Chapter 474: Pattern of the Holes?_1

"Old Cheng Ping's" description was so magical that Logic and the others were at a loss on how to even picture that scene for a moment.

However, they all realized that the Chameleon was not simply a phenomenon that emitted colors; there must be deeper secrets to it.

At this point, "Old Cheng Ping" fell into a long pause, as if he were savoring the splendor of that moment, yet also as if the shock still overwhelmed him when he recalled it just now.

After more than a minute, he came back to his senses and continued, "In that perspective, I don't know how much time passed—it felt like a very long time!

"I found myself back on the spaceship, and by then, I was the only person left on board.

"Unfortunately, the moment when time stopped changing for me was in my twilight years, and I was very old at that time.

"Luckily, there were still usable robots on the ship, and they took care of me for a while.

"Soon, I noticed from the timer that the time on the spaceship was reversing day by day.

"At first, I didn't take it seriously because all the timing devices had been inaccurate before.

"But then I realized my body was getting better and better, and after a few years, I returned to how I look now.

"That's when I confirmed it—my time had reversed, and truly, it was moving backwards day by day.

"Yet, just like before, my consciousness had not reversed; I was well aware that my time was flowing backward."

After another pause, "Old Cheng Ping" wiped the fine sweat from his forehead, "I've been pondering over these years and I seem to have found the answer.

"The 'Chameleon' is likely a loophole in the cosmic law, or a space in a chaotic state. In any case, it is an aberration in the cosmos.

"I also thought about those dreams I had before. Could it be that I entered this loophole, which started my cyclical life?

"Due to the confusion in time, there is no sequence in the cycles of my life and my encounter with the cosmic loophole; after all, there's no order in time within the loophole.

"This is just my speculation, and it cannot be proven. But just now, I realized my existence is strong evidence!"

Old Cheng Ping adjusted his sitting position, "I thought I was going to drift in this chaos forever, but just now, I encountered a strange spaceship, and the passenger on board was Teacher Luo Ji!

"Only then did I realize that the spaceship had already traveled thousands of astronomical units away from the 'Chameleon', and I was back in the normal universe.

"But one detail caught my attention. First, I don't remember Teacher Luo Ji ever mentioning that he encountered anyone when he decelerated from lightspeed.

"Second, I immediately wondered whether to return to Earth right away, to make contact with myself in the normal flow of time. But in my memory, I had never seen a future version of myself!

"It was then that I realized I might be a loophole in the cosmos myself!

"Because it is a loophole, it does not form a closed loop, nor does it create a 'grandfather paradox', because I am an entity outside the entire universal sequence of operations!

"Thus, my existence won't have any connection with this universe, nor can it change any of the established things in this universe.

"For instance, I plan to pass this video on to myself on May 16. But in my memory, before and after having this intention, I never have a recollection of watching this video!

"There are two possible reasons for this outcome. The first is that Teacher Luo Ji didn't deliver the video to me, and the second is that the current 'me' exists independently outside the entire universe.

"If we consider you as a string too, then your string is certainly entangled with the universe and other people, whereas my string intersects with no other strings in the universe.

"I believe it is the latter, because I am convinced that if Teacher Luo Ji encountered another me, he would have unmasked the encounter quickly. He would not overlook such a peculiar matter without investigation.

"Thus, this exchange and reminder are our first communication, for both you and me.

"I believe my existence is evidence of the cosmic loophole."

"Old Cheng Ping" took a deep breath and started to counsel himself, "This is how the whole event unfolds. As for deciding whether to go to that cosmic loophole, you decide for yourself.

"Given the current situation, even if you don't go to the cosmic loophole, I don't think it will have any substantial effect on what happens later on!"

"But I sincerely invited you to take a look at that spectacular sight inside the hole, how should I put it, it would make you feel as if you were transcended."

"However, I won't come to see you now, because I am the hole, and you are a normal 'program'. When we meet, who knows what might happen."

"I made a decision just now, since my time is flowing backwards, I plan to return to the Solar System, because four years ago, the Solar System had not entered a two-dimensional state."

"Over a century ago, Earth was also in the Solar System, enjoying the warmth brought by the sun."

"If I keep going back like this, maybe I will even meet my 27-year-old self."

"Old Cheng Ping" glanced at the timer, "It's almost 22:30 now, my time is running short, so I will stop here."

The video ended and the lights in the room gradually brightened, but the few people in the room fell into a long silence.

After a few minutes, Logic asked, "What do you think, how should we continue to investigate this matter?"

Cheng Ping said, "Report it!"

His voice was very hoarse when he spoke, so he cleared his throat and added, "I hope the experts of the Academy of Sciences can explain what a universe hole is based on these clues."

Zhuang Yue nodded, "I agree with that approach."

Then she said to Cheng Ping, "Before the Academy of Sciences has any results, don't go any further with your explorations."

...

Close to midnight, Jiang Yu received an urgent report from the Chameleon research team, stating that they had made a breakthrough in their work.

After he arrived at the conference room, the research team first played the video recorded by Logic, where he detailed his encounter with "Old Cheng Ping" after breaking away from the speed of light.

Next, they played the video reports of Cheng Ping and Zhuang Yue, as well as the conversation between Logic and "Old Cheng Ping", and finally the video recorded by "Old Cheng Ping".

After watching all these, several hours later, Jiang Yu asked the room full of researchers, "Can you now explain clearly what's going on?"

The leader of the research group, who was also the president of the Academy of Sciences, Ricks, said, "We believe that it should be a time dimension hole.

"Just like a crack in a cup, occasionally a drop of water might leak out."

"So 'this drop of water' just happened to be encountered by Earth?" Jiang Yu asked.

No one knew how to answer this question, but they could tell that Jiang Yu did not seem to agree with this investigative conclusion.

Jiang Yu took a deep breath and then asked, "Where is Thirty-Six now?"

After waking up, Thirty-Six did not continue to hibernate but, with the support of Jiang Yu, set up a project group dedicated to finding and researching Four-dimensional Fragments.

In Galaxy Year 2, their group found a Four-dimensional Fragment more than twenty light-years away from the New Continent Star System.

Thus, Thirty-Six woke up Jiang Shiliu, and they immediately put together an expedition team and began their mission.

Now they were en route to a Spaceport six thousand astronomical units away. After taking the last supplies at the Spaceport, they would enter lightspeed and fly towards the Four-dimensional Fragment.

Upon learning that Thirty-Six had not yet entered lightspeed, Jiang Yu said, "Share all this information with him, and you should communicate more with him as well."

Jiang Yu stood up seriously and said, "I feel that this incident is not as simple as you think. The encounter of old Cheng Ping could be of great help in understanding the entire universe!"

He waved his hand and said, "Alright, it's already early morning, everyone should go rest. Report again when you have new results.

"Hmm, preferably during the day, holding meetings at night is really a torment!"

Therefore, a week later in the morning, Jiang Yu, who had received a report of new developments, appeared in the conference room once again.