I Have A Super USB Drive

by <unknown>

  "I do. I can even draw it out by hand."

  Yoru Kamidera said, "Also I've found that my resistance to Basilisk patterns is getting stronger and stronger. I even have a certain degree of resistance against patterns such as 'Reaper', 'Flame', and 'Filth'."

  After some thought, Yoru Kamidera added. "Your Excellency, the information you saw was written by me and the Basilisk patterns in it were all drawn by me."

  Chen Chen could not refrain from applauding. "It seems that your role is even greater than I thought. What about against 'mysterious phenomena'?"

  "I'm sorry to say that I'm useless against 'mysterious phenomena'."

  Yoru Kamidera shook his head. "The leader of the team once asked me to make a similar attempt but it failed. Fortunately, the mysterious phenomenon was not that lethal, otherwise, I'd have died."

  Chen Chen nodded and said no more.

  At this time, the spaceship had reached the top of a building near the Yokohama military base.

  The three Black Knights got off the spaceship with hard drives and data cables, heading toward the military base. There should be a server room belonging to the military base in there. As long as the diesel generator was located, the server room could be re-operated.

  Chen Chen and Yoru Kamidera stayed on the spaceship, waiting for the mission to progress.

  To prevent encountering Basilisk patterns, Chen Chen did not even turn on the video, but just used X-112 as a hub that would report the situation encountered by the Black Knights in the military base at all times.

  "At present, it looks like there are no guards in the military base.

  "The Black Knights found some human traces in the weaponry. It seems that doomsday survivors occasionally come here to replenish ammunition and other supplies.

  "It's certain that the warehouse has been emptied out a very long time ago. This must've happened soon after doomsday occurred…

  "Still searching. We have found the diesel generators, but the server room hasn't yet been found…"

  A string of updates came from X-112.

  Chen Chen was bored out of his mind, so he simply continued to look through the black diary, hoping to find other clues from it.

  Seeing that Chen Chen was riffling through the diary, Yoru Kamidera beside him could not help but say, "The diaries of the dead are very dangerous because many of the mysterious phenomena that have evolved from the Basilisk patterns are highly contagious. There are even some that are simply a piece of text."

  "I know." Chen Chen nodded. "But are there any specific examples for reference? I have only heard of other types of mysterious phenomena, but never any that are textually based."

  "I've only heard people mentioning highly fatal mysterious phenomena that are based in text, but they didn't go into detail because if anyone hears those words, they're a goner."

  Yoru Kamidera looked quite somber. "But I know of a textual mysterious phenomenon that isn't very contagious and with relatively milder effects."

  Chen Chen nodded. "Tell me about it."

  "This was about the time when the 'Eye' had just appeared on the Internet."

  Yoru Kamidera was caught up in his memory. "I had just turned ten that year and I encountered the 'Eye'. In that disaster, my parents died and only I survived…

  "Later, I heard someone mention that they've found a strange network domain name, which is a website address. The full website address is www.yygq.com. You can log in to that website whether with a mobile phone or a computer.

  "The name of that website is just four letters — yygq, so this website is also called the yygq website.

  "However, this URL doesn't exist. It's not in the URL registration records of any country, yet it still can be easily accessed. After entering the site, the page will display a forum with a black background and green text. The functionality of this forum is extremely crude. It's as simple as it can get.

  "Nevertheless, I heard people say at the time that, as long as anyone has logged on to that website and registered to leave a comment, whatever words they type on the forum, in whatever language, will be automatically translated into traditional Chinese. Moreover, it will be in a specific format."

  "Traditional Chinese?"

  Chen Chen was taken aback at once.

  "Yes. For example, if you type 'How are you' in Japanese, then after typing it out, the words will become "Your ashes have not been scattered yet, right?", or if you type in Japanese, 'I am fine too', it will automatically become 'I'm feeling much better'."

