Chapter 68：

Although the vehicles in the interstellar age travel very fast, after all, this is a voyage between planets. It was already two hours after Duan Hengye saw the news after class, and it would take a few hours to arrive if he left for the institute now.

Although Duan Hengye didn't understand yet, why Meng Jinhuai suddenly went to the research institute at this point in time. But after seeing the news from Su Mingge, even though he is still in the distant Translight Star for the time being, he can guess just how nervous the colleagues at the research institute are at this time.

After class, the students dispersed one after another, and Duan Hengye returned to his lounge. But today, instead of leaving the teaching area as usual, he took out his optical brain again, and then sent a message to Meng Jinhuai.

... Duan Hengye estimated that it was almost time for the academy to get off work now. What you can guess is that as long as the Marshal is still there, no one would dare to leave before him. So Duan Hengye, as the dean, was rare and considerate to relieve the staff-he told Meng Jinhuai in the message that he could go to his residence in the living area of ​​the research institute to rest first.

Just as Duan Hengye had just estimated, the hemisphere where the Yetian Empire Mecha Research Institute was located was at sunset. It stands to reason that at this point, many researchers who have finished their work should also leave. But today until now, the tense working atmosphere in the entire courtyard has not dissipated.

Although there was no advance notice when he came, the news of Meng Jinhuai's arrival at the institute spread throughout the courtyard in the first time.

It is not the first time Meng Jinhuai has come to the research institute, but it can be seen that he still has not lost his interest in this place. During the stop and go, Meng Jinhuai asked many questions to the staff who accompanied the visit. As an imperial marshal with countless military exploits, Meng Jinhuai's understanding of mechas is far better than that of ordinary researchers. Soon everyone realized that every question of Meng Jinhuai was not just mentioned casually, but rather in-depth and thought beforehand.

For a while, everyone became nervous, fearing that Meng Jinhuai would suddenly visit him and ask some difficult questions.

Although Su Mingge, the deputy dean, was only accompanying the tour, he couldn't help but become nervous with everyone after hearing various questions about Meng Jinhuai.

In a blink of an eye, the daytime working hours of the Institute have ended. But looking at Meng Jinhuai's appearance, he still had no intention of leaving. However, when Meng Jinhuai immediately walked to the light screen system area of ​​the research institute, Su Mingge, who was sharp-eyed, suddenly saw that the bright brain around Meng Jinhuai brightened.

Without thinking about it, as the marshal of the empire, Meng Jinhuai would receive countless messages every moment. If he had set the message reminder mode to the normal state like an ordinary person, he would have been annoyed by the prompt sound a long time ago. Su Mingge remembered that Meng Jinhuai's optical brain had never flashed once in the past few hours, and then guessed that the other party should have set an emergency message reminder mode.

So now after seeing Meng Jinhuai's brain light up, Su Mingge couldn't help feeling a little nervous. Whether the staff can leave work on time is a small matter, but the safety of the empire is a major matter. Like Su Mingge, Meng Jinhuai also saw his bright brain suddenly lit up. Then he stopped, then took the silver-white round light brain into his hand and opened the message just now.

Now, not only Su Mingge but also several other main persons in charge of the research institute were following Meng Jinhuai. After seeing Master Marshal's light brain prompting, everyone became nervous.

Following Meng Jinhuai's movements, everyone around him focused on his hands. But after a few seconds, people discovered that... the horrible sight in imagination did not happen.

After turning on the light brain, Meng Jinhuai not only showed no solemn expression, but even smiled slightly at the thing in his hand.

So what did the marshal see?

Meng Jinhuai turned off the light brain, then turned around in a good mood and smiled at the staff who had been following him, and said, "Okay, thank you for your explanation today."

Hearing what Meng Jinhuai said, everyone couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. Just when Su Mingge was going to ask Meng Jinhuai whether he would arrange dinner for him now, he heard Meng Jinhuai say to the military staff who had been following him: "Go to the residential area SIU-7 area."

"Okay, Master Marshal." Hearing that, the staff member who was wearing a black military uniform and did not speak during the whole process nodded, then picked up Guangnao and began to deploy the suspension vehicle.

After hearing what Meng Jinhuai said, Su Mingge stood there and reacted. Then he remembered that the "SIU-7 area" mentioned by Meng Jinhuai was the coordinates of Duan Hengye's residence on the planet.

Well, who sent the message just now finally has an answer.

