Deep Sea Embers

After hearing the words of Pilot 2, Duncan's expression immediately became a little solemn. He stared into the eyes of the person opposite and said in a deep voice: "A bigger 'Infinite Sea'? Why do you think so?"

Pilot 2 thought for a moment, and after briefly sorting out his thoughts, he suddenly asked a seemingly irrelevant question: "In the world you were born in, the civilization that created you, have they reached the 'last step'?" "

'last step? "Duncan frowned when he heard this, "What do you mean-

Master all the truths in the world where you live, know all the mysteries and the beginning and future of the universe, and have the ability to make changes to the universe itself - the laws of nature become a tool that can be readjusted and set." Rather than an iron law that must be passively adapted."

Pilot Two said, with a hint of emotion and nostalgia in his expression. After appearing in this posture, even his "emotional" changes seemed to be much closer to human beings.

'My creators gave this stage of civilization a name. They called it 'transcendental criticality' - although they themselves did not reach this stage in the end, they had touched its threshold and thus They summarized the conditions needed to reach this stage, and their highest achievement was to create a time capsule in the process of building New Hope, and thus bought a hundred years when the end of the world came.

"Fire Usurpers, although my creators have never truly reached the transcendent critical point, they have concluded through huge calculations that 'mortals' can indeed reach this height through the power of civilization and the mathematics of the universe. The foundation can be moved."

Pilot Two stared closely into Duncan's eyes, and there seemed to be heavy pressure in his eyes.

Fire Usurper, I have observed you for a long time and made careful calculations. The civilization behind you has gone further than my creators. What I want to know is whether they have really reached there. 'The final step'? My creators, are they right about the end of truth?"

Facing the burning gaze of Pilot Two, Duncan finally nodded slightly, "Yes, they have reached it."

This may be the answer that Pilot 2 has been waiting for for such a long time, but the moment he really heard the answer, his eyes suddenly became confused. He stood blankly, and after several seconds, he suddenly Reacting: "This stage really exists

So civilization can really 'ultimately cross the line and the system is open

Duncan frowned and was about to ask something, but Pilot 2 suddenly woke up and spoke quickly: "Then your civilization must have realized the observation of the outside of the universe? Do they know the existence of other universes and have begun to think about it? How to get through that 'barrier'?"

Duncan confirmed it slightly, and then, he recalled in his mind the "message" he heard from human civilization in that bright starlight.

An event beyond cognitive models, occurring “outside the universe.”

After thinking briefly, Duncan spoke: "I'm not sure if they have started thinking about other universes, and I'm not sure what the 'barrier' you mentioned is, but they did clearly observe events 'outside the universe'..." The first and last "extraterrestrial event" they observed was the "Great Annihilation" that had not invaded the real dimension at that time, or strictly speaking, it was other worlds that were crashing in. "

"Yes, that's it! A definite observation of an external event in the universe! This is the first step - a 'first step' that exists only in theory." My creators wanted to see to the end whether this was possible. This is it! ""

Pilot Number 2 said quickly, he was excited. This was the first time he had been so excited since the meeting. This man in a white robe, imitating a long-dead mortal, with a tired face, walked excitedly, After circling the hill several times, he suddenly stopped in front of Duncan, his eyes seeming to burn.

The wind blew over the hills, the vast plains in the distance were filled with grass waves, and the rivers sparkled.

"The fire usurper, the 'outside of the universe', this is the key. The universe has an 'outside', and the world is not unique. The essence of the Great Annihilation is the collision of multiple universes. In other words, in this kind of 'Great Annihilation' In the face of a disaster of the same level, if you do not have the ability to jump out of the world, then no matter how high a civilization develops, no matter how huge and solid a shelter we build, it will be meaningless, even if it is as big as a star system. It was as big as a super galaxy cluster. When another world crashed into it with a roar, Navigator 2 opened its hands and made famous gestures in a somewhat exaggerated gesture - it seemed that he not only imitated the appearance of one of his creators, but also He imitated a living personality profile, which made him behave like an ordinary mortal at the moment!

"Pop, like a soap bubble, it shattered."

