sin of lumen

The so-called receiving towers are actually large signal collectors similar to antennas. M means Mars. There are a total of 01 towers in the series, distributed around the equator.The M[-] mentioned by Deng Mochi is the number one among them. The tower is located in the center of the capital, the bottom is inserted in the civilian residential area on the lower floor, and the top goes directly to the central special zone. See the top of the tower rising behind cascading neon lights and tall buildings.

Pointy and thin, the main body is made of steel, coated with a striking anti-collision fluorescent coating.

There is also a ring of advertising screens at the neck of the tower, and the content is basically changed every week. It is said that even in comparison with the special zone, the rent is one of the highest.Of course, this tower was not built to place advertisements. Like the other seventeen towers, it has a single and huge mission—to capture and transmit signals from Mars together with the supporting radio telescope.

Specifically, those who choose to migrate rely on these eighteen minarets to keep in touch with their relatives and friends on the earth.

Lu Ting followed Dun Mochi back to the studio in a hurry, from the westernmost mountain range of the film to the southern wilderness, and LastShadow only walked for less than 5 minutes.Just left in the afternoon, two unfinished cups of coffee are still on the table, pressing a few sketches that Lu Ting can't understand.Lu Ting poured out the leftover coffee, cleaned the brown stains on the mouth of the cup, and poured two more cups of warm water. Deng Mochi adjusted a server behind, removed a few signal cables, and repaired a few more. After rooting the new one, he sat back in front of the screen and started his permission verification.

"That tower is very close to my home. It's not Aldebaran, it's the home on the ground." Lu Ting put a cup of warm water on the desk, "I remember it was built when I was six or seven years old, and then two years later When it is put into use, a restaurant and an opera house are opened at the bottom of the tower, but I have never been there.”

Deng Mochi nodded, "How many people can you contact who have completed immigration?"

Lu Ting didn't know why, so he said truthfully: "I don't have any good friends, and there are even fewer friends."

Deng Mochi was working on revising a project document, when he heard this, he narrowed his eyes slightly: "It's good to be able to talk."

"That's a lot." Lu Ting said and typed the address book on the light screen opposite the desk, and marked the immigrants in red. It seems that there are indeed a lot. If you randomly cut a page, there will always be mixed blue names on the screen. A few lines of bright red, "Should I apply for a newsletter?"

"Well," Deng Mochi installed the filter, and handed over another connector, "Plug this in."

Lu Ting looked at the needle-like universal end, and realized that Deng Mochi was the interface for him to insert it into the bracelet.After plugging it in, his wrist was connected to the computer Deng Mochi was operating, and he heard the man explain: "It will send the signal received by the wristband back to the computer, and use the program I just built to calculate the source."

"So if I start a video call with an immigrant right now, we can work out where his signal is coming from?"

"Try to drag the time to more than [-] seconds. The more complete the intercepted band, the higher the accuracy of the obtained coordinates."

Lu Ting thought about it, but he still didn't understand this principle.If the signal source really comes from Mars, can it be accurately located?According to the current rotation angle, Mars and the earth are located on the same side of the sun, and they are about to face shoulder-to-shoulder contact. But even the closest point is at least 0.55 million kilometers away. How big can a signal source be? Thousands of miles away, separated by a huge space, to distinguish it from its surroundings?

But he saw that Deng Mochi knew what to do, so he did it with confidence.There are hundreds of immigrants in the address book. He wants to find the kind of person who is not too close - he can't find out the news that he has broken up with his family, but he can't be too far away. During the three-minute conversation, he always You can't find someone suddenly and spend those seconds without anything to say, that will only lead to suspicion. Besides, inter-star communication has always been billed by the second. For immigrants, there is still a quantitative limit of 360 seconds per person per week. It seems that there are not many who are willing to spend more than half of it on him.

Of course, you can't use your own account to expose your whereabouts. Lu Ting uses the virtual account that Deng Mochi temporarily encrypted for him, the one with unlimited balance and no need to pay, but he can only introduce who he is after the signal is connected.The first contact person to call was the monitor of the first two years of the police academy. He was at least 1.9 meters tall and weighed 140 kilograms. He always liked to arm-wrestle with Lu Ting and was usually friendly to him.

