Deep Sea Embers

Duncan felt that his plan might indeed be a bit crazy - Black Sun probably had a sanity check when he heard what he just said...

But he was serious. After Black Sun said "ah", his expression was even more serious than before, and he repeated again calmly: "I want to detonate the creation of the world - of course, this 'detonation' is a To put it this way, strictly speaking, I want to borrow its power, or in other words, borrow the part of its power that was not completely released during the Great Annihilation."

The surface of that blazing false scorching sun swelled and shrank, and the glorious corona rose like a stormy sea, while countless pale and strange tentacles curled up and squirmed in the sea of ​​fire. After a while, the black sun finally It calmed down, and there was a little more noise in its deep and trembling voice: "...when was this plan decided?"

"Before I came here to see you," Duncan said calmly, "Although I only had a vague direction at the time, and the idea was not so firm."

After saying this, he paused and continued: "I have always had an...'intuition'. This intuition may come from the 'knowledge' left by the civilization that created me. There are many things that I don't understand. Internal principles, but instinct allows me to know how to do it or where to go. It is driven by this intuition that I think that the creation of the world may help me solve a big problem I am currently encountering—— The first driving force question.

"But it wasn't until I saw you here and the 'letter' you brought me that I was sure that this direction was correct, or... this letter itself is most likely a reminder, reminding me Where is the right direction?"

The turbulent squirming ups and downs on the surface of the black sun calmed down a little. After realizing that this was not an insane and crazy idea, but really a calm and rational plan, it finally became serious: "What you just mentioned' What does the first driving question mean?"

"To put it simply, it is a 'big bang' that led to the birth of the world," Duncan explained. "This is a more vivid way of saying it. You can think of it as a simultaneous explosion of information, matter, and energy. If we combine the entire The world is regarded as a huge and complex mathematical machine, then the first roar of this mathematical machine is the 'explosion' at the origin of all things.

"In the Sea of ​​Ashes at the Border of Order, I conducted a preliminary test. This test verified the conjecture that information is immortal, and also confirmed that the method of 'assignment' can indeed reshape everything in the sea of ​​information in a chaotic state, but At the same time, I also discovered a problem, that is, the 'mathematical machine' of the world has a 'wholeness', and all its information parameters must mesh with each other. I cannot rebuild the world brick by brick, step by step, like building a house. ——I may have an endless amount of time to prepare before this work starts, but once the process starts, all the work must be completed simultaneously.

"Therefore, I need such an explosion to complete the simultaneous assignment and 'start' of all information in an infinitely short and infinitely long 'moment'. If this condition cannot be met, the new world will be torn apart. And gradually returns to zero - just like the endless sea now.

"And this requires a huge amount of energy, a very, very huge amount of energy...even energy at the level of Great Annihilation."

Duncan raised his head and looked seriously at the huge, pale eye surrounded by flesh and blood: "Look, this is a very reasonable and well-thought-out plan..."

"...I'm starting to be a little afraid that you mentioned the word 'reasonable'," the tentacles around Black Sun shook. "But okay, I at least understand the necessity of this plan. Indeed...such a huge energy , only the Creation of the World can provide it, but how do you ensure that this process... will actually happen as you want? Or to put it more directly, how should the Creation of the World detonate? How to ensure that this process does not get out of control? "

The ancient god asked a series of questions, obviously still very worried about Duncan's plan - and this kind of worry is normal.

Because it is too close to the creation of the world, no "person" in this world understands the nature and terror of that rift better than it does. It has been watching the doomsday solidified in the sky for ten thousand years - this Making it difficult to connect that apocalypse with the "new world" anyway.

Duncan had obviously thought about this series of questions. Faced with Black Sun's questions, he did not waver at all. He simply organized his words and then calmly said: "Everything is information."

Black Sun was silent, waiting for Duncan to continue explaining.

"The same goes for the creation of the world." Duncan said immediately.

The flames around the black sun swelled and shrank, as if it had thought of something.

