Twin Brothers
In the laboratory, Pei Yurong huddled in a corner amidst the blood-soaked floor.
Li Banfeng squatted down nearby and said to Pei Yurong, "I have some coordinates here. It's supposedly the base where you're developing Controllable Electromagnetic Pulse Weapon. Could you tell me the coordinates again?"
Pei Yurong gave the coordinates, Li Banfeng then asked, "How do you usually transport experimental supplies to the sea base?"
"By boat."
Do you remember the boat's license plate number?
"I really don't remember that. I don't need to do these things myself!"
"You should know how many ships there are, shouldn't you?"
"I know, there are six in total."
The coordinates and number of ships she mentioned were exactly the same as what Gu Hao had said. Li Banfeng opened his Pocket Watch and had Dream Virtue verify it again, but the result remained unchanged.
When do you plan to deploy your Controllable Electromagnetic Pulse Weapon?
"Having accumulated enough energy, we will launch our attack the day after tomorrow."
Li Banfeng frowned and said, "So fast?"
"Yes, this is the Devil Master's order. The Devil Master will attack Huan Kingdom the day after tomorrow, Yuezhou will be his first stop."
"Why must we target Yuezhou?"
"Because Yuezhou is adjacent to Three Heads Junction, Three Heads Junction is the point of leverage for the Devil Master Chernobog."
What is a "handle point"?
Pei Yurong repeated the scriptures of the Hundred Demons Workshop to Li Banfeng: "The great Devil Master Chernobog stretched out his right arm across his territory, grasping tightly the soil leading to the lowly lands."
The humble land yearns for the Devil Master's guidance and edification, but the Devil Master himself has been betrayed and desecrated in his own homeland.
He did not abandon the people of this humble land; even in the midst of fierce battle, he clung tightly to this uncivilized territory.
Some parasites crawled onto the Devil Master's arm, attempting to possess Devil Master flesh and blood. Enraged, the Devil Master, after defeating the traitors, vowed to eradicate these pests completely...
Li Banfeng listened attentively to every word Pei Yurong said, pondering whether he should find a translator for her.
What she said was a long and complicated story, but to Li Banfeng it sounded like a myth.
However, upon closer examination, this myth is somewhat unusual.
Li Banfeng couldn't quite put his finger on what was so special about it, but he felt it was closely related to some of the knowledge he had encountered before.
Pei Yurong couldn't explain much either. She found a book of doctrine among the scattered corpses and handed it to Li Banfeng. Li Banfeng glanced at it and found that the content was very obscure. He didn't know if it was due to the translation quality, but most of the content was difficult to understand.
Can anyone explain this to Li Banfeng?
"I heard from Gu Hao that there is a Lavsha People here, who is an envoy sent by the Devil Master."
"Yes, a large part of our operation was directed by him! He also provided a lot of our technology!" Pei Yurong's eyes showed a glimmer of hope. If Li Qi identified the Devil Master as the mastermind, she might still have a chance to survive.
Li Banfeng was indeed very interested in this Lavsha People: "Where is he now?"
"He's still in Yuezhou! He's preaching in our neighborhood."
Li Banfeng laughed, "So you have another brothel? Can you take me there?"
"Yes!" Pei Yurong readily agreed.
Li Banfeng got up and sent a message to Chen Changrui.
In the meeting room, Chen Changrui's veins were throbbing. He had been in the meeting for more than three hours, and so far, there was still no conclusion on the nature of the Hundred Demons Workshop organization.
"Comrade Changrui, we would like to hear your opinion."
Chen Changrui didn't know what to say. He had said it countless times: his opinion was to immediately dispatch combat personnel to destroy the research base for the Magnetic Storm Weapon.
But since his superiors had asked, Chen Changrui couldn't refuse to answer. Just as he was about to speak, his phone vibrated twice in his pocket.
Chen Changrui picked up his phone and glanced at it, an action that drew criticism from many people.
