How to Feed an Abyss!

Chapter 47.2 – The Definition of Love

In the afternoon, Shi Yuan went directly to the 21st floor of the tower after work.

He made an appointment with the welfare center to see Wu Zhengqing.

When he pushed open the door, there were still mutants of all shapes and sizes and odd behavior.

Wang Yu took him through the corridor, passing by a man covered in feathers and a woman with compound eyes. Among the staff, some were also mutants.

She said as she walked: “Most of the staff here used to be abyss watchers.”

Shi Yuan asked, “Why?”

“Do you know about that incident at the New Moon Newspaper?” Wang Yu said, “The one where the editor-in-chief died.”

Of course, Shi Yuan remembered.

Shi Yi, who was once a Watcher, broke down and was mentally infected by the abyss, killing the editor-in-chief Liu Hongzheng. This incident caused everyone to protest against the watchers, and a march against Lu Tinghan broke out.

Wang Yu continued: “Since that incident, no one wants to hire them, no one wants to be killed by their friends one day… No one is willing to come to the welfare center. There are vacancies, so they can only come here.”

She pushed her hair back, smiled at the staff who walked in, and told Shi Yuan: “But they work very well, better than everyone else. It may be that they have been exposed to criticisms before, so they can better understand the pain of the mutants.”

Those who could serve as abyss watchers were originally strong-willed people, and no one could endure loneliness and imperceptible spiritual infection better than them.

Under the propaganda of the Alliance, people respected them and respected their persistence and dedication.

But this did not mean that they could accept the presence of watchers around them, everyone cherished their lives. Lu Tinghan was able to gain their trust because of his outstanding abilities, but other watchers were not like him, and they would never be like him.

Shi Yuan saw two people cleaning up the graffiti on the ground, and the top was full of monsters. Behind the transparent glass, several staff members sent food to the children, all dry compressed food, but the children surrounded them happily.

Wang Yu led him to the end room and went back to work.

Shi Yuan knocked on the door of the room, and the thin old man sitting by the bed smiled: “You’re here.”

Wu Zhengqing’s spirit was much better than yesterday. He got out of bed neatly and rummaged through the cabinets on his desk.

“Look.” He took out a bunch of planet models. “This is a star. Stars are spherical, luminous plasma, held together by gravity. The sunlight you see every day is the light of a star. These are planets, which do not emit light themselves and orbit the star. So far, the Alliance has observed a total of 1.8 billion stars. According to a rough estimate, the number of stars in our galaxy alone is at the level of hundreds of billion.”

Shi Yuan saw that model of stars of different colors and sizes were placed together, red, blue, white, and yellow stars shimmering against each other. There were also rare neutron stars and pulsars formed by their highly magnetized poles emitting electromagnetic radiation beams.

“Wow!” He gave a small exclamation.

Wu Zhengqing pulled out the heavy drawings again, covering the entire desktop.

The picture was full of design drawings of spaceships and rockets.

“This is the only original draft left,” Wu Zhengqing said. “I was involved in the design of the Hive-class research vessel, and Tan Yingguang, the chief engineer of the Aerospace Center, was responsible for the design of the frigate. We failed many times, and one ship exploded in the universe.”

He spoke too quickly, turned his head and coughed a few times, and continued: “Many people say that they will definitely not see the Alliance step into space in their lifetimes. Old Tan and I insisted on research, and 46 years later, we proved them wrong – the first frigate set off. It was far from reaching the speed of light, but it represented that we would soon be able to pass freely through the universe.”

Wu Zhengqing grew more and more excited, slapping more drawings on the table: “Can you imagine? After frigates, we’ll have cruisers, battleships, titan motherships, and after that even colony ships and private colony ships! This planet – this whole planet is no longer our only home, we will live on other planets, open up frontiers, and transform the landscape, they will all be our territory.”

Shi Yuan looked at the drawings one by one.

This was much more difficult than Sudoku. He didn’t understand anything, but this didn’t prevent him from feeling amazed.

Wu Zhengqing took out photos and videos again and showed him how huge the Aerospace Center was and how shocking it was when the rocket lifted off.

In the video, astronauts were floating on the space station to say hello; during the first test of space-based weapons, the “heavy hammer” fell, the earth fell apart, and the Aerospace Center was filled with cheers; there was also the test flight of the frigate, the small ship was loaded with high-kinetic weapons, thrusters, sensors and energy cores, and it plunged into the void.

He also showed Shi Yuan the sea of stars.

With astronomical telescopes, the Alliance continued to map the appearance of this galaxy. The unknown was always exciting, and an unopened journey was the most anticipated.

“That’s amazing,” Shi Yuan said, “Although I don’t understand it well, it’s really amazing.”

