Chapter 43 Chapter Forty-Three

"You mean..." I also stood up slowly, and looked into the distance with his resolute gaze.As far as the eye can see, apart from the thousand-year-old tomb, there is only the vast Gobi Desert.Gradually, a truth that I longed for came to my mind—"You came to Lop Nur to find 'wormholes'?" Tang Yuxing didn't speak, and still stood there silently, his thoughts went to nowhere.And his silence at this time made me strongly feel his answer. At this time, a staff member of the archaeological team came from the direction of the camp. "Professor Tang, it's time to eat."

Tang Yuxing slowly turned his head and looked at me. "Go back to eat?" I shook my head reluctantly. "Professor... I still have a lot of things I don't understand, and I want to chat with you for a while." He smiled a little, and that smile made me realize that he was clearly aware of my reluctance to go back—the mystery had just opened a hole, how could it stop there? "I'll chat with Xiao Pei for a while, you guys eat first." "Okay." The man turned around and wanted to leave, but he suddenly seemed to remember something and turned around again, "By the way, Professor Tang, a few cars came next to our camp in the afternoon and set up a new camp. Do you want to say hello to other expedition teams?"

"Another expedition team?" Tang Yuxing was puzzled, "How far is it from us?" "It's a mile or two to the north of us." "Didn't you hear that a new expedition team is coming? How about this, you continue to work after eating, and when I go back, let's go meet them." "Okay." The man turned and left. "Why don't you go to see them first? Don't delay your business." I had a feeling that the host has a new guest, but I, the old guest, are still lingering. "It's okay, it often happens that several expedition teams collide in the same place...but..." Tang Yuxing frowned, "I didn't hear that a new expedition team will come in these few days...forget it, let's ignore it, maybe They will take the initiative to greet us in a while. Let's continue talking, where did we just say?"

"Speaking of...speaking of why you came to Lop Nur." "You just told me why I came here." He started to walk deep into the desert, and I followed him closely—two shallow footprints of the two of us gradually left in the huge desert. "Are you really here to look for 'wormholes'?" "That's right, I'm here to look for 'wormholes', but as for whether I can find them, I don't know if I find 'wormholes' that already existed in the universe or man-made 'wormholes'." Tang Yu Xingbian Looking around while walking, "It's not easy to find such a huge desert."

"Why do you think there are 'wormholes' here?" Following his gaze, all I saw was the endless yellow sand. "Have you heard the rumors about Lop Nur? I mean those absurd and unimaginable rumors." "You mean those mysterious disappearances?" After seeing him nodding, I became confused. "I often hear people talk about these things, but they are too mysterious. I just listen to them as stories." "The earth is so big and China is so big, why did these rumors appear here instead of other places?" He stopped in his tracks and looked at me expressionlessly.

"I... don't know." I have never been clear about the process of spreading rumors, and I don't care. "I personally like to study rumors or rumors. But I never pay attention to the final result of the rumor, because the result will be infinitely magnified by people. What I pay attention to is why the rumor happened and why it happened in this place! I said , China is very large and there are many Chinese people, but why are the rumors about mysterious disappearances concentrated here? There are only two possibilities: the first is that these rumored events did happen, and of course they may not be as popular as they were later spread. Exaggeration; the second possibility is that someone deliberately created rumors in this place to make people feel curious or fearful."

Hearing his analysis, a common saying suddenly appeared in my mind - flies do not bite seamless eggs. "If it is the first case, then we need to find the parties to inquire, but there is no party involved in the mysterious incident that happened in Lop Nur - because the parties either disappeared or lost their memory, so we can't verify the authenticity of this situation at all. This is the horror or mystery of these rumors. Of course, there is another kind of marginal party, which is the bystander of these incidents. For example, if I suddenly disappear now, then you and my team members are marginal parties. But even if you find these People are meaningless, because they can only prove my disappearance but not what happened to me, not to mention how credible these people’s words are. Even if the marginal parties can prove that the disappearance did exist, they can Because they don't know what happened, the testimony of these people cannot be accepted by others, and others will even demonize these people, thinking that they are mentally ill or crazy for wanting to be famous, or they will be forcibly demanded by certain departments Shut up. As a result, bystanders of many bizarre events end up choosing silence."

