Chapter 1  The Radiant Meteor Shower

20xx, autumn, T city.

Astronomical data show that the active period of the Radiant meteor shower is very long, from late September to late November. Due to the high declination of the radiant point, the observation conditions in the northern hemisphere are better, so they are also called meteor showers throughout the autumn of the northern hemisphere. And this meteor shower may be accompanied by bright fireballs. Astronomical forecasts show that this year's Radiant meteor shower will usher in the maximum on the 13th, and it will be visible all night, which is very beneficial for observation in the northern hemisphere.

In fact, meteor showers are not very rare, but it is not easy to see a meteor shower due to external factors such as weather, time, and location.

A few days before and after the maximum, as long as the weather is fine, choose a place away from light interference, find a place with a wide view facing the southeast sky, and look up patiently in the southeast direction from 22:00, and you may be able to witness the beautiful and bright "fireball" with a long tail elegantly passing by.

For any astronomy enthusiast, this is a long-awaited surprise and an opportunity not to be missed.

Li Ming is one of the astronomy enthusiasts. He drove here alone, away from the noisy city, to the mountains in the suburbs, which is the best place to watch. He just waited for this moment to come.

He turned on his phone and read the news about the fireball. Then he looked at the time on his phone, 21:40.

Li Ming opened the car door and came to the ground in front of the car. That was the carpet that Li Ming had laid out before. It was most comfortable to lie on it and watch the meteor shower.

Watching a meteor shower is not like watching galaxies, nebulae and other things. They are waiting for you one minute earlier or later. Meteors are very hateful things. They disappear in an instant, so you have to make the most of the observation time.

Moreover, meteor showers are not like rain, where large groups of meteors appear. There is a certain time interval in between. Sometimes only one or two meteors appear in an hour.

Li Ming lay quietly on the carpet. The soft cushion was very comfortable. He looked up at the bright starry sky, waiting for the beauty of the moment. In the quiet environment, Li Ming always liked to fantasize. He was already 28 years old and worked alone in another place. He had no girlfriend, no house, and only a car paid in installments.

His introverted personality made him taciturn, but more often he was thinking, thinking about life, thinking about the confused future. The silence at this moment eased his complex emotions. Who doesn't have such pressure when working outside?

Unconsciously, the mobile phone made a beeping sound. Li Ming picked up the phone and took a look. It was the alarm. At 22:00, in the southeast direction, the meteor shower was coming.

Li Ming stared at the sky motionlessly. Several stars were particularly bright. Suddenly, more than a dozen bright spots suddenly appeared. Li Ming sat up excitedly, staring at the dozen bright spots without blinking.

"Oh my... fire meteor..." Li Ming said to himself in surprise.

Although he knew that there might be fireballs during the astronomical forecast, the appearance of more than a dozen of them at once was really exciting. Li Ming stood up from the carpet and stared at that direction, as if he could get closer to them by standing up.

A few seconds later, Li Ming's excited expression suddenly disappeared. The dozen fireballs did not burn and disappear in the atmosphere, but fell rapidly to the earth with long flames.

More than half of the dozen fireballs disappeared from Li Ming's sight, but three flew towards Li Ming at a very fast speed, getting closer and closer. Li Ming subconsciously covered his head with his arms, feeling that the fireball was about to hit him.

'Swoosh'

It seemed that something passed over his head, and the surrounding mountains were instantly illuminated, just like daytime, and a fireball passed over Li Ming's head.

Li Ming turned around and looked, only to see that the fireball disappeared into a forest in the night sky.

At this moment, Li Ming's heartbeat quickened a lot, and he breathed a sigh of relief. The scene just now came too suddenly, and he didn't even have time to be afraid. Although it was not burned up by the atmosphere, what was left was very small, maybe only an egg-sized meteorite was left.

A light sound of "pop" was heard, and a ball of transparent liquid fell on Li Ming's shoulder.

"Ah!" Li Ming jumped with a scream, and it felt like someone patted you on the shoulder.

