Chapter 1 The Passing

Outside the county town, in a very remote place.

Here, in a depression, a natural forest had formed. There were many kinds of trees, accompanied by forsythia and newly green flowers and plants, creating a unique feeling of a secluded paradise.

Lin Xian and Liu Feng stood next to a deep pit that had been dug, with a wooden coffin inside. Lying inside was Li Qiqi, who was lifeless, but whose smile still lingered on her face.

Liu Feng had hired a funeral company to provide a one-stop service.

With the help of machinery, everything from digging the earth to transportation, or even lowering the coffin into the ground, became simple and efficient.

It was as if, under the tide of industrialization and the fast pace of life, even an individual's death had become increasingly insignificant.

Truly gone with the wind.

The funeral company left after receiving their payment, leaving only Liu Feng and Lin Xian standing next to the pit... and two shovels stuck in the ground for backfilling the soil later.

"This place was chosen by Qiqi last year..."

Liu Feng's eyes were a little red and swollen. He must have cried many times where no one could see him. After all, Li Qiqi was his only relative in this world.

But the human brain has a self-preservation mechanism. When grief is excessive, people will suddenly become calm and peaceful, just like Liu Feng now, his tone very flat, without any extra ups and downs.

He was like a mechanically read narration, as if explaining to Lin Xian next to him, or talking to himself:

"The people of Long Kingdom all value what they call returning to their roots... but Qiqi was an orphan who grew up in an orphanage. What roots does she have to return to? Although my parents died early, my family does have ancestral graves, but Qiqi didn't marry me, so she can't be buried in my family's plot either."

"Qiqi's health was not good since she was a child. No one wanted to adopt a child who was not healthy, so she grew up in the orphanage until she went to university... She has no home. She has never had a home since she was a child."

"I thought you were already married," Lin Xian said faintly from behind.

Liu Feng shook his head:

"I proposed to Qiqi several times, and we were even at the point of discussing marriage when we graduated... but since Qiqi was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, she refused me, every single time."

"She knew her days were numbered, and she didn't want to hold you back," Lin Xian took a step forward and looked at the peaceful Li Qiqi in the coffin with Liu Feng.

"That's what she said," Liu Feng lowered his head, and his messy hair covered his eyes:

"But I wanted her to have a home... like this, she doesn't even have a place to be buried after she dies."

"Qiqi told me a long time ago that she was afraid of cremation, so when she passed away, I should secretly bury her, without telling anyone, without holding any ceremonies, and just visit her when I have time..."

"She chose this piece of land in advance. After the doctor told her that her days were numbered last year, she began to look for a place to be buried after her death, and finally chose here."

...

Liu Feng talked on and on, saying many incoherent things.

Lin Xian didn't interrupt him, just letting him pour out his heart like that, as if talking to himself.

He knew that Liu Feng must be very uncomfortable at this time.

People who are uncomfortable always don't like to let their mouths stop, either by eating and drinking wildly, or by constantly talking like this.

"My condolences."

Lin Xian waited until Liu Feng finally fell silent, then patted him on the shoulder and comforted him:

"You must live on well, carrying Qiqi's regrets and wishes..."

This was the sentence that Lin Xian especially wanted to say to Liu Feng today.

This guy looks like he would commit suicide... He must not think negatively!

He had spent a huge sum of 30 million yuan to give the two of them a meteor shower, the purpose of which was to let Liu Feng see Li Qiqi's deep love for him and let him cheer up again.

Lin Xian also really didn't expect Li Qiqi to pass away suddenly. This was indeed an unexpected thing. He thought that Li Qiqi could live for a while longer, and he could persuade Liu Feng together with her.

Presumably... she had actually been holding on for a long time. Even according to the original history, she wouldn't have lived many more days.

But what's done is done.

In any case, Liu Feng can't die.

If he thinks negatively and dies, it's not just that his 30 million yuan will have been spent in vain, but also that Li Qiqi's wish will have been in vain. That would be truly regrettable and sad.

"Don't worry, I won't."

Liu Feng shook his head and looked up at Lin Xian again:

"I know what you're worried about, but don't worry... I won't do anything stupid like that. I had thought about dying with Qiqi before, but now, I must live on well. I can't let Qiqi down."

With that said.

Liu Feng took out a book from his shoulder bag and handed it to Lin Xian.

