imperfections

A starship drove to the junction of seven and eight galaxies.

Many years ago, it was still very lively here. Those smugglers from across the galaxy came and went, sometimes they stopped in a small supply station, and they could open a small trading place by taking advantage of the trend. Chasing them around will even disrupt the normal order of the waterway, causing many caravans to pass here, and they have to hire some not-so-legal private armed forces.

Of course, there is no need for this now.

The transition point connecting the two galaxies has disappeared, and the eighth galaxy has completely left people's field of vision. Within a few years, there will no longer be mechs or starships passing through it.

And the starry sky of the Seven Galaxy System was silent. The wreckage turned into cosmic garbage can be seen everywhere on both sides of the channel. Inhabited desolation.

Hope——Harris, in less than two years, his beard has turned white, which adds a bit of immortality to him.

He was looking at this dead zone through the interstellar telescope.

"It is said that the seventh galaxy lost 60.00% of its population in that battle, some of them died, and some fled to the eighth galaxy, leaving only a few marginal planets with people. , the weak seven-star system government has no backbone, and now it is as depressed as an outsider." The young man in a robe brought Hope a cup of hot tea, "Grand Prophet, let's prepare to return, there is no point in going any further. Yes, the eight galaxies have cleaned up the jump point, and now there is nothing left there except for the wreckage, which is also a safety hazard."

Harris turned his head away without saying a word. He was wearing a robe of unknown material. The row of broken diamonds is unbelievably gorgeous, but the man wrapped in it has a cold and tired expression... It is the same as the magic stick "Hope" who tossed the farm with the grassroots technicians and chatted with Lu Bixing all over the world. ", completely different.

But his subordinates liked it very much. The young man who served tea and water didn't dare to look directly at Harris, his back was arched all the time, maybe even if he was asked to kneel down and worship, he could do it.

When Harris took a few people and decided to leave the eighth galaxy, what he was thinking about was that he still owed his young friend a few bottles of self-brewed wine. When he left, despite his reservations, he still chose to believe in Woolf. Because he feels that he has nothing but faith, and no one can profit from him. He is a pauper who can "keep his door open at night".

To be on guard, and Woolf should be on guard against him.

When the dawn of the Anti-Ukraine Society was annihilated in the White Tower, when they lost everything and struggled outside the territory, it was Marshal Woolf who came down from the sky and helped them survive like a savior.For many years, Woolf first devoted himself to the alliance, and then separated from the alliance, but no matter what, he never chased fame and wealth, and never coveted anything.He is a rare bachelor in the central alliance, he doesn't even have any descendants, and he lives like a loner who is always ready to die.

Harris felt that if anyone could understand the death of the White Tower, only Marshal Woolf would be the only one.

But now he knows that a person like this who does not covet anything is not necessarily a saint, he may also be a lunatic.

The great battle more than 400 days ago caused a sensation in the entire alliance. The eighth galaxy was isolated, and the seventh galaxy was almost destroyed. The coalition forces of the two galaxies were wiped out to resist the pirates. The bloodiness of galaxies—especially the first galaxies, the resistance of the people became more and more fierce, the period of collapse caused by the war passed, and people who did not commit suicide found that they still had to live, so they gradually learned to say goodbye to the cradle and live with pain. coexist.

The civilized people of the first galaxy resisted with a characteristic of the galaxy. They did not choose to resort to violence at the beginning, but took to the streets in an orderly manner, or sat in or marched, and politely asked the "illegal government" of the Legion of Glory to get out of the first galaxy. In Galaxy, it is said that the widest street was crowded with crowds of protesters, but there was no noise, no trampling, the demonstrators occupied the street for more than ten hours, and when they were forcibly dispersed by the army and police of the Legion of Glory, there was actually no garbage on the ground.

They made the Legion of Glory, who first occupied Votor and pissed on the Forest of Steles, look like garbage.

The Legion of Glory gradually couldn't sit still. One day, the president couldn't bear it any longer.

The neat long street was covered with blood, and the blood stains pierced the essence of the Legion of Glory, and no one believed their "Glorious Empire" bullshit anymore.

