MTL - How to Feed an Abyss!-Chapter 51 Tower 4
In the next month, Shi Yuan really didn't get the outstanding employee award, nor could he get the next coupon for buying a house.
Daisy is the new top performer.
"It doesn't matter," Daisy lazily said with a lock of blond hair, "it will definitely be you next month."
Shi Yuan: "Why?"
"Your performance is the best, and you don't need to worry about it." Daisy is still lazy, "Last month, I had two psychological counseling sessions with the supervisor, but it didn't have much effect. I don't know if I will How long have you been working here, this job is too emotionally exhausting."
She is telling the truth.
In the two months since Shi Yuan came here, several people have resigned, all because of emotional problems.
Listening to the suffering of others, saying comforting words over and over again, but unable to change.
Nothing could be more frustrating than that.
Shi Yuan asked, "If you quit, where would you go?"
"I don't know." Daisy shrugged, "Maybe I will go to repair the solar panels, my boyfriend is doing this. He got peeled three times, but the salary is quite high, and he doesn't have to deal with people. Thinking about it this way, If you can bask in the sun and usher in the end of the world, it is not unacceptable."
She took a sip of water and looked at Shi Yuan with her beautiful eyes: "What about you? You asked me what love is, and you had a fight with your partner? Believe me, don't worry so much, there is nothing difficult in the face of life and death."
"There is no quarrel." Shi Yuan said, "But I haven't found the answer yet." He thought for a while, and then said, "However, I will always stay by his side."
"That's pretty good." Daisy smiled, "Before the end, at least have a carnival."
Shi Yuan continued to answer the phone conscientiously.
Someone said calmly that he was the only survivor in his family, and he couldn't figure out why he was alive; Ba Luo asked again if he could call again next time.
Shi Yuan listened carefully one by one.
Most people feel better after venting, the phone call is a safe haven, a small relief, and life goes on as usual. Shi Yuan also made an appointment with a therapist for those who were too excited or depressed. Some people called back specifically to thank him, saying that they had cheered up, but more people had no news, and Shi Yuan never heard from them again. .
He hoped they had found their way forward.
In mid-March, at the end of an evening shift, Shi Yuan was waiting for the elevator when he heard conversations coming from the end of the corridor.
He poked his head quickly, glanced around the corner, and saw Lin Yelian and a strange man.
Lin Yelian was leaning against the wall with his arms folded. He hadn't shaved his beard for a few days, and his hair was slightly messy. The strange man was in his fifties, and had a work card around his neck, which read [Data Center, Senior Researcher Yuan Huan].
"...Xiao Lin," Yuan Huan called him, "when are you coming back?"
Lin Yelian's tone was stiff: "I haven't thought about it yet."
Yuan Huan said: "It's been 8 years, no matter what, you should think about how to go in the future, right?" He quickly glanced at the office, and the many old phones, "Do you really want to take care of this for the rest of your life? ?”
Lin Yelian: "This is also a very meaningful job. I like it here."
"I know, I know." Yuan Huan sighed, "But what did we call you before? You are a 'Gaocai student of Lin', and here, you are really a Qucai." Before Lin Yeran could answer, Yuan Huan grabbed him He squeezed his shoulders, "There are still too many unfinished projects, we still need to analyze aircraft parameters, optimize point defenses, count the pollution value of the abyss, and analyze combat data... not to mention, 'echo' and 'overlook' There is no result yet."
Lin Yeran was silent for a few seconds: "I heard that 'Echo' has made a breakthrough."
"Yes, Alice is about to find the answer." Yuan Huan replied, "We will be able to contact the outside world soon and hear their echo." He looked deeply at Lin Yelian, "Come back early, if so There are a lot of things to do, and time is urgent. If Captain Yan Xin is still here, he will definitely..."
Lin Yeran interrupted: "Don't mention him."
"Okay, then don't mention him, don't mention him." Yuan Huan said, "I should go now, think again."
The sound of leather shoes sounded, Yuan Huan walked to the elevator, and saw Shi Yuan by accident, but he didn't say anything.
The elevator came, but Shi Yuan didn't go in with Yuan Huan. He turned around and went to the corridor to find Lin Yelian.
Lin Yelian sat on the bench at the end of the corridor, with his hands on his lap and his fingers crossed. He didn't look at Shi Yuan, and whispered: "Why don't you leave?"
