The way things had developed was entirely beyond Xiao Yu’s expectations. In his initial assumptions, he believed he would pass through the various trials left behind by the Trolor Civilization one by one, and then be transported out of this small universe by Intelligent Program One. He never imagined that leaving this small universe would itself be one of the trials.
This completely disrupted Xiao Yu’s plans. In fact, before entering this small universe, Xiao Yu had not considered at all how he would get out. Not just Xiao Yu, none of the other scientists had thought about that problem either. Everyone had simply assumed that, since they entered this place under the control of the Trolor Civilization, then the way out would naturally be arranged by the Trolor Civilization as well.
But now? After delivering its message, the program left by the Trolor Civilization had decisively used matter-antimatter annihilation to destroy Intelligent Program One, leaving nothing behind for Xiao Yu. In the end, Xiao Yu would still have to find a way out on his own.
With that in mind, certain clues became crucial. By connecting these clues one by one, Xiao Yu might be able to uncover the hidden truth veiled behind layers of mystery, and find his way out of this prison.
For example, the strange wobble of the star he observed before entering the ruin. Or the experience of seemingly passing through a space-time tunnel during entry…
Once again, a conference was convened under Xiao Yu’s leadership. This time, all participants were the top experts in their respective fields. In terms of pure scientific knowledge, though not necessarily in terms of breadth or research capacity, many of them were not inferior to Xiao Yu himself.
This was quite common, and so Xiao Yu had always valued the input of scientists, especially when dealing with matters of life and death. He always called them together to discuss such issues.
“Before we begin the discussion, let me show everyone a set of data.” In the spacious conference room, Xiao Yu’s holographic projection sat calmly. With a wave of his hand, a three-dimensional image appeared in front of them. At the center of the projection was a star emitting a soft white glow, clearly, the white dwarf.
“This is a photo of the white dwarf we took when we first arrived in this small universe.” Xiao Yu said, gently swiping with his hand to switch the image. “And this is a photo I just took of the white dwarf.”
The scientists looked at each other, uncertain what Xiao Yu was trying to demonstrate.After a brief pause, Xiao Yu continued, “We’ve already been in this small universe for over a year. Can any of you spot a difference between these two white dwarf images taken more than a year apart?”
“There’s no difference.” said Luka Three, a leading authority in the natural sciences, after carefully reviewing the images.
“Yes, no difference.” another scientist echoed the conclusion.
“Wrong,” Xiao Yu shook his head. “There is a difference. Even though it’s not visible to the naked eye… allow me to give you the answer. In the second image, the white dwarf’s luminosity is approximately three percent dimmer than it was a year ago.”
“Huh? How is that possible? It’s only been a year. How could that happen?”
“There’s something off about this white dwarf? What’s going on here?” The scientists began to murmur in surprise.
The luminosity of a white dwarf is known to be very stable, changing at an extremely slow rate. This was considered common knowledge. But what was happening with this white dwarf challenged that understanding.
“Do any of you know why?” Xiao Yu asked.
“I believe it may be related to certain mechanisms within the white dwarf itself. You see, while a lone white dwarf is generally very stable, we have previously observed white dwarf variable stars. It’s possible that an internal imbalance in elements caused an explosion, which temporarily increased the white dwarf’s brightness, and over the past year, it has been returning to its normal luminosity, resulting in this decrease.” a scientist specializing in astrophysics and the study of white dwarfs offered their opinion.
“That is indeed one explanation, a very reasonable one. However, the distinct traits of a white dwarf variable star… I haven’t observed any of them in this case.” Xiao Yu replied. “Perhaps this phenomenon still doesn’t raise enough alarm. Then let’s look at this next set of images.”
Xiao Yu waved his hand, and the 3D projection shifted again. This time, it displayed a section of pitch-black space. In the distance, an artificial sun illuminated the starfield, and under its glow, a silver-white fragment, roughly one meter wide, of a Trolor Civilization battleship appeared.
“This photo was taken over a year ago.” Xiao Yu said. “Now let’s take a look at what it looks like now.”
