Did the world end today?

Chapter 281 Understanding the End of the World
"Today (October 7), reporters learned from the Institute of High Energy Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences that breakthrough progress has been made in the research on high-dimensional channels and spacetime quantum foam."

"Scientists have completed the first 'information anti-interference experiment,' laying a solid foundation for further high-dimensional experiments."

"It is understood that this experiment is expected to provide a reliable reference for the previously observed phenomenon of 'high-dimensional channels causing disorder of the four fundamental forces,' and may bring about major breakthroughs in materials science, fundamental mechanics, and cutting-edge physics."

In his office, Lin Xu quietly looked at the official press release that had just been issued.

According to the basic requirements of the reverse flow project, at this stage, the information synchronization work related to high-dimensional related technologies has been achieved to a fairly timely extent, but it seems that this news...
Didn't it cause much of a stir?
The discussion was far less heated than the science video released by the Anti-Current Project Team last time—in fact, not only was it less popular than the previous video, but the current trending topics are still about "American Party announcing its withdrawal from the race, Musk and Trump reconciling."

This situation really left Lin Xu a bit baffled.

He scrolled through the short videos one by one and finally realized that people really didn't care much about this time fragmentation experiment.

So why is that?

Looking at Jiang Xingye across from him, Lin Xu asked:
"Why isn't anyone paying attention to such an important experiment?"

Why should we pay attention?

Jiang Xingye shrugged.

"This news article didn't even mention time fragments; instead, it described it as a 'quantum spacetime bubble chaotic stable cluster.'"

"Ordinary people simply can't understand what this means, and might even think it's some kind of pure mathematical concept."

"There are no reports on the specific details of the experiment. At first glance, I thought some idiot had posted the paper to the wrong website, and sent it to the CCTV website."

"To be honest, if you weren't in this position, would you even give this kind of news a second glance?"

That makes sense.

Lin Xu nodded thoughtfully.

It seems that there is still a lot for the authorities to do and learn in terms of information synchronization.

It's not just ordinary people who need to learn and adapt, but also official propaganda agencies.

But the problem is
This problem still urgently needs to be solved.

This experiment is extremely important.

It is so important that, in a sociological sense, it almost overshadows all previous experiments and advancements, including the "Moon Surge Project" and the "Geneva Explosion."

Because the results of this experiment are not limited to technological breakthroughs.

There was another very important discovery.

That is, it once again confirms a judgment that Lin Xu had already made long ago:
In the face of the end times, no one is transcendent or divine.

Even phenomena that appear divine are nothing more than a cold, objective selection process in the sense of physics.

This brings us to Zhou Yue.

This person, because of the "strange phenomena" that occurred to his body, regarded himself as a god.

In reality, he was just relatively lucky, and what happened to him had absolutely nothing to do with any so-called "miracle".

He was indeed an "independent individual," but he was also a lesson in the development of human society.

If humanity in the Age of Confusion and the Starship Age had completed such time fragment experiments much earlier, would a group of "delusional gods" like Zhou Yue still have emerged?
No, it's not just Zhou Yue.

Once this experiment is completed, even Zhang Liming's influence will be greatly weakened.

Because the public will realize that physics is pure and objective.

It cannot be changed simply by the reckless gamble of one person or a group of elites.
Thinking of this, Lin Xu spoke up:
"We still need to find a way to make the information about this experiment public and pass it on."

"The significance of this experiment is immense, especially for ordinary people."

"On the one hand, we need to take this opportunity to deconstruct the concept of 'higher dimensions' and help the public demystify those 'abnormal' and 'magical' phenomena."

"On the other hand, as the frequency of high-dimensional channels increases and the number of unstable time fragments caused by high-dimensional information experiments increases in the future, this world will eventually be affected."

“We need to prepare the public for these phenomena before we can talk about ‘public doomsday’.”

indeed.

Jiang Xingye nodded in agreement.

The reason why the apocalypse wasn't announced is actually due to one reason.

"fear".

Fear can lead to many problems: social instability, economic collapse, widespread chaos, and the very real possibility of division.
According to Lin Xu, the reason why such a thing did not happen in the world during the Alliance era was purely because the "predestined outcome" and the "hope from higher dimensions" gave the people of that world enough courage.

But what about the world?