All over the country expressed solidarity, and the alliance took the "righteousness" as a matter of course, calling on the central forces of various places, "together with the alliance, to save the people from fire and water."

And in the battle of the Seventh Galaxy, not only two galaxies were destroyed, because Lin Jingheng's bone was unusually hard to crack, despite Marshal Woolf's remote help, the Anti-Ukraine Society still suffered heavy losses. , the internal contradictions of the organization were seriously intensified. With the assassination of several important figures in the "manic faction", the Anti-Ukraine Society clearly split into two factions. Ralph pushed to the front desk with one hand.

Harris is a resolute anti-war element, and he will never use weapons unless necessary. After the anti-Ukraine society is seriously injured, it will be suppressed by the "peace faction" who came back to power, and withdraw from various positions, keeping a low profile.

The re-aligned Alliance and the Central Army freed up their hands and concentrated their efforts on cleaning up the shit sticks of the Freedom Legion and the Legion of Honor.

Everything is going in a good direction, the dawn of peace seems to be just around the corner, and the alliance is preparing to be reborn from the ashes.

The Anti-Ukraine Society is under the control of Woolf, the Freedom Corps selling opium is forced to take shelter in the wind and die down, and the funny "Glorious Empire" is retreating step by step. Now it is preparing to jump the wall and take the entire First Galaxy as a hostage. Still deadlocked.

But Harris knew that the stalemate would not last long. The president had internal and external troubles and could not beat Woolf.

Who can beat Woolf?

No one knew that the great and tragic battle that turned the tide of the entire alliance was only a tailor-made assassination for Lin Jingheng from the very beginning.

Fan Wu would be afraid of him, because the Silver Ten Guards were their nightmare. They came to deliver heads to Lin Jingheng one after another, and they were harvested one after another. Woolf didn't express his position at first, and even didn't want to move. What Lin Jingheng meant.

Until the secret of the forbidden fruit was revealed by accident, Lin Jingheng became the one who had to die.

At first, even the pirates of the Anti-Uganda Society thought that Wulf was foolish, and that attacking the seventh galaxy could trap Lin Jingheng?This doesn't sound like much.Lin Jingheng's defense against Ankelu is like guarding against thieves. He refuses to step into the seventh galaxy at all. What's the use of attacking Ankulu besides letting him eat melon seeds to watch the fun?

But the Anti-Ukraine Society has always been Lin Jingheng's defeated general. It was almost bankrupt and could not kill Lin Jingheng.

They never expected that this would actually work.

Harris also learned later that the ten silver guards did not arrive at the eighth galaxy in time because they were caught by the flames of war on the road.

Woolf watched Lin Jingheng be born, watched him grow up, and helped him to the position of chief executive of Silver Fortress. After watching him for 50 years, he could see through every inch of his soul. I am afraid that the alliance The general himself didn't know himself that well.

What is this?

The starship rotated slowly, and Harris took a sip of the hot tea, his lips and tongue were numb from the heat, but his heart was still cold.

Lin Jingheng must die, because he still remembers his identity. Since he didn't gather his bargaining chips immediately during the scuffle, and allowed the Silver Ten Guards to take the ravaged alliance first, his end was doomed.

And the end of his Harris is also doomed.He must be at the mercy of Woolf, and must be his puppet for him, because the White Tower is above, no matter which direction human beings develop in the future, he cannot watch the new ephemeris era end in blood... even if he knows Woolf The true colors, also know that peace is built on lies and sins.

Harris asked people to put a few barrels of self-brewed wine into the small ecological cabin, pushed them out through the door of the starship, let them float into the vast universe, and then took a last look at the direction of the eighth galaxy, wondering what happened to Lu Bixing up.

Probably not too good, he thought, those who believe in something in their hearts and always want to do something, this is the fate.

One day, they will understand that principles and beliefs are like fragile flowers, beautiful as they are, but they can only survive in a gentle and comfortable environment.

And when they enter the jungle, they will find that these things that they once thought were incomparably noble and precious are all shackles and ropes. If they can't let go in time, then no matter whether it is a giant with infinite strength or a wise man with exquisite seven apertures, they will all lose their lives. He was tied there and let others slaughter him.

