Xyrin Empire-Chapter 1495: An Astonishing Hypothesis

Lilina is a peculiar character—of course, everyone in my household is pretty unusual, but Lilina must be the top fighter among the oddballs. Whether it’s in the art of recklessly courting disaster or severely fragmented personalities, whether it’s in Chinese-style humor or American-style nonsense, this mischievous dark loli has certainly made her mark in all the fields where one might feel compelled to hang her up and spank her.

She claims to be a devoted follower of the Life Goddess and a pious spokesperson for the Star Domain Divine Realm, but apart from being polite to Dingdang, I’ve never really seen her act respectfully towards any other Star Domain Divine Race...

I shooed Lilina aside, then nodded and smiled at the two Divine Race experts in front of me: "Don’t worry, this naughty kid’s personality is not quite normal, she’s usually like this. I really didn’t expect Dingdang to find anyone to volunteer for the maintenance of the Seven-Handed Heaven, but it’s such a relief! Please take a look to see if there’s any hope for the World Tree. By the way, how should I address the two of you?"

The tall male Divine Race member smiled kindly, "No problem, I’m Kertimos Dark Heart, just call me Old Ke."

The elegant goddess beside him also nodded slightly, "Livia Atirfony, you can call me Little Li."

My arm froze awkwardly in the air in the middle of a handshake, Old Ke and Little Li... I was witnessing the transformation from high-class to rustic right before my eyes. By now, I could almost guess how upscale and sophisticated the real names of Pantheon’s Little Li and temple doorman Old Wang (which Ice Tis often mentioned) actually were. It seems these Divine Race members would die if they didn’t leave some room for mockery.

At this moment, Old Ke and Little Li (these names sound so peculiar, but considering their real names are really too long and high-class, let’s just suffice with these) noticed that the host had already shown up, and they adopted a more serious demeanor, ready to discuss business. Old Ke first took out a scroll from his briefcase and handed it over: "First, we need you to sign here, indicating agreement for the volunteer organization to maintain this World Tree in your area. Since we are private, the Pantheon regulates us quite strictly."

I took the scroll and realized it wasn’t a storage device carrying vast amounts of information, but merely a simple contract. The format wasn’t much different from a delivery note and warranty card for a TV purchase. I looked at the sections above and found no issues, except the last part that gave me a shock: "...I am the actual owner of the territory where the World Management System is located (Management System includes, but is not limited to, the World Tree, mass-produced Heaven, mass-produced True Temple, Katala Ark, etc.). I now agree to temporarily partially open the territory, allowing volunteers to perform upgrades, maintenance, and overhauls on the World Management System as mentioned in the articles above, with the right to interrupt such actions at any time...balabalabala"

I quietly lifted my head, "Isn’t this World Tree something from your Divine Realm? Why do you need to apply for access rights from me?"

"But it’s planted here," Old Ke spread his hands with a helpless smile, "Technically speaking, the World Tree should be planted in the Outer World, which is the outer real universe, because Shadow Space is Imperial Territory, while the Outer World is the Divine Realm’s territory. Who knows how that magical Dingdang managed it... but oh well, anyway, her muddleheadedness isn’t a new thing. The World Tree being in the Shadow Space is actually good; at least the communication is a bit more convenient."

I couldn’t help but look around for Dingdang and found her sitting on Lin’s head, enthusiastically jumping and explaining things to her teammates, while Uncle Kenser was absent: Dingdang and Kenser had gone to the Divine Realm to report the situation; it seems only the Little One came back early due to the need for her World Management System to be repaired.

"Looks like this little one’s reputation in the Divine Realm has reached that level already," I muttered while signing, "I used to only hear about Dingdang’s glorious deeds from the people at the Great Temple; in terms of dropping the ball, she stands out even among the Life Goddess’s crowd."

Old Ke took the scroll with a chuckle: "How should I put it, the Divine Realm’s Three Treasures: Dingdang, who always causes a mess but ends up unscathed no matter what; the first-ever straight-A student who dismantled the principal’s office as a farewell gift on the second day after graduating; and the Supreme Dragon God, who gets kicked off the platform by the Father God himself every time he speaks at a meeting — everyone knows."

I silently turned to look at Bingdisi, who had already pulled out her Meteor Hammer and was whirling it energetically, provocatively extending her finger towards Old Ke: "You over there, I guarantee that after I’m done, your dad will still basically recognize you."

Of course, we didn’t let Bingdisi mess around at this time. After Sandora had calmed this female hooligan, the two Divine Race volunteers from the Consumer Association began to get to work. Little Li... well, calling her that is really too strange, better stick to her real name, Livia came to the World Tree, placed her hand on its trunk, which reaches from the earth to the heavens like a sheer cliff, and silently began communicating with the world management system. I didn’t understand what she was doing, but I heard a gentle and almost imperceptible sound of wind chimes surrounding the World Tree. Looking up, the giant tree crown, like a verdant dome, was slowly swaying, and the green leaves of the World Tree began to ripple like a sea of clouds.

