Great Cosmic Silence

"Mr. Yuan, what exactly do you mean by 'recorders'?"

The mountain road had reached its end, and the wheels could not move forward another inch. Only the dense green shadows of the mountains pressed down so heavily that it was hard to breathe.

Yuan Tianzong got out first, took a bamboo-woven carrying chair that had been prepared in advance from the trunk, then turned and gestured for Yang Chan to get in.

After traveling together all this way, Yang Chan had already lowered more than half her guard against this mysterious master.

She was certain Yuan Tianzong would not harm her, at least not before he achieved some purpose.

Though she had not heard of Yuan Tianzong's past from the elders of her family like Xiang Yun had.

She was not stupid.

The three first-rate martial arts masters of the Xiang and Yang families had instantly lost all will to fight upon hearing the name "Yuan Tianzong." The fear that surged into their eyes explained everything.

If a person like that truly meant her harm, she would have no ability to resist at all.

All she could do now was face it calmly and silently pray that his words matched his intentions.

Besides, as a researcher who had devoted years to Longevity Research, the desire to explore the unknown had long been carved into her bones.

The unfathomable Yuan Tianzong before her might truly possess secrets unknown to the world. That only made her curiosity burn hotter and her desire to speak grow stronger.

"Sit tight."

He bent down and steadily lifted the chair onto his back, then strode into the forest. He took meticulous care of the pregnant Yang Chan, more attentively even than the child's father, Xiang Yun.

Leaning against the back of the chair, Yang Chan ran her fingers over the yellowed Tui Bei Tu in her hands. Seeing that Yuan Tianzong did not wish to say more, she wisely fell silent and merely watched the shadows of trees sweep past around her.

To her surprise, only a few minutes of silence had passed before Yuan Tianzong's voice came from above, picking up their previous topic.

"People say that the Tui Bei Tu was coauthored during the Tang Dynasty by Yuan Tiangang and Li Chunfeng, a strange book capable of foretelling the rise and fall of later generations."

His footsteps remained steady, his voice neither too loud nor too soft, falling perfectly into Yang Chan's ears.

"As it passed down through later generations, this strange book was repeatedly altered, producing countless versions with differences in every line. But in truth, there has only ever been one Tui Bei Tu in this world. It cannot be copied, and no one can alter it."

Yang Chan's eyes flickered. She had never heard such a claim before. "There is only one Tui Bei Tu, and it's the one in my hands?"

Yuan Tianzong continued forward at an even pace. The loose stones and steep slopes of the rugged mountain path seemed as flat ground to him.

With his terrifying physique and exquisite control of force, he smoothed away every jolt. Yang Chan, seated in the chair, felt as though she were on level ground; she was so steady that not even a strand of hair had been disturbed.

With skills like these, if he went to carry sedan chairs on Mount Tai, he would probably be the king of kings.

"Have you heard of the Book of Life and Death?" Yuan Tianzong suddenly changed the subject.

Yang Chan sharply turned her head, surprise in her voice. "The Book of Life and Death? The one said to sit on King Yama's desk, recording the birth dates and lifespans of all living beings in the mortal world?"

"Mm."

"Of course I have. I used to watch Monkey King every summer when I was little. Don't tell me you're saying the Tui Bei Tu is connected to the Book of Life and Death?"

The moment the words left her mouth, even she found them absurd. Even coming from Yuan Tianzong, it sounded far too unbelievable.

The Book of Life and Death...

"That's right. The Tui Bei Tu is a page from the Book of Life and Death."

Yang Chan: "..."

Yuan Tianzong had long expected her reaction. Without slowing his pace, he continued in the same calm tone.

"The Book of Life and Death in Journey to the West is not the same thing as the one I'm referring to."

The true Book of Life and Death that existed in this world was a primordial secret artifact that recorded the fates of all things.

If one could draw out and examine a single thread of fate from it, one could foresee the course of that being's life.

So-called prophecy was nothing more than using the shared trajectories of countless beings to calculate major events that would affect an era.

