Did You Destroy the World Today?
Chapter 42: Cosmic Filter

The solar halo phenomenon lasted a full half hour.  

But the bizarre spectacle of the "distorted sun" only lasted a few minutes.  

Still, those few minutes were enough.  

Lin Xu took many photos of Jiang Xingye, and the two of them left feeling quite satisfied.  

After descending the mountain, Lin Xu took Jiang Xingye to have lunch. At the table, they opened short videos, and just as Jiang Xingye had said, the entire trending list on the short video platform was dominated by this solar halo phenomenon.  

“Epic solar halo! Global simultaneous viewing!”  

“Are the Trisolarans coming? The sun has drastically changed!”  

“Today’s sun looks like it's in love…”  

“Hey family, I’m currently at a ranch in Texas, USA. Why don’t I see any solar halo?”  

Lin Xu scrolled through them one by one, while Jiang Xingye focused on reviewing her own photos.  

“So strange.”  

Jiang Xingye zoomed in on a photo with a frown and said,  

“The shape of this sun is too weird… It doesn’t seem related to the solar halo at all.”  

“Not related to the solar halo?”  

Lin Xu was momentarily stunned.  

“Isn’t this the standard solar halo phenomenon?”  

“The outer ring is indeed a standard solar halo,” Jiang Xingye said as she switched seats to sit next to Lin Xu, holding her phone screen up in front of him. Then she continued,  

“But look, in several photos, the shape of the sun is different.”  

“Triangles, quadrilaterals, stars, hearts…”  

“If it were just a solar halo, caused by high-altitude ice crystal clouds refracting light, it shouldn’t produce these effects.”  

“How should I put it… do you know about those star-shaped camera filters?”  

“I do.”  

Lin Xu nodded.  

He actually did know about this—not because he was a photographer, but simply from seeing it on short video platforms.  

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

With this mask, when taking photos, the out-of-focus light points would change shape in sync with the light’s angle of incidence.  

Hearts, pentagrams, cat faces…  

Everything imaginable.  

But what does that have to do with the sun?  

“You mean someone put a filter in front of the sun?”  

“Exactly! A cosmic-level filter!”  

Jiang Xingye leaned in mysteriously, her breath directly blowing on Lin Xu’s face.  

A little ticklish.  

“You think this might be some kind of space weapon test?”  

“…Your imagination is a bit too wild.”  

Lin Xu laughed helplessly.  

“What weapon could possibly change the sun’s shape to this extent? A Dyson sphere?”  

“Not necessarily.”  

Jiang Xingye shrugged.  

“Maybe it’s some kind of starlink or high-altitude satellites.”  

“To achieve this effect, it doesn’t have to be a Dyson sphere. Cosmic ray interference could also do it.”  

“Don’t you think it’s very abnormal?”  

“Look at the short videos, none of the official media has come out to explain or popularize the phenomenon.”  

“According to the usual Chinese propaganda style, they treat any big hot topic like their life depends on it.”  

“If they’re keeping quiet… unless it really can’t be explained at all, then… most likely it’s something made by their own people.”  

“What do you think is more likely?”  

This question caught Lin Xu off guard.  

Honestly, if judging by common sense, the latter possibility was indeed more probable.  

But Lin Xu faintly felt that things weren’t that simple.  

The apocalypse was destined to arrive twenty years from now, but what exactly it was, he still had no clue.  

Could it be that this strange “solar halo” he was seeing now was one of the signs of the apocalypse’s arrival?  

Lin Xu’s mood shifted instantly.  

He furrowed his brow and said,  

“Hopefully it’s something we did ourselves…”  

“If it’s not us, then this is… a bit eerie.”  

“That’s not really eerie at all.”  

Jiang Xingye shrugged carelessly.  

“The universe is so vast; there are many celestial phenomena we can’t explain.”  

“Think about it, our history of observing celestial phenomena is only a few thousand years.”  

“But in terms of the universe’s scale, many strange phenomena appear only once every hundreds of thousands or even millions of years.”  

“Maybe we’re just lucky?”  

“True.”  

Lin Xu nodded and lightly brushed past the topic.  

He held back a sentence he didn’t say.  

It might not be luck at all.  

If this really was a sign of the apocalypse, then humanity’s luck was utterly terrible…  

However, for now, he couldn’t tell Jiang Xingye this.  

He could only keep silent.  

At that moment, the dishes they ordered were served.  

Jiang Xingye stayed put and sat beside Lin Xu.  

Lin Xu suddenly realized and asked,  

“You said that on purpose, didn’t you?”  

“You deliberately moved to sit next to me, didn’t you?”  

“…I’m coming over right now!”  

Jiang Xingye glared angrily at Lin Xu.  

Lin Xu quickly grabbed her arm and smiled,  

“Just sit here, this is nice…”  

…  

After the meal, Lin Xu took Jiang Xingye to the mall, played claw machines, and watched a movie.  

They basically did everything a couple in the ambiguous stage should do.  

Their relationship was rapidly growing closer. Whenever Lin Xu glanced at Jiang Xingye, he felt a flutter in his heart.  

Honestly, a girl like her was hard not to like.  

Good looks, strong abilities, and most importantly, she treated him with unique enthusiasm.  

This feeling of being “specially treated” was something Lin Xu had only seen in borderline livestreamer video captions before.  

To experience it himself was genuinely intoxicating.  

But Lin Xu was a little confused about whether he really liked Jiang Xingye or if it was just because of her identity as his “ex-wife.”  

—But does that matter?  

Let it be natural.  

They played until after dinner before heading back. Lin Xu accompanied Jiang Xingye to her door. Suddenly, she clung to the door, her eyes mischievous as she asked,  

“Want to come in for a bit?”  

“…In that case, I must graciously accept.”  

Lin Xu pretended to push the door open, but Jiang Xingye slammed it shut with a clap and laughed,  

“Dream on!”  

“I’m going to take a shower!”  

“Protect my water bottle! Drink more goji berries!”  

Lin Xu could only laugh helplessly as he watched her hang the water bottle back on his shoulder. He then turned and entered the elevator to go home.  

He hadn’t checked his WeChat messages for most of the day. When he finally took out his phone, a message from Ren Jian had already arrived.  

“Lin Xu, the upfront payment for acquiring Donghua Chemical Fiber Factory has basically been settled.”  

“The price is 50 million, including the bundled sale of all equipment, technology assets, and existing human resources.”  

“If you have no objections, we can start the final round of negotiations on Monday and finalize the acquisition.”  

That fast??  

Lin Xu was dumbfounded.  

To be honest, he had never seen an acquisition process go this quickly.  

Even buying a street stall would take days of back-and-forth negotiations.  

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

He had an indescribable strong confidence in himself and the prospects of these two sets of materials.  

Where did this confidence come from?  

He didn’t understand.  

But it didn’t matter.  

No matter why he dared to bet, at least Lin Xu could be sure he bet right.  

Accelerate, accelerate, accelerate!  

Lin Xu replied to Ren Jian with confirmation and also synced with Xu Jin.  

Then, he quickly took a shower and lay down on his bed.  

The number on his bracelet had already returned to 3, and now he clearly felt that he was in good condition.  

It was time to do something big.  

Break into Purple Mountain Observatory!  

Take control of Deep Space Observation Station!  

Establish contact with Jiang Xingye!  

Oh, and try to find clues about this “abnormal celestial phenomenon.”  

If this abnormal phenomenon really had to do with the apocalypse…  

Then without a doubt, it would be of great significance to his search for the truth behind the apocalypse.  

Lin Xu gently touched the bracelet, and the next second, his consciousness drifted high above in the sky…