"Alright, what I'm about to say is the truth about the entire universe's transformation, something far more important than anything you've experienced before or since. Just so you know, if you have any meetings scheduled later, cancel them all."
Han Xiao took in the three men's dismissive expressions, shook his head, and spoke in an unquestionable tone.
"The truth of the universe?"
Mabrus and his two companions exchanged glances, and seeing that Han Xiao didn't seem to be joking, they couldn't help but be skeptical.
Han Xiao snapped his fingers, summoning a virtual screen that displayed a virtual scene of the creation and destruction of the universe, and began to explain:
"When the universe comes to an end, everything will return to nothingness. Heat death, the Big Crunch, and other phenomena are the cosmic outcomes many scientists have speculated or predicted. Various signs and experiments indicate that these are likely correct doomsday models, but this is only under normal circumstances... However, the trajectory of our universe does not follow the most primitive laws of nature. Long ago, our universe was transformed by an ultimate civilization, and the underlying laws of Information State changed. On the day our universe ends, what awaits us is not heat death or collapse, but a phenomenon called the Great Restart."
"Great Restart?"
The three looked puzzled.
Similar conjectures exist in the scientific community, but they are not mainstream and lack conclusive evidence. Most evidence comes from unknown objects generated by Information State Disturbance, such as the Virtual Mutiny Virus of the past, which is suspected to be a civilization before the Great Restart. However, this is not enough to serve as conclusive evidence because it is uncertain whether they are civilizations that Unexplored Universe or civilizations from an earlier timeline.
Therefore, Mabrus and the other two were not unfamiliar with the concept of this term, but they were quite puzzled as to why Han Xiao was so certain of the existence of the Great Restart.
Han Xiao glanced at the expressions of the three men and slowly said:
"The Great Restart I'm talking about is different from what you understand... The ultimate civilization's modification of the universe's fundamental laws caused the universe to deviate from the natural end, thus bringing forward the time of its end. Each Great Restart is a brand new iteration, with new civilizations proliferating again in the zeroed-out universe. However, due to factors such as the greatly shortened development time, the possibility of each iterative civilization surpassing the ultimate civilization that initially laid the foundation for the Great Restart is Infinite reduced."
"So this is terrible news?" Mabrus mused. "If that's the case, and all civilizations have to start from scratch, wouldn't no one be able to survive the end of the universe and achieve that so-called... what's that popular term again, transcendence?"
Han Xiao shook his head. "This is the key point I wanted to make... Although the Great Restart resets the universe to zero, things from different iterations will be passed on to the new iteration in a special way, and this medium is the Sanctuary you've been longing for."
The three of them were slightly taken aback.
Han Xiao continued, "The original ultimate civilization's goal in transforming the universe was to continue their civilization through Restart. They failed, but it wasn't a waste of effort. The Sanctuary is the legacy they left behind. It was originally a reserved repository of sparks, but during the iterations, a special Information Mutation occurred, transforming it into the Sanctuary we know today. It is currently the only known thing that will not disappear during the Great Restart."
The Sanctuary's function is to store the Information State of each iteration's development and, at each Great Restart, randomly incorporate a portion of this information into the new iteration's cosmic laws. Therefore, the Great Restart doesn't completely reset to zero; rather, it involves continuous changes in the underlying laws within each iteration, thus passing on the results of each iteration to subsequent iterations. For example, the current Secondary Dimension World is a legacy of past iterations, not a naturally occurring phenomenon.
"So you mean... the universe we live in right now isn't the original universe, but a world that has been altered countless times? The Sanctuary is like a... uh, processor?" Louis asked tentatively.
Han Xiao nodded. "Pretty much. Each generation of civilization has regarded the Sanctuary as a breakthrough to survive the Great Restart. As a result, the Sanctuary continuously mutated and developed various new functions, and the Sanctuary Revival is just one of them. The most important aspect of the Sanctuary is that it stores all the data of all the previous civilizations, as well as their last words before the end, all left for future generations to refer to. This is a long relay race spanning countless iterations, all for the day when someone can break this cycle."
