Chapter 218: The Wall is Falling
Looking at Raven 12345’s gloomy expression, Hao Ren thought he had to be gloomier than the psychotic goddess: because he narrowly escaped her flying noodle soup and she also made it clear that even if there was half a pot of noodles, she would not share it with him…
Of course, these were minor problems. He moved himself to a safe place, looked curiously at Raven 12345 and asked, “Is this a serious situation?”
Hao Ren still did not have a clear understanding of the change in The Plane of Dreams. Although he knew it was a troublesome crisis, as a rookie with limited experience and knowledge, he did not know how big of a trouble it was. And now seeing such a response from Raven 12345, he realized that the situation was probably worse than he had expected.
“Serious? I’m not sure but, if there’s more evidence, then we have a lot of work to do.” Raven 12345 pointed to Hilda and continued explaining, “Do you know how low the odds are for a world to safely connect to another world without the assistance of professional equipment? That’s the equivalent of you being able to recognize the faces of 10,000 Korean celebrities. And this is a general case. I’m referring to the probability of you entering the main physical plane of another world from the main physical plane of one world. The Plane of Dreams is a subordinate part of this universe. It is like a shadow, where its priority is lower than the Surface World. That is, under normal circumstances, it should be hidden under the Surface World, difficult to be exposed and identified to the outside world. The creatures of this universe will only be able to perceive The Plane of Dreams in very rare circumstances what’s more a time-traveler from a different world, who has a weak connection with this world.”
“This means, even if Hilda time-travelled from her world, she should have entered the Surface World not The Plane of Dreams?”
“Pretty much.” Raven 12345 nodded. “Now, tell me everything you saw over there and I will make the next arrangements accordingly.”
Hao Ren told Raven 12345 about his experience in The Plane of Dreams. He mentioned the disappearance of the Orb of the Holy Synod two months ago, the various unusual changes near the blood lake, the rock giants that split from the cliff, the meeting with Hilda and most importantly, the alien spacecraft that appeared at the bottom of the blood lake.
He did not know which details were more useful so, he simply told Raven everything.
Of course, there was another major issue: Becky was sent to Earth by mistake.
After listening to Hao Ren, Raven 12345 sank into long silence, noodles hanging from her mouth as she entered into a mode of pondering for half a minute. Finally, just as Hao Ren was getting impatient, she suddenly came back, slurped the noodle and asked, “Did you say a ship landed in The Plane of Dreams?”
“Yes, this is the crew’s carry-on device from the spaceship, which recorded what happened when the spaceship crashed.” Hao Ren took the oval Torblec Data Terminal out from his Dimensional Pocket and said, “I got it from the technical advisor of the Torblec Hivekin.”
Raven merely touched the elliptical device and handed it back to Hao Ren. She said, “Well, I’ve scanned it but, I don’t know the owner of the spaceship mentioned on the data terminal. It should be an ordinary private company. According to the description of the accident, the spaceship was still working moments before the crash. Surroundings were also very normal so, this must have been the result of distortions from The Plane of Dreams…”
Hao Ren reminded her, “And Becky, she…”
“That’s just a subsidiary incident,” Raven 12345 said, waving her hand. “The situation has really started to deteriorate. Whether it’s Becky or Hilda or the ship, they are the result of this deterioration. If I’m not mistaken, I’m afraid there will be more of such incidents in the future.”
Raven 12345 frowned and looked serious. Although there was still half a noodle hanging from her mouth, Hao Ren was getting used to her behavioral patterns, which consisted of being serious and funny at the same time. After a few seconds of silence, Hao Ren could not help but ask, “You already know that The Plane of Dreams will deteriorate?”
There were indications that the goddess was not ignorant of the situation in The Plane of Dreams. At least she expected something before it happened but, for some reason, she did not take action. Hao Ren was quite curious about this.
“How do I say this, the deterioration of The Plane of Dreams is destined. It will deteriorate sooner or later but, I can’t determine when. And before it changes, I’m not sure what to do. The problem is too complicated. I have been keeping minimum attention on The Plane of Dreams all along. I even deliberately reduced the frequency of observation on The Plane of Dreams by agents and other departments in order to slow things down as much as possible, hoping to find a more secure solution before that. Until recently, I found that unease had begun and reducing the frequency of observation was no longer helpful…”
“What do you mean by ‘deterioration’? Is the balance between The Plane of Dreams and the Surface World being destroyed? Or is some kind of barrier becoming fragile? Why has the balance weakened?” Hao Ren asked curiously.
