pertwk Chapter 41 "Attaining the Way in the Morning"
Chapter 41 "Attaining the Way in the Morning"
While the filming of "Ice Love Song" was in full swing.
The editorial department of [Science Fiction Vision] received the letter that everyone had been eagerly anticipating.
The gathered editors urged the younger editor to quickly open the envelope, take out the manuscript, and read it together.
"Finally, we can see his new manuscript. I wonder if the quality can reach the level of 'Take Her Eyes' this time."
"To hear the Dao in the morning? That's a name with depth. A genius's writing is truly different."
The editors discussed the manuscripts they received, then eagerly began reading the main text.
The story begins with the construction of the Einstein Equator, the largest particle accelerator ever built by humankind, which encircles the Earth like a giant necklace. Physicist Ding Yi is about to use it to complete his long-cherished "Grand Unified Model of the Universe".
Ding Yi, along with his wife Fang Lin and four-year-old daughter Wenwen, entered the tunnel that traversed the earth. This was no ordinary tunnel—it was a particle accelerator with a circumference of 40,000 kilometers, the greatest experimental device in human history.
As a classic cameo character in Liu Cixin's works, Ding Yi is making his first appearance in this world, and readers will see him more often in the future.
"Daddy, it's so cold." Wenwen huddled in Ding Yi's arms, but her eyes were curiously looking at the dense blue indicator lights on the pipe wall, which looked like a string of stars that never went out.
Ding Yi smiled and wrapped her daughter's space blanket tighter. They were traveling in a low-speed sightseeing capsule, moving at a speed of no more than thirty kilometers per hour. At this speed, it would take nearly two months to travel the entire "Einstein Equator." No one would actually ride the whole way—Fang Lin was there to pick up her husband and take him home, or rather, to pull him back from this crazy physics dream.
"Ding Yi," Fang Lin's voice sounded hollow in the tunnel, "your project application hasn't been approved again. The government says funding should prioritize addressing the food problem."
"The food problem won't be solved even in another hundred years." Ding Yi didn't look up, his fingers lightly tapping the transparent wall of the observation cabin. "But humanity may only have this one chance—to reach the Planck scale of energy and witness the Grand Unified Model firsthand. Do you know what that means? Gravity, electromagnetism, the strong nuclear force, the weak nuclear force—they will all merge into one in that instant. The handwriting of God's creation of the universe will be laid out before me."
Fang Lin didn't answer. She watched the light on the wall of the pipe flicker on and off, like some kind of countdown. Wenwen was already asleep in Ding Yi's arms, her little hands tightly clutching her father's clothes.
The junior editor who was reading the manuscript thought there would be another long and drawn-out struggle, but the plot took an unexpected turn.
That night, all the particle accelerators along the equator started up simultaneously. Ding Yi stood in the control center, his hands gripping the control panel, his fingertips turning white. The lights of 60,000 research institutions around the world went out at the same moment—all the power was supplied to "Einstein's Equator".
Ten-second countdown.
Ten, nine, eight...
Ding Yi's pupils reflected the rapidly rising energy curve on the screen. Seven, six, five—he could already smell the ozone in the air; it wasn't real, it was an illusion. His brain was over-secreting dopamine.
IV. III. II.
The energy curve has reached its theoretical limit. Just one more tiny step and the Planck level will be reached.
One.
The world did not explode.
There was no flash of light. The legendary microcosm at the beginning of creation was not born.
It turns out this experiment was on such a grand scale that the screenwriter was shocked by the author's unexpected and powerful writing style.
The surveillance footage showed a series of unusual phenomena: the entire sky rippled like liquid metal, coalescing into an object—shapeless, a massive, imposing presence that made one want to kneel in awe. It hovered over the Pacific Ocean, with a diameter exceeding three hundred kilometers, its surface as smooth as a mirror, reflecting the outline of the entire Earth.