I remember that I watched some TV programs, interviewing people who experienced or witnessed some bizarre events. Some of them saw aliens, some saw dragons, and some experienced other unimaginable things. Anyway, these People were questioned and ridiculed by hosts and countless experts and scholars on TV, and even psychiatrists performed psychoanalysis on these witnesses. In short, no one wanted to believe what these people experienced or saw.I even think that these people are unwilling to believe their words because of jealousy-why can you encounter such a thrilling and unimaginable good thing but I can't?Why can you see aliens but I can't?Why do dragons appear above your head but not mine?Why do you lie on the bed tonight and be able to appear a hundred kilometers away tomorrow when you open your eyes, and I am still in this bed even if I die of sleep?How old are you?So, you want to be famous, you are hyping, you are talking nonsense, you are farting, you are out of your mind!

"Obviously, it is impossible to verify the authenticity of the rumor in the first case, and it is impossible to verify the second case—that is, man-made. Because since the rumor is man-made, it is of course impossible for the maker to tell You tell the truth, unless they tell it voluntarily or an accident happens." Tang Yuxing lit the fourth cigarette. "Someone deliberately created rumors?" I was a little unbelievable. "There are many such things, and most of them are clumsy. This kind of situation has happened in China-in order to increase their popularity and increase local tourism revenue, some cities will deliberately fake some mysterious phenomena to attract the attention of others, and even shamelessly pay a lot of money to invite them. Some scum in the academic world to prove the credibility of these incidents, hehe, these are too childish.” When he said this, his face was full of disdain, especially when he mentioned the scum in the academic world, he was full of anger, as if there were people around him. There have been these scum, "However, there was a case of man-made terrorist incidents in the United States, and it was successful. There was a famous haunted house somewhere in the United States. There were many rumors about it, so many explorers went to explore it. , but these explorers were either discouraged after encountering horrific events, or an accident really happened, so everyone dared not go to that place again, and that place became a real 'haunted house'. Later in the state It was only after the government's strong intervention that people knew that it was the location of an intelligence agency of the US government. In order to prevent anyone from discovering and disturbing this place, the government fabricated the legend of the "ghost house" and created several bizarre murders , and finally allowed this mysterious department to carry out all kinds of shady work unimpeded."

"Hey, this kind of thing happened in the United States. The state government can interfere and stop the work of the federal government. If it is another country, how dare the local government do this." I was a little angry. "Hehe, let's not go so far. Through the above analysis, although we can't know the truth of the rumors, no matter what the situation is, it can remind us-it is very likely that something extraordinary happened in this place." "You came to Lop Nur based on this?" I was a little puzzled and dissatisfied—a serious scientist spent a lot of time investigating based on unconfirmed rumors, which obviously violated scientific common sense.

