Chapter 404 Separation
"what happened?"
Everyone's thoughts and words turned into this question.
In the midst of the continuous and disorderly questions, Xiyiqi became the center of the frenzy. Everyone felt that something was wrong, but they could not find the source.
Mr. Cat was looking at the monitor in front of him. On the screen, a singularity was tearing apart the structure of space, consuming countless plasma particle energies. Soon, this world would be swallowed by another disaster.
Mr. Cat said, "Look, the prelude to the end of the world."
“…”
Mr. Cat whispered, "The black box will use a paradox that does not belong to this world to create a singularity. Under the proliferation of algorithmic viruses, when the inherent amount of information exceeds the critical point, the world will go crazy and collapse, destroying everything in the end."
Duke Gil said, "Is this the variable you calculated?"
"No, this is just a small noise on the established path." Mr. Cat whispered, "But even a noise that no one remembers has its moment of glory."
Liu Xingquan looked up and said, "Look, the stars are falling."
The scene before him had long surpassed all his cognition, like a wild and poetic Van Gogh oil painting. Groups of light burst out in the sky, like countless streams of particles stirring in the air, or like an impressionistic landscape splashed with ink.
Everywhere was twinkling, falling stars rushed forward with waves of brilliance, and the shining trails were like a poetic wonder, bursting countless unimaginable illusions in his retina.
This is absolutely not a reflection of reality, Liu Xingquan firmly believes it. At this moment, he is in an endless and complicated dream formed by a hundred thousand consciousnesses.
They had just left Prince Alsiel's consciousness and were searching for a way out in this grand maze.
He will walk out of this complicated maze of fate with Captain Ban, and he will soon meet his friends again. He doesn't know how much time has passed. Or rather, time itself has lost its meaning here.
But Yan Zhen must be worried about him.
Don’t worry, Yan Zhen, I will definitely come out!
Captain Madara said, "The world is falling apart."
"What?" Liu Xingquan said. The chicken walked forward.
Then the ground beneath their feet began to change, and he found that the ground had turned into smooth wooden boards with a gentle color. Rows of bookshelves were neatly arranged on both sides.
Captain Spotted walked in front of him, his feathers gleaming under the magical starry sky.
"Captain Madara, what happened?"
“…”
"Why are there so many bookshelves here?" Liu Xingquan reached out and touched a book.
"Remember you asked me about my race earlier? This is the embodiment of my memory storage."
"Well, Captain Chicken, you are from the Chicken Star."
"There are no chickens."
“But you’re just a chicken.”
Captain Madara raised one of his wings, and a chair with a soft cushion appeared behind Liu Xingquan, and a soft small chair also appeared behind Captain Madara.
"Sit down," Captain Madara said.
"Ah? Okay." Liu Xingquan said, "What's the matter with the world collapse you just mentioned? What exactly happened? Can we really sit down and chat now?"
"Let me think about where to start the explanation." Captain Ban said, and he slightly raised his wings, and a book with a star pattern fell on his wings. "Every story has a beginning. So, let's start from here."
"Um?"
"First, the origin of our species."
Around them, the scenery began to change with Captain Ban's words. The earth's crust squeezed the plates, the mountains rose like bubbles, and under the rolling waves were volcanoes spewing magma. In the thunder and lightning, life was born from the ocean.
"A long, long time ago, our life began as a protein species. Just like your initial barbaric era, we fought each other, and the only purpose of life was to continue and reproduce. Eventually, life emerged from the sea, and more species emerged like mushrooms after rain. In the repeated battles with planetary species, we learned to use tools and created writing. Thus, our civilization was born."
"We planted fields and built cities. Countries are scattered all over the place, and races are as numerous as stars, more than when your Laura was at her most chaotic." A subtle and bright pattern appeared on Captain Ban's book. There were cities and farmlands with exquisite buildings on it. Liu Xingquan could vaguely see small and dense dots of light moving on it. "We thirst for knowledge, but the mysteries of the universe and nature are too vast and profound for us. We are at a loss in the face of the dark unknown, so religion came into being."
A light spot appeared on the book, and then another light spot lit up, and they all emitted diffused silk threads. "There are polytheism and monotheism. We build gorgeous sanctuaries, make lifelike statues, and pray to the gods in the void. Every sect believes that the one they worship is the true God."
