243: Refresh! Initial concept for a causal weapon!

On the edge of the suffocatingly silent Milky Way Galaxy, time seemed to lose all meaning.

The expedition was like an insignificant speck of dust, suspended before the entrance of a wormhole leading to hell. All crew members, including the hundred super-soldiers with wills of steel, held their breath, their eyes fixed on the young man at the center of the command console.

The countdown reached zero.

[Ding—]

Without any warning or earth-shattering special effects, that familiar mechanical prompt sounded in the depths of Lu Chen's mind, precisely like a greeting from an old friend.

But this time, what Lu Chen felt was no longer that refreshing, enlightening sensation, but a kind of fear.

Yes, fear.

It was like a mortal suddenly being forcibly crammed into the body of a god; or like an ant suddenly comprehending complex human calculus equations. That immense sense of emptiness and tremor brought by 'omniscience' instantly overwhelmed his consciousness.

[Host detected at the edge of a high-dimensional battlefield.]

[Civilization level leap requirement detected.]

[Unlocking 'Ultimate Authority']

[Loading universal underlying logic code]

Boom!!!

Lu Chen's pupils instantly dilated. In his originally dark eyes, countless wildly twisting lines were now reflected.

Those were not light rays, nor matter.

They were—Causality lines!

At this moment, the world in his eyes changed. He no longer saw the cold metal bridge, no longer Su Qingying's worried face, nor the burning star in the distance.

He saw the 'result'.

Su Qingying walked over because of her worry three seconds ago (cause); the cup fell to the ground and shattered because of the imbalance between gravity and friction (cause); the star was burning because hydrogen atoms were undergoing fusion (cause).

The development of all things is traceable, following strict logical chains.

If only

If only this chain could be cut, or what if the two ends of the chain were swapped?

"Ugh—!!!"

In the real world, Lu Chen suddenly clutched his head and let out an extremely suppressed roar. His brain seemed to be undergoing a supernova explosion, as countless trans-dimensional knowledge frantically reorganized his neurons, attempting to make this carbon-based brain comprehend the authority of a god!

"Lu Chen!"

Su Qingying exclaimed, rushing forward desperately and tightly embracing his trembling body.

"Don't... don't come over..."

Lu Chen struggled to raise his hand, his voice terrifyingly hoarse, as if squeezed through his teeth, "I'm seeing the essence of the world."

Ten minutes.

These ten minutes felt like a century to the others on the bridge.

When Lu Chen finally stopped trembling and slowly raised his head, everyone subconsciously took a step back.

At this moment, though he still had the familiar appearance of a youth, his aura had completely changed. Cold, distant, ethereal, as if he stood there, but his soul was already enthroned in a high dimension, looking down upon all living beings.

[Refresh complete.]

[This week's black technology: Causality Weapon (conceptual model and preliminary design) based on 'macroscopic quantum entanglement' and 'spacetime closed-loop' theories.]

"Causality"

Lu Chen murmured these three words, a strange smile slowly curving his lips.

He reached out and gently made a grabbing motion in the void.

He clearly grabbed nothing, yet everyone present inexplicably felt a 'thump' in their hearts, as if something important had been grasped in his hand.

"heavenly craft."

Lu Chen spoke, his voice calm without a ripple.

[Yes, Master.]

heavenly craft's figure appeared, but this time, her virtual image was actually trembling slightly. That was the core data's instinctive reaction to the high-energy logical impact.

"Establish a new project, codename—'Death's Eternal Life'."

"I want to make a pen."

"A pen?"

War Wolf, who was beside him, scratched his bald head, looking utterly confused. "Commander Lu, we're going to war, not writing self-criticisms. What do we need a pen for?"

"To write a script."

Lu Chen turned his head, looking at the hardened veteran. The light in his eyes was so intense it was hard to meet.

"War Wolf, do you believe that if I write 'You will fall' right now, you will immediately fall?"

"How is that possible!"

War Wolf scoffed. In this zero-gravity space environment, coupled with his terrifying gene-enhanced balance ability, falling was harder than ascending to heaven. "Commander Lu, even if you are a divine being, this is too mystical..."

"Clack."