"This is..."

Lin Xian was quite surprised to see the title of the book—

*An Introduction to the Cosmological Constant*

Author: Liu Feng

The cover was exquisite and the quality was very good:

"Didn't you say that this book of yours wasn't published?"

"Qiqi had it custom-made by a merchant on Tao Bao... This doesn't count as publishing. It's like printing a photo album. There's only one copy in the world."

Lin Xian took the heavy book.

What was heavy was not the book itself, but the miracle and emotion carried on this unique print.

He opened the book cover and found Liu Feng's author introduction on the title page.

This passage...

Lin Xian was too familiar with it.

It was exactly the same as the *An Introduction to the Cosmological Constant* that he had seen in the dream!

He quickly flipped through the book to the last page...

Sure enough.

In the last page of the book, there was a small white card with delicate and somewhat blurred handwriting.

Those blurred spots... like tears that had dripped down while writing, wetting the paper.

Lin Xian knew that this small card must be Li Qiqi's last words to Liu Feng, which he had seen in the future 600 years later.

It's just that the card at that time was full of regrets for not seeing the meteor shower. Now that Li Qiqi had seen the meteor shower as she wished, the content on this card should have changed, right?

Lin Xian tentatively glanced at Liu Feng, asking for his consent.

Liu Feng nodded, which was regarded as tacitly allowing Lin Xian to read the card.

Lin Xian took out the small card the size of a palm, and the handwriting on it was delicate and trembling... At this moment, the space-time of 600 years later seemed to overlap with the present scene, allowing Lin Xian to truly understand what is called a love miracle that transcends 600 years:

Dear Feng Feng:

Hehe, I'm so happy! I actually saw such a beautiful and spectacular meteor shower.

Of course, I know that this meteor shower is

fake...

But for me, it's more real than real.

Feng Feng, I'm sorry I can't be with you anymore, but I look forward to the day when the cosmological constant is recognized by the whole world. That day will definitely come.

Thank you to the person who sent us this meteor shower.

Go with him, Feng Feng, maybe... he is your meteor, here specifically for you, to take you back to a more shining starry sky.

Hehe, I'll be watching you from heaven.

The distance between us will no longer be far.

——Forever loving you, Qiqi]

...

Lin Xian silently put the small card back into the book cover.

He admitted that when he saw the experts 600 years later calling this work a miracle of love that spanned 600 years... he was still a little dismissive at the time, and felt it was a bit inexplicable.

But now, after truly getting in touch with Liu Feng and Li Qiqi, he understood a little, and understood a little.

This is an indescribable emotion, a hard-to-express feeling.

He handed this one-of-a-kind *An Introduction to the Cosmological Constant* back to Liu Feng. Liu Feng bent down, carefully threw the book into the coffin, and placed it next to Li Qiqi.

"Not leaving a souvenir?" Lin Xian asked.

Liu Feng shook his head:

"Leave it to Qiqi."

Bang.

The coffin lid closed, and Liu Feng used a shovel to scoop up the first handful of soil and sprinkle it on the brand-new coffin lid.

This handful of soil separated the living from the dead.

At the same time...

It also completed the historical loop.

The appearance of this unique book allowed Lin Xian to understand the origin of *An Introduction to the Cosmological Constant* 600 years later—

For some unknown reason, at some point 600 years later, the place where Li Qiqi was buried was discovered by archaeologists.

Due to the complex geographical conditions, the coffin seemed to be relatively well preserved, and this one-of-a-kind *An Introduction to the Cosmological Constant* was able to reappear in the world.

But after verification by scientists 600 years later, this book was still worthless and full of errors, just like the academic community's evaluation of it 600 years ago.

And it was under these circumstances that this book was thrown out as garbage, picked up by the young Li Cheng in a garbage factory, and sent to Da Lian Mao's father.

In the end, after more than ten years of research, Da Lian Mao's father finally calculated the result of the cosmological constant—

42.

History...

Lin Xian inexplicably felt the heaviness and wonder of history.

How many coincidences were needed for this unique book from 600 years ago to be sent to Da Lian Mao's father 600 years later.

Lin Xian picked up another shovel and, together with Liu Feng, shoveled all the surrounding soil back into the pit, and finally leveled the surface.

