Jiang Ling didn't know how she ended up lying on the bed. Just a few minutes ago, she was still asking Yu Nuanxin questions like a curious baby, not feeling sleepy at all - perhaps it was simply because the bed was too comfortable.
Listening to Yu Nuanxin's even, gentle breathing beside her, Jiang Ling felt like she was lying on a soft beach, her body half-sunk in the sand, feeling no pressure at all. This bed automatically adapted to the shape of the human body's outer surface, perfectly supporting the body in the most suitable position no matter how the sleeper turned. The only thing more comfortable than this bed might be sleeping in a zero-gravity cabin. No, perhaps even that couldn't compare to this place; after all, a spaceship cabin wasn't this quiet.
Unfortunately, Jiang Ling had just gotten some sleep half a day ago, and now she couldn't sleep at all. She tossed and turned with her eyes closed, counting the clock projected on the bedside table, but her spirit became increasingly clear.
"Xiao Yu, what kind of people are your parents?" Jiang Ling leaned close to Yu Nuanxin's ear and asked. In her perception, the child's brain nerve activity was higher than during the day.
"Can't you sleep? That's right, hibernators rarely fall asleep easily on the first day." Yu Nuanxin turned over, facing away from Jiang Ling, and handed her two thumb-sized round tablets. "Here, a video game console."
Jiang Ling took the sheet and took a look at it. The front and back sides and left and right sides were clearly marked on the sheet. The holographic projection in the room also thoughtfully displayed the fool-proof operation method. But she immediately placed them on the bedside table and slowly moved closer to Yu Nuanxin. She put her arms around her waist from behind, and then put her mouth behind her ear and said coquettishly, "Xiao Yu, can you chat with me, an old man?"
"Ouch, stop!" Yu Nuanxin quit her intensive web surfing, grabbed Jiang Ling's dirty hands and put them back where they belonged, then touched a switch beside the bed. The whole bed tilted forward, and the brightness of the bedroom increased. "Do you mistake me for someone you knew before? Something's wrong since the next cycle." She scratched her neck.
"Huh? That shouldn't be the case. They look so similar..." Jiang Ling rubbed Yu Nuanxin's face.
"Sister Ling! I will just call you Sister Ling for now. Who do you think I am? Please tell me first so that I can enlighten you... Woo woo woo... Stop pinching me!" Yu Nuanxin's facial muscles stiffened.
"Okay, Yu Yan, is there such a person in your family?"
"Let me think about it." Yu Nuanxin waved her arms in the air, and a series of photos popped up on the wall of the room, "My family members are all here..."
"How many people are there? If something happens, it will be very troublesome to find them one by one. Do you have a family photo or a group photo?"
"Yes, there are no group photos. The total number is probably tens of thousands! My family's is already considered small, and it hasn't been passed down for more than ten generations."
"Why? At least the older generation should still be very particular, right?"
"That's because our family really doesn't care about that - grandparents and grandchildren living together. Not to mention that many old ancestors are still hibernating, there are many younger generations, especially my grandfather's generation, who are scattered on several motherships. They are lucky to have left behind any images. Those families that have no chance to hibernate may have been passed down for hundreds of generations, and they have to find out what their ancestors looked like from legends." Yu Nuan said as a matter of course.
"Wait, wait, you said some people don't have the chance to hibernate?"
"yes."
"I heard before that hibernation time is linked to contribution points. Does that mean contribution points are hard to come by?"
"It's actually not that bad," Yu Nuanxin said thoughtfully. "The main sources of contribution points are military service and scientific research, and the main distribution industry is the service industry. For an average person, saving a little for a short hibernation period would only take a year or two. Someone online has calculated that if someone today worked their entire lives solely for hibernation, the longest hibernation period they could get would be 412 years, which is equivalent to tripling their life expectancy. You see, contribution points aren't that difficult to earn."
"Then why..."
"Of course, it's because there's no need! People's needs are basically met now, and most people don't need to travel to the future. If you insist, only some people who are more time-conscious will occasionally take a short-term trip—like senior researchers in the Academy City."
The two looked at the photos together for a while, and Yu Nuanxin said, "Sister Ling, would you like to use the filter function?"
"No, it's more fun to look at them one by one." Jiang Ling scanned each portrait, trying to memorize their features. The more she looked, the more she felt like she had met Yu Yan's descendant. Perhaps the world really was that small, and perhaps coincidences were truly so numerous.
"By the way, who is he?" Jiang Ling pointed to a group of rather special photos.
"Hmm? Ah, why are they here!" Yu Nuanxin felt shy and quickly hid the photo.
Jiang Ling chuckled and teased, "Best friend? First love? Or—a secret marriage…"
"Neither! He was just my childhood idol." Yu Nuanxin changed her sitting position and continued, "He was a very prestigious doctoral supervisor forty years ago."
"What about now?" Jiang Ling expressed her curiosity.
"He, he's just a stinky old man!" Yu Nuanxin answered shyly.
"So he didn't hibernate."
"Yes, my hair has turned gray now."
"Alas, time is merciless." Jiang Ling sighed regretfully, then seemed to become interested and said, "Since you have shared your little secret, I also have a very old story here. Do you want to hear it?"
"OK!"
Jiang Ling lay on her back, her head sinking deeply into the mattress. "A long time ago, there was a girl just like you who admired the best man in the world at the time. For him, she was willing to give up everything, even her ideals. Unfortunately, he loved her, but not just her, he loved everything in the world. So separation was inevitable, and they could only meet in the future. Before she hibernated, she said that if humans couldn't exceed the speed of light, she would wait until that day arrived, travel to the future, and then return to the past."
"What a tragedy!" Yu Nuanxin commented.
"Does Xiaoyu think so?"
"Yes, current theory holds that the speed of light cannot be surpassed. Even if it were surpassed, it would be impossible to go back to the past, because time cannot stop, not even pause. The speed of time cannot be less than or equal to zero."
"When was this theory?" Jiang Ling turned to look at Yu Nuanxin.
"Well, my idol proposed it forty years ago." Yu Nuanxin answered timidly.
"Is that so? Then I'll tell you, the protagonist of my story is her." Jiang Ling pointed to the ceiling, where a slightly older female figure floated. "She should be your ancestor, Yu Yan, my daughter."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com