Eternal Night

Chapter 523 Hope Requires Sacrifice

Wu Pifu and Po sat in the garden, and Po said with a smile, "Everything here was created by my soul's existence, so I won't offer you anything special. After all, my soul's existence is very limited now, and we have important business to attend to..."

Wu Pifu nodded silently. He asked, "What is the Ultimate True Civilization Plan? Does your civilization still exist? What is its existence? Was the message you sent to me from your civilization?"

Because he had so many questions, Wu Pifu asked several at once.

Per frowned slightly, thought for a moment, and said, "May I ask? Your civilization... approximately at what level has it fallen to now? The fifth level? Or the fourth level?"

Wu Pifu also frowned and said, "I don't understand what you mean by 'layers,' and where the root of the problem lies?"

Per said, “Since you know the origin, your civilization should be around level five or six… Here’s how it is, my civilization divides the entire world model into eleven levels from bottom to top, starting from the void source at level zero, to the bottom of level one, the highest level at level two, the next highest level at level three, and the origin layer is counted from level three downwards. Levels one, two, and three can all belong to the origin layer. Then level four is the power projection area of ​​the origin, level five is the pollution layer above the origin, level six is ​​the isolation layer, level seven is the real civilization derivative layer, levels eight and nine are the real civilization echo layer, and level ten is the absolute reality layer. This is the world model of my civilization… Hmm, it seems your civilization knows most of it, consuming less than one percent of its existence.”

Wu Pifu still looked puzzled, but he also said, "My civilization judges all of this based on a baseline reality. 1.0 is the real world, and below that are 0.9 to 0.1. The root layer also starts at 0.3."

Per nodded and said, "That's pretty much right. After all, the source of the zero layer of nothingness is just a guess. So far, there is no existence that can confirm or disprove it... So, how low has your civilization fallen? Is it 0.6? Don't tell me it's already 0.5 or 0.4."

Seeing Per's expectant look, Wu Pifu said, "In the 1.0 real world, currently..."

“0.1?” Perl frowned. “Impossible. If it were 0.1… do you know what 0.1 means? It’s already beyond the scope of narrative expression. It can’t be 0.1…”

Wu Pifu frowned and said, "It's 1.0, it's the Absolute Reality Layer."

"Oh, I must have misheard... Ah!?"

Per reacted with extraordinary force, suddenly standing up and almost stumbling to the ground. He took a few quick steps toward Wu Pifu, then stopped, finding it unbelievable. He stared at Wu Pifu for a long time before saying, "As this is the first contact between two civilizations, we should be honest, right? You... aren't joking with me, are you?"

Wu Pifu nodded seriously and said, "Speak your mind, don't exaggerate like that. I'm not joking with you, and I don't like joking."

Per sat down again, but it was clear he was incredibly excited; his whole body was trembling slightly. He asked again, "May I ask again? How did you, and your civilization, penetrate into the dream world? Was it a gift from an ancient source of goodwill? Or a relic of a once-dominant real civilization? Of course, it's fine if you don't answer; I'm just too excited, too curious..."

Wu Pifu thought for a moment and said, "Our civilization created something called the Mainframe..."

Wu Pifu didn't think there was anything to keep secret, after all, he could tell that Po was dying and probably only had this conversation left.

After Wu Pifu finished speaking, Po immediately said, "But the power you used just now? A very powerful civilization with specific superhuman abilities, but how could they create a strange object that can penetrate the dream world by combining the brains of a large number of such superhumans?"

Wu Pifu thought for a moment and said, "The power I just used is not the entirety of the superbrain. The superbrain has different attributes and is divided into overt and covert superbrains. The superbrain attributes I know of are as follows..."

After a long and detailed explanation, Wu Pifu finally clarified the relationship between the superbrain and the main brain, while Po fell into deep thought.

After a long while, Per said to Wu Pifu, "Because your civilization has not yet descended to a certain level, many things that I consider common sense are still unknown to you. So here, I need to introduce some specific things to you."

Wu Pifu pretended to listen attentively, and Per said, "All my pollution stems from the loss of existence, and so-called existence is actually just another name for reality."

"Existence?" Wu Pifu murmured.

