Chapter 1 World Destruction?

Han Xiao and Kesuye exchanged a look, both seeing surprise in each other's eyes.

Just the few of us, taking on an advanced civilization alliance like the All-Star Ring…

How many dishes did you have? Did you drink too much?

Han Xiao muttered to himself, but he also sensed that there seemed to be many hidden truths, so he patiently asked:

"You say this is the only way for us to leave? Explain it in detail."

"I know, you think this is an impossible task, but in reality, it's not as difficult as you think… but it's not easy either." The mysterious man said hoarsely, "I believe, when you first entered this sub-dimension, you must have been very shocked, never expecting that there would be a space similar to the universe here, and even with incredibly powerful civilization forces."

"True." Han Xiao nodded, there was nothing to hide about that.

"Heh, it's not just you, every outsider in the past had the same reaction." The mysterious man slowly said, "I understand your concerns, but your worries are unnecessary. Everything you see… the All-Star Ring, the ten thousand or so Saint-grade and above powerhouses, including me, are all just long-deceased phantoms. Our world… was destroyed long ago!"

Han Xiao was shocked, both believing and doubting, and pressed on:

"What exactly happened?"

"This world you see is a mutated space-time loop based on information-state technology." The mysterious man said lightly, "You should have found some information about the World Reboot Plan online. This plan is not just a simple insurance, it is also a special plan used by the All-Star Ring to escape the end of the universe… It's just that this plan failed. Due to certain mutations in the information-state, a timeline was intercepted, forming a closed loop of space-time, which is the world I am in. It constantly ends at a fixed point in time, and restarts at a fixed point in time, and I am the only anomaly who retains memories in the loop."

“…So, if we want to leave here, we have to break this so-called closed space-time loop?”

Han Xiao frowned.

According to the principles of space-time shear technology, this situation was indeed possible, but this statement made it difficult for him to believe, and there were several terms he only half-understood.

The mysterious man glanced at the two men’s expressions, and gave a hoarse laugh, saying:

"Heh, don't look at me like that, I'm not a liar. It's normal for you to be full of doubts. Since I invited you here, I plan to explain the whole story from the beginning. It's a long story…"

"It's okay, we have plenty of time." Han Xiao stood with his arms folded.

"Then get ready, no matter how shocked you are in a moment, don't interrupt my narration, because what you are about to hear will be secrets and truths involving the entire universe…"

The mysterious man's tone became solemn.

"Please speak." Han Xiao straightened his expression and made a gesture of invitation.

The mysterious man breathed out, and slowly said:

"Everything has a lifespan, and the universe is the same. According to normal development, the universe will inevitably usher in its ultimate fate, perhaps heat death, perhaps the Big Crunch, or perhaps the Big Rip. When everything comes to an end, everything is destined to end.

However, in the initial space-time, there was a civilization that had developed to its peak, far more powerful than us. In order to escape this fate, they chose to give the universe new life, to continue their own existence… In the end, they were not successful, but they were not a complete failure. Under their modification, the basic rules of the universe changed. When it expanded to a certain extent, reaching the fork in the road of ultimate fate, the universe would actively collapse, devour everything, turn into the initial singularity, and then produce the Big Bang of creation, transforming again into a new universe that was empty but full of vitality… We call it the ‘Great Reboot’.

This god-level civilization that gave a glimmer of hope to the living beings of the universe has long been destroyed by the Great Reboot, and their names have also disappeared in the river of time, but their modification of the universe is the only legacy left to future generations. Nothing can measure the preciousness of this legacy. Without their contribution, no subsequent civilizations would have appeared.

Therefore, we call this civilization the savior civilization, and they started the iteration of the universe… and the universe they were in became the anchor point of the timeline, called the First Iteration.

However, the Great Reboot caused the time for the universe to usher in its ultimate fate to be greatly advanced, so the development time of subsequent iterated civilizations was shortened, and no one could reach the height of the savior civilization again. They were just repeating the cycle of destruction. No matter what the civilization developed into, it would eventually perish in the Great Reboot. They could not make any changes to the universe, nor could they leave any information.

In this way, countless iterations passed, and finally a variable appeared. The most powerful civilization in this iteration achieved amazing breakthroughs in the field of information-state.

They found clues about the savior civilization, and discovered part of the reason for the birth of the Great Reboot, believing that the savior civilization’s modification had precisely triggered the mutation of the information-state, thus affecting the development route of the universe… In their view, the universe is a program that can rewrite its operation, and the information-state is the programming language.

So they tried to use the information-state to continue civilization, but unfortunately they still failed, but they also left a legacy, which is the existence of something called "Sanctuary".

