Did the world end today?

Chapter 416 Dreams and Answers

Chapter 416 Dreams and Answers
"Holy crap. Is the disaster situation overseas really that serious??"

"I thought this was serious enough, but I didn't expect..."

"Over a million casualties in Argentina?? What exactly is going on?"

"What else could it be? They just didn't take it seriously. We had already issued a disaster evacuation warning, but they thought it wasn't a big problem, so they only evacuated a small portion of the residents in the core area."

"And even this part of the evacuation was quite perfunctory; they only evacuated the residents to two blocks away."

“These people have completely underestimated the impact of higher-dimensional disasters. They probably think that this disaster is just like those small disasters in Nevada.”

"No, that's not the case."

"They are not simply arrogant, nor are they even being negligent."

“They were just really out of options – there were only two hours and 40 minutes between the disaster warning being issued and the actual disaster in Buenos Aires.”

"To be honest, it's already quite impressive that they were able to do this much. Even we couldn't have completed such a large-scale evacuation in two hours and forty minutes."

So, this is fate.

"Now you can understand why their government didn't emphasize disaster warnings? Because they knew they couldn't do it."

"Since we can't do it, we might as well let those people leave in happiness."

"This is just too hellish!?"

"Argentina, always has been."

On the screen, comments from the public about the disaster in Buenos Aires, which was far away, had scrolled to the bottom.

Lin Xu rubbed his temples, his face revealing a sorrow as heavy as an abyss.

As of this moment, the actual number of casualties caused by the Buenos Aires disaster has been confirmed to exceed 350 million, and this number continues to rise.

Fortunately, information obtained from further exploration revealed that the actual damage suffered by Buenos Aires was slightly less than expected.

In particular, a large area on the south side of the city collapsed into a basin due to the hollowing effect, which allowed this area to escape the most fatal shock wave.

This brought nearly 200 million survivors to the city. Although this is still too small compared to the city's total population, at least the city has not been driven to the brink of extinction.

On the other hand, the impact of this disaster is far from over.

The shockwave from the massive vacuum implosion triggered a hurricane, and the intensity of the seismic waves was enough to circle the globe twice before decaying.

The disturbance to the ecological environment is irreversible, and no one can predict what changes will occur in the Earth's environment after this disaster.

Many species may become extinct as a result.

Or perhaps, the chain reaction, the deteriorating living environment and humanitarian disaster, will cause this country to disappear completely from the annals of history.

Lin Xu had no way to deal with this.

He let out a heavy breath and looked up at Jiang Xingye sitting to the side.

Then, he spoke:
"If this is our first direct confrontation with the apocalypse..."

"The outcome of that battle was far too tragic."

Jiang Xingye nodded slowly.

bitter?

This word is not even enough to describe the disaster that occurred in Argentina.

It had become a veritable hell on earth. If it weren't for the fact that the allied nations hadn't organized rescue efforts at all costs immediately after the disaster, a series of inhumane acts of "man-made calamities" would likely have already occurred in the seventh hour following the disaster.
This is still just a "weak country".

She dared not imagine what would happen to the world if a similar disaster occurred within the borders of a powerful nation and caused equally dire consequences.

"Therefore, Qin Shizhong is right to some extent."

"Humans could very well kill themselves in the process of exploring higher-dimensional technologies."

"Unfortunately, we didn't pay enough attention to what he said."

"Not really."

Lin Xu waved his hand.

"In fact, we already have enough respect for such a possibility, otherwise, our domestic disaster preparedness work would not be so meticulous."

"The problem is that we had absolutely no way of predicting that the disaster would take such a violent form."

"I don't know if such a disaster is a rare and special case, or if it will continue to recur and occur frequently."

"If it's the former, then we'll get through this round."

"But if it's the latter."

At this point, Lin Xu felt an unprecedented sense of despair.

This kind of despair was something he had never experienced even when he first learned of the "existence of the apocalyptic disaster" and the fact that "humanity is destined to be destroyed in 20 years."

After all, the apocalypse 20 years from now is far away, and with the bracelet's blessing, he can continue to bring hope to humanity.

