Chapter 472: Two Cheng Pings_1

At that moment, Logic steadied his mind, knowing that now was not the time to talk about his own experiences.

He descended the gangway unhurriedly and began shaking hands with the first person, "Thank you all for such a warm welcome."

Then the second, the third, and when he shook hands with Cheng Ping, Logic whispered during the handshake, "Come to my place tonight."

Cheng Ping was slightly startled but then nodded repeatedly.

Among those who came to welcome Logic was also his wife, Zhuang Yan, who was sent to Pluto during Shelter 66 years.

The conditions on Pluto were harsh, so Logic had asked the Solar System State to send his wife to join their daughter.

The two of them embraced briefly upon meeting, as it was not appropriate to be too intimate in such a setting.

After the handshakes, everyone also asked Logic to give a speech.

Although Earth was facing an unknown crisis at the moment, it was clear that Logic's arrival had greatly encouraged everyone.

After the welcoming ceremony, there was a reception banquet to attend.

By the time Logic had finished with these public activities, it was already the afternoon, and he rested for a while in the quarters arranged for him, accompanied by his daughter and his wife.

After dinner, Logic called Zhuang Yue over, "I have a very important matter to investigate tonight, and I need your cooperation."

Zhuang Yue was initially startled, then she laughed and said, "It seems mother has snitched after all. Well, alright, I'll come clean."

She sat down next to Logic with a smile, "I indeed found someone I like, and I was planning to introduce him to you in a few days."

Logic pinched the bridge of his nose, "Unintentionally cracked a major case."

He then asked with a benevolent smile, "Which lucky young man is it?"

Zhuang Yue was born at the beginning of the crisis, but she had entered long hibernations shortly after her birth, and later, during her military service in the Solar System State, she had been awake for several decades in a row.

After that, she underwent hibernation several more times for work, so now she was just over ninety years old.

In an environment where the average life expectancy in the Solar System State had reached around 220 years old, she was still considered middle-aged.

"He's a military software engineer at the Science Academy," Zhuang Yue introduced, "We met at work, and he may appear a bit stiff, but he's very humorous."

The topic started to gain momentum, and Logic cheerfully began asking how old he was? What were the main responsibilities in his job? Were his parents around?

The conversation naturally came to a halt when Cheng Ping arrived at the door.

Logic took a few deep breaths, trying hard to extricate himself from the warm family topics.

After a few seconds, Logic spoke solemnly, "Tonight's discussion is to be witnessed by Zhuang Yue, and afterwards, you two will decide how the investigation should be conducted."

Cheng Ping was startled, as he had initially thought Logic had invited him for a nostalgic visit. Why had it suddenly become so serious?

Logic addressed the room's intelligent computer, "Please play the video I just transmitted."

The content of this video was naturally the conversation between Logic and Cheng Ping on the spaceship.

Upon seeing the video, both Cheng Ping and Zhuang Yue were quite astonished.

Cheng Ping immediately fell into a state of self-doubt, as he had no memory of having talked with Logic on the spaceship.

Zhuang Yue recalled that a few days ago her father had mentioned talking with Cheng Ping on the spaceship; she had thought her father was joking or had dreamed about it because he missed his old friend too much.

Now it seemed that it wasn't what she had anticipated; after all, her father wouldn't have fabricated a video for such a pointless joke.

The two Cheng Pings were quite easy to distinguish: the Cheng Ping sitting next to Logic had white temples too, but did not look old. The Cheng Ping in the video showed clear signs of age.

The video wasn't long, and after it ended, Cheng Ping asked the intelligent computer to play it again.

He had been too shocked to pay much attention to the conversation in the video before.

After the video played for the second time, the lights in the room gradually brightened.

Cheng Ping fell into deep thought, and after half a minute, feeling the gazes of Logic and Zhuang Yue, he finally said with a bitter smile, "I don't know what's going on either."

Zhuang Yue speculated, "Could someone be impersonating you?"

Cheng Ping sighed deeply, "I don't know, but there is one thing I need to tell you both, I indeed have had the dreams mentioned in the video.

"At first, they were just some vague dreamscapes, but as I got older, these dreams became clearer.

"Especially in recent years, every time I woke up from a sleep, I would feel for a long time that it was an experience I had actually had.

"And I haven't told anyone about this."

Cheng Ping spread his hands, "To me, they were just very vivid dreams, I always thought that sense of reality was my own illusion, but..."

But according to what Cheng Ping said in the video, it seemed like things were not that simple.

Logic stroked his beard, "So you're saying there really were two Cheng Pings at the same time?"

Cheng Ping and Zhuang Yue did not respond, as that was too far-fetched.

Also, the Cheng Ping in the video asked Teacher Luo Ji to hand a storage device to "the fifth person to shake hands with Luo Ji," and the two of them recalled the scene when they had greeted Luo Ji.

The fifth person, wasn't it Cheng Ping?

Cheng Ping was asking Luo Ji to hand something over to himself?

How strange did that sound?

Zhuang Yue asked Logic, "The storage device that appeared in the video?"

Logic pulled out the droplet-shaped storage device from his pocket, "It's encrypted."

He handed it to Cheng Ping, "Since it's for you, you should be able to open it."

Cheng Ping took the storage device, pondered for a moment, and then placed it on the room's multifunctional camera.

The smart computer prompted, "Please enter the password."

Then below the storage device, a grid of numerical keys was projected.

Cheng Ping entered the password with some trepidation, but it was successful on the first try.

The smart computer then asked, "Do you want to play the contents of the storage device?"

Cheng Ping first exchanged glances with Logic and Zhuang Yue, before saying, "Play it!"

The content in the storage device was another video.

The lights in the room dimmed again, and the playback began, showing Cheng Ping on the screen, but he seemed older, the same Cheng Ping as in the previous video.

He smiled and said, "Hello, myself!

"Yes, don't doubt it, I am you!"

Cheng Ping swallowed uncomfortably, could there really be another him?

Logic glanced at "Old Cheng Ping" on the screen and then at Cheng Ping sitting beside him, things seemed more complicated than he had anticipated.

The "Old Cheng Ping" in the video continued, "I guess that after Teacher Luo Ji saw the fifth person to shake his hand, he would deliver this video to you as quickly as possible.

"Well, recording this video, I wanted to give myself a reminder, but I also don't know whether I should have this reminder.

"Where to start? Hmm, let's start from the strange phenomenon you are researching right now.

"I know that after the failure of the probes' exploration, you have been actively assembling an expedition team, preparing to explore on your own.

"Now I want to persuade you not to go because many people will die, and you, or rather we, will also undergo some changes!

"So far, I don't know how this change happened, but my time has been reversed!

"To be clearer, today is April 2nd in my time, but tomorrow will be April 1st!"