Chapter 507: The Microscopic Realm! A World in a Grain of Sand! The Grand Unified Model!
At the same time Paul Atreides entered hibernation, every branch of the Universal Megacorp was actively preparing its research program targeting the microscopic world of the sophons.
As for the many baffling moves made by the Universal Megacorp, the sophons naturally observed them all.
Yet when it came to Paul's puzzling behavior, even the Trisolarans could not tell what trick he was playing.
However, after so many days of reconnaissance and analysis, the Trisolarans did manage to pick up some traces of Paul's communications with the Universal Megacorp headquarters.
Only, every time the Trisolarans tried to use the sophons to locate the position of the Megacorp's headquarters or the source of its signals, they could never observe anything.
It was as though an insurmountable shielding field had blocked their sophons.
The sophons tried leaping across multiple dimensions in their search, but the result was still nothing.
It was becoming clear: the Trisolarans had realized that the Universal Megacorp was far from as simple as it appeared on the surface. This civilization's level of technology might even exceed their own, and the situation was far more complex than they had imagined.
Even so, the Trisolarans had no intention of abandoning their plan to invade the Solar System.
At this point there was no turning back—remaining in the Trisolaris system meant death. Only by fleeing Alpha Centauri did they have any chance of survival. As for whether they would walk straight into the trap of a higher civilization, that no longer mattered to them.
At worst, it would just be mutual destruction.
For the continuation of their civilization, they were willing to take any risk.
…
…
A year passed in the blink of an eye. During this time, Li Ang had maintained frequent contact with the Emperor of the Prime Universe, keeping abreast of conditions in the other multiverses.
The news was mixed—some good, some bad—but overall the situation remained relatively stable. With the Emperor's abilities, handling it was not difficult.
As for the consolidation operations in the Three-Body universe, Li Ang was fully prepared for long-term war—ten years, twenty years, even a century if necessary.
The Three-Body universe itself possessed the potential to break the fourth wall, which was precisely why they had to maintain the utmost vigilance and advance their plans with extreme caution.
Better slow and careful than one single mistake.
At this moment, under the leadership of Alt Cunningham, the Science Nexus Division had achieved an important breakthrough in the microscopic domain, and a major internal tech conference was about to begin.
On his way to the council chamber, Li Ang found that many of the Megacorp's executives and researchers had already gathered in the grand hall, chatting idly.
"Qiansihu, do you really think we can destroy the sophons—beat the Trisolarans at their own game, in the microscopic realm?"
V had found his old friend again. Over a hundred years earlier, they had first met in Dogtown of Night City, when Qiansihu had still been repairing prosthetic limbs. In the blink of an eye, that man had become a senior executive of the Megacorp's Science Nexus.
"At least in my view, this method is more reliable than trying to use psionics or the Force to destroy sophons."
Qiansihu said half-jokingly.
The psionics of the StarCraft universe or the Force of Star Wars would not work in the Three-Body universe. Without researching the microscopic world, the Megacorp would never be able to extend its reach into this domain.
"In fact, we'd prefer that psionics or the Force not work in the Three-Body universe. Otherwise, it might bring about our total annihilation."
After smiling, Qiansihu's expression turned grave again.
By the dimensional rules of the Three-Body universe, an eleven-dimensional world might very well be one where all sorts of immortal arts and psychic powers ran rampant.
If they were to use psionics in three-dimensional space, it might draw the covetous eyes of higher-dimensional forces like the Nullifiers' civilization.
That would be like lighting a torch in the dark forest, drawing every hunter's gaze upon themselves.
So even if better options existed, until the time was right they could not use them lightly.
At least not before taking down the Trisolaran civilization—they could not afford to wield technology that was too advanced.
"Dr. Qiansihu, tell us about your experimental results. We'd like to know how feasible this project really is."
At this point, Song Zhaomei approached V's side. After a brief glance exchanged between them, they turned their attention to Qiansihu. The conversation they had held in Dogtown years ago, they had kept faithfully to this very day.
All for the Universal Megacorp.