  [ol][li data-annotation-id="2f1e20b9-3644-c989-c2b6-c988a781f597"]"I'll scatter your ashes" is a Chinese catchphrase that originated from Douyin, meant to express extreme fury.[/ol]

  Chapter 311: Pale White Palm |

  Yoru Kamidera continued. "Or perhaps the sentence you type will become 'Is it possible that other people think I'm not doing well, it can't be, can it?'. By the time you tried to explain that 'I'm not trying to judge anyone', the sentence turns into 'He's triggered, he's triggered!' or variations of such sentences that upset people in general.

  "Furthermore, when you're proved by people saying such things and try to reply, 'Please be civilized', what you type will instead be sent as 'Anything else?', 'Are you done?', 'Quit being so loud, what's your problem!', you get the idea…"

  "…"

  Chen Chen became speechless and shot a look at Yoru Kamidera. "That's all?"

  "This is only the prelude."

  Yoru Kamidera flashed a bitter smile. "What's stranger was what came after that. Since then, strange things happened to the people who had logged onto the forum. Everything they say in real life, write on paper or just any form of communication as a whole turns into Chinese pronunciations. The tone of the translation is aggressive as well. This effect only slowly fades away after one week."

  "You can't escape it even in reality?"

  Chen Chen was stunned upon hearing that. It was then when he made the connection that it must have been related to the mysterious text phenomenon.

  "Yes."

  Yoru Kamidera added. "This may seem comedic compared to the other mysterious phenomenon, but on a fundamental level it was no different from the other cases. It also has a transmission method of its own.

  "Take this current observation with the mysterious text, for example. It's transmitted through the yygg website and the symptom of the infection is that one will speak in a specific pattern. In this sense, its actual damage and threat aren't significant. But you can only imagine that if the symptom of the infection is changed to something else such as instant death on the spot, then this will instantly turn into an extremely lethal occurrence.

  "Or better yet, instead of the condition of transmission being 'logging onto the website', it changes to 'anyone who hears such phrases are immediately infected with a similar condition'. You'll immediately see it rapidly spreading across the globe."

  "That's true." Chen Chen nodded.

  Yoru Kamedera went on. "This is why something like a diary of the deceased can be extremely dangerous. That's because you have no clue what took the person's life, there's a chance that the person died of such bizarre cases that are conducted by reading specific text…"

  While the two of them were discussing these mysterious phenomena, there was suddenly a slight knock on the glass beside the seat where Chen Chen was seated.

  "Dong!"

  Yoru Kamidera continued. "Apart from that, there's another potential risk. Which is that those strange texts may bring another…"

  Before he could finish his sentence, there was another knock.

  Chen Chen's expression became grave as he turned to look outside the cabin window of the spaceship.

  "Dong!"

  The moment Chen Chen turned to inspect, a horrifically pale hand left its prints on the cabin window of the spaceship!

  Yoru Kamidera was visibly shocked by the sudden commotion.

  Chen Chen felt his heart tighten as well. He continued to stare silently at the imprint of the pal
m on the cabin window. However, the cabin windows of the Bugatti Spaceship were not made with glass materials but instead, a form of semi-transparent materials that came fully attached to the doors. Therefore, it was difficult to get a clear view of objects outside the spaceship.

  From where Chen Chen sat, he could see that there were hardly any fine details in the palm. There were no fingerprints, no palm prints, nor was it adorned with any jewelry. All that could be seen was boney veins crawling across the slender fingers.

  The only remaining notable feature was the distinctive paleness.

  It was an extremely uncomfortable sight. Such eerie paleness would rarely if ever be associated with fair skin, but instead gave the impression of a cold, dead body.

  There was no way this was the palm of a person…

  Unlike Yoru Kamadera, Chen Chen hardly showed any signs of being agitated or fearful. He only promptly raised his head to ask, "X-112, what happened? Can you detect what's outside the spaceship?"

  What added to Chen Chen's surprise was that X-112 did not respond at all!

  "X? Urgent command input, X-112, I order you to respond!"

