The administrative center of Beijing Beta Star is three hundred kilometers away from Xinghai College. It was noon, and the outdoor body temperature deviated from expectations for no reason. It rose straight up, approaching 20 degrees. The stone-like ice layer was filled with vitality and moisture, which lasted for two days. The deep winter that has lasted for many years seems to have some signs of recovery, as if a spring breeze suddenly came from the end of the universe, blowing the sky as blue as wash.
This is the third day of "Thesis Week" at Xinghai College. In the evening three days ago, the students had finished class. Suddenly, they received a notice that the school's teaching arrangements with only one principal were indeed very casual. The principal probably wanted to take annual leave and temporarily put This week was changed to thesis week. He opened up the library access, made a list of a dozen books, and left a very big topic - where do I think mankind will go in the future?
At this time, there were still four days until the homework was handed in. Most students were not thinking about the future of mankind, but were thinking about White and others who disappeared for no reason. The entire college became a happy rumor mill, about which of the four people eloped with whom. The debate topic has caused two rounds of group fights.
The orphanage where Mint lives received a living allowance - she set it up so that three-quarters of the monthly stipend would be transferred to her "family" automatically. But this time, as the stipend arrived, the There is a letter of complaint.
Principal Lu, who vowed to expel them, didn't even bother to remember the punishment. He just adopted the management method of a kindergarten. Before leaving, he hurriedly wrote a letter to complain to several students' parents. The older children in the orphanage were worried about the complaint letter. White's parents had already made two trips to the empty principal's office. Fighting Cock Vitas's mother was relatively irresponsible. After reading it, she wrote back with a stroke of her pen. A letter with four concise words: "Let him die."
The letter sent to Huang Jingshu's home according to the admission information failed to arrive. It wandered around the entire planet and was returned to the principal's mailbox by the system.
On this day, the old dean of the School of Information who had resigned packed his bags and was about to leave Beijing β Star. Before leaving, he came to Xinghai College by accident. From a distance, he saw the magnificent dome of the auditorium and the noisy school. Monkey child. The old dean did not expect that there were so many students in the school. He put his hands on the fence and looked in. He saw two teenagers passing by, and the boy was grabbing the form from the girl's hand.
"Show me what you can do. I don't have to chase you. Stop being so sentimental!"
The girl kicked him in the calf and said, "Go away."
"I can also show you mine. I haven't applied to any of the three colleges. I also proposed a new professional direction - interstellar smuggling guide. How about that? Hey, wait for me!"
After hearing this, the old dean was stunned for a long time. , I felt that in this sacred palace of knowledge, there were still a group of gorillas with impressive intelligence, so I held on to the railings of the campus and walked slowly away. He is already two hundred and sixty years old and has no fixed address. He has taught in every college in the eighth galaxy and witnessed countless times of neglect and closure of schools. Xinghai Academy was his last stop, and he was finally disappointed.
He suddenly became discouraged and looked down at the dry age spots on the back of his hands. He felt that he might have been daydreaming and taken a stubborn and wrong path in his life.
Two hundred and sixty years have come to an end.
Not long ago, he spent most of his life savings to buy himself a place in a property-owned nursing home on the Gloria Star, where he planned to spend his old age. This is considered a pretty decent old age in the eighth galaxy. Today About to leave.
The old dean raised his head and took a look at the sky. It was a rare sunny day with no north wind, and it was not as warm as the winter in Beijing. He felt that this probably indicated that his journey would be smooth.
The homeless homeless people came out of their hiding places like a festival, happily greeted the old professors they passed by, and celebrated with each other that they had survived another winter and were about to usher in four good years. season.
Not far away, pigeons raised by someone unknown flew through the sky in flocks, landed on the top of the six-million dome of Xinghai College, and unceremoniously rained down several bubbles of "sky excrement" to express their endless blessings to the students. .
Penny opened the door of the tavern and brought a pack of fresh mealworms to the tavern's mascot, the big lizard. Then she opened the window for ventilation, rolled up her sleeves, and wiped the tables, chairs and benches of the tavern - Fourth Brother's place was very clean and lively. Not much, just routine maintenance, so she just did it herself.
Penny has known him for five years. Judging from a woman's standards, the fourth brother is actually not a sloppy person. Apart from his slovenly personal image, he has no other bad habits. He drinks, never gets drunk, and has used Everything would be put back into its place. Whether it was the tavern he often visited or his home, there was a clean and cold sense of order.
