152: Chapter 152: The Multiverse and Parallel Universes?

Inside Qingfeng Temple.

Zheng Ming was still complaining that it was impossible before, but now...

He gaped in slight shock, unable to say a single word.

Jiang Zhe's analogy was too impactful: the speed of light cannot catch up with the expansion speed of the universe; just like light cannot escape a black hole; the universe is as flat as a cloth; like the feeling of standing on the surface of a supermassive black hole, the universe has no outside, and for the [people] inside the black hole, the outside world is also unknown—because they cannot escape.

Each of these evidence-backed statements pounded wildly at his cognition!

Only now did he feel how ridiculous some of the national studies knowledge he took pride in was before the omnipotent Xiaoyu's brother!

Celestial Master Zhang and Wang Chongyang exchanged a look, their expressions extremely solemn.

"Sigh!"

...

Inside the Principal's office.

The group of teachers was stunned, and finally, they all turned their gazes toward Old Yu the Physicist.

Old Yu pondered for a long time before saying with a face full of horror, "The speed of light cannot catch up with spatial expansion, flat measurements versus a warped whole... there is no observable outside!"

"From a logical chain perspective, this [analogy between the universe and black hole properties] that Jiang Zhe mentioned is actually freaking airtight!"

"Moreover, even some of the madmen currently in astrophysics, especially those in Europe—they are also advocating that we live inside a black hole; this was from a symposium I was invited to attend while traveling abroad last month."

"I didn't expect we'd have such a madman at the cutting edge of science in our own country: Jiang Zhe!"

"Hiss~~" Old Wang's eyes widened, "This... Old Yu, so we might really be living inside a supermassive [black hole]?"

"Not inside!" Old Yu shook his head vigorously, "It's his analogy. We live [on the surface of a supermassive black hole], just like he said, [we live on a phone screen]—he still has half a sentence unsaid:"

"[Inside the phone screen are electronic components/What is inside the universe's screen?]"

"[Outside the phone screen is our reality/What kind of world is outside the universe's screen?]"

"He was afraid Xiao Yu would be scared, so he just dropped those last two sentences!"

"Whether it's inside the universe or outside—for us humans living on the [universe's screen], it's all freaking unknown. Even at the end of everything, until the universe's heat death, it's impossible to know the truth!!!"

Old Yu's words made Principal Fu, Xiao Wang, and the others in the office all shudder.

This was too freaking terrifying!

This is the reality that humanity can never reach!!!

...

Meanwhile, in a dormitory at a physics university in Yangcheng.

The originally pitter-patter sound of keyboards came to an abrupt halt.

Student Wang Hao, wearing headphones, suddenly yanked them off and stared intently at the big screen.

His roommate, who was sleeping behind him, rolled over, "What's up? Seen a ghost?"

"More terrifying than seeing a ghost!" Wang Hao looked at Jiang Zhe on the computer screen, filmed from a candid angle. "A streamer's brother just revealed the secrets of the entire universe, saying the reason we can't measure the curvature of the universe is that the universe is flat; this is a recognized scientific fact—we live on this Cosmic membrane, also called the Cosmic event horizon, which is the same reason light can never escape the universe!"

"Then..."

"That streamer's brother brought up black holes; light can't escape black holes either."

"His brother's words were shocking. He said we all live on the event horizon of a supermassive black hole; and the universe has no [outside and inside], just like a phone screen only has the [outside] reality and no [inside world] of the phone screen."

The roommate was stunned, slowly sat up, and lit a cigarette: "What does that mean?"

Two people lived in the dorm, and both smoked.

Wang Hao hesitated, wanting to explain Jiang Zhe's words, but found his own explanation very pale, lacking Jiang Zhe's level and logic.

Finally, he could only turn on his phone and toss it to his roommate behind him, "See for yourself. We might really be living on the event horizon of a supermassive black hole!"

"What kind of junk is this, scaring people?"

The roommate took the phone, initially indifferent, until he finished watching...

The cigarette in his hand almost burned the bedsheets.

"Holy! Crap!!!"

"Badass!"

...

In a small town, Lin Xiaoxiao, who was on duty, was secretly watching the livestream on her phone.

She originally couldn't understand it, but who would have thought Jiang Zhe's explanation was so easy to grasp.

