I almost touched the moon

Several years later, when Wen Song was chatting with her students, she suddenly talked about the spring of her first year of doctoral studies. She said that she could only describe it in one word: "All hell broke loose."

After the fever subsided, Wen Song did not return to Munich, but returned to Oxford. Cheng Che did not force her, but just told her that he would go to Oxford to find her as soon as he got the visa.

Wen Song smiled, shook his head, looked at him gently and said, "My project is almost finished, I'll go home to find you then."

"Okay, then I'll wait for my sister at home." Cheng Che kissed her forehead, turned and walked in the opposite direction, boarding the plane to Munich.

Wen Song stood there, watching him leave, not knowing whether to be happy or disappointed. He really changed a lot, no longer clinging to her, no longer demanding to be with her all the time, and no longer stubbornly letting her leave first every time.

He once said, "How could I let my sister watch me leave? You will be sad." But now, he walked very fast, and even before boarding the plane, he didn't even look back.

Wen Song also returned to the lounge and waited for the boarding notice. She comforted herself that this was fine, as she would have enough personal space.

After returning to Oxford, she quickly got to work and spent four days completing the research report. With only the final paper left, the project would be completely completed.

She comforted herself again and again, saying that she was just too busy recently and had neglected Cheng Che. Once she finished her thesis, she could spend more time with him and everything would be fine.

However, instead of getting better, things got worse.

First, Cheng Che called her and told her that for some reason, the visa appointment at the British Consulate was scheduled until April, and he could not come to the UK in the short term.

Wen Song comforted him and said, "It's okay, just wait for me to come home."

Cheng Che's tone was not that sad, but instead contained a hint of relief, so in fact, he was also tired.

But he still said to Wen Song: "Sister, you must be very busy recently. It's okay. I'll go to the consulate in Düsseldorf to handle it. The earliest reservation there is March 3th. On March 20th, the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra will hold a concert in Albert Hall. Let's go together."

"Okay." Wen Song agreed with him with a smile, "See you then."

On March 3, Wen Song was writing a paper when he suddenly received a call from a researcher at the Chilean Observatory. Christian's voice on the other end of the phone was particularly anxious: "Ilia, your calculation is correct. I have observed that 23P is about to collide with asteroid 221 due to the acceleration of Jupiter's gravity."

"I understand." Wen Song had expected this result. She was not surprised, but still very frightened.

She originally thought that there might be a turning point, and she wouldn't need to add any additional research content. However, no, there was no turning point at all.

She said to Christian, "I am going to the lab with Eirlys now. We are having a video conference. Please make sure you keep a record of the data. Thank you Christian. It's a relief to have you here."

“It’s okay.” Christian smiled and pretended to be relaxed. “I also want to witness with my own eyes the grand scene of the comet and asteroid colliding and falling into Jupiter’s Roche limit.”

At 9:24 pm, Wen Song and Eirlys sat in the laboratory together, watching the real-time observation video sent back by Christian. In the dark sky, the comet with a faint blue tail was particularly shining, and in its orbit, there were countless small celestial bodies, gray and unclear.

Just as had been simulated countless times in the laboratory, the numbered asteroid collided with the comet. The huge impact force caused the comet to deviate from its normal orbit and get closer and closer to Jupiter.

But in just over an hour, the comet broke through the Roche limit and was torn into more than ten pieces by Jupiter's gravity. More than a dozen pieces of the comet fragments hit the surface of Jupiter one after another, blooming a light that was a million times more brilliant than fireworks.

"So amazing, magic..." Eirlys couldn't help but exclaim, "It's more spectacular than a sci-fi film."

(It’s amazing, more spectacular than a science fiction movie)

Wen Song watched the fragments crash into the surface of Jupiter one by one, but she had no interest in watching the movie. The disintegration of the comet meant that their research project had lost the most important reference. Even if the research report had been completed, it had not been published publicly, which was tantamount to aborting the project.

In this case, the only way is to conduct extended research based on today's impact to make up for the shortcomings of solving the problem with reference to comets.

"Now the movie ended." Wen Song looked at Eirlys and poured cold water on him at an inopportune moment. "Let's decide our topic for the expanding research. Roche limit between Jupiter and small bodies, etary Impact cratering and its effects on Jupiter's magnetosphere, or how about chemical position analysis of impact-induced plumes on Jupiter?"

(Now that the movie is over, let's decide on a topic for further research. How about the Roche limit between Jupiter and small bodies, comet impact collapse and its effects on Jupiter's magnetosphere, or chemical composition analysis of impact-induced plumes on Jupiter?)

Eirlys wailed and said to Wensong, "I prefer the second one, I believe Christian will provide us with sufficient data."

(I prefer the second one, and I believe Christian will provide us with enough data)

Wen Song immediately wrote down the research topic on the computer, tried to put on a smile and said to Eirlys: "ok, let's start working now, cause we only have 13 days left before publication."

In the next few days, Wen Song did not leave the college at all. He treated the laboratory and office as his home. When he was too sleepy, he would lean on the desk and take a nap for an hour or two. When he was hungry, he would eat some biscuits and chocolate to replenish his energy.

After four days of burning the midnight oil, Wen Song and Eirlys finally completed the preliminary research report on the morning of the 27th. However, they still needed to combine the two studies and even modify the content of the paper.

"Ich bin tot, lass uns einen Tag Pause machen, ok? Ilia? Bitte, ich werde absolut tot sein, wenn ich noch eine Sekunde l?nger hier bleibe."

(I'm dead, let's take a day off, okay? Please, I'll definitely die if I stay here for another second.)

Wen Song's body had been overdrawn to the extreme, and he felt that he would die suddenly in the next second. He nodded and said "ok", left the office, and did not even have the strength to drive, so he took a taxi back home.