Chapter 31 Chapter Thirty-One

On the afternoon of the third day since the eclipse, Beanie limped along the quiet country lane leading to the hideout, walking slowly and carefully, looking around from time to time.Three suns shone brightly in the sky, and the stars had disappeared without a trace, but the world had changed irrevocably in those three days, and so had Beanie. It was the first day of the young astronomer's sanity, and he had no idea what he'd been up to the previous two days.That period of time was a blur, with the rising and setting of Onas, and several other suns passing across the sky from time to time.if

He was told it was the fourth, fifth or sixth day since the disaster, and Beanie would have no objection.His back was sore, his left leg was bruised and his face was covered in bloody scratches.Although the pain emanating from various parts of his body has lessened, he still has pain all over his body. What happened?Where has he been? He remembered the struggle in the observatory, and he preferred to forget it.A mob of screaming, demented townspeople broke down the door...a handful of robed cultists were among them...but most of them were ordinary people, simple-minded, kind-hearted, occasionally bored, but all their lives upholding Civilization, doing simple, kind, and even boring things.Now, in the blink of an eye, civilization grinds to a halt, and happy people turn into raging beasts.

What a terrifying moment they poured in: smashing the camera that had just recorded the eclipse, destroying the precious data just captured, slicing through the tubes of the sunglasses on the roof of the observatory, holding the ultimate board of the computer aloft over their heads, then slammed onto the floor... Arthur stood up like a demigod and ordered them to leave!Like a man ordering the tide to turn around, all is of no avail. Beanie remembered that he had begged Arthur to run away with him, when there was still a chance of escape. "Let go of me, young man!" growled Arthur, who didn't even look like he knew him, "don't pull me, sir!" Then Beanie realized that he should have seen that Arthur was insane The small part that is still normal here is the desire to die.Arthur has completely lost the desire to live... which means that he will enter the terrible barbaric world after the eclipse, which will be the greatest tragedy.Beanie thought: This is the loss of Arthur's will to live, the hopeless concession of this great astronomer in the face of civilization's suffering.

And then... escape from the observatory, that was the last thing Beanie could remember with any certainty.As he left, he glanced back into the main room of the Observatory and saw Arthur disappearing among the mob.Then he turned around, quickly passed through the side door, climbed down from the fire escape and entered the parking lot behind the room... Here the stars await him in majesty. With what he later realized was utter ignorance, or Jinping's arrogant self-confidence, Beanie completely underestimated the power of the stars.The moment they appeared in the observatory, he was so absorbed in his work that he didn't feel their power.He merely noticed that their presence was an unusual occurrence, decided to observe them carefully when he had time, and went on with his business.But when he stepped out of the observatory into the unforgiving sky outside, he knew that the stars had crushed him with all their might.

Looking at the stars, he was stupefied with fright.The merciless cold light of thousands of stars fell directly on him, knocking him over to his knees.He crawled along the ground, suffocating with terror, panting heavily.His hands were shaking, his heart was beating rapidly, and sweat was dripping down his hot face.Something in the scientist's instinct prompts him to turn his face towards the great light of the sky, so that he can observe, analyze and record the conditions of the stars.But only a second or two later tears covered his eyes. That's all he could remember: the struggle to see the stars, the failures and the frustrations.

After that, everything was dark and hazy.He guessed a day or two was wandering in the forest.Distant voices, giggling, raucous, ragged singing.The crackling sound of the fire on the horizon, and the bitter smell of smoke everywhere.Crisp down plunge your face into the creek and wash your cheeks with the cool rapids.A herd of small animals surrounded him...not wild animals, Beanie later concluded, just escaped family animals...howling at him as if to tear him apart. Picking berries off the vine, climbing a tree to peel the tender golden fruit, and falling, thumping on the ground.After several hours of pain, I can recover and continue to move forward.

