As Gu Ya's roar subsided, the entire consciousness world seemed to be penetrated by some instrument and rapidly analyzed.
In the pitch-black space, straight horizontal and vertical grid lines of green light suddenly appeared, extending rapidly from an extreme distance, then quickly disappearing.
The world, after being analyzed, instantly transformed into a room with no doors or windows. The room was bathed in bright white light, though the source of the light was invisible.
Gu Ya slowly turned around, and Zeng Lang had already appeared behind him.
Strangely, Zeng Lang looked even younger than before, very much like his brother, Zeng Lang.
On his shoulder sat a silver-white robot, about ten centimeters tall, composed of countless tiny components.
A thin, transparent cable, flashing with blue light inside, connected Gu Ya and Zeng Lang.
It was hard to imagine what technology would be like eight hundred years in the future.
The mechanical Gu Ya's round, sea-blue eyes lit up as he looked at Gu Ya and said in a flat tone, "Hmm? You've unlocked the Master-level Cyber Mechanic ability."
Gu Ya calmly nodded. With a casual wave of his hand, the three of them were instantly seated around a table.
Calmly looking back at the two people from eight hundred years ago across the table, Gu Ya raised his hand and conjured an octagonal black metal badge. With a gentle wave, the metal badge slid into Zeng Lang's hand.
Young Zeng Lang smiled happily, accepted the gift, winked at Gu Ya, and said with a grin, "Now, ask whatever you want."
Gu Ya looked at the mechanical Gu Ya, who suddenly seemed to understand. He crossed his arms and said profoundly, "Ah, yes, my Ye Ying is still alive, and our consciousnesses have merged. After Hei Yang's world-ending event, I spent over a hundred years searching for something that retained Ye Ying's residual consciousness."
"Bai Ying?" Gu Ya asked faintly.
The mechanical Gu Ya nodded and said, "Consciousness beings feed on human consciousness. Fortunately, when I found Bai Ying, it hadn't completely consumed Ye Ying's consciousness yet. We even fought a battle."
Slightly relieved, Gu Ya continued to ask, "Then why did you become like this? Will I become like you in the future?"
"I don't know," the mechanical Gu Ya spread his hands and said. "Your world has changed because of you. The future of this world is connected to you. You are the past, and you are also the future."
Gu Ya nodded. This meant he was indeed the nominal savior, but Hei Yang had already been dealt with. Gu Ya was unsure what needed to be solved next.
"So, have you uploaded your consciousness into the computer now?" Gu Ya asked. This was indeed one method of preserving consciousness and achieving immortality, but he recalled his father's dying words: immortal consciousness would gradually forget everything from before.
"Not exactly," the mechanical Gu Ya calmly narrated. "After Hei Yang assimilated me, it also gained the ability of the Relic Urn of the Mech God and opened the door to the imaginary space. The moment the door opened, Hei Yang and I separated. I later learned that it was the plan of one of the Mech Gods. It needed to cultivate me as the 'past'."
"Past? Cultivate? What do you mean?" Gu Ya asked, confused.
Facing Gu Ya's question, the mechanical Gu Ya uttered something even more incomprehensible: "The imaginary space and the real universe are not the entirety of existence. You can understand it as a space beyond twenty-four dimensions. All conscious beings cannot call out its name."
Gu Ya asked, "Then what are you? That Mech God's past? What is the past?"
The mechanical Gu Ya sighed, showing some impatience. "For all four-dimensional beings to survive, they must have a past. With a past, there is a future, and with a cause, there is an effect. If the past encounters an accident due to a certain event, then a four-dimensional being must find a past for itself."
"Whether it's you, me, or every Gu Ya in every timeline, we are the past of a certain Mech God. That's why you can use its abilities. And that's why it can precisely arrange system tasks to motivate and reward the past, and accelerate its transformation into the future."
"So, I will eventually become a Mech God!" Gu Ya exclaimed in surprise.
The mechanical Gu Ya shrugged in agreement.
Zeng Lang suddenly spoke, "Heh heh, don't get happy too soon, my ancestor. Becoming a Mech God means you will face endless suffering."
The mechanical Gu Ya nodded and said, "In billions of years, I have found countless pasts and witnessed the disintegration of innumerable worlds. Some worlds even existed for less than 10 to the power of negative 43 seconds. It was only then that I finally found a past."
