by <unknown>
"Creak…"
The harsh rubbing sound rang in his ears.
After the statue disappeared from the range of Chen Chen's Field, he opened his eyes again. When he blinked again, the statue suddenly appeared again less than five meters away from him, just as expected.
Was this how the statue repositioned itself?
Chen Chen displayed a look of perplexion. He started to piece together everything he knew at this point.
The first time he encountered the statue, he had his back facing the statue and the instant he turned around to face it, yet another statue appeared right behind him. At the time, he was unable to sense anything with Field.
It should be common knowledge that statues were unable to move around on their own. Since they were able to sneak past the detection of Field and appear behind him out of thin air, they must not be any ordinary statues but something else instead...
However, when Chen Chen fixed his attention on the statues, they became completely idle and cemented to their original spot like ordinary statues.
Even when Chen Chen used Field to observe them, the statues still refused to give away what was off with them. In other words, the statue seemed to only exist in the form of regular statues at certain points...
Whenever Chen Chen moved the statues out of his vision range using Field as a safety measure, they seemed to vanish into thin air in the range of Field. As perplexing as it was, it did prove one thing and that was - when the statue was out of his regular field of vision, even Field could not detect it!
At the end of the day, this was a mere hypothesis. To prove this hypothesis, Chen Chen slipped away from the field of vision of the elderly man and went ten meters further down the corridor. This way, the next experiment he was about to conduct should not be disturbed by any external factors.
After that, to prove the validity of his previous hypothesis, Chen Chen shut his eyes and opened them again. As expected, the statue drew closer to him again while he had his eyes closed and immediately froze in place when he opened them again. Another notable difference was that its posture had changed...
With this, Chen Chen had figured out a crucial element concerning the behavior of this statue. It was a vision.
At this point, it was clear that this statue was no ordinary statue but a unique memetic entity instead. Unlike regular memes, it assumed a very unique form, which was what Chen Chen was looking at now.
There was one key characteristic that separated this statue from ordinary statues. When observed by a human eye, it turned into a regular, immobile statue. However, whenever the person looking at it blinked, turned away from it or did anything that averted gaze from it, the statue came to life. The nature of its movement could not be observed even with Field.
This was not the first time Chen Chen noticed something of this variant. Previously, when he was dealing with the "Thud" meme inside the Gantz dimension, he had a similar experience with the white figure. The white figure displayed similar characteristics as well, despite being observable to the naked eye. However, it was completely invisible to Field...
This suggested that memetic entities, at their root, were merely a concept and concepts were abstract and intangible.
Going by this rhetoric, everything that Chen Chen was facing suddenly made sense.
In that case, what would happen if the statue collided with him?
Chen Chen glanced at the corpse in the corner whose neck was twisted into what seemed like misshaped branches. It was self-explanatory.
Another thing that Chen Chen confirmed at this point was that the statues did not actively turn into idle statues. It was a passive behavior triggered by certain conditions. It only turned into statues when observed by humans or in other words, when receiving direct human attention. This observation was similar to the famous double-slit experiment.
When placed under direct observation, electrons were susceptible to altering their patterns but in an unmonitored environment, there were countless existing possibilities. The result was only certain when an observer turned to look at it.
This seemed to be the characteristics which this statue Chen Chen was facing equipped as well. Under regular human observation, it was an ordinary statue. It was only when the observer stopped looking at it when it transformed into a lethal entity that snapped off people's necks.
Additionally, it seemed to possess the ability to disrupt electric currents. This was derived from the fact that the light bulb above Chen Chen was flickering continuously. The only reason the room was not plunged into darkness yet was that there were plenty of light bulbs above Chen Chen and they all flickered at different intervals.
Chen Chen suspected that the moment the corridor was plunged into complete darkness was when the statue would no longer be bound by its limitations...
These speculations raced past Chen Chen's mind and once he had figured everything out, he squinted his eyes again and pushed the statue away from him. However, instead of only nudging it out of his field of vision, he concentrated his Field into the form of a giant hammer when the statue went around the corner of the corridor and slammed it into the ground ferociously!
Since he had a firm understanding of a part of the statue's nature, it was time to attempt to destroy it.
Since Chen Chen had absorbed all of the remaining crystalline fragments, the potential and intensity of his Field had become comparable to Andrew. Even if Chen Chen may not be able to pull off something like flipping around dozens of police cars just like Andrew did near the ending of the movie, destroying several statues was as easy as lifting a finger. Even if these statues were forged with steel, Chen Chen could still tear them apart using Field!
Chen Chen's Field smashed into the statue in the form of a gigantic and invisible hammer. With a devastating blow, the statue was blasted into smithereens that scattered across all directions!
Even the metal plate supporting the statue from under it caved in as well. The ground itself emitted a sharp screech of metal being bent as a shallow pit nearly one meter deep appeared was formed!
