An infinite journey starting from paradise

At first, Lin Shangren combined the science fiction movies and novels he had watched and made many high-sounding assumptions. However, these assumptions could not be connected with Hehuan, Linyin and everything he had experienced.

It was not until Hayashi Shangren learned the function of the complete version of the Paradise System, knew what the soul was, and knew that the soul had the indestructible nature, and until he used the Eagle Finger to torture Suzumoto Emi, that he finally figured it all out.

Everything this cosmic consciousness did was out of fear of death! She just wanted to survive:

According to the second law of thermodynamics, entropy increase is irreversible, and the final destination of the universe is to burn out like firewood, and eventually fall into heat death, which is the death of the universe.

If the universe had no consciousness, all this would be fine. But when it becomes conscious, when it becomes "life," it will begin to fear its impending death. It will want to prevent, and even reverse, heat death.

However, just like when a person is sick, if they cannot take medication from the outside, they can only rely on their own immune system and various beneficial bacteria. The cosmic consciousness itself cannot prevent heat death, so it evolved intelligent life within itself.

Sooner or later, in the process of understanding and transforming the world, self-aware intelligent life will discover the irreversible increase of entropy and the heat death of the universe. If everything in the universe were reduced to waste heat, then intelligent life would not be able to survive. Therefore, they will try to use their wisdom to prevent the heat death.

This gave rise to countless possibilities in the ocean of possibilities. The cosmic consciousness could then sort out a possible development thread of intelligent life successfully overcoming heat death as the sacred timeline, so that it could continue to survive.

However, judging by Evelia's "selection" of Lin Shangren to help her perfect the divine timeline, she had clearly failed. Something was preventing intelligent life from seeking a solution to heat death.

This factor is the paradise system, or in other words, true happiness!

Remember the function of the full version of the park system?

It can pull the consciousness of all mankind into a virtual dream world, where everyone can achieve their dreams, everyone can easily obtain happiness, and they can do whatever they want in an absolutely real dream.

When humanity's spiritual and material pursuits can be fully satisfied in the virtual world, who would pursue anything in reality? Since we can survive on water, protein, and vitamin pills, who would consider the boundless question of whether the universe's resources will be completely exhausted in a few trillion years?

In the timeline where Hayashi Naoto had not arrived in this universe, Suzumoto Emi finally completed the Paradise System. She even recreated Sleeping Beauty based on Hokari Ei's research on cloning.

She used the Paradise System to rule over all of humanity and achieved immortality of consciousness. Although she used the computing power of other people's brains to research how to achieve physical immortality, other humans didn't care at all because Suzumoto Emi didn't restrict them from enjoying the paradise world.

To a certain extent, she directly realized a society with extremely developed productivity...ahem, "Great Harmony Society"!

This Matrix-like existence lasted only 20,000 years. After 20,000 years, humanity, unable to develop sufficiently advanced aerospace technology, perished in a solar helium flash. A race of intelligent life that had once held the potential to prevent heat death was wiped out.

This might make you wonder, is there only one intelligent species in the universe? Does cosmic consciousness really need humans to prevent heat death? Couldn't aliens or something else do the same?

Don't forget, the soul is indestructible. Even if humanity dies, that energy known as the soul will continue to wander the universe, combining with reproductive cells to form life. The same is true of Shinaka Hehuan's unique soul.

In this universe, when an intelligent life develops to a certain level, they will always study the consciousness level. At this time, they will discover the special individual "Zhen Zhong He Huan", and then they will invent the "Paradise System" and follow the old path of mankind.

Evelya searched the sea of ​​possibilities for countless googols, but all of them indicated that, due to the existence of the "True Soul of Harmony," no intelligent life could survive until a method was found to prevent heat death. (Note: Googol is the largest unit of measurement currently, consisting of a 1 followed by a hundred zeros.)

In this universe, the energy body of the soul cannot be annihilated, and Evelya cannot drive the soul out of this universe, so she can only choose to seek help from the outside world and ask travelers from other universes to take Zhen Zhong Hehuan away.

"You want me to take He Huan away so you can have a chance of survival," Lin Shangren said confidently, "and I'm going to use the possibility of your survival as a bargaining chip. Is this bargaining chip strong enough?"

"you!"

