Chapter 386: The Mysteries of the World's Foundation

The phase engine curled up the spacetime structure around the starship, and a hyperspace bubble formed by warped space enveloped the Other-Dimension Hotel, a tower-like vessel. Information from the real universe was compressed at the edge of the warped space into a complete two-dimensional film; upon this thin "membrane," the mysteries of the stars flowed like water, immersing Yu Sheng's perception and mind.

His spirit remained in high synchronization with the starship undergoing faster-than-light travel. This was a state no one else could understand or imagine—which was precisely why no one had been able to warn him before today that directly contacting hyperspace with a "human" mind was an extremely dangerous act.

Under normal circumstances, anyone traveling faster than light must be inside a tightly protected vehicle. While the phase engine creates warped space, it also generates a special field that keeps the hull intact; another function of this field is to prevent the crew's minds from contacting the environment outside the ship—because the universe in a "complete mapping" state is so dangerous that even the starlight mapped onto the edge of the space bubble carries information density sufficient to drive one mad. Even a mere accidental exposure to its glow would instantly melt a mortal's mind in the whispers and flickers of those stars.

But who could have imagined it? A person's mind could transfer to a starship without obstruction, and even regard that starship entirely as their own "body"...

Curiously, Yu Sheng "observed" the starlight flowing around him, watching it fill spacetime like a vast river with no beginning and no end. At this moment, his perception of his own "body" suddenly became very vague. Whether it was the Other-Dimension Hotel undergoing the jump or the physical body sitting on the bridge of the Other-Dimension Hotel, both seemed to have become an abstract footnote serving only to carry the concept of "Yu Sheng," while his essence detached from this footnote, freely and thoroughly wandering through the most fundamental structures of this world at this very moment.

His gaze, through the flowing starlight around him, seemed to see those magnificent megastructures supporting the order of the stars, supporting all time and space.

He could not touch them, but he could see them. He could not understand them, but he could read the echoes resonating between those megastructures, records left by a certain "eternal instant."

After hesitating for a long time, Yu Sheng extended his perception once more, attempting to touch those flickering "glimmers," attempting to "read" the echoes between the incredible, world-supporting magnificent megastructures.

What a magnificent creation, what an astonishing engineering feat. A corner of the world's underlying mysteries was unveiled to him, and in the next instant, he heard the Creator's heart again as they restarted this world—

"... How exactly does this part run?"

Yu Sheng: "..."

Not sure, let's listen again.

He withdrew his perception once more, then touched another glimmer.

"... There was supposed to be a planet here, but it was commented out because it was useless.

"Why is there an error here?

"Why is there no error here?!

"Never mind, comment everything out and run it again... It actually runs?!

"... Why are all the stars generated in this region so pointy?"

Yu Sheng thought for a moment and pressed that corner of the world's mystery back down.

Mainly because looking at it too much is annoying.

By this time, he had already figured it out and knew what those "information" pieces he had contacted were—though he did not know how all this happened, there was no doubt that the information came from the moment this world was "reborn."

They occurred at some instant before "Let there be light."

After a long time, Yu Sheng's "gaze" once again turned toward those "foundation megastructures" supporting the entire observable universe, which he could neither touch nor understand, lost in thought.

He pondered quietly like this, letting time wander back and forth meaninglessly at the edge of his mind, and then, at a certain instant, he suddenly woke up.

That process of "observation" and "touching" beyond mortal comprehension ended. The torrent of information receded like a tide from the edge of his mind, and intelligence from the real world rapidly reorganized. He once again felt the existence of the Other-Dimension Hotel, this "steel body," followed immediately by his own human body sitting in the captain's seat of the control hall. The humming and rumbling of equipment operation roared in his ears, first deafeningly loud, then calming down to become the normal low background noise.

Yu Sheng's vision swayed slightly, and he noticed the little doll was stealthily crawling onto him, extending an arm and sticking a finger toward his nostril...

He blinked, suddenly turned his head: "What are you doing?"

"Wow!"

The little doll instantly let out a shriek, tumbling and crawling off Yu Sheng, landing on the ground on her back with limbs splayed.

Yu Sheng, both annoyed and amused, watched the little doll, who was in a wretched state, getting up from the ground. He reached out, picked her up, and placed her before him: "If you don't cause trouble for a while, you feel uncomfortable all over, right?"

"I was just trying to check your breath! Checking breath, you understand!" Irene, held by the back of her collar by Yu Sheng like a cat, hung in mid-air but crossed her arms and spoke with righteous indignation, "What if you were dead!"

Yu Sheng instantly broke out in a cold sweat. This little thing's mouth was like a sandstorm, and his emotions became somewhat disjointed for a moment: "Where did that come from? I'm perfectly fine!"

