Chapter 247 The "Reminder" of the Magic Ring
```
In the four-dimensional space, many constructs of civilizations almost all come from very distant places, and they have almost only their last bits of intelligence left.
It can be judged that these four-dimensional intelligences possess the most basic level of goodwill, that is, they do not aim to destroy humanity. On one hand, there is no Dark Forest between different dimensions, as lower dimensions cannot threaten higher ones and the resources of lower dimensions are useless to the higher ones.
On the other hand, as they are about to perish, the constructs from different civilizations seem calm and harmonious. Under destruction, everyone is equal.
Humanity, in their final moments, offers them a little something different, which can be considered the last consolation before their destruction.
As for whether there are still civilized entities entering the three-dimensional space but with some remnants left in four-dimensional space, they may strike against humanity because their civilization's main body is in the three-dimensional Universe, sharing the same Dark Forest with humanity.
This is a topic of interdimensional civilization. Social scientists have analyzed this problem and cannot completely rule out this possibility. However, the probability is very low, for a simple reason: such an action would be meaningless.
Yet no matter how low the probability, as long as there is a possibility, humanity needs to be fully prepared, and there is only one way for humanity to guard against it, which is not to enter the four-dimensional space completely.
Four-dimensional civilizations are trapped within the four-dimensional space; they pose no threat to the three-dimensional world.
In the end, Magic Ring exchanged with humanity an ecological orb the size of a fist, which is a carefully designed closed mini-ecological system containing only a little fish and a few pieces of seaweed.
Finally, humanity asks if they could receive some advice.
The answer from the Magic Ring is, "Quickly leave the puddle, you are but thin paintings, fragile, and the puddle will soon become a graveyard."
This hint seems to have two meanings on the surface:
One is to tell humanity to leave the four-dimensional space, as the environment here is dangerous and will collapse into three-dimensions soon. You will die here.
But this is a redundant warning, as humanity will certainly leave before the complete collapse of the four-dimensional space. Besides, no matter how dangerous the objective environment of the four-dimensional space is, humanity will not give up exploring, so the embodiment of the Magic Ring is meaningless.
The second is to remind humanity about the potential attacks by other four-dimensional civilization remnants. Humanity will definitely not enter the four-dimensional space completely, and even if attacked by other civilizations, such loss can be endured.
Actually, as soon as humanity entered the four-dimensional space, if any of these civilizations were hostile to humanity, the attack would have already begun. Therefore, this suggestion is also meaningless.
The advice given by the Magic Ring is entirely useless, which inevitably makes human social scientists ponder its deeper implications.
Soon, a terrifying hypothesis emerged in the minds of human social scientists, causing everyone to break out in a cold sweat, as if falling into an abyss.
Combined with the previous statement of the Magic Ring, "The fish that drain the sea move onto land before the sea dries up, fleeing from one Dark Forest to another."
Therefore, civilizations that reduce from four-dimensions to three-dimensions transform themselves into three-dimensional civilizations, but their Dark Forest fate does not end there, it continues.
Perhaps there is another layer to the reminder of the Magic Ring:
[Your three-dimensional Solar System is also very dangerous; leave quickly!
They are doing the same thing, and your three-dimensional space will meet the same fate as ours.
You are fragile and need to leave quickly; only by leaving might you find a chance to live.]
In the original timeline, humanity also received these reminders, but no one grasped their meaning.
Chu Yan sent the information from the Magic Ring to the Solar System, but the social scientists of the Solar System could deduce from the dialogue with the exploratory team that this part is very brief and vague, not enough to prove that the Magic Ring truly understood the meaning of the word.
Such self-deceptive talk was surprisingly accepted by the whole world, and even the Trisolaran Great Liu God would probably be powerless to save them.
Perhaps Guan Yifan had grasped the concept. In the original text, when Chu Yan asked, "Why are there so many four-dimensional fragments in the three-dimensional Universe?"
Guan Yifan replied, "Colonel, now I feel that this might still be a dark secret."
This indicates that Guan Yifan may have already grasped the true nature of cosmic dimension reduction, but he also did not send out a warning to the Solar System.
It is unclear whether he thought that a warning would be pointless and humanity wouldn't believe it, or for some other reason?
Or maybe he had given up hope!
Back to the current timeline, when Chu Yan brought back information about the four-dimensional space and the warning from the Magic Ring civilization to three-dimensional time, everyone was shocked.
It wasn't shock about the four-dimensional space, but the revelation that this was the graveyard for many four-dimensional civilizations.
The existence of the four-dimensional space can still be interpreted as some kind of temporary, incomprehensible natural phenomenon, but why are there so many constructs of four-dimensional civilizations here?
All social scientists, scientists, and senior personnel of the 20 warships entered the massive Sophon Shielding Room.
Humanity currently lacks the means to detect Sophons and does not know whether they have escaped Sophon surveillance or are still possibly being monitored by them.
Lin Sen: "This exploration can be said to be humanity's greatest discovery to date, but it has also brought us new problems.
