190: Chapter 190: The Countless Questions the Universe Presents to Civilization

Xiao Yu rubbed her forehead with an innocent look, the daze on her face instantly dissipating.

"Brother, that's not right. Even if those 80 billion civilizations lined up to be born throughout time, it's impossible for them to all perfectly miss each other, right?"

"The universe is so vast, and time is so long and enduring; there must be countless civilizations looking up at the starry sky during the same era!"

At this point, Xiao Yu's beautiful eyes suddenly lit up. "But why, why do we feel like we're living in our own sealed circles, like inside a glass jar? Forget about civilizations shaking hands; we can't even hear a single bit of radio static."

"Either the universe has an unspoken rule that no one is allowed to let others discover them."

"Or..."

At this, she gasped, startled by the thought. "Or, this damn universe really only has us, the Earth civilization, just us 8 billion Earthlings."

Xiao Yu looked up in disbelief. "Brother, if that's really the case, then this universe is such a waste of space, and it's so chilling!"

As soon as she said this, Jiang Zhe's eyes lit up, and he gave Xiao Yu a thumbs-up.

Inside the livestream, everyone was like ignited dynamite because of Xiao Yu's words.

"Holy crap, Xiao Yu is on fire!"

"Yeah, time differences might be possible, but there must be overlapping civilizations, so why can't we find them?"

"Only us? Isn't that just too terrifying?"

"Right, the entire universe has only us, the Earth civilization. It feels like living in a graveyard on the edge of the universe."

"The latter is even more terrifying. The entire universe having only us, the Earth civilization—the probability has to be lower than winning the lottery!"

"But current observations show we haven't found anything!"

"It's terrifying when you think about it, brothers. Either it's a universal restriction, or... just one Earth civilization!"

"..."

Inside Qingfeng Temple.

Professor Zhang Qinian suddenly sat up straight and put down his cup. "Xiao Yu has indeed touched upon the key point."

His gaze swept over Zheng Ming, Celestial Master Zhang, and Wang Chongyang. "From the perspective of modern physics, our universe is inherently filled with shackles."

Celestial Master Zhang asked in confusion, "Shackles? What do you mean?"

"Look, humanity's current technology and power cores, whether it's fossil fuels, nuclear energy, or future fusion, are essentially humanity's release and utilization of the energy contained within the microscopic structure of matter, which is extremely dependent on the strong nuclear force and the weak nuclear force."

"These are two of the four fundamental forces of the universe."

"Our information technology, electronic devices, radio, and the internet—these are all based on manipulating electrons and are dependent on the electromagnetic force, one of the four fundamental forces."

"Our dreams of spaceflight, of escaping planetary gravity, depend on our understanding and overcoming of gravity, one of the four fundamental forces."

"Finally, there are the elements that make up our bodies and all our tools, from hydrogen to iron—these are the products of stellar nuclear fusion."

"Elements heavier than iron require extreme conditions like supernova explosions; you can see that the elements in the universe are fixed!"

"And elements, energy, speed."

Speaking up to this point, Professor Zhang Qinian narrowed his eyes and said, word by word, "Human technology relies on the periodic table of elements, and the periodic table of elements has been deliberately locked by the universe."

"Since the Big Bang and the burning of stars, the universe has only given us 92 naturally stable elements."

"As for the elements that follow, if synthesized artificially, they are fleeting."

"When a civilization climbs from primitive, agricultural, and feudal civilizations to the top of the technology tree, the ceiling of technology will appear. As long as someone looks up, they will see this invisible wall in the universe."

At this, he looked at Zheng Ming's incredulous face. "And this wall is—without new elements, a civilization has no new materials, and subsequently, no new physics."

He took a deep breath, his expression becoming solemn. "Then there is energy. From chemistry to nuclear energy, we are just mining the ore buried when the universe was born—this is the same as what Xiaoyu's brother said before: 'It is Earth that prepared the mineral veins for human civilization, not humans who discovered the mineral veins.'"

"The same logic applies—the universe has prepared all energy for Earth."

"As of now, the strongest energy source for human civilization is 'controllable nuclear fusion,' which is the last big mine left to our civilization by the universe."

