“No, you did nothing wrong,” Laplace smiled. “Starting tomorrow, you will be my only assistant. I will give you a better salary and a better research environment. Please give me a chance.”

“What chance?” Elizabeth asked innocently and curiously.

“A chance to… study you.”

That night was forever engraved in Laplace’s mind. When the research results that he regarded as treasures were burned with the collapse of the city, Elizabeth was the only anchor that tied him to this world.

That was the project he wanted to spend his life studying.

“…”

“Ah… uh huh… next time you need to be more restrained.”

Elizabeth covered her head shyly with the quilt. Laplace half sat up on the bed, and with his steady hands trained in the laboratory, he picked up the teapot on the bedside table and poured himself a cup of tea.

He took a sip of tea and said:

“Tired?”

“You…what do you think? The interval is less than half an hour…almost two hours at a time…”

Elizabeth threw the pillow at Laplace and angrily revealed a pair of eyes from under the quilt:

“So I said you don’t care about the end of the world at all, right? Look at the people on the Ark. Some are wailing, some are scheming, and some are looking out the window all day, imagining that everything is not over yet and we will soon be able to control the disaster and return to the concrete jungle. And you? You are playing the role of a steam engine!”

“Caring about it won’t change anything,” Laplace put the cup back. “What happened can’t be changed.”

“Hehe, I haven’t forgotten who was crying in the small dark room before,” Elizabeth said mischievously, but when she found that Laplace didn’t respond, she sighed, “You, sometimes you really are like a machine…”

“But I’m not a machine, I’m a human.” Laplace shook his head.

“Yeah, it’s true. I’ve never seen a machine with such strong desires,” Elizabeth glared fiercely. “Actually, I don’t really feel anything for the end of the world… My parents passed away a long time ago, and most of my classmates guessed that I had ulterior motives because I followed ‘that robot’. I don’t have much contact with them, but I do miss my small apartment… I haven’t used your big room yet… You have such wonderful material conditions, do you really not miss them at all?”

“I don’t miss you.” Laplace said.

Elizabeth was like that, always enjoying herself and starting to talk a lot. At these times, Laplace would usually just listen to her silently without saying a word.

It’s not that he wasn’t listening. He was listening very carefully, studying how every word and action of the girl was formed.

This is also part of the research.

“Hey, I have a question for you,” Elizabeth poked Laplace’s waist domineeringly. When Laplace turned his gaze to her, she became a little cautious again. “Remember that night? You said you wanted to study me… What did you mean?”

“You are a completely new proposition that you are not even aware of,” Laplace said.

“I don’t understand,” Elizabeth muttered. “What about the results of the study?”

“The results haven’t come out yet.”

Laplace glanced at Elizabeth out of the corner of his eye. Over the years, time had not left many traces on the girl’s face. She was still so perfect, like a piece of jade that would never be worn out, always emitting light.

“It’s really unusual for you, Mr. Scholar,” Elizabeth smiled softly, “You never get anything out of me every time you ask. I think…”

She suddenly stopped talking halfway. A whistling sound of tearing air came from the distance, as if something was tearing through the sky.

Laplace stood up immediately, got out of bed, walked to the wall and knocked on it. Part of the wall immediately became transparent and became a window.

Then, Elizabeth and Laplace witnessed the scene at the same time.

A pure white meteor streaked across the sky, tearing through the sea of ​​clouds and falling towards the sea.

For a long time, everything was silent.

……

Extra) Tower of Babel (Part 5)

No one knew what the meteor with the white flame meant. Even Laplace, who often studied the starry sky, had never observed a similar astronomical phenomenon.

But he had some guesses of his own. Before the Judgment Day, he had submitted relevant information about delaying drilling to his father and the Federation Council countless times. He was rejected again and again, and once felt sad and lonely – in the face of an unknown disaster, he was the only one who noticed it.

But soon, this perception was rejected.

During the process of sorting out the terminal database, Laplace hacked into the highly confidential database of the Odin Council out of spite, wanting to see what those damn good-for-nothings were discussing in their private meetings. As expected, those councillors not only had no intention of delaying the plan, but even planned to set up more mines in Monkar. These data made Laplace feel very angry. Just as he was about to exit, he found a meeting record marked with “Hafurgard”.

“According to the discussion of the Union Council, we reject your proposal, Coles. This is not under the jurisdiction of the Hafurgard tribe, and you have no right to inquire about the specific administrative measures of the Great Union. This has nothing to do with you.”

“The third-order drilling plan has been put into use and cannot be stopped. The polar collection plan will continue to progress. You don’t have to be alarmist. No matter what the awakening threat you are talking about is, we have measures to deal with it.”