  Chen Chen asked again but the X-112 artificial intelligence integrated with the spaceship seemed to have been shut down. No matter how Chen Chen tried to summon the copy of Little X, he could not draw a response.

  "Sir, it's no use."

  Yoru Kamidera started to calm down. Although he was just a common person, he did possess a coolness exceeding his peers of the same age as he remarked, "Usually, when one of these mysterious phenomena are triggered, the victims enter a state which they cannot pluck themselves out of and even nearby observers cannot interact with them. It's pretty clear now that the intelligence system in this spaceship can no longer hear your orders."

  "Then why can you still interact with me?"

  Chen Chen gave up on communicating with X-112 and turned to Yoru Kamadera. "Are you targeted by it as well?"

  "It's possible."

  Yoru Kamidera nodded. "But allow me to wager a guess. If I'm not mistaken, you must've been targeted by these strange events previously, right?"

  Without waiting for Chen Chen to respond, Yoru Kamidera continued. "The truth is, many of these mysterious phenomena have a contagious characteristic, just like viruses and diseases do. An infected person may transmit the condition via countless mediums you would never think of, such as a simple sentence, a simple touch, an eye contact or simply just being in the same room.

  "Sure, I'm just speculating at the end of the day since I've never encountered this variation of the phenomenon before. Even now, I'm not sure if I'm actually infected, but I think the reason I can still interact with you now is that the full effect of the phenomena hasn't unraveled yet. You're currently in the incubation phase."

  "Incubation phase? Contagious? Infection symptom…"

  Chen Chen found himself at loss for words for a brief moment before flashing a smile. "Not bad, treating these mysterious phenomena as a disease. I like these terms."

  As the two of them continued discussing, Chen Chen suddenly noticed that the mark of the palm had disappeared.

  An apt way to put it should be that the two of them did not notice when it had disappeared. It was as if the imprint of the palm was never there at all. Even if the two of them fixed their combined attention on the palm, they would still fail to notice the exact moment which it vanished.

  It was as if they suddenly dozed off for a split instant and the palm just vanished without a trace.

  Upon reevaluating it, did the palm even exist in the first place?

  Chen Chen displayed a thoughtful look.

  "X-112?"

  Chen Chen asked again.

  "Yes, Sir Commander."

  X-112 responded almost instantly, "Is there something I can help you with?"

  Chen Chen immediately fell silent.

  "Sir Commander?" Failing to generate a response from Chen Chen, X-112 enquired again.

  "Nothing."

  Chen Chen shook his head and clicked the button to open the door, which caused the gull-wing doors of the Bugatti to shift upward, allowing them to see what was outside the spaceship.

  Chen Chen stepped out of the spaceship to survey his surroundings. After that, he closed the doors and inspected the surface of the gull-wing door.

  There were no palm prints on the gull-wing door, but there was a slightly caved in mark left behind.

  It would appear that something had gently knocked against the door of the spaceship twice…

  [ol][li data-annotation-id="4a2514fb-bb1b-234e-0f2a-98f950495eff"]An automotive industry term describing car doors that are hinged at the roof rather than the side[/ol]

  Chapter 312: Area 51 |

  Chen Chen had originally thought that such a collision only occurred during midnight. Its second appearance had effectively thrown off Chen Chen's current hypothesis of its pattern.

  Besides, Chen Chen was not in a room but inside a spaceship. Or could this mean that the trigger condition was not limited to a room, but just any enclosed spaces?

  With this in mind, Chen Chen checked his watch and saw that the time now was ten-thirty in the morning. He suddenly asked, "X-112, what were you doing one minute ago?"

  "Me?"

  X-112 appeared somewhat confused but still looked up its activity log following Chen Chen's orders. It answered shortly after, "Sir Commander, please take a look. I was operating all this time."

  "Did you not hear a knock outside the door?"

  Chen Chen asked.

  "No…"

  X-112 went to inspect the spacecraft and quickly noticed the marks left on the door, "That's not right, when did this mark show up? Even the live surveillance footage of the spaceship didn't show anything…"

  "The spaceship is monitored?"