Excluding the delay due to "extraterrestrial communication", the call lasted about three and a half minutes. Lu Ting said that he mentioned something at the class reunion, just to see how you are doing recently.The class leader was very surprised at first, as if he didn't expect the little guy who was the least gregarious in the class to take the initiative to contact him, and then quickly warmed up, chatted with Lu Ting about old things, and showed that he was in a livable area Newly opened potato shed.His image floated in the light screen, so clear and detailed, it seemed to be a little thinner compared to the impression he had when he graduated.

After the call ended, the program basically completed the calculation. Deng Mochi marked on the map, college students, the signal came from the capital, and it was accurate to the location of the M01 receiving tower.

The second contact person is Lu Ting's professor of criminal law. After taking care of their last class of students, the old man happily ran to Mars to receive his retirement allowance, and began to retire in outer space.Lu Ting looked at his knowledgeable and kind teacher, and listened to the familiar, Slavic English pronunciation, and felt the same in his heart as before - it was no different from before.

The person talking to him on the other side must be a real person.

It's true, ordinary people who are resting somewhere on Mars, planning the years of future pioneering, and occasionally recalling the past.

Can it be judged like this?

Deng Mochi set the second mark, teacher, the signal also came from the capital, overlapping with the previous coordinates.

"We want to find out if they are still alive and where..." Lu Ting frowned, "Why don't you just ask them?"

"You can try." Dun Mochi said.

So Lu Ting carefully selected a few contacts and dialed them one by one. He asked all the doubts in his heart, but everyone gave similar answers, which didn't sound meaningful—they were in the Martian, had a good time, met a lot of acquaintances, and told Lu Ting not to think about it and worry about it.

Deng Mochi also marked the calculation results on the map one by one, one, two, three... Lu Ting contacted a total of 01 old immigrant friends, [-] coordinate points, all of which coincided in M[-].

"Could it be like this?" Lu Ting temporarily closed the address book, and sat down next to Deng Mochi, "Their signals came back and were relayed through M01. What we found was the initial launch record of that signal on the earth." .”

"Do all these fourteen people live in the same Martian city?" Deng Mochi asked back.

"No," Lu Ting replied, "the time zones are different."

"Theoretically, the establishment of a receiving circle at the equator is to take care of all longitudes, so that signals from different sources can have the shortest possible path." Deng Mochi looked at the 01 circles stacked like steel nails. So thought, "At present, only M[-] has worked."

"The sample size is too small, we still can't make a judgment so quickly."

Deng Mochi said: "It's not about quantity, it's about similarity."

"similar?"

"They are all your friends in the SAR," Deng Mochi said bluntly, "Immigrants from other continents and cities, you didn't check."

Lucy interjected: "Because Mr. Universe Powerful Stranger doesn't know people from other cities, before that, he only left the capital once when he was 13 years old, and he went to see a doctor accompanied by the most beautiful woman in the world."

Lu Ting felt a headache.Although he had set Deng Mochi's authority at the same level as his very early on, and Lucy didn't have a confidentiality program for that person, but he didn't expect her to be so outspoken and talk about it with unimportant things while working. Nonsensical harassment.

He suspects that sooner or later, this artificially retarded man will reveal all the bad things he has done since he was a child.

"The number one beauty is my sister," he explained, rubbing his brows, "to see a doctor means to go to the Indonesian archipelago to see a very famous doctor."

"What doctor?"

Lu Ting didn't expect Deng Mochi to be concerned enough to ask questions, and he couldn't tell a lie: "Psychiatrist. There was something wrong with me when I was young."

"It's more than a little bit," Lucy said, "You have self-harmed and committed suicide by taking medicine. If I didn't implement the emergency call procedure, the consequences would be disastrous."

Lu Ting didn't want to imitate the state of mind when he stabbed himself with a pen tip at all, and he didn't want to recall the tragedy of gastric lavage, "That's why I couldn't think about it when I was young and ignorant!" He said loudly, "Now I don't have that kind of thinking anymore."

Deng Mochi said, "It's not shameful to want to die."

Lu Ting was taken aback.Had the psychiatrist ever said anything similar to him?He doesn't remember at all.I just remember that at that time, all his negative reasons were untenable. He had a good family background, a lot of fun, and the only thing that bothered him was a little exclusion and loneliness, so he didn't want to live anymore?Why?

But now he could feel that Deng Mochi's words were very warm.It was only eight words. When he said it, he looked at him very intently, and even softened his tone a lot, as if telling him, I understand.

"Actually, it's not like I don't know everyone. Although I haven't chatted a few words, there are still some contact methods." Lu Ting rubbed his hot cheeks, and changed the subject, "Let me look for it."