"Comrade Changrui, you actually brought your cell phone to such an important meeting. What kind of attitude is this?"
Chen Changrui raised his head, but did not answer the question about attitude, because he had a more important question to say, "Director Li Qi has already ascertained the time of the enemy's attack, which is the day after tomorrow."
"Don't talk about which day yet, first talk about your attitude... What did you just say about attacking?"
Chen Changrui explained, "According to Hundred Demons Workshop, it was an attack by the Devil Master. According to our deduction, it was an attack by the Third Planet of Dark Star. Their target is Yuezhou, and their goal should be to open the exit of Three Heads Junction."
The venue fell silent instantly.
Ten minutes later, the meeting came to a conclusion.
Immediately dispatch a special operations team to destroy the research base for the Magnetic Storm Weapon. Led by the Dark Star Bureau, make every effort to apprehend all members of the Hundred Demons Workshop. Issue an emergency notice to the Guanfang Hall and prepare for war.
Chen Changrui breathed a sigh of relief. Before the war broke out, they finally initiated the necessary response procedures.
This cannot be blamed on the superiors' mishandling of the Outer State. Chen Changrui had been to Pro State -Pro State...
Outer State operations have their own procedures, but as long as the correct procedures are initiated, based on past experience, there should be no problems with the subsequent response.
The problem arose the next day.
First, the special operations team's work was not going well. They discovered a maritime base in international waters and dispatched 170 high-performance drones to carry out the mission.
However, the 170 drones failed to complete their mission, and the sea base activated its Magnetic Storm Weapon, cutting off communications for all drones within a 20-nautical-mile radius.
Unable to obtain location information or interact with the control center, drones that have lost communication capabilities can only rely on their onboard automatic control systems to perform simple data processing and bombard maritime bases.
The special operations team refers to it as automated operations in basic mode.
As it turned out, this combat mode was far from effective, with all 170 drones being wiped out.
The Magnetic Storm Weapon gave the higher-ups a huge shock.
They held an emergency meeting to discuss the next steps in their response.
Strategy 1: Launch long-range missiles.
The enemy's naval base has a defense system and interception capabilities. Missiles that have lost communication capabilities can only rely on inertial guidance, and under interception, the probability of hitting the target is extremely low.
Strategy Two: Deploy unmanned submarines.
Without communication systems, unmanned submarines can only rely on sonar. Without human intervention, they can only engage in a head-on battle with the defense systems of the sea base using basic combat methods. The outcome of the battle will most likely be just as disastrous as that of drones.
Strategy 3: Deploy warships.
A bitter laugh echoed through the hall:
"Without communication capabilities, how can warships fight? Go up there with their shipborne guns and fight to the death? What's the difference between that and naval warfare during the Age of Exploration?"
Someone sighed, "To this day, we are so reliant on communication systems."
Another person said, "Yes, not only us. If the communication system is paralyzed, our offensive and defensive systems may degenerate to the level of World War II, or even worse."
Time was running out, and the meeting quickly came to a conclusion.
Deploy warships, operated by their crews, to destroy the geomagnetic storm base.
The work on the Dark Star Bureau's side is also not going smoothly. Chen Changrui is arresting members of the Hundred Demons Workshop everywhere, but the arrest efficiency is extremely low. Every time he goes to a Hundred Demons Workshop stronghold, he can basically only find corpses.
Late at night, Chen Changrui returned to the Dark Star Bureau building. He wanted to organize some intelligence and take a rest, but he noticed that Li Qi's office light was on.
Director Li is back!
Chen Changrui looked delighted, but when he reached the door, he didn't rush in.
He heard the sounds coming from the office.
Beep~ Beep~
Click!
Beep~ Beep~
Click!
Li Qi was making phone calls, repeatedly, but no one answered.
Chen Changrui was a spy, and his ears were extremely sensitive. He heard a telephone ringing in the office building.
Following the sound of the bell, he found Shen Jingye's office.
