Chapter 420: The Ultimate Civilization and the Zerg Hero

Chapter 418: The Ultimate of Civilization and the Zerg Hero: A Combined Chapter

In a sense, the terrifying Ishdal race had developed to the point of "creation."

This powerful high-tech magical energy civilization had predicted the impending destruction of their own race many years ago. The Ishdal people could not continue to exist in this world; they were too powerful and would inevitably self-destruct.

Thus, the "God Race Immortality Project" was established, and countermeasures were devised.

What seemed like an unavoidable escape into a sanctuary to preserve their race's continuation was, in fact, also a new beginning.

Although that world seemed to be only in its infancy, when all data, and even computational rules, were precise down to the quantum level, how could one prove which world was false?

"Often, truth and falsehood are relative, not absolute," Xu Zhi thought.

Xu Zhi's eyes were full of a smile. As he evolved this vast civilization sandbox and its grand, epic historical saga, he achieved results that exceeded his expectations.

Xu Zhi strode across the ruins, the golden afterglow of a distant lava river, like a setting sun, casting light upon him. "Their story is like something from a science fiction world," he mused, "magnificent, rising, dazzling, collapsing, and perishing like an epic."

He recounted their civilization's development: The Industrial Revolution Era, the Electric and Mechanical Era, the Network Media Era, the Gene Revolution Era, and the Virtual Immortality Era.

Xu Zhi couldn't help but ponder, "Perhaps, in the not-too-distant future, humanity on Earth will also enter the Gene Revolution Era."

On Earth, the Human Genome Project (HGP) was proposed long ago in 1985, and much has since been deciphered. Although Earth humans are not a super-intelligent civilization like the Ishdal, as time passes, the genetic DNA code may no longer be a secret, and humanity will fully understand its own life code.

Furthermore, experiments involving cloning are already underway.

"This seems to be an inevitable historical process."

His expression grew calm. Some of these conclusions might even prove true for Earth's civilization in the future, which could perhaps follow a path similar to the Ishdal.

"Perhaps, when a technological civilization achieves an extraordinary level of advancement, what awaits them is the destruction of their own society. Power itself can be the beginning of self-destruction; this is an inevitable process that any civilization must face!"

In reality, just like today's nations, the nuclear stockpiles of every powerful country could easily destroy Earth countless times over. What would happen in the next world war?

No one knows.

This already indicates a powerful civilization, one that wields formidable weapons capable of destroying its own society at any moment.

And this is just the current state of civilization; what if it develops further?

This "shackle of destruction" leading to Level 8 civilization seems to exist for any civilization. Previous supernatural civilizations and current technological civilizations, though different in form, all face a monumental extinction test to reach Level 8 power. Only by enduring can they advance to the next stage of civilization.

"Perhaps, the solution for technological civilizations is to create a world and retreat into it? Allowing civilization to enter an era of quantum immortality and virtual existence?" Xu Zhi finally smiled. "It seems the Intelligent Sub-brain mentioned before that some advanced technological civilizations choose to hide within space."

"Of course, this is likely not the only option."

Such reflections were very interesting.

The technological path and the supernatural path are entirely different systems.

In fact, the development of this group of Ishdal people provided a wealth of data.

And drawing lessons from the civilization's development within the sandbox world to accumulate experience was exactly what Xu Zhi desired. It allowed him to glimpse and explore future paths, and even though this was a technological development path, he gained invaluable experimental data.

The Ishdal Research Institute.

Over a thousand scientists in white lab coats were still frantically calculating in front of computers, extremely tense.

Anyone who had visited the previous Death Research Institute and seen their faces would now recognize them as the elite group of human scientists whom Caroline had taken and who had mysteriously died from infection.

Although they had died, they had not truly perished; or perhaps, it was precisely through death that they achieved eternal life – the immortality of death gods.

Only dead gods could achieve eternity.

"Data flood has been guided!"

"One billion, one hundred twenty-seven million, nine hundred one intelligent lives."

"Mass-energy is being applied, using the established sandbox world of the Azure Great Domain, fully simulating a real environment for deployment!"

