Chapter 50

Our Discord Server: https://discord.gg/PazjBDkTmW

Chapter 50: Are There Gods in the World?

They entered the exhibition hall and stood before the time model, quietly watching the spinning sphere within it, which contained star systems flickering with light, resembling a neural network.

The entire model stood over ten meters tall, somewhat similar to the Micro-Light Particle Universe model that Ti Ran had gifted them before. However, the internal structure of the star systems appeared more complex and grand. Standing in front of such a massive model, they felt an overwhelming sense of awe.

“This model is a speculative representation based on the Micro-Light Particle Universe cultivated by Professor Ti Ran, combined with our actual observations of the universe,” Wanhua explained, having visited here once before and familiar with the details.

They first stood in silence, gazing upwards for a while. Then, they followed the guiding robot to circle around the exterior of the model, before boarding an open escalator that brought them to eye level with the model.

At that point, the guiding robot began to introduce the origins of this model. “After the multiverse theory was confirmed by the parallel time exploration team, the original formation of the universe was also substantiated. The entire universe was born from a superluminal collision of fundamental particles, simultaneously generating multiple parallel time systems with symmetry. These parallel time systems have almost identical historical development paths, with only slight differences at certain event nodes. According to the symmetry principle of the multiverse, the differences between all parallel time systems will not exceed a specific threshold and ultimately lead to the same conclusion.”

“What does ‘ultimately’ even mean?” Ying Zhao murmured to herself, recalling the annihilation they witnessed in Ti Ran’s treehouse, where the end of all universes likely resembled that event.

It was just that, with their brief lives of a hundred years, they had no chance to witness the billions of years of evolution of the entire universe.

“Ying Zhao, do you believe there are gods in the world?” Zhu Huai asked softly, facing the model.

Luo Yu turned to glance at Zhu Huai; the question sounded familiar. Four years ago, when they had just descended into the time gap, Zhu Huai had asked her a similar nonsensical question.

She remembered Zhu Huai holding a book at that time, titled *The All-Seeing Eye: Observations from Beyond the Dome*. She then looked back at the model—if the universe they inhabited looked like this from afar, then could there be one or more eyes, like theirs observing this model, also watching them?

“If you’re talking about a tangible deity in religion, then I think there isn’t one,” Ying Zhao said seriously. “However, if you’re asking whether there is a creator who made the universe, humanity, and all the rules of this world, I believe there is. This world cannot be randomly formed, and humanity cannot have accidentally come into existence within the natural world.”

Wanhua tilted his head to look at her. “Why do you say it wasn’t an accidental birth?”

“Because the probability is too low. Within our observable universe, there is only one planet providing a suitable environment for humans to develop into a higher civilization with independent thought. If it were accidental, how many coincidences would need to happen? The difficulty is comparable to dumping a pile of scrap metal into the ocean and relying on the currents to spontaneously assemble a submarine without any external force. Even given a hundred million years, it could not form naturally.”

The other three nodded thoughtfully as Ying Zhao finished, especially after having seen the footage returned by the exploration team today. They were even more inclined to agree with her statement; after all, how could life and civilization formed purely by coincidence exhibit regular cycles?

However, this conclusion raised further unexplainable questions. The four stood silently on the platform, gazing at the glowing giant model until Zhu Huai slowly said, “In that book I brought along on this mission, there’s a section that closely resembles your viewpoint. However, it goes on to say we need not be fixated on finding the meaning of life, as it may not possess any significance in itself.”

“I believe everything’s existence is meaningful,” Ying Zhao said, staring intently at the model. The blue light from the star systems reflected in her eyes. “The reason for nihilism may stem from our dimension limiting our thoughts and preventing us from understanding the significance of our existence. So rather than suffering from a painful search, it’s better to go with the flow.”

Zhu Huai chuckled softly, “It’s like no engineer would write a meaningless line of code, yet a single line of code doesn’t understand its own existence.”

Luo Yu, listening to them, contemplated, “This series of events we unexpectedly fell into, including the mentioned cycle of civilization in today’s meeting, might help us uncover these mysteries.”

“I feel the same way,” Ying Zhao said excitedly. “Maybe in my lifetime, I can unveil the mysteries of the creator!”

Wanhua also became enthusiastic, “Cosmology is fascinating! I want to study it too!”

Luo Yu, Zhu Huai, and Ying Zhao exchanged smiles, recalling how Wanhua had initially come to the Ponsuo Tribe for a tour of the Genetic Research Institute. This time, she visited the time travel center and developed an interest in cosmology; the field of biological genetics might miss out on a talent.

However, the paths in this world were far broader than in theirs, and choices were not as binary.

Zhu Huai patted Wanhua on the shoulder. “Luckily, you were born here. The sky is vast and the earth is wide; you can learn whatever you want.”

After chatting for a while, the four of them completed their visit to the time model and were led by the guiding robot to the adjacent time capsule exhibition hall, which displayed various models of time capsules.

This was definitely Zhu Huai’s area of expertise. Upon entering the exhibition hall and seeing the row of displayed time capsules, her eyes darted around, unsure of which to look at first.

Luo Yu was also captivated by these uniquely designed spaceships, standing at the edge of the display, looking left and right, even contemplating asking the guiding robot if she could sit inside one.

The guiding robot seemed to anticipate their request, walking over to one of the time capsules and saying, “This time capsule is open for internal visits. You can go inside and take a look.”