"No need." Deng Mochi directly turned off the signal location program, and the hum of the server behind the two of them also dropped a little.Afterwards, Deng Mochi opened several chart files and projected them on the light screen in front of Lu Ting.

"Comparison between the number of immigrant registrations in each region and... the power of the receiving tower?" Lu Ting looked at it without blinking, for fear of missing any details, "Boss, you also found these in the space agency database some time ago?"

"Hmm." Deng Mochi circled on a column chart with laser points, Africa, Southeast Asia, Central America and South America, and then detailed it to a state, an administrative region, and a city... "The number of immigrants and the signal processed by the receiving tower Density is positively correlated, and I couldn't figure out why before."

"That is to say, the greater the amount of immigrants in an area, the greater the workload of the receiving tower," Lu Ting thought, "Does that mean we can guess that the receiving tower is processing the signals of local immigrants?"

"It was also verified just now."

Indeed, among the fourteen people in the capital city, fourteen fell on the signal source of M01.

Where they sound to this world from, seems to have nothing to do with where they are, should be, on Mars.

At this time, there seems to be no human activity on the surface of Mars. This is an inference that Deng Mochi has already drawn.

"So will they... stay on the earth and not leave?" Lu Ting was already in a cold sweat, trying to speak concisely, but he could only ask a series of questions, "That is, they were locked in the local tower, so The signals sent to the outside world also come from the local area. But how can it be possible to live there? Are you going to stay underground? What are you going to do? Everyone didn’t complain at all and they didn’t help the government lie. Are those extraterrestrial scenes fake? ?”

"Of course I can't stay here." Dun Mochi said calmly.

"There are close to 40 immigrants in the capital." He added.

If so many people were to be secretly stuffed underground, the capital might be completely empty, leaving only a layer of soil.Besides, people have to eat, drink, and consume electricity and energy while they are alive. The government wants to feed so many people without revealing anything. There is no way or motivation.

"But they didn't go to Mars either." Lu Ting said confusedly.

"I assume they're all dead."

Lu Ting raised his head slowly, and his eyes widened, "I also think it's possible... But," he paused, "They are all dead, and who is the acquaintance I'm talking to, I can't figure it out."

"So we have to see it on the spot." Deng Mochi stood up, "Evidence must be obtained on the spot."

"Back to the capital?" Lu Ting jumped up from the armchair as if shocked.

Deng Mochi nodded, looking into his eyes quietly, Lu Ting seemed to hear what he wanted to say, "Come with me".

Let's go.

Now that a decision has been made, there should be no delay at that moment. This is a common habit of the two of them.Deng Mochi picked out useful data, backed up all of them, and then formatted every hard disk server in the studio, and those manuscripts that no one could understand were piled up on a bald rocky beach on the leeward slope. A fire burned it clean.

When the fire was at its peak, the two stood side by side, looking at the flames rising from a human height to a field of black ashes.

After returning to the residence, Lu Ting was responsible for sorting out and streamlining the weapons and equipment.Those little green men have a lot of high-tech outfits, and Lu Ting has taken a lot of them back for research these days, and now he can’t bring them all, so he chooses the convenient and practical ones and puts them in Aldebaran-b’s armory ——It was the spaceship he drove, and it contained his most precious safe, which has been with him for so many years, even if he has LastShadow now, Lu Ting does not intend to leave it here and abandon it.

After everything was settled, the two set off overnight. LastShadow stretched out the connecting rod for Aldebaran-b, and hung it under its belly, like an eagle holding a chick, and when it escaped from the membrane, it did not encounter any obstacles.

Lu Ting turned his head and looked at the holes that were knocked out by the spaceship and quickly filled up.It's unbelievable that they left like this, without saying hello, without explaining the cause and effect, without breaking through the siege, Xanadu did not become a prison for trapped people after all.Lu Ting always felt that there was a subtle confrontation between Deng Mochi and the prophet, and now it seemed more like suppression. The consciousness of the prophet might fall on countless people, but the body would always be tied in the stinky water by the catheter. Chi is in his own custody from body to mind, just as Sachiko said, he is always free to come and go.

Suddenly it is already February, the last century has just passed, the greatest spaceship of the last century is invisible in the blizzard, dormant all movements.Deng Mochi imported all the backup data into the spacecraft's computer, while Lu Ting boiled water and boiled canned vegetables, and made three bowls of instant noodles, one bowl for himself and two bowls for Deng Mochi. After all, from noon to midnight now, Deng Mochi was exhausted physically, but he didn't eat half a mouthful.

