Chapter 426 [Who Am I?]
I’ve co to find you.
Upon hearing this, Chen Nuo’s face suddenly cald.
Electric General seed genuinely interested as he carefully examined Chen Nuo, his gaze intense.
Chen Nuo exhaled slowly and spoke, "You’re looking for ... Why?"
"Curiosity," Electric General answered frankly. "I am very curious about you."
"Because of Seed? Because I am the Chosen One of Seed, so you want to get sothing about Seed from ..."
"No, no, no, you’re thinking too simply." Electric General suddenly bent forward, pulled a pipe out of his pocket, put it in his mouth, and then took two steps forward, closing the distance between him and Chen Nuo.
Chen Nuo’s expression remained unchanged, but his heart tightened.
In fact, what made him even more anxious was...
Right before he had jumped up to the rooftop, he had already sent out a tendril of spiritual power to another room to warn Lu Xixi!
But why was there still no sound or movent from Lu Xixi’s side at this mont?
While speaking, Chen Nuo slowly backed up and once again tried to sense the Spiritual Force Tentacle he had extended. Then, Chen Nuo’s face suddenly changed!
"No need to think about it," Electric General said with a leisurely laugh. "Were you planning on calling my Chosen One over so that you could join forces against ? If that were useful, she would have been up here by now."
"What have you done to her? Hypnosis? Or spiritual power control?"
"...Actually, I didn’t do anything to her," Electric General said slowly. "To be precise, it was *you* I did sothing to.
"If you don’t believe , I won’t stop you. You can go and wake her up."
Chen Nuo’s heart sank.
He could no longer sense the Spiritual Force Tentacle he had extended.
And after trying to send out a few more, he discovered sothing that shocked him even more!
Downstairs, Lu Xixi’s bedroom was empty, devoid of anyone!
Chen Nuo took a deep breath and clenched his fists. He covered his entire body with the ntality Cocoon and fully activated his will, sensing the spatial fluctuations around him, preparing for a major battle at any mont. He asked coldly, "Where have you taken her?"
"No, no, no, I was very clear just now. I didn’t do anything to her.
"You shouldn’t ask where I took her.
"You should ask ...
"Where I took *you*!"
As he said this, Electric General grinned, showing a row of white teeth.
Chen Nuo felt a jolt in his heart. Suddenly, his spiritual power surged. As countless Spiritual Force Tentacles spread out, a shocking truth struck him!
No one was there!
Downstairs, in his apartnt, and even in the apartnt across the hall—not only was Lu Xixi gone, but Ou Xiuhua and the children were also missing!
Even the entire residential building!
No, the entire neighborhood!
No! In fact, throughout the entire street, Chen Nuo couldn’t sense the spiritual fluctuations of a single living creature!
On the level of spiritual consciousness, the entire area seed as silent as death!
There was no one!
Not even the cats and dogs in the nearby neighborhood streets, nor the mice, ants, bedbugs, sparrows, or birds...
All gone!
Chen Nuo rapidly extended his spiritual power, covering more and more streets, but he couldn’t sense the slightest sign of life!
Stars and moon hung in the sky, yet this world was deadly silent!
In an instant, Chen Nuo understood. He exhaled. "Where are we?"
Electric General smiled without responding.
"A dream?" Chen Nuo asked coldly. "A dream you created? Or an illusion brought about by spiritual power?"
"Neither."
Electric General suddenly gestured. The sunshade on the rooftop terrace shattered, and a fragnt flew into his hand, which he crushed lightly.
He delicately rubbed the powder between his fingertips. "This place is neither an illusion nor a dream; all the matter here is real."
Real?
Chen Nuo quickly perford an internal check. He found no abnormalities in his control over his body, and there were no irregularities in his Consciousness Space either.
The Tree of Misfortune was still being nurtured within layers of spiritual power; the neighboring Tree of Killing Intent also continued to exist...
Then it wasn’t a dream.
If it were an illusion, the other party wouldn’t be able to create these things out of thin air.
So... a real world?
Then, where were the people?
"At your current level, you should have so understanding. Our evolutionary direction, our goal, is to leap from being three-dinsional life forms toward the four-dinsional.
"Then you should understand that the three-dinsional world is a material world. The four-dinsional world, however, transcends the matter of the three-dinsional world and is linked by a single axis.
"As beings standing at the pinnacle of three-dinsional life, although we haven’t transcended or entered the fourth dinsion...
"But, to put it simply, we can generally be considered three-and-a-half-dinsional.
"So... abilities like spatial control and life control are obtained during the evolutionary process. Of course... you’ve already obtained so similar abilities.
