Annihilation of the solar system

Zhou Cheng's originally stubborn competitive spirit was gone. The woman in front of him could always easily see through their thoughts, avoid their questions, and at the same time lead the topic to the scope she wanted to answer. He gave up.

The search for the identity of this “Internet ghost” turned to ask:

"What do you think our chances of winning are?"

"It's very small. It's not statistically significant." The woman answered almost without thinking.

Just as Zhou Cheng was about to speak, the woman said coldly:

"Even with our help, your chances are still slim, but statistically there is a chance of success."

Although this is still a cruel sentence, it is the most comforting sentence to Zhou Cheng in tonight's conversation.

"Then how will we contact you when we need you in the future?" Cao Rui asked as he walked away.

The woman shook her head:

"You don't need to contact me. I will contact you when I need it, just like before. Also, remember the promise you made in the conference room. Otherwise, it will not only be a waste of time and resources, but also a waste of time and resources for you."

It’s not doing any good for the planet.”

Cao Rui understood that she was talking about stopping the investigation. He asked the same question at the beginning:

"Who are you? Or rather, what are you?"

The woman still didn't answer. When she walked closer, she could clearly see that she was an ordinary young human woman. After confirmation, Cao Rui recognized her. She was the partner of the four young men who were still under house arrest in the hotel.

Zhou Cheng suddenly remembered something and asked:

"Liu Chaowen, is he one of yours?"

The woman took off her hood and said:

"Very well, this issue is also the main reason why I met with you."

The woman looked at Zhou Cheng and said word by word: "I want to remind you that Liu Chaowen has nothing to do with us. We cannot judge whether he is an enemy or a friend at the moment."

Without waiting for Zhou Cheng to ask further questions, she said again:

"If you insist on giving me a name, you can call me Rain Man."

The woman's body twitched a few more times, the amplitude being greater than the previous times, and she could barely stand still.

"Okay, our meeting should be over. You come over now and support her. There is a syringe in the pocket of her right coat. The medicine inside can relieve the side effects of sedatives through intramuscular injection. She only needs to sleep well.

It will be fine if you sleep."

The two people quickly held the girl's arms. After that, they heard a "whoosh!" sound, and a small shining object flew out from under the hair on the back of the woman's neck and quickly disappeared deep into the tunnel. In the tunnel

When all the lights came on, the woman also collapsed. Cao Rui quickly took out the syringe from her pocket and injected her with the medicine.

Zhou Cheng and Cao Rui drove the snoring woman and looked at each other in a daze. After a while, they came back to their senses. They carried the woman out of the tunnel with a tacit understanding. During the whole process, they said nothing.

They didn't say anything, as if they were afraid of being heard. They just lowered their heads and listened to the footsteps echoing in the tunnel, the sound of dripping water, and their own dull and restrained breathing.

It was very bright in the tunnel. Zhou Cheng just lowered his head and stared at his feet, walking out as if from muscle memory. His mind was as chaotic as a loose ball of thread. Questions, thoughts, and speculations shuttled randomly through it, and he lost focus.

In his eyes, only the occasional ants appearing on the ground could briefly attract his attention.

Back in the car, Zhou Cheng was still in a daze. He sat in the passenger seat, pulled out the seat belt and wrapped it around his body, then directly inserted the latch into the bayonet of Cao Rui's seat. He suddenly saw something unknown on the shoes.

When an ant climbed up, he hurriedly slapped the ant to the floor. When he wanted to crush the ant, he found that he couldn't find it.

Cao Rui lit two cigarettes and handed one to Zhou Cheng:

"Do you think we look like shovels?"

"Huh?" Zhou Cheng took the cigarette and didn't pay much attention to Cao Rui's words.

"It's the kind that loosens soil in the yard, a shovel!" Cao Rui started the engine and rolled down the window.

Cao Rui put his five fingers together and made a movement imitating a shovel:

"The shovel only needs to know the angle of shoveling, the force and whether to turn up the soil or throw it aside. It does not need to know why it is doing this, it does not need to know whether it is to loosen the soil and fertilize it or plant a new tree.

"

Zhou Cheng came back from his trance:

"Yes, they treat us like shovels. We only need to do what they want us to do without asking why." There was a deep sense of powerlessness in his words. Suddenly, he turned his head

Looking at Cao Rui, anxiety echoed between his deeply furrowed brows:

"They know us well, and their scientific and technological level is far ahead of ours. Why don't they do it themselves, instead of coming to us?"

Cao Rui was smoking, his face no longer tense and panicked:

"Lao Zhou, do you read science fiction novels? Like "The Three-Body Problem" and "Foundation"?"

Zhou Cheng shook his head:

"You know, I'm engaged in scientific research. Many creative plots are blocked by mathematical formulas in my mind, and I can't get into the drama."

Cao Rui rummaged in the handrail box:

"There is a science fiction novel that describes a scene where humans live in the apocalyptic wasteland and use something as currency. Do you know what it is?"

"What? Silver? Gold? Diamonds?" Zhou Cheng asked.

Cao Rui shook his head and took out an aluminum alloy Coke bottle cap from the handrail and handed it to Zhou Cheng:

"This is it."

Zhou Cheng took the wrinkled ordinary bottle cap, which was slightly curved due to the pressure of the bottle opener, and looked at it over and over, and finally put the bottle cap down with a somewhat contemptuous smile.

"This is just an ordinary bottle cap, how can it become a currency? The plot of the novel is too outrageous."

Cao Rui turned towards Zhou Cheng, put his elbows on the steering wheel, and took a shallow breath.

"Old Zhou, think about it. If you are not given any tools or raw materials, and just use your bare hands, how long will it take you to make such an identical bottle cap?"

Zhou Cheng picked up the bottle cap again and carefully looked at the exquisite spray-painted pattern on the cap, the almost identical stamping wrinkles, and the aluminum alloy base material with a thickness of only 1 mm.

"If we break away from the modern industrial system and industrial chain, I'm afraid you, Professor Zhou Da, haven't found the method of aluminum ore and refining aluminum alloy in three years, let alone making this bottle cap." Cao Rui said leisurely.

Zhou Cheng suddenly realized it. He held the bottle cap that had almost no value at the moment and said:

"You suspect that they have theories but no industrial system, so you are asking us for help?"

Cao Rui shook his head:

"That's my guess. There are still many things that cannot be explained. After all, what they said is right, we know nothing about them."

Zhou Cheng's face darkened again:

"Yes, we don't know who they are, where they come from, or how long they have been observing humans."

Cao Rui put the seat belt pin that Zhou Cheng had inserted incorrectly back into its correct position.

"However, I did see something from this meeting."

Zhou Cheng stared at Cao Rui curiously: "What did you see?"

Cao Rui released the handbrake and shifted into forward gear.

"I think they must have encountered bigger troubles than us, at least not less troubles than us."

Zhou Cheng nodded:

"Judging from the fact that they impart knowledge to us for no reason, your judgment is logically valid. After all, we will not teach gorillas knowledge for no reason."

"There are too few clues now, and there is no point in thinking too much. At least the current threat from Rain Man is not the biggest. At least not now."

After Cao Rui finished speaking, he looked at the dark night sky through the windshield.