Chapter Ten: Hou Yi Shoots the Sun

  The main body of the screen is a slanted, chimney-like thing. Upon closer inspection, it can be seen that there is a semi-circular house-like thing underneath it, with the chimney standing on top of the house. The connection between the chimney and the house becomes thinner as it goes up. At the highest point, it splits into four branches, which are connected by thin wavy lines. On the semi-circular house, a person is standing, looking in the direction that the chimney is pointing. Following his line of sight, I looked up and found myself already at the top of the ceiling.

  "What is this?" I asked Su Feng, "What is he doing?"

  Su Yi said: "I don't know, I'm studying." As she spoke, she took me to another sculpture.

  This time, there were only two people in the carving, a man and a woman. The man seemed to be the same person as the one in the previous carving, while the woman was appearing for the first time, but somehow looked familiar, yet I couldn't quite put my finger on where I had seen her before. Although they were carved into stone, I could sense that these two people must have been a handsome couple back then. Both of them wore ancient attire, and it was impossible to tell which dynasty they belonged to. Judging from their appearance, the two people should be husband and wife, at least that's what I thought. They looked up together at the vaulted ceiling with a slant.

  Su Yi said beside: "Their attire should not be the dress after Zhou Dynasty, because the dress of that period has certain regulations, one look can know which era people they are. They two should be people before Zhou Dynasty."

  I nodded woodenly and continued to walk towards the next sculpture, by now I was deeply attracted to the carvings and had already forgotten the danger of being shot in the back with an arrow inside the cave earlier. This time, what was presented before me was the largest carving in the entire collection, but its content was very simple, so simple that it could be seen at a glance that this carving depicted a massive disaster: drought. Because I saw the dry and cracked earth and the dried-up riverbeds, as well as the corpses that had been scorched to death. The entire sculpture gave off an extremely strong sense of space, making one feel a tinge of sadness.

  Looking down at the next one, I found that Wu Feng was also studying this sculpture. It seemed to be a feeling of an emperor's ascension to the throne. I saw a man sitting in the middle, still that man. Many people were standing around, but they couldn't see what they looked like, not because I didn't want to see them, but because in the sculpture, they were all facing away from me.

  "Heavens, this man is actually an emperor." I sighed.

  Wu Feng said while studying the carvings: "He is not an emperor, because we judge that the carvings are stories from before the Zhou Dynasty, so he should be at most a king."

  "It's either Big Wang or Little Wang." I joked.

  A sharp pain in her buttocks, it was Su Yi's kick. She said with a hint of anger: "Stop joking around here, we're discussing serious academic issues, hurry up and look at the next one."

  I rubbed my butt and continued to look, but this sculpture was much simpler. It was a scene of people celebrating, with many people cheering and jumping for joy. They must have been happy about something. I just felt that the excitement was very strong, and I think it's hard for Chinese people to reach this level of celebration nowadays. But thinking carefully, maybe it's not impossible. If the Chinese men's football team could win the World Cup, I think the fans' celebration at that time would be similar to this feeling. It's just too exciting.

  I was lost in thought, continuing to look down, I saw a whirlpool, but it wasn't like the kind you see in water or tornadoes. It was more like a cloud, and I don't know how to describe it. There were some other things inside the whirlpool, but they couldn't be made out clearly. They were just represented by some lines. It felt like being sucked into that whirlpool.

  I pointed at the whirlpool and asked Su Yi: "This thing looks a bit familiar, but I really can't think of how to express it."

  Su Wei looked carefully and said: "Black hole."

  I clapped my hands and said, "That's it, that's what I'm looking for." As I spoke, I felt a sense of realization, and then asked, "But how could there be a black hole in this place?"

  Su Yibai gave me a white eye and said: "You ask me, who am I asking? Continue."

  I looked at the next one, also the last carving, still that chimney, but here it was much smaller, small enough to only sketch a few strokes in one corner. I also saw it last because the main rest of this carving is an elliptical thing, which is drawn with hairy edges, and from the direction of the lines, it flies along the direction of the chimney. The edge of the ellipse also has wavy lines drawn with fine lines.

  At this time I heard Wen Long's voice: "Comrades, dinner is ready."

