"All the brilliance in life must be repaid with loneliness after all..." Xian Qianhua muttered to herself as she leaned against the window and looked at the vast stars.

"One Hundred Years of Solitude" by García Márquez?" Yan Sichen raised his head and asked with a smile.

"Well, this is my favorite sentence."

"Well, I also like this book very much, but this sentence sounds so sad... I still like that one better... If you knew me in the past, then you would forgive me now."

Xian Qianhua looked back at Yan Sichen and said, "Are you running away?"

"Um?"

"It seems that what you just said...is what it means...you came here not just for photography, right?"

His thoughts were guessed, and Yan Sichen smiled a little sheepishly. After pondering for a moment, he said, "Yes, in order to avoid my mother and my home that doesn't feel like home at all."

"Why?"

Yan Sichen did not say any more. He had already sent the observation data. Whether the earth could receive it or not would all depend on the fate of mankind as a whole.

"I don't like silence." Xian Qianhua said and looked out the window: "I like places with sound, especially the seaside. I can fall asleep listening to the waves and sleep soundly."

"Then... you are really special. I can't help it. I can't sleep even if there is a little noise." Yan Sichen stood up and sat next to Xian Qianhua.

"It's just a matter of personal habit. Besides, waves are not noise, are they?"

"Well, I admit that." Yan Sichen picked up the crystal plate and said, "Tell me... what exactly is this thing?"

That is a simulated imaging of a set of observational data.

A thin layer, but enough to cover the entire sun and plunge the entire earth into darkness, is slowly passing through the solar system.

At first, its speed was very fast, but the closer it got to the center of the solar system, the slower it became, and even gradually showed signs of "braking".

After several days of continuous observation, Xian Qianhua and Yan Sichen obtained very important data, but after all, this is just an escape capsule, and they have no ability to do more. Can the data even be successfully sent back to the company that sent the distress signal?

The earth cannot be received.

"Maybe it's the spaceship of the Curtain Stars." Xian Qianhua was the first human to call this thing "Curtain".

I have to say, it’s really quite vivid.

Yan Sichen smiled: "Then can the two of us go down in history?"

"Oh? What should I say?"

"Look, if this is really an alien curtain, wouldn't we become the first humans to achieve 'third kind of contact' in human history?"

"Haha... Why can't I be happy at all?"

Yan Sichen smiled happily and said: "Don't be so pessimistic. Everyone is destined to die. It may be heavier than Mount Tai or lighter than a feather. The sum of our great achievements must at least... be Mount Everest!"

"Hey! It's less stinky! It's even on Mount Everest! Whether the earth can receive it is another matter!" Xian Qianhua poured down the basin of cold water. Not only did Yan Sichen stop laughing, but Xian Qianhua herself felt very sad.

Silence... another long silence...

I don’t know how long it took before Yan Sichen started singing again.

His voice is surprisingly good, at least much better than the tone-deaf Xian Qianhua.

Xian Qianhua had joked with Yan Sichen before: "If you were thirty years ago, you would have been a big star!"

Yan Sichen was also really popular and immediately sang several songs for Xian Qianhua.

That was really the happiest day since they were trapped.

But today, Xian Qianhua was very quiet. She leaned against the window and looked at Yan Sichen quietly.

Yan Sichen looked out the window, singing intermittently, wondering what he was thinking...

A song that has been sung for a long time...

Xian Qianhua suddenly whispered: "I had a dream...a very real dream..."

"Hmm? What kind of thing? Tell me about it?"

"Well... in the dream... I seemed to have been rescued... I saw a very kind old man, a very beautiful little house painted with white paint, located on the seaside... The sky was blue and the breeze was blowing...

The sound of the waves is very familiar...but only...I actually forgot your name." Speaking of this, Xian Qianhua blushed a little shyly.

Yan Sichen was stunned for a moment, then laughed and said: "It's normal to forget that I am not a famous person."

Xian Qianhua didn't smile when she heard this. She glared at Yan Sichen.

Yan Sichen was a little embarrassed. He coughed and asked again: "What happened next?"

