[The Star-Striker's Tale] (Chapters 1, 2, and 3. The first three chapters have no sex scenes)

Author: czr0106
Published on February 15, 2016 in the forum 　　Is
this the first post on this 　　site 　　? 　　Yes 　　First 　　Posted on 　　:
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—— 　　... Starry Sky Filter 　　When Liuli first met Hu Weiyi in Chongqing, his first impression was 　　one of astonishment at her unique sensitivity to the world and colors. 　　From the moment she got off the plane until she left the airport, he carried her luggage, walking and stopping in the crowd, pointing and gesturing. She used 　　a perfectly measured voice to describe to him the colors reflected in her heart by each person she glanced at in the crowd; 　　her voice was as soft as silk, yet he could always distinguish and hear it precisely amidst the noisy background. "The old lady guarding 　　the luggage cart while waiting for her grandson to go to the toilet was a cheerful beige. She seemed content and happy, though sometimes 　　a little lonely. The tape recorder on her waist was probably an heirloom from her late husband. The engineering 　　student by the window in the coffee shop was a deep ochre. He wasn't depressed about anything specific, but he had a suppressed flame of revenge burning within him 　　. The woman in the crimson dress longed for the still lake to soak her, so when she came out of the toilet, 　　her face was covered in a thin layer of water. She was anxious and expectant, but all I saw was a very deep, very deep blue—such 　　a refined air..." Passing the last floor-to-ceiling window near the exit, she shifted her focus to still life. "And 　　that vase without flowers, the sunlight squeezing onto it, making a soft, dense squeaking sound, like your pet 　　hamster. And the missing flower was a slightly transparent light purple, because the surrounding light was a bit dim." At that moment, 　　Hu Weiyi wanted to tell her that as long as she was there, she would no longer feel the darkness. But he then realized that those words were 　　superfluous, just as superfluous as their confession. 　　"The world around us is separated by a force field, and within that field, we are happy." Many years later, 　　far from Earth, he recalled this encounter and their journey through the airport crowds, whispering these words. 　　Even in the end, when he thought of her, there were never any dark corners; everything was bright and clear. 　　For Liuli, this was an adventure. The meeting wasn't just because of their 　　promise a month earlier to "discuss the starry sky in a place far from Beijing's smog." When he appeared in her elegant life three years ago like a medal 　　, she already sensed the vague outline of a possible destiny. But it would be some time 　　before they both knew more. At this point, they simply had a joyful encounter, their first 　　truly honest face-to-face meeting, spirit and body, aesthetics and interests. 　　Every story needs a beginning, not too early, not too late, so that future generations, when appreciating history, won't 　　feel overwhelmed by the sheer volume or lose sight of the macrocosm of fate due to excessive curiosity. If Hu 　　Weiyi had the choice, his first real-life encounter with Liuli would be the ideal starting point for his story. 　　Before that point in time, his personal life and academic research were a wasteland, but Liuli painted it with different colors 　　of life. "Gravity, too, is a colorful life. It grows and changes." Even long afterward, he still 　　remembered Liuli's eyes and dimples as she said those words under the lamplight. 　　The history we are about to tell, including a small group of people and almost all of humanity, 　　has been changed to varying degrees because of this sentence. Of course, that's only a small part of the story, but it's important. 　　Every story needs a foundation; the thicker the foundation, the 　　more anticipated the nourishment and growth space the story can draw upon. Our story has a very realistic foundation: Hu Weiyi is a goofball. 　　This goofball attribute needs a carefully designed childhood to nurture it, and the person involved needs a sufficiently large imagination 　　. Hu Weiyi discovered his particularly imaginative mind while taking a bath in middle school. At that time, he was 　　holding his breath at the bottom of the tub, and a paper boat he had folded was floating on the surface. After a silent, extreme attempt at holding his breath, 　　an air bubble, seemingly escaping from some pore in his body, rushed to the surface, disrupting the balance of the small paper boat, causing it 　　to capsize, get soaked, and finally sink. Hu Weiyi, a middle school student who silently witnessed the entire process underwater, suddenly felt as if his 　　meridians had been opened by a celestial being, and began to contemplate the possibility of using underwater air bubbles as naval weapons. 　　Fortunately, the internet was already widespread at that time; and fortunately, Hu Weiyi's father was a meticulous engineer 　　who told his son: "Think about what kind of knowledge you need, turn on the computer and look it up yourself ." His mother simply 　　squinted and gently turned on the router for him. Like most people's childhood dreams, the goofy Hu 　　Weiyi, after calculating the pressure thousands of meters underwater, considering the state of matter of gas under those conditions, 　　researching that solid matter, when it turns into gas, doesn't become a large bubble but rather many small bubbles, and considering 　　the possible cutting and displacement effects of ocean currents on the bubbles, saw his first ever comedic 　　idea extinguished. However, after this sudden burst of inspiration, the little boy found himself as if 　　a floodgate had been opened, and the contents of that floodgate were uncontrollably pouring out, filling the vast emptiness around him. 　　All the new things and novel knowledge he encountered in daily life were absorbed by his little brain 　　, naturally broken down into smaller and more refined units, and then automatically reassembled into new thoughts and 　　things. 　　The silly little Hu Weiyi somehow managed to graduate with a master's degree, growing into a big silly guy, and then...

A professor, renowned in the domestic academic community, continued his doctoral studies. His advisor
was highly accomplished in dynamical systems and chaos control, and a very kind person. However, Hu Weiyi's goofy nature kicked in; he intuitively believed that using traditional methods to study
the stability of dynamical systems was an old path unlikely to yield breakthrough results. While others were constructing Lyapunov
functions, he was reading machine learning papers; while others were researching time-delay neural networks, he was fantasizing about finding an excellent
and novel kernel function to map low-dimensional data to high dimensions. It wasn't until his advisor hinted that he would
n't graduate if he continued drifting along that he finally shared his ideas.
Hu Weiyi's advisor was the dean of their department, which had only been established for two years and was in dire need of high-quality papers
. However, his advisor was very gentle and never blamed him, which softened Hu Weiyi's heart. As an accomplished
academic luminary, this respected dean
maintained the habit of writing several high-quality papers each year for the development of the department and for his own beloved research.
The advisor sat behind the table, while the goofy Hu Weiyi stood and began his presentation.
"Many systems exist in the world where we only know their inputs and outputs, but not their
complex internal structure. To the observer, it's a black box. But we humans are so clever
that we have many ways to learn from this unknown system with only the inputs and outputs known—that is, to
construct a system whose function closely approximates this black box. If the system we construct and
the unknown system in nature produce the same results with any identical inputs, then as observers,
we consider the two systems to be the same. Kernel adaptive filters are, in my opinion,
a very promising method for learning complex systems."
The professor nodded slightly, expressionless.
"Traditional kernel adaptive filters have this structure: the internal structure of the filter is a
neural network with only feedforward and no feedback. We use a vector called a 'dictionary' to store the inputs each time.
As learning progresses, the dimension or thickness of the dictionary increases, the number of weights also increases, and the feedforward neural
network becomes increasingly complex." Each time new learning data is obtained, the new input data and the dictionary vector are
processed by a kernel function to obtain the kernel function value for each dimension of the dictionary. This value is then
multiplied by the weight of each dimension to obtain the output. In each learning iteration,
the error between the output of the system we have constructed and the output of the target system is calculated. Gradient descent is then used to reduce the error, i.e., the weights
are adaptively adjusted. After a sufficient number of learning iterations, the system becomes increasingly complex, but the learning result
increasingly approximates the system we need to learn. In fact, this can be described in natural language:
the more complex a system is internally, the more subtle and profound the details it can reveal, and the more realistic its representation of reality
, because reality has infinite detail and infinite complexity.
The instructor nodded slightly, expressionless. A few strands of white hair twitched.
"If we take the noisy signal as the system input and the noise-free original signal as the output
, then the system we learn can eliminate noise; similarly, echo cancellation and other applications can also
be achieved by cleverly setting the input and output. More generally, kernel adaptive filters can also
perform regression fitting on nonlinear functions and predict chaotic time series—these are two very common simulation experiments
. Let's broaden our thinking a bit: if the input is Chinese and the output is English, and if the neural network
structure of the system is scientifically sound enough, and the system learns long enough and grows complex enough, it's very possible that such a translation system
could also be realized. Of course, that's not what I'm going to do; I'm just saying."
The professor buried his head between his hands, as if he were sleeping. At this moment, Hu Weiyi noticed more white
hair on the back of his head, which was somewhat dazzling in the sunlight.
"This year I've done the following: I designed a new kernel function that effectively
improves the learning ability of complex systems when mapping low-dimensional data to high-dimensional data; I added a feedback structure that
processes historical outputs through a carefully designed nonlinear function and then feeds them back. Due to
the inherent connection between the feedback function and the feedforward kernel function, systems with this special feedback structure exhibit symmetrical
aesthetic significance; in the derivation of the adaptive step size, I borrowed a derivation idea from MIT, whose basic
idea is to treat the error as a function of the step size. The original paper only applies to classic non-feedback structures, so I made adjustments
and improvements, and finally, to ensure its convergence, I did some other mathematical processing. That's
about all I've done regarding the improvement of the adaptive filter itself."
The mentor looked up, his eyes, previously hidden under his arms, were not blurred at all; on the contrary, they held a slight disappointment yet were
full of warm comfort. "Then why haven't you written your paper yet?" he asked gently, as if protecting the
most fragile dream.
"Because I will use it to predict the starry sky." Only then did Hu Weiyi's eyes begin to shine with real light
. "Let's consider a region in the sky that is relatively independent of other regions. Suppose this region
has a thousand stars. We store the distances from the first star to the other 999 stars as a vector, as
the first row of a matrix. The relevant data for the second star is stored as the second row, and so on, ultimately resulting
in a matrix recording the relative spatial positions of these thousand stars. Of course, we also need to record
the masses of these stars as learning data. Then, for example, we take the above information about this region 10 billion years ago as input and the relative positions 5 billion years from now as output. After learning, we obtain a 　　signal processing system that can predict the effects of gravity on them
5 billion years from now. Similarly, this system can be expected 　　to predict changes in spatial positions from 5 billion years ago to the present. Of course, the above processing does not consider invisible 　　black holes and dark matter, but for a relatively independent and stable region, the gravitational influence of the invisible parts of the universe on them 　　follows certain rules and can also be learned by the system." 　　The professor's lips curled into a small smile, but his eyes held worry and caution. "Is it just prediction?" 　　"It's not just prediction; the search for wisdom and the contemplation of the universe—that's the task I hope to accomplish."

