Rebirth: A big star falls in love with me

Zhang Yu stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling window, his fingertips unconsciously stroking the coffee cup.

Three months had passed since the time-space repair incident, and he gradually discovered that some changes had occurred in himself - when he stared at the water for more than thirty seconds, he would see ripples from other time and space.

At this moment, strange ripples appear on the surface of the coffee in the morning light.

He saw himself walking in the moon base in a space suit, saw himself in a suit and tie making an impassioned speech in the court, and even saw himself with gray hair holding the hand of a strange woman in front of a hospital bed.

The images are like old-fashioned film reels, playing in a loop in the brown liquid.

"Ding—" The phone alert sounded suddenly, and the illusion of coffee was shattered.

It is an invitation letter from the research institute. Dr. Zhang Yu is going to hold an academic seminar.

He stared at the title "Quantum Consciousness Resonance Theory" and suddenly noticed that the background of the invitation was countless Möbius strips connected end to end.

On the day of the report meeting, Zhang Yu deliberately wore a turtleneck sweater. When he stepped into the meeting room, the skin on the back of his neck suddenly began to heat up - that was the scar caused by the stray bullet in the space before.

Dr. Zhang Yu, who was debugging the holographic projection on the stage, suddenly turned his head. The two people's eyes passed through the crowded crowd, as if an electric current exploded in the air.

"Thank you all for coming." The doctor's voice spread throughout the venue through the quantum resonator. The projection behind him showed a complex Klein bottle structure. "We recently discovered that human consciousness is essentially a high-dimensional particle cloud. When quantum entanglement of a specific frequency..."

Zhang Yu felt his eardrums buzzing, and every word the doctor said caused a slight vibration in his temple.

When he talked about "the resonance of consciousness may cause the collapse of space-time", the scar on the back of his neck suddenly oozed blood.

Using the excuse of going to the restroom, he staggered into the emergency passage, but ran into the doctor smoking at the corner.

"You can really sense it." The doctor flicked the ash off his cigarette, his eyes behind the lenses glowing with the blue light of data streams, "Now seven parallel time and space branches are generated every minute, and the resonance intensity of our consciousness has reached the critical value."

“So you show me those holographic models…”

"It is to select those who can understand the truth." The doctor put out his cigarette, and fine circuit patterns suddenly appeared under his skin. "I come from the mechanical civilization time and space numbered X-7392. Twenty years ago, we discovered the secret of consciousness quantization, which resulted in the annihilation of parallel universes within hours."

The lights in the safety passage began to flicker, and Zhang Yu saw the doctor's shadow split into countless shadows.

Silver liquid metal oozed out of the wall, wrapping the two of them into a spherical space that suddenly appeared.

Countless holographic screens lit up all around, each with a doomsday scene of being devoured by metal bacteria.

"Your scar is a time-space anchor." Dr. Robot's fingers turned into data cables and connected to the back of Zhang Yu's neck. "That space was not an accident. It was a lifeboat we launched before civilization was destroyed. Now you need to make a choice—"

In severe pain, Zhang Yu's consciousness was thrown into the quantum ocean.

He saw that the original white space was actually the womb of civilization, and every Zhang Yu was the spark of restart.

The ghosts of mechanical civilization are wailing in the data stream, and tens of thousands of human spaces are collapsing in the resonance of consciousness.

“Either I mechanize the collective consciousness of humanity, or I find a third way.”

Dr. Mechanical's voice was filled with the sound of metal friction. "I'll give you twelve hours. Meet in the Klein Corridor of the Space-Time Museum."

When Zhang Yu regained consciousness, he was lying in the medical cabin of the institute.

The electronic clock on the wall showed that three hours had passed, and the scar on the back of his neck turned into a glowing quantum code.

When he rushed out of the institute, he found that the entire city's skyline was distorted, and reliefs that did not belong to this era appeared on the surfaces of some buildings.

In the dark room of the Space-Time Museum, Zhang Yu touched the activation device of the Klein Corridor.

This legendary four-dimensional space was now glowing with a sickly purple light. When he stepped into it, he found that there were countless dying time and space displayed on both sides of the corridor: some were devoured by silicon-based plants, some sank in the ocean of data, and others were being compressed into singularities by their own gravity.

