Chapter 45 Ashes

The stars were roaring, emitting a furious roar that seemed to shake the very foundations of everything. Truth shone in the starlight, filling the field of vision, illuminating the soul. Lei Nola felt as if her mind was gradually melting before this roaring truth.

She was becoming part of that truth, understanding the words of this "Thousand-Faced Starlight," understanding knowledge she would never have been able to access. She suddenly understood the logic of how things worked, and the pale purple starlight danced at the edge of her vision, breathtakingly magnificent.

She slowly raised her head, looking at the billions of eyes twinkling in the stars, and whispered as if talking to herself, "I understand… those are the ashes that cooled down after the world collided… but ashes are not 'extinction.' Ashes just need to be reassigned and have their mapping relationships re-established…"

Unfamiliar words came out of her mouth. Lei Nola felt a faint hint of doubt in her heart, but these doubts vanished in an instant. She naturally understood what she had said, and then she saw the starlight in front of her flash approvingly.

Zhou Ming glanced at Lei Nola in surprise. He didn't expect that this Frost Queen could understand what he was saying so accurately, but he didn't have the energy to think about it now—his attention was completely focused on the "ashes" that Lei Nola had discovered "beyond the boundary."

The Navigator II's "everything is information" theory was correct. A "world" can be regarded as a "mathematical machine" that contains all data and calculation rules, a vast information storage and calculation system. Therefore, the essence of the Great Annihilation can be regarded as the conflict and serious bugs caused by the forced merging of several incompatible "systems…"

The collision of mathematical machines caused the originally orderly running "information" of each world to fall into chaos. A large number of parameters that could originally be "called" normally have now become unrecognizable, and the mathematical machines themselves have lost the foundation for stable operation…

The "sanctuary" built by the ancient kings is like a sandbox environment that barely maintains operation after the system crashes. This sandbox forcibly retains the mapping relationship of some "information," but in essence, the entire sandbox is still part of the "system crash…"

Information does not disappear out of thin air. At least in the face of disasters like the Great Annihilation, the "information units" that make up the world have not really disappeared. From the perspective of a "mathematical machine," those information units have only lost contact with the "laws of the world" (operating system), like…

Zhou Ming suddenly stopped. In his thoughts, he raised his head and looked at the computer in the deepest part of the room—the computer was still running, the cursor on the screen flashing as if it had a life of its own. As he watched, the cursor suddenly moved on its own, and a line of text appeared:

"Data corrupted, formatting incomplete - World."

Zhou Ming blinked, and the text on the computer screen disappeared as if it were an illusion.

But he already understood—his understanding was correct.

He breathed a sigh of relief and silently sorted out the storm-like thoughts in his mind, but while his thoughts gradually became clearer, he couldn't help but frown.

He always felt that something was missing from his understanding… He was a little unsure about the point that "information does not disappear."

Does information really not disappear? Within the scope of the "world," this seems to be true, but what about outside the world…? In that vast and empty, the endless "void" that his creator civilization had briefly glimpsed, what kind of laws of all things exist?

There was no result from pondering, and a mind that had never jumped out of the world could never imagine the truth outside the world. Zhou Ming frowned and slowly shook his head, but at the same time, he also remembered his recent conversation with Navigator II.

He thought of the ancient AI's fear and paranoia, and Navigator II's eternal worries and vision—transcending the world.

A "possibility" to transcend the world must be left for future civilizations.

Zhou Ming's tightly furrowed brows slowly relaxed, and after the surging thoughts in his heart gradually calmed down, a smile appeared on his face.

What he couldn't understand today, someone would eventually understand one day in the distant future.

Lei Nola looked at the ancient being in front of her with some nervousness. She finally felt that the other person's storm-like thought process had calmed down again, and then she mustered up the courage to speak carefully, "Do you have any plans next?"

Zhou Ming was silent for a moment, then raised his right hand, silently gazing at the palm of his hand.

Starlight danced on his fingertips, filling his palm. A hazy mass of "ashes" briefly reappeared in his palm, changing into various forms, and then disappeared like a phantom.

