160: The birth of a scientific mecca and "controlled epiphanies"

The "Logic Ark" vessel, carrying disruptive hypotheses and a pile of nearly incinerated detection equipment, silently withdrew from the periphery of the Cloud Court.

However, the "fate" between the Logic Federation and the Cloud Court did not end there.

Returning to the capital star of the Federation, Chief Scientist Logos Dr. Li organized all the data, encounters, and the model that had been crushed into a sphere from this expedition into a top-secret report, submitting it to the Supreme Academy of Sciences and the Council of Elders.

The core conclusion of the report was singular: there exists a "right to define rules" that transcends current scientific cognition, manifested as the "Cloud Court," with the core philosophy of "The Great Dao is Simple."

This report triggered unprecedented shock and fierce debate among the Federation's upper echelons.

The "Empiricists," led by the military and some conservative scientists, argued that this was complete nonsense, an erroneous conclusion caused by equipment failure and unknown interference, and advocated for mobilizing more fleets and more powerful scientific forces to break through the "technical barrier" of the Cloud Court at any cost.

The "Reformists," led by Dr. Li, insisted that this was an opportunity for a scientific paradigm shift. Forcibly resisting or deconstructing it would be futile and could even invite a devastating blow. They advocated for learning and understanding with a humble attitude, and attempting to integrate the philosophy of "The Great Dao is Simple" into the Federation's scientific System.

Just as the two sides were deadlocked, almost affecting the normal operation of the Federation, an elder who had remained silent, responsible for researching "Civilization Entropy Increase and Ultimate Destiny," proposed a compromise and bold suggestion:

"Since we cannot understand it, and cannot replicate it, why not... get close to it and feel it? Isn't what we in the Logic Federation are best at decomposing complex Systems into observable and learnable modules? Let us treat the 'Cloud Court' as a special 'ordered high-dimensional field' that we have yet to fully understand, and establish a long-term, non-intrusive 'observation and learning outpost' within its sphere of influence."

This proposal was accepted by the majority.

Thus, a massive project codenamed "Project Neighbor" was launched.

The Logic Federation mobilized astonishing resources to begin building an unprecedented giant space station—the "Eye of Logic"—several light-years away from the boundary of the Cloud Court's sphere of influence (a safe distance where it would not be viewed as a provocation, yet the cloud court dao rhyme could still be clearly felt).

The "Eye of Logic" was not a military fortress, but a comprehensive scientific research and living platform integrating the Federation's most cutting-edge technology.

It had no weapon Systems; its energy was almost entirely used to maintain a "weak ordered field" covering the entire space station that simulated the rule environment of the Cloud Court's periphery, as well as massive observation, calculation, and life-support Systems.

Countless top scientists, engineers, and their families from the Federation voluntarily signed up to go to this "Scientific Holy Land" far from the Federation's core Star Domain.

They carried awe for the unknown and a passion for exploration, hoping to uncover the mysteries of "rule definition" in this magical airspace, and perhaps even find the key to allowing the Logic Federation civilization to break through its current Bottleneck and move toward a new stage.

When the "Eye of Logic" space station was initially built and started operating, the Cloud Court naturally noticed.

Long Qianyuan looked at the giant "neighbor" on the monitoring star map—which emitted a soft technological glow and had a structure so exquisitely complex it was jaw-dropping—with a strange expression.

"These guys in iron shells... are really persistent. Can't beat them, so join them? No, that's not right. They can't figure it out, so they move in next door to stare at it every day?" He felt the thought processes of these Logic Federation scientists were quaintly adorable.

He did not stop them; instead, he thought having more such "technological neighbors" was quite interesting, at least much more creative than those cultivation civilizations that spent all day thinking about how to imitate.

He even sent a "Friendly Neighbor Notification" with an extremely non-standard format in the name of the Cloud Court Periphery Management Office. The gist was: You can stay, but don't make noise, don't litter, and pay the "space occupancy and environmental impact fee" on time (just pay with technological products or knowledge you deem appropriate).

