Annihilation of the solar system

While Lu Yuanzhou was piloting the spacecraft back, at Qingbei University in Beijing, the investigation of planetary systems on the scale of hundreds of light years had begun. After Xia Lan and Wei Xu returned to the ground, they completed the necessary adjustments and physical examinations and hurried to

Returned to Qingbei University. Because within a scale of hundreds of light years, the number of stars is as high as more than 10 million. Even if a large computer is used to initially screen and classify the observation photos, the number of photos that require further manual screening and classification still reaches

A million sheets.

As soon as night fell, Xia Lan and Wei Xu rushed to the Stellar Screening Office of Qingbei University. This place was temporarily converted from a former indoor basketball court. Because the screening workload is very heavy, an ordinary office is not suitable.

There are rows of large tables placed in the middle of the basketball court, and the tables are covered with 32-inch large photos that all look similar. The content of those photos looks like a black canvas with a little orange dripping randomly.

The paint. And the area about a person's height on the wall of the basketball court seems to have been painted with a layer of black paint, and similar photos are neatly pasted.

In front of a wall covered with photos, rows of mobile blackboards were written with various categories of data. From time to time, staff would take down a photo from the wall and replace it with another. At first glance, there was not much difference.

Another one. Then change some data on the blackboard.

Hundreds of astronomy experts from all over the country were busy shuttling around the entire basketball court. The arrival of Xia Lan and Wei Xu immediately attracted everyone's attention. They are now considered "big celebrities" at Qingbei University, the entire astronomy community, and even EDA.

” Everyone greeted them one after another, and Shen Manling, who was looking at the photos at the table, also noticed their arrival:

"You're back! Why don't you take a rest? You've been in space for so long. Your bodies haven't adapted yet."

Xia Lan and Wei Xu's faces were indeed a little haggard, but their spirits were full.

"This is not the first time we have carried out a space mission. We have no problem." Wei Xu replied with a smile.

Xia Lan walked to the table, looked at the pile of photos on the table and said:

"Teacher Shen, are these photos of star systems that have been screened by computers?"

Shen Manling nodded:

"Yes, these on the table are photos of star systems that may contain planets selected by computers. This is much more than we previously expected. It seems that there was a big error in the previous academic conclusions about the proportion of stars carrying planets.

.”

She pointed to the wall that was almost covered with plaster.

"Those photos on the wall are artificially screened star systems that may contain life. The gravitational lens survey has not yet been completed, and there are already so many. When the survey is completed, the number may double several times."

Xia Lan looked around at the photos and the people hurriedly walking in front of those photos, and sighed:

“I really didn’t expect that this would be such a huge undertaking.”

"It seems that our previous understanding of star systems is really limited! It would be difficult for the astronomy department of our school to complete this work alone!" Wei Xu sighed.

Shen Manling glanced around:

"The people here are all experts from the astronomy departments of colleges and universities across the country, and more astronomy graduate students are assisting computers in various places to do the preliminary screening. The secondary screening done here can only be done manually by experienced astronomy experts. I

An application for assistance has been sent to EDA, and they will send more experts to assist us soon."

At this moment, there was a noise from the entrance of the indoor basketball court. Xia Lan turned around and saw a group of foreigners in suits and ties walking in. The leaders were Veronica from NASA and Dai from the Royal Astronomical Society. Sir Weiss and Shen Manling greeted him enthusiastically. Sir Davis took Shen Manling's hand and gave her a very gentlemanly hand kiss:

"Manling, we meet again. I hope we are not too late."

Shen Manying replied with a smile:

"Thank you, Sir Davis, and everyone else. You came just in time."

Veronica walked up to Xia Lan and shook hands with her:

"Lan, after receiving the request for assistance from Eda, we immediately organized people and materials and rushed over. Look what we brought."

Veronica looked at her colleagues behind her, and Xia Lan noticed that each of them was holding a silver box in their hands.

"Before the crisis era began, NASA and the European Space Center had conducted many years of survey observations of the Milky Way star system. These are our observations, and we hope they can help us narrow down the scope."

A warm smile appeared on Xia Lan's face:

"That's great, it will help us a lot!"

The smile on Veronica's face faded slightly:

"Yes, this is doing us all a favor."

Although the research results and data brought by NASA and the European Space Center can reduce part of the screening workload, the remaining confirmation and screening workload is still very large. However, with the participation of a large number of experts from North America and Europe, work efficiency has been greatly improved. improve.

In the next ten days or so, this temporarily requisitioned indoor basketball court became the busiest place in the entire Qingbei University. Whether the sun was shining or the moon was high, the place was always brightly lit and people were coming and going. Europe The gentlemen started out wearing suits and ties, and gradually took off their ties and suits.

In the end, they simply put on the loosest and most casual clothes. If they saw them elsewhere, most people would think that they were just a group of tourists. There were inevitably a lot of ink stains on their hands, but it did not affect them at all. The decency of these gentlemen.

On the sky covered with a few purple clouds, the red sun that was about to set and the silver moon that had just risen appeared at both ends of the sky at the same time. Xia Lan and her team were sitting on the steps outside the illuminated stadium with their lunch boxes. Enjoying the rare leisure time of the day.

"I remember that those European astronomers were very particular about their food. I think they are quite happy eating our meat and vegetables these days." Wei Xu said as he put a spoonful of food into his mouth. .

Xia Lan smiled faintly:

"When your living conditions are favorable, you will naturally find ways to make yourself more elegant and decent, so as to show your difference from others. Everyone is like this, and there is nothing wrong with it. But now it is not our living conditions that are the problem, it is that our living conditions are almost gone. Once you have it, all those red tapes will naturally disappear.”

Lin Tianyu said:

"I quite admire them for this. They put it down as soon as they put it on for so many years."

"So when people were so powerful in the past, they still had the underlying logic of being powerful. It was not for nothing." Wu Fan said.

Liu Mengzhu's face, which had been painted with rouge all year round, now lacked any unnecessary modifications, but this did not affect the impression of her by those around her at all. She fiddled with the potatoes in her lunch box and sighed softly:

"Even if we find their home planet, what's the use? We can't stop them at all."