The cosmic consciousness originally existed in isolation, never communicating with any other being. Therefore, while it could be considered "life," it lacked emotions. But this time, after being threatened by this tiny human, Lin Shangren, Ivreya felt anger for the first time.

Lin Shangren continued, "I just want to give them a relatively happy growth process. When the time comes, I will take them away from this fucked-up world. Is this request too much?"

If you insist on following your own sacred timeline, fine. However, after returning to the future, I won't leave. I want to stay in this world with Hehuan and the others!

You should be able to feel that I can almost achieve immortality with them because of my unreasonable 'big dick'. I will stay in your body, and even if you find other travelers, I will stop them. I have this ability!

"Um..." Xiao Ai raised her hand weakly again, "My Lord, in fact, in the 'universe system' we are in, you are the only 'high-ranking one'. Even those people cannot directly descend to belong to... wuwu?"

Ashrose was surprised to discover that she hadn't made a sound just now. Something had silenced her words. Lin Shangren and even Evelya hadn't noticed this either.

"Ashe-chan, don't talk nonsense~" A female voice sounded in Ashrose's consciousness. Judging from the sharpness of the voice, the owner of the voice was most likely a flat-chested person.

"Hmm..."

Xiao Ai was forced to shut up.

Lin Shangren didn't notice the abnormality of his own system mother. He continued to threaten Evelya: "You want to live, and I want to save them from suffering. It's that simple. Give me a straight answer, yes or no?"

"You...why would you go to such lengths for them? The time you've spent together isn't even enough for the planet you're on to rotate three times."

Evelya truly couldn't understand it. Lin Shangren could easily have received the reward from the mysterious being behind him. He could have taken those female humans and easily obtained sexual satisfaction. Why was he so determined to contradict her and cause trouble for himself? Why was he so determined to spare those girls their suffering?

"It's because you gave them a little hope amidst their pain that they keep thinking about you and so-called 'love' you. Why did you deny them a happy upbringing?!"

At this point, Evelya actually began to think like a human. She roared, "If they hadn't experienced those painful experiences over the past decade, how could they have been so obsessed with the little bit of happiness you gave them? Aren't you afraid that they'll forget you once they find happiness themselves?

Lin Shangren, are you fucking mentally ill?!

Take the rewards I gave you in exchange for the energy, take those lowly female humans, and happily return to your own universe. What's so difficult about that?! Why can't you just follow my instructions..."

"Snapped!!!"

An extremely crisp slapping sound resounded throughout the entire ocean of possibilities.

Xiao Ai, a classmate standing by, was stunned. She really didn't expect that her master would be so bold as to slap the universe!

Evelya was stunned for a moment. The cosmic consciousness shouldn't have that many emotions. But at that moment, she felt humiliated.

"you!"

"Snapped!"

Another slap.

Lin Shangren didn't seem to intend to stop, he raised his arm again.

"Go away!"

Evelya was extremely angry. She wanted to teach Lin Shangren a lesson because she still needed him to take Zhen Zhong Hehuan away and could not kill him, but she could make Lin Shangren feel what pain was.

She extended her hand towards Lin Shangren: "The weak interaction force has changed."

There are four fundamental forces in the universe: gravity, electromagnetism, strong interaction, and weak interaction. These four forces underlie the movement and structure of all microscopic particles in the universe. Together with the smallest particle, the ether, they constitute the entire material universe. It can be said that in the material universe, mastering these four forces is mastering everything.

Take the example of the Magnetic Field Maniac. Simply mastering the electromagnetic force allows one to do whatever they want. If one truly mastered all four fundamental forces, they could at least become a powerful being on the level of a single universe. If the user's imagination was sufficiently ambitious, they could even stack infinite boxes.

As the embodiment of cosmic consciousness, Evelya could naturally control these four fundamental forces at will. She wanted to break up Lin Shangren's arm by controlling the interaction between his cells, to teach him a lesson.

however……

"Snapped!"

Lin Shangren's slap hit her face accurately again. Although it did not cause any damage, it was extremely insulting.

Evelya was completely confused. What was this guy's way? Why was her power useless? Could he be open?

Lin Shangren, who was holding the conceptual-level protective gear [Steel Wool of the Soft Rice Immortal], didn't care about her. He swung his arms and hit Ivreya in the face with Dabidou as if it was free.

