Forty-one day

Mannie finally reached the top of the mountain, but at the top of the mountain Mannie did not find the truth she was looking for, because the top of the mountain was bare, which made Mannie feel annoyed that "it was just a joke all the way".

At least you can put a temple here.

But Mannie made a long circle around the top of the hill and didn't find anything the way she had come from, it was a completely open field, and it was fairly flat.

Make level...... Maybe it's Mannie's only discovery.

The exhaustion of the road exploded here, and Mannie lay down, facing the sky, with a smile on her face, and her mind was muddy, and she didn't know what she was thinking or where she was going next.

But there was always a question that reminded her that this was not the end.

That is...... "If there's really nothing here, then ...... Where did the father and son go? ”

Did they leave here in some kind of flying machine?

It's really possible...... But isn't that too ironic for me...... I don't have wings...... There is also no direction...... Where do I go?

After thinking about it and thinking about it, there was no definite answer, and fatigue hit, and Mannie actually fell asleep.

Unguarded, as if he had given up.

……

The contrast between the black sand and the white spray is striking.

The summer style in my impression is gone, and all that remains is the cold under the deep blue sky.

However, there was a man on the beach, wearing only a pure white skirt, carrying shoes, and barefoot, walking leisurely forward against the sea breeze.

Mannie followed the footprints and tried to chase after them, but the girl's back grew farther and farther away, and it was not until she disappeared that Mannie was horrified to find that she had always been in the same place, never moving.

She is like the black rock by the beach, witnessing countless passers-by in the long years, and also enduring the loneliness that accompanies time.

However, this literary emotion does not appear in Mannie's mind, because she is an engineer, a mathematical genius, and a natural sense of numbers and the order of the world.

So, when she found that she was not moving, Mannie did not think that she was imprisoned in place, but that she was ...... Relative to this world, she is absolutely static.

Absolute stillness seems to be contrary to science in the common cognition, and relative stillness is a more normative statement.

But over the years, Mannie, who has gone deeper and narrower on the road of in-depth and detailed research, is eager to free herself from this limitation and pressure.

Therefore, she also began to try to pick up Yang Di's books and try to find ways to broaden her horizons and ideas.

At its simplest, it is to propose something that is diametrically opposed to the existing perception, or more colloquially, that is, something that "goes against science".

"Contrary to science" is not superstition, but a bold idea of imagination, or a concept that we cannot do, but in the world of theory, if all conditions are met.

"Absolute Stillness" is one of them.

However, when the concept of "absolute static" was proposed, many people thought that it did not break out of the existing scientific cognition, because if it is understood in popular terms, it is like a person standing by a river and the river is rushing away, and man is "absolutely static"?

No, we are also moving, but at this time, in this place, by this river, when we see from our point of view, when we feel, we are not moving, and the river is moving.

Every time she thinks about it, Mannie finds herself falling into a dead end again.

Naturally, a goat appeared in front of me.

It stood not far from Mannie, facing her side, looking down in the black sand for something to eat.

Mannie looked at it quietly and found that it was black, but she could not say that there was a black goat standing in front of her, and infer that the goats in the vicinity were all black, because it was not rigorous, it was unscientific.

It should be said that on this beach, this goat in front of him, from this point of view, is black.

As soon as this thought appeared, Mannie did not cheer for herself, but frowned, thinking sadly...... Because it was this rigorous attitude that made her struggling in the development of the warp engine until there was no way out......

Now she wants to go back, she wants to burn all this research, but it is like standing on the top of this mountain, thinking that she can find the truth, but what she gets is a "joke".

As if sensing someone nearby, the goat looked up at Mannie.

Mannie then discovers that the goat's head is black throughout. But...... When it actually turned to face Mannie, Mannie was horrified to find that the other side of its body was completely mechanical and naked.

Gears and other steampunk-inspired mechanical bodies work well.

After making eye contact with Mannie for a moment, the goat suddenly turned and ran, the sand rustling.

Mannie frowned, watching the panic as it left, and couldn't help but think about what might be behind her.

So she jerked her head back......

Follow......

And he woke up.

……

Day forty-two

In the early morning, the fog, which had lasted for nearly half a month, finally began to dissipate, and at first it was slow, but by noon, Mannie could see the way down the mountain.

