378: The final journey, back to the beginning of the universe.

In the enormous white laboratory, the air was deathly still.

The giant old man, with a 'Chief Researcher' badge pinned to his chest, was currently staring cross-eyed at the tiny 'ant' on his desk.

Sweat trickled down his wrinkled forehead, hitting the desktop with a loud thud.

Like a bomb.

"A... a glass bottle?"

The old man's voice trembled, like a duck being choked.

"No... this isn't a glass bottle."

"This is a 'Higher Dimensions Quantum Culture Dish'."

"And you guys..."

The old man swallowed, looking at the miniature man whose sword tip was pointed at his nose.

"You are 'Entropy Reduction Test Sample' number 9832."

"Sample?"

Lu Chen smiled.

He stood on the pile of documents on the desk, pitifully small, yet incredibly arrogant.

"Calling hundreds of billions of lives, the rise and fall of countless civilizations, 'samples'?

"You guys in white coats sure have big hearts."

"N-no, it's not that we have big hearts."

The old man seemed to be intimidated by Lu Chen's imposing manner, or perhaps by some deeper fear, as he began to explain.

"It's because... we had no choice."

The old man raised his hand and pointed to the laboratory's thick, seemingly never-opening metal window.

"Young man, since you could make it to The Fifth Layer, you must have felt it, right?"

"This world... is also dying."

"Our universe is undergoing a 'Big Rip'."

"To survive, to find a way to reverse entropy increase, we created you."

"We are simulating the birth and destruction of the universe, trying to find that..."

A trace of fanaticism flashed in the old man's eyes.

"That **singularity** that can bring dead ashes back to life."

Lu Chen fell silent.

He recalled the heat death of the Fourth Layer, and the power outage of the Third Layer.

It turned out that all this despair was transmitted downwards, layer by layer.

It was like a Russian nesting doll; each layer struggled for survival, yet all were inevitably heading towards death.

"So, I'm your last resort?"

Lu Chen sheathed his sword and sat cross-legged on the huge documents.

"You could say that."

The old man gave a wry smile, "You are the only variable. Your data overflow rate has exceeded the system's threshold. You might be that singularity, or you might be... a bug."

"Whether a singularity or a bug."

Lu Chen patted the dust off his pants and stood up.

His gaze passed the old man and landed on the **supercomputer** roaring in the center of the lab, connected to all the culture dishes.

"Since you are looking for the secret of the 'beginning'."

"Then why don't you take me to see it?"

"See... see what?" The old man was stunned.

Lu Chen extended a finger, pointing at the frantically jumping core code on the main unit.

"I want to see..."

"This universe, and your world..."

"When it **first booted up**."

"What?!"

The old man nearly fell off his chair in fright. "You want to go back before the Big Bang? That's a forbidden zone! It's data turbulence! You'll be torn to shreds instantly if you go in!"

"Torn to shreds?"

Lu Chen turned his head and glanced at Su Qingying and Wang Peng behind him.

There was no trace of hesitation in their eyes.

Only a kind of... **'I'll be crazy with you to the end'** composure.

"Old man."

Lu Chen grinned, revealing a mouthful of stark white teeth.

"I don't have many good qualities."

"Except for my stubbornness."

"Even the Big Bang might not be able to..."

"Break me!"

"Fatty! Qingying! Get on board!"

"Alright!"

Wang Peng nimbly scurried back into the spaceship name.

Lu Chen no longer paid attention to the old man.

He controlled the warship, like a moth drawn to a flame, rushing resolutely towards the supercomputer's data interface!

"Since it's the last journey."

"Then let's..."

"Buy a one-way ticket!"

"**Target: Origin of Time!**"

"**Full speed... against the current!**"

"Boom—!!!"

The spaceship name transformed into an uncatchable ghostly light, directly plunging into the massive data torrent... time was reversing.

This time, it wasn't just a simple playback of images.

It was truly... **reversing causality**.

Outside the window, countless bizarre and fantastical scenes flashed past.

They witnessed the destruction and rebirth of The Fifth Layer world.

They saw the prosperity and decline of the Fourth Layer world.

They saw the Third Layer... the Second Layer... until the very end.

All images vanished.

All sounds fell silent.

Even the concept of "time" lost its meaning here.

This was... **Nothingness**.

The 'nothing' before the birth of 'something'.

"Are we there?"

Wang Peng gripped the handrail tightly, looking at the absolute darkness outside the window, his voice trembling.

"Why is there... nothing here?"

"Not even a ghost?"

"No."

Su Qingying stared at the frantically jumping pointer on the dashboard, her expression becoming unusually solemn.

"There's something here."

"This place is filled with..."

"**Possibility**."

Lu Chen stood at the very front of the bridge.

He closed his eyes, no longer looking with them, but perceiving with the bio-skeletal chip he had integrated.

In this absolute Nothingness.

He sensed a trace of... **fluctuation**.

That wasn't energy.

That was... **thought**.

"Found it."

Lu Chen suddenly opened his eyes.

The spaceship name slowly sailed towards the deepest part of that darkness.

There.

In that place where all things had not yet been born, and time had not yet flowed.

Floated... a **person**.

No.

That wasn't a person.

That was... a **back**.

He wore a seemingly ordinary white shirt, sitting on an illusory chair.

Before him was an... **old-fashioned typewriter**.

"Tap, tap, tap."

The crisp tapping echoed in this Nothingness.

Each tap, a golden character flew out of the typewriter, then burst in the void, transforming into a star, into a world, into... a segment of causality.

"This... this is..."

Wang Peng covered his mouth, his eyes nearly popping out.

"This is... the Creator?!"

Lu Chen didn't speak.

He opened the hatch and walked out, step by step.

In this gravity-less, rule-less void, his steps were remarkably steady.

He walked behind that figure.

The figure continued to type, as if unaware of Lu Chen's arrival.

Lu Chen glanced at the manuscript.

Written on it was precisely... **the story of their universe.**

Even a description of Lu Chen standing there at that very moment.

An unprecedented sense of absurdity surged in his heart.

But also an unprecedented... **sense of relief**.

"Well written."

Lu Chen suddenly spoke.

His voice was light, as if he were evaluating a novel he had just finished reading.

"Just some parts..."

"Were a bit cruel."

The hand typing on the keyboard finally stopped.

The figure slowly turned around.

When Lu Chen saw that face clearly.

His pupils suddenly contracted into pinpricks!

All the blood in his body... **froze** in that instant!

That face.

It wasn't radiant, nor was it terrifyingly grotesque.

It was a... plain, even slightly weary, **young man's face**.

And this face, Lu Chen was all too familiar with.

So familiar that... he saw it every day when he looked in the mirror.

It was... **himself?!**

"You've arrived."

That 'Lu Chen' pushed up the glasses on his nose, looking at the astonished Lu Chen before him, and gave a helpless smile.

"I've been waiting for you for a long time."

"Since you're here."

"Then..."

That 'Lu Chen' stood up and pointed at the typewriter.

"How about we switch shifts?"

"This damn universe's script..."

"I really... **can't write anymore**."