Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The appearance of Chen Chen naturally aroused the vigilance of the soldiers in the car.
Several guns popped out but the next second, there was a dazed flash in the eyes of the two high-ranking military officials. They lowered their arms and then got out of the car, vacating their seats.
Chen Chen smiled and sat directly in the back seat of the car.
At this point, there was only one soldier who was driving. In the front passenger seat was the woman who had followed Zhao Shanhe while Chen Chen and Zhao Shanhe were sitting in the back seat of the military vehicle.
Immediately, the vehicle drove in the direction of the center of New York City again.
“I have to say that the power of your Civilization Monolith is baffling.”
Chen Chen looked at Zhao Shanhe beside him. “It manipulates people’s thoughts and makes them a marionette who will do whatever you want. It’s no wonder that you can create the Earth Federation by yourself. With this ability alone, you’re already invincible.”
“But the power of the Civilization Monolith cannot affect you.”
Zhao Shanhe took a deep look at Chen Chen. He raised his palms slightly and was also secretly wary of Chen Chen. “However, during this period, I’ve realized that there are still many flaws in your story. I dare to assert that you’re not the previous dimension key owner at all! So, who on Earth are you?”
Chen Chen nodded. “I hadn’t planned on lying to you for long. Yes, I’m indeed not the previous owner of the dimension key, but all you need to know is that I can help you.”
“If someone who doesn’t even reveal his identity wants to help you, would you believe him?”
Zhao Shanhe chuckled. “What’s more, why do you have to cooperate with me? It’s nothing more than a plot against me.”
Hearing this, Chen Chen could not help laughing. A pitying look glimmered in his eyes. “Do you want to know who I am? If I tell you, I’m afraid you’ll regret it.”
Zhao Shanhe still looked fixedly at Chen Chen as if he would not cooperate with Chen Chen if Chen Chen did not reveal his identity.
Seeing this, Chen Chen thought for a while and then he said, “Tell me, what year was it in the real world when you came to the dimension of Event Horizon?”
Zhao Shanhe frowned but still said, “It was 2002, why?”
“I’m from 2040.”
Chen Chen said immediately, “I’m 38 years old this year and have owned the dimension key for 20 years. At that time, I was a student of the Institute of Biological Sciences at Shangdu Jiao Tong University. When I obtained the dimension key, it was in Professor Wang Xi’s class…”
Hearing Chen Chen’s words, Zhao Shanhe’s expression changed drastically. Even the woman in the front seat turned around in disbelief and glared at Chen Chen. “No, you’re lying to us, right? You must’ve done a background check on Boss, so you fabricated such a lie to deceive us!”
Chen Chen ignored the woman in the front seat. He just looked at Zhao Shanhe silently.
Zhao Shanhe’s expression was slightly somber. He stared at Chen Chen’s eyes, trying to see if Chen Chen showed any signs of lying, but he was disappointed.
Chen Chen’s eyes were pure black, like a dark bottomless pool. One was unable to discern any truths or lies at all.
“No, you must be lying to us, you must be!”
The woman in the front seat screamed. She even snapped and was about to pull out her lightsaber, but Zhao Shanhe stopped her instantly.
Seeing this, Chen Chen continued slowly. “You created the Earth Federation in 1993 but because of an antimemetic infection, the entire Earth Federation completely forgot your existence. Only one quantum computer is left maintaining a fragile alliance…
“Because you knew that you might die, you left a video in ‘Adam’. The video hints at a crisis that had been brewing in the dark. At the same time, you suspect that your predecessor is Professor Wang Xi, but you can’t say it explicitly for some reason. Therefore, you can only use such means to store your student certificate on the campus server. Only by investigating the entire network could someone find the only trace of your existence and Professor Wang Xi’s name is also written there…”
Chen Chen said successively, “You’ve left a hint that you’re going to the dimension of Event Horizon in the video, am I right?”
Hearing this, Zhao Shanhe was completely silent.
Chen Chen understood that it was normal for the two of them to react so strongly because if what he said was true, it meant one thing — Zhao Shanhe died in the dimension of Event Horizon.
“No, maybe it’s a parallel universe!”
The woman in the front seat was still unwilling to believe all this. She emphasized. “It’s a parallel universe, right? Aren’t the worlds that we constantly shuttle through all parallel universes? We shouldn’t be dying here, absolutely not!”