"I’ve heard your ability is related to space. Can’t you figure out what this place is?"
Chen Nuo pondered briefly. "An independent three-dinsional space? Created by you? A mirror image?"
"Close, but not a mirror image."
The Electric General seed in no hurry to act against Chen Nuo; on the contrary, he seed quite interested and patiently engaged him in conversation:
"We’ve always speculated that the axis of four-dinsional space is Ti... but this isn’t Ti in the three-dinsional world’s sense. If asured using life as a scale...
"All I did was use you, Mr. Chen Nuo—your person—as the scale. Then, within your dream, I created a nightmare to bring your Negative Emotions to their peak, and I seized that opportunity to pull you in here.
"And this place... well, how should I put it? It’s not quite a mirror.
"You could call it a copy, a simulation, or perhaps an extrapolation.
"In any case, it’s a world ford using you as the coordinate, you as the scale, you as the reference point—an extraction of a part of ’your world.’"
"My... world?"
"Yes. This is still Huaxia, still Jinling, the neighborhood where you live, this very building.
"It’s just that all of this uses you as the coordinate; it’s a world ford from what you’ve perceived, observed, and known throughout your life.
"I simply copied that part over."
"Then... what about life? Are we the only two here?"
"I’m sorry. I’m only three-and-a-half-dinsional; I can’t create a host of identical lives.
"Matter can be copied, but life cannot.
"Life is special, which is also why we consider life to be the fourth axis."
Chen Nuo said nothing, but he had secretly retracted all the Spiritual Force Tentacles he had released.
Whether this Electric General was deceiving him or not, of one thing Chen Nuo was certain: there were indeed no other people here!
Unless Electric General could make half the population of Jinling City vanish in an instant!
Otherwise, just as he said, this was indeed a lifeless, replicated space.
"This isn’t creation; we can’t create a world out of nothing.
"Everything here was replicated by . I intruded into your consciousness while you were having a nightmare, extracted a corner of it, and then used your own life experiences—your perceptions, cognitions, and understanding of the surrounding world—to copy this world."
My world...
A sudden realization dawned on Chen Nuo.
If I were to die... to the world, it would an I had died.
But to , it would an the world had ended.
A world asured using individual life as its coordinate and scale!
The world perceived by each life is a three-dinsional world.
The perceived worlds of countless lives, when superimposed, require an unseen, untouchable axis to link them together to form the four-dinsional world.
"Out with it. What do you want from ? You can’t have sought out just to discuss these things," Chen Nuo said, staring at the Electric General and suddenly frowning. "Wearing this shell... it feels quite awkward. You know I knew the original Electric General."
"Hmm, I know a bit, but I’m not clear on the specifics.
"After Body Seizing, it’s impossible to inherit all of the original host’s mories... Besides, I didn’t actually kill him; I just moved his consciousness elsewhere."
As he spoke, the Electric General’s facial muscles and bones began to shift and contort, and his figure started to change.
After a few breaths, the Electric General before him had transford into a completely different person.
He was now a tall, slender human with brown hair, a pale complexion, handso features, and well-proportioned limbs.
But it was a face Chen Nuo had never seen before. After glancing at him, Chen Nuo asked, "Is this your true appearance?"
"There’s no such thing as a ’true appearance,’ as you call it."
"Hmm, true enough. You’re a group of non-human entities, aren’t you? Spiritual Life Forms, Seeds. So, this current appearance of yours?"
"It’s a shell I used before this one; I suppose I grew accustod to it. Since you found the Electric General’s face unsettling, I can speak to you in this form as well."
Chen Nuo shook his head. "Just tell , what’s your purpose in coming here?"
"I needed to confirm sothing. After seeing you, I’m practically certain," The Fourth Seed said, his expression turning serious. "Now, I’d like you to answer a question for . I’m extrely curious about the answer."
"What question?"
"How... did you co to this world?"
Chen Nuo frowned. "What the hell do you an? Of course I’m human, born from my own mother..."
"No, no, no, no, no..." The Fourth Seed smiled, then stared at Chen Nuo. "Mr. Chen Nuo, there’s no need to feign such an absurd tone with ... Although I haven’t dealt with you personally, I’ve heard a fair bit about you.
"I’m also well aware of your dishonesty and cunning.
"So, you actually know exactly what I’m asking.
"Now, please answer : how did you co to this world?
"Your life’s calibration point isn’t in this three-dinsional space at all!"
Chen Nuo continued to feign ignorance. "What do you an?"
