Chapter 123 A Bowl of Noodles to Save the World

Seeing Raven 12345's depressed expression, Hao Ren felt even more depressed than the neurotic goddess. He had almost been sprayed with noodle soup, and she had made it clear that even if there was half a pot of noodles left, she wouldn't let him have any...

Of course, these were minor issues. After moving to a safe location, he curiously looked at Raven 12345, "Is Haelda's situation very serious?"

Hao Ren still didn't have a clear understanding of the dream plane's changes. Although he knew it was a troublesome crisis, as a rookie with limited knowledge, he didn't know how troublesome it really was. Now, seeing Raven 12345, a goddess, reacting like this, he realized the situation was probably worse than he had anticipated.

"Serious? Unsure, but if we have more evidence, then we'll have a lot of work to do," Raven 12345 pointed at Haelda. "Do you know how low the probability is of safely linking from one world to another without professional equipment? It's like playing a game of 'link the identical faces' with ten thousand Korean celebrities. And that's the normal situation, referring to the probability of you entering another world's prime material plane from one world's prime material plane. The dream plane is an accessory to this universe, like a shadow. Its information priority is lower than the surface world, meaning that under normal circumstances, it should be hidden beneath the surface world, difficult for the outside world to contact and identify. Even creatures from this universe can only sense the dream plane in extremely rare cases, let alone a transmigrator from another world with weak ties to this world."

"So you're saying Haelda should have transmigrated to the surface world, not the dream plane?"

"Pretty much the same idea," Raven 12345 nodded. "Now tell me everything you saw over there. I need to make the next arrangements accordingly."

Hao Ren immediately told Raven 12345 about his experiences in the dream plane over the past few days. He mentioned the sacred relic that disappeared two months ago, the various changes near the blood lake, the rock giants that split from the cliffs, his meeting with Haelda, and most importantly, the alien spaceship that appeared at the bottom of the blood lake.

He didn't know which details were more useful, so he simply told Raven everything.

Of course, there was one more major event: Becky, who had been teleported to Earth by accident.

After listening, Raven 12345 fell into a long silence, a noodle hanging from the corner of her mouth as she entered a half-minute-long thinker mode. Finally, when Hao Ren became a little impatient, she suddenly came back to life and slurped the noodle in with a loud noise, "Slurp—you said there's a ship that crashed in the dream plane?"

"Yes, this is a crew member's personal device taken from the ship, which records the situation when the ship crashed," Hao Ren took out the oval Tobelo data terminal from his dimensional pocket. "I got it from that insectoid technical consultant."

Raven simply touched the oval device and handed it back to Hao Ren, "Mm, already scanned it, but I don't recognize the ship's owner mentioned in the data terminal. It should be an ordinary private company. According to the accident description, the ship was operating normally a moment before the accident, and the surrounding environment was also normal, so this should be an aberration originating from the dream plane..."

Hao Ren reminded her, "Also, there's Becky, she..."

"Just an incidental event, incidental event," Raven 12345 waved her hand forcefully. "The situation is indeed starting to deteriorate. Whether it's Becky, Haelda, or that ship, they're all products of the deteriorating situation. If I'm not mistaken, these kinds of events will probably increase in the future."

Raven 12345 frowned, her expression very serious. Although she still had half a noodle on her mouth, Hao Ren was used to her coexistence of seriousness and goofiness. After a few seconds of silence, Hao Ren couldn't help but ask, "Did you already know the dream plane would deteriorate?"

All indications showed that the goddess in front of him was not completely ignorant of the dream plane's situation. At least, she had expected some things to happen before they did, but for some reason, she hadn't taken action. Hao Ren was quite curious about this question.

"How should I put it? The deterioration of the dream plane is a predetermined trend. It will deteriorate sooner or later, but I can't determine the timing. And before its situation changes, it's hard for me to formulate any countermeasures—this problem is too complicated. I've always maintained a minimal level of attention to the dream plane, even deliberately reducing the frequency of inspectors and other departments observing the dream plane, in order to delay the worsening of the situation as much as possible, hoping to find a more secure solution before then. It wasn't until recently that I discovered its agitation had already begun, and reducing the observation frequency was no longer helpful..."

"What exactly does this 'deterioration' refer to? Is it the balance between the dream plane and the surface world being disrupted? Is some kind of barrier becoming fragile?" Hao Ren asked curiously. "Why is the balance being weakened?"

