195: Chapter 195 The Collapse of Laws, the Encoding of All Things

At the 43rd minute of Lin Chen's work at the Real Epoch Administration Bureau, the first anomaly appeared.

It wasn't an enemy attack, nor was it a system failure—it was the laws of physics themselves beginning to fail.

He was in the Administration Bureau's rookie training hall, listening to an old administrator explain the "Basics of Universal Entropy Increase Monitoring," when he suddenly felt the floor beneath his feet soften. It wasn't a change in material; the very concept of "hardness" was diluting. He looked down and saw the soles of his shoes starting to display source code—not metaphorically, but literally, as lines of black characters seeped from his soles and scrolled through the air:

```

[Object: Administrator Standard Leather Shoes]

[Attribute: Hardness=7.2]

[Status: Attribute value fluctuating...]

[Warning: Basic physical constants unstable]

```

"What's going on?" Zhang Hao (Real Version) exclaimed. He reached out to steady himself against the table, but his hand passed through the surface—the table's "solid collision attribute" was flickering in and out of existence.

In the entire training hall, over three hundred new and veteran administrators froze simultaneously.

Then, screams erupted.

Because it wasn't just objects—people were also starting to display code.

A Spirit Race administrator sitting in the front row suddenly became semi-transparent. Densely packed green characters surfaced beneath his skin; those were his life data leaking. He clawed at his face in terror, but his fingers passed through his skull, touching the flowing code.

"My memories... are being read!" he shrieked.

Lin Chen stood up abruptly and looked at Su Qingyu. She remained calm, but Lin Chen saw faint golden text flowing under the skin on the side of her neck—that was her soul encoding.

"Everyone, don't move!" the old administrator on the podium roared. "This is Law Collapse Syndrome! A sign that universal entropy has reached its critical point! Sit where you are and stabilize your own existence attributes—"

Before he could finish, his own body began to disintegrate.

It wasn't flesh and blood flying; it was data deletion.

His left arm, starting from the fingertips, turned into countless 0s and 1s, drifting into the air. Those characters didn't vanish but reorganized into something else—a serpentine creature made of code, writhing in the air and emitting a piercing binary shriek.

"The Snake of Order..." someone said tremblingly. "A conceptual creature that only appears during a Law Collapse, according to legend..."

The hall descended into total chaos.

But Lin Chen didn't move.

He closed his eyes and invoked his authority as a "Special Appointed Administrator." Although he was only in his internship, the SSS-grade evaluation he received in the tests granted him emergency intervention rights beyond basic authority.

"System," he called out in his mind, "analyze the source of the collapse."

【Scanning...】

【Detected large-scale data loss in the universe's underlying code layer】

【Loss Type: Physical constant definition files】

【Lost Files: Gravitational Constant.gcf, Speed of Light.lsp, Strong Nuclear Force.snf...】

【Reason for Loss: Universe hard drive sector aging, data unreadable】

【Affected Range: Entire universe (including Administration Bureau headquarters)】

【Estimated time to total collapse: 72 hours】

72 hours.

In three days, all physical laws in the entire universe would vanish completely. Matter would decompose into primal code, life consciousness would turn into garbled text, and all order would reset to zero.

"Repair options?" Lin Chen asked.

【Option One: Restore from backup (costs 9 quadrillion dimension points)】

【Option Two: Rebuild constant files (requires Universe-level Administrator authority)】

【Option Three: Emergency Freeze (reduces collapse speed to 1%, buying time for Options One and Two)】

"Execute Option Three. What's the cost?"

【Emergency Freeze requires collateral: Your administrator salary for the next three thousand years】

"Pledge it."

Almost simultaneously, the collapse speed in the training hall slowed significantly. The old administrator's disappearing left arm stopped turning into code, the stump solidifying in a semi-data state. The Snake of Order began to dissipate.

But it only slowed down; it didn't stop.

Physical constants were still slowly being lost, dropping from three files per second to one every three hours.

"Lin Chen!" Su Qingyu rushed to his side. "What did you do?"

"Bought some time." Lin Chen looked at the golden code still flowing under her neck. "Your soul encoding... is leaking."

"It's not just me." Zhang Hao pointed at everyone in the hall. "Everyone is leaking! The Administration Bureau's defense systems are useless!"

Indeed.

