279: Dimensions of space

He focused intently, and the world gradually split into two before his eyes.

One part was the night sky illuminated by lights.

The other part, beyond the night sky, was 'a drop' of pale purple liquid, captured by Earth's 'gravity,' falling towards Yang Dian.

"Dimensional rifts, dimensional erosion—so that's what it is."

To put it simply:

If the Universe is compared to a lake, then the surface of the lake is the cosmic space that humans can observe with the naked eye.

If each Alien Planet is compared to a leaf, then the observable Universe is countless leaves floating on the lake's surface.

On the boundless lake surface, countless leaves emit their presence, and countless others drift with the current.

Originally, Earth was a weightless leaf, drifting with the current on the lake's surface.

Until one day, 11 years ago, the Space Research Institute observed the existence of this 'leaf' called Earth.

To assert its presence, the leaf gained weight.

Thus, with it as the center, a new ripple spread across the lake's surface.

The ripple activated dormant matter, causing Earth to experience Qi Revival, and the world has been different ever since.

After gaining weight, to prevent itself from sinking to the bottom of the lake, this leaf, Earth, began to move on the surface.

So, ripples continuously emanated from Earth, clashing and colliding with the ripples from other leaves.

Among them, a leaf named Lizardmen Alien Planet was the first to buckle, its own emanating ripples developing a flaw, causing it to be impacted by the ripples from Earth.

Dimensional folding and erosion thus began.

The matter belonging to the Lizardmen Alien Planet, namely its land and space, began to be captured by Earth.

During this period, the leaf named Earth became more active, and its mass gradually increased.

This led to some fragments of leaves (remains of planets and worlds after dimensional erosion) that had already failed in the ripple clashes and sunk into the water, being attracted and captured by this leaf, Earth.

These were the planetary fragments in the dimensional rifts, falling into Earth.

One good news, one bad news.

The good news is that Earth's own mass is not large, so it can only attract 'surface water layer' fragments below the lake's surface, which are shallow dimensional rift planetary fragments.

The life forms existing in such planetary fragments generally won't be very strong.

After all, strength implies a higher essence and greater mass, which the current Earth cannot capture.

The planetary fragment in Binhai Volcano Park is an exception.

That was purely an accident.

The bad news is still that Earth's own mass is not large.

A small mass means the intensity of the ripples it emits is limited.

If it encounters a 'leaf' with a high mass, it might be instantly crushed by the ripples it generates and dimensionally eroded by it.

"So, mother earth isn't enough; we still have to rely on our own initiative."

How to exercise initiative?

Transform oneself into a sharp blade, pierce through the ripples emitted by other leaves, and strike into those other leaves.

If the mass of that leaf is destroyed, its emitted ripples will naturally weaken, and the ripples emitted by Earth will be able to rush in immediately.

Then.

Eat it.

"So now the question is."

"How can we observe other dimensional planets and worlds when mother earth is inactive?"

"Hmm?"

"Then again..."

"Dr. Bai hasn't updated his weapons and equipment in a while."

"Did he also realize this point and is now working hard towards it?"

Lost in thought, Yang Dian heard a somewhat cautious footsteps approaching him.

In a moment, a clear yet timid female voice sounded beside him.

"Um, hello."

He turned to look at the newcomer.

Nanjing in December is very cold.

Especially at night, with a chilly wind and single-digit temperatures, wearing a small padded jacket or something is perfectly fine.

But the person who came?

It was clearly cold; Yang Dian could even see goosebumps on her arms caused by the cold wind.

Yet she was still wearing a light yellow camisole and a knee-length mini-skirt.

His gaze fell on the phone holder in her hand and the phone on it, and Yang Dian suddenly understood.

"An anchor?"

The girl nodded.

"Yes, yes, I'm an anchor, doing an outdoor interview show."

That's not strange then.

To attract the attention of perverts, dressing lightly is normal.

Turning around and looking up at the pale purple 'liquid' that was about to reach reality, Yang Dian casually asked:

"What kind of interview are you doing?"

The girl honestly replied:

"Randomly interviewing passersby about their views on Qi Revival, martial arts practice, and Awakening."

Yang Dian nodded.

Since the announcement of Qi Revival and the lifting of the blockade on martial arts and Awakening news, the online popularity of these terms has remained very high.

Although the field is crowded, if the live broadcast effect is done well, a lot of popularity can still be gained.

After answering Yang Dian's question, the girl asked somewhat nervously again:

"But before the interview, can I ask you a question?"

Yang Dian nodded:

"Ask away."

"Are you human, a ghost, or an Awakened?"

Listening to the girl's tearful voice, Yang Dian, realizing something, leaned closer to the girl and glanced at her phone screen.

As expected, he was not in the footage captured by the girl's phone.

Besides, many bullet comments were saying the girl had encountered a ghost, a ghost that could only be seen with the naked eye.

There were also bullet comments saying the girl was just creating a show effect, doing a quantum performance to the air to drum up popularity.

Yang Dian smiled, reached out and pulled out his phone from his spatial ring:

"Zero, enter her live stream."

The phone screen flickered rapidly, and after a while, Yang Dian, who had entered the girl's live stream, raised an eyebrow:

"Oh, a big anchor? There are already over 20,000 people in her live stream."

The girl swallowed:

"There weren't originally."

"After I filmed you, I said I wanted to interview you, and later, alerted by viewers in the live stream, I realized you weren't in the footage captured by my phone."

"Then more and more viewers said I was acting and encouraged me to come over and talk to you."

"After gaining popularity, the number of people in the live stream went up."

After speaking, she poked her head out again and glanced at Yang Dian's phone screen.

Then she exclaimed in surprise:

"How can I see you on your phone?"

"I'm a ghost," Yang Dian began to scare the young girl:

"I'm using an underworld phone, so of course I can see things your phones can't capture."

The girl's eyes widened:

"You're, you're lying, right..."

"There can't be ghosts, right..."

"And even if you were a ghost, but, but, but..."

Seeing the girl gradually lose control of her expressions, actions, and speech, Yang Dian couldn't help but laugh:

"Alright, I'm not joking with you anymore."

"Although the existence of Souls has now been observed, Souls are extremely rare and generally cannot remain in reality for long."

"It's not that easy to encounter a ghost."

The girl breathed a sigh of relief:

"So you're human, not a ghost?"

"But why can't my phone capture you?"

Yang Dian took a sip of lemonade:

"Because of permissions."

"My permissions are relatively high, so my information generally won't appear on the internet."

"Even if you film me, when the signal is converted into an image and transmitted online, the smart AI will remove my existence."

"That's why you can't film me."