This Game Is Too Real

The air was quiet for a moment.

The office was silent.

Xiao Qi looked at Chu Guang worriedly, using his eyes to ask if he needed to call Heya, and perhaps bring along a few psychologists.

However, Chu Guang shook his head, indicating there was no need to notify the Guards Corps, he could handle it himself.

It wasn't entirely due to his confidence in his own strength, mainly because he didn't feel any obvious threat from the other party, nor any clearly malicious intention.

Although his perception might not be entirely accurate, it still had some reference value.

After all, perception is essentially the manifestation of "spiritual energy," and the connection established between them at this moment could very well be some form of resonance field.

Chu Guang didn't know how this was achieved, and the other party seemed equally surprised by the connection between them, but in any case, the ability to communicate was a good start.

Compared to force, he was more adept at using the Manager's method.

Besides, if it was truly a problem he couldn't solve, no amount of additional people would make a difference...

Roughly five minutes later, the mysterious voice once again drifted into his ears.

"The pen... uh, I didn't take that thing, but I know how it disappeared and where it went."

Chu Guang didn't speak but waited for it to continue.

The voice paused for a moment and then indeed continued speaking.

"This is related to the nature of the world you are in and its ultimate fate. Although it's far too distant for you, the day will come... The story might be a bit long, are you interested in listening?"

Chu Guang, going with the flow, said.

"I'm eager to hear more."

"Then let me start from the beginning..."

The mysterious voice continued.

"A long, long time ago, before the original universe was born, everything was in a state of absolute stillness, with neither an increase nor a decrease in entropy... even the concept of time did not exist."

"Until one moment, an inconspicuous particle, as tiny as dust, vibrated, triggering an avalanche of chain reactions, finally breaking this eternal silence. Light shone in the boundless chaos, sounds appeared, and many new things that did not exist outside of time... We call this first-born universe the 'Original Universe,' the beginning of everything."

Chu Guang slightly furrowed his brow, not knowing how this guy had shifted from his pen to the origin of the universe, but he still followed its words and continued.

"Are you talking about... the Big Bang? I've heard of it, but I don't really understand."

The mysterious voice neither confirmed nor denied, continuing in a calm tone.

"Everything shifted from eternal stillness to ceaseless motion, time gained meaning from that moment, and the Original Universe kept expanding in eternal entropy... like a soap bubble growing larger."

Chu Guang asked dumbfoundedly.

"A, a soap bubble?"

The mysterious voice patiently explained.

"Yes, it's the easiest way to understand. If I don't use concepts you can grasp to illustrate, you wouldn't imagine what the state of the Original Universe was... like ants never understanding what the sea is, the difference between the sea and the small river outside their home, or what a manned spaceship is."

"In any case, it is an enormously large bubble, its size beyond measurement by light-years. If your Milky Way Galaxy is compared to a leaf, then it is the sum of all the leaves in the entire Milky Way... even larger than that."

That... is indeed quite astonishing.

Chu Guang was bewildered by the vastness of the world but had no further thoughts beyond that.

If this mysterious individual was not lying, even the vast Milky Way was merely a leaf compared to that massive scale, and the bacteria living on this leaf seemed unnecessary to worry about such distant matters.

Such existence was too far away from human civilization.

Like a story from another world.

Even if a wildfire erupted in this forest, before the flames turned everything to ashes, there would be enough time for the bacteria on the leaf to reproduce several generations.

Given that—

As bacteria, they should first thoroughly consume the leaf before them.

As if recognizing his thoughts, the mysterious voice continued in a gentle tone.

"Your perspective is correct. Maintaining forest order is not the duty of snails or ants. However... what I want to talk about is the origin of the void. Without explaining clearly the origins of things, you wouldn't understand what the void is, where it came from, and where your pen went."

"I agree with your point, please continue," Chu Guang said, looking at it.

The mysterious voice seemed to have planned this all along, continuing with a calm pace.

"The 'Original Universe' existed for a very, very long time, with no reliable clues left to prove whether any civilization was born in that universe. Even for someone like me, who has existed for a long time and explored many universes, I haven't found traces of any civilization remaining from that universe in the endless cosmos. They may never have existed, or they existed and transformed into something else."

"However, our exploration was not entirely fruitless. We discovered through traceable clues that while the Original Universe was nurturing material, it also nurtured three 'Consciousness Entities.' They are the Masters of the void—Original Light, Indescribable Mist, and Chaos Darkness."

This guy's narrative had gradually become strange, with concepts far beyond human civilization's understanding of the material world.

Chu Guang couldn't help but ask.