Upon hearing this, the three looked surprised. Although Han Xiao's tone was calm, they couldn't help but be captivated by the magnificent undertaking of generations of civilizations working towards the same goal.
But after two seconds, the three of them came to their senses, and their breathing suddenly became heavy for a moment.
At that moment, they suddenly realized that if Black Star's words were true, then the data on various iterations of civilizations stored in the Sanctuary would be an immeasurable and terrifying treasure.
Black Star holds this wealth all to himself; if he didn't reveal it, they would have no chance of getting their hands on it. Yet, instead of developing it himself, he chose to disclose it. Is he truly so selfless?
Having figured this out, the three of them were even more astonished and fell silent for a moment, trying to process their shock.
After a while, the leader of the Arcane Cult hesitated before speaking, tentatively asking, "You want to cooperate with us to develop the Sanctuary? Is it because you want to get through the Great Restart? Although what you just said is indeed quite astonishing, let me be frank, the so-called Great Restart should still be a long way off for us, right? Isn't it too early to be worrying about this now...?"
Upon hearing this, Han Xiao gave a half-smile, "You think it's too early?"
"Hmm..." Upon seeing this, the leader of the Arcane Cult widened his eyes in astonishment and exclaimed, "Could it be that our universe has reached its end, and Great Restart is about to occur?"
The other two were shocked, their expressions a mixture of astonishment and disbelief.
"We finally defeated the World Tree Civilization and were enjoying a rare moment of peace, but unexpectedly..." Mabrus was filled with mixed emotions.
However, Han Xiao shook his head, "You misunderstood, this iteration is still far from its final stage."
The three of them finally breathed a sigh of relief.
But before they could fully relax, Han Xiao suddenly said something astonishing, leaving the three of them stunned.
"But you've already Restart."
The words had barely left his mouth.
The leader of the Arcane Sect shuddered, his face filled with astonishment.
What do you mean by that?
"Four times." Han Xiao held up four fingers and slowly said, "Our universe has Restart four times... In the last iteration, you were the ultimate civilization, and you successfully survived the Great Restart by implementing a project called the Information State Stripping Plan. However, you did not truly enter the new universe of the next iteration, but instead became a closed Dark Side Universe, cycling and Restart on its own... In other words, you have all died several times, but you just don't know it yet!"
The three of them were completely dumbfounded, and for a moment they were so shocked that they didn't know what to do.
Han Xiao had been grinding for First Sanctum Access, entering and exiting repeatedly. Each time, the time consumed became shorter and shorter until he reached the fifteenth level of access. At that point, the flow of time finally converged, and the time ratio between the main universe and the Sanctuary became one to one, allowing all the content on the message board to be unlocked.
Only then did Han Xiao gradually understand everything. The messages in the fourth to last paragraph of the Sanctuary were actually all left behind by the iteration of the "Three Universal Civilizations"!
The fifth-to-last paragraph is about the previous iteration of the Federation of All Stars Three Universal Civilizations. The fourth-to-last paragraph is about the new iteration after the Great Restart. The Three Universal Civilizations are the ultimate civilizations that developed in the new iteration. At that time, there was no such thing as the "World Tree". The Three Universal Civilizations slowly multiplied and eventually successfully discovered the Sanctuary and learned all the information about the iteration.
Because the previous iteration of the Federation of All Stars's plan was quite commendable, the Three Universal Civilizations inherited and improved upon it, forming the "Information State Stripping Plan."
However, the Three Universal Civilizations at the time were well aware that with their accumulated resources, they were not absolutely certain of surviving the Great Restart and did not want to gamble everything. Therefore, the real goal of this plan was not to completely overcome the Great Restart, but to buy themselves more time—to strip away the Information State of the entire universe and attempt to imitate the operation of the Federation of All Stars, existing in the new iteration as Secondary Dimension, Dark Side Universe, and constantly Restart in cycles.
The difference lies in the fact that the Three Universal Civilizations, following the ideas of the Federation of All Stars, built upon the shoulders of giants and made near-perfect improvements. Thus, they successfully extracted the "Information State" of the entire iteration and formed a closed Dark Side Universe in the next iteration, existing based on the Information State, like a "virtual" world, "developing in parallel" at a faster time flow rate... Just like parallel lines, it is difficult to intersect with the "real" main universe of the iteration and difficult to interfere with each other.