Chen Chen was taken aback when he saw the statue crushed into powder. He was initially expecting this approach to fail. He had never expected the statue to shatter into pieces as a regular statue would.
"Impossible..."
Chen Chen could not hold back a disconcerted frown when he saw this. He refused to believe that this would be settled so effortlessly. After he considered for a moment, he closed his eyes and snapped them open again quickly!
Chen Chen could not believe what he was seeing when he opened his eyes!
The moment he opened his eyes, the statue that should have been blown into dust had pieced itself back to its original shape and appeared right in front of him!
Was it indestructible?
Chen Chen discarded the idea of destroying this statue when he saw it appearing again. He kept his eyes on the statue while moving past it and returned to the Quantum Deity Laboratory walking backward.
Chen Chen specifically came out here to prevent the meme from spreading but since the members of the research team were either dead or had already escaped, there was no reason for him to linger any longer.
After leaving the laboratory, Chen Chen even made sure to shut the door of the laboratory before he turned around.
What Chen Chen saw when he turned around startled him!
Chen Chen saw what seemed to be countless statues with their eyes covered spread across the area outside the laboratory. Out of nowhere, some of them appeared hidden inside the forest while some were out in the open!
Cold sweat started to trickle down Chen Chen's forehead.
"Why are there so many of them?"
From the corner of his eyes, Chen Chen saw the dead bodies still lying on the ground. This meant that these statues were not transformed from the bodies on the ground but were born in other methods...
"Was it the video?"
Chen Chen had the faint impression that perhaps the video
created by Adam was the source.
With this in mind, Chen Chen immediately opened the door to the laboratory and retreated inside as quickly as he could, and promptly shut the door behind him as soon as he entered!
"Swoosh!"
The moment Chen Chen turned around, a pair of razor-sharp claws appeared in front of him. The statue inside the laboratory had snuck up to him without his noticing. If not for Chen Chen's supreme reflexes, he would have had his neck snapped in half!
Chen Chen stopped lolling around. He immediately moved past the statue and went down the corridor while ensuring he had his eyes on the statue at all times. When he arrived at the end of the corridor, he opened the door using Field and stepped through the door.
Several minutes later, Chen Chen had arrived at the further end of the corridor, which was where the electromagnetic levitation elevator that led to the quantum computer was located. The old man who was hiding in the quantum computer room immediately shouted something upon Chen Chen's arrival.
The vacuum partition walled off by a piece of glass between the two laboratories muffled everything the old man said.
Chen Chen only glanced at this person for a brief instant and proceeded to ignore him. The reason Chen Chen came was to borrow this person's sight since two people's sight was undoubtedly better than only one.
It seemed like since there were two people present this time, the statue did not appear at any point along the corridor. Chen Chen waited for about ten minutes before he continued heading forward.
As soon as Chen Chen turned a corner, he saw the statues pursuing him again, just as he expected. Instead of just the lone statue, there were nearly thirty of them this time, each one of them had their eyes covered and crowded the corridor. It seemed as if they planned to trap Chen Chen inside this space.
Unbeknownst to them, this was exactly what Chen Chen had intended as well. Without sparing a moment of hesitation, Chen Chen unleashed his Field!
In an instant, the statues were blown apart as if they had been hit by a nuclear bomb. All of them were blasted into smithereens in a matter of seconds!
As soon as the statues were destroyed, Chen Chen took large strides forward and stepped through their ashes. Chen Chen repeated this step with every corner until he made it out of the laboratory. As soon he stepped out of the laboratory, he shut the door behind him to keep the statues trapped inside there.
After making it out, Chen Chen cautiously turned to the dense forest again. This time, he finally got to have peace of mind since there were no signs of any statues hidden in the forest.
After flying a certain distance above the Quantum Deity Laboratory, the communication device finally picked up a signal again. Little X's voice came through immediately. "Sir Godfather, what's the situation over there? The Northern American troops from the nearest military base are dispatched and currently on their way to the laboratory for rescue."
"Tell them they can proceed with their plan. There are probably a good few who ran into the deeper parts of the forest. Make sure to quarantine them after rescuing them."
Chen Chen looked below him as he said this and it was just as he said, several people were trudging through the forest. There was no telling if these people had been infected by the statue meme.
"Quarantine? Alright, I've informed them and told them about the threat of the memetic force."
Little X answered promptly.
"While you're at it, tell them there are nearly thirty of these murder statues inside the laboratory."
Chen Chen added. "These statues possess extremely odd characteristics. When put under direct observation, they remain as ordinary statues. However, as soon as you take your eyes away from them, they immediately charge at you stealthily from behind your back at extreme speed to break your neck!"
As soon as the attentive Chen Chen mentioned this, he suddenly paused because he seemed to have realized something. It appeared that whenever he spotted the statues, they had their eyes covered. This applied to both the statues inside the laboratory and the ones outside, hidden in the forest...