"Slap you, you shameless bastard! You're scared to death!"

"You're the fucking despicable one! They're human beings, free people, people who deserve happiness!!! They're far more noble than a coward like you!"

"Love? How dare you mention love to me? What the hell do you know about love?"

"Yes, I admit that the time I spent with them was indeed very short. What I did for them was nothing more than what a person with a conscience should do. It didn't seem like love, but more like pity."

"But, I have to say a but! When I knew that He Huan and Lin Yin had suffered extreme pain for more than ten years, when I knew that they regarded me as their spiritual support, when I knew that they didn't give up hope in this fucked-up world because of my kindness to them, what do you think I would think?"

"They! They live because of me, they live for me! Because of their love for me, they have waited for more than ten years in extreme pain. They cannot deny the world where I once existed. How could I turn a blind eye to this!!! When they have love for me in their hearts, how could I not respond?"

"And how could I turn a blind eye when I had the opportunity to save them from suffering?!!"

Lin Shangren roared, transforming his palm into a fist, and punched Ivreya again and again. However, this incarnation of the cosmic consciousness did not fight back or dodge, but just let Lin Shangren beat her like a dazed person.

“I am so lucky to be loved by others, so I will try my best to respond to the love others give me!

Suffering is never worth praising. If suffering can be avoided, I will try my best to prevent it from happening!

This is the simple truth that I, Lin Shangren, believe in. And you, Evelya, what do you know?!"

Roaring angrily, Lin Shangren punched out with all his strength.

"I know my fists don't hurt you! But, Consciousness of the Universe, I want to ask you, since you have consciousness, then... can you also feel pain?!!!"

Eagle Finger is activated, causing extreme pain.

The moment Lin Shangren's punch hit Evelia's body, the consciousness of the universe let out her first wail:

"Hey!!!"

Chapter 49: Perfect Ending? Schrödinger's Cat Girl!

The "pain" brought by Lin Shangren's fist was obviously beyond Evelya's comprehension. This was the first time she felt "pain".

More importantly, she couldn't understand why Lin Shangren's fist caused her pain even though it clearly didn't cause her any harm at all?

Lin Shangren, who had been pretending to be crazy, had regained his composure. He asked calmly, "How is it? How do you feel?"

"Feel…?"

Evelya is still in a "downtime" state.

This was her first time talking to humans and intelligent life on an equal footing. She had always lived solely for the purpose of "survival" and had never thought about "feelings" or "emotions."

Even though she has witnessed the birth and fall of countless intelligent civilizations in countless possibilities, even though her consciousness preserves the knowledge created by all the civilizations in her body... However, whether it is the epic of great heroes or the struggle of small people in the quagmire... these are meaningless to Evelya. She only cares about whether the civilization created by intelligent life can ultimately reverse heat death.

That's why she couldn't understand Lin Shangren's behavior, and that's why she didn't care whether the lives in her body that possessed souls and wisdom were happy or suffering.

Lin Shangren realized this, so while he was hysterically beating Evelya to vent his frustration, he was also trying to make her feel and understand what pain was.

He didn't expect the high and mighty cosmic consciousness to empathize with the poor girls. Lin Shangren only hoped that Evelya could develop a little empathy, letting her understand that pain was not pleasant. That way, he could better bargain with her.

To give a more concrete example, completing the sacred timeline is like building a highway, and Hehuan is a residential building situated along the highway's path. Lin Shangren wants to properly relocate the house and its inhabitants, while Evelya, an efficiency-conscious official, prefers a straightforward, violent demolition. To dissuade Evelya, Lin Shangren resorts to physical force to help the cold-blooded official understand the people's perspective.

"How about it? Do you want to feel it again?" Lin Shangren asked again.

At this moment, countless fragments of events she had witnessed before surged through Evelya's mind: infatuated men and women weeping for the loss of their lovers, young children wailing for the death of their parents, soldiers wailing over the loss of their country...

"They're in pain... This is pain...?"

"Hey, do you want to try again?"

Lin Shangren raised his fist.

"do not want!"

Evelya's humanoid body, composed of stars, dissipated and reassembled in the distance. Her "fleeing" appearance lacked the majesty of a cosmic consciousness.

Majesty? What kind of majesty could she have?

