The weather has been so good lately that I'm really getting used to it.
The bright sunlight filtered through the thin clouds and rested on the branches of the red pine. The traces of snow between the green branches had not yet melted away, and a layer of powdery light gold was evenly sprinkled on them.
The flames of the Zerg invasion once spread to this galaxy, and the scars left behind were covered by new snow, and new buildings rose from the ground. The strange dream that night finally came to an end, and we escaped from the suppressed aftermath. After waking up, although nothing had changed, it was as if we had broken free of a layer of visible shackles.
The military academy is a rare place of tranquility.
The students who participated in the battle were awarded medals by the Alliance Headquarters. The students who were not selected to join the expedition fleet and stayed in the interstellar space to become the last defense also received corresponding commendations and rewards.
Even the freshmen in the preparatory year were taken to listen to the reports from their seniors. The whole academy was empty and quiet, and everyone was slowly repairing the wounds left by the war.
…
Zhuang Yu put down the report document, handed his military cap to his adjutant, jumped out of the car, and hurried into the student dormitory of the logistics major.
The top floor of the apartment is still exactly the same as before.
At the end of the corridor, there were a lot of semi-finished products of machines, and a red light would turn on when it detected someone passing by. The door of the dormitory was tightly closed, and there was almost no difference from when the master left.
Zhuang Yu was standing outside the dormitory door. He knocked for the twenty-seventh time before someone finally opened the door.
Zhan Chen stood in the overflowing light of the living room.
He was wearing his usual white shirt and apron, with his sleeves neatly rolled up to his elbows. The room was filled with the tempting sweet smell of baking cookies.
As if he was not surprised that Zhuang Yu would come, Zhan Chen smiled and stepped aside to let Zhuang Yu into the living room: "Captain Zhuang."
"The Sui family is going crazy looking for you."
Zhuang Yu walked in, took off his coat and hung it up: "If it was Xi Ji, I would still know - why did you hide here?"
Zhuang Yu asked as he casually glanced around the furnishings in the room.
Even from an observer's perspective, this living room had not changed at all since he first came here.
The light shines through the hollow planetary pattern on the curtains, spreading out into bright spots on the gauze.
The fabric sofa was piled with pillows that made me want to arrange them myself, the light-colored carpet was clean and soft, and the desk in the corner was piled with a lot of paper materials.
Zhan Chen poured a glass of water and handed it to Zhuang Yu.
He did not answer Zhuang Yu's question, but took the initiative to ask: "Is the operation of the alliance headquarters going smoothly?"
"It went smoothly." Zhuang Yu nodded. "The old guys all came back to help. The new recruits are the core and performed much better than we expected."
The young people worked hard together, and not long after Yu Tang woke up, he took the initiative to apply to help, and everything was back on track.
"When you cut off the connection between the Transmigration Bookstore and this world, Sui Si and Ke Ming were also separated from their stolen identities."
Zhuang Yu said: "They have withheld the data as hostage, and I am now negotiating with that data."
Zhan Chen was curious: "Negotiation?"
The data hidden in the Book-Traveling Bureau, which used "book-traveling" to arbitrarily deprive and control the fate of mankind, had long been locked in the recycling bin.
The monitoring system will cooperate with supervision to prohibit them from taking any actions that violate the rules in the future.
"You also think there is nothing to negotiate, right?"
Zhuang Yu laughed and raised his hand to rub his neck: "Xu Ji said that their civilization has developed to the end after all, and there are many technologies that are far superior to ours... All these technologies are negative."
They can come up with machines to brainwash people, programs that can be implanted into consciousness, and energy technology, weapons manufacturing, and cutting-edge theories that far exceed the human technology tree.
This kind of negotiation has already entered the realm of war and confrontation, and is closer to a business game. The Security Department selected the negotiators, and Nie Chi brought Yu Tang to report.
Yu Tang was very patient, and with the support of Xu Ji, he used the last two segments of data that still contained external information as the basis, and slowly fished out that data. The content he obtained was enough to make the researchers in the science department so excited that they stayed up all night for several days.
Zhan Chen raised his eyebrows.
He hadn't thought there was such a trick. After a closer look, he realized that it was indeed Yu Tang's usual style of planning: "Are these two tricks enough?"
"It's a little tight, but it's enough."
Zhuang Yu nodded: "The two of them are so crazy that they are unwilling to take any loss. They scared the old guy..."
Zhuang Yu rubbed his forehead. He did have a headache, but he also had a suppressed feeling of relief: "The data from the past two days made them so angry that they told us not to bully them too much... Now they know what Mr. Yu has taught them."
Zhan Chen raised the corner of his mouth, a smile appearing in his eyes.
"Thanks to my nervousness."
Zhuang Yu glanced at Zhan Chen and said, "If the Security Department had been seriously injured this time, the instructor and team doctor Sui would have had to go back to help. They would have gone to you long ago."
He had a rare day off, and he came to find Zhan Chen at Nie Chi's request. Now he knew clearly why Zhan Chen was willing to go back: "You have taken over the Secret Service Bureau. Are you going to return to the Security Department? Are you going to return to the Sui family as well?"
Zhan Chen sorted out the materials on the table, aligned the papers, and put them on the bookshelf.
"Puke did a great job."
Zhan Chen met Zhuang Yu's gaze and said, "I am just an ordinary action agent, not suitable to take over the position of director of the Secret Service Bureau. If the department needs me, I will go back and report."
