"I think I need to learn more about this quantum physics stuff," Ke Xun sighed, hands on his hips. "I never imagined that a painting dominated by gods and demons would include science. Is this some kind of joke?"
Mu Yiran, having dried off his clothes, pointed to the empty space above him: "A particle is the smallest and most basic unit that makes up matter. All matter is made up of particles. Some physicists believe that microscopic particles have wave-particle duality. For example, light has both wave and particle properties."
Ke Xun nodded: "I understand that part."
"Here we have to mention the double-slit experiment with light. You learned about it in school, right?" Mu Yiran asked him.
Ke Xun scratched his head: "You know, I once got an amazing score of 13 points in physics, and those 13 points were all from guessing on the multiple-choice questions... I basically spent my physics class reading comics or sleeping. Now, thinking back, all I can remember about physics is my physics teacher's bulbous nose..."
Mu Yiran shook his head slightly with a hint of helplessness, reached out and pinched the back of Ke Xun's neck, then rubbed the dog's head: "Light is made up of photons, and photons are also particles.
"The double-slit experiment involves placing a candle in front of a piece of paper A with a small hole, and then placing a piece of paper B behind paper A. Paper B has two parallel, vertical slits, and then placing a screen behind paper B."
"Light enters through a small hole in paper A, then passes through two narrow slits in paper B, and is projected onto the screen. What shape do you think the light spots projected onto the screen would be?"
Ke Xun smiled. "The moment you ask that, I know the answer won't be what I think, but let's answer as I imagine—according to the habitual thinking of an ignorant underachiever, what's projected onto the screen should be two long, narrow light spots, like the slits in paper B."
"Light is composed of many light particles. Indeed, according to the usual thinking, a bunch of light particles passing through the slits should form two long, narrow beams of light, which are then projected onto the screen," Qin Ci interjected.
Mu Yiran nodded and continued, "However, what actually appears on the screen is a kind of fence-like, alternating light and dark stripe. This light stripe is caused by the superposition of different brightness levels of light. And this phenomenon of superposition of different brightness levels is caused by the 'constructive interference' and 'destructive interference' of 'waves', which is the double-slit interference phenomenon of light.
"This phenomenon and experiment confirm that light has both particle and wave properties—because 'waves' have 'constructive interference' and 'destructive interference' phenomena—which is what we call the 'wave-particle duality' of light.
"But this experiment is not over yet. In order to further observe this phenomenon, scientists used scientific equipment to conduct microscopic observations in order to figure out how photons interfere between the two slits.
"Then something incredible happened. When people observed with scientific equipment, the light interference phenomenon disappeared, and what appeared on the screen were two narrow light stripes. The alternating light and dark fence-like stripes did not appear—at this time, light seemed to have reverted to its single, particle-like properties."
"After that, the researchers conducted a third experiment. This time, they replaced photons with electrons, emitting only one electron at a time.
Logically, a single electron shouldn't cause interference, as interference requires at least two electrons. Therefore, what should be projected onto the screen is the state of a single particle.
However, the result was still unexpected; the single electron actually exhibited interference.
This was very perplexing. With whom did the single electron interfere? How could a single electron simultaneously enter two slits and cause interference?"
At this point, Ke Xun and Qin Ci both shuddered.
"Holy crap..." Ke Xun rubbed his arm. "What's going on? It's clearly a scientific phenomenon, but it sounds a bit... terrifying upon closer inspection?"
"An electron is also a particle, the smallest individual and unit. This means it can't be divided into two parts; it can only be a single entity. But how did it pass through two slits simultaneously?" Qin Ci's eyes also held surprise and doubt.
Mu Yiran looked up at the empty space above: "To find the answer to this question, researchers installed a camera inside the originally sealed equipment to observe how a single electron simultaneously passes through the double slits and produces interference.
"Then, something incredible happened—after installing the camera and performing the same single-electron double-slit interference experiment again, the interference phenomenon disappeared. After removing the camera and repeating the experiment, the interference phenomenon reappeared.
"This experiment was repeated, regardless of who performed it or where it was performed, the results were always the same: with the camera installed, the interference phenomenon disappeared; without the camera, the interference phenomenon reappeared.
"In other words, when we don't observe it, it exists in a superposition state of both particle and wave; when we observe it, it appears as a particle. It seems that our observation affects the result; only when we perform the act of 'observation' does it collapse from the wave-particle superposition state into a particle state.
"Thus, the most terrifying aspect of quantum mechanics emerges—particles, as if possessing consciousness, can see our actions. As long as we are looking at them, they can perceive it and therefore exhibit different results."
