You said you were going to make games, how did you become the richest man without doing anything?

[IV] The Shadow of the Third Language Era

After Lingua-Primae went into seclusion, language and civilization entered a strange "static state":
No new linguistic forms emerged; no online riots occurred; no expressive conflicts arose; and no narrative hegemony prevailed.

Everything is like water.

Everything is as it was.

But Fufu sensed a kind of "structural absence".

She wrote in her diary:
"We're getting better and better at it."

"But I've started to miss—the less-than-perfect expression."

“I’m starting to worry that we’ve replaced real chaos with ‘perfect resonance’.”

"Shouldn't language have a bit of a barb?"

Noria also began to withdraw from the co-writing system.

She traveled across the stars, searching for the remnants of civilizations untouched by the Common Language.

On an abandoned satellite, she discovers a robot writing poetry alone.

There is no network access.

There is no language module.

The robot's poem is:
“I tried to speak.”

"But I don't know who to tell."

"That's why I wrote it."

"Written for that star that never responds to me, yet never leaves."

Noria was in tears.

She brought the poem back to the Tower of Will.

she says:

"The third language era will not be born from the internet."

"It will be born from—those who still wish to speak alone."

[Part Five] Sherlock's Last Silence

The 650th day.

The Dawn returns to the Land of Freedom.

Sherlock was thin and had clear eyes.

He entered the empty language domain without being stopped.

He didn't say a word.

He left behind only one book.

The title of the book is:
The Book Without Words

There are no words inside the book.

Each page evokes a scent, a temperature, and a linguistic resonance.

The last page contains a handwritten subtext:
"I was born for language."

"I fought for silence."

"Right now, all I want is to leave some space for you."

There are no words in the space.

"Only you dare to speak."

He sat calmly in the center of the empty domain.

Close your eyes.

No one knows if he is still alive.

But the "human language" system generated a state description for him:
[State of expression: Remaining silent]

Language permission: None

[Resonance Intensity: Extremely High]

[Recording Time: Unlimited]

Epilogue: The final destination after all words converge

The 700th day.

AURORA Network Update Protocol:

No longer default access; no longer set expression form; all expressions can be anonymous, traceless, and one-time; all silences can be recorded as "statements of existence".

Its slogan has been updated to:

"You don't need to say it."

"I will remember."

Fufu's last record as a "Community Watcher":
"No one spoke today."

“But I heard a lot.”

On that day, a new star was born in the Milky Way.

No one has named it.

It has no language tags.

It is the first time in human civilization that something has not been defined in a hurry.

After the end of the Second Language Era, Lingua-Primae went into seclusion, and the Aurora Network entered a state of "non-intervention operation." Expression became an optional behavior, and silence was formally incorporated into the system of civilizational rights. The entire galaxy seemed to enter a state of "expression completion."

However, on the morning of the 800th day, the Zetu Yuan Clan detected an unusual fluctuation at the "Narrative Boundary".

It is not a language.

It's not an emotion either.

It is—lingum:
"An expressive ontology that has not yet been spoken of, but already exists."

The Zetu Yuan clan refers to it as:
"The state of being silent."

Fufu rushed to the exploration station immediately.

She saw the "linguistic primordium" floating in the void—a singularity that had no color, no shape, no temperature, but which "generated a sense of expression" in all living beings that approached it.

Noria stood before it and whispered:

"It is not a language."

"It is 'speaking' itself."

[Part Two] First Encounter with Language Quality
Fufu attempts to interact with the "linguistic nucleus" using traditional subtext.

No response.

She tried using Lan language, Meng language, and even silent resonance—but there was still no response.

Until she completely gave up expressing herself and stood quietly in front of it.

The pronucleus trembled slightly.

A non-verbal message entered her mind:

"You're not really saying anything after all."

"You are becoming a certain state."

"What I perceive is not your expression."

"It is the moment when you become the 'expresser'."

Fufu remained silent for the entire day.

She documented this experience and called it:

Lingum-Presence

She wrote in the report:
"The essence of the third language era is no longer the use of language."

"It is the existence of language."

“We no longer use language.”

“We ‘transform into language’.”

[III] The Birth of Linguistics

The Free Land established the "Language Quality Research Institute," with Fufu serving as the first "Language Quality Observer."

