Ma Fei seemed to be sure that anyone who encountered this scene would stop at the door. He chuckled after Su Mo finally stepped inside.
“You took…erm…thirteen seconds to consider!”
“It gets ugly in the final days, where people can even become cannibals. You should be more cautious in the future to survive!”
Hearing those two sentences, it almost seemed like Ma Fei was still alive in the shelter. However, Su Mo still caught the slight change in intonation when the voice said the word “thirteen”.
“Is this a basic A.I. program paired with a pre-recorded message?”
“If there was a picture playing alongside it, wouldn’t this be similar to an interactive video on the B Site?”
There was no trace of malice in the words that Ma Fei spoke, so Su Mo let his guard down, took a few strides forward, and stepped completely inside the room.
Moore and Oreo also followed behind curiously, and let out yelps of surprise upon seeing this “cyberpunk” room.
Downstairs, the house was in an absolutely terrible state. It was as if a gust of wind could blow everything into a cloud of dust.
Yet, after digging out a passageway through the iron door, he suddenly found himself upstairs in a high-tech steel room.
Were it not for Doudou leading the way, it would have been impossible for Su Mo to find his way here and discover this room and its secrets.
“I was indeed cautious, however, luck was on my side!”
After Su Mo went inside and confirmed that everything could be placed into the storage space and taken away, he felt completely at ease.
As long as this scene was not some sort of illusion, the things he took away here could be used to develop the shelter, regardless of what Ma Fei would say to him later.
As expected though, whether it was a 13-square foot vertical launching system or a computer, the time currency cost was absurdly high.
Could it all be taken away at once? Su Mo was more inclined to talk to Ma Fei, who was now willing to communicate.
He was even more capable compared to Magoo, and his method of leaving behind his legacy was more “ingenious.”
“First of all, I can provide you with an answer to your first question, which is where the core of the sky defense barrier is located.”
Regardless of Su Mo’s muttering, Ma Fei’s recorded voice continued to drone on.
Coincidentally, Su Mo had also been searching for the core throughout his entire exploration.
If he got to the core, there would definitely be a way for him to bring it out to the main world.
As long as it could be installed in the main world, it would remain invincible for at least one to two years.
Since the topic was mentioned, Ma Fei did not keep him guessing and went straight to the heart of the matter.
“That’s right. The very place that you’re looking at is the core. If you take control of this, you can operate the sky defense barrier as you wish.”
When Ma Fei’s voice trailed off, the whole place began to visibly change colors, transforming into a white world.
The wall was no longer there, and even the floor lost its metallic luster.
The white space swallowed all the decor and transformed into an empty space with some soft lighting.
“What I’m about to say next is crucial. If you have a recording device, please record it now. Otherwise, please take out a pen and paper to take notes.”
Upon hearing the serious tone of Ma Fei’s voice, Su Mo quickly sat down on the ground, grabbed a pen and a paper, and got ready to jot the information down.
“First of all, the sky defense barrier was issued and maintained by Blazeland via a centralized system. However, the fact that the barrier is rotten from the inside is no secret to anyone.”
“What is the barrier’s core, you ask? Yes, you guessed it, it’s me, my core. They are bound to each other.”
“The fact that you’re even here means that there might be some energy left in the barrier. Since my shelter has not collapsed yet, it should be your trophy.”
“Once you have successfully bound my core, you’ll be able to gain operational authority over the barrier as well as the manufacturing manual.”
“Don’t get too excited yet though, let me put things straight first. What I just said was not the main point. Rather, it’s what I’m about to say that’s important.”
After speaking four sentences in one breath, Ma Fei sounded a little breathless and his emotions seemed a little agitated. It was as if he had some prejudice toward this solid “sky defense barrier”.
Su Mo heard a sharp inhale of breath, and guessed that his mouth might have been next to his headset while he recorded this.
Why was Ma Fei so angry?
What in the world happened?
On his note, Su Mo took note of the two key terms…
Rotten and binding the core!
The former seemed to involve some problems in Blazeland’s system, while the latter was the only way to control this small world.
Ma Fei did not speak for a while, and Su Mo was not in a hurry either. He sat quietly on the ground and waited. After the sounds of panting faded, the strong male voice spoke again.
“I don’t care which era or place you come from, but please remember that the barrier is a drug. It will get you addicted, make you lose your fighting spirit, and turn you into a wastrel in the doomsday wasteland!”
“I bet you must feel like I’m an alarmist. Come, I should also show you what these d*mn fools are messing with in this d*mn doomsday wasteland!”
“F*ck!”
Crash!
The violent sound of a palm hitting the table echoed through the room as a curtain of light enveloped the room.
The intense vibrations caused by the sound waves felt like they could rupture one’s eardrums.
Moore was startled, but before he could even protest, the curtain of light changed gradually. Even the air in the room and the flooring below them seemed to shift slightly.
The change was subtle, but Su Mo sensed it clearly thanks to the physical enhancements from the consumption of psychic energy water.
“Erm…are you trying to deceive my senses again?”
Feeling the constant shifts and dizziness in his brain, Su Mo paused and finally chose to suppress this feeling. He chose to give in to the experience wholeheartedly.