The Fourth Seed sighed. "Unwilling to admit it?"
"There’s nothing I’m unwilling to admit. I just don’t know what you’re talking about."
The Fourth Seed didn’t seem angry. Instead, he slowly took a puff from his pipe, exhaling a plu of greenish-blue smoke.
"You’ve seen children, haven’t you?
"Many young children will fantasize about having a friend.
"That’s why parents or other adults often see a child talking to themselves, or perhaps hugging a doll or toy, acting as if it can genuinely communicate with them. They even imagine elaborate scenarios and conversations.
"To adults, it’s rely a child’s fantasy, or perhaps illogical make-believe; there’s no such thing as this imagined, non-existent friend.
"But in the child’s eyes, that friend is real.
"So, what ultimately defines real, and what defines false?"
Chen Nuo thought for a mont. "Obviously, the friend a child imagines is false."
"But the child firmly believes it’s real.
"What we call ’real’ is simply what you perceive and are aware of. What you cannot perceive isn’t real.
"In the adult world, that friend is false.
"But in that child’s world, it’s real."
What one can perceive and cognize is real. What one cannot perceive or cognize is not real...
"So, what I’m very curious about is this: from my perspective... you are false. You shouldn’t exist in this world."
Chen Nuo remained silent.
Then he retorted, "Who says I’m not real?
"I am Chen Nuo, born in this city! My mother, who gave birth to , lives in the very building beneath our feet..."
"That’s material reality, but not existential reality," The Fourth Seed replied.
"You can see through life?" Chen Nuo’s heart stirred. He countered with the question the Gray Cat had once asked him, "So, what is life? Where does life co from?"
Upon hearing this, The Fourth Seed’s expression unexpectedly turned solemn. He replied earnestly, "I desperately want to know that answer too. That is the ultimate goal of our competition. If you knew the answer, then this conversation today wouldn’t be happening."
After a pause, to Chen Nuo’s surprise, this being added, "However, I do know a few other things. Perhaps not enough to fully answer your question, but... they might offer so direction."
"Such as?"
"Such as, where life originates."
Chen Nuo frowned.
Scientists on Earth had already proposed similar answers: the Big Bang, or, from a chemical perspective, amino acids forming proteins as the fundantal units of life...
But Chen Nuo believed The Fourth Seed wasn’t referring to these concepts.
"We currently believe ourselves to be in a three-dinsional world. So, where are beings from dinsions different from our own?"
"Obviously, two-dinsional life exists in a two-dinsional world, and Four-Dinsional Life exists in a four-dinsional world..."
"Then can we observe their existence?"
"No." Chen Nuo answered crisply.
That was already a fundantal scientific consensus.
Life can only perceive other life within the sa dinsion; it cannot perceive life from other dinsions.
Even though humans are three-dinsional beings, they couldn’t perceive Four-Dinsional Life, let alone perceive two-dinsional life, which was a dinsion lower than their own.
"So, do you believe that higher-dinsional life is necessarily superior to lower-dinsional life?
"For instance, let’s not discuss Four-Dinsional Life for now.
"We ourselves are three-dinsional beings. Does that automatically make us more advanced and powerful than two-dinsional beings?"
"Huh?" Chen Nuo was stunned.
His imdiate, subconscious thought was: Of course, they’re more advanced!
Although he wasn’t a scientist or a physicist, he had at least read *The Three-Body Problem* and understood the concept of a dinsional-reduction strike.
But...
"You are three-dinsional beings. Even if human civilization, in the context of the entire three-dinsional cosmos, isn’t the most advanced—there are civilizations far more advanced than yours.
"But, setting aside comparisons with other three-dinsional civilizations, you are still three-dinsional life forms, surely more advanced than two-dinsional life, correct?
"Well then, go ahead and destroy a two-dinsional world, or kill a two-dinsional being for to see."
Kill a two-dinsional being?
Hell, I can’t even find one!
"You can’t do it, can you? If you can’t even perceive it, how could you destroy or kill it?
"If you can’t perceive the other, how can you demonstrate superiority?"
At this point, The Fourth Seed chuckled, then offered his own answer: "Therefore, higher-dinsional life isn’t necessarily superior to lower-dinsional life... at least, not by the definition of ’superior’ used in the three-dinsional world.
"We can’t even perceive life in a two-dinsional world; how dare we claim to be more advanced than it?"
"Then, your pursuit of evolution towards the four-dinsional... isn’t that aningless?"
"Of course, it’s aningful... but I won’t discuss that with you right now," The Fourth Seed continued. "So, if we aren’t superior to two-dinsional life, then Four-Dinsional Life might not necessarily be superior to us either.