"When will your master come back?" Petunia stepped on the bench and muttered to the lizard, "Fourth brother has been out of contact for several days. Where did he go with that pretty boy? I'll try again to see if I can contact him. Him."
She wiped the glass clean and couldn't help but reach out to cover her eyes: "Why is the sun so bright all of a sudden? I'm a little sweaty."
The lizard was silent and never responded to the woman's affectionate soliloquy.
"I guess I still can't get in touch. You said that I clearly know that he likes peace and quiet, but I still always come close to him. Will he find me annoying after a long time?" Penny, who is used to seeing wind and waves, looked at her personal terminal and asked, Somewhat nervous, she didn't notice that the big lizard behind her was slowly moving its lumbering body, fearfully avoiding the "sunlight" coming in from the window.
The signal sent by the personal terminal seemed to have been wandering around the eighth galaxy for a week, and there was still no response. The person did not know where he went, and there was still no communication signal.
Petunia sighed: "Sure enough..."
She trailed off, and her personal terminal suddenly lit up as if it was stuck. Petunia was startled, and she subconsciously spread her fingers and put them into her hair, quickly pulling herself out. Some of the flat hair was shaped into a shape.
The next moment, a blurry image appeared in the air. Penny could see it clearly. The fourth brother seemed to be in a very dark place. When traveling between stars, it is impossible to calculate the time difference. She regretted a little and said cautiously: " Is it night over there? Am I disturbing you?"
The signal speed of light and shadow is unparalleled, but there is still a delay across the stars. Even if the projection on the personal terminal seems to be facing each other, it is impossible for two people separated by space to have a real-time conversation. .
Lin Jinghengyuan was in an unknown abandoned supply depot, smoking next to the scarred mecha, when she suddenly received a communication request from Penny.
His face may be blurry because of poor signal quality. The transparent screen on his personal terminal was interfered by the sunlight outside the window and became blurry. Penny hurriedly walked to the window and planned to close the curtains: "The weather is great today, just wait for me..."
The overly bright sunshine made the side of her face red, and her originally tough appearance turned out to be unreasonable. A bit girly.
Zhan Lu, who was charging, said, "Principal Lu has repaired the communication system on the abandoned station. Although I don't have enough energy, I can use the supply station's communication network to search for the coordinates of Silver Nine." "
Hurry up and charge," Lin Jingheng said somewhat Impatient, the message hadn't been sent yet, so he flicked the cigarette ashes and said, "Hurry up and finish the charge and answer the phone for me. You just happen to have too much to say..."
While the word "finish" was still stuck in his throat, the image came. When he arrived, Lin Jingheng saw the "sunshine" outside the window through Penny's screen, and heard the silly girl still sighing about "the weather is good." The cigarette in his hand suddenly fell to the ground: "Penny, leave the window and find a machine with a belt." Defense system mecha!"
But the interstellar distance is too far, and Bo, who is approaching 300,000 kilometers per second, is exhausted. As soon as he blurted out this warning, he was destined to run on the road.
Penny saw a few clusters of red light exploding on the horizon from a distance. The hand holding the curtain paused for a moment in confusion, but before she could see clearly, the red light suddenly cracked, as if a thousand stars were exploding in the sky. It was as bright as it was open.
The earth trembled angrily, the planet's crust, which had been formed naturally for hundreds of millions of years, cracked like a dying sound, rocks collapsed, and the artificial atmosphere was like a layer of papery glass.
Residential buildings, city buses that whistle every five minutes, mechanical trash cans that are always grinning from ear to ear, college domes filled with pigeons, and old professors who politely greet every homeless person, gathered together in the courtyard The worried children, the panicked lizards, and... the woman who raised her hand to cover her forehead...
they were all shrouded in the decaying white light, turning into pale silhouettes that were overexposed, and then melted upside down. between heaven and earth.
The backward anti-missile system on Beijing's β star finally issued a belated alarm. The civil servants in the low-Earth orbit were awakened by the screams. They were stunned for a full five minutes and got up in pee. Xingkai, the capital of the eighth galaxy, Len could no longer be contacted, so he had no choice but to send incoherent pleas for help to the distant Freedom Alliance.
"Beijing Beta Star in the eighth galaxy was attacked. Report... We were bombarded by a wide range of star missiles. The enemy is unknown. We have no defense capabilities. The entire planet is collapsing under the attack of nuclear missiles... Fuck!"