Li Qi kept calling Shen Jingye.
Many people suspect that Li Qi has mental problems, including Chen Changrui.
He always believed that Li Qi was Li Banfeng, and that Li Banfeng did indeed have mental health issues.
He's having an attack; it's best to leave him alone at this time.
Chen Changrui turned to leave, but the phone kept ringing.
The sound of that bell was like a needle piercing Chen Changrui's heart.
Chen Changrui entered Shen Jingye's office and picked up the phone.
On the other end of the phone, Li Qi's voice was extremely excited:
"Little Shen, come to my office!"
Worried that Li Qi might be in danger, Chen Changrui quickly went to Li Qi's office.
Upon entering, Li Qi was not there.
Where did he go?
There were three human heads on his desk.
The first one was a blond, blue-eyed man who was on Chen Changrui's wanted list and was the Devil Master of the Hundred Demons Workshop.
The second one was a woman, who was also on the wanted list. She was Pei Yurong, the owner of Hundred Demons Workshop.
The third one was a man. You don't need to look at the list to know who he is; he is Du Wenming. Even if he were reduced to ashes, Chen Changrui would still recognize him.
With these three heads, the Dark Star Bureau's main task seems to have been completed.
"The flowers have faded, burying even the heart; when the swallows return in spring, where will I be?"
When the stylus reached its end, Chen Changrui moved it back and played it again.
He walked out of the office, and as he closed the door, he vaguely heard a sigh:
"You sing so well, so beautifully."
The next day, good news arrived from the sea.
After a fierce battle, the six warships breached the Magnetic Storm Weapon Base while losing communication capabilities.
The base was equipped with a self-destruct system. After it was breached, an explosion occurred within a short period of time, destroying all the equipment and killing most of the personnel inside the base.
The reason for the assumption that most of the personnel died is that no one knows exactly how many people are inside the base. If any professionals escaped, it would prove that the controlled magnetic storm technology is still under the control of this group.
The maritime crisis has been resolved, but the crisis on land continues.
Liao Zihui is leading the Innocent Army in a full-scale defense deployment.
The entire city of Yuezhou was placed under martial law and was prepared for battle.
According to the superiors' deductions, the destruction of the Magnetic Storm Weapon base should have interrupted the Devil Master's offensive plan. However, they dared not let their guard down, as no one wanted to experience a war without any preparation.
A week passed, but the war did not break out.
The previous speculation was correct: the Magnetic Storm base was destroyed, and the enemy's war plans were temporarily shelved.
Yuezhou ended its state of martial law and the city returned to normal order, but preparations for war did not slacken, because no one could be sure whether the Devil Master would build another magnetic storm base, nor could anyone be sure whether the Devil Master would launch a war in another way.
Gao Yina kept asking about Li Qi's whereabouts, hoping that Li Qi could activate his Balance Person power and prevent the war from happening through other means.
Chen Changrui was also searching everywhere for Li Qi, but Li Qi was not in Outer State.
Li Qi went to Iron Gate Fort and found Dr. Kang Zhenchang to treat Chuunibyou's injuries.
Kang Zhenchang's medical skills are indeed remarkable; the Chuunibyou's condition has shown significant improvement.
After finishing all the important business, Li Banfeng went to the library of Yue Province University to look up information.
He obtained a large amount of technical data on Magnetic Storm Weapon from the Devil Master. His Wife was very interested in this, but she still lacked some basic knowledge of magnetic storm science.
Li Banfeng knew nothing about geostorms, and finding books wasn't easy. After searching through the library for a long time, he saw a notice on the LED screen.
Professor Xie Jinning, an expert in the field of geomagnetic storms, delivered an academic report at today's conference...
Xie Jinning?
Li Banfeng glanced at the book in his hand.
This collection of papers contains three papers on geostorms, all written by Xie Jinning.
This was a leading expert in geomagnetic storms, so Li Banfeng quickly ran to the lecture hall.