"Hehe, of course not! That's just one of the reasons why I came here. Just like investigating a case, since everyone says this person is suspicious—even if it's just a rumor or even a rumor—then we can't ignore this person, right? ?According to these rumors about Lop Nur, no matter whether these people were taken away by aliens or strayed into the 'wormhole', anyway, these rumors are consistent with the direction I want to investigate, so I can't ignore this place. In addition, This reason is only the most absurd and the most unscrupulous of the many reasons why I came to Lop Nur, and the other reason is the most critical." Following his footsteps, we came to another dry river valley. This river valley meets the valley where the camp is located not far away, and farther away, I can vaguely see a third river valley. "This is the valley of the Cheerchen River, and the valley of the Kongque River is near the camp. Then..." Tang Yuxing pointed to the distance, "That is the valley of a dry tributary of the Tarim River. These three valleys that have long dried up are in Lop Nur They gather nearby, and not far from the meeting point is the ancient city of Loulan. On the way Lao Liao brought you here, you should have passed the ancient city of Loulan, right?" I nodded. "Near these three rivers, there are not only the ancient city of Loulan, but also the ancient city of Niya, as well as many ancient cities such as Karadun, Milan, Nirang, Khan, and Tongwan. To the north of these ancient cities, there is another extremely important place. , can you think of where it is?" Following the direction of Tang Yuxing's finger, I found nothing but the desert.north? I shook my head. "What else is Lop Nur other than a thousand-year-old country?" He tried his best to inspire me. I began to rack my brains to think - Lop Nur?This name has appeared in my knowledge base countless times before I got involved in the whole incident, and it always feels very familiar to me.But, what else is in it?I began to delete all the information related to the legend and the ancient city from my mind, leaving only the three simple words "Lop Nur".Soon, without the interference of other information, I quickly realized the other meanings of these three words. "Nuclear weapons test site?!" As soon as this meaning appeared, an atomic bomb exploded in my mind. Tang Yuxing narrowed his eyes and looked into the distance with a serious face. "That's right. One reason why the government established a nuclear weapons test site in Lop Nur is that it is full of deserts and uninhabited for thousands of miles, so that the harm of nuclear tests can be minimized; another reason, and the most important reason, is that there are extremely rich The heavy water resources." He turned his gaze from the far north to the nearby river valley, "The heavy water resources necessary for the manufacture of nuclear weapons are in these three rivers. And it was a very famous scientist—Peng Jiamu who first discovered these." The three characters "Peng Jiamu" are no less explosive than an atomic bomb. After seeing my expression, Tang Yuxing smiled slightly. "It seems you've heard rumors about him." "Ok." "Unfortunately, no one knows where he went." He sighed, "Maybe, he is looking at us somewhere now, ha ha. Well, let's not talk about him. In fact, his disappearance has nothing to do with other things. Like the disappearance, it may never be proven. The only reason why his disappearance is so sensational is because he is so famous." "But, but the government has tried its best to find him... Isn't that suspicious?" I remembered the rumors about Peng Jiamu that I had chatted with Jack. "Of course it's suspicious...but so what? If he went to another time and space, we can't know at this stage; if he did find something and was hidden by the government or the military, we can't know at this stage! So, forget about him! Let's focus on the heavy water resources here." "Okay." I nodded, "Heavy water contains a lot of trace elements, and it is an indispensable resource for scientific experiments and nuclear tests... However, its distribution in the world is very uneven. Before our country discovered Lop Nur, it cost A large amount of foreign exchange is used to buy heavy water." "That's right, heavy water, like rare earths, is a country's strategic resource. If a country lacks this kind of resource, it will be controlled by others in many places." "It seems that God treats us well." "Hehe, it's really not thin. As I said just now, the premise of space-time bending is the bending of light. Whether it is external force or internal force, only a strong field can make light bend. Excessive concentration of heavy water resources can release a strong field, which has The possibility of space-time bending. At the same time, if you want to artificially create black holes or wormholes, you also need this kind of scarce resources. Lop Nur is the place with the most concentrated heavy water resources in China, and it is also the place where the energy field found by scientific testing is the most unstable. so……" "So that's the scientific reason you came here!" With the anecdotal and scientific evidence, I