This is probably the closest Lu Zhou has come to death.

This statement may be somewhat ambiguous, or put it another way...... It was the closest he had come to a dead man.

IMCRC's apartment building No. 1.

The downstairs was full of police cars.

Standing outside the barrier, an old man dressed in a very modest way was standing. The wrinkles on his face were huddled together with self-blame and sadness, and he sobbed quietly as if he were in repentance in front of his palms.

"It's all my fault...... I signed that piece of paper......"

He patted Professor Wilzek on the shoulder comfortingly, and Professor Witten, who was standing next to him, comforted.

"You can't be blamed for this, a soul who is about to go far away, no matter where he is, will eventually go in the same direction. Hopefully, he will be able to get the answers he expects on the other side of the world. ”

"As for us, whether it is life or the road under our feet, we have to continue."

Next to the two of them, there are many IMCRC researchers, as well as interns who have come here to work and study with their mentors.

Many of them had heard of Professor Miró's story and the novel idea of "cosmic animism".

Even though most people disagree, there are a small number of people who believe that there seems to be some truth in this theory.

Unlike the "gods" that are commonly understood by ordinary people, Professor Miró's theory is more like an elaboration of concepts such as "the universe is unreasonable" and "disordered higher consciousness governs the laws of nature".

It's just that it sounds scary.

If all this is true, then physics really doesn't make much sense like studying a long list of irrational laws.

Looking at the room that had been curtained up, many people whispered.

"It's kind of scary......"

"yes."

"Professor Miró is a good physicist and I don't understand why he would choose to end his life. It would have been a joy if we had discovered new physics. ”

"Not entirely happy, at least my mentor doesn't seem to be in a lot of mood."

"What did your mentor study?"

"Quantum lattice calculation methods."

"Condolences."

"Is it possible that Professor Miró saw something terrible?"

"Hey, don't do that, this is IMCRC, not an amusement park haunted house. The collider is also more than 300,000 kilometers away from us, and even if it is irradiated by high-energy rays, this cannot be justified. ”

That's when it happened.

The chatter suddenly stopped.

Passing through the crowd, a young man in a trench coat walked to the edge of the barrier and stopped.

The policeman standing behind the barrier to maintain order noticed him and quickly walked over to him, speaking in a respectful tone.

"Hello, Academician Lu."

Nodding to him, Lu Zhou set his eyes on the window with the curtain closed.

He and Professor Miró were not familiar with each other, except that they had a few words over coffee and heard that the professor seemed to have won some physics prizes that he did not care about for a long time, and he was considered an excellent young scholar.

Something like this happened, and it undoubtedly had a negative impact on IMCRC.

Now there are already rumors circulating on the Internet that Professor Miró died under the academic authority of the IMCRC committee because he was ostracized by mainstream physicists.

His followers even threatened to take the "torch" from his hands and avenge his death to the IMCRC or something......

After being silent for a while, Lu Zhou looked at the policeman and spoke.

"Can you tell me a little bit about what's going on inside?"

Hearing this, the policeman hesitated, as if to consider whether it would be better to do so.

However, thinking of the Professor Lu in front of him, the level is probably higher than that of his boss, even if something goes wrong, it will not be his responsibility, so he spoke.

"It's suicide."

"He took an overdose of cephalosporin...... as well as alcohol. ”

"As for more details, we are still investigating. The U.S. Embassy has been notified and they will be responsible for contacting the family of the deceased......"

Lu Zhou nodded, indicating that he knew.

Then, he continued.

"Can I go in?"

Compared to the previous request, this request is a bit embarrassing.

The policeman hesitated, but did not immediately relent.

But at this moment, Wang Peng took out a document from his pocket and handed it to him.

"This case has been taken over by Guoan."

After seeing this document, the expression on the policeman's face was stunned for a moment, and then his expression was solemn.

“…… I need to ask my superiors for advice. ”

Wang Peng nodded.

"Let's go."

……

Without waiting long, Lu Zhou was allowed to cross the cordon and enter Professor Miró's room.

Unlike Lu Zhou's imagination, the physics professor's living space was very tidy, and it was even obvious that there were traces of cleaning within two days.

"This is probably the most bizarre case I've handled in the past two years......"

Looking at the white line drawn on the ground with a complicated expression, the policeman with a slightly old face said with a complicated expression, "Judging from his living state, he is far healthier than ordinary people. ”

Lu Zhou didn't make any comments, just walked into his study and opened the drawer.

For a scholar with a regular routine, it is common to adhere to a code of conduct. That's what you're studying, and it's going to be within reach.

Sure enough, Lu Zhou found something like a research notebook from his drawer.

Turning the title page of the note, he followed the neat handwriting and calculations along the lines and kept reading, and a little surprise gradually appeared in his eyes.

