Although the transportation in the interstellar age is very fast, it is after all a voyage between planets. When Duan Hengye saw the news after class, it was already two hours later, and if he left for the institute now, it would take a few hours to arrive.
Although Duan Hengye still didn't understand why Meng Jinhuai suddenly went to the research institute at this time. But after seeing the news from Su Mingge, although he is still in the distant Duguangxing for the time being, he can only imagine how nervous his colleagues at the research institute are at this time.
After class, the students dispersed one after another, and Duan Hengye also returned to his lounge. But today, instead of leaving the teaching area as usual, he took out his optical brain again, and then sent a message to Meng Jinhuai.
... Duan Hengye estimated that it was almost time for the academy to get off work. As long as the Marshal was still there, no one would dare to leave before him. So Duan Hengye, the dean, was rarely considerate to relieve the staff - he told Meng Jinhuai in the news that he could go to his residence in the living area of the institute to rest first.
Just as Duan Hengye had estimated just now, the hemisphere where Ye Tian Empire Mecha Research Institute was located was at sunset. At this point, it stands to reason that many of the researchers who have finished their work should also leave. But until now, the tense working atmosphere in the whole courtyard has not dissipated.
Although there was no advance notice when he came, the news of Meng Jinhuai's arrival at the research institute spread throughout the hospital immediately.
It is not the first time that Meng Jinhuai has come to the Institute, but it can be seen that he has not lost interest in this place. During the stop-and-go, Meng Jinhuai asked many questions to the staff accompanying the visit. As an imperial marshal with countless military exploits, Meng Jinhuai's understanding of mechas is far better than that of ordinary researchers. Soon everyone realized that each of Meng Jinhuai's questions was not a casual mention, but rather deep and thought-through.
For a time, everyone became nervous, afraid that Meng Jinhuai would suddenly come to him and ask some difficult questions.
Although Su Mingge, the vice president, only accompanied the visit, after hearing Meng Jinhuai's various questions, he couldn't help but get nervous with everyone.
In a blink of an eye, the daytime working hours of the Institute are over. But looking at Meng Jinhuai's appearance, he still had no intention of leaving. However, just as Meng Jinhuai walked to the light screen system area of the research institute, Su Mingge, who was sharp-eyed, suddenly saw that the light brain beside Meng Jinhuai lit up.
There is no need to think about it, as the marshal of the empire, Meng Jinhuai will definitely receive countless messages all the time. If he was like an ordinary person and set the message reminder mode to the normal state, he would have been annoyed by the reminder sound long ago. Su Mingge remembered that Meng Jinhuai's brain had never flashed once in the past few hours, and then he guessed that the other party should have set the emergency message reminder mode.
So now seeing Meng Jinhuai's bright brain light up, Su Mingge couldn't help but feel a little nervous. Whether the staff can get off work on time is a small matter, and the safety of the empire is a major issue. Like Su Mingge, Meng Jinhuai also saw his bright brain suddenly light up. Then he stopped, then took the silver-white circular light brain in his hand, and opened the message just now.
Not only Su Mingge but also several other principals of the research institute are following Meng Jinhuai now. After seeing the reminder from the light brain of the Marshal, everyone became nervous.
Following Meng Jinhuai's movements, everyone's attention was focused on his hand. But after a few seconds, it turns out that... the horrific visions had not happened.
After turning on the light brain, Meng Jinhuai not only showed no serious expression, but even smiled slightly at the thing in his hand.
So what did the marshal see
Meng Jinhuai turned off the light brain, then turned around in a good mood, smiled at the staff who had been following him, and said, "Okay, thank you for your explanation today."
Hearing Meng Jinhuai's words, everyone couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. Just when Su Mingge was going to ask Meng Jinhuai if he would arrange dinner for him now, he heard Meng Jinhuai say to the military staff who had been following him: "Go to the residential area SIU-7."
"Okay, Master Marshal." Wen Yan, the staff member who was wearing a black military uniform and did not speak the whole time nodded, then picked up the light brain and began to deploy the suspension car.
After hearing what Meng Jinhuai said, Su Mingge stood there and reacted. Immediately afterwards, he remembered that the "SIU-7 area" in Meng Jinhuai's mouth was the coordinates of Duan Hengye's residence on this planet.
Well, who sent the message just now finally has an answer.
