Beyond the universe lies a finite realm of possibility, a place of infinite impossibilities. To put it simply, it's a place with strange physical laws and exotic matter, but devoid of life. There's no time, no space, no energy, no fundamental building blocks of matter. It's both empty and substantial, a dreamlike state, yet tangible and visible, making it difficult to describe with precise, accurate language.
Almost all scientific instruments were reporting errors, and the readings of the few sensors that were working properly were extremely abnormal. For example, the temperature detector would rise to "0" and then drop to absolute zero, completely losing its reference value.
Jiang Ling removed her shield, and immediately felt the touch of solid ground beneath her toes, but there was no real ground beneath her. She remembered what she had learned earlier, radiating her spiritual power and carefully sensing her surroundings.
Clearly, she was now walking in a strange ocean. The photons of the original universe formed the water, gently enveloping her, while the matter outside the universe formed the rugged seabed. When the photons reached the outside world, they immediately revealed their other side, the so-called space-time properties. These originally insignificant materials were stretched and expanded to the maximum extent, transforming into the space in which Jiang Ling moved.
In fact, the moment she plunged into the pitch-black hole, the energy released by humanity's most advanced equipment had already created a finite-to-infinite rift in the outer reaches of the universe. But the rift couldn't last long. High-energy exotic matter now flowed along the rift's edge, continuously falling toward lower energy levels, like water from a waterfall, rapidly filling the depression while simultaneously washing away anything trying to climb the rock face. As a result, the boundary between the ocean and the rock face blurred, the ocean's area shrank, and the waters began to boil.
She knew she didn't have enough time.
"Navigation has failed." The exoskeleton kept beeping.
[Lin Yi, record your current location. I'm moving.]
[But the cave entrance isn't nearby! Jiang Ling, we're lost!] Lin Yi stammered.
【I know, you do as I say.】
Jiang Ling's psychic senses revealed a towering mountain beyond the rock face ahead, impenetrable to psychic power. It was the "manifestation" of a star's gravitational well, a star's gravitational well, seen from the outer reaches of the universe. Like a geographical landmark in an unfamiliar land, it brought a sense of intense oppression, yet also a glimmer of hope for the pursuit of light. Jiang Ling walked toward it, forcing her way through the rock face, creating a navigable tunnel, and then climbed through without hesitation. As they closed in, the mountain shrank at a visible speed, finally transforming into a floating, soft-to-the-touch sphere.
Lin Yi's two tentacles curiously coiled around it, and then the little figure in Jiang Ling's field of vision revealed a strange, suspicious expression. [The detector readings showed that its apparent mass was 2 x 10 to the power of 27 tons, its apparent diameter was a kilometer, but its apparent volume was only the size of a ping-pong ball.]
So, what is it? Jiang Ling asked.
【The sun.】 Lin Yi answered firmly.
[Assuming I can return to the universe from here, how long did it take me to get from the mothership to the solar system?]
【160 seconds in total, you are times faster than the speed of light.】
"Very good." Jiang Ling shook her head. Right now, there were more pressing matters. "God bless you. Redraw the reference system with this location as the center, and then tell me the location of Unit 1's test."
[Don't we need to go back to that cave? I can now calculate its distance from us.]
[There might not be enough time. How about you check the armor thickness again to see how much room there is left?]
[Less than 50%. Oh my god, they're evaporating!] Lin Yi's voice trembled. [I have to hurry—Oh, I got it. The location is marked.]
A green corner mark appeared in Jiang Ling's field of vision, but the direction it pointed to had almost nothing to do with the road they came from. It seemed that the road ahead would not be smooth, and it could even be said to be "extremely difficult."
This trip was perhaps the closest she had ever been to death, but she did not hesitate because of the people's eager expectations behind her.
"Lin Yi, transfer your consciousness to my brain." She said softly.
Time is burning.
Time, like an unquenchable flame, quickly ignited everything, starting with the exoskeleton's surface coating. The iron armor, the composite materials, the life-support layers, gradually failed. The exoskeleton became tattered, and gas and hydraulic fluid leaked from the cylinders, forming a circle of "puddles" around Jiang Ling, but it still did not stop her from moving forward.
At that moment, she felt like there was a group of people in her mind urging her frantically, wanting her to run and leave this dangerous place.
The pain appeared on my skin, burning, everywhere and at all times - was this God's will? It started with pain and ended with pain?
no way!
Jiang Ling screamed in her heart, Never!
Her ending should never be an endless endpoint.
There will always be things that cannot be eroded by time, and that is ideals; there will always be things that cannot be burned by fire, and that is life.
Suddenly, a tingling sensation spread from the tip of Jiang Ling's tail to her forehead, and then a familiar transformation began—new bones grew, new muscles expanded, skin healed, and perceptions heightened. She, or rather, it, had finally completely escaped the realm of "human," transforming into an independent, ultimate creature. Countless tentacles extended from her torso, effortlessly piercing the supposedly sticky and solid outer material, drawing nutrients from it like tree roots.
It has adapted to the environment outside the universe, and its life form has transformed to an incredible degree. It no longer has biological tissues and organs in the conventional sense, and all cell structures have become things that are homologous to strange matter. However, this is not biological evolution and natural selection, but more like retrieving the power that should have existed.
And in her consciousness, she never looked back once.
The darkness ahead remained, a stark omen. Perhaps the old data was flawed, and the survivors weren't in that direction. Or perhaps the lifeboat they were aboard had completely evaporated, leaving her too late. However, blindly expanding the search area was even more unwise, as it could easily miss crucial clues left at the accident scene.
Fortunately, when she got close enough to the target point, new information appeared, along with the black hole she had come from, but that black hole was already shrinking and was getting smaller and smaller.
Without further ado, she thought about it and the nearby tentacles extended rapidly...
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com