"Yeah, aren't you always fine before you die suddenly each time? Otherwise, how could it be called 'sudden death'?" As Irene spoke, she vigorously shook her body in mid-air, flipping over with a highly difficult but extremely skilled move to hug Yu Sheng's arm. She then pulled her collar out of the latter's hand and, like a koala, climbed up onto Yu Sheng's shoulder with a series of scrabbles. "Just now, I saw you sitting here motionless. Although you looked fine on the outside, you suddenly had no mental response. I thought you had driven the ship until you suffered brain death..."

Hearing this, Yu Sheng was instantly stunned. He forgot to question the sarcasm in the little doll's words and instead unconsciously recalled the things he had perceived from the hyperspace boundary during the state of high synchronization with the ship just now—

The magnificent megastructures supporting all things in the world at the information level, and that pile of absolutely ridiculous comments.

He remembered the knowledge about this world he had learned from Bai Liqing: about those Ancient Holy Spirits, about the old world destroyed by the Great Annihilation, the new world rebuilt from the ruins of the old world, and that creation epic known as the "Second Singularity Outburst."

Then he saw the little doll extend her arm again, intending to poke his nostril with her finger.

"I just zoned out," Yu Sheng instantly slapped away Irene's little paw. "Just now too, I just zoned out."

"Zoned out until you had no mental response?" Irene stared with wide eyes. "Are you really okay? Is the burden of 'driving' the ship using this kind of direct mental connection too great? Maybe when we get back, you should ask the Special Affairs Bureau to get you a more high-end autopilot... If that doesn't work, have them arrange a long-term substitute driver for you."

Yu Sheng: "..."

He suddenly realized that this little doll seemed to be a bit worried about him.

"Really, I'm fine. I just entered hyperspace for the first time and accidentally 'saw' some things." Yu Sheng raised his hand and patted Irene's hair. This time, his answer was much more serious. Then, after a moment of thought, he turned his head to look at Yuan Hao Zhenren and Xuan Che, who were sitting not far away.

The two handsome fellows actually did not understand what Yu Sheng and Irene had been communicating about just now, but they seemed to have already somewhat adapted to the somewhat ridiculous and chaotic style inside the hotel (mainly Xuan Che adapted well; Yuan Hao Zhenren probably belonged to the category of congenital neural short-circuit). So they asked nothing, simply watching the spectacle from the side.

Yu Sheng then looked at them and suddenly asked a question: "When a person pilots a faster-than-light ship, do they see some strange things?"

"Strange things?" Yuan Hao Zhenren was momentarily caught off guard, his face showing confusion. "What do you mean by that?"

"Like information at the world's foundation, knowledge transmitted by the stars, traces from the beginning of the world's birth, and so on," Yu Sheng thought for a moment. Out of consideration for the mental health of others, he did not directly state the content of that "knowledge," but instead hinted at it indirectly. "Do you see such things when the ship enters hyperspace?"

Upon hearing this, Yuan Hao Zhenren's expression changed slightly: "That sounds somewhat terrifying, as if one had been contaminated by something indescribable outside reality. I have never seen such a thing."

Yu Sheng was not giving up: "... You don't see them even if the ship goes too fast?"

"... No, you won't see them even if it goes faster," Yuan Hao Zhenren thought for a moment, looking very serious. "The fastest I ever went, I only saw a single warning."

"A single warning?!" Yu Sheng instantly jolted, thinking that sure enough, one would see something, so he quickly pressed on, "What warning?"

Yuan Hao Zhenren let out a sigh: "A speeding warning sent by the local Jiaoguan Bureau—then the Immortal Vessel was impounded, and afterward, two junior disciples nagged me about it for many days."

Yu Sheng: "..."

After confirming repeatedly, he finally determined that what he had seen did not belong to "normal phenomena."

It seemed no one had ever contacted those "information" pieces imprinted in the depths of the stars—even no one had realized their existence.

A fluffy big tail poked out from the side, rubbing against his arm intermittently.

Yu Sheng turned his head and saw Hu Lizheng looking at him with some concern.

He suddenly smiled.

"It's nothing. I just suddenly discovered... this world seems quite interesting."

He rose from the captain's seat and slowly walked to the huge observation window at the end of the control hall.

Outside the observation window, the edge of the hyperspace bubble still quietly mapped the scenery of the real world, distorted and projected in. Everything in the observable universe was reflected on that closed two-dimensional film, dyed with a psychedelic hue by the red-blue shift effect.

But this time, everything in his eyes seemed to be more than just a beautiful scene.

He felt as though he saw... a figure.

A figure busy amidst the eternal moment of all things falling silent.

"Quite interesting..."

(End of this chapter)