by <unknown>
"Thump!"
With that, Monar's entire body started to crumble away at breakneck speed.
Until in the end, his body had completely diffused into countless invisible particles that blended into the surroundings. The only proof of what was once his existence was the image painted on the wall using his blood…
The darkness that loomed over every corner of the room began to dissipate as well. Faint beams of sunlight tore through the darkness and shone onto the image.
It appeared as if nothing had changed, but also at the same time, that something deep underneath had fundamentally shifted.
However, nobody would ever discover the truth.
…
"Sir Godfather, the Otherworld inside the factory had disappeared."
It was evening. Chen Chen was seated inside his top-floor office in the Blacklight Biotechnology building when Little X entered and delivered him the news.
"Disappeared?"
"Yes, the darkness in the factory has completely dispersed. Yoru Kamidera hasn't dispatched any Black Knights to investigate just yet, he figured he should inform you first."
Little X answered.
"How about the four Black Knights?" Chen Chen asked, "Are they still alive?"
"I can't detect their signals anymore."
Little X shook her head regretfully. "It seems like they have fallen."
Just as Little X said this, Chen Chen received a phone call. He took a look at the caller and just as expected, it was Yoru Kamidera.
Chen Chen picked up the phone and said as soon as the call was connected, "I'll be right there. You can dispatch someone to investigate now. I advise you to refrain from entering yourself unless you're certain that the source of danger has completely dispersed."
"Understood."
Yoru Kamidera answered swiftly. Chen Chen proceeded to end the call right there.
"I'll go take a look."
Chen Chen said to Little X. Little X responded with a subtle nod before exiting the office.
After that, Chen Chen got up from his seat. A metallic ball the size of longan appeared in his hands seemingly out of nowhere.
When Chen Chen gently flicked the metal ball, it sent a sudden flash of electricity from within which caused his figure to vanish from the office.
The window positioned behind Chen Chen suddenly opened on its own, sending in a strong gust of wind that rattled the stacks of documents and paperwork lying on top of the desk. Moments after that, the window was shut abruptly.
The office that was already quaint in the first place was now completely vacant.
…
"You guys head in there with a recorder and try to find signs of any living person or at the very least, their corpse."
Outside the factory, Yoru Kamidera began to relay instructions to the Black Knights. He had temporary command over them since Chen Chen had given him authorization for this experiment.
As one of the core members directly nurtured by Chen Chen, Yoru Kamidera was well-informed of the physiological structure of these Black Knights. Therefore, he knew that there was no reason to be concerned about their safety since the Black Knights could not be harmed unless the God chip was destroyed.
What gave Yoru Kamidera a headache was that even after the Black Knights took several laps inside the factory and emerged from it, they could not find anything worthwhile.
No dead bodies nor the living for that matter.
Despite this observation, Yoru Kamidera did not act rashly and head inside himself since he remembered Chen Chen's advice. He began to go through the recorded footage collected by the Black Knights.
What captured his attention was a bizarre image inside the Faraday cage.
The image was drawn with some kind of dark-brown liquid substance. It was the picture of a…
The moment Yoru Kamidera's eyes landed on that image, he felt a terrifying sensation invading every crevice of his body. He wanted to shut his eyes and avert his gaze from it, but he felt as if his body was frozen in place. There was a mystifying power that came with the image that was calling out to him:
"Look at it! Look at it! Don't look away!"
It was a memetic pattern!
Yoru Kamidera felt cold sweat trickling down his forehead like unending rain. Just as he thought that it was over for him, the footage was suddenly turned off without any warning.
"It's not a good idea to look at these things."
Chen Chen's voice came from behind Yoru Kamidera.
"Phew!"
Yoru Kamidera felt a wave of relief washing over him as he turned to Chen Chen. He asked in between heavy gasps, still frightened by the experience, "Your Excellency Chen Chen, did you see it too?"
"I did."
Chen Chen nodded. "But not completely."
"Me too."
Yoru Kamidera quickly added. "Fortunately, otherwise, I'd have been infected by the memetic effect."
Chen Chen did not bother with giving too much elaboration. In truth, Little X should have been monitoring the Black Knights and would have been the first to detect the memetic image. However, since the memetic pattern was not fully captured due to the odd camera angle, Little X figured it was not necessary to alert Yoru Kamidera since an impartial memetic pattern should not trigger its effects.
Chen Chen did not expect an impartial memetic pattern to have such a powerful effect on its own. What would happen if the entire memetic pattern was on display?
"Seal the pattern up."
Chen Chen instructed a Black Knight next to him.
"What about the metal bed?"
Little X asked from Chen Chen's earpiece.
"Keep it sealed up inside there for now as well. I think at this moment, we can't manifest its powers yet."
The Black Knights immediately stepped forward to lock down the Faraday cage completely.
After everything was concluded, Yoru Kamidera felt a mild sense of relief. He looked in the direction of the factory and expressed his concerns. "Monar and the four Black Knights that were inside had disappeared."
