Lu Yuanming had gotten a great deal of information from Tang Zhean. Most importantly, he had learned the basic structure of the Dark Matter World and why the Unnamable Monsters were so terrifying.
The Dark Matter World was an Idealist Worldview, where thoughts, consciousness, and information determined everything.
When a civilization fell from the Material World into the Dark Matter World, only its sentient life and the civilization itself could be preserved. The sentient life rebuilt their bodies from the Fundamental Particles of Dark Matter, while part of the civilization itself became city territories like New York City. The rest shattered and vanished during the dimensional fall, becoming Order Fragments.
The so-called order was, in fact, just order.
Compared with the Physical Laws of the Material World, the idealist structure of the Dark Matter World was unstable.
Thoughts, consciousness, and information were all highly changeable and prone to disorder. That was where those monsters came from, as well as curses, ghosts, and other such things in the Material World. They all originated from humanity itself, from the distorted and chaotic parts of human civilization.
According to Tang Zhean, when human civilization fell into the Dark Matter World, the resulting city territories could effectively keep the Unnamable Entities outside at bay. That was because human civilization still carried the order and laws of the Material World. During the dimensional fall, living beings could acquire these orders and laws. Depending on the depth and weight of a civilization, multiple Orders could emerge.
For example, Xianxia from Eastern civilization, magic from Western civilization, or the gods of a lost civilization, along with Sci-Fi from modern civilization—these were all Orders manifested by human civilization. They could draw those who acquired them into places like Small Worlds, where they had to either destroy the information that had become chaotic and distorted (monsters), accomplish something or achieve a result never before seen in human civilization, or simply survive for a certain length of time. The conditions varied, but ultimately, their actions within these worlds determined the Order they would acquire.
To advance along an Order meant accumulating strength from weak to strong in accordance with its rules.
"That's all I know about Orders. After all, I haven't even acquired the most basic Order. Most of this information is just my speculation, but it's actually pretty simple."
Tang Zhean put it in terms Lu Yuanming could understand. "The Material World has an unparalleled degree of order, but it's order in a broad sense—things like the laws of the universe and the Physical Laws. Humans can't turn it into a power that belongs to them alone. The Dark Matter World, on the other hand, follows an Idealist Worldview. People can use their thoughts and consciousness to draw in all kinds of Fundamental Particles of Dark Matter, increasing their mass. Then they can use that mass to gain Supernatural Power. On the surface, that might mean waving a hand and summoning thunder and flames stretching tens of thousands of feet, or becoming something like an Uncertainty Daoist or an Atomic Energy Pope out of a comic or an anime."
"But because the Dark Matter World is idealist, the process of gaining Supernatural Power can cause information to fall into disorder. As information accumulates, chaos and distortion set in. The more powerful the information source, the more severe the chaos and distortion. Once it passes a certain threshold, it turns into a monster, or something even more terrifying, an Unnamable Entity. It may be powerful, but it can no longer be called a living being. It can only be classified as a phenomenon on the level of a natural disaster."
"The so-called Orders are all the order, sequence, and patterns of the Material World accumulated within human civilization. By accumulating mass from weak to strong in accordance with an Order, you still take in chaotic and distorted information, but at least you can maintain some degree of rationality and remain a living being. When you reach the limit and completely master the power of that Order, you become a spirit. I estimate that human civilization can support at most four or five spirits. Spirits basically have nothing to fear from the Unnamable Entities outside, but that doesn't mean they can fight them. That's still impossible."
"But you're different!"
Tang Zhean looked at Lu Yuanming with blazing eyes. "You can move between the Material World and the Dark Matter World. That means you don't have to worry about the chaotic and distorted information that accumulates in the Dark Matter World. I think you've probably noticed it too, right? After you kill a monster, as long as you return to the Primary Material World once, your soul grows stronger. On the outside, you get taller and bigger. I imagine you've also noticed your reaction speed becoming insanely fast. As you keep accumulating, you'll develop all sorts of superpowers, like telekinesis, Psychic Ability, or the ability to emit light, fire, and electricity. Those changes come from the mass you've accumulated."
Lu Yuanming was startled.
He hadn't told anyone that he could absorb White Light Particles after killing those monsters, and that every time he returned to his Original Body, his soul grew stronger. He hadn't expected Tang Zhean to figure it out.
Tang Zhean didn't notice Lu Yuanming's reaction at all. He continued excitedly, "This is what makes you so uniquely gifted. Everyone else who wants to increase their mass in the Dark Matter World has to advance along an Order. They can only avoid the distortion and chaos that come with increasing their mass by relying on the order and self-anchoring accumulated by a civilization over hundreds or thousands of years. But you're different. You only need to return to the Material World. No matter how much distortion and chaos you've accumulated, it's insignificant to the Material World. Even those Great Terrors, those Unnamable Entities, are no more significant than the tiniest insects when compared to the eternal, unchanging Physical Laws of the Material World. So, understand? You're walking an Order that only you can follow, and that Order is called the Order of Matter. You don't rely on the mere few thousand years of accumulated weight of human civilization. You rely on the order of the universe, thirteen-point-seven billion years in the making."
"This is the strongest Order. Bar none!"
Because of those words, Lu Yuanming made up his mind to sweep the entire city and clear out every monster, especially those carrying Order Fragments.
Lu Yuanming now understood that the Gray Light Cluster dropped by the Super Giant Spider after its death had been an Order Fragment. Since other people couldn't see Order Fragments, they couldn't touch or move them after killing a monster. The fragments would then evolve into Order Spaces and eventually manifest. Only when people entered an Order Space and conquered it could they acquire an Order the proper way.
Besides the Super Giant Spider, at least one Super Giant Man-faced Dog also carried an Order Fragment. There might be other hidden Super Giant Monsters too. They were all Lu Yuanming's targets.
Lu Yuanming didn't hold back. He kept ten Colorless Light Particles for emergencies and exchanged all the rest for ammunition. After discussing it with the other Disciples, he set out to sweep the city with twenty of the most elite soldiers he had selected, along with Charlie and his men, Peter, and Tang Zhean, who had insisted on coming along. Everyone had a gun and at least a hundred rounds of ammunition. With that group, the citywide sweep began.
Meanwhile, the base began to pull back and fortify its defenses. Lu Yuanming had exchanged for more than enough ammunition, and the base had over thirty guns for defense. With the advantageous terrain and the defensive checkpoints they had built, they no longer had anything to fear, even if a Super Giant Monster attacked, as long as their ammunition held out.
On the first day of the sweep, Lu Yuanming and his group killed over a hundred monsters. There were no Super Giant Monsters among them, but they still obtained a substantial number of White Light Particles from the kills.
That night, while Lu Yuanming and Tang Zhean were discussing the next day's sweep, a chorus of monster roars suddenly rose from the darkness. At the same time, thousands of meteors appeared overhead.
The sky of the Dark Matter World wasn't filled with stars. Instead, it was a massive, funnel-shaped spiral, with the Material World at its very top. At that moment, light began pouring down from the Material World. It started breaking apart in midair, then turned into countless shooting stars hurtling toward the ground.
The sight stunned everyone. They stared blankly overhead.
Tang Zhean watched for a long time before finally speaking with a sigh. "It's begun..."
"The first stage of the large-scale collapse of the Material World!"
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