"But what about after that?"

"The universe hasn't prepared the next gift for us at all!"

Professor Zhang Qinian couldn't help but shake his head as he spoke. "Finally, there is the speed of light, the absolute speed barrier. It locks off information exchange, it locks off interstellar travel, and it nails every civilization to their respective stellar islands."

Wang Chongyang frowned, unable to help but swallow hard. "So you're saying?"

"So," Professor Zhang Qinian sighed, "a technological civilization that relies purely on physics and chemistry, like our Earth civilization, has its ending already written into the laws of physics."

"That ending must be—exhaustion of resources, then being trapped on a stellar island, and finally, silent annihilation."

"We might not be failing to find alien civilizations!"

"Rather, as Xiaoyu's brother hinted before, all civilizations that have reached this step have died."

"This is another line of thought for the '200-year' pessimistic group provided by Xiaoyu's brother."

"If he hadn't proposed the 200-year pessimistic group's scenario—that intelligent civilizations might inevitably break out into war over resources when technology reaches a certain level, leading to the interruption and extinction of the civilization."

Actually, speaking to this point, Professor Zhang Qinian was somewhat stunned.

He had unknowingly accepted Jiang Zhe's Formula J, after all...

Thinking about it deeply, it seemed, indeed, very reasonable. Otherwise, how did he arrive at his own answer?

Wang Chongyang and Celestial Master Zhang looked at each other, both seeing an expression of disbelief on the other's face.

And Zheng Ming quickly sent this analysis by Professor Zhang to the livestream via voice message.

With this series of voice bullet comments, more viewers fell into contemplation.

"The wall of universal rules, the speed of light locking speed, elements locking technology, civilization locking the ceiling!!!"

"These words are so serious. They give me a feeling even more pessimistic than the pessimistic group's answer just now—is a technological civilization destined to be a dead end?"

"Then what is the point of us doing aerospace and exploration if we can't even get out of the Solar System..."

"Not necessarily. The Professor Zhang invited by Master Zheng only spoke of bottlenecks, assuming humanity cannot break through them. If we do break through, then we won't be locked!"

"So the Great Silence is because everyone is waiting to die in their own stellar systems; or perhaps they ended before they even developed to the interstellar stage?"

"These words sound like the difficulty of solving this is no less than dragging Einstein out to extend his life by 200 years, dragging Newton out to extend his life by 200 years, extending Schrödinger's life by 200 years, dragging Bohr out to extend his life by 200 years, and resurrecting all super-theoretical and applied scientists for 200 years. I really want to see if we can break the limits of human civilization's technology!!"

At this moment, inside the big screen.

Jiang Zhe had already left the sofa and taken two iced drinks from the refrigerator.

Xiao Yu also took the time to sneak a peek at her phone and discovered the voice bullet comment text from Professor Zhang Qinian, whom Master Zheng had invited.

Xiao Yu couldn't help but swallow, her face showing surprise. "Brother, could it be that our technological civilization is locked?"

"Locked by the speed of light, no matter how we develop, we will hit the wall of light speed; we are also locked by energy into nuclear fusion; and locked by the periodic table of elements into fixed technology."

"Even if humanity researches and develops new elements, those new elements cannot last. If new elements cannot last, does that mean humanity won't develop new technology?"

Jiang Zhe sat back on the sofa, his eyes lighting up; Xiao Yu's cleverness had returned.

"Not bad, Xiao Yu, you are very smart; you have grasped the key point."

"But!"

As Jiang Zhe's expression changed, his tone shifted. "Locked?"

"Xiao Yu, look at it from another angle—these might not be shackles, but a yardstick!"

Jiang Zhe looked around the living room, his gaze finally falling on the night sky.

"The periodic table of elements is not the end; it is the first security checkpoint for civilization detection."

"It screens out those 'trash civilizations' that cannot even master stable material structures."

"All 'players' of civilizations that have reached this step have the same deck of elemental playing cards in their hands—the only difference is who is better at playing this hand!"

Jiang Zhe's words made Professor Zhang Qinian, Professor Ouyang Baili, Professor Wu, and Old Yu the Physicist and other science representatives' eyes light up, full of profound meaning!