Did the world end today?

Chapter 267 High-Dimensional Adaptability

After hanging up the call with Zhang Liming, Lin Xu collapsed onto the sofa, feeling utterly exhausted.

Jiang Xingye sat down next to him. After hesitating for a moment, he moved his head onto Jiang Xingye's lap.

Goodness, he's sleeping on his lap now.

According to the settings of some games, one's energy should be rapidly recovering at this point.

But it seems like there's not much difference, right?

However, this led him to discover something he had never noticed before.

That is, even from such a deathly perspective, Jiang Xingye's looks are still quite striking.

It emphasizes a comprehensive and thorough approach.

Strands of hair gently brushed against Lin Xu's face, and he couldn't help but rub against them twice. Jiang Xingye raised his hand and gently patted his face.

"be honest!"

Lin Xu rolled his eyes.

"I've already been very honest, and I don't have the energy to be dishonest anymore."

At this moment, his voice was weak and feeble, and he looked completely drained.

Jiang Xingye was both amused and exasperated. She reached out and pinched his cheek, pulling it into a big cat-face shape, and asked:
"So, now you know why things turned out the way they were after you came back from that world, right?"

"do not know."

Lin Xu shook his head honestly, then said:

"But I have a guess."

"What kind of guesses?"

Jiang Xingye pressed for an answer out of curiosity, and Lin Xu pondered for a moment before replying:

"This might be some kind of 'high-dimensional adaptation'."

“As I told you before, in my judgment, that world might be an experiment for Zhang Liming to achieve ‘dimensional ascension’.”

"He superimposed all the probabilistic universes onto one universe, just like superimposing an infinite number of two-dimensional worlds into a three-dimensional world."

"Or to put it more vividly, it's like gluing together individual paper figures to create a three-dimensional model."

"But the problem with doing this is that while the world can be superimposed, what about human consciousness?"

"How can a three-dimensional being experience and adapt to such a higher-dimensional world?"

"For the vast majority of people, this is absolutely impossible."

"But coincidentally, I can."

“I am highly adaptable to such higher-dimensional worlds, and I can survive in them.”

"But the result was that after I adapted to that world, when I returned to our three-dimensional universe, my consciousness became confused."

As Lin Xu finished speaking, Jiang Xingye nodded thoughtfully.

Her fingers unconsciously stroked Lin Xu's eyebrows, as if trying to straighten each hair.

After a few seconds of silence, she suddenly spoke:
"So the problem now is that even if Zhang Liming can achieve 'dimensional ascension' in this way, it is impossible for humans, as the subjects of dimensional ascension, to adapt to that world, right?"

"Yes."

Lin Xu pushed Jiang Xingye's hand away, sat up, and then replied:
"This is the most crucial issue."

"Let's set aside whether his ascension to a higher dimension was ultimately successful—in my opinion, it was unsuccessful, since the effects of the time storm dissipated just a few years later."

"But let's put that aside for now and just talk about the human element."

"Humans are the foundation of the world. If the human species is completely wiped out in the 'time storm' caused by dimensional ascension, then what use is there for us to have an ascended world?"

"The purpose of dimensional ascension was originally to save the human race. If the price of dimensional ascension is the extinction of the entire human race..."

"Then I can't see the point of such a dimensional ascension."

"Zhang Liming must know this too. He might have other solutions, or perhaps he's just taking a gamble."

"Probably not."

Jiang Xingye continued:
"Judging from the series of things he has done, even if he were to gamble, he would not do so without any certainty."

"Therefore, Ayana is the key."

"If he can manipulate a person's consciousness and thoughts through Ayana, then it is possible that he can also grant a person 'high-dimensional adaptability' like you through Ayana."

"This should be his last trump card."

"If he can really pull out more, then this person has completely transcended the realm of humanity."

"It's a monster!"

"Yes."

Lin Xu sighed.

From the initial contact with the error correctors, to the discovery of Zhang Liming, to their "hunt and restart" operation, to the real "limiter," to the use of high-dimensional channels for spatial transfer, to the use of Ayana as a beacon for possession, to the current "tearing the veil" dimensional ascension, until finally, endowing humanity with "high-dimensional adaptability."

Zhang Liming's every move was beyond Lin Xu's expectations.

But every step was so reasonable, yet so extreme.

That's right, that's the limit.

All resources have been exhausted.

He truly deserves to be called one of the representative figures of humanity in the so-called "Golden Age".

From his perspective, he might truly be a savior hero.

Even if they fail, they might still be tragic heroes.

Such an enemy deserves our utmost respect.

But Lin Xu was also very curious.

If, in the end, he discovers that everything he did was meaningless, that he tried so much, but ultimately, the only right choice was still to cooperate with the butterfly, to become a sacrifice, and then wait for the Destiny Stone world to turn back and rescue him, then what will become of his will?
Will it crash?

