Did the world end today?

Chapter 42 Cosmic Filter
The solar halo lasted for a full half hour.

But the spectacular sight of the "distorted sun" only lasted for a few minutes.

However, a few minutes is enough.

Lin Xu took many photos of Jiang Xingye, and the two of them returned home satisfied.

After descending the mountain, Lin Xu took Jiang Xingye to lunch. At the table, they opened a short video platform, and just as Jiang Xingye had said, the entire platform's trending topics were dominated by the solar halo phenomenon.

"An epic solar halo! Watched simultaneously worldwide!"

"The Trisolarans have attacked? The sun has changed drastically!"

"I captured a picture of a sun with a lovestruck mind today."

"Hi everyone, I'm currently on a ranch in Texas, USA. Why don't I see a solar halo?"

Lin Xu scrolled through the photos one by one, while Jiang Xingye on the other side was focused on looking at his own pictures.

"very strange."

Jiang Xingye reached out to zoom in on the photo, frowning as he said:

"The shape of this sun is so strange, it doesn't seem to have anything to do with a solar halo."

"It has nothing to do with the solar halo?"

Lin Xu was stunned for a moment.

"Isn't this a classic solar halo phenomenon?"

"The outer part is indeed a standard solar halo phenomenon."

Jiang Xingye moved to sit next to Lin Xu, held up his phone screen to Lin Xu's face, and continued:
"But look, the shape of the sun is different in several photos."

"Triangles, quadrilaterals, stars, hearts."

"If it were simply a solar halo phenomenon, the refraction from high-altitude ice crystal clouds shouldn't have achieved this effect."

"How should I put it? Do you know those star filters in photography?"

"know."

Lin Xu nodded.

He actually knew about it—not because he could take photos, but simply because he had seen it on a short video platform.

The so-called star filter is simply a mask with a dense array of specially shaped holes placed in front of the camera lens.

With this mask added, when taking a photo, the light spots outside the focus will change shape synchronously due to the difference in the shape of the incident light.

What about heart shapes, five-pointed star shapes, and cat face shapes?
Have everything.

But what does this thing have to do with the sun?

"You mean, someone put a filter in front of the sun?"

"Yeah! A cosmic-level filter!"

Jiang Xingye leaned closer to Lin Xu mysteriously, his breath blowing directly onto Lin Xu's face.

A little itchy.

"Do you think this could be some kind of space weapon test?"

"Your imagination is really running wild."

Lin Xu was both amused and exasperated.

"What weapon could alter the shape of the sun to this extent? A Dyson sphere?"

"Not necessarily."

Jiang Xingye shrugged.

"It might be something like Starlink or a high-altitude satellite."

"Achieving this effect doesn't necessarily require a Dyson sphere; cosmic ray interference can also do it."

Don't you think this is very unusual?

"If you watch short videos, you'll see that not a single official media outlet has come out to explain or popularize the science."

"Given the way the Lao-Chinese propaganda department operates, they would feel like they'd be dead if they didn't capitalize on such a hot topic."

"If someone can remain silent, it's either because there's absolutely no way to explain it, or it's most likely something their own people did."

Which possibility do you think is more likely?

This question stumped Lin Xu.

Honestly, if we follow common sense, the latter possibility is more likely.

But Lin Xu had a vague feeling that things weren't so simple.

The end times are destined to come in 20 years, but what exactly they are, they have no idea.

Is it possible that the strange "sun halo" I'm seeing now is one of the signs of the end of the world?

Lin Xu's mood changed instantly.

He frowned and began to speak:
"Hopefully we did it ourselves."

"If I didn't do it myself, then this is a bit strange."

"That's not weird at all."

Jiang Xingye shrugged indifferently.

"The universe is so vast that there are many celestial phenomena that cannot be explained." "Think about it, the history of our observation of celestial phenomena is only a few thousand years."

"But in reality, on a cosmic scale, many unusual celestial phenomena only occur once every hundreds of thousands or millions of years."

"Maybe we were just lucky?"

"Too."

Lin Xu nodded, lightly brushing aside the topic.

He had something on his mind that he didn't say aloud.

It's not necessarily because we were lucky.

If this is indeed a sign of the end of the world, then the luck of all humankind is truly terrible.
However, he couldn't say this to Jiang Xingye for the time being.

Just shut up.

Just then, the dishes we ordered were served.

Jiang Xingye did not change seats, but sat down next to Lin Xu.

Lin Xu suddenly realized what was happening and asked:
"You said that on purpose, didn't you?"

"You deliberately moved to sit next to me, didn't you?"

"I'm coming right now!"

Jiang Xingye glared angrily at Lin Xu.

Lin Xu quickly grabbed her arm and said with a grin:

"Sit here, it's fine to sit here."

After the meal, Lin Xu took Jiang Xingye shopping, playing claw machines, and watching a movie.

It's fair to say they did everything that couples in the ambiguous stage of a relationship would do.

The two were getting closer quickly, and Lin Xu felt a flutter in his heart whenever he occasionally glanced at Jiang Xingye.

Honestly, no one would dislike a girl like her.

She's good-looking, capable, and most importantly, she has a unique passion for herself.

Lin Xu had only ever seen this feeling of being "specially treated" in the video scripts of borderline livestreamers before.

When it actually happens to you, it can be really addictive.

But Lin Xu was a little confused about whether he truly liked Jiang Xingye or was only attracted to her because of her status as his "ex-wife".
-
But does it matter?
let it go.

The two played until dinner before heading back. Jiang Xingye was escorted to the door when he suddenly clung to it, his eyes gleaming mischievously as he asked:
"Do you want to come in and do it?"

"Then I shall respectfully accept your offer."

Lin Xu made a move to push the door open and go in, but Jiang Xingye slammed the door shut and laughed loudly, saying:

"Think beautifully!"

"I'm going to take a shower!"

"Take good care of my water bottle! Drink more goji berry tea!"

Lin Xu looked at the water cup that had been hung back on his shoulder, both amused and exasperated, then turned and entered the elevator back home.

After not checking WeChat messages for most of the day, when I took out my phone again, Ren Jian's message had already arrived.

"Lin Xu, the acquisition price for Donghua Chemical Fiber Factory has been basically agreed upon."

"The entire equipment, technology, and existing human resources of the company will be sold for a package price of 5000 million."

"If you have no problems, we can start the final round of negotiations on Monday and finalize the acquisition."

So fast?

Lin Xu was dumbfounded.

To be honest, he had never seen an acquisition go on so quickly.

Even just set up a street stall would take several days of back and forth, right?

Ren Jian seems to be pushing this matter forward with all his might.

He had an indescribable and strong confidence in himself and in the prospects of the two documents.

Where does this confidence come from?
I don't understand.

But it's okay.

Regardless of why he dared to gamble, Lin Xu was certain that he had made the right bet.

Speed ​​up! Speed ​​up! Speed ​​up!
Lin Xu sent Ren Jian the confirmation message and also notified Xu Jin.

Immediately afterwards, he took a quick shower and lay down on the bed.

The number on his wristband has returned to 3, and now he clearly feels that he is in a very good condition.

It's time to do something big.

Break into the Purple Mountain Observatory!

Control deep space observation stations!
Establish contact with Jiang Xingye!

Oh, and while we're at it, let's see if we can find any clues about this "abnormal celestial phenomenon".

If this unusual celestial phenomenon is indeed related to the end of the world...
That would undoubtedly be of great significance to his work in finding the truth about the end times.

Lin Xu gently touched the bracelet, and the next second, his consciousness floated high in the sky.
(End of this chapter)