There is no concept of time in eternity, but Chi Yan can do "fake time". He uses the time unit of his original world as the scale, and uses a computer to "time" - the time displayed by the computer is fake, and it does not really pass, but it can be used to measure how much Chi Yan has spent psychologically. long time. It's a timer in the house.
The first ten years were actually quite comfortable and leisurely.
Chi Yan can taste all kinds of food without making it; he lives in his own house, cool and comfortable, leisurely watching those books, movies, and games that he has always wanted to watch. He cannot communicate with other creatures in any form, but he can browse and obtain the fruits of their civilization. Roughly speaking, it takes three to five days to clear a large-scale single-player game, and one day to read a book and a movie series, so "time" is not difficult.
Not to mention that he has other recreational activities, such as going to sea.
At that time, Chi Yan was very hesitant, and asked the voice nervously: "Can I ask for more places?" In fact, his activity area is already very large, with mountains, lakes, and forests - no living beings are allowed. Yes, but fortunately some worlds have developed a realistic forest that has the effect of a real forest with a degree of fidelity close to 100%. Chi Yan only needs to show this realistic forest and trees in his own area.
The voice was not angry or dissatisfied with his greed, but asked calmly, "What do you want to do?"
"I want to have a sea." Chi Yan whispered.
As soon as he finished speaking, looking out of the window in the house, a blue sky appeared as far as he could see—his area expanded. The voice did not speak any more, but silently fulfilled his request.
Chi Yan softly said thank you.
He soon owned a yacht and a cruise ship for him to go out to sea for leisure. There are no creatures in the sea, but just looking at the sea water and blowing the sea breeze is enough to relax your mind. He also arranged a realistic marine ecosystem composed of realistic fish and corals in the shallow waters of the inland, and occasionally went to the sea to dive and play.
Except for the lack of social activity, everything seemed perfect.
He installed two state-of-the-art artificial intelligence robots in the house, which can help manage everything in the house, but still can't replace real, conscious "people". They are unable to meet Chi Yan's social and emotional needs.
As the "time" on the timer passed, Chi Yan felt more and more lonely, and nothing could fill the emptiness.
He asked the voice, "Has it always been you? Only you?"
"Yes." The voice answered calmly, as if it were a normal and insignificant thing.
"Don't you feel... lonely?"
"What is loneliness?" the voice asked him back.
"It's just a person, very lonely, very lonely."
"No," the voice said. "I don't know what this feeling is, and I don't feel it either."
As an eternal being, He is here eternally, not knowing loneliness, nor understanding loneliness. Time cannot describe his existence, nor can it constrain his existence. He has always been like this in the infinity before Chi Yan appeared.
Chi Yan didn't know how to answer. He just had a sudden urge to hug each other. Although as a lonely and insignificant human being wishful thinking about the unintentional and supreme eternity, it sounds a bit ridiculous - just like Chao Mun does not know the darkness, but feels sorry for the loneliness of the tree.
But in such a day-to-day life he began to realize one thing clearly - his desire to communicate with that voice, and that desire grew day by day.
He couldn't describe the feeling, but he knew for sure that the longing wasn't the only source of loneliness.
That day, Chi Yan closed the book and looked up at the void. A thought suddenly appeared in his heart, and this thought was so strong that he couldn't wait to act immediately. He called out to the voice and said in a casual tone to his landlord, his only neighbor and companion: "I haven't asked you, what is your name? Can I call you your name later?" After the panic was over, he began to desperately want to know more about the voice.
The other party seemed to pause, then told him, "I don't have a name."
This answer is both unexpected and expected. If he has always been alone, then he only needs self-awareness and does not need a "name".
"Can I give you a name?" Chi Yan asked cautiously.
"Okay." Perhaps it was Chi Yan's illusion, he felt that the voice was much lighter when he agreed.
Hearing this answer, he couldn't help showing a smile: "Is your name Ye Yingzhi okay? My name is Chi Yan, your name is Ye Yingzhi. Ye Yan Chi Yingzhi." His own name came from the last sentence of. That was a very proud sentence in a poem written by Grandpa Chi Yan when he was young. It happened that his surname was Chi, so he took another word from it as his grandson's name.
Chi Yan actually couldn't appreciate his grandfather's "poems", but his own name came from it, so he privately wanted to connect the name of that voice to himself. Totally secretive and selfish thinking.
"Chi Yan... Ye Yingzhi..." The voice murmured twice, "Okay. Your name is Chi Yan, and my name is Ye Yingzhi."
His voice is still flat, but he is the only consciousness higher than eternity in this eternity, and what he officially says will become the rules of the entire eternity.
Chi Yan didn't know, but as the voice said it, no matter which world he went to in the future, he would be called Chi Yan, and the other party would be called Ye Yingzhi. At that time, he was just sitting on the artificial grass in front of the room, smiling unconsciously, fascinated, and suddenly remembered that he had forgotten to tell the other party his name all along.
*****
One hundred years have passed on the timer. If Chi Yan was still in his original world, his life would have come to an end.
Various knowledge and creations in worlds similar or close to his original world could no longer satisfy his needs, and he began to explore wisdom and civilizations in other, richer and more diverse worlds.
