Chapter 1 The Sample

The blood sample in the cylindrical container was still and quiet, like the most ordinary liquid – perhaps it was strange to describe a liquid as "quiet," but one only needed to consider the characteristics of living source blood to imagine why such a description was necessary. Raven 12345 held the container up to her eyes and gently shook it. The red liquid refracted into a colorful spectrum under the sunlight, somewhat like fresh blood but mixed with a strange, alien quality.

"Source blood in a state of death is vastly different from its living state," Raven 12345 snapped her fingers. The container disassembled in mid-air, each component floating independently, while the liquid inside transformed into a sphere, suspended as if in space. "No wonder you didn't recognize it. It's a wondrous substance. Once it undergoes the transition from life to death, it undergoes a massive change from its basic structure, almost completely transforming into something else."

Hao Ren watched this scene in disbelief. He had, of course, seen "living" source blood. That red, viscous liquid would writhe like a living thing, even moving on its own. Even when still, it maintained a certain temperature and exuded a distinct aura of life, a far cry from what was before him. To be honest, when he first collected these blood samples, he had doubted whether they were related to source blood. However, the instrument analysis indicated that they were completely different chemical substances, with no cellular or living structures detected... It seemed he had underestimated the mysterious nature of this thing.

"Source blood can die?" Hao Ren felt his mind flooded with questions, unsure where to begin. He could only manage the most uninformative one: "I've tried various means to process source blood, including radiation and extreme temperatures, but apart from being directly reduced to ashes under ultra-high temperatures or turning into crystals by psionic energy, it never lost its activity..."

Raven 12345 casually reassembled the container and sample, tossing it up and down in her hand. "So, this should be the first time you've seen liquid, dead source blood. No wonder you're surprised."

"Why did that evil spirit turn into source blood after death?" Hao Ren eagerly threw out his biggest question. "And she looked exactly like Vivian! Does... does Vivian also have something to do with source blood?"

Raven 12345 looked into Hao Ren's eyes, silent for a few seconds as if making some internal calculations. Finally, she shook her head slightly. "It seems there really is a connection, but for now, keep your focus on the Dream Plane."

A thought struck Hao Ren. "Are you hiding something from me?"

He didn't expect to get an answer after asking that question, because the other party was usually easygoing but exceptionally cautious when it came to important matters, whether in speech or action. However, Raven 12345's answer was decisive: "That's right."

This scatterbrain actually admitted it without hesitation, leaving Hao Ren at a loss for words. "Um... well..."

"Can't tell you."

Hao Ren didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "I haven't even asked anything yet..."

"It would be a bit awkward to refuse after you ask," Raven 12345 said, but finally sighed. "It wouldn't hurt to tell you a little bit – Vivian is a very special existence. She's different from all the other unusual creatures… you could even say she's not one of them at all."

Hao Ren remained silent, sensing that there was more to come. As expected, Raven 12345 paused and continued, "In fact, I've been paying attention to Vivian for a long time, longer than you think... Although it's only been intermittent observation, I've still noticed her differences. She has a very deep connection with source blood, and even... a certain connection with the goddess of the Dream Plane."

Hao Ren opened his mouth. "You're not going to tell me that Vivian is actually a reincarnation of the goddess of the Dream Plane, are you?"

"Of course… not," Raven 12345 deliberately dragged out her tone to scare him. "I've already confirmed that she has no divinity on her, so whether it's the Creation Goddess losing her memory and falling or any form of reincarnation, it's unlikely. Besides, I successfully traced back the timeline of the Wall of Reality a few days ago and found the point in time when Vivian entered this universe..."

Hao Ren stared wide-eyed. "When was that?"

"She was indeed the first to arrive on Earth, and… it should have been a bit earlier than the fall of the Dream Plane's Creation Goddess."

Hao Ren was genuinely stunned this time. He hadn't expected the other party to know so much. "You know the specific time of the Creation Goddess's fall?"