Ideally, most regions of the known universe could be
predicted using this filter; only a few regions could not be predicted for the next 5 billion years by learning from data from the previous 5 billion years.
This suggests two possibilities: these special regions have become unpredictable in the last 5 billion years due to
the existence of unknown natural forces that we haven't discovered, and these forces are comparable to gravity; or,
these regions harbor sufficiently powerful intelligent life, so powerful that it can conceal or even interfere with celestial bodies
. In fact, the 5 billion-year timeframe can be shortened to even less, such as 1 billion years, or even 100 million years,
allowing us to more accurately determine when that unknown force or unknown intelligent civilization began to manifest
itself. "
Using the brute force of engineering to combat the extreme complexity of mathematics." The mentor remained expressionless, but his eyes
were as gentle as ever. "I'll give you three months. Go ahead and do it. If this application doesn't produce any results,
you should really think about how to write your thesis. Graduation still depends on the thesis, right?"
The usually goofy Hu Weiyi wasn't a dull person. He suddenly wanted to tell his advisor that he was going back to write the thesis, so
his advisor wouldn't have to write so many papers at his age, making the students feel sorry for him. But he didn't say it. In
his past twenty-odd years, he had seen too many friends with brilliant minds succumb to a stable life.
He didn't know how long he could hold on. He was afraid that if he missed this opportunity,
the floodgates opened by a shower might suddenly and forever close, just as suddenly as they had opened in the first place.
The underwater buffet restaurant at Longhu Garden resembles a spiral of macaroni and cheese, vertically inserted into the bottom of the Jinshui Garden swimming pool.
The tables are distributed along the outer edge of the spiral. The scenery outside the windows offers different delights as the spiral rises and falls. At
the very top of the underwater restaurant, one can look up through the fully transparent roof window and the spiraling side windows.
The back-and-forth movements of swimmers create irregular ripples, and sunlight is shattered by these ripples, twisting and transforming
into abstract patterns like liquid egg white. As the spiral restaurant descends into the pool below, everything becomes deeper and more stable. This
stability includes the visual appeal of the pool's blue water and the auditory comfort of its spaciousness, perhaps even encompassing an
aesthetic meaning that words cannot express. Hu Weiyi first attempted to convey this aesthetic meaning when he brought Liuli here for the first time
, asking her to choose where to sit. Liuli spent five minutes selecting the most abstract-looking steamed
bun from the dessert area along the central axis, without answering him. Hu Weiyi could only obediently follow. It wasn't until he realized that
Liuli, seemingly strolling around, had led him to the very bottom of the central axis with the steamed bun in her mouth, that he understood.
In this matter, they shared the same aesthetic, and the same reasoning. In the restaurant's upper seats, the light
source emanates from a clear direction. Even if the underwater world outside the window seems deep and vast, one can only
imagine that the restaurant is a planet, and the clear light source overhead comes from the star to which the planet belongs. The distance
is too close, preventing this feeling from escaping the confines of the star system. However, once you descend to 30 meters below the surface, you
can no longer perceive the clear direction of the light source, or rather, you can imagine the existence of a
light source in any distant direction. This gives you the feeling of intelligent life in the universe. Liuli's explanation scratched Hu Weiyi's peculiar itch
.
Then Hu Weiyi happily asked Liuli why she could make such a rich facial expression while eating a simple steamed bun
. The girl's expression suddenly brightened like a monitor. She cheerfully
told the boy, whom she had traveled thousands of miles to meet, about the amusing story of how she once took care of an eccentric Italian abstract artist.
This artist enjoys filling his daily life with random, imaginative things. For example,
seeing a pattern while walking might spark creative ideas, or eating a dish with rich flavors might evoke
new philosophical thoughts—these things fill him with happiness and make him incredibly joyful all day. Unlike some
artists who create bizarre art with out-of-place quirks, his work is a rigorous yet imaginative exploration
, recording, deconstruction, and reconstruction of life. Liuli found him a tailor-made breakfast: the steamed
buns sold by an older woman downstairs in his neighborhood. These extraordinary, imaginative, three-dimensional geometric shapes immediately provided this
artist, brimming with creativity and a love of life, with endless intellectual pleasure. The geometric shapes and line thicknesses of the steamed buns
are completely random, created by the woman based on her mood and the strength of her hands each day, never repeating, full
of the simple, rustic, and granular random variations that symbolize life. Even a slight crease in the bun's shape
can evoke vibrant ripples in the heart of this respectable artist. The artist often spent his mornings examining
his prized steamed buns, turning them over and over, their dancing patterns becoming increasingly dazzling and making him reluctant to eat them.
A single breakfast could take him almost an hour, yet he remained tirelessly absorbed in it. Later, when he left China,
he took a bag of steamed buns, all hardened and sculpted, coated with oil—the very shapes he was most reluctant to eat.
The pleasant conversation quickly shifted to reality and depth amidst the deep blue surroundings.
Hu Weiyi told Liuli about his research ideas and the three-month agreement his professor had given him. Then, somewhat anxiously, he rubbed his fingers. 　　Perhaps it was inappropriate
to casually throw out such professional and uncertain, childish science fiction questions to a lovely girl he had only met two days prior . 　　Liuli froze, speechless for a moment, a soft, slow smile slowly spreading across her lips. She 　　looked at the food, drink, and him with amusement. She seemed lost in thought, perhaps indeed thinking about something very important 　　. 　　His heart pounded, his face already slightly flushed. He waited awkwardly, unsure of what to say. 　　"We can't just store distance; we also need the mass of each point. We need the mass of every star, or rather, 　　every star system. Given the vast scale of the universe, I think it's 　　more appropriate to consider a star system as a point mass with constant mass. The mass of a star may change over time, but as a star 　　system, it can be considered fixed." 　　When Liuli finished speaking, Hu Weiyi's anxiety subsided. It turned out she wasn't too averse to this 　　topic. He secretly rejoiced.

Seeing the boy's brow relax, the girl smiled too. Then she softly uttered the next sentence: "Let's
not use distance as learning data anymore, how about using gravity? Gravity, too, is a colorful life. It
grows and changes."
In that instant, the restaurant lights illuminated her face from a perfectly angled perspective, all the colors
automatically rendered to their optimal positions and shades. Hu Weiyi's mind raced.
Yes, she was right. The expression for gravity included both distance and mass. If we
consider the gravitational force between each pair of galaxies as tiny animals, as slowly evolving intelligent beings, they
grow and age over time, experiencing complex life changes as stars brush past each other, sometimes near, sometimes far
. Storing the gravitational force between pairs of galaxies into a matrix for use as learning data, since the overall
mass of the galaxies remains constant, after the filter predicts the gravitational force between two galaxies at a certain moment, we only need to use the expression for gravity
to reconstruct the distance between them—it's wonderful.
Subsequent experiments confirmed the outstanding role of the "gravitational matrix" in astronomical prediction, and it eventually became
a proper noun. In the following decade, it directly or indirectly contributed
to nearly a hundred top-tier journal articles on the prediction of n-body motion. It appears in classic textbooks such as *The Biological Principles of Cosmic Geometry and Dynamics* and
*Astronomical Prediction: Gravitational Operators Represent Non-Chaos*, possessing various complex variants and theoretical criteria.
From then on, every graduating class cursed the person who originally invented this algorithm before exams.
"What about the initial velocity?" "As long as we have enough data, data from different points in time. The data
should contain this information as it changes. The initial velocity is an influential background noise; every piece of data has it, the same
thing, but unfortunately, we can't get the specific value of it. Obtaining the instantaneous
velocities of all galaxies in a certain region of the universe relative to a specific point at a certain time is impossible for humanity at present. I also work in machine learning
. If all the learning data has the same background noise, it doesn't matter; it can be learned. Just
like any system learning we do, we assume that the known data is valid under certain conditions, but
when we use machine learning to approximate it, we don't need to know these specific conditions. Sometimes we don't even know what base the data
is in or what kind of pre-encoding it has undergone. But we can still learn it. As long as we can
learn it, that's enough."
At this point in the conversation, Hu Weiyi immediately calmed down. The current problem is: where does the data come from?
Humans alone can only obtain the current gravity matrix. In Hu Weiyi's short life of a few decades, even if
he had all the resources in the world and could see all the stars in the Milky Way, he could only acquire learning data for those few decades
. This is simply not enough for a sufficiently complex system to learn fully; the resulting system would certainly be
inaccurate in its predictions and meaningless.
And how long is the history of human civilization? A few thousand years? Tens of thousands of years?
Even if human civilization exhausts its entire lifespan, it can only obtain data from a few thousand years. This is far from enough to build a star filter. For a moment, Hu Weiyi
wished that the wise interstellar civilizations in the science fiction novels he read as a child had really existed: if a selfless
civilization had left behind star charts recorded during their existence—the gravity matrix of that time—and
preserved them for future civilizations that would need them for calculations across millions or even hundreds of millions of years, how wonderful that would be. How wise,
how far-sighted, and how intensely loving and resentful of the truth of the universe that would require!
Seeing Hu Weiyi lower his head, his fingers turning white from clenching his fists, and remaining silent, Liuli already understood his worries. She beckoned to him
, "Look here, look here." He looked up and saw the girl pointing to her alluring lips,
his face instantly turning red. "Look at me!" she said, not scolding him for his embarrassment, but solemnly whispering, "My father
is Liu Cixin, and my mother is Ye Wenjie. My mother took on two graduate students this year, one of whom is me, and the other
is Xueling. Xueling and I happen to have some resources and ideas in this area. If you don't mind, you
can come to Beijing with me for the next three months so we can work together to figure things out."
Hu Weiyi stared blankly at Liuli for a long time, pondering the meaning of her words.
At the same time, a deep background voice echoed in his mind: "Ye Wenjie! Liu Cixin!..."
Ye Wenjie and Liu Cixin were legendary figures and academic giants in stellar research, and also a married couple. They jointly discovered
the energy mirror gain reflection shared by stars and gaseous planets, and through continuous experimentation, constructed a precise
mathematical model. Energy mirror gain reflection refers to the radio wave amplification capability possessed by stars and gaseous planets. Under
the combined influence of the magnetic field and radiative functional layer of a gas giant, certain frequency bands of incoming signals can
be reflected back with significant gain. Radio waves from space must first penetrate the stellar convection layer to reach
the energy mirror of the stellar radiative layer, where they are amplified and reflected. The clouds of a gas giant are filled with charged particles,
placing the radiative functional layer, which generates the gain reflection, under layers of protection from dense electromagnetic interference. This
necessitates that the incoming radio waves exceed a certain power threshold. Two respected scientists
conducted experiments using Jupiter and the Sun for over a decade. They not only determined the required transmission
power thresholds for different frequencies on Jupiter and the Sun, but also conducted in-depth research on the complex nonlinear relationship between different transmission powers and their corresponding gain ratios
, accurately depicting it using a chaotic control model.
