When Rutte led Zhou Cheng back home, more than a dozen people had gathered around a bonfire in the backyard. The lamb chops on the grill were crackling with oil on the flames, and the mouth-watering aroma wafted in the air.
"They are all neighbors around me. I will take you to get to know them. Now they are also your neighbors." Rutte said as he led Zhou Cheng towards the bonfire.
Everyone ate roast lamb that was charred on the outside and tender on the inside, and tasted fine wine. They shared details of their lives while drinking and drinking. No one showed any discomfort or caution about Zhou Cheng's joining, as if everyone had known each other before.
When the New Year's bell rang, colorful fireworks exploded in the air. Tipsy people extended New Year's blessings to each other, and the swaying firelight and twinkling fireworks reflected on every smiling face.
Everyone drank wine to their heart's content, shouted to their heart's content, sang loudly, or hugged each other. The peaceful atmosphere filled the whole town, and Zhou Cheng felt the warmth and excitement that he had not seen for a long time.
The flames of the bonfire gradually became low, and only a pair of bare bones were left on the grill. People dispersed with satisfaction and drunkenness. Lute picked up the half-empty wine bottle and touched it with the bottle in Zhou Cheng's hand.
Down:
reader body
"Lao Zhou, Happy New Year!"
"Happy New Year! It's been a long time since I spent New Year's Eve like this. Thank you, Lao Lu." Zhou Cheng said with emotion.
Rutte took a sip from the bottle, his lips and teeth already tangled:
"Why don't you want to stay in that paradise-like eternal city?"
Zhou Cheng was stunned. He was unprepared for this question and didn't know how to answer it. While hesitating, Lu Te said with a smile:
"It's okay, just tell me when you want to say it."
"No, Lao Lu. That's not what I meant. It's just that I haven't found the real answer yet. The Eternal City is so beautiful that it seems like it shouldn't exist. I always have the illusion that there is something invisible.
1 has been staring at me, this may be related to my experience." Zhou Cheng quickly explained.
Rutte took another sip of wine:
"I don't feel the same way you do. My father is an Awakener. I was born in this small town and have been fascinated by astronomy since I was a child. When I grew up, I once went to the Eternal City and discovered the knowledge transmission device. I immediately
Fall in love with it.
It allows me to be in the galaxy and learn all the knowledge that I am fascinated by, and the feeling is simply wonderful. In this way, I stayed in the Eternal City for many years, and gradually became accustomed to the lifestyle there."
"Then why didn't you stay in the Eternal City?" Zhou Cheng asked puzzledly.
Rutte pointed at the stars in the sky with the finger holding the wine bottle. Compared with the Eternal City, the starry sky here seemed particularly dim.
"Starry sky? Can't you also see the starry sky in the Eternal City, and it's even brighter?" Zhou Cheng didn't know what Lute wanted to express.
Lutte looked deeply at the starry sky and chuckled:
"Haha, yes, the starry sky of the Eternal City is as bright as a mirage. But you know, by chance, when I was observing the starry sky of the Eternal City, I discovered the position of Perseus and the theoretical star chart period.
There are subtle differences in location.
1. At first I thought it was an error in my calculations, but then I measured it again when I was out of town and found that the position of Perseus in the outer sky was exactly consistent with the theoretical star map.
This shocked me greatly. After repeatedly comparing the starry sky in the suburbs far away from the city and the starry sky in the city, I rigorously calculated the theoretical positions of the constellations. Finally, I came to a fact that even I could not accept - the eternal sky.
The starry sky in the city is actually fake!”
"What! Is the starry sky above the Eternal City fake?" Zhou Cheng stood up excitedly.
Rutte also stood up slowly, sighed, and said calmly:
"Maybe my words are too strong. Although there are only very subtle differences, the starry sky picture of the Eternal City is by no means what it is. If I were not a person who is particularly fascinated by the starry sky, it would be impossible to find the flaws.
.
Talk app—
I don’t know who tampered with it, and I don’t know if it was done intentionally or unintentionally. But since then, I have left the Eternal City and returned here because I can’t bear to be deprived of the right to look up at the stars. The starry sky here
Although it is dim, it is at least a picture of the universe worth exploring."
Zhou Cheng looked at the stars above his head and fell into deep desolation. A terrible question echoed in his mind. If the rise of civilization began with the legend of looking up at the stars, then what would happen to a civilization that cannot look up at the stars?
What?
"Go to bed early. We will still have time to study these things in the future. I am also drunk, so I will go to bed first." After Rutte finished speaking, he drank the rest of the wine in one gulp and walked crookedly towards the house.
.
Zhou Cheng quickly adapted to life in the town. He ate at familiar restaurants every day, bought daily necessities in the supermarket, went to the library to check information, and occasionally sat at a coffee bar. In addition to Lutte, he even made friends with
He made several friends. But what he did most was still study the tattoo patterns on Cao Rui’s body in the photos.
After borrowing a large amount of materials from the library, Zhou Cheng discovered the characteristics of Cao Rui's tattoos. The meanings corresponding to the words he knew and the words he didn't know were all "currency" without exception. Moreover, every meaning
For currency characters, you can find corresponding graphics.
Its accuracy is breathtaking. Even some ancient European currencies have their corresponding ancient Latin characters and currency graphics that are consistent with historical data. Let historians look at Cao Rui's tattoo and say it is a tattoo.
The World Historical Currency Illustration is not an exaggeration either.
Zhou Cheng also found the legal currency name of the country before the crisis era, which was engraved in block letters. But what puzzled him was that he did not find the currency graphics he was familiar with.
In Cao Rui's tattoos, the only 11 graphics that do not correspond to currency are in the style of a coin. According to the pattern in Cao Rui's tattoos, one currency name accurately corresponds to one currency graphic. National Currency
The corresponding one can only be this coin.
But Zhou Cheng was very convinced that coins of that style had never been issued in the era he lived in. For this reason, he consulted a large amount of information. In the end, even a small amount of commemorative coins was ruled out.
Looking at the currency names that were awkward to read, and the corresponding exquisite currency graphics. Looking at the national currency names written in block letters, and the rough coin-style graphics, Zhou Cheng felt like he was getting into trouble.
A dead end in thinking.
Talk app—
He tried various ways of thinking, made various logical and self-consistent, and even wild reasonings. In the end, without exception, they all circled back to the starting point, and he could not find the connection or possible information.
Zhou Cheng was exhausted from many days of intense thinking. He began to wonder whether the truth he was looking for was just a piece of paper away from him or whether the so-called truth did not exist at all. He even once imagined that Cao Rui had suffered from war trauma and high school.
Overloaded work may lead to mental illness.
And this possibility is getting higher and higher with the deepening of the inference. But every time Zhou Cheng looked at the frontal photo of Cao Rui with bright eyes, he could clearly read the tenacity and unyieldingness in his eyes. This was Cao Rui.
The iconic look in his eyes is impossible for a mentally ill patient to have.
"Old Cao, you have money engraved all over your body and in your cell. What do you want to tell me?" Zhou Cheng asked to himself as he looked at the mountains of information.
Zhou Zhou stretched himself long and saw that it was almost time for dinner again. He decided to go out for a walk and rest his brain to find something useful. Moreover, he had basically finished reading the book he borrowed last time.
, I also happened to go to the library to see if there was any other information worth learning from.