81 Zhuang Zhou's Dream of the Butterfly 07 (End)
He will be the greatest human being we have ever seen.
In the five-dimensional space and time, Zhu Heng let out a long breath.
"Have you decided?" Tao Ran asked him.
The white butterfly flew silently to Zhu Heng's shoulder. He turned his head and took a look at it.
Tao Ran was still waiting for his answer.
Zhu Heng reached out and touched the white butterfly's antennae, then turned to Tao Ran and nodded. "It's decided. Please open the six-dimensional universe for humanity."
Even if civilization is gone, we can start over again. As long as humans exist, there is hope.
Tao Ran looked at Zhu Heng steadily, then slowly spread out his hands. In an instant, the thin thread of the mother universe on the ground automatically flew to his palm and rolled into a ball of thread.
He handed the ball of thread to Zhu Heng: "Do you want to do it or should I?"
This time Zhu Heng didn't hesitate: "Let me do it."
Zhu Heng paused after taking the heavy ball of yarn and looked at Tao Ran: "I want to destroy it slowly."
"As you wish." Tao Ran raised an eyebrow, a look of understanding. "As long as we can finish this work before the old universe disappears, you can go as slowly as you like."
Tao Ran left, leaving Zhu Heng with an undisturbed space. A fire started in front of Zhu Heng. All he had to do was throw the balls of thread that carried human civilization into the fire.
But before that, Zhu Heng wanted to memorize them all in his mind.
Once civilization is completely destroyed by him, he will be the last and only witness of human civilization in this world.
If human history cannot be recorded with any material, then let him use his brain to store it. Even if this record will not play any role in the future, at least -
For some reason, the figure of Helan Dao appeared in Zhu Heng's mind.
He shook his head to drive away Helan Dao's shadow, and shook his hands to open the ball of thread like opening a history book.
——At least, he would feel less guilty.
-
While Zhu Heng was recording human civilization, the work of building giant escape rockets in three-dimensional space and time was also in full swing.
Zhu Heng's recording speed was far slower than the speed at which the third-level civilized humans built rockets. While he only remembered 20% of it in his brain, the self-rescue project of the humans over there was nearing completion.
The people in charge of the construction of the rocket are the pure-blooded humans headed by Helando. In the future when civilization is gradually dying out, humans like Helando, who have not been interfered with by any technology and have no dependence on highly developed civilizations, will be the least affected group and the most suitable candidates to lead the Milky Way.
Helan Dao took the elevator and came to the top of the construction base.
The elevator door opened, and a faint morning light shone in from the rooftop, illuminating Helan Dao's face. He squinted his eyes and walked out. Countless rockets towered before him, their heads pointed upwards, shrouded in a thin layer of morning mist.
Recently he has been coming here more and more frequently and staying longer and longer. This place has a very broad view and not many people around. He gradually got used to coming here alone to relieve his boredom.
But today, there was a new figure on the rooftop.
Dr. Xu was standing not far ahead. When she heard the noise behind her, she turned around and saw that it was He Landao. She smiled and asked him, "You've been coming here a lot lately. I was curious, so I came to take a look too. Do you mind?"
He Landao shook his head, walked to her side, and asked, "The project is now nearing its end. When will the humans leave?"
Dr. Xu asked him, "When do you want to leave?"
He Landao raised his eyes and met Dr. Xu's piercing gaze. He calmly looked away and looked towards the base ahead: "If possible, of course, the later we leave, the better."
Dr. Xu smiled and didn't respond.
He Landao added: "Many people are not ready to leave yet."
Dr. Xu finally spoke up, and she directly exposed him: "You are waiting for someone."
Helan Dao was choked by her and opened his mouth, not knowing how to answer.
After a long moment, he looked Dr. Xu in the eye and asked, "Is that okay?"
Dr. Xu gradually put away his smile and said seriously, "Xiao He, whether he will come back is still unknown."
Helan Dao lowered his eyes: "I understand."
Dr. Xu patted the back of his head and said, "Besides, we need to get out of here as soon as possible. This is the main reason I came here today."
Helan Dao looked up at her.
Dr. Xu said, "I've discovered that the process of civilizational destruction is accelerating. If we don't leave now, before the Great Collapse of the Universe, at least 80% of humanity will evaporate. This is because their existence is inextricably linked to the highly developed civilization we have today. For example, Xiao Liu'er, who survives as a spirit, wouldn't be alive today without our technology."
"How could this happen? This is not a phenomenon caused by the extinction of the universe." Helan Dao frowned.
"It's not, so I guess someone is pushing this process behind the scenes."
A string in Helan Dao's mind instantly tightened.
"Perhaps, it was Xiao Liu'er's prophecy, that curse, that has come true." Dr. Xu looked into Helan Dao's eyes and spoke word by word.
