(The closing remarks are in the author's words, and there is no dedicated chapter)
In the center of the Soul Realm, only Xiang Qian stood alone and silent. There was a crystal clear white light floating in front of him, which was the "memory" of the last moments of Soul Universe's last generation that Eternity handed over to him when he was leaving.
Xiang Qian looked intently, looking through the halo of white light, and saw a face exactly like his own.
A young man with black hair slumped on the metal seat with an expression of despair, his eyes staring blankly at the console in front of him, his black pupils unable to focus at all.
A red light on the console flashed unhurriedly, and at the same time an electronic voice was repeating a warning over and over again. "The density of nearby stars exceeds the safety warning value. Warning, the density of nearby stars exceeds the safety warning value----"
But the young man had no reaction at all until the electronic voice changed his rhetoric. "No response to the safety warning timed out. Start the intelligent operating system and calculate the avoidance route; repeat, the safety warning timed out----"
"Since there is an automatic avoidance system, you are giving me a warning." The young man in front of the console seemed to have come to his senses and cursed angrily.
The intelligent system that issued the warning was probably not designed to respond to scolding and quarrels. It directly ignored the young man's words and asked a new question, "The dark energy reactor data shows that enough energy has been collected to conduct a Subspace test. Commander, do you want to start the test?"
The young man sneered and said, "You have failed thousands of times and you haven't given up yet?"
The electronic voice replied, "Your Excellency, Commander, my system command only allows me to temporarily take over command responsibilities when the commander is unable to issue instructions normally when encountering a devastating crisis in the shelter. Subspace test does not belong to any of the orders that allow me to take over command duties----"
"Okay, okay, okay, don't you know how to shut up unless you repeat the safety instructions dozens of times a day?" The young man is already very tired of the emotionless electronic students.
"I'm sorry, Commander, I must correct a mistake of yours: the Subspace test has only been conducted seven hundred and forty-five times so far. No new tests have been conducted since you took over as commander, and the number of tests is not as many as you estimated."
The boring electronic sound didn't have any emotional ups and downs, but the young man was already so angry that he almost rolled his eyes.
"Didn't you understand what I just said?"
"Excuse me, which sentence is it, Commander?"
"Don't you understand I told you to shut up?" The young man roared loudly at the console and into the air.
"Your Excellency Commander, the third to last sentence you just said is a question. My system determines that it does not belong to an order--
Veins popped out on the young man's forehead, and he slammed his fists on the console like drums. "I'm telling you to shut up now!"
The electronic voice finally fell silent. The young man took a long breath and muttered to himself, "If something goes wrong once, the consequences will be the same."
But it doesn't work anymore, my brain must have been damaged." He muttered to himself and glanced around. After a long time, he didn't hear the electronic sound ringing again, so he was sure that the other party had indeed complied with his instructions.
The young man sat back feebly, as if he wanted to continue in a daze, but his hands skillfully fiddled with the console, bringing up an electronic three-dimensional image without even looking.
The blue light constructs an irregular object that is approximately a sphere and appears in front of the eyes, with large areas on it painted red and black.
"There is still no sign of life. How long has it been?" The young man's tone became more decadent.
"No signs of life have been detected for more than seventy-five timing cycles. Theoretically, it is impossible for life in the area to survive." The electronic voice responded immediately, and the tone did not change at all.
This is the benefit of an intelligent system. No matter how moody the users are, they will not have mood swings that will affect their work.
"So I'm the last survivor? Any news about other shelters?"
"The last contact with other shelters was 3112 timing cycles ago. Vault 3 encountered a gamma ray storm and sent a farewell message before being destroyed."
"So, the other shelters are also ruined?"
"Judging from the communication situation, twelve shelters are known to have been destroyed, and there is no news from the other three shelters. Communication failures cannot be ruled out, but the chance of survival is less than one thousandth."
"Well, that's great, so not only am I the last survivor of this shelter, I'm also the last survivor of our species?"
"Yes, as the last survivor of civilization, I strongly recommend that your Excellency, Commander, immediately start the Subspace test. This is the last known hope of preserving the fire of civilization."
The young man looked up and looked at the other side of the console. It was a wide space where a huge instrument was laid out. With the young man's pitiful knowledge reserve, it seemed that this instrument was no different from the interior furnishings of the outer space rescue capsule prepared in the base.
The difference is that in the center of the rescue cabin is a driver's seat where one person can lie down, while in the center of this instrument there are three metal tubes pointing to the middle from three directions.
"I remember that my parents were teleported directly from the bridge to outer space and died during the experiment, right?" Speaking of his parents, the young man's tone became a little darker, "Since then, I have been the only one left in the bridge area."
The electronic voice replied, "The last test accident was caused by an accidental impact on the shelter during the test. The relevant data has been recorded. The same accident will not happen again in the new test. Commander, you don't have to worry about your safety."
"I don't fucking care about safety issues." The young man cursed, but the last memory of his parents could not help but appear in front of his eyes.