After learning about all the messages on the message board, Han Xiao sorted out the timeline: if the Federation of All Stars was the Number One iteration, then the Three Universal Civilizations were the ultimate civilizations of the Number Two iteration, which initiated the Information State Stripping Plan and transformed into the Dark Side Universe of the Number Three iteration. The Number Three iteration is the current true iteration.
... It was only here that Han Xiao learned that the Sanctuary did not actually reserve empty shells of Information State for the current iteration, and there was no such thing as a "tombstone". The empty shell spheres of light of the Three Universal Civilizations and the World Tree Civilization that he saw in the Sanctuary were actually remnants of the Number Two iteration. The reason why they had no content was because they were "stripped" out and became the Dark Side Universe of the Number Three iteration.
However, the cycle of the Dark Side Universe is not as unchanging as that of the Federation of All Stars. Instead, it has formed a "Small Restart" operating pattern. The Three Universal Civilizations of the Number Two iteration took advantage of the Sanctuary's characteristic of adding new patterns each time the universe Restart, thus bringing the cycle Restart of the Dark Side Universe into the Sanctuary's sphere of influence.
Unlike the "Great Restart," each "Small Restart" in the Dark Side Universe is not a reset, but rather a formation based on a predetermined Information State template. This means that forces such as the "Three Universal Civilizations" will inevitably emerge, and their development trajectories will be largely similar before they come into contact with the Sanctuary Three Universal Civilizations... Han Xiao calls this situation "Dark Side Iteration."
Therefore, each Small Restart of the Dark Side Universe adds an improved result of the Dark Side Iteration, only with a probability of "Information Mutation"... The Three Universal Civilizations used this method to buy themselves time and gain more opportunities for trial and error.
However, this plan cannot bring about eternity. Calculations show that the Information State Stripping Plan has an upper limit; their Dark Side Universe can only exist for a maximum of the Number Three iteration. If another Great Restart occurs, entering the fourth iteration, their Dark Side Universe will vanish... unless they can enter the true iterative main universe from the Dark Side Universe, transforming from "virtual" to "real."
Therefore, after successfully entering the Dark Side Universe, the Three Universal Civilizations' goal became to break the Dark Side Universe's closure and return to the true main universe of the Number Three iteration.
--The messages from the third to the last paragraph on the Sanctuary message board represent the three Dark Side Iteration of the Dark Side Universe. Han Xiao is currently in the fourth Dark Side Iteration, and all four Dark Side Iteration occurred within the period of the Number Three iteration.
Because the Sanctuary is unaffected by iterations, the Three Universal Civilizations used the Sanctuary message board to record the experience of each trial and error, allowing the "self" of the next Dark Side Iteration to improve the route based on the previous experience, and also to create some key devices to improve the situation of the next Dark Side Iteration... and this is the origin of the World Tree.
The Three Universal Civilizations added Information Materialization Device during the second Dark Side Iteration (second to last paragraph of the message), but during the third Dark Side Iteration, Information Mutation occurred, transforming from a mechanical device into a living World Tree, which then went berserk... This is Han Xiao's experience as a player in his previous life.
Ultimately, the Three Universal Civilizations of the third Dark Side Iteration opened the Sanctuary, understood everything, and left behind the control valve of the Information Materialization Device. In the current fourth Dark Side Iteration, Information Mutation occurred, inheriting the essential relationship of restraint, but the form of expression changed, becoming the natural enemy of the World Tree, namely the Pivot Snake.
On the other hand, during the second Dark Side Iteration, the Three Universal Civilizations used the Information Materialization Device that had not yet mutated, but ultimately failed. They discovered that the reason was the lack of a "Real State" bridge. Han Xiao also figured out the concept of the so-called "Real State," which actually refers to the information carrier that exists in the iterative Real Universe.
In other words, the Dark Side Universe must form an informational connection with the iterative Real Universe and be able to interfere with each other for the Information Materialization Device to work. Therefore, the Three Universal Civilizations of the second Dark Side Iteration launched a plan to try to change the underlying laws of the next Dark Side Iteration, so that the angle between the two "parallel lines" of the Dark Side Universe and the iterative Real Universe would shift and eventually intersect.