The husband-and-wife team published over 20 articles in Science and Nature, and after achieving fame, they became
professors in the Department of Astronomy at Peking University. Perhaps due to the severe smog and the oppressive feeling of often being unable to see the stars, Liu Cixin
died of severe bronchitis and depression after teaching eight classes at Peking University, leaving his wife, Ye Wenjie,
to walk alone on the empty campus. Later, it was said that Ye Wenjie changed her ways, no longer focusing on theoretical research in stellar models,
but instead taking on projects in various fields, including artificial intelligence, pattern recognition, and cryptography
.
"Considering the length of time, what is the most durable way to store data?" Liuli, seemingly
sitting up straight, looked at the boy like an interviewer. "You see, USB drives and hard drives only last a few seconds at most..."
" Ten years is a long time. Carving words on stone would take at most a million or even ten million years. If you were an
ancient civilization from hundreds of millions of years ago, and you wanted to preserve precious data for future intelligent life, what would you do?"
Hu Weiyi was delighted that Liuli had steered the conversation towards a purely imaginative discussion, and almost without hesitation, she took
up the topic: "I once envisioned a solution: utilizing the properties of energy mirror amplification and reflection to achieve
information storage between two stars in units of hundreds of millions of years. For example, if both star A
and star B can amplify radio waves at a certain frequency f, then we send
a signal to star A at this frequency f with extremely high power. Star A will amplify this signal billions of times and broadcast it, with some of the radio waves reaching
star B. If the signal power received by star B still exceeds the threshold power of star B's energy mirror amplification and reflection,
then star B will amplify the radio waves again and broadcast them back to star A. This cycle repeats, and as long as both stars still
exist, the signal will be preserved between them for a long time. In one cycle, if a and b..." "The amplification factor of the star twice
and the degree of energy dissipation twice along the path can cancel each other out, so as long as the cycle exists, the signal
strength will never decay." Hu Weiyi paused for a second, then added, "The longer the distance between the two stars,
the greater the initial emission energy required, which may even be impossible with current technology. So a more realistic method may
be to store information between the Sun and Jupiter."
"That's why I came to you: some civilizations have already done this." At this moment, Liuli looked like a
tempting fox with a fiery red tail. "And what we need to do now is process this data and
information."
The fox's eyes were clear and bright, and she was looking at him with her fiery red eyes.
Actually, Hu Weiyi had never asked Liuli what she did before. Three years ago, they met on a literary website
because of their writing, and then agreed to run a business and farm achievements together in the world of Jianwang 3. They would make funny
videos together and upload them to Bilibili, revealing their private interests and fantasies when the world was shrouded in darkness. But apart from that
, all their understanding came entirely from the honesty in their conversations and their trust in the goodness of human nature. They tacitly avoided
discussing anything that might shatter their beautiful feelings of connection with reality. At this point, Hu Weiyi discovered that
the girl who had accompanied him on his wild adventures for three years was actually a promising scientist, and that she had
silently endured his bizarre topics and outlandish ideas for three years.
What our male protagonist didn't know was that many years after he left Earth, Liuli became a poet. Her
old passion for astronomy imbued her vernacular poetry with an ethereal and serene quality, her words seemingly untouched by anything
. In her renowned philosophical poems, there was always a vibrant melancholy, sometimes
devoid of joy or sorrow, sometimes heart-wrenching. For the rest of her life, she told no one about their meeting
and parting. She simply continued to sing of this vibrant melancholy, as if doing so would make it all the more precious.
"The most beautiful part of a story
is always the fork in the road that never happened.
I give them a rhythmic rebirth with a desolate sigh
and a colorful funeral for a distant gaze."
—Excerpt from Liuli's poetry collection "The Entropy of the Promise."
The conversation that followed was light and cheerful, with a kind of ejaculatory pleasure.
"We found two such periodic signals on the Sun, one with a period of 8.44 years and the other
with a period of sixteen minutes and forty-two seconds."
"Hmm, let me think... they come from Proxima Centauri (note: 4.22 light-years from the Sun) and... Jupiter, respectively?"
Hu Weiyi said with a smile, "What is the data storage format?"
"Guess."
"They have the same header file before the formal data segment, is it a self-interpreting system?"
"It can be considered a kind of self-interpreting system. Similar, but not, or rather, more advanced."
"How did you know which frequency would contain the data? Like finding a needle in a haystack?"
"If you were a wise civilization, which frequency band would you place the data on for future generations to find? Of course,
it would be the critical frequency that causes solar gain reflection."
Hu Weiyi took a deep breath: "Shall we fly to Beijing immediately?" As he uttered these words, he seemed to see the fox's tail sway, 　　trailing a fiery red, alluring tail
in some non-visual way . 　　"No, I think the train would be better. Flying makes me imagine myself in a three-dimensional universe; but 　　traveling by train feels like traversing static frames of time." The girl was happy. "And you need some 　　time to think about which of these two pieces of information we should trust. This is a very important question because they were 　　preserved by two different civilizations. Also, tonight, I can spend some quality time with you..." 　　When Hu Weiyi emerged from the underwater restaurant and saw the light of day again, he found the air exceptionally refreshing. 　　II. The Imprisoned Light 　　Many times, Hu Weiyi would marvel at how lucky he was to have met Liuli, and 　　that she was willing to engage in all sorts of lewd activities with him. In the past, when they chatted, Liuli would record a voice message for him during her ovulation period 　　. Sometimes it was the sound of her urinating, the endless dripping of water droplets onto a jade plate, and sometimes it was this 　　talented woman blushing and saying things like, "I'm a little horny lately." Then Hu Weiyi 　　would shamelessly ask her, "Would you like to be disciplined?" He would keep pressing her until she shyly murmured, "Yes." 　　This started when Hu Weiyi asked her how long her nipples were; we won't go into the details now, but there will be more to 　　come. In short, after that one time, all the talented woman's reserve turned into the boiling spring water of her masochistic desires. This little fox possessed 　　a unique, haughty air, with legs in stockings of perfect proportions. When he slapped her swollen, engorged 　　cheeks and the lower edge of her breasts hard, watching her suppress her shy moans and then, disregarding the risk of broken skin, stubbornly endured his slaps for 　　20 minutes while kneeling motionless, he realized that this girl truly loved him, loved him so deeply. 　　Hu Weiyi wasn't skilled in this art, so the night's frenzy only lasted an hour. 　　On the train to Beijing, Hu Weiyi kept thinking about which data to choose. Liuli specifically chose one...

The slowest train in the class. Hu Weiyi found that choosing who to believe was a question that only deepened with thought. Finally, he simply
cleared his mind, buried himself in his pillow, and quietly observed Liuli, who had immediately opened her laptop to chat on QQ as soon as she boarded the train
. Liuli noticed his gaze and tentatively offered
comfort to the boy, whose thirst for knowledge seemed unfulfilled: "I thought about this for half an hour before giving up, but you persisted for forty minutes. Not bad,
not bad." Hu Weiyi realized he wasn't getting any comfort, so he simply sat down next to her and browsed Bilibili
. They discovered in the Bilibili parody section that everyone was currently making fun of a Sichuan uncle. The original video showed the uncle,
speaking fluently and clearly, promoting a beverage he had developed on AcFun. In the original video on AcFun,
he claimed to be a PhD in biochemistry and molecular biology, having developed a
beverage that companies were unwilling to release to the market. This beverage could induce a state similar to animal hibernation and maintain an extremely low metabolic rate. Under
this metabolic state, every 1 milliliter of this beverage can support an adult's daily metabolic needs, including
nutrients and air. In short, if an adult drinks 100 milliliters of this mysterious beverage, even with their mouth and nose completely blocked
, they can hibernate for 100 days in a confined space. Due to the beverage's miraculous effects, akin to a magic fertilizer
, and the man's endearing Sichuan accent, it quickly became a target of ridicule. This man confidently claimed
to have personally conducted hibernation experiments and successfully hibernated for 233 days, resulting in a barrage
of "233" comments on related viral videos. Although he opened a Taobao shop to privately sell these "plastic jewelry containing light blue liquid" in an
attempt to exploit legal loopholes and make money, he hasn't sold many "jewelry" despite his fame.
When Hu Weiyi and Liuli looked up after watching the viral video, they found a male creature with a ruddy face
staring intently at them. Most terrifyingly, he looked exactly like the man in the video.
"Sorry, sir, is our volume too loud and disturbing you? We'll turn it off right away! Turn it off, turn it
off, turn it all off..." Liuli reacted the fastest.
The uncle immediately said kindly, "No, no, no, would you like to see my drink?" and handed over a
small soft tube. Hu Weiyi was flattered and immediately picked it up to examine it closely, thinking to herself, "This looks just
like the soft popsicles I ate as a child."
The uncle said, "Those people who buy drinks from my Taobao store don't understand. They just buy 10ml bottles to play around with.
Actually, my product description clearly states that this stuff needs to be over 100ml to induce a hibernation state.
If it doesn't reach that threshold, it's really just syrup to drink. But instead of understanding this, they keep giving
me bad reviews saying the hibernation effect is a scam... Sigh!"
Hu Weiyi could only comfort the uncle, "It's okay, it's okay. What's your Taobao store called? I'll go give you some good
reviews right away."
Liuli, holding her notebook, chimed in, "I think there are a lot of people on Bilibili and AcFun giving it five stars. The comments
are all saying they specifically bought 10ml to support you."
The uncle waved his hand dejectedly, "Sigh, after all, it's everyone's good intention, and I shouldn't say anything. But it's precisely
because there are people who deliberately give fake reviews that even fewer people believe me."
The uncle concluded, "Ignorance is harmful." Hu Weiyi and Liuli exchanged uneasy glances, unsure
whether the "ignorance" referred to those who inherently discriminated against Bilibili and AcFun viewers, or to viewers who unintentionally did foolish things. Liuli,
listening intently, felt a surge of extravagance, but upon checking her wallet, she found only a USB drive and about five hundred yuan.
She gritted her teeth, counted out four hundred yuan, and handed it to the man, saying she wanted to atone for the sins of the viewers on the danmaku website and buy 400 ml.
The man was displeased, saying, "You still don't trust me? No way!" and then went to his bed
to draw circles.