Originally scattered throughout the hall, each examining different models, the four converged at the guiding robot’s location, watching it open the capsule door and inviting them in together.

This time capsule was significantly larger than the Shan Hai Jing. Luo Yu estimated it to be about three times the size of the Shan Hai Jing, and its height was more than twice that.

All the time capsules in this exhibition hall had a disc shape. According to the guiding robot’s introduction, this design was beneficial for navigating through complex gravitational field environments during long-distance time travel.

Zhu Huai also explained the design philosophy behind the Shan Hai Jing, why they chose an irregular whale shape, which was primarily related to range. After all, their farthest journey had only been over two thousand years ago. There was no need to consider the complexities of long-distance time channels, and every retrieval mission did not require long stays, so the design focused on convenience and fuel efficiency due to the capsule’s smaller size.

“Damnable financial system! You have to consider the costs no matter what you do, always pinching pennies,” Zhu Huai complained bitterly.

As she spoke, the four of them followed the guiding robot through the outer airlock and entered the main cockpit of the time capsule.

The cockpit was also round. Upon stepping inside, they saw that there were control panels in three different directions. The guiding robot explained, “This time capsule is a model from twelve years ago, featuring a multi-directional control panel design. The three control panels are of equal importance, and a single person can operate the entire time capsule from any of them.”

Luo Yu looked back and forth at the three driving positions, then asked the guiding robot, “Can I sit down and experience the driver seat?”

“Of course.”

She walked over to one of the driving seats, looked at the control panel in front of her, and found the function prompts clear and easy to understand.

After examining the control panels, she sat down in the driver’s seat and noticed manual safety harnesses on both sides of her shoulders. With a somewhat exaggerated motion, she pulled them out and buckled herself in.

Once settled, she reached for the control stick on the console, only to find it was out of her reach. All right, this cockpit wasn’t designed for her height.

The guiding robot seemed to notice her embarrassment as she retracted her hand and explained, “The driver’s seat is currently in the maximum distance starting position because it is not activated. It cannot adjust instantly according to the driver’s height.”

At that moment, Zhu Huai began to explore the specific functions on the adjacent control panel, asking the guiding robot a series of questions. The robot, equipped with the entire knowledge base of the time travel center, answered with ease about the internal design of the time capsule.

After listening to Zhu Huai’s back-and-forth with the guiding robot, Luo Yu undid her safety harness, leaned forward a bit more, and also began to investigate the operational functions while Ying Zhao and Wanhua approached her to take a look.

Seeing them gathered around, Zhu Huai walked over to Luo Yu’s side and noticed she was about to pull the control stick. Beside the control stick was a time regulator for aligning in the time tunnel, so Zhu Huai reached out and turned the time regulator to the maximum setting.

Luo Yu smiled lightly at this and abruptly pulled the control stick downward, saying, “Let’s go, to the moment of the universe’s birth, let’s start.”

The control stick emitted a “click” sound as it returned to its position.

Nothing happened.

The four of them turned to look at each other and burst into laughter.

They played around in the cockpit for a while, then followed the guiding robot to visit the nearby power compartment and rest chamber, and watched explanatory videos in the exhibition hall about improvements in different models of time capsules.

Once their visit was nearly complete, the guiding robot received a message and said to them, “The conference room has concluded. Professor Mo Chuan is asking if you have finished your tour. If so, you can go meet her.”

Having more or less finished exploring the large exhibition hall, they still had a few smaller sample exhibition rooms they hadn’t visited yet. Hearing the guiding robot’s words, they all agreed to check out the rest another day. They then walked out together, boarding the cave train at the entrance to head toward the conference room.

Before long, they disembarked at the conference room station. Most of the attendees had already left, and the path inside had become much quieter than earlier.

The guiding robot led them to a nearby lounge, where they found Mo Chuan, Ti Ran, and others chatting. They were energetically discussing the progress of the exploration team and whether to increase on-site inspections based on remote observations.

After greeting everyone, Luo Yu and her group ordered some food and drinks from the Serving Robot and sat down to listen to the discussion.

Some believed more on-site inspections should be added, while others thought they should observe for a while longer since today’s footage revealed many strange beasts in the historical time period from ten thousand years ago, which could pose significant risks for on-site inspections.

In the end, the consensus was to wait until all the footage returned and was analyzed before making the next decision.

Once the discussion concluded, Mo Chuan asked Luo Yu and her friends what exhibition halls they had visited. Luo Yu briefly mentioned their tour for the day, “It was shocking and very rewarding.”

They chatted for a while, had some snacks, and as it grew late, each began to disperse. More analysis work awaited them, and Ti Ran mentioned they would gather everyone again when more information and results were available.

Outside the time travel center, Luo Yu and her friends said their goodbyes to everyone and returned to the mountaintop beside the cave villa aboard the same aircraft they had arrived in.

When they landed on the helipad, it was already dark, but it was still not too late. Having just eaten, the three of them went to the simulator to perform a return simulation for five rounds, until the moon had risen high, before heading back to the cave villa together.

Once inside, they didn’t rush to their rooms but instead sat on the soft cushions in the lounge. They used the panel that Ti Ran had given to Ying Zhao to watch the six pieces of footage returned by the exploration team.

Ying Zhao instructed the in-house housekeeping system to project the footage onto the table, and after watching it once, the three remained silent. Suddenly, a notification popped up on the panel above the table: “Three new footage segments received, sender—Ti Ran.”