Suddenly there was a furious fight in the darkest depths of the woods... punches, elbows, frenzied kicks, then stones, animal screams, a man's face pressed against his, red as Flaming eyes, violent beatings, the two of them kept rolling... stretched out their hands to grab a big rock, and turned it over with all their might Hours passed, two days passed, and a fit of fainting like a high fever passed. Then on the third morning, he finally remembered who he was and what had happened.He thought of his colleague Resta, and remembered that he had promised to go to her in the hideout after finishing his work at the observatory.

The hideout... where is it now? Benny's mind has recovered, and now he can recall that the hideout built by the school's teaching staff is between the campus and Saro City, in the rolling plains and open countryside with green grass.That's where the physics department's particle accelerator is housed, a big basement that was abandoned a few years ago when they built a new research center in Salo Heights.It was not difficult to pack this echoing steel and concrete room for short-term use by a few hundred people.Since the place where the accelerator is placed has been locked for safety reasons, no one can enter easily, so it is absolutely no problem to use this place to guard against those citizens who are driven crazy by the solar eclipse.

However, to find the hiding place, Beanie must first figure out where the dream is.He had been wandering aimlessly in a state of numbness for at least two days, perhaps longer.He could be anywhere. In the early hours of the morning, almost by accident, he found a way out of the forest and unexpectedly into a neatly designed residential area.Empty inside, in the chaos of terror, the streets were filled with cars, abandoned because their owners could no longer drive them.On the way, from time to time, I encountered corpses surrounded by flies.There is no sign that there are still people alive here.

For a long time in the morning, he trudged along a road lined with charred and abandoned homes, unable to make out a familiar signpost.At noon, when Trey and Patrou rose into the sky, he went into a house through the open door and ate whatever food he could find that wasn't rotten.There was no water in the kitchen tap, but he found a bottle of stored water in the basement, which he drank to his heart's content and washed himself with what was left. Then he continued along the winding road to a large and stately residential cul-de-sac on top of a hill, every house in it burned to a skeleton.The hilltop houses have nothing left but terraces adorned with pink and blue tiles.No doubt it had once been beautiful, but now it was marred by the black tiles that covered its shiny surface.With all his strength, he climbed onto the terrace and looked towards the narrow valley beyond the mountain.