He paused, then added,

"For example, if the fates of a vast number of beings in a certain era all pointed toward early death, one could roughly infer that the period might see war, plague, or natural disasters. Later generations matched those calculations against what actually happened, and that became the prophetic strange books passed down through the world."

Yang Chan's heart was far from calm after hearing that.

Setting aside the materialist worldview she had upheld for years, Yuan Tianzong's explanation was unexpectedly logical—it was like analyzing massive data samples and deriving collective trends from individual commonalities, precisely the sort of thinking often used in scientific research.

When absurdity had logic behind it, was it humanity's wild fantasy, or an unimaginable reality?

"Mr. Yuan, where did you get this theory?" Her voice unconsciously softened.

"For decades, I traveled through famous mountains and great rivers, seeking all kinds of hidden secrets. From countless fragmented ancient texts and relic records, I pieced things together bit by bit. And it was from that information that I discovered something extremely terrifying."

Yang Chan instinctively pressed, "What was it?"

Yuan Tianzong suddenly stopped at the edge of a cliff.

The mountain wind carried the scent of grass and trees as it rushed toward them. He raised his eyes toward the mist-shrouded land in the distance and deliberately lowered his voice. There was an unusual gravity in his tone, as if he feared some invisible presence might overhear him.

"I discovered that there seems to be an invisible force hidden behind this world."

"It guides our development, corrects trajectories that stray from course, destroys disobedient existences, and creates new balances... Everything about us is under its control."

An invisible force? A thought flashed through Yang Chan's mind. "The Zoo Hypothesis?"

Yuan Tianzong slowly nodded. "Exactly."

The Zoo Hypothesis was also known as the Captive Theory.

It was a scientific conjecture proposed to explain the "Fermi Paradox." Ever since the physicist Enrico Fermi asked his famous question, "Where is everybody?" in 1950, it had hung over the field of astronomy.

Fermi's logic was simple and fatal.

The universe was so ancient and vast. If other intelligent civilizations existed, then by all reason, they should have crossed the stars and made contact with humanity long ago.

Yet reality was that humanity had exhausted every means to search for extraterrestrial signals, only to receive endless silence in return.

The Great Cosmic Silence!

In this vast universe, Earth could not possibly be the only civilization with life.

The only conjecture that could explain it all was the Zoo Hypothesis.

Life on Earth was merely "animals" kept in captivity by some unknown higher existence.

That unknown force had severed every connection between Earth and the outside world, trapping humanity within an invisible enclosure and ensuring that they could never reach the universe beyond its fence.

As a researcher, Yang Chan understood the horror of that hypothesis better than anyone. It was enough to make her scalp tingle.

"Mr. Yuan, so you... believe this hypothesis is true? You want to uncover the truth behind it?"

But Yuan Tianzong shook his head, his tone unexpectedly casual.

"Not exactly to uncover the truth."

"At first, I merely wanted to focus on cultivation and break through the limits of martial arts. But as I kept walking that path, I discovered that at its end, there was always some force deliberately blocking me."

"I have no other hobbies in this life, only this one obsession. If someone tries to stop me, I can't stand for it."

Yang Chan relaxed slightly and asked cautiously, "So you intend to break through that force's obstruction?"

"No. I want to slip away."

The answer was so unexpected that Yang Chan froze for a moment, then could not help laughing. Her taut nerves eased a little. "Slip away where? Could that force really be divided by region, so you can avoid it just by changing locations?"

"Not by changing locations. By disappearing."

Disappearing?

Yang Chan looked utterly confused. "I don't understand what you mean."

"Death is disappearance," Yuan Tianzong answered.

"Mr. Yuan, what exactly are you trying to do? If it means facing death, then I beg you to spare the child in my womb. My life is not as important as his."

As she said this, Yang Chan lowered her head and gently stroked her belly, feeling the faint heartbeat within. Tenderness filled her face.

The slight rise and fall of her stomach seemed like his response.

"Mom..."