"Abandoning your physical body, are you trying to become a Buddha?"
Old Yu worked diligently in the Mei Laboratory, not only doing his job as a gatekeeper well, but also saving the lab at least one cleaning staff member. He was always smiling and could chat with anyone, including Professor Mei and his assistant Mei Ziqing, but the only person he was truly close to was Bian Ziyuan.
Bian Ziyuan felt that Old Yu was like a true elder.
Mei Yiqiu also an elder, and there were many other senior scientists in the lab, all of whom were Bian Ziyuan's elders. However, they only offered him guidance in academics and work skills. Their eyes were only on scientific research, projects, and results, and they cared nothing about anything else. Only Old Yu cared about Bian Ziyuan's life, drank with Bian Ziyuan, listened to him confide all his troubles at work and in life, and sometimes told him some stories from the past.
Bian Ziyuan been a lonely man. His talent, his ideals, and his attitude towards life mean that he can never have any close friends. He always swallows his bitterness. Before Old Yu had his first drink with him, his only confidant was Kronos. Now, there is another Old Yu, Old Yu, who has a kind of kinship with him that he could not get from Kronos.
People often only realize the value of family after leaving their hometown. When young, one's body is at home, but one's heart wanders elsewhere; when grown up, one wanders elsewhere, but one's heart is always with home.
Old Yu enjoyed drinking with Bian Ziyuan because he saw a reflection of Zhao Pengcheng in the young man—an ordinary background, outstanding talent, and a solitary yet diligent pursuit of his dreams. However, in Old Yu's eyes, Bian Ziyuan was still inferior to Zhao Pengcheng in one aspect. Zhao Pengcheng's emotions Bian Ziyuan abundant, yet he was better able to control himself, appearing cold on the surface while harboring a passionate heart. Bian Ziyuan, on the other hand, had probably not experienced the same life upheavals as Zhao Pengcheng, making him more naive and childlike.
Old Yu didn't believe in the nonsense about abandoning the physical body. If you lose your body, wouldn't you become a ghost?
But Bian Ziyuan said, "Our bodies can only adapt to Earth's environment. Even on Earth, you can't adapt to other places. We'll get altitude sickness if we go to high altitudes, freeze into ice sculptures in Antarctic, and become dried corpses in the desert. We can't even adapt to this small Earth, so how can we adapt to extraterrestrial environments? Sun winds are blocked by Earth's magnetic field. Without Earth's magnetic field, no one on Earth could survive with their current physiological structure. The universe is full of radiation. If we can't evolve bodies that can adapt to the strong radiation of the universe, it will be difficult for us to leave the Milky Way, or even leave the Solar System altogether. Even if we build a spaceship that travels at the speed of light, or even pushes the Earth, on a longer timescale, the chances of humanity surviving are extremely low."
Old Yu didn't know what Sun wind was, or how the wind from the Sun could blow to Earth. He also couldn't figure out what a longer time scale would look like; he only knew that he was alive and well now. He said:
"Why leave Earth? Earth is so wonderful! Why go to such a faraway place like the Milky Way when you can live there? Look at the Niulang chasing the Weaver Girl all the way to the edge of the Milky Way, he can only meet Zhinü once a year. That's not a good place at all!"
Bian Ziyuan said, " The Milky Way is not a river, but is composed of many, many star systems like Solar System solar system. Earth's resources will eventually run out; oil, coal, even water and air will eventually be used up. Moreover, Earth revolves around the Sun, and the Sun revolves around the center of the Milky Way. No one knows what we will encounter in this process. Maybe one day, suddenly 'bang,' Earth will explode! Therefore, we must always explore beyond Earth and search for living space, just like people on an island who always seek a wider continent because the food on the island will run out, and if a typhoon or earthquake comes one day, the island where they have lived for thousands of years may disappear."
Old Yu said, "Then why would those parasitic aliens come to Earth and parasitize humans? If it's really as you say, aren't they stupid? It's like having a big villa but not living there, and then traveling thousands of miles to rob my dilapidated hut!"
Bian Ziyuan gave a thumbs up, reeking of alcohol, and said, " Uncle Yu, your analogy is brilliant! The human body is like a dilapidated thatched hut."
"So what exactly constitutes a large villa?"
"Aircraft carriers in the sea, satellites and space stations in the sky... these things aren't afraid of Sun winds, they don't need to breathe air, they don't bleed from a cut, they don't need to wear spacesuits in the sky, and they don't need oxygen tanks in the water... If they are all alive, if they are all life forms like us, do you think it would be easy for them to survive if they left Earth?"
Old Yu nodded, seemingly understanding, "Then why don't we just fly out in a space shuttle?"
Bian Ziyuan laughed and said, " Uncle Yu, you still don't understand. Even though we're piloting a space shuttle, we're still 'humans.' Our bodies are still there. Besides carrying enough energy, the space shuttle needs to simulate the living space on Earth, so it needs oxygen, food, and to process the waste we produce, establishing an ecological cycle system so that we can survive. But if our bodies are gone, and the aircraft carrier itself is our body, then the aircraft carrier doesn't need to be so big. It only needs to carry energy batteries and weapons; nothing else is needed."
Old Yu finally understood and said, "I know, you mean ' Transformers '!"
Bian Ziyuan laughed heartily, " Old Yu, you watch movies too?"
Old Yu said, "I don't watch that movie, I watch animated films."
Bian Ziyuan was taken aback, finding it hard to connect the diligent old man in front of him with watching cartoons, but then he remembered that the earliest Transformers cartoons were popular all over the world 35 years ago, and he understood.
After careful consideration, he concluded that, aside from not needing to transform into a human, the ideal life form would indeed be Transformers —high-strength materials, extremely high intelligence, and equipped with a small nuclear reactor or an even more ideal energy supply method, capable of supporting high-speed and long-duration travel in space.
" Old Yu, you're really something!" Bian Ziyuan thought that although Old Yu wasn't highly educated, he was a wise man. He could often explain things that they couldn't explain with a lot of theories with just a single analogy, and it was always very accurate.
Old Yu laughed and said, "What can I do? I only drink a couple of sips of old wine. When I can't drink anymore, I'll just kick the bucket and go report to the King Yama."
Bian Ziyuan said, "Maybe before you leave, our Transformers will be built. Then even the King Yama won't take you; you'll be reborn as Transformers and travel the universe!"
Old Yu said, "Forget it. If it were like you say, I'd become an invader too, a parasite. I'd invaded the Transformers, parasitizing a machine."
Bian Ziyuan took a sip of his drink, pondering Old Yu's words, and said, "It seems to make sense. By then, the alien consciousness that invaded us will have a target. As long as we build enough Transformers, we might be able to coexist with them and make the Milky Way more prosperous!"
Old Yu said, "Coexistence my ass! The Autobots and Decepticons have been fighting for millions of years!"