…
Usually, after finishing the afternoon class at Anluo University, Duan Hengye would always stay directly at Duguangxing for one night, and then go back the next morning. However, due to Meng Jinhuai's presence in the research institute today, Duan Hengye rarely boarded the return starship after class.
At the same time, Meng Jinhuai also stepped into Duan Hengye's home in the research institute. Although Meng Jinhuai had been here several times before, he never took a good look here.
Duan Hengye lived in a three-story villa. When Meng Jinhuai first came in, the word "warm" popped into his mind. At first glance, the style here seems to be a bit out of tune with Duan Hengye himself, but after watching it for a long time, he will feel that Duan Hengye should belong to such a world.
Also when he first came here, Meng Jinhuai found a black upright grand piano in the corner of the first floor of the villa. Although this piano has not been used for a long time, there is still no dust on the piano due to the regular cleaning of the robot.
At this time, the setting sun came slantingly from the window, and just plated a layer of honey-colored gold edge on the black-fronted piano, like chocolate with syrup.
Meng Jinhuai paused for a moment after entering the door, and then walked towards the piano that no one had touched in a long time.
The starship that Duan Hengye was on was huge and flew extremely smoothly. So although the journey back is a little long, people will not be too tired all the way down. Although the speed of the starship had already increased, by the time Duan Hengye returned to the academy, it was already night there.
As soon as he walked to our entrance, Duan Hengye found that the lights on the first floor of his residence were still on. But before Professor Duan could think of something, the identification device at the door automatically sensed the owner's return, and then the villa's door was slowly opened.
A burst of smooth music flowed from the room. The sound insulation of this house is really good, and Duan Hengye was stunned for a moment when the sound suddenly sounded after the door was opened. But then he saw a familiar figure sitting next to the piano not far away.
Of course, Meng Jinhuai also heard the sound of the door opening, but his subordinates did not stop playing. Duan Hengye slowly walked towards the piano. To be honest, although this piano is very large, because it has been quietly placed there, Duan Hengye almost forgot that there was such a thing in his own home. an instrument.
But most importantly, Duan Hengye had never heard of Meng Jinhuai playing the piano before.
Because the main activity scope of the heroine of "Dumping the Stars" is the entertainment industry, the story of playing the piano is also indispensable in the book. It is also because of the simplicity of the picture that the author directly released the classical famous songs of the earth era into this world.
Therefore, even though the world has changed, Duan Hengye is still very familiar with the piano music played by Meng Jinhuai at this time. He walked to Meng Jinhuai's side, then put his hand on the edge of the piano lightly, and quietly admired the other party's playing.
The window behind Meng Jinhuai was not closed. The evening breeze slightly lifted the light gray gauze curtain by the window, and the foot of the curtain also touched the edge of the piano. The current Meng Jinhuai does not have any murderous aura brought from the battlefield, but is elegant to the extreme.
Although he didn't remember the name, Duan Hengye could hear it. At this time, Meng Jinhuai was playing a ballad. But in this style of music that had nothing to do with the word "passionate", Duan Hengye's heartbeat began to accelerate little by little. The hand he was holding by the qin just now also moved to his chest unknowingly, and the voice reached Duan Hengye's ears along the flesh and bones - he thought, at this time, his heartbeat might have disrupted this song. The rhythm of the ballad.
After an unknown amount of time, Meng Jinhuai finally stopped playing. As the only audience for this young and elegant pianist at this time, Duan Hengye couldn't help but applaud when Meng Jinhuai's keys fell.
As a child of an aristocratic family, Duan Hengye, like most people, learned this musical instrument when he was young. But it was a pity that Duan Hengye didn't like the boring activity of "playing", so he didn't continue to study for a long time. But today, after hearing the music played by Meng Jinhuai, Duan Hengye felt its beauty for the first time.
Seeing Duan Hengye applauding softly there, Meng Jinhuai also smiled at him, then stood up and closed the lid of the piano. Seeing this, Duan Hengye couldn't help showing a disappointed expression.
"I'll play it for you next time." Meng Jinhuai's eyes narrowed involuntarily when he smiled, and his usual seriousness was completely gone.
Duan Hengye nodded, then couldn't help but glanced at the piano and said, "If it wasn't for you, this piano would have been a waste for me." There was some regret in his words.