Li Ming quickly looked around, and there was silence under the night sky, nothing. Li Ming subconsciously touched his left shoulder with his right hand, and there was nothing except clothes.

Li Ming took a long breath and thought to himself: Is it an illusion?

Sighing slightly, shaking his head gently, it may be that the pressure of life is too great, or it may be that the fire meteor that just passed by made him too scared. Looking at the starry sky in the distance, Li Ming couldn't help but say to himself: "Forget it, let's go back."

Li Ming leaned over to pick up the carpet on the ground, but as soon as he lowered his body, he found a strange thing on the carpet.

This thing is only the size of an egg and is in liquid form, just like a transparent balloon filled with water, but it also emits a faint light. The light is not transparent, but the starlight inside this liquid sphere.

It seems that this liquid sphere is filled with stars in the sky, which is very beautiful. Li Ming looked around again, and there was no one, and it was still so quiet.

What is this thing? Where did it come from? Li Ming was confused, and then Li Ming carefully touched it with his fingers. It was soft and very smooth.

Li Ming carefully pinched it with his hands, and there was no change. It was very elastic. Then he took it in his hand and put it in front of his eyes. After a closer look, this transparent sphere swayed slightly in the center of his palm, like jelly.

Li Ming held it close to his eyes and couldn't help but exclaimed: Wow... Oh my...

There were bright lights smaller than rice grains flashing in the sphere, and it seemed that there was something rotating inside, just like the solar system in space, with groups of light spots rotating slightly. This magical scene made Li Ming feel as if he was in the vast universe.

The more he invested, the more he felt that he was in that universe. That feeling was like Li Ming holding a universe in his hand, and every part of this "universe" was in Li Ming's control.

Li Ming opened his mouth wide, and couldn't believe what he saw, couldn't believe this magical feeling, the beauty was fascinating, the vastness of the starry sky universe was intoxicating, and made people yearn for it.

‘Puff’

Suddenly, a sound was heard, and Li Ming only felt a ball of liquid enter his throat. The liquid ball in his hand had completely disappeared, and this thing actually jumped into his mouth.

“Cough… cough cough… cough cough cough…”

Li Ming bent over and coughed hard, trying to cough this thing out, but no matter how hard he tried, there was no response. Li Ming immediately became a little worried, and his expression became panic.

“Fuck, I won’t die.” Li Ming said to himself in panic, thinking quickly about what to do.

Yes, induce vomiting. Li Ming squatted down and put his fingers into his throat. A feeling of nausea immediately appeared. Yes, that’s it. Li Ming secretly told himself and continued to fiddle with his fingers in his throat.

This is also a little common sense in life. This is a good method after accidentally eating something, but vomiting is not easy. Although the length of the fingers can stimulate the gastrointestinal reaction by going deep into the throat, it still has little effect.

At this time, Li Ming just wanted to vomit quickly and stimulate his throat more vigorously. Although it felt very uncomfortable, he had to continue to stimulate it vigorously. I can do it! Li Ming said to himself, as the feeling became heavier, finally.

"Hua La La..."

A large pool of liquid was vomited out, and the vomiting was successful. Li Ming breathed a sigh of relief and sat down on the ground. After taking a few deep breaths, Li Ming sat up again. He felt sticky in his mouth, and then vomited a few times to vomit out the vomit residue in his mouth. At this time, Li Ming looked at what he vomited. In the dark night sky, he only felt a large piece, but he couldn't see anything clearly.

Li Ming took out his mobile phone, found a branch from the side, and turned on the rear light of the mobile phone. Well, it was indeed a bit disgusting, but I had to see if the thing was vomited out. If not, I had to go to the hospital.

Li Ming used a wooden stick to scrape the undigested residue. Soon, a ball of liquid with a faint light appeared under the light. Li Ming breathed a sigh of relief and couldn't help but mutter to himself: "Fortunately, fortunately..."