"Which is not surprising."
Chen Chen said, "Back when I was trapped inside there, I already knew that the people who die inside the Otherworld completely disappear as well. It's clear to me now that the Black Knights are dead, it's just that…"
Chen Chen frowned. "The disappearance of Monar is what caught me off guard."
"Could it be that the Black Knights had taken Monar down with them?"
Yoru Kamidera hypothesized. "At the end of the day, the Black Knights are a supreme combat force. I wouldn't say it's impossible that three Black Knights joined together cannot overcome Monar. After all, I doubt he has complete mastery over his powers inside that dimension just yet."
"That's a very likely possibility."
Chen Chen glanced at Yoru Kamidera. "But that's the optimistic scenario. What I'm concerned about is that there may be some additional underlying factors, after all, there's always more to memetic effects that may defy common logic."
"That's true…"
Yoru Kamidera was impressed. It was true, people like Chen Chen who anticipated the worst outcome possible tend to be the ones who lived longest.
After that, the strange metal bed along with the memetic pattern was sealed up inside the Faraday cage.
However, Chen Chen was not the slightest bit satisfied when he looked at the sealed Faraday cage.
All of the work they had put into this project was essentially voided along with the disappearance of Monar, the Spire laboratory experiment subject. He had braced himself for losing the Black Knights, but he expected to use Monar to further inspect the qualities of the metal bed and obtain further clues.
However, the reality was often disappointing. Even the chance to rerun the experiment was gone now.
If the next experiment was going to end the same way as the current one, then there was no point in conducting any further experiments at all. There were simply no approachable steps to exami
ning how the metal bed functioned.
The disappearance of the experiment subject was not the only thing to be concerned about. There was also the appearance of the memetic pattern to consider, which made things even more confusing.
Chen Chen had no guarantee whether a new memetic pattern would emerge again if he conducted the same experiment. What sort of memetic pattern would emerge if he gave it another run?
There was no question about it. Memetic science was the most unpredictable and dangerous subject Chen Chen had dealt with so far. It was also the most mysterious and appalling subject of them all.
All the current discovered laws of physics and chemistry, including the conservation of mass and energy, were rendered almost meaningless in the face of memetic science.
Upon considering these factors, Chen Chen suddenly turned to the Black Knights and noted. "Take care of the bodies of these Black Knights, just preserve the chips inside them."
"You're concerned with them coming in contact with the memetic pattern?"
Little X asked.
"That's right, especially considering it's one that we've never dealt with before. I don't have a guarantee as to what their effects may be. It can turn out to be very problematic."
Chen Chen nodded and affirmed his decision. "Destroy them."
"Understood."
Little X responded. Shortly after that, the Black Knights that entered the factory and saw the memetic pattern filed into a car and were driven to somewhere else.
Their destination was a steelmaking plant, where their bodies would be thrown into extreme temperature liquid metal.
One thing that escaped the notice of everyone, even including Little X, was that something was lurking inside their pupils.
Chapter 450: Combat Footage |
Niger, Africa, in a certain inhabited region in the Azawag River Valley.
Niger was located in the Sahel region of Africa. The Azawag River Valley took on a canyon topography that started from the Azhar Gan River further upstream. The entire region was positioned 300 meters above sea level and spanned across the Nima border. It was one of the regions in the world with the most rampant terrorist activities.
It was midnight. The moon illuminated the starry night sky above. Due to the absence of any environmental pollution, the region was largely preserved in its natural state. Mixed into the starry night sky above were hundreds of faint black spots slowly swerving among them.
These tiny black spots navigated the sky as silent as death itself, like a collection of quaint fireflies. They swarmed in from all directions, all of them were headed toward a small temporary base set up in one section of the canyon.
As the camera panned closer, it could be finally made out that the numerous black spots painted across the sky and illuminated by moonlight were a large assortment of unmanned drones, each one spanning an average of two to three meters in diameter!
The drones flew several hundred meters above the sky, each one of them looked like a tiny UFO from a distance. The largest among them was no longer than five meters wide while the smallest measured as short as one meter.
While coursing through the air, these drones were able to put their excellent sound muffling technology on full display. Under the protection of the night sky, they silently crept toward the temporary base like hounds stalking their prey.
There seemed to be something hidden beneath the butterfly-shaped drones.
It was a robot fitted with proper limbs. They came in all kinds of models, each of them curled into a ball like a Transformer. They took up minimal space while being carried underneath the belly of the larger drones.
As they inched closer to their destination, it soon became evident that the base was no ordinary base either. Watchtowers were erected in close proximity everywhere. There were fortresses with built-in battling guns as well. There was the red flag of a certain faction with intelligible phrases on top. This was the base of operations of a certain informal military organization.
When the drones each arrived at their respective designated positions, the larger drone models carrying the largest robots with reinforced platings were the first ones to descend from several hundred meters above the ground. They sunk into the dense mud on the surface, making a dull thump as they landed.
