Young Writers Society

Just as every beautiful time had a day that faded away, the era of cosmic prosperity was also gone forever. Lighter stars burned out and became white dwarfs, gradually cooling down, while heavier stars collapsed rapidly under their own gravity, transforming into rapidly rotating neutron stars and even mysterious black holes; Most planets orbiting stars were engulfed by expanding red giants, while a few that survived had become unsuitable for life and could only wait quietly for their fate to decay into iron; Nebulas and gas clusters gradually moved away from each other as the universe expanded, and weaker gravity could no longer bring them together to form new celestial bodies.

Most civilizations in the Starry have long been destroyed by competing for resources, and a few had mysteriously disappeared - some optimists claimed that they may have found a way to escape to other parallel universes (or virtual realms), where they began a beautiful new life.

Civilization often unleashed tremendous strength and courage in the face of adversity, allowing it to be recorded in a magnificent epic. However, the extinction process of the last intelligent life in this universe was somewhat comical.

The story began with the end of the main sequence stage of the last star in the universe. As the energy crisis worsened, the scientists of the Starry Empire did not sit idly by. Instead, they used their intelligence to build huge Dyson spheres and circular residences on many stellar debris, relying on collecting that pitiful amount of radiation to survive. But white dwarfs gradually cooled down due to their outward release of heat, resulting in less and less energy available for use.

As the bright spots on the star map gradually faded, one research ship after another went out to explore and lost sight after setting sail. The governors of the peripheral star regions had to announce to their people that maintaining the operation of the star regions was no longer feasible, and that only the last bit of resources could be concentrated to build some transport ships to return to the capital. Although all individuals understood that the situation in the Capital Galaxy was not much better, countless individuals were killed by other individuals in the bloody battle for return tickets that followed. Even some extreme guys feel like they did not have any chance to grab a ticket, so they turned to crazy suicide attacks on returning ships. In this way, less than one-third of the individuals in the abandoned edge star regions were able to return to the capital alive.

Unfortunately, this was only the beginning of a cruel era. In extreme despair, a prophecy of destruction and rebirth began to spread within the empire, and fanatical idealists established religious terrorist organizations, using all possible means to slaughter other lives in order to "liberate" the victims and ascend to a higher dimension of the world. This melee, known as the "Doomsday Judgment," lasted for about a thousand time units. At first, they fought with various advanced weapons such as warships, but as the government collapsed and the damage to productivity became more severe, it even evolved into close combat using picked stones and building debris.

After the end of the war, some rational leaders in the temporary government composed of survivors decided to carry out "cultural cleansing" in order to prevent this crazy and desperate idea from spreading again. All religions, arts, and books were prohibited, and even the text could only be mastered by a few facility maintainers. The purpose was to prevent them from being unable to understand the instructions written by their ancestors.

Later on, after experiencing a dark era similar to the Middle Ages, all living beings only lived in ignorance. Every individual's daily life was similar: sleeping, getting up, leaning against the heater for warmth, drinking some nutrient solution, and then continuing to sleep. Occasionally, a few talkative individuals gathered together to chat, but this behavior was also despised by other individuals: besides lamenting the current tragic situation, what else can we talk about? Slowly, population growth came to a complete halt - not because they didn't want their offspring to suffer, but because reproduction itself was too wasteful of energy compared to sleeping. The personnel responsible for daily maintenance (let's call them "experts" according to hierarchy) were just holding a cup of nutrient solution and sitting in front of the console daydreaming every day. The only reward they received for doing this work is the addition of seasoning to the nutrient solution allocated to them, which tasteg slightly better than what ordinary individuals drank. However, this was also a profitable business, as most experts never pressed the console button once in their lifetime.

The turning point of the matter happened to an expert who enjoyed ancient history. It accidentally read some archives that were fortunately not destroyed during the "Doomsday Judgment" and later "cultural cleansing", and learned a shocking fact: the former universe was far more complex and diverse than now, with brilliant stars, magnificent space stations, and  beautiful worlds filled with birds singing and flowers. The golden age of the past was so wonderful. Whenever it thinks of the decadent present, it cannot help but feel sad and lament.

It shared its findings with its companions, but only received ridicule from everyone. However, this guy did not lose heart. While other individuals were sleeping, it often rummaged through the ruins, trying to find traces of the golden age. Hard work pays off for those who have a heart, and the goddess of fate ultimately favored it: by chance, it discovered a mysterious device - a VR game cabin that was once an entertainment facility located in the Blissful Square here a long time ago. It gradually became familiar with everything from ancient times and began to be indifferent to the present world. The only frustrating thing was that the NPCs in the game were too monotonous, so it shared the secret with other individuals and invited them to play together. Sure enough, all individuals who had experienced the virtual world were lingering, where they could experience the luxurious life of the nobility; appreciate ancient literature and art and even simulate past wars and satisfy primitive killing desires. The greatest battles in history - the final battle of the Starry Community against the Pact of Rectification in the CX-9881 galaxy - had been repeated countless times.

The government quickly discovered this situation. At first, they wanted to demolish it, but the command was not executed - because most officials were also addicted to it, after all, in reality they were no different from ordinary individuals except for a little more nutrient dispensing and useless power, and it was better to experience a wonderful life in the virtual world. Only a very small number of "sober" realists claimed that illusory things contradicted the truth of the universe and the cruel laws of survival (the real reason was that driving these game cabins all day consumes too much precious energy). In the end, in a carefully planned "accident", the game cabin terminal experienced a short circuit, burning down those who abandoned the real world.

Due to the fact that most experts who understand facility maintenance were killed in this conspiracy, many nutrient production equipment and heaters suffered irreparable damage after failure. Even the most foolish individuals knew that the true end is inevitable, and the question was only when that day would come.

Many individuals lost their lives in the eternal cold and hunger, while others committed suicide due to the inability to see hope, opening the doors of their residences and leaping into space. In this despicable natural selection, the remaining survivors made survival their sole purpose, and it was not surprising that they did anything for it.

After an unknown amount of time, the number of survivors finally decreased to dozens. At this moment, the white dwarf at the center of the galaxy had almost run out of temperature, so the heater was unstable and the heating was intermittent. These dozens of individuals could only shiver and hold each other for warmth.

The final outcome seemed both tragic and comedic: a board on the ceiling of the residential station felled off due to years of disrepair, and coincidentally hit the switch of the heater. As long as they removed the board and turneed on the switch, they would probably be able to survive for a while longer. But each individual was unwilling to move and shirking responsibility for others to pick it up. Of course, it may also be because they were too weak, and standing up and doing a few simple actions could also be fatal. So, the last batch of intelligent life in this universe froze into ice next to the heater.

In the long night that followed, all matter gradually decayed into photons and leptons, leaving only absolute chaos and nothingness. However, no one would ever realize that there was once a grand and prosperous world, where countless races and civilizations, countless heroic epics and conspiracies existed. Perhaps this universe had been abandoned by its creator (if there really was such a creator), like a white mouse in a laboratory, unable to escape the fate of death; or a castle on the beach by the sea, washed down by the waves and turned back into a messy patch of scattered sand.