“Could it be that you…” Roland blinked.

“That’s right.” It seemed to have laid down a heavy burden, its eyebrows lifting slightly. “I must say to you, time is a very terrifying thing. In the millennia, myriads of years, and tens of millions of years to come, you will be confined to this tiny cradle. Perhaps at first, you will feel that there are many things you can explore, but in reality, the emptiness will come faster than you imagine. But even tens of millions of years are just a blink of an eye compared to the universe.”

The Guardian paused slightly. “Sometimes… I feel that time is also a kind of magic. You feel its flow and are changed by it. If you want to maintain yourself in such a long time, you must abandon most of your emotions, otherwise, that nothingness will eventually break you down completely. Of course, it's too late for you to regret it now.”

Roland looked at it in surprise. He saw a smile on its face for the first time.

“Are you saying that I will eventually become like a machine?” Then he grinned slightly. “Don’t worry, I don’t plan to stay here forever. Before I become completely numb, I will take a step first. But that’s not a violation of the agreement. When the time comes, I will choose a suitable life to take over this responsibility for me. Maybe we will meet again on the other side of the universe.”

The Guardian dismissively said, “Let’s wait until you can survive until then.”

“By the way, since you are the core of the Cradle, can you leave on your own?” Roland suddenly thought of a key question. “Will the world directly fall apart once you leave?”

“So you haven’t even figured out this basic thing, yet you bragged in front of me?” It stared back incredulously. “First of all, a qualified system should have multiple backups, let alone a creation like me that gathers the essence of thousands of civilizations.”

“Secondly, the Cradle's memory bank is indeed huge and not suitable for moving, but they all record data since the initiation of the Door Program, including the seed characteristics and evolutionary history of screened lives. I don't need to take these memory banks with me; I only need to keep the part of me that has existed since my birth.”

“Finally, once you connect to the knowledge base, you will naturally understand how the Cradle operates. As long as you don't mess around, it can run on its own for tens of thousands of years. But if you want it to last forever, you have to take care of it carefully. After all, the Cradle is not easily damaged, but the life inside may not be so lucky.”

“In that case, I can rest assured.” Roland slowly exhaled, his body, which had been tense until now, finally relaxed.

Although not much time had passed, the other party’s expression had changed significantly. Not only did it wear its grumpy attitude directly on its face, but even its tone had become much more arrogant, which made it seem more like a life form.

“While I’m still here, ask whatever you want quickly.” The Guardian crossed its arms.

“Uh… so soon?”

“Haven't you noticed that the consumption of the consciousness world is a huge burden for you?” It shrugged. “If you want to ensure that you are still whole after the consciousness fusion, it is best to start this step early.”

Roland couldn’t help but twitch the corner of his mouth. It seemed that the abnormally decreasing red number above his head was indeed related to the dream world. After thinking carefully, he opened his mouth and said, “Have you ever heard of… a place called Earth?”

This time, he used his original language.

The Guardian closed its eyes for a moment, seemingly retrieving relevant information. “Hmm… there are a total of three thousand two hundred and fifty-one results for planets with similar pronunciations, but considering species characteristics, you should be asking about the solid planet located on the outer edge of the Milky Way’s third arm.”

“How is it now?” Roland asked quickly.

“Now, of course, it has perished along with the opening of the rift. According to records, they once expanded to the center of the Milky Way, and the memory bank also contains the biological data of this species.” Speaking of this, it suddenly paused, then looked at Roland in surprise. “Wait, that was already more than ninety-four million years ago. If you were born in the Cradle, how could you know about this planet?”

“In fact, this is also what has been troubling me…” He bitterly smiled and briefly described his origins.

“There’s actually such a thing?” The Guardian showed an interested expression. “So the enveloping timelines are not completely consistent…”

“What… timeline?”

“It's like this.” It spread its hands and explained, “You should have heard of the parallel universe hypothesis. When a divergence with sufficient influence occurs, it will lead the world in two directions. And the rate of change of these two worlds is called the enveloping timeline, while what you can personally feel is the observation time. However, since the observer who proposes this point is always in one of the worlds, this hypothesis can only remain on paper.”

“So you mean…” Roland looked surprised.

“That’s right. The powerful energy generated by the Door Program may be the reason you came here, just like parallel membranes momentarily overlapping under impact. This divergence has turned our universe into two parts, one filled with magic, and the other where the Door Program failed, and the universe remained the same. But due to the difference in enveloping timelines, it makes it seem like you have crossed tens of millions of years, but in reality, the two are happening simultaneously.”

“Uh… it's a bit difficult to understand,” Roland rubbed his head. “But does this prove that there is some kind of connection between parallel universes?”

“You can think of it that way. After all, this is a field that even the Creator hasn’t touched.” The Guardian seemed quite interested in this topic as well. “Theoretically speaking, parallel universes and multiple universes are two concepts that can coexist, but in reality, the former is more difficult to verify than the latter. But since you are here, maybe this is a way to break the universe and move towards death. However, this question is no longer important to me; I’ll leave it to you to explore and research.”

After it finished speaking, it waved its hand and turned to walk towards the end of the pure white platform. There, a small door appeared, and on the other side of the door was a scarlet red.

Then many figures appeared in front of Roland.

Their appearances were bizarre, and some were even humans and devils. These semi-transparent figures hurried towards the Guardian, merging with it one after another.

And in the human figures, he saw Lan, Ipsilon, and those envoys he had met once.

Ipsilon waved goodbye to him with an especially cheerful expression, clearly, she had gotten the answer she wanted.

Lan paused in front of him for a few seconds, her lips opening and closing slightly.

Judging from the shape of her lips, it was a thank you.

When all of the Guardian's figures overlapped and walked out of the red little door, the pure white space suddenly collapsed into countless fragments. Roland's body also disintegrated along with it, but he didn't feel any pain or discomfort at all. He only felt extremely relaxed, as if he had shed a heavy shell. A large amount of information flooded his mind like a tide. He seemed to have countless eyes. Whether it was the empty universe outside the barrier or the vibrant world within the barrier, they were all presented in his consciousness.

He had become the Cradle.