Chapter 47: Su Wen’s Reply

Hearing this question, Su Wen paused in thought.

At the same time, he recalled his various experiences of "time travel."

Then, he calmly gave his reply:

"As a junior scholar, I am perhaps hardly qualified to make definitive statements on such a topic.

Yet in the future.

Just as Professor Brian Cox once remarked,

the sun we gaze up at this very moment will eventually become a glowing speck of ash drifting amidst a magnificent nebula—the remnants of a once-immense and majestic star.

Its destiny is to slowly cool within the vast, freezing expanse of deep space, much like the countless stars whose endless ages have already drawn to a close.

Therefore, when we lift our eyes to the heavens, gazing upon those distant stars and galaxies,

we are, in truth, looking into the past.

Light from those faraway celestial bodies requires immense scales of space and time to reach the Earth.

The single instant we catch when raising our heads right now

is likely a cosmic history vaster than the entire history of the Earth by hundreds of millions of times.

Pascal once said: Give life to time, rather than time to life.

(To the time to life, rather than to life in time).

Human civilization will ultimately march onward into the distant unknown.

I suppose

there can be no future more worthy of anticipation than the romantic and grandiose historical view of the galaxy."

"An exceptionally brilliant answer."

Hearing his response, Jiang Xiuyuan continued:

"Just as Su Wen has stated.

Humanity explores ruins and advances toward the frontier known as the abyss of knowledge precisely because civilization can never remain forever stagnant."

Hearing this,

the most authoritative newspaper reporter in Binhai City raised a question:

"Professor Jiang, when you venture into the deep-sea ruins, do you never worry that you might remain there forever?"

"I am human as well, so of course I feel fear.

Yet my fear is perhaps mostly a sense of guilt—guilt for being unable to fulfill my responsibilities as a father, a husband, and a son."

He adjusted his glasses and said calmly:

"However, if I truly were to remain there,

I would hope that the research materials left behind after my departure could offer a modicum of assistance to this world.

If so, someone will surely witness the future I yearn for in my stead."

Su Wen fell silent.

After all,

he had once witnessed with his own eyes the future of civilization three thousand years later.

Scattered applause gradually arose in the quiet lecture hall.

Then,

the applause swelled like a surging tide,

merging into an endless chorus of the highest praise.

This scene

was faithfully recorded online as well.

Report after report was published:

[Civilization Will Not Halt Its Steps]

[Extrapolating the Advancement of the Future through Extraordinary Knowledge from the Era of Origins: Professor Jiang Xiuyuan’s Vision]

[The Foolish Old Man Removes the Mountains; translated into modern terms, perhaps only two words suffice—"Heritage"]

[The Magnificence of the River of Stars, the Romance of Humanity]

The names of Su Wen and Jiang Xiuyuan spread far and wide across the internet.

An hour later,

the lecture concluded.

As the attendees filed out,

Jiang Menghan handed Su Wen a bottle of water backstage.

Her tone carried a trace of hard-to-detect coldness:

"That man truly cares for nothing but his research, disregarding even his own life. I sincerely hope you do not become someone like him."

Su Wen understood her feelings,

so he smiled gently and said:

"Every era gives rise to individuals of this kind.

William Herschel, the father of stellar astronomy; Michael Faraday, who proposed the theory of electromagnetic fields; Max Planck, the founder and pioneer of quantum physics.

From your perspective, Professor Jiang is indeed somewhat selfish.

Yet that is not for me to judge.

I understand you.

Therefore, I promise you: 'I will always place the people around me first.'

After all,

I am neither pedantic nor as great as they are."

Upon hearing his promise,

a strange, inexplicable luster flickered within the young woman's beautiful eyes.

Her tone remained detached, yet her attitude softened considerably:

"Father knows you are an awakener, and for that reason, he specifically applied for an 'Advanced Resource Exchange Permit' with the Night Watchers."

"It seems the VIP invitation list for today's lecture was not casually determined after all."

Su Wen was exceptionally clever.

He instantly grasped Jiang Xiuyuan's intent, shook his head, and smiled:

"To grant me an opportunity to prove myself on such an important occasion—Professor Jiang certainly places great trust in me.

Come, let us celebrate this wonderful news; I shall treat you to milk tea."

"The blueberry flavor is rather better,"

the young girl analyzed earnestly.

The young man chuckled and teased:

"Then we shall put an extra straw in your cup later, so I may have a taste as well."

"Su Wen, you truly are an idiot."

———————————————————————————

Day gave way to night.

Deep within the Night Watcher bureau in Detroit,

a physician performing surgery under the glare of surgical lights noticed his office door being pushed open.

Standing at the threshold was an American white man donning a Beatles-style studded leather jacket.

He chuckled as he placed an envelope on the table:

"Dean, an anonymous letter signed by someone calling themselves 'Rhein.'

Care to guess whether this was sent by the Zero-Sum Game, the Shepherds, or the Dormant Cult?"

"Stuart, my only specialty is asking corpses for answers.

As for deducing the sender of a letter, it might be simple for a detective, but for a forensic pathologist, there is nothing amusing about it.

You would do better to open that envelope and examine its contents."

The hippie opened the letter.

Two minutes passed.

He finished reading.

Then he popped open a can of beer, his tone losing its previous levity:

"The Leisangton Group—if we take action without a proper search warrant, how many years would we be sentenced to?"

The forensic pathologist replied calmly:

"We won't need to dirty our hands this time."

"What's written in this letter looks rather promising. Dean, don't forget to organize the trial materials; you have no idea how annoying the clerks at the Great Wall of Desolation can be."

"I still remember, half a month ago, walking out of the Empire State Building on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan

to buy a baguette from Larry's bakery.

It was when the streets would still gradually warm up under the sun.

Even upon entering autumn,

though the shade of the trees was deep, you could still catch glimpses of dazzling sunlight filtering through them.

What a pity, we have now plunged entirely into eternal night."

The middle-aged Englishman, whose profession was that of a forensic pathologist, calmly muttered to himself.

The blade in his hand did not tremble in the slightest.

With peerless precision and speed, he excised the abyss-infected lesions from the mutilated corpse on the operating table.

"The Night Watcher 'Rhein'—can he be found in the personnel records?"

The hippie asked with a smile:

"The only recorded mention was when he was brought up by the Bavarian Grand Duke during a session of the Westminster House of Lords.

Oh, looking at it this way—

aren't you afraid he might actually be a Pretender who managed to infiltrate our ranks?"

Bang!

Dean drove his scalpel deep into the wall.

Then,

the forensic expert calmly delivered his verdict:

"What he has done conforms to the rules of Detroit.

It also conforms to the bottom line of the Night Watchers.

Therefore,

I approve."