...

Generally, after finishing the afternoon class at Anluo University, Duan Hengye will always live directly on Duguangxing for one night and wait until the next morning to return. However, due to the fact that Meng Jinhuai was in the academy today, Duan Hengye boarded the returning starship directly after finishing the class.

At the same time, Meng Jinhuai also entered Duan Hengye's home in the research institute. Although Meng Jinhuai has been here several times before, he has never seen it well.

Duan Hengye lived in a three-story villa. When Meng Jinhuai came in for the first time, the word "warm" came up in his mind. At first glance, the style here seems to be a bit different from Duan Hengye himself, but after seeing it for a long time, I feel that Duan Hengye should belong to this world.

It was also the first time when Meng Jinhuai found a black upright grand piano in the corner of the first floor of the villa. Although no one has used this piano for a long time, there is still no dust on the piano due to the regular cleaning of the piano.

At this time, the setting sun came slantingly from the window, just coating the black-fronted piano with a honey-colored gold rim, like chocolate with syrup.

After entering the door, Meng Jinhuai paused for a moment, then walked towards the piano that hadn't been touched for a long time.

The starship Duan Hengye was riding in was huge and flew extremely smoothly. So although the journey back is a bit longer, people will not be too tired along the way. Although the starship had already increased its speed, when Duan Hengye returned to the research institute, it was already night there.

As soon as he reached our mouth, Duan Hengye found that the light on the first floor of his residence was still on. But before Professor Duan could think of something, the identification device at the door automatically sensed the owner's return, and then slowly opened the door of the villa.

A burst of smooth music flowed out of the room. The soundproofing effect of this house is so good, Duan Hengye was taken aback when the door was opened. But then he saw a familiar figure sitting beside the piano not far away.

Of course Meng Jinhuai also heard the sound of the door opening, but his playing still did not stop. Duan Hengye walked slowly towards the piano. To be honest, although the size of this piano is huge, because it has been quietly placed there, Duan Hengye almost forgets that there is such a thing in his own home. A musical instrument.

But the most important thing is that Duan Hengye had never heard of Meng Jinhuai even playing the piano before.

Because the main scope of activities of the heroine Shang Mengzhen of "Dumping Interstellar" is the entertainment industry, the story of playing the piano is also indispensable in the book. Also because of the ease of use, the author directly released some of the classical music from the Earth Age into the world.

Therefore, despite changing the world, Duan Hengye is still very familiar with the piano music played by Meng Jinhuai at this time. He walked to Meng Jinhuai's side, then placed his hand on the side of the piano lightly, and then quietly appreciated the other party's playing.

The window behind Meng Jinhuai was not closed, and the evening breeze lifted the light gray gauze curtain by the window slightly, and the curtain foot also touched the side of the piano. Now Meng Jinhuai didn't have any killing aura he brought from the battlefield, on the contrary, he was extremely elegant.

Although I don't remember the name, Duan Hengye could hear it. At this time, Meng Jinhuai was playing a ballad. However, Duan Hengye's heartbeat started to speed up little by little in this genre that had nothing to do with the word "excited". The hand he was holding on to the piano just before also moved to his chest unknowingly, and the sound followed the flesh and bones to Duan Hengye's ears-he thought, his heartbeat might have disrupted this. The rhythm of the first ballad.

I don't know how long it took before Meng Jinhuai finally stopped playing. As the only audience for this young and elegant pianist at this time, Duan Hengye couldn't help clapping his hands as Meng Jinhuai's piano keys fell.

As a child of an aristocratic family, Duan Hengye also learned this kind of instrument when he was young, like most people. But it is a pity that Duan Hengye didn't like the boring activity of "playing", so he didn't continue it before long. But today, after hearing the music played by Meng Jinhuai, Duan Hengye felt its beauty for the first time.

Seeing Duan Hengye applauding softly there, Meng Jinhuai also smiled at him, then stood up and closed the piano cover. Upon seeing this, Duan Hengye couldn't help showing a disappointed expression.

"I'll play it for you next time." When Meng Jinhuai smiled, his eyes narrowed unconsciously, and his usual seriousness disappeared.

Duan Hengye nodded, then couldn't help but look at the piano and said, "If it weren't for you, it would be a waste of me to put this piano here." There was some regret in his words.

