By mobilizing the data of Jiuyou, I finally found out who caused this disaster - just an inconspicuous researcher. In order to secretly send his child into Jiuyou and enjoy the paradise, he delayed the closure time of Jiuyou by one millisecond.
Just a millisecond.
Dieying sensed the breath of this millisecond, and after lying dormant for a long time, he brought people in. Even the manager would not have thought that a gap of one millisecond could be captured by Dieying.
I ran to the auditorium, trying to find Xia Jiawen. Many people had died, and I didn't know if he was still alive.
I saw through the windows of the auditorium that people were eating candy. This made me feel relieved... Fortunately, some people were still alive.
The light was a little dim, as it was the transition between dusk and night. The lights in the auditorium were not on, and thousands of people were sitting in their seats, peeling off the candy wrappers in their hands.
"Has everyone received candy?" Lin Yawen gestured on the stage, smiling and waving her hands:
"Okay, then everyone, eat some candy and make a wish for a peaceful, harmonious and beautiful new year..."
It was like the last Peace Festival before the end of the world. When the defensive barrier was exhausted, the black fog would engulf the auditorium. People greeted the Peace Festival hymns and peeled off the candy wrappers in their hands.
"...Xia Jiawen!" I shouted, but no one responded.
Candy aroma.
The air was filled with the strong aroma of candy.
I didn't see Xia Jiawen.
Click, click, click.
The sound of candy being crunched.
The sound of black fog corroding the barrier.
I didn't know how to disperse the black fog. The only thing I could think of was to use my own body to protect these people.
…but that doesn’t make sense.
I can only save a few, the rest will die.
Click, click.
The candies shattered with teeth, and the plastic shells rustled like a rainstorm.
I pushed the door open and walked in. The auditorium was suddenly very quiet, without the sound of people eating candy.
Thousands of people sat in their seats, their heads slightly lowered, their eyes seemed to be looking at me, but also seemed not to be. The light was too dim, the black fog corroded the power system, and I could only see the dust swirling nearby, and the seats were covered with a layer of dusk.
They were so quiet that I almost thought it was my illusion that they were eating candy just now.
I walked onto the stage. Lin Yawen was sitting behind the piano. The huge piano board blocked her thin body. I could only see a white arm resting on the black and white keys, with her index finger pointing down.
"clang--"
The auditorium was filled with the lingering sound of the piano.
"Lin Yawen, the black fog will be automatically expelled by the Utopia after a while. But the black fog will soon erode the auditorium. I have to send you out, but I can only save a few people at most..." I stopped talking here.
Sweet candy flavor spread.
The woman with a blank expression sat with her back straight on one side of the piano stool, as if she had left that side for someone.
She is dead.
At this time, the power was restored and the auditorium suddenly became bright. Under the illumination of the crystal light balls - I suddenly saw the whole picture of the auditorium.
I saw hell.
The broken candies lay on the ground, with candy wrappers scattered all over the floor.
Thousands of people were still sitting quietly in their seats, with their heads slightly lowered. No matter what I did, they would not make a sound, because their foreheads were connected to a tube that extended to the base of the auditorium - all the way to the seats on the rooftop.
No wonder no one greeted me along the way, even though they clearly liked Teacher Li very much. It turned out that it wasn’t that they didn’t want to greet me, but that… they couldn’t.
The second after I saw them eating candy through the window, the second before I pushed the door - thousands of people died at the same moment.
Just one second.
The candy wrappers fell and the heads drooped.
The fall of Jiuyou was imminent, and according to the backup plan, if one was sure that there was no hope of survival, one could "store" oneself in time. So, Lin Yawen led the people to sit here, and everyone connected the pipeline to store "themselves" in the largest life hard drive.
I picked up a half-eaten candy, smelled it, and suddenly felt suffocated.
I could smell the ingredients in it - it was designed to reduce pain and make people feel drowsy, so that they would not feel the pain of death in the last moments when their souls were "stored".
This is the truth about eating "sugar".
Xia Jiawen would give them candies every year, but he told them not to eat them because he knew... that once they ate the candies, it would mean the end of their souls and lives. Everyone knew that Jiuyou was not 100% safe and there was a possibility of its fall. Even if the plan could proceed smoothly, it did not mean that everyone could survive. We were just working together to survive the end of the world.
…My throat felt like it was being strangled, as if it were soaked in an ice cave.
The auditorium was packed with thousands of people.
There are people everywhere, but there is no one there.
Pairs of eyes looked at me with emptiness, and they smiled in the end, perhaps because they knew they would have an afterlife, or perhaps because they did not regret this short life.
“Crack.”
I stepped on a Gundam.
It was made by a child. He showed it to me excitedly that day and said he wanted to be a great mechanic in the future. Another child said he wanted to taste the dessert.
…Has it been accomplished?
I held the little hard drive of life in my arms.
……I have no idea.
I looked at Lin Yawen's life hard drive. She had carved some small words on it, probably before she swallowed the candy.
…
【Jiawen:
The Selfish Gene once mentioned that when newlyweds get married, they should put their hands on Evolutionary Psychology and The Selfish Gene and swear: "I will go against my nature, defy my instincts, and love you forever."
[I can't guarantee that I can go against my instincts and love you for a long time, but my life is too short to be described as "long-lasting".]
[So if there is an afterlife, my genes will still drive me to love you anew. Because we will not change in the afterlife, the same me will still fall in love with the same you. Falling in love with you is my instinct.]
So I will promise——
[“I will follow my nature, obey my instincts, and love you forever.”]
…
Dusk is setting outside the window.
Night falls inch by inch.
I clutched the hard drive in my hand and walked toward the door. Suddenly, I turned back for the last time and looked at the thousands of smiling faces.
They lowered their heads, holding candy wrappers in their hands. The colorful lights of the Peace Festival emitted a clean halo, and the night enveloped their smiling eyes.
——Then I saw thousands of cold smiling faces on thousands of corpses, looking at me with empty eyes.
This made me realize,
…
Inevitably, we have walked... smiling, gently... into this good night.
…
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