There will be no other butterfly to save the people of this world.

Not only did no one save them, they also had to save others.

Given that there are no plans to reveal the butterfly's identity in the near future, it would be quite dangerous to rashly disclose doomsday information.

but.
What if we first let the public "understand the end of the world"?

After a slight pause, Jiang Xingye spoke:
"I understand what you mean."

"You want ordinary people to 'understand the apocalypse' first."

"Because the root of fear is not the unknown, but the 'unknowable'."

"I've heard of people being afraid of ghosts, but I've never heard of anyone being afraid of aliens, right?"

"That's right!"

Lin Xu looked at Jiang Xingye with surprise.

"As expected of my wife, she understands me perfectly!"

His narrative was only halfway through; he had prepared a set of explanations for the concepts of "fear" and "unknowability" to tell Jiang Xingye.

But clearly, there's no need to say it now.

Jiang Xingye even beat him to the punch with the example he was going to give.

What does that mean? High-dimensional information even told you this?

Or is it simply a meeting of minds?
Jiang Xingye on the other side rolled his eyes.

"You haven't even registered your marriage, and you're already calling her your wife? Have you no shame?"

Lin Xu clicked his tongue and shook his head.

"When you call someone 'husband,' you don't seem to care about your reputation at all."

"Shut up!"

Jiang Xingye's face flushed instantly. She glanced around nervously, as if there were surveillance cameras in the office.
-
Of course, even if there were such a thing, the staff who see the surveillance footage will quietly delete it.
Taking a deep breath, Jiang Xingye lowered his voice and said:

"You're really getting more and more outrageous. I really need to control you."

"Control me?"

Lin Xu became interested.

"How do you control it? Explain in detail?"

"I won't tell!"

Jiang Xingye glared at Lin Xu.

"Let's get down to business!"

"Alright alright."

Lin Xu composed himself and then said:
"In short, this information synchronization has completely failed to achieve the effect we wanted."

"We need to find a way to ensure that this information is synchronized properly."

"You do it yourself?"

Jiang Xingye asked curiously:
"What are you going to do?"

Lin Xu shrugged.

"I don't manage everything—let Bai Mo handle this." "As long as we tell her our ideas, I think she'll give us a pleasant surprise."

The next day, evening.

The old city of Jinling was already showing signs of desolation. As Wang Qi walked along the streets of Dongtieguan Lane, the aroma of stir-fried dishes wafting from the small shops mingled with the autumn breeze, giving him a warm feeling.

It felt like returning to my childhood, running wildly on the dirt roads of the village all day, my clothes soaked with sweat, and only feeling the coolness after I got home and calmed down.

But then, the heat of the stove and the steam rising from the pot warm you up in an indescribable way.

Those temperatures and that warmth seem to be transmitted through quantum entanglement.

Even though 20 years have passed and the scenes are completely different, that warmth has never changed.

Bypassing the Harbin dumpling shop with its yellow sign and turning into a narrower alley, Wang Qi saw an old man moving an electric scooter that was blocking the road.

The old man muttered under his breath, "Who the hell is messing around here with that electric scooter?! It'll catch fire, you idiot!" Then, turning to see Wang Qi, he exclaimed in surprise:
"Wow, you're getting off work so early today?"

"Come on, give me a hand and lift this broken-down car away!"

Wang Qi frowned slightly, hesitated for a moment, then put down the bag of boxed lunches he was carrying and went forward to help the old man carry the electric scooter away.

As the electric vehicle moved, the charging cable connected to it was roughly pulled off.

Wang Qi bent down to pick it up, but the old man slapped his hand away with a "hey".

What were you picking up for him?

"With cars coming and going, it got crushed."

Wang Qi tried to explain, but the old man just rolled his eyes.

"Let's just crush this kind of unruly person! Let's teach him a lesson!"

With that, the old man strode away.

Wang Qi stood there stunned for a moment, then bent down and picked up the boxed lunch that was on the ground.

The plastic bag contained food to fill his stomach, but it was covered in dirty mud and dust.

Just like his life.

So what if it's crushed? Shouldn't we teach him a lesson?
Wang Qi walked forward silently, his mind constantly replaying the old man's two sentences.

You make it sound so easy.

A surge of anger suddenly welled up inside him.

