Zhou Ming returned to his bachelor apartment, and everything here was still exactly the same as when he left.
When he stepped on the familiar and slightly old floor, looked at the things in the room that had never changed, and listened to the hum of the fan from the computer host that was always on, his thoughts
Finally it calmed down little by little.
Some kind of subtle and unspeakable feeling floated in his heart. Zhou Ming stepped over the scattered debris on the floor, came to the closed window, and looked at the undulating white fog outside.
He stared at the fog for a long time, then reached out and pushed the window - of course, the window didn't move at all.
The flour sprinkled on the windowsill and the cans deliberately stacked still remained in their original state, as if they were silently conveying an atmosphere of loneliness and silence to themselves.
For a long time, he stood quietly in front of the window, maintaining a posture as if looking into the thick fog, but didn't think about anything in his mind. After an unknown amount of time passed, he suddenly blinked.
, like a stone sculpture that was awakened, turning its head to the side.
Next to the unmade bed, the computer monitor on the desk is glowing slightly, and the "Network Not Connected" prompt box still pops up in the lower right corner from time to time. The notebook where I took notes when I left is still thrown in the corner of the table. The notebook has not been used for a long time.
Turn it yourself.
Zhou Ming walked over, sat down in front of the desk, and stared at the empty screen in a daze for a while. Then he reached out and pulled out the keyboard and mouse that he had pushed to the corner before, clicked on the browser, and typed a line of text in the search box.
——
"Does the world outside the dense fog still exist?"
Of course, the browser did not provide any valid search page - after pressing the Enter key, the cursor on the screen flashed a few times, and then an error page popped up indicating that the network connection was interrupted and the remote server did not respond.
This result was naturally expected. Zhou Ming knew from the beginning that he had used this computer that was in a strange state to make various attempts to communicate with the outside world a long time ago, when the thick fog had just blocked the room.
He didn't expect anything different to appear on the screen this time.
He just wanted to type that sentence out - without asking anyone, without expecting any answer.
Listening to the monotonous hum of the fan in his ears, Zhou Ming exhaled, threw the keyboard and mouse back into the corner, then took the notebook, opened it to a blank page, and leaned over it.
Carefully write:
"To the world outside the thick fog, the people in the room send you their regards.
"Soon, I will arrive at a place on the 'other side' of the door. It is a city-state located on the border. I go there to confirm some things.
"But even without confirmation, I think I already know the answer, because in the weird world across the door, countless of the most unimaginable things are actually happening, and my 'intuition' there has always been very
precise.
"Based on this, I no longer expect a response from outside the thick fog, nor do I expect anyone to come through the thick fog and knock on my door or window. I am still not sure what is happening in this world, but maybe...
…it’s not me who experiences the changes, it’s you.
"In my quiet and narrow cabin, everything is still the same as before. I have a bed, a sofa, a coffee table, a desk, and chairs. My wardrobe is next to the bed, and there is a big
Most of the storage shelves are still empty...
"I haven't cleaned my room in a long time.
"There is almost no dust here - I know that most of the dust in human residences comes from the skin debris shed by humans and the pollution caused by daily life, and I don't move here most of the time, so most of the places here
It's actually still very clean.
"But even if there is no dust, the room seems a bit messy now because I was in a hurry when I returned to the room several times before and didn't pack my things before leaving.
"It's not good to always be in such a mess - if everything is as I thought, I think... I should make this room clean and tidy.
"Also, maybe I shouldn't say this, maybe it's meaningless, but... I hope everything is well for you outside the thick fog.
"Goodbye, now I'm going to clean this room."
Zhou Ming breathed out softly, threw the pen back into the pen holder, carefully read what he had just written, then closed the notebook and placed it in the corner of the desk.
Then he stood up silently and began to carry out what he had planned in his notebook - cleaning and tidying up the room.
Start with the slightly messy bed, fold the quilt, arrange the pillows and sheets, then move on to the things on the table, the things on the coffee table, then the wardrobe, bookshelf, and the sundries on the sofa and floor.
There wasn't much dust, and there was no need to mop the floor. He simply used a piece of paper to wipe off the remaining dust on the surface of all the furniture, and then threw it into the trash can.
At the end, Zhou Ming came to the window.