Both of them were indeed very hungry, holding the noodle bowls for a while, unable to find the energy to talk, they both silently looked at the small window on the side of the map, where the news was scrolling.

As expected, Lu Ting once again saw the registration photo of Deng Mochi when he was imprisoned. He was thin, neat and tidy, and his calm elegance should never appear on the arrest warrant.Deng Mochi is still the focus of public opinion these days. A man-made felon with a brave demeanor, an indifferent expression, and a stunning appearance, almost everyone will pay more attention to him. Of course, the media will not let it go easily. The mysterious man N, or It was CTA9M83, they still called him that.

But this time, Deng Mochi's arrest warrant was followed by a person's name and photo.

It turned out to be He Zhensheng, who was charged with "assisting a prison escape", according to the latest report from the Federal Security Section of the General Police Station three hours ago.

Lu Ting felt a bit finished, obviously he was the mastermind, but now he has implicated the accomplice.Fortunately, when discussing the prison robbery plan with He Zhensheng before, we made an appointment for a secret contact line, which is anonymous to outsiders, and only the two ends of the line can directly contact the other party. Lu Ting dug out the string of encrypted communication codes from the bracelet, hidden His own account was dialed.

He Zhensheng soon appeared on the display screen projected by the wristband, wearing earphones and a seat belt, with an indifferent expression on his face: "What's the matter with the runaway prince?"

Lu Ting put down the instant noodles, squeezed into Deng Mochi's driver's seat and sat together, "Are you flying a spaceship?" He asked.

"Yeah, wouldn't it be silly not to run away if you're all wanted?" He Zhensheng took off his silver glasses, his gaze swept across Lu Ting's face, and looked at Deng Mochi, who was clinging to him and eating noodles without distraction, "Deng Brother, we are now brothers and sisters."

Deng Mochi bit off a chopstick noodle, and let out a "hmm".

"You have a lot of fans now, all of them are pretty girls, clamoring on the Internet to save you and marry you," He Zhensheng said with a smile, "Would I be treated like this?"

Deng Mochi didn't seem to be listening carefully at all, and he seemed too lazy to express his opinion.

Lu Ting was angry when he heard it, and the worry just now was about to be worn away, "I think you are very leisurely," he interrupted the topic about the pretty little girl, "Where are you going to avoid the limelight, the far sea? Frozen area ?”

"I haven't thought about it, it depends on my mood." He Zhensheng put on his glasses again, and the silver mirror reflected the delicate light spots on the dashboard.

"...I'm serious, their search experience and skills are not bad," Lu Ting frowned, "Don't take it seriously."

"Don't worry, your old colleagues don't dare to do anything to me for the time being."

Lu Ting felt very bad, "What did you do?"

He Zhensheng lifted the steering rod, as if fighting against a turbulent air current, "It's nothing, just kidnapped a person."

Lu Ting was speechless for a moment.

Of course he hoped that He Zhensheng could protect himself, but if he couldn't, he could be considered as a gang member—but as a policeman who swore before the police badge and national flag, Lu Ting felt that kidnapping was too much.

He pressed close to Deng Mochi's ear and asked, "Is this person like this before?"

Deng Mochi put down the empty bowl and said, "I don't remember."

Lu Ting helped him put the empty bowl aside, cleared his mind, and asked He Zhensheng, "Who did you tie up?"

He Zhensheng opened his mouth, as if he wanted to say "It's a long story".

But there was some movement in the pitch-black cabin behind him. A man in a messy gray suit appeared in the picture with two mugs in his hand, leaning his elbows on the back of the chair, standing on the side of the driver's seat .

Immediately afterwards, the man bent down, approached the camera and said, "It's me."

Wow.Lu Ting sighed in his heart.

At this moment, when he saw his signature red-haired panda eyes, he wasn't too shocked. He exhaled and inhaled calmly, feeling that he had transcended himself.

Deng Mochi also looked at the irritable doctor who had straightened himself up, and slowly blinked his eyelids twice.

He Zhensheng was amused by their reaction, "Is the one I tied enough?"

Without waiting for the two people on the opposite side to say anything, Shu Rui stood up straight, stuffed a glass of what was in his hand in front of him, and said with a straight voice: "Fuckyou."

The hot tea in the cup just splashed on He Zhensheng's neckline.