So what if it's crushed?
A good electric vehicle charger costs over a hundred yuan, while a cheap one costs fifty or sixty yuan.

Fifty or sixty yuan is the food cost for a migrant worker like myself for two days.

Even if it were me, I would still feel a little heartache.

Where is the owner of the electric scooter?

Wang Qi knew him; he had a little girl named Ruoruo, who always seemed so frail.

She has glioma.

This disease is incurable. Even if you spend a lot of money and put in a lot of effort in a wealthy family, you will still die in the end.

Surgery after surgery, chemotherapy after chemotherapy, only slightly prolongs life.

What's more, this disease fell on a poor family.

If her mother has to take care of the children and can't go out to work, she just stays at home every day doing piecework and turning on the live stream to play some fireworks, which is relatively easy.

But Ruoruo's father had a truly miserable life.

I work from dawn till dusk every day. I go to the vegetable market at 2:30 to buy some vegetables wholesale, and come back at 6 o'clock to have breakfast. After breakfast, I go to do crowdsourcing again. I work for 3 hours each in the morning, noon and evening. In the one or two hours in between, I just find a corner of the parking garage in the mall and squeeze in to take a nap.

After the peak delivery period ended around 8 PM, I went home to change my clothes, then grabbed my folding electric scooter and went to work as a designated driver.

This run will last until one or two o'clock.

Finally finished running, time to sleep?

Are you kidding me? Who wants to sleep?

It's already 2 PM, time to go to the market to buy vegetables again.
Many times, when Wang Qi went to deliver food, he ran into Ruoruo's father at the entrance of MIU.

He always sat carefully in the corner, wearing a slightly cheap but neatly washed suit, and would only take out a steamed bun from home and take a bite when no one was paying attention.

It's not that they really can't afford even a single boxed lunch.

The main problem is that customers who spend money at MIU are very picky.

They can accept an ordinary person driving for them, but they absolutely cannot accept that their designated driver is a poor person.

If they smelled that distinctive smell of poor people's food on you, they might kick you out on the spot.

So Ruoruo's dad could only make do with a bite of steamed bun.
Wang Qi's thoughts drifted a bit.

He took out his keys, opened his own door, went inside, sat on the edge of the bed, and remembered the two sentences the old man had said.

So what if it's crushed? Let's teach him a lesson.
Doesn't he know that you can't charge your phone there?
Doesn't he know it's dangerous?
The problem is that charging at an outdoor electric vehicle charging station costs seven or eight yuan, or even more than ten yuan, so we try to save money wherever we can.

And don't say that if a fire starts, it will drag everyone down with it.

Having lived like this, why would I be afraid of dragging anyone down?

Try to put yourself in their shoes; think about what it would be like if you were in their shoes.
They might have already set the building on fire.

Why?

Why do you think you can be so high and mighty, ordering this person and that person around?
Why do you guys get to sit around with so much money in your savings account without doing anything productive and still earn interest?

Is the difference between people really that big?

Wang Qi sighed.

He took out his phone, opened TikTok, and started scrolling through it casually.

The videos that scrolled past were all of pretty girls dancing and funny videos. They didn't seem very informative, but they were enough to satisfy your hunger.

After scrolling through several videos, a news article popped up in front of him.

Breakthrough progress has been made in research on high-dimensional channels and spacetime quantum foam.

A high-dimensional channel, yet another high-dimensional channel.

So what exactly is this thing?
Wang Qi stopped what she was doing and clicked into the comments section.

The comments section was filled with all sorts of opinions, from time travel to rebirth to the end of the world.

Wang Qi didn't dare to hope for time travel or rebirth; he actually thought the end of the world would be pretty good.

Living is too tiring, let's destroy everything.

These days, ordinary people like myself have no chance of getting ahead. If we want fairness, the only solution is probably an apocalypse.
-
I wish there really was an apocalypse.

If that were the case, I would definitely make a big scene no matter what.

He sighed, exited the comments page, and continued scrolling through videos.

But when I swiped it, I saw a trending search page.

countercurrent?

I watched their videos myself last time.

Although the content of the video is completely unrelated to my own life, it's still quite interesting to watch.

Wang Qi clicked on it casually.

The video popped up, and a cheerful female voice entered his ears.

"A Guide to Defying Fate: Fragments of Time"

(End of this chapter)