"You suspect Zhu Heng?"
"It's not a suspicion." Dr. Xu shook his head. "If he really did it, then it means that humanity has only one way to go, and that is to destroy civilization. If we must pay something in exchange for the right to survive, then this is our price: destroy it and then be reborn."
"And Zhu Heng," Dr. Xu paused, then continued, "will be the greatest human being we've ever known."
-
Five-dimensional space-time.
Every time Zhu Heng remembered a piece of thin thread, he would burn it. There was no time limit, no distinction between day and night. Besides the white butterfly, there were only fewer and fewer thin threads and more and more ashes around him.
The crimson flames shot up into the sky, and Bai Die huddled beside him to avoid the choking smoke.
Everything before his eyes was exactly the same as the doomsday scene he saw when he possessed Liu Qiaoer.
The thin wire in his hand was burned to about 20% when Tao Ran appeared behind him silently.
"What's the matter?" Zhu Heng rubbed his eyebrows tiredly, and shouted to the back without turning his head.
"Nothing," Tao Ran said. "Just a reminder that all humans in the three-dimensional spacetime have already boarded a giant rocket and fled to the black hole for temporary refuge. Luckily, you burned slowly, otherwise the mother universe civilization would be gone before they could leave, and then a large number of humans would have died."
Zhu Heng said "hmm" and continued to burn without stopping his hands.
Tao Ran said, "Aren't you curious whether they thought of you before they left?"
Zhu Heng's eyes were calm and unmoved: "Is this important? No matter what, I can't go back. It's boring to care about such things." His tone was very flat, and he didn't sound like there was any complaint or dissatisfaction.
Tao Ran was silent for a moment. Seeing that Zhu Heng was genuinely uninterested, he swallowed the conversation between He Landao and Dr. Xu that he had overheard in the three-dimensional space-time. He said, "Then you continue. I won't bother you anymore. I'll go wander around for a bit."
As soon as Tao Ran left, Zhu Heng immediately stopped what he was doing.
He touched his chest as if possessed by a ghost, and touched the place where Helan Dao had stabbed him. The scar there had healed long ago, but when his fingers touched it, he seemed to still be able to vaguely feel the scorching body temperature that belonged to him when Helan Dao leaned against him that day.
He picked up the remaining thin thread in his hand, lowered his head, and gently stroked it against his face.
He kept his eyes open throughout the whole process, and there was a dazzling light hidden in his bottomless black eyes.
A white butterfly flew in front of him and stared at him blankly.
Zhu Heng looked at the silly Bai Die in front of him and smiled softly.
He clasped his index finger and thumb together, stretched them out in front of the white butterfly, flicked it away with a flick of his fingers, then sat up straight and returned to normal, shook out the remaining ball of thread, and continued to record and destroy it.
-
Black hole shelter.
Fifteen years have passed since humans collectively migrated to the edge of the black hole, relying pitifully on the little energy leaking out of the black hole to survive.
This amount of time is but a blink of an eye for humans of a Level 3 civilization, but it's enough time for them to get used to life in a black hole refuge. However, the living environment here is extremely monotonous and boring. The entire universe is pitch black, and the only light comes from machines that rely on black hole energy.
If you look up at the sky, you can't see any stars or gorgeous clouds. People have lived in a normal environment for trillions of years, but have only been here for a little over a decade and have almost forgotten how they used to live.
Moreover, the situation is getting worse.
The death of the universe has begun, with stars extinguishing one by one. The gradually collapsing universe is bringing galaxies closer together, reducing the distance between galaxies that were once tens of thousands of light years apart to just a few light years.
The universe is cooling down, and even if humans take refuge at the edge of a black hole, they will not be immune to the cooling effect.
If this continues, humanity will be completely extinct, and a new home has not yet been found.
It seems the time has come to give up humanity's long-held fantasy of colonizing a new universe. People are slowly realizing that that 0.01% hope has become a luxury.
For this fantasy, they endured the dark life in the black hole. Now they think it would be better to enjoy themselves before the universe disappears.
As a result, more and more people joined the protest, pointing their spearheads at He Landao, the commander of the "Migration Plan".
They made their way to the commander's office, ready to seize the use of the giant rocket, drive out of the black hole, return to their own home, and live out their last days in a galaxy that was not yet dead.
At this moment, Helan Dao was sitting at his desk with his chin in his hand, not affected at all by the noisy crowd outside.
Augustus kept an eye on the surveillance outside. Seeing that Helan Dao showed no sign of worry, he kicked the chair under him and asked, "What are you going to do?"
Helanda glanced at Augustus indifferently, then reached out and took out a pack of antique cigarettes from the first-level civilization era that he had collected for a long time from the table. He lit it with a snap of his fingers, took a deep breath, then held the cigarette between his fingers and touched his eyebrows with his fingers.