"Ten years !" Didn't you say you would upgrade our defense system before? Where are the people you promised!"
"Help! Help..."
"Beep——"
"Penny!"
Lin Jingheng's personal terminal signal suddenly disconnected, claiming to be alive. The girl who was older than the average age of the eight galaxies stood there, her figure frozen in front of him, leaving him with a red profile.
Lin Jingheng stayed for a second, then turned and left.
Prince Gloria's crazy laughter flew out of the main control room. What was playing on the screen seemed to be a low-quality game advertisement. The roaring missiles penetrated the screen and exploded on the unaware Beijing β star. The animation effect It's cliche, the viewing angles are not spectacular at all, and even the picture quality is worrisome.
White laughed when he saw it halfway: "Is this a TV series or an advertisement? The special effects are too touching. I'll give you one yuan and a half, no more."
"Then I'll give you two yuan." Fighting Chicken felt a little uncomfortable for no reason, "Mr. Lu , can we change the channel?"
But the two adults in the main control room didn't say a word.
Mint looked at the one-eyed eagle and then at Lu Bixing, as if he realized something from their expressions, and asked in a low voice: "Mr. Lu, when can we recharge the battery and go home?"
Lu Bixing slowly turned around and faced the girl. With his eyes, Mint had never seen such an ugly expression on his face.
At this time, Lin Jingheng hurriedly broke into the main control room without saying hello. She said without preface and without signing: "Check all the inventory of the supply station, especially supplies and weapons."
Lu Bixing's voice seemed to be suppressed in his throat. , looked at Lin Jingheng blankly, his words seemed to have passed through his mind: "The supplies are sufficient, the weapons depot is empty."
Lin Jingheng did not make any comment on what happened in front of him, and said quickly: "We will sort out the supplies separately and follow the instructions below. A supply is expected to be completed in half a year. The mecha charging and repair will be completed in half an hour. We will set off immediately after completion."
The students were stunned by this order before they had time to realize what happened. , what does "next supply will be in half a year" mean?
No matter how uncivilized the eighth galaxy is, it is still a human society. How many of them have to fly in a crisis-ridden universe for half a year? Who knows how many things are needed to survive half a year in the universe?
Lin Jingheng: "All unused lights are turned off, and the communication network is encrypted. Beijing Star's communication can reach here, which means this place is within the search range of the core area of the eighth galaxy..."
White asked blankly: "Ah, can the phone be connected? "Should I call home?"
Mint was the first to react, dazedly, and subconsciously grabbed White's elbow, trembling.
White helped her in confusion: "What's wrong with you?"
Two seconds later, he understood what the girl meant. White's facial features opened and he stood frozen for two seconds. He squeezed out a smile and looked back at the sea of fire on the screen: "No...isn't this a special effect?"
No one answered him.
White's breath became thicker, and he turned his eyes around everyone's faces in panic, trying to find the meaning of the joke, and suddenly broke his voice: "Isn't this just a game advertisement? Huh? I...I have played a similar one before... ..."
Normally, it's okay to just talk nonsense, but in the state of emergency, you can still be so ignorant of the key points. Not to mention the Baiyin Garrison, even the miscellaneous young soldiers randomly assigned by the Military Commission dare not perform in front of him. General Lin's orders prohibit it. Being used to it, he got angry on the spot and said coldly: "Beijing Planet was attacked. According to the style of interstellar pirates, they will not stop. There are no regular garrison in the eight galaxies, and no one can stop them. If they go a little further, the planet The energy wave generated when being attacked by a nuclear missile is enough to smash this small supply station into pieces, leaving you with no place to die. Am I clear enough? If you don't want to die, hurry up!"
One-eyed Eagle: " Lin Jingheng, this is not your silver fortress! You..."
Lu Bixing stopped him, and stepped forward to put his arm around White's shoulders: "I will make a list of supplies, and Xiao Huang will take notes. The supply warehouse is not locked. You four will follow later. My father will go separately to prepare. Come back to me in twenty minutes. I will give you a simple mecha operation training. I need to encrypt the communication network and make other preparations."
"Principal..."
"Mecha. The operation department needs at least one school year of training before we can learn real mechas. We have to complete a year's teaching progress in ten minutes. If we fail the class, we may die. How can we still have time to cry, classmate?" Lu Bixing sighed? With a tone of voice, he stretched out his hand and wiped it all over White's face, "Get moving, do something, don't think so much."