Why does Lu Li think that if he can achieve vacuum decay, he can definitely solve gamma-ray bursts?

The reason is very simple. Gamma-ray bursts themselves are a form of electromagnetic waves, possessing immense energy.

Vacuum decay would cause all the involved matter and energy to be completely obliterated.

If the energy is decayed away, wouldn’t the gamma-ray bursts be naturally resolved?

Hmm, if it gets out of control, Earth might be gone as well.

Not just Earth, it could even destroy the entire Cosmos.

Why is vacuum decay so powerful?

To understand this, one must first know what "vacuum" is.

We usually think of a vacuum as a vast emptiness.

But in quantum physics, a vacuum isn’t truly "nothingness."

It is actually filled with the creation and annihilation of virtual particle pairs, these virtual particles appear and disappear in extremely short periods of time, forming an active quantum field.

This state is called the "vacuum state," which is a quantum field in its lowest energy state.

Scientists speculate that the vacuum state we currently occupy may not be as stable as we think.

According to the properties of the Higgs Field, the cosmic vacuum may be "metastable," meaning its energy is slightly higher than that of a completely stable state.

It’s like sitting on a precarious chair that could collapse at any moment.

The vacuum might change due to some mechanism, jumping to a lower energy state, a process known as vacuum decay.

The terrifying aspect of vacuum decay lies in its absolute and instantaneous destructiveness.

Suppose somewhere in the Universe, a vacuum decay occurs, this point will become a vacuum bubble.

According to calculations, this vacuum bubble would expand at the speed of light, its speed tremendously frightening.

Wherever it goes, all matter, energy, and even physical laws would become non-existent, wiped out completely.

More terrifyingly, vacuum decay is like the two-dimensional foil described in Liu Cixin’s novel "The Three-Body Problem," once it begins, it cannot be stopped.

The only difference is that vacuum decay drops in energy level, while the two-dimensional foil drops in dimensionality.

This process of destruction would sweep across the Cosmos in an extremely short time.

For example, if vacuum decay occurred ten light-years away from us,

then in just ten years, this destructive force would reach Earth at the speed of light.

And since the speed of light is the highest velocity in the Universe, we wouldn’t be able to detect any anomaly before the vacuum bubble arrives, let alone escape.

Lu Li used to feel that his strength had reached a point where he could ignore Earth’s physics.

Today, after talking with Shen Xia, he realized how "weak" his so-called "strength" is in the face of certain physical phenomena.

He couldn’t help but have a bold idea: if he attempted to achieve vacuum decay, would he gain the power to effortlessly destroy galaxies, even the Cosmos?

Lu Li knew that having this idea was very dangerous.

If vacuum decay is uncontrolled, it could destroy countless galaxies, many times scarier than gamma-ray bursts.

Still, he kept wondering whether he could induce vacuum decay.

Because if he could control it, his "destructive power" would be elevated to a terrifying level.

At that point, regardless of extraterrestrial life or how advanced their technological civilizations are, one vacuum decay could resolve it all.

Shen Xia curiously asked, "Can you achieve vacuum decay?"

Lu Li shook his head and said, "I haven’t tried, it’s hard to say, but I can experiment later."

Shen Xia’s eyes lit up and she said, "Could you let me observe when you do the experiment?"

Lu Li knew she was extremely fascinated by physics, and as one of the most classic speculative theories in physics, vacuum decay naturally intrigued her.

"Sure, I’ll bring you along when there’s a chance."

Lu Li readily agreed, then joked with a smile, "Honestly, I’ve been racking my brain daily over gamma-ray bursts, yet a short chat with you led me to several theoretically viable solutions. I must say, you’re truly smart."

Shen Xia didn’t feel conceited but answered seriously, "Maybe our ways of thinking differ; since you possess great power, you tend to reason from your own perspective. But we ordinary humans seem so frail before nature, naturally requiring solutions, it’s not about who’s smarter. If you stood in my shoes, you’d probably think the same way."

Her words sounded comforting, but Lu Li knew they were her heartfelt thoughts.

For some reason, Lu Li felt extremely comfortable and pleasant when interacting with Shen Xia, unclouded by ulterior motives, just pure, equal exchange.

This sounds simple but is genuinely rare.

For example, now that Lu Li has grown strong, others usually "cater" to him, even if he utters something incorrect, they’ll agree as if it’s right.

This interaction seems enjoyable, but is actually not "comfortable."

Lu Li preferred the carefree conversation he had with Shen Xia, freely speaking one’s mind without preconceived notions or malice, truly achieving "equality."

With this thought, he proactively invited, "Shen Xia, would you like to go for a walk with me?"

Shen Xia happily replied, "Sure, once I finish the drip."

Lu Li pointed at the IV and said, "It’s just glucose, no harm in skipping it. I just balanced your body earlier, the hypoglycemia issue is resolved, no need for the drip."