```
```
"What do you think about the numerous civilizations that exist in four-dimensional space, and the Magic Ring's suggestion?"
The Chief Sociologist said, "If the Magic Ring hasn't deceived us, we can deduce several pieces of information from this dialogue:
"First, the Magic Ring acknowledges that even in four-dimensional space, the Dark Forest state exists; we can tentatively accept this as true.
"Second, there is no Dark Forest state between different dimensions; we can also tentatively accept this as true.
"Third, civilizations in four-dimensional space, although not recognizing each other, eventually all convene in one place, which is nearly impossible in the Dark Forest.
"The most likely reason that could bring them together is that it is the only remaining living space they have, and they are all dead.
"But at least we can infer the following: once this four-dimensional space was extremely vast, capable of accommodating numerous civilizations under the Dark Forest state.
"Fourth, the most critical part is the phrase, 'The fish that emptied the sea went onto land before the sea dried up, running from one Dark Forest to another.'
"The fish here probably refers to the advanced civilizations in four-dimensional space; they have shrunk the four-dimensional space. 'Went onto land,' I speculate, means they have entered three-dimensional space; they might have transformed themselves into three-dimensional beings.
"If this point also stands, then its implications are quite terrifying!"
Ding Yi felt a sense of resignation, as this perfectly matched his own hypothesis, and he could only reveal his research findings as well:
"After a month of intensive research into four-dimensional space, we've discovered that four-dimensional space is shrinking.
"Perhaps 'shrinking' is not the precise word; more accurately, it is undergoing dimensional descent. The light I previously observed was actually the release of energy from the descent in spatial dimensions.
"The new matter that formed where the light was, stems from the descent of four-dimensional space material.
"When the Magic Ring said the sea had been drained, now only a puddle remains, it likely means the original vast four-dimensional space has descended to three dimensions; they now have only a tiny space left."
This revelation sent shivers down everyone's spine, for it unveiled a colossal dark secret... our three-dimensional space was formed from the descent of the once four-dimensional space.
The Chief Sociologist said, "If everything the Magic Ring said is true, coupled with your evidence, there would be a very astonishing conclusion:
"Our universe might originally have been four-dimensional, and it was reduced to its present three dimensions by some advanced four-dimensional civilizations!
"The civilizations of the fourth dimension transformed themselves into three-dimensional civilizations, thereby escaping the disaster of universal descent."
Of course, he didn't voice the second half of what was on his mind, but everyone knew what he meant; whether our three-dimensional universe might also face descent.
The Magic Ring's final warning, "Quickly leave the puddle; we are very fragile," doesn't refer to leaving four-dimensional space but to leave the Solar System as soon as possible, for it too might soon undergo descent.
We had thought that the Trisolaris crisis was the greatest one Humanity had faced, and after overcoming Trisolaris with difficulty, we found ourselves facing the Cosmic Dark Forest and entering an even greater era of crisis.
But since the derivation process of the Dark Forest had some flaws, many sociologists analyzed that advanced civilizations might not need a Dark Forest, or perhaps there's a different form of the Dark Forest, at least Humanity might not be so easily annihilated.
If Humanity were to enter the ranks of advanced civilizations, perhaps we wouldn't need to worry so much about Dark Forest Strikes; this is the last hope preserved in the hearts of Humanity.
However, today, the four-dimensional civilizations are telling us that our current crisis is nothing, and an even greater cosmic crisis lies ahead.
Humanity's last sliver of hope is also extinguished; even if Humanity avoids all Dark Forest Strikes, we will still have to face the descent of the universe. Even if we reduce ourselves to two dimensions, the Dark Forest will persist; do we need to survive in one dimension then?
Lin Sen sighed, "The key issue now is to determine whether what the Magic Ring says is true.
"If true, is universal descent theoretically possible?
"If false, what could be the Magic Ring's purpose in deceiving us?"
Ding Yi said, "Logically speaking, there are no contradictions in what the Magic Ring says, and it completely aligns with our research findings.
"Recently, we even observed instances of the Magic Ring's dust being reduced to three dimensions; I believe it hasn't deceived us.
"In scientific theory, especially in the study of Quantum Space, there are similar conclusions; Quantum Space essentially is the compactified High-Dimensional Space.
"If we interpret the descent of four-dimensional space as one of its dimensions coiling up to a microscopic scale, that would perfectly coincide with our theoretical research into Quantum Space.
"In fact, we still have ways to conduct research; we can study the elementary particles of four-dimensional space and see how many dimensions the elementary particles in four-dimensional space have.
"Based on the theory of universal descent, the elementary particles in four-dimensional space should be ten-dimensional, which should be one dimension fewer than the eleven dimensions of our Three-dimensional Space elementary particles."
Lin Sen said, "We will fully support your research.
"If this is also confirmed, then the Magic Ring's advice to leave would indeed be a benevolent warning."
PS: The dialogue with the Magic Ring isn't written, and these two chapters also contain quite a lot of filler, haha. This book consists of extensive analyses to help us better instantly understand the Trisolaran Universe, much of which the author has filled in.
```