Did the world end today?

Chapter 395 It’s too late
“What the hell is this?”

Area 51, at the site of the "Passage Experiment".

Upon receiving the emergency order and flying directly from Nanjing to the scene, Zhang Liming stared in disbelief at the large cluster of lights in the central area that resembled "coral," his eyes revealing an indescribable shock.

He didn't understand what this thing was.

But it's clear that this thing is growing.

According to on-site observers, in the short few hours he flew from Nanjing to Nevada, the area covered by the light cluster had doubled.

From the moment observers first spotted it, within 20 hours it had grown from a small ball of light less than 6 centimeters long into a colossal object with a diameter of over 4 meters.

It appears to be growing at some kind of "exponential" rate.

If it is allowed to continue expanding...
It won't be long before the entire state of Nevada is covered.

"Could it be some kind of low-light-speed trap?"

Standing next to Zhang Liming, Andy tentatively asked a question. Zhang Liming turned to look at him, his eyes filled with disbelief.

But soon, this disbelief transformed into a sense of relief.

"Now I finally understand why you guys were able to cause such a huge mess."

Andy looked at Zhang Liming, puzzled, while Zhang Liming continued:

"Are you out of your mind? If this is a low-light-speed trap, no matter how it manifests in a low-dimensional world, we should at least observe an energy siphon effect at the light-speed boundary."

"Now, do you see a similar energy siphoning phenomenon?"

"No."

"It is very stable, even excessively stable."

"So much so that even though we are standing here, less than 20 meters away from it, we don't feel anything unusual."

"Tell me, could this be a low-light-speed trap?"

"I'm just suggesting a possibility."

A hint of guilt flashed across Andy's face, but he quickly added:

"Moreover, if we only talk about physics, it is not impossible for a low-light-speed trap to manifest in this form."

"Are black holes the only low-light-speed traps?"

"Low light speed regions can be complex and interwoven; the coral-like light clusters we see may simply be projections of the intersection of normal light speed regions and low light speed regions."

"All right."

Zhang Liming raised his hand to interrupt Andy's "sophistry," and then said:

"The most important thing now is to determine whether these light clusters are physical entities or some kind of projection."

"Have you taken any measurements of them?"

"Gravity? Electromagnetism? Or some other higher-dimensional force?"

"of course."

Andy immediately replied:
"It is precisely because all our measurement methods fail to work that I believe it is some kind of low-light-speed trap."

"Are you kidding me?"

Zhang Liming waved his hand impatiently and said:

“If we can see it, how can you say, ‘All measurement methods are ineffective against it’?”

"I can't explain it either."

Andy handed the experimental measurement records directly to Zhang Liming and then said:

"See for yourself."

“We have absolutely no reason to falsify this information.”

"As you said, we've already caused enough trouble, there's no need to try to hide or cover it up anymore."

“We’re not that stupid—now, we also need to solve the problem.”

".good."

Zhang Liming reluctantly accepted Andy's explanation. He took the report from the other party and started flipping through it from the first page. In less than 10 minutes, he had already reached the last page.

There wasn't much noteworthy content in this report. The testing process was clearly documented, but when it came to the results, everything was blank.

Without exception.

"Extreme reflection test. Failed."

"Thermal radiation test failed."

"Space-time effect test. Failed."

"Active probe test failed."

"All are ineffective, whether contactless or contactless."

"This thing is really... a bit weird."

Zhang Liming frowned and put down the report in his hand, while Andy, who was next to him, seemed to have been pardoned, and his tense body relaxed a little.

"right?"

“I told you, this is an extremely strange substance—no, it’s not even a substance, it’s just a phenomenon.”

"We don't know what this phenomenon will bring us, nor do we know where it comes from."

"us."

"Wait a minute."

Zhang Liming interrupted Andy and continued:

“We know perfectly well where it came from.”

"This thing was obviously produced because of your testing of that high-dimensional channel."

"If we want to understand how it works, we should at least know what you did to that channel."

"We didn't do anything exaggerated."

Andy shook his head and said:
"If we're talking about 'unconventional' tests, we only did two."

“We simply put a small piece of CKC crystal into the channel and tried to topologically cut it.”

"That's all."

"That's all???"

Zhang Liming closed his eyes slightly and exhaled heavily.

Performing topological cuts on high-dimensional channels is inherently a very dangerous act. In fact, limiters are also a form of topological cuts.

However, it is a "cutting" under controlled conditions. Compared to a completely uncontrolled cut, it has an additional "stable" component.

What Andy and his group are doing now is essentially equivalent to applying pressure directly to a higher-dimensional channel without any protection.

The consequences of doing so are entirely unpredictable.
Zhang Liming had completely lost the desire to communicate with Andy, but he had a vague, inexplicable intuition.

seem
Such an attempt is not entirely without merit.
It seems that the "negative consequences" of this attempt also have a side that can be exploited?
Thinking of this, he spoke:
"We need to redesign the testing process."

"If those 'advanced' testing methods don't work, then let's just go back to the basics."

"All our current concerns about it stem from its impact on the real world."

"For it to have an impact on the real world, it must interact with matter."

"Since that's the case, let's keep it simple."

"Keep it simple?"

Andy asked in confusion:

"How to do it exactly?"

"Throw stones."

Zhang Liming replied:

"We should throw some stones at it."

Jinling.

The television was showing the latest report on the high-dimensional channel experiment in Nevada. Qin Shizhong sat in front of the screen, his gaze solemn.

The host's voice echoed in the somewhat empty room, even drawing the attention of the security personnel guarding him. "It is understood that this high-dimensional channel experiment resulted in 146 deaths and 32 missing persons."