Lu Bixing's joke is right, human beings are destroyed by faith.

Having said that, aren’t all the rules, morals and systems in human society fabricated by people themselves? 【Note】

The same is true for faith, which comes from nothingness, and will eventually be reduced to ashes as time goes by.

In a galaxy far away, Lu Bixing has just received the chief's medical report.

He glanced at the chief through the small transparent glass on the medical cabin. The chief was asleep, thinner, disfigured, and was being killed by his own body.

Lu Bixing asked, "How much longer?"

The doctor replied: "Based on experience, it will be between three and five months, but in the later stage, patients will be very painful, so generally speaking, they will not really survive until the day of natural death, and most people will choose euthanasia."

Lu Bixing asked again: "What about rest?"

The doctor smiled wryly and shook his head: "You know, strictly speaking, Pope's reaction has nothing to do with living habits."

When he saw the young acting chief listened, he was silent for a while, then nodded at him, saved the case in his personal terminal, and left.

In addition to the case, the chief minister also handed him a formal letter of appointment.

Chief Edward announced his retirement and entrusted this isolated island in the star sea to him.

Lu Bixing walked along the sidewalk to the central square alone.

Many people in Yinhe City knew him, and Lu Bixing was always very popular. Many people on the road greeted him. Several cars stopped and asked him if he wanted to take him off. He declined them all and walked all the way to the central square.

It was dusk, and the people in the evening activities had already left, only a small robot selling herbal tea was still peddling back and forth, and the shopkeeper fell asleep on the side.There were originally two clocks on the square, one was Votto time and the other was Venus time—due to the difference in the rotation of the planets, the length of a Venus day is not the same as that of Votto, and people living on natural planets are often used to the two clocks. A timekeeping system—fortunately, it is no longer needed, Votto time has been taken down, and they no longer have to keep pace with the distant central alliance.

Lu Bixing stopped and looked up at the tall stone statue of Lu Xin. The people here loved him. The stone statue was carved very delicately, and even the texture of the hair was completely visible. Hanging a balloon is very childlike.

The bear child who lost the balloon looked helplessly, pursed his mouth, tears began to roll, Lu Xin, as the spiritual idol of the eighth galaxy, was guarded by guards in front of the stone statue, it was very sacred, no one dared to disrespect it, my lord We had to forcibly take the child away, and the child who lost the balloon couldn't help howling.

"Hey, wait, don't cry." Lu Bixing raised his hand and patted the guard's shoulder. While the guard was stunned, he rolled up his sleeves and climbed onto the stone statue. He looked at the stone and took off the balloon on the stone statue's head. Returned it to the child.

The guard was terrified: "Lu... Lu..."

Lu Bixing spread his hands: "Do you think General Lu Xin would mind?"

The guards were speechless. In the afternoon, the government of Chief Edward announced his appointment. Starting tomorrow, Lu Bixing will be the new Chief.

Lu Bixing walked down the stone steps of the stone statue, reached the last floor, sat down in a corner, and lit a cigarette in the evening breeze. The shopkeeper who sold drinks woke up and was surprised to see him , hurriedly bowed to him from a distance, Lu Bixing nodded to the other party, with a calm expression, no one could see what he was thinking.

Before, Lu Bixing was not a person who could not show emotions, he felt that everyone has sorrows and joys, and it is not ashamed, and there is nothing that cannot be shown to others. It's all hidden.

No one knows that when he received the sudden appointment of the chief executive, he had just deciphered the encryption of the "Forbidden Fruit" system in Zhanlu's database. Of course, the forbidden fruit had stopped operating long ago, leaving only a little data record. Lu Bixing compared it with the senior officials of the alliance central After browsing through the list of forbidden fruits, he felt that if he was the person in charge of the White Tower, he might have to betray him.

The earliest list of forbidden fruits almost included the entire management committee, as well as those members of the management committee who obviously had a good relationship with the management committee and belonged to the management committee.Those who make laws want to do everything possible to override the law, and those who set up surveillance want to escape the surveillance by themselves.

