Swallowing the Stars: Starting with the Battle of Geniuses

Chapter 24 Fire and Space

"Afraid?"

Hunzhen turned his head and saw a thin young man who was about 1.5 meters tall: "Why are you afraid?"

He looks like a teenager, but unlike the chubby boy, he doesn't receive special treatment.

There are mostly only two possibilities: either this race has always looked like this when they grow up, or, like Hunzhen, the race has faced a near-extinction crisis and has no "adult" to support them. Such situations are quite common in this vast universe.

Furthermore, the fact that this boy did not actively protest, as the saying goes, "only the squeaky wheel gets the grease," suggests that he was from a disadvantaged background.

"this……"

The boy's eyes widened; did he need a reason?

He trembled his purple lips: "You heard that too, didn't you? We might have been captured by these people and used as experimental subjects!"

Hunzhen shook his head: "Your fear stems from the unknown."

And as long as it's within ten years, most of the things I encounter will not be unknown.

This is a very true statement, but one that is not said directly.

That one sentence alone sent a jolt through the young man's heart.

Thinking about it carefully, the way these seemingly mild-mannered guys treated them certainly didn't seem like they were experimental subjects.

Hunzhen glanced at him, pointed to the "star" that was already visible to the naked eye, and said, "Did you notice? This spaceship has left the dark universe and is heading straight for that 'sun.' Are they going to use us for experiments? Are they going to conduct experiments on the sun? Or are they just bored and want to roast a few people alive and eat them?"

"this……"

Following the direction of Hunzhen's finger, the huge fireball that was burning fiercely was right in front of them, and the scorching heat wave seemed to be blowing right in front of them.

After a moment's thought, the boy realized that it made sense.

Since he had nothing better to do, Hunzhen casually replied, "Well then, let's go back to your original question."

The boy turned his head: "?"

"Your fear stems from the unknown. But a deeper fear lies in your fear of death. You're afraid of dying as their test subject. That raises a new question—why are you afraid of death?"

Hunzhen turned around, looking directly at the boy with piercing eyes, like a fanatical missionary: "Are you afraid of falling into nothingness? Or are you simply terrified of the pain of death?"

How terrifying!

The boy's eyes widened, and he took two steps back.

But perhaps his earlier sincere words of comfort had given him a tiny bit of credibility. After thinking for a moment, the boy answered honestly and earnestly, "I guess... what I'm afraid of is nothingness?"

Hunzhen laughed and said, "Then you will eventually fall into nothingness unless you achieve immortality."

He didn't mention things like the destruction of the universe or reincarnation, but the concept of immortality was quite widespread in this starry sky.

"Those who cannot achieve immortality will ultimately return to nothingness. In that case, what is mere death compared to eternally sinking into nothingness? You are destined to become immortal, so why are you afraid of becoming a pirate's experimental subject?"

No, I didn't...

Immortality is far too distant for a tiny life form on a celestial scale.

The boy wanted to argue.

I don't know what to say. I feel like Hunzhen is right and wrong at the same time.

What is there to refute? He never even considered that possibility.

But another voice inside you is clamoring – what does it matter whether he's right or wrong? Haven't you really thought that way? Don't lie to yourself, you have!

Which boy in the Haiti era didn't dream of becoming a hero? Just like countless planetary and galactic beings who embarked on cosmic adventures, they all envisioned becoming world lords or even immortal beings.

He stammered, seemingly unable to speak, and after a long while, he realized that he was no longer afraid. He was stunned for a moment, and then said to Hunzhen, "My name is Yamu. Thank you for talking to me about this."

After Yamu finished speaking, he looked around and found that the man had closed his eyes to rest after "enlightening" him.

While speechless, I couldn't help but feel envious and a touch of unspoken admiration for the other person's carefree attitude.

Putting everything else aside, this composure is truly extraordinary.

At this moment, Hunzhen was unusually able to sort out his understanding of the laws.

As for what he said to Yamu, it was partly a spur-of-the-moment prank, and partly a strategic move that might come in handy in the future, given that Yamu seemed easily influenced.

During his recent days on Blue Star, he initially enjoyed eating, drinking, and having fun even more than he did on Black Jade Star.

But after a few days, he lost interest again and finally realized that comprehending the laws was indeed the best thing to do!

This feeling of making small, incremental progress and getting closer to the truth has a truly captivating and mysterious quality.

It's like a math enthusiast encountering a rare and challenging math problem; they can easily work on it for hours until it gets dark. During the problem-solving process, as the doubts gradually dissipate, there's an extraordinary sense of accomplishment, and this pleasure reaches its peak when the answer is finally revealed.

While Olympiad math problems are limited and depend on the problem setter, the ocean of rules is almost infinite. Even if you are recognized by the fundamental rules, it is actually just a new starting point.

No wonder so many people in this universe cultivate diligently for thousands of years or even epochs; they simply cannot stop.

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What's even more amazing is that when you occasionally encounter a difficult hurdle or problem, you can overcome most situations with just one simulation, which doubles the joy.

At this moment, his comprehension of the Law of Fire was on the right track, and his comprehension of the Law of Space had also taken a solid first step.

The specific insights were handed over to the simulator, but Hunzhen had the leisure to think about how to transform the pure "insights of the laws of fire" into "the laws of space of fire", using "fire" as a springboard to study "space".

In the past week or so, Ryujin Jakka has reached the fourth level, gradually approaching the limit of the true meaning of fire.

Although the difficulty of breaking through from the fourth to the fifth level is far greater than that of breaking through from the third to the fourth level, when he reached the limit of the true meaning of wind much earlier, it took him more than ten times longer to break through to the level of touching the threshold of the law.

However, we are already close to the threshold of the rules, so it's not too early to consider this issue.

"The essence of fire is energy. The influence of energy on space... connects the two? Yes, it is the immense heat that causes the expansion of space! And when heat death, the state of extreme heat, fills the entire space, it forms an absolute space where no energy is transferred, thus creating spatial stillness and spatial sealing!"

Accumulated insights are like kindling; countless pieces of kindling burn, pointing to a certain moment that sparks inspiration.

It's not that understanding the rules of physics will allow one to grasp the profound mysteries of the corresponding laws at any given moment.

At this point, it acts more as a catalyst, defining profound and ineffable insights with certain symbols to accelerate one's own understanding.

Hunzhen pinched his chin, suddenly opened his eyes, and pointed a finger into the void.

Yamu, who was observing Hunzhen, was startled by Hunzhen's sudden movement and looked in the direction Hunzhen was pointing.

Strangely, even though there was only empty space there, Yamu seemed to see a solidified cube.

He blinked, rubbed his eyes hard, and when he looked again, the illusion had disappeared.

He looked at Hunzhen, opened his mouth, and said, "You..."

"I won't call you that!" Hunzhen glared at him, then laughed. "Haha, Yamu, just call me Hunzhen."

Clearly, Hunzhen was very happy at this moment.

Yamu was infected by that smile, his face flushed slightly, and he rubbed his cheeks with his fingers: "So you heard me after all..."

"Our 'Buddha's Eye Mercenary Group' helped you avoid the pirates, and now it's time for you to repay us."

As the two chatted, the spaceship had come to a stop at some point, and the outline of the sun was no longer visible outside the glass window, proving that they were very close.

Suddenly, a huge human face was projected onto the large screen in the center of the cabin.

He glanced at the crowd and said calmly, "Next, please enter the 'Sun' and retrieve the treasure for us."

(End of this chapter)