After a few pats, dust to dust, earth to earth, the muddy soil covered everything. After a few more days of rain... there would be no trace of digging here at all.

At this moment, Liu Feng burst into tears.

He understood.

Li Qiqi was really gone.

...

Click!

Liu Feng lit a cigarette with a lighter, took a hard puff in his mouth, spit it out, and watched the smoke dissipate.

"Want one?" Liu Feng handed the cigarette case to Lin Xian.

Lin Xian shook his head:

"You can smoke."

The two sat on a rock, watching the sunset gradually fall on the other side of the horizon.

Blood-red sunset clouds were neatly arranged, from east to west, like a matrix, uniquely majestic and solemn.

"Thank you for being with me today." Liu Feng held the cigarette between his fingers, looking straight at the sunset:

"I haven't smoked in a long time. It's still so bitter."

"It'll be better after a while."

Lin Xian laughed:

"The smokers around me smoke as easily as eating candy."

Liu Feng couldn't help but laugh, took a few puffs, threw the half-burnt cigarette on the muddy ground, and stamped it out with the sole of his shoe:

"Lin Xian, you came to me for the cosmological constant, right?"

"Yes." Lin Xian admitted truthfully.

"Is this thing important to you? Can you tell me why?"

The sunset cast a blood-red glow on Liu Feng's face. He turned his head to look at Lin Xian and continued:

"Everyone thinks it's wrong. Teacher Qi Yan, Einstein, and even I have done many verification experiments... They are all contradictory and cannot be analyzed."

"It should have been a wrong, meaningless academic garbage... Why are you willing to do so many things for it? And so believe that it is correct?"

"This is what I think, Liu Feng." Lin Xian looked straight at the sun that had sunk halfway below the horizon:

"Actually, like you said, I really don't understand mathematics, and I don't understand the cosmological constant even more. From the perspective of you academics... as long as something is wrong once, then it is undoubtedly wrong."

"But I think that many things in this world, in the universe, are not so

absolute. I think many things—"

"Even if it's wrong a thousand times, ten thousand times, a billion times, as long as it can be correct once, then it's correct!'"

Liu Feng stared blankly at Lin Xian:

"For example?"

"Many things." Lin Xian looked at his fingers and said:

"For example, the creation of life on Earth, the synthesis of the first amino acid, this is the only correct result of countless complex reactions over billions of years, so life miraculously arose on Earth."

"Accurately speaking, the creation of the first amino acid on Earth should be an error in a chemical reaction." Liu Feng was very rigorous.

"Correct and wrong are relative." Lin Xian said lightly:

"Whether it's correct or wrong, in short, the fact that life can appear so miraculously and unexpectedly on Earth really only needs to be correct once, or wrong once."

"Only needs once." Lin Xian looked at Liu Feng with a serious expression:

"I think the cosmological constant should be something similar... Even if everyone says it's wrong, even if for decades, for hundreds of years, everyone thinks it's wrong, even if it's inherently wrong, I don't think it matters..."

"Because, it may only need to be correct once at the most critical moment."

Liu Feng's mouth was half-open, looking at Lin Xian.

He seemed to be convinced by Lin Xian's fallacy, and he seemed to be confused:

"Lin Xian, if it's really as you said, the cosmological constant will only be correct once... then what's the use of that one correct time?"

"That's hard to say."

Lin Xian looked at the sunset that had completely disappeared below the horizon.

He recalled billions of years ago, the

stormy and raging primeval Earth with rain, sea tides, thunder, and lightning, that first amino acid accidentally formed under a lightning strike.

He recalled hundreds of millions of years ago, that ichthyostega that bravely climbed from the ocean onto the land.

He recalled the small animals that survived in the cracks of lava and haze under the meteor impact that wiped out the dinosaurs.

He recalled a certain ape-man looking up at the sky, straightening his back for the first time, and standing up on the land of this planet.

He recalled high-rise buildings rising from the ground, steam engines, internal combustion engines, the industrial revolution, and the electronic age.

He recalled the walls and floors covered with 42s in Da Lian Mao's father's room, filling every narrow gap.

He recalled that white light that destroyed the entire world on August 29, 2624, 00:42, 600 years later.

"Maybe your cosmological constant only needs to be correct once..."

Lin Xian closed his eyes and said softly:

"And it can save the entire world."