The air freezes.There were no planes in the sky, no sound of vehicles on the ground, and it was eerily silent in all directions. Suddenly Beanie recognized where he was, and everything fell into place. In the distance to his left, the University was just visible, handsome brick buildings, many streaked black with smoke, others appeared to be in total disrepair.On the far cape behind the university is the observatory.Benny took a quick look at it and then looked away, glad that at this distance he couldn't possibly see what was going on there. In the distance to his right was the city of Salo gleaming in the golden sunlight, and it seemed to him to be perfect.But he knew that if he had binoculars, he would see smashed windows, collapsed buildings, still glowing embers, wisps of smoke rising, all the scars from the great conflagration that came when night fell . Between the city below him and the campus was the forest in which he had been wandering aimlessly when he was unconscious.The hideout was probably at the far end of the forest, and he might have passed hundreds of yards from its entrance a day or two before, and there was no way of knowing. He didn't want to go through the forest again, no doubt still full of lunatics, murderers, runaway beasts, and all kinds of troublesome things.From his vantage point on the top of the hill he could see a road running straight through the forest, and the pattern of streets leading to it.He told himself that if he followed the laid route, nothing would happen. He did so, and it was all right.Onas was still in the sky as he crossed the road through the forest and turned onto the country road he knew led to the hideout.In the afternoon he came to the outer door, and Beanie knew that, once through this door, there was no choice but to go down a long unpaved road, enter the second door, and go around the outer rooms , and finally come to the entrance of the shelter below the floor. The outer entrance was a tall gate that looked like a metal grate, and it was open when he arrived.That was an unexpected and ominous sign. Did the mob also flock here? There was no sign of vandalism by the mob, and everything remained the same except the gate was open.Along the unpaved road, he continued walking in confusion. At least the inner door is closed. "I'm Beanie 25," he said to the door, showing his university ID number.After a while, and then several minutes passed, and there was no movement.The green eyeholes of the scanner overhead seemed to be functioning perfectly...he could see its head sliding side to side...but, maybe the computer controlling it had failed, or been smashed entirely.He waited, and waited some more time. "I'm Beanie 25," he said again at last, showing his number again, "I have the right to walk in here." Then he remembered that the name and number were not enough, the password had to be spoken. But what is the password?Fear touched his soul violently.He tried hard, but couldn't think of anything.How absurd it is to find your way here with difficulty and then be blocked by your own stupidity! password...password... Seems to be related to a disaster?Yes. "Eclipse?" No, not an eclipse.He racked his brain, which still ached. "Kargesh 2nd"?It doesn't seem right either. "Dovim"? "Onas"? "Star"? Well, kind of close. Then I remembered. "It's Higurashi." He said triumphantly. Still nothing, at least for a long time. But then, after what seemed like a thousand years, the door opened to let him in. He walked around the outhouse and came to the oval-shaped metal door of the shelter built at a 45-degree angle from the ground.Here's another green cat eye watching him, does he have to prove himself all over again?Obviously he did. "I'm Beanie 25," he said, preparing for another long wait. But the door was immediately moved back, and he looked towards the balcony of the reinforced concrete floor of the hideout inside. Resta 71 was waiting for him less than ten yards away. "Benny," she cried, running towards him, "oh, Beanie, Beanie..." They first became colleagues a year and a half ago, and since then they have never been separated for 18 hours, and now they are separated for days.He pulled her slender figure towards him and hugged her tightly, taking a long time to let go. Then he realized they were still standing in the empty doorway of the hideout. "Can we go in and lock the door?" he asked. "What if I'm being followed? I wish I hadn't, but..." "It's all right. There's no one else here." "what?" "Onas came up yesterday, and they all left," she said, "They asked me to leave too, but I said I would wait for you, so I will." With a puzzled expression, he stared at she. At this moment he saw how tired and haggard her thin and distorted face looked, her once shiny hair was disheveled, her face was pale without makeup, her eyes were red and swollen, and she looked old 5...10 years old. "Resta, how long has it been since the eclipse?" "This is the third day." "Day three. That's pretty much what I expected." There was a strange echo in his voice.Looking through her, I looked towards the unoccupied hideout, the empty basement stretched out, and the light bulb above the head brightly illuminated the room.as far as the eye can see The place was deserted, he hadn't expected it at all, the plan was to keep everyone hidden there until it was safe.He wondered, "Where did they all go?" "Armgando," Lesta said. "Amgando National Park? But it's hundreds of miles away! Only two days in hiding, then come out half way across the country, are they crazy? Resta , do you know what happened there?" Amgando Park is a nature reserve, far to the south.Wild animals often visit there, and the natural wild plants are specially protected.As a