“Oh, it looks like you’ve been thinking about it too but, the exact meaning of the deterioration is much more complicated and the barrier becoming fragile is just the beginning.” Raven 12345 straightened her posture and continued to explain, “The Plane of Dreams is the shadow of this world, which is a subordinate unit. There is a solid ‘wall’ between The Plane of Dreams and the Surface World. The wall is a hindrance but, at the same time, it also protects everything in The Plane of Dreams and the Surface World so that the two worlds can be separated and not be annihilated by collisions. But now, I have to tell you that this wall could be melting. The Plane of Dreams is a shadow submerged in the depths of the sea, and now it has begun to emerge. Sooner or later it will collide with the Surface World, which will lead to a big annihilation. Therefore, the barrier becoming fragile is only the first step. First of all, The Plane of Dreams and the Surface World will permeate each other frequently, which is just a little bit of a trickle when the dam cracks. And after the collapse of the dam, the problem is not going to be just smooth contact between the two worlds. The whole dream plane will smash into the Surface World or vice versa. Boom,everything will be gone.”
It gave Hao Ren goosebumps. He quickly understood how the ‘dissolving of two worlds’ mentioned by Raven 12345 differed greatly from the ‘open teleportation of The Plane of Dreams’ that the MDT had guessed. Before that, the data terminal and Hao Ren had apparently been too conservative in their speculations about the situation. Hao Ren simply took The Plane of Dreams and the Surface World as two stationary containers, with a valve called ‘reality’ between the two containers. He thought the worst consequence of balance being broken was the opening of the valve, causing the products of the Surface World and The Plane of Dreams to circulate with each other on a large scale. Something like having a massive amount of monsters step on the streets of Washington or a group of humans discovering that Holetta had oil, which in his view were already great disasters.
However, it was clear that the real situation was much more serious than that. A wall separating The Plane of Dreams and the Surface World; the two worlds had always attracted each other like magnets. After the disappearance of the wall, the two worlds would not become complementary but directly merge into one.
No matter how the world would be after the integration, there would be no civilization like this anyway.
“The Plane of Dreams and the Surface World are consistent in general rules but, there is a difference in nuance,” Raven 12345 explained what would happen after the great fusion. “The speed of light in The Plane of Dreams is slightly higher than that of the Surface World. This alone will lead to disaster. Either the Surface World’s light speed barrier gets shaken and the hyper-celestial body at the tipping point explodes or The Plane of Dreams’ light speed is reset and the edge of the universe, which has been operating normally experiences an unexpected disintegration due to the sudden change in the barrier or, the two situations occurs simultaneously. There are still many problems that will seriously shake the foundation of the world. More than 90% of space and material will be eliminated, and the rest will be trapped in the chaos of the barrier. All science and technology as well as magic based on the laws of the universe will fail. There is no mortal civilization in this universe that can transcend this level. In this case, even if this civilization survives, it would be difficult to save it.”
Hao Ren was speechless.
Raven 12345 got up and gave Hao Ren a bowl of noodle soup. She then said, “I think you should be very stressed so, I’ll give you some special privileges. Drink this soup, then go and save the world…”
Hao Ren looked at the noodle soup that was no longer hot and said, “You told me that The Plane of Dreams and the Surface World will soon be merged and then annihilated after which, you gave me a bowl of noodle soup. You’re asking me to save the world with noodle soup as encouragement?”
Raven 12345 crossed her hands, placed it under her chin and said, “I made it myself.”
“The heck!” Hao Ren jumped half a meter high and said, “This is not funny at all! Do I have the chance to resign now?”
“Come on, how can such an unreasonable person like me allow you to resign?” Raven 12345 smiled and waved at Hao Ren to sit down. “Be optimistic. I just told you the whole situation to let you understand it. I didn’t say that I’ll let you solve everything alone. This is a serious event of the universe so, I’m responsible for the overall situation. I’ll let you do what you can do. Now, you just need to know what all this is for. That’s why I’m telling you the truth. Of course, another reason was because I couldn’t stop myself and accidentally said too much…”
Hao Ren was once again speechless.
Anyway, he sat at the back, frowned and looked at Raven 12345, then proceeded to ask, “Why has the ‘wall’ between The Plane of Dreams and the real world suddenly weakened?”
“Because this is how it’s supposed to be.” Raven spread her hands and said, “Just take this as the law of the universe. The specific reasons involved is a historical issue. It’ll take a few days and nights for me to explain. I’ll explain it to you when I have the time.”
Hao Ren was puzzled over its purpose and what it meant. Finally, he remembered a little detail that he had almost forgotten. “The rumors about The Day of Return that have been spreading like crazy among the unusual creatures on Earth, could that be the case?” he asked.
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