Eternal Night

Chapter 551 The Spiral Prelude to Nothingness and Dimensional Reduction
"SP-02, the prelude to nothingness and dimensional reduction."

"Containment measures: 1. A routine patrol will be conducted every 33 hours, 33 minutes and 33 seconds, followed by three high-level inspection and maintenance operations after every 33 routine patrols."

"Second, at no time should you approach within three meters of dense fog, and it is best to keep at least thirty-three meters away. This is a safe distance."

"Third, once inside the containment hall, you may not speak more than three sentences. If you speak three sentences for any reason (including sneezing, yes, I solemnly warn everyone, sneezing, yawning, or making any sound for any reason, this also counts as 'one sentence'!), then you must speak at least one more sentence within three seconds to ensure that the number of sentences spoken is not three or any multiple of three."

"Fourth, this rule is just for show and has no meaning, so ignore it. But it is necessary to add this rule. I am warning everyone again, especially those with level three or higher clearance. If I see this rule being deleted again, I will assume that this containment station has been corrupted by SP-02 and I will have to take an overreaction, including activating the 'non-existent' reality eraser that you have been discussing. You will never want to see this. Of course, if it is activated, you will not see it."

"Description: SP-02 does not actually exist. From any non-intellectual perspective, it is essentially nothingness, empty of everything. It has neither a physical entity nor any kind of 'existence' characteristic. From radiation to particles to information detection devices to reality anchoring devices to the detection of imaginary space and virtual particles, it does not exist!"

"No one knows when SP-02 was contained by us, nor does anyone know where we found it, how we contained it, or how we determined the above three rules... Damn it, no one knows the above four rules (I'm not bragging, as a Level 4 access user who can directly communicate with the administrator, I have genuinely asked countless people, and the answer I received was always unknown), so there is reason to believe that SP-02, from its number to its entries, to its containment hall, to its containment procedures, is all a containment object... This is not an adjective, but rather that it is all a whole, a containment object existing within our Containment Foundation."

"As a single-digit containment object, SP-02 is classified as a Level 5 danger, which means it is extremely important. Therefore, since its containment, it has been the subject of countless experiments, consuming countless human and material resources. According to incomplete statistics (see Table of Contents 1), more than a thousand people have sacrificed their lives in the research on it."

"SP-02 is a dense fog standing in the SP-02 sealed hall. It is 33 cubic meters in size, but occupies the room size of 33 square meters. It does not spread or change. From any angle, it is a dense fog so thick that it is impossible to see inside. However, once you enter within 33 meters, you can see something inside the fog. It is usually a long strip-shaped object. Occasionally, you can see a glowing sphere. In extremely rare cases, you can see humanoid individuals walking, living, and talking in the fog. However, these phenomena can only be seen by intelligent life. No information records of non-intelligent life can detect these phenomena."

"Anyone who sees individuals, objects, or spheres of light in the dense fog will, for the next three to thirty-three days, enter a collective dream. They claim to be from the Victorian era, a world at the height of the Age of Exploration, where nobles enjoy the benefits of discovery, balls, songs, gorgeous dresses, beautifully dressed ladies, and banquets accompanied by waltzes and the aroma of cream. Beyond this, however, there are rampant gangsters, prostitutes on the streets, toiling masses, and even lower-class colonists and slaves..."

"A very small number of people whose cognitive decline resistance level tests show a number of ten or higher will dream of a bizarre and chaotic apocalyptic world, where stars revolve around their apocalyptic planet, and sky-covering tentacles engulf and annihilate the stars. Humanoid beings turn into sludge and flow around, chasing the light that appears and disappears in the sky, only to be burned and destroyed by the light. This is the liberation or sublimation they seek."

“In extremely rare and accidental cases, Foundation special agents whose cognitive decline resistance level exceeds fifty points will dream of entering a peaceful world. That peaceful world is prosperous and thriving, but the ruling class of that world is conducting some forbidden experiments, secretly using a large number of people as experimental subjects and expendable resources. Meanwhile, resistance organizations are also secretly forming, with the aim of overthrowing such a government and its leadership.”

"All those who have had this dream will be transformed into ■■■■■■..." within three to thirty-three days.

"Catalogue 1: No one knows how many people have disappeared. Once someone who has dreamt disappears, all their remaining information will gradually dissipate, as if they had never existed. However, all of this disappearance takes time. Currently, there are 262 missing persons records in the containment station, and 355 documents with only a few words. That's right, the owners of these documents with only a few words... have disappeared, and it is estimated that they have been missing for some years."

"In the second section, all those who have dreamt, are disappearing, or are about to disappear will experience a continuous change in their mental state. Initially, they will begin to question the reality of the world. In the middle stage, they will experience persistent blank stares, memory loss, and cognitive impairment regarding reality and illusion. In the later stage, they will continuously shout out unknowable words and sounds, forcibly determining their cognition through a reality anchoring device. The specific meanings they get are basically things like 'This is impossible,' 'This is fake,' and 'I need to wake up quickly.'"