When Li Banfeng arrived at the entrance of the lecture hall, he noticed the notice on the LED screen, which he hadn't read in its entirety before.
The notice stated that Xie Jinning's academic report meeting scheduled for today has been postponed to next month, and that Professor Zhao Zhihong, an astronomy professor, will be giving the report in Xie Jinning's place today.
Even if it comes to next month, Xie Jinning may not be able to give an academic report. He is one of the few geomagnetic storm experts in China and has already been transferred to prepare for the event.
Who is this Zhao Zhihong? Li Banfeng felt that the name sounded familiar, as if he had seen it somewhere before.
None of the teachers and students from the field of electromagnetism attended the lecture, but a few people from the field of astronomy did come.
The presentation hadn't even started yet, and they were all talking about it at the door.
"Why did you come to Professor Zhao's lecture?"
"You came too, didn't you?"
"I wanted to broaden my horizons; everyone says his report is particularly interesting."
"That's quite interesting. Haven't you seen the marketing accounts he runs? Quite a few platforms have blacklisted him."
Upon hearing that this person was so special, Li Banfeng also entered the lecture hall, wanting to see just how interesting this person was.
There were only a few dozen people scattered around the auditorium. Li Banfeng found a seat in the back row and sat down.
Zhao Zhihong was a man in his early forties, wearing a suit and tie, with his hair neatly combed.
Judging solely from his appearance, this professor clearly took this lecture very seriously.
He opened the presentation slides and began by explaining the theory of the sun's revolution around the sun.
"As everyone here knows, our sun revolves around the center of the Milky Way at a speed of 250 kilometers per second, with an orbital period of approximately 200 million years..."
Li Banfeng listened with great interest, while the students from the astronomy department grew somewhat impatient.
This is basic knowledge for them, and besides, they didn't come here to learn anything.
When talking about the Sun's orbit around the Sun, Zhao Zhihong stood in the center of the podium, his tone becoming much more serious. "Starting from my undergraduate studies, I have been engaged in astronomy research for more than 20 years. From the first time I came into contact with the relevant data on the Sun's revolution, I developed a deep fascination with this academic field."
Laughter erupted from the audience.
Li Banfeng didn't find it funny.
A student behind him laughed and said, "Here he comes, he's about to start."
Zhao Zhihong displayed a set of data on the screen, which was the Sun's orbital radius around the Milky Way. Li Banfeng still couldn't see anything funny about it, but the astronomy students around him kept laughing.
Zhao Zhihong provided a simple analysis of the data. "Our sun revolves around the center of the Milky Way in an elliptical orbit. It's more like a perfect circle than an ellipse because the eccentricity is extremely small."
On such a regularly shaped orbit, the sun exhibits irregular movements over time. What causes this? Has anyone thought about this?
Zhao Zhihong highlighted several key data points in red and looked at the dozens of people below the stage with expectant eyes.
Everyone remained silent, waiting for his answer.
Zhao Zhihong explained forcefully, "Because the sun has a twin brother!"
A burst of laughter erupted from the audience.
Li Banfeng remembered who this person was.
The laughter did not dampen Professor Zhao's enthusiasm. He continued, "This may seem a bit bizarre to everyone, but this twin brother does exist. It all started on the day the sun was born."
On the subway, Li Banfeng read similar articles. He first read about sprinter Qiao Yuesheng, then about famous singer Chu Zikai, and the third one he read was about the twin brothers of the sun.
Because all three articles started from the day he was born, Li Banfeng didn't read them carefully. He never expected that the source of those articles was actually a university professor.
Professor Zhao continued his explanation, "As we all know, our sun was born 4.6 billion years ago. At that time, our sun was still a relatively loose nebula."
Under its own gravity, the solar nebula began to slowly collapse, with matter gathering towards the center, causing the temperature and pressure in the central region to rise continuously.
When a certain level is reached, hydrogen nuclei undergo nuclear fusion, radiating energy outwards and balancing the inward gravitational pull, thus forming the sun.
