Yongli's immortality is based on a one-dimensional consciousness drift of Circular Flow.
With the Sun Slingshot provided by the Golden Tree, the possibility of a launch to other star systems has become feasible.
This Panda Man immediately requested a trial, completely disregarding the previous near trapping in a Space Hole.
Zhou Yi, knowing nothing about the neighboring Proxima Centauri, agreed under the premise of confirmed safety.
Yongli once again began to enter the Space Hole.
Different from last time.
This time its drift lasted for 24 hours, without the company of the three old humans, to avoid unnecessary risks. In unfamiliar environments, it finds it difficult to constantly focus on others.
Yongli opened its eyes again, with a somewhat strange expression on its face, as if puzzled, yet slightly melancholic.
Zhou Yi asked, "Was the drift smooth?"
"Smoother than expected."
Yongli sorted out its thoughts a bit: "Traveling at the speed of light, it would take four years to arrive. However, the main flow of Sun Circular Flow doesn't move at light speed; it passes through a very peculiar Space Hole, reaching Proxima Centauri almost instantaneously."
"Inside that Space Hole was filled with... living creatures, each at the Transformer level of energy fluctuations, everywhere like air permeating the space."
"It's difficult to describe; you should see it for yourself."
Panda Man displayed its consciousness memory.
Zhou Yi instantly obtained its perspective.
In what could be described as a soft space, there were constantly rolling and deforming soft-bodied lifeforms, squeezing together like jellyfish packed in a can.
Zhou Yi's heart tightened.
He was all too familiar with this.
Four-dimensional Fish... Time Flow Device.
Had he entered inside the Time Master?
Zhou Yi immediately inquired of the Golden Tree.
[That's Four-dimensional Space, an alternative shortcut to another distant space, crossing lower-dimensional distances through high-dimensional space.]
[Filled with time in Four-dimensional Space, those are just time itself.]
Zhou Yi listened, somewhat confused: "Time?"
"Are you saying that time is not an artificial concept or a virtual reference, but truly exists?"
[In Four-dimensional Space, time can be directly seen and touched, which isn't possible in low-dimensional space.]
[They break down quickly after entering low-dimensional space, becoming a part of living organisms.]
The first two sentences were relatively easy to understand.
But Zhou Yi was a bit uncertain about the last sentence.
[Three-dimensional space can be simply understood as a composition of the three orthogonal dimensions: length, width, and height.] ɴᴇᴡ ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀʀᴇ ᴘᴜʙʟɪsʜᴇᴅ ᴏɴ novel★fire.net
[Then Four-dimensional Space is based on adding time as the fourth dimension to the above.]
[Time, upon entering three-dimensional space, requires a certain degree of decomposition and transformation.]
[It's like a cardboard box, if it needs to be packed into an envelope that only accommodates flat surfaces, it has to be compressed into a paper-like shape.]
The Golden Tree then spoke.
[Upon entering our three-dimensional space, they decompose into special three-dimensional sheets, with each life, each consciousness, being an envelope to contain them.]
[So time is everywhere, but it needs a living consciousness as a carrier.]
[Without life, there is no time in low-dimensional space, just like in one-dimensional space.]
Zhou Yi listened, feeling somewhat befuddled.
This was completely different from human scientific understanding.
"In the universe, is time an objectively existing entity, rather than merely a descriptive concept of motion?"
[All life recognizes time.]
[Then how does this time come about? The sun as an external reference, day and night cycles, hunger, and fatigue... all motion seems inseparable from corresponding time cycles.]
[Because time is inherently an objectively existing dimension, a kind of marker.]
[After decomposing in low-dimensional space, it marks itself onto biological organisms, like life whose initial time is set upon birth.]
[This time includes its eating time, resting time, death time... But this isn't absolute, as it can be altered postnatally.]
[Life's progression can alter its existing time cycle.]
[In low-dimensional space, due to natural law limitations, time can only manifest to this level, unable to directly touch and move time due to the restricted result after decomposition.]
[Just like me, currently bound by the String Civilization, so I am not in complete form.]
[True complete-form time can only unfold in Four-dimensional Space.]
[Time is everywhere; they are an existence significantly close to the essence of energy, much like the Light Absorption Monster you've described.]
Zhou Yi seemed to understand, yet wasn't entirely sure.
He posed a question: "According to what you said... could time be alive?"
[Time in Four-dimensional Space is a special lifeform. But entering our low-dimensional space, they can only merge with local life until the lifecycle ends, then they can move to the next lifeform.]
[In Four-dimensional Space it is life, but in low-dimensional space, they become a non-living existence.]
[It's akin to what you mentioned, that Yongli, didn't it become a one-dimensional consciousness operating within low-dimensional space? Time is the same; it must reduce dimensions to operate in three-dimensional space, though such activity is highly constrained.]
Zhou Yi was utterly shocked.
[But there's no need to worry; they pose no harm.]