As soon as the robots landed, they appeared to have activated some sort of installed mechanism. There was a short, mechanical screech followed by two intervals of red lights blinking on their armor plate. Immediately after that, four gigantic joint hydraulic legs emerged from their bodies.
It took no more than a second for the robots to find their balance as they immediately positioned themselves upright after that. Meanwhile, two slender and nimble arms unfolded from their sides, revealing arms that were not reminiscent of regular humanoid arms, but a mighty display of multi-barrel weapons instead!
The arms of these robots were fully-fitted Gatlings!
The robots revealed themselves in all their glory. They were absolute monstrosities fitted with sophisticated armor that stood two meters tall and measured more than four meters wide. On the sides of their body was a label written with gray-colored font —
BW-XTN-002-1.
Approximately twenty of these models were deployed on the ground. Instead of being deployed together in one central position, they were split into six separate groups. They were positioned to cut off all the vital channels leading in and out of the base.
This was merely the beginning. While the larger drones deployed the monstrous machines on the ground, more drones had stealthily arrived at the airspace above the temporary base.
The smaller drone models began to disperse into multiple locations while the larger drones deployed tiny machines onto the base.
The violent thumps of machines crashing against the roof started to echo across the base. These devices impaled into the roof, some of them even pierced straight through the roof, forming a large gaping hole through the ceiling!
"Ah, what's that!"
"What's going on! Something fell from the sky!"
"D*mn, my leg! My leg!"
"It's an invasion! Sound the alarm!"
In an instant, frantic screams and the hectic beating of tents being torn open sounded across the base. These people were either at a loss for words or were caught in a daze looking at the "shooting stars" falling from the sky. Some of them were still dreaming away soundly when they had their dreams cut short by a giant block of metal crushing them to death!
The village was thrown into chaos!
This was merely the beginning.
A young man who was woken up by the sudden uproar quickly snapped to attention and grabbed his AKM as he looked at the object in front of him cautiously.
Without even realizing it, a queer-looking metal block had punched through his tent and landed almost right next to his feet.
The metal block was painted with a fine layer of non-reflective matte black texture. The block-shaped structure was around forty centimeters wide and could not be any more than twenty centimeters thick. What made it stand out from the other devices was that it was composed of countless hydraulic pipes among its complex structure.
A string of labels that read BW-XTN-004-8 was written on top of its surface.
As soon as it landed, several red dots on it started to flicker briefly. It was immediately followed by a faint "beep", which prompted the sophisticated mechanism to flap open suddenly.
In an instant, a robotic spider with eight fine, iron-tipped legs emerged from the metal block. It stumbled for two paces before finding its balance.
"What in the world are you…"
There was a flash of confusion in the young man's eyes as he attempted to poke at this bizarre creation with the barrel of his gun. Within a second, the robotic spider launched itself forward using six hind legs and threw itself into the young man's face!
"Ah--!"
"Clack clack clack clack clack…"
The sound of screams and the franti
c rattling of rifles sounded like a warhorse. In an instant, the deployed robots were released from their cages and went on a terrible massacre!
Yes, a massacre!
"Report!"
A messenger stumbled to the center of the barracks. At this time, a middle-aged man with a gray beard and skin so dark they reflected light was chewing on a cigar as he rushed out of the only bunker with his soldiers.
"Report, general!"
The messenger was drenched in blood, his face and stomach had been cut by some kind of weapon as fresh blood seeped out of the gap in between his torn flesh. Despite all that, he was determined to report to his superior, "We're besieged by unknown forces. They are robots! The entire camp is covered by spider-like robots!"
"You mean ones like these?"
The general bit down on his cigar and unveiled a golden Magnum which he pointed at the direction of the messenger's head!
"Bang!"
The deafening ring of a gunshot. The messenger shrieked with his hands over his head and curled himself into a bell. Right behind him, a robot spider was blasted away by the enormous impact generated by the firearm!
"Squeak!"
To their amusement, the robot spider sent flying away by the bullet was still alive and kicking. The region around its stomach started to zap uncontrollably. It would appear its circuitry was damaged. Despite all that, it squirmed on the ground like a real insect and screeched horrifically as it attempted to get back on its feet.
This time, without being prompted, the general's subordinates took aim with their AKM and unloaded on the enemy!
"Brr, brr, brr…."
After a barrage of gunshots, four of the robot spider's limbs were demolished. The remaining two limbs could no longer sustain their weight or allow any further movements.
With that, the middle-aged man finally scoffed as he knelt to pick up one of its severed legs. The leg reflected an icy gleam of light when he picked it up. They were immensely sharp fine-tipped blades!
"Report, general!"
Yet another messenger charged to the general. The messenger was relieved upon seeing the general and exclaimed in between fervent gasps, "General, we can't hold our ground any longer!"
