Chapter 278

"Fifty years later, endless sandstorms."

"Beside the road lay a vast cornfield."

"An old pickup truck was parked by the roadside, with two sixteen-year-old teenagers sitting inside."

"The door opened, and a man in his thirties stepped out; his eyes were deep yet sharp, and every gesture carried the bearing of a soldier."

"Former CNSA astronaut, aerospace propulsion engineer, Shen Yue."

"He walked forward; a bus carrying players had broken down by the roadside."

The narrator had spoken up to this point; it should be Xu Can's turn to read his lines.

But Xu Can did not react for a long time.

Nolan was greatly surprised, looked up at Xu Can, and wanted to remind him to get to work.

Yet at this very moment, Xu Can was immersed in a void,

an instant where it seemed the entire world had vanished, leaving only darkness!

……

I am Shen Yue, a special-grade astronaut of the CNSA Astronaut Corps and an academician of the Academy of Engineering.

Since entering the university of aerospace and joining the military at eighteen, I have formed an inseparable bond with space.

Day after day of grueling training, even to the point of vomiting stomach acid, I never complained!

Because our dream is the stars and the sea!

For the motherland, I am willing to dedicate my life to exploring the vast starry sky!

I have safely flown various models of fighter jets for over 1,400 hours and was selected for the manned spaceflight program.

Later, during manned space missions, I piloted the aerospace plane "Shenlong," completing more than twenty exploration missions in Earth orbit and lunar orbit.

Unfortunately, global climate deterioration intensified, and nations shifted their focus to agriculture.

The US, Russia, Japan, India, and Europe all closed their space centers one after another.

I also retired from the CNSA, becoming an ordinary corn farmer, marrying, and having a son and a daughter.

Later, my wife passed away from lung cancer caused by sandstorms; my children grew up and were already in high school.

Seeing that the crops that could be planted were dwindling, even potatoes and corn gradually failed to survive.

Is the Earth truly about to be destroyed?

Must Shen Mofei and Shen Cheng experience the apocalypse at such a young age?

If… if the CNSA still existed, if the space program had not been terminated,

would humanity have even a sliver of hope to turn the tables?

……

Xu Can felt as though he were falling into a black hole, plunging into an abyss of bottomless depth.

Past and present lives seemed to flash before his eyes like a revolving lantern.

Xu Can even had the illusion that he had turned back into the ordinary corporate slave he once was,

dragging his exhausted body back to a cramped rental apartment after working overtime every day,

with phone rings constantly sounding, not from a partner sending messages,

but from a boss's WeChat messages, containing trivial tasks that were not urgent at all yet made the boss anxious, needing to be handled.

Besides that, there were bill notifications from the bank; this month's credit card and Huabei payments were due again.

After deducting the salary just received and then subtracting the rent, almost nothing remained.

He scrolled through his Moments to kill time, but everywhere were people traveling, living colorful lives, while his own life was black and white.

The girl he admired posted beautiful photos by the beach; Xu Can was like a rat in a sewer, only able to peek at her from a dark corner, hesitating for ages before even liking a post.

Mindlessly scrolling through short videos until dawn, then in another six or seven hours he had to go to work, facing a prison-like job and a life without any light.

Xu Can only felt the urge to completely escape all of this, to end it all once and for all.

But he dared not resign, dared not take his own life.

Considering his parents at home, he could only summon his greatest courage to face this bleak life.

"Xu Can, Xu, Hey RUOK?"

Feeling the warmth and softness coming from his hand,

Xu Can gradually came back to his senses.

It turned out that everything just now was merely some kind of hallucination.

He was not some corporate slave struggling bitterly in a city, but Hollywood's youngest Best Actor and the youngest Best Director in history!

The person holding his hand beside him was Anne Hathaway, a famous beauty in Hollywood.

She was very nervous, wearing black long legs, leaning against his leg, and looking at him with a concerned gaze.

"(afci) Are you okay?"

"It's nothing; maybe I've stayed up too late recently and have slightly low blood sugar; my head felt a bit dizzy just now."

Xu Can made up an excuse on the spot.

The crowd around finally breathed a sigh of relief, including Nolan, Liu Liu Tianxian, and other domestic and international actors.

They all hoped to soar to the skies along with Xu Can.

If Xu Can had any kind of incident, this project would probably be ruined.

As everyone knows, anyone can be missing on a film set, except Xu Can.

Fortunately, it was just low blood sugar.

Anne Hathaway quickly got up and went to the bar, brought two Snickers bars for Xu Can, and poured a cup of maple latte.

"Thank you."

Hypoglycemia was just Xu Can's way of putting it; given his physical constitution, even if he worked around the clock without sleep, his body would still stay healthy.

Since playing Spider-Man, he hadn't even caught a cold in the past few years, so hypoglycemia was naturally out of the question.

That feeling of falling into a black hole, of experiencing a past life, had been far too real just now, leaving him a little dazed.

Fortunately, it was all an illusion—as long as he reached out, he could take hold of Anne Hathaway's little hand.

"What are you doing? Not here…"

With a group of people nearby, Anne Hathaway felt both shy and anxious, and hurriedly pulled free.

"Wait until the script reading is over, then we'll go out."

All of this was once again seen by Liu Liu Tianxian; ever since being caught red-handed by Xu Can earlier, Liu Liu Tianxian couldn't help glancing at Xu Can, whether intentionally or not.

Besides Liu Liu Tianxian, Gao Yuanyuan across from her also noticed the scene.

Her little mouth was nearly formed into an O, utterly shocked. 【】

She had previously assumed the rumored affair between Xu Can and Anne Hathaway was just tabloid gossip, paparazzi rumors.

She hadn't expected the two of them really had something going on!

But Gao Yuanyuan had seen plenty of the entertainment industry's dirty dealings, and Xu Can had left her with a very good impression—

at the very least, he was handsome and talented, young and wealthy, and quite the gentleman—gentle and tender toward women.

Otherwise, he wouldn't have driven the likes of Taylor Swift and Emma Stone to such疯狂的 public displays of affection.

Gao Yuanyuan was even curious—what kind of person was Xu Can, really?

Would dating him be magical?

……

After the little interlude, Xu Can resumed the script reading as normal.

"You took a bus to the competition? That really is too far—I assumed you'd fly."

"I see, in this day and age, planes really are too much of a luxury."

"Diesel engines? I know a little—I've repaired them before."

The moment Xu Can held the script and began acting, his very first line made everyone in the room widen their eyes.

Everyone could clearly feel that, in that instant, Xu Can's entire bearing had changed.

From a dashing, newly crowned Best Actor to a battle-scarred astronaut.

That unwillingness and helplessness after retreating into obscurity was brought out by Xu Can to perfection.

Even Anne Hathaway sitting beside him couldn't believe the person next to her was Xu Can.

In addition, Gao Yuanyuan, Lei Jiayin, Jiao Huang, and other Chinese actors were all full of admiration for Xu Can's performance!

In the past, even when Chinese film crews held script readings, no one took them this seriously.

Xu Can was different—even with just a script, he still approached it with the most professional acting attitude and slipped into character in an instant!