by <unknown>
"Of course, when I speak of numbers like tens or hundreds of thousands, it's all just my own conjecture. How it works exactly will depend on how the black sphere functions after we extract it. Who knows, maybe I've got it wrong…"
At this point, Chen Chen did not hesitate anymore. He directly moved the pointer to the movie Gantz that was in the USB flash drive.
Chen Chen's plan was that he would first extract the black sphere from the movie and analyze its technological aspects. Of course, it would be best if he could directly decipher the technology.
However, if this was not possible due to the gap in their technologies, Chen Chen could only choose to enter Gantz's dimension to track down the technology that was related to the Gantz black sphere.
With this in mind, Chen Chen started the movie while dragging the progress bar to the scene where, shortly after the opening, the protagonists appeared in the Gantz sphere and were given weapons.
At once, the camera shot was frozen on the black sphere that was directly about one meter away as it displayed two racks of weapons.
Seeing this, Chen Chen pressed the spacebar to pause. At the same time, he decisively stretched out his hand and reached into the screen…
It felt as if he had reached into a stream of clear water. Chen Chen was greeted by a cool sensation. Then, he made contact with the weapon rack on the edge of the black sphere. If it were not for the unfolded weapon rack, he would not be able to catch hold of that smooth black sphere.
The moment he grasped it, Chen Chen pulled out his hand promptly!
Suddenly, Chen Chen felt his grip loosen. Then, with a "thump", a huge black sphere directly appeared on the floor in front of the computer!
Extraction success!
Nonetheless, the first thing Chen Chen did after extracting the black sphere was to look at the weapon rack and into the interior of the sphere.
"Erm…"
What Chen Chen saw was that the inside of the black sphere was empty. Not only were all the X-gun weapons missing, but even the person in the black sphere had vanished.
Still, this was to be expected. In the USB drive's first form, no life forms were able to pass through.
Chen Chen did not have any plans for the X-guns either. No one in their right mind would want to use that kind of bloated weapon with a five-second delay in firing a shot.
After all, a traditional firearm was much stronger than those.
The only advantage of the X-gun was probably its power.
As for equipment that showed up later such as the gravity gun, Z-gun, and the binding teleportation device, Y-gun, the Internet had thoroughly analyzed them long ago. The gravity gun appeared to be just a fixed-position device and its gravity attack was more like a shockwave, which emanated from outer-space satellites.
The Y-gun's binding teleportation needed the cooperation of satellites in space even more so, so it was useless to extract it by itself.
"In terms of just its material, the shell of this black sphere seems to be some kind of carbon fiber material."
Little X observed through the high-definition surveillance camera and analyzed. "But the black sphere in the movie also has a display function, which is rather amazing."
"A carbon fiber IPS screen?"
Chen Chen stretched out his hand and touched it, only to feel a faint, cold sensation on the surface of the black sphere. Following that, he asked again, "X, can you detect its Wi-Fi network port? After all, whether it's the one in the movie or the original comics, it's shown that this device could connect to the wireless network."
"I'm already trying to infiltrate it."
Little X replied, "The protocol is correct. They are still using the 802.11 network protocol frame. Sure enough, Gantz is a parallel world similar to the real world and even the wireless network protocol is the same!"
"Good, try to crack it."
Chen Chen nodded. "It'd be better if this sphere contains various technical details about that world."
"Infiltrating…
"The firewall has been cracked and their encrypted data is being cracked…"
Little X kept up a stream of updates. "It can be ascertained that this black sphere just functions as a terminal. There should be a higher-level server and the computing speed of this black sphere isn't fast. It seems to be missing a crucial component."
Upon hearing this, Chen Chen could not help taking another look inside the black sphere. It was obvious that the pilot was missing from the black sphere.
The naked man who should have been inside the black sphere was being tentatively called the pilot by Chen Chen. The pilot must be a very important part of the black sphere.
Unfortunately, in the story of the entire work, the meaning of the pilot's existence had never been explained.
In Chen Chen's opinion, the existence of such a pilot was unreasonable in the first place. After all, compared to artificial intelligence, the computing speed of the human brain was completely uncompetitive.
The real advantage of human beings was on the level of imagination, association, and reflection, not on the speed of calculation.
However, it now appeared that the existence of the pilot obviously held a special significance for the black sphere. Although the black sphere was very tightly guarded without the pilot, it was still defeated by Little X's dogged efforts.
Nonetheless, Chen Chen remembered that in the original work, even hackers could invade this black sphere.
"I've successfully cracked the encryption technology of the black sphere and I'm analyzing it…"
Soon, there was another update from Little X, then there was another silence.
Chen Chen was not in a hurry either. He just stared at the black sphere and waited silently.
About five minutes later, Little X spoke again, "Sir Godfather, I've completely cracked the black sphere's program, but the strange thing is, the black sphere's program and code are incomplete, just like a computer that lacks a CPU. You could even say that the black sphere has no AI to speak of, being just a bunch of dead code."