"And in truth, life itself is equal.
"Because... essentially, we are all the sa."
"The sa? What do you an?"
Damn it, has this Seed actually co up with so concept like ’all beings are equal’?
"What I an by ’the sa’ is... in reality, life isn’t divided by dinsions. Rather... all life—whether we previously conceived of it as two-dinsional life, three-dinsional life, or Four-Dinsional Life...
"That’s all incorrect!
"All life exists in a single dinsion!"
"I... don’t understand."
The Fourth Seed looked at Chen Nuo and said slowly, "...Haven’t you humans created an interesting thing called online gas, correct?
"You play a ga, controlling a character within it.
"You imbue this ga character with all its actions, dialogue, behaviors, mannerisms, objectives, and motivations...
"Let ask you: is this ga world two-dinsional or three-dinsional?"
"Uh? Two-dinsional?" Chen Nuo answered, uncertain.
"To be precise, it’s a pseudo-two-dinsional world created by three-dinsional life. It’s infinitely close to a true two-dinsional world, but it isn’t one.
"However, let’s tentatively treat this online ga world as a two-dinsional world. This would an the ga characters you control are essentially two-dinsional life within this two-dinsional world...
"But, I ask you... is it truly two-dinsional life?"
Chen Nuo’s heart skipped a beat!
The Fourth Seed continued, "It appears to et many criteria for two-dinsional life in a two-dinsional world. But ultimately, all its actions, behaviors, motives, and purposes originate from you—and you are a three-dinsional being!
"Quite interesting, isn’t it? A supposed two-dinsional being actually originates from a three-dinsional one.
"So you see, it’s rather intriguing.
"A pseudo-two-dinsional being isn’t truly two-dinsional. While existing in that two-dinsional space, everything about it cos from you! It’s controlled by you!
"So then... for you, existing in three dinsions, from whom does everything about you originate, and by what are you controlled?
"This is what I ant by the source of life!"
Chen Nuo took a deep breath. "You an there’s no such thing as ’two-dinsional life,’ ’three-dinsional life,’ or ’Four-Dinsional Life’ in the way we think? That the essence of life is the sa? We are just..."
"Our consciousness is projected into the three-dinsional world, so we only perceive three dinsions.
"But in reality, we are simultaneously one-dinsional, two-dinsional, three-dinsional, four-dinsional, five-dinsional... and so on.
"However, because our consciousness is projected into three dinsions, we can only perceive three dinsions.
"We can simulate two dinsions or one dinsion through imagination...
"But we cannot simulate a dinsion higher than our own, such as the fourth dinsion.
"Regarding spatial dinsions, higher dinsions are naturally more advanced.
"However, life itself possesses no such hierarchy of higher or lower dinsions."
At this point, The Fourth Seed said, "So, your assumption that we Mothers or Seeds are three-dinsional life forms wanting to evolve into Four-Dinsional Life is, in fact, inaccurate.
"To be precise, we *are* life, but currently, we can only project ourselves into the first, second, and third dinsions. We haven’t yet perceived the fourth dinsion.
"We simply want to enter four-dinsional space, to be able to perceive it, master it, and thereby achieve a greater advancent!
"That is the precise definition of evolution we seek."
Life itself has no dinsions.
Only the perceived world has dinsions!
It’s like a person: if you’re in M Country, you’re a person from M Country; if you’re in Huaxia, you’re one of the Chinese people; if you’re born into an indigenous African tribe, you’re a mber of that African tribe.
But essentially, all are human, all are primates. From the fundantal essence of life, there’s no hierarchy of higher or lower.
So, to be precise...
These Seeds or Mothers... they don’t want to evolve.
Rather...
Rather, hell, they want to *migrate*?
Migrate from a lower-dinsional space to a higher-dinsional one?
Holy crap!
Chen Nuo sank into deep thought.
And The Fourth Seed said in a gentle voice, "This is also why I want to know where you co from.
"Because, from my observations, your life’s calibration point isn’t here. This world doesn’t have your life’s calibration point.
"In other words, you’re an outsider.
"I don’t know what kind of power enables you to do such a thing.
"Nor do I know if perhaps you yourself have already transcended certain rules, reaching the state we’ve always been pursuing.
"But...
"In any case, Chen Nuo, your existence proves that the hypothesis we’ve long pursued is not re conjecture!
"You are a living example standing right before !
"So..."
Chen Nuo smiled bitterly to himself. So, I’m an immigrant?
No, more accurately...
A stowaway?
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