"Catalogue Three: As requested by headquarters, the highest management council, and the requirement of more than five administrators, the three special forces explorations conducted by SP-02 are as follows, and may proceed..."

"Category 4, okay, this wasn't originally included, but it has to be added. I really don't want to explain why anymore, but since it's added, here's a video document that hasn't disappeared yet... No, this isn't a pornographic film! I'm an expert! I'm a Level 4 user, and I can talk directly to the administrator! How could I possibly be watching pornographic films!? Anyway... I don't want any official staff to ever step within 33 meters of me during patrols again. I'll repeat myself, this kind of 'deletion' means your pensions, survivor's benefits, and death benefits will all be completely wiped out!"

"Catalogue 4 unfolds, video number: 01..."

In a one-way glass room, a haggard-looking, disheveled red-haired young woman is fidgeting.

A synthesized voice spoke up: "Catherine, I hope you can understand that this is the only way we can communicate with you. No one knows what logic SP-02 uses to generate meme effects. In fact, we have placed no fewer than ten reality anchoring devices around your room and this hearing room. As a Level 3 access user, you should know how huge this expense is. But unfortunately... your roommate, I'm sorry, I don't know his name. He disappeared seven days ago, and his file disappeared very quickly. At present, we only know that there was such a person, but whether he was male or female, what level of access, or what contributions he made, we have no idea."

The red-haired young woman said irritably and anxiously, "Elnos, her name is Elnos, she's twenty-one, she joined the Foundation one batch later than me, she's a Level 2 access user, a PhD in biology... Never mind, it's meaningless. Even if I tell you, you'll quickly forget about her. Any medium that records her information will automatically 'delete' her, so it's meaningless, isn't it?"

On the other end, the synthesized voice paused for a few seconds before saying, "So, what do you want to tell us?"

The red-haired young woman gradually calmed down. Her eyes, filled with intellect and wisdom, became steady as she spoke. "I don't have much time left, but there are some things I must say as a prerequisite... I'm special. I've always been special, because nothing can move me or make me panic. No matter how outrageous or terrifying the event, even when my parents died in a car accident, I just watched coldly. People say I'm cold-blooded and heartless, while the doctors at the mental hospital think I'm just naturally emotionally detached, or perhaps suffer from some other illness..."

"In short, my level of resistance to cognitive decline is not unprecedented, but it is at least among the top five in the entire foundation... 536!"

The synthesized voice said, "That's right, you are the pride and treasure of our Foundation. Because of you, we decrypted more than ten containment objects and redesigned the six memetic containment procedures for danger level three. Therefore, you are a level three privilege holder, and you may even become a level four privilege holder in the future!"

"There is no future..."

Catherine shook her head and said, "But whether it's because I'm naturally aloof, have an extremely high level of resistance to cognitive decline, or because of my unwillingness to accept it, I hope to tell you the truth about SP-02 that I know before I disappear."

The synthesized voice asked, "So... what exactly is it?"

"A civilization."

Catherine said, "A civilization beyond our comprehension and understanding..."

"Contrary to what you think, after receiving the information from SP-02, one is essentially already incorporated into its cyclical logic. We can discuss this later; please don't interrupt me now… After being incorporated into its cyclical logic, what manifests is the dream within three to thirty-three days. But that's not actually a dream; it's SP-02's cyclical logic. In other words, you become one of the beings within that dream, and I… due to my level of cognitive decay resistance, have had millions of dreams in the past twenty-seven days, becoming one of those beings, and cycling through at least millions of times." "And because I fully recognize and understand the information from those millions of identity cycles, I also understand the reality of SP-02… It is a civilization!"

"This civilization was not much different from us at first. The real world, the starry sky, planets. However, they were different from us. They possessed extraordinary power. Each of them possessed extraordinary power at the mental level, and the best among them were called extraordinary beings, who had the ability to turn the intangible things at the mental level into physical things."

"Then, they were attacked by an unknown terror, perhaps a meme, or something else entirely. In any case, this attack caused the individuals of this civilization to develop nihilistic thoughts... Can you imagine? A superhuman civilization with a powerful mind, whose individuals developed nihilistic thoughts on a large scale. Do you know what that means?"

The synthesized voice remained silent for a long time before finally speaking: "...The opposite of the ultimate anthropic principle?"

Catherine approvingly said, "That's right! When all the individuals in this civilization are corrupted, as long as they close their eyes at the same time, their world and universe, including their civilization and planet, and all the individuals, will disappear at the same time... Just as they believe, they do not exist, and the traces of their existence are nothing but illusions imagined by them!"

The synthesized voice fell silent again before asking, "What evidence do you have?"

Catherine retorted, "Do I need to dictate evidence? Who's that idiot on the other end? I'm reporting this to my superiors, and they'll dock your pay and bonuses!"