"The experiment caused severe changes in the topography and landforms around the high-dimensional channel and triggered uncontrollable changes in physical rules."

"Further investigation is currently underway."

"According to the experts present, there is currently no risk of the situation deteriorating further."

On television, the image of the "light cluster" was clearly recorded by the camera and transmitted through radio waves to every viewer watching the screen at that moment.

The moment the cluster of light appeared, Qin Shizhong's brows furrowed instantly.

He instinctively turned around and raised his hand to the security personnel behind him.

After the other person approached, he quickly spoke:
"this thing."

"wrong!"

"wrong?"

The security personnel asked in confusion:

"You've seen this before??"

"I have seen!"

Qin Shizhong answered without hesitation:
"I know what this is!"

"This is the border!"

"boundary?"

The moment the word was uttered, the security personnel immediately realized the seriousness of the situation.

Without hesitation, he pressed the emergency alarm button. In less than 30 seconds, a large number of staff members on standby rushed into the room, and Lin Xu, who was in his office, was immediately notified.

When he arrived, Qin Shizhong was sitting in the middle of the crowd, excitedly explaining everything about the "boundary" he was talking about to the physics group scholars opposite him.

"That's the boundary of the puzzle!"

"I really saw that thing with my own eyes!"

"No, not in our world, but in another world, a world in a higher-dimensional channel!"

“That kind of boundary would divide the whole world apart. No one can cross the boundary, no matter what method you use.”

"It's not a physical entity; it's more like a rule!"

"I don't know how to explain it, and I've never actually been to the border, but I know it's a wall."

"An invisible wall."

"If this wall spreads, the worlds on either side will never be able to communicate."

Qin Shizhong's tone was already tinged with panic. Lin Xu stepped forward and patted him on the shoulder. He shrank back as if startled, and only relaxed slightly when he turned around and saw Lin Xu's face.

"Forester!"

Qin Shizhong stood up and, before Lin Xu could speak, continued:
"The consequences of this experiment are very serious, I guarantee they will be more serious than you can imagine!"

"We must find a way to stop the expansion of that border. Otherwise, it will be too late!"

"Do you remember? I said that humanity might destroy itself because of the collapse of its own access to higher dimensions!"

"No matter how many lies I've told before, this statement is true!"

"We cannot stop the expansion of boundaries from a lower-dimensional world; we must."

"and many more."

Lin Xu raised his hand to interrupt Qin Shizhong, and then said:

"Come with me."

Qin Shizhong was slightly taken aback, then quickly followed Lin Xu, who had already turned and walked out.

At the entrance, Qin Feng and his convoy were already waiting. After the two got into the car, Lin Xu immediately took the tablet from Qin Feng and handed it to Qin Shizhong.

"What you are about to see is highly classified information about the entire process of how we tested what you call your 'boundaries'."

"I need you to make a judgment based on the test results, whether the things here are the same as the boundaries you mentioned."

"If possible, I would also like you to provide a physical explanation for this phenomenon."

"I don't need a professional explanation, I just need you to make a guess."

"no problem."

Qin Shizhong nodded repeatedly, and Lin Xu unlocked the tablet for him. Immediately afterward, the footage recorded from a great distance appeared on the screen.

In the footage, an old-fashioned B-52 bomber is flying slowly overhead above the cluster of lights.

As it flew directly overhead, an aerial bomb was dropped.

As the camera zooms out, the bombs whistle down as the bombers move away from the bombing area.

Qin Shizhong's heart skipped a beat—he could almost foresee the enormous impact that the heavy bomb would generate when it exploded.

This made him involuntarily tense up, but the next second...
Like a clay ox sinking into the sea, the aerial bomb fell into the cluster of light.

Then, it disappeared completely.

There was no explosion, no flash; the bomb simply vanished as if it had never existed.

He suddenly raised his head and looked at Lin Xu, saying:
"That's it!"

"That's how it should be!"

“This kind of ‘boundary’ cannot be predicted using common sense.”

"It can devour anything that comes near it, including light and all electromagnetic signals."

"It's an out-of-control, high-dimensional portal. We'll never know where it ultimately leads; all we know is that everything that comes into contact with it will disappear."

"This is unreasonable."

Lin Xu slowly shook his head, then said:
"If this so-called 'boundary' is going to swallow everything, then why can we see it?"

"It has obvious light reflection characteristics, which proves that the light was not swallowed up there."

"no!"

Qin Shizhong immediately denied it:

"The light we see cannot accurately delineate the shape of this boundary."

"It should be said that the light it reflects has absolutely nothing to do with its actual form."

"That's why I said this is the boundary. You can slow down the footage captured by the camera!"

"You should be able to see that the bomb disappeared before it even made contact with the surface we can see with the naked eye!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Qin Feng's expression changed immediately.

Clearly, he had already seen the video.

The slow-motion video showed exactly what Qin Shizhong had described.

He looked at Lin Xu, and Lin Xu's gaze happened to shift over to him as well.

The two looked at each other, but neither spoke.

Qin Shizhong noticed their movements and continued speaking:
"The actual situation is just as I described, right?"

"You can't describe the shape of this boundary using any indirect method, right?"

"Light can also be swallowed up. The 'image' we see does not come from the reflection of light, but directly from inside the boundary."

"Yes."

Lin Xu nodded slowly.

After a slight pause, he asked:
"So, how exactly should this so-called border be dealt with?"

Nobody knows.

Qin Shizhong replied with a wry smile:
"At least no one knows right now."

"There's only one thing that's certain."

"When an uncontrolled boundary begins to emerge"

"It was already too late."

(End of this chapter)