After Su Mo did so, the next second…
The energy flowing within the tubes and vessels on the ground also started to surge. Along with the violent sounds that it created, a foggy light that was stinging to the eye brightened gradually, and even Su Mo could not help but close his eyes eventually.
As his eyes shut, it was as if he had entered a completely different world.
Without the sense of sight, his sense of hearing and touch were amplified.
The floor under him was no longer hard steel, but instead the soft green grass in front of a deep-sea shelter. As Su Mo gently adjusted his body, the fresh scent of grass assailed his senses.
As he breathed in gently, Su Mo smelled the same fragrance in the air.
It was fresh and comfortable, as if he was in a grassy field free of pollution.
The chirping birds, trickling water, and the rustling leaves gently blowing in the wind…
When Su Mo opened his eyes, at that moment, it was…
Real!
The wall had disappeared and had been replaced by a grass field that stretched out endlessly. The field was filled with tall grass and crisp morning dew.
Not very far from him, beside a small river, there was a huge manor.
“Wow! Weren’t we in a room? Where is this?”
Moore and Oreo stood up curiously and looked around the astonishing change of environment.
“Is this virtual reality?”
Su Mo was confused when he plucked a blade of grass. It looked identical to the real thing; he could even feel the moisture in the grass.
Su Mo silently counted as he stepped forward. After he had walked for about thirty yards, he did not hit a wall, but instead reached a riverbank.
He reached out to touch it and felt the cool water on his hand. The river was a little over a foot deep. He took a step into the river, and all the fishes and shrimps inside fled.
Although there was an invisible beep inside Su Mo’s brain telling him that it was all an illusion, his five senses told his mind that all of this was really happening.
Without resisting, Su Mo chose to cross the river silently and arrived at the entrance of the manor.
Rip…
The door opened. As expected, a butler and a maid walked out to greet him.
“You’ve worked hard. Welcome home, Master.”
“Your pet is really powerful!”
While praising them, they showed impeccable professionalism, and the two kindly brought in Su Mo, the two little ones, and Doudou the Tibetan Mastiff.
Over the next two hours, served by ten beautiful maids, Su Mo first took a bath in a natural hot spring that covered an area of about 10,000 square feet, and even swam back and forth a few times.
After taking a left turn outside of the huge bathhouse, he found himself standing in front of a magnificent palace.
Su Mo tasted 240 different kinds of delicacies here.
From common ingredients on Earth, to the rare plants and animals found only on the wasteland, even an old glutton like Su Mo could not find fault in this luxurious feast.
After the meal, ten beautiful new maids came again. The destination they were heading next was…
The bedroom!
“That’s enough, I know what it is, just stop!”
Throughout the experience, Su Mo’s mind and body was tense. Even while he was eating the food, he only chewed it before vomiting it out.
When it came to the actual experience, it was not all that beautiful.
Since he was aware that all of this was fake, he could not let himself drown in the experience. Even if the technology was so advanced, he could still sense the unnatural aspects of the experience that made him want to resist and deny the realism of the experience.
Fortunately, as his voice trailed off, the entire thing was brought to an end in an instant, unlike the slow loading period when it had first been launched.
The manor was gone, the blue sky was gone, the river, the grass; it was as if none of them had existed before. They all vanished.
Moore, who had been in the middle of being served by ten female bears, touched his head and looked around blankly.
Even the previous sparkling white walls in the room disappeared and returned to their original state.
“It’s fun and ridiculous, right? You can stop now. I’m very pleased, but sad at the same time.”
“Even someone like you, who’s seeing this for the first time, can figure out how harmful this thing is, but they didn’t, or more likely they didn’t want to!”
“Ha ha ha ha ha! It’s such a shame, seeing these millions of people being kept in the dark. They turned people into wastrels that could only live within their own fantasies, unable to face the real world.”
Ma Fei laughed hysterically.
From his laughter, Su Mo could hear the madness and frustration in his voice at the incompetence of their leaders, and his own powerlessness in the face of the overall situation.
However, what Ma Fei said next made Su Mo turn serious, and he quickly took notes.
“Do you want to know why those at the summit promoted this thing so vigorously? Take a guess as to why they wanted to protect us, yet at the same time abandon us at the most critical moment.”
“When those d*mned scientists took over, they caused the end of humankind in our era!””
“Blazeland was a giant experiment by scientists who wanted to see the rise of the machines. Just like how the game was forcing the different races to compete, they also did the same.”
“They would always say that there would only be one winner. I think I only understood what they really meant before I left!”
Rip…
Without giving Su Mo the chance to continue pondering, Ma Fei seemed like he had made up his mind on something.
A 24-inch LCD screen slowly emerged from the wall. Controlled by a retractable mechanical arm, it was positioned at an empty spot in the center of the room.
“Congratulations, the one from the future. You are today’s winner. You may take anything you want with you from the second floor.”
“However, I will give you a choice. I have prepared four questions, for which I’ve even stored a sliver of my remaining consciousness. It will judge your answers.”
“Come, make your choice. Whether you choose to take these things and travel far away or sail against the current, make sure that you follow your own path that is meant for you.”
“It’s your turn!”