"Is it aliens? Could it be that the commotion on Earth attracted aliens?"
The screenwriter quickly flipped to the next page.
A voice resounds in everyone's heart, transcending language and species:
"I am the Risk Taker. Your attempt just now would have triggered vacuum decay. This universe was almost destroyed."
Ding Yi slumped into his chair. Not out of fear, but out of despair—his lifelong dream, the expedition of human civilization spanning thousands of years, had been gently brought to a halt a second before he could reach his goal.
That hand came from God.
An advanced alien civilization, the "Riskbreakers," suddenly descended and instantly destroyed human machines.
The risk-takers have long mastered the Grand Unified Model, but as the "gardeners" of the universe, they are bound by the "knowledge sealing principle"—they cannot directly transmit core knowledge beyond the reach of lower civilizations. This is tantamount to declaring that humanity can never reach ultimate truth on its own.
The upper limit of civilization? Some editors were skeptical at this point, mainly because this idea is a well-worn topic.
"Please keep watching, can you guys not be in such a hurry?"
The story continues, and a desperate deal is proposed: the risk-taker can answer any question, but the questioner will die immediately upon receiving the answer. This is the "Altar of Truth"—a platform where life is exchanged for truth.
Seven days after the news spread, Ding Yi stood at the foot of the altar steps, looking up at the slope leading to the truth.
Fang Lin and Wenwen stood behind him. Wenwen was only four years old and didn't fully understand what "death" meant, but she knew that her father was going to a very, very far place and would never come back.
"Dad..." Wenwen's voice was very soft.
Ding Yi squatted down and looked her daughter in the eye.
"Ding Yi," Fang Lin spoke, her voice hoarse, "you promised me you'd wait for Wenwen to grow up."
"I've promised many things." Ding Yi stood up, his voice calm, but his eyes were red-rimmed. "But there's only one thing I promised myself."
Ding Yi ascended to the top of the sacrificial altar.
"You can only ask one question," the risk-taker's voice echoed in his mind. "I already know your question. Are you ready?"
"What is the grand unified model of the universe?" he asked.
No one knew the answer to his question. The world's top mathematicians, physicists, biologists, and so on flocked to the altar on the Gobi Desert almost without hesitation after learning the news.
World leaders used military force, family ties, and public opinion to try their best to stop them, but they could not shake the determination of any scientist.
The risk-taker watched all of this quietly:
"If I hear the Way in the morning, I can die content in the evening. You deserve this saying."
The name "The Way to Dawn" has finally been revealed, and it can be said that the story and the name echo each other perfectly.
The climax of the story is when Stephen Hawking, in his wheelchair, arrives at the altar. He doesn't ask specific scientific questions, but instead poses a question that plunges the risk-taker into a long silence:
What is the purpose of the universe?
The Risk Eliminators—this super-civilization capable of calculating everything in the universe and preventing all disasters—revealed sorrow and confusion for the first time.
It answered, "I don't know." Then it asked Hawking if he wanted to ask anything else. Hawking shook his head, turned, and left. He walked down the altar alive.
We're truly impressed. The editorial team was completely blown away after reading the entire story. No wonder he's jokingly called a genius writer of China's future science fiction by his readers.
Not only was her debut work a masterpiece, but her second work perfectly captured the romance of science fiction, making it absolutely amazing.
"It's not really appropriate to give the same author a cover spot for two consecutive issues," the junior editor thought, still unsure.
The editor-in-chief leaned over and sternly reprimanded:
"Quality is king. If his work is truly excellent, why can't it be?"
Actually, the editor-in-chief also had his own motives. The previous issue, "Take Her Eyes," caused their magazine's sales to skyrocket.
If this batch of works achieves similar results, then his performance this year will be very impressive.
"That's settled then. If you all think the quality is reliable, then this article, 'The Road to Dawn,' will be the featured article in our next issue."
Under the editor-in-chief's decision, the printing plant started working overtime again.