Dimensional Hotel
Chapter 389: The Mysteries of the World’s Foundation

Chapter 389: Chapter 389: The Mysteries of the World’s Foundation

The Phase Engine stirred up the spacetime structure around the ship, a hyperspace bubble enveloping the giant tower-like Otherworld Inn. Information from the real universe was compressed into a complete two-dimensional membrane at the edge of the warped space. On this thin two-dimensional "membrane," the secrets of the stars flowed like water, inundating Yu Sheng’s perception and mind.

His spirit kept in high synchronization with this ship voyaging at faster-than-light speed, a state incomprehensible and unimaginable to anyone but himself — which is also why until today, no one had warned him that directly touching hyperspace with the "human" mind is an extremely dangerous act.

Under normal circumstances, those traveling faster than light would necessarily be inside a well-protected vehicle. While generating warped space, the Phase Engine would also create a special force field that maintains the ship’s integrity. Another function of this force field is to prevent the minds of those on board from contacting the outside environment of the ship — because the universe in the state of "complete mapping" is so perilous that even the starlight mapped on the edges of the space bubble carries an information density enough to drive one insane, and the mind of a mortal would instantly melt in the whispers and flickers of the stars even if accidentally illuminated.

But who could have imagined? A person’s mind could seamlessly transfer onto a ship, even viewing the ship entirely as their "shell"...

Yu Sheng curiously "examined" the starlight flowing around him, watching as it filled the spacetime like an endless giant river. At this moment, his perception of his "shell" suddenly became utterly blurred, whether it was the Otherworld Inn making the jump or the physical body sitting on the ship bridge of the Otherworld Inn, both seemed to become an abstract footnote meant only to carry the concept of "Yu Sheng," whereas his essence detached from this footnote, leisurely and delightfully roaming through the most fundamental structures of this world.

His gaze pierced through the surrounding flowing starlight, as though seeing those magnificent structures supporting the order of the stars and all time and space.

He couldn’t touch them, but he could see them. He couldn’t comprehend them, but he could read the records echoing between those grand structures left from a certain "eternal moment."

After hesitating for a long time, Yu Sheng once again extended his perception, attempting to touch those flickering "glimmers," trying to "read" the incredible echoes among the grand structures that support the world.

What a great creation this is, what a startling project; a corner of the world’s underlying secrets unveiled to him, and in the next moment, he once again heard the creator’s thoughts when restarting this world—

"... How exactly does this part run?"

Yu Sheng: "..."

Uncertain, listen again.

He withdrew his perception once more, then touched another glimmer.

"... There was originally supposed to be a planet here, but it was commented out because it wasn’t useful.

"Why is there an error here?

"Why isn’t there an error here?!

"Whatever, comment all out and rerun it once... can it actually run?!"

"... Why are the stars in this region all spiky?"

Yu Sheng thought for a moment, then pressed the corner of the world’s secrets back.

Mainly, seeing too much was quite vexing.

At this time, he had already realized and understood what those "pieces of information" he had contacted were — although not knowing how all this happened, there was no doubt that the information came from the moment of this world’s "rebirth."

They occurred at a moment before "Let there be light."

After a long time, Yu Sheng’s "gaze" once again turned to those "foundation structures" that supported the entire observable universe, which he could not touch or understand, pondering deeply.

He silently pondered like this, allowing time to meaninglessly circle repetitively at the edge of his mind. Then, in a particular instant, he suddenly awoke.

The process of "observation" and "contact" beyond the comprehension of mortal minds had ended. The torrent of information ebbed like a tide from the edge of his mind, and intelligence from the real world quickly reorganized. He once again sensed the "iron body" of the Otherworld Inn, followed by his human shell sitting at the captain’s seat in the Control Hall, with the humming operations of devices roaring in his ears, initially deafening, then calming down into the usual low background sound.

Yu Sheng felt a sway in front of his eyes and noticed a little puppet sneakily crawling onto him, stretching out its arm to reach its finger towards his nostril...

He blinked, suddenly turning his head: "What are you doing?"

"Whoa!"

The little puppet immediately let out a cry, tumbling off Yu Sheng and sprawling on the ground.

Yu Sheng looked at the embarrassed little puppet struggling up from the ground, both angry and amused, reaching out to lift her in front of him: "You can’t take a moment without causing trouble, can you?"

"I was just trying to check your breath! Do you understand checking breath?" Erin, like a cat, was picked up by the scruff of the neck by Yu Sheng, yet still crossed her arms with pride, "What if you were dead!"