Per nodded and said, “That’s right, that’s the definition of reality and illusion. All reality possesses existence, and existence is defined by sentient beings. At the level of absolute reality, which is the world you call the 1.0 world, this definition can be derived and restored, and can also be considered to have infinite existence… You might not understand what I’m saying, so let me give you a simple example.” “In the real world, a planet gave birth to primitive humans. They developed the first form of intelligence, and with intelligence came existence, as well as the right to define. They would define food, define beasts, define death, define the universe. Thus, all of this had the foundation of its real definition and possessed existence. At the same time, the primitive humans who defined all of this did not suffer any loss. This is the diffusion of existence in the absolute real world. As civilization progresses, the more vast the observed universe becomes, and the more complex the observed world becomes, the more profound its definition of existence becomes. The entire real universe will become more and more stable, and all of this is a situation unique to the absolute real world.”

Wu Pifu frowned and said, "Does falling into the illusion mean we can no longer define ourselves arbitrarily?"

Perl nodded, then thought for a moment and asked, "How do you and your civilization describe and define yourselves?"

Wu Pifu didn't quite understand. He shook his head. Po smiled and said, "We all have the same form, so we should be the same kind of life. This is the inertia after the execution of the Ultimate True Civilization Project. So, I suppose you and your civilization also determine the right to define something based on this standard process of cognition, description, characterization, and induction, right?"

Wu Pifu suddenly realized and said, "Seeing something, recognizing it, describing it, characterizing it, and finally summarizing... That's right, this is indeed the process by which I and my civilization define a new thing."

Per nodded and continued, “Alright, now that we have a shared understanding of the ‘definition,’ we can continue our conversation… After civilization fell, pollution began to appear from the ninth level, or the 0.9 level. Its characteristic is the emergence of supernatural powers. At the same time, some inexplicable and bizarre phenomena that cannot be explained by the scientific worldview also appeared sporadically. The lower the level, the stronger the supernatural powers and the more bizarre phenomena there are. These are actually manifestations brought about by the source of nihilistic pollution. To define such unreality is actually a process in which reality is eroded by illusion. In other words, the very existence of intellectual life begins to be consumed.”

Wu Pifu pondered silently for a moment and said, "So existence is actually the 'reality' of life, while the 'reality' of civilization and the world is actually the 'food' that life can draw upon, or something similar, right?"

Per nodded approvingly and said, "That's right, you can understand it that way. Because the reality of everything actually depends on the definition of it by the intelligent life. Once the intelligent life is gone, then the whole world will have no meaning. This is the beginning of loss. So your understanding is not wrong. The existence of life is the reality of life, and it can be replenished by the 'reality' of the real civilization of its era."

Wu Pifu nodded in understanding.

Based on what he has seen and heard, this is indeed the case. For example, people who come out of the Lost Lands need to fill in with points, otherwise they can only disappear. And now, the appearance of his figurine is due to insufficient points.

Seeing Wu Pifu nod in understanding, Per said, "I know you have many questions, but now that you understand the relationship between reality and falsehood, you should understand one thing... I can't answer all your questions because any information involving the false side requires the consumption of reality to transmit. In the case of life, that means the consumption of existence. My current existence is like a tree without roots; every bit used is a bit less. So I can't answer all your questions. You can only choose some questions for me to answer. At the same time, I must reserve some existence to give you the coordinates to my civilization."

Wu Pifu's heart skipped a beat. He remembered the hundreds of thousands of points he still had, but he immediately realized that the points were useless to Po, because he only had a soul left, and his physical body and consciousness had long since disappeared.

Per seemed to understand Wu Pifu's thoughts. He smiled and said, "It's no use. You must have carried a lot of truth, but that's useless to me now. I've been watched and infected by the source of pollution, turning from life into 'ghost,' and from 'ghost' into 'monster.' If you hadn't fought to the death, I would have even turned from 'monster' into 'Xi.' At that stage, I wouldn't even be able to talk to you. Every word I say would be a terrifying pollution to you, causing your existence to be greatly reduced. So the fact that we can still communicate now is already a stroke of luck. It can't be forced."

Wu Pifu remained silent, but then a sudden realization dawned on him.

Why can't some information from a low-benchmark reality be shared with weaker individuals? For example, when Chu Minghao first met him, he couldn't explain the origin of the information. Or why is it that some pollution, even just being seen, can be corrosive? At the same time, this information is like the Outer Gods or Great Old Ones in the Cthulhu universe; simply knowing it is enough to distort the weak.

This is because understanding the information itself, which is essentially illusory, is already a form of pollution and erosion.

After a long silence, Wu Pifu asked, "What will you do after your existence is exhausted?"

Perl smiled.

"It's nothing more than vanishing into thin air, but it's a relief for me. Besides, there's a saying in my culture that goes something like this..."

"Hope requires sacrifice."

"And I... now place this ray of hope into your hands and your civilization!"

(End of this chapter)