However, the disasters brought about by the overflow of higher dimensions are imminent.

Although it is not "world-destroying" or "completely lifeless," its scale has already exceeded the current limit of what humanity can withstand.

If this happens five more times, or perhaps three more, the confidence that humanity has painstakingly built up will be completely destroyed.

And I have already seen the world after my faith has been destroyed.
Seeing Lin Xu's expression, Jiang Xingye's eyes also changed slightly.

She grasped Lin Xu's hand, her tone tinged with apology.

"I'm sorry, I can't help you."

"Before the disaster struck, I had a vague premonition, but this premonition was different from the high-dimensional information I had experienced before, so there was nothing I could do about it."

"This isn't your fault."

Lin Xu squeezed Jiang Xingye's hand reassuringly.

"This was an absolutely random event, and it was unpredictable even from a high-dimensional perspective."

"Neither you, me, nor the you in another world can see its outcome."

"What we can do is not to avoid disasters, but to figure out how to recover quickly from them."

"Or simply put, we need to improve our resilience to disasters."

"How to do it?"

Jiang Xingye asked:
"Global disaster recovery and emergency response mechanism?"

"This is only treating the symptoms."

Lin Xu replied:
“We definitely need to establish an emergency mechanism, but this mechanism is not so easy to operate.”

"To achieve truly efficient dispatch, participating countries must relinquish emergency command authority."

"This is something that the two of us can't decide."

At this point, Lin Xu paused for a moment.

He knew that it wasn't that he couldn't make the decisions.

If you want to be in control, you must formally and fully expose yourself to everyone.

It's not just about facing high-ranking government officials or academics; it's about facing the general public.

Because this is an explanation to everyone.

This is also the only way to safeguard the administrative power and national sovereignty of governments after the transfer of emergency command.

Perhaps, the time has truly come.

but
"But the more important thing now is to analyze the defects."

"This is very likely a key, or a password."

"Now, we need to get this password back into our hands as soon as possible."

After 4 hours.

Lop Nur, inside the limiter testing base.

Lin Xu, who had arrived travel-worn, stood in front of Zhang Liming, who was already dressed in full protective gear and sitting on a custom-made rest chair.

He was also holding a bracelet in his hand, which he claimed was made of "thousand-year-old lightning-struck wood." Judging from the slightly reflective water stains on the bracelet, he was unusually nervous at this moment.

"Are you ok?"

Lin Xu asked:
"There's no going back now. How are you feeling?"

"very good."

Zhang Liming nodded.

"To be honest, I am really nervous right now."

"But I think this state of tension is appropriate."

"Yes?"

Lin Xu asked curiously:

"why?"

"It's simple, haven't you ever run before?"

"No, the question should be, 'Have you never participated in any sports competitions?'"

"When you stand at the starting line, you will definitely be nervous, sweaty, and even trembling." "This is not because of 'too much pressure,' but because your body is releasing a huge amount of adrenaline to help you meet the challenge ahead."

"Obviously, I'm in the same situation now."

"So, although I'm nervous, I'm not afraid."

"My body is ready; even if I can't come back, I'll accept it."

"Because this is already the limit of my body."

As soon as he finished speaking, Lin Xu chuckled to himself.

"You certainly have a reckless and fearless air about you."

"But don't worry, you'll definitely be back."

"Just like you said, if you can do it in other worlds, why can't you do it in this one?"

"really."

Zhang Liming took a deep breath and then slowly exhaled.

He raised his hand to look at the bracelet, hesitated slightly, and then handed it to Lin Xu.

"Anyway, here, take this thing."

"Keep this safe for me—if I don't come back this time, then the next time we meet will definitely be after this world has completed its dimensional ascension."

"Please don't lose it, this thing is quite expensive."

"rest assured."

Lin Xu took the bracelet, then asked with a hint of doubt:
"Why do you seem to lack confidence in this experiment?"

"This is different from the person I knew before—is there a problem?"

"no problem."

Zhang Liming paused for a moment, his eyes showing a slight change.

He seemed to be hesitating, wondering whether he should tell Lin Xu about the source of his unease.