He silently looked at the things on the window sill. After standing there for a long time, he reached out and put the tools he had tried to use to open the window - including hammers and wrenches - into the tool box beside him, and then put the stacked tools
Put cans and other sundries where they belong.
Then, he wet a paper towel, grabbed it with his left hand, and pressed it against the window sill. He stayed in this position for ten seconds, finally took a deep breath, and slowly wiped the window sill.
The flour that had been used to confirm whether someone had opened the window and entered the room was wiped clean with wet paper towels.
Now, this room is completely clean and tidy.
Zhou Ming exhaled, looked around the room calmly, confirmed the fruits of his labor, and then picked up a bag of garbage that he had just packed up - the black plastic bag was not very heavy, because it was mostly waste paper and empty cans.
, but when he picked them up, he still felt that the bag had some weight.
He carried the bag of things that needed to be discarded to the door of the bachelor's apartment and opened the door.
The dark and billowing fog was as usual, undulating and surging at the door. All the secrets in the world seemed to be hidden in the thick fog, but it was so chaotic that it could not be understood by reason.
Standing in front of the surging black fog, Zhou Ming hesitated for a moment, then raised his hand and threw the bag of garbage into the fog.
The moment he let go of the plastic bag, he had a strong urge to pull the bag back, as if those waste papers and empty cans were the only treasures left in the world, and he was the only remaining treasure in the world.
The gambler wanted to keep every gram of material in the room - but this impulse was finally suppressed by him. He opened his hand and calmly watched the plastic bag fall into the other side of the door and disappear in an instant.
In the rolling fog.
He knows that those things will not "reach the other side of the door" - only he himself can reach that world as "Duncan", and all other substances will disappear when passing through the door.
in the mist.
Now, those things that should be discarded have completely disappeared into the "world outside the room".
Zhou Ming wiped his hands and took a step forward to leave this place - on the other side of the door, Alice was still waiting for him to have dinner.
But just as he was about to cross the door, a faint sound caught his attention. It was the sound of a computer fan suddenly speeding up.
Zhou Ming stopped instantly, retracted his steps and looked in the direction of the sound.
On the glimmering computer screen, the interface that previously displayed prompts about network connection interruption and remote server unresponsiveness was flashing. Then those prompts suddenly disappeared, and then, the loading progress bar at the bottom of the page turned from red to green, and
Start walking forward slowly.
Zhou Ming felt that his heart was beating like it was exploding at this moment, and a suffocating feeling filled his lungs. The next second he suddenly closed the door and rushed to his desk in an instant.
The loading progress bar at the bottom of the browser interface is still moving forward. The faint green color seems to be spreading slowly and firmly, and on the originally blank page, the loaded content really appears——
That is a picture.
Zhou Ming stared intently at the picture that was gradually emerging.
Moon.
It seemed to be a perspective taken directly from a certain location in space. What was shown in the picture was the moon floating in the dark universe. Its gray-white appearance was covered with ravines formed by craters, as if there were many weird and alternating lights and darks.
Even if he is not an expert in astronomy, Zhou Ming is extremely familiar with this classic image.
And he once again confirmed that the picture he saw in Tirian's office was indeed the moon - the details were exactly the same, and it was obvious that it could only be seen by a person who had seen the moon with his own eyes.
Figures can only be drawn by carefully tracing the distance.
Zhou Ming slowly sat down on the chair, leaned back, and stared at the image of the moon that almost occupied the entire screen with a frozen expression. After a long time, his eyes moved upward to the search box he had just entered.
The line of text in:
"Does the world outside the dense fog still exist?"
He was silent, and after a long time he suddenly "woke up" from the state of being like a stone sculpture, and quickly took the keyboard beside him and entered new text in the search box:
"Is this the answer?"
"Who gave this answer?"
After typing these two questions quickly, Zhou Ming stared at the computer screen in front of him.
However, no "person" responded, and no new patterns or loading bars appeared on the screen. Only the cursor was spinning in place, like a silent and dull eye - gradually returning to the low and gentle rotation of the fan.
Apart from the sound, the only sounds left in his ears were his own breathing and heartbeat.
After a while, the moon image on the screen was refreshed due to a loading failure, and the interface turned pale again, leaving only one line of text:
"The network connection was interrupted or the remote server is not responding."