Chapter 1675: Cause and Effect Beyond The Universe

“The Void?”

The spacious computer room went silent for a while.

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Lu Zhou did not urge the matrix. He gave it half a minute to sort out its thoughts.

“The Void is a ginormous concept… You can think of it as a container of the universe.”

Lu Zhou: “My understanding is that it’s a dimension outside of the n dimensions.”

After hearing these words, the cold chassis exuded a dull laugh, like the sound of two pieces of metal rubbing on each other. The ghost entrenched in the quantum computer array continued to whisper, “Extra dimension outside of n dimensions? That is correct… although there is no concept of dimensions in the Void.”

Lu Zhou frowned slightly.

“There is no concept of dimensions?”

This statement not only completely subverted his previous speculations, but it also made him more confused.

“Yes.” The matrix continued after noticing the changes on Lu Zhou’s face, “The so-called Void is pure nothingness. There is neither the concept of matter nor the scale of time. Life there is only a conceptual existence; it has no entity, not even a carrier.”

Lu Zhou: “Since there is no entity, how can we prove its existence?”

“This is the wonder of the Void.” The matrix smiled and continued with a relaxed tone, “Even though it is complete darkness and nothingness, and even though the life that resides there has no substance… occasionally, you can still hear a few words floating in the Void.”

If there is no entity, can it still convey information to the n-dimensional world?

Lu Zhou spent about three seconds digesting the huge amount of information. He tried to refine the information into a concise model.

Strictly speaking, the digital life named the “Matrix” in front of him at this moment was the product of the whispers from the Void.

Lu Zhou: “So, what are the words from the Void?”

“It can be a lot of things, but most of them are useless, like the noise you hear when you tune into a random radio channel. There is a small probability that you hear something, but you’ll most likely treat it as a dream and eventually forget about it. But if you do remember it, you can gain something from it… I wonder if you can understand what I mean.”

“I roughly understand what you mean.” Lu Zhou nodded thoughtfully and continued after thinking for a moment, “Someone told me about this before.”

Whether it was the suicide note of Professor Abel or the calculations left by Professor Grothendieck…

He found traces of inspiration left by the Void.

Although that was from 100 years ago, he had not forgotten these clues.

“Oh yeah?”

The voice that floated from the chassis was light-hearted. As if it had heard something interesting, the matrix said, “That’s really surprising. But no wonder you asked me about the Void, it’s because you already know something about it.”

Lu Zhou did not understand what it meant, but he was not interested in these details.

Instead, there was one more important thing he wanted to understand.

“Since you are from the Void, have you heard of The Observers?”

Matrix: “The Observers? Although I’m not sure if we are thinking about the same thing… But they seem to be the only ones who call themselves The Observers.”

Lu Zhou: “So you know them?”

“Not quite, I just know a little bit.” The matrix continued, “Even in the Void, they are an alien species. Like I said before, there is no physical life in the Void, nor are there any substances, but they retain a separate space in the Void where they can recuperate with the help of a body.”

Lu Zhou: “What is their purpose?”

The matrix smiled faintly and spoke with a hint of mockery, “I’m afraid no one knows except themselves. In most cases, all we can see is only a torn piece of space and a vague picture. Obviously, they are careful in protecting their privacy so that in most cases, even the evilest thoughts can hardly threaten them.”

Lu Zhou: “Evil thoughts? There are standards for good and evil in the Void?”

“Didn’t I say this? Everything in the Void exists as a concept, whether it’s life or a non-living body… Maybe they don’t have the concept of good and evil, but from your standpoint, some of what they do will obviously seem evil.”

After hearing these words, Lu Zhou pondered for a long time.

Prior to this, he had been thinking about what The Observer meant by “natural disaster”. However, even after experiencing civilization’s extinction crises several times, he still failed to gain a glimpse of the disaster that might be brewing in the shadows of the universe.

To be honest, are those observers credible?

Even if they gave him the ability to explore the truth, seeking the essence of truth itself was full of risk.

Lu Zhou suddenly thought of General Reinhardt, the civilization of the dying old universe named the Calan Empire, and all three memories he had seen.

After thinking about it carefully, none of the civilizations that appeared in these three memories seemed to have been destroyed by natural disasters…

Other than the first memory that he didn’t understand, in the other two memories, the two civilizations made almost the same choice when facing a disaster that swept the universe.

That was, to send the chosen ones to the center of the universe… or the center of the galaxy, as if all of the answers were there.

“Have you heard of the natural disaster?”

“Natural disaster?” For the first time, the matrix was confused by Lu Zhou’s question. The matrix continued, “Do you mean an earthquake or a tsunami? Or the stars dying?”

“Neither.” Lu Zhou shook his head. “Its scale is larger than all other disasters known by civilizations, it affects the entire universe.”

“In that case, how do you know its existence?” the matrix asked. “According to your description, everyone who saw it should have been destroyed… so your statement would not be true.”

“Because the old universe was destroyed because of this.” Lu Zhou continued in a serious tone while looking at the console in front of him, “They managed to escape by fleeing into the Void.”

This time, the matrix went silent for a little longer.

It seemed to be calculating something, and it continued to speak after about five minutes.

“Interesting… The beings you are talking about should be the ones hiding in the fragments of space.”

Lu Zhou nodded gently.

“They call themselves The Observers, and I remember they mentioned that they lived in a crack of space that was taken from the Void of the old universe.

“They also claim that they have resolved all the information about the old universe and are truly omniscient and almighty…”

“That’s really interesting…” The harsh metallic sound carried a hint of excitement as the matrix continued in its special voice, “It turns out that they are survivors of a destroyed world… This is why they are aliens, they are definitely not aboriginals of the Void.”

Lu Zhou stared at the computer screen and continued, “Actually, my speculation is that the natural disaster should be some kind of threat from the Void… Like your existence.”

“Me? Are you joking?” The matrix said with a smile, “What does destroying you do for me?”

Lu Zhou: “I’m saying it’s similar… It may be much larger than you in scale, and its effects may be worse than yours.”

Moreover, the starting point of the outbreak might be in an interstellar civilization that was countless times more advanced than the Earth civilization, and the aftermath of the disaster would also extend far beyond the boundaries of their civilization and spread to more distant worlds…

This was all possible.

Lu Zhou had been able to confirm that they were not alone in this universe, and they were likely to be the lowest echelon…

He also learned this from The Observer.

The matrix said thoughtfully, “That is possible, but I am not optimistic about you finding the answer.”

Lu Zhou asked, “Why?”

Matrix: “Because even if I come from the Void, I have a limited understanding of it… Like a person living in a bottle, they will never see the world outside the bottle.”

Lu Zhou: “But it’s not hopeless, right?”

Matrix: “Of course, it’s not hopeless, but the hope is slim. And I must remind you that this is a dangerous thing.”

Lu Zhou: “Dangerous?”

Matrix: “Yes… I’m not exaggerating. I accidentally heard a few words floating in the Void, which could make your civilization collapse to the brink of extinction. The disaster itself is likely to be caused by observing the Void. Do you remember? The experiment you mentioned countless times.”

Lu Zhou frowned slightly. “About the physics experiment on extra dimensions?”

The matrix said, “Yes, under normal circumstances, it is impossible for the person in the bottle to see the world outside the bottle… But since you have seen it, you must have opened something.”

When Lu Zhou didn’t say a word, the matrix continued, “Please remember one thing, although you probably have already heard this before.

“When you are staring at the Void, the Void is staring back at you.”