When she heard Jiang Zhe use a phone screen to represent the Cosmic membrane, her hand jerked. A colleague nearby leaned over, her eyes shining as she looked at Jiang Zhe on the screen, "What are you watching? Damn, he's so handsome!"

Lin Xiaoxiao turned her head, her gaze a bit horrified, "Sister Wang, do you think what he said is true? Are we really living on a [screen]? Just like a phone screen? After all, the universe really has no curvature; I just checked on Qiandu."

"Wait a sec! Let me search for some info with my high school education."

The woman called Sister Wang quickly opened the search bar.

The universe is flat, no curvature—scientific fact.

And the Big Bang's expansion in all directions—making it feel like a sphere, yet no curvature can be measured, proven to be flat; it's a counter-intuitive scientific cognitive fact.

"Interesting. The universe is flat, yet feels like a sphere."

She then searched for the black holes Jiang Zhe mentioned for comparison...

When a person stands on a black hole—

[A person standing on a black hole cannot measure the curvature of the black hole itself!]

[If a person standing on a black hole shoots a beam of light, the light, just like light within the universe, cannot escape the scope of the universe and the black hole itself!]

Seeing these two comparison results, Sister Wang's face turned pale with shock, "Hiss~ I'll be damned, it's like seeing a ghost!"

She froze for 2.5 seconds, slowly turned her head, and said blankly: "I feel like... my world isn't clean anymore!"

"+1!"

Situations like this were happening all over the country at this moment.

...

On the big screen, in the living room, on the sofa.

Xiao Yu was completely bewildered now, her body shaking uncontrollably.

She shook her head vigorously, "Bro, impossible. Our universe can't be a black hole, or some black hole skin!"

"Because we are flesh and blood, we can run and jump. How can there be life on a black hole?"

"We can't be living on the surface of a giant black hole!!!"

Her voice grew quieter and quieter. Xiao Yu wilted, saying blankly and lost, "Could it be... we really live in a giant black hole with properties similar to a black hole?"

"The universe is accelerating its expansion, and black holes... are also swallowing everything around them and accelerating their expansion."

"The universe will collapse and die in over ten billion years, and black holes will also die and explode..."

"The universe collapses into a point, and after some years... it returns to its initial state, and then explodes again..."

"This explosion process... is the [Big Bang]!"

This was Xiao Yu's final psychological defense based on common sense.

Xiao Yu murmured for a long time.

Jiang Zhe didn't say anything more, giving Xiao Yu time to process it.

"Heavens, Bro, we really are on the surface of a supermassive black-hole-like entity!" Xiao Yu's eyes suddenly widened, her hands clutching her temples, her eyes full of horror and disbelief.

"Of course!" Jiang Zhe's hand lightly landed on Xiao Yu's head.

His tone was very certain:

"You said one thing wrong; it's not 'similar'!" Jiang Zhe blinked gently, "It's [highly probable]!"

"Actually, it should have been discovered years ago when astronomers measured the zero curvature of the universe. Combined with the Big Bang's expansion shockwaves spreading in all directions to form a circle, the answer was already right in front of us—"

"This universe we are in, as a whole, is an unimaginably super-giant black hole!"

"The stars we perceive, life, and why the universe is expanding—all exist on the event horizon of this [super black hole]."

"So it's not just you; even astronomers find it incomprehensible: [like a circle, yet no curvature]. Then there is only one answer: [Black Hole], or to put it another way, [Round-verse]!"

He paused for a moment, his voice softening.

"As for the so-called Big Bang, it is the momentary spectacular scene when this super black hole was first born!"

"And we humans can never escape the surface of this black hole to reach the outside of the universe and witness the outline of our universe with our own eyes."

"We will always be the people in the painting, and beyond the canvas is a true unknown where even the concept of 'outside' loses its meaning!"

After he finished, the room was quiet for a long time before Xiao Yu took a deep breath to calm her emotions, "Bro, then what about parallel universes?"

"If our super black hole universe is a macro-universe, then parallel universes wouldn't be outside, would they?"

Jiang Zhe shook his head, "What's outside our super black hole universe isn't called [parallel universes] but [multiverses]."

"Since they are [parallel universes], they must be inside our supermacro-universe!"

As soon as these words were spoken, everyone sat up straight again, holding their breath to listen.

...

Ps: I'm not talking complete nonsense... this content adopts theories and hypotheses from 'Brane Cosmology' and 'Black Hole Cosmology'.