by <unknown>
From beginning to end, Chen Chen did not have close contact with anyone and currently, no infection had been found in the Eco Science City.
"I'll even advise the Earth Federation to send those infected to the dimension of Resident Evil."
Chen Chen continued. "With this, I don't believe that Consciousness Stealers can still transcend the dimension's boundary and acquire the power of the dead in a different dimension!"
Little X's eyes immediately lit up.
This trick could be described as a drastic measure. The reason that the Consciousness Stealer had infected human consciousness was that, after the infected person died, it would obtain the consciousness power of the deceased and gain power comparable to Field energy.
However, if those infected were sent to the other dimension before they died, then the Consciousness Stealer could only watch helplessly because he would lose that power for good.
All continents had taken severe measures against this infectious disease. Some small countries even had curfews across the country and had entered a state of preparing for war. If it were the ordinary viruses of the past, they would have been controlled long ago. It was only this invisible, formless, consciousness-infecting entity that could keep spreading.
However, the number and frequency of infections during this period had also dropped significantly. Blacklight Biotechnology had even sent millions of androids to the world at cost. All these androids were used as quarantine personnel to prevent recurrent infections.
Following this, Chen Chen returned to the dimension teleportation hall to isolate himself. At the other end of the black sphere, various equipment was constantly being transported over. According to Chen Chen's explicit order, Little X was going to build a level-5 biosafety laboratory here to continue conducting experiments with Consciousness Stealers.
The previous speculations derived by Chen Chen had already been passed on to the four continents through the Blacklight Foundation, which it then passed on to the Earth Federation, and it then passed on to other continents and countries.
Sensing that a huge impact on human society was approaching, many continents had chosen to cut off their metaphorical rotting limbs and sent those who were clearly infected but had not died to the planes specially provided for them by the four continents. These planes would fly to the Indian Ocean, cross the Rosen bridge, and land in the dimension of Resident Evil.
The forces of the world were forced to be united once more.
However, just when the countries of the world began to challenge the limits, Chen Chen at this time had already calmed down. He began to take matters into his own hands and cloned the body of the second Consciousness Stealer.
Still, looking at the meat lump in the life incubator, Chen Chen gradually thought about another question. If humans did not create a clone of the Consciousness Stealer, would this kind of monster be unable to resurrect itself even after wiping out the earth?
After all, there would be no host body, so even if all human beings were wiped out and an incomparably huge force of consciousness was collected, what could it do?
In other words, it was very likely that when enough humans died, the Consciousness Stealer would manifest in the form of a physical body and inherit this formidable power… Nonetheless, how would it do this?
Thinking of this, Chen Chen's expression suddenly flashed. He once again recalled the fused human corpses and gradually understood something.
The fusion of the bodies was not without its function. So far, except for those infected who were prevented from fusing, most of the infected had died in the form of fusion. Therefore, was there a possibility that when the power of consciousness was accumulated to a certain level, some human corpses would automatically transform into a Consciousness Stealer?
After all, the transformation was only a genetic level change. It was still carbon-based. Perhaps for Consciousness Stealers, transforming human DNA into their own DNA was a piece of cake.
If this was the case, then Chen Chen's and the continents' decision to clone the creature was, on