Voyage of the Stars.

Chapter 1584 Times have changed
Putting oneself in the shoes of the "Children of the Universe," it is indeed quite frustrating that the mighty Children of the Universe are defeated by a group they regard as insects.

However, after listening to the four-dimensional life form's account, the human still had some questions, so he asked, "Were the beings who fought against our ancestors all cosmic-level civilizations?"

“Yes!” the four-dimensional life form replied, “How can they fight against us if they are not at the level of a cosmic civilization, and how can they cross billions of light-years to fight us?”

Humanity remained puzzled and continued to ask, "The universe is so vast that even a cosmic civilization would find it difficult to traverse such a vast galaxy and launch such a massive war. Cosmic civilizations only travel at such a limited speed, so how could they have come from an unknown universe?"

"Why not?" the four-dimensional life form asked curiously, then seemed to realize something and pressed on, "Wait, could it be that the war destroyed the universe? That's impossible. Although cosmic-level civilizations and we can modify the laws of physics, the universe has a self-repair mechanism. How could it be destroyed? It doesn't make sense. By the way, how fast can those cosmic-level civilizations run in the universe now?"

Faced with this question, human civilization cautiously replied, "About three thousand times the speed of light; technological civilizations call that kind of travel technology warp drive!"

"What? Only three thousand times the speed of light?"

Yes, could it be?

Humanity has also realized the problem: the warp speed back then was faster than it is now, and it may not be due to technological reasons, but rather to factors of the cosmic environment.

Sure enough, the next moment the four-dimensional life form sighed in confusion, "What's going on in the universe now? Have those cosmic-level civilizations become so weak? Is it possible that my understanding of cosmic-level civilizations is different from yours? Aren't they civilizations that have mastered vacuum zero-point energy and the ability to modify the rules of physics?"

“I understand correctly.” Human civilization responded, “The Daya civilization that once traveled with me told me that their warp speed can only reach three thousand times the speed of light. Even if they modify the warp speed rules, they cannot continue to increase the speed. It seems that they have encountered some kind of barrier.”

The four-dimensional life form said, "That's strange. Back in my time, the fastest warp drive I saw among those cosmic-level civilizations was about a million times the speed of light. We, the children of the universe, were the same. If we combined our unique modes of movement, we could easily traverse the observable universe. How did the universe become like this now?"

this.
Two million times the speed of light?
Human civilization was stunned. What a huge gap there was! No wonder they were able to wage such a large-scale war.

Lyra paused for a moment; in reality, it was an internal discussion among humans.

A moment later, humanity sent out another message: "If this is true, then the universe may indeed have been destroyed in the future."

"Damaged? Can you tell me about the current state of the universe? Although I can't leave either, I still want to know what our home has become before I die," the four-dimensional life form said somewhat silently.

Humans didn't mince words and immediately recounted in detail what they had seen and heard on their long voyage, as well as some information about cosmic catastrophes that they had only learned after advancing to a cosmic-level civilization, to the four-dimensional life form.

After listening, the four-dimensional life form remained silent for a long time.

After an unknown amount of time, he seemed to have a sudden burst of dry laughter, as if in a final burst of lucidity. The laughter seemed to contain a complex mix of emotions: anger, sorrow, hatred, and schadenfreude.
As the laughter subsided, the four-dimensional life form exclaimed, "The world is collapsing, quantum entanglement is failing, vacuum is decaying, the fourth phase transition of the universe is happening, and spatial dimensions are falling. Hahaha, it's over, this great universe is finished! Those damned insects are really something! They managed to turn such a stable universe into this mess!"

"Those hateful insects! That's our home! It's the home of us, the children of the universe! How could they ruin it like this? They deserve to die! They truly deserve to die! Those insects, those burrowing maggots, should all die!" "Sigh, this universe can't even recover from a dimensional fall? You know, in our time, dimensional reduction attacks and dimensional increase attacks also existed. I knew how to do them, but the universe would automatically repair the attacks we launched. Whether it was dimensional increase or decrease, the universe would restore it to three dimensions because three dimensions are so macroscopically stable."

"But now, haha, according to what you said, this universe is really finished. Maybe the main framework of the universe has been damaged, to the point that the universe can no longer repair itself. It's hopeless. If we are finished, those insects will also be finished. They will eventually perish along with the universe."

Hearing the four-dimensional being make this judgment, the human, though unwilling to spoil his good mood, couldn't bear to hide it from him, so he explained, "I heard from the Daya civilization that among those insects, there is a group that has successfully broken through to a cosmic-level civilization. They call themselves gods, and technological civilizations call them a god-level civilization. It is said that they are trying to save the universe."

god?
A god-like civilization?

Hearing this, the four-dimensional being became even more indignant: "God? Those insects dare to call themselves gods? They don't deserve it!"

After hysterically maintaining his dignity as the "Child of the Universe" through anger, the four-dimensional life form seemed to realize something, and then said in an incredulous tone: "Wait, what did you just say? The insects actually have a being that has successfully broken through to the level of a cosmic civilization?"

Human civilization: "Yes! They are called a god-like civilization!"

"Impossible!" The four-dimensional life form's words were filled with disbelief. "Impossible! No life form can break through to that level, because that belongs to a level beyond intelligence. Intelligence cannot comprehend anything beyond its own light of wisdom. Even we, the children of the universe, cannot do it. How could a mere, lowly insect like a burrowing creature possibly do it! Are you sure such an existence truly exists? Have you ever seen it?"

"I've...uh, I haven't seen it." Yue Yuan answered on behalf of human civilization. He almost let slip that he had indeed seen it, back when the Rebooters were there. But he couldn't say that, otherwise he wouldn't be able to explain the fact that he, a "space life form," could survive seeing a god-level civilization.

The four-dimensional life form was still immersed in the shock of "insects being able to break through the limits of intelligence." He knew that the spatial life form in front of him would not lie to him, but he was unwilling to believe the result, because it meant that the insects were more noble than him, the children of the universe, which was unacceptable to him.

"If I haven't seen it, then it doesn't exist!" The four-dimensional life form used language to uphold its last shred of dignity.

Humans stopped exposing it; the four-dimensional life form was about to die, so let him embrace his last bit of dignity!

Unexpectedly, the four-dimensional life form couldn't hold back any longer and asked, "What... what do those insects plan to do? You said they'd save the universe, what do they plan to do?"

Seeing his condition, the humans couldn't bear it, so they used the Daya civilization as a source to briefly explain the plans of the Rebooters, the Returners, and the Dayan civilization.

After hearing these plans, the four-dimensional life form's feelings became even more complicated.

I have been trapped here for far too long, and the era of this universe has finally changed.

The good news is that the insects in the vast universe don't seem to be continuing their extermination of the Children of the Universe; the bad news is that I won't have the chance to see this new era of the vast universe.

(End of this chapter)