Dr. Mechanical stood at the end of the corridor, with a huge consciousness converter floating behind him: "You see, there is no middle option. Either use mechanical ascension to continue civilization, or..."

"Or find the real observer." Zhang Yu suddenly spoke, his irises flowing with memories of all time and space, "The person who originally created space was not Dr. Zhang Yu, but the collective consciousness of all Zhang Yus." His scar began to glow, projecting an infinitely nested Dyson sphere model in the Klein Corridor.

Cracks suddenly appeared on the metal shell of Doctor Robot, revealing the beating quantum heart inside: "This is impossible! We have calculated all the possibilities..."

"You overlooked the observer effect itself." Zhang Yu reached out and touched the nearest fragment of space-time. The dying world suddenly began to collapse in reverse. "When all the parallel selves realize that they are characters in the story, the story itself will be upgraded."

The entire Klein Corridor began to rotate, and countless fragments of time and space gathered into a dazzling star ring.

Zhang Yu saw that his whole self in every time and space was looking up. Their gazes passed through the dimensional barriers and formed a resonance at the quantum level.

Doctor Robot disintegrated into elementary particles in the bright light, while crystal-like dimensional flowers bloomed in the distortion of the city skyline.

When everything calmed down, Zhang Yu stood in the observatory on the top floor of the museum.

The constellations in the night sky quietly reorganize to form the shape of a Möbius strip.

He took out his cell phone and saw that the news was reporting a global collective hallucination phenomenon, with millions of people claiming to have seen "another self."

Suddenly, I received a message from an unknown number on my phone: "See you at the cafe. - The one in the white coat"

In the corner of the coffee shop he often visited, Zhang Yu saw the human doctor who was intact.

The other person stirred the coffee, and the vortex in the cup reflected the stars. "You opened the Observer Era. Now every civilization will learn to find a way out in the story."

He pushed over a hardcover book with a cover that showed countless mirrored worlds reflecting each other.

Zhang Yu opened the title page and saw his photo printed in the author column.

The publication date shows that it was ten years later, and the name of the publishing house is "Dimension Cocoon".

When he looked up to ask, he found that the doctor had disappeared, leaving only the undissolved sugar cube at the bottom of the coffee cup, refracting twelve different lights in the sunlight.

Zhang Yu stared at the light reflected in the cup, and suddenly felt the phone in his pocket vibrate.

He took it out and looked at it. Weird garbled characters were jumping on the screen, and finally froze into a string of coordinates: 39.9042° N, 116.4074° E.

That is the location of the Forbidden City.

When he rushed to the Meridian Gate, he found that the entire Forbidden City was shrouded in a pale golden halo.

The tourists seemed to turn a blind eye to this and continued walking around the Hall of Supreme Harmony with selfie sticks in hand.

Zhang Yu touched the scar on the back of his neck, where a faint pulse was emitting, as if guiding the direction.

When passing through the Qianqing Gate, the air suddenly became thick. Zhang Yu saw his shadow split into countless pieces, each wearing clothes from a different era: official uniforms from the Qing Dynasty, long gowns from the Republic of China, and even futuristic quantum armor.

These shadows flow in the same direction as if attracted by a magnet.

He followed the shadow to the imperial garden and discovered a stone path he had never seen before among the rockery.

The stone lanterns on both sides of the stone path lit up automatically, emitting a faint blue light.

When he reached the end, he saw a bronze door suspended in the air, carved with countless Möbius strips connected end to end.

"Finally here." A familiar voice came from behind.

Zhang Yu turned around and saw twelve versions of himself at different ages standing in a circle, from little children to white-haired elders, each of them wearing clothing that was in line with the times.

They spoke at the same time, their voices forming a strange resonance in the air: "Welcome to the Time Hub."

The bronze door opened silently, revealing the dazzling nebula vortex inside.

Zhang Yu was pushed into the door by a gentle force and found himself standing in a huge circular library.

The bookshelf ascended in a spiral and disappeared into the starlight of the dome.