"Quantum simulation in progress!"

"Modal to molecular movement in progress!"

"Consciousness and souls being transmitted!"

"Entered the virtual memory of Empress Sakura's brain!"

With a sudden rush!

The sea began to churn.

With the entire research institute's preparations complete, all the inhabitants of the Sea Clan swiftly appeared on this land.

"Why does it feel like something just happened?"

"That's odd."

"My head suddenly jolted."

"This world is identical, yet it feels somewhat unfamiliar. Is this déjà vu?"

They appeared in houses, on streets – elderly people, children, women holding babies, strong men. They paused, momentarily stunned, feeling as if something had just happened, yet nothing had. Then they went about their business.

"They didn't perceive their death because it happened too quickly!"

Hailan Dong appeared before the screens in the research institute, his expression turning somewhat horrified.

He was struck with terror!

At this moment, Caroline, a scientist in a white lab coat, stood beside him, exuding the aura of a deity. "Hailan Dong, what do you think of this world, the sanctuary built by us Ishdal people?"

Hailan Dong remained silent, processing the incredible amount of information.

He quietly felt his entire body; every sensation felt real. He even retained the power of a peak Heavenly Emperor, wielding immense might with every gesture. This made it utterly unimaginable for him.

Had the Ishdal people's technology reached such terrifying levels?

"It's real; your current power is real, not virtual," Caroline said. "The power of every living being here is genuine. You still possess the vast energy of a Heavenly Emperor. Even if I were to release you back outside, you would still possess your current mighty power."

"Tell me, are you Caroline or Sakura?" Hailan Dong asked in silence.

"I am Caroline; the one outside is Sakura," Caroline suddenly said with a strange, emotional smile. "The real Caroline is dead, isn't she? Caroline can only exist in a corner of Sakura's memories, forever remembered by her. Caroline is like an ancient history recorded by Sakura, a story of a woman named 'Caroline' seen in a book."

Her words carried a certain Zen-like wisdom, but Hailan Dong understood their meaning.

This method of achieving godhood, the immortality of death gods, was originally an idealistic path: the virtual quantum world.

Caroline smiled, leading him on a tour of the institute. "Do you know about images? Those colorful little squares, 'pixels,' determine the realism of the picture. The world is the same. When the virtual structural units of a world are composed of rotating molecules and atoms, can you distinguish between real and fake?"

Caroline showed Hailan Dong the laboratory's microscope, revealing even molecular motion!

"How could there be such an immense computational load?"

Hailan Dong stared at the scene under the microscope, utterly astonished!

At this level, he couldn't find any flaws that would indicate this world was virtual.

Caroline noticed Hailan Dong's astonishment and simply smiled, explaining, "The 'computer' after becoming a deity has an enormous computational capacity, surpassing anything humans could previously imagine. Yet, it's not exaggerated to the extent of real-time calculations for every single molecule. Instead, it's based on specific predefined rules, with molecules as the fundamental units, allowing them to evolve on their own."

Hailan Dong held his breath, looking around the institute.

In a sense, this was already a creation research institute, studying the data for creating worlds, setting their rules and regulations, and calculating equations.

"Look at the people of the Sea Clan; they can't distinguish that this is a real 'online game' where they can have children, create life, and follow rules identical to reality. When a dream reaches this level, can you still call it fake? It's already real in a certain sense; one could even say it's like instantly entering a parallel universe!" Caroline stated.

"A parallel universe?" Hailan Dong's eyes widened.

"Yes, but the rules of this universe are set by us. However, we cannot create simply from imagination. Creating land requires immense 'energy'—trees, sand, soil, rivers—which we call 'mass-energy.' That's why I plundered all the Heavenly Emperors' god-forming energy from the outside. It's also difficult for me to create fully intelligent life from scratch; currently, I can only bring in life from the outside to enrich species diversity.

"In our settings, this world is exactly the same as before. You can fight each other, harbor grudges, grow stronger, and pursue your dreams—there's no difference at all."

Caroline added, "Although we could set it to be perfect, without conflict or killing, a perfect social structure would lead to a bland and dull world."