Will his resolve crumble, will he go mad, will he despair?
Or will he simply accept it all calmly and say, "I was wrong"?
If it's the former, Lin Xu can accept it.

But if it's the latter, and if he really did give such a nonchalant performance in the end...
Lin Xu felt that he really couldn't help but slap him twice.

Two slaps were too lenient!
In any case, I no longer have the opportunity to enter the world of smart bracelets.

Meanwhile, Zhang Liming in the main world also began to analyze the most crucial clues related to Ayana.

Then there's nothing more I can do for the time being.

Let’s get some sleep first!
Overwhelmed by a strong feeling of drowsiness, Lin Xu staggered toward his room.

"where are you going?"

Jiang Xingye followed closely beside him and asked:
"sleep?"

"correct."

Lin Xu answered casually and took Jiang Xingye's hand.

"together?"

".Let's go."

The two entered the room together, and Lin Xu collapsed onto the bed.

Jiang Xingye lay down beside him, tucked him in, and nestled against his chest, saying:

"Good night." "No, good afternoon."

No response.

Jiang Xingye stared in astonishment at Lin Xu's face.

However, as usual, he fell asleep in 0 seconds.

She pinched Lin Xu's cheek, feeling both amused and annoyed.

"Didn't say goodnight!"

"Get up and go back to sleep!"

Lin Xu did not respond, but his breathing gradually calmed down.

Jiang Xingye muttered a couple of curses at him, then finally shrank into the thin blanket and closed her eyes as well.
Meanwhile, in Geneva.

Wang Yifan had received the latest clues from Lin Xu after he "slept" uploading the data, but looking at the complex gravitational fluctuation data, he couldn't help but frown.

Joanne, standing to the side, was also somewhat confused.

"So, this is data on gravitational fluctuations generated by the quantum spacetime bubble after the edge mapping became disordered?"

"No, it's not."

Wang Yifan shook his head and said:

"This is data on gravitational fluctuations caused by a fragment of time."

"Time fragments?"

Joanne frowned.

"What it is?"

“It’s hard to explain.”

After a moment's thought, Wang Yifan extracted the key parts of what Lin Xu had seen from another world and explained them to Joanne.

Joanne nodded thoughtfully, then said:
"So, it wasn't a world where edge mapping was disordered; to be precise, it should be called 'edge mapping out of control'."

"However, in the world of spacetime, some particles achieve a certain order in chaos."

"This is essentially the result we are pursuing—to establish a limited experimental system using physical methods, guided by mathematical theory."

"Your butterfly didn't find the answer, but it found the result."

"Is that right?"

"Yes."

Wang Yifan put down the document in his hand and then continued:

"But there's a problem here."

"This data is useless to us—it's only useful to that world."

"Because the initial conditions of every chaotic system are different."

"We cannot use this data to deduce the truth; otherwise, we will only get wrong results."

"But if we use this data to reverse-engineer in another world and derive that standardized 'function,' then it will be meaningful to us."

"really."

Joanne put down her coffee and continued asking:

So we can only wait for the butterfly to bring back more clues?

"That's the theory."

Wang Yifan couldn't help but sigh.

"But I want to go one more step."

"That butterfly... he was too tired."

"Just today, he also encountered serious danger."

"But we old men always hid behind him."

"Even the crisis of the Geneva bombing was resolved by him."

This made me...

Looking at Wang Yifan's expression, Joanne was suddenly touched.

"So, that butterfly is a young person?"

"Yes."

Wang Yifan nodded.

"Very young."

He didn't say much, after all, Lin Xu's identity was still a secret, and this was the limit of the information he could reveal.

Even so, Joanne could still sense his unspeakable guilt.

In fact, he himself carried similar emotions to some extent.

Over the past few decades, I have consumed countless scientific research resources.

In the face of such a disaster that affects all of humanity, I should have taken on more responsibility.

But the truth is, there are very few things I can do.

This really can't go on any longer.

We should be more proactive.

Thinking of this, Joanne spoke up:
"Let's not wait any longer."

"Let's think of a way to move the research forward."

There's nothing we can do right now.

Wang Yifan shrugged and said:
"We don't even have a specific experimental subject, how can we move forward?"

"We can only focus on basic research, that's all."

"uncertain."

Joanne interrupted Wang Yifan.

"If the uncontrolled high-dimensional mapping can lead to time fragments, then theoretically, the Big Bang caused by our last experiment would also produce a similar result."

Is it possible that a 'fragment of time' has already appeared in our world?

"What if we could find this fragment?"

After he finished speaking, Wang Yifan was stunned for a moment.

That makes sense.

But the problem is
How do I find it?

"I do not know either."

Joanne shrugged.

"But at the very least, we need to issue this order to all intelligence organizations."

(End of this chapter)