Chapter 171 The Crack Nebula

To be honest, Hao Ren really wanted to shamelessly ask Raven 12345 to stay and help him settle this planet. After all, with a goddess taking action, there would be nothing to worry about. But this thought only flashed through his mind before he discarded it.

The reason was simple: everyone had their own responsibilities.

Raven 12345 watched Hao Ren's reaction with a faint smile. She was a little surprised that the kid didn't shamelessly latch onto her after waiting for so long: "Oh, you're just accepting the organization's arrangement like that?"

"It's my own business," Hao Ren said with a smile, "and it's not like I can't handle it. If every little thing like moving someone's home required God to personally take action, then this universe would probably be doomed soon."

Raven 12345 narrowed her eyes, then nodded to Hao Ren with a completely serious expression for the first time, and gently patted his shoulder: "Well, you've grown."

Then she turned around and looked at the distant starry sky: "Then let's get straight to the point. This time I came here not just to help you solve some trivial matters, but to take this opportunity to show you something. About this Crack Nebula... follow me."

Before Hao Ren could react, he found himself outside the spaceship. Raven 12345 stood beside him and snapped her fingers in the vacuum of space.

Even though sound couldn't travel in a vacuum, Hao Ren heard a clear snapping sound in his mind. Then he saw the starry sky in front of him rapidly receding, and his perspective rose and widened, giving him an incredible sense of "clairvoyance" that seemed to be able to see through everything in the universe. He remembered having a similar experience once before when Raven 12345 took him to travel the starry sky. This instant insight into everything was impressive.

"Look over there," Raven 12345 pointed into the distance, "That's the Crack Nebula. The Purgatory Planet and your ship are now parked in a corner of this galaxy, a dim and inconspicuous place: it's very safe there."

Hao Ren looked up, and the panorama of the Crack Nebula made him involuntarily open his mouth wide.

The scenery of the universe is always shocking. Those bright nebulae, strange clouds, and luminous bands that resemble abstract patterns can bring endless fresh sensations. Even the best artists among humans cannot use brushstrokes to depict the magnificence of the universe itself. And the Crack Nebula in front of him was probably the most impressive of all these magnificent scenes: Hao Ren saw a large expanse of dark purple and light red light spreading out in the universe. The light was radial, becoming brighter towards the edges, while the light towards the center was darker and deeper. A large number of cracked black lines extended through this light, forming a wonderful illusion like scars.

Hao Ren rubbed his eyes and suddenly realized that this didn't seem to be an illusion: there really was a huge scar here!

The entire space in the central part of this huge nebula seemed to have collapsed. Obvious signs of starlight bending could be seen around those black bands, and a large amount of primordial matter was rapidly churning in the central part of the light mass, forming those seemingly beautiful colored lines and light pillars. This was a huge wound, piercing an eternal hole in the universe. In those dark places, material annihilation and birth processes were occurring that were difficult to explain with ordinary science, just like a large, irregularly shaped hole had appeared in the bottom of a huge bathtub, and the chaotic whirlpools of foam and water swirling around the hole were dazzling.

Hao Ren had seen black holes before. When he was exploring the universe in the *Giant Tortoise Rock Terrace*, he had passed by some black holes. The bright accretion disk and the curved light around the black hole were completely different from the situation of the Crack Nebula. He could be sure that this was another kind of cosmic phenomenon, and the material flow generated around the black cracks didn't seem to be a simple process of being swallowed and ejected. He couldn't help but ask the goddess next to him: "What is that?"

"A small tremor in the Wall of Reality," Raven 12345 said lightly, "It happened two thousand six hundred years ago. This tremor created a conflict point, tearing a gap as wide as seven point seven light-years in the real world, which is what you see before you. But the scope of its destruction back then was much larger than the scale of this gap. Look around, do you notice anything?"

Hao Ren looked around. The naked eye couldn't directly see through the distribution of the universe's stars, but with the help of the temporarily enhanced "insight," he noticed some clues: "It's very empty here. Logically speaking, the area around the nebula shouldn't be so empty."

"That's right, empty, because the things here have been 'deleted'," Raven 12345 nodded slightly, "There used to be a galaxy here, about the same size as the Milky Way, and two civilizations lived here, but the tremor of the Wall of Reality caused a large crack to appear here, directly connected to the Dream Plane. The physical rules of the two universes conflicted violently at the crack, and the result of the conflict was that data that didn't conform to the rules was deleted in batches. In other words, the entire galaxy was formatted. You should have learned something about this – imagine, if the rule of one universe is one plus one equals two, but another universe has no 'numbers' at all, what happens when these two universes overlap?"

"No one's word counts, so it's simply reset to zero." Hao Ren honestly replied. He had discussed this answer with the Data Terminal a long time ago.

"That's right, so it was reset to zero here," Raven 12345 nodded gently, "Fortunately, I rescued the civilizations here, and eventually managed to control the size of this rift, preventing it from tearing the entire universe apart. In the years that followed, the Sovereign Hub provided enormous computational support to this area, stabilizing it and making it the most special place in the universe: the Compatibility Zone."

"Compatibility Zone?" Hao Ren seemed to think of something.

"Yes, the state where the Wall of Reality collapses and is then restabilized. The universe order of the Dream Plane and the Surface World is buffered here, a highly compatible solution, where the two worlds won't spark. But to be honest, it's like wrapping a layer of tape around a short circuit, a temporary fix," Raven 12345 shook her head slightly, "But anyway, it's stabilized here, and it can support life."

Hao Ren frowned: "What about the material jets in those dark areas?"

"Genesis and Apocalypse," Raven 12345 smiled, then her expression straightened, "Not kidding, it's real creation and destruction. The dark areas are still very dangerous places, because the collision of the two universes has made it an information vent, constantly new world orders and cosmic matter are born there, and then destroyed in the blink of an eye."

"So you're having me settle the Purgatory Planet in this place," Hao Ren understood the true meaning of Raven's arrangement, "Because this place itself is a buffer zone, and space fragments from the Dream Plane won't be greatly repelled here."

Raven 12345 hummed in agreement: "Yes, the location of the planet you brought is awkward. To be honest, it's not loved by anyone, and it's considered an illegal resident no matter which universe it's thrown into, but here, the heavens don't check temporary residence permits."

Hao Ren nodded slowly, and finally asked a little worriedly: "Speaking of which, is it safe to live here?"

"This I can guarantee," Raven 12345's voice sounded very reliable, "It's just that this area is a 'special zone' in the entire universe. Most civilizations are quite wary of this disaster zone, even if there's nothing left here, they still think it's quite unlucky. Those private ship owners you know probably won't be willing to come to this place to run transport. Oh, of course, except for those profiteers from Fia Lee – their technology is good enough, and even when their technology isn't good enough, they're willing to risk their lives to make money. Finally, about the Purgatory Planet, this planet will be registered as a refugee star, and it will probably be difficult for them to develop to the great interstellar era through normal channels in the future, so you will also be responsible for providing them with the minimum amount of guidance and assistance."

Hao Ren quickly perked up: "Oh, oh, I know, about when will that be?"

Raven 12345 thought for a moment, counting on her fingers: "Probably in ten or eight thousand years, anyway, remind me then, in case I forget."

Hao Ren: "..."

Damn, what's the point of reminding her about something that will happen in ten or eight thousand years! Can't this God do anything herself?