child, Beanie and his father visited once, in almost pure wilderness, visited by only a handful of hikers. "They think it's safer to go there," she said. "Safer?" "Words have come to every sane man that all who wish to take part in the work of rebuilding society should assemble at Amgando. There are evidently thousands of people gathered there, from all directions, mostly from Other universities, and some people from the government." "Well, all the professors and politicians have stepped into the park. Everything else is destroyed, why not destroy the last intact piece of land we have?" "That doesn't matter, Beanie, what matters is that Amgando Park is in the hands of sane people. It's a sanctuary of civilization in a state of general madness. They know us and tell us to go before the comms fail. Join them. We voted by show of hands, 2 to 1." "Two to one," said Beanie grumpily. "You bastards trying to get away without even seeing the stars! Imagine walking three hundred . …Get through the mess that is going on. Why not wait a month or six months or something? You have enough food and water to last a year here." "That's what we said," Resta replied, "but they told us and the people at Amgando Park that we have to go now. If we wait a few more weeks, the swimming outside The lunatics, egged on by the local warlords, will join hands to form an armed force, and by the time we come out, we'll have to deal with them. Also said that if we had waited a few weeks, the flamers might have established a new crackdown The sex government, with its own police and army, will intercept us as soon as we step out of our hideouts. The people of Amgando say we must leave immediately, or we will regret it. Rather than fighting the armed forces, it is better to fight with The stray, delirious crowd fought, so we decided to leave.' "Everyone is gone, except you." "I want to wait for you." He took her hand and said, "How did you know I was coming?" "You said you would, once you're done taking pictures of the eclipse. You always keep your word, Beanie." "Yes." Benny said flatly.He hadn't recovered from the shock at finding the shelter empty.He had hoped to come here to rest, to heal his scarred body and restore his star-damaged mind.But what to do now, can the two live and work in peace in this empty reinforced concrete cellar?Or managed to get to Amgando?The decision to leave the hideout was a bit crazy, Beanie thought, and assuming it made sense to have everyone assembled in Amgundo, then perhaps it would be better to leave now while the country was still in chaos than to wait for a new political group (Flame Faithful or local bandits) are far better flanked by them on the road.But he wanted to find his friends and acquaintances where he was, and spend some time with them to recover from the shock of the previous few days.He asked in a dull voice, "Do you really know what's going on outside, Lesta?" "I was relying on the comms until it failed. The whole city was almost completely destroyed by fire, and the university was badly damaged. . . . That's all true, isn't it?" Benny nodded. "As far as I know, that's true. When a mob stormed the observatory to cause trouble, I escaped. I concluded that Arthur had been killed and all equipment destroyed. . . . All the eclipse data we took They were all destroyed..." "Oh, Beanie, I'm so sorry." "I managed to get out from behind, but as soon as I got outside, the stars startled me. You can't imagine it, Lesta, I'm so happy, you can't imagine it. For two or three days I was a little bit Delirious, roaming the woods. No restraints, each in his own way. I may have killed someone in a fight. People's livestock are running wild...the stars must have made them mad too...and they very scary." "Benny, Beanie..." "All the houses were burned. I walked this morning from the area near the small hills on the south side of the forest... Cape Onas, is that what it's called?...... The sight of the destruction is simply unbelievable Believe me, there is not a living creature to be seen. There are broken-down cars everywhere, dead bodies all over the streets, houses in ruins... My God, Resta, what a crazy night it was! And The madness continues." "You're right," she said, "creepy, but not—" "Crazy? I'm crazy. From the moment the stars appeared, until I woke up today, and then everything finally started to make sense in my head. But for most other people, it's more I'm worse, especially for the unprepared, the ones who look at the sky in bewilderment... Once the sun dies, the stars appear to twinkle. As your Uncle Schelling said, people have a range of reactions, from Short-term insanity to complete permanent insanity." Resta said calmly, "Schelling was with you at the observatory during the eclipse, wasn't he?" "yes." "Then what happened next?" "I didn't know. I was too busy watching the filming of the eclipse to know what happened to him. He seemed to have disappeared without a trace when the mob broke through the door." Resta said with a faint smile: "Maybe he slipped away while taking advantage of the chaos. Uncle is that kind of person...sometimes his hands and feet are quick when he is in trouble. I hope he will not have any troubles." "Resta, misfortune has happened to the whole world. Perhaps Arthur is right: it's best to let it go. That way, you won't have to contend with worldwide insanity and chaos." "You shouldn't have said that, Beanie." "Yes, yes, I shouldn't." He walked behind her and stroked her shoulder gently.Leaning forward, he gently rubbed his nose against her ear. "Lesta, what should we do?" "I think I can guess," she said. Regardless of what happened, he smiled and said, "I mean the future." "Let's talk about it later," she said to him.