Shi Yuan said, "I want to come and see you."
"There's nothing to see." Lin Yeran said slowly, "Go back quickly, you won't get overtime pay if you stay here."
Shi Yuan thought for a while and asked, "Is it possible that you will leave? To the data center?"
Lin Yeran clicked his tongue: "How do I know, I told you to go back early, otherwise I will deduct your salary."
Lin Yelian clamored to deduct wages and bonuses every time, but he never fulfilled it once. Besides, Shi Yuan's hourly salary is only 2 yuan, and he is not afraid of those who are barefoot and those who wear shoes.
So Shi Yuan continued: "If you need, you can tell me about your troubles."
"Don't put the psychological counseling on me, it's useless." Lin Yeran stood up irritably, "What are you doing in the middle of the night, don't talk about it anymore, okay, if you don't leave, I will leave !"
Shi Yuan followed him and took the elevator.
The old elevator display started from "8" and slowly descended. No one spoke, and the atmosphere in the elevator was extremely cold. Shi Yuan guessed that he must have made Lin Yelian unhappy.
If it is a human being, what should we do at this time?
Shi Yuan's human observation plan was very effective, he figured it out, and felt that they would keep silent to expose it, or they would sincerely apologize.
But Shiyuan didn't want to do that.
Maybe it's because he has answered so many consultation calls and heard the tone of too many people, he always feels that Lin Yelian is very similar to those who need to confide...but his problem is more serious.
The inside is already rotten, but the outside is still struggling to hold on, and the stuffing will be exposed if you poke it a little. Not dead, but not quite alive either.
In the quiet elevator, Shi Yuan said, "Mr. Lin, would you like to tell me the story of Captain Yan Xin?"
This time Lin Yeran was furious: "Are you sick?! How many times have I said that? No! Yes! Mention him!"
——Although everyone in Tower No. 4 knew about his past with Yan Xin, no one dared to mention it in front of him. This is tantamount to uncovering a **** old scar.
Shi Yuan: "Well, I know we're not very familiar with each other. Maybe, you can find other relatives and friends?"
"Shiyuan, I don't want to mention what I said, but I don't want to hear anyone mention it." Lin Yelian took a deep breath, still unable to hold back his anger, "Do you know what anyone is?! This has nothing to do with you ?!"
Shi Yuan curled the tip of his tail: "However, it's not that if you don't mention him, he doesn't exist."
"Shut up." Lin Yeran said, "Shut up for me."
The elevator reached the first floor with a "ding" sound, the elevator door opened, and Lin Yeran walked out quickly, almost as if fleeing.
When the cold wind blew on the street, he kicked the wall hard, took a few deep breaths, and finally calmed down a little.
He looked back at Shi Yuan and said: "...that's all for today, I don't want to say any more, and you don't want to mention it in the future."
He stared at the boundless night again, stared blankly for a few seconds, and suddenly smiled shallowly: "It's pointless to dwell on this issue. Let's move on. 'Echo' is about to succeed, and this is the only good news. We —Our two cities are finally no longer isolated islands.”
Shi Yuan said goodbye to him.
Lin Yelian's figure disappeared at the end of the long street.
Shi Yuan visited Wu Zhengqing several times.
Wu Zhengqing excitedly gave him science popularization, various galaxies and various spacecrafts, and Shi Yuan was dizzy and confused after listening.
He didn't understand much, and Wu Zhengqing didn't care. Instead, he praised Shi Yuan who was patient and quiet, and felt that he had found a treasure.
The staff at the welfare center are also familiar with Shi Yuan.
In their view, Shi Yuan is also a big treasure - he actually stabilized Wu Zhengqing, so that the old man no longer wanted to run back to Tiecheng.
In short, both parties are very satisfied.
Shi Yuan didn't feel bored. From Wu Zhengqing, he saw the vast sea of stars, huge space stations and rockets, the birth and destruction of stars, he heard about gamma ray bursts, black holes can distort gravity, and planetary storms are enough to destroy everything.
These things made him feel inexplicably familiar.
It's like the stage in his dream, with a little bit of starlight.
"It would be great if we could go back to Tiecheng." Wu Zhengqing always said that, "Go back to Tiecheng, go back to other cities, go back to the space center... Shiyuan, do you know that we can't actually build aircraft anymore."