“Of course.” Wu Zhengqing narrowed his eyes with a smile. “This is the most cutting-edge design, the most romantic technology. If you’re still interested, come see me anytime, and next time I’ll show you the astronomical telescope.”

He pointed to the attic and said, “Other people don’t know, I secretly hid a lot of treasures there, and I will show it to you next time.”

It’s getting late and it’s time for Shi Yuan to go home.

Over the years, Wu Zhengqing has been clamoring to return to Iron City and to return to the temporary aerospace base. He tremblingly put it into action several times, and the farthest he escaped was 20 meters downstairs. The people in the welfare center always stared at him, for fear that he would disappear if they didn’t pay attention.

Wu Zhengqing sent Shi Yuan to the door, but the others would not let him continue.

Shi Yuan said goodbye to him, turned around and walked to the elevator, and heard the thin old man say behind him: “About space, in fact, I have always had a guess.”

Shi Yuan looked back at him.

Wu Zhengqing said: “No one believes my guess, except Tan Yingguang.” He paused. “Everyone else thinks that the abyss is a distortion of this planet. Only we feel that the abyss is inseparably linked to space.”

Shi Yuan went home.

On this day, the infection swarm of Abyss No.7 came from the north. The residents closed their doors and windows tightly, and Lu Tinghan did not return all night.

He also heard that some people said that there was another problem with General Su Enqi’s command and made the wrong decision. Some people said that maybe Lu Tinghan should be given more command power. Such gossip quietly permeated the air of Fengyang City, fleeting.

Shi Yuan had a strange dream for a long time.

Gleaning City had fallen, and the Garcia Grand Theater had been submerged by a sea of flowers. In the dream, he was still standing on the stage, and the audience was full of monsters.

This time, the stage was no longer illuminated by a spotlight, but by a dazzling starlight.

Monsters and starlight, they were wrapped in the entire universe.

The next day, Shi Yuan continued to struggle with the definition of love while working.

He felt that he must not be able to figure it out, so he could only ask others for help.

He asked Daisy: “What do you think love is?”

Daisy shouted: “My heart is pounding!” She was very energetic when talking about this topic. “It’s the kind of thing where you see him and you have the feeling of ‘Wow I’ve got to get this guy’. He is the same as the special discount price downstairs, especially attractive! So say today’s can of beans buy 10 get 1 free, I have to hurry down to buy.”

Shi Yuan asked Lin Ye Ran again: “What do you think love is?”

Lin Yeran said, “I want to deduct your salary.”

Shi Yuan said, “Wow, your definition of love is so special.”

Lin Yeran: “…No, I really want to deduct your salary. Do you know that there is a saying ‘picking the kettle that is not boiling’?”

Shi Yuan looked for Wang Yu: “What do you think love is?”

Wang Yu was very nervous: “Why, did you quarrel with General Lu? Broke up?”

“No, it’s just that I want to find the answer to this question.”

Wang Yu didn’t understand what happened, curled a strand of hair, and replied: “Physiologically speaking, love is the action of hormones, the creatures just have the urge to reproduce, as for in the feelings… I’ve never thought about it. I’m single, but for Lu Bafang, love is probably the naked sisters in a small magazine.”

Shi Yuan finally looked for Wu Zhengqing: “What do you think love is?”

Wu Zhengqing said: “Do you know why some stars collapse into black holes, and some become white dwarfs and black dwarfs?”

Shi Yuan: “I don’t know.”

Wu Zhengqing explained: “It has to do with mass. Low-mass stars become white dwarfs, where the inward gravity and electron degeneracy pressure are balanced. High-mass stars do not have enough degeneracy pressure, and ultimately become black holes. This is a very great discovery, and we have finally understood the fate of stars.”

Shi Yuan was stunned: “What does this have to do with love?”

“Nothing,” Wu Zhengqing said, “I just want to tell you about the collapse of stars, don’t you think it’s cool?”

And so the day passed, Shi Yuan went home and saw Lu Tinghan.

He said to Lu Tinghan, “I asked a few people today what love is.”

Lu Tinghan raised his eyebrows: “What is it?”

Shi Yuan said: “It’s special discounts, naked sisters, and ‘I want to deduct your salary’.” He thought for a while. “Might it be related to the collapse of the star?”

Lu Tinghan was silent.

Shi Yuan admitted: “Well, in fact, I didn’t understand it at all.”

Lu Tinghan looked at Shi Yuan.

“What I asked before was, what do you think of me,” Lu Tinghan said, “How about we do it another way.” He stood up, picked up the coat on the hanger, and put his arm around Shi Yuan’s shoulders. “Come with me to a place and let me tell you how I really feel.”

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**TN

“to pick the kettle that is not boiling.” – mention one’s painful or embarrassing experience in one’s face.