There was a flash of light, and a point of light exploded. The beautiful city pattern on the book instantly turned into a shadow of broken walls. More points of light jumped and flickered. "You see, the endless heretic war has begun. Some ancient countries disappeared in the war, but civilization still continues in death and ashes."
"After passing through the barbaric superstition, we have finally entered the golden age of scientific rationality. In just a few thousand time units, science and technology have advanced at an unimaginable speed."
"Oh, oh, oh!" Liu Xingquan said, "It's just like us humans."
Captain Madara chuckled in a mocking tone. "You humans are just toddlers in our eyes. Our technology has reached a level you can't even imagine. We can give dirt and rocks the ability to think for themselves, and turn a barren planet into a fertile forest overnight. We can jump from one end of the universe to the other in an instant. We can divide ourselves into multiple partitions and move around in different areas at the same time. We can change the trajectory of planets and replan galaxies. But at that time, we were still unsatisfied, and we longed for more..."
"What else do you want?"
"Freedom." Captain Madara replied, "We want true freedom."
Liu Xingquan said: “I don’t really understand.”
“For all our technological achievements, we are still prisoners.”
"What are you talking about?"
"We are prisoners of our bodies. No matter what advanced life-extending technology we use, our bodies will eventually grow old. Once our bodies die, our lives will vanish. We are prisoners of the world. No matter what we do, we must follow the rules of the world. What could be more terrifying than death? What could be darker than the prison-like reality? The universe is meaningless, so is life meaningless? We long to have unlimited time, and we long to break through reality and gain true freedom." Captain Madara said, "The body has a lifespan, and life will eventually die, so we chose..."
Liu Xingquan clapped his hands and said, "The body is weak, the machine will ascend."
"fart."
"ah?"
"Why should we be bound by the prison of the body? Whether the body is organic or inorganic, it is just a cage that restricts consciousness."
"you mean……"
Captain Madara cleared his throat and said, "What we desire is absolute freedom. So we abandoned our bodies with limited lifespans and chose to evolve into spiritual bodies that can exist independently. You Lola have a term called soul. I think this word is very interesting, but it cannot fully refer to us."
Liu Xingquan's eyes widened: "So... Captain Ban, your body..."
"Yes, the chicken is my physical vehicle," said Captain Madara.
"Wait a minute!" Liu Xingquan shouted, "We are all conscious beings now, right? You still look like a chicken!"
"That's just how I look according to your perception of me." Captain Madara said, "Do you want to see my true appearance?"
"..." Liu Xingquan blinked his big eyes and said, "I think so."
"are you sure?"
"… Am I sure?"
"Are you sure?"
"..." Liu Xingquan thought of those weird and sad alien ancient god illustrations he had seen, and then looked at Captain Ban's serious expression, and he changed his words: "Well, forget it. Chicken is good now."
Captain Madara snorted, and continued: "So we evolved into spiritual beings that were free from the pain of birth, aging, sickness and death. After having almost endless time, we devoted ourselves to the cause of unraveling the truth of things. We long to master the laws of all things, peek into the future and reshape reality, and become gods who truly master supreme power at will."
"Then what?"
"Haha." Captain Madara smiled bitterly, "This is where we are stupid. Mortals have their limits."
"I do not understand."
"We thought we were the only intelligent race to reach this realm. We thought we were superior to other races. We were a unique miracle. We thought we had glimpsed a better way. But it turned out that we were wrong. Long before us, countless earlier intelligent races had reached the top of the mountain like us, chosen spiritual ascension like us, and tried to understand the truth of things like us. Then one by one, they suffered the defeat of civilization extinction."
"What defeat are you talking about?"
"It was destruction, a complete collapse, a huge collapse of a civilization in an instant. We thought we could, but it turns out we are no smarter than other civilizations."
"Why?"
"It is an end that cannot be escaped. The earlier civilization, the ancient top species before that, we call them Forerunners. They believed that unlocking the truth of things would only bring destruction to the galaxy, so they created a kind of guardian creature called "Sentinels". They are a kind of self-programmed nano, and once they are awakened, they will devour all information and energy. They are locked in layers of code, like dragons guarding treasures."
"You mean you were bitten to death by a dragon."
"..." Captain Madara said softly, "They have gone crazy and will only attack indiscriminately. The problem is not with the sentinels, but with the logic of the matter."