The Administration Bureau headquarters was supposed to be the safest place in the universe, with three thousand layers of rule protection. But now, those protective barriers were also displaying code—the physical laws they relied on were vanishing, making the barriers like a leaky sieve.

The broadcast system suddenly forced itself on.

A cold, mechanical, emotionless voice echoed throughout the Administration Bureau:

【Announcement to all administrators】

【Universe Era 'Seventeenth Epoch' has entered its final stage】

【Law Collapse procedure activated】

【Zeroing Countdown: 71 hours 58 minutes 17 seconds】

【According to 'Epoch Management Regulations', the 'Kindling Project' is now initiated】

【All administrators, please submit your 'Kindling Carrying List' within 24 hours (each administrator can carry no more than 10 complete consciousness data sets)】

【All others not selected will be permanently deleted during the Zeroing】

Dead silence.

Then, an explosion.

"Only ten slots?!"

"My civilization has eight billion people! Ten?!"

"This is a massacre! It's—"

【Note: Dissenters will have their carrying eligibility revoked】

【Repeat: Please submit your lists within 24 hours】

The broadcast ended.

In the training hall, the expressions of over three hundred administrators shifted from terror to despair, then to... a kind of terrible calculation.

Ten slots.

Who lives? Who dies?

Lin Chen saw colleagues who had been sitting side-by-side moments ago begin to quietly distance themselves. Their eyes filled with wariness, even hostility.

"Lin Chen," Su Qingyu whispered, "what do we do? How many people can your authority carry?"

"I don't know." Lin Chen pulled up his administrator panel.

【Special Appointed Administrator · Lin Chen】

Kindling carrying quota: 100 (SSS-grade privilege)

Available additional quota: Up to 1,000 (requires special contribution approval)

He had a hundred slots.

But was it enough?

The people he knew from the tests—Su Qingyu, Zhang Hao, Little Red Clothes, Mo Shan, Arrogant Dragon, his mother Lin Chens Mother... these real individuals were in the Administration Bureau and all needed slots.

And the billions of beings he met in the test worlds—the worlds he liberated, the consciousnesses that gained freedom...

A hundred?

A drop in the bucket.

"Zhang Hao," Lin Chen said suddenly, "you're a data analysis major. Calculate what conditions are needed if I want to carry all consciousnesses."

Zhang Hao froze. "All? Of the entire universe? That's impossible—the data volume is too massive, there isn't enough storage during the Zeroing process—"

"Then create storage space." Lin Chen pulled up the Administration Bureau's "Emergency Contingency Database" and browsed quickly. "Regulation 88: When an administrator proposes an 'Unconventional Kindling Plan,' they can apply to open the 'Epoch Simulation Sandbox' for feasibility testing."

He clicked apply.

The system popped up a warning:

【Each startup of the Epoch Simulation Sandbox costs: 10 billion dimension points】

【Your current balance: 0 (No salary during internship)】

【Do you wish to pledge future authority for a loan?】

"Pledge it."

【Pledge successful. Obtained 10 billion dimension points loan (300% annual interest)】

【Sandbox starting...】

In the center of the training hall, space tore open, revealing a swirling silver vortex.

That was the entrance to the simulation sandbox—it could simulate the entire process of the universe's Zeroing and test various response plans.

"Lin Chen, what are you doing?" an old administrator rushed over. "Zeroing is irreversible! The most important thing now is to save the Kindling, not to dream!"

"Zeroing is irreversible," Lin Chen walked toward the vortex, "but the process of Zeroing can be manipulated."

He stepped into the sandbox.

Su Qingyu and Zhang Hao exchanged looks and followed him in.

Inside the sandbox was a miniature universe model—thirty thousand points of light represented thirty thousand civilizations, with a massive black vortex in the center slowly devouring everything.

The simulated Zeroing had already begun.

Lin Chen pulled up the control panel and began entering commands:

【Step One: Purchase 'Data Compression Algorithm (Extreme Edition)'】

Price: 50 billion dimension points

Effect: Compress consciousness data to 0.0001% of its original volume

【Step Two: Purchase 'Dimensional Interlayer Expansion Rights'】

Price: 30 billion dimension points

Effect: Open temporary extra storage space outside the existing universe structure

【Step Three: Purchase 'Time Dilation Protocol'】

Price: 20 billion dimension points

Effect: Make time within the storage space nearly stagnant to reduce energy consumption

The loan was spent in an instant.

