"So, you already know that the horrors that can't be spoken of are surrounding New York City?" Tang Zhean asked gravely.
Lu Yuanming was even more surprised. "Do you mean those indescribable things outside? You've seen them too? What are they, exactly?!"
Although Lu Yuanming had turned down Tang Zhean's enthusiasm after their first meeting, he still agreed to meet him privately after dinner, out of respect for an expert. It was also a chance to see whether Tang Zhean, the celebrated genius, truly lived up to his reputation. The very first thing Tang Zhean said left Lu Yuanming stunned.
Tang Zhean just chuckled. "I know about them, but I haven't seen them. I confirmed they exist through analysis and deduction. That's why your Disciple said you've seemed troubled lately, isn't it?"
Lu Yuanming was even more astonished. "I can't believe you're so amazing, Doctor. You figured all this out while you were still alive. That's right, this is what's been troubling me. Those things... they're terrifying. Just knowing about them, just seeing them, hurt me. It's really..."
"What?! You saw them?!" Tang Zhean reacted even more dramatically than Lu Yuanming had expected. He immediately took several steps away, then called from a distance, "Cut open a vein and let me see!"
"?"
Lu Yuanming had just started to respect Tang Zhean, thinking he really was an incredible scientist. But when he heard that, he nearly had a giant question mark appear over his head.
Sometimes, when you put a question mark over something, it doesn't mean you're confused. It means you think there's something wrong with the other person...
Only then did Tang Zhean realize how his words had sounded. "No, I just need to see your blood. You can prick your finger and give me a little."
Lu Yuanming relaxed. He picked up his spear and pricked his finger with its tip. A drop of blood immediately welled up. He held it out for Tang Zhean to inspect. Tang Zhean examined it carefully from a distance, then finally let out a sigh of relief.
"It's fine. Your Faith Power is incredible." Tang Zhean finally dared to approach. He circled the drop of blood on Lu Yuanming's finger, marveling at it.
Lu Yuanming's thoughts stirred. When he'd seen those indescribable things, he really had used up a lot of Colorless Light Particles. So Tang Zhean was right. He immediately asked, "Dr. Tang, can you tell me what those things are? Why can my Faith Power protect me when I look directly at them?"
Tang Zhean fell silent. He considered his words before replying, "It's not that I don't want to tell you everything. It's just that, in the Dark Matter World, information itself is extremely dangerous. I need to think about how to explain it to you..."
Tang Zhean sat in silent thought for a long while before slowly speaking. "I'll first explain what the Dark Matter World is, and how it differs from the Material World. Then you'll probably understand what those things are."
Lu Yuanming pulled over a large metal chair and sat down. "I'm all ears."
Tang Zhean nodded and sat down in front of Lu Yuanming too. "The Material World is the universe we lived in. It's governed by physical laws. The Strong Nuclear Force, Weak Nuclear Force, Electromagnetic Force, and gravity—the Four Fundamental Forces—form the framework of the Material World. Relativity, Quantum Mechanics, and Classical Newtonian Mechanics are all physical laws inherent to the universe. Humans discover them; we don't invent them. They've always existed, and their nature doesn't change because humans describe them. You understand all that, right?"
Lu Yuanming nodded. Tang Zhean breathed a sigh of relief. "Good thing you understand. Otherwise, this would be a real headache. I'd have to start with the most basic scientific principles... Anyway, the Material World doesn't change because of human thoughts or descriptions. When a Physics Experiment is performed, it can be repeated, because the Material World is stable and governed by physical laws."
"The Dark Matter World is completely different. As far as we know, it has almost none of the physical laws of the Material World. We've found that Dark Matter is almost entirely unaffected by physical laws. Of the Four Fundamental Forces, only gravity can affect Dark Matter, and even then, only very weakly. The other three have no effect on it at all. Dark Matter reacts intensely only to human thought and consciousness. After a great deal of research, we finally confirmed one thing... Humans don't actually have souls!"
Tang Zhean's words made Lu Yuanming frown. He immediately challenged him. "Then what are we? Didn't we become like this because our souls fell into the Dark Matter World after we died?"