The 3D image changed once more, and the same fragment reappeared.
“Can anyone tell what’s different?” Xiao Yu spread his hands as he posed the question.
With the white dwarf example fresh in their minds, this time the scientists didn’t speak hastily. Instead, they observed the fragment carefully.
One scientist said uncertainly, “It seems… the material of the fragment has become a bit more brittle.”
“Hmm… yes, it does seem more brittle. And the break line, it’s no longer as clean as in the previous image.” another scientist added, echoing the observation.
“Yes, exactly.” Xiao Yu nodded. “Everyone here knows that in the vacuum of space, with no external interference, materials can remain intact for inconceivably long periods. And likewise, a white dwarf maintains its brightness with exceptional stability. An ordinary white dwarf cannot lose three percent of its luminosity in just over a year.”
Xiao Yu paused, his expression growing somber as he looked around at the assembled scientists. “Do you all understand what this means?”
The scientists seated here were all exceptionally brilliant, genetically enhanced countless times, with brains of nearly unnatural capacity. Among them, the three Luka models stood out as the most exceptional.
Luka Three was the first to grasp Xiao Yu’s point: “Time is flowing too quickly. In what we’ve perceived as just over a year, the outside world has already advanced… hmm, let me calculate… more than ten billion years.”
“Ten billion years? That’s impossible! Why don’t we feel anything?” a scientist exclaimed in disbelief.
“Yes, more than ten billion years.” Xiao Yu nodded heavily. “Only a time span exceeding ten billion years could cause a white dwarf’s brightness to dim by three percent. Only such a vast duration could make this piece of material become brittle. Time is merely a conceptual quantity. Perhaps what we’ve experienced really is only a year, but one thing we cannot deny: for that white dwarf and that piece of debris, over ten billion years have truly passed within the span of a year.”
“My guess is that this is tied to the nature of this small universe itself. The entropy of the small universe increases much faster than that of the greater universe. This hypothesis can now be considered confirmed. The space outside our ship, this small universe, is rapidly progressing from order to chaos. What the Trolor Civilization said was all true. In ten years, the entropy of this universe will reach its maximum. Time will completely stop, and we will all die.” Xiao Yu stated.
“No… something doesn’t add up.” Luka Three suddenly shook his head. “There’s a flaw in that reasoning. If entropy is increasing, it can’t only affect external objects while leaving our fleet untouched. That’s unscientific, it doesn’t follow logical laws.”
“That’s not a flaw.” Xiao Yu shook his head. “The entropy increase is affecting us. I have a set of data for you to look at… This is the energy consumption rate of our fleet. The conclusion is that, in just over a year, our average energy usage has increased by fifty percent. What puzzled me at first was that this extra energy didn’t seem to serve any other function. Simply put, tasks like maintaining the tachyon shield, previously requiring a certain amount of energy, now require one and a half times that just to achieve the same result. Why is energy consumption increasing? I didn’t understand at first, but now I think it’s clear, the decay of this universe is affecting us too.”
“This is terrifying…” Luka Three said, shaking his head in shock. “This is no place to linger.”
“Exactly.” Xiao Yu nodded. “In ten years, entropy in this small universe will peak, but we’ll die before that. So, we don’t have ten years. I’ve done the math, at our current energy consumption rate, we have roughly three years left. If we can’t complete our mission, can’t find a way out in three years, then there’s no need to keep looking. This place will become our grave, drifting forever through the void from a Four-Dimensional perspective.”
“So, for the sake of our fleet, and for your own sake, I ask you all to use your intellect… The full technical data on the space weapon has been sent to your terminals. Based on its properties, I encourage you to hypothesize how we might escape this small universe.”
The assembled scientists all fell into deep thought.
Xiao Yu let out a light sigh and said, “Before we begin the search for a solution, I need you to provide me with a reference point. That is, what exactly is a small universe? What are its defining traits? How does it differ, in essence, from the greater universe?”
“These things… are critically important.” Xiao Yu said.