Every bookshelf is filled with glowing crystals, which contain countless memories of time and space.

"This is the collective consciousness space of all Zhang Yu." Twelve of them followed in, and their figures began to merge, eventually turning into a translucent light man. "When you opened the book in the cafe, you activated the final program."

Zhang Yu felt his temples throbbing, and countless unfamiliar memories flooded into his mind.

He saw himself reading ancient books in libraries in different time and space, debugging equipment in the laboratory, and commanding fleets on the battlefield.

Every scene is so real, as if he had experienced it himself.

“These are…”

"It's all you." The light man waved his hand and summoned a crystal, "Or rather, it's all part of you.

When the first Zhang Yu discovered the space-time rift, he began to collect the memories of all parallel selves.

This library is his masterpiece, and the key to saving all of time and space."

Zhang Yu took the crystal and saw that a shocking battle was sealed inside: countless selves were traveling through time and space, fighting against some invisible existence.

The aftermath of the battle tore apart the fabric of space and time, forming the original white space.

"What the mechanical doctor said is right. Our space-time is indeed collapsing." The light man pointed to the crystal column in the center of the library, "But it is not because of the resonance of consciousness, but because of 'their' invasion."

A strange picture emerged from the crystal column: countless time and space were entangled by dark tentacles, like a butterfly trapped in a spider web.

Zhang Yu recognized that those tentacles were the metal patterns on Dr. Robot's body.

"They are the messengers of entropy, specializing in devouring dying time and space." The light man's voice was full of compassion, "We thought that closing the space would solve the problem, but in fact it only delayed the arrival of destruction."

Zhang Yu felt his heart beating violently: "So what should I do now?"

"Complete the last piece of the puzzle." The light man pointed to the dome, "That's where the original space core is stored. It's also the only weapon that can fight against entropy.

But activating it requires the resonance of the consciousness of all Zhang Yu, including those that have... disappeared. "

Zhang Yu suddenly understood something: "That's why you led me here."

Guangren nodded: "You are the last fragment. The moment you step into here, the entire library will be complete."

At this moment, the surrounding bookshelves suddenly began to shake.

Dark tentacles stretched out from the void and entwined themselves between the bookshelves.

One by one, the crystals shattered, releasing the trapped memories.

"They are coming!" the light man shouted, "Go up quickly!"

Zhang Yu rushed towards the spiral staircase, and the bookshelf behind him collapsed under the entanglement of the tentacles.

He heard countless versions of himself screaming and saw fragments of his memories flying in the air like fireflies.

When he finally reached the dome, he found a pure white cube suspended there, which was the original core of the space.

"Put your hands on it!" The voice of the light man came from below, "Let all of Zhang Yu's memories merge!"

Zhang Yu placed his hand on the cube and was instantly pulled into the torrent of consciousness.

He saw himself in all time and space: some were staying up late in the laboratory, some were fighting on the battlefield, and some were crying in front of the hospital bed.

Every memory is so vivid, every choice is so real.

As the last memory merged, the cube burst into a blinding white light.

The dark tentacles melted away in the light, and the library began to reorganize.

Zhang Yu felt that he was extending infinitely, being both an individual and an entire collective.

"This is... the power of the observer." He muttered to himself, seeing countless time and space flowing in his consciousness.

Every dying world is reborn in light, and every lost soul finds its way home.

When the light faded, Zhang Yu found himself standing on the corner tower of the Forbidden City.

The setting sun dyed the Forbidden City golden, and tourists were still walking around below.

He touched the back of his neck and the scar had disappeared.

The phone suddenly rang. It was my mother calling: "Xiao Yu, are you coming home for dinner tonight? Your dad made your favorite braised pork."

Zhang Yu smiled: "Okay, I'll go back now."

After hanging up the phone, he took a last look at the Forbidden City in the sunset.

At a certain moment, he seemed to see twelve of himself standing on different corner towers, waving goodbye to him at the same time.

When he wanted to take a closer look, the figures had disappeared into the twilight.

He knew that this adventure across time and space had finally come to an end.

But the story is far from over - because every choice will open a new chapter.

This time, he wants to write his own story.