Gu Ya was shocked, "You are already a Mech God! And Zeng Lang is your past? Then are you still Gu Ya?"
"Is that difficult to understand?" the mechanical Gu Ya said calmly. "Gu Ya was my former self, but it has become the future. How can the future become the past?"
Gu Ya raised his hand to interrupt the mechanical Gu Ya, as he really didn't want to hear the other party's nonsensical rambling.
After a period of silence, Gu Ya said, "I would rather die peacefully than become something like you."
The mechanical Gu Ya nodded and said, "After becoming a Mech God, even the right to truly die is stripped away from me. Without a past, I will fall into some event loop, endlessly repeating monotonous suffering."
"I have seen billions upon billions of dead Mech Gods trapped in some phase of time. A very few lucky ones, through the rifts of the imaginary space, arrive in the real universe and become consciousness lifeforms."
Gu Ya finally understood how consciousness beings were born. "Are there only Mech Gods in the imaginary space?"
"No, hehe, Mech Gods are just one among billions of ordinary existences."
Zeng Lang interjected, "After becoming a Mech God, you will also face attacks from other existences. Moreover, there isn't just one type of four-dimensional space. Just like three-dimensional worlds, they are also divided into many types. Pseudo-body energy is a substance from a certain three-dimensional universe, discovered by a low-level civilization and then introduced into our world."
"Alright, alright, enough. My timeline has already changed. I will walk my own future, not survive by seeking the past."
The mechanical Gu Ya and Zeng Lang both nodded.
Zeng Lang smiled slightly and took out paper and pen from his pocket, writing down over a dozen lines of complex chemical formulas. He handed them to Gu Ya, saying, "This is the formula for the pseudo-body syndrome medication. Give it to my ancestor, Zeng Lang. In my timeline, he died of pseudo-body syndrome at the age of 32."
Gu Ya took the chemical formula, his expression complicated. "No wonder. But if I change Zeng Lang's fate, will you still exist?"
"Hahaha!" Zeng Lang laughed playfully and said, "What are you talking about, ancestor? We are not beings on the same timeline to begin with. This world has tens of thousands, millions of countless timelines. Time travel can only return to the past of one's own timeline, but consciousness travel can traverse dimensions and go to the timeline you desire."
Gu Ya nodded, his last concern expressed, "Meaning, in some timeline, there will be an evil Gu Ya. If it finds me, what should I do?"
The mechanical Gu Ya said, "It's not impossible. But so far, I have seen countless Gu Ya, some with pasts, some with futures, and some who died instantly. The separation of timelines in each world is happening all the time, but most timelines collapse due to quantum effects violating physical laws and perish, while those that exist for a longer time last no more than an hour."
"Situations as stable as yours and mine are rare minorities. So far, my estimated probability is 2/∞."
"Ah? You only found one stable timeline world like mine? Then how do you explain the existence of infinitely many Mech Gods?" Gu Ya was shocked.
The extremely mechanical Gu Ya was moved by Gu Ya's foolishness, narrowing his mechanical eyes. "Is that difficult to understand?"
"The present us, every second, splits into infinitely many timelines, but most of them undergo quantum collapse and perish. The truly continuous and stable ones are only your world and mine."
"I don't know why, perhaps there are still stable worlds I haven't found."
"Alright, alright, alright!" Gu Ya raised his hand to interrupt again. "My head hurts. Now I know my world is different from yours. I will eventually become the Mech God of my world."
The mechanical Gu Ya and Zeng Lang nodded again. The mechanical Gu Ya added, "If you wish to escape the fate of immortality, then do not open the imaginary space. The Mech Gods cannot do anything to you in your current state."
"Remember, the skill 'Imaginary White Hole,' try not to use it if possible. I had no choice but to accept my fate to defeat Hei Yang."
Gu Ya nodded.
"Alright, half an hour has passed. Earth-shattering changes must have occurred outside. Go and embrace your future, Gu Ya." The mechanical Gu Ya sat back on Zeng Lang's shoulder.
Zeng Lang stood up, smiled calmly at Gu Ya, and the two of them gradually turned into white light and disappeared from the room.
When Gu Ya opened his eyes again, he saw a faintly lit white ceiling.
A familiar faint fragrance entered his nostrils.
Smelling this comforting scent, Gu Ya finally realized he had returned to reality.