Victor is an old professor, and a "not very highly respected" old professor of astrophysics.
Due to years of alcoholism, he was half asleep almost every day, so his neighbors also disliked him and kept away from him.
But he didn't care, because for him, this life was almost over. One more friend and one less friend have no impact at all - it will be the same after being buried in the soil anyway.
However, there was just one thing he seemed to care about.
Even though I have already retired from the position of professor, I no longer have to lead students to do research and projects. But he still chose to continue "working"...
Yes, even if he was just a volunteer cleaner, he would go out on time every morning and almost never fall behind.
This morning, old Victor got up from bed on time again. He put on his clothes, took a bottle of wine, and then went to the volunteer center to pick up tools as usual.
But now, it is already noon.
To be honest, there are a lot of tourists here. When there are more tourists, no matter how good everyone is, there will always be garbage of one kind or another.
In addition, there has been a lot of snowfall recently, which makes cleaning even more difficult for Old Victor.
However, on days when even the snow plows were on holiday for Christmas, he would still come here silently and sweep for half a day.
After a while, Old Victor finally slowly stopped what he was doing.
He raised his head and slapped his sore waist. Then he took out a stainless steel wine bottle from his pocket as if no one was watching, unscrewed the lid and poured two or three sips into his mouth, then smashed it into his mouth and let out a long sigh of relief.
For others, drinking wine in this winter is to warm up; but for old Victor, this is just to fool his gradually waking up brain.
"Ahem—"
Victor coughed twice, then closed the bottle again, tightened it, and put it back in his pocket.
"Damn stainless steel tank..."
He stomped on the snow at his feet for no reason, but except for some snow splashing, nothing happened.
Old Victor did not lose his nerve anymore, but picked up the garbage bag and continued to pick up garbage from some nooks and crannies in the snow-covered square.
Work for a while longer, and then it's time to settle for today's lunch.
"How am I still alive..."
He muttered in a low voice in a voice that even he himself could not hear clearly.
…
At the same time, at the entrance of this park located in southeast London and on the south bank of the Thames River, Maka, who had just left the Fisher couple's home, quietly appeared here.
In fact, he was somewhat troubled by the prospect of finding Muggle experts to ask about the meteorite fall.
For a person who knows nothing about astronomical observation, let alone how to intercept meteorites... even "where to go to ask about this" will be a very big problem.
But if you can think carefully, you can at least think of a way out.
That is - "Observatory".
And if he wanted to find an observatory in the UK, the first thing Macca thought of was the Greenwich Observatory, which determined the prime meridian and divided the earth into east and west halves.
Now, Maka stands at the gate of Greenwich Park where the famous observatory is located.
The sky was clear all day yesterday, and the snow in London did not melt at all. Although it didn't snow today, the gloom in the sky made people understand that the next snow might fall unexpectedly at any time.
Maka looked around. Since it was the Christmas holiday, there were quite a lot of Muggles coming in and out of this park. Everyone stepped on the snow on the ground, making endless crunching sounds...
That's right, the snow here has long been trampled into ice slag by visitors.
He shrugged and no longer wasted any more time. He raised his legs and joined the "crunching army" that solidified the snow here, and walked all the way to the park.
Speaking of which, Maka has come to the Muggle world a few times to do business in the past few years, and sometimes she will shuttle among the Muggle people. But when it comes to opportunities for real contact with Muggles, they are still very few.
Now that he had returned to Muggle society, when he found that he really had to talk to Muggles again, he actually noticed a strange feeling emerging from his heart.
But I don’t know whether I should call it a “coincidence”? Or should I say "unfortunately"... Just as he was vaguely surrounded by this slightly inconsistent feeling, a middle-aged man walking in front of him suddenly paused and looked around a few times.
Immediately, Maka saw him turn around and walk towards her.
"Sir, have you ever seen an old volunteer picking up garbage in the park? He is very old, has fluffy white hair, and must be wearing an old gray-brown coat under his volunteer uniform. …”
Just as he said that, the middle-aged uncle added apologetically:
"Uh, by the way, there should be a strong smell of alcohol when he approaches, which is particularly easy to identify."