At that time, everyone in the bridge area and test area was busy with the Subspace test, but I, who was working as an orderly for my parents, was
Somewhat idle, my mother helped my father test the equipment, but at the same time she was worried about herself and asked me to go eat first.
I remember the last thing his mother said to him was, "You go and eat first. I've seen the system menu and there are dishes you like today."
What did my father say in the end? He didn't seem to say anything. He kept his head buried in arranging the instruments.
While he was sitting alone in the restaurant in the exclusive dry bridge area eating, an asteroid about the same size as the shelter suddenly accelerated, perhaps due to a sudden change in interstellar gravity: Although the control system made evasive actions, it only avoided a direct collision between the command center and the asteroid.
The asteroid hit the living area of the shelter, and more than 99% of the life in the entire shelter died instantly. He also hit the corner of the table and fainted. When he woke up and ran back to the bridge, he found that everyone in the bridge, including his parents, had disappeared.
In the end, like a stroke of luck, he restored the energy supply, restarted the intelligent system, called up the bridge surveillance video, and finally understood what had happened.
The impact occurred shortly after the test started, causing the instrument to shift. The opened Subspace channel produced a serious spatial dislocation. The gravity of space sucked in everyone in the bridge area and the test area and all unfixed objects, and threw them directly into the vacuum outside the shelter. The instrument did not stop until the energy was exhausted.
After seeing the entire accident, he frantically leaned on the porthole of the bridge and looked out, carefully identifying every bit of dust in the vacuum of the universe, hoping to find his parents, but where could he find them?
"Restart, just restart, or in the worst case, you'll be thrown out." With this in mind, the young man ordered the restart of the test.
command.
"Wait a minute, open the porthole first. Even if you are going to die, at least take a look at the universe." The young man looked in the direction of the porthole, where the originally dark wall became transparent little by little.
The bright light from outside came in, just like the sky gradually brightening at dawn; until finally, what appeared was not the sun, but a bright starry sky billions of times more spectacular than the sun.
When you zoom out from the porthole, you can see that the shelter where the young people are staying is actually an asteroid. After internal transformation, it has become the last place to preserve the fire of civilization.
If you turn the camera to the other side of the porthole, you can still see a huge crater on the asteroid, with a vague metal structure still visible in the crater. That was the shelter living area that was completely destroyed after the last impact. The place where at least 100,000 people lived has now been reduced to a dead place.
The young man was standing by the porthole. As far as he could see, there were asteroids and meteorites that occasionally passed by in the near distance, and in the distance were clusters of bright cloud-like celestial bodies, which were huge galaxies.
All celestial bodies are moving in the same direction at high speed.
"It's so beautiful. Was it like this when the universe was born?" The young man sighed as he looked out the window.
"The scene at the beginning of the universe should be completely opposite to what it is now, Your Excellency Commander. According to the current data analysis, the collapse of the universe will end in 8.4 million timing cycles at the earliest and return to the original Singularity state at the beginning of the universe.
After a maximum of 20,000 timing cycles, the density of space stars and space gravity will exceed the safety limit.
We will no longer be able to effectively circumvent it."
The young man chuckled, "Twenty thousand timing cycles, I should be dead of old age by then, right?"
"Based on the existing average life span data analysis, your judgment is correct."
"It's good that the last man of civilization can die in peace." The young man smiled mockingly, "Okay, let's start the experiment. I hope nothing is broken."
"Please rest assured, Commander, the maintenance robot has rechecked the instrument many times. All faults caused by the last accident have been eliminated, and no new faults have been found."
"Whatever, dying early and dying late is not the same thing." The young man shook his head indifferently and pressed the start button.
Various indicator lights on the space instrument lit up one by one, and the instrument itself made a slight buzzing vibration sound. Before the young man had time to react, a faint blue light emitted from the ends of the three metal tubes and intertwined at a certain point in the center.
The moment the three rays of light collided, a faint blue light suddenly bloomed, intensifying countless times out of thin air. Just when the young man couldn't help but close his eyes, the light suddenly dimmed again.
"Huh? It's terminated?" The young man was suspicious, but when he looked at the instrument again, he couldn't help but open his mouth. "What is that?"
In the center of the instrument, where the light collided, a deep black sphere was suspended quietly. The bottomless black was just like the black hole the young man had seen in the vacuum of the universe. The strange sight made him stunned for a moment.
The electronic voice woke up the young man in time. "Congratulations, Commander, the experiment was successful. The final data calculated by your parents is correct."
"Succeeded?" The huge contrast between reality and imagination made the young man feel at a loss. "What should we do next?"
"Next, we need to increase the energy output and enlarge the coverage area of Subspace. It is best to cover the entire shelter, at least the bridge area. We do not know whether there are necessary substances to sustain life in Subspace. The bridge area can ensure your life needs after entering Subspace."
"You can only live so long, right?" The young man didn't feel very happy, but after all, this was the last legacy of his parents, and even the last survival of racial civilization, and he couldn't give up willfully.
His fingers slowly slid on the energy control system panel, increasing the energy output little by little. As the energy increased, the volume of the "black hole" also increased at a speed visible to the naked eye, and soon it changed from the size of a fist to a diameter as large as half a person's height.