But have you ever wondered if the density of the nebula that formed our sun is uniform, given how vast it is? Some might say it was just a coincidence that the nebula that formed our star was distributed so evenly!
What I want to tell you is that similar coincidences do happen, but the probability is extremely low. The solar nebula is not as uniform as imagined; during its collapse, it formed several clumps of varying sizes.
These clumps collided and merged, forming two larger protostars: our Sun and its twin.
So some people might ask, are these two twin brothers really exactly the same?
Through extensive data collection and simulation experiments, I discovered significant differences between these two pairs of suns; our sun is slightly smaller and its condition is very stable.
Its twin brother, however, was considerably larger and less stable. Around 4.2 billion years ago, 400 million years after the birth of these twins, the sun's twin brother exploded.
Note that this is not a supernova explosion as we understand it. The companion star's mass did not meet the conditions for a supernova explosion; it's like a balloon that didn't burst directly but instead leaked air.
Another burst of laughter came from the audience; the analogy seemed rather comical to the astronomy students.
"Did you hear that? He's started talking about balloons."
"The balloon is deflating, a signature move from Professor Zhao."
"I seriously doubt whether he studied astronomy."
"Didn't someone say yesterday that he used to sell balloons in the park in his spare time?"
Professor Zhao continued his detailed explanation, "During the leakage process, the companion satellite lost a large amount of matter and energy, and also generated a powerful shock wave."
Under the influence of the shock wave, the companion star rapidly moved away from the Sun until they were about 1 light-year apart, forming a relatively stable binary system.
"One light-year?" a student finally couldn't help but ask. "Professor, do you mean this companion star is closer than Proxima Centauri?"
"Yes!" Professor Zhao answered confidently.
"We can observe Proxima Centauri, but why can't we see its companion star?"
"As I just mentioned, the companion star lost a lot of matter and energy during the explosion, which caused it to be in an unstable state, making it impossible for us to observe it with current scientific technology."
Another student asked, "Why can't we observe it? Is it because the companion star exploded into a black hole?"
This isn't asking a question; it's clearly nitpicking.
Professor Zhao explained, "As I just said, this explosion was not a supernova explosion as we understand it, and it did not meet the conditions for forming a black hole."
"Since the companion star cannot be observed, how do you know about the so-called companion star explosion, and what is the basis for this claim?"
Zhao Zhihong was indeed conducting research; he didn't fabricate anything. He cited many examples and particularly emphasized the impact of the companion star's explosion. "This explosion robbed Mercury of its crust, destroyed Venus's ecosystem, and caused some planets to escape the Sun's control and be carried away by the companion star."
One student laughed and said, "You mean, our Solar System is orbiting another star system?"
Zhao Zhihong answered frankly, "This situation does exist in binary star systems, where both stars may have their own galaxies."
"Have you observed another galaxy?" The student was trying to entice Zhao Zhihong to say something even more incredible.
Zhao Zhihong actually fell for it. "Observing exoplanets in the universe is extremely difficult, but in our latest research, we have made some progress. The rogue planets we originally identified are actually all orbiting the same center of mass, and the location of this center of mass is our companion star!"
Is there life on the planets associated with the companion star?
"I think so. I think we've had some level of communication with life on our companion star."
"One light-year, Professor, how do you think we communicated with them?"
"Through some special spatial channels..."
"Professor, are you saying that aliens have landed on Earth?"
The audience burst into laughter, and the laughter lasted for quite some time.
Zhao Zhihong gave an awkward laugh and stopped answering questions easily.
He had been to many such occasions before, and he knew that these people had no interest in academics; they came here to treat his academic presentation as a farce.
But he still insisted on finishing the report, and from beginning to end, he stood very straight and spoke with a strong voice.
After the report meeting, Zhao Zhihong returned to his office. He didn't care about the ridicule he had received during the meeting; he was used to it.