Qiansihu blinked, then nodded. "In fact, the Trisolarans have already given us the right answer. However difficult this road may be, we must take it—and see it through to the end."
As he finished speaking, Qiansihu used a holographic screen to show the two some intelligence about the Trisolaran civilization intercepted from the ETO.
During the second sophon project, the Trisolarans had accidentally unfolded a proton into three dimensions. To their shock, they saw countless strange eyes within it.
It was a civilization existing inside the microscopic universe—a whole cosmos contained within that single proton.
This was the true nature of the quantum domain.
Qiansihu continued:
"From a one-dimensional perspective, a microscopic particle looks no different than a dot to the naked eye. From two or three dimensions, however, the particle reveals internal structure.
Viewed from a four-dimensional perspective, a basic particle becomes an immense world. And the higher the dimension, the more complex and intricate that internal structure becomes—far beyond imagination.
To use a rough analogy: from a seven-dimensional perspective, a basic particle is already as complex as a stellar system in three-dimensional space.
At eight dimensions, a particle becomes as vast and magnificent as the Milky Way itself. By the time one reaches nine dimensions, the internal structure and complexity of a single particle equates to an entire universe.
As for still higher dimensions, we have not yet been able to probe them, let alone comprehend them. That is a realm only civilizations like the Nullifiers might ever touch—the realm of gods.
Right now, the Universal Megacorp possesses the power to destroy a universe, but we still do not truly understand the universe."
Qiansihu's words made both V and Song Zhaomei's hearts sink. They had been far too optimistic about the situation.
The unknown is fear.
For millions of years, the beasts of prehistory never knew how the arrows that killed them had flown into their bodies.
If the Megacorp displayed blind ignorance toward the microscopic realm, then the disasters awaiting them would fall upon them just as surely—like those beasts that died beneath the arrows.
"You're saying… that the Three-Body universe we exist in now might itself be just a single fundamental particle? That perhaps beyond its walls there are other things out there…"
Song Zhaomei thought of the ultimate truth Li Ang had always been pursuing. If the Three-Body universe could reveal the mythical property of "a world in a grain of sand" through its microscopic realm, then this universe held immense potential to break free of its shackles.
"It's not impossible."
Chisagi Fox nodded. "Remember the experiment we conducted thirty years ago in the Edge of Tomorrow universe? We used an accelerator to pierce through quarks. Do you recall what happened?"
Song Zhaomei was stunned for a moment, but V spoke up first, prompting her memory of that experiment—which hadn't caused a sensation but had great significance.
"White and black reversed. The pitch-black night turned completely white. Starlight became sesame seeds scattered across the sky. Everything was inverted," V said gravely.
Chisagi Fox smiled as she nodded. That experiment had been the beginning of the Universal Megacorp's research into the microscopic realm.
But as the research deepened, they discovered that the microscopic fields of each multiverse were vastly different.
Some universes could not be explored on the microscopic level at all. The vast cosmos was like a hollow box. Others were a little more refined, but still riddled with flaws.
This left more and more of the Science Nexus staff with a creeping sense of dread.
If there really was something beyond the wall, then what kind of world lay outside?
"If we could get our hands on the Trisolaran civilization's sophon-engineering fabrication device, then we too could conduct proton-expansion experiments to determine the microscopic structure of matter."
Chisagi Fox let out a quiet sigh. Building such a project from scratch would take a very long time, so if they could freeload off someone else's experimental equipment, they would.
At present, the Megacorp's microscopic-world research already relied on the Infinite Divine Engine for simulation and calculation. The breakthroughs they had achieved could be considered progress, but nowhere near a complete success.
Reaching the quantum domain would be even harder. After all, even Trisolaran technology in the microscopic field had not reached that level.
"Don't forget," Chisagi Fox reminded them, "civilizations stronger than the Trisolarans may already control even higher dimensions and far deeper microscopic technologies. Those are the truly terrifying enemies."
Hearing this, V froze. What would deeper microscopic technology actually mean?
"Luo Ji once sent out the relative position of star 197J3X1 and its surrounding stellar system, which ultimately led to that system's destruction. But the reality was far from that simple."