The composition of the second half of the list is more complicated. Starting from Dr. Harden, the first person in charge of the White Tower, the list of forbidden fruits began to be mixed with opposing forces-the name of Union Marshal Woolf is the most prominent. Look at this list. It is self-evident who is colluding with the pirates outside the territory.

But he searched and searched until he found Lin Jingheng, the last name on the forbidden fruit, but he couldn't find Lu Xin—the man who was rumored to have preserved the forbidden fruit for more than ten years.

The forbidden fruit runs on Zhanlu. Lin Jingheng doesn't even know the real function of this "blocker". It can only be encrypted by Lu Xin himself. It is impossible for him not to have seen this list.

Lu Bixing turned his head to look at the stone statue of Lu Xin. After many years, the stone statue and the man who had nothing left looked at each other silently. The freedom declaration was engraved on the base of the stone statue, which was very dazzling.

"When you left, did you still believe in this thing?" Lu Bixing thought indifferently, the stone statue could not answer, and the stone statue had no thoughts, it was just the self-projection of everyone's heart, "I don't believe it anymore, I will level it in the future, There is no disrespect to the deceased, don't take offense, General Lu."

But it's not enough now, he still needs this piece of garbage to maintain social order, and the fragile and difficult eighth galaxy still needs such a piece of spiritual opium.

Lu Bixing snuffed out the cigarette butt, threw it into the trash can, then nodded and smiled at the guard: "Thanks for your hard work."

The guard stood at attention solemnly and saluted: "Long live the Declaration of Freedom."

Lu Bixing boarded a mecha vehicle on the platform of the mecha station in Yinhe City and went home.His home has been refurbished once, and under Zhanlu's management, it is in good order. Even the flower beds in the courtyard have been rearranged, which looks much more elegant. The basement has been transformed into a complete laboratory. He has never used that locked room again. attic.

"Principal Lu, good evening." The house said, "I saw the case list on your personal terminal. It's really bad news. I hope you are in a good mood."

Except for Zhanlu, no one will call the word "Principal Lu" anymore, and no one will remember that whimsical Xinghai Academy.

"Well, it's okay." Lu Bixing said casually, "Birth, old age, sickness and death."

Zhan Lu said: "The work documents have been organized for you, do you want to check them?"

"Let's talk about it tomorrow." Lu Bixing changed his shoes and walked to the basement, "Have the results of yesterday's experiment come out?"

Zhan Lu: "The analysis report has been completed. With all due respect, Principal Lu, scientists should properly control their dangerous curiosity."

Lu Bixing smiled and walked into the laboratory without arguing with him.

Zhanlu said long-windedly: "If the master's life and health are threatened, I will..."

"Reject the master's order?" Lu Bixing said softly, "Have you tried?"

Zhanlu was silent for a while: "I can't refuse your order. You disabled my self-protection function during the process of restoring my system. I strongly recommend you to turn it on."

"Thank you, no," Lu Bixing said, "I need a quiet time to read the analysis report now."

Zhanlu recognized that this was an order, and obediently shut up.

Lu Bixing put on his earphones to block out all the ambient noise, and opened the analysis report—there was a biochip in the culture medium at hand.

In the forbidden fruit database, in addition to the list, there are also some biochip experiment reports, which are not complete, but for Lu Bixing who has Zhanlu in hand, it is enough.

It was an "opium" chip seized from the Freedom Corps back then. After dismantling it, Lu Bixing modified it several times. Now, the conclusion given by the analysis report is that the chip is basically safe and has the conditions for clinical experiments. .

Lu Bixing made a mark on the back of the experiment report, put the chip into the syringe, and injected it into his upper arm.

At the same time, on a secret asteroid two galaxies away, an eco-pod that had been quiet for nearly two years suddenly had a weak response.

The author has something to say: Note: The reason why humans jumped to the top of the food chain is because of cooperation, and the reason why they can cooperate is because of the "fictional" function of human language.The human trade network is built on virtual concepts such as countries and currencies - this point of view comes from "A Brief History of Mankind"