This surprise did not stem from surprise at the scholarly attainments of Professor Miró, in fact there was no one in the world who could have surprised him more in this regard.

It's just that to Lu Zhou's surprise, he originally thought that this Professor Miró was just falling into a wild fantasy of "cosmic animism", but he didn't expect this guy to actually establish a complete theoretical system for this conjecture...... Or a religious program.

To put it simply, in his theoretical system, "cosmic animism" is the core of the entire theoretical system, and further down is derived "the universe is a projection of the subjective behavior of a certain higher consciousness", "everything is the best arrangement", and "this cosmic consciousness is not incommunicable".

And this seems to mean that the "spirit of the universe" in the abstract sense is able to communicate in a sense.

It sounds like idealism.

On the basis of God's creationism and cosmic animism, conscious determinism is superimposed.

If Lu Zhou, the materialist of identification, is allowed to evaluate it, it is simply full of five poisons.

However, it is worth noting that for the animistic part of the universe, Professor Miró has been rigorously theoretically demonstrated. Even though there is a lot of psychological jargon and self-made words that he probably only understands in the process, it is at least clear that he has tried to analyze this theory with scientific thought.

However, when it comes to the part of conscious determinism, that is, the part with which the spirits of the universe can communicate, he seems to have completely abandoned thinking about it, and wrote it down as a conclusion as if he had acquiesced in it.

There is no doubt that this practice is not rigorous.

At the very least, he should have added the words "maybe" and "maybe" to his statement.

After about twenty minutes, Lu Zhou, who finally turned the note from beginning to end, took a deep breath, closed it, and then looked at the policeman who came in with him behind him.

"Can I take this notebook with me?"

"I'm afraid not," the policeman said in an apologetic tone with a look of embarrassment on his face, "This is the relic of the deceased and part of the evidence related to the case." I'm afraid you'll have to wait until the case is closed and you can negotiate with the family of the deceased before you can take it away. ”

Lu Zhou didn't say anything, nodded, then took out his mobile phone from his pocket and turned on the video function, and then flipped through the notes at an even speed, taking pictures of all the contents inside.

Strictly speaking, this is also not allowed, but the people standing next to it have turned a blind eye.

After doing these things, Lu Zhou put away his mobile phone, and then looked at Wang Peng.

"Let's go back."

Wang Peng hesitated slightly and asked.

"Is it enough?"

"Hmm," Lu Zhou nodded, "I think...... I've probably found the answer. ”

Walking out of Professor Miro's apartment, Lu Zhou followed Wang Peng and walked straight to the parking place.

happened to see Lu Zhou walking out of the cordon, Witten hurriedly squeezed out of the crowd and greeted him.

"Did you find anything in there? Miró teaches him why—"

Lu Zhou shook his head.

"There's nothing particularly noteworthy in there, Professor Miró doesn't have a lot of research materials in his apartment, and he doesn't seem like someone who would take his work home."

Looking at the complicated expression on Professor Witten's face, Lu Zhou paused for a moment and continued.

"Still, I found a notebook in his drawer."

Witten hurriedly continued to ask, "What is written on it?" ”

"Some of his analysis of the latest experimental data from the IMCRC, as well as his conjectures about animism and the theoretical system that has been built around this conjecture...... It seems that he has been doing this during his vacation. ”

Taking off the glasses on the bridge of his nose, Witten pinched the bridge of his nose with some headaches.

"It's a ......"

Lu Zhou: "It's a pity, isn't it?" ”

"Yes...... Not only regrettable, but also disturbing. ”

This unease is not only in the sky above the IMCRC headquarters, but also in the hearts of every physicist. The vast majority of people do not believe in animistic explanations, much less that theories they have studied for centuries are as useless as analyzing the laws of pi after the decimal point.

Is there no faith in physics?

Actually, there is.

It's like the turmoil that once caused by the neutrino faster-than-light experiment.

Even if it is impossible to find out what went wrong with the experiment of the "Opella" project team, the vast majority of people are able to make the judgment that "this is a low-level mistake" without knowing the situation at all.

The IMCRC is facing the same situation this time, and it is something more fundamental that is being shaken.

Before the experiment began, I don't know how many people were praying that it would all be an oolong, that the new results would cover the "mistakes" of the past, and that the edifice of physics would return to the framework of the Standard Model, preferably all the way to the end of the world......

Looking at Professor Witten, who fell silent, Lu Zhou thought for a while and spoke.

"I know you're having a lot of confusion right now, maybe...... I mean, maybe, I can answer part of it. ”

“…… That extradimensional theory? ”

"Yes," Lu Zhou nodded, "but it will take a little time." ”

"You don't have to wait long, a week at most...... Soon I'll give an answer that, while not perfect, will probably satisfy the vast majority of people—"

"About, the future of our physics."