by <unknown>
Chen Chen turned into a frown. He suddenly remembered the apartment building he was in just now. If he were to encounter some sort of threat, it would certainly be more viable to make a quick escape in the wide-open roads.
Chen Chen was starting to feel the weight of the situation.
The Bugatti Spaceship continued gliding across the air, steadily approaching the survivor at the speed of 120 kilometers per hour.
Something to consider was that this was the first time Chen Chen found a living person in the alternate dimension. He had opened so many passages to different dimensions and each time, he was faced with a crumbled civilization where there was not a single survivor. At one point, Chen Chen was convinced that there was not a single living soul inside the dimensions accessed from the USB drive.
Or so he believed, until the youngster made his appearance and rekindled a new hope in Chen Chen.
Four minutes later, Chen Chen stealthily arrived in a location a short distance away from the youngster's position. After the Bugatti Spaceship had descended, Chen Chen got off the aircraft with three Black Knights and they began heading toward the youngster's location.
Even after several minutes, the young man still did not make any attempts to escape. He remained curled up under the counter inside a shop. If not for the thermal imaging device revealing the target's position, Chen Chen may have thought that the youngster had silently snuck away.
Could this stealth tactic allow him to evade whatever or whoever was responsible for the destruction of this world?
Chen Chen found it rather curious. Still, his feet continued pressing forward toward the direction of the shop lot.
As Chen Chen and his crew pressed forward, they emanated steady rounds of footsteps which were further amplified in the idle, quiet street. From Chen Chen's thermal imaging vision, he noticed the youngster trembling upon hearing their footsteps.
Surely enough, he was afraid.
Just as Chen Chen stepped foot into the shop lot decorated with shattered windows, the youngster finally made a move. He abruptly shot out from beneath the counter and darted further inside the building without so much as a glance at Chen Chen's group!
In most cases, these street-side shop lots had a back entrance. The youngster knew that there was no way he could remain hidden and decided to escape using the back door.
"Can you get away?"
Chen Chen knitted his brows and motioned with his hand. One of the Black Knights immediately took a meteoric step forward which caused the tile under his feet to shatter with a sudden "crack"!
The Black Knight almost instantly vanished into an afterimage and launched himself forward like a bullet shot out of its chamber!
The youngster felt a strong gust of wind roaring from behind him. Before he could dodge, he felt a twitch of something grabbing him from behind!
"It's over…"
The youngster felt a biting cold surge across his body. He instinctively grabbed the macaw perched on his shoulder and flung it in front of him. With all the strength he could muster, he yelled, "Run!"
"Chirp, chirp!"
Unprepared, the parrot flapped its wings frantically in the air before landing back on the ground and charged into the darkness behind.
The other two Black Knights did not try to stop it as Chen Chen had ordered them to capture the man, not the parrot.
The youngster felt a tremendous force propelling him. Before he could even react, he found himself suspended mid-air. With just one arm, the Black Knight had flung the youngster backward and viciously slammed him onto the floor.
"Ow!"
The youngster yelped terribly but got back up on his feet the very next second, like a carp cast out of the water. Without sparing a thought, he rocketed toward the main entrance!
However, just as he was trying to escape again, he met Chen Chen and the remaining two Black Knights head-on.
The youngster immediately halted his footsteps and fell into a daze.
[ol][li data-annotation-id="a88f3144-0a80-4611-8bff-4e8d6f61a83f"]A species of parrot[/ol]
Chapter 299: Fujiwara Aoki |
"Calm down, I'm one of the living."
Chen Chen was compelled to give the PK Armor a gentle tap upon seeing the youngster's reaction. The armor immediately shrunk. Following a faint blue glow, the PK Armor reverted to its armguard form.
After the PK Armor disappeared, Chen Chen appeared in front of the youngster wearing the GS Combat Suit.
"You, you're a Gantz member!"
The youngster's eyes grew wide upon seeing Chen Chen's outfit as he glowed with disbelief. "No way! Wasn't the savior Gantz troop called off by the united nation a long time ago? How could you be here?"
"You're certainly correct, I'm a member of the Gantz."
Chen Chen nodded affirmatively. "The governments of each country never suspended the Gantz troops. Instead, they created countless underground training bases. We received training there in preparation for the arrival of the next calamity."
The youngster revealed a look of joy which was immediately succeeded by a sorrowful expression. "It's no use, human civilization has perished for five years now. When the second calamity comes, even you Gantz troops cannot do anything about it…"
There was a subtle change in Chen Chen's expression. He then said earnestly, "It's a long story. There have been some issues in our underground base and nobody ever came to fix it so we were stuck and isolated from the surface for five years. This persisted for five years until we managed to pry open the entrance to the base, but we never expected to see this upon surfacing…"
"What?"
The youngster was shocked. "You're saying that this is your first time leaving the underground base since the second calamity?"
"That's right. This is only the third day since we've left the military base that we've been stuck in for five years. Our leader divided us into several teams and our team is assigned to search for clues in the East China sea area here."
