"The Machine Intelligence Civilization? The river of time?!"
Suppressing his shock, Lü Yongchang struggled to ask, "What... level of civilization are you, exactly?"
"Why did you choose me?"
"Even with someone as powerful as you, Human Civilization still hasn't won?"
[In my worldline, Human Civilization... had only me left.]
[The helium flash wiped out every human except me.]
[To be precise, I was wiped out too.]
[But I was lucky.]
[I became a quantum ghost wandering among the stars.]
[Right, the same state you're in now.]
The figure seemed to smile again. [It's a long story. In short, I was lucky enough to destroy the Cleaners and the Gardener Faction, then escape the universe bubble before it collapsed.]
[Representing Human Civilization, I wandered alone through five-dimensional space for countless years.]
[The five-dimensional space outside the universe bubble wasn't nearly as wonderful as I had imagined. By comparison, the universe bubble, with all its wars and strife, was practically a nursery for civilizations...]
[Danger lurked around every civilization, and incursions often came at unexpected moments...]
Perhaps the database was incomplete, or perhaps there was another reason, but the figure did not explain those dangers and incursions in detail, nor did he describe his campaigns across the universe.
[For various reasons, I tried to find a way to survive-a way for Human Civilization to survive.]
[You are the way I found.]
[So far, my plan seems to have worked.]
Lü Yongchang stared blankly at the figure formed from luminous white lines before him and murmured, "Where exactly is the technology tree's physical core? Why have I never found it?"
That question had troubled not only Lü Yongchang, but also Doctor Wen, who had examined him.
[The technology tree's physical core?]
[It's inside your brain. It's just a zero-dimensional singularity.]
A zero-dimensional singularity!