CAT Chapter 37: Second Law of Thermodynamics (6)

“My fiancee is Ling Yi’s sister,” Zheng Shu smiled and glanced at Ling Yi. “Did you forget?”

Ling Yi nodded slightly. “I just remembered.”

—So, when he first boarded the spaceship, was it why Lin Si said the first person to trust was himself, and the second was Zheng Shu? Back then, he had thought it was just because Zheng Shu was a good friend of Lin Si’s.

On the spaceship, people rarely mentioned the past events on Earth or the family they left behind because thinking about those things was just too painful.

Maybe that’s why Zheng Shu’s fiance had only been mentioned once, three years ago.

In past conversations, Tang Ning had also mentioned this fiancee. According to his account, she hadn’t received a ticket for the spaceship, and Zheng Shu had long been missing her.

“I knew it,” the Colonel, not paying much attention to all of this, laughed heartily. “Ling Yi certainly looks like someone who’s received professional training. Your fiancee must be amazing.”

Zheng Shu buttoned up his black casual jacket and asked, “Do you know Ling Jing?”

“Colonel Ling Jing?” The Colonel’s eyes widened. “Is it her?”

Zheng Shu nodded.

“She’s at Base Two. We’ve never interacted with her, but we’ve all heard of her. She’s the iron-willed beauty of Base Two! Very impressive!”

Zheng Shu smiled slightly, his eyes filled with warmth and nostalgia.

He noticed Ling Yi was looking at him, and reached out to ruffle his hair.

Ling Yi suddenly felt a bit embarrassed and lowered his eyes.

Zheng Shu laughed softly. “Come with me.”

Ling Yi replied, “Mm.”

Zheng Shu’s office looked the same as before, with a cluster of fresh and beautiful cat grass growing on his desk.

This type of grass only lasted for about one or two months and needed to be replaced regularly, but Zheng Shu had continuously grown it.

“She can’t take care of plants, but she loves them. Eventually, she realized this little grass grows easily, looks pretty, and could even be brought into her military dormitory,” Zheng Shu said, brushing the soft grass tips. “So I grew a lot of it for her. Whenever she took her monthly leave to go home, she would take a new pot with her.”

Ling Yi nodded.

“Sometimes, you would help me plant them too,” Zheng Shu added.

Ling Yi said, “Ah?”

So, Zheng Shu was another person aboard the spaceship who knew the Earth version of him, besides Su Ting.

“You never mentioned this before,” Ling Yi remarked.

“Lin Si thought you still needed to grow a bit more before you could handle it, because losing all your family members is truly a despairing thing,” Zheng Shu said slowly. “But now that you know about Ye Selin, it’s alright.”

Ling Yi hummed in acknowledgment.

“A few days ago, I heard your 18th birthday is coming up. I don’t have much I can give you,” Zheng Shu opened the drawer of his desk, “so I thought I’d give you this.”

He took out a poetry collection by an Irish poet and flipped through the pages. Near the middle, he pulled out a photo from between the pages.

In the center of the photo was a young woman wearing a white gown.

She had frosty blue eyes, and her black hair was styled up, decorated with small diamonds. She smiled slightly.

Her features were beautiful, yet somewhat sharp, like a queen.

“Ling Jing’s appearance is like your father’s, and her personality too,” Zheng Shu’s hand hovered near her face but didn’t quite touch it. “You grew up with your father, but your looks and personality are more like Ye Selin’s.”

Ling Yi stared at the photo.

Arm-in-arm with Ling Jing was Su Ting, wearing a small gown and looking even younger than now, smiling sweetly.

The background was a night scene on a well-lit lawn with white round tables set up, some with groups of young people chatting casually, while others stood or sat in a more formal way, like people from the military.

In the background, on a central table, a multi-tiered cake was partially visible.

“This photo was taken by me at my engagement banquet with Ling Jing,” Zheng Shu said.

—Then he noticed that Ling Yi’s gaze was wandering among the people in the photo. He immediately understood what he was doing and smiled, saying, “Lin Si wasn’t there. He went to Berlin for the second time then.”

Ling Yi let out a soft “oh,” a little disappointed.

He tried scanning the photo again, but his attention was soon drawn to the top-right corner of the photo.

It was a distant corner of a building, with warm yellow light glowing from the windows. Two shadows could be seen in front of the window.

Because this part of the photo was already quite small—only about the size of a fingernail—the shadows were just faint, blurred shapes hidden within the warm light.

They were probably looking this way… surely, they were looking this way.

“These are your father and mother.”

…Watching their daughter.

Ling Yi’s gaze remained fixed there for a long time. Finally, his throat felt dry as he spoke, “…Am I there?”

“It was already very late, and Ling Jing asked you to go to bed,” Zheng Shu pointed to the building, “You were inside there.”

His finger then moved to the top of the engagement cake,“There were supposed to be two fondant figures on top, but Ling Jing cut them off so you could play with them.”

Ling Yi looked at the building, then at the cake with the top cut off, unsure what to say. A strange feeling rose in his heart… He had really existed on Earth once, had friends, and loving family members, even though he couldn’t remember any of it now.

He took the photo from Zheng Shu’s hand and said, “Thank you.”

Zheng Shu smiled and ruffled his hair. “No need to thank me.”

“Possibility of making it a portable weapon?” Lin Si stared at the twenty-meter-diameter spherical container in front of him, frowning. “Am I having trouble hearing? You just want to make it a spaceship weapon?”

