Cold and Quiet

As the first hibernation candidate swallowed the hibernation drug, as the first Hibernation Pod slowly closed, as the first hibernation chamber shut its doors.

Humanity's great hibernation began.

Aside from workers at factories related to spacecraft construction, essential engineers, and the minimum personnel needed to keep the New Government functioning, everyone else entered Hibernation Pods.

There were scientists, engineers, and ordinary people.

Fifty-nine-year-old astronomer Gan De, forty-six-year-old Material Science specialist Xu Zhenyi, fifty-three-year-old physicist Liu Miyan, thirty-two-year-old engineering mechanics doctor Yu Nanfeng... Along with countless leaders in every field and key officials of the New Government, they all entered hibernation. Besides people, many machines and facilities also entered dormancy.

Callisto Base seemed to have gone from bustling activity to cold desolation overnight.

In this state, the New Government suddenly had far less work to do, leaving Yue Yuan, who had grown accustomed to being busy, somewhat unaccustomed to it.

It was as though, after suddenly becoming idle, his entire chest had been filled with a wave of emptiness that struck without warning.

It left Yue Yuan feeling out of sorts.

In this state, everything felt irritating, so Yue Yuan simply left his office and wandered around.

But this was not Earth, and there was nowhere much to wander. He could only stroll aimlessly around the base.

Callisto Base now had not only its original underground section, but also many buildings newly constructed on the surface during the great construction period. These buildings were scattered around the underground section and connected by semicircular passageways.

After leaving his office, Yue Yuan first arrived at the recreation plaza.

As the name implied, the recreation plaza was a place for office staff to move around and relax. It had once been brilliantly lit, but now it was exceptionally dim.

Yue Yuan walked slowly. The dim lighting blurred his figure somewhat. Before he realized it, he had arrived before a massive screen.

He looked up at it.

Dark.

The screen had already been powered down.

It had once displayed scenery from all over Earth year-round—oceans, forests, skies, and the like—to soothe the surviving humans on Callisto.

Now, it too had entered dormancy.

There were many screens like this. Aside from the plaza, they had been installed along the walls of every major passageway, but now they had all gone dark like this massive screen.

Yue Yuan had the authority to light up the screen again and look at beautiful nature to calm himself, but he did not do so. Instead, he turned and entered the desolate passageway.

"The Astronomical Observatory..."

After passing through the corridor, a familiar curtain-wall design entered his sight. Yue Yuan knew he had arrived at the Astronomical Observatory.

It was called an Astronomical Observatory, but it was actually a building—a building with a skylight. Its dome was semicircular, and inside stood a massive optical telescope. The middle floors housed equipment connected to satellites and Radio Telescopes everywhere, while its exterior walls were made of special glass.

Like the other facilities, the Astronomical Observatory had entered dormancy, but it had not been completely shut down. This was humanity's eye, its only eye looking out into the dangerous universe. Humanity might hibernate, but its eyes still had to remain open.

"Oh, it's Chief Yue. You're here to see Minister Zhu, right?"

The moment Yue Yuan entered the Astronomical Observatory, a young worker came over to greet him.

"Uh, yes. Where is he?" Naturally, Yue Yuan could not say he was just wandering around because he was in a bad mood, so he went along with it and asked.

There was only one minister named Zhu in the entire Callisto Base: Zhu Pete, whom Yue Yuan had assigned as Minister of the Security Department.

Yue Yuan knew Zhu Pete would not enter hibernation until three years later, but he had not known the man had come to the Astronomical Observatory.

"On the Observation Deck," the worker answered.

"Mm." Yue Yuan nodded in thanks, then headed toward the elevator.

The Observation Deck should not originally have been called the Observation Deck, since it had not been built for sightseeing. However, because it was the top floor, and people there could see all the other base buildings outside through the glass after it was completed, it had simply been renamed the Observation Deck.

When Yue Yuan stepped out of the elevator, he saw from afar a figure leaning against the railing before the glass, seemingly gazing into the distance.

Near the elevator exit stood two guard soldiers.

"Commander Yue!"

As the elevator opened, the two soldiers saw Yue Yuan immediately and promptly saluted.

Yue Yuan did not speak. He merely nodded, then turned and gave the two Security Department soldiers following him a look, indicating that they could stay here as well. However, the movement was noticed by Zhu Pete, who had been leaning on the railing.

"Commander Yue, why are you here?" Zhu Pete, dressed in uniform, immediately came over and gave a military salute.

"No need for formalities." Yue Yuan returned the salute with a raised hand, then walked toward the railing. "Pi Te, why aren't you properly doing your shift at the Security Department? What are you doing here?"

"Well, so many of my comrades have gone into hibernation that the Security Department suddenly got awfully quiet. It's left me feeling a bit stifled, so I came here to clear my head." Zhu Pete took off his military cap, raised a hand to scratch at his increasingly bald head, then turned and leaned against the railing as well.

Zhu Pete, who had followed Yue Yuan ever since the Earth Era, knew his old superior was not truly accusing him of skipping work, so he spoke rather casually.

Yue Yuan had also come to relax. Hearing Zhu Pete say this, he smiled. "Mm, I don't see your gloomy mood getting any better. I only see a few more hairs falling out."

"Tell me about it! Who knows when regenerative hair technology will come along. At this rate, I'll be chanting Amitabha." Zhu Pete lowered his hand from the top of his head and discovered another hair on it, prompting a pained cry of Amitabha.

Yue Yuan smiled faintly, then looked out the window. As he watched the scattered lights shining from the base's other buildings, he said, "I heard Doctor Yi Kai say that in his era, this was considered a strong man's hairstyle."

What strong man's hairstyle? I'm practically bald already, okay? Zhu Pete's expression stiffened as he silently complained, then he sighed. "Commander Yue, that old man Doctor Yi Kai really is something. I reckon he's infected everyone at the Life Genetics Research Institute. I visited them once—the way they talk, it was like a twenty-first-century Renaissance."

After joking with Zhu Pete for a while, Yue Yuan felt much more relaxed. He smiled and scolded, "Watch your mouth. A doctor is a doctor—don't call him an old man. Be careful, or he'll make things difficult for you when he wakes up."

He knew Zhu Pete often went to the Life Research Institute because of his hair loss.

And words like "old man" could not be thrown around casually. Otherwise, after a few more decades, those people might start secretly calling him an old man behind his back.