"I didn't see it with my own eyes, but I can still determine the time of major historical events by tracing the impact marks left on the Wall of Reality," Raven spread her hands, forming a wondrous virtual image in mid-air. A wall of light divided two clusters of light. "To make it easier for you to understand, I'll use this to represent the Wall of Reality and the two universes. I discovered a series of continuous collapse points on the Wall of Reality. The entangled information on these collapse points is ambiguous and unclear, and they are the biggest source of damage to the entire wall – and the most significant historical event that occurred in the Dream Plane was only the moment of the Goddess's fall, so these collapse points should have been generated when the Goddess fell."

A series of red cracks were marked on the light wall representing the Wall of Reality. Although Hao Ren knew that this was just a simulation for ease of understanding, and the real Wall of Reality could never be a three-dimensional, visible "wall," he still watched very carefully. After all, these cracks represented the moment of the Goddess's fall.

"Before these cracks were generated, although there was only a very short time difference, it was still possible to distinguish the traces left at different times..." Raven 12345 pointed to a small crack on the Wall of Reality. "About forty-eight hours before the Goddess's fall, the Dream Plane rift to Earth was opened. Vivian's information imprint in this universe started from that moment."

Hao Ren felt sweat seeping from his forehead. He realized that he was coming into contact with extremely ancient and hidden secrets. "So… at least forty-eight hours before the Goddess's fall, Vivian was already on Earth?!"

"That's right, so she could never be the 'Creation Goddess,' or even a reincarnation or anything else, because when Vivian came to Earth, the Creation Goddess was still alive, perhaps engaged in the final battle with her rebellious children," Raven 12345 looked into Hao Ren's eyes. "My time rewind won't have any problems. Although ten thousand years may be a long time for you, it's far from enough to generate errors for me. The damage marks on the Wall of Reality are very clear… at least they are clear to me."

"But Vivian is still related to source blood, and you also said that she's related to the Goddess…"

"That's right. You've already seen the reason for her connection to source blood," Raven 12345 pointed to the blood sample in her hand. "There exists on Earth an 'evil spirit' formed from source blood that looks exactly like her. As for her connection to the Goddess… I'm still investigating that. Right now, I can only confirm that the information stream entangled around her is far beyond that of ordinary creatures. That amount of information is completely not something a single individual should possess, and that information still points to the Dream Plane even now – the information link between ordinary unusual creatures and the Dream Plane is severed after they cross over to Earth, but Vivian is still like she just crossed over today. Her connection to the Dream Plane has never been interrupted."

"Wait, wait, wait..." Hao Ren quickly waved his hand to interrupt the other party's explanation. He was weakest in his knowledge of information unification. Every time the data terminal lectured him on this subject, he felt a headache, and now he couldn't react at all. "Information streams and whatnot are a bit difficult for me to understand… can you give me a simple explanation?"

Raven 12345 glanced at Hao Ren and sighed. "Ha… just as I thought. Actually, it's not hard to understand. Just imagine this universe as a virtual program running on a computer. Because in the theory of information unification, everything in the world is a stack of information. Detailed descriptions and the formulas for mutual connection ensure the operation of everything in the universe, and also allow everything in the universe to judge the 'authenticity' of each other. This is how the whole world works. In this case, humans – and any other thing – can be seen as a cluster of data."

Raven 12345 paused at this point. "Under normal circumstances, things of the same level should have roughly equal amounts of data. Emperors and generals, merchants and peddlers, heroes and outlaws, and even the 'gods' who were worshiped in the mythical age of Earth… in the eyes of the world management system… they only have 1kB, occupying the same storage space as any bug in this world."

"That's so small!?"

"It's just an analogy, but that's how it works. After all, whether a virtual character in a computer has a power of 99999 or 00000 only affects the 'world' within the program. For the system, these are just two values that occupy the same storage space."

"So Vivian's amount of information…"

"It has almost reached the limit that a mortal can bear," Raven 12345 shook her head. "To put it figuratively… it's on the verge of overflowing."