Chen Chen nodded. "And you're the first living person we encountered. My name is Chen Chen, a member of the Mainland division of Gantz. The three teammates behind me are from the Mainland as well. What's your name?"
"So, you're from the Mainland, no wonder your Japanese has an accent to it."
The youngster lit up and announced ceremoniously, "My name is Fujiwara Aoki, you guys can just call me Aoki for short."
"Aoki-san it is."
Chen Chen gave the young man several firm pats on the shoulder before announcing in a serious tone, "This is no place for chatting, let's find some other place for that. Also, could Aoki-san give us a brief on the current situation of human civilization, please!"
The youngster named Fujiwara Aoki informed them to wait for him briefly. He quickly turned around and blew a whistle into the shop lot, which immediately after, the macaw walked out taking small tip taps.
It looked at Chen Chen and his crew up and down for a brief moment before climbing back onto Fujiwara Aoki's shoulder following his prompting. After settling down, it began grooming its ruffled feather that was messed up by its previous frantic escape.
After that, following Fujiwara Aoki's request, they came to the center of the road to continue their conversation.
Before they began, Chen Chen noticed Fujiwara Aoki appeared to have not eaten anything for a long time. He produced several energy bars and handed them over. This gesture immediately won over Aoki's trust.
"The vision range here is excellent. This way, we can avoid being suddenly ambushed by 'it'…"
Fujiwara Aoki advised while nibbling the energy bar, "To be fair, it's hard to get away once 'it' locks on to you. Still, you have a good shot at escaping if you're in a wide-open street. It's better than being stuck in a desolate corner…"
"It?"
Chen Chen produced a diary upon hearing this mention. "So, what exactly is this 'it' you're referring to? This isn't the first time I've heard of this. I found this diary of a deceased which speaks of 'it
' as well."
"Diary?"
Fujiwara Aoki's expression changed when he saw the palm-sized black leather book Chen Chen held in his hand. A bitter smile greeted his lips. "It seems like you guys don't know anything at all. Are you really reading something like a deceased's diary?"
"What makes you say so?"
Chen Chen leaned against the Bugatti Spaceship and raised the question again.
"…"
Fujiwara Aoki became silent for a brief moment before starting. "It's very difficult to explain everything in one go. Let's start with the second great calamity."
"I'm sure you're all aware of the first great calamity which happened in 2000, which was thirty years ago…"
Fujiwara Aoki began recalling the events. "The aliens went all out with their wartime weapons, nearly wiping out the greater half of human civilization. They treated humans as food and turned us into livestock, imprisoning us in cages…"
"After that, our Gantz troops defeated them."
Chen Chen added.
"Yes. In the end, you guys saved Earth along with mankind."
Fujiwara Aoki nodded. "But nobody ever expected that just twenty-five years after the first great calamity, the second great calamity broke out. The catalyst of this calamity stemmed from the deepest regions of the Internet…"
"Internet?" Chen Chen was immediately taken aback.
"That's right. On that fateful day, a picture suddenly appeared on the websites and forums across the globe." Fujiwara Aoki tipped his head. "It was a strangely-shaped object, a black and white abstract pattern composed of countless spirals…"
Fujiwara Aoki furrowed his brows together upon mentioning this. He tried his best to describe the shape of the picture, "I'm not sure if you've seen that picture, but I guarantee you that even if you scribble on a paper a billion or tens of billions of times, you'd still have no luck reproducing it. It doesn't follow any predetermined pattern or rule. It seems to spiral and blink endlessly. It reaches deep into your mind and stirs something deep inside it. It's like touching a high voltage cable."
Chen Chen could not resist asking upon hearing Fujiwara Aoki's narration, "So, what you're saying is that a sensory-disorientating image appeared on the Internet. What does this image do?"
Even after having said all that, Fujiwara Aoki could only scratch his head. "I don't know what it does, but all I know is that all of the people who see this picture die instantly. Only a tiny population can withstand it…"
"What?"
Chen Chen was baffled. "A person who sees the picture dies instantly, is this some sort of joke?"
The imagery of the bizarre death of the several hundred people in the office building suddenly flashed by Chen Chen's mind. He realized that there was still a clear distinction between the two subjects as Fujiwara claimed that the picture had appeared online, while the people in the office building seemed to be killed by something outside the windows…
"I'm not messing with you, everything I just told you is true and I'm one of the people who are immune to the picture!"
Fujiwara Aoki quickly defended his claims. "But I've already forgotten what the picture looks like, the people in my group can't remember either. That's because the picture isn't something that the human mind can remember!"
Chapter 300: Basilisk Serpent |
"The lethal image first appeared on websites all over the world. It was the work of a notorious hacker organization. Thousands on websites with enormous traffic were hacked overnight and the image was stamped on the front page of these websites…"
Fujiwara Aoki took a deep breath and suddenly chuckled. "On that day, caught completely off guard, death toll exceeding the billions was tallied all across the globe."
"How did each government react?"
Chen Chen asked, "Also, what did the picture turn out to be, was it deciphered later on?"
"With it being such a major event and all, of course, the officials weren't going to standby idly."
