"Hmph, do you also want to cultivate immortality?" Dean Sun mocked, "I do have a few cultivation techniques here, but the prerequisite is self-cultivation, not sure if it suits you."

"Since you said so, you must think I’m not suitable." Jiang Yiheng replied lightly, as if he didn’t catch the sarcasm, "But even if someone’s cultivation is high enough to shatter the void like in the movies, it’s not true ascension. What we’re discussing is a comprehensive concept of ascension."

"Let him elaborate." Chen Xuan urged.

Although Honglian didn’t understand the mystery, she too realized it was extraordinary, "Why don’t you explain in more detail?"

Jiang Yiheng extended a hand, "Suppose there’s a bacterium on my finger that wants to leave this hall, how long do you think it would take?"

"Dr. Jiang, are you treating this place like a classroom?" Honglian frowned, "If it relies on itself, it won’t crawl out in its lifetime, because it simply won’t live that long!"

"Correct answer." He smiled, "But it has no choice but to move, because I’m about to wash my hands."

"..." Silence filled the scene.

Suddenly, an idea struck Chen Xuan, "It only ascends if it has to move?"

Jiang Yiheng nodded, "This is the truth of our world. Compared to the distance a bacterium must traverse in Cyan Grass Hall, the distances in our universe are exaggerated even more. Yet, humans do not naturally adapt to entering the universe. We can wear spacesuits and build spaceships encased in thick metal shells, but at most, this is akin to bacteria forming a membrane or protein sheath for themselves."

Honglian opened her mouth to question, but thought that she seemed clueless again after just echoing Chen Xuan, which made her look almost insane.

Jiang Yiheng, however, showed understanding, "Say whatever you want."

"Although I’m not a scientist, I understand some basic knowledge." Dean Sun spoke actively, "Not being able to go out now doesn’t mean we can’t in the future. No one is forcing us to explore the universe, right? Whether it takes a hundred, a thousand... or even ten thousand years, is there a problem with that? The earth isn’t about to wash its hands."

"No, no... this isn’t about exploring the universe, it’s about whether humanity can continue." The opposite corrected, "If a thousand or ten thousand years later we still just plan to build spaceships, then essentially nothing changes. For bacteria, no matter how hard their sheath is, it’s meaningless because they can’t adapt to the new world outside... their power, speed, and lifespan are all confined to this tiny fingertip."

The doctor paused slightly and spoke in an extremely serious tone, "But if bacteria can turn into humans... then all this is no longer an issue. Just a few steps and we can easily walk out of the door."

"The more I listen, the more confused I get." Dean Sun sighed, "You say that they can’t, but bacteria are one of the ancestors of humans, having fused with archaea to create us; but if you say they can... then that time span is stretched too long, what’s wrong with doing something else over billions of years?"

"You actually already understand the problem." Jiang Yiheng smiled, "You wash your hands at least twice a day, and the hygiene of Cyan Grass Hall should be cleaned every day, so for bacteria, more than six hours is an insurmountable chasm."

"Washing hands again! I said before, you’re on Earth, no one’s washing you off!"

Chen Xuan couldn’t help but shiver.

Suddenly, he had a chilling speculation.

"This is just a metaphor... could it be that you’re suggesting bacteria gave rise to humans, and humans will give rise to something else?"

"Hasn’t it already happened?" Dr. Jiang raised his head to look at the dome of the hall, as if peering at something otherworldly, "Abilities, erosion, Immortal Pills, supernatural creatures, multiverse... all these anomalies are born alongside the growth of humanity."

The two people on the scene held their breaths.

But the doctor continued.

"To bacteria, humans are nothing more than soft, furrowed layers, with crawling behemoths gnawing at the surface everywhere, and every so often comes a world-destroying boiling storm. Our situation is hardly any better, just glimpsing a part of the whole."

"Just like bacteria cannot see us in full, we cannot see the full picture of anomalies. We can only use our understanding to describe its sporadic corners. Perhaps after another billion years, humans can truly understand what it is, but as I said before, we only have six hours left. If within these six hours we cannot glimpse its secrets, transitioning from bacteria to human, the only outcome is extinction."

Jiang Yiheng looked again towards the area behind Honglian’s ear, "—This six-hour struggle, is the ascension!"

Ability... or rather the power to bestow abilities... is an anomaly caused by humanity?

Is the Ability Store the same? And is the giant worm spiraling on the Moon also birthed by humanity?

For a moment, Chen Xuan was overwhelmed by this scene.

Yet he felt something was off.

According to the other’s statement, ascension could be seen as the ultimate goal... but the promotion condition for an Ability Store LV7 manager is to witness ascension.

LV7 can’t be the pinnacle of a managerial level, can it?

If, as the doctor said, humans after ascension become beings currently incomprehensible, then does trading abilities... or the store itself have any significance?

"Hmm..." Dean Sun stroked his beard, looking much more solemn than before, "If it weren’t you saying this, I wouldn’t believe a word of it. Is there any evidence for this theory?"

"Actually, long ago, the ’Great Filter Theory’ was proposed, which simply put, is about filtering out civilizations that cannot adapt to entering the universe, thus the cosmos appears so quiet. As for the filter methods, it could be internal wars within a civilization, or meteorites falling from the sky."

"But now we understand the filter indeed exists, but it is far more brutal than hypothesized reasons. It’s not due to developmental contradictions nor extraterrestrial disasters, as these two can be resolved without ascension. The filter comes from our own progress, the faster humanity advances, the earlier the Great Filter comes. What will destroy us is what we birthed, just like we destroy the bacteria on our hands."

Jiang Yiheng paused for a few seconds to give them time to digest before continuing, "Evidence comes from the Dimensional Limit Mechanism’s observation of other worlds. Through intrusion points, we’ve recorded the destruction of more than ten worlds, with various reasons for destruction, but overall they share a commonality: they cannot resolve the issue with their current level of technology, not even defend against it."

Did the mechanism actually have such understanding?

This indeed surprised Chen Xuan.

But thinking about the reason for world destruction... the nanomachine disaster was created by the mechanism itself, which is undeniably ironic.

The question is whether the mechanism, knowing about the impending extinction crisis, will still walk down that same old path?

"When did the mechanism... become aware of these circumstances?" Honglian asked in a low voice, a question she herself raised.

"In the last decade." Jiang Yiheng candidly replied, "After all, the organization keeps up with the times too. At first, no one understood anything, simply thinking that Ability Users needed to be restrained and intrusion points had endless dangers if uncontrolled, so the main goal was to maintain and limit. But obviously, this is treading water, not helping the world escape danger. The mechanism must become stronger than ever, controlling more resources, to possibly achieve the goal." 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

"I didn’t expect you to explain so thoroughly." Chen Xuan spoke through Honglian.

Jiang Yiheng seemed indifferent to this, "Because the secret itself is like a fable, it has no practical significance, bringing nothing but panic and despair, and for the public, not knowing is actually a good thing."

"And if hostile Wanderers hear it, it doesn’t matter?" He asked intentionally.

"Well..." The doctor showed a meaningful expression, "If they are Wanderers completely unaware of ascension, then I’m just casting pearls before swine, but if they’ve heard of ascension, there’s a possibility they may turn from darkness to light."