became more and more convinced that this place was extraordinary. "This is only part of the scientific basis. Well, after talking about the legends, physics and chemistry, let me tell you about the third reason I came here: archaeological discoveries. Lop Nur area has discovered many similar to our just now. There are more than 1,000 sun tombs that we have seen. It is said that there are more than 1,000 tombs. A total of 330 have been discovered so far, and more than half of them are near the confluence of the three rivers. After archaeological excavations, carbon 14 confirmed that these tombs are all 3,000 It was built many years ago—all built more than 3,000 years ago—what does that mean?" Another question was thrown at me. "Are all the tombs built 3,000 years ago?... Haven't they been found in other periods?" I vaguely sensed the mystery of this question. "No." He shook his head, "But your question is right on point, and it's also the question of all archaeologists—since this place was once inhabited by humans, why isn't there a 4,000 or 5,000-year-old archaeologist?" Tombs? Why are there no tombs from one or two thousand years ago? And why are there no tombs from hundreds of years ago? Why are all the tombs concentrated in that period?" I was confused, but more and more excited. "For example, I only found traces of you from the age of five to ten in a house, and nothing from other periods. What does this mean? It means that you only lived here from the age of five to ten, and before and Didn't live there at all after that! Did you?" I nodded without saying a word. "No matter who the people living in Lop Nur are, no matter where they migrated from, they will always leave traces—whether it is written, legendary or archaeological. But they suddenly appeared here more than 3,000 years ago. leaving any trace of the previous, and then suddenly disappearing without a trace..." "Is it possible that their previous traces were covered by the desert, and people just haven't discovered it yet, and then this ethnic group really disappeared completely?" "Your logic is very strict and reasonable, but as a history student, you should know that there were records about this place in ancient Chinese books during the Han Dynasty." "Yes, there are records about this place in "Historical Records." I blurted out quickly. "Yes, there are records about this place in the Han Dynasty and different dynasties in the following hundreds of years. These records not only record in detail the Loulan people living in Lop Nur, but also record many other small countries living here. The current archaeological discoveries have also discovered a large number of remains from that period. Archaeological excavations have proved that there were people living here more than 3,000 years ago and more than 1,000 years ago, but from the Xia and Shang periods more than 3,000 years ago to more than 1,000 years ago. The Han Dynasty a few years ago, there is still more than a thousand years of history in the middle - where are they for more than a thousand years? Whether they still live here or migrate to other places, there will always be clues? But why did they Didn't leave any traces about the thousand years?" As the sky got darker, the chill all over my body became heavier and heavier. "Furthermore, through written records and archaeological excavations, we know that there were indeed people living here again during the Han Dynasty and the following three or four hundred years, but all these records and excavations ended in AD 415. That is to say, the people here suddenly disappeared after 415 A.D., and this time the disappearance has continued until today! People lived here during the Han and Jin Dynasties, but before, during and after these two time periods, there is no trace of human habitation or migration here, and no one knows where the people here went!" "Wait a minute!" Just when Tang Yuxing was about to continue, I suddenly yelled out of composure, "You just said... When did you say that the people here disappeared again?" Tang Yuxing was obviously taken aback by my abnormal reaction. He looked at me very puzzled, as if he was looking at a visitor from outside the sky. "A.D. 415...what's the matter?" AD 415 - WU415! Then I asked Tang Yuxing for a cigarette, and then I described all the connections between WU415 and me in the first cigarette in my life.Just after I tried my best to stop my cough, he smoothed his white hair that was blown by the wind, and sighed heavily: "Where is this WU415 so sacred!" Both of us were silent. This was the longest silence since we met, and it was also the most mixed-feeling silence.Where the hell is he?This question has appeared in my mind countless times, and it has already been deeply implanted in my blood like a gene. "Do you want to go back and rest?" Seeing Tang Yuxing's silent silence in the wind, I was a little worried about his old body.For a person of such an age to stay in the wind and sand for such a long time and talk so much, it would be too much for a young person. "It's okay, wait a little longer, wait for the sun to set." He looked at the sun that was slowly setting in the sky, his voice was