Mr. Lambert from Zone 1 looked a little guilty: “Isn’t this going too far…”

Zone 1 had indeed been researching antimatter weapons, and they had successfully created a perfect container to store antimatter.

They had used a variety of special metals to construct the container’s shell, and the interior was a perfect vacuum. The special metals were meant to generate and maintain a high-intensity force field.

The bottom of the container had various force fields and electromagnetic field generators. These fields interacted with each other, holding the antimatter securely at the center of the container.

Logically, all they needed to do was add a propulsion system to eject the antimatter, and it would become a powerful weapon.

But here’s the problem: How would they eject it?

The first method is to open the container and release the antimatter.

But before seeing the effect of the weapon, the spaceship would be annihilated first.

The second method is to launch the sphere, and then open it when it reaches the target.

However, with the current resources, they can’t make a second container. Many of the materials were only found by chance in the vast universe, and—

“The density of the container material is too high. Although its diameter is only twenty meters, its weight is over a hundred tons,” Mr. Lambert continued, feeling guilty.

“Hmm,” Lin Si said. “It’s impressive that you haven’t collapsed the floor yet.”

“Well, because it’s so heavy, the range won’t be very far. We haven’t tested it, so we don’t know how powerful it is or whether it might affect the ship,” Mr. Lambert said.

In other words, even if the container is launched, there’s a possibility the spaceship could be annihilated by the weapon’s residual effects.

Lin Si, “So you’ve drained all our resources to create a one-time suicide weapon?”

“That’s why, we need you to assess whether it’s possible to break it down and turn it into a controllable, portable weapon,” Mr. Lambert scratched his head, “Ordinary people can’t do it. Even if the container is made smaller than a yo-yo, no one could carry it. But your exoskeleton might be able to handle it.”

A long discussion began.

The electromagnetic fields and force fields all need to be reconfigured within a very small physical space. The technical difficulties were enough to make one feel despair.

Tang Ning was on the side, modeling their ideas and assessing their feasibility.

They couldn’t make a move too much, or the Marshal and the Madam might notice—so many valuable resources had been spent, only to make a suicide weapon… a complete research accident.

If they could actually break it down into a weapon that could be carried on the exoskeleton, that would be good, but there would also be risks. The power of the exoskeletons would grow exponentially—The Marshal would definitely become even more wary of them.

Lin Si was busy all day.

Finally, during a break, the communication bracelet beeped.

It was a message from Ling Yi.

“I learned physics today, fought a few rounds with the Colonel and Svenya, played with Su Ting for a while, and received a birthday gift from Zheng Shu. I’ll show you when you come back.”

—The little guy always reported what he did when he wasn’t around.

Lin Si smiled and replied, “I’ll be back soon.”

Ling Yi told him, “I’m going to B79 to look at the stars.”

Lin Si, “Mm.”

**

Ling Yi was sitting cross-legged on a transparent platform, his soft black hair draped over his shoulder.

He looked at the nebulae and stars in the starry sea for a while before taking out the photo.

These were all people he had once known, and his family.

But… only Su Ting was still alive in this world.

He stared blankly at the people in the photo, then turned his gaze to his parents’ figures.

They had existed, but now they were gone, lost somewhere in the vast starry sea.

Would they be watching him from the void?

Ling Yi suddenly felt lost. He stretched out his hand toward the distant starry sea, as if trying to touch something.

After staring for a long time, he put the photo away.

However, he noticed something on the back of the photo—a white background with a line of familiar handwriting, elegant yet firm.

It seemed to be a poem.

“Facing eternity, it is the love of all of us, an endless, lingering farewell.”

A faint sense of melancholy and sadness surrounded the words.

Ling Yi was reading the poem when Lin Si arrived.

“Lin Si,” he recited the lines, the rhythm of the words flowing smoothly, “What does this mean?”

“Hmm?” Lin Si walked over to him.

“Why does she say our love is a long-lasting farewell?” Ling Yi looked at the words.

“I don’t understand literature,” Lin Si replied.

Ling Yi pouted.

Seeing the confusion on Ling Yi’s face, Lin Si felt a little heartache. After thinking for a moment, he decided to explain in a way he understood.

“Maybe it’s like this,” he sat down on a nearby seat, and Ling Yi looked up at him.

Lin Si thought for a moment, then suddenly asked, “Do you know the second law of thermodynamics?”¹

Ling Yi nodded, “Entropy increase?”

“Yes,” Lin Si said. “Entropy is the degree of disorder of an object. In natural processes, entropy only increases, never decreases.”

Ling Yi nodded.

“Glass shatters, supernovae explode, stars extinguish, black holes evaporate—these are all entropy increase. Entropy increase is the only eternal process in the universe. A broken glass won’t restore itself, a dead star won’t shine again. Because entropy increase is irreversible, time can never flow backward, the dead won’t come back to life, and things lost won’t return. This is a physical law, which is why some people believe the law of entropy increase is the one unprovable truth that governs the universe.”

Ling Yi blinked. “And then?”

“So, death will always outnumber birth. On the cosmic level, there is no metabolism or dynamic equilibrium. Every day, more stars extinguish than are born. Eventually, there will be a time when nothing can be destroyed anymore, and the entropy of the universe will reach its maximum value, entering thermal equilibrium, forever silent.”

“This is heat death, the death of the universe,” Lin Si said lightly, “the final fate pointed to by the second law of thermodynamics.”

Ling Yi stared at the poem for a while, then muttered, “So, she thinks that all lovers will eventually be separated?”

Lin Si took the photo from his hands and turned it over.

The late Ling Jing smiled, her diamond headpiece sparkling under the light.