  This shout was much more attractive than the carving, and I immediately flew towards Wen Long's direction. Although it was just some compressed food, after Wen Long's cooking, it felt extremely fragrant. I found that the old man was still beside one of the carvings, so I loudly called out, "Old man, dinner is ready." Only then did the old man come over.

  Eating is the best activity for people after experiencing setbacks, at least that's what I think, and this meal was extremely delicious. I found the old man obviously thinking about something, and hurriedly asked: "Old man, what are you thinking?"

  The old man said: "I vaguely feel that these carvings should be expressing some kind of story, but I just can't figure it out."

  I chuckled and said, "Old man, I think you'd better take a rest. Sometimes resting can clear your mind and help you figure out things that you couldn't before."

  The old man nodded and said, "You're right too."

  After finishing dinner, I can finally lie down and rest for a while. It was only then that I felt the pain in my body where those blunt arrows had hit me. When I opened my clothes to take a look, they were already bruised. Wu Feng was in the same situation, he was still protecting the old man in that passageway, with even more bruises on his body. The old man and Su Yi probably also had some, but they didn't want to open their clothes to show them off. On the other hand, Wen Long, that guy, had a body full of muscles, as if he was made of iron, and yet he only had a few small bruises on him after being beaten up by those people. It's really enviable, hateful.

  I lay on the ground, not even wanting to move a little finger, in a daze, I heard Wen Long and Wu Feng arguing with each other in a low voice.

  Wu Feng said: "These two days really trained me out. If it were in the past, with a bit of light I would have to wear an eye mask to sleep, or else I wouldn't be able to fall asleep at all."

  Wen Long sneered and said: "That's because you're not sleepy enough. When you are sleepy, you can even sleep standing up."

  Wu Feng said: "I now understand that the interrogation methods used online, such as shining bright lights on suspects and not letting them sleep, are really harmful. I estimate that no matter what kind of person can't hold out for long."

  Wen Long said: "That's because human willpower is not enough, like me, let alone strong light, even if the sun is placed in front of me, it's time to sleep."

  Wu Feng said: "The sun, isn't there just ten suns above our heads now?"

  The old man was lying beside me, and suddenly he got up with a start and said, "Wu Feng, what did you just say?"

  Wu Feng was obviously tired and said drowsily: "I'm saying, aren't there ten suns on our heads right now?"

  A loud crack of thunder boomed beside me. The old man shouted at the top of his lungs: "Everyone get up, we've made a discovery."

  I was woken up by the explosion, which made me admire Wen Long once again. When I was still in a daze, I found that he had already gotten up and was full of energy. What's even more admirable is Su Yi, who was clearly asleep and didn't wake up even with the thunder-like sound of the explosion. I had to push her hard to wake her up.

  She was woken up by me and obviously wasn't very happy, saying loudly: "What's going on? I was sleeping!"

  I saw the old man taking Wen Long and Wu Feng to the largest carving, so I quickly stood up and said to Su Yi: "The old man has made a discovery." As I spoke, I chased after them.

  Su Yi was the last to arrive in front of the sculpture, and the old man glared at her with some dissatisfaction. I saw Su Yi make a face at the old man and then say: "Dad, I'm sleeping, what did you find?"

  The old man said seriously: "During work hours, do not use personal titles."

  Su Yi said with a smile: "Yes, yes, Captain Lao, what did you find?"

  The old man glared at her again, but it was clear that he had no way with her, so he returned to the subject and said, "Drought."

  We nodded together, this sculpture is very vivid, no need to say, anyone with a little common sense can see it. I knew the old man was just making an opening remark. Sure enough, he continued to ask: "Why drought?"

  We looked at each other, and this question really stumped us. Why the drought? If we had to give a specific reason, it would be very difficult. All I knew was that there was less water, so naturally it was dry. We shook our heads together again, looking blankly at the old man, hoping he would give an answer. The old man didn't say anything, but just pointed his hand at the ceiling.

  We looked up together, and on top of our heads were those ten spherical plants emitting light. Wu Feng obviously reacted first. He said: "The sun is the ten suns. Because there are ten suns in the sky."

  I feel a sense of familiarity, isn't this the same as Hou Yi shooting down the sun?