From an emotional standpoint, he didn't want to add uncertainty to the mission because of his own subjective feelings.

But rationally speaking, he felt that Lin Xu, as a "butterfly," needed to know all the relevant information.

Ultimately, his rationality prevailed over his emotions.

He looked directly at Lin Xu and said:
"If there's anything that makes me uneasy, then there is."

"What is it?"

Lin Xu dragged over a chair and sat down opposite Zhang Liming.

Zhang Liming suddenly reached out and took the bracelet back from his hand, fiddling with the beads as he spoke:
"It's a dream."

"Dream?"

Lin Xu's nerves tensed up for a moment.

With the penetration of high-dimensional technology and the full-scale quantumization of human brain research, his understanding of "dreams" has long since transcended the superficial stage of "what you think about during the day, you dream about at night."

In his view, dreams are often more than just dreams.

It is a means of information transmission, and this information is often related to higher dimensions.

Noticing his expression, Zhang Liming waved his hand and said:
"Don't misunderstand, the dream I'm talking about has nothing to do with the kind of dream you and Jiang Xingye had where you could 'directly receive information'."

"It's just an ordinary dream—its special feature lies in its content."

"In my dreams, I saw countless versions of myself."

"Countless versions of you?"

Lin Xu asked in confusion:
What kind of person are you?

"You mean, like being in a higher dimension, you can see countless projections of yourself at a certain point in time?"

"of course not."

Zhang Liming shook his head.

"If that's the case, then this dream isn't anything special."

"In reality, what I see is my true, real self."

He sat up slightly, as if lost in some kind of "longing" memory.

"I dreamt that I stepped out of a cube-shaped spaceship."

“The stars are beneath my feet—it’s strange, I seem to be exposed to outer space, but I don’t feel any suffocation or discomfort from loss of pressure.”

"I just walked on the covered bridge, and on the other side of the bridge was a rather retro reception area."

"How should I put it, that reception area was like the customs area we go through when we get off the plane."

"And can you believe it? The sign at that reception desk really does say the word 'Customs'."

"Actually, there were other words written on it, which seemed to be place names, but I can't remember them. I only remember the words 'customs'."

"In short, after crossing the jet bridge, I entered customs."

"I was greeted by a very beautiful girl—I always felt that she was Bai Mo, but she was not quite the Bai Mo I knew."

"She is very enthusiastic and cheerful."

"She gave me a stamped passport with my name on it."

"Of course, there's also the passport number."

"However, that passport number is not represented by pure numbers."

"Is it a .expression?"

"I don't understand the specific meaning of that expression, but in my dream, I felt that the expression was not difficult to remember."

"That must be a special expression used to identify huge numbers, like the one we received from the Leap Forward era."

“I accepted this way of speaking naturally, and after picking up my passport, I went through customs with her guidance.”

"I originally thought I would go straight to a new planet, a new world."

"But after customs, there was a large hall."

"Many people were sitting in the hall—and then something strange happened."

"Everyone here is me."

“They didn’t seem surprised by my arrival; they even came up to me and explained the situation.”

"They told me that most of the 'me's' here would be assigned to different worlds."

"Because if too many identical personalities appear in the same world, it will cause a lot of management problems."

"I don't know which world I'll be assigned to yet. One of them looked at my passport and told me I'm from the main world, so I should stay there directly."

"I'm wondering, if I want to stay in the main world, why do I need to go through the allocation process?"

“I asked a question, and that ‘me’ told me that it was probably because I had died in the main world due to an accident, and the current me is the reconstructed me.”

"After he finished speaking, I asked a really stupid question."

"I asked him, if I die, wouldn't the place I come to be heaven?"

He laughed, but before he could answer me, I woke up.

After Zhang Liming finished speaking, Lin Xu's brows furrowed tightly.

This dream.
It's actually not strange at all.

But it subtly reveals some unspeakable "secrets".

Are you sure this isn't high-dimensional information?

Zhang Liming shook his head.

"I'm sure it's not."

"But this might be the answer."

"My subconscious seems to have guessed the ultimate secret of 'flaw,' but I can't find the 'thread' that can fully describe it."

As he spoke, he stood up.