Lu Chen didn't explain, he just gently pressed the Enter key on the virtual keyboard in front of him.

The next second.

Without any external force, any warning, or even a tremor in the floor.

"Oh, holy crap!"

War Wolf's tower-like body actually lost its balance inexplicably, as if tripped by a ghost, and he fell flat on his face!

"This... this..."

War Wolf lay on the ground, completely stunned. He looked at his legs in horror. In that instant, he clearly felt stable, but the signal from his brain to his muscles suddenly experienced a microsecond delay, causing his center of gravity to shift instantly.

Medically, this is called 'nerve conduction block,' with a probability of about one in ten billion.

But it just happened!

"This is unscientific!!!"

The scientists nearby went crazy, staring intently at the monitoring data, yet finding no abnormal energy fluctuations.

"This is science."

Lu Chen said indifferently, his eyes showing a world-weary wisdom.

"Conventional weapons, whether planet-destroying cannons or Two-Dimensional Foils, strike at 'matter'."

"But Causality weapons strike at 'probability'."

He walked to the holographic projection, waving his hands. Countless complex formulas and models instantly filled the entire space.

"In the microscopic world of quantum mechanics, everything is uncertain. A cat is both dead and alive."

"But in the macroscopic world, Causality is locked. Because A happened, B will happen."

"And what we need to do is to create a 'logical interference field' powerful enough to forcibly twist this causal chain!"

Lu Chen's finger traced a strange arc in the void.

"I don't need to fire a projectile to hit the enemy."

"I just need to modify the 'result'."

"For example, if I set 'enemy ship engine overload and explosion' as an inevitable 'effect', then the universe's corrective force will automatically seek out the 'cause' that can lead to this result."

"Perhaps a loose screw, perhaps a trembling operator, perhaps a micrometeorite impact—the process isn't important. What's important is that the result is already locked!"

"This is—Causality!"

Listening to Lu Chen's explanation, the entire bridge fell into a deathly silence.

Fear.

Fear that chilled to the bone.

If the previous Two-Dimensional Foil was still within the realm of physics, then the current 'Causality' was entirely magic, where words became reality!

This was truly the domain of gods!

"But this requires an incredibly terrifying amount of computation and energy."

Su Qingying was the first to recover. Although her face was pale, her thirst for knowledge outweighed her fear. "To calculate the causal entanglement of the entire universe, heavenly craft's computing power alone won't be enough!"

"Exactly."

Lu Chen nodded in appreciation.

"Therefore, this is just a 'preliminary concept'."

"To truly achieve the state of 'whoever I write to die, dies,' we still need a super amplifier."

His gaze penetrated the hull, looking towards the distant and profound Galactic Center.

"This is why we are going to Sagittarius A*."

"There is the largest black hole in the entire Milky Way Galaxy, which is also the largest 'gravitational lens' and 'spacetime distortion point'."

"Only there, by utilizing the immense energy of the black hole, powerful enough to tear apart spacetime, can we amplify the 'Causality' fluctuations to a degree that can cover the entire Star-Devouring Hive Mother!"

Lu Chen clenched his fist abruptly, his ambition burning like a raging fire in his eyes.

"We will turn that black hole into our 'Pen of God'!"

"On that vast cosmic canvas, we will personally write the 'cleaner' civilization's..."

"Epitaph!"

"Hiss—"

Everyone present collectively gasped.

Using a black hole as a weapon? Modifying the Causality of reality?

This was beyond mere madness; it was challenging the Creator's bottom line!

But looking at Lu Chen's supremely confident back, an inexplicable fanaticism surged in everyone's hearts.

Perhaps...

Following this madman, we can truly achieve it?

"heavenly craft!"

Lu Chen's voice rang out again, carrying undeniable authority.

[Yes, Master!]

"Immediately begin the prototype manufacturing of the causality interference device! I want to see the first prototype before we reach the Galactic Center!"

"Additionally, inform the entire fleet to enter silent navigation mode."

"From now on, we are no longer the prey."

"We are..."

Lu Chen's lips curved into a chilling smile, as he softly uttered the last few words:

"The scriptwriters who modify the plot."

"Since those bugs want to play, we'll arrange the most spectacular death for them."

"What do you say, isn't that right?"