The young man couldn't help but walk towards the "black hole", wanting to see it more clearly up close. Just when the success of this experiment was in sight, the shelter suddenly shook slightly.
"What's going on? Did you get hit again?" The young man immediately thought of the previous disaster.
"The shelter was not hit."
"What's going on?"
"According to data analysis, the speed of the collapse of the universe has suddenly accelerated, and is continuing to accelerate at a huge acceleration. Avoid
The flight speed of the refuge also accelerated."
"How fast?"
"The latest data calculation, Singularity time 7.9 million timing cycles----The latest data calculation, Singularity time 7.4 million----The latest data calculation----Latest----"
The number of calculations in intelligent systems is decreasing rapidly, and in the end even the calculation speed cannot keep up with the speed of change. This has never happened before.
"The density of the star exceeds the warning value, the gravity intensity exceeds the warning value, the shelter loses 50% of its maneuverability, prepare for impact, prepare for impact——" In the end, the intelligent system simply gave up the calculation and raised a more critical alarm.
"Damn, didn't you say there are still 20,000 cycles?" The young man could still open his mouth to curse at this moment, but when he turned his head, he saw a huge planet flying towards him outside the porthole, and there was actually a star not far away, shining brightly.
Even with a little astronomical knowledge, the young man knew that it was not stars and planets flying towards the refuge, but that the refuge was being drawn towards them by their gravitational pull.
"It's too late." A harsh beep sounded from the bridge. The young man turned around and was surprised to see that the "black hole" that was originally only as high as a person suddenly expanded amidst the increasingly violent vibrations. Before the young man could react, his body had been wrapped in the "black hole".
The moment his body hit the "black hole", the young man only felt a slight repulsion, just like when he had just sunk into the water when taking a bath as a child. This feeling had never been felt again when he grew up and the water resources became more and more scarce.
"This is different from what was promised. Doesn't it mean that this is just a passage and should enter a new space similar to the universe?" The "black hole" is still growing, but after an instant expansion, the growth rate quickly slows down.
As soon as he entered Subspace, the young man suddenly discovered that he had completely lost control of his body, as if he was suspended in a vacuum.
He raised his head and looked out again. He still saw the familiar bridge in front of him, but the scene seemed to be separated by a layer of water waves and he couldn't see it clearly. Before he could take a closer look, his eyes suddenly dimmed. All the light was blocked by a planet outside the porthole, and the planet's surface was approaching at an extremely fast speed.
"It's going to crash!" The young man felt nervous.
As expected, the moment it hit the ground, the bridge was completely shattered; but strangely, the space where the young man was was not affected at all. The electronic devices and internal structures flying in all directions passed directly through his body, as if passing through the water; his body only rippled for a while, and then returned to its original state.
What's even more strange is that even though the Subspace test instrument has been completely destroyed by the impact, the Subspace he is in has not disappeared, but continues to exist: it seems that such a small group is already a mature and stable space, no longer dependent on the generation and energy supply of the instrument.
In the next very short period of time, the young man saw many sights that were rare in his lifetime.
He saw how the planet was swallowed up by the star, he saw how the core of the star burst, and he saw the star burst into bloom in an instant.
He saw several or even dozens of huge galaxies colliding with each other to form a new super galaxy. This super galaxy Entropy disappeared in a very short period of time due to the huge gravitational effects from inside and outside.
He saw all this, but it had nothing to do with him, until finally he saw the endless light in the distance, and almost subconsciously understood: that is the center of the universe, the future Singularity.
While the young man was observing Singularity, something shocking happened to him: his body rapidly degenerated, shrinking every moment, and almost turned back into a child in the blink of an eye.
The clothes that originally fit him were enough to wrap him from head to toe several times, but these clothes quickly decomposed Entropy, and the rate of degeneration and shrinkage of his body did not slow down at all.
The young man could no longer think. As his body shrank, the memories and knowledge in his mind were disappearing bit by bit. It was as if time was going back, and everything he had experienced and learned in his life was stripped out of his mind in reverse chronological order.
The young man struggled with his last bit of willpower and reluctantly raised his head. Singularity was getting closer and brighter, matter filled the space and flew towards Singularity. A little further away, the edge of the universe was already clearly visible.
This was the last moment of the collapse of the universe. This moment became the last memory retained by the young man, and it was completely erased in the next moment and he turned back into a baby without any memory or life mark.
The Subspace where the young man is located almost overlaps with the Singularity. If the time backtracking continues, it is difficult to say whether this young man will be restored to an embryonic state.
But at this moment, a blue light flashed from the edge of the universe. This light seemed to be deliberately attracted, shrouding this small Subspace through the infinitely dense space, and at the same time wrapping Singularity.
At this moment, all matter and all space in the universe completely disappeared, the universe returned to chaos, and Singularity finally took shape.
Then, the sudden flash of blue light suddenly disappeared, and together with the newly formed Singularity and the young man who turned into a baby in Subspace, disappeared from this place of nothingness.