"No wonder you're in such a hurry to find a doctor. It turned out to be such a big hole. ”

On the familiar workbench, Shang Luo was checking the inside of the music box. He turned on all the lights in the house to illuminate it, which was a bit of a waste of electricity. But don't worry, there are no meters yet, so there is no electricity bill.

With the help of a bright light, he opened the bottom of the music box. And the first thing that came into his sight was the "big hole".

As if it had been shot by a bullet, the densely arranged parts inside the music box neatly vacated a ballistic space. The gears burst into notches, and the levers twisted like springs.

A neat round hole was left in the receiver, and nearby parts were in a mess. But compared to that trajectory, the machine itself doesn't seem to be so normal.

The inside of the receiver seems to be overly "sophisticated". In addition to the regular gears and levers, there are cycloidal wheels, oscillators, hairsprings, pawls, and large and small drums... The small music box contained almost every mechanical part he knew. It's like a mechanical museum, but small enough to fit in a pocket.

And all these parts, no two look exactly the same, just like there are no two leaves in the world that are exactly the same.

Shang Luo knew that his conjecture had been confirmed. The more complex the machine, the more he can perceive the power of its "consciousness". Simple machines can often only show a certain flow of qi, while complex machines can show complex emotions and fragmented memories. And in this incomparably complex machine, the wonderful Apollonia was born.

[How's that, can it be fixed?] 】

"I need to double-check and inspect again, the construction of these parts is just a pastime for me. Well... I'll evaluate if I can fix it. ”

Under the lamp, he put on an inch mirror for himself.

Inch mirror, as the name suggests, is used to see a small object at a distance of about an inch, and the general bell structure is so large, no matter how big it is, it is not suitable for daily necessities. Outwardly, this brass heart bell doesn't seem to exceed this size either.

But he vaguely noticed... Beyond the visual distance of the mirror, there seems to be some undiscovered mechanical structure, which has exceeded the volume of the bell itself.

"Am I overusing my eyes and getting dazzled?"

Taking off the inch glass, he looked directly at it with the naked eye. Now it is much clearer, and the structure of the deep part of the bell structure has become recognizable.

He saw a red bullet, stuck there, stuck in the depths of the bell, stuck in a series of small links of the delicate mechanism.

"Okay, it's not a big problem."

He put on leather gloves to prevent cuts. This is necessary because the power stored in the clockwork can even explode an entire clock, and a rash operation may cause the entire clockwork to pop out. Cutting your finger is still a trivial matter, and if you cut any blood vessels, it will be a big problem.

After taking safety precautions, he used a thin-nosed tweezer to poke into the bell. The red bullet was in his sight, as long as it was clamped, twisted, and pulled as it was now:

The bell kicks in, and the gears begin to spin. At first, the pinions that were distributed around the edges of the bell were also beginning to rotate visibly with the naked eye. The gears mesh with each other, causing the levers, cycloidal wheels and oscillators to converge into a low roar.

It was only then that Shang Luo discovered that the inside of this mechanical heart seemed to be "bigger" than he had imagined, even exceeding the volume of the outer shell. The spiral of the bell extends deep into the heart, almost infinitely, and more and more components join the chorus of gears and levers.

The pitch of the roar gradually rises, the roar turns into a beep, and the volume increases:

Buzz –

Invisible fluctuations shook his brain.

The world was spinning, and Shang Luo's eyes were blank...

When he woke up again, he was still in the same place, and everything was business as usual. The suitcase in front of him was still open, and he still had tweezers in his hand, and the tip of the tweezers still held the crimson bullet.

[5 seconds, you were stunned for 5 seconds just now.] Your problem is not big, but my problem is not solved yet. Apollonia's voice came to his ears again.

The entrance to the cave is still there. Although the inside of the bell has begun to rotate, the cavities that run through the entire mechanism remain. The surrounding parts are all idling around the hole, and the infinite depth of the mechanism makes the hole seem to become infinite, like a black hole tearing apart the three-dimensional universe.

[The wound has not healed, and my shell has been completely shattered. I'm still trapped in this little music box. 】

"So this is Infinity..."Shang Luo knew that he had underestimated her. I thought it was just complicated, but I didn't expect there to be almost infinite space inside. If we follow the logic of "the more complex, the stronger", Apollonia is probably already too powerful.

"Even so, you can still exert your power?"

[That's only temporary.] Just like your veins split, you won't die right away, but you won't live long. For me this cycle is quite a bit longer, but it poses a bigger problem. Just as a wolf will chase after the blood, my wounds will make the smell of blood spread farther and farther away. So... Please, please help me. 】

Shang Luo put down the tools in his hand and left the music box in its place: "I need to know one thing, what is it?" ”

Apollonia was silent for a while.