a little hoarse, "You haven't seen a sunset in the desert, have you? You will know that kind of scene once you see it." Unforgettable." So, the two of us struggled to reach a tall sand dune, and sat down side by side facing the setting sun.A layer of oil paint-like red gradually spread over us, and the figures curled up behind us were like two small animals warming each other, cuddling tightly together.We just sat like two children, quietly waiting for the sunset, quietly looking forward to the unknown distance. "There were people living here during the Xia and Shang Dynasties, and then disappeared without leaving any traces; during the Han and Jin Dynasties, human beings suddenly appeared here again, but they did not leave any reason for their appearance here; AD 415 , The people here disappeared again without leaving any clues, they came without a trace every time, and then disappeared without a trace, what does all this prove? ——Wormhole.” Tang Yuxing looked into the distance, as if he was talking to himself, but the answer actually appeared in our hearts.How else could this happen in a place where the energy field is the strongest and most unstable? "Since there really is a wormhole in Lop Nur, how to lock the specific location of the wormhole? Also, if it is discovered, how can it be used by human beings? I mean, even if we find the wormhole, we don't know what we will do if we go in. Where will it travel to?" When I thought of using such a mysterious cosmic energy, I was full of doubts about human beings' existing abilities. "Isn't it the most important scientific discovery to be able to travel through time and space?" His tone was calm, and he didn't express any dissatisfaction with my negativity. "But... but for such an uncontrollable energy, what's the use of discovering it? For example, we have entered a wormhole, but we don't know where we will go, and we don't know whether we can come back, so even if we I have traveled through time and space, and there is no way to bring the results of the time travel to the world." My axis problem started to make trouble again, "It's like a kite, we cut the rope after we put it in the air, regardless of whether it will Where are we flying to, then what are we planning for?" "Hehe, your worries are not unreasonable, but it's better to find out than not to find out. Only when you find out, can you control it and use it. We can't think that we can't use it in the future just because the current means can't reach it." His voice remained the same. Softly, "Maybe one day, when humans can truly control wormholes with ease, how will the whole world change? On that day, no matter where you want to go or when you want to go, you only need to hold a remote control , enter the time and space you want to go, and then a 'any door' will appear in front of you... Isn't this wonderful?" After Tang Yuxing said these words, he looked at me like a child. "Well, anyway, I guess I won't see that day." I laughed helplessly. "Haha, haven't scientists started to manufacture these in the laboratory now? So even if we can't find the existing wormholes, scientists may be able to mass-produce them in a few years, haha." Tang Yuxing laughed so hard that I felt a bit disappointed as a scientist. It seems that every scientist has a child-like innocent and lovely heart in his heart. What can I say?I can only sit stupidly, watching the sunset and dreaming about the sweet dreams of thousands of years, tens of thousands of years or even hundreds of millions of years with him! One followed by fifteen zeros - are we really going to have to wait this long to see this day? Silence struck again.In the silence, my uneasiness became more and more intense, and a strange feeling penetrated deeper and deeper into my heart——Tang Yuxing came to Lop Nur to find a wormhole, but he knew that even if he found a wormhole, he would not be able to escape. The existing ability cannot control it, and it is impossible to achieve such an ability until the day when human beings are destroyed. Then the purpose of his coming here is really to discover it, and then tell the world about this discovery, so that future generations can study and control it ?What's more, the appearance of the wormhole is so unstable, whether it will appear again, whether it will stay in the same place, we still don't know, even if it is discovered now, who knows where it will appear in the next second - he Did you really come here to find such an uncontrollable wormhole?What is his real purpose in looking for wormholes? Thinking of this, I sneaked a sideways glance at him.He was watching the distance quietly, with a very calm expression, without any flickering or hesitation, as if everything was under control. What else is this old man hiding from me? "Professor Tang, since you came to Lop Nur to find wormholes, do you want to travel through time and space through wormholes?" I decided to figure out his real purpose step by step. "What do you think?" He smiled. "Since wormholes are passages for traveling through time and space, then you must have come here for this." After much deliberation, I can only come to this conclusion. "Before answering