Hearing this, Meng Jinhuai shook his head without speaking. Maybe it’s because I have been sitting here for a long time. After Duan Hengye came, Meng Jinhuai walked to the side table. He took a sip of water and said, “I was in a hurry a few times before. I wanted to take a good look at Ah Heng’s childhood life today. The place. But when I thought of your absence, I didn't run around in the end." After speaking, Meng Jinhuai gently raised an eyebrow toward Duan Hengye, as if he was about to get his praise.

Duan Hengye thought about the time when Su Mingge sent a message to himself, and then realized that Meng Jinhuai probably had been sitting here for several hours. He turned around and glanced at his still deserted kitchen, then he couldn't help but frowned and asked Meng Jinhuai, "Have you not eaten dinner yet?"

Meng Jinhuai shook his head, and then added as if seeing what Duan Hengye was going to do: "I ate lunch late."

Duan Hengye ignored Meng Jinhuai's subsequent supplement. After hearing the previous sentence, he walked straight to the kitchen. Perhaps because he was afraid that Meng Jinhuai would stop him, Duan Hengye said as he walked there, "Just so, I didn't eat either."

Duan Hengye, who didn't turn his head while speaking, didn't know. At this moment, Meng Jinhuai's eyes were indescribably gentle.

"Good." Meng Jinhuai replied after a long while.

Dinner on this day started very late and very simple. However, in Meng Jinhuai's eyes, the simple dinner coupled with the house where he lived in Hengye from a young age is extraordinarily warm. He thought, maybe "home" should have been like this.

...

Meng Jinhuai is the marshal of the empire. Although the empire has been peaceful recently, he did not come back to the academy industry to wander around, but to do business.

In the early morning of the next day, Duan Hengye and Meng Jinhuai rode a levitator to a corner of the star where the research institute is located, which no one has set foot for a long time.

"Arrival, coordinates: KN-0 is now for authorization confirmation."

After getting here, the suspension suddenly stopped in the air without warning. Hearing the coordinates reported by the synthesized electronic sound, Duan Hengye hesitated a little, then stretched out his hand and gently attached it to the side light screen of the levitator.

"Permission confirmation begins:

Duan Hengye, Dean of Yetian Empire Mecha Research Institute, confirm. The permissions are turned on. "

After the sound fell, the inside of the levitator dripped slightly. And then, the suspension, which had been suspended in the air for a while, drove forward again. Gradually, the scene ahead became clear.

Seventy percent of the planet where the research institute is located is surrounded by buildings. All other places are artificially planned green belts. This planet is very standard. It looks like a fully developed interstellar era planet, exquisite and beautiful everywhere.

But now, the place in front of Duan Hengye has a completely different style of painting from the rest of the planet.

If it is summed up in two words, it is: "desolate" and "degenerate".

When you lower your head a little, you can see that the land under your feet is rarely covered by any green plants, but is completely charred. If you spend your time to observe, you can see in the scorched black, there is actually some silver light there.

Since the levitator slowly entered this area, Duan Hengye has been looking down. Upon seeing this, Meng Jinhuai, who was standing next to him, couldn't help but cast a worried look at him, "Aheng, how are you doing now."

In fact, when Duan Hengye looked down just now, his brain was completely blank. Until now Meng Jinhuai spoke, his **** was finally pulled back. Duan Hengye pursed his mouth, then shook his head and said to Meng Jinhuai: "...No, I can't remember anything." When Duan Hengye said this, his voice was a little quiet, and his expression was also rare.

"The levitator is about to land." Seeing that Duan Hengye's state is not bad, Meng Jinhuai glanced at his feet, and then said to him.

Not long after Meng Jinhuai's words fell, the levitator landed on the charred ground in front of him. With the opening of the silver hatch, Duan Hengye took a deep breath, and finally walked out ahead of Meng Jinhuai.

Perhaps for Duan Hengye, this is a place that should have been familiar and can no longer be familiar.

——The office of the dean once independent of the main building of the research institute, where Duan Hengye lived as a child.

Duan Hengye was picked up by the royal family after the experiment accident happened. Therefore, it was not until Duan Hengye began to reinvestigate the incident a few days ago that Duan Hengye discovered that, in fact, the site where the accident occurred was not landfilled, but remained there as it was.

Although I don't know why the investigation team made such a decision back then, I have to say that the ruins that remain intact are indeed a clue that cannot be missed.

