Chapter 40: The Bottom of the Valley
No, the head is not worried it will cause chaos. Zhao Huasheng said in a faint voice, "Have you noticed that in the current Equatorial City, the suicide rate has increased from one in ten thousand to 29 in one thousand, an increase of two hundred and ninety times. There are twenty-nine people out of every thousand who commit suicide. The total number of suicides has already exceeded one hundred and fifty million. You know what this means...?"
"This means that our human society has lost its vitality, and people are being swallowed up by despair. Even I am hoping that a riot will happen in our human society at this moment. Because riots also mean resistance, but now, there is no riot in our human society. " Zhao Huasheng said helplessly, "People... have lost the courage to fight. If this continues, we humans will destroy ourselves before the Sun Crisis wipes us out. So... Human society needs this explosive news. I hope this news can arouse the hope for the future in the depths of people's hearts, break open the sky of despair, and let the light of hope shine again."
So, the leader agreed to my suggestion of making this message public. Of course, this is after my guess is verified. I will announce the message when the Crimson Heart spaceship has obtained what I want.
"Do... do you have confidence that your guess is definitely correct?" asked Meng Zhuo.
Zhao Huasheng nodded: "This time I won't make a mistake. I have enough confidence."
Meng Zhuo nodded and said nothing more. The car was quickly approaching Zhao Huasheng's residence, but when it was still a few kilometers away from the destination, Meng Zhuo found that the car could no longer move forward.
Because there were many people in front, even enough to completely block the road. After the car, many people were quickly gathering here, merging into the crowd that had gathered here. The crowd was getting bigger and bigger.
Zhao Huasheng was puzzled. "What are they doing? Is it a riot? But it doesn't seem like it."
Meng Zhuo made an immediate decision. "It's dangerous here. Let’s leave immediately." But Zhao Huasheng stopped him, since the atmosphere was still quiet, people were not shouting, no one was attacking each other, and no blood was shed.
It seemed as if people were simply gathering here, waiting for something. Everyone was quiet. This couldn't be a riot. Thus, Zhao Huasheng opened the car door and got out, followed closely by Meng Zhuo.
"What are you doing here?" Zhao Huasheng asked a nearby person.
The person turned around, and upon seeing Zhao Huasheng, a burst of excited gleam shone in his eyes. He quickly suppressed his emotions and then spoke with a trembling voice, albeit an effort to control it: "We have been waiting for you."
"Waiting for me? For what?" Zhao Huasheng asked.
"Waiting for you to save us," the person replied. Along with his words, his eyes held not only excitement but also a kind of piety, like a believer in the face of their own deity.
In the exchange of questions and answers, those around had already noticed the situation. Many had turned to look, and in their eyes could be seen both hope and supplication.
Meng Zhuo's muscles were tense. At that moment, he had made up his mind that if an uncontrollable traffic jam happened, he would kill these civilians, even if it meant staining his hands with blood and dying himself, in order to protect Zhao Huasheng and get him safely out of there. Just like when he killed the polar bear in the Arctic, he thought, "Human hope cannot be destroyed by you."
Feeling Meng Zhuo's tension, Zhao Huasheng lightly patted Meng Zhuo's shoulder to signal him to relax. Zhao Huasheng already knew what had happened here.
"The people in despair have pinned their last hope on me. Although I'm not a savior, I have to take on the responsibility of one at this moment." Zhao Huasheng thought to himself, "Fortunately, I have some good news, however small, to tell them."
Zhao Huasheng told all major media reporters to go to his residence immediately to prepare for an interview and start broadcasting the interview. He wanted all the media to come and for everyone in the world to hear his voice. Meng Zhuo nodded, and soon after, Zhao Huasheng saw dozens of helicopters marked with various media flying in the sky, heading towards his home in Aequator City.
Turning around, Zhao Huasheng said to the person he had just spoken to, "Rest assured, I'm here and I will save our entire civilization."
"Thank you. You are our only hope for the human civilization; you are the savior," the person said, bowing deeply towards Zhao Huasheng.
Zhao Huasheng nodded and then walked forward with Meng Zhuo. Everywhere Zhao Huasheng went, a path opened up automatically in the silent crowd and many people bowed and clasped their hands together in respect towards him. Yet the crowd remained silent, not making any noise.
Zhao Huasheng was walking through the crowd until he arrived at his residence, which was a few kilometers away. Security personnel were maintaining order here and had set up a twenty-meter cordon to keep out any unrelated people. Everyone was cooperating with the security personnel, and there was no crowding.
Zhao Huasheng saw that more than a dozen helicopters had stopped in front of his residence, and many workers with recording equipment were busy making adjustments. In front of them, a simple podium had been set up, and a sound system was ready.
At this moment, the image of this place appeared on all television and radio stations and public screens in Equator City. The host was introducing the situation here nervously: "Today, more than two hundred thousand people have gathered in front of Zhao Huasheng's residence to pray for him to save our civilization, and it seems that his research work has made some progress. He is ready to announce some news to us today. As for whether this news is good or bad, let's wait and see."
If it is said that there is a savior who can save our entire human civilization in this world, then there is no doubt that Zhao Huasheng is the savior. Only Zhao Huasheng can take on this responsibility. Now, let us start to pray together. The fate of our human civilization will soon be judged by Zhao Huasheng.
Zhao Huasheng walked up to the podium that had been set up. Countless spotlights focused on Zhao Huasheng at the same time. From this moment on, every word that Zhao Huasheng said and every action he took would be transmitted to the whole world through these cameras and to the people who were watching the television or other communication devices.
"I have some news to announce to everyone today," Zhao Huasheng said calmly. His voice was not only transmitted to all media through the cameras, but also transmitted to the ears of all the people gathered here through the speakers installed at the scene. Zhao Huasheng's voice was like rolling thunder, and with the help of the speakers, it reached as far as several kilometers away.
"Before announcing this news, I need to apologize to everyone. Yes, sorry. because I have not completed my work completely. My work is divided into two stages. The first stage is to explore what happened at the moment—what is the reason for the sun to cool down?—and the second stage is to find a way to solve this factor. So far, I only completed the first stage of the work. I only found out the reason why the sun cooled down, but unfortunately, I have no clue how to solve the problem."
"What's more apologetic is that I can't even tell everyone the reason why the sun cooled down at the moment. Because there is still one last part of my speculation that needs to be verified before the verification results come out, I can't just irresponsibly announce it. About this matter, I can tell everyone that I have confidence and assurance in my speculation. I can feel that I have already solved the puzzle left by Li Qi."
At this point, Zhao Huasheng stopped talking. The whole world, whether it was the people working in the cold construction sites, those wrapped in thick clothes in their homes, or those overseas, all hearts were raised at the same time.
The human civilization has suffered too much, and too many bad news has been known to us; it seems that our civilization has lost hope, and we can only keep sliding down without any pause until we finally fall into an abyss... Indeed, the situation has been getting worse; our living environment has been deteriorating; the weather is getting colder; food is becoming scarcer; and hope is becoming more and more dim.
"But this is already the worst situation," Zhao Huasheng said softly, "That’s right, the future can’t be worse than this. We have already reached the bottom of the valley, which means that even if the future doesn’t get better, it definitely won’t get worse."