The synthesized voice remained silent for a long time this time, at least several minutes before saying, "Ahem, Ms. Catherine, please continue."

After calming herself down a bit, Catherine continued, "I have played the role of a high-ranking government official in the peaceful world on several occasions, and thus learned about that civilization's method of self-preservation. They planned to create a god, and then use the created god as the ballast of their race by 'devouring' it. However, it is clear that this plan failed, but it was not a complete failure. The omnipotent god they imagined did not materialize, but they did create three beings who were close to gods, the three most powerful superhumans."

"But by this time, the annihilation phenomenon had become extremely severe. The combined efforts of the entire race's elite, plus three near-godlike transcendents, were insufficient to stop it. After the frantic research of the scientists and researchers of that civilization, they confirmed that the annihilation phenomenon was based on their existing reality. Thus, they carried out their final plan after the god-killing plan..."

"They, the extraordinary beings of that civilization—the government, the high-ranking officials, the powerful, and all the elites—in some way linked the minds of every individual in the entire civilization. I remember saying before that the special feature of this civilization is its extraordinary abilities at the mental level. And after gathering the minds of the entire race, they did something incomprehensible... They reduced the dimensions of their civilization!"

The synthesized voice suddenly spoke, and even though it was a synthesized voice without any pitch or intonation, anyone could hear the surprise in it.

"Dimensional reduction? Reducing dimensions from reality to the kind of model found in electronic programs, video games, or books?"

Catherine affirmed, “That’s right. Some kind of peculiar collective thinking, or some indescribable misguidance, led them to believe that as long as they reduced the entire civilization from the material level to a lower narrative information level, they could avoid the erosion of nothingness. So they reduced the dimension, abandoning all the life essence of the entire civilization, and reduced the dimension from the real narrative to the lower narrative level.”

"Using the self-existence logic of three near-god-level beings as anchor points, the entire civilization's individuals and extraordinary beings are all reduced to a lower dimension... If I had to describe it, it's roughly like the entire race committing suicide in an instant, and then relying on these three equally suicidal super-individuals to dream, re-dream of them..."

The synthesized voice said incredulously, "But even if it's dimensional reduction, there should still be low-level narrative information, but we've tested everything, and there isn't! Not to mention low-level narrative information, there isn't even imaginary information!"

Catherine gave a mocking smile. As she laughed, she poked the wall with her finger. Whether she had lost the ability to feel pain or was trying to ward off something more terrifying, she didn't stop poking her finger, which was now bleeding profusely.

She said, “That’s exactly what I wanted to say… They’ve forgotten that the nothingness arises from the minds of each and every one of them. Do you know what that means? Even if the individuals of this civilization are reduced to a lower-level narrative, even if they are all individuals of a civilization created by the three super-beings, their consciousness still carries nothingness. Even if they reenact and reconstruct civilization in a false lower-level narrative, this nothingness will still follow them like a shadow… We all know that the reduction of the narrative level will lead to a massive loss of information, just like the reduction of four-dimensional space to three-dimensional space, and three-dimensional space to two-dimensional space. Ninety-nine point nine ...

"According to this civilization's original plan, after escaping the erosion of nothingness through dimensional reduction, as long as the super-existence remained stably anchored, the accumulation of information would gradually replay the civilization, allowing them to gradually recover... This process might be extremely long, but it is still a hope. However, before they recover at this moment, their memories will experience a spacetime paradox due to the dimensional reduction, meaning that whatever they did before, they will still do it in similar situations. So when the erosion of nothingness reappeared, this recovering civilization did the same thing again..."

An incredulous voice came from the synthesized electronic voice: "So... this civilization has continued to regress in dimensionality!?"

Catherine said with a mocking expression, "That's right, they made the same choice as before. According to the axiom of the spacetime paradox, you can't go back in time to kill your grandfather. Similarly, under the same narrative scenario, they couldn't think of a way to handle it other than dimensional reduction. So, in the lower-level narrative information layer after dimensional reduction, they reduced the dimension again, turning it into three super beings falling into an even lower layer, dreaming of themselves as super beings, and then dreaming of the entire civilization..."

The synthesized voice fell completely silent.

Catherine suddenly stopped poking her fingers; her fingers had disappeared. She smiled bitterly and said, "My time is almost up... By the way, the information record on the left and right, because of my personal circumstances, this information can probably be kept for a long time... I doubt it!"

"This civilization was not only corrupted by the void; they may have been corrupted by another form of corruption from the very beginning, but they were unaware of it, believing instead that their actions were based on their own judgment and imagination..."

"This civilization has been eroded by two different effects: nihilism and dimensional reduction!"

"They may be an extremely unique civilization. Continued research on them will bring unimaginable and enormous benefits to our world and the entire Foundation, but there is a prerequisite..."

"There are a large number of people like me, or... people whose cognitive decline resistance exceeds my level!"

"That person who is many times, ten times, a hundred times, a thousand times... countless times more!"

(End of this chapter)