Qi Yan realized that he seemed to be in a curved space-time.

He walked in a long corridor with shadows and mirrors on both sides. The left mirror showed him sitting alone in the courtyard of Qi's house when he was still young. The building blocks were thrown aside, and he was lowering his head to dismantle the power engine of a toy suspension car.

A childcare robot stood two steps away and made an electronic voice saying "No, you can't do this!"

The right mirror showed him sitting in his mother's laboratory, flipping through a thick paper book. His mother Lin Zhi, wearing a white lab coat, was quickly recording something on the reader, and her expression on the side of her face was very focused.

At that time, he was not yet six years old, and was taken away from the Qi family by Lin Zhi for nearly three years. He liked the life during that period very much, because when he showed characteristics different from his peers or even ordinary people, no one would be surprised or frightened like Qi Wenshao. Most people would say:

"This is normal. I was like this when I was a child, or I am a little better than you. When I was the same age as you, I was studying the Joseph equation."

"You want to change the introduction of this function? No problem, come, let's take a closer look to see if your idea can become a reality..."

Looking further ahead, in the picture, he seemed to have grown up a little, and was looking for papers and materials. After reading a part, he began to argue with the people next to him.

Qi Yan automatically completed this part of the picture - the time was when he was nine years and six months old, and the object of the dispute was August, who was thirty-nine years old at that time.

Another picture appeared, and his mother finally completed the project she had been working on for eight years. Everyone was cheering, and Eliza raised her wine glass and even shed tears.

He was eleven years old and sat in the corner, but he felt a faint fear.

Qi Yan instinctively did not dare to move forward.

He could almost determine what kind of picture he would see if he went forward.

However, this curved space-time channel was not affected by his will. He took a step uncontrollably, and the picture on the right soon emerged - it was the residential area where Lu Fenghan was rescued.

Eight years ago, this residential area had not been completely abandoned. He remembered that day, Lin Zhi went back to Leto alone without telling anyone. He followed her quietly, almost relying on his sixth sense, and followed Lin Zhi on the starship to several jump points.

After Lin Zhi disappeared behind the closed door, Qi Yan waited for a long time, forcibly changed the door lock system and opened the door.

A strong smell of blood wafted into his nose.

His mother, Lin Zhi, one of the best scientists in the Alliance, committed suicide.

Qi Yan felt very cold, and the sound of continuous rain rang in his ears. At the same time, the curved corridor of time and space became more and more distorted. All the pictures, his childhood, his teenage years, the cheering people, the bookshelves, the walls, the buildings - everything, were scattered like fragments of a puzzle.

Amid the thunder of "boom--", Qi Yan suddenly opened his eyes.

In front of him was a burning flame, and above his head was a cone made up of several pointed feldspars, and he was lying on a stone under the cone. A few steps away, bean-sized raindrops hit the ground, and the air was full of moist water vapor.

He was wearing a coat and resting his head on Lu Fenghan's thigh.

"Awake?"

A pair of hands were pressed against his ears, as if to shield him from the thunder.

"Yeah, I'm awake." Qi Yan's voice was hoarse and his throat was sore. The scene of the starship explosion appeared in front of his eyes. He turned to Lu Fenghan, "Are you injured?"

Lu Fenghan raised the corner of his lip: "You don't care whether you are injured or not, but you care about me first?" He pulled up his sleeves and exposed his arms, "Does this count? When the escape capsule collapsed, I was scratched by something and it has solidified."

Seeing Qi Yan staring at the wound, Lu Fenghan He sighed, "It doesn't hurt. Do you think everyone is as afraid of pain as you?" Then he pointed to Qi Yan and said, "The escape capsule on the civilian starship is of good quality. It carried us out of the jump channel and broke through the atmosphere of this planet. When it hit the ground, you can still roughly see its original shape."

Qi Yan looked over and saw a nearly elliptical object lying upside down on the ground. Its outer shell was charred and its metal surface was curled up. It was only half a step away from being destroyed.

"Is the positioning system still there?"

"Yes, but the personal terminal cannot connect to the star network. This planet is uninhabited and there is no living creature. Fortunately, this thing is of good quality. Rescue personnel should be able to find our location through the coordinates of the escape capsule."