your question, do you feel as if we have made a mistake or entered a misunderstanding?" He crossed his legs, as if starting to sit and talk. "Entered a misunderstanding?" I became puzzled - you told me this theory, why are there any misunderstandings? "Xiao Pei... Oh, Zhou Hao, if you could travel through time and space right now, where would you most like to go?" He suddenly looked at me with a childish expression. "I..." As soon as he said this, I suddenly felt a kind of sadness and joy in my heart that I won the five million jackpot but didn't know how to spend it, "I...maybe I will go there ten years later and see the end Who is my wife, and then quickly find this person and tell her, don't bother to fall in love with other people, you will marry me sooner or later, haha." "Haha." He couldn't help laughing out loud. "and you?" Since it is two children who are dreaming sweet dreams, let's make the sweet dreams more beautiful. "Me? Of course I want to know the truth of everything we investigated! If you can know the truth, why bother to investigate here now." His answer did not have the slightest dreamlike color, and quickly dragged me back from the dream to the cruel reality. Cough, if I could really travel through time and space, I would rather go back to half a month ago and not attend the damn reception at the Otani Foundation. "By the way, Professor Tang, you said that if we can really travel through time and space, if we go back decades and kill Hitler, will there be no World War II? Or we can bring a modern army and go back to any place in ancient times. Can a dynasty easily rule the world?" I started to think wildly. "Haha, Zhou Hao, you are finally starting to realize this misunderstanding." Tang Yuxing looked at me with a smile, his expression very proud, as if he had finally successfully led me into a trap. "Did I realize the misunderstanding? Why didn't I know?" I suddenly had a feeling of being overshadowed.I immediately looked at him, and his expression convinced me that I was really being bullied. "All these fantasies of people have a premise, that is, they don't believe in space-time travel at all, so they have the courage to think wildly. But since time-space travel is possible, imagine if these fantasies come true, will the history of mankind rewrite?" "Yes, of course it has to be rewritten." "Isn't the whole world messed up? I made a mistake with a card and lost a hundred dollars. It doesn't matter. I go back to a minute ago and play again; a person was killed by a falling flower pot. It doesn't matter. , I went back to a minute ago and didn’t go that way; also, a football match is over, and the losing side wants to go back to before the start and start playing again, so the winning side will definitely not do it, if they lose they Definitely have to go back to before the start of the game and play again, and then the two teams will start traveling endlessly through time and space...haha, what will the whole world be like then?" "This... I really haven't thought about it." If it is really so easy to travel through time and space, I really can't imagine what kind of virtue this world will become.What's the point of living now if everything can be done all over again? "So, there is a major misunderstanding in the space-time travel we just talked about, and this misunderstanding is-the grandmother paradox!" He completely put away the smile on his face, and became serious in an instant. "The grandmother paradox?" My smile froze. "Yes, this is a concept proposed by quantum physicists." He took out a cigarette, handed me one, and lit one himself.I know that as soon as he smokes, the science popularization program will start again. "When quantum physicists theoretically proved the possibility of traveling through time and space, they also had the doubts we just talked about, so they put forward a hypothesis-since you can travel through time and space, if you go back to your grandmother to get married If you killed her before, how were you born? Similarly, this assumption can be placed on your father. If you killed your father when he was a baby, how could you exist? This It's called the 'grandmother paradox' - you killed your grandmother so you couldn't have been born; but you were born and you went back in time and killed her." "How...how did this happen?" As soon as this strange paradox came out, I was completely confused.Since space-time travel is theoretically established, and some scientific experiments have confirmed its establishment, it is also possible for the "grandmother paradox" to occur-but the things assumed in the "grandmother paradox" are true under any circumstances. It can never be established! what's the problem?I looked at Tang Yuxing almost beggingly. "It's getting dark, shall we go back?" He gave me a nasty look. "No! I hate people half-talking." I got angry—in fact, in front of this old man, I made my temper more like a baby. "Don't regret it." His expression became even weirder. "Regret? Where does this go. Why should I regret it?" I was confused again. "Because...because what I'm going to say next...is very...very scary!" His voice suddenly became hoarse and terrifying.