This thing may have originally been just their seed bank, but by chance, it mutated into one of the underlying rules of the universe's operation, and would not be destroyed by the Great Reboot. It would record all the information that occurred in an iteration, store it in the form of information-state, and when the Great Reboot occurred, it would randomly extract some of the information and integrate it into the underlying rules of the new universe, constantly making the next iteration of the universe richer…

You may not understand this very well, so let me give you an example: the five major super-power systems are products of the Sanctuary. In ancient times, some cosmic iterations had super-powered individuals, while others did not, and the systems were different. The Sanctuary recorded some of the super-power systems, and by chance permanently integrated them into the laws of the universe at the time of the Great Reboot, so in later iterations, super-powered individuals of that system would inevitably appear… The five major super-power systems came about in this way. They did not appear at the same time, but were constantly supplemented and completed in iteration after iteration, so we have five major systems, and you also have five major systems, which is not a coincidence.

Let me give you another example… You should have noticed that there are no sub-dimensional worlds here. Our iteration was earlier than yours. The World Reboot Plan may be the origin of the sub-dimensional worlds. The Sanctuary integrated it into our Great Reboot this time… So, we may be the pioneers of the sub-dimensional worlds!

In short, the emergence of the Sanctuary allowed subsequent iterations to break out of the eternal cycle of death, bringing more variables. It constantly enriches the universe of the next iteration. In fact, this is a kind of inheritance, allowing the new universe to have the opportunity to enjoy the development results left by the previous iteration, making the Great Reboot an optimization of subsequent cosmic iterations… Although weak, it accumulates over time.

So, in general, the later the cosmic iteration civilization, the stronger and more advanced it will become!

Therefore, we call this civilization the Sanctuary Civilization, and the cosmic iteration they are in is called the Revolutionary Iteration.

In addition to optimizing the universe, the Sanctuary is also like a recording tool from the beginning of civilization, allowing the history of iterations to be recorded and information to be passed down. Later civilizations that develop to a certain extent have the ability to open the Sanctuary, and the higher their technological power, the more information they obtain from it…

Thus, a relay race of civilizations spanning iterations began!

Generations of cosmic civilizations inherited the research of their predecessors, learned from their failures, and constantly tried new paths. Even if they failed, they would leave their insights in the Sanctuary for future generations to continue their research… Everything they did was to escape the ultimate fate of the universe, pinning their hopes on the future, hoping that a civilization in later generations would survive the Great Reboot and find a way to continue.

Experience is constantly passed down, so later iterations have a higher chance of making breakthrough progress.

In our iteration, the World Reboot Plan was our achievement. Although it ultimately failed to allow our civilization to continue, it created the sub-dimensional worlds for future generations, giving you more possibilities.

And this world is a small segment of the cyclical timeline at the end of my universe, a failed reboot, a phantom that should have disappeared long ago. We… are just one link in this long relay."

Having said this, the mysterious man stopped.

Looking at Han Xiao and Kesuye, the two had been frozen in place since just now, their eyes widening, their hearts filled with stormy waves.

The amount of information contained in this speech was immense, exceeding the expectations of both of them.

"Is it really true or false?" Han Xiao only felt disbelief.

This set of theories caused a strong shock to his mind, and he couldn't help but doubt the authenticity of this cosmic secret.

In his previous life, there was no relevant information. The three major civilizations and the World Tree had not revealed any information in this regard.

Could it be that the development of the three major civilizations was not high enough, and they had not yet cracked the secrets of the Sanctuary?

Could this be the meaning of the mission name "Relay Across Iterations"!

If this was true, it would be too spectacular. Generations of civilizations poured their efforts into research, constantly passing it down in this way, like a relay race passing the torch.

Just thinking about it slightly, he could feel a grand epic sense, feel the unyielding and tenacity of generations of cosmic-level civilizations going against the heavens, and the dignity of advanced civilizations never passively waiting for fate to befall them!

Under the shock of his mind, Han Xiao didn't know what to ask for a while.

Seeing the two men's surprise and doubt, the mysterious man did not continue to explain, but said calmly:

"I know, you must be doubting my statement now, after all, these secrets have subverted your concepts, but in the future, when your cosmic iteration develops to the corresponding level, you will know these things sooner or later. As for now… let's get back to business."

"Okay." Han Xiao calmed himself down and temporarily suppressed the shock in his heart.

There was no way to verify the authenticity of this statement at this time, but he thought of the Oathkeeper. This guy went to the Sanctuary and hasn't returned yet. When he gets information about the Sanctuary from the Covenant, he can confirm whether this secret is true or false.

If it was true, then he would have to consider it carefully… The players in his previous life could not reach this level, and this was his first time experiencing it. He didn't know what to do yet.

