The Science Fiction World of Xueba

Time unknowingly entered the crisis era for three years.

Due to being too busy with work, Pang Xuelin had no time to go back to China during Chinese New Year this year.

Pang Xuelin could only apologize to Zhuang Yan on the phone.

Zhuang Yan also understood this, although she was a little disappointed, she didn't say much.

In the next few months, Pang Xuelin began to set up an advanced research institute dedicated to basic science, modern agricultural technology, biomedical engineering, new energy technology, artificial intelligence technology and other fields.

After all, it will take at least five years for Xinghuan City to be completed. Before that, investment in research related to people's livelihood must be guaranteed.

This Institute for Advanced Study was also named by Pang Xuelin as the Star Ring Institute for Advanced Study. Since the Institute has no real research subject in a short period of time, in the next few years, Pang Xuelin can only use the Institute for Advanced Study as a scientific research fund distribution entity.

Any qualified research institutions and individuals around the world can apply for project funding through the official website of the Transwarp Institute for Advanced Study.

After passing the evaluation of the Transwarp Institute for Advanced Study, you can get funding for the project.

After three to five years, when the Star Ring City project is completed, Pang Xuelin can invite those researchers who have received funding from the Star Ring Institute for Advanced Study in the past few years and have performed outstandingly to participate in the research in the Star Ring City.

This work is very cumbersome. The project management team of the scientific research fund, the expert review team, and the administrative organization of the Xinghuan Institute for Advanced Study all require Pang Xuelin to intervene and participate in the establishment of them one by one.

Perhaps because Pang Xuelin is Chinese, the Chinese side has given great support to the Xinghuan Institute for Advanced Study. The number of staff members sent by China alone to the Xinghuan Institute for Advanced Study is close to half of the total number.

In the Transwarp Institute for Advanced Study, Chinese and English are the working languages ​​tied for the first place.

In addition, Pang Xuelin also contacted many top project management talents through the relationship of the United Nations, and joined the Xinghuan Institute for Advanced Study.

Of course, it cannot be said that the Xinghuan Institute of Advanced Studies has no entity.

In April of the third year of the crisis, the Institute of Theoretical Physics of the Transwarp Institute for Advanced Study was formally established at the site of CERN. The Institute gathered hundreds of top physicists from all over the world who are still committed to physics research.

Even the discoverer of the macro atom,

Ding Yi, a Nobel laureate, was also invited by Pang Xuelin to serve as the director of the Institute of Theoretical Physics.

However, Pang Xuelin did not expect these theoretical physicists to produce much results in a short period of time. He just needs to keep the theoretical physics research going.

In May of the Era of Crisis, the preparations for the ladder plan were finally completed, and the nuclear bombs used to accelerate the probes in space had been deployed one by one according to the requirements of the aerospace dynamics experts.

"Professor Pang, tomorrow is the swearing-in ceremony for the candidates of the Staircase Project, are you going to attend?"

When Cheng Xin walked into the living room, she found Pang Xuelin standing in front of the French window again in a daze.

Ever since Kanter was sent by Pang Xuelin to preside over the construction of Xinghuan City, Cheng Xin became Pang Xuelin's only assistant. She had to help Pang Xuelin arrange work, life, and daily schedule.

However, Pang Xuelin is not the kind of character who likes to show his face in public. He usually refuses to go to most occasions where he can go or not.

The rest of the time, he spent in one meeting after another.

The overall design and planning of Xinghuan City, the establishment of Xinghuan Institute for Advanced Study, and various matters finally fell on Pang Xuelin's head.

Recently, the establishment of the administrative organization of the Xinghuan Institute for Advanced Study was completed, and all affairs were on the right track, so Pang Xuelin felt a little easier.

But even if he has free time, Pang Xuelin basically stays out of the door, either dealing with various documents, or sitting alone in a daze.

Sometimes Cheng Xin would faintly sympathize with Pang Xuelin. With such a mission on his shoulders, one can imagine how much pressure he was under.

But sometimes, when Pang Xuelin deliberately scolded herself or ridiculed her thoughts, Cheng Xin would gnash her teeth at Pang Xuelin, wishing that God would accept this guy in a second.

But after following Pang Xuelin for so long, Cheng Xin felt that she had grown a lot.

At least look at some things, not as naive as before.

Pang Xuelin turned around and said, "Let's take part, I just went to see Yun Tianming, how is he doing during this time?"

Cheng Xin said: "Wade said that he performed well, but I feel that he is not in a good condition, he seems to have completely sealed himself off. Professor Pang..."