Chisagi Fox spoke in a low voice, as though recounting a horror story: "It took just over a century for Luo Ji's curse to take effect. In the vast scale of the cosmos, that speed is unbelievably efficient!"
Song Zhaomei and V's pupils contracted sharply. The meaning of her words was already clear.
On a battlefield, to strike a target exposed at a distance without leaving any trace requires an exceptionally clear map—a real-time view of the battleground.
Translated into the Three-Body universe, this implied that the attacker possessed a three-dimensional model of the entire universe, including all known stellar systems, with their dynamic positions precisely marked.
Only with that could they, upon receiving information, rapidly retrieve the target from a vast database and destroy it. That difficulty was like finding a single grain of sand in the Sahara Desert—and annihilating it.
Just creating such a three-dimensional model of the universe would leave most interstellar civilizations far behind.
Most of them didn't even know where the edge of the universe lay, much less possess a model of the whole.
Even the so-called "god-level" Megacorp had to rely on Xeelee Nightfighters to scout maps in order to measure the scale of a universe.
And yet, in the Three-Body universe, some civilization had a way to do it.
"That's not even the hardest part. The universe, like the desert, is constantly changing. The wind scatters small dunes and builds new ones elsewhere."
"The stellar systems above shift like grains of sand, constantly moving. The later the information is received, the greater the error introduced by this motion."
As a seasoned warrior, V understood Chisagi Fox perfectly. It was like trying to snipe a moving target from a kilometer away.
Before pulling the trigger, the sniper has to account for wind speed, drag, the target's movement, even the rhythm of their own breathing.
At such distances, a bullet does not strike the moment it leaves the barrel—it may take two or three seconds of flight, during which countless uncontrollable factors come into play.
Even the best sniper cannot guarantee a one-hundred-percent hit on a moving target at that range.
But the civilization that destroyed the 187J3X1 star system had managed it!
At that thought, V and Song Zhaomei felt their fear of the Three-Body universe deepen.
The Trisolarans were nothing more than petty players. The real big fish were still ahead.
"How do you think they managed it?" V asked Chisagi Fox. Since a civilization here could build such a three-dimensional cosmic model, why couldn't the Megacorp?
"There could be many methods, but the only reliable one I can think of is constructing a Grand Unified Model of the universe."
Chisagi Fox spoke with firm conviction. "The reason Luo Ji's curse took effect so quickly, I believe, is that some civilization had already mastered the Grand Unified Model and built a dynamic, real-time three-dimensional cosmic model."
Excitement and unease flickered in her eyes. Such a complete Grand Unified Model would certainly benefit the Megacorp, allowing them to better understand other multiverses—achieving real-time control of each universe's changes.
But unfortunately, this technology was in the hands of unknown enemies.
"The difficulty of building a Grand Unified Model on one's own is unimaginably high. It may even require destroying an entire universe to achieve it. So why would a civilization in this universe possess such a technology?"
Song Zhaomei furrowed her brow. She had often discussed cutting-edge technology with Alt Cunningham and others, and she had at least heard of the Grand Unified Model.
The Megacorp's model, after all, was largely derived from the Halo universe's [Neurophysics], supplemented by the Xeelee Nightfighters' mapping surveys.
Even so, they had only managed to complete a crude but usable version after blowing up several universes.
"True. But remember—destroying universes isn't the only way to build such a model. Don't forget, the Three-Body universe originally had a full eleven dimensions."
"Each dimension was essentially a revival life. The Three-Body universe had to die eleven times before it could fall into eternal death and restart again."
"During this process, advanced civilizations destroyed one of those dimensions to obtain the Grand Unified Model and construct a real-time cosmic star map."
At those words, V and Song Zhaomei both felt a chill run down their spines. To trade dimensional death for a star map—those advanced civilizations in the Three-Body universe had no sense of morality whatsoever.
Perhaps to them, morality was nothing more than a shroud for survival, one that only reduced their chances of living.
(Show your support and read more chapters on my Patreon: [email protected]/psychopet. Thank you for your support!)