"It must be due to the lack of a 'pilot'."
Chen Chen nodded. "You did a good job, X. Can you control this black sphere now? For example, using the teleportation technology inside to teleport a person from one place to another or replicate a person out of thin air?"
"I'm sorry but I can't do it."
Little X said helplessly, "This black sphere is like a computer. In addition to missing an important component, it also lacks the support of a server. Most of its data must have been stored within a higher-level server."
Chapter 290: Probe |
After hearing Little X's explanation, Chen Chen no longer hesitated. "If this is the case, then I can make a trip there…"
Having said that, Chen Chen asked the Black Knights in charge of defense to wear GS Combat Suits and PK Armor, so that they were equipped with the highest level of weaponry, just in case something bad broke through the channel into their reality while they were opening the portal.
Of course, until now, Chen Chen had not encountered such a situation.
As for the PK Armor, Chen Chen had extracted a few more when he was bored. As of now he already had ten sets of PK Armor in possession. As they used nuclear fusion battery technology, the power in these armors was still very durable.
Chen Chen still remembered that he had tested the internal energy of the items after they were extracted from the USB drive into reality. The result of the test was that the energy stored in the extracted items would not be greater than the amount of electricity consumed.
Case in point, the "Galaxy" pendant. Originally, the pendant should have contained energy comparable to an actual star, but after it was extracted into reality, there was only a small amount of energy left inside. This tiny amount of energy was equivalent to the power consumed by the USB flash drive when it extracted the Galaxy pendant.
Therefore, the same applied to the PK Armor. According to the formula that 1,200 kWh of electri
city was required to extract one gram of material, extracting the PK Armor from the USB drive would consume approximately 36 million kWh of electricity.
The energy of a kilowatt-hour of electricity was roughly 3.6 million joules, and the energy released by the explosion of 1 kilogram of TNT was about 4.19 million joules. That was to say, extracting a PK Armor required roughly the energy of a nuclear bomb equivalent to 31 million tons of TNT. This was about half the energy of the Tsar Bomba.
No matter how powerful the nuclear fusion battery in the PK Armor was, the capacity of half a Tsar Bomba was way beyond its limits. Therefore, the extracted PK Armor was basically fully charged every time.
Just in case, Chen Chen also extracted the escape pod that charged the PK Armor in The Predator (2018) into reality, so there was no need to worry about the energy of the PK Armor.
At this point, after everything was in place, Chen Chen clicked on Gantz again and paused the image in the middle of the movie, in the room where the protagonist was.
Although it was very likely that at the other end of the portal lay a world where civilization had been destroyed, it was better to be safe than sorry, after all. It was more prudent to open the passage in a location with fewer people. Surely this was better than opening the passage in a subway station or even the room that housed the Gantz black sphere, right?
As Chen Chen opened the portal solemnly, the computer screen suddenly went black and the entire screen seemed to be upgraded from 2D to 3D. A continuously rotating black orb emerged from the center of the screen and rotated ceaselessly.
Black tentacles swarmed restlessly within this black orb. As the orb rotated, the tentacles were drawn into an arch-like spiral, finally causing the black orb to turn into a black galaxy…
This small black orb that looked like a galaxy expanded sharply, swallowing the screen within a few seconds, and spilling out over the screen.
The portal was formed.
As Chen Chen stared at the portal. He could not refrain from asking, "X, is it just me? Why do I feel that each time I open the portal, it seems to be constantly evolving in some way?"
"It's true and the portal is getting larger…"
Little X confirmed. "It's not just you, Sir Godfather."
"…"
Chen Chen pondered for a while before he wondered aloud, "Is this a phenomenon of the USB flash drive itself or is it that the second-form USB drive is imperceptibly evolving in a certain direction?"
He thought for a while but now was not the time to be worrying about this. Chen Chen finally waved one hand. Instantly, a Black Knight who was ready for defense, wearing a PK Armor, stepped into the passage.
From Chen Chen's point of view, the Black Knight seemed to have walked into a circular door through which no light could pass, only an endless black mist. Then, the Black Knight disappeared completely.
One minute, two minutes, three minutes…
When the agreed time of five minutes was up, there was a jingling sound and a silver Rubik's cube suddenly fell out of the dark passage, landed on the floor, and rolled over twice.
Chen Chen's eyes lit up. He gestured with one hand and the Rubik's cube flew directly into his hands. Then Chen Chen pressed a few of the keys familiarly. This silver Rubik's cube immediately opened up a few panels and lit up the entire room, filling the place with a lifelike 3D image.
In the image, the Black Knight who had just walked through the passage was standing amid ruins. The room that used to belong to the protagonist of Gantz, Kei Kurono, had long collapsed. Looking around, the entire city of Tokyo was a wreck with endless weeds and vines surrounding the place. Those vines were even wrapped around the skyscrapers, dyeing the entire city as towering greenery…
Seeing this scene, Chen Chen only felt that it was rather ironic.