Shi Yuan shook his head.
"The last aircraft assembly plant is in Tiecheng. With the technical strength of the alliance, there is no way to create a new assembly plant." Wu Zhengqing said, "The main city can still produce armed helicopters, but aircraft is impossible. The production capacity is increasing day by day. decline, technology cannot be innovated, sophisticated components are becoming more and more difficult to produce, and soon even helicopters may not be able to be produced, and we will eventually lose the sky."
"But—" Wu Zhengqing looked at the wall for the umpteenth time, and there was a photo of Xinghai hanging on it, "The sky and Xinghai should be our journey—"
He told Shi Yuan that before the end of the world, the alliance had already tested the first frigate and it was a great success.
He said that the frigate is the beginning. Once successful, it means that the army can enter space on a large scale and carry out efficient journeys. They can build new space stations next to the stars and look at the Milky Way in the distance. Everything is within reach.
He said, in fact, it is only a few years away. Just wait a few more years, and human beings will be able to get rid of gravity, officially step into space, and become citizens of this galaxy.
"It's just a little bit." Wu Zhengqing said, "It's really just a little bit, we can leave this planet. When the frigate sailed at full speed, the entire space center cheered, and the engineers and I shared a whole pack of cigarettes. It was in my mouth and I was so excited that I forgot to smoke it, let it burn out for nothing. We were so happy that we didn’t fall asleep all night.”
He gasped, "That was a really good day."
Starlight was within reach.
But it was like a cigarette **** falling into the ashes, crushed by the soles of the shoes, and there was cold ashes all over the place.
There is only one old man left on the top floor of Tower No. 4. He lives in the past, tracing the dream of the sea of stars over and over again.
One day, just as Shi Yuan said goodbye to Wu Zhengqing, he heard a commotion.
"Hold him! Hold him fast!"
"Where are the inhibitors?! Where's the doctor, come here quickly!"
"...I can't hold him down anymore! Come, come, come!"
Shi Yuan followed the sound and saw a mutant being pressed on the bed by the crowd—his pupils were dilated, as if he was extremely excited, and the bedding was smashed to pieces with his beastly claws.
Sometimes mutants are emotionally unstable and can only be suppressed.
Wang Yu rushed over and gave him inhibitors and sedatives. The mutant slowly calmed down and closed his eyes tightly on the bed.
Wang Yu was covered in sweat and sat on the chair next to her. Shi Yuan walked into the house and asked her, "Do you need help?"
Wang Yu took a few breaths and pointed to the bathroom: "Bring me that towel."
The mutant knocked over the water glass just now, and the table was full of water. Shi Yuan brought a towel and wiped the table—
Hold his wrist with one hand like iron pliers!
Shi Yuan turned his head, the mutant opened his eyes at some point, grabbed his wrist, and there was a frenzied light in his eyes!
They stared at each other for five seconds.
Shi Yuan thought of the monsters under the stage in his dream, they had the same eyes.
He asked softly, "You...what exactly do you want from me?"
The man's eyes gradually blurred, he slowly let go, tilted his head, and fell asleep again.
Wang Yu took a blood test to test his infection rate, which was so high that even inhibitors could not suppress it.
Two days later, he passed away. No relatives or friends came to see him off. The welfare center held a simple funeral for him at its own expense. The participants were all the staff who had taken care of him.
Shi Yuan also went to see Alice once.
The girl jumped lightly between the servers, and landed lightly in front of Shi Yuan.
Shi Yuan told her about the interesting things he encountered recently, such as the wretched fish at home almost died, but fortunately he changed the water in time, or the white bird with a broken mouth, bullying the weak and fearing the hard, only daring to scold him but not to scold him Lu Tinghan.
Alice listened with gusto.
She said: "In my database, there are many such stories, but none of them are as funny as yours." She laughed dimpled, "Maybe this is a friend! Your story is the most interesting!"
"Yes." Shi Yuan said, "It's very fun to tell the story."
He also thought of Lin Yelian, Captain Yan who kept silent with him.
Alice thought for a while: "It's a pity that I have been staying here, and I don't have my own story to tell you... How about this, Shi Yuan, do you have anything you want to ask me?"
