Outside the Nanshan Road Apartment in Shahe District, Lin Jing City, cars were parked everywhere, making outsiders think it belonged to the development zone.
This Jinhua Apartment had always been an old "nail house" in the nearby demolition area. After the landlord's death, his two children had been in a lawsuit over the property for several years. Later, the son inherited it and, to get more money, even had the apartment renovated and expanded.
Not far from Jinhua Apartment was the Nanshan Vegetable Market.
This vegetable market had an even longer history. It was originally the dormitory area of the Second National Cotton Mill, then it was converted into a warehouse for a pharmaceutical factory, and after a few more years, it was leased to a kindergarten. Now, with the changes in the development zone, it had become the Nanshan Vegetable Market.
As the largest commercial land parcel in the development area of Nanshan Community, turning it into a vegetable market was a last resort. This was because Jinhua Apartment divided the land parcel in half, making it unsuitable for any construction.
Now, half of it was a vegetable market, and the other half was a Shentong logistics warehouse, which gave the leaders of Nanshan Village a great headache.
The matter was thus postponed, and everyone gradually got used to it.
Thus, Jinhua Apartment became a unique existence between the bustling vegetable market and the chaotic logistics center.
At this moment, on the eighth floor of the apartment.
The rooms had all been knocked down. The central area was the 803 core experimental zone, the left side was the office, logistics, and living area, and the right side was the strictly protected experimental zone.
On the second table in the experimental zone, Zhang Min threw the paperclip she had picked up onto the table.
Zhang Min was a young girl in her twenties, her mind not on work at all. At this moment, she was playing with the new Samsung S3 phone her boyfriend had given her, absolutely delighted.
Opposite her, Dr. Zhao, an older woman in her forties, was also quite attractive, but excessively serious. She was using a data analysis software on her iPhone 5, specially purchased by the research institute, to analyze the newly collected data.
More than a week ago, the Institute for Extraterrestrial Civilization and Astronomical Discovery had unexpectedly detected special data from the local Jinhua Apartment.
The balloon collector used at the time had discovered a large amount of ripple data, which carried a peculiar pattern.
The leaders attached great importance to this, and Dr. Zhao was sent to lead a team to investigate.
Room 803 of Jinhua Apartment was locked onto.
And a week earlier, a young nurse had fallen into a coma and become a vegetative state here.
Director Yang, who had a police background, checked the old archives and found that ten years ago, in 2002, the tenant of this apartment, Qin Xuan, had also suddenly fallen into a coma, become a vegetative state, and had been lying in the Lin Jing City Disabled Persons' Care Center ever since.
Director Yang also found that Qin Xuan's company had handled the care arrangements and had been paying the fees.
"Caring for a vegetative state is not cheap. Every two months, this company even sends a special medical team to check on Qin Xuan's survival. This is truly unusual."
The work team first entered Room 803. Upon seeing the gray object inside the wall, Dr. Zhao was so excited she almost fainted.
The gaps on the object continuously emitted strange light and carried some kind of wave signal.
"That's a cosmic-level signal. Although very weak, we can infer that it contains a complete, a complete..." Dr. Liu, who accompanied them, couldn't explain further.
"It's a complete small universe!"
Dr. Zhao enlarged the image inside using a miniature explorer, and everyone saw it.
Brilliant stars, countless stars.
That night, no one could sleep. After an urgent report to the leadership, they received support from the relevant national scientific departments. They sealed off the entire floor and hired construction workers to implement complete protective measures, isolating Room 803 with special materials to form a simple laboratory.
This research project was secretly codenamed "Project 1217."
This was because the object was discovered on December 17th.
As the team leader and head of the laboratory, Dr. Zhao did not rush to study the object but first secured the wall of Room 803 as the core area.
She handpicked the team members.
"The experimental team members are required to be the elite of the elite, and the number cannot exceed ten people."
Besides her assistant Zhang Min, and Director Yang, who was responsible for security and logistics, Supervisor Wang, sent by the scientific departments, was also present. The remaining seven were professional talents.
Experts in extraterrestrial scientific research, biologists, physicists, chemists, mathematicians, and an expert in outer universe theory...
All individuals entering this place did not use their names but were referred to by their profession or title.
Dr. Zhao's codename was Team Leader, Director Yang's was Deputy Leader, and Supervisor Wang, as the overseer, was mainly responsible for supervising everyone's scientific research and ensuring that information was not leaked, hence his codename was Security.
The initial research plan was jointly decided by the Team Leader, Deputy Leader, and Security.
First, they began investigating the builders of the wall and finding out how the gray oval object inside came to be.
The investigation results were dramatic.
It turned out that the contractor who originally built the apartment, the Second Municipal Construction Company, was not the builder but had subcontracted it to a foreman.
The foreman, named Qian Duoduo, was found and in turn stated that the project had been contracted in batches to different sub-foremen.