"What on earth are those things?"

The mysterious voice didn't keep him guessing, gladly answering his question.

"Light is the origin of all things, Mist is the unpredictable cause and effect, Dark is the end of the cosmic cycle... They are both consciousness and rules, jointly forming the cornerstone of the void."

"Various clues suggest that the birth of the Consciousness Entities accelerated the collapse of the Original Universe. When that colossal soap bubble 'popped' and burst into countless smaller soap bubbles, there emerged those endless 'newborn universes thereafter.'"

"And your Milky Way, along with all the star systems outside of it within the visible horizon, belongs to one of those countless bubbles."

"As for the void, it is the gap between bubbles, which is the 'walls' you perceived through tomb excavations."

"There exist not only the original three Consciousness Entities born from the Original Universe but also new consciousness nurtured by them over the long years, along with the corpses of countless dead universes."

Chu Guang gazed blankly at it, taking a long time to digest the voluminous information.

The universe is endless bubbles...

And the void is the corpse of dead universes... including that part of the Original Universe that couldn't birth a new universe?

In the face of these incredible pieces of information, the matter of the pen seemed no longer important.

Unable to contain his curiosity, Chu Guang eagerly said.

"This is different from what we learned from the Pioneer civilization... They depicted the universe as a nested structure."

Of course.

He didn't agree with this nested structure.

By comparison, he more believed in the concept of parallel universes, where different universes exist independently of each other, like two parallel lines.

The mysterious voice laughed and said.

"That's normal. The same apple will inevitably have different interpretations in different people's hands. What you mentioned, the 'Pioneer' kid, described only the 'sea' they saw. Just as you use membrane theory to explain the universe as a vibrating plane in eleven dimensions, they use creator theory to explain the relationship between the consciousness entities in the void and the universe."

Pausing, it continued.

"They are smart, but not smart enough, confusing the concepts of dimension and membrane, thinking the universe is a nested Matryoshka doll, believing that an existing consciousness must have been created and encompassed by another, earlier consciousness, and the three great consciousnesses born in the Original Universe are the creators of this universe, omnipotent rulers... this is actually inaccurate."

Chu Guang stared at the increasingly clear eyes of the time, shocked by this astonishing reality, and suddenly realized another issue.

"So... the place where the Pioneer civilization went is actually not the Creator Universe?"

In the depths of the void, a gaze carried a hint of approval.

"You are very smart and perceptive, truly a continuation of that person... although there's almost no trace of him in you."

Chu Guang asked in surprise, "Whose trace?"

"A friend I once knew, for you that must have been a long, long time ago... don't worry about it, it's nothing important to you."

The voice from the void didn't answer directly, casually lifting the topic away and continuing with the previous conversation.

"To answer your previous question, concerning whether the 'pioneers' you mentioned actually went to the Creator Universe, I think there are two interpretations. As I said earlier, their understanding is just not accurate enough, but that doesn't mean it's incorrect."

Chu Guang: "...what do you mean?"

The voice from the void continued.

"It depends on your understanding of the creator or your ultimate pursuit. The creator known to them is the origin of everything, whereas the creator as you understand it... I guess refers to the creator of certain specific entities. Just imagine it for a moment and you'll realize these two types of creators actually inherently differ."

Upon hearing this, Chu Guang finally realized where the issue lay.

From the perspective of the "precursor civilization," the "creator" those spiritualists understood is the origin of consciousness, which originally corresponded to the three consciousness entities born in the Original Universe.

They established contact with one or all of these consciousness entities, completed some sort of deal, or even signed a contract, and eventually headed to the world where they resided—

And that is the void outside the membrane of the universe!

However, the creator as human civilization understands it is not like that.

Due to a developmental focus on the exploration of material, human civilization's understanding of the creator also concentrates more on the level of "matter" rather than the subjective "creation".

And these "matters" were not created by the so-called three consciousness entities but were born in the Original Universe, results of endless possibilities generated from countless particles colliding and entangling!

No wonder...

The precursor civilization repeatedly left messages stating that different paths cannot plan together.

It turns out to be true, human civilization and precursor civilization were never on the same track from the very beginning of understanding!

Chu Guang, realizing this, was completely stunned.

Good heavens...

All this time, the precursor civilization didn't head to a higher universe but plunged straight into the void!

Qiu Shiye probably went there too—that rift between universes!

The precursor civilization warned these juniors to be wary of what's on the wall, but these guys clearly didn't realize that the place they went is actually the wall—

Including their understanding of the creator, was also a thing on the wall!