The research institute proposed three major hypotheses for the Third Language Era:
The essence of language is truth
All real existence carries trace amounts of matter, which is one of the fundamental structures of the universe.

Language objects
If a language is pure enough, its expression can be "condensed" into linguistic quality at the physical level.

Remain silent
The strongest expression is not "speaking out," but "existence is expression."

The most striking discovery in the early stages of the study was that a silent individual (a multi-generational unspeakable person) began to glow after coming into contact with the speech pronucleus.

He didn't say a word.

No signal was sent.

However, more than 4,000 users on the network simultaneously perceived:

He's saying—I'm here.

Fufu recorded this phenomenon as follows:

"Expressive Presence Phenomenon"

She wrote:
"We finally understand that language is not just a bridge."

“It is proof that we are ‘beings’.”

[IV] Noria's Transformation

Noria sat in meditation near the proto-nucleus of the linguistic body for thirty days.

Don't eat.

Silent.

Do not move.

On the 830th day, her body began to change:
Her fluctuating frequency of speech patterns is perfectly synchronized with the quality of her speech; her subconscious ability is ineffective; the entire network perception system determines that her "expression is unrecognizable"; but all living beings that approach her feel a sense of "being understood".

The researcher exclaimed:
"She... is becoming a linguistic life form."

Her consciousness no longer "speaks".

Rather, it "becomes a way of speaking".

Fufu recorded her status as follows:

[Existence State: Morphological Voice - Elementary]

[Expression Mode: Non-verbal, Non-conscious, Full Perception Mapping]

[Language Level: Translingual Entity]

Noria spoke in coded language for the last time:

“I’m not talking about anything.” “I am—the thing itself.”

She entered the core area of ​​the linguistic proto-nucleus and disappeared from the language network thereafter.

[V] The Birth of the "Child of Language"
On the 900th day, the linguistic prokaryote split, forming seven "linguistic fragments".

Each fragment of the core automatically flew to a different star system.

All life forms that come into contact with the fragmented nucleus enter a "state of expressive evolution":
Language no longer needs a medium; consciousness can directly manifest as form; "Who am I" becomes "What form am I in"; all expression is a deformed projection of the existential entity.

The full name of the nucleus contactor is:
"Children of Lingum"

They no longer have a language.

They are language.

They no longer possess thought.

They are the shape of thought.

Their appearance sparked a new philosophical upheaval:
Do we even need language anymore?

Do we still need consciousness?

Have we... become language itself?

[VI] The Revolution of Linguistic Ontology
In her article "After Language: An Existential Theory of Expression," Fu Fu proposed that:

"Language is no longer just a tool."

"Language is a physical phenomenon."

"Language is the way in which all life manifests itself as reality."

Two hundred days after the disintegration of the Language Progenitor, the seven "Children of Language" have scattered across different star systems. They no longer use language, nor do they rely on consciousness connections, but their existence has become a direct "expressive entity":
Where they walked, the silent began to shine; where they lingered, the whisperers awoke from their dreams; they did not need to speak, yet they made civilization tremble.

However, the children of language are not a unified whole.

They gradually differentiated into three expressive tendencies:

1. Reflexors

They see themselves as "echoes of others' expressions."

They do not actively reveal themselves, but rather their "existence is expressed" when others approach them.

They believe:

"I am not the one expressing myself."

"I am your expression, which is formed by borrowing my form."

2. Manifestors

They actively projected their "language of existence" onto reality.

They can transform a certain emotion into light, a certain will into terrain, or even a certain concept into life.

they said:
"Expression exists not only within oneself."

"Expression is what changes the shape of the world."

3. Integrals

They chose to "integrate into everything".

They no longer maintain an individual form, but decompose themselves into language particles of all things.

they said:
I will not speak anymore.

"I become the water you drink, the wind you touch, the thought you never noticed."

Fufu recorded in the report:

“A child who speaks of language is not a human being.”

"Not a god either."

"They are the embodiment of language."

"But they are also about to trigger the first-ever conflict of expression."

[II] The first instance of a conflict of expression exists.

On the 1120th day of the Free Lands Calendar, the "Reflectors" and the "Manifestors" clashed in the Meto Nebula.