Religion, science, philosophy... He has seen countless magnificent systems, and countless creatures have passed on various systems in various ways, trying to rely on their persistence and wisdom to explore the essence and true meaning of the world. Chi Yan is often shocked by the firm persistence shown in the history of civilization development. Every living being is so small in the world they live in, even the whole world, which seems to be mysterious and infinite, is insignificant in the face of eternity. However, the small, self-conscious and intelligent creatures have created innumerable and indescribable great retentions one after another in their limited existence time.
Each world may be divided into many different worlds at every moment due to different branch points, so that even if the original world is destroyed, those creations can survive and continue in the branch world; and branch worlds are relative to their own sub-worlds. It is another native world - just like this, it is difficult for the civilization created in the world river to completely disappear and destroy. All living beings, as long as they have contributed to the development of world civilization, no matter how big or small, even if the individual creature itself disappears, its imprint will never be lost. will be wiped out.
While talking to that voice, Chi Yan looked at the civilizations and creations of various worlds, but he didn't even realize that eternity was endless. Before you know it, the time on the timer has passed a thousand years.
Until one day, Chi Yan called the voice as usual: "Ye Yingzhi, Ye Yingzhi—", but the other party did not respond to him as before. Chi Yan didn't take it to heart at first, because there were times when Ye Yingzhi would not respond to him immediately. He didn't know the limit and end of this field, nor did he know where the other party lived or what he was doing.
However, after one day, two days, three days... one year, two years, ten years... the voice never responded.
Chi Yan began to panic, wondering where the other party went and what happened. Everything is business as usual in his area, and the areas that don't belong to him are still dark. Chi Yan walked in the darkness for a long time, calling the other party's name as he walked, and finally collapsed on the ground, tears oozing out of the corners of his eyes, but found nothing. He slumped back to his area, where there was nothing he could do, except wait, there was nothing he could do.
When this period of unresponsiveness stretches to a hundred years, five hundred years, a thousand years... Fear begins to turn into prayer and hope, and hope gradually degenerates into longing, and longing is too long, sad and hopeless.
After another thousand years slowly crawling away from the timer, the voice finally responded: "I seem to hear you calling me?"
Chi Yan didn't know what to say. In fact, he couldn't speak at all at that moment, as if he had lost the ability to speak. Fortunately, these abilities would not really degenerate in eternity.
He closed his eyes and slowly opened them after a long time: "Where have you been? Why did you ignore me?" His voice was calm, and those strong feelings that had been surging had been slowly smoothed out during the too long wait. He's showing up again, and that's good.
This time, Ye Yingzhi paused for a long time before telling him softly, "I'm sorry, I lost my mind."
In fact, this is just a small distraction for him. Before Chi Yan appeared, he always wandered more frequently and for a longer period of time. Several batches - how many worlds have been destroyed and how many worlds have been born from the source when he was distracted.
But Chi Yan seemed to be very concerned about his distraction.
Then I promise not to be distracted in the future. He thought so in his heart, but didn't say it.
What he said was: "Sorry, as compensation, I can grant one of your wishes."
He didn't know why he said that. In fact, every wish after Chi Yan's arrival has been fulfilled. Even now, no matter what Chi Yan asks of him, he will try his best to achieve it. But he could vaguely sense that this commitment has a special meaning for a human being.
Sure enough, the human opened pure black eyes, clenched his left hand into a fist, hesitantly, and looked at the void with some unease, and made a wish that sounded different from usual: "You can become a human and accompany me. for a while?"
"...Sorry, I can't do it." Ye Yingzhi said.
"I can't become a human. Human is a neutral creature, and I am an evil. Even if I enter the world river and throw myself into a specific world, I can't really become a human. , or born a demon."
"As long as it appears in human form," Chi Yan looked at the void and prayed, "Isn't it possible? Become human and stay by my side. It only takes a while."
Just a moment. five minutes.
He pointed to the timer on the table to his invisible friend: "Look, this number here, jump from zero to five, that's all."
Ye Yingzhi has no concept of time. He also didn't understand the meaning of Chi Yan's request. He couldn't imagine what it would be like to have a human-like entity.
But he looked at the other party's black eyes and agreed, "Okay."
In the end, what appeared in front of Chi Yan was just a phantom with the outline of a human being, translucent, and even the facial features could not be seen clearly. Just like that voice, he just stood calmly in front of Chi Yan. No expressions, no movements, no mood swings.
Chi Yan already felt satisfied.
He looked at the phantom that appeared out of thin air, raised the corner of his mouth slightly, and closed his eyes halfway.
He looked at each other and walked up with open arms. He gently and tentatively put his arms around the other's neck, raised his head, closed his eyes, and placed a gentle kiss on the other's lips like a breeze.
Ye Yingzhi didn't react, and still just stood there quietly.
After a while, he opened his eyes, took a step back, and looked at Ye Yingzhi: "How do you feel?"
"I don't know." Ye Yingzhi said, the phantom he formed disappeared in an instant, his tone was calm, "Should you feel something?"
Chi Yan lowered his head, smiled, looked up again at the direction where the phantom disappeared, and said nothing.
When I was young, I saw Tagore's birds and fish and felt that it was a hopeless feeling. But he never thought that one day, he would fall in love with eternity in eternity.