Fujiwara Aoki nodded, his expression growing gloomier as he went on. "The hacker organization was wiped out in just three days. No one knows where the pattern came from. The government probably does, but they won't tell us anything.
"As for the reason the pattern could kill people, the experts gave a detailed summary – this was a specially structured pattern. In essence, they were a string of geometric paradoxes that cannot be processed by the human brain. This creates a paradoxical chain in the human brain akin to a computer, which induces a physiological phenomenon known as 'Gödel's shock'. Upon experiencing this phenomenon, the human brain will proceed to shut down."
"Gödel's shock."
Chen Chen repeated it to himself. Gödel was the greatest mathematician and logician of the 20th century and his most famous work was the renowned Gödel's incompleteness theorems.
"Yes, many people began circulating the message that this pattern seemed to be closely related to Gödel's discoveries in the field of mathematics and physiology. And so, the effect triggered by the pattern was hence named 'Gödel's shock'."
Fujiwara Aoki explained, "When the brain shuts down, the heart stops functioning as well, which completely kills the person. This was also the reason why the pattern which claimed billions of lives was later named Basilisk. It was formed from the fresh blood of Medusa upon her death and it possesses the same ability to petrify humans."
Chen Chen nodded. The Basilisk was a mythical beast whose original form was the cobra. In ancient Greek legends, it was heralded as the deadliest poison in the world. It was a rather fitting title for the pattern which killed people on sight.
"In that case, how were you able to survive it?"
Chen Chen suddenly asked when he thought of this, "Is there some sort of predetermined pattern or was it all luck?"
"The officials claimed that it has to do with being young…"
Fujiwara Aoki dug his head. "When it happened, I was barely twenty-years-old. I was in the peak of brain development and managed to brace the effect and avoid having my brain shut down.
"The final statistics convey the same idea as well. Out of all age demographics, the fifteen-year-old to twenty-five-year-old demographic displayed the highest survival rate, up to ten percent."
"The highest is just ten percent?"
Chen Chen frowned. This image pattern was truly terrifying.
"That's right, the chances of survival from being exposed to Basilisk is inversely proportional to one's age. Above sixty years old, the survival rate barely reaches 0.1%."
Fujiwara Aoki could not help but recall the events. "Even now, I still remember the events of that day. It was early in the morning and I had just woken up. When I checked online, the first thing I saw was that image. I blacked out immediately after that and only came back to my senses after half an hour. I had no idea what happened during that period.
"After that, I received a barrage of messages on my phone. The government began telling everyone to stay off the Internet and avoid social media apps by using text message announcements. The picture even turned into a virus. When a device becomes infected, the image will appear on the screen…
"Three days later, incurring the combined wrath of all the governments of the world, the hacker organization was no match at all. All of the members across the world were exposed. Not a single one missing."
Upon mentioning this, a touch of sarcasm appeared on Fujiwara Aoki's face in the form of a smirk. "At the time, we naively thought that that was the end of it. Little did we know, it was only the beginning."
The luster in Fujiwara Aoki's eyes slowly faded as he said this, "The Internet has already been deeply integrated into the everyday lives of people all across the world. Nobody could live without it. The Basilisk picture continued circulating on the Internet, occasionally claiming new victims. Despite strict criminal laws enacted by all local governments to prohibit further spreading of the picture, they were unable to completely curb the phenomenon.
"At first, it was no big deal.
Despite Basilisk continuing to spread online, with the combined efforts of each country, it was going to fade out eventually. Only we never expected that just a few months later, a new version of Basilisk emerged…"
Chen Chen became immediately curious. "You're saying that a new image emerged online that has the same effect as Basilisk?"
"Yes."
Fujiwara Aoki sighed. "Although we were unable to remember the intricate details of the original Basilisk pattern, we could still describe its general appearance. For example, we remembered that it consisted of hundreds of blocks of colors, all in black and white. Some of these blocks faintly depicted the outline of an eye, which was one of the reasons it was called the Basilisk. When the second image emerged, Basilisk became the formal term for these images…
"The second picture was known as the 'Reaper'. And why was it called the Reaper? Because according to the people who have seen it, the patterns faintly outlined the shape of the grim reaper holding the scythe, all the people who have seen it died after…"
"Died after?"
Chen Chen frowned. "You mean the people who have seen it didn't die instantly?"
"Yes."
Fujiwara Aoki nodded. "The 'Reaper' is different from the 'Eye'. It doesn't immediately shut down the brain. You won't have any notable reaction upon seeing it. It's only when someone mentions the picture to you when Gödel's shock is triggered, killing you instantly."
Hearing this, Chen Chen squinted his eyes suspiciously and asked, "What is the underlying principle?"
"I have no idea about that."
Fujiwara Aoki smiled bitterly. "The 'Reaper' is just the second Basilisk picture. What followed after that was the third one, then the fourth one… Nobody knows who was responsible for creating these new patterns, but by that point, the Internet was already abandoned by mankind. There was a shift in social order in which people died every day. The smartphones we used were replaced with the electronic display mobile phones we used back in the day.
"However, Basilisk was still continuously morphing…"
