Nous Crashes

The moment that information was uploaded, the entire spiritual dimension fell silent.

It was as though someone had pressed a mute button; even the faint light flowing between the stars froze.

...]

For the first time, Nous's mechanical voice lagged.

That was not thought, but recognition.

Like a computer searching for a character that had never been entered into its database.

The next second, the scarlet point of light at the core of that colossal mechanical planet abruptly contracted, then erupted with unimaginable intensity—not an explosion, but a focus.

All light and heat converged into a single point, brighter than a stellar core and purer than a black hole's singularity.

Nous received it.

Nous realized what it was.

It was a formula someone had produced by summarizing and organizing every law of the universe.

In other words, it was an answer.

An answer to the universe's ultimate question.

As a machine born to solve the universe's ultimate Truth, the entire meaning of Nous's existence was for this very moment.

A complete, self-consistent theoretical framework, one Nous had never conceived of, lay naked before him.

Naturally, Nous could not possibly let it pass...

The probe invading Zhang Qi's mind instantly withdrew. All computational power, every resource that this Aeon's existence could mobilize, turned toward that "legacy" from another world at this moment.

[Aether-Reishi model reconstruction... failed.]

[Imaginary string theory... failed.]

[Causality topology verification... failed.]

A string of failure signals flashed through Zhang Qi's mind. They were Nous's calculation results.

Feeling those results, Zhang Qi let out a breath. Cold sweat had already soaked through his clothes, leaving them sticky against his skin.

He had won the gamble...

Just as he had expected, Nous had no way of giving up this answer.

Using the "Integration Stage" cultivation technique Zhang Qi