Shi Yuan thought for a while and asked, "Who gave you your doll unicorn?"
"It's me!" Alice quickly replied, "During the Chinese New Year, everyone else has gifts, but I don't have one, so I made one for myself. I can make more—" She snapped her fingers lightly, countless The doll sprang out at her feet, and she giggled, "It's a pity I can't give it to you."
"It's okay." Shi Yuan said, "Someone will play with me when I go home."
Alice:?
The ai got stuck for a short time.
Shi Yuan asked again: "Is the 'Echo' project almost successful?"
"Yes." Alice nodded, "I've been calculating for 49 years, and now I'm finally getting the answer. But it will take a long, long time to 'look out', the universe is so big, even if I use all my storage space Formatted, it can't hold the details in a light-year."
"Then, can 'Overlook' still succeed?"
Alice said: "Give me enough time, of course. All I want is time."
Shi Yuan was a little relieved.
He knew that humans valued these two projects very much, almost as a hope for the future.
It's a pity that Alice can't be discovered by others. She can stay for a short time, only the last few tens of seconds.
Shi Yuan asked the last question: "Do you know what 'love' is?"
He's still struggling, still learning.
"Love...Of course I know." Alice smiled and rolled her eyes, "I have relevant information. According to statistics, most human beings have a very high degree of identification with them, even to the point of liking them, which is enough to prove their authority. I have transferred them to your mobile phone, it may take some time, and you can watch them when you get home." Her figure gradually became transparent, "Wait for the next time, wait for the next time—come back and find me!"
Shi Yuan returned home.
When Lu Tinghan's car just came back, he was lying on the window watching, the tip of his tail swaying wildly.
This time it wasn't just Lu Tinghan who came, two people got off from another car and saluted and said goodbye to Lu Tinghan. Shi Yuan recognized them, they seemed to be planning something when they were beside Lu Tinghan that day.
I don't know if it's his illusion...
It seems that Lu Tinghan has been in contact with this group of people more frequently, and their cold expressions always make people uneasy.
Fortunately, every time he came home, it was Lu Tingting who could touch his head.
Shi Yuan: "Touch!"
Lu Tinghan rubbed his head frantically.
That night, Shi Yuan and Lu Tinghan went to the abandoned energy tower again.
The night wind is mighty, blowing thousands of windmills, and the abandoned Beicheng District is scattered with light, which is still what Lu Tinghan saw and heard when he was a child.
Shi Yuan's gaze crossed the urban area and stopped at the black No. 4 tower.
There are emergency lights on at the top of the tower, from the Mutant Welfare Center. The middle of the tower is pitch black, where the phone keeps ringing, and there are a few yawning operators sitting there. As for the bottom of the tower... Alice is holding her unicorn , walking barefoot in the torrent of data, closing your eyes, is the eternal summer and fireworks.
It's a magical place.
The top of the tower is the past, and old dreams are buried in the starlight; the tower is the present, and the stories of others come through electromagnetic waves, interweaving a miniature of the world; the bottom of the tower is the future, algorithm and logic, echo and distant view, repeated attempts and failures , human beings always have to find a way to hope.
The wind is blowing harder and harder. Lu Tinghan embraced Shiyuan, protecting him from the cold.
Shi Yuan buried his head on his chest, and said in a muffled voice, "Lu Tinghan, I finally found the answer to 'love' today."
This is really rare, Lu Tinghan raised his eyebrows: "Huh?"
"Someone passed it on to me, but I haven't read it yet."
Lu Tinghan: "...Did it pass to you?"
"Yes." Shi Yuan fumbled to take out his phone, "Look—"
The screen opened, and the newly uploaded file from Alice was clear at a glance.
【Shocking! HD mouth mouth mouth mouth mouth mouth five mouth mouth mouth mouth mouth mouth! 】
[The male teacher and the male students were talking too much, and finally the principal also got involved! Click to watch! 】
【Once in a thousand years! Koukou demon fox cold-faced Taoist Koukoukou 18 Koukou extreme sadomasochism, world-renowned love affair Koukou Koukou Koukou! 】
[Mouth mouth! Mouth mouth mouth mouth mouth mouth mouth! Mouth? ! Mouth Mouth Mouth Mouth]
Lu Tinghan: "..."
Lu Tinghan: "...?!"