Li Banfeng knocked and entered the office. He walked to Professor Zhao's side, pulled up a chair, and sat down. "Professor, may I copy a copy of your course materials?"
Zhao Zhihong looked at Li Banfeng: "Which college are you a student in?"
"I'm from the College of Science."
"I'm sorry, there are some contents in my presentation slides that are not suitable for public release."
The presentation materials have already been made; is it still inconvenient to share them publicly?
This is clearly an excuse.
Zhao Zhihong didn't want Li Banfeng to copy the courseware because he didn't trust this student of unknown origin. He didn't want this student to ridicule his research results through certain media outlets again; he had experienced too many such incidents.
Li Banfeng looked at Zhao Zhihong and said in a serious tone, "I'll pay."
Zhao Zhihong was getting angry. "This isn't about the money. The way you talk to me is disrespectful to academia!"
Li Banfeng took out 20,000 yuan in cash and handed it to Zhao Zhihong.
Zhao Zhihong, veins bulging, glared at Li Banfeng: "What do you mean by this?"
"Service fee: When you invite a professor to give a lecture, you should be paid a service fee."
"Even if we need to pay labor fees, we must follow the normal financial procedures!"
"I will complete the necessary procedures later, and I can sign a contract with you. My purpose in doing this is to sincerely seek your professional advice."
"Your attitude is improper!" Professor Zhao criticized Li Banfeng sternly, then he took the money.
Li Banfeng copied a presentation slide. "May I ask you a few questions?"
"Of course you can." Professor Zhao was less angry.
"My first question is, do you believe the existence of a companion star is based on changes in the Sun's orbit around the Sun?"
"Yes, the irregular fluctuations in the Sun's orbit are caused by irregular gravitational changes in its companion star."
"The second question is, since the companion star cannot be observed, could this be explained by the fact that it has evolved into Black Dwarf Star due to rapid energy loss?"
"The possibility is very high, but to be precise, the companion star is not a pure Black Dwarf Star. Pure Black Dwarf Star take too long to form, while our companion star has periodic energy radiation, or even energy bursts."
"The galaxy containing our companion star is 1 light-year away, which is an extremely long distance. If there is communication between the two galaxies, how is this communication achieved?"
"I think the most likely channel for communication is a wormhole."
What is the interior of a wormhole like?
Zhao Zhihong paused for a moment and then said, "Actually, there was a professor before who had a more in-depth understanding of wormholes."
The professor he was referring to was likely Yu Yaoming.
Li Banfeng said, "I'd like to hear about your research findings."
To what extent have you grasped the fundamentals of astrophysics?
Li Banfeng shook his head. "I don't have much of a foundation."
Professor Zhao smacked his lips, thinking about how to explain it to Li Banfeng in a simple and easy-to-understand way, "Many people believe that the space inside a wormhole is very narrow, only allowing elementary particles to pass through. In my opinion, this concept is wrong. I need to use a balloon as an analogy."
He really likes balloons.
He took a balloon out of his desk drawer. "I'm going to blow it up."
Li Banfeng looked around and said, "Well, don't brag yet, just give a general explanation."
Whew! Whew!
The professor blew up the balloon and said to Li Banfeng, "The nozzle of the balloon is very narrow. If it's tied tightly, even elementary particles will have difficulty passing through."
But the balloon's interior space is not cramped; it could be a giant helium balloon, an even larger airship, or even as large as a planet.
"If it were as large as a planet, could life arise inside?"
"This is possible. However, due to the special environment inside the wormhole, life may mutate to varying degrees, and the space itself may also differentiate to varying degrees."
He blew up another giraffe balloon, pointed to the giraffe's head, and then to its belly. "This is the differentiation of space."
Li Banfeng was imagining the environment inside the wormhole.
He seemed very familiar with that environment.
Perhaps that place is called Pro State.
PS: This has a certain degree of correspondence with the myths and legends of Hundred Demons Workshop.
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