God's Code

Chapter 12

When you reach the top floor and see the "Heavenly Heart Stone" in the center, this feeling becomes even stronger.

An invisible hand is plucking a chord in my heart, but I can't grasp it. K must have stepped on this "Heavenly Heart Stone" that tourists flock to take photos on. He couldn't have mingled with the tourists like I have; he must have stepped on the "Heavenly Heart Stone" late at night, gazing at the twinkling stars in the sky.

K attained enlightenment on the Altar of Heaven. My intuition was sending me a strong message.

I walked back and forth along the Circular Mound Altar, from the four-sided walls at the bottom, to the rings of the altar surface, to the round "Heavenly Heart Stone" that I had to wait in line to step on for a while. The chaos churning in my heart remained unresolved. This feeling of having gained some insight but not being able to ultimately understand it was awful.

The code of God, alas, the code of God.

Ultimately, it's not something I can solve.

June 17th.

I am in an old Shikumen house in the North Bund of Shanghai.

There were nine people present.

I, Liang Yingwu, Ye Tong, Lu Yun, Wei Hou, Ye Tianjin, Shui Sheng, Su Ying, Ming Hui.

Yesterday, I received a message from over ten thousand light-years away. The medium was an ordinary email. This was originally a magical thing—how did Zhang Ming manage to access Earth's internet from such a distance? But after reading the contents of the email, I had no time to dwell on such trivial matters.

Before this, I hadn't told anyone about it. So when I finished recounting my second meeting with Zhang Ming, paused for a moment, and said, "Yesterday, news came from Vimo Star that the research on the crystal ball has yielded results," the air in the room immediately froze.

“I went to the Temple of Heaven in Beijing at the end of last month. At that time, I had a strong premonition that the Altar of Heaven was the key, and that K unlocked the divine code there. I didn’t understand it then, but now I do. Have any of you been to the Temple of Heaven?”

Ye Tong was the most impatient, and she scolded me, "Why are you keeping me in suspense? Just tell me the results of your research on the crystal ball."

I ignored the girl and said, "The layout of the Temple of Heaven is that of a round heaven and a square earth, and so is the layout of the Circular Mound Altar. I thought to myself, isn't this a series of interconnected rings? And the platform of the Circular Mound Altar has three concentric circles. As for the central stone, it's not as crucial as I thought."

“Concentric circles? Crystal balls are also concentric circles,” said the Queen. Those present, all self-assured in their intelligence, hoped to glean some clues from my words and were pondering this in their minds.

"Yes, concentric circles. But it is these concentric circles that have misled us. We only see the appearance, but in fact, it represents a philosophical proposition."

“Philosophy? It must be related to what you said about the round heaven and square earth. Or rather, a round heaven and square earth with one thing inside another,” Lu Yun said, gently stroking the purple jade bracelet on his wrist.

I withdrew my gaze from her and said, "What you said is a bit close, but I believe you won't guess the truth until you know what's inside the crystal ball."

"You mean there's something else inside the crystal ball?" Liang Yingwu astutely grasped my choice of words. The X organization had conducted molecular-level research on the crystal ball using the most advanced instruments available to humankind, so he was quite surprised by my implication.

"The smallest constituent units of matter are called elementary particles by humans. We used to think molecules were elementary particles, then atoms, and then atomic nuclei. With the progress of physics, the term 'elementary particle' remains the same, but its meaning has constantly changed. Now we talk about many kinds of elementary particles, such as quarks and gluons. Modern physics cannot allow humans to directly observe these tiny entities, so we can only use particle colliders to allow elementary particles to split off during collisions between atoms. Liang Yingwu, am I right?"

Liang Yingwu shrugged: "For a layman, this understanding isn't entirely wrong."

I chuckled and said, "Of course, the Vimo aliens also have their own fundamental particles. Because their technology far surpasses that of humans, the smallest components of objects they can observe are several orders of magnitude smaller than what humans currently consider fundamental particles. The X Organization once tested a crystal ball and found that a crystal molecule was located exactly at the center of the crystal ball. Based on this, the Vimo aliens conducted further research and finally, after dissecting down to the minute level of their fundamental particles, they discovered something that shocked them."