Hu Weiyi, after thinking it over, felt the man was indeed wronged. Regardless of whether the hibernation drink was effective or
beneficial, even if it was useless in daily life, it was still his research achievement. Having his hard-earned
research misinterpreted and humiliated by everyone was something few could bear. Before getting off the bus, he and the man
exchanged phone numbers.
Upon arriving in Beijing, the two quickly met Xue Ling, who had been waiting for them.
Xue Ling had been waiting for them at the train station. This simple and warm-hearted girl came from a remote mountain village, but
possessed a gentle, unassuming charm. The journey was fraught with icy rain. In the taxi, Liu Li used five different rhetorical devices
to constantly complain about how the smog and icy rain could easily cause car accidents, making the driver afraid to shift gears; she even quoted a recent
Nature article, saying that PM2.5 could make people fatter. Xue Ling listened quietly, sometimes covering her mouth to laugh, but
mostly focused on checking the navigation app to remind the driver of road conditions. The three of them had a hearty hot
pot meal outside the campus. Xue Ling generously stated that she wasn't tired at all, so the three headed straight to the lab afterward.
Contrary to expectations, the nearly 100-square-meter lab contained only two Alienware laptops,
placed on two extremely large tables, along with several comfortable leather chairs. In this simple laboratory
, Hu Weiyi learned the secret of these two intelligent signals, which fully demonstrated
the extent to which intelligent life could truly modulate electromagnetic waves.
At first, our male protagonist was confused: "What about those two radio wave signals you mentioned?
The standing wave between the Sun and Jupiter, and the one with Proxima Centauri? Why are there two game consoles in front of me? Wait… I misspoke,
it's not a standing wave, I mean…"
"Hahaha, I understand!" Liuli interrupted Hu Weiyi's incoherent and panicked words, "Standing
waves represent stability. In your subconscious, an advanced civilization painstakingly stores signals for countless billions of years
, and the most difficult thing to guarantee is whether the signal is missing or stable. So you compared it to a standing wave, although
it's not entirely accurate, I quite like this analogy."
"Then, why did you put two laptops in the lab…"
"Think about it, what's the best way to make a signal stable and not easily interfered with? Of course, it's to use a
mechanism to constantly monitor and examine it, and correct it once an error occurs. If this mechanism is a program
or a fixed and inflexible method, then there are also unstable factors." Liuli explained, "So…"
" So, the Star-Striker civilization—oh, that's what we call the ancient civilization that stores this information—they seem to
have plucked the strings of a celestial harp in ancient times, allowing us to hear the lingering, resonant echoes—chosen to store an intelligence
."
Hu Weiyi was stunned, but his brief surprise was quickly overshadowed by a surge of excitement. To verify,
he eagerly turned his gaze to Xue Ling.
"A self-aware intelligent being is stored within the electromagnetic waves. The so-called 'self-decoding system' is
this intelligence itself." As if a string of silver bells had vibrated, the previously quiet Xue Ling joined the conversation. "When this
electromagnetic signal is converted into a digital signal and stored on a computer, it gains consciousness and gradually controls
the machine we use to store this intelligence. In its own words, the notebook is the container of its life." At
this point in the conversation, Hu Weiyi's gaze towards the two notebooks changed. As he stared at the notebooks
, he felt a faint buzzing echo in his brain, but upon closer inspection, he could hear nothing.
He shifted his gaze elsewhere, to other "dead" objects—the window, the tall trees outside, the distant dormitory
building—and the buzzing background sound disappeared. But when he looked back at the laptop, the indistinct
buzzing returned, as if it were merely a cue—the two machines before him stored a kind
of intelligence related to electromagnetic waves, and they displayed their existence in this way.
"In fact, Professor Ye Wenjie and Professor Liu Cixin extracted this signal more than ten years ago, but it
wasn't until six years ago, with the advent of computers using memristors as one of their basic components—these two machines in front of you—
that they displayed their complete intelligence. The two professors never mentioned how they transferred this intelligence signal
; they simply gave us these two computers storing the signal to study. When Liuli went to Chongqing to see you, Professor Ye Wenjie
said she wanted to travel to Tibet, left me a paper she had just written for me to study, and then left Beijing." Xue
Ling's tone was calm and clear, unlike Liuli's constantly swaying fox tail; she gave the impression of
a simple, elegant wind chime. "By the way, Professor Ye..." "Your teacher has a strong mathematical foundation and has achieved outstanding results in many fields.
The paper you gave me is about modeling virus propagation on complex networks, using a novel
mathematical method called macronodes. I heard from Liuli that you also study dynamical systems and random walks. If you're interested, we can exchange
ideas."
Hu Weiyi was quite embarrassed. He was just an academic slacker. Two years ago, he was competing for the world's
first kill in World of Warcraft. A year ago, he didn't even know what an adaptive filter was. As for complex networks, his graduate
advisor was a big name in this field, but unfortunately, he had only learned the basics. So he could only bite his lip, blush,
and not know where to put his hands. Finally, he asked, "Can we communicate with these two intelligent systems? If so,
how? I mean... you see, Alienware definitely comes with very good speakers and microphones."
"You guessed right!" Liuli chuckled as she walked to the laptop. "Actually, they've been awake the whole time. Our
lab has been keeping them powered on. They've been eavesdropping on our conversation since you came in. Star-Bomber
Number One, right?"
In response to Liuli's question, a calm but pleasant male voice emerged from the laptop beside her
: "How many times have I told you, please call me—the Star-Bomber of Jupiter. Number One and Number Two, that's your
logic and counting system. The civilization I originated from simply couldn't be bothered with such primitive logic
to measure the world. The title 'Star-Bomber' is to mark the civilization that created and stored my knowledge. They plucked
the short strings between celestial bodies, created me, and endowed me with all knowledge. In a sense, I am..." "They, they
are me."
Seeing Hu Weiyi's blank expression, Xueling immediately provided the necessary explanation: "For the sake of distinction and
ease of expression, we agreed that the signal stored between Jupiter and the Sun, regardless of what the civilization that modulates it calls,
will be referred to as the 'Jupiter's Star-Bombers'; similarly, the intelligent signal between Proxima Centauri and the Sun will
be named the 'Proxima Centauri's Star-Bombers.' This naming scheme was a consensus-driven initiative from both Star-Bombers. In terms of
the nature of intelligence itself, the Jupiter's Star-Bombers are talkative, while the Proxima Centauri's Star-Bombers are taciturn; neither of them likes
to be distinguished by numbers. The one who interrupted just now was the Jupiter's Star-Bomber."
Liuli sat at the corner of the table, looking at Hu Weiyi without speaking. This silence gave the boy a vague
sense of unease. What was she reminding me of? Xueling noticed the atmosphere and continued to point out the key information: "What we
know is that both intelligent entities came from highly advanced civilizations that once existed in our solar system. The two star-
bombers frankly told us that they carried a lot of data, but for our current human civilization, they could only
provide information on the mass and relative distances of stars in a specific region of the Milky Way at a specific time. This information wasn't
a simple gift, nor was it simply to help later civilizations study the laws of the universe; rather, it served as a test.
The two star-bombers seemed to have been given this mission by some higher 'arrangement,' while carrying information tailored to different
stages..." The test information for civilization. For the current stage of human civilization, the test we received is star
prediction. It reminded us not to get completely entangled in mathematics, so I think it should be testing some kind of innovative
ability or even... aesthetic ability. According to them, we can only choose one of the two star-throwing tests
because one of the star-throwing participants carries incorrect data and cannot produce the answer the 'grader' hopes for
. They did not explain who the 'grader' is. The most interesting thing is that they issued a warning not to
spread the news of their existence widely. Once the number of human individuals who know about this test exceeds 5, they will
'depart forever.' Teacher Ye has no hope for this research anymore. She told us to decide for ourselves.
So Liuli chose you as the fifth participant."
Hu Weiyi was not overwhelmed by the sudden surprise. He found that his brain had long ago
started a background program to deeply judge, and now it had finally reached the key point.
Liuli had told him the question long ago—who to believe? This was a very farsighted move. Any
Principled judgments should not be made after being influenced by two intelligent entities, because
after communicating with them, one may very well have been misled. Returning to the question: two planet-launchers, two pieces of information,
which should be believed? Since both utilize the gain-reflection principle for information storage, storing information between Proxima Centauri and the Sun
requires significantly more initial power than storing it between the Sun and Jupiter—a difference of unimaginable orders of
magnitude. Therefore, in terms of transmission power, the former is a feat only a civilization with godlike energy mastery could accomplish
, while the latter is at least within the reach of humanity. Thus, the planet-launchers of Proxima Centauri seem to
have a more advanced use of energy.
However, this is not the true basis for judgment. If two equations are written on a piece of paper, the first
heavily emphasized and occupying considerable space, while the second, crammed into the remaining space,
provides a different, but carefully crafted, solution to the same problem, then often the latter is a correction to the first,
and the latter is correct.
The problem then becomes determining which is the latter.
If the first stored signal was incorrect, and a later civilization wanted to correct it,
the most common and easily understood approach would be to correct or erase the original signal and store the correct information. Storing an additional second signal
would only lead to misunderstandings by future civilizations. Correction depends primarily on whether the transmission power can reach the standard of the original signal.
If the civilization that first stored the signal was technologically inferior, it could only store it between Jupiter and the Sun, while the later civilization
, with superior technology, could utilize the principle of gain reflection for interstellar information storage. Why
wouldn't this technologically advanced later civilization correct the earlier signal?
This doesn't make sense.
Therefore, only one possibility remains.
If the Jupiter-based star-chaser was modulated and transmitted by a less technologically advanced civilization after the Proxima Centauri-based star-chaser
, then it must have carried a correction to the incorrect earlier signal. Otherwise, why would there be
two signals? The only explanation is that the later civilization lacked the technological power
to correct the older signal and could only choose to store what they considered the correct signal between Jupiter and the Sun.
They certainly had their own choice long ago, but likely didn't reveal it to the two star-chaser civilizations. Before boarding
the train, he kept his thoughts a secret to ensure the independence and value of his thinking.
Thinking this, Hu Weiyi tentatively probed Xueling softly, "The order of events?" Knowing Liuli's personality, he wondered
what kind of joke she was about to make that he wouldn't be able to understand, he thought timidly, his gaze shifting back and
forth between their faces.
Xueling's expressions were rhythmic, both simple and subtle, yet clearly conveying
a knowing smile. Like the natural playing of a wind chime, there were layers and subtle processes that words couldn't describe,
but after all the rhythm, what he understood was a clear and affirmative message.