Hearing this, Meng Jinhuai shook his head and did not speak. Maybe it was because he had been sitting here for a long time. After Duan Hengye came, Meng Jinhuai walked to the dining table on the side, took a sip of water and said, "I was in a hurry a few times before, but today I wanted to take a good look at the life of Ah Heng as a child. But when I thought of your absence, I didn't run around in the end." After speaking, Meng Jinhuai raised an eyebrow at Duan Hengye lightly, as if preparing to receive his praise.
Duan Hengye thought about the time Su Mingge sent him a message, and then realized that Meng Jinhuai had probably been sitting here for several hours. He turned around and glanced at his still deserted kitchen, then frowned and asked Meng Jinhuai, "Have you had dinner yet?"
Meng Jinhuai shook his head, and then added as if he saw what Duan Hengye was going to do: "I ate late lunch."
Duan Hengye ignored Meng Jinhuai's later additions, and after hearing the previous sentence, he walked straight to the kitchen. Perhaps because he was afraid that Meng Jinhuai would stop him, Duan Hengye said as he walked there, "It's just right, I didn't eat either."
Duan Hengye, who didn't look back during the conversation, didn't know that Meng Jinhuai looked at her with indescribable tenderness.
"Okay." Meng Jinhuai replied after a while.
Dinner this day started late and was very simple. However, in Meng Jinhuai's eyes, Jian Du's dinner, coupled with this house where Duan Hengye lived since he was a child, is extraordinarily warm. He thought, maybe "home" should be like this.
…
Meng Jinhuai is the marshal of the empire. Although the empire has been relatively peaceful recently, he came back to the research institute not to hang out, but to have business to do.
In the early morning of the second day, Duan Hengye and Meng Jinhuai rode the levitator to a corner of the planet where the institute was located that no one had set foot on for a long time.
"Arrived, coordinates: KN-0 is now conducting permission confirmation."
After arriving here, the hoverer suddenly stopped in mid-air without warning. When he heard the coordinates reported by the synthesized electronic sound, Duan Hengye hesitated for a while, then stretched out his hand and lightly attached it to the light screen on one side of the levitator.
"Permission confirmation starts:
Duan Hengye, Director of Yetian Empire Mecha Research Institute, confirmed. Permissions are enabled. "
After the sound fell, the inside of the levitator "drip" gently again. Immediately afterwards, the hoverer, which was suspended in the air for a while, moved forward again. Gradually, the scene ahead became clearer.
Seventy percent of the planet where the research institute is located is surrounded by buildings. Other places are all artificially planned green belts. This planet is very standard, and it looks like a fully developed interstellar age planet, delicate and beautiful everywhere.
But now, the place in front of Duan Hengye's eyes has a completely different painting style from the rest of the planet.
If I could sum it up in two words, it would be: "desolation" and "decadence".
If you lower your head a little, you can see that the land under your feet is rarely covered by any green plants, but completely charred. If you try your best to observe it, you can see in the scorched black that there is some silver light there.
Duan Hengye has been looking down since the suspension slowly entered this area. Seeing this, Meng Jinhuai, who was standing beside him, couldn't help but cast his worried eyes over, "A-Heng, how are you now."
In fact, when Duan Hengye looked down just now, his mind was completely blank. Until Meng Jinhuai opened his mouth, his god was finally pulled back. Duan Hengye pursed his lips, then shook his head and said to Meng Jinhuai, "...No, I can't remember anything." When Duan Hengye said this, his voice was a little low, and his expression was rarely confused.
"The levitator is about to land." Seeing that Duan Hengye was in a good condition, Meng Jinhuai glanced at his feet, and then said to him.
Not long after Meng Jinhuai's voice fell, the levitator landed on the blackened land in front of him. With the opening of the silver hatch, Duan Hengye took a deep breath, and finally walked out one step ahead of Meng Jinhuai.
Perhaps this is a place that should be familiar to Duan Hengye and can no longer be familiar.
—The dean’s office, which was once independent of the main building of the research institute, was where Duan Hengye lived as a child.
After the accident happened, Duan Hengye was taken away by the royal family. So it wasn't until Duan Hengye started to re-investigate the incident a few days ago that Duan Hengye discovered that the place where the accident happened was not landfilled, but remained there as it was.
Although I don't know why the investigation team made such a decision back then, I have to say that this piece of ruins that remains in its original state is indeed a clue that cannot be missed.
