80 Zhuang Zhou Mengdie 06

The life and death of all mankind depends on him alone.

On the other side of the cube, a team of six people were sitting in a circle, heads touching each other, doing some unknown work.

After a while, a fragmented object floated out from above their heads, gradually drifting into the sky, clinging to the thin line that only Zhu Heng could see.

The fragment was like marking a thin line, and with a flash of light, the cube faded from gray, and the history inside continued as normal.

Zhu Heng was speechless for a moment, and only felt a slight numbness in his heart.

It turns out that the fragments of human civilization they collected in "Universe History" unexpectedly had such an effect.

After figuring out the principle behind the color-changing blocks, Zhu Heng patiently waited for the humans in the three-dimensional world to gather all the fragments of civilization and mark the thin line that belonged to the mother universe. Even if Dr. Xu destroyed the collected fragments along the way, it would not affect the progress of this work, because the marking would be completed the moment the fragment was found.

The project of searching for the fragments of civilization consumed countless manpower and time from the time Helan Dao developed the game system to its final completion. However, for Zhu Heng, it was just a blink of an eye.

Those marked thin lines gradually connected into a long road, and Zhu Heng then followed the guidance of the thin lines of the mother universe and moved towards the end.

Previously in the four-dimensional world, the ending of the mother universe had changed due to his interference, but it still could not stop the process of the universe's extinction. If he could see all possible endings on this "tree" with various parallel time and space, perhaps he could find another way.

Zhu Heng walked forward cautiously, but his expression became increasingly heavy.

He kept his peripheral vision on the surroundings. At first, there were many crisscrossing parallel lines of time and space nearby, but as he walked further back, the lines around him became fewer and fewer and sparser.

Those parallel time and space, that is, sub-universes, represent the thin lines of their historical development that are always suddenly interrupted in the middle. Sooner or later, before the universe finally disappears, they themselves enter the end of the world.

From the moment they deviate from the development path of the mother universe, they are destined to never be able to go as far as the mother universe.

Zhu Heng felt increasingly cold in his heart.

He went all the way from the first-level civilization era to the second-level civilization era, and then to the third-level civilization era. The end was just ahead, and the parallel lines of time and space around him completely terminated.

The road ahead is still extending, with only a thin line of the mother universe left.

Only a few meters away from the final destination, Zhu Heng stopped.

The square with the ending inscribed on it was tied to the end of the string, but Zhu Heng couldn't see the specific content—because at that moment, a person was sitting cross-legged at the end of the string.

The man heard some movement in front of him, loosened his neck, slowly opened his eyes, and looked up at Zhu Heng.

Zhu Heng was very familiar with this face.

"Long time no see, Tao Ran." Zhu Heng called him in a hoarse voice, with a hint of uncertainty in his tone.

"Long time no see?" Tao Ran asked back. He seemed like a completely different person from the inside out. He smiled at Zhu Heng and shook his head gently. "Actually, I've always been by your side."

Zhu Heng stared at Tao Ran silently.

"Look at this." Tao Ran stretched out his hand to him, revealing the beads in his palm.

Zhu Heng opened his eyes slightly and immediately touched his body. Didn’t the bead just fall to the ground? How did it appear here? He looked up at Tao Ran.

"Surprised?" Tao Ran said, "It is me, and I am it. Wherever it is, there I am."

Zhu Heng recalled everything that had happened before and asked Tao Ran, "Did your fusion with the pearl begin in the grotto?"

Unexpectedly, Tao Ran shook his head and denied it, saying, "It was earlier than that. I have always been it, born this way."

"You didn't die just because of this bead?"

Tao Ran corrected him: "I have never died. Or rather, it was only my three-dimensional body that died."

As he spoke, he stood up and walked towards Zhu Heng.

Zhu Heng used his peripheral vision to see that there was no block in the space under Tao Ran's seat.

"Do you know why it can follow you from the third dimension to the fourth dimension, and then from the fourth dimension to the fifth dimension?" Tao Ran handed the bead to Zhu Heng.

Zhu Heng glanced at Tao Ran and took it. "Is it something from the five-dimensional world?"

In fact, Zhu Heng has always had a question in his mind. According to Dr. Xu's explanation, low-dimensional creatures cannot go to higher dimensions on their own without the help of higher-dimensional creatures.

What he can be sure of is that he is only a four-dimensional life form, but he can successfully come to a higher-dimensional world. He can't think of any other possibility except that there are higher-dimensional life forms helping him enter the five-dimensional space-time.

Zhu Heng remembered very clearly that at the critical moment of entering the five-dimensional space-time from the four-dimensional space-time, he was holding this bead in his hand.

Tao Ran looked at him in surprise: "It's a little close, but it's even higher-dimensional than what you said."

"Sixth dimension?" Now it was Zhu Heng's turn to be surprised. "Then in the Confucius copy, there are so many identical beads. Are they also six-dimensional?"

"Of course that's impossible," Tao Ran said. "It's just that low-dimensional creatures can't see things from higher dimensions, so it appears in the form of a bead. In fact, it can take on any form, from a bead to a human. It's just that the humanoid clones it created, like me, forget their origins as soon as they split apart. It wasn't until my humanoid body died in the cave that I remembered my true identity and the purpose of going to the low-dimensional world."

Zhu Heng's scalp tingled when he heard the last sentence.