Even if she is the universe itself, the concrete manifestation of the underlying operating logic of the universe, even if her consciousness can make galaxies come into being and disappear, even if countless civilizations call her "Tao", "Supreme Will" or something else to worship her.

But, to her, she was just a being that wanted to survive. She hadn't even "evolved" the two most basic biological instincts of "hunger" and "bitterness." She was still stuck at the most basic stage of life, "survival."

"It seems I really hurt you," Lin Shangren said with a smile. "I'm sorry. But if you don't truly feel the pain that weak, insignificant lives like us feel, you'll never understand why I'm so persistent in doing these things."

With the help of Xiao Ai, Lin Shangren flew towards Evelya little by little. Seeing that Evelya did not hide away again, Lin Shangren continued:

"Actually, we don't have any irreconcilable conflicts. I want to take He Huan and the others away and give them a happy life. And you want me to take them away so that you can continue to search for a way to prevent heat death.

Our only disagreement is the brief period in your sacred timeline from the moment I arrived in this universe to the moment I took them away. Compared to trillions of years, a dozen or so years is nothing, right? Why can't you just let me tweak it a little?"

"Because this timeline is the one most likely to solve heat death!"

Evelya pointed to the sea of ​​possibilities, where countless possibilities, using causal logic, constructed countless "rivers" flowing into the distance. Among them, the sacred timeline was the brightest, while the others were darker due to being in a state of quantum divergence. Beyond them, there were many scattered possibilities flickering in brightness and darkness.

Those brilliant "rivers" of stars converge into an endless void, ultimately dissipating and annihilating. That void is the end of the universe: heat death.

"Even this timeline still hasn't truly resolved the issue of heat death. I can only see the outcome after Shinju Hehuan's soul truly leaves this universe." Evelya continued, "This timeline is life-saving medicine to me. How could I possibly let you do anything without authorization?

Furthermore, once Lin Shangren observed the possibility as a timeline, it would follow determinism. If you were to change the established future, it would likely create a paradox and cause the entire timeline to collapse…"

At this moment, Xiao Ai, who had been silent for a long time, suddenly spoke up: "My Lord, she is lying to you! When this universe joins you as a new observer, all established possibilities fall into a state of wave function divergence again.

Your fate in the next four days and the past less than thirty hours is fixed, but everything that happens in between is still subject to change.

"I know." Lin Shangren said, "Mrs. Evelya's wording was 'maybe', so it's not really a lie."

He looked at Evelya with a burning gaze: "As long as everything that happens between the past and the future is logical, there will be no problem, right?"

"..."

Evelya was silent for a moment before she spoke, "Yes, you can indeed adjust everything that has happened over the past decade or so and create a logically consistent 'history'... In fact, you've already done so."

She extended her hand and showed Lin Shangren many bleak fragments of possibilities, in which the "perfect story" prepared in Lin Shangren's mind was being played out:

He led Hehuan, Rinyin and Natsuki to leave the dream world, and then relied on his own abilities to clean up the remnants of the Eden organization in the academy, and tried to use the Eden organization's instruments to contact the motherland.

He decided to hand He Huan and the other children from Liuqingguan Academy over to the state as ordinary victims. As for whether the Flower Planting Family would "enforce the law across borders," that was not a problem. He believed that the "Paradise System" would definitely arouse the interest of the big brains.

Of course, Lin Shangren will not really hand over the paradise system. He will hide the paradise and Sleeping Beauty in the shadow of the ruins of the underground laboratory of Liuqingguan Academy and wait until it is needed in the future.

As for whether the Flower Planting Government would become like the Eden Organization... Lin Shangren chose to trust his motherland...

Well, he is not just a little pink, of course he will leave a safety net: a sure hit plus the eagle finger will become the "Sword of Damocles" hanging over the heads of those big heads.

Lin Shangren only needs to show them his strength: conventional weapons cannot kill him, but he can attack others regardless of distance and defense, and then how to threaten and persuade those bigwigs becomes easy.

Afterwards, He Huan and the others would live normal lives under the protection of the state. More than a decade later, the New Eden organization, represented by Fan Kariha, made a comeback. Taking advantage of the slack in their protection, she abducted He Huan and the others, intending to restart the Paradise experiment underground at Rokukeikan Academy.