Chapter 1386: 1344 Haze in the Desert

Outside the tent, sounds of joy and laughter; inside the tent, Zheng Renhe and the impatient Doctor Olsson were discussing the turbulent flow model.

Time flew by, the sunset sank in the west, and the stars spread across the sky.

"Yun Ge'er, these stars are really beautiful." Chu Yan zhi spread her arms, as if wanting to embrace the entire Milky Way.

"That's right, I'm not stupid, I definitely picked a good day to come." Su Yun drank alcohol and ate meat, overjoyed.

"You came to the desert and still need to check the almanac?" Chu Yan zhi scoffed.

"You just don't understand." Su Yun said: "If you don't check the almanac, after you arrive, a big moon hangs in the sky, and you'll see only half the stars. If you also happen to encounter overcast rain, you could freeze to death in the middle of the night; hurrying back is the proper thing to do."

Chu Yan zhi thought about it, and it seemed to make sense.

Who would have thought that even coming out to see the stars would involve so many theories? The theory of checking the almanac still holds ground.

She happily weaved through the dunes, overjoyed.

Seeing the endless desert for the first time, and seeing the brilliant starry river in the desert for the first time, made Chu Yan zhi's overly dramatic heart stir with excitement.

Zheng Ren cut off the video signal; it was already 9:30 p. m. Just like that, Doctor Olsson was still very unwilling.

It's really a headache; Zheng Ren isn't a physics specialist, and some things he only figured out patterns with the help of Big Pig Trotter, his body having a natural reaction.

But asking him to summarize experience and produce a repeatable experiment? That's nonsense.

Several hours of conversation did yield some gains; at the very least, everyone now knows the extent of each other's abilities.

There is some overlap, but not much.

Zheng Ren's phone in his hand was scorching hot, almost enough to fry an egg. He lifted the tent flap and stepped out, stunned for a moment.

A white, misty sky stretched out, as if he had returned to winter in Hai Cheng.

Smoke from burning coal and crop stalks created the haze, making the sky gray and murky.

But this is a desert region, sparsely populated—where could such a thick haze come from?

Zheng Ren took a close look, then suddenly realized.

It wasn't haze, but glittering starlight. With no human activity, no light pollution, and no haze, the starlight was so intense that Zheng Ren even felt a momentary daze.

"Zheng Ren, what are you looking at? Come over!" Xie Yiren waved, cheerful as a white dove soaring in the sky.

Zheng Ren smiled and walked toward Xie Yiren.

In his daze, Zheng Ren felt himself wandering through the Milky Way, his whole body translucent inside and out, without a speck of dust.

And Xiao Yi Ren waited on the other side of the Milky Way,

one step,

eternity.

"You must be hungry—didn't you eat lunch again?" Xie Yiren had the prepared grilled meat at hand and passed it to Zheng Ren.

"Mm, I'm hungry." Zheng Ren saw Heizi lying to one side, obviously full. He guessed that Xiao Yi Ren had been grilling skewers nonstop; the quantity wasn't much, so since he hadn't come out, he gave them to Heizi. Then he would replace the skewers, repeating the process.

Who would have thought that after chatting for so long, Heizi's bottomless stomach would be completely filled?

"What about them?" Zheng Ren asked.

"Fan Ge took them over to the side to look at the stars." Xie Yiren said: "This side has a campfire, which still affects stargazing."

"After we finish eating, we'll go too." Zheng Ren sat down, shoulder to shoulder with Xiao Yi Ren. The campfire flickered, and his heart felt peaceful and joyful.

Half an hour later, Xie Yiren had fed Zheng Ren his fill. The two put on their coats, held hands, and led Heizi out of the campsite.

Inside the vehicle, the driver lay down fully clothed, sleeping soundly. It seemed they had seen so much that they didn't find it particularly beautiful.

But coming from the concrete jungle of the city to this barren land, strolling through the brilliant Milky Way with his beloved, Zheng Ren felt his whole self elevated.

"Did you used to often look at the stars?"

"Occasionally, as I told you, there's a hot spring resort in the suburbs of Hai Cheng. Few people go there, and you can see many stars even at midnight. But the stars there definitely aren't as numerous as here; the conditions are just much better." Xie Yiren laughed.

"I rarely see so many stars; when I first stepped out, I even thought it was haze." Zheng Ren said.

"Hehe, it's quite similar." Xie Yiren pointed at the Milky Way hanging in the sky; a few slightly dim spiral arms made the Milky Way especially colorful.

Xie Yiren wrapped her arms around Zheng Ren's arm, and even the bitter north wind seemed to grow gentle.

"Many years ago, when I was twelve, my dad took me to Egypt once." Xie Yiren gazed at the star-filled sky and said leisurely: "He said he was taking me to look for treasure."

"Did you encounter any mummies? Didn't those all-powerful senior predecessors teach you anything?"

"No, it was that in the Egyptian desert we discovered a whale skeleton." Xie Yiren laughed.

The two brought Heizi and walked out of the campsite about a kilometer away; Zheng Ren worried about losing direction, so he pulled Xie Yiren to lie down on a dune and gaze up at the star-filled sky.

"Later my dad said, that was Egypt's most low-key and also most valuable treasure, far more attractive than the pyramids."

"Oh? A whale?"

"Well, my dad always thought the pyramids were man-made in the 18th and 19th centuries, just to attract tourists. But the whale skeleton in the desert is different." Xie Yiren leaned against Zheng Ren's chest, smiling, and she could hear his low, powerful heartbeat.

"That's the Whale Valley near the Fayoum Oasis; my dad brought me there and we stayed overnight." Xie Yiren gazed at the stars, inhaled Zheng Ren's scent, and gradually became entranced: "Once, the Sahara Desert was also teeming with life, and even tens of millions of years ago, that place was a deep sea."

"The sea turned into desert—going from one extreme to another, time can change everything."

"Yes, humans are tiny. Even now, seeing how advanced technology is, the things we don't understand keep increasing." Zheng Ren, thinking about the turbulence discussion he'd just had with Doctor Olsson, muttered absentmindedly.

"That day, my dad and I didn't pitch a tent or light a bonfire. He said a lot, but I didn't understand any of it." Xie Yiren laughed, then said: "We just sat beside the skeleton of a Dragon King whale, its bones stretching hundreds of meters, like a galaxy."

"Under the unchanging ancient starry sky, only the call of the Egyptian desert wild fox could be heard. Back then I felt humans were truly insignificant. My dad said, no matter what humans do, placed in the long river of history it's not worth mentioning. He hoped my life would just be happy; nothing else mattered."

"How can you be happy?"

"I'm happy right now." Xie Yiren whispered in Zheng Ren's ear: "Doing surgery, cooking, taking Heizi for a walk. Zheng Ren, every time I go on stage with you, looking at your profile, you're really handsome."

"Especially when you're in a major rescue, focused and dedicated—it's really wonderful to watch."

"That's how you become happy. If we could grow old like this, and when we have children, we'd also take them to the Fayoum Oasis. Having been there, seen it, we wouldn't get hung up on trivial matters."

Thinking about being able to grow old like this, have children, and take them to the Fayoum Oasis… Zheng Ren's heart soared.

Such a life would be perfect, wouldn't it?