She seemed to be enjoying herself immensely.
But I was boiling inside.
What kind of situation was this? How had it turned out like this?
I cursed Ye Jinghong in my heart too. If she hadn't acted on her own, how could I possibly have agreed to such an unreasonable condition from Xiao Qing?
"Do you know? So-called return is the biggest lie of all!"
Her words came so suddenly that I froze, and my hands stopped moving.
"Don't stop. Keep going, I'm enjoying this!"
I could only continue pressing her shoulders as I asked, "What do you mean by that? How is return the biggest lie?"
Could she be talking about those people who had once left Earth returning to it?
My mind exploded. This time, I truly stood there in a daze and muttered, "Because the gravitational slingshot effect was lost."
If she hadn't said it, I never would have considered such a possibility.
She shot me a sidelong glance. This time, she didn't ask me to continue. Instead, she pointed to the chair opposite her. "Sit down. Let's talk."
After I sat down, she slowly continued, "I remember that in 2015, you reported that the Voyager 1 probe had traveled for forty-seven years and was already 25.3 billion kilometers away from Earth. That sounds impressive, doesn't it? But have you done the math? Twenty-five point three billion kilometers is only twenty-two light-hours—not even one light-day!"
I took out a cigarette and lit it.
Her voice rang out again. "We Hollow Earth people discovered a law long ago. That is why we have been content to live such peaceful lives."
"What law?" I realized that even my voice was trembling.
"The Law of the Lower Cage. No matter how hard we try, we will never reach another galaxy,