Yu Sheng broke out in a cold sweat instantly. This little thing’s mouth was like a sandstorm, making his emotions a bit discontinuous: "Where did you get that idea? Am I not perfectly fine?"

"Yeah, right? Before your abrupt demise, everything’s always fine, or it wouldn’t be called sudden demise," Erin said, swinging her body hard in the air, performing a highly difficult but particularly deft move to turn over and hug Yu Sheng’s arm. She smoothly snatched her collar out of his hand and clambered onto Yu Sheng’s shoulder like a koala. "Just now, I saw you sitting here motionless, looking fine on the outside but suddenly with no mental response. I thought you had been brain-dead from steering the ship..."

Yu Sheng was stunned by her words and didn’t bother to delve into the insinuations in the little puppet’s speech. Instead, he involuntarily recalled his state of high synchronization with the ship earlier and what he perceived at the boundary of Super Space—

The grand structure that supports all things on an informational level, and those unbelievably absurd annotations.

He remembered what he had previously learned from Baili Qing about this world, concerning the Ancient Saints, the old world destroyed by the Great Annihilation, and the new world rebuilt from the ruins of the old one, as well as that epic act known as the "Second Singularity Explosion" genesis.

Then he saw the little puppet reaching out an arm again to poke his nose.

"I just spaced out," Yu Sheng instantly swatted away Erin’s tiny paw, "Just now too, just spaced out."

"You zoned out till you lost mental response?" Erin widened her eyes, "Are you really okay? Is it too burdensome to steer the ship using this kind of mental direct-link method? Perhaps you should let the Special Service Bureau arrange for a more advanced autopilot... or if that doesn’t work, have them set up a long-term chauffeur for you."

Yu Sheng: "..."

He suddenly realized that this little puppet seemed a bit concerned about him.

"I’m really fine, just accidentally ’saw’ some things during my first entry into Super Space." Yu Sheng raised a hand to pat Erin’s head, answering more seriously this time. After a moment’s thought, he turned to look at Master Yuan Hao and Xuan Che, seated not far away.

The two handsome figures actually didn’t understand what Yu Sheng and Erin were discussing just now, but they seemed somewhat accustomed to the travel agency’s slightly ridiculous yet harmonious atmosphere (mainly Xuan Che was more adapted, while Master Yuan Hao appeared inherently short-circuited), so they didn’t ask anything and just watched the fun from the side.

Yu Sheng looked at them, suddenly asking, "When you’re piloting a superluminal spaceship, do you see strange things?"

"Strange things?" Master Yuan Hao was momentarily confused, looking puzzled, "What do you mean?"

"Like the foundational information of the world, knowledge conveyed by the stars, traces from the world’s dawn, stuff like that," Yu Sheng pondered. Considering the mental well-being of others, he didn’t describe the content of those "knowledge" directly but hinted at them, "Do you see those things when the ship enters Super Space?"

Master Yuan Hao’s expression subtly changed upon hearing this: "That sounds rather frightening, like being polluted by some unnameable thing beyond reality. I’ve never seen such things."

Yu Sheng, not giving up: "...Even when the ship is going really fast, do you not see them?"

"...No matter how fast it’s going," Master Yuan Hao thought for a moment, looking earnest, "The fastest I’ve ever gone, I only saw a warning."

"A warning?!" Yu Sheng jolted instantly, thinking there must indeed be something to see, and hurriedly asked, "What warning?"

Master Yuan Hao sighed: "An over-speed warning sent by the local traffic control bureau—then the Immortal Boat got impounded, and I was teased by my junior brothers about it for many days."

Yu Sheng: "..."

After thorough confirmation, he finally ascertained what he had seen was not "normal phenomena."

It seemed no one had ever come into contact with the "information" imprinted deep within the stars — perhaps no one had even realized their existence.

A fluffy big tail reached over from the side, occasionally rubbing against his arm.

Yu Sheng turned his head to see Hu Li looking at him with some concern.

He suddenly laughed.

"It’s nothing, I just realized... this world seems quite interesting."

He stood up from the Captain’s seat and slowly strolled to the large observation window at the end of the Control Hall.

Outside the observation window, the edge of the Super Space bubble still quietly reflected the scenery of the real world projected in after the distortion. Everything observable in the universe was mapped onto that sealed two-dimensional membrane, tinted with a psychedelic hue by the red-blue shift effect.

But this time, everything in his eyes seemed to be more than just a beautiful scene.

He felt as if he saw... a figure.

A figure bustling ineffectively in the eternal moment of all things’ annihilation.

"Quite interesting indeed..."