Chapter 7 Chapter Six

Sixty-four minutes later, Robert Langdon, who was full of suspicion and slightly airsick, stepped off the gangway of the plane and stepped onto the sunny airport runway.With a fresh breeze blowing through the lapels of Langdon's Helix tweed jacket, the spaciousness was wonderful.He glanced around, and there were verdant and verdant valleys nearby, and snow-capped peaks in the distance. I'm literally dreaming, he said to himself.Will wake up soon. "Welcome to Switzerland," the pilot said loudly, drowning out the roar of the fog-fueled HEDM engine of the X33 aircraft behind him.

Langdon checked his watch. Morning, 7:07. "You have exactly passed six time zones," the pilot said, "It is now a little past one o'clock in the afternoon local time." Langdon adjusted the time. "How do you feel?" Langdon rubbed his abdomen and said, "It's like eating Styrofoam." The pilot nodded and said: "That's altitude sickness. We were at an altitude of 60,000 feet just now. At that altitude, your weight was 30% lighter than usual. Fortunately, we are flying a short distance. If we fly to Tokyo, we will lose weight." You have to go all the way up to the top—a hundred miles in the air, and you're going to have a hell of a time."

Langdon nodded listlessly, secretly grateful.Thinking about it carefully, Langdon's flight this time was not much different from ordinary flying.Except for the strong acceleration at takeoff, this plane feels like an ordinary plane in other respects-the occasional slight cyclone, and a few times of air pressure during the climb, it doesn't feel like it is at all. Roaring through the sky at a dizzying 11,000 miles an hour. Several technicians quickly ran onto the runway and faced the X33 aircraft together.The pilot accompanied Langdon to the parking lot next to the control tower, where a black Lion King sedan was parked.After a while, they were already speeding on the asphalt road across the valley.In the distance, a group of messy buildings can be vaguely discerned.Outside, the grassy field blurred.

The pilot had already driven the car to 170 kilometers per hour, or one hundred miles per hour, and Langdon looked at the speedometer on the car in disbelief.Why is this guy driving so hard? "There are still five kilometers to the experimental center," said the pilot, "I will take you there in two minutes." Langdon fumbled vainly for the seat belt.Why not give it three minutes and let us all get there alive? The car is speeding. "Like Reba?" the pilot asked, slipping a cassette into the player. A woman begins to sing: "This is the fear of being alone..."

I have no fear here, Langdon thought casually.Langdon's female colleagues often joked that his collection of high-quality handicrafts was obviously just to enrich an empty home, and they insisted that Langdon would be more comfortable with a woman in his family.Langdon always laughed it off, and reminded them that he already had three loves in his life—semiotics, water polo, and celibacy, which gave him the freedom to travel the world, He could sleep in as late as he wanted, sipping brandy, reading his favorite book, and enjoying a quiet night. "We are like a small city here." The pilot's words pulled Langdon back from his reverie. "It's not just an experimental center. There are supermarkets, hospitals, and even movie theaters here."

Langdon nodded blankly, while looking at the continuous buildings rising from the ground in front of him. "Honestly," continued the pilot, "we have the largest machine on earth here." "Really?" Langdon carefully looked at everything outside. "You can't see this machine from the outside, sir." The pilot laughed. "This machine is buried six stories deep." Langdon had no time to ask further questions.The pilot slammed on the brakes without even saying hello, and the car slid forward and stopped outside a concrete sentry box. Langdon looked at the sign ahead: Immigration Inspection.Only then did he realize where he was, and he felt a sudden panic. "My God, I didn't bring my passport!"

"No passport is needed." The pilot reassured him. "We have a long-term agreement with the Swiss government." The pilot produced an ID and handed it to the guard, and Langdon sat there dumbfounded.The guard swiped the ID on the electronic detector, and the device turned on a green light. "Customer name?" "Robert Langdon," the pilot replied. "Whose guest?" "Director's." The guard frowned.He turned around and checked the file output by the computer, checked it with the data on the computer monitor, and then turned to the window: "I wish you a pleasant stay here, Mr. Langdon."

The car rushed out again like an arrow leaving the string, and it drove 200 yards in the blink of an eye, and arrived at the entrance of the main building.An ultra-modern rectangular building with glass and steel structure stands impressively in front of you.Langdon was amazed by the transparent design of the building, and he had always had a soft spot for architecture. "The Church of Glass," the pilot told him from the sidelines. "Is it a church?" "Hey, no. We have everything here but no church. Physics is the whole religion here. You can say anything bad about God here, but you can't be disrespectful."

The pilot turned the car around and stopped in front of the glass building, where Langdon sat blankly.What's up with quarks and mesons? And what about Mach 15 jets?Who are these guys?A French marble inscription in front of the building gave him the answer: (CERN) CERN "Nuclear research?" Langdon asked, still confident in his French. The pilot didn't answer him, he was leaning forward, busy adjusting the cassette player in the car. "You are at the place, the director will wait for you at the entrance." Langdon noticed a man in a wheelchair at the entrance, driving the wheelchair towards them.The man looked to be in his early sixties, with a haggard face, a bald head, a stiff jaw, a white lab coat, and white shoes resting his feet on the mat of the wheelchair.From a distance, you can feel his eyes glaze over—like two gray pebbles.

"That's him?" Langdon asked. The pilot looked up and said, "Okay, I have to go." He turned his head and gave Langdon a smirk, "Say Cao Cao, Cao Cao will be there." Langdon really didn't know what was going to happen, so he walked over bravely. The man in the wheelchair accelerated towards Langdon. He stretched out his cold hand and said, "Is that Mr. Langdon? We talked on the phone. My name is Maximilian Kohler."

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