All clues were stringing together, and Chu Guang gradually understood everything.

All this time, the perforator wasn't borrowing light from the Creator Universe, but digging at the wall of the void!

And that Death Lizard Giant, seems to be an existence in the void...

"...It seems you've gradually understood the essence of the 'perforator', and now I'm going to tell you about the membrane of the universe, which is what you truly pierced through."

The voice from the void continued with a hint of a smile in a gentle tone.

"Do you remember the analogy I made earlier? I likened the universe to a soap bubble."

"I do remember," Chu Guang cautiously said, "so what you mean is... the membrane of the universe is the protective layer of the universe?"

The voice from the void continued.

"That's one way to understand it, this conceptual layer of the membrane indeed relates to the stability of the universe. However, the more accurate explanation is... the membrane of the universe is the universe itself. And what you see as the three-dimensional world is actually the 'membrane' projected onto the three-dimensional 'interface' from eleven dimensions."

"Once you understand the concept of projection, you'll understand why this universe is filled with so many things you can't see or touch. The eleven-dimensional membrane can project onto the 3-dimensional interface, and naturally, it can also project onto dimensions 0, 1, 2, or 4, 5, etc..."

"Based on this principle, you can consider that the universe is composed of countless different dimensional projections, or you can consider that the membrane at the pinnacle of dimensions is the true body of the universe."

"As for the existences in the void... those things outside the bubble generally cannot directly touch the bubble, let alone enter inside the bubble."

"However, they have their methods, such as utilizing psychic abilities—which you refer to as the resonance field, establishing contact with the 'consciousness entities' living inside the bubble, bewitching them, or forming deals with them, and leveraging the latter's strength to project themselves onto some interface inside the bubble... just like what you did before."

Chu Guang swallowed and cautiously inquired.

"So... did our actions in fact shake the foundation of the universe?"

Laughter echoed from the void, followed by a soft, gentle voice.

"Don't overestimate yourselves, at most you've merely gingerly picked up a grain of sand from the desert, far from altering the ecosystem of the entire desert. And the projections that invaded your world, just like you saw, can actually be destroyed. There are even some smart natives who deliberately lure existences from the void to descend, then hunt them to acquire some form of power you have yet to understand."

Chu Guang immediately asked.

"What is that power?"

"Haven't you noticed changes in your own body? But no matter, you'll soon notice. There's no need for me to explain, you have your own physical doctor."

The voice from the void chuckled and continued.

"In any case, the bubble encasing your world is much stronger than you imagine, otherwise, you wouldn't exist in this universe. Not to mention the galaxy beneath your feet, already plowed through by an unknown number of civilizations, yet until each met their fate's end, it remained intact."

"Even if it's a microscopic hole invisible to the naked eye, or a galaxy-sized cavern, it would gradually heal over time... and it's very likely your pen was relocated to patch up this cavern."

"So I sincerely suggest you, to tread lightly at your own doorstep, or perhaps choose a distant massive celestial object for research, is not a bad option either. Gravity is a good thing, projections on any dimension cannot escape its binds."

"Of course, if you manage to create a star-sized hole, the trouble released would not be a joke, possibly causing a few planets to vanish along the gravitational surface as well."

At this point, that laughter abruptly took on a tinge of melancholy, as if expressing regret.

"But speaking of which, even if the membrane of the universe is stronger than you imagine, I must admit that the emergence of civilization accelerates the heat death of the universe. Just like the birth of the three consciousness entities accelerated the demise of the Original Universe, your birth will also hasten the heat death of the universe beneath your feet... even if with your lifespans, you'd hardly see any change."

"Eventually, all new universes, much like the Original Universe, will split into smaller bubbles in repeated explosions or reach the end of life amidst the eternal increase in entropy, ultimately merging into the void."

This harsh fate seems to echo the rise and fall of the United Human.

Chu Guang listened, lost in thought.

However, more than the fate of the universe, what intrigued him more was who this entity really was?

Why did it know so much?!

Moreover—

It seemed to know the First Generation Manager of Shelter No. 404!

It is truly unbelievable that a higher existence with perspectives so high it can overlook the entire forest, would pay attention to the fate of a bacterium on a leaf...

Thanks to it, he learned many things he might not have known in a lifetime.

Yet his confusion hadn't decreased but rather increased because of this.

After a moment of contemplation, Chu Guang asked the question he wanted to ask from the beginning.

"Who exactly are you?"

As if anticipating this question, the voice from the void answered in a gentle tone.

"I am, of course, an existence in the void... and I have existed by your side for a very, very long time."

"You may call me the Observer."