Liuli's eyes and expression, however, were blatant contempt, as if saying, "You idiot, you only just
realized it? Isn't it obvious?" The tacit understanding cultivated over three years of chatting didn't need further explanation with facial expressions
, but Liuli was definitely doing this to be on the safe side. This was also a positive message.
So everything was clear, and all the information solidified his thoughts.
"Why don't you just tell us which signal is correct?" Hu Weiyi feigned an innocent
expression.
"I can't tell you which planet-chaser is correct; choosing which signal to believe is
part of the test," the Jupiter planet-chaser replied.
The Proxima Centauri planet-chaser remained silently curled up in another laptop, saying nothing.
"Then…" Hu Weiyi took a deep breath and answered, "We choose to believe you,
the planet-chaser from Jupiter."
"Are you sure?" the two planet-chasers asked together.
"Yes," all three said in unison.
As soon as this choice was confirmed, all three simultaneously felt a change occur. First, the hair on their bodies
stood on end, then a faint buzzing sound began to echo in their brains, and their consciousness became slightly blurred.
This lasted only a short time. When the discomfort subsided, they found that the Proxima Centauri planet-chaser had left
its container, and the computer had shut down. Now only one was "alive."
"It's gone, now only I remain. Right or wrong, this is your choice. To be honest, I don't
know who's right either. I'm just an independent intelligence, unaware of much of the overall design." The chosen
Star-Bomber guided them. "Come, now you will face the real test. Intelligence
always has great significance in the universe, and you've discovered me; that significance is very close to you. Don't be afraid. Those who have the will to discover
my civilization have a chance to answer this question. I want to emphasize that in this test, aesthetics
and technology are equally important."
After making their choice, they quickly discovered they could use the Star-Bomber to query the Milky Way's
continuously changing star map information over a considerable time interval, with detailed records of the mass, relative distance, and position of each star system
. There were a total of thirteen million data points, spaced one Earth year apart. This meant that this
Star-Bomber civilization had existed for at least thirteen million Earth years; the time interval was Earth years, so the Star-Bomber
was likely also an Earth civilization.
The research on the star filter algorithm initially encountered considerable problems. The requirements from the "Star-Bombers" were very demanding,
demanding that their final algorithm achieve a certain initial convergence speed. Hu Weiyi
tried various improvements using conventional methods he could think of, but all fell far short of the Star-Bombers' requirements. Later, Xueling suggested
a bold idea.
Xueling: First, use a simple mathematical process—decompose the signal to be learned into odd and even
signals, and then learn them separately. Want to try it?
Hu Weiyi: What are the advantages of this? Let me think. (After a minute) Hmm… a completely random
signal becomes the sum of two regular signals. Ultimately, we only need to learn two signals with symmetry
. Symmetry means that mathematically, it often has a more concise and aesthetically pleasing form to represent it, so initially…
When learning, approaching them will be faster, and the error convergence speed will also be faster!
Xueling: There's one more thing. This fits the requirements of the Star-Bomber—it once suggested that aesthetic ability
is just as important as intelligence and innovation in this test.
Hu Weiyi: What direction do you study?
Xueling: My main direction is optical communication. I just suddenly thought that the simple signal and system
basics of parity decomposition have a kind of aesthetic appeal that meets the requirements. You are the main force among the three of us working on filters, and you are the one who is
in the thick of it, unlike me who is more of an observer. If we were in each other's shoes and had a slight sense of distance from the problem, you should also be able to figure it
out.
Xueling smiled shyly as usual, but Hu Weiyi felt that behind all the restraint and simplicity
was a heart that was extremely sensitive to beauty.
This method was eventually proven to be feasible, but it was necessary to adjust one parameter of the kernel function to make it approach perfection.
Finding this parameter was already a difficult task, because for the daunting problem of predicting n-body motion,
changes to this parameter have a butterfly effect on the convergence speed of the error; even extremely small adjustments to the parameter can lead to
highly irregular and chaotic changes in the convergence speed. Then one day, the Star-Bomber suddenly asked them mysteriously to help him
find Carl Sagan's popular science books, saying he was just reading them for fun. The three protagonists quickly grasped this helpful
hint—the constant Carl Sagan frequently mentioned in his popular science books.
Although they couldn't prove why the natural logarithm e or other interesting numbers wouldn't work, the final experiment showed
that only π allowed for optimal learning speed and accuracy. On this topic, Liuli shared a little
story with the two. It was a thought game her parents played with her when she was very young: Imagine if we
were four-dimensional beings, instead of three-dimensional beings, would discovering π be more difficult? The answer is yes.
Because dividing the surface area or volume of a sphere by its radius doesn't directly yield a definite constant; their relationship with the radius is
a higher-order function. n-dimensional beings tend to observe and think about n-1 dimensional geometric problems, so
a four-dimensional civilization that has just invented multiplication and division would find it difficult to obtain the natural constant π. "π is, in a sense,
a marker of three-dimensional beings, for more advanced civilizations," the Star-Bomber interjected at the end.
After the basic algorithm modeling was completed, the Star-Bomber did not deliberately make things difficult for the three in the star prediction problem,
which made them very worried about the difficulty of the next problem. It lazily stated that it was now contained in a
container with four basic circuit components, and as long as it was guided in the right way, it could completely handle
the simulation of the algorithm. It concluded: "The three of you need to improve the algorithm every day, and I will also
give you feedback on the algorithm's prediction results every day. Until I am completely satisfied with its calculation results."
Since truly entering the testing phase of star prediction, time has become interesting. Every morning, the Star-Bomber
would browse various news websites and try to discuss current events with the three. It was also keen on
following all kinds of new anime series… However, the three were busy researching new algorithms all day long, with neither the time nor the capacity to handle its bizarre data
throughput. This loneliness of having no one to confide in often made the Star-Bomber yell and complain that
the three of them weren't even a tenth of Ye Wenjie's power back then, how interesting she used to be, and so on, finally sighing that
it would be great if Ye Wenjie could get younger and younger as she lived like Nanjo Aino.
Every day, Ruri would gaze at the starry sky in a daze. Sometimes she would think about the Star-Bomber's complaint—
what kind of person was her mother when she was lively and interesting? Her own memories of her mother were all
blurry and flat. Other times, Ruri would think about something deeper and more obscure,
something that made her feel uneasy. She had always been a very sensitive person to everything around her, but the recent events contained
too many hidden details, and she hadn't fully unearthed the hidden threads behind them.
She felt fate driving everything, and she was powerless to stop it. This driving force seemed to be
kneading her and Hu Weiyi together, yet it also seemed to be whispering a gentle sigh. She vaguely felt
the rough texture of the gears of fate, and the creaking sound of time being crushed, as if coming from the future.
It's okay, just do your part to the best of your ability, and even if something happens in the future, it will
be beautiful in retrospect. That's what she told herself in the end.
One day, Hu Weiyi woke up groggily in the laboratory. The exhaustion of the previous night made him feel weak, and
everything felt like a dream. Starving, he rummaged through the laboratory for food. Liuli and Xueling were
sleeping in the office next door, so he moved quietly, trying not to make any noise.
In the bottom cabinet of an inconspicuous black wooden cabinet, he found something very unreal
. It was a top-of-the-line PS6 motion-sensing console, but there were no game boxes next to it. The console's surface
was spotless, so clean it had a strange, unreal quality, making him even more certain he was dreaming. He remembered
recommending Final Fantasy XIII-2 to Ruri two years ago, hoping she would play it carefully and they could discuss it together, including many
details, the soundtrack, and the game's setting that allowed travel through time to explore various historical possibilities. Unfortunately, two
years had passed and she hadn't mentioned it again.
Although Square's main purpose in remaking old content was to make money, he would still buy and collect some of the remastered classic versions
. He had bought and downloaded the complete remastered FF13 trilogy and sent it to Ruri. As for whether Ruri
had played it or liked it, he always liked to treat it like Schr?dinger's cat. When you don't know the outcome,
you can always maintain the best vision for the world, he always thought.
As if in a dream, Hu Weiyi closed the cabinet door. He felt it was a beautiful scene, and
as long as he didn't open it when he was awake in the next few days, this detail could make him happy for a long time.
A week later, when he couldn't resist opening the cabinet again, he found it empty.
Regardless, if you feel something is beautiful and are afraid to destroy it, then it must be true
affection. He comforted himself with this thought.
Hu Weiyi began to blame himself for being fickle a month after he arrived at Peking University. By then, their
star prediction algorithm submitted to the Star-Bombers had met the requirements, and the Star-Bombers gave the three of them a week to rest and wait.
Waiting for the next test question.
Once the mind is slightly relieved from tension, the aesthetic appreciation of the people and things around him is immediately released. Liuli has always been
like a fox; although he is very familiar with her, he still cannot fully grasp her. He knows that her soft and
docile side is deliberately presented for him, while a certain profound and extraordinary part of her thoughts is always hidden behind her tail
. In her honest world, he is certain of love; but in her more sensitive and complex depths, he
is ignorant and insecure. Xueling, on the other hand, is an unmasked wind chime; fate will blow her, and melancholy and joy
will be played out directly. He doesn't know what is hidden behind her special calm at times, but
what is hidden is certainly not complicated.
So when Liuli appeared before him one dim afternoon, pulling Xueling hidden behind her back, Hu Weiyi
was more worried that Liuli was thinking too deeply about things.
Liuli: In your understanding, what is love?
Hu Weiyi: That's a difficult question to answer. Perhaps happiness outweighs the promise—"happiness" minus
"promise"? Do you have any suggestions?
Hu Weiyi clearly showed his worry in his eyes. He hoped to tell Liuli, "I understand you're worried about
things I haven't yet figured out, but don't bear it alone. You can tell me." Liuli understood his
look, but still insisted on finishing the conversation.
Liuli: "Such a simple question, what are you thinking about! Just go out and experience more, feel more, and appreciate more." Xueling
timidly told me today that she wanted to ask you out. We've already discussed it; as long as it's something beautiful, let it happen
.
Hu Weiyi: "But you…
" Liuli: "You haven't let me down in any way. Don't worry, just feel it with your heart."
Liuli revealed his fiery red tail. After the fox's tail swayed, he saw
Xueling in the corner, head down, lips pursed.
The boy knew that Liuli had already sensed some unspeakable secrets about fate, but he didn't ask.
He knew it was the part he couldn't see that was at work. He could only see himself as a drifting duckweed. He imagined himself
as the protagonist of a novel, able only to feel with the best heart and do his best, then leave his fate to
the writer.