Seeing him suddenly asking, Maka was stunned for a moment before shaking her head.
"Sorry, I don't think I have seen him... I suggest you ask others."
"Oh! Really? But thank you for your answer... Maybe you don't know, that's my father. But he is drunk every day, and he insists on being a cleaning volunteer... My wife and I just want to give When he delivers lunch, he often cannot find where others are because the route he takes is never fixed... "
The uncle smiled, but instead of going to find someone else as Maka said, he continued to fight with Maka. Looking at his familiar look, Maka could only let him continue talking.
Although he had a lot of means to drive him away without leaving a trace, it didn't seem necessary, after all, they didn't hinder his walking.
"Then have you asked him why he wants to be a volunteer?" Maka looked at him casually as he walked, "I guess your father must be very old, right?"
"That's right!" The other party sighed, "My wife and I have persuaded him many times, but he just insists on doing it and won't listen no matter what! What's more terrible is that he never tells me why - every time As soon as I asked him about it, he drank hard and lost his temper... "
The two of them walked forward side by side, and the uncle talked for as long as they walked. But if you look closely, you will find that although he never stopped talking, he never forgot his original intention of looking for his father, and he would glance around every few steps.
Fortunately, although Greenwich Park is very large, it is also exceptionally open and flat. When people walk in the middle, there are basically no buildings on either side that block their view. It is difficult to miss anything as they look along.
Unfortunately, the "drunkard old man" the middle-aged uncle called him didn't seem to be in the first half of the park, so the two of them walked to the hillside deep in the park.
Walking further, when you reach the top of the highest slope, you should be where the observatory is. I don't know if the other party's father will be there.
Not long after, a building with red brick walls and white railings finally came in front of Maka, and he immediately stopped here.
When the middle-aged man saw this, he immediately said:
"Oh, sir, are you planning to visit there?"
"Yeah, let's go in and have a look..."
Maka nodded and looked towards the small square in front of the building, where a statue of a character stood.
The middle-aged man saw that he was really not going to leave anymore, so he had to wave goodbye to him, and then went to the back of the observatory with some unfinished business.
After being separated from the chatty son of the alcoholic father, Maka hurried towards the building without any further interference.
However, the closer he got, the more confused he became—what exactly is this place
"… 'Old Royal Observatory'?"
Looking at the nameplate at the door, Maka tilted her head inexplicably.
…
Not to mention the confused Maka, right now on the other side, the middle-aged uncle who had just been chattering to Maka was walking along the road around the back of the observatory.
The trees here are obviously much denser than before, and perhaps because it is too far away from the main entrance, there are obviously fewer tourists.
And after he walked for a while, when the view ahead widened, a garden covered with snow suddenly filled his entire field of vision.
"Oh, it is indeed here..." He looked at the hunched back in the garden, then shook his head and said, "Well, I have looked for it before, so where else can it be but here?"
After muttering to himself a few words, he shouted loudly and walked forward.
"Hey! Dad—it's time for lunch—"
"Shut up!"
As soon as the figure heard this figure, he immediately turned around and roared angrily. Just listening to that voice doesn't mean that my son is young at all.
"You have to eat it yourself! Drinking is enough for me—"
After saying that, Old Victor threw away the garbage bag and actually took out his wine bottle and took several big gulps.
When the middle-aged man saw that his father was getting angry and drinking again, he quickly ran over and grabbed the wine bottle, and then stuffed the bag he had been carrying forward.
"Stop drinking. After eating..." He was only halfway through, but he quickly turned around and said, "No, no, no, if Deeks hears that I agree to your drinking, I'll be doomed! I said dad, you just Think about my son and stop drinking, right?"
"Can you take care of me?"
Old Victor said so, but he did not grab his own wine bottle, but took the bag handed over by his son.
"Boy, give it back to me when I finish eating, but don't forget!"
As he spoke, he carried the bag and walked aside. He was about to sit down on a bench not far away to fill his stomach full of alcohol, but he accidentally saw a young man walking this way.
From the looks of it, it seemed like he was here to find one of their father and son