"The most important 'raw material' problem has been solved, but the situation of the raw materials is a little different from what I expected," he said while thinking. "These are 'cooled embers.' Their connection with the 'underlying system' of the world has been completely severed, and they have also stopped evolving. This is different from the situation of the Four Gods and the Boundless Sea… I can't reshape these ashes through gentle 'recompilation.' You just saw that even if the ashes are reshaped, they will disappear as soon as my 'maintenance' disappears. These 'cooled embers' obviously lack self-sustainability…

"Perhaps a 'ground zero' is needed? We must first reconstruct the mapping relationships of these 'raw materials' in batches and give them a 'first impulse'…"

As he said this, he didn't care whether the "Frost Queen" in front of him could understand it or not—anyway, this Queen seemed to be able to understand a lot of things inexplicably, so he just assumed that she had "high comprehension."

Lei Nola was also used to it. She easily passed a San check and understood.

"Do you need to detonate the entire Boundless Sea?" She opened her eyes in surprise, "Wouldn't this…"

She understood, but not correctly.

"No, no, no, the 'ground zero' I'm talking about doesn't really mean blowing up anything specific, but a… conceptual 'information explosion,'" Zhou Ming quickly waved his hand to correct the other party's understanding, and then added in thought, "It may also be accompanied by the release of huge amounts of energy, but this has nothing to do with detonating the Boundless Sea…"

Although in this process, the Boundless Sea would definitely be gone—Zhou Ming didn't say this.

Lei Nola was still very curious, but this time she didn't continue to ask in the direction of "whether or not to detonate the Boundless Sea," but after a brief thought, she changed the subject, "Do you know where the 'ground zero' is?"

"…I have some vague ideas," Zhou Ming said cautiously, touching his chin, and then waved his hand, "But you don't need to think about these things now. My current focus is still on those 'ashes' outside the boundary."

Lei Nola's expression immediately became serious.

"The Lost Township is sailing at the end of the world," Zhou Ming pondered slightly and slowly opened his mouth, "After this long voyage ends, I want to personally confirm the situation outside the boundary. Regarding the 'ashes' you mentioned, I have to see them with my own eyes."

Lei Nola immediately reacted, "Is there anything you need me to do?"

"My main body cannot leave this place… not for the time being," Zhou Ming looked at the other party very seriously, "So when the time comes, I need you to guide the Lost Township to those ashes."

Lei Nola was stunned when she heard this, looking a little dazed, "I… how should I do it?"

"In theory, this process doesn't require much of your participation—what really works is your 'cottage,'" Zhou Ming said, pointing to the outside of the window, "Park your 'cottage' at the edge of the mist, and Alice should be able to find it."

"My house?" Lei Nola was stunned for a moment, but quickly reacted, "Are you saying… the connection between it and the 'Alice Manor'?"

Zhou Ming nodded lightly.

The "room" that Lei Nola took away from Alice Manor was essentially the escape pod of the New Hope, and since it was an escape pod, it should definitely have functions similar to positioning and emergency rescue. He had previously seen information deep in Alice Manor prompting "illegal release of escape pod," and in theory, Alice Manor (New Hope) as the mother ship should be able to reposition the location of the escape pod.

As long as the mother ship can locate the escape pod, then Alice (Navigator III), who is currently steering the Lost Township, should be able to find Lei Nola's real location on the border.

This was the best way Zhou Ming could think of to reach the "outer boundary"—after all, at the end of this world where order is collapsing and space-time is disordered, there must be similar positioning and navigation methods to reach the destination, and the Lost Township is no exception.

Of course, it is also necessary to consider the possibility that the positioning function of the "escape pod" is damaged, the "Alice Manor" as the mother ship fails to locate it, or the connection between the two is distorted or interfered with by the special environment of the border—before Lei Nola leaves, it is necessary to leave some backup methods.

Under Lei Nola's curious gaze, Zhou Ming raised his right hand, and a cluster of starlight-stained ghostly green flames was quietly burning in his hand.

"Take this, this is a more powerful flame than the fire that I left on you before," Zhou Ming said, "If Alice can't find the 'cottage' at that time, I will try to build a passage with flames—but this is just a backup plan. The power that flames can transmit is limited. If possible, it is best to let the Lost Township reach that place."

Looking at the quietly jumping flame in front of her, Lei Nola obviously hesitated.

The flame was so bright, filled with starlight, that it was almost dazzling in this dim and chaotic space, and she could feel the huge power filling the flame, a power that even made her a little afraid.

She had never felt this fear when she decided to dive into the Frost Deep Sea.

But after a brief hesitation, this Queen nodded lightly.

She reached out to the flame, "I will take it—outside the boundary, I will be waiting for you and your Lost Township."

(End of this chapter)