“For us, the starry sky is already within our reach. We have nothing to fear because human power is endless. We have mastered the earth, and flying to the starry sky will become a reality within the next ten years.”

“As for the Imhotalos you mentioned, before you provide any evidence, he is just a myth. Even in the Qilang area, where mythology is strong, few people believe him.”

“As a human being, I implore you to witness us conquer the starry sky and fly to the other side of the distant starry sea.”

“…”

After a series of recordings, Laplace frowned, and the thoughts in his mind kept colliding.

It sounds like the Commonwealth Parliament is talking to an individual who is clearly of equal size to the entire Parliament. In other words, what he represents is equivalent to humans.

Based on the two keywords “Kols” and “Hafurgard”, Laplace continued to search, trying to find more clues, but in the end, he collected nothing.

He then chose offline monitoring, trying to capture the whereabouts of Coles Hafgard entering and leaving the parliament. However, after that conversation, the mysterious figure seemed to have disappeared and never showed up anywhere again.

He disappeared.

Laplace could only keep searching forward along the timeline. He searched the entire parliament’s intranet and even started a search across the entire federation network.

Finally, he found a photo.

The photo was blurry, and was taken by a hidden camera in the corner of the Union Council Hall. In the photo, the person named Coles Hafgard had long pure white hair, but a handsome, young face. What shocked Laplace the most was that he had a pair of blood-red eyes.

Blood eyes, in some mythological books, mean the eyes of angels or demons. Inscriptions on some ancient Odin slabs unearthed in the North Sea recorded that the Earth Mother Goddess named [Ersa] had a single blood-red eye, and her eyes contained the same high temperature as a star, which could instantly transform the earth into scorching stellar matter, and the torrent of stellar matter ejected could even instantly cross the arms of the entire galaxy.

The white-haired man with bloodshot eyes predicted the coming of the end of the world.

That was the only time Laplace felt that he was close to the truth beyond the sky.

He suddenly felt a sense of closeness to the being who might be called Coles Hafgard. He tried to find him later, but due to various trivial matters, he failed until the Day of Judgment.

“…”

Behind the terminal of the Ark’s deck, Laplace kept repeating the image of white flames streaking across the sky and exhaled deeply.

He could only guess, but these guesses could not be combined into accurate conclusions, which made him dissatisfied.

However, it is certain that this meteor that fell from the sky must not be a natural product, and it is most likely related to the so-called Hafgard tribe. Coles Hafgard is the only person who, like Laplace, warned the Union Council of the coming disaster. If anyone can take countermeasures, it is only him.

However, this is not important now. What is important is that the landing of this meteor has had a certain impact on the Ark.

“Professor Laplace, this is the current factor distribution parameter diagram.”

Old Tom walked over to Laplace and handed him a panel. Laplace took the panel and read the content: Starting half an hour ago, the destructive factors began to gather rapidly towards the high altitude and have now reached the stratosphere. The destructive factors at low altitudes are constantly decreasing and will soon reach a factor vacuum.

This means that it will be difficult for the Ark to descend to the ground. Once it is separated from the river of factor energy, the Ark will be nothing more than an iron coffin that will only fall.

“This is amazing,” Laplace muttered, “What is it that brings the factors together in the sky?”

“This is the first time such a phenomenon has been observed,” Old Tom said with fatigue in his eyes. “We…can’t do anything about it. Sorry…”

“In that case, let’s keep the Ark in the stratosphere,” Laplace waved his hand. “Our circulation system is sufficient to support us for seventy years. We don’t need to act rashly before we ensure it is completely safe.”

Old Tom left. Laplace looked at his back, then glanced at the white flaming star on the bridge screen, and clenched his fists tightly.

He hated the unknown, and hated even more the inability to control the unknown.

However, Laplace has recently regained the anchor of his life. He is a madman, but he is also a scientist. Reason always drives him to stabilize himself, otherwise he would not be able to repeat his high-intensity scientific research.

While waiting for things to change, Laplace picked up his old job that he had abandoned long ago.

——Study the stars.

……

In fact, the Great Alliance had many plans to explore the starry sky, and some of them had even made considerable progress, but they all ultimately came to an end for various reasons.

Laplace attributed the cause to the corruption of the legislators.

After all, exploring the starry sky is unknown and may not bring any rewards. It is better to use the money from making rockets to build a few more mines.

However, based on the recordings Laplace heard, he discovered that there were plans behind the parliament to advance into the starry sky. Laplace was the only son of the Valantia family and an astonishing genius, but he did not yet have the qualifications to become a parliamentarian, so he was not aware of those plans.