He asked Tao Ran: "In the six-dimensional world, do you know how to save the universe from extinction?"

Tao Ran shook his head: "The death of the universe is irreversible. Instead of thinking about saving your universe, it is better to choose to escape to a new universe."

"I..." Zhu Heng just opened his mouth, but he didn't say anything else and paused there.

Tao Ran blinked and turned to look at him.

"What did you just say, the new universe?" Zhu Heng finally came to his senses and asked Tao Ran.

"Yes, a new universe. That's why I came here," Tao Ran said. "Remember the cave in 'Silk Road'? It's no coincidence that I arranged the death of my human body there. The inside and outside of the cave are actually two complementary twin worlds. You are big, I am small, you have what I don't have. When I was splitting my human form, I didn't know I would forget everything. In order not to delay the mission, I created a special world like the cave to wake myself up."

"What does this have to do with the new universe you mentioned?"

"The new universe and the old universe you're in now are a pair of twin universes," Tao Ran said, "but there's nothing in the new universe right now."

Zhu Heng frowned. "What you said is beyond my understanding for now. I need to digest it. But I have a question. How can you be sure that this plan will work?"

Tao Ran suddenly smiled slyly, his face suddenly brightening: "You don't have to worry about this, because - I am that new universe."

All of Zhu Heng's movements stopped in an instant.

"Remember the cosmic scene you saw after completing the City upon City instance? I've shown you the entire process, from the Big Bang to the universe's creation, its collapse, and its death."

Zhu Heng nodded slowly: "I remember."

"Then you probably haven't forgotten that at the very beginning, at 10 minus 43 seconds, the universe split in two. The entire universe had a total of ten dimensions, and then it split into a four-dimensional universe and a six-dimensional universe. The six-dimensional universe collapsed directly, while the four-dimensional universe expanded infinitely, evolving into the old universe you are in now."

"You mean, the one that collapsed and disappeared is the new universe in the twin universe?"

"That's right. But I didn't actually disappear. It's just that I shrunk infinitely, so you can't see my true appearance."

Zhu Heng pondered for a moment, then slowly spoke, "If the plan you're talking about is truly feasible, then how can humanity migrate en masse to the new universe before the old one disappears? After all, you're not a normal size now."

"It depends on your choice: open up a brand new six-dimensional universe for humanity, or protect the spark of human civilization."

Zhu Heng's heart sank: "Of these two, can I only choose one?"

Tao Ran explained, "Specifically, based on the complementary relationship between the twin universes, all human civilization in the old universe will be destroyed. This will reduce the weight of the four-dimensional old universe, causing it to collapse. At the same time, the six-dimensional new universe will expand accordingly, creating space for human survival."

"When the old four-dimensional universe dies, it will also collapse. At that time, the new six-dimensional universe will naturally expand. Why not wait until then to migrate humans?"

"You're right, but it will be too late to relocate humanity by then. Once the universe's demise begins, it often only takes a moment. If you want to save humanity, the best time is now."

"Let me think about it again." Zhu Heng said.

He looked back at the mother universe road he had walked on. Such a brilliant civilization, something that Helan Dao was willing to protect even at the cost of his own life, was he really going to destroy it by him?

Even if all of humanity moves to a new home, can humans who no longer possess civilization still be considered the same humans they once were?

Tao Ran seemed to have guessed his concerns and said seriously, "The specific choice ultimately depends on what you humans think. As long as you agree, I will always provide you with a living space."

"Thank you." Zhu Heng said.

-

The three-dimensional world at this moment, the Galactic Human Tribunal.

Dr. Xu said his last words to the judge: It depends on whether he can realize that he is the variable.

The judge asked: When will there be a conclusion?

Dr. Xu did not answer this question, but asked inexplicably: Do you know Zhu Heng?

The judge was stunned: "What kind of question is that? Of course I know him."

Dr. Xu was silent for a few seconds, and suddenly a smile appeared on his face: Now we have a conclusion, the variables have become constants.

The Inquisitor frowned. "So fast? How did you calculate that?"

Dr. Xu: There’s no need to calculate. As long as Zhu Heng hasn’t disappeared from all of our memories, it means that he has successfully realized that he is the only variable.

The Inquisitor was completely bewildered and had to change the subject: Now that Zhu Heng has gone from being a variable to a constant, how will he save humanity? How should we cooperate?

Dr. Xu sneered: "It's only a 0.01% chance of success. For the remaining 99.99%, we still need to find a way ourselves."

Inquisitor: What are your plans?

Dr. Xu: It’s very simple. We need the order from the Supreme Commander to integrate all the resources in the galaxy to build ships. From now on, all of humanity must be prepared to survive at the edge of the black hole.

The judge frowned: If the universe is bound to die, even if there is space for human survival at the edge of a black hole, the energy of a black hole is always limited. Once it is exhausted, human beings will still inevitably end up extinct. You are only treating the symptoms and not the root cause.

Dr. Xu: Living on the edge of a black hole is indeed just a temporary measure. You can regard this period as a transition period, or you can regard the black hole as a temporary refuge for humans. Before the black hole's energy is exhausted, we need to wait patiently for the arrival of a new home.

Inquisitor: Didn’t you say that the universe is dead and humans will never have a new home?

Dr. Xu: The probability is 99.99% that it won't happen, but we still have a 0.01% chance. This is the key variable I'm talking about—Zhu Heng. The life and death of all mankind depends on him alone.