In The Speck of Dust...

Karen stroked her chin and said, "Earlier, on their planet, I noticed that those things divided in such a way that their black particle-like substances coincided with other black particles that had already split. This is probably their way of discussing things!"

Everyone nodded in agreement. Kelly then asked, "So what should we do now? Should we continue looking for another planet to land on? After all, the spaceship still needs some repairs, right?"

Doraemon crossed his arms and replied, "Perhaps there's no need to take any risks. Although the progress might be slower, I can still manage to finish the necessary repairs. Moreover, the spatial data of this area is almost fully analyzed by the system. Once the analysis is complete, we will be able to automatically identify the state of outer space, and my four-dimensional pocket will be functional again. As long as we have these two things, I can get us out of here!"

Hearing this, everyone cheered in relief, feeling much more at ease.

***

It had been nearly a week since the group had encountered the slime planet. The spatial analysis had been progressing smoothly, and by today, the data was almost fully processed—just a little more, and they would finally be able to leave.

Because of this, everyone had gathered once again in the control room, waiting in anticipation. Just as the tension in the room reached its peak, a sudden beep echoed from the control computer. Doraemon swiftly began operating the system, his movements quick and precise. But then, all of a sudden, he let out a loud exclamation.

Everyone immediately turned toward him, only to see Doraemon staring intently at the computer screen, his face filled with shock.

Worried, Nobita stepped forward and patted Doraemon's shoulder. "What's wrong, Doraemon? Is there a problem?" he asked anxiously.

Doraemon scratched his head and replied, "No, the spatial analysis is complete, and the warp jump system is functioning. We can go home!"

Upon hearing this, everyone erupted into cheers of excitement. However, Shizuka felt something was… weird. She leaned closer to Doraemon, bent down slightly, and whispered curiously, "Then why do you look so…?"

But before Doraemon could answer, the others, overcome with joy, urged him on. "Then what are we waiting for? Let's go home! Back to our solar system, back to Earth!"

Doraemon let out a deep breath and spoke. "About that… The truth is, right now—we're already on Earth."

Everyone was stunned, their eyes widening in confusion.

Rim furrowed her brows and asked doubtfully, "How is that possible? This vast universe… is actually Earth?"

Doraemon nodded firmly. "That's right. We are on Earth."

Hearing this, everyone became even more puzzled.

Doraemon quickly explained, "Do you remember how we escaped the black hole's gravitational pull?"

Kelly replied, "Of course! We used the small light to shrink the spaceship and then used warp jump to make our way out!"

Doraemon nodded. "Exactly. But back then, a meteor passed too close to the small light, causing it to spin rapidly. In that rapid spinning state, our spaceship was hit by the light hundreds of times!"

Realization dawned upon everyone, and they gasped in disbelief. "So… you mean…?"

Doraemon nodded. "Each time the small light shrinks an object, it reduces it by half. The second time, it shrinks by another half, and so on. Following this exponential reduction, we were shrunk down to an almost nothing-like state. No, even smaller than that..."

Connie's eyes widened. "Then… then… what about this entire universe? Where exactly are we?"

Doraemon took a deep breath and answered, "We're inside Nobita's room!"

Nobita was too shocked to believe it. "How can that be? This place looks nothing like my room!"

Doraemon didn't respond to Nobita's disbelief. Instead, he slowly explained, "The system has completed the analysis, and it turns out—we are currently inside a bacterium floating on a speck of dust in Nobita's room!"

"A bacterium… on a speck of dust?"

Doraemon nodded. "To be precise, we are inside one of that bacterium's cells!"

Connie, still skeptical, shook her head. "That's impossible! This vast universe is just a single cell? Just how much have we shrunk?"

"We've shrunk to the point where even Earth's most advanced microscopes wouldn't be able to detect us!"

Kelly murmured in disbelief, "So back when we were near the black hole, we were already at this scale. Then, under the influence of those two gravitational forces, Doraemon must have activated the ship's navigation system at just the right moment, and we unknowingly ended up back in Nobita's room! But if this is Nobita's room… does that mean we also travel through time?"

Doraemon nodded. "Exactly. Not only have we returned, but we've also gone back in time. The initial system settings must have been drastically altered when the spaceship was caught between the two gravitational forces, activating the ship's time-travel function by accident. And because we are so small, the energy required for time travel was minimal. We unknowingly returned to Nobita's room without realizing it. In reality, these past ten-plus days… we've been inside a single cell of a bacterium!"

Connie clutched her temples, still unable to accept it. "This… this doesn't make sense! A cell is so small, yet our spaceship moves at such high speeds. How could we not escape?"

Doraemon explained, "Because we are truly too small, our perception of speed and time in this place has changed. We thought we had spent more than ten days in this 'universe,' but maybe from an outside perspective on Earth… Not even a second has passed!"

Everyone was stunned, unable to find the words to speak.

Rim murmured, "But… but… we even found a planet with living organisms here!"

Doraemon nodded. "That's right. The universe itself is cyclical. Who's to say that our universe isn't just a single cell inside some speck of dust somewhere else? It's just that the internal structure of this cell is different, which is why there are so many celestial bodies!"