Those who face the wall, but are in the Nascent Soul stage.

Chapter 383 Earth: A Persistent Ominous Feeling
"It seems the other party is completely unaware that the Emperor's Banner preserved the scientist's soul," Luo Ji thought to himself.

This is normal.

Humans have long discovered that, apart from themselves, no other creature, including dinosaurs, can see the faint golden phantoms of human souls.

The human soul seems to be visible only to humans.

Faced with the almost scrutinizing gaze of the Risk Remover's sensors, Luo Ji quickly racked his brains, honed by two civilizations, and managed to offer a seemingly reasonable explanation: "The Carbon-Based Federation... perhaps out of respect for Mr. Luo Qing, revealed a lot of information to us during our previous exchanges, including the questions that scientists standing on the altar of truth posed to you more than a hundred years ago."

Although this reasoning is far-fetched, it has indeed been understood by the sensors.

"To choose to violate the Law of Knowledge Sealing in order to befriend a god? That's in line with the Carbon-Based Federation's style of doing things. This civilization is always good at seizing every opportunity that can make its own camp stronger." The sensor seemed to be lost in some kind of memory.

Ding Yi seized the opportunity to add, "So our civilization has acquired a lot of advanced knowledge, including even the universal unification formula."

The sensor seemed somewhat surprised: "Wait a minute, I remember that at the stage of development of the carbon-based federation, we didn't even know the grand formula for the universe."

Ding Yi and Luo Ji exchanged a glance, and in that instant their eyes met, they had already completed the following exchange.
"I let it slip, quick, cover for me!"

'Depend on.'

Luo Ji pondered for a while longer, using his unparalleled wisdom.

And once again, the reason was attributed to a higher level of existence: "As far as we know, the formula for the unification of the universe seems to have come from communication between Mr. Luo Qing and Mr. Li Bai from the poetic civilization. As a representative of a god-level civilization, Li Bai should know about it."

Unexpectedly, the Risk Remover sensor shook its head: "This is still wrong. The standard cosmological model is the only legacy left by the Nebula Civilization in the last cosmic era. Apart from a very few early cosmic civilizations such as the Risk Remover Civilization, the Zero-Returner Civilization, and the Unifying Will, not many civilizations know the standard cosmological model. Although the Poet Clan has a very high level of civilization development, it still does not know the standard cosmological model."

Luo Jiren was a bit stumped; the other party's database was more detailed than he had imagined, and he couldn't make it up or fool them.

The sensors were scrutinizing him, which put considerable pressure on Luo Ji.

At this moment, Ding Yi interjected, his tone characteristically blunt and impatient: "We know, that's all. What's it to you?"

The sensor seemed taken aback by this blunt, even slightly offensive, answer, and remained silent for a moment: "Physicist, you're right. Knowing is knowing. I'm just a sensor, I'm just a sensor."

It paused, then reset the dialog box: "You can ask your questions again now."

Luo Ji asked again: "Is mathematics self-consistent?"

The sensor says, "You already know the answer; the mathematics is self-consistent in the ZFC axioms."

Luo Ji frowned. Luo Qing had video recordings from the risk-mitigation sensor. The last answer clearly stated that the mathematics was self-consistent and did not have the preconditions of the ZFC axiom.

Now, the sensor's answer has changed, with an additional prerequisite.

The ZFC axioms form the underlying framework of mathematics—using nine core axioms to rigorously define sets and derive all mathematical concepts, ensuring the logical consistency of the human mathematical system.

Luo Ji, of course, was also aware of the ZFC axioms. He reiterated the question: "The ZFC axioms are only relatively consistent. Can you prove that mathematics is absolutely consistent?"

The sensor shook its head: "I also cannot absolutely prove self-consistency. According to Gödel's incompleteness theorems, no axiomatic system that includes arithmetic of natural numbers can prove its absolute self-consistency."

Luo Ji shook his head and chuckled. He hadn't expected that this sensor would answer him using human theories.

The so-called Gold's incompleteness theorem means that, like a complete game manual, no matter how detailed the rules are, there will always be some "in-game problems" that the manual cannot say are right or wrong. Therefore, it is impossible to prove absolute self-consistency.

Luo Ji gestured to Ding Yi with his eyes, and his lips seemed to be moving.

'Your turn.'

Ding Yi stepped forward and began to ask the risk-taker the second question: "Why does the Grand Unified Theory not have a position where parity is not conserved?"

The risk-taker's answer was even simpler: "Parity nonconservation involves the mirror image problem of the universe, which is not within the scope of the standard cosmological model and therefore not in the grand unified theory, but in the superunified cosmological model."

Ding Yi pressed further: "A superunified cosmological model?"

Risk Eliminator Sensor: "A theoretical model that unifies all universes."