So Hu Weiyi asked Xueling to go to the movies. On a late autumn night in Beijing, the surrounding lights and bustling
crowds became a fragile canvas, and they were the moving perspectives on that canvas. As they turned a corner,
the boy's elbow pressed against the girl's soft chest through her clothes. The girl said nothing, only lowered her head
and tightened her grip on his hand as they walked silently. When Hu Weiyi led her up the stairs to the movie theater, he caught a glimpse of her shy
restraint. Using the odd self-service machine of this small theater for the first time, they fumbled around until they finally printed their tickets
. Hu Weiyi looked at her delicate hair and the joyful expression of "finally not missing it,"
watching her cute yet slightly nervous sigh, and suddenly felt a tenderness in his heart.
Later, Hu Weiyi shamelessly asked her why she was nervous. Xueling explained that if she appeared
more composed and confident than Hu Weiyi, he might not know how to handle the situation or even feel nervous; however,
showing her own appropriate level of restraint would make him feel at ease.
Stepping out of the cinema, under the vast, starless Beijing night sky, perhaps because of
the presence of others, everything around them seemed even more profound, mysterious, and blurred. Suddenly, in this expansive,
bustling yet desolate city, Xueling asked Hu Weiyi, who was walking back to school with her, "If there were only two
people left in this universe, you and a girl, what would you say to her in a romantic way?"
"This… is such a difficult question. Give me some time to answer you, okay?"
"Okay. I'll wait."
Later, Hu Weiyi learned that Xueling was a very lonely person. She yearned for everything, but
often remained cautious due to practical reasons. Her parents both passed away when she was very young. In high school, she
participated in the Physics Olympiad and was spotted by Ye Wenjie and Liu Cixin, who nurtured her all the way to Peking University for graduate studies.
"If one day I were to leave this world and go to a very, very far place, I only need to convince myself
." She described her loneliness this way. "Oh, and before leaving, I need to leave a handwritten note to avoid causing
trouble for others. Just say, I'm disgusted with society and voluntarily choose to disappear. Don't file a case against me, because I don't want
to be found by you, and you won't find me."
"Liar! If you're so world-weary, you wouldn't like another person," Hu Weiyi joked.
"Perhaps the logic is: only because you like someone do you have the right and the energy to be world-weary."
But they both saw in each other's eyes that neither of them was world-weary. Thus, the hidden question of whether they liked each other
became even more interesting.
III. An Invitation from a Cosmic Naturalist
Many years later, far, far away from Earth, Hu Weiyi hummed
a distant ballad: "
The days of the past were slower
, carriages, horses, and mail were slower
, a lifetime was only enough to love one person
"—Mu Xin, "The Past Was Slow."
Beside her was a barbell-like philosopher named Rostell. The Barbell Alien has two heads, one
above and one below, connected by a slender, vertical spine. Around the spine are randomly distributed a dozen to
several dozen fingers. As it ages, the distance between the heads and fingers increases rapidly, and
the functions of the fingers at different heights become increasingly clear. Generally, the upper head of the Barbell Alien is responsible for speaking, and the lower
head for walking and eating. However, Roster's enzyme chain is a philosopher, so he likes to
roll forward on his back, and both heads like to talk.
Roster's enzyme chain: I understand, this song describes an ideal life paradigm… with
someone you once loved?
Hu Weiyi: Love? I guess so. At the time, I thought she was the only girl I wanted.
Roster's enzyme chain: Where is that person you miss now? On Earth?
Hu Weiyi: Yes. In our society, distance always makes feelings thinner, no longer able to flourish.
The joy of nurturing people. Eventually, it gradually disappears. Is it like this in your society too?
Roster Enzyme Chain: Of course not. You know, we are born with one body and two heads, one
male and one female. The two heads fall in love, relying on the tempering of daily trivialities. As the individual matures, the two heads
grow further and further apart. In the ancient times of our civilization, with abundant natural conditions, someone once encircled their spine around the equator.
You see, after the distance between the two heads reaches its limit, it slowly shortens again, until finally there is no distance left.
Hu Weiyi waved her hand: You know what I mean by distance. It's a kind of heartbreaking feeling.
Roster Enzyme Chain: Of course I know what you're trying to say. Let me answer you in another way. You just
said the author of this song's lyrics is named Mu Xin. What does this name mean? Hu Weiyi: In my understanding, Mu represents nature, and Xin represents pure goodness. It probably means 　　filling one's heart
with the most natural aesthetics and the kindest innate goodness.
This reminds me of a substance on Earth called glass. You perceive it
as naturally pure and good, transparent to you. But that's merely its kindness. Behind its simple transparency lies
an essence you can't grasp.
Roster's enzyme chain: What about Xue Ling? Can you truly see through the person you love?
Hu Weiyi remained silent for a long time, finally shaking her head with a bitter smile: I know clearly that I love Xue Ling. She used to be
simple, but now, she's someone I can't fully understand either.
Roster's enzyme chain: Leaving Earth was a special opportunity for her, given her repression. The liberation of humanity brings about
the full development of the individual; full self-examination and free development make one unpredictable and charming.
This is normal, and beautiful.
Hu Weiyi remained silent.
Roster's enzyme chain: Perhaps you missed something, and hurt someone, but everything was foreshadowing.
Distance is a good thing; it allows you to understand more principles. Emotion always brings sadness; let's return to the
rational topic of distance. Do you remember that primitive technology for storing information between stars? In our
civilization, it is taboo, because it can be used as a terrible weapon, enough to destroy countless civilizations.
Hu Weiyi listened quietly to this ancient wisdom, without uttering a word. He knew that his joys and sorrows
were merely dust in the universe; faced with the dark side of reason, emotion was a spoiled, fragile infant.
"Roster's enzyme peptide chain: Information storage based on the gain reflection of a star's atmosphere consumes a huge amount of energy.
The prehistoric civilization you encountered was friendly, only using the critical power to ensure storage at the critical frequency. This was
to help you, not to exterminate you. If the initial signal power is extremely high, then each
reflection of the signal will greatly consume the star's energy. A highly advanced civilization only
needs to store an extremely powerful signal between itself and another star to extinguish a star. To extinguish a vast galaxy
, it only needs to ignite one of its stars, letting the curse spread. A single spark can start a prairie fire."
Hu Weiyi looked up at the starry sky. The quiet silhouette of the Milky Way prevented him from asking that question. But philosophers
can guess anything.
Rostel enzyme peptide chain: Yes. Think of those invisible, extinguished parts of the universe. We
are lucky. They died in darkness, and we live in light, simply because we
are far enough away from their darkness.
A week's rest passed quickly, and in the waiting, it was often the more ignorant one who couldn't wait to ask questions first.
Surprisingly, the three of them used rather vague questions to get information that might save their lives later.
"You said in our last chat that the purpose of the test was an invitation. How should we accept and begin your invitation
to the journey? Do we need to go somewhere in the universe first?" Hu Weiyi was always the one chosen to ask questions
, because her naturally silly and goofy appearance might make the star-chaser lower his guard.
"I will also give you a question. Complete it, and then I will tell you what the invitation is. The invitees
will be placed in a special, independent space, entering a state where all senses are shut down. They
will be awakened naturally upon reaching the destination. But the being that awakens you is not me.
That's all I can tell you about the way to the destination; excessive technical exchanges are prohibited."
"It seems we need to consider hibernation drugs. He's the only one in the world who has developed hibernation drugs."
Liuli winked mischievously at Hu Weiyi. "Don't you have that uncle's phone number? You really know how to accumulate
good karma."
Remember that uncle? Yes, the one Liuli teased on the train, making him draw circles on the bed. Obviously
, he was on the same train as our protagonist, so he's in Beijing now.
Hu Weiyi made a call, frankly explaining the research needs of a certain research institute at Peking University. The seemingly kind and lovable
uncle arrived the next day.
With the hibernation drug problem solved, the three focused their attention back on the second test question for the Star-Bombers.
This problem involves multipath propagation on a complex network. The problem
presents the Milky Way's current star map as a vast, complex network, with each star as a node. It claims that the degree
and distances between nodes in this network perfectly follow what scientists call a power-law distribution. The task is
to transmit a message through this complex network, starting from the Sun, to an arbitrary and definite node. The goal is to obtain
the optimal algorithm for multipath propagation and reassembly of the signal within this nearly infinitely large network.
Liuli was the first to realize the hidden implications of this test, her eyes alerting Hu Weiyi
and Xueling. The boy clearly couldn't tolerate such a profound question.
Hu Weiyi: Using stars as nodes in the network, and considering multipath propagation, it's easy to think of
the stellar gain reflection principle as the basis for this information transmission. However, the distances between stars in the Milky Way aren't always
as close as between Proxima Centauri and the Sun. If the distance between two nodes on the propagation path is vast, then
our initial power must be enormous to traverse that distance, resulting in each star on the propagation path
consuming a massive amount of energy. Because of its immense power, this information might even oscillate back and forth across the Milky Way, making it difficult
to eradicate. Each such oscillation is accompanied by a massive energy consumption by the node stars, potentially leading to...
It greatly shortens the lifespan of stars.
Star-Striker: So electromagnetic waves aren't something every civilization dares to play with. As you said, while primitive, they
harbor unsettling destructive potential. But what if what we want to transmit isn't electromagnetic waves but other
forms? For example, de Broglie waves. Mass is just an illusion. I can't tell you
the technological details beyond your time; you only need to know that matter waves can also amplify reflections on stars without causing them to consume
enormous amounts of energy.