"Oh, it looks like you've been doing some thinking—but the specific meaning of deterioration is much more complex. The barrier becoming fragile is just the first step," Raven 12345 sat up straight. "The dream plane is a shadow of this world, a subsidiary unit. It's separated from the surface world by a solid 'wall.' This wall is an obstacle, but it also protects everything in the dream plane and the surface world, so that the two worlds can be distinguished, so that they don't annihilate each other due to collision—but now I'm telling you, this wall may be dissolving. The dream plane is a shadow that is submerged in the deep sea, and now it is beginning to rise, and sooner or later it will collide with the surface world, causing a major annihilation. Therefore, the barrier becoming fragile is only the first step. First, things from the dream plane and the surface world will frequently infiltrate each other. This is just a trickle when a dam cracks, but after the entire dam collapses, it won't just be as simple as the two worlds having unobstructed access. The dream plane will crash entirely into the surface world—or vice versa, the surface world will crash entirely into the dream plane. Boom, most things will become zeros and ones."

Hao Ren got goosebumps all over his body. He quickly understood how huge the difference was between the "merging of two worlds" mentioned by Raven 12345 and the "dream plane open transmission" speculated by the data terminal. Before this, his and the data terminal's speculations about the situation were obviously too conservative. Hao Ren simply regarded the dream plane and the surface world as two fixed containers, and there was a valve called "reality" between these two containers. He thought that the worst result of the balance being broken was just the valve opening, and the products of the surface world and the dream plane circulating each other on a large scale, such as hordes of magical beasts stepping onto the streets of Washington, and a group of Earthlings discovering that Holletta had oil—in his view, this was already a huge disaster.

But obviously the real situation was much more serious than that. A wall separated the dream plane and the surface world, and these two worlds had been attracting each other like magnets. After the wall disappeared, the two worlds would not just exchange resources, but directly merge into one.

Regardless of what the world would look like after the fusion, at that time, this season of civilization would be irrelevant.

"The dream plane and the surface world are consistent in general rules, but there are differences in the details," Raven 12345 explained the situation after the great fusion. "The speed of light in the dream plane is slightly higher than that in the surface world. This alone will cause disaster. Either the speed of light barrier in the surface world will be shaken, and super-celestial bodies located at the critical point will explode, or the speed of light in the dream plane will be reset, and the edge of the universe that was originally operating normally will experience unpredictable disintegration due to encountering a sudden speed of light barrier, or both situations will occur simultaneously. In addition, there are many other problems that will seriously shake the foundation of the world. More than 90% of space and matter will be eliminated, and the rest will be imprisoned in a chaotic barrier. All technology and magic based on the laws of the universe will become ineffective, and no mortal civilization in this universe has yet transcended this level. In this case, even if there are civilizations that survive, it will be difficult to rescue them alive."

Hao Ren: "..."

Raven 12345 got up and served Hao Ren a bowl of noodle soup, "I think you should be under a lot of pressure, so I'll give you some special treatment. Drink this bowl of soup and go save the world..."

Hao Ren lowered his head and stared blankly at the bowl of noodle soup that was almost cold: "You told me that the dream plane and the surface world will soon annihilate each other due to mutual fusion, and then you gave me a bowl of noodle soup, encouraging me to save the world with the encouragement of the noodle soup?"

Raven 12345 crossed her hands and placed them under her chin: "I made it myself."

"What the hell!" Hao Ren jumped half a meter high, "This isn't funny at all! Is it too late for me to resign?"

"Don't be silly, how could someone as unreasonable as me let you resign," Raven 12345 waved her hand with a smile, motioning Hao Ren to sit down. "Be optimistic, I'm just telling you the whole situation so you can understand the situation clearly. I didn't say you have to solve everything alone—this is a universe-level event, so I'll be responsible for the big picture, and I'll arrange things for you to do within your capabilities. Now you just need to know what all these tasks are for, which is why I told you the above truth. Of course, there's also the reason that I couldn't help but say too much..."

Hao Ren: "..."

In any case, he finally sat down again, looking at Raven 12345 with a worried face: "Why is the 'wall' between the dream plane and the real world suddenly weakening?"

"Because that's their natural tendency," Raven spread her hands. "Just think of it as the law of the universe. The specific reason involves a historical problem. I won't be able to finish it in a few days and nights. I'll tell you when I have time."

Hao Ren buried his head and thought hard about what all this was for, and what it meant, and then he finally remembered a small detail that he had almost forgotten: "Could the Day of Return that many aliens on Earth are spreading be this?!"