  Chen Chen lit up at the prospect. If there was surveillance footage, that meant he may get a glimpse of what the owner of the pale white palm looked like.

  "Yes, the spaceship is equipped with holographic projection surveillance which covers all angles. I should be able to notice any notable changes on the spaceship."

  X-112 assured promptly.

  "Then please rewind to the footage from one to two minutes ago."

  Chen Chen gave the order. Immediately after that, X-112 produced a projection of the holographic three-dimensional image of a miniaturized version of the spaceship that stood at the height of a regular person's waist. There was even a display on its side indicating the time of the event being ten twenty-eight and zero seconds.

  It would appear that this was the live footage of the spaceship at the time.

  Viewing from the hologram, there was nothing in view in the space surrounding the spaceship.

  However, when the clock ticked to twenty-eight minutes and forty seconds, the entire hologram suddenly turned blurry appearing as if the projection was disrupted. What was originally a high-resolution hologram suddenly turned into a chaotic splatter of colors.

  This condition persisted for thirty-five seconds. When the clock ticked at twenty-nine minutes and fifteen seconds, the hologram had once again reverted to a normal state.

  When this happened, a new mark left behind by a collision appeared on the gulf-wing door of the spaceship.

  "The mysterious phenomenon had occurred again just moments ago?"

  Upon seeing this footage, X-112 expressed its confusion, "But I didn't notice anything at all."

  "I understand."

  Chen Chen remarked solemnly, "Based on your activity logs we can also see that your program is running just fine in this thirty-five-second span. The reason you were not able to notice it is because the problem lied with the spaceship and myself…"

  "If that's the case, then why was I able to notice something being off yesterday?"

  X-112 was a little perplexed.

  Chen Chen ruminated on this for a moment before turning to Yoru Kamidera who was in the spaceship. "Because just now, it was only me and Yoru Kamidera w
ho encountered the 'mysterious phenomenon'."

  When Chen Chen considered this, he further instructed, "X-112, update the data on 'sound of impact'.

  "Based on the second experience of the infected codenamed 'O5' with the mysterious phenomenon, the findings are – the 'sound of impact' may only occur in fully-enclosed spaces and isn't limited by time, meaning that it may occur during both daytime and nighttime. As of now, we're unable to determine the trigger condition for the 'sound of impact', but we can conclude that any other living being in the same room as O5 can detect the same impact as well…"

  Chen Chen quickly added. "Apart from that, upon triggering the second 'sound of impact', O5 saw a palm appearing. At the time, O5 was inside the Bugatti Spaceship and saw the shape of the palm through the semi-transparent cabin window. So far, we can conclude that the palm is connected to the 'sound of impact'…"

  After updating the associated data, Chen Chen could not help but steal another glance at the cabin window of the spaceship.

  The structure of the window was extremely sturdy and was built into the door of the spacecraft.

  Although the quality of the spacecraft did not appear particularly outstanding in the movie, the fact that it could remain intact after experiencing a crash at supersonic speed was a fine indicator of its superior quality.

  It should be safe to say that the Bugatti Spaceship had no problem holding itself against regular bullets. Even a sniper rifle may not be able to shatter its windows.

  "It may appear that the cabin windows just saved my life."

  Chen Chen reflected thoughtfully. "If the windows were built using ordinary engineered plastics or glass instead of extremely resilient material designed to withstand the atmospheric pressure of outer space, I may be long dead already."

  After all, the appearance of the palm was far too outlandish, Chen Chen no longer felt comfortable with relying on his luck.

  His gut was telling him that one of these days, he would be in big trouble if the owner of the hand somehow broke through the barrier between them…

  After that, Chen Chen did not return to the spaceship right away. Instead, he continued issuing orders outside the spaceship. Within an hour, the three Black Knights had found the server room of the military base by utilizing the unmanned drones. They started setting up the diesel generators.