  In mythological legend, during the time of Hou Yi, ten suns appeared in the sky, burning grass and crops to a crisp. To save the people, Hou Yi shot down nine of the suns, making the climate on earth suitable for growth. He also killed fierce beasts and poisonous snakes, ridding the people of harm. The people thus revered him as the "God of Archery". Of course, in mythological legend, there was a famous woman by Hou Yi's side, so famous that her story spread even more widely than his - Chang'e, who flew to the moon.

  "I said: 'Old man, you're saying that the carvings here tell the story of Hou Yi shooting down the sun, but I don't see any scenes of him shooting arrows.'"

  "What if our thinking has been wrong from the very beginning?"

  I said: "Old man, your words have left me bewildered and perplexed, I don't even know how to understand them."

  The old man cleared his throat and relieved his excitement, saying: "Our mythological stories are all compiled in a state that people can understand. For example, when Hou Yi shoots the sun, he must use something to shoot it. In ancient times, there was only bow and arrow, so we see in mythological stories or TV works, Hou Yi always uses bow and arrow. But this idea is wrong."

  We all remained silent, and I was quietly digesting the old man's words in my heart. The old man continued to say: "Actually, from now on, the sun is a fixed star. With a bow and arrow, it's not possible to shoot at the sun, let alone get out of the atmosphere."

  "Right, so Hou Yi shooting down the sun was just a myth after all."

  The old man waved his hand at him, indicating that he shouldn't interrupt, and continued: "It's not a mythological story, Hou Yi shooting the sun is real, these carvings are evidence, you see." He led us to the carving of a man and a woman, pointing at the man and saying: "This is Hou Yi, the woman is Chang'e, they're observing the sun."

  We followed the direction of their gaze and indeed looked at the ten round ball plants on the top. The old man continued to take us to the carving I saw first, pointing at the chimney and saying: "This is what Hou Yi really used to shoot the sun."

  His words stunned us all, holding a pipe to shoot the sun, unheard of. The old man didn't think about letting us speak at all, he continued: "Don't you find that this thing looks like something?"

  I said: "Chimney."

  Wen Long looked at it and said: "This is a cannon, an unimaginably large cannon."

  The old man pointed at Wen Long and said, "You're right, this is a cannon, but not the kind of cannon we think of today. What it shoots out isn't an ordinary shell." He led us to the carving with the ellipse and asked, pointing at the ellipse, "What's this? Do you know?"

  Everyone was stunned this time, and the old man's question became more and more profound. The old man continued: "This is what the cannon fired out, this thing should be an energy ball, it is round in shape, but at high speed, so it appears as an elliptical shape."

  I took a closer look, and the fluff on the ellipse was all in one direction, which is exactly where that smoke pipe is. Now it should be called the muzzle of a cannon. If you say it's from that cannon, it's plausible.

  "Good heavens!" Su Yi suddenly exclaimed loudly: "Could this cannon have fired a black hole?"

  The old man walked up to the carving of that whirlpool and said, "Although it's incomprehensible, I have to admit that this is indeed a black hole." He pointed at some of the fine lines and said, "These should be the stars swallowed by the black hole, including the Sun."

  Everyone fell silent. Incomprehensible, unimaginable, unspeakable... I really can't find any words to describe my current feelings.

  "Wen Long stuttered: 'Old master... this is impossible... at that time... it's impossible to build...'"

  Although he didn't finish speaking, we all understood what he meant because that's also what we wanted to ask. The old man was silent for a long time before slowly saying: "This isn't impossible."

  Wu Feng said at this time: "I saw in a certain issue of the magazine that the European Nuclear Center has established a large strong-interacting hadron collider, which seems to be able to collide positrons, and it is said that it can simulate the Big Bang of the universe. Could it be..."

  The old man said: "Yes, if humans can simulate the Big Bang of the universe, then they can also simulate the black holes that exist in the universe. This is not impossible, it's just that we can't do it yet."

  "I said: 'Old man, if we can't do it now, how could people in ancient times have done it?'"

  The old man thought for a moment and said, "I don't understand this either, but that's what these carvings show." He walked towards the carvings of people celebrating and said, "These are people celebrating because Hou Yi shooting down the sun brought benefits to them."

  Finally, he walked to the carving of ascending to the throne and said: "This is a narrative of Hou Yi becoming king. If these carvings are real, then during the Xia Dynasty, people were already able to manufacture cannons that could shoot black holes."