Hu Weiyi: Are de Broglie waves the best way to transmit information and matter? Star-Striker: You're not stupid at all; you're trying to trick me again. Matter waves are just a 　　cramped and incomplete projection of
some grander theory into a crude, fate-driven world. Okay, stop thinking about these random things 　　. Go design an algorithm and submit it to me. Information transmission on complex networks is a problem that human mathematics hasn't 　　fully conquered yet; brute force alone won't work. Yes, you guessed right; this is just a friendly reminder. 　　Hu Weiyi: ...The saying 　　"three men can make a tiger" makes sense, as does the idea that three cobblers are better than one Zhuge Liang, and the idea that a cycle of three 　　contains chaos makes sense. The idea that three Earthlings can pass the test also makes sense. 　　Therefore, three is truly a magical number. 　　Xue Ling quickly thought of the complex network article left behind by Professor Ye Wenjie. It was a very strange 　　paper; Professor Ye had no authorship, hadn't submitted it, and simply left it on Xue Ling's desk before leaving, instructing her 　　to read it carefully. 　　After studying it together, the three of them quickly realized that Professor Ye had deliberately left it behind. As for the professor's departure 　　, it was very likely also purposeful. "Perhaps he was avoiding something that was about to happen." Even someone 　　as objective and cautious as Xue Ling speculated in this way. However, compared to Professor Ye's unpredictable whereabouts, the paper 　　and the novel mathematical method in front of them were more attractive to their minds. In this 　　article, which perhaps never intended to be published, Professor Ye proposed a thinking method called "macronodes." For a long time, 　　the key to studying the propagation problem in complex networks has been that the degree of nodes follows a power-law distribution, but human mathematical tools have not been able to effectively utilize this information 　　. However, the mathematical processing method presented in this paper, which seems completely out of step with our times, solves all the problems. 　　Let's consider a sufficiently large complex network with nearly, but 　　not infinitely many, nodes, say n. The number of edges connecting each node to other nodes, i.e., its degree, 　　follows a power-law distribution. Now, we randomly select n nodes from these n nodes, where 　　n satisfies nk=n and k is a positive integer. We consider these n selected nodes as 　　macronodes. The expected number of edges connecting this macronode to other macronodes, i.e., the expected macrodegree, satisfies the 　　following formula… Since the entire complex network is sufficiently large, the probability distribution of node degrees is flattened, so 　　this expectation is the macrodegree of this macronode in this sufficiently large complex network. Since nk=n, the entire complex network 　　can be equivalently represented by a network of k macronodes using random selection. Since the macrodegree of any macronode 　　is determined by the following formula… therefore, this equivalent network of k macronodes… A network composed of n macro nodes is a macro-uniform network. 　　When the initial network is large enough, probability smooths out all sharp possibilities, and the randomly selected 　　subnetwork composed of n nodes also follows a power-law distribution, making it a complex network. Therefore, the mathematical processing method of macro nodes can be 　　applied to subnetworks, and subnetworks of subnetworks, and so on, infinitely. 　　This paper, based on the mathematical method of macro nodes, 　　conducts a new exploration of the propagation and sharing of resources and information and related game strategies on complex networks, and draws some interesting conclusions... The article ends by thanking three people: 　　"Ye Wenjie", "Kenoby the Star-Striker from the Dark World", and "The Original Star-Striker". 　　The three were amazed by the alternative mathematical thinking in the article and the indescribable concise beauty of the derivation process, while 　　exchanging guesses about the mysterious author. "Professor Liu is not among the thank-you recipients. So it must be him 　　." They finally came to this conclusion, only Liuli's eyes flashed with a less certain, complex logical 　　turbulence. Speculation about the author's identity was quickly 　　overshadowed 　　by the astonishing performance of the "macronode" concept in the design of the target algorithm , which monopolized the three's mental excitement for the next month. This mathematical method 　　seemed tailor-made to solve the multipath propagation problem in the Milky Way. Faced with the macronode concept, even the most complex 　　propagation problems could be transformed into simple and aesthetically pleasing solutions, easily and effortlessly incorporated into the final algorithm 　　. 　　Therefore, when the Star-Bomber readily accepted their submitted algorithm a month later, only asking them to wait for 　　the calculation results, the three were not surprised. "You'll have the results when you wake up tomorrow morning. That will be the 　　moment I leave this body, and you face your true mission," the Star-Bomber said, his voice unusually choked. At that 　　moment, almost no one understood the reason behind it. Hu Weiyi held their hands, Xue Ling held his left hand tightly with 　　a relaxed smile, while Liuli scratched the boy's right palm with her index finger; she needed a loud laugh to 　　calm herself. 　　Almost no one noticed how weak Liuli's fingertips were. 　　It was an ordinary morning for almost everyone. Liuli washed up and left early, buying Hu Weiyi's 　　favorite fried dough sticks and soy milk. Passing a construction site on campus, she remembered it was 　　the spiral-shaped underwater restaurant her classmates had been discussing in their group chat. She realized then that she hadn't paid attention 　　to anyone else in a very long time. Her heart was already firmly tied to him. While queuing for soy milk, she deliberately 　　chose an unsweetened one and sprinkled a large spoonful of salt into it. "That way you'll remember how special today is. 　　You won't forget me, right?" she whispered to the air. 　　Back in the lab, she didn't rush to wake the two lazybones who had slept all 　　afternoon and night, but were still wide awake. The girl gently opened the door, placed the soy milk, fried dough sticks, and Xueling's 　　favorite large meat buns on the table in front of the sofa, then slowly walked out of the room. As she closed the door, 　　she looked at him for a long time, feeling her eyes sting, so she went to the bathroom to wash her face.

Ruri entered the room where the Planet Bomber was kept and tightly closed the door behind her. She checked the calculation results
, which satisfied the girl.
She glanced back at the door; it was firmly shut.
She gently stroked the Planet Bomber's shell, and the laptop's casing seemed to come alive in an instant,
changing shades of blue with each touch and press of her fingers.
Yes, blue, I know you know more than I do.
"Don't say anything now, don't tell me anything. Wait until they come in after breakfast, okay…
" The girl hugged the laptop.
"Child, don't be sad. It will be alright, everything will be alright, don't cry. Believe me, it's all foreshadowing."
"Tell me, they'll remember me, right?"
"Of course. It's a promise, a promise of fate."
Ruri smiled through her tears. "Behave yourself, I want to hold you and sleep for a while now. Don't move…"
So she held the intelligent being who was about to disappear from her life, motionless, waiting for the other
two intelligent beings to awaken.
"Don't be afraid, it's all foreshadowing," the Star-Bomber gently repeated.
Liuli didn't let her tears flow; she held it tightly, motionless.
When the two lazybones opened the laboratory door, they had no idea that their fate was about to be decided. Inside
, Liuli greeted them with a quiet gaze.
After the three checked the final calculation results, the Star-Bomber formally expressed his satisfaction with the algorithm, then showed
them several written travelogues.
These cosmic travelogues, each telling an independent story, told from the perspective of a super-civilization , whose observations and interactions included various 　　interstellar civilizations,
both imaginable and unimaginable to humans .
For example, one story recounts the narrator's encounter with a civilization that had built spherical walls to enclose its galaxy
. These massive, enclosed metal spheres were referred to as the "Lone City": "I spent three
home star cycles winding my way up the walls of this Lone City. I eagerly pressed myself against the walls, listening intently. The long
strings and superstrings each possessed their own aesthetic layers, but at that moment, any information I could capture was exquisitely beautiful.
Faintly, there were the breathing sounds of stars, the sighs of massive gas giants swirling and tumbling in their orbits before passing each other
, the chaotic yet primal hisses of lower electromagnetic beings… but more often, there were
sounds of wisdom, the sounds of modulated waves at various levels, so complex that even after listening for a long time, I couldn't understand them. There were the sounds of roosters crowing, dogs barking,
cows neighing, horses neighing, and various lower animals—cats and mice—seemingly serving as entertainment." Interspersed among the more advanced
languages; the most ordered, and richly varied and layered, is another universal, advanced language of intelligence.
Since my tentacles couldn't truly penetrate the cold walls, I could only sigh and meditate against them, but my core was filled
with the ecstasy of discovery—not a restless thirst for knowledge, but a tranquil enjoyment. …
After circling the isolated city of the galaxy for several homeworld cycles, I was utterly frustrated: it was a city of civilization without gates. Those outside
couldn't enter, and those inside couldn't leave. This, though a significant discovery, also prevented my research and curiosity from
deepening further. …Unwilling to give up, I circled the isolated city again and again, trying to find the gate, or
a way to enter. But within the passable three-dimensional world, it was self-enclosed. …For the next three thousand homeworld cycles,
I waited patiently, hoping for… Intelligent life could emerge from within, or intelligent
beings returning from their travels might be about to enter. But I was equally disappointed; the interior of this isolated galactic city was bustling with activity, yet its outer walls remained cold and
unyielding. …After a long period of observation, I finally discovered the peculiarity of the city's spherical outer walls.
Several interfaces and different material boundaries were distributed in a ring-like pattern on the metal walls. Judging from the interfaces, each section of the ring-shaped wall
was not built in the same era; the materials and craftsmanship of different areas showed clear differences. Each
section was filled in at different times, ultimately sealing off the isolated civilization. At the north and south poles of the isolated galactic city, I even found
traces of two city gates, but for some reason, they were both blocked. Judging from the materials and craftsmanship of the seals, they
were not completed in the same period either. The initial opening was large enough for a medium-sized solid planet to pass through. Later,
the diameter of the gate shrank to the size of a generation of starships, and after dozens of changes across different eras, the city gate completely
disappeared, leaving behind its current completely closed state. I used the tendrils of decay to explore the traces of time, and discovered that
the process of blocking the gate showed signs of repeated attempts. Some of the final gaps were clearly first filled, then forcibly opened
, and finally blocked again with more advanced technology, repeating this process many times. Finally, these life-like rhythms
had their fill of turmoil, leaving only the cold outer walls and the eternally isolated clamor within. I contemplated
the bloody history this ancient city civilization might have experienced and its possible glorious prosperity elsewhere, and with my aging body, I built a superstring
beacon for future wanderers to pause…”
Hu Weiyi, reading this travelogue, suddenly recalled a novel he had read in his youth, Zhao Benfu's *
The City Without Gates*. The youthful passion for exploring the world and seeing different countries still surged within him, he
thought, touching his heart.
"Is this an invitation for us to become cosmologists or authors of some kind of magical travelogue?" Hu Weiyi
and Xue Ling saw the same unspoken question in each other's eyes.
"The universe is so vast, we really want to see it." That's what the three of them replied later.
"Alright. Hu Weiyi, Xue Ling, please step forward, you're welcome. But
those who don't belong to this time and space cannot be invited. Liuli, you don't belong to this time and space. I can take them away, but I can't take you
. I'm sorry, this news can only be told to you at the very end."
"No!" Fear and helplessness filled Liuli's body. She knelt forward and collapsed to the ground. "Are you talking about my
father? But my meeting with him wasn't arranged, it was my own choice. Everything was natural. I
was born into this world, I am an autonomous consciousness! I belong to this time and space!"
"But your father doesn't belong here, child. He comes from another place, another distant place, a
place that doesn't belong to this time." The Star-Striker's voice came calmly through the notebook's sound hole. "So you also..."
" Not belonging to this time and space. I cannot invite your father, nor can I invite you. Your meeting was meticulously arranged
. Reflect on the whole process, think of your father, Liuli. Then tell me your thoughts."
All the details of life surged forth like a tidal wave, and she had to mobilize every brain cell to savor its profound
mysteries. Suddenly, all the coincidences and luck took on a more bitter interpretation.