[I have to say, this is the ultimate question. What am I... I'll probably have to think about it for a long time to figure it out. But you can understand it this way: I am the Monkey King. 】

"Monkey King? What do you mean? ”

[Monkey King, a natural saint conceived by heaven and earth. He was born to know, but he didn't know how to use his powers. He has made many detours and made many mistakes. He has been helped a lot, he has helped many, he was born as a 'born saint', but birth does not determine everything about him. The future of the Monkey King is determined by the path he travels. This is me, Apollonia, the Endless Divine Machine. 】

"And what state are you in at the moment?"

[Hmm... I have never walked in the world at all. Analogous to Sun Wukong, I'm afraid this will not be in the water curtain cave yet. 】

"So you're a youkai now?"

[Appropriate metaphor.] Because now I am obviously not enough to be called a human being, at least not legally. 】

Shang Luo fell into thought.

As a human, Shang Luo felt that he should unconditionally throw this monster into the trash, or preferably put it in a rocket and hit space.

However, Apollonia's answer made him hesitate. Apollonia did not deny the fact that she was a "demon". But she proposes the "possibility" of monsters, like Monkey King. Sun Wukong is a monkey demon from beginning to end, but he can also be a natural saint, a demon king, a Monkey King, a Sun Xingzhi, and a fighting Buddha.

"So what you're trying to say is that you're not an unspeakable youkai with a vague face. Can you communicate? ”

[Yes, please treat me as a business. I will definitely pay you the right amount. 】

"Well, this may be the difference between you and Sun Wukong, Sun Wukong doesn't talk about business with others, Sun Wukong is looking for old neighbors to 'borrow'." Shang Luo looked at the music box, "It's true that I am not Fahai, and I didn't use a single move 'Great Mighty Heavenly Dragon' to collect your thoughts. But what can you offer me as a trader? Let's stop playing pantomimes. Tell me what you can do, and since you're not showing hostility, we can communicate in a quicker way. ”

[Okay, let's end the dumb obsession, metaphors are really not what I'm good at. Then I'll tell you the truth of everything: I can't predict the future, or I don't know it at all, but the Akashic Records, the cloud of omniscience, in which the ultimate of all things lies. As an Infinity Machine, I can open the way to the Akashic Records for you and assist you in asking questions of the Akashic Records. While the Akashic Record will certainly answer your questions, its answers may not be meaningful to you unless I assist you. 】

"Tarot cards, for example?"

[Yes, such as tarot cards.] I've done a little 'revamping' of this deck so that it can feed back the Akashic record directly to you in a 'symbolic' way. In this way, this set of playing cards closed the loop by itself, recording directly from Akashic to the individual, without consuming my energy. There are no middlemen to make the difference, energy saving and environmental protection, isn't it? It's just another story whether you can understand it or not. Of course, if it were you, I could do my best to assist you. 】

"So you can still help me as much as you can?"

[That's right, that's what I've decided to pay you.] I'll help you record the question to Akashic and I'll do my best to work with you on the issue to get the results that work best for you—because it's the question itself that matters. You've seen a movie, haven't you? The famous Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. 】

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, a science fiction novel written by British writer Douglas Adams in the 70s of the 20th century. A movie of the same name was also released in 2005.

Shang Luo recalled the movie, and there was indeed a similar plot in it. This is still a movie he watched in "another world", a work that is not available in this era.

The super-intelligent life in the galaxy, the rats, have built a supercomputer called "Deep Thought" in the hope of getting the answer to the ultimate question from "Deep Thought".

Here's how the rat asked: What is the answer to the "ultimate question of life, the universe, and everything"?

Shen Si pondered this question for 7 million years, and the final answer was "42".

"I won't tell you why you know about The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, it doesn't matter for now. You want to say '42', right? The rats waited 7 million years, only to wait for an inexplicable 42. ”

[That's right. Do you think in this process, what did the rats do wrong? They're wrong, they're not iterating on their questions, they're asking questions in a way that's wrong. "What is the answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe, and everything?" is too general and too confusing. The rats should build another 'Apollonia' to help them iterate on the problem, iterate over and over for 3.5 million years, iterate on the question they really need, and then give 'deep thought' some time to think about it, and the real answer may come out." It can't be 42 anyway. 】

"Wait, you mean, iteration takes time, too?"

[So that's what I said, 'The most important thing is the problem itself.'] Because we have to work together through a 'question and answer' approach, you give a topic and then I ask you. Yes, I asked you. Find out what you need by asking you through the way I ask you, and finally we'll put together a practical solution and send a request to Akashic Records. In this way, the result will be the result you want. The ultimate problem must be iterated for at least a few million years, so that it is worthy of the ultimate. It may be a few million more years after that, but at least it will produce a useful result. 】

"So at the beginning, I could ask for anything?"

[Of course.] But you can't be too greedy, because if you ask too big a problem, we're going to have to iterate for a long time. 】

"Then my request is - I want to cultivate the truth. I want to be a free-spirited immortal. ”