Chapter 51: Crossing Again_1

After he left, his classmates were first thoughtful, and then suddenly realized, "He really isn't human!"

At this moment, Liu Yueyue didn't know what she was thinking. She leaned on the railing, watching Qin Ming's departing figure as he left school, a complexity of emotions spilling from her eyes.

Meanwhile, Qin Ming, carrying his backpack, stepped into the library. Seeing the familiar silhouette, the girl at the cash register's eyes lit up again, so many days having passed without sight, she had thought she might never see him again.

Thankfully, this era didn't have WeChat, otherwise he could have been annoyed to death by various women with ulterior motives.

Today was a Monday, and the library was nearly empty. He didn't meet the little boy from before, unlike Qin Ming who was now a free man; most students hadn't yet finished school.

Inside the library, Qin Ming headed to the mathematics section and casually picked up a book before settling down into a chair to read.

He appeared to be studying diligently, but in reality, he was using telekinesis to scan the surrounding math books, uploading various complex mathematical formulas into the Nano System.

He planned to offload complex, meaningless computations to the Nano System to reduce his brain's burden.

Mathematics was an extremely abstract subject, abstract to the point that even an expert would exclaim admiration upon contemplating it.

Besides complex computations, mathematics also required "insight." Without finding the right direction, no matter how much you racked your brains, it would be a waste of effort.

As Qin Ming scanned, he also studied, gaining a deeper understanding.

Mathematics was actually a tool for humans to understand and summarize the rules of everything; it wasn't abstract simply because of its nature but because many abstract concepts were beyond the intuitive imagination and understanding of the human brain. They could only be described using the tool of mathematics, especially in higher dimensions that the human three-dimensional brain couldn't imagine, but which could be vividly described with mathematics.

During these days of study, Qin Ming had momentarily given up on the idea of contacting Bai Tan. The technology he currently possessed was hardly capable of escaping Sophon's surveillance, so it was better to be cautious.

The time quickly reached the 14th.

In the days since returning from the Nanocenter, Liu Yueyue's head had occasionally felt dizzy, like low blood sugar. She initially thought she might have caught a cold, but nothing showed up when she went to the hospital for a check-up; blood tests indicated she was healthy, with all indicators within normal ranges.

The doctor believed it was due to the high stress of high school studies, simply advising her to rest well, drink plenty of water, and avoid staying up late.

At eight in the evening, feeling a mild dizziness in her head, Liu Yueyue lay in bed, a bit helpless. She wanted to call Qin Ming, but hesitated. As she hesitated, she drifted hazily into dreamland, sinking into a deep sleep.

Qin Ming, unaware of Liu Yueyue's condition, went to bed satisfied with a full stomach. He went to sleep earlier than usual that night, as he was about to travel to another world soon.

The set alarm rang, and he opened his bleary eyes, first glancing at the alarm clock and then at the countdown.

59: 32

One hour remained on the countdown. It was one o'clock, and the projected time to traverse was around two o'clock in the morning.

He got up to take care of his needs, when suddenly, the Nano System detected abnormal fluctuations in microwave radiation.

Qin Ming looked up at the starry sky. At first glance, the sky filled with stars seemed no different than usual, but he knew it was Sophon unfolding a two-dimensional plane around Earth's periphery, enveloping the Earth along with its observation satellites.

It was performing a magic trick for Wang Miao.

This two-dimensional unfolding was semi-transparent and could be artificially adjusted for transparency.

The cosmic background radiation hadn't actually changed, nor did Three-Body have the ability to alter it. It was just that the radiation weakened when passing through the two-dimensional plane unfolded by Sophon, because the plane was semi-transparent. How transparent it became was artificially controlled, rhythmically weakened and restored, thus the radiation observed by Earth and its satellites also fluctuated rhythmically, and from a sensory perspective, the cosmic background radiation appeared to flicker.

This was when Sophon was the most vulnerable and also unable to sense the outside world; a lower dimension couldn't observe or interfere with a higher dimension.

At this time, launching a missile could destroy it, but destroying one wasn't very useful, as there would be an endless stream of Sophons to deal with afterward.

To eradicate Sophon, other methods would be necessary.

Temporarily setting Sophon aside, Qin Ming stared into the starry sky, his expression one of longing and curiosity. As a child, he often pondered what lay beyond the sky, what was in the universe, and whether there was a universe beyond our universe.

As he grew older, his curiosity was worn away, the struggle of living in society already tiring enough; those cosmic questions felt too remote. Entering society, he became more and more restless, losing interest in the cosmos and focusing only on money and women.

Now, Qin Ming felt like he had reverted to that curious little boy once again.

The majority of ordinary people are confined to the tiny Earth their whole lives, following a set path; getting an education, marrying, having children, and working numbly day after day for the sake of a living and family, becoming yet another tiny screw in human society, only to turn to dust after a few decades.

Had Qin Ming not undergone the traverse, he likely would have been like this, one among the thousands, leading an ordinary life, toiling for the sake of money.

Coming to his senses, Qin Ming got ready. He dressed and lay on the bed, feigning sleep.

The countdown slowly ticked away.

3, 2, 1

Traverse!