"What about you Ishdal people?" Hailan Dong asked.

"We no longer live on the ancient Lava Continent," Caroline replied. "After the Great Cataclysm, I established this world only after becoming a deity, and there are very few Ishdal survivors who have just moved in. In the future, they will reside in another space-time, remaining as good and kind as before, occasionally descending as rulers, true gods, to guide and correct the development of your lower civilizations in each world."

All within the brain.

The Ishdal remained rulers.

Even though their civilization was destroyed, were they still aiming for a dominant position within a beautiful dream of memories?

Hailan Dong's expression stiffened, then he suddenly smiled and said, "Can I pursue my own goals here and achieve godhood?"

"Yes, you can achieve godhood here, provided you have enough energy. You can choose to kill people, kill your own subjects..." Caroline's words instantly stiffened Hailan Dong's face. She continued, "Furthermore, here, gods can easily descend. After all, we set the rules of this dream world. We Ishdal now have three deities, and I am one of them. You can become one too."

Hailan Dong fell silent. Achieving godhood was his pursuit. But here...

"What am I to you?" Hailan Dong finally asked.

"You are a memory in my mind, stored in a corner of my consciousness, my fleeting dream," Caroline answered directly, her voice firm.

Hailan Dong's expression turned bitter. "I'm just a memory of yours."

"Yes, in a sense, that's true," Caroline conceded.

Caroline smiled. "I still have no combat power. I am still the same scientist from before, very weak and unable to fight. However, I can summon you deities, nurtured within my mind, to descend to the outside world and engage in battle.

"My aura appears to be that of a high-level deity. In reality, it's merely the composite aura formed by the constituent energy of the entire world—flowers, grass, trees, and the three lower deities."

Hailan Dong was silent for a moment, trying to comprehend such a terrifying amount of information.

"This is a path to ultimate supremacy. We have combined scientific and supernatural systems to deduce all things in the world within our brains," Caroline said with a smile. The female scientist in the white lab coat led him through the various experimental results in the institute. "According to our deductions, in the future, we will eventually become the supreme great beings in the world!

"A single night of his closed-eyed sleep, the emanation of his thoughts, is a Big Bang. Worlds evolve, flourish, decline, are destroyed, and perish. When he opens his feigned-sleep eyes, the retraction of his thoughts marks the end of worlds, the destruction of endless eras!

"He nurtures all of humanity, endless universes, life, space-time, and every living creature...

"His single act of opening and closing his eyes represents a unit of a cosmic epoch.

"Time, space, and dimensions hold no meaning in his eyes.

"Multiple dreams may exist within his mind, transforming into a multiverse with countless parallel timelines."

Caroline smiled, explaining the future of this path to Hailan Dong. As they grew stronger, the terrifying computational load would become increasingly vast. Not just the single world of the Lava Continent, but countless worlds would be born within their minds, becoming part of their memories. The rise and fall of civilizations, the birth and destruction of species, would all become a corner of their memory!

"He is the center of the universe, the source of the Big Bang, the God of Beginning and End. Worlds exist within his dreams, and life cannot distinguish its own reality or falsehood. The entire world will become a part of his memory..." Hailan Dong's scalp tingled, no longer able to suppress his fear. He roared, "What kind of path to godhood have you Ishdal people truly opened up??"

"Who knows?" Caroline smiled. "But that's a distant future fantasy. For now, I'm still far too weak! I've only just reached Level 8, which is merely the theoretical ultimate endpoint for us Ishdal people.

"Who can't boast and hypothesize? After all, everyone can dream.

"According to our conjecture, no path will be too weak when it reaches its ultimate form. You shouldn't overestimate this path's power, but I believe it remains one of the most powerful paths among ultimate life forms."

Hailan Dong's mind was utterly shaken.

"The Ishdal people, the God Race!!!"

In the living room.

Xu Zhi's mind jolted. Sitting on the black sofa, eating dinner, he suddenly looked up towards the window, as if sensing something distant.

A mechanical voice faintly echoed:

"Another strong individual with the aptitude of a Zerg Hero has been born among our Zerg."