The result was that, upon reaching the third Dark Side Iteration, the underlying laws of the Dark Side Universe changed, successfully projecting itself into "reality" and successfully acquiring a portion of the information carriers of the iterative Real Universe, namely the existence of "players"—through "login," allowing these individuals living in the iterative Real Universe to transform their "Real State" into an "Information State," pulling them into the Dark Side Universe to form information entanglement and act as information interfaces... This is exactly what countless players in Han Xiao's previous life had experienced.
However, the Third Dark Side Iteration resulted in the World Tree rampage. After the World Tree War in the previous life, the Three Universal Civilizations obtained the Sanctuary Path from the Sanctum Organization, learned everything, inherited the foundations of countless civilizations, and made rapid technological advancements. On a level inaccessible to players, the Three Universal Civilizations formulated a new plan, pooling their civilizational power to create a "control valve" for the World Tree, and incidentally reducing the processing costs of the World Tree rampage in the Fourth Dark Side Iteration.
In addition, due to player version updates, the Three Universal Civilizations of the third Dark Side Iteration believed that this form of "Real State" bridge was not stable enough, so they decided to spend a huge amount of resources to strengthen the "Real State" connection in the next Dark Side Iteration.
Because the Dark Side Universe and the Iterative Real Universe have already formed a preliminary information interference, the Three Universal Civilizations decided to build a stable interference bridge, rather than intermittently like a landing. Their only options were the individual information records of those who had already landed in the Dark Side Universe. Therefore, they randomly selected individuals from among them to fully enter the Dark Side Universe and establish a stable connection.
If this idea is correct, the Dark Side Universe can be reversed through this interference bridge, transforming from an "Information State" to a "Real State," breaking free from its closed state, and returning to the iterative Real Universe... To put it in a more understandable way, it's like installing a loading package into the so-called "reality," the contents of which contain the entire Dark Side Universe and the entire Galaxy world.
This was the truth that Han Xiao learned from the Sanctuary, and there were no further records of what happened after that on the Sanctuary's message board.
After learning all this, he had a rough guess about what happened next, and he strongly suspected that his "rebirth and transmigration" was actually because he was randomly selected to become a "stable interference bridge" that strengthened the entanglement of information Dark Side Universe and the iterative Real Universe.
His own Information State was completely captured, and he came from "reality" to this Dark Side Universe. Therefore, his "real" self disappeared and there was no more information about him... Han Xiao strongly suspected that this was the reason why he had never seen the other self who should be a "player" all these years.
The fourth Dark Side Iteration of the Dark Side Universe caused the timeline of the iterating Real Universe to regress by ten years. There were no related records or explanations on the message board, and Han Xiao was still unclear about the reason. However, he guessed that when the third Dark Side Iteration "captured" him, the degree of information interference with the iterating Real Universe deepened, thus affecting the other party's time. He just didn't know whether this was a time reversal on a universe-wide scale or a small-scale change... However, from another perspective, this is also evidence of the correctness of the Dark Side Universe's idea of using "Real State" to generate information entanglement, and it has already been able to bring about substantial changes to the iterating Real Universe.
Now, Han Xiao has roughly pieced together the various causes and consequences through the records of the Sanctuary and his own speculations. In his opinion, the reliability of this series of conjectures is over 70%.
Han Xiao omitted some of the speculation and explained these secrets.
After hearing all this, Mabrus, Louis, and the leader of the Arcane Cult were left with only shock and disbelief on their faces. They stared blankly at Han Xiao, their mouths slightly agape, completely dumbfounded.
"This, this..."
The leader of the Arcane Sect was dumbfounded.
Although they were the leaders of Three Universal Civilizations and had seen countless storms, the information Han Xiao was giving them was beyond their comprehension, causing their minds to short-circuit.
After a long while, the leader of the Arcane Cult turned to look at Mabrus, his tone hesitant:
"Um... did you understand?"
"Let me sort this out a bit more..." Mabrus replied blankly.