"Um?"

"Do you think it's too cruel for us to do this?"

Pang Xuelin smiled faintly: "Then what do you think can be done to not be cruel? Watch him die silently?"

"Well?"

Pang Xuelin said, "Cheng Xin, you've been with me for almost a year, right?"

"Eleven months and three days."

"You remember it so clearly?"

Cheng Xinqiao blushed, and said hastily, "The day you transferred me to the Wallfacer's office happened to be my birthday... so I remember it better."

Pang Xuelin nodded and said: "Then let me ask you, suppose a group of terrorists hijacked a group of children and occupied a nuclear power plant. They were going to destroy the nuclear power plant, and during the process of planting bombs in the nuclear power plant, they sacrificed their children's lives." Threatening each other, threatening outsiders not to come in, otherwise they will die with the children! But if we don't stop them immediately, what they threaten may be the lives of millions of people in a city. Now, if you hold A weapon that can instantly kill everyone in a nuclear power plant, including those children, would you press the launch button of that weapon?"

Cheng Xin's eyes widened, and she forced a smile, "How is it possible? This kind of thing won't happen in reality."

Pang Xuelin said lightly: "What I'm talking about is if..."

"If... no, even if something like this happened, there must be a better way to solve it..."

Cheng Xin's voice gradually decreased.

Pang Xuelin looked at Cheng Xin quietly, without saying a word.

Cheng Xin subconsciously looked away. For some reason, she saw a little disappointment in Pang Xuelin's eyes.

"Okay, I'm a little tired, you go to rest too!"

"oh!"

Cheng Xin breathed a sigh of relief, but when she thought of Pang Xuelin's disappointed eyes just now, her heart was empty and she felt inexplicably uncomfortable.

"If that happened, would I press that button?"

Cheng Xin was a little dazed.

...

The next day, Pang Xuelin brought Cheng Xin to the United Nations Building.

Neither of them mentioned what they had said yesterday.

The oath was held in the United Nations General Assembly Hall. Unlike the announcement of the wall-facing plan a few months ago, this ceremony was not open to the public and few people participated. In addition to the seven candidates for the ladder plan, there were also UN Secretary-General Say and Garning, the rotating chairman of the PDC.

There were only two rows of people sitting in the front row of the auditorium. Except for Pang Xuelin, Cheng Xin, and Zhang Beihai, the rest were people from PIA who participated in this project.

Pang Xuelin's eyes swept over the seven candidates one by one, and finally settled on Yun Tianming's face.

Compared to a few months ago, Yun Tianming looked much haggard, his eye sockets were deeply sunken, and he was as thin as skin and bones.

The cancer was eating away at his body, and he wouldn't be able to last long without the Step Program.

He stared calmly ahead, and only glanced at Pang Xuelin and Cheng Xin when they came, and never turned his gaze away after that.

The process of taking the oath is very simple. The seven candidates came to the stage one by one, put their hands on the United Nations flag in the hands of the Secretary-General of the United Nations, and said the prescribed oath to the effect that they would always be loyal to human society and not do anything in the universe that would harm the interests of mankind. thing.

The oath was made according to the serial number of the candidates, and Yun Tianming was ranked fifth.

All the candidates showed obvious sickness, and two of them were still in wheelchairs, but they were all in good spirits. Their lives were like a lamp whose oil was almost exhausted, and the wick was turned on at the last moment. flame.

Among them were physicists with advanced pancreatic cancer.

Four candidates came to power one after another, expressing their loyalty to humanity.

Among them, the physicist in a wheelchair stood up tremblingly when he took the oath, facing the flag of the United Nations, expressing his loyalty to mankind.

When it was Yun Tianming's turn, Yun Tianming walked up to the swearing-in platform silently and said, "I won't take an oath!"

Say in the audience was slightly taken aback: "Mr. Yun Tianming, can you tell me the reason?"

Yun Tianming said lightly: "In this world, I don't feel much love. As for whether I am loyal to human civilization, it depends on the Three-Body civilization I see!"

After all, he turned around and returned to his seat.

"Yun Tianming, he...how could he say that!"

Cheng Xin's eyes widened, as if she couldn't believe it.

Pang Xuelin smiled faintly, and said, "Yun Tianming has entered the final list of candidates."

"Um?"

Cheng Xin raised her head and looked at Pang Xuelin puzzled.

Pang Xuelin said: "This is just a test. Whether you are loyal to human civilization is not a must for candidates."

Cheng Xin hesitated and said, "Professor Pang, then... why did I feel that Yun Tianming was telling the truth just now?"

