Age of Cosmic Exploration
chapter-403-30041322

Chapter 403: Message (1)

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

What exactly is a demon?

The topic once more returned to this. However, ZERO had been avoiding giving the answer no matter how harsh Yao Yuan was. In the end, he only managed to squeeze out a sentence through her tears.

"It's not that I don't want to tell. Unless I am completely free from the illusory space I am in, the UFO's self-defense will automatically activate if I reveal certain sensitive information to you humans… You humans must find the answer to this question on your own, I cannot give you the answer unless you wish to die."

When she said that, the trio broke out in cold sweat. Indeed, ZERO was ZERO, and the UFO she was in was an isolated entity; the two were not one and the same. If ZERO was telling the truth, and the UFO would destroy the Hope if she revealed certain information, then it was truly frightening.

"Therefore, I can only say this: demons are not living creatures, they are an existence, they are not unlike the demons mentioned in your human bible…"

The trio got into their own thoughts after hearing that. In reality, this was not the first time Yao Yuan heard that description, but he didn't have time to ponder about its implications before. At the time, he hadn't even met an actual demon, but now that he was reminded of it, many different observations formed in his mind.

First, the demons in the bible were created by God. Let's assume this God was a figurative existence, like the Dao in Daoism. In any case, for the sake of this thought experiment, it is not the "God" in the common understanding, that was merely a lifeform with a grasp of higher power, not something ZERO was talking about.

In that case, demons originated from nothingness and not something with form, a form which then created the universe just like how God used seven days to create the universe in the bible… wait!

Yao Yuan, who was piloting the shuttle, suddenly turned around, surprising the other two who were deep in their thought and ZERO, who was just blanking out. He ignored them and said, "When you say the demons are similar to their depiction in the bible, then… what about the other depictions? Or should I say, the bible also writes about God creating the world, humanity, and angels. So what about those? Are they real as well?"

ZERO was stunned. She sat there quietly and started to think. After a long while, she replied, "You're basically right… they are real, but there are no angels because the angels are the demons."

"Is that so?" Yao Yuan took a deep breath and said, "Then let me conclude and categorize what you've said so far. You are trying to implicate that there exists an ultimate thought which created the world and the demons?"

"Wrong!" ZERO immediately retorted. "That's wrong because the universe is the universe, its creation and operation follows the foundation of physics according to force, energy, space, and time. It is not controllable by a thought; the universe itself is a formless existence and it doesn't come from an ultimate thought. In fact, there is no such thing as an ultimate thought. The universe is the universe, just like 1 plus 1 equals to 2, it is the real formless existence."

Yao Yuan sighed, but he added with confusion, "But didn't you just say that Genesis and the demons in the bible are real… or I have misunderstood it?"

This time ZERO didn't say anything. Yao Yuan added after a moment, "Since the western bible contains clues to the demons' existence, is there a similar example in eastern philosophy?"

ZERO added, "Of course there is. The Pangu [1] is a perfect example, the myth of Nu Wa is another. Also, think about the stories of cultivation where people turned into demons as their hearts caused them to stray from the righteous path, that is also a manifestation of the demonic energy. I cannot say anything more than that."

This time Yao Yuan was even more confused. They had more clues to go on with, but they were all half-clues. There was not one unifying thread that strung them together, so how could they possibly get to the correct answer from these?

He reverted back to the question that started it all: what is a demon? All of the clues seemed to point towards this question, so if this question was answered, then the rest of the clues would make sense.

So what is a demon?!

Yao Yuan was using his Thinker power so much that he felt some measure of pain in his brain. However, he could not come up with nothing, not even the shadow of an answer. Finally, he gave up. After all, humanity was currently a level 2 space civilization, they were simply too far away from talks of demons and the universe. At least until they became a mid tier space civilization, they wouldn't have to worry about demons, so thinking about them now was pretty useless. Perhaps the answer would reveal itself when humanity reached a certain level.

The group continued on their journey. As they moved forward, the feeling of slowing down got more pronounced. In the end, it felt like they had returned to Earth's speed and their surroundings were moving away at several hundred kilometers per hour. The group started to get impatient.

Regardless, at least they were still moving forward, and finally a bright mist appeared down the horizon. It was probably the entrance to the central control. The group was excited, but the feeling of something being amiss was getting stronger. They realized that no matter how fast they travelled, the mist still remained at its original position; it didn't seem like they were getting closer to it at all. It felt like… their transport shuttle had gone immobile.

The group was extremely sensitive to this, so they realized that something weird was going on immediately. However, when questioned, they couldn't put their finger on what was wrong. Without a better knowledge of stuff, they could only conclude that either the rules of the illusory space had changed once more or some of high-end technology was preventing them from moving forward.

As the transport shuttle continued moving forward, the group finally realized what was wrong. Their surroundings had suddenly become huge, making them feel like they were looking from the perspective of a bug.

"This isn't right, we have gotten smaller." Yao Yuan suddenly stopped the shuttle. They looked out the window and realized with a start that the spaceships around them had become unusually big. Even though it was hard to get an accurate reading of size from sight alone, the difference between now and before was so obvious that one didn't need a device to tell the difference.

Yao Yuan gritted his teeth and jumped out of the shuttle. He ignored the curious gazes of his crew and walked towards the mist. He merely moved ten steps away, but in the eyes of the group, he slowly grew bigger, and he was already 8 to 9 meters tall, looking like a typical metallic giant.

The group was shocked. Yao Yuan turned back to look at the shuttle, which was the size of a model car, and sighed. When he walked back to the shuttle, he shrunk. Then he explained, "The space has changed. The closer we get to the central control, the smaller we become, and that's not all… I fear the shrinking is proportional, as in related to the distance. The closer we get to the central control, the smaller we will become, so technically, we will never get to the central control, because this short distance is essentially the size of a universe."

This was a simple math calculation. This type of scaling down meant that even a distance of a meter could be as large as a universe. They were still so far away from the mist, and perhaps the transport shuttle would need to go on at maximum speed for a billion years before it could reach their destination.

Everyone turned to look towards ZERO. After all, she was the most knowledgeable regarding this.

"There is of course a solution," ZERO said in a tone that implied that she needed some begging and praises before she would say anything.

Yao Yuan didn't say anything, but the nervous Jay piled on the praises immediately. ZERO eventually nodded satisfactorily and said, "That will depend on you. Your Homo Evolutis power is as powerful as the Immortal after all. For you, the power of deception affects more than… the human heart."

Jay was confused. He pointed at himself and said, "Me? I know I can spin some lies, but what does that have to do with this situation we're in?'

Yao Yuan, though, seemed to have understood something. He pulled Jay aside and said, "Do you still remember the things that happened on the meteorite base before you collapse?"

Jay nodded and Yao Yuan continued, "I believe I understand what ZERO means. Your power of deception belies scientific explanation… but it is true that you can deceive even non-living things. You still remember how you lied to the crystal reactors, right? I believe ZERO is referencing that as well…

"You have to lie to this illusory space, to trick it into making this space normal again."

This order was so curious that Jay took a long time to process it before he finally said, "Wait, you want me to lie to a space? Hello, Yao Yuan, have you lost your mind? How am I supposed to do that? You want me to yell to this space, saying 'please return the rules of this place back to normal?'"

When Jay finished that, the transport shuttle grew in size at a speed that was noticeable to the naked eye. In fact, the group also slowly returned to their original sizes. Yao Yuan retracted his shocked gaze and said seriously,

"Yes, exactly, just like that!"