Chapter 268: Is the world going to end?

Simulation ended!

Summary: Although you died young, in the days before your death you lived quite comfortably, leading a relatively ordinary life—there's nothing much to say.

Huh.... Is that all?

Suddenly back to normal, Zhang Jie still felt a bit unaccustomed.

Though said to be ordinary, in reality it was somewhat extraordinary.

Because this time, the place he simulated was in a top-tier civilization!

Even, it was in the present day!

So this is what a top-tier civilization is?

This simulation life was very comfortable, but indeed, as the simulator said, he learned nothing.

Inside was completely a paradise; the residents had no fear of natural disasters, but instead harbored an extreme xenophobic mindset.

They looked down on any civilization other than their own, and considered themselves the supreme race.

As for the reason they remained hidden, Zhang Jie did not investigate it.

And he himself died from staying up late reading novels....

His death was not unjust....

Looks like I should stay up less from now on....

However, there seem to be plenty of things in this top-tier civilization.

Zhang Jie pondered; lately he's also been busy, and due to the collective mutating aberrations of natural disasters, his and Lin Ran's rest time has shrunk a lot.

Let's first go check the front line.

Opening the door, what came into view was Xiao Jiu with a gentle smile, showing no sign that she was the mastermind behind the creation of Weiniya.

Good morning, driver.

Where are you going today?

Do you want to have breakfast first, or go to parallax, or...

She should now be the only person besides Lin Ran who can stay by Zhang Jie's side for a long time.

Good morning.

How much longer until the Dyson sphere is completed?

According to the representative of Mega-structure Company, it will take just another month to complete the equatorial layer frame.

It's really quite slow....

Driver, this is already fast; normal Dyson sphere construction takes on the order of ten years....

Alright.

Zhang Jie felt helpless; now natural disasters are acting up collectively, the Alliance urgently needs to expand, and possessing high-energy biofuel is pressing.

He was about to say something when he suddenly noticed Xiao Jiu's smile stiffen, the gentleness in her eyes turning icy as she stared straight at his back.

??

Zhang Jie turned his head in confusion and collided fully with Yunxiao.

Yunxiao?

Hmm....

Xiao Jiu just watched them like that, narrowed her eyes, then pursed her lips and slowly walked toward her own small room.

'Wait, I'll create-fly you in a couple days!'

Xiao Jiu puffed her cheeks, secretly adding one to her creation goal, while on the other side, Yunxiao still clung to Zhang Jie without letting go.

'How did this girl come about?'

Yunxiao is indeed bold, directly storming into the Alliance's interior; I don't know if Lin Ran has noticed.

What's wrong, Yunxiao?

..... I missed you, came to see you.

What are you going to do today? Can I come along?

Yunxiao looked at Zhang Jie, expectation coloring her eyes.

Well, I'm going to supervise work and also check out the natural-disaster front line.

You want to come together?

Yunxiao fell silent again, and Zhang Jie felt somewhat bewildered.

Brother...

Can you walk with us?

This era.... seems to be heading for doom....

?????

Zhang Jie fired off six question marks—Yunxiao wasn't just planning to stay? Now she's saying the world is going to end?

Seeing Zhang Jie's doubt, Yunxiao pondered a moment and added.

Calculated by the Intelligent Machine Empress....

The entropy of this universe keeps rising, and its heat is rapidly depleting.

If this continues, the universe will head toward heat death....

Zhang Jie furrowed his brows; he knew something about entropy, but isn't entropy always increasing?

Isn't the world still far from ending?

Besides, where could they hide?

What else did she tell you?

Um, she said she wanted to study you.

Then let her go.

Zhang Jie said mercilessly, while Yunxiao covered her mouth and chuckled.

Speaking of business, how exactly did she calculate that?

I don't know either.

Why don't you go ask her yourself?

Yunxiao asked tentatively, and Zhang Jie also pondered for a while, feeling that this idea... was not feasible.

Her computing power is so strong; why not just let her add me as a friend and chat?

A flicker of disappointment flashed in Yunxiao's eyes, but she concealed it well, and Zhang Jie didn't notice.

That's also right.

The moment Yunxiao finished speaking, Zhang Jie's phone suddenly rang.

Zhang Jie frowned, picked up his phone, glanced at it, and looked puzzled.

All that could be seen was a user with a dazed corgi avatar frantically calling him, and there was also a message attached after.

I am the Intelligent Machine Empress.

Zhang Jie looked at the other's username—what was it... 'Program Not Responding'?

Saying you can judge a person by their avatar or username, Zhang Jie originally didn't believe it—how could an avatar and name decide whether someone is an idiot?

Now... he truly believes it.

This thing exudes an aura of wisdom from head to toe, it's utterly outrageous.

No way, man! This thing is clearly an idiot!

Zhang Jie had no choice but to accept the friend request, and the other party sent a large amount of test data the moment it was approved.

Apparently to prove she wasn't stupid, she also sent an extremely abstract emoji at the end.

Zhang Jie:......

He was truly speechless—high computing power doesn't equal high IQ, but low computing power must affect IQ, right?

Is this still permanent?

"Forget it, let's first see what she sent."

Zhang Jie had no choice but to look through what the Intelligent Machine Empress had sent—those were the various data she had detected, running to over a thousand pages.

Some of the professional data Zhang Jie couldn't understand, but the overall conclusion was clear; the Intelligent Machine Empress had deliberately added occasional notes of her own.

"In countless years past, the growth rate of entropy has always been steady and slow."

"But in this era, the growth rate of entropy has begun to increase exponentially, and it's getting faster; it's estimated that in a hundred years, the growth rate will reach its peak."

Although Zhang Jie hadn't looked at the preceding data, the Intelligent Machine Empress should have no reason to deceive herself, hmm....

There probably isn't any reason, right....

After casually sending the report to the Alliance's team of researchers, Zhang Jie continued to look at Yunxiao.

"So the question is, where can we run to this time?"

Yunxiao remained silent for a while, then finally uttered a sentence.

"There's always a way...."

"So this still means we have no solution, right?"

Zhang Jie rubbed Yunxiao's head with a smile; the previous 118 had always been cold, but now it suddenly turned into a real person, and this different way of interacting made Yunxiao a bit uncomfortable.

"It's fine; we'll just face it together—worst case, we die."

"But..."

"No problem, trust me."

This sentence seemed to touch a nerve in Yunxiao, leaving her stunned in place.

"Miss, believe me...."

This sentence unconsciously surfaced in her mind, like a bullet from years ago that slammed fiercely into Yunxiao's brow.

Yunxiao let out a helpless laugh, looked at Zhang Jie, and nodded seriously.

"I believe you."

(Lately I've been craving—any godfathers in Silver River recommend some good seafood buffets~)