Chapter 404: Redundant Data

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio 1 Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

Among the data obtained from the ‘void,’ the part that could be deciphered came from the ‘Extractor’ civilization, which also explained why he could decipher that part of the data using the decryption method of the ‘Infinite Divine Armaments.’

Although the creator of the ‘Infinite Divine Armaments’ organic forms was from another civilization, the ‘Infinite Divine Armaments’ itself was built at the request of the ‘Extractor.’ The programming language used would definitely be compatible with the ‘Extractor.’

Through the information obtained from that string of data, Li Wenyuan realized that the ‘void’ might not be the ‘complete void’ that he had imagined. The ‘void’ wasn’t empty. At the very least, the ‘Extractor’ had successfully left the information in it, and it was decipherable.

Not only that but there were also images related to the ‘Scribe’ inside, allowing Li Wenyuan to see the origin of the ‘Scribe.’

The huge amount of ‘redundant data’ also showed that there were many things in the ‘void.’ Although it was impossible to decipher, those ‘garbled codes’ represented the existence of ‘something’ in the past and were displayed in an orderly state.

In a sense, the ‘void’ itself was a huge database. It stored such garbled ‘redundant data’ as well as the ‘encrypted data’ left behind by the ‘Extractor’ that could be deciphered.

But why did all lifeforms or civilizations that had come into contact with the void’ believe that the ‘void’ was a catastrophic cosmic phenomenon?

Li Wenyuan believed it might be because the ‘redundant data’ was not extracted using the correct method.

And that involved another thing: Entropy.

Entropy generally referred to a measure of the state of matter in certain systems. It had different meanings in different academic systems. In the definition of physics, it was a measure of the degree of chaos in a system.

The greater Entropy is, the greater the degree of the system’s chaos. It was like how a liquid would evaporate and change from a liquid state to a gas state. The increase in the degree of chaos between molecules was a type of increase in Entropy.

In the thermodynamics system, the universe was regarded as an isolated system. The universe’s Entropy would always increase over time. From order to disorder, all available energy would be converted into heat, and there would no longer be any energy in the universe that could maintain motion and life.

That was a kind of ‘end point’ theory similar to the ‘Big Rend’ theory, representing the ‘heat death’ of the universe.

‘Entropy’ could also be applied to information. When the amount of information was so chaotic that no information could be obtained, could that mean that the information had reached a kind of ‘heat death’?

Li Wenyuan suspected that the ‘void’ was a piece of information that had its Entropy increased to the maximum value. All the information in it was chaotic and indecipherable. The invasion of the ‘void’ was actually the pollution of the entire universe by that chaotic information.

The so-called ‘void’ was a kind of equilibrium state that appeared when the information chaos reached the limit, just like the ‘balance’ after all matter decayed into photons and leptons in the ‘Heat Death Universe.’

And since the ‘void,’ a completely disordered ‘redundant data,’ could invade their universe, it seemed to mean something else…

Their universe was also made up of data.

Information was not a materialized thing. The materialized part was just a material carrier defined by humans for the convenience of memory.

Like a newspaper that recorded information, its material carrier was just a group of specially arranged molecules. Humans artificially defined those specially arranged molecules, and they became ‘information.’

However, that did not mean ‘information’ had a physical entity. Their physical entities were still the basic composition of substances, such as molecules and atoms. Their role in physics would not change because of their definition.

Information was the only thing that could invade ‘information.’

Was their universe not a cosmic experiment but a larger and more complicated ‘virtual world’?

Li Wenyuan felt the distortion of his worldview. If they were actually a group of brains in a vat, or to be more extreme, if he were the only ‘brain in a vat,’ and everything he knew and did not know, and everything he doubted was a ‘virtual world’ that had been set in advance, and he was only responsible for experiencing everything on the spot, what would he do?

He finally understood why the ‘Observer’ lost empire in the Milky Way was so determined to commit suicide collectively. Because if he were unable to leave the ‘virtual world’ after trying everything, and after he had firmly believed that everything was fake, he might also choose to commit suicide.

When he opened his eyes after death, he might not see that fake world anymore. He was just playing an immersive game and had completely let his original memories fall into a deep sleep for the sake of immersion.

Even if that were a fluke, it was still a kind of ‘last hope.’ Even the most extreme choice would become the last when all the efforts were destroyed.

At that moment, if he had a biological body, he would probably start to breathe rapidly, his face would turn pale, his eyes would widen, and his body would tremble as he tried to hold his head. He would frantically think, “What should I do? What should I do? Is this world real?”

However, he was not. He was just a stream of emotionless data. After his worldview was distorted for a while, he returned to normal. After all, his goal had never been to ‘discover the truth of the world’ but to find humans.

Even if he really were the ‘brain in a vat,’ and humans were just data that he imagined, he had to wait until he saw them with his own eyes.

Li Wenyuan immediately retrieved the ‘redundant data’ from the ‘Wound’ through the Void Connection’ again and transferred all the ‘redundant data’ that had been instilled into the database to make room for his memory.

He realized that the infusion of the ‘void’ was completed in an instant. That speed was even faster than his reaction speed as artificial intelligence. As a result, by the time he reacted, his memory had already been filled up, and he had automatically disconnected from the ‘void.’

But this time, with his conscious transfer of ‘redundant data,’ the ‘Void Connection’ could be maintained for a longer time.

And since he could obtain information about the ‘Extractor,’ he could naturally obtain other information as well. There might be something that he could interpret then.

Unfortunately, even after he had filled up the database with ‘redundant data,’ he still could not find any parts that could be deciphered.

That also made him realize something. The ‘void’ was probably mainly filled with ’redundant data,’ and there was very little that he could decipher. It was already a stroke of luck for him to encounter an ‘Extractor.’

However, his hard work paid off. After he assigned the responsibility of carrying the ‘redundant data’ to the other civilizations under his leadership, he finally got another string of data that he could interpret.

What surprised him was that the string of data belonged to humans.

However, it did not seem to be the humans of his current universe but another batch of ‘humans’ from earlier times..