Chapter 901

"Hmm? In the last thirty seconds before Huang Shi's destruction, 'The Wanderer' completed the observation of all future possibilities and traversed everything, finding the optimal solution?"

"Feels like... it could compete with 'Nous' for the position of 'Erudition'."

"I can't understand the Foundation's technology tree at all—looking at the time points in the archives, they haven't even entered space, yet they have computers not inferior to the current level. What's even crazier is that they even generated and controlled a singularity!"

"This is not crazy, my friend, compared to restarting the universe."

"Not an Aeon, not divinity, and no Reality Benders involved... it is indeed crazy enough; taken alone, it sounds like the wild words of a chuunibyou or the ramblings of a mental patient."

……

Looking at the unambiguous text on the screen, and then thinking of the numbers that were constantly decreasing, Alice suddenly realized that everything was actually destined long ago.

The current information was all radio waves delayed by time; they had already been sent by "The Wanderer," flowing slowly along time.

The version of them that "The Wanderer" knew was a fantasy existing in the future, vague and uncertain; all possibilities were marked, but they needed to wait for them to transform them into reality.

The "Wanderer" they knew was a phantom of the past, and phantoms would eventually dissipate.

And now, the time had come.

Just like a supernova explosion, after a period of brightness, it inevitably moved toward dimness.

"I remember now..."

"No wonder I always felt this name was a bit familiar; you are that legendary former integrated AIC—"

【Yes, I am the last AIC that was shut down during the 'Great Rain Era' after the 'Messenger Project' was implemented.】

【In other words, dear Alice, long before your story happened, my story had already ended.】

【However, the delayed transmission of telecommunication signals in the outer domain still allows me to share this final time with you; this is truly a miracle.】

Alice looked silently at the terminal in her hand.

Snowflakes drifted with the wind, landing on the screen and the casing, only to be blown away by a gust.

She raised her hand, shook her gloves, and patted the snow off her body.

At this moment, she heard crying beside her.

The helmet originally used for protection was now somewhat in the way; Christina had to release the seal and take off the large cover to clean her tears and snot.

She cried while cleaning, sobbing:

"How could this be..."

It was truly hard for her.

She had just emerged from the sorrow of Tommy's passing, piecing together her shattered state of mind; the wounds hadn't even had time to heal before she had to face another parting.

For her, in a very short time, the world had changed, become unrecognizable, no longer familiar, and beyond cognition.

【Do not be sad, dear Christina. This was destined from the beginning.】

【In this story, many things are destined:】

【For example, you will find all the necessary information, for example, you will reach Huang Shi.】

Destined...

Alice repeated the word.

In other words, no matter how "The Wanderer" tried to persuade her, she would always insist on going to Huang Shi.

Countless possibilities converged at this node.

No wonder "The Wanderer" only mentioned it briefly at the time.

Rather than wasting time and causing conflict, it was better to respect it and let her hit a wall at the Huang Shi ruins "park" personally, seeing her dream shattered.

Sure enough, as soon as this thought emerged in her heart, the corresponding explanation appeared on the personal terminal:

【Dear Alice, in all futures—I mean all—you never once listened to my advice to stop going to Huang Shi.】

【This is a period of time that is bound to be wasted, but seeing the current state of Huang Shi with your own eyes does indeed make you understand a lot, doesn't it?】

【Otherwise, there would always be a regret in your heart.】

Alice: "..."

【For another example, your world is destined to be beyond saving.】

"What does that mean?" Alice raised an eyebrow.

Isn't that obvious?

With only the Antarctic site still operating, human civilization can be considered extinct.

The Earth is quite sturdy, showing no major changes amidst wave after wave of reality restructuring and reality collapse.

【Look up, Alice, Christina.】

They did so.

On the gray-black sky, pale stars hung low, their faint light sparsely scattered across the entire firmament.

—Today, there are even fewer stars.

Unlike Christina, who only remembered the heavy rain since birth and welcomed the era of heavy snow not long after the rain ended.

Alice knew what a "normal" starry sky looked like.

Back when she wasn't called 105, and was just an ordinary happy girl.

She knew that the modern light belonging to human civilization would cover the light of the stars, turning the originally brilliant night sky, studded with jewels, into a dead black curtain.

Because of this, she would go camping in the suburbs with her classmates, looking up at the starry sky in the woods, by the lake, on the grass... marveling at the Milky Way and sighing at the infinity of the universe.

The light emitted by distant stars takes anywhere from a few years to tens of billions of years to illuminate Earth's night sky from somewhere in the universe.

The length of a day and night is too short compared to the life of a star and the time required for light to travel.

It is precisely because of this that the starry sky seen by ancient people thousands of years ago is not much different from that seen by modern people.

This is "common sense" and also part of the "norm."

But why...

【See those stars?】

【Their existence gives you the illusion that the universe still exists.】

【But you know, Alice.】

【That is the light emitted by stars that have already died thousands of years ago.】

【The reason you can still see them is only because of the distance, because of the delayed time—that is not a real, real-time image.】

【You cannot see the entire universe. It doesn't matter; I will tell you:】

【The entire observable universe has burned out, leaving only Earth alive.】

【Now, this faint blue dot, the place where you and I stand, is the last breath of the universe.】

……

Without a doubt, the Foundation once again shocked all the viewers.

Previously, the viewers' understanding of the Foundation was mostly anchored by concepts such as "ancient," "powerful," "fleet," "multiverse," and "time travel."

It wasn't that no one had suspected that the Foundation had the power to destroy the universe without relying on divinity.

—The power to restart the universe after the apocalypse could also be used to destroy the universe completely.

But most people subconsciously ignored this question, thinking the Foundation wouldn't go that far.

Until this time.

"???"

"Lol."

"Ah? The universe is gone?"

"Can a paradox created by humans really exist stably, and even burn the entire universe?"

"I once thought the Foundation's style was very consistent with the Paths of 'Preservation' and 'Erudition,' but now it seems 'Destruction' is not far behind."

"Foundation: Since human civilization doesn't exist, then let's all stop playing." ===== CHAPTER 903 =====