However, the first statue that Chen Chen saw rested its arms that were covering its eyes and did not cover them again. It remained in this position until it came inside the laboratory and appeared on the corridor with the other statues.
When Chen Chen saw the group of statues in the corridor, he saw that all of them assumed the same position of keeping their eyes covered. Even the one that uncovered its eyes previously kept them covered again. This raised the question. What was it that made the statue behave differently when alone as opposed to when in a large group?
Unless...
Chen Chen thought for a moment but did not state his speculation out loud. Instead, he only noted to Little X. "As it is, it's best to have the soldiers split into groups of three so they can take turns and focus their attention on a single target at all times. They can put these statues into a sturdy container. I don't know if there exists any container strong enough to keep them enclosed just yet...
"Also, inform them to not watch the prophecy video created by the quantum computer 'Adam' no matter what. That video is the infection source of the meme."
Chapter 474: Eyes |
"Remember, don't blink!"
"You're dead meat if you blink!"
"Don't avert your gaze!"
"Keep your eyes on it, don't get distracted!"
"Don't blink! Don't blink no matter what..."
"Everyone, I wish you good luck..."
...
Inside the office of the mayor located in the city hall, Parsons watched the "Response Protocol" sent by the hacker. The same video was also sent to plenty of confidential departments in Northern America. It included the picture of the statue, detailed information of its behavior, and its method of claiming its victims.
"Statues that broke people's necks? There are all kinds of strange happenings these days…"
Parsons turned off the video and seemed to not take the entire thing too seriously. He turned to Mu Liao and asked, "Has the police sealed off the Herrank Warehouse District?"
"It's already sealed off."
Mu Liao answered promptly, "Sir Mayor, our men have entered the warehouse district and are searching for these murder statues following the protocols stated in this video. Based on Blacklight Biotechnology's predictions, there should be four statues lying in the Herrank district."
"Ridiculous..."
Parsons shook his head, feeling speechless. If not for the White House constantly sending notices, he would never heed the advice of the hackers himself.
Since when did the great Northern American government listen to some foreign forces whispering in their ears?
Parsons was largely dismissive of this event. Suddenly, there was a knock on the door to his office.
"Come in."
Parsons turned to the door and saw another one of his staff coming inside with a hard drive in hand. "Sir Mayor, we've ordered people to go through the surveillance footage in the Herrank Warehouse District, as according to your instructions. We've successfully found the statues you described. It's inside this hard drive now."
"What took you so long?"
Parsons frowned with mild irritation.
"I'm very sorry, the surveillance in the Herrank Warehouse District isn't connected to the Internet so we had to head to the area ourselves and collect all of the footage manually to look for the culprit for this incident. Before we could pinpoint a specific culprit, we received orders that you wanted to look for the statues..."
The reprimanded staff answered dejectedly.
"Alright, work faster next time."
Parsons finally got up from this seat and took the hard drive with faint interest before plugging it into his computer.
Parsons seemed to have thought of something before he played the video. He proceeded to turn to Mu Liao, "Why don't you head out first, close the door for me."
"Alright."
Mu Liao nodded and ex
ited the mayor's office with the other staff that delivered the hard drive.
After closing the office door behind him, Mu Liao chatted with the staff, "Mr. Robinson, are the technical department busy recently?"
"It's alright, things are getting better."
The staff answered plaintively, "Looks like there's going to be a lot of work to do tonight though."
"Hahaha, there's no helping it, I suppose."
Mu Liao clapped Robinson on his shoulders and asked curiously, "Where did you buy these lenses?"
"Lenses? I'm not wearing any lenses..."
Robinson was slightly startled by this and proceeded to rub his eyes. "I think it's just my eyes drying up which makes them appear redder than usual? I've been looking at the surveillance footage for a while."
Mu Liao did not think too much of it and only shrugged. The two split up after turning a corner to work on their respective tasks.
Inside the mayor's office, after asking Mu Liao to get out, Parsons moved the cursor on his computer.
Just as he was about to play the video, he suddenly thought about the hacker who seemed to have eyes everywhere. With this in mind, he disconnected the computer from the network.
This way, he would not have to worry about the hacker stealing this video. It was time to settle everything himself.
The operations in the Herrank Warehouse District were severely outdated, so most of the areas did not have proper surveillance, which included most of the warehouse interior.
There were some surveillance cameras installed along the roads of the warehouse district more than a decade ago. Most of them were damaged or malfunctioned after years of weathering the rain without proper maintenance. Most of them were hardly functioning at all anymore.
Fortunately, upon thorough inspection, the technical department discovered that a few of them were still in working condition. It was considered a small miracle.
With this, Parsons double-clicked the video inside the hard drive.
The angle of the video made it clear that it was shot by a surveillance camera located under a streetlamp. Since it was nighttime during the time of recording, the entire video was shot in a black-and-white palette instead of being colored. There were pitch-black warehouses on both sides of the camera. The scene was quite plain.