This feeling of powerlessness used to haunt him constantly, making him feel distracted when he was alone. Now, as the entire civilized world collapsed behind him, Laplace felt a lot lighter.

This even made him feel a bit of cruel pleasure.

“Until that tower is high enough, they can’t learn to work together.”

Extra) Tower of Babel (Part 6)

At night, Laplace came to the observation room on the top of the Ark alone and looked up at the starry sky under the panoramic skylight.

The starry sky is exceptionally bright, and the colorful starlight is sprinkled on the dark sky like dots of salt.

Laplace took out the old star map and continued to study the changes in the starry sky. The observation room was spherical, and Laplace kept adjusting the position of the observation sky so that he could accurately capture the stars in every corner.

Time passed quickly in the darkness. About an hour later, Laplace put down the terminal and exhaled deeply.

A cup of tea was handed over from the side. Laplace turned around and found Elizabeth beside him, looking at him with a smile.

“Thank you.” Laplace took the teacup and took a sip. “Aren’t you going to sleep yet?”

“Aren’t you asleep too?”

“You are pregnant, you should spend more time resting,” Laplace said. “You can’t pursue the truth with a baby in your belly.”

“That’s what a father should say.” Elizabeth gently hooked Laplace’s handsome face, “I heard from Old Tom that we have to continue to rise, right?”

“Yes, the stratosphere is almost entirely a factor energy vacuum. The Ark will lose kinetic energy before it lands on the ground,” Laplace sighed. “It has been hundreds of years since the Valantia expedition team first discovered the open-air factor mine, and we have never observed such a phenomenon.”

“It’s like…the earth is expelling us?” said Elizabeth.

“It’s a very romantic metaphor, I think, yes.” Laplace nodded.

He looked up at the starry sky above his head and murmured softly:

“If they had known how to cooperate, we might have been able to avoid this disaster.”

“Perhaps humans will never be able to cooperate,” Elizabeth shook her head. “Look, compared to the situation of national division a hundred years ago, the Great Union is now more unified than ever before. Except for the Qilang region, which has not completely surrendered, we have even tamed the wolves on the Mengkaer grasslands. But what is the result? You went to the Union Parliament so many times and issued warnings so many times, but no one listened to you.”

“This is because power is still not concentrated enough,” Laplace shook his head. “It needs to be more concentrated.”

“It sounds difficult, it’s hard to imagine that the power of the entire parliament is concentrated in the hands of the Valantia family…” Elizabeth said.

“No, that’s still not enough,” Laplace shook his head, “We need to be more focused.”

“How many people will be concentrated on this?”

“I think one person is enough.”

When Laplace finished speaking, the chill from the stratosphere seeped in, and the starry sky at night seemed to become a little colder because of his words.

Elizabeth was stunned for a moment, then smiled softly:

“I don’t know if this will work, but it sounds like something a monarch from ancient times would do.”

“Yes, the first monarch of each dynasty was an outstanding person, which is why the ancient empires prospered in the early days,” Laplace said, “but they believed in the theory of bloodline. Once a mediocre person from later generations sat on the throne, the dynasty would begin to decline.”

“Now that you mention it, it seems that we don’t have this kind of trouble now,” Elizabeth murmured. “Genetic technology is already very advanced. For example, the baby in my belly will be born with the ability to crawl, and will be able to walk independently and learn to speak after three months. This was unimaginable to the ancients.”

“As long as the most excellent bloodline remains, a dynasty will last forever,” Laplace said, “but they will not allow a dynasty to exist, so we need something more…”

“Oh, are you going to show me your surreal fantasy plan again?” Elizabeth smiled softly.

“This is not fantasy, this is the future,” Laplace corrected.

He waved his hand, and the holographic projection constructed an illusory tower that stretched from the ground to the sky, hovering directly above Laplace and Elizabeth.

“Tower of Babel, or Tower of Babel,” Laplace muttered, “an ultimate weapon that can not only destroy all targets within range with annihilation rays, but also create a factor energy storm to destroy everything outside the tower as the ultimate deterrent…”

“I remember you said that it is impossible to achieve this technology now.”

“Yes, that’s right.”

Laplace let the illusion of the tall tower dissipate and looked at Elizabeth beside him:

“Have you decided on the child’s name?”

“I haven’t thought of it yet. I’m going to let you think of it,” Elizabeth said. “How about it? Will Professor Laplace condescend to name a little boy?”

“Oh, what are you talking about? This is my son after all.”

Laplace walked up to Elizabeth, squatted down, and gently stroked her belly with one hand.