"After coming into contact with the chaotic 'Sea of ​​Information', I gained a true understanding of the theory that 'everything is information'," Duncan said without any hesitation. After confirming that Black Solar Energy had followed his own train of thought, Duncan He continued to explain, "The Creation of the World is the solidified 'Doomsday' itself, but Doomsday is also an expression of information. From the lowest level of logic, the Creation of the World is actually no different from everything in this world.

"For me, as long as it is something supported by 'information', there is no problem of being 'out of control'. If it exists, it can be controlled. If it is uncontrollable... then its 'out of control' is not It must be controllable, unless the theory that "everything is information" is no longer valid. "

"You sound very confident," Black Sun's tentacles stretched, sighing with a low and gentle tremor, "and very determined."

Duncan didn't speak, just nodded slightly.

He truly believed this: nothing could stop the World Creation from becoming the dawn of a new world - not even the World Creation itself.

"Besides, another thing is also strengthening my confidence." He said suddenly.

Black Sun quickly reacted: "You mean... the appearance of that cube?"

"It passed through the rift of World Creation and reached 'this side'," Duncan nodded slightly. "A letter, no matter how exquisite its manufacturing technology is and how perfect its protective measures are, it can cross the new It is almost impossible for the barrier between the world and the old world to be sent to 'this side', so its 'delivery window' must be carefully selected. This delivery window It must be located at the place where the two worlds are most closely 'connected'..."

Duncan stopped slowly, and his gaze looked into the distance, as if through the brilliant and false corona of the black sun, staring at a more distant time and space——

Everything in the old world collapses, and all information finally ends at an "end point";

The new world was born in a great explosion, and all information spurted out from a "starting point".

Condensation and explosion are opposite to each other, just like the two ends of an hourglass, and the connection between them is both the end point and the starting point - the position left for the "inverse singularity".

It is also the place reserved for the creation of the world.

People in the distant future will send a letter to the other end of the hourglass through the only "aperture". That letter is a letter home to report safety, and it is also a light that guides the way in the night flight.

"I will go find you," Duncan said slowly. He withdrew his gaze from the distance and refocused on the Black Sun. "I will fulfill my promise to burn you to death and reserve a place for you in the new world. location, and then—it’s done.”

The corona of the black sun rose and fell slowly, and among the layers of flesh and blood, a gentle and low trembling sound came: "I will light a lighthouse for you. In the night sky, you must sail in the brightest direction."

"Okay, see you then."

"see you then."

…

The night is eternal, mist covers the city, and the solid clouds hang low as if they are within reach. Coldness fills the world. The neatly arranged gas lamps on the roadside are still shining brightly, but the flames in the lampshades are as frozen as , no longer emit any trace of heat.

Heidi wrapped her coat tightly - although she didn't quite know why she put on such thick clothes, the instinct in her heart still made her make the decision to "warm out the cold", even though she no longer remembered the "cold" "What a concept.

She hurried through the street illuminated by street lights, showed her pass as she passed the sheriff's post, and continued toward home.

Scattered pedestrians can be seen on the road. Some of them are going to factories, and some are going shopping. Compared with the early days of the long night, there are obviously many more people going out for activities now - it seems that as time goes by, People in the city-state gradually adapted to the night.

But even so, compared with those "business as usual" days, the city is still much deserted now.

Heidi ignored the passers-by walking slowly in the mist and just kept her head down. Occasionally, she would hear some chaotic noises coming from the street or the next block. It sounded like someone was fighting or screaming in fear. Sometimes she would even see armed church guards clashing with some panic-looking passers-by in the fog, but she would quickly look away and not pay attention to these things.

When passing a street lamp, Heidi looked up and out of the corner of her eye saw a flyer posted on the lamp pole. The flyer said a few simple words -

"Wave, death, the temperature of fire - if you see and understand these words, please go to XX block or the shelter in XX block immediately to receive help. Don't panic, stay calm, there are still people protecting you."

Heidi frowned, looking at the crooked and unreadable symbols.

She vaguely felt that she seemed to have seen such graffiti near her home recently.

But it’s nothing worth paying attention to.

She turned her head and continued towards home through the cold fog.