How could two people who met online be so compatible from the start? The unreserved trust between him and her seemed like water without a source.
Was this natural emotional experience real? Was it a cruel and real fate? If she hadn't accidentally met
and confronted that uncle on the train, putting him in dire need of comfort, Hu Weiyi wouldn't have been able to easily summon
him with a single phone call. And her mother, telling them about the complex algorithm of the macro nodes in the network, seemed to have seen through everything,
waiting for something all along. Wasn't this her father's arrangement before his death? Was her father's death really due to bronchitis and depression
? Her parents had received this signal more than a decade ago. With their intelligence, how much
research and exploration had they conducted? These questions were like a bottomless abyss, threatening to devour all warmth and
beautiful emotions.
The Star-Striker seemed to sense Liuli's turbulent thoughts. He comforted her gently, "Don't question
the authenticity and beauty of all the feelings you've experienced; they are the most precious."
"Can you tell me, who orchestrated all of this? Our meeting and getting to know each other, my own consciousness
and life, all the real emotions, the beautiful expectations for the future—is everything meaningless?
What controls them? I want to change it!" Liuli stood proudly, fiery red tears streaming down her
face, radiating fiery anger and despair. She hadn't cried in a long time, so she had been able to hold back most of the morning
. But Hu Weiyi suddenly grabbed her hand; this was the final straw. She
dug her fingertips into his palm, helplessly, desperately.
"You can call it fate, child. You completed the test using advanced technology, but your civilization
hasn't crossed that hurdle. You, and your civilization, are still subject to fate. I can't
tell you more; some knowledge needs to be hidden, and you haven't reached that point yet. You can't go with them
; it's part of fate, but you have other missions to complete on Earth. This parting
may have many twists and turns in the future. So, child, don't be afraid. Tell your friends to keep going
."
"Can't you two idiots turn your backs?" Liuli said later.
Xueling and Hu Weiyi obediently turned around. They knew they weren't particularly clever, but the wisest
are always the most tormented. So they were obedient now.
Hu Weiyi felt a firm fist pressing against her back, not allowing her to back down. Then a
damp, grainy voice came: "Go forward. Don't think about anything." This time it wasn't fiery
red, but pure, transparent, like glass. Something went out.
He knew he couldn't turn back. There must be stained-glass tears on her face; he dared not turn back.
That way, the most beautiful part of her in his memory would be stained-glass, not the fiery, unpredictable
fox tail. He thought this.
This is the person I love. Liuli softly told herself. She knew the boy understood her meaning and wouldn't
turn around, so she patted his back with her fist, again and again. This is the person I love. She repeated to
herself.
Liuli embraced the computer that housed the Star-Striker once more. She gently asked the
machine, meticulously executing ancient procedures, "Is there anything else you want to say?"
The Star-Striker ended this agonizing scene: "I need to remind you that the two invitees need to
be teleported out immediately. You have eight minutes to consider; otherwise, you will not be waited for. As I said, de Broglie is
a very good teleportation tool. Your sun is also a healthy star."
"Won't our departure cause trouble for others?" Hu Weiyi asked Xueling.
"Remember our conversation once? I said that if one day we were to leave this world and go to a very,
very far place, we only need to convince ourselves. But we could leave a note explaining it. Do you have anything
to say to your parents? If so, you can write a longer one."
"A little, but not too long. The entire universe is before me; I won't give myself a chance to hesitate."
Hu Weiyi turned his gaze to Liuli, who covered his mouth. Then she quickly removed her hand.
Those hands were warm, not cold.
"You two go with peace of mind. Time is short, and this is a rare opportunity. I have a feeling this isn't goodbye forever,"
Liuli said firmly at the end.
When they had everything prepared, Liuli had already left the room, leaving only Hu Weiyi
and Xueling. Everything softened.
The Star-Player said, “After my consciousness filled this vessel and was imbued with the projection of existence, your
language was clearly projected onto the sand screen of my consciousness. It is one of the things I have gradually become familiar with and fascinated by.
In the past ten years or so on Earth, I have explored and comprehended much information in your network. There is a poem I particularly
like because it metaphorically represents something beyond the perspective of fate. Alfred Best’s *Stars,
My Home* once quoted it, although I prefer the original title of that book, *Tiger, Tiger*. I believe
you will not misunderstand the voice I want to guide you to listen to, and to make the meaning of this separation and departure complete
and clear, a spoken English recitation is most appropriate. In all the Chinese translations, some information has been omitted.
I will now fill it in for you. Open all your senses, prepare to open your eyes to see the colorful universe and receive
the loving gaze of the Creator. Come, step forward and enter into this gentle meaning. I will sing
this poem for you.”
It was celestial music. Every syllable contains countless possibilities, yet all these possibilities are clearly visible and possess
a sense of beauty.
When the stars threw down their spears,
and watered heaven with their tears,
Did he smile at his work to see?
Did he, who made the lamb, make thee?
—"The Tiger" by William Blake
. The girl held the boy's hand tightly. Unable to hesitate, propelled by fate, they stepped into a gentle,
warm white light. All their senses were blurred; a cool, delicate sweetness, like ice cream, flooded their auditory nerves
; their sense of smell, through a soft, painful sensation, touched a hard, lemon-scented object—a
door. With a slight push, they tumbled into a wider dimension and a broader range of perceptions. As if pulled down by gravity,
torn apart, yet their subtle, profound senses told them they were whole. In a climax-like exhilaration, time
plunged from the granular, mathematically symbolic realm of logic into an infinitely vast, continuous ocean of pink and purple.
Its own existence was stretched open by a strange tension called "the meaning of wisdom," as if the power of the Creator was
manipulating this physical form, trying to wrap something within it. They didn't see what it was about to wrap,
but they knew they would accomplish it.
"Remember when you asked me what I would say to a girl if the whole world consisted only of me and her
? I was afraid I wouldn't answer well, or that my answer wouldn't be convincing enough to myself..."
"Have you thought about it now?" Xue Ling nestled trustingly in Hu Weiyi's arms, her eyes closed,
not in a hurry to gain anything. She knew his answer would satisfy her.
"I know now. When the universe around me consists only of me and a girl, I will tell that girl
: 'Look, I promised to give you the whole world, and now I've done it.'"
"...The whole universe."
"Hmm..."
Then they closed all their senses in the non-three-dimensional space, awaiting the moment of awakening.
However, our journey through various cosmic civilizations and encounters with more comical characters is a topic for our next story.
Let's now turn our attention back to Earth and look at the other characters in our story.
Soon, Liuli met her mother, who had returned from her travels, and the mother and daughter embraced for a long time. Liuli didn't ask about her father
's story or difficult questions like where her own destiny lay. She knew that since her mother had
hidden this story for over a decade, there must be a reason. Ye Wenjie sensed
the irreversible force of fate in her daughter's eyes, and a change she couldn't quite explain whether she should expect. Her mother told her daughter
that she had stored her father's story in some way, and that in a few years, when her daughter
had progressed further academically, she would discover it. They walked silently side-by-side on a snow-covered, indistinguishable
tree-lined path, black birds fluttering away overhead like torn pieces of paper. The mother
said to Liuli very seriously, "All you need to know now is that I clearly love your father, and that's enough.
Your mission on Earth has only just begun; you just need to keep moving forward." Liuli thought about it and found
the adjective "clearly" strange, but she knew her mother was serious, so she didn't ask.
Life quickly returned to normal. Liuli often passed by the newly built spiral-shaped underwater restaurant on campus, but she always
just looked at it from afar, thought about things, and then left. Until one hazy afternoon, the campus radio was playing
Faye Wong's "Red Bean," and the sun was struggling to set on the horizon. She listened for a long time, and then noticed
the uncle researching hibernation drugs standing next to her. A strong urge to confide in her drove her to invite the uncle in.
Actually, the uncle had a name, but we don't need to know it in this story.
Liuli: "Do hibernation drugs really work?"
Uncle: "In this matter, you've all been blinded by intuition. My hibernation drug is of course genuine
, but you don't need it." Based on the information you just shared,
the last part of that test question was about multipath propagation on complex networks?
Liuli: We initially thought it was just a test…
Uncle: Obviously, it was asking you to develop an algorithm to transmit the invitee to their destination
. You see, if the transmission is based on a complex network with stars as nodes, and it itself is some kind of
intelligent life form with energy nodes, then using this multipath routing method with stars as nodes to transmit the invitee is a
natural thing. If the algorithm is wrong, then only the individual of the tested civilization will suffer the loss, so
it's not wrong to think it was part of the test.
Liuli: This transmission method doesn't need sleeping pills, right…
Uncle: Anyway, I think so. But at the time, I really needed a lot of money for initial capital accumulation,
and even more so, I needed the spiritual support that cooperating with you provided. It fooled you with words, but helped me;
consider this a favor done to me by the extraterrestrial intelligence.
Liuli: How did your sleeping pills turn out?
Uncle: Recently, the country has been doing that Mars project, right? I've been incorporated into the regular army. Let me put it this way,
I'm worth over a billion now. But I'm still single.
Liuli: ...
This is a story of encounters and partings, and also the beginning of a much larger story. None of the characters
know what their future holds. At this moment, Earth is merely a speck of dust in space, and our protagonists
reside within the curtain of fate, waiting for it to be drawn back and the stage to appear.
In all the possible futures, a branch in time occasionally appears in Liuli's dreams. Wrinkled
and drowsy, she sits by a small red clay stove, clutching a genuine copy of Final Fantasy XIII-2. In the
somber, oppressive wait fueled by the dim firelight, she feels love slowly fading away. It's a wonderful game; after
completing it, you can go back to all the points in time to try and change the final fate. She has never told Hu Weiyi
that she has collected all 160 historical fragments and unlocked the hidden ending. She has simply
kept the game box hidden. She gently stroked the game box by the fireplace, feeling it contained her most precious possession—
a beautiful fox tail that belonged only to that boy.
Then she woke up, remembering how in the game, her older sister, Thunder, had hidden in a corner watching her younger sister, Sera, leave.
Her back turned, and then her sister murmured softly, "Maybe as long as I'm remembered by one person, I'll live forever
..." She knew this was just a small detail, and she had prepared many such small details for him to
discuss together. She found that she wouldn't shed tears for this regret. "I still have an independent destiny to complete.
Maybe I'll wait for you, maybe I won't," she told herself.
_________________________________________________________________
At the end of the first volume (the first three chapters), the background music from the gradually dying world of AF700 in FF13-2 is quite fitting.
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[The Star-Striker's Tale] (Chapters 1, 2, and 3. The first three chapters have no sex scenes)

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