The mysterious man shook his head, pulled the topic back to the current situation, and said in a low voice: "This space-time is in an endless cycle. When the World Reboot Plan is completely activated, it is the moment to start a new cycle from the beginning. Because I am an individual in the cyclical space-time, even if I die, I will be reborn in the cycle, but I can retain my memories, but outsiders do not belong to this space-time and will be annihilated here.

If you want to leave, you must break it before a cycle ends. In this way, you can regain your freedom, and I can also be freed.

I met outsiders before the seventy-third cycle, the sixty-second cycle, and the fifty-ninth cycle. The earliest one was the First Choser you mentioned. I helped them as I did today, but they failed to break the cycle, and they all died."

After hearing this, Han Xiao's eyes flickered and he pondered secretly.

This kind of cyclical space-time has similarities with space-time shear technology, both of which solidify a period of timeline. The difference is that the cause of this sub-dimension is countless times more complicated than space-time shear technology.

However, this was not the only way for him to leave. The Emperor's teleportation function was similar to the high-dimensional Apocalypse Teleporter and should be able to leave, but he was more curious about what the mysterious man's plan to destroy the world was.

"You want us to destroy the world, it can't be to start a war with the entire All-Star Ring, right? Even if they are phantoms in your mouth, their combat power is real in this space-time."

"Of course not. The original World Reboot Plan was to destroy and then establish. After the Great Reboot, we would reappear using information-state transformation technology. I don't know much about the principle, but I only know that the one who executes this program is an intelligent core made with information-state technology. We call it the Guardian. The All-Star Ring tried to bind it to the indestructible Sanctuary in some way to let it survive the destruction of the Great Reboot.

But it failed in the end and produced a mutation. Although we reappeared, we became phantoms and turned into the current cyclical space-time sub-dimension, and that core intelligence became the dimensional consciousness of this sub-dimension… You should have seen its clone when you came in, right?"

Han Xiao's heart moved.

The "Supreme Guardian" encountered outside the sub-dimension was actually a clone of the dimensional consciousness?

The battle information at that time didn't seem to show any relevant information. It looked like a living person.

At this time, the mysterious man continued:

"The Guardian is the source of the space-time cycle. It has no independent thinking and only has the preset program left, stubbornly protecting this sub-dimension from foreign intrusion. As long as you kill it, you can break the cycle, and only outsiders can do this…

Because I am a part of the cycle, no matter what I do to this world, the final result is a cycle restart. The Guardian will not actively interfere, and I can't leave this world, so there's no way for me to contact it… But the existence of outsiders is a variable. Once you invade, the Guardian will definitely chase in, so there is a chance to kill it here.

And the Guardian's program still retains some of the information-state transformation technology of the World Reboot Plan. Most of the information-state of outsiders who die in the cycle restart will be captured by it, and it will use dimensional energy to create extremely similar entity clones. So far, three batches of outsiders have died, and it already has several clones."

Wouldn't that mean the more outsiders who died, the more Super-A grades could be copied? A sub-dimensional consciousness body actually has such a powerful function, even if it's a product of mutation… Han Xiao's heart moved.

The All-Star Ring was indeed the boss of the previous iteration. A failed product was so powerful. The development time of the three major civilizations was only a fraction of theirs, and their technological level was still a younger brother in front of them.

"It sounds a little more reliable, but how can we make the Guardian appear?" Han Xiao nodded.

The mysterious man: "Because of the mutation of the cyclical space-time, and in order to avoid some risks at the beginning, the underlying logic that the Guardian cannot tamper with the content of the reboot was set, which caused the Guardian to appear in this world, but it is not as free as in the outside world and can only descend near the carrier. For example, the Super-Power Security Department of the All-Star Ring has a cosmic treasure called the Positioning Star Map, which is one of the automatically formed dimensional consciousness carriers and can monitor the entire dimension. I have created a cloaking device called the Sky-Shielding Instrument, which can escape its monitoring. With this thing, you have not been discovered by the pursuers.

In short, as long as you approach the carrier, the Guardian will appear and kill you. This is its core mechanism and cannot be violated… And these carriers are all in the important warehouses of the Super-Power Security Department, so our plan is to attack the Super-Power Security Department warehouse, approach the carrier, let the Guardian descend, and kill it."

"This difficulty is not low either…"

Han Xiao pondered.

"I will provide help, and you can use the resources of the Eye of Insight. I won't let the two of you work for nothing…" the mysterious man said softly, "You and I are both mechanics, and I will pass on all my knowledge to you as a reward for helping me escape."

After saying this, he paused and added:

"Of course, only if you break the cycle and survive will your learning be meaningful."