He exhaled smoke from his mouth, without raising his eyelids, and said calmly: "Then hand over the central control panel of this rocket to them."
Before Augustus could speak, Xu Wenjun's voice came from the signal receiver connected to the center console: "Are you crazy?" Helan Dao said.
He Landao pressed the cigarette butt onto the table, turned around and spat out the smoke. He stood up and propped his arms on the table: "I'm not crazy. They are right. Instead of wasting time on the edge of the black hole, it's better to let them go home."
After he finished speaking, the room fell into silence.
After a while, Xu Wenjun said, "But we've come this far. I can't bear to give up like this."
"I understand how you feel." Helan Dao said.
Two years ago, Dr. Xu was suddenly diagnosed with an incurable disease. If it was before migrating to the black hole, even if the body disappeared, the spirit could still be preserved. However, when humans came to settle in the black hole, due to limited energy and the fact that the foundation of human civilization had been destroyed by Zhu Heng, the technological civilization in the black hole has stagnated since then.
Therefore, once Dr. Xu dies, she will completely cease to exist.
So they decided to freeze Dr. Xu until they found a new home and then reawaken her. Firstly, they could use the stellar energy of the new universe to cure her illness; secondly, the construction of the new universe also relied on the results of Dr. Xu's lifelong research.
But if Helando decides to return to the Milky Way today, Dr. Xu will never wake up.
"But..." Xu Wenjun wanted to say something else but was interrupted by Helan Dao.
"But we have more than one rocket, don't we?" He Landao turned his wrist, buttoned his cuff, and then looked forward. "I will hand over the control of one rocket and let everyone choose for themselves. Those who want to stay can stay, and those who want to leave can leave."
After saying that, he walked outside without looking back, opened the door, and faced the protesting crowd.
The moment he appeared, the outside suddenly became silent.
At the same time, in the five-dimensional world, Zhu Heng's work has reached the final stage.
Tao Ran, who had not been seen for a long time, appeared again behind Zhu Heng without anyone noticing, but this time his expression was a little solemn.
"Shh, don't talk yet." Zhu Heng noticed his arrival, turned his back to him, and put his index finger on his lips to warn him.
Zhu Heng solemnly wrote down the last piece of history, and then threw the last thin thread into the fire and burned it.
The thin wire was burned by the flames and kept curling up. The whole wire was burned red. Zhu Heng stared at it without blinking until it finally turned into gray-black embers. He finally breathed a sigh of relief and chuckled.
His mission was completed.
"Taoran." Zhu Heng called out, his tone filled with joy. "Is there enough space now to accommodate humans moving in?"
"Yes, yes," Tao Ran said. "I've just opened up the wormhole connecting the two universes. One end is connected to the six-dimensional new universe, and the other end is connected to the four-dimensional old universe. However, because the old universe hasn't completely collapsed, the new universe is not stable enough, so the wormhole..."
Zhu Heng turned and looked at him.
Tao Ran's Adam's apple moved slightly: "So the wormhole was hit by me in the wrong direction, and it hit the inner wall of the black hole of the four-dimensional old universe. If we don't guide it, humans will never go into the black hole, and--" He hesitated for two seconds when he said this.
"And what?" Zhu Heng asked.
"Because there's been no hope, at least half of humanity is planning to return to the Milky Way. Helan Dao has already handed over control of some giant rockets and fleets, and these people are about to set off."
Zhu Heng understood: "So you need me to go down and stop them, and help them find the wormhole in the black hole?"
"That's right." Tao Ran took a deep breath, seeming a little embarrassed to speak. "But you have to pay attention to one thing. Your tasks are only the two you just mentioned. After you finish all this, you must remember to come back."
He said it politely, but Zhu Heng understood his implication: "You mean, I can't go to the new universe with humans?"
Tao Ran nodded slowly.
Zhu Heng smiled and said, "Don't be so careful. Even though you didn't say it, I know that from the moment I set foot in the fifth-dimensional world, I can't go back, right?"
Tao Ran looked at him in shock.
Zhu Heng continued, "You don't have to be so surprised. I've always understood that I don't exist in the current four-dimensional old universe. As it collapses, your six-dimensional new universe continues to expand, perfectly complementing the old universe, but I'm not within the scope of the old universe. Once I leave here, whether I return to the four-dimensional old universe or go to your six-dimensional new universe, I, as an extra variable, will destroy the balance of the two universes. So I can only take advantage of the unstable state when the two universes are connected to return there briefly. Once all humans have successfully migrated to the new universe, I must return to the five-dimensional world to maintain the balance of the twin universes. Am I right?"
"That's right, absolutely right," Tao Ran said.
"Don't worry, I will come back." Zhu Heng patted Tao Ran's shoulder, "Now I'll trouble you to take me there."
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