Thistime,shedidn’taskaquestion。
Shesimplywhispered:“I’mlistening。”
Andtheplanetanswered。
Arumblerosefromdeepbelow,notseismic,butsemantic?asiftectonicplateswererecitingpoetrywritteninfaultlines。Acrossoceans,riversreversedflowforexactlysevenseconds。Desertsbloomedwithflowersthatonlyopenedatnight,petalsinscribedwithmathematicalsymbolsdescribingthecurvatureofdoubt。
InBeijing,agrandmotherwateringplantsonherbalconysuddenlyrememberedadreamshe’dhadatageeight:herselfwritingalettertothemoon,askingwhyshadowsexist。Shewentinside,foundoldpaper,andwroteitagain。Thatnight,lunarreconnaissanceimagesshowedanewcratershapedexactlylikeaquestionmark。
InRiodeJaneiro,astreetmusicianstrummedabrokenguitar,hummingwithoutlyrics。Passersbypaused,thenjoinedin,eachaddinganotebornnotfromtraining,butfrommemoryofamomentthey’doncewonderedaboutlife。Withinminutes,themelodycoalescedintoachordsoharmonicallyperfectitcausedglasswindowstovibrateintofractalpatterns。
Theseeventsmultiplied。
Notmiracles。Notcoincidences。Resonances。
Theuniverse,itseemed,haddevelopedatasteforquestions。
Monthspassed。Years。
TheAgeofAnswersfadedintohistorytextbookslabeled“TheGreatDelusion。”Educationsystemsrestructuredaroundinquiry-basedlearning。Legalcourtsalloweddefendantstopresentcounter-questionsinsteadofdefenses。Diplomacyshiftedfromnegotiationtomutualwondering。Warsceasednotbecausepeacewasachieved,butbecausenonationcouldjustifyviolencewithoutfirstanswering:*Whatfeardrivesthisaggression?*
Yet,evenashumanityascended,LinSuiremainedwary。
Oneevening,shestoodalonebesidethewellinQingShanVillage。Snowhadreturned,blanketingthehills。Shelookedintothewater。
Nostarstonight。Nocosmiceye。Justherreflection,oldernow,linedwithwisdomandsorrowalike。
Shespokesoftly。
“Whatifwebecometoogoodatasking?Whatifwedismantleeverything?beliefs,bonds,evenoursenseofself?untilnothingremainsbutendlessquestioning?”
Thesurfacerippled。
Notimmediately。Notdramatically。
Butafterseveralheartbeats,asinglewordsurfaced,formedfrombubblesrisinginprecisealignment:
>**Begin。**
Shesmiled。
Becausesheunderstoodnow。
Therewouldbenofinalanswer。Noultimateresolution。Onlythejourney?fragile,uncertain,infinitelyprecious。
Andsomewhere,beyondgalaxies,beyondtime,adoorremainedslightlyajar。
Inside,countlessversionsof陈默walkedhand-in-handwitheverysoulwhohadeverdaredsay:
“Idon’tknow。”
Andtogether,theysteppedforward。
Intothenextquestion。