However, Zhao Shanhe only shook his head with a wry smile. Only he could understand that the parallel universes did exist, but the dimension key was unique, like the Civilization Monolith in his possession. If the mysterious young man in front of him was the next owner, there was only one reason, and that was that he died…
Zhao Shanhe wanted to refute this, but everything Chen Chen said was indeed what he had orchestrated in reality. Only the holder of the dimension key could explain all this in such detail, right?
All at once, Zhao Shanhe felt powerless.
‘No, I won’t necessarily die…’
Still, at this moment, Zhao Shanhe seemed to have thought of something. There was a dark glint in his eyes and at the same time he thought to himself, ‘He said he was also ambushed by the antimeme, doesn’t that mean… If I carry out the plan I have in mind, there may still be hope…’
Thinking of this, Zhao Shanhe took a deep breath and pulled himself together. Nonetheless, on the surface, he still laughed loudly. “I don’t know if what you said is true or false, but since I’ve come here, I’m naturally prepared to die!”
“Oh?”
Chen Chen suddenly glanced at Zhao Shanhe with a subtle smile. “You don’t need to believe me, but everything I’ve said is true. Can you tell me everything you know now?”
“What else do you want to know?”
Zhao Shanhe asked solemnly. “Whatever I know, I’ll tell you.”
“All the secrets of the Event Horizon dimension.”
Chen Chen said, “And how did you link Professor Wang Xi to the dimension key.”
“This is a long story.”
Zhao Shanhe’s expression suddenly became serious. He turned his head and looked at the black fog across the horizon in the distance, wearing a sorrowful look. “I was an ordinary college student… My parents were both from the mountains. For me to attend university, they pawned almost all the valuable things in the family and even the land was sold…
“And I had great aspirations. Finally, I was admitted to the Shangdu Jiao Tong University and entered Biological Sciences…
“In my year of enrollment, I met my life mentor — Wang Xi. He knew that my family was poor and he looked after me. After learning that I was very interested in computers, he personally sponsored me with a computer.”
However, when talking about this, Zhao Shanhe’s eyes flared with a hint of hatred. “But I didn’t expect that all this was part of his plan. One day, I found a CD in his class. I wanted to hand it in, but in the end, I still thought of using the computer to see what was in it. At that time, I was still young and harbored a strong curiosity about everything…”
CD, huh?
Chen Chen’s heart suddenly jolted. He still remembered that Zhao Shanhe graduated in 1988, which meant that he was in college in 1984. At that time, there was indeed no storage device like a USB drive.
In other words, at that time, the dimension key existed in the form of a compact disc?
“So, I secretly brought the CD back to my dormitory and put it into the computer when the other students were away.”
Zhao Shanhe did not know Chen Chen’s thoughts at this time. He just continued to speak, “But I never thought that what was stored in it turned out to be a movie… A movie named 2001: A Space Odyssey…”
Chen Chen’s pupils shrank when he heard that. It turned out that Zhao Shanhe had obtained the black slate so early? However, why was this movie on the CD? The black slate was so valuable. If one wanted to obtain it, one definitely would not hand it over to others.
Is there some deeper plan behind the scenes?
“From then on, there was no stopping my career development…”
Zhao Shanhe turned his head and looked at Chen Chen. “Presumably you can guess what happened next. I easily reached the pinnacle of my life by virtue of the Civilization Monolith and easily entered the top ranks of the country. Then I found out, in those dimensions of various movies, humanity was in a state of extinction or on the verge of extinction. There were various clues in the pattern, so I gradually deduced that human civilization was probably not far from extinction…
“I don’t want my homeland to perish like a movie dimension, so I created the Earth Federation by myself, wishing to use the power of uniting all mankind to deal with that crisis… But at the same time, I’ve been tracking down who had left this magical CD that I now owned. Even so, when I investigated my mentor Wang Xi, I was surprised to find that Wang Xi had evaporated…”
Chen Chen’s heart suddenly leaped. He also remembered that when he first suspected that Professor Wang Xi was related to the USB flash drive, Professor Wang Xi had also disappeared and without a trace at that as if an antimeme had erased everything about Professor Wang Xi.
Now it seemed that it was not a coincidence.
“So, I continued to investigate, but when I was investigating his home, I found a black box…”
Zhao Shanhe’s expression at this time was faintly fearful. “I’ll never forget that day when there was such a terrifying thing in that black box… Fortunately, I resisted its attack with the Civilization Monolith. But this also caused me to get infected by the antimeme, so I might die at any time!”
