Deep Sea Embers.

Chapter 801 Looking to the Future
After hearing what Pilot No. 2 said, Duncan's expression immediately became a little serious. He stared into the eyes of the person opposite him and said in a deep voice: "A larger 'Infinite Sea'? Why do you think so?"

Pilot No. 2 thought for a moment, and after organizing his thoughts, he suddenly asked a seemingly irrelevant question: "In the world where you were born, the civilization that created you, have they reached the 'final step'?"

"The last step?" Duncan frowned. "You mean..."

"Mastering all the truths of the world within one's own scope, knowing all the mysteries and the beginning and future of the universe, and having the ability to change 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 to."

As Navigator No. 2 spoke, there was a hint of emotion and nostalgia in his expression. After appearing in this posture, it seemed that even his "emotional" changes were much closer to those of humans.

"My creators gave this stage of civilization a name, they called it 'Transcendence Criticality' - although they themselves did not reach this stage until the end, they had touched its threshold and summarized the conditions required to reach this stage. Their highest achievement... was to create a 'time capsule' during the construction of the New Hope, and use it to buy a hundred years when the end of the world came.

"Fire Usurper, although my creators have never truly reached the 'Transcendent Criticality', they have concluded through massive calculations that 'mortals' can indeed reach this level. Through the power of civilization, the mathematical foundation of the universe can be moved."

Navigator No. 2 stared into Duncan's eyes, and there seemed to be a heavy pressure in that look.

"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, have they really reached the 'final step'? My creators, is their judgment about the end of truth... correct?"

Facing the burning gaze of Navigator No. 2, Duncan finally nodded slightly.

“Yes, they did.”

This might be the answer that Pilot No. 2 had been waiting for for so long. But the moment he heard the answer, his eyes suddenly became blank. He stood there blankly for several seconds before he suddenly realized, "This stage really exists... so civilization can really 'finally cross the line'... the system is open..."

Duncan frowned and was about to ask something, but Pilot No. 2 seemed to suddenly wake 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 they begun to think about how to pass through that 'barrier'?"

Duncan was slightly startled, and then he recalled the "message" from human civilization that he had heard in the bright starlight.

An event that is beyond cognitive models and occurs "outside the universe".

After a brief thought, Duncan spoke: "I'm not sure if they have started to think 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 'outside event' they observed was the 'Great Annihilation' that had not yet invaded the real dimension, or strictly speaking... other worlds that were colliding."

"Yes, that's it! The unequivocal observation of an event outside the universe! This is the first step - a 'first step' that only exists in theory, and my creators want to verify whether this thing can be achieved in the end... That's it!"

Navigator Two spoke quickly, he was excited, this was the first time he was so excited since they met - this man in a white robe, imitating a long-dead mortal, with a tired face, paced excitedly, circling the hill several times, and then he suddenly stopped in front of Duncan, his eyes seemed to be burning.

The wind blew over the hills, and the grass rippled on the vast plain in the distance, and the river sparkled.

"Fire Usurper, 'outside the universe', this is the key. The universe has an 'outside', the world is not unique, the essence of the Great Annihilation is the collision of multiple universes. In other words - in the face of a disaster of the level of 'Great Annihilation', if we 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 is meaningless, even if it is as big as a star system or a supercluster. When another world crashes into it -"

Pilot No. 2 opened his hands and gestured in a somewhat exaggerated manner - he seemed to be not only imitating the appearance of one of his creators, but also imitating a living personality data, which made him behave like an ordinary mortal at this moment:

"Pop, just like a soap bubble, it burst."

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', all structures within the universe lack strength and can't withstand anything, just like the hull of the New Hope... We even used neutron star material to make its hull, but it shattered like paper..."

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

"...Therefore, 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 sure that there is a possibility of 'jumping out of the world' in the 'new world'. 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 didn't speak for a while.

He felt an indescribable... shock.

Navigator No. 2, this ancient "artificial intelligence", thinks so long-term that it even surpasses all the other "ancient kings". While everyone is still pondering whether the shelter can be saved, what he is thinking about... is the destruction of the new world.

Because destruction is bound to happen, it may be another great annihilation, or it may be something else.

"Fear, this is the first 'emotion' I have learned," said Pilot No. 2 in a calm and low voice. "What I am worried about...may seem too far away, but after tens of thousands of external sensors described to me the 'feeling' of the universe collapsing, this 'fear' has become 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 till night. As long as we remember that there is a catastrophe of the scale of 'Great Annihilation', as long as we haven't found a way to fight it, this fear will never disappear. This urgent desire for 'security' has made me think about a question...

“To what stage can civilization develop, and to what stage must it develop in order to truly resist all disasters and survive them?

“Maybe this will never end, but at least within the scope of what I can understand, ‘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 was whether mortal civilization could develop to the level of 'leaving the world'. The second was whether the 'new world' I created - if it really exists - could 'accommodate' such development of civilization."

Pilot No. 2 nodded slightly 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 gave the answer on its own.

“The word ‘likelihood’ is intuitive but not accurate enough. In my opinion, the biggest difference between the two is ‘randomness’.”

Duncan repeated subconsciously: "Random?"

"In a complete and healthy real universe, 'true randomness' is allowed to appear," Pilot No. 2 said slowly, "but in the shelter, there is only 'pseudo-randomness'."

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

"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 has mastered the ability to teleport on the plane, he will never be able to 'stand' up - only a system that allows 'true randomness' to occur can allow 'supercritical' events that jump out of the system to occur!"

"My creators called this event the 'Final Crossing'. They believed that this might be the final stage of the development of mortal civilization... Once there, we will be safe."

Pilot No. 2 spoke softly, slowly raised his head and looked at the empty sky.

It seemed as if there was a destination that the New Hope would never reach.

Duncan finally understood what Pilot No. 1 had said to him when they were in the deep sea.

"In fact, as early as the moment of departure, Pilot No. 2 had already calculated the outcome of this journey."

The destination that New Hope will never reach is a chasm that stands in the way of civilization. In front of this chasm, a spacecraft driven by a jump engine and with a shell made of 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 within the universe have no strength.

(End of this chapter)