185: Chapter 185: They at the End of Time

In the living room, on the sofa.

Jiang Zhe grinned and nodded slightly,

"That's right. We are always bound by linear time, and then we label time as [Past, Present, Future]."

"We always like to trace things back to the origin, but the observation that keeps reality from collapsing—its source is not at the beginning at all, but at the other end: the end!!!"

"It's like a bridge!" He gestured in the air with his hands. "You ask your brother, where is the first load-bearing point of this bridge?"

"Is it the first brick laid at the start? No."

He shook his head slowly and firmly,

"It is the last one, embedded at the end, which gathers all the gravity and tension from both sides into itself—the keystone."

"And for the bridge that is our universe, that final foundation stone, it must land at the end of time!"

It must... land at... the end of time!!!

This epiphany-inducing conclusion instantly shattered all the shackles previously held by everyone.

This statement is exactly—

The last critical load-bearing keystone of the bridge—at the end of time, it actually determines the structural stability of the entire bridge!

If that last foundation stone did not exist, the preceding sections of the bridge—including the [Present] where people reside—would instantly lose support and collapse!

Therefore, it is not the origin that determines everything, but the [purpose of existence] at the end that retroactively supports the current moment and history.

The barrage in the live stream disappeared for a long time, then erupted like a flood!

"Holy crap, the end???"

"Damn, the first observer isn't the one who [starts watching for the first time], but the one who [watches until the very end]!!!"

"My god, this plot twist, my scalp is tingling even after washing my hair with Head & Shoulders!"

"So the history of the universe is determined by the future—my god, although it feels like I've heard it somewhere before, hearing it again is still so shocking!"

"What about causality? What about the arrow of time? This is too crazy!"

"But logically, it actually makes sense—it's not that we have today because we had yesterday, but rather because there is a destined tomorrow, yesterday and today must exist in this way. Thinking about it is terrifying, absolutely shocking!"

"..."

Whether they were new or old viewers, Jiang Zhe's words made their eyes widen instantly, and a series of mists were instantly dispelled!

Inside Qingfeng Temple.

Celestial Master Zhang and Wang Chongyang couldn't help but widen their eyes, a chill rising within them.

Zheng Ming opened his mouth, the words of doubt he originally wanted to say stuck in his throat, "Holy crap!"

"Hiss!!!" Professor Zhang Qinian said, dumbfounded: "The end, the weight of observing the universe is at the end of the universe..."

He chewed on these words repeatedly, doubt and shock alternating wildly on his face.

"This... this isn't just idealism; this is putting the unidirectionality of time on the fire to roast!"

Even for him, at this moment, he couldn't refute anything; instead, he felt this seemed to be the truth, or close to it!

Huaqing University, in Professor Ouyang's living room.

The light from the big screen shone on the shocked faces of the students standing nearby.

"Observation determines history... history is determined by the future..." a male top student muttered to himself. After a long while, his eyes suddenly widened, "This, isn't this the ultimate version of the [Delayed Choice Experiment]? It's just that the scale has been pulled to the entire universe and the end of time..."

"Yeah!" Another female top student's eyes lit up, "Could this actually be the truth?"

Professor Wu, who specializes in traditional physics, stared blankly at the screen, momentarily speechless.

Professor Ouyang wore a strange smile on his face, "If the weight of observation is at the end, then, at the final moment of the universe's heat death or Big Rip, that civilization or individual [still watching]—would its act of observation travel along the timeline and retroactively solidify the history of the entire universe?"

"This is a retroactive effect..."

After a long time, he slowly spat out the words, "And in Quantum Mechanics, present observation can influence the past path selection of particles."

"If you amplify this effect infinitely and push it to the cosmic scale at the end of time; then, the observation of the [last glance] might truly be able to [seal the deal] on the history of the entire universe!"

Li Mo, who was nearby, gasped, "Professor Ouyang, does that mean—if all civilizations in our era go extinct and fail to survive to the end, then... our existence at this moment will lose its final confirmation and could be erased at any time?"

Obviously, no one on the scene could answer him.

Professor Guan Jingming just stared intently at Jiang Zhe on the screen, as if trying to see something more on Jiang Zhe's face.

But after looking for a long time, he frowned and said, "Why does he look less and less like a mortal the more I look at him..."

...

On the other side, inside the Principal's office.

Principal Fu, Old Wang, and Xiao Wang all gasped in unison.

The temperature in the office seemed to drop a few degrees.

Old Yu muttered in shock: "No wonder, no wonder he asked what kind of civilization could make it to the end; this isn't asking about science at all, this is asking about the ultimate qualification of a civilization!"

Beijing, inside the family compound.

It was much the same here, a dead silence.

The four professors, Old Chen, Old Qian, Old Wang, and Old Liu, looked at each other, seeing turbulent waves on each other's faces.

Xiaoyu's brother's logical deduction was quietly prying open a crack in the foundation implanted in their cognition!

On the big screen, on the living room sofa.

Xiao Yu was similarly overwhelmed by Jiang Zhe's conclusion!