Hearing this, Chen Chen immediately interrupted. “So, what was in that black box?”
“I can’t say…”
A peculiar expression crossed Zhao Shanhe’s face. He raised a finger to his lips with a look of dread. “If I tell you, I’ll die.”
Chen Chen frowned.
“But I have to warn you.”
Zhao Shanhe suddenly changed the topic again and said with an icy smile, “You must think that the Civilization Monolith in my possession is very powerful, being able to counter even an antimeme. Nonetheless, you must know that even if you burn the movie into the dimension key, you’ll have no way of extracting it. The Civilization Monolith is the same as the dimension key — it’s unique.”
Upon hearing this, Chen Chen put on a look of disbelief.
“If you don’t believe me, you can go back and try.”
Zhao Shanhe said carelessly, “By the way, since you’ve also been targeted by the antimeme, this is also Wang Xi’s grand scheme. He must’ve planned some great conspiracy and he harbors absolutely no good intentions.”
Chen Chen had to nod. “Understood, what happened next?”
“That’s all.”
Zhao Shanhe leaned back on his seat and began to close his eyes to calm himself. “I’ve told you everything I was able to learn.”
“There’s still the Event Horizon dimension.”
Chen Chen frowned. “Tell me, why did you come here?”
“I just found traces of the meme in this dimension.”
Zhao Shanhe closed his eyes and replied, “It has been five years since the movie was released. I discovered the existence of this movie very early on. Then, out of curiosity, I tried to burn the movie into the dimension key and the result was successful.
“Initially I didn’t intend to come in here. After all, the plot of this movie is too eerie, but when I was infected by the antimeme, I made a final desperate move to find a way to save myself here. Even if you assert that I’ll be dead in the future, I still want to try…”
“I understand.”
Chen Chen nodded and said no more.
The entire car was completely quiet for a while, with only three people harboring their own motives, a controlled driver, and the roar of the car engine.
Chen Chen knew that most of the information revealed by the other party was half-true and half-false. At least Zhao Shanhe had not hesitated to enter the black fog, so he was prepared.
Nonetheless, Zhao Shanhe had concealed some things. As for the credibility of his other claims, it was evidently still a question mark.
After half an hour, the military vehicle came to the black fog and stopped here.
Zhao Shanhe had activated the power of the black slate without Chen Chen’s noticing and the troops stationed at the edge of the black fog gave way, allowing the car to drive in unimpeded.
“Screech!”
With the sound of the brakes, Chen Chen and Zhao Shanhe got out of the car one after another, along with the woman who had gradually calmed down.
“Are you just going in with us alone?”
Zhao Shanhe looked at the serene black fog in front of him, then suddenly turned his head and asked, “If you have the dimension key, you should have your own elite team.”
“Do numbers matter that much in entering this place?”
Chen Chen said calmly, “Moreover, my people are quite special. They are a group of robots. They can only help with ordinary things. But in the face of this situation, they can’t do anything.”
“Oh?”
Zhao Shanhe frowned. “If this is the case, then come along with me, but I have to say in advance, if I encounter a situation that even I can’t deal with, I won’t sacrifice myself to help you.”
“Naturally.”
Chen Chen nodded calmly. “It’s all based on one’s ability. But before that, would you at least tell me the danger in the black fog first?”
“Alright.”
Zhao Shanhe nodded and said solemnly, “My team went in and explored before. Once the black fog covers this area, it’ll completely turn this area into a ghost town. There are many incomprehensible, indescribable things in there. You can think of them as ghosts or as a memetic effect and the only way to avoid them is to close your eyes.”
“Close your eyes?”
Chen Chen turned his head and looked at Zhao Shanhe, looking astonished.
“Yes, close your eyes.”
With that, Zhao Shanhe walked directly inside and said as he walked, “Remember, no matter what crisis you encounter inside, even if you’ll die on the spot in the next second, never open your eyes!”
After that, he did not give Chen Chen a chance to continue inquiring and went straight into the black fog!
The woman who came with Zhao Shanhe also walked in without hesitation.
Watching the two disappear into the black fog, Chen Chen’s originally somewhat puzzled expression faded away. A sneer curled up at one corner of his mouth and he stepped into the black fog too.