"Puff"

The liquid ball suddenly jumped again and entered Li Ming's throat again. Li Ming quickly threw away the mobile phone stick, continued to cough hard and pinched his neck, but the ball of liquid was like water, and it just slid into his stomach.

"Fuck you, your sister..." Li Ming said angrily.

He finally vomited it out, but it suddenly jumped in again. Li Ming, who was angry and panicked, stopped vomiting. After rolling up the carpet casually, he said to himself: "Let's go to the hospital."

Throwing the carpet casually to the back seat of the car, Li Ming entered the driver's seat. Just as he was about to start the car, he remembered that he didn't take his mobile phone. Li Ming got out of the car again. There was a bright light on the ground not far away, which was the rear light of Li Ming's mobile phone.

Li Ming had just taken a few steps when he suddenly felt dizzy and weak all over, as if the world was spinning. His vision began to blur, and he fell to the ground with a thump.

Li Ming wanted to open his eyes with all his strength, but he couldn't use any strength in his body. He could only slowly close his hazy eyes, as if closing his eyes was the most comfortable. He couldn't resist, so he might as well relax. The only remaining consciousness in his mind echoed a sentence: "I won't die like this, can I? Someone passing by come and save me..."

In the wild mountains and ridges, everything returned to calm. The starry sky in the sky gradually dimmed, and the earth gradually brightened. The darkness of the night was slowly being driven away by the coming light. The sun in the east was slowly rising, and the light of the morning sun passed through the gaps between the branches and leaves to warm the earth again.

Li Ming's eyes trembled slightly. Before he opened his eyes, he felt that the strong light had already stimulated his visual nerves through his eyelids. He subconsciously raised his right arm to cover his eyes. Li Ming opened his eyes and felt that there seemed to be something in his right hand.

He turned his right hand and found it was his own mobile phone. Li Ming then sat up, his whole body sore and painful, as if he had done physical work all night. He was powerless all over. He looked at the phone in his hand again and saw a bunch of English codes on the screen, just like a computer blue screen.

Li Ming didn't pay attention to the changes in his phone. He checked around first. His car was still there. Everything was the same as before. There was no change at all. His heavy head felt dizzy. What happened before he fell into a coma last night began to blur, just like a dream.

Li Ming patted his head gently with his left hand, took a long breath, and looked at the phone in his hand. He pressed a key with his finger until it turned off and then pressed the key again.

After the phone restarted, there was still 5% battery left. The time was 07:35. At this time, Li Ming suddenly thought of something: I have to go to work today.

Li Ming quickly got up and entered the car, inserted the key and started the car directly. After turning the car around, he drove down the mountain road. From the ring road, it was the provincial road leading to the city. It took 30 minutes to drive along the provincial road to T City.

Li Ming turned on the radio in the car while driving, and took out a bottle of water from the seat. He felt dry and his mouth was a little sticky. He opened the bottle cap and prepared to take a sip to rinse his mouth. However, just as the bottle mouth reached his mouth, before he started to drink, the bottle of water went directly into his stomach through his throat.

"Huh?" Li Ming looked puzzled. The bottle in his hand had become an empty bottle. The bottle of water disappeared in less than a second, and there was no extra water next to the seat. Li Ming was a little surprised, but still felt a little thirsty. Maybe he was too thirsty. Li Ming didn't care too much. He threw the empty bottle aside and continued to drive on his way.

"According to reports, the meteor shower peaked at double digits last night, October 13. An astronomy enthusiast filmed the entire process. The characteristics of this meteor shower are long traces, slow speed, and very bright. Many netizens even posted the most exciting moments of this meteor shower online through videos for everyone to enjoy. Although there is no immersive feeling, this meteor shower still brings a lot of shock to many astronomy enthusiasts. This meteor shower will last until late November. Some experts remind that when watching the meteor shower, try to find an open place and avoid tall buildings or mountains. At the same time, they also remind everyone to keep warm when watching. The next piece of news is..." Li Ming raised his hand to turn off the radio and continued to focus on his journey.