But she quickly grasped the key question: "Brother, if the weight of observation is really at the end, and the function of maintaining reality needs to be executed at the last moment, does that mean—there must be at least one civilization in the universe that is powerful enough to survive all natural disasters and cosmic catastrophes, then penetrate all time, and finally stand at the end of the universe to execute that [final gaze]?"

"Otherwise..." speaking of this, Xiao Yu's voice softened a little, "Otherwise, everything we have at this moment will lose its foundation and collapse back into the probability mist you mentioned earlier?"

Jiang Zhe took a sip of black tea, put down the cup, and said calmly:

"Yes. This is the cosmic logic derived from the [If everyone in the world disappeared] thought experiment."

"This cosmic logic doesn't care about our philosophical preferences, nor does it cater to our emotions—it only presents one condition: [Reality requires continuous observation to be maintained], and the most important observation is at the end!"

"Therefore, there must exist in the universe—or rather, the rules of the universe itself might be secretly screening or giving birth to—such an existence; it could be a civilization, or it could be a kind of ultimate consciousness that has transcended the form of civilization!"

His gaze was focused as he looked at Xiao Yu, "So now, this question becomes incredibly concrete, and also incredibly magnificent!"

"What kind of civilization could possibly penetrate the 13.8 billion years of star birth and death in the universe, what kind of civilization could resist the torrent of entropy increase, dodge all dimensional disasters, what kind of civilization could reach the end of time, raise that torch named [Observation] for the entire universe, and complete the final [confirmation] for the history of the entire universe?"

"By then, what level of form, technological level, and understanding and mastery of cosmic laws would this civilization need to reach to achieve that?"

Having said this, he paused for a moment before speaking slowly again, "Xiao Yu, before your brother answers this question, perhaps we need to face a more preliminary question first!"

"Do! You! Believe! That other intelligent civilizations exist in the universe?"

As soon as these words were spoken, Xiao Yu's eyes widened immediately.

Not only her, but even Old Yu in the Principal's office, Professor Ouyang, Professor Wu, Li Mo, Guan Jingming in the Huaqing dormitory living room...

All the experts and scholars who were thinking about the civilization at the end of the universe were instantly pulled back to reality by this question, their eyes instantly focusing.

At this moment, the barrage in the live stream also calmed down a little from its previous surge.

"Of course there are, the universe is so big!"

"I admit that what Brother said is very exciting, no less than top experts, but what is reality—have you heard of the fermi paradox? If there are any, where are the aliens?"

"I don't care, I believe there are aliens, and UFOs are real too!"

"Nonsense, they don't exist at all, humans are alone!"

"..."

Inside Qingfeng Temple.

Professor Zhang Qinian, who had just recovered slightly from the shock of observing the end of time, upon hearing this question...

He almost instinctively sneered, regaining his confidence.

"Alien civilizations?" He took a deep breath, smiled, and shook his head, his expression becoming determined again, "I was almost led astray by him; alien civilizations... it is impossible for them to exist on a large scale, or rather, it is impossible for them to successfully develop to the stage of contacting us!"

Zheng Ming asked curiously: "Professor, why are you so sure?"

Celestial Master Zhang and Wang Chongyang also turned their gaze over.

Professor Zhang Qinian sat up straight, his tone full of the seasoned experience of lecturing, "This is the famous Great Filter theory. This theory posits that from inorganic matter to life, then to intelligent civilization, and finally to interstellar colonization... in this process, there exist one or more extremely low-probability and insurmountable hurdles, just like layers of filters; and the vast majority of potential civilizations are filtered out at some stage."

"It might be that the probability of the origin of life itself is extremely low, it might be that multicellular evolution is a miracle..."

"It could also be that intelligent civilizations inevitably self-destruct after mastering nuclear energy or some other technology... just like humans, as long as we experience one, a third one... then it's Game Over!"

"Perhaps, we humans have already luckily passed through all the filters and become a rare, or even the only, lucky one in the universe!"

Having said this, he scanned the three people, pointing his finger at Jiang Zhe on the big screen, "Therefore, alien civilizations—even if they once existed, they have long since perished at different stages in the long river of time and space; the universe, in essence, is silent!"

This explanation made Zheng Ming and Wang Chongyang seem to realize something.

And Celestial Master Zhang also nodded: "This theory indeed has profound mystery, it has a bit of 'Tao follows nature'!"

Then they looked at the big screen, wanting to hear what kind of tricks Jiang Zhe could come up with regarding this.

Xiao Yu also recovered from her shock, "Wait, Brother, do you mean... you know, or even are certain whether alien civilizations exist?"

Jiang Zhe smiled slightly, "That is natural."

"And, your brother even knows how many alien civilizations there are!"

"Is... is..." Xiao Yu's beautiful eyes widened, she swallowed, and asked cautiously: "What, what is it?"

Jiang Zhe looked at Xiao Yu's puppy-like stunned expression, smiled, and slowly spat out two words, "The answer is in a formula!"

"A formula?"

"Yes, that formula is called... [Formula J]!"