As soon as Duan Hengye stepped out of the levitator, he heard a strange "click" from under his feet. The surroundings are too quiet now, so the sound of the feet is also particularly obvious. Although Duan Hengye's psychological quality has always been very good, he couldn't help trembling when he suddenly heard the sound from under his feet. At this moment, Meng Jinhuai, who was standing behind Duan Hengye, supported Duan Hengye by the shoulder, and said in his ear, "It's okay, it's a branch."
After hearing Meng Jinhuai's words, Duan Hengye squatted down slowly, and then picked up the dark object under his feet that was no longer visible. As Meng Jinhuai said, this is what a tree looks like when it has been swept away by a special optical weapon. Although he understood the reason for its formation, Duan Hengye was no better than Meng Jinhuai—the other party was a marshal who was used to seeing the appearance of a messy planet after the war, so naturally he didn't recognize it immediately.
After confirming what this thing was, Duan Hengye gently put it back on the ground. He looked around, and then said to Meng Jinhuai, "The damaged area here is bigger than I thought."
"Yeah," Meng Jinhuai nodded, and then said to Duan Hengye while recalling, "The mecha lost control too suddenly, and at the time of the incident, many people didn't know if it was deliberately made by the dean. So it wasn't until more than ten minutes later that the garrison at the research institute drove other mechas to control the scene."
This office is far from the research institute building, and there is an open space around it. The previous dean often used this open space to do some small experiments. Therefore, although the research institute detected the abnormal energy here at the first time, it was unable to respond quickly because it was always hesitating whether it was an experiment or not.
What Meng Jinhuai said just now was also written in the accident investigation report released to the public, and it has always been regarded as the biggest cause of the death of the former president.
Probably because of the loss of this part of the memory, Duan Hengye felt calmer than he thought after returning here. The two of them walked towards the depths of the ruins while recalling the experiment report.
Finally, after a few minutes, Duan Hengye and Meng Jinhuai stopped in front of a silver broken metal pillar. During the investigation that year, the staff in charge of the investigation left a mark here, and after approaching it, Duan Hengye saw the words "The No. 7 Metal Pillar of the Research Laboratory".
Before coming here, Duan Hengye had studied the structure of the original laboratory. So after seeing this pillar, he realized that he and Meng Jinhuai had now reached the indoor part of this office-although nothing could be seen from the scorched black.
More than ten years have passed, but I don't know if it is an illusion. As soon as I came here, Duan Hengye's nose seemed to have a lingering strange burnt smell.
He glanced at Meng Jinhuai, and after noticing the other party's expression, he confirmed that the smell was not his own delusion.
For a while, Duan Hengye felt that the atmosphere around him became a little weird. He glanced at Meng Jinhuai again, and then said, "This taste is not right."
Neither the investigative report released to the public nor the report that existed in the royal internal network mentioned the smell. Duan Hengye believed that this apparently weird taste would not be missed by the investigators.
Just when he thought of this, Meng Jinhuai also said in a coherent voice: "This smell is not right, find out where the source is."
"Yeah." Duan Hengye nodded towards Meng Jinhuai, and then the two walked towards the ruins in two directions. It has now reached the indoor range. Because the structural materials that have been melted down are different, so the wreckage left now is also different. Duan Hengye has a feeling that one foot is deep and one foot is shallow when he walks. It is also fortunate that he has some ancient martial arts skills in him, so he did not trip over the things under his feet.
Slowly, the distance between Duan Hengye and Meng Jinhuai grew further and further. Just as he was about to walk out of the indoor ruins, Duan Hengye suddenly saw a special piece of metal glowing dark blue in front of his eyes.
He squatted down slowly, then hesitated and tore off a piece of the hem of his shirt. Then Duan Hengye hesitated for a while and slowly picked up the piece of dark blue metal. Just as Duan Hengye was squatting down to take something, Meng Jinhuai also walked over in his direction.
Finally, Duan Hengye slowly stood up with the things in his hand. At this moment, Meng Jinhuai also came to his side.
"This is..." Meng Jinhuai muttered while looking at the thing in Duan Hengye's hand.
Although Meng Jinhuai didn't say it clearly, Duan Hengye nodded lightly, then he turned to Meng Jinhuai and said, "Yes, it's it." Others might ignore this inconspicuous dark blue metal. But the people who came here today are Duan Hengye and Meng Jinhuai.
Both of them knew that the object in Heng Ye's hands at this time was some kind of solidified fuel - it was usually used inside a mass destruction weapon that had not yet been assembled into a mecha.