"First, copy all the logs of the world management system, then check its operation records from the past month, and then compare them with our observations of the outside universe. First, confirm whether the information collection function of the world management system is faulty," Kertimos patiently explained to me. "If there’s an issue with the information collection function, it will cause the management system to ’disconnect’ from the true situation of the universe. This misalignment can easily lead to data overflow, and ultimately, the simulated universe snapshot by the world management system begins to erode and replace the real world, resulting in various anomalies due to their conflict. Typically, third-tier brands and even lower-level bulk systems often have this issue. They overemphasize operational efficiency and convenience, often omitting many self-correction processes..."

I tried to pretend I could understand, turning to look at Harlan and Sandora, only to find their expressions were the same as mine, instantly making me feel balanced: it seems my inability to understand isn’t a problem of comprehension, just a matter of mismatched tech trees.

Of course, when Taville talks about Imperial technology, I also look like this—let’s not delve into that...

"By the way, the situation with the world management system seems quite widespread this time?" Sandora asked casually.

"Yes, there have been thousands of cases skyrocketing already, and they keep increasing every second," Kertimos nodded solemnly, "otherwise, we wouldn’t have mobilized on such a large scale to inspect each site: besides the two of us, there are a dozen more teams busy in other worlds. Our group is originally just a volunteer tech team, totaling only a few dozen people, mainly maintaining bulk systems due to research interests. Normally, we wouldn’t act so organized, but even the Pantheon has recruited us for unified deployment this time. You can imagine what that implies: the Pantheon is already preparing for the problem of manpower shortages, training military in advance."

Sandora furrowed her brow: "Normally, I shouldn’t casually interfere in your internal matters, but you know the Empire and Divine Realm just had a joint operation, and constant activity in the Abyss Zone makes us very sensitive—are you sure this incident has nothing to do with the Fallen Apostle?"

"The suspicion of the Fallen Apostle is truly negligible," Kertimos shook his head. "Actually, we also suspected this at the start, and Father God even organized an investigation. We scanned the entire Abyss Zone for outgoing information flow and found no information streams pointing to the Divine Realm, proving the Fallen Apostle did nothing to the Divine Realm. However, I’m just a small character, apart from winning a few personal innovation contests, I don’t have much presence. I don’t know much, but if you want to know more, you can actually directly ask the Pantheon, it should be quite easy for the Imperial High Level to inquire about these matters. There’s really nothing to keep secret."

I held back for a long time, too shy to ask what that personal innovation contest was about, so I had to ask something else: "We’ve already asked the High Level, and Bingdisi is right there. So, tell me something else. From an expert standpoint, analyze what might be causing this malfunction."

Even though Kertimos always humbly said he was just a volunteer, I was one hundred percent sure that the figure before me was indeed an expert—no need to say more, Bingdisi is stationed in Shadow City, and she is also an ambassador officially appointed by the Divine Realm here. In this situation, how could the additional maintenance personnel sent by the Divine Realm be weak? At least they must be more formidable in professional fields compared to Bingdisi, the academic star.

"We haven’t figured out any patterns yet," indeed, Kertimos didn’t maintain too much modesty this time, instead speaking with a serious expression and the rigorous attitude of a professional, "this is bad news. If the malfunction was concentrated on a few specific systems, then we could suspect the world management system’s architecture is flawed. But now the malfunctions are without pattern; basically, any type of world management system architecture has emerged with issues... this suggests the root might lie elsewhere, and it indiscriminately causes trouble."

This time, the World Tree emitted another melodic chime. Though I didn’t understand the mechanism of this entity’s operation, it has been rooted in Shadow City for several years now, and I know somewhat about some of its iconic movements. Now it seemed to be in the process of rapidly rebooting, sure enough, Lin Xue soon sent a communication via Spiritual Connection: "Hey, Woody, what’s Dingdang doing? Why did the real world suddenly pause for a moment just now?"

"The World Tree is rebooting," I replied offhandedly. Lin Xue should be either at her house or out shopping in reality, in the Outer World on Earth. The rebooting of the World Tree slightly impacts the Outer World. Although the world management system compresses this impact to within several Planck times, almost beyond the reaction ability of any mortal civilization, it certainly wouldn’t escape the eyes of Miss Prophet, "By the way, what are you doing now?" 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

"Accompanying your fox girl out shopping, encountered Ding Ling with XO," Miss’s tone was a bit odd, "your fox is helping to walk the dog... oh, now the dog’s walking her."

Me: "... Keep an eye on that fox. If she’s going to pass energy to the dog, hold her back. She’s been reading some Chinese mythology stories lately, slightly losing her mind, seems to be thinking about creating a cave mansion."

"It’s not exactly passing on techniques, but she’s currently discussing life and TV shows with XO, and Ding Ling is about to go crazy."

"Are there any people around?"

"No, this place is a small path, rarely visited."

"Then let her continue talking," I replied helplessly, "Recently, the cats and dogs near our home are under a lot of stress, mostly tossed around by the fox’s ’life discussions’. Now, letting her change her target to vent is beneficial."

