This was the way the cat looked up at the stars, crying with sadness, which really shocked Chen Nuo.

He could read the deep sadness and helplessness in the gray cat's eyes.

Originally, in Chen Nuo's understanding of this cat, he always felt that this cat was as timid as a mouse...

Huh? A cat is as timid as a mouse and always feels that something is wrong...

Well, I always thought that it withdrew from the competition. According to its own words, it was "abstaining" because it was timid and cowardly.

But after Gray Cat finished speaking tonight, Chen Nuo suddenly understood...

Cowardice and cowardice don’t tell whether it is true or false, but maybe in addition, there is also some "despair" and "frustration of not seeing hope".

"...So, you don't think it will succeed?" Chen Nuo lowered his voice.

"I don't know." Gray Cat shook his head: "I hope it will succeed, but..."

After this "but", the gray cat has closed his mouth and said nothing.

"Okay, let's put the question another way...what will happen if it succeeds? I mean what if..."

The gray cat still answered calmly: "I don't know."

Then it added: "We don't know what four-dimensional life looks like or how it exists. So, how do I know? If it succeeds...that kind of thing is impossible to imagine."

That's right, low-dimensional life cannot understand and imagine the existence form of high-dimensional life.

"Then let's talk about what you already know or guess." Chen Nuo shook his head and said: "You have been busy for so long, long years, endless disputes, it is impossible that there is no progress now, right?

As you said, spiritual beings like you have already stood at the pinnacle of life in the three-dimensional space.

Then you should at least know something more than we do."

The gray cat raised its paws, facing the direction of the sky, as if waving, and then said: "I asked you just now, what is life."

"I also answered, but you were not accurate."

"Of course it's not accurate. Three-dimensional life can only define three-dimensional life. But...it's not impossible to guess at all. There are always some imaginative ideas.

For example, haven’t you humans always made a lot of theoretical guesses about the four-dimensional space?”

This Chen Nuo still knows some speculations and assumptions about four-dimensional space.

In fact, thanks to countless science fiction works twenty years later, especially during the eight years of self-imprisonment at sea, Chen Yanluo, who was extremely bored, also read a lot of messy things to pass the time.

To put it simply and crudely, human beings' speculation about four-dimensional space is to add another dimension to the existing three-dimensional world.

The one-dimensional world is a line.

The two-dimensional world is a plane, which is the length and width. The length and width form a plane, which are the two axes of the two-dimensional world.

The three-dimensional world is: length, width, and height. It forms a three-dimensional world with volume, so the three axes of the three-dimensional world are length, width, and height.

The so-called four-dimensional world is to find the fourth axis on the basis of the three-dimensional world.

As for what the fourth axis is, mainstream speculations and hypothetical theories believe it is: time.

time!

Chen Nuo's heart moved and he asked tentatively: "Is the fourth axis of the four-dimensional space...time?"

"Maybe, maybe not." The gray cat shook his head.

"What's the meaning?"

Chen Nuo frowned and said he couldn't understand.

Chen Nuo is not completely ignorant of the imagination of four-dimensional space. After all, a large number of science fiction works have similar discussions.

Time is the fourth axis of four-dimensional space.

To put it simply and crudely: taking time as the axis and superimposing countless three-dimensional spaces, it is the so-called four-dimensional space.

but……

Next, the gray cat smiled and said something.

"The so-called time, using your human definition of the material universe, is the manifestation of the movement, change, and continuity of all matter. In other words, this is an abstract concept, but it can be observed and perceived.

But this kind of ‘observation’ and ‘perception’ is also flawed.

In other words, this kind of 'perception' and 'observation' is also based on the material world, that is, under the theoretical framework of the 'three-dimensional world'.

The problem is... Just like I asked you about the definition of life just now, what you told me is only the definition of life in the three-dimensional world.

So, is time really the fourth axis?

The definition of time is: the continuity and regularity of the movement and change of matter...

We live in a three-dimensional world, so our matter moves and changes. So we use the concept of 'time' to define this movement and change.

But the question is, is there really any change in the movement of matter in the four-dimensional space?

In other words, do the movement and changes of matter really exist forever?

You humans have gradually discovered a lot. For example, the measurement of time is not absolute, but changes.

For another example, ‘time’ is derived based on perception and observation.

In fact, if one does not perceive or observe, the definition of time will almost become a pure abstraction, which can be said to ‘not exist’.

Therefore, regarding time as the fourth axis of four-dimensional space, we have always identified this direction before.

But...the further I travel, the more I realize that it may not be entirely the case.”

Seeing Chen Nuo frowning, the gray cat suddenly changed his approach: "Let's talk about a very interesting statement made by one of your human philosophers. It's very idealistic, but very interesting."

"What?"

"You are a living thing, right?"

"certainly."

"Okay, let's say you die.

Then, there are two phenomena.

To the world, it was you who destroyed it.

But for you, the world is actually destroyed.

Do you understand?

The so-called world, if you look at it from your perspective, country, family, society...your friends, relatives, your feelings, emotions...

This mountain is very high, that sea is very wide, this cake is very sweet, that orange is very sour, this wine is very spicy, that tea is very bitter...

These are the 'worlds' defined from your perspective.

From an individual point of view, the so-called world, or our so-called "three-dimensional world", is an existence that you perceive and observe.

Do you understand?

For you, a normal person, your world is bright.

But for a blind man who has been blind since birth, his world is dark.

No matter how much you describe or explain to him, you can't make him understand what 'bright' is, and you can't make him understand what 'bright' is.

Therefore, the so-called "world" is actually based on the perception of individual life. What you perceive constitutes the "world" you define.

And once you die...

Chen Nuo, for example, right now, you suddenly died.

So for you, it's not actually you who died.

But your 'world' was destroyed. Your children, your women, your friends, your family, your career, your country, everything you knew in this world...when you died

In an instant, it was destroyed and destroyed.”

"...But, it still exists. This is objective." Chen Nuo frowned: "Even if I die, the world still exists."

"But for you as an 'individual', you are destroyed. Because you are dead, you can no longer perceive or observe, so your world is destroyed." The gray cat said this and smiled: "From this definition

...In fact, the world perceived by each living individual is different.

People who are born blind, people who are born deaf, or people who are born color blind...

Broadly speaking, you and these lives exist in the same world.

But specifically...from each of you's personal perspective, the world is different."

"So... time is not the fourth axis of four-dimensional space?" Chen Nuo asked.

"No... as far as our guess is concerned, time is probably the fourth axis." The gray cat answered like this again.

Chen Nuo's eyes widened.

"But this time is not that time.

The time we define is the three-dimensional life in the three-dimensional world. According to the scope of our observation and perception abilities, we observe, perceive and summarize the conclusions and definitions made by observing and summarizing the changing movements of the three-dimensional matter in the three-dimensional world.

In other words, what we now call ‘time’ is, to be precise, ‘time in three-dimensional space’.”
To be continued...