But the simulation results came out:

【Plan Feasibility: 17%】

Failure Reason: Storage space is still insufficient; the compressed total data volume still exceeds the carrying capacity limit by 3,000 times

"Not enough." Zhang Hao shook his head. "Even compressed to the limit, there aren't enough 'containers' to hold all consciousnesses."

"Then don't hold them," Lin Chen said.

He deleted all the previous operations.

He re-entered a new plan.

This time, he only bought one thing:

【Purchase: Physical Law Modification Rights (Temporary)】

Price: 100 billion dimension points (just enough to spend it all)

Effect: Modify the collapse method of one physical constant during the Zeroing process

"What are you going to change?" Su Qingyu asked.

Lin Chen selected the black vortex that was devouring everything.

Then, he modified its "Devouring Rules."

Original Rule: 【Zeroing Vortex unconditionally devours all matter and energy】

Modified Rule: 【Zeroing Vortex only devours 'valueless data' and is repelled by 'High Emotional-Concentration Consciousnesses'】

He clicked confirm.

The simulation screen changed drastically.

The black vortex continued to expand, but when it touched those points of light (civilizations), it didn't devour them; it went around them.

As if sentient, the vortex curved and diverted around the civilizations, forming one void after another.

The civilizations survived.

But the rest of the universe—vacuum, dark matter, dead planets—was devoured clean by the vortex.

Final image:

The black Zeroing Vortex filled 99.99% of universal space.

And in that 0.01% of "voids," the lights of thirty thousand civilizations glowed like fireflies in the night—faint but stubborn.

【Simulation Result: Feasibility 92%】

Warning: This plan will result in 99.99% of the universe's matter and energy being zeroed. Surviving civilizations will live in an extremely barren 'Universal Ruin', and their development ceiling will be permanently locked.

"But at least they lived." Lin Chen closed the sandbox.

He returned to the training hall.

All the administrators were looking at him.

The simulation process had been automatically projected into the center of the hall by the system.

"You... you really found a way?" a civilization representative asked tremulously.

"It's just a theory," Lin Chen said. "Actual operation requires more resources—I need at least ten trillion dimension points to purchase enough 'Law Modification Rights' to cover the whole universe."

Ten trillion.

An astronomical figure.

"We'll pool it!" another administrator roared. "My civilization is willing to donate all its reserves—as long as we can live!"

"Mine too!"

"Count me in!"

The crowd was impassioned.

But just then, the broadcast rang out again:

【Special Notice: The 'Pay-to-Win Principle Universalization Plan' submitted by Special Appointed Administrator Lin Chen has been listed as one of the candidate plans for the Kindling Project】

【It will be evaluated alongside other plans in 24 hours】

【The optimal plan will receive full resource support from the Administration Bureau】

Evaluation?

Lin Chen frowned.

"In other words," Su Qingyu understood, "other administrators have proposed plans too? We have to... compete?"

The projection screen in the hall lit up.

It displayed the other three candidate plans:

Plan A (Submitted by Magic Era Sovereign): 'Eternal Freeze'—Freeze all civilizations at the end of time, waiting for the new era to thaw.

Plan B (Submitted by Tech Era AI Collective): 'Consciousness Upload to Virtual Heaven'—Abandon the material universe and go entirely digital.

Plan C (Submitted by Cultivation Era Avatar of the Heavenly Dao): 'Race Ascension'—Concentrate resources to let a small number of elites break through dimensions, abandoning all other sentient beings.

Behind each plan, the avatar and profile of the submitter were marked—all were ancient existences from other eras, with seniority thousands or tens of thousands of years deeper than Lin Chen's.

Competition.

And only the winner would obtain the resources.

Those who lost wouldn't even be able to keep their own ten slots.

"Interesting." Lin Chen smiled.

He looked at the desperate, expectant, and calculating faces in the hall.

Then he opened his administrator contact list and found the "audience" members he had met in the tests—those God-tier Whales from high-level civilizations.

He sent a mass message:

"An investment opportunity has arrived."

"If you bet I can win, place your bets now."

"Odds: 1 to 1000."

Click, send.

Outside the window, the collapse of the universe continued.

But the real war—

Had only just begun.