After hanging up the call with Lin Xue, I looked up at Kertimos and Livia, noticing they had already started arranging a myriad of imposing but unclear rune arrays outside the World Tree, seemingly preoccupied and unable to chat with idlers. Bingdisi sauntered over with a somewhat concerned air: "Chen, I have a hypothesis, actually."

"Go ahead," I replied casually.

"The models of the world management systems vary. Due to the different power systems of each Divine System, even their basic principles might differ. It’s impossible for these systems to collectively go wrong for the same reason," Bingdisi slowly continued, "So I’ve been thinking since yesterday... could this event be caused by some kind of ’large-scale activity’ across the Void?"

I hadn’t paid much attention at first, until a few seconds after Bingdisi’s words settled, I belatedly reacted, my hair almost standing on end: "You mean..."

"There’s only one ’large-scale activity’ that could affect the whole Void: the Void Cataclysm."

Bingdisi articulated clearly.

I opened my eyes wide, my intuition instantly telling me this notion was worth heeding. Yet, Bingdisi continued, clarifying, "Of course, it’s just a hypothesis..."

"Don’t say ’just a hypothesis’," I quickly interrupted Bingdisi, "How did you suddenly arrive at this conclusion? I’d reckon even Qianqian wouldn’t dare make such associations!"

"Due to the nature of the world management systems," Bingdisi shrugged, "It’s essentially a scaled-down equivalent of the world... hey, stop looking at the World Tree, my point isn’t about scaled-down appearance, but that it simulates a pure mathematical ’world’ internally. All the information in the universe, even each basic particle’s data, gets recorded within the world management system, simultaneously evolving with the outside real world—this ties back to what the expert just mentioned, because when a ’dislocation’ occurs between the world management system and the real world, various anomalies arise: the world management system is the complete mapping of the real world. Based on this premise, through a series of conversions and hyperlinks you wouldn’t comprehend, the world management system exerts absolute control over the entire universe, but conversely, the entire universe’s happenings, the world management system encounters as well—even if in mere simulation calculations. That’s why this tree is titled World Tree, and why they say Divine Artifacts contain miniature universes within."

"The universe may collapse, the world management system may collapse; the universe might face heat death, so might the system," Bingdisi supplemented, "The real world might encounter cataclysm, as would the management system."

"But aren’t worlds with Void Creatures immune to cataclysm?"

"Don’t ordinary people shiver for days after getting certain vaccines?" Bingdisi rolled her eyes, "Immunity guarantees no substantial harm, but it doesn’t imply these fragile Mortal Worlds won’t even shiver facing the largest-scale turbulence in the Void. Void Creatures do face times of inadequacy too—you remember how you ’ah’ succumbed?"

"...Let’s not discuss this."

"Anyway, that’s my guess," Bingdisi tossed her hair, "The world management system is equivalent and equal to the real world, but there’s certain distinctions; it’s smaller in scale and inherently more ’sensitive’. Before a Void Cataclysm occurs, perhaps the world management system might indeed exhibit unusual reactions first..."

At this juncture, Bingdisi nodded affirmatively: "Yes, that’s how it is. It affects such a broad scope, every type of world getting hit, coupled with a management system equivalent to world-level... beyond the Void Cataclysm, I can’t think of anything else."

Quiet and speechless, I flipped my eyes upward to gaze at the gigantic tree that shades all, with five words slow-drifting across the sky: This is a big deal!

"The Void Cataclysm hasn’t happened yet, right?" I half-muttered to myself.

"Indeed, it’s yet to transpire," Bingdisi sighed, "But it’s likely drawing closer... we fundamentally don’t know what the essence of the so-called cataclysm is, hence unable to deduce any occurrence patterns or preventive methods. Claiming any phenomenon as a precursor to the cataclysm is practically nonsense, yet it’s a nonsense that must be discussed..."

"Could you perhaps tone down your abrasive speech?" I winced at the remark-laden Female hooligan, "Learn to converse with a sweetness akin to normal girls, would you?"

"Is your home lacking in sweetness, hmm?" Bingdisi shot me another glance, "At two hundred years old, I would be trading insults with my old man, it’s lifestyle habit."

Realizing I’d best not further delve into this topic with this Female hooligan, lest I get led astray, I switched conversation quickly: "So should we inform Xingchen about this matter?"

"I suspect Father God has some inkling as well, albeit equally unsure," Bingdisi waved her hand, "Father God lived so long not solely raising kids—you’d think something this half-baked wouldn’t cross his mind?"

The World Tree was still undergoing examination, but Kertimos and Livia were no longer in the outer plaza. They were inside the temple tinkering with that counterfeit Seven-Handed system. Bingdisi gazed at the towering tree emitting bizarre sounds occasionally, and couldn’t help but marvel: "These are the true experts, see their dedication? Without a courageous spirit and a self-torturing masochistic mindset, does anyone dare delve beneath Dingdang’s World Tree’s surface layers? I peeked within the system once, my wings cramped in fright—I just keep supplying Dingdang patches, never aiding in her system repairs since..."

Me: "..." (To be continued. If you enjoy this work, feel free to visit Qidian (qidian.com) to vote for recommendation tickets or monthly votes. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please visit m.qidian.com for reading.)