Chapter 145: Passing Through the Wormhole
Whoosh!
Ye Xing was instantly surrounded by three layers of people.
"I want it, I'll buy it!"
"I want to buy it too! We have two sick people at home—"
"I was diagnosed with mid-stage not long ago, can I buy it—"
"Stop!"
Ye Xing quietly noted down the number of people, then authoritatively shouted to silence the noisy crowd.
"Everyone will get some. But if you want to get your hands on it, don't rush, and don't shout and attract trouble!"
"Do you understand what I mean?"
Immediately, no one dared to speak. They pursed their lips and nodded vigorously.
"Good. I need to confirm the patients family by family. For those who need to buy medicine, one person from each family follows me, and the rest should hurry home."
"Um, sir—"
Someone cautiously raised a hand.
"Any other questions?"
"Can I buy an extra portion for my uncle? He needs it too."
"Then can I buy it for my friend?"
"I want to buy a portion for my master at the factory—"
Ye Xing shook his head.
"I'm afraid not. The quantity of medicine is limited."
"Then, can you—can you think of a way to get more stock? We can pay more!"
"Yes, yes, yes!"
The neighbors were earnest, but Ye Xing still shook his head.
"How easy is it to get stock? This medicine can only be produced by Cangyuan Future Technology. They are willing to sell it to me,
but you can ask around about the City Lord and Apollo's attitude towards Cangyuan Future Technology. Look, the city is going to be under martial law again.
I also want to get medicine for you, but everyone—how can I leave the city now?"
The neighbors had just seen the martial law notice last night.
"Oh my! This—what kind of situation is this!"
Last night, nearly 1000 people watched Cangyuan Future Technology's corporate promotional video. Among them, 24 people set aside their doubts, mustered their courage, and bought the special medicine for themselves or their families.
And now, on the second morning, through these 24 people, thousands learned about the miraculous efficacy of the special medicine, and several thousand more urgently sought the medicine.
At the same time, through word-of-mouth from the 1000 viewers last night, tens of thousands learned about Cangyuan Future Technology's deeds.
Over 2000 workers deliberately arrived late or were absent, accounting for 4% of the total urban workforce.
They roamed the streets and alleys, moving with the wind, hoping for a stroke of luck that they might just run into black market merchants selling the life-saving medicine on the street.
Because according to rumors, someone had seen these life-saving people this morning.
The fire was intensifying.
After 10 hours of flight, "tianwen" arrived near the coordinates of Wormhole 2.
"Wormholes—do they have any external characteristics?"
In the cockpit, Ma Lou rested his chin, looked out at the universe, and asked.
Jubian shook his head.
"When Lao Yu and I were having dinner, we talked about this. He said wormholes are spherical celestial bodies, but their boundaries are almost indistinguishable to the naked eye."
"Spherical? Not a circular opening?"
"No, only a hole on a two-dimensional plane is what we usually understand as an 'opening,'" Jubian explained, shaking his head. "A three-dimensional hole is adding a spatial dimension to a circle, which then becomes a sphere."
"This is just an analogy," Nan Guo de Xue added, "Humans can't imagine a distorted three-dimensional space; they can only understand it mathematically."
"I'm really learning a lot traveling with you guys—"
Ma Lou exclaimed.
Jubian thought for a moment.
"Let me give another analogy. Imagine a black tent larger than a basketball arena, with star patterns drawn all over it. There's a snooker-ball-sized hole in this tent, and looking out from this hole, it's still the starry sky.
"Now our task is to find this hole."
Ma Lou: "That's really a bit difficult, huh—"
Xian Yu: "But it's by no means impossible. As long as we move around the coordinate area, when abnormal stellar light appears that doesn't conform to normal logic, the location of the anomaly is the location of the wormhole!"
Jubian: "You're absolutely right. It would be even faster to search with the sun at our backs, but I need to warn everyone in advance that this process will be very tedious."
Xian Yu: "No problem."
The calm trio feared tediousness the least, probably only second to the professionally trained grassland. Jubian, on the other hand, was the most impatient among them.
Three hours later, as he was dozing off, Ma Lou, who was also close to giving up, made a discovery.
"There was a strong flash of light just now, didn't you see it?"
Xian Yu: "Where?"
Ma Lou: "Just to the starboard side."
Nan Guo de Xue: "Fly back slowly along the previous route. Everyone, focus."
"tianwen" decelerated, then flew backward. When it reached a specific position, an extremely bright yellow-white star suddenly appeared in space, its brightness even exceeding that of the sun as seen from here.
Jubian: "Awesome, brothers, that's it! Haha!"
The team reset the precise coordinates and approached.
The wormhole was like a window without a frame, approximately 15 kilometers in diameter.
From the scientific research vessel, one could directly see the sun on the other side of the wormhole, as well as three relatively bright large gas giant planets.
But besides that, the wormhole was optically bizarre.
Sometimes, even when the research vessel circled it by nearly 90 degrees, the scene on the other side remained fixed and unchanged; yet at other times, with just a slight shift in observation angle, the scene on the other side would rotate violently.
It was completely random, utterly chaotic, and full of mystery.
The unknown wormhole was right before them, and the unknown distant reaches beckoned. Even individuals with steady temperaments couldn't suppress the strong urge to explore at this moment.
Jubian: "Don't act rashly yet. Immediately report to the Executive Officer!"
The radio had a 12-hour delay, and Cangyuan Future Technology had not yet mastered zero-delay quantum entanglement communication technology.
But players had the advantage of in-game cheating methods.
Ma Lou temporarily went offline and notified Devil Mountain Camp through the player community. Moments later, Lu Yuan sent a reply.
"The Executive Officer said we can pass through the wormhole and also navigate and explore in the star system on the other side! But do not land on any celestial body for now. Be careful, and make sure to preserve the scientific research vessel. We can depart now, oh yeah!"
Depart!
"tianwen" represents Cangyuan Future Technology, conducting its first wormhole jump experiment!
The main engines re-ignited, and the scientific research vessel moved forward at low speed, its elegant streamlined bow touching the wormhole's surface.
Instantly, the silver bow seemed to melt into a thin film, adhering to and enveloping the wormhole's spherical surface, spreading out into an area of hundreds of thousands of square meters. The further the research vessel advanced, the larger the "film" became.
Jubian personally saw his outstretched hand touch the wormhole, transforming into a flesh-colored curved film. Immediately after, his head also touched the wormhole, and everything before his eyes transformed into chaotic and colorful parallel curves.
When vision returned to normal, they were already in another star system.
The entire process took no more than 1 minute, was very stable, and lacked the violent vibrations or conceptualized spacetime tunnel scenes found in sci-fi movies.
Nor did anyone feel any discomfort.
"Amazing—" Ma Lou exclaimed in wonder, "I clearly saw the entire ship turn into streaks of light, converging towards the other side of the wormhole, how did it suddenly arrive in another star system?"
"That's your judgment based on common sense!"
Jubian's voice was high-pitched, his curiosity greatly satisfied.
"But in reality, we are still unable to determine the cause of this wormhole. It could be a classic Einstein-Rosen bridge, a highly distorted three-dimensional space, or even a higher-dimensional fragment bridging three-dimensional universes. If it truly is a higher-dimensional bridge, then the spherical shape is merely its projection in the three-dimensional universe. What you see on the other side may not be the true geometric 'other side.' Ha! This reminds me of the half-integer spin of fermions! It's so fascinating!"
"Not surprising. Half-integer spin might imply higher-dimensional penetration at the quantum scale," Nan Guo de Xue commented calmly and incisively.
Xian Yu: "Alright, Scholar big shots, let's not make profound statements for now. How should we explore next?"