Shen Xia stared and said, "You can even cure hypoglycemia? Wow, Lu Li, you’re amazing, well then, I’ll remove the needle and we can go out."

When she said "amazing," it was very genuine, unlike some people’s deliberate flattery.

Lu Li felt quite comfortable inside, stood up, and said, "You don’t need to remove it, it might bleed, watch me."

He extended a finger, and the IV needle automatically detached from the back of Shen Xia’s left hand.

Shen Xia admired, "Wow, that’s really impressive."

Lu Li laughed and said, "Alright, stop teasing me, let’s go out."

Shen Xia replied, "Sure, wait for me outside for a bit, I’ll change clothes and come out."

Lu Li walked out, "Okay, I’ll wait for you."

...

Spent half the day with Shen Xia.

By evening, Lu Li had sent her back to the hospital ward and then returned as a stream of light.

Inside the super base.

As soon as Lu Li returned, he headed to the warehouse side.

He didn’t condense the "Savior" mecha.

Instead, he used energy to construct a virtual screen in front of his eyes.

"Simulate and see if vacuum decay can be achieved."

Lu Li pondered silently and began simulating how to achieve vacuum decay.

In theory, achieving vacuum decay is relatively simple.

One only needs to inject enough energy into the "false vacuum," and it can break through the "energy barrier" and fall into the "true vacuum," thereby causing "vacuum decay."

Because the energy released by "vacuum decay" is immense, it can cause the surrounding space to also undergo "vacuum decay."

This means that once you initiate "vacuum decay" at one point, it would cause a chain reaction, ultimately turning the entire cosmos into "vacuum decay" and thus destroying it.

Lu Li wasn’t sure how much energy would be needed, so he had to simulate and calculate.

Soon, the simulation results came out.

Lu Li was somewhat incredulous, "It only takes 100 billion billion electron volts to reach the energy threshold for vacuum decay?"

billion billion electron volts sounds immense.

After all, the proton collision at the European Large Hadron Collider is only about 12 trillion electron volts, which is far from 100 billion billion electron volts, only about one eighty-three thousandth of the vacuum decay energy threshold.

However, for Lu Li, 100 billion billion electron volts of energy is extremely low; he can easily release such an immense amount of energy.

Releasing that much energy is one thing.

Whether that energy can cause vacuum decay is another matter.

For example, if the energy the Sun releases every second were forcibly converted into electron volts, it would be approximately 243.2 billion.

In other words, it would take energy from 47.5 days to reach 100 billion billion electron volts.

Of course, the energy released by the Sun is generally measured in watts, not electron volts.

After all, these are two different forms of energy, merely forcibly converted.

Lu Li can currently store about 0.2 times the energy of the Sun within himself.

Releasing 100 billion billion electron volts of energy naturally seems easy to him.

Then, why doesn’t the Sun, with such vast energy, cause a vacuum decay?

The answer is simple: the energy needs to be "injected" into a false vacuum to cause vacuum decay.

This "injection method" is the core in generating vacuum decay.

Lu Li has already simulated this method of energy injection and knows how to generate vacuum decay.

"Before attempting it, I need to ensure one thing: I must be able to control it. Otherwise, once the vacuum decay starts, it won’t be long before it destroys Earth, and with time, could even destroy the cosmos."

Lu Li pondered for a while, still hesitating to attempt it.

Because the consequences of losing control were simply too severe.

"No, I need to simulate again how to effectively stop it once vacuum decay occurs."

He began another simulation.

This time, the simulation was very slow, conducting a large amount of calculations and deductions.

After about two minutes, the simulation finally concluded that vacuum decay is practically difficult to reverse.

Unless one can make all the quantum levels in the space where vacuum decay has occurred leap back from a low to a high energy level.

In fact, the energy required for this is even greater than creating vacuum decay.

Lu Li calculated, "Based on my current internal energy calculations, I can reverse vacuum decay in about one cubic meter, which should be enough for an experiment."

He was sure there wouldn’t be an uncontrollable vacuum decay, and only then did he prepare to attempt it.

Lu Li wanted to see if he could actually achieve the great feat of vacuum decay.

There’s no loss if it can’t be done.

But if he can actually do it, then he would become a true "Destruction God"!

To destroy the cosmos, he merely needs to cause "vacuum decay" at one point, and then an avalanche effect would achieve true "destruction."

Even though even learning such a method wouldn’t mean complete control, Lu Li still yearned to have it.

After all, having something you don’t use and not being able to use it are two different concepts.

Who doesn’t want to have more abilities?

Besides, this is a true means of a "Destruction God."

Lu Li naturally hoped he could do it.

He secretly pondered for a while, finally resolved to attempt it, hoping he could actually do it!