecy like this, right?" Yao Zhengping shook his head mockingly.
Tao Chong wondered: "What's wrong with you, Lao Yao?"
"It's okay. By the way, my granddaughter told me a story a few days ago. If you are in the house and the bad guy is outside the house, he may be far more powerful than you. So what can you do to protect yourself?"
Tao Chong thought for a while while holding the bowl. Before he could answer, the Spade member who was eating at the same table smiled and said, "Just close the door."
Yao Zhengping was stunned for a moment, then turned around and asked, "But the bad guys are more powerful than you..."
"It has nothing to do with strength. As long as the door is strong enough, no one else can get in."
Yao Zhengping smiled.
"Yeah, that's the end of the story."