Tang Zhean shook his head. "Are they really souls? What are they made of? Matter? Dark Matter? Some kind of force? No. There's never been such a thing as a soul. Once you set aside all the material structures of the human body—proteins, Amino Acids, and everything else—the only things that could be called a soul are our consciousness and thoughts. In fact, they're what our bodies here come from. Our consciousness and thoughts react with Dark Matter, which undergoes a series of complex changes and gives us these Dark Matter Bodies. We seem to have flesh and blood now, but our bodies have actually changed enormously from what they were in the Material World... You know that in the Dark Matter World, gunpowder turns into sand, and all technology that depends on electricity is useless, right?"
Lu Yuanming nodded immediately. This was one of the key things he'd wanted to ask about.
Tang Zhean chuckled. "It's not just gunpowder. Almost every chemical reaction known to humanity fails in the Dark Matter World. And electricity can no longer be generated through scientific means. These are all things we can verify through testing. Even this alone shows that our Dark Matter Bodies shouldn't exist at all."
"Why?!" Lu Yuanming asked, completely dumbfounded.
Tang Zhean didn't stop. He continued, "It's simple. Our bodies can exist only through chemical reactions. Eating, breathing, your blood, every cell in your body and everything that keeps you alive—all of it would vanish without chemical reactions. And without electricity, nerve conduction and Brain Thinking would stop. You'd become a Vegetative State—no, you couldn't even be a vegetable. Yet our Dark Matter Bodies can exist just like bodies in the Material World. We can eat and move, get injured and die, and do everything that seems no different from when we were alive. That's all made possible by Dark Matter's reaction to consciousness and thought."
"The Dark Matter World and the Material World are two entirely different worlds. If the Material World follows a Materialist Worldview, then the Dark Matter World follows an Idealist Worldview. Thought, consciousness, and the breadth and depth of civilization—all of these determine the Dark Matter World's structure and power. That's why your Faith Power has such great abilities. And when you saw those indescribable things, you were injured the moment you saw and knew them, just like people facing the Great Old Ones of the Cthulhu Mythos. That's the truth of the Dark Matter World."
Lu Yuanming stared blankly at Tang Zhean. Many of the questions in his mind suddenly made sense. He hurriedly asked, "Dr. Tang, if that's the case, could we use information to block those indescribable things? Could that be a way to fight them?"
"Impossible," Tang Zhean replied flatly. "The calculations involved are extremely complicated, so I'll give you a simple example. An ordinary person has an Information Volume of one kilobyte. Yours is probably one megabyte right now, while those indescribable beings have at least a hundred terabytes. What could you possibly use to block them? That's why one glance can kill you on the spot, or even cause Information Metamorphosis Assimilation. The difference in scale has become so immense that it's caused a qualitative change—and gone through that change several times over. So what you're suggesting is impossible, unless..."
At that, Tang Zhean suddenly fell into thought.
Those indescribable monsters were the greatest source of apocalypse in Lu Yuanming's mind. As soon as he heard Tang Zhean say "unless," he eagerly asked, "Unless what?"
"...No. It wouldn't work. Even if you became a spirit, you'd only just be able to protect yourself. At best, you might shelter a few fanatical believers connected to you through information. It still comes down to scale. Human civilization isn't deep enough to stand against monsters that have existed in the Dark Matter World for millions, tens of millions of years. They're spirits too, but they're far more powerful than any spirit Earth's civilization could produce. So the only way..."
Tang Zhean's expression turned grave. He looked at Lu Yuanming. "Can you really return to the Living World? Do you really have a body in the Living World?"
Lu Yuanming nodded. "Yes. I'm not lying. It's all true. And as my soul in the Dark Matter World grows stronger, I can gradually feel my Vegetative State body in the Material World. It's slowly waking up."
Tang Zhean's eyes lit up. "Then you really do have a chance—however slim—to fight those indescribable things. This may be the only chance our human civilization has to win... a Dimensional Reduction Strike!"
"Crush the indescribable things in the Dark Matter World with the sheer scale of the Material World!"
"You need to wake up from your Vegetative State as soon as possible. Hurry!"
As he spoke, Tang Zhean gave him a smile that looked almost like a charlatan's. "You may not know this, but you're walking a perfect Path of Order. Now, let me tell you what Order is, and how to rise along the path of Order until you ultimately become a spirit."
"Of course, this is the path to power for everyone except you. You're different. Your path to strength is perfect, and it's the greatest gift the Material World has given you. So your Order could be called..."
"Order of Matter!"
Before you continue