Ding Yi exclaimed in surprise, "Are there really other universes?" The Risk Remover Sensor replied, "I'm sorry, this is beyond my ability to answer. But I can tell you that the Zero-Returner civilization, which is on good terms with the Risk Removers, has been working to find other universes that are more suitable for civilization to live in. Whether other universes exist or not is currently only a theoretical speculation. Unless a civilization can obtain a unified universe model, this hypothesis can neither be confirmed nor disproven."

Ding Yi was defeated in this round. Luo Ji silently etched the new name "Zero Returners" into his mind—yet another god-level civilization unknown to humanity.

He followed up on Ding Yi's question by asking, "What does it mean to have a universe that is 'more suitable for civilization and habitation'?"

The sensor replied: "As the name suggests, it refers to a universe where the Dark Forest Theory does not apply."

Luo Ji pondered, the picture implied by this answer was far broader than he had imagined.

Ding Yi didn't pause; the two brothers took turns asking the question, and he immediately threw out the last and boldest one:
"Why is the speed of light a finite value? I've heard that the speed of light in 11-dimensional spacetime, described in human units, is approximately 0.162 meters per Planck time. Was this value modified by some civilization?"

Since guessing the cause of his fiancée's death, Ding Yi has boldly hypothesized a cosmic background: that god-level civilizations can modify physical laws and even mathematical laws, and that the fundamental laws of the universe have long been messed up by top-level god-level civilizations.

Yang Dong's obsession with virginity is much more serious than his.

The sensor's response, however, pointed to an even more ancient origin: "Physicist, you're asking about the theoretically unlimited speed of light, aren't you? Infinite speed of light only existed in the primordial state before the Big Bang—when the universe was just a singularity, the speed of light within it was truly infinite."

"After the Big Bang, due to the sharp drop in the energy level of the universe, the speed of light dropped to about 42 hours over a long period of time. This was the pastoral era of the entire universe. Civilization existed for an infinite amount of time during these almost eternal 42 hours. This is the eleven-dimensional state of the universe. In this state, the speed of light decreased from infinity to a stable value, which is 0.162 meters per Planck time, as you mentioned."

This value is a natural consequence of the energy drop, not an artificial modification. Modifying the speed of light constant would mean reshaping the entire spacetime structure of the universe, something that advanced civilizations in the universe cannot easily accomplish given their current capabilities.

After asking the three questions, the sensors did indeed provide answers, but the answers either led to deeper mysteries or set insurmountable boundaries, leaving the two feeling unsatisfied and unfulfilled.

Unexpectedly, the sensors took the initiative to ask them questions.

It asked in an almost inquisitive tone: "The three questions you asked all touch upon deep-seated doubts behind certain apparent logics in the universe. Can you tell me what you have discovered?"

The sensor paused briefly. "Or rather... what have you guessed?"

Ding Yi stared directly at the ideal black body before him and said bluntly, "I suspect that the universe is conscious."

The sensor nodded without hesitation, its response even carrying a sense of tacit agreement: "Our entire Risk Eliminator civilization holds the same view. The universe may be a colossal brain, with stars and galaxies as its neurons. The universe itself may be a brain-dead patient trapped in eternal thought, but unable to think due to its expansion, a thinker incapable of completing thought. I also believe that the universe is conscious."

Ding Yi immediately pressed further: "You've been following and studying this 'thinker' for so long, haven't you made any concrete discoveries or achieved any results?"

The sensor nodded again: "There have indeed been some research findings."

"What?"

“The sun is very precious.” The sensor’s tone became heavy.

"What do you mean?" Luo Ji and Ding Yi asked in unison.
"The universe's thoughts must pass through this place," the sensor's voice muffled.

Luo Ji and Ding Yi looked at each other in bewilderment.

The little moss, who had been following behind the two without saying a word, suddenly turned terrified. All the catastrophic models of stellar evolution in the online database were instantly activated in her memory, and the little moss let out a terrified scream: "Solar helium flash!"

Luo Ji and Ding Yi both looked up at the sun at the same time.

The risk-taker's sensor was slightly moved. It turned to the distant star that had illuminated Earth for billions of years, its tone revealing both regret and admiration:

“I love this place. It allows me to witness multiple sunrises and sunsets in a short period of time. Such a unique spatial and temporal structure, capable of producing such a beautiful cycle of light and shadow, is rare in the entire universe, but it really came here, leaving no room to hide or avoid it.”

It concluded by saying, "I will leave after the solar helium flash. In any case, thank you for this exchange; it was a pleasure. You three, please return."

"No, wait a minute." Little Moss suppressed the fear of the helium flash memory implanted in her mind and said in a low voice through gritted teeth.

"Mr. Risk Eliminator Sensor, could you tell us whether this reflection was intentionally initiated by thinkers?"

The sensor seemed to freeze, and after a long while, it seemed to revert to the emotions it had experienced more than 100 years ago.
"No, my dear child, how would I know? How would I know the answer? This is the very answer we've been searching for our whole lives..."

The risk-taker revealed his dark, deep, and desperate face once again.

(End of this chapter)