From here, she realized that she hadn't gone far in the past month.

Because she could still see the outline of the town where the sun was rising, not clear, but still there.

After a rough estimate, I actually walked only a few dozen kilometers.

But it actually felt like Mannie had already arrived hundreds of kilometers away......

This sense of deviation made Mannie feel a little uncomfortable.

Thankfully, the oppressive fog had finally lifted, and Mannie could see with her eyes where she was going next.

Heading around the top of the mountain, there was a river on the south side of the mountain, which looked as thin as a silver ribbon from the top, but Mannie was sure that if she did go to the riverbank, she should be able to see a magnificent rushing scene.

Further on, to the west of the mountains, there are mountains one after another, and there is no such smooth road as before, and there is only a little green among the rocks that proves that they still have vitality.

Mannie was wary when she saw the mountain, but she felt that she should continue to go west.

But before she could do that, she had to look to the north side of the mountain.

When I came to the north side of the mountaintop, I saw a dense intertwined river, which was much thinner than the river in the south of the mountain, but there were many of them, like capillaries.

It seems that it is their convergence that creates the great river that rushes.

After reading it, it's time to make a decision.

Mannie sat down in the center of the mountaintop, like a hermit, taking in the breath of heaven and earth.

In fact, Mannie did ask Bai Ze of the Xuanao Sect for advice on the method of Xuanao, but she never understood the essentials and could not understand the true charm of Xuanao.

But even so, through Bai Ze's mental method, Mannie can quickly calm herself down, and then although she can't borrow the natural method like Bai Ze and them, she can feel the veins of the heaven and earth flowing through her fingertips.

It's very slight, like a breeze blowing.

Mannie closed her eyes, and when she opened them again after a long time, she had already determined the direction in which she was going.

If you don't go along the river, you won't visit the wetland, and you'll never look back.

She was going to continue west, over the mountain, to the other side of the mountain, to see what was hidden in the foggy place.

……

Day forty-nine

When Mannie turned around, she found that she could no longer see the mountain from which she had come, but she clearly remembered its height, its barrenness, but here, it was like an illusion made up by herself, and disappeared without a trace after her brain gradually cleared up.

Now the only real thing is the road under your feet.

In the afternoon, Mannie found a clean place to rest as usual.

But as soon as I sat down, I faintly heard the sound of the flute.

Mannie was stunned at first, for so long, she could barely hear anything except the sound of her own breathing and the occasional sloquette to herself.

The sudden sound of the flute was a little strange to her.

Mannie reacted quickly, though, and she jerked to her feet, as if trying to grasp where the flute was coming from.

But when she really started paying attention to the sound of the flute, it disappeared again.

And it didn't appear for a long time.

So Mannie began to wonder if she had gone mad...... But when she came up with this idea, she denied it, because a madman doesn't realize that he is crazy.

Unless...... She was already in a state of schizophrenia at its extreme.

Sitting down again, Mannie said to herself, "Don't think about it, it must be an auditory hallucination!" ”

"Auditory hallucinations? How could it be an auditory hallucination! Don't you hear! ”

"I hear you, but so what? It's gone! ”

"Hmph, whatever you want, it's going to show up again, I said it left town with us, and now it must be trying to tell us something!"

"You're crazy......"

"I didn't!"

"You're just crazy! Don't deny it! If you're not crazy, why talk to yourself! ”

"Me?! I ......" Mannie was dumbfounded by her own rebuttal, and similar self-talk has been appearing more and more frequently lately.

In the oppressive silent world, it's really not so easy to stay awake.

Closing her eyes in pain, Mannie said in a trembling voice, "If you really exist...... Why can't I feel ......?"

As soon as the words ended, the sound of the flute came again.

This time, long, clear, and even Mannie stood up, and it didn't stop.

It's just that the flute has no rhythm, just like a child when he first learns, and can only make a sound.

But that was enough, Mannie hurriedly discerned where the sound came from, and then in a panic climbed down from the boulder, and followed the sound as fast as it went, fearing that it would suddenly disappear.

The sound of the flute existed for a while, then disappeared again.

Mannie paused in some panic and listened intently, and after a while, the sound of the flute came again, but this time it deviated from the original direction.

Mannie was stunned: 'It's moving?!' ’

Just as he was thinking, the sound of the flute disappeared.