Pang Xuelin laughed and said: "If you think so, you say Trisolaran, will you believe what he said?"

Sure enough, as Pang Xuelin expected, Yun Tianming and another American girl who refused to take the oath entered the final list of candidates.

However, that girl died of terminal brain cancer that night.

In this way, Yun Tianming became the only candidate.

On the afternoon of the third day, Pang Xuelin and Cheng Xin came to the hospital to bid farewell to Yun Tianming.

"Take care all the way!"

Pang Xuelin looked at Yun Tianming and said.

Yun Tianming nodded, and then he turned his gaze to Cheng Xin, a little complicated.

Pang Xuelin smiled and said, "Let's chat, I'll go out and have a look."

Pang Xuelin walked out of the ward and called Zhang Beihai who was waiting in the corridor: "Beihai, go and ask the experts from the project team of the Staircase Project to see if you can bring some crop seeds to the detector, such as wheat, corn, potatoes, and peppers." Category……"

"yes!"

Zhang Beihai nodded, turned and left.

Pang Xuelin turned around, and at some point, Cheng Xin had appeared behind him.

"Thanks!"

Cheng Xin gave Pang Xuelin a complicated look and said.

Pang Xuelin said: "It's okay, why don't you chat for a while."

Cheng Xin said, "He said he wanted to be alone."

Pang Xuelin nodded, but did not respond.

Cheng Xin said, "Professor Pang..."

"What's wrong?"

Pang Xuelin was slightly taken aback, he felt that Cheng Xin was a little strange,

"nothing?"

Cheng Xin turned around, only feeling confused.

In the ward just now, the last words Yun Tianming said to her kept echoing in her mind.

"Professor Pang is very good, follow him well, he will give you happiness..."

Cheng Xin understood the meaning hidden in Yun Tianming's words, and then replied in a strange way: "He has a girlfriend..."

Finally, the two looked at each other awkwardly.

Yun Tianming drove Cheng Xin out on the grounds that he wanted to be alone.

Twenty minutes later, Yun Tianming was pushed into the operating room.

Twelve hours later, the probe took Yun Tianming's brain and embarked on a long journey.

The only time Pang Xuelin saw the STEP aircraft was when its radiation sail was unfolded in geosynchronous orbit. The giant sail of 25 square kilometers briefly reflected sunlight to the northern hemisphere.

In the middle of the night, an orange-red light group appeared on the dark sky, and it gradually dimmed and disappeared five minutes later, like an eye slowly closing after looking at the earth in space.

"I should go to bed too!"

Watching the stair plan aircraft completely disappear into the night sky, Pang Xuelin drank the red wine in his glass in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows.

...

Two days later, Pang Xuelin left Cheng Xin and Zhang Beihai in New York, returned to the capital alone, and worked with Zhuang's mother to persuade Zhuang Yan to enter hibernation.

In the end, Zhuang Yan couldn't resist the strong demands of her boyfriend and Zhuang's mother, and chose to agree.

In the following month, Pang Xuelin put down all his work, and together with Zhuang's mother, took her Zhuang Yan to famous scenic spots around the world in his own special plane.

In July of the third year of the Crisis Era, Zhuang Yan hibernated.

In July of the same year, Pang Xuelin returned to New York, and had a round table meeting with Frederick Taylor, Manuel Reydíaz, and Bill Hines who also came back to attend the hearing of the wall-facing project, and talked about their respective plans progress.

In August, Pang Xuelin chose to hibernate.

Before hibernation, Pang Xuelin had a long talk with Zhang Beihai, Wade and Cheng Xin.

Regarding Zhang Beihai, Pang Xuelin gave him two choices. First, he hibernates with him, and he decides when he wakes up.

Second, go to the Galapagos Islands and work with Kanter to build the Halo City.

Zhang Beihai chose to hibernate after being silent for a long time, but according to Pang Xuelin's request, he set the time to wake up in 25 years.

As for Vader, Pang Xuelin asked the other party if he would like to join the Office of the Wallfacer. Vader chose to refuse, and Pang Xuelin did not hesitate.

For the last Cheng Xin, Pang Xuelin also gave her two choices. One is to help Kanter build the Star Ring City, and the other is to hibernate with her. When she wakes up, she will wake up. In the next wall-facing project Here, always as his personal assistant.

Cheng Xin finally made the second choice.

Pang Xuelin set himself a five-year hibernation period, but he agreed with the PDC that during these five years, if any accidents occur in the Wallface Project, he will wake up early.

Fortunately, all went well.

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