Alternate Dimension Game: Happiness is all that matters!

This is a cleaning robot from a prehistoric civilization, powered by solar energy; fully automated and intelligent cleaning.

"Leave the household sanitation to you!"

Placing the robot inside his home and switching it on, it began to work diligently and earnestly.

"Eh, this thing looks very ancient, doesn't it?" Han Xiaoyue curiously gazed at the robot.

It was as if a cell from the past had been revived, breathing life into an era gone by. That life, still preserved in documents, could be read, understood, and imagined. Between the lines, one could see the fleeting lives and times.

Han Xiaoyue sat in the shade of the steps as well. "Now I'll tell you that secret. Let's just call that Legendary Eternal, 'Her'."

"'She' ventured deep into the Etheric Abyss and encountered a very strange, massive being. Small Ai must've told you already; we usually use large numbers to describe these powerful entities of Idealism."

"Uh-huh," Wang Hao uttered.

"This being appeared so peculiar; it was an almost infinite finite, a highly complex cluster of information. It exists in a state between formlessness and form, almost identically to the naïve concept that 'infinity never ends'. It's virtually a perfect emulation of infinity."

"So where is the oddity of 'It'?" Wang Hao asked.

"It might encompass everything that is, a potential universal disjunctive," Xiaoyue explained. "You know about the number pi, π, right? Irrational numbers like π likely contain every possible combination of digits. Such irrational numbers are known as universal disjunctive numbers. And the key lies in this phrase— containing every possible combination of digits..."

"This mysterious being, as a counterfeit infinity, might also include all meme combinations from the Etheric Abyss."

"The most critical aspect is that its instinct is to absorb new information and to create."

"Therefore, at the moment of contact, the Eternal fell quickly and was devoured. In her last moments, she sent the 0-1 file, which completely described her exploration."

"Devoured?" Wang Hao fell silent for a moment before asking, "What happened after that? Did the prehistoric civilization fight with this 'It'?"

"Not exactly," Han Xiaoyue said. "In fact, at the level of Eternals, a single individual almost possesses an entire civilization's means of production and professional knowledge; an individual is a civilization. The Etheric Abyss's very exploration was driven by personal interest, not the responsibility of the primary civilization."

"Oh, so it's like going to your demise of your own volition, and the state doesn't take responsibility."

Han Xiaoyue ignored his mocking tone and continued: "However, the main civilization itself was already under fierce retaliation from other Demon Gods. Existences with self-consciousness, in this Cosmic Domain, are as conspicuous as the moon in a dark night..."

"So these outsiders were met with strong resistance from the native forces?" Wang Hao asked.

"Exactly. To combat this endless tide of powerful Demon Gods, the main civilization transformed a large number of Parallel Worlds near the surface of the Etheric Abyss, enabling them to support the propagation of life and broadcasted genetic information."

"In this way, existences with self-consciousness were no longer too rare, which somewhat relieved the pressure on my civilization."

Wang Hao rolled his eyes in surprise: "So that's it. That's the origin of indigenous humans... But isn't that reason a bit too much? Was a new species of humans created just to be cannon fodder?"

Xiaoyue stretched out a few fingers and explained: "It's not what you're picturing. First, the transition from nothing to something, from zero to one, is a miracle in itself. Without this miracle, there would be no final outcome. Second, since humans are generally born in realms close to the shallow layers of the Etheric Abyss, truly powerful beings have difficulty reaching them, so they only attract partial attention."

"And thirdly, the main civilization actually wanted to create a stronger species... Eternals are already the strongest units my civilization could produce, but compared to the powerful beings of the Etheric Abyss, they were still too weak. Thus, there was a desire to see if, over a long period, a more powerful race might emerge."

"Aren't you afraid that a more powerful species will be born and slaughter you all?"

Wang Hao, clearly amused, watched two little ants fight on the road. He took out a piece of biscuit from his pocket, broke off some crumbs and gave them to the ants. Sure enough, midway through their fight, the ants went back to their homes to find help, carrying the biscuit crumbs.

But what followed was an even greater war, two nests of ants furiously tearing at each other over those crumbs.

However, Han Xiaoyue didn't share this leisurely sentiment to appreciate the ants: "Don't you find it interesting, the birth of a more intelligent and powerful species? Even if this new species replaces us in exploring the entire multi-universe, that wouldn't be such a terrible thing, right?"

"Okay ... let's not refute that point for now, but this plan obviously failed, didn't it? Even prehistoric civilizations have fled the Etheric Abyss."

Han Xiaoyue sighed, "That's about right. Fortunately, the native humans seem to have adapted to life in this universe. Moreover, each of the major parallel universes has given birth to something like Gaia consciousness, which to some extent protects the existence of native humans."

Han Xiaoyue deeply regretted this turn of events and took a deep breath: "Let's go back and talk about the Eternal that was swallowed."

"Once [she] was swallowed by that mysterious entity, [she] completely lost consciousness, and whether [she] is dead or alive remains an unsolved mystery."

"Then, after who knows how long, [she] regained consciousness only to find that her main civilization had already fled and [she] had been captured by an irresistible powerful entity ... This powerful entity was in the process of creating a new [her]."

"Quickly, [she] witnessed a scene that defied belief, seemingly like another self in a mirror, manifesting right before her own eyes."

Seeing Wang Hao's expression, Han Xiaoyue said, "But this newly created [her] did not possess self-consciousness. Because self-consciousness is a unique physical phenomenon from our own universe, a low entropy entity. Self-consciousness is peculiar; species without it cannot easily comprehend those that do possess it."

"The original Etheric Abyss did not have self-consciousness, and even this war was triggered by it."

Wang Hao felt a tingle from this description, "So now there are two [hers]?"

"Not just two," Han Xiaoyue shook her head like a rattle-drum, "As I just said, that mysterious entity is instinctively driven by learning and creating. It found that the first creation was a failure, not perfect, so it created many more, thousands, maybe tens of thousands, getting increasingly closer to perfection. But these entities, lacking self-consciousness, will never measure up to the original version of [her]."

"Thousands?" Wang Hao was a bit surprised.

"Doesn't this scene seem perfect for a puzzle game narrative?"

"Hmm ... indeed it does. So why not make it?"

"Because this scenario is too bizarre and may cause physiological discomfort for the Player. [The Game] calculated for a while and decided it was best for me to directly reveal this secret."

Han Xiaoyue sighed, "In the end, [she] communicated with that mysterious entity, wanting to understand the mystery of self-consciousness. It had to become human first, even if just simulating humanity was enough."

At this point in the strange story, Wang Hao had pretty much understood.

He finally asked, "So how did you come to be?"

Han Xiaoyue explained, "In our civilization, there are four individual stages: 'I' represent the human stage, Xiao Ai represents the Transcendent stage, the Immortal stage is for now omitted, and [The Game] represents the Eternal stage."

...

(Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas!)