“At the atomic level, the space within is incredibly vast for the nucleus and electrons. Electrons revolve around the nucleus, just as the Earth revolves around the sun.” I glanced at them and continued, “The situation of the fundamental particle at the very center of the crystal sphere, as observed by the Vimo aliens, is remarkably similar to that within an atom. They discovered a regular orbit, different from the natural state of ordinary fundamental particles; it has been artificially modified. The result of this modification is… a new divine code.”

At this point, my heart began to pound. If I couldn't help but react this way, Liang Yingwu and the others were naturally even more shocked.

"You mean the code of God has been realized again at that microscopic level?" Liang Yingwu asked in a hoarse voice.

I nodded: "Four new arithmetic problems."

"What does that mean?" Su Ying asked.

"Worldview, it is worldview. The concentric circles of light and shadow in the crystal ball represent worldview. When K saw the two layers of heaven and earth and the three concentric circles of the Circular Mound Altar at the Temple of Heaven, he also realized worldview. The message that the secret code of God wants to convey is the truth of the composition of the world."

“I finally understand the discussion between the elders of the ancient Mahabalipuram tribe and Buddha Shakyamuni. It is about containing Mount Sumeru in a mustard seed, about a world in a grain of sand.” Minghui understood in an instant and sighed as he spoke. This eminent monk truly possessed great wisdom.

A thunderclap resounded in everyone's heart. Even when I thought about the truth of this world again, I was swept away by a sense of wonder.

Su Ying's reaction was a step behind; still confused, she asked, "Such tiny particles form the code of God, and this solar system..."

What does it have to do with the secret?

"Because those particles that humans cannot even observe are another existence just like our solar system. And the solar system that gave rise to humanity is incredibly vast to humans, but it is just a particle in another unimaginably enormous world. Perhaps the universe, which spans billions of light-years, is merely a single cell of some organism to the higher-level world." Liang Yingwu said slowly, a complex light flashing in his eyes.

"Ah!" Su Ying opened her mouth wide, unable to say anything more.

"Yes, and the next level of the world is insignificant compared to the level above it. This structure, going up and down, has countless layers, perhaps endless, so there are no true fundamental particles. It's like concentric circles, one circle encompassing another, and in turn encompassing yet another. Actually, the concentric circle structure is incomplete because there are vast universes within the same level of the world. If a human cell is a universe, and a water molecule is another universe, then you can imagine how many tiny universes our universe is composed of. The code of God is proof, the understanding of the truth of the world by beings who have grasped it, for the next..." Hints from life in different layers of the universe. The earliest beings to see through the structure of the world and begin to offer these hints possess unimaginable civilization and wisdom. And among the beings who see these hints in the next layer of the universe, only the most exceptional can decipher them. After deciphering them, they naturally hope to do something similar: on the one hand, to continue passing on the hints; on the other hand, to demonstrate their existence in the next layer of the world. For beings in the next layer, calling these beings from the higher worlds who transmit the hints gods wouldn't be an exaggeration. Of course, this effort is limited to a very small scope; in the billions of universes contained within that crystal ball, only life in one universe can receive the hint. "From last night to today, I've thought a lot."

"I've got it," Liang Yingwu said abruptly.

"What came to mind?"

"Why the four arithmetic operations and not something else? We've always wondered why such a grand undertaking wasn't undertaken with more advanced knowledge. You know, even inscribing the code of the gods in the next level of the universe would require an astonishing amount of energy." Liang Yingwu had just blurted out his thoughts in a flash of inspiration, his brows still furrowed, but now that his thoughts were becoming clearer, his speech quickened.

"Using the analogy of a somatic cell, human research suggests that the universe's lifespan is approximately ten billion years, after which it will likely die. However, for the higher-level universe, the time from birth to death of a somatic cell is far too short. In other words, the time in the lower universe is unequal to that in the upper universe. Time is only one factor. Human physics research shows that the smaller the particle, the more disordered its motion. This disorder is largely due to our lack of understanding of its underlying laws. In other words, when objects become small enough, the laws change. This is the difference between classical mechanics and quantum physics. The next level of the universe is countless times smaller than the objects studied by quantum physics. The matter and knowledge summarized in this universe simply do not exist in the next universe. But one thing will not change: logic. The four arithmetic operations are the most basic logic!"