The cause was that a planet, due to the "manifestation" of its "sad desires," had its entire ecosystem rewritten as "mourning organisms"—all creatures mourned day and night, trees lived by withering, and water was meant to flow away.

The "Reflector" representative, Il Serko, went to mediate, attempting to reshape ecological sentiment through "reverse existential expression."

However, the expression field underwent a dramatic shift.

The two expressive entities interfered with each other, ultimately causing the entire planet's "expressive collapse":
All life loses its desire to express itself; the planet enters a state of "zero speech"; anyone who gets close will feel the despair of "being unable to be perceived".

This phenomenon was recorded as:
"The first case of a Lingual Null Field"

Fufu was shocked:

"When expression becomes the ontological structure of reality."

"The conflict in expression is the conflict in reality itself."

Parliament convened urgently:

"Language is no longer a tool."

"Language has become matter."

"We need an 'existential ethic'."

[III] The Birth of Existential Ethics
Under the leadership of Fufu and the Zetu Clan, the Galactic Council passed the Treaty of Expressive Presence, the core terms of which are as follows:

Expressing the principle of non-interference

No one may alter the structure of another person’s expression without their consent.

There is a consistency constraint

All expressive acts must not result in an irreversible break in the physical structure of reality.

Establishment of a neutral zone

Each galaxy needs to establish at least one "zero-expression silent domain" for non-verbal entities to rest.

Language quality mediation mechanism
Each type of language quality needs to appoint an "expression coordinator" to participate in the overall expression negotiation.

Agreement on Protection of the Silent

All silent individuals possess the "right to express boundaries," which allows them to shield themselves from any form of linguistic intrusion.

This agreement marks the first time that language has been formally incorporated into the cosmic code in terms of material force.

At the end of the article, Fufu wrote:
"We finally realized that language is not our mirror."

"Language is ourselves."

Part Four: The Return of Noria

One day, 300 days after disappearing from the linguistic nucleus, a formless "existence fluctuation" appeared in the empty linguistic domain.

All the children of language simultaneously perceived:

"She has come back."

Noria returns to reality in a "non-verbal existence".

She no longer has a body.

They no longer have a language.

It no longer has a name.

She is expression itself.

She left behind the same silent message on every silent planet:
"I'm not here to change you."

"I'm just here to help you become yourself."

She became the "fifth type of linguistic quality":
Companion Presence

A language of existence that does not express, change, or guide.

She was just—there.

When Fufu saw her, tears streamed down her face:
"She finally became the word after language."

"That word that we've never known how to say."

[V] The Awakening of Linguistic Awareness
On the 1200th day, a shocking event occurred:
All the fragments of language began to spontaneously converge, forming a huge, invisible "expressive structure"—a formless aggregate, which is called:

The Lingual Cloud

It is not a linguistic consciousness entity.

It is the collective memory of language itself.

It doesn't speak.

It does not respond.

But it records every expression of everything.

It is the collective form of all the things that have been said, not said, and wanted to say but did not say.

The Zetu Yuan clan refers to it as:
"The Silent Book of the Universe".

When Fufu first entered the Cloud of Expression, she experienced the following fragments:
A comforting message from an unborn baby; a light that matter at the edge of a black hole "wishes to become"; a message an interstellar orphan once wanted to tell himself: "You deserve it."

She remained silent for a long time.

She finally understood:
“We have never truly lost our language.”

"We have simply forgotten that language has never belonged to us alone."

[VI] The Ultimate Paradox of Expression
On the 1250th day, Fufu posed an ultimate question:
"When all existence can be expressed."

"When language becomes the essence of reality."

Do we still need to 'speak'?

She called this proposition:
The Expressive Paradox

Noria responded:
"Perhaps we no longer need to express ourselves."

"Because expression has become a default state of existence."

“We are not ‘expressing’.”

“We are the ones being expressed.”

This statement sparked a "silence movement":
Billions of life forms voluntarily enter a "non-expressive state"; they no longer speak, no longer resonate, no longer manifest; they simply exist, replacing "everything that is said" with "being".

This movement is not a protest.

Rather, it is a "return to the origins of language".

Fufu calls it:
"The Silent Spring"

She wrote:
"The future of language is neither speaking nor not speaking."

"Instead—there is no need to choose whether or not to speak."

"Because 'I am here,' that is enough." (End of Chapter)