Through this kind of investigation, they traced it back to the group of people who built the wall.
It was three cousins from the outskirts of Lin Jing who took on the job, and the one who built the wall was named Zhang Wu.
"After Zhang Wu finished this job, he returned home and fell seriously ill and died. We investigated and ruled out foul play; it was indeed a sudden illness. He left behind a diary, and we found a crucial clue inside."
The diary's content was very complex, but after organizing it, it became clear.
Zhang Wu was a superstitious person. After taking on this job, he suddenly felt unwell, often experiencing chest tightness and spitting blood. He didn't go to the hospital for a check-up but suspected he had encountered something evil. So, he went to the village elder to have his fortune told.
The village elder was a骗子 (piànzi - swindler), who told him that if he embedded a stone blessed by the elder while building the wall, it could ward off evil spirits and bring protection.
Then, this village elder sold Zhang Wu an oval stone his grandson had picked up from the mountain, charging him two thousand yuan.
The clue was now very clear.
"A child picked up a meteorite from the mountain, the child's grandfather was a fortune teller, who sold it to the worker Zhang Wu. Zhang Wu fell seriously ill but suspected he had encountered something evil, so he hid this meteorite in the middle of the wall. Then he fell ill and died."
Dr. Zhao couldn't help but sigh, "It's too miraculous. If it hadn't been found by the child, and gone through such a convoluted process, this small universe from outer space would have been exposed in the wilderness, and perhaps destroyed long ago."
It was precisely because of the wall's protection that this small universe underwent complex changes.
"We detected some strange energy inside it, which caused the flow of time inside to become extremely fast. A week outside could be over ten years inside."
All of this was calculated based on the sidereal year common to both universes.
"We need to speed up the research," Dr. Zhao said, putting down her phone. "According to the data changes, the stars inside the small universe are rapidly disappearing. Zhang Min, child, are you listening to me?"
Zhang Min reluctantly put down her phone.
Dr. Zhao said earnestly, "Child, you are my niece, and I don't have children of my own, so I treat you like my own daughter, which is why I brought you here. Do you know? The results of the research here, if released, would be Nobel Prize-level. Countless people outside want to join the team."
Zhang Min could only muster her spirits, "Aunt, no, Team Leader, how do you suggest we speed up the research?"
"Go and transport the two vegetative patients here!"
Dr. Zhao's eyes gleamed with an unusual light. "I preliminarily judge that the comas of Qin Xuan and Su Qing are related to the life form inside. We will study the substance while also studying the two vegetative patients."
Zhang Min was startled, "But will the hospital agree? No, will their relatives agree?"
"We are lucky, both are orphans without guardians. Only Qin Xuan's company is a bit troublesome; they keep paying the care institution, so they must have a purpose."
Dr. Zhao's prediction was correct.
Su Qing, having been in a coma for a short time and being a nurse, was declared beyond rescue and abandoned. She was still lying in the hospital bed, gradually becoming a burden to the hospital due to the absence of relatives.
Dr. Zhao, carrying a message from her superiors, negotiated with the hospital for a while. The hospital had them sign a letter of guarantee, and then the patient was brought to Room 803.
However, it was different for Qin Xuan. As soon as Dr. Zhao entered the nursing home, a representative from the software company named Da Yu appeared.
They firmly opposed taking Qin Xuan away.
Dr. Zhao was prepared. She called Director Yang.
Director Yang negotiated with the company representatives.
"Everyone, you don't need to say anything. I've already investigated. The reason you've been spending money to keep Qin Xuan, a vegetative patient, is all because of the software he developed for your company, isn't it?"
The leaders of Da Yu Company lowered their heads in silence.
"Qin Xuan's contract with you stipulates intellectual property sharing, but if he dies, that intellectual property will automatically transfer to Qin Xuan's beneficiaries."
"But Qin Xuan has no relatives or close friends, and no girlfriend, hence no beneficiaries."
"For your company, if Qin Xuan dies, you won't be able to continue selling the software he developed."
The company leaders had to admit, "For ten years, we've all relied on the software developed by Qin Xuan. The company has produced no new products. Hundreds of people depend on this software. We all thought, since Qin Xuan has no relatives, the company would take care of him and ensure his survival."
Director Yang sneered and laid down a document, "Although Qin Xuan has no relatives or close friends, he is not your cash cow. I have drafted a new document. You will continue to enjoy the profits from the software, but you are not allowed to disclose any information about it."
This was simply great news for the company.
The pretense of the company taking care of him immediately vanished. They signed without hesitation, leaving Qin Xuan behind and leaving.
The emaciated Qin Xuan was then transported to Room 803.
The 1217 laboratory was scheduled to conduct its boldest experiment at midnight.
At this moment, the data from the small universe underwent a shocking change.
"Ninety percent of the energy inside has disappeared, and the data shows that those stars have vanished!"