Jiang Ye lowered his phone, his mouth agape.
"What did the nurse say?" Cen Yemeng reached out to stroke her husband's hair.
"The nurse said those weren't our hallucinations, they were mirages," Jiang Ye replied. "Zhi Gao Star's orbital period is 478 days, and there are over four hundred days here where mirages can be seen. Most mirages are real-time images, but a small portion are historical images, which is why this place was designated as the Dragon's Eye on the dragon脉 (dragon vein) and this hospital was built."
"A small portion of mirages are historical images? What does that mean?" Cen Yemeng didn't understand.
"The nurse said that tens of kilometers away, there's a Phantom Mountain. The rock of that mountain is a special type of stone that, during lightning storms, can store images and sounds of the surrounding environment, similar to the oldest cameras of ancient times."
"After Zhi Gao Star was developed, a signal station and power plant were built on Phantom Mountain, and the reaction with the local mountain rock caused it to frequently release stored images and sounds into the night sky," Jiang Ye explained. "Coincidentally, that location often experiences mirages that appear here, so some of the scenes are from Zhi Gao Star's ancient past. The nurse said she even witnessed terrifying dragon-like creatures circling over the sea, and later, a twenty-meter-long fossil of an ancient creature was unearthed on an island of Zhi Gao Star."
"That's incredible," Cen Yemeng marveled. "I heard a story about a palace being haunted."
"Oh?"
"There was an ancient palace that was abandoned after the fall of the imperial family and became a tourist attraction. Later, tourists accidentally discovered that it was often haunted on stormy nights. In the secluded alleys of the palace, groups of eunuchs and palace maids would appear, dressed in the fashion of hundreds of years ago. You could even hear the eunuchs shouting orders, but with a blink of an eye, all the scenes would disappear."
"A similar principle?"
"Yes, it has to do with the cobblestones in those alleys."
The couple fell silent. They hadn't spoken much for several consecutive days. After speaking so much at once, they were both exhausted, feeling as if their brains were oxygen-deprived.
Jiang Ye even began to doubt if this was a normal side effect of the surgery.
Could mitochondrial surgery really improve fatigue resistance? Was it possible that it caused a few days of weakness, followed by a return to normal, giving a false impression of boundless vitality?
On the morning of the fourth day, both husband and wife began to recover their strength.
From a state of grogginess, they transitioned to being able to soberly lean against each other, staring at the mirages on the sea and murmuring to each other.
After their afternoon nap, Jiang Ye felt his strength had fully returned, and he was even invigorated!
Cen Yemeng also woke up and opened her computer to work.
"Our son has sent a letter, honey, come and see!" she exclaimed, her eyes fixed on the computer screen.
Jiang Ye leaned over and read the letter on the screen.
"Mom, Dad:
How was your surgery?
I feel a bit strange having you both younger than me. After all, it's still rare in the world for parents to be younger than their children.
I've returned to school, and school started early. Although the regulations require that students' holiday time be guaranteed, almost all high schools are secretly holding make-up classes during the holidays. Our school's official stance is voluntary return for self-study, meaning students are bored at home and voluntarily return to school for self-study, not actual classes. But during self-study, it's normal to ask teachers questions about what you don't understand, and it's also normal for teachers to hold special classes to explain things.
The students are all grumbling, but after two days of classes, they've all gotten used to it, as they can at least interact with each other. Excluding exams and homework, school is essentially a large playground for peers.
The seating arrangement in the class was rearranged. A very beautiful female classmate is now my deskmate. At first, we were quite distant, but after a week, she became very familiar with me. During class, she actually rested her leg on mine. I didn't refuse, partly because refusing might embarrass her, and partly because it was actually quite comfortable.
The homeroom teacher said that our school will soon be participating in an exchange student program. Each class will send one student to exchange with a student from a Spiral Star school for a month.
Honestly, I can't understand the purpose of this exchange student program. Spiral Star is just beginning to develop, and the current Spiral Star inhabitants are all migrants from various planets. Sending students back for exchange, this kind of operation of moving from one pocket to another, isn't it like taking off your pants to fart, creating unnecessary trouble?
I signed up for the exchange to Spiral Star, partly to inspect the local educational situation on behalf of Mom and Dad. Originally, many students eagerly signed up, raising their hands and shouting. This is an opportunity for a government-funded study trip, who wouldn't want to go? But as soon as I raised my hand, they all fell silent and quietly put their hands down. Perhaps it's because my academic performance is too good, and they felt they couldn't compete with me.
Their feelings were correct. When the teacher saw me, he nodded directly and said, 'Then our class will send Jiang Haiyang.'
My deskmate suddenly asked me one day, 'Do you know Jiang Ye's son?'
I was startled at the time, thinking, 'Has my identity been leaked?'
Then my deskmate said, 'Jiang Ye's son is named Jiang Senlin. You are Jiang Haiyang. Do you know each other?'
I smiled and said, 'Of course I know him. Jiang Senlin is my older brother, and I am his younger brother.'
After I said that, my deskmate didn't believe me. She pouted and rolled her eyes at me.
However, this also served as a reminder to me. My pseudonym was indeed chosen carelessly. Fortunately, most people wouldn't think in that direction, and the classmates in the class would definitely not dare to think I am Jiang Ye's son.
A few days ago, after school, I went to the teacher's office to help the teacher grade the class's papers and chat with him.
I used to think that human scientific research had stopped, as the scientific level of the Galactic Empire had reached its limit, and the scientific level of high-dimensional beings was beyond the comprehension of our ordinary primate brains.
After talking with the teacher, I realized that it wasn't entirely like that. There's a principle in the universe called the 'theoretical barrier.'
Many disciplines, such as mathematics and physics, are fundamental subjects that each intelligent civilization can only explore on its own. High-dimensional civilizations are not allowed to impart them freely.
There are many reasons for implementing this theoretical barrier principle.
For example, it's to maintain order among different intelligent civilizations in the Galactic Empire, ensuring that civilizations of certain levels perform specific tasks and do not overstep their bounds. It's also to ensure internal peace and prevent lower-level civilizations from suddenly gaining the ability to rebel.
Setting up theoretical barriers also ensures that civilizations possess the ability to conduct academic research. If all knowledge were acquired externally, such intelligent civilizations would devolve into purely economic animals, lacking universities, research institutes, and the knowledge to explore the world. They would be spiritually impoverished, focusing only on things like eating, drinking, reproduction, and conflict.
The teacher told me that Jiang Ye Star and Bi Rong Star have already established higher education institutions that are at the forefront of academia. Exile Star and Spiral Star do not yet have them."