Zhuang Yu paused, then raised his hand and pressed his forehead.
If someone else said this, no matter how sincere they were, it would inevitably make you feel that they were holding a grudge against the Secret Service director for his previous despicable behavior.
But when Zhuang Yu looked at Zhan Chen, he could find a bit of similar emotion - as if the facts were really as Zhan Chen said, he was just an ordinary agent who could not be of much help when he went back.
"I will go back and convey this to the Security Department."
Zhan Chen's tone was still gentle as usual, but the attitude he expressed was firm enough. Zhuang Yu didn't want to mention this matter any more, so he sat on the sofa away from the pillow and took another sip of water: "What's wrong with Mr. Yu?"
Zhan Chen: "Not awake yet."
Zhuang Yu was stunned for a moment, then looked up at him while holding the paper cup.
"He is exhausted and needs to sleep more." Zhan Chen sat down at the table. "I don't have anything to do either. I'll just wait for him here."
Zhuang Yu couldn't help but frown.
Li Ji's wingman returned with the Dolphin. Zhuang Yu went to pick them up and briefly saw Yu Tang being carried out of the cabin by Li Zhanchen.
Luo Ran specifically asked the people in the Science Department what the consequences would be if the electron storm exhausted its energy at once, but he failed to get a unified opinion.
Compared with the vast universe, human observation angle is still too primitive after all, and many questions still need more accurate answers.
Yu Tang realized this and prepared to stay on the edge of this world forever, sleeping to support the stability of the dimension.
"How can we help?" Zhuang Yu said, "Anything you need, you—"
Zhan Chen shook his head.
Zhuang Yu frowned even more tightly: "The military has two particle colliders, is that okay?"
"I've tried it, and the energy is enough. At least the energy contained in a fast radio burst is needed."
Zhan Chen said: "Just in case, the Science Department is also observing 24 hours a day, trying to locate and make new predictions."
Zhuang Yu looked at him for a long while, breathed a sigh of relief, and smiled while holding the crumpled paper cup: "From your tone, they may have worked in vain."
"Observing and locating fast radio bursts and attempting to utilize cosmic energy are precursors to humanity entering the second cosmic civilization."
Zhan Chen works at Chuan Shu Bureau and has seen many different worlds under the technology tree. He put on his glasses, responded in a gentle voice, and opened the laptop on the table: "This research will have far-reaching significance and impact, and you will be working in vain."
Zhuang Yu said this to the young man and nodded dumbly: "Okay, it's a waste of time."
He walked to the desk and watched Zhan Chen typing on the keyboard: "What are you writing?"
Zhan Chen raised his head: "This is the fifth largest book in the world."
Zhuang Yu was stunned.
"I borrowed a supernatural card from a senior from the Supervisory Agency. They promised me that I could use it for the last time before recycling and destroying it."
Zhan Chen said: "This is the card that can turn the story into reality."
Zhuang Yu had heard of this supernatural card a long time ago.
He looked at Zhan Chen's desk. The card that once belonged to the director of the Secret Service was placed on the desk, as simple as a piece of white paper waiting to be written on.
It was this card with special abilities that combined the highest technological strength of data civilization, turning their world into a story, wantonly smearing, modifying, and depriving countless people of their fate.
"Is Chuanshuju determined to destroy it?" Zhuang Yu asked.
Zhan Chen nodded: "This card should have been made."
Cards do have good and evil sides, but no one can completely guarantee whether the person using the cards is good or evil, and whether he or she can control the growing greed and desire.
Stories should always be just stories.
"In that case, what are you writing?"
Zhuang Yu was a little curious. He thought Zhan Chen was the kind of person who liked to manipulate other people's fates. "Is there any story that hasn't been completed?"
"This is a story that only belongs to us." Zhan Chen adjusted his glasses. "There was a small ball of light that came to our galaxy and captured and raised a group of human beings."
Zhan Chen: "This kind of people like him very much."
His voice was clear and mellow, and he lowered his tone slightly as he patiently told the story, as if he was narrating a particularly leisurely chase that focused on the encounter.
In the gentle ending tone, a small ball of light appeared from his collar.
It was still dim, with a thin layer of frost, which warmed Zhan Chen's palms and turned into tiny drops of water.
The small ball of light fell into Zhan Chen's palm and happily threw the water droplets all over Zhuang Yu's face.
"..." Zhuang Yu was more impressed by this ball of light than anyone else. He raised his hand to wipe his face and bent down: "Mr. Yu has woken up?"
"I haven't fully woken up yet. Due to lack of energy, I need to maintain this state for a short time."
Zhan Chen said: "We are going to go through this book again in the cards."
This card contains a huge amount of energy, which is accumulated and stored by those data in order to snatch the "reality" of mankind. This energy is enough to completely capture the entire world.
It is also enough to wake up a ball of light.
"Please rest assured, I still need to stay here for a while to take care of some private matters."
Zhan Chen looked towards Zhuang Yu. He touched the small ball of gray light in his palm and took off his glasses. His gentle, dark and quiet eyes also revealed a brightness washed by fresh snow.
Zhuang Yu knew who he wanted him to convey the message to, so he nodded and stood up straight.
Zhan Chen also stood up by holding the edge of the table.
"This is the last book," Zhan Chen said. "We will wake up at the end of the story."
"I'll look through the books for him, and we'll return the cards to the Book Bureau."
Zhan Chen: "I will take him home to meet mom and dad."