Chapter 91: Chapter 93 The Great Artist

After saying farewell to his somewhat depressed classmate Yamamoto, Zhang Yuan floated in midair, lost in thought.

In the Star Library, one could look up and see the brilliant, boundless starry skies. All was silent, and one could only feel the utmost quietude.

He quite enjoyed this sense of solitude.

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He had gradually grown accustomed to the light, weightless sensation.

Due to the human body’s structure, when in zero gravity, the blood pressure in the brain is higher than usual, which can lead to a strangely heightened focus.

Now was a moment of pure reason, with nothing able to disturb him.

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He was attempting to compare all the research papers he had read, draw out their essence, and spawn a better method.

This state was like a hunter in the woods, tirelessly tracking traces of his prey over and over again.

Even though the forest had been searched countless times by countless hunters, he still indefatigably looked for what had been missed.

After mulling over it for four hours, he heaved a long sigh.

He did think of a few improvements.

But improvements were just improvements; they didn’t constitute a fundamental enhancement, nor were they the significant achievements he sought.

After some calculations, Zhang Yuan dismissed these few plans on his own.

“No, it’s still not good enough…”

This kind of frustration that came with failure had become all too familiar in recent months.

No wonder Yamamoto Ichiro wanted to become a sociologist. At least with “sociology,” as long as one was willing to put in the effort, churning out a paper was entirely doable.

Moreover, discussions on new civilizations were very popular, with countless experts on Earth feverishly churning out papers, offering various suggestions, acting as if they were the primary builders of civilization.

“Boundless starry skies, the sea of books is limitless. Sort through the past beside you, and don’t forget the way I looked when I came… Star Library welcomes you to honor us with another visit.”

Soft music suddenly started playing through the headset.

Whenever this piece of music was played, the library would close in half an hour.

Zhang Yuan lifted his head and realized there were hardly any people left in the room, only him and a middle-aged man nearby.

This middle-aged gentleman was named Elwin, a renowned painter whose worth was in the billions back on Earth.

As it turned out, at the peak of his career, Elwin made an unconventional choice—he donated all his wealth and followed the “Earth Era” to leave!

This decision led to a resurgence of Elwin’s fame.

After all, artists must have some idiosyncrasies—how else could one be called an artist? Personality and moral character are also forms of art.

However, from his interactions during this time, Zhang Yuan knew that this great painter was also perplexed by “inspiration.”

“Mr. Elwin, do you have any new masterpiece?” Zhang Yuan casually asked as he entered the orbital car.

“Nothing with particularly good inspiration, nor any good works,” Elwin handed his computer over to Zhang Yuan.

There was a computer-generated picture of the starry sky of Gliese 581g.

Art like this requires imagination and tension; it doesn’t seek to replicate reality and is entirely different from real photography.

Zhang Yuan looked closely and saw a glaze-colored sky, with an orange constant star rising in the east, accompanied by two moons, one in the east and another in the west.

It seemed like a world filled with hope.

“Is this our future Mother Star?”

“Yes, the imagined Mother Star, but personally, I don’t think I’ve done a good job,” Elwin responded.

Zhang Yuan contemplated it for a long while but didn’t feel a strong resonance.

He didn’t expect the future Mother Star to have an environment as beautiful as Earth’s. He was even prepared to encounter an environment like Saturn’s moon Titan, with its acid rain.

Of course, if such a scenario really happened, people would only be able to choose another planet for colonization. There were more than one planet in the Gliese 581 system—at least six.

The second image was a photographic representation of the Milky Way, its central disc like a ribbon of silver hanging in the sky. Countless stars shone brightly and vied for attention.

Despite the beauty of the painting, it seemed to lack something.

After looking through image after image, Zhang Yuan jokingly commented, “Mr. Elwin, why do your masterpieces sell for so much? Perhaps my artistic understanding is too low, but I really can’t tell what’s particularly good or bad.”

“You’re not wrong in your feeling. I, too, think that these works aren’t great; they lack a certain starry quality,” Elwin shook his head and said, “Why do they sell for so much? How should I know? Perhaps those who like the paintings understand art better than I do, or perhaps it’s for the hype… In any case, whatever I draft up, those people will automatically infuse it with meaning.”

Zhang Yuan couldn’t help but laugh heartily.

Elwin then said, “But before we reach Jupiter, I hope to leave behind a lasting masterpiece! A real masterpiece!”

The pinnacle of human starry sky art was Van Gogh’s “Starry Night,” which was so stunning that it completely transcended its era.

Any artist painting the Milky Way had to consider the pressure of being compared to Van Gogh.

Although Elwin was a famous painter, comparing him with the illustrious Van Gogh was still challenging.

“Perhaps, you see the universe as too lively,” Zhang Yuan said with a smile. “The real Universe is more like this…”

With a slight tap of his finger on the edge of the black screen, a white dot suddenly appeared there.

His skills were mediocre; the dot was skewed.

Then there was nothing else, just complete blackness around this solitary, dim white dot, emitting just a tiny bit of light.

Be it the total amount of matter in the Universe or human knowledge, this white dot was all there was, with nothing else beyond it.

Among the myriad worlds, there are always lonely souls, always some problems that can’t be solved.

This was Zhang Yuan’s revelation about Nature over the past few months; what we possess, compared to what we have never had, is far too little.

Elwin inexplicably felt that pure emotion.

He fell silent for a while, then said softly, “I don’t know why, but I feel like you’re the great artist. How about… you give up scientific research and learn painting with me?”

Zhang Yuan replied boldly, “Haha, every scientific researcher wants to grasp Nature’s true essence. The essence is very abstract, perhaps to the ordinary person, it holds a kind of aesthetic beauty as well.”

Elwin shook his head and said, “I really want to plagiarize this idea of yours; I’m almost certain it would make a fine masterpiece. Unfortunately, it belongs to you. Sometimes, simplicity doesn’t mean inferiority; simplicity can also be quite extraordinary…”

Zhang Yuan laughed again: “Perhaps, this idea could be a gift to you. Only a white dot painted by you could fetch a truly high price! The white dot I paint could only be tossed into the trash.”