Although the situation was unknown, Lu Fenghan spoke very easily.

Qi Yan sat up and found that the fire was composed of several brown stones, and the flames were a light blue. He looked around. The fierce rain limited the visible range, but there were scattered stones on the ground.

"This place... is a bit like a mineral planet."

The Alliance calls planets that are poor in biological resources but rich in mineral reserves mineral planets. Usually, after an exploration team has completed a clear exploration of the area, they will dispatch a certain number of mining robots to carry out mining operations.

"Probably." Lu Fenghan casually pulled his coat that was sliding down Qi Yan's shoulders, "I just don't know if we are still within the alliance. In addition, there are nutrient solutions in the escape capsule. If we drink them sparingly, the two of us can last for a week."

He joked again, "It's just that the agreed two-day trip to Planet Woz has turned into a multi-day trip to an unknown planet."

Qi Yan recalled carefully, "When you asked everyone to press the escape capsule button, I saw Ye Pei and the others did what you said."

"Well, then it's probably okay. We'll either float in space for a few days or land on an uninhabited planet like us. We'll definitely not die." Lu Fenghan was forced to land on an uninhabited planet more than once or twice. After getting a general idea of ​​the surrounding situation, he was not scared at all.

Reassured, Qi Yan found that the place where they were seemed to be a plain, but except for a few pointed feldspars, it was completely barren and had nothing. The rain gathered on the ground and soon seeped into the ground.

When the next thunder came, Qi Yan gathered the wide coat he was wearing.

Lu Fenghan leaned against the stone wall, one leg bent, his arm casually resting on his knee, and saw Qi Yan's little movement: "Are you afraid of thunder?"

Qi Yan nodded: "Yeah."

Maybe it was because they had just experienced an accident, or maybe it was because they were the only two people on this planet. Lu Fenghan rarely gave up his sense of propriety and asked: "Why are you afraid of thunder?"

Silence.

In the sound of heavy rain, Qi Yan whispered back, "It was also raining like this on the day my mother committed suicide."

Lu Fenghan's breath stagnated.

He had secretly guessed the cause of Qi Yan's mother's death. With the current medical technology of the Alliance, many diseases can be cured, so he thought it might be an accident or a genetic disease.

But he didn't expect it to be suicide.

He remembered that Qi Yan once hugged a soft pillow and knocked on the door of his room. Every time there was thunder, she would nervously wrinkle the sheets.

Perhaps still affected by the scenes he saw before waking up, Qi Yan stared at a certain point in the air and then spoke: "Actually... I had a premonition a long time ago. She has been sick and her mental condition is very bad, but because she has been working on a project, she seems... very calm and rational. But she is like a taut bowstring. When it is stretched to the extreme, it will break."

"Everyone was surprised and thought she would not commit suicide. How could she commit suicide?"

Lu Fenghan looked at Qi Yan, watching him hug his knees and curl up in his coat.

Too pitiful.

"My mother once said that she has always been in a delicate state of madness and clarity. Once what she is doing comes to an end, she will be swallowed by the darkness." The dark blue flames reflected in Qi Yan's eyes, and he was absent-minded for a while, "Eliza has been helping my mother develop drugs, but it's no use. Her condition has been up and down.

Now I actually understand a little bit, she... lives a hard and tiring life."

As he spoke, Qi Yan's narration became a little confused, "I walked into that room at that time The door smelled of blood and I couldn't breathe. I knew what happened. When she left quietly without telling anyone, I guessed what she was going to do.

I was already eleven years old at that time. I had the ability to think independently. Under her protection, I could grow up safely, so she was relieved...

In fact, I shouldn't be so smart, right? A little clumsy, a little timid, and always need her care - but,"

Qi Yan whispered to himself softly: "She will still leave."

No one will always be with him.

Lu Fenghan has encountered countless rainy days, in Leto, on the No Man Star, at school, and on the front line, but no rain has made him so upset and irritable. His

memory is too good, so every thunderstorm night, the scene that happened will be repeated completely.

Would he even be unable to distinguish reality from memory?

What was it like to witness his mother's death over and over again, to be powerless over and over again, and to keep telling himself that she would still leave?