Upon hearing Liang Yingwu's statement, everyone else nodded in agreement. Indeed, under any circumstances, advanced life forms must possess logical abilities in order to explore the universe.

Minghui softly chanted a Buddhist prayer and said, "This is what a thousand years feels like in the blink of an eye."

The various doctrines in Buddhism are not just philosophy, but descriptions of the structure of the real world.

“I understand now why the Fes people died after making the crystal ball,” Shui Sheng said.

"Oh?" I looked at him.

“I thought of that too, but it’s more appropriate for you to say it,” Lu Yun said.

"The Fies are like us, beings who develop biological civilization." Although Shui Sheng is now human, she still feels a deep sense of belonging to the sea. "The project that K relied on the immense energy of the planet's core to ultimately fail at, the Fies accomplished using only their own energy. For us, the progress of civilization is the continuous increase of our own understanding; the external world is merely a reflection. The more we develop, the more we understand and recognize the microscopic world within ourselves. I believe it is precisely because of this characteristic that the Fies was finally able to decipher the code of the gods. However, performing such tiny and delicate operations requires not only energy but also immense mental effort. The day this crystal ball was completed, he himself reached the end of his road." At this point, Shui Sheng sighed deeply, her expression filled with boundless admiration.

I've heard Zhang Ming praise the greatness of that man from Fes once, and now, thinking back on it, it's truly offensive to destroy his temple and take his skull like that.

I glanced at Wei Hou, who shook his head slightly, a look of helplessness on his face. It seemed that such offensive behavior was nothing new to him.

Unexpectedly, Queen Wei said, "I plan to sponsor a sum of money from the Indian archaeological department specifically for the protection of the Mahabalipuram beach ruins, as a form of compensation for the damage I caused."

“Na Duo, do you remember the discussion we had when you first came back from India?” Liang Yingwu said to me.

I nodded and said, "Looking back now, it was truly a twist of fate. At first, I thought the tsunami was related to prophecy, and that seeing the truth of the world was also related to the tsunami. Then I thought it was just geological calculation. After discussing it with you, doubts arose again. And then, hehe..."

Liang Yingwu interjected, "I didn't expect your judgments to be correct. The prediction was indeed just a geological calculation, but it is really related to the tsunami. And the discovery of the tsunami was also caused by the efforts of Vimo alien K to see the world more clearly. The connection between them is so coincidental that it's almost mysterious."

I nodded repeatedly, "That's really true."

Lu Yun smiled slightly: "The connections between all things in this world are very profound. You may call it a coincidence, but I feel that there is a thread connecting everything in the dark. If one day I can see where this thread is going, then..." Lu Yun's voice lowered, and it was impossible to hear what she said after that.

Minghui chanted a Buddhist prayer again, which vaguely echoed what Lu Yun had said.

I was a little stunned, completely unable to understand Lu Yun's thoughts.

The third gathering thus came to an end. The secret of God had been revealed, and from this day forward, the old house would return to its former tranquility, and the neighbors would no longer see those figures who had made them stare wide-eyed and whisper among themselves.

Later, I asked Liang Yingwu privately about the progress of the X Organization's contact with the Vimo aliens, and he only told me two words: "Top Secret".

For the Vimo aliens, although the divine code has been cracked, their centuries-old attachment to the sacred site will likely not be so easily erased. After Zhang Ming's safe return, the ban should logically be lifted. This means that many visitors will soon arrive in the solar system.

I imagined a deluge of alien spaceships arriving, but then I smiled wryly. How many alien life forms have visited Earth over the years? The Vimo aliens probably come and go quietly; they can mimic human appearances and blend in undetected.

Furthermore, once the code of God is cracked, humanity's current level of civilization is nothing to the Vimo aliens, so they probably won't focus their energy particularly on Earth. The solar system has eight planets and the vast Cooper Belt; there are many places to go.

If one day you shake hands with a stranger and experience a strange tactile sensation, please don't call the police. It's just that the visitors from Vimo Star didn't bring enough energy.

One morning, I got out of bed. After stretching, I looked at my hands and suddenly realized that in the billions of universes within this palm, in the few dozen seconds I was watching, countless advanced life forms similar to humans had been born and died.