Chapter 477: Interpreting Cheng Ping's Experiences_1

Jiang Yu was startled, "The end of the microscopic is the macroscopic?"

Thirty-Six spread his hands, "This is just my guess, because the scenes depicted by the aged Cheng Ping resemble both the microscopic world and the macroscopic world."

Jiang Yu pondered for a moment and made a gesture for him to continue.

Thirty-Six said, "The aged Cheng Ping's description also makes sense on a macroscopic level; the bubbles carrying starlight are actually individual universes.

"Those starlights might indeed be real starlight, and those filamentous objects could be the strings linking the various universes.

"Yes, what Cheng Ping saw might very well be countless parallel universes.

"And 'Chameleon' might be a hole in our universe.

"The moment the aged Cheng Ping touched the 'Chameleon,' his consciousness was momentarily extracted into the true vacuum, and then his consciousness 'saw' the spectacle of universes arranged together."

Jiang Yu nodded, this conjecture seemed more in line with Logic.

Thirty-Six continued, "I also guess that the aged Cheng Ping is indeed a loophole of the universe, but he is probably not a person from our universe."

This statement once again plunged Jiang Yu into a state of astonishment.

"That's right," Thirty-Six said with a smile, "He may have traveled through many universes via the hole 'Chameleon,' ultimately arriving in our universe.

"Along this journey, he interacted with other versions of himself from different universes in a manner akin to resonance, dragging along the strings related to 'Cheng Ping' from other universes to this one.

"Thus, every 'Cheng Ping' in the universes he passed through has memories and lives from others, which is why Cheng Ping had those confusingly realistic dreams.

"Indeed, they weren't dreams, they were his actual memories, just from other universes.

"Regardless, Cheng Ping is an exception because, with the bolstering of these strings, he was able to survive that 'Time Torrent.'

For another half a minute, Jiang Yu fell silent. Conversations with Thirty-Six were always like this, just when you thought his ideas couldn't get any more novel, he would be waiting ahead with even more bizarre concepts.

Moreover, these ideas of his were so logically sound that one would inexplicably come to believe them.

After half a minute, Jiang Yu finally asked, "How are the starting and ending points for Cheng Ping's travels through various universes determined? Why is he the exception?"

Thirty-Six pointed at Jiang Yu, "Because of you."

"Me?"

"Yes," Thirty-Six explained, "The aged Cheng Ping mentioned that among those dreams, there was a special case.

"It is only under the scenario where Jiang Yu leads the Solar System State to counterattack the Trisolaran invasion that Cheng Ping becomes the rotating chairman of the PDC, later works in the Solar System State, and eventually becomes one of the main people in charge of researching 'Chameleon.'

"In scenarios where Jiang Yu does not exist, he never does these things.

"That's the evidence the aged Cheng Ping used to believe he was Cheng Ping from Earth's future. In reality, he started from a universe where Jiang Yu existed and ended his journey in another universe where Jiang Yu also existed.

"Do you still remember our earlier conversation? The arrival of Jiang Yu breathed new life into humanity.

"If humanity didn't have Jiang Yu, or if Jiang Yu hadn't revealed his talents back then, the fate of humanity would have been grim indeed.

"So, Jiang Yu does not exist in every universe. Only in the universes where Jiang Yu exists does Cheng Ping not lead a mediocre life, and it is there that 'Cheng Ping' stops his travels through the universes.

"From this, it is evident that Cheng Ping's exceptionality actually arose because of Jiang Yu.

"If our universe's Cheng Ping were also to leave through the universe's hole, then he may well finish his journey in another universe that has Jiang Yu."

Jiang Yu's brow furrowed tightly. Could it be that he not only traveled to this universe but also to other universes?

And it seemed that universes where Jiang Yu made his mark were few and far between; in most universes, Jiang Yu probably lived an inconspicuous life too.

Thirty-Six continued, "Now only the last question remains, why are both the aging Cheng Ping and the spaceship he's on experiencing time in reverse?"

"If you say it's consciousness sorting his time backward, at most it would just be Cheng Ping himself believing his time is passing in reverse."

"But why is the spaceship also experiencing time in reverse?"

"I guess the 'Chameleon' is not just a hole in the universe, it is also a chaotic zone of spatial and temporal dimensions."

"Aging Cheng Ping might have encountered time from another dimension."

Jiang Yu blurted out almost instantly, "Another dimension?"

"Yes, but as I said, this is just a guess," Thirty-Six replied. "The time we come into contact with every day is 'one-dimensional time', which can go forward or reverse, headless and tailless, chaotic and disordered."

"So, does time only have one dimension? Could there be 'two-dimensional time'?"

"In that dimension, the timeline is no longer a line going forward or backward, but a shape."

"Within this 'shape', the forward and reverse progression of time can be expressed simultaneously, meaning no matter what the normal timeline of our universe is like, but Aging Cheng Ping's timeline is completely the opposite at this moment."

"And because Cheng Ping is in 'two-dimensional time', we can 'coexist' and observe each other."

"'One-dimensional time' is like a headless, tailless straight line, whereas 'two-dimensional time' is like two parallel lines on a plane."

"We are on one line, Aging Cheng Ping on the other."

"Both sides can observe the other line, but the direction of the two lines is opposite."

After pondering for a moment with his hand supporting his head, Jiang Yu asked, "These discoveries are of great help to us. Perhaps by investigating further based on them, we may unravel the dimension of time."

Jiang Shiliu joined in, "Exactly. If time is in a chaotic and unordered state, then it could be easier for us to manipulate."

"At least we don't have to surpass the speed of light to achieve time reversal. Maybe we will soon find a way to give hints to our past selves or offer help to humanity of the past."

Jiang Yu gave a wry smile, "So, my unimpressive 'Wallfacer's Shop', it really was you who sent it?"

At this point, Thirty-Six summarized, "Regardless of whether time is inherently disordered, all living beings have the concept of time passing."

"To living beings, the time of the universe goes ever forward."

"Almost everything related to intelligent life sprouts from this basis, so we cannot overturn all our previous understandings just because of this speculation."

"The fruits of this discovery can only be applied in scientific research."

"This again brings us to the origin of life. From that point, we've had the ability to order time, up until now when we have forgotten the essence of time."

"Especially humanity, with rather low-end senses, has no concept of the true nature of time."

"But time might not be as rigid as we previously imagined, nor as indifferent and irreversible."

"It's quite possible that it's like the sun, constantly moving, shining and emitting heat."

...

When Earth received Thirty-Six's hypothesis, there was also a wave of surprise.

Then there was silence and solemnity.

As the report stated, Thirty-Six's hypothesis may not reflect the true nature of time and the universe, but it is the guess that most fits the current observations.

Logic asked Cheng Ping, "I heard you still want to do field investigations?"

"Yes!" Cheng Ping laughed, "How could I miss out on the chance to see a different view that comes 'once in several lifetimes'?"