Lu Fenghan closed his eyes

and suppressed his emotions.

Qi Yan did not let himself indulge in this emotion. He pinched his eyebrows and his face was a little pale: "Elisa said that if I keep thinking about this, my condition will get worse."

Without waiting for Lu Fenghan to ask, Qi Yan took the initiative to speak: "Elisa is my mother's doctor and also my doctor."

After he said this, his voice was still hoarse, but he had recovered and changed the subject: "Is the situation of the Alliance and the Rebels not very good?"

Lu Fenghan followed his wishes: "Why do you think so?"

"The interstellar pirates have been hiding for twenty years, but now they dare to take action near Leto, and they are not afraid at all."

"There will be a war soon." Lu Fenghan said bluntly, "The pro-war faction is weak, and the pro-peace faction thinks that they are in control, which will only make the rebels and interstellar pirates more and more arrogant, and give birth to the arrogant idea of ​​swallowing Leto in one gulp."

But he can't do anything.

From the moment he was ambushed on the front line, the end of this matter can be seen at a glance, and it is not enough for one person to save it.

The thoughts and plans of the leaders of the Alliance military are just a narrow gap. The choices and fate of countless people will turn this gap into a chasm that cannot be easily filled with sand.

The Alliance vows to experience an inevitable war.

Qi Yan: "Will the war reach Leto?"

"High probability."

With his chin propped up, Qi Yan looked at the blue flames and thought, if a war really happened in Leto, he would definitely be taken away for safety, and then Lu Fenghan -

Lu Fenghan would not be with him.

So he asked again: "Will the war happen within two years?"

Noticing the time limit of "two years", Lu Fenghan stared at Qi Yan for two seconds and was forced to look away: "The rebels can't wait two years."

That is, the war will start before the contract expires.

Lu Fenghan will leave.

Qi Yan said "Oh" and lowered his eyes to look at the raindrops hitting the ground.

The two of them were silent again, each thinking about their own things. For a while, there was only the sound of rain washing the sky and the earth.

There is no data to refer to for the climate and day and night of this planet. Using Leto time, it rained for almost two hours. After the dark clouds dispersed, the "sun" appeared in the sky, but the heat was not very high. After being exposed to the sun for a long time, the ground was still wet.

The two came out from under the feldspar and walked around nearby. As far as the eye could see, there were only stones. But this also showed that as long as there were enough nutrients, they would be safe before the rescue arrived.

Lu Fenghan recalled that when he was in the First Military Academy, he took a course called "Space Psychological Training". At that time, they all felt that this course was too contemptuous. What was there to train for?

It was not until the teacher threw them all into the simulation capsule and the entire space appeared in their field of vision in a holographic way, and everything seemed real, that they realized their arrogance.

As a small carbon-based creature, a ray of radiation or a bit of flying ash in the universe may be fatal.

If you encounter special circumstances, such as flying for a long time without contact with the ground, and forced landing on a planet without life, it will induce the "space phobia" hidden in human genes.

However, Lu Fenghan did not think about it anymore, because the rain started again, and the rain was still heavy. This made Lu Fenghan wonder, where did such a large piece of rain-causing cloud come from? Did they think they were a sprinkler system? It rained for a while and then came again.

The two hid back under the pointed stone pyramid. The sky was dark and there was lightning.

Hearing the thunder, Lu Fenghan patted his thigh and asked silently.

Qi Yan followed his inner thoughts, moved over, and rested his head on Lu Fenghan's thigh.

Covering Qi Yan's ears with his hands, Lu Fenghan lowered his head and moved closer, asking Qi Yan: "Do you want to sleep for a while? When you wake up, the rain will stop, and maybe the rescuers will arrive." Qi

Yan looked up at him: "Don't coax me, I'm an adult."

Lu Fenghan asked back: "Why did you coax me that night?"

Qi Yan closed his eyes, turned around, turned his back to Lu Fenghan, and pretended not to hear.

Lu Fenghan laughed and pinched Qi Yan's white earlobe with his fingers: "You can't even ask this, huh?"

Qi Yan ignored him.

It's not that you can't ask, but... he doesn't seem to know the answer either.