The Logic Federation received this "notification" like a treasure and immediately organized experts in linguistics, sociology, and informatics to conduct an all-around analysis, trying to interpret the "foreign policy" and "value orientation" of the Cloud Court from these seemingly casual words.

In the end, they decided to regularly pay the Cloud Court a type of "memory crystal" they had recently developed, which could stably store and play high-dimensional information fragments, as the "fee," hoping it would be helpful for the Cloud Court's research.

(After Long Qianyuan received it, he thought this thing was shiny and nice-looking, so he took it and gave it to the Golden Koi as a toy.)

The scientists at the "Eye of Logic" began their long and focused "experiential" research.

They no longer tried to forcibly parse or replicate the rules of the Cloud Court but, like students, quietly observed, recorded, and experienced.

They monitored the tidal fluctuations of the Dao Rhyme on the periphery of the Cloud Court and recorded its interaction patterns with the Void Realm energy;

They studied the floating Holy Land islands that attached themselves nearby and analyzed how their structures remained stable amidst the Chaos Qi Flow;

They even attempted to use the gentlest detection waves to "listen" to the subtle rule ripples caused by that Golden Koi spitting bubbles...

In this immersive "feeling," some wonderful changes began to happen to these scientists.

A physicist obsessed with the law of conservation of energy, after long-term observation of the Dao Rhyme circulation of the Cloud Court—which seemed to come "out of nothing" (but actually originated from Chaos)—suddenly had an Epiphany one day while staring at the slowly rotating water in his cup.

He developed unprecedented doubts about the law of "entropy increase in a closed System is irreversible" and a brand-new theoretical prototype regarding "local negative entropy" burst forth in his mind.

An expert specializing in biological genetics, after studying the ordinary plants that were exceptionally tenacious under the nourishment of the cloud court dao rhyme, had their cognition of "genes are the blueprint of life" shaken.

They began to ponder whether there existed a life-force driving mode at the "information level" that transcended material genes.

More commonly, these scientists, who were accustomed to rigorous logical thinking, found their thinking becoming more open and more willing to think outside the box under the influence of the "The Great Dao is Simple" atmosphere of the Cloud Court.

Some technical problems that had plagued the Federation for years were actually found Breakthroughs for from unexpected angles in this "relaxed" state!

The Logic Federation's Supreme Academy of Sciences began to regularly receive scientific research reports and theoretical hypotheses from the "Eye of Logic" with terrifyingly high quality, the innovation and foresight of which far exceeded those of the local research institutes.

The Federation's technology tree was flourishing in a quietly accelerating and slightly "off-track" manner.

Long Qianyuan would occasionally sneak near the "Eye of Logic," invisible, watching those scientists in white coats recording data on various instruments, sometimes frowning in deep thought, sometimes suddenly realizing, and found it very interesting.

"Tsk tsk, these guys look even more devoted than those meditating." He smacked his lips. "But this kind of 'Controlled Epiphany' is quite in line with their persona."

He returned to the Cloud Court and reported the recent situation of this "technological neighbor" to Yun Feng.

Yun Feng was using the newly obtained "memory crystal" to refract sunlight, teasing the Golden Koi in the Pond.

Hearing this, he just smiled faintly: "Investigating things to extend knowledge can also lead to the Dao. It is just different paths leading to the same destination."

He flicked his fingertips, and a memory crystal fell into the Pond, creating a small ripple.

The light and shadow of a complex mathematical formula about superstring theory stored inside rippled in the water and was swallowed by a curious Golden Koi.

The Golden Koi blinked, seemingly a bit confused, then flicked its tail and swam away.

Outside the Cloud Court, the "Scientific Holy Land" of the Logic Federation continued to operate silently, like a huge, precise instrument, trying to interpret the mysteries of the "Dao" from another dimension.

And inside the Cloud Court, everything remained the same, as if no change in the outside world could disturb the tranquility and... "Simplicity" of its core.