As soon as Duan Hengye stepped out of the levitator, he heard a weird "click" from under his feet. The surrounding area is too quiet now, so the voice under my feet is also particularly obvious. Although Duan Hengye's psychological quality has always been very good, he still couldn't help but tremble after hearing the sound from under his feet suddenly. At this moment, Meng Jinhuai, standing behind Duan Hengye, held his shoulders and said in his ear: "It's okay, it's a branch."

After hearing Meng Jinhuai's words, Duan Hengye slowly squatted down, and then picked up the pitch-black object under his feet that was no longer visible. Just like Meng Jinhuai said, this is the appearance of a tree that has been shot by a special optical weapon. Although he understood the reason for its formation, Duan Hengye was no better than Meng Jinhuai—the opponent was a marshal who was accustomed to seeing a messy planet after the war, so naturally he didn't recognize it in the first time.

After confirming what this thing was, Duan Hengye gently put it back on the ground. He looked around, and then said to Meng Jinhuai: "The area destroyed here is bigger than I thought."

"Yeah" Meng Jinhuai nodded, and then said to Duan Hengye as he remembered, "The mecha out of control was too sudden, and at the time of the incident, many people didn't know if this was done deliberately by the dean. The experiment. So it was not until ten minutes later that the garrison from the research institute drove other mechas to control the scene."

This office is far away from the research institute building, and there is an open space around it. The previous dean often used this open space to do small experiments. So although the research institute detected the energy anomaly here for the first time, because it had been hesitating whether it was an experiment or not, it failed to respond quickly.

What Meng Jinhuai said just now was also written in the accident investigation report released to the public, and it has always been regarded as the biggest cause of the death of the former dean.

Probably because of the loss of this part of the memory, Duan Hengye's mood was more calm than he expected after returning here. In this way, the two people recalled the experimental report while walking towards the depths of the ruins.

Finally, a few minutes later, Duan Hengye and Meng Jinhuai stopped in front of a broken silver metal pillar. When investigating that year, the staff responsible for the investigation left a little mark here. After approaching, Duan Hengye saw the words "Laboratory No. 7 Metal Column".

Before coming here, Duan Hengye studied the structure of the original laboratory. So after seeing this pillar, he realized that he and Meng Jinhuai had already reached the indoor part of this office-although nothing could be seen from the scorched black.

More than ten years have passed, but I don't know if it is an illusion. Once he walked here, Duan Hengye's nose seemed to have a lingering strange and burnt smell.

He glanced at Meng Jinhuai, and after noticing the other person's expression, he confirmed that the smell was not his own illusion.

For a while, Duan Hengye felt that the atmosphere around him had become a little weird. He glanced at Meng Jinhuai again, and then said, "This smell is not right."

Neither the investigative report released to the outside world nor the report that existed on the Internet within the royal family mentioned this smell. Duan Hengye believes that this apparently strange smell will not be missed by the investigators.

Just when he thought of this, Meng Jinhuai also said with eloquence: "This smell is not right, find out where the source is."

"Yeah." Duan Hengye nodded towards Meng Jinhuai, and then the two of them separately walked towards the two directions of the ruins. Now it has reached the indoor area, because the internal structure and materials that have been melted down are different, so the debris left now is also different. Duan Hengye feels like a deep foot and a shallow foot when he walks. Fortunately, he has some ancient martial skills in his body, so he didn't trip over what was under his feet.

Slowly, the distance between Duan Hengye and Meng Jinhuai grew farther and farther. Just as he was about to walk out of the indoor ruins, Duan Hengye suddenly saw a special metal block shining with dark blue light in front of his eyes.

He slowly squatted down, then hesitated to tear off a piece of his shirt. Then Duan Hengye hesitated, and slowly picked up the dark blue piece of metal. Just as Duan Hengye squatted down to take things, Meng Jinhuai also walked in his direction.

Finally, Duan Hengye slowly stood up with the things in his hand. At this moment, Meng Jinhuai also walked to his side.

"This is..." Meng Jinhuai muttered while looking at the things in Duan Hengye's hand.

Although Meng Jinhuai didn't say it clearly, Duan Hengye nodded slightly, and then he turned to Meng Jinhuai and said, "Yes, that's it." If someone else is talking, he might ignore this humble dark blue metal. But the people here today are Duan Hengye and Meng Jinhuai.

Both of them knew that the object in Hengye's hands at this time was solidified fuel - it was usually used inside a large-scale lethal weapon that had not yet been assembled into mecha.