"So here's the question—everything in the universe is made up of particles, and the state of a particle is determined by its 'consciousness.' So, is the composition of everything in this universe determined by matter or by consciousness? Is it objectively existing, or subjectively constructed?
Whose consciousness is the 'consciousness' of these particles? Whose subjectivity is the subjectivity of this universe?"
"Which came first, matter or consciousness? And whose consciousness—is it?"
"Holy crap! Holy crap! I'm terrified!" Ke Xun jumped back a step, clutching his chest, staring at Mu Yiran in horror. "Yiran, are these really scientific conclusions from the real world?! Are they not just some science fiction novel or movie made up?!"
Mu Yiran pulled him close—one more step back and he'd be stepping on a metal plate—and calmly looked at him: "What I'm saying is a scientific theory from the real world, but it can't be called a 'conclusion' yet. After all, there are still too many mysteries in quantum mechanics that haven't been solved, but this theory of consciousness certainly exists."
"...I'm really scared to death," Ke Xun grabbed Mu Yiran's hand and rubbed his chest hard. "Having lived for over twenty years, suddenly being told today that this universe might have been created by the consciousness of an unimaginable living being—it's completely overturned my understanding of half my life! I...I...I've had my worldview completely reshaped..."
"Before entering the painting, I was a staunch materialist. I scoffed at anything supernatural or ghostly. Even after the painting incident, I never imagined its underlying power could transcend the laws of the universe. But—
" Now, suddenly a theory tells me that there might really be a creator-like being in this universe?! Could it be—could it be that the painting's underlying power is on the same level as it?! Then what's the point of struggling anymore…" "
Ke Xun, calm down." Mu Yiran cupped Ke Xun's cheeks in her hands, making him look at her. "What kind of existence is the painting's underlying power? Let's not think about that now. The most important thing right now is to find clues about the signature from these scientific theories closely related to this painting, so we can get out of this painting." "
Okay, okay…wait for me, let me calm down." Ke Xun turned to the side and took a few deep breaths.
Mu Yiran turned to look at Qin Ci, who also seemed somewhat unable to accept it, his face still showing shock, frozen in place.
"I think I understand now..." Qin Ci swallowed hard, speaking with difficulty, "Why everyone says that people who study physics are crazy... Today, I only learned a little bit from you, and I already feel like I'm going crazy. Those who understand physics much more deeply probably encounter even more confusion and unimaginable things, and are probably in a state of feeling like they're going insane every day."
Ke Xun turned back, wiping the sweat from his forehead, which might be hot or from shock, and said, "Let's not worry about whether those people are crazy or not, let's just talk about what's in front of us—since all matter in the macroscopic world is composed of a large number of microscopic particles, then macroscopic matter also has some kind of quantum superposition state, right?"
"This brings us to the debate between the two schools of thought in quantum physics that Haowen mentioned earlier," Mu Yiran said. "If the macroscopic world, like particles in the microscopic world, has multiple indeterminate superposition states, then it means that the macroscopic world is completely without rules and determined entirely by random events. Because it cannot be determined or precisely measured, all possibilities are just probabilities, not precise values. Einstein and Schrödinger disagreed with this view, which is why the 'Schrödinger's cat' theory was born. It was used to satirize this so-called macroscopic 'quantum superposition state' and 'uncertainty' or 'measurement uncertainty' theory."
"So, is this program actually supporting the quantum superposition state of the macroscopic world, or is it, like Schrödinger, satirizing this theory?" Qin Ci frowned.
Mu Yiran's gaze deepened slightly, and he spoke slowly, enunciating each word clearly: "In fact, before Chengshi's son's accident, researchers from a certain country had already claimed in the world's top scientific journal, *Nature*, that they had technically achieved the 'Schrödinger's cat' state for a large number of particles. In other words, they had essentially achieved a quantum superposition state on a macroscopic scale."
Qin Ci and Ke Xun were shocked again. Qin Ci said, "So you mean that Chengshi acknowledges the quantum superposition state in the macroscopic world? The painting's title, *Schrödinger's Cat*, isn't an antonym, but rather signifies that Chengshi believes the 'Schrödinger's cat' state can exist in the macroscopic world?"
Mu Yiran nodded slightly: "Yes, that's what I think."
"So..." Ke Xun rubbed the hair on the back of his head, "those of us trapped in this painting he created are very likely influenced by the consciousness within it. At this moment, we might truly be in a state of being both alive and dead?"