Although it was destined that the USB drive would open a portal to a world where civilization had fallen, it was still ironic to see the majestic steel capital city, which once stood proudly away from the natural world, was now once again a paradise of nature.
Although humans had the ability to challenge the natural world, they still could not defeat time after all.
"Could it be that, under the scouring of time, no matter how splendid civilization was, it would only end up destroyed one day?"
Chen Chen murmured.
This rueful feeling came and went in a flash. Following that, Chen Chen gathered himself and looked again at the 3D world projected by the silver Rubik's cube.
He noticed that, in these five minutes, the Black Knight only walked around for a short time. Even so, he had seen many small animals living in the stretch of ruins including wild cats and dogs, along with many parrots and birds.
These were pets once raised by humans, but after the demise of humanity, they became the first masters of these ruins.
As the five minutes ended, the Black Knight turned off the images recorded by the silver Rubik's cube.
"Something's wrong."
After the screening was over, Chen Chen spoke immediately.
"Sir Godfather, what do you mean?"
"From the picture just now, we can see that those buildings collapsed naturally."
Chen Chen said at once, "Did you not notice that those buildings had collapsed naturally after decades of erosion from rain and vegetation? In other words, the city of Tokyo on the other side of the passage had only collapsed after the complete extinction of humans. The descendants of those pets also prove this point."
"I see. You're saying that mankind didn't perish in a war against aliens?"
Although Little X was only an artificial intelligence, it was close to the level of ordinary people in terms of divergent thinking. At this time, it immediately understood Chen Chen's thoughts. "If the world accessed by the USB drive must be a world where human civilization is extinct, based on the direction of Gantz's plotline, their world should have been destroyed by aliens. In that case, after opening the passage, we should've seen a crumbling, fallen city that had been ravaged by war."
Chapter 291: Entering Gantz |
"That's right. That's the fishy part."
Chen Chen nodded. "According to the plot of the original comics, humanity had defeated the aliens. This is pretty far fetched. After all, humans have manufactured spacecraft, yet their weapons are still stuck at the level of conventional firearms and cold weapons… Even putting that aside, I prefer the aliens who have weapons of mass destruction as a trump card. Even if they can't destroy Earth, it'll be a piece of cake to destroy humans.
"But now, it seems that human civilization has not gone extinct because of war. In other words, either the aliens used some superior method or something else destroyed the human race."
"So, do we still head to Gantz's dimension to search for more advanced technology?"
Little X said, "I'm worried that their technology was annihilated along with human civilization."
"Nah, that's good news for me."
Chen Chen waved his hand decisively. "If human civilization had perished in the ravages of war, there would be nothing left. However, now it seems that, after human civilization was wiped out for some unknown reason, those buildings have been preserved instead. Doesn't this mean that the technology relating to the Gantz black sphere might have survived?"
"So, that's it."
Little X suddenly understood. "Just like in Elysium's world?"
"Indeed."
Chen Chen nodded but something occurred to him again and suddenly his expression shifted. "Still, I'd prefer that the extinction of mankind was caused by aliens and not something similar to those three sculptures…"
At this point in the discussion, Chen Chen and Little X had weighed the pros and cons. After Chen Chen silently calculated the energy left in the USB flash drive, he suddenly said, "X, is there a backup of Elysium?"
"Nope. But I can download it now."
Little X asked, "Is there something you want to get from Elysium?"
"Of course. I want t
o take out that 'Bugatti-Folge' luxury spaceship'."
Chen Chen replied with a serious expression, "This vehicle would be the easiest method to escape gravity and travel in outer space."
Little X silently estimated the spaceship's weight. "Indeed, this is probably the best choice for visits to alternate dimensions. In addition to lightweight and small size, it also has the ability to travel in outer space. It can just about cope with whatever conditions are on the other side of the passage. Still, you're thinking of using it in Gantz's dimension?"
"Yes, I'm going to look for the Gantz black sphere's technology in the world of Gantz."
Chen Chen affirmed. "The plot in the comics has revealed everything. The black sphere is created by the human government and the Gantz black spheres even have a dedicated assembly line. As for the source of technology, it came from an alien civilization that was about to be destroyed. Before being destroyed, they sent their scientific and technological data to Earth through an information channel. Thus, those empty rooms came about as well as the amazing teleporting and human replicating technology.
"But now it appears that the Gantz sphere's technology is still incomplete. For the black sphere to teleport humans, it needs the support of other facilities. This would be the technology we must look for in Gantz's dimension. Nonetheless, there's a whole planet over there. Without any transportation, it'd be difficult to move around."
With that, Chen Chen temporarily closed the channel that was connected to Gantz.
According to Chen Chen's previous testing, the portal opening had a certain degree of repeatability, allowing temporary closure. As long as no other channel was opened, the previous channel would be retained.
Moreover, using the first form of the USB drive to extract items would not affect the reopening of the said portal.
At this time, following the discussion between the two, Elysium Space was downloaded again. Meanwhile, Chen Chen used the method of extraction to directly obtain the red Bugatti from the movie.