"What's the meaning?"
"The pioneers were right. The principles of things are the rules of everything in the universe." Captain Madara said, "Let me give you an analogy. Do you sometimes feel that the world is a large computer? The world we live in is just a computer simulation scene."
“I’ve read science fiction novels like this.”
"Although this metaphor is very old-fashioned, it can be explained. Suppose our world is operated by a system composed of lines of code, and all natural laws and physical laws are run according to the framework program. Have you ever thought about what the consequences would be if the system code was messed up one day?"
"...Then it won't work at all." Liu Xingquan stroked his chin, "It will just be a bunch ."
"Yes, the law of things must exist." Captain Madara said, "We think we can get a glimpse of the hand of God and reach the realm of wish fulfillment. But once the law of things is broken, everything will lose its limits. If there is no law of things, everything will be messed up. For example, you can resurrect this dead person, but at the same time his enemy wants to create a world where this person does not exist. Without rules, anything absurd can be realized. In the end, the expansion rate of space is completely out of control, and bang, the universe explodes."
“…”
"The ultimate goal of the Black Box Society is to unravel the truth of things. They want to become the hand of God, completely abolish the physical rules of reality, define the galaxy with their own rules, and create a world without death, without pain, and everyone can do whatever they want. This is what they call the welfare of the entire galaxy."
“…”
"Sounds familiar, doesn't it? The Black Box Society is just following our path, but they are even more extreme and crazy. For this sacred goal, they don't care even if trillions of lives die."
Captain Madara continued, "In this galaxy, the oldest forerunners left behind many legacies. They built many academies and temples trillions of years ago to observe the mysteries of the universe. Nocturne Mountain was their former temple research institute. Under this Nocturne Mountain lies the crystallization of their former technology, where the mysteries of the truth of things are sealed. Now the Black Box Society is using conspiracy to try to seize it."
"Isn't this world very dangerous now?"
"It wasn't originally so easy to open. This is probably the closest the black box has been in millions of years." Captain Madara said, "That's why they went to so much trouble. That's why you were dragged into this place."
"Me?" Liu Xingquan shouted, "I'm just an ordinary earthling!!"
Captain Ban puffed out his chest and said proudly: "Since I met me, you have been extraordinary."
"..." Liu Xingquan said, "Captain Ban, you just kept saying 'we', do you have any companions of the same race?"
"Most of my race perished in the pursuit of the truth of things." Captain Madara's tone was a little sad, "But the people of the galaxy have a name for us, and that is the Heart Eater."
"Heart Devourer?"
"Yes. But in fact, most of the Heart Eaters are not strictly a race. In this vast universe with infinite time, there are many civilizations like my race that think they have reached the top of the mountain. Like me, they have become ghosts and shadows in failure. Some are before us, and some are after us. Some are higher-dimensional creatures that are stronger and more advanced than me, while others are just cruder extracts of consciousness, which are not considered evolution at all. But the ignorant citizens of the Galaxy cannot distinguish this. They will only call all these invisible creatures that rely on physical biological vehicles as Heart Eaters." Captain Madara paused, "I have two companions now."
“Are they chickens too?”
"Well... maybe you'll know later." Captain Madara jumped off the chair.
Liu Xingquan stood up, and the floor, chairs, and bookshelves disappeared like waves.
The whole sky became more unstable. The surging stars were like wonderful fireworks flowing in the sky.
The stars in the sky fell more, he thought to himself. Is the world really going to collapse? But Captain Madara seemed unhurried and even explained to him the origin of it.
"Our time here is different from the time in the outside physical reality. In other words, the concept of time in your common sense does not exist here." Captain Ban replied as if he heard Liu Xingquan's thoughts.
"Captain Ban, you really told me a lot of things." A trace of uneasiness arose in Liu Xingquan's heart.
"Well, because we are going to be separated soon. You must know this before you leave."
"What? Separately?"
"Back off." Captain Madara looked forward, "The enemy is coming."
"enemy?"
The stars burned in the sky. Countless points of light were like exploding honeycombs, and flames danced and flickered among them like peacock tails. Thousands of rainbows slid across the dome at the same time.
Then, in the twinkling of starlight, a cloud of smoky creatures appeared one after another, with the light of death burning in their eyes. They were dragons guarding treasures, they were the final defenders of the Forerunners who lost control, they were sentinels in the wreckage of top civilizations. They were born for the truth of cosmic phenomena, and they were also the destroyers of civilization.
They are like ink, overflowing and rolling in the air, sometimes gathering, sometimes dispersing, devouring everything they touch.
"You see, that's what Black Box did. The dragon guarding the treasure has awakened." Captain Madara said calmly.
"Sentry, sentry?" Liu Xingquan asked in shock, "The guardian who destroyed your people?"
"Yes, they can devour all information and energy, including reality and consciousness." Captain Madara's tone did not change at all, "Naturally, they can also erode this place."
"!!"
Captain Ban plucked a feather and handed it to Liu Xingquan, "Let's go, leave here now."
"What are you going to do?"
"Me?" Captain Madara smiled proudly, "Of course I will stay here and fight."
"No, we are companions!!"
"No, only if you get out of the maze can you find the answers to all this and save everyone." Captain Madara said, "The next step is your journey alone, go!"
"I can't..."
"I have traveled here with you just for this moment. Go! Go and find the answers you have forgotten!" Captain Ban laughed, flapped his wings, rolled up a hurricane and threw Liu Xingquan into the sky behind him, then leaped forward.
It recalled the scene that happened not long ago.
Captain Madara said, "Are you really not going to tell True? He'll be mad."
Mr. Cat didn't say anything.
Captain Madara said, "Well, be prepared for Makoto's wrath. He can be a bit scary when he gets angry."
Mr. Cat said after a long while: "Xiao Zhen's friend, Liu Xingquan is now in your hands."
Captain Madara smiled and said, "Don't worry."
"Captain Madara."
"Um?"
“…”
"What do you want to say? Say it quickly."
"Don't die."
"What nonsense are you talking about."
Yes, what nonsense you are talking about.
This time, I won’t abandon my companions and run away, it thought.
The flames burned on its body, it was dissolving and reorganizing. In this dreamlike maze, all physical laws had lost their meaning.
The formation continues, that is the body it once discarded, that is the physical vehicle it once abandoned due to the erosion of time.
Its cry is like lightning across the dome of the planet. It is the remnant of a once brilliant civilization. It is a vague memory and the forgotten history of the stars.
Its kind has long since died out, and in the long river of time it is just a Heart-Eating Demon in name only and a drifter who hides himself in the form of an ordinary creature.
Come on, it looked fearlessly at the black tide surging up and down in all directions.
It was a destroyer that had devoured countless civilizations.
That was the black dragon that slaughtered its own kind.
I will not die here, it thought, if I die, who will mourn for my former kin? Who will sing their elegy?
…
…
"Captain Madara— "
Liu Xingquan shouted.
The last thing he saw was a small figure under the sky with falling stars and in front of the endless black dragon.
The black dragon suddenly swallowed up the small figure, but in the next moment, the flash of light tore through the sky, and he saw a gorgeous figure that was enough to outshine the stars. It covered the sky and the sun, and it was the immortal phoenix born from fire.
He heard Captain Madara's proud laugh.
He heard its last cry.
"Go! Liu Xingquan!! The world has collapsed. From this moment on, you have broken free from the constraints of the world, matter and time!!!"
"Go!! Your friends are waiting for you!! Go find the answers you forgot!!"
Liu Xingquan couldn't stop crying.
He held the feather in his hand.
I will save you all. I will find the answers.
He drifted in the hurricane. The last image of Captain Madara was imprinted in his retina. Before his eyes were countless intertwined golden threads, which intertwined and cut each other apart, entangled countless times, and passed by in parallel countless times.
Reality and consciousness were connected, and millions of roads rushed towards him. The light of destiny flickered before his eyes, and he could hear the breathing of countless lives. His friends were waiting for him. That was the stars, that was the time, that was the world. His mind suddenly became clear, and he already knew what he should do.
He looked at the feather in his hand.
Like Captain Madara, like him, fly!
So he flew up, his figure reshaped in the flash, his thoughts searched for traces of the past in the memory, found his position in repeated searches, and then he - it opened its eyes, its head was chestnut brown with white feather shafts, its beak was as dark as obsidian, and its wings were beautiful and fine green.
It is a little green bird.
It is him, and he is it.
Then, it flew into the millions of intertwined golden threads.