He maintained this posture, with a complicated expression on his face. He seemed to be trying to force a smile, but it looked like he was about to cry.

'In the face of 'external events', no structure within the universe has strength and cannot withstand anything, just like the shell of New Hope. We even used neutron star material to make its shell, but it was just like paper. broken

Duncan slowly opened his eyes. Suddenly, he seemed to understand what this ancient "artificial intelligence" wanted to say to him.

"So, a civilization must ensure that it has the ability to 'jump out of the world' in order to be truly 'safe'," he said in a deep voice, "and now we have not reached this level. Even the civilization behind me only saw the threshold of 'jumping out of the world' at the height of 'transcendental criticality'. Therefore, we must make the second best choice and ensure that there is a possibility of 'jumping out of the world' in the 'new world', or in other words, "the 'latecomers' born in the 'new world' must have the opportunity to develop to that level," Navigator No. 2 raised his head and said solemnly, "The new world must allow this possibility and be able to 'accommodate' this possibility." Duncan did not speak for a while. He felt an unspeakable shock. Navigator No. 2, this ancient "artificial intelligence", has considered things so far ahead that it has even surpassed all other "ancient kings". When everyone is still thinking about whether the shelter can be saved now, he is already thinking about the destruction of the new world. Because destruction is bound to happen, it may be another great annihilation, or something else. "Fear, this is the first 'emotion' I have learned," said the voice of Navigator No. 2, which was very calm and low. "The things I am worried about may seem too far away, but after tens of thousands of external sensors described to me the 'feeling' of the collapse of the universe, this 'fear' has become a part of my underlying logic. I know that such an event will happen again sooner or later." "Fire Usurper, I don't feel safe, and so do the others. The 'mortals' in the shelter call us 'gods', but what they don't know is that their 'gods' are immersed in great fear from morning to night. As long as we still remember that there is a catastrophe of the scale of 'Great Annihilation', as long as we have not found a way to fight it, then this fear will never disappear. And this urgent desire for 'security' has made me think about a question - "Civilization, to what stage can it develop, to what stage must it develop to truly fight all disasters and survive in disasters. "Maybe this will never end, but at least within the scope of my understanding, 'jumping out of the world' will be one of the most important nodes. "

Duncan broke the silence: "And you were actually worried about two things. The first is whether mortal civilization can develop to the level of 'jumping out of the world'. The second is whether the 'new world' I created can 'accommodate the development of civilization if it really exists. "

Pilot No. 2 nodded gently and asked a question: "Fire Usurper, do you know what the biggest difference between the real 'world' and a 'sanctuary' like the Infinite Sea is? "

Duncan did not answer, and Pilot No. 2 had already given the answer on his own - "The word 'possibility' is intuitive but not accurate enough. In my opinion, the biggest difference between the two is 'randomness'." "

Duncan repeated subconsciously: "Random? "

"A complete and healthy real universe allows the emergence of 'true randomness'," Pilot No. 2 said slowly, "and in the sanctuary,

there is only 'pseudo-randomness'. "

Duncan almost immediately understood the meaning of the other party's words.

'So, there will never be anything inside the shelter that exceeds the 'information limit' of the shelter," he said quickly, "just like a little man on a two-dimensional plane, no matter how fast he runs, even if he masters the ability to teleport on the plane, he will never be able to stand up---Only a system that allows 'true randomness' can allow 'supercritical' events that jump out of the system! "

"My creators call this event the 'final crossing of the boundary'. They believe that this may be the final stage of the development of mortal civilization. We will be safe there. "

Navigator No. 2 said softly, slowly raised his head, and looked at the empty sky.

There seems to be a destination that the New Hope will never reach.

Duncan finally understood what Navigator No. 1 said to himself when he was in the deep sea. "In fact, as early as the moment of departure, Navigator No. 2 had calculated the end of this journey. "

The destination that New Hope can never reach is a natural chasm that stands in front of the civilization stage. In front of this natural chasm, a spaceship driven by a jump engine and built with neutron star materials is no different from a steel sword thrown into the sky by a warrior.

Because in the face of "external events", all structures inside the universe have no strength.