"Later... later I kept looking for my companion... but I just couldn't see him... I seemed to be trapped in that sweet dream, which was repeated every day... Although it felt good, there seemed to always be something in my heart.

A voice reminded me... I still have something very important to do, and I can't just forget it... Then... I woke up." Xian Qianhua said, raising her hand and saying: "But... that dream was really special.

…”

"special?"

"Hmm... It's so real... It's like... it's not a dream at all."

"Forehead……"

"Oh, I don't know what to say...it's just...it's not like a normal dream, where you feel hazy after waking up. Do you understand what I mean?"

Yan Sichen didn't say anything. He frowned as if he was thinking about something.

Xian Qianhua didn't notice this, and she added: "And in the dream, I asked the old man why I couldn't leave here to see my companions and family even though I was well. But he didn't want to answer.

I just smiled... My smile was very kind... But the more I looked at it, the weirder it became... This was one of the reasons why I was able to wake up later."

When Yan Sichen heard this, his eyes changed.

He raised his head and looked at Xian Qianhua seriously and said: "Qianhua, is there a painting in the small white-painted house in your dream?"

Xian Qianhua was stunned for a moment, then frowned and said, "How did you know?"

Yan Sichen suddenly felt a chill running down his spine. He did not continue to ask or answer Xian Qianhua's question, but hurriedly stood up and walked to the operation core of the escape cabin.

Xian Qianhua noticed Yan Sichen's abnormality. She stood up and followed her: "Why don't you speak?"

"I want to confirm something."

"Confirm what?"

"Confirm whether we are alive or already dead..." Yan Sichen turned his head and looked at Xian Qianhua, but what he saw was a figure wrapped in light.

At that moment, Yan Sichen's whole body froze.

His limbs were out of control. Only his eyes could see things, his ears could hear breathing, his nose could smell a strange fragrance of flowers, and his body could feel the sun-like sense of tolerance.

But he couldn't speak, couldn't even think smoothly, and could only watch helplessly as the light swallowed up everything he was familiar with, and the figure gradually faded and disappeared.

Almost at the same moment, there was only light left in Xian Qianhua's world, but unlike Yan Sichen, the light in her world was a dispersing figure, and the figure was surrounded by boundless darkness.

Xian Qianhua felt that the figure had a sense of déjà vu, as if...as if...

…

"Are you awake?"

The sea breeze was still there, and the sun fell on my forehead, giving me a slightly anxious burning feeling.

Xian Qianhua squinted her eyes and subconsciously covered them with her hands.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I saw that the weather was nice, so I just basked in the sun for a while."

The sound of the curtains being pulled came, the dazzling sunlight disappeared, and the ambient lights in the room turned on, making the cold-toned space very warm and comfortable.

Xian Qianhua slowly sat up after adjusting for a while.

The kind-faced old man sat on a chair by the window and looked at Xian Qianhua with a smile. Behind him stood a silver-haired girl who looked like a nurse.

The girl's skin is very white and does not match the beach at all.

Xian Qianhua was a little confused. There was something strange in her heart, but she couldn't remember what happened.

"I...where...is this?"

"In a dream." The old man replied with a smile.

Xian Qianhua was stunned when she heard this: "In a dream?"

"Yes, you have been floating in space for too long and your body has been severely damaged, but your brain is still intact. In order to save you, we have developed a very special dream-reality interactive system to help you recover.

"

Xian Qianhua looked at the old man blankly, closed her eyes after a long time, pinched her eyebrows and said, "Wait...I'm a little confused...you mean...I've been rescued?"

"Yes, that's pretty much what it means."

"almost?"

"Well, when we found you two, you had been floating in space for more than a hundred years. Logically speaking, you should be dead... However, a very talented scientist said that you are still alive... so...

We decided to give it a try, and judging from the results..." The old man smiled, and the meaning was already clear.

After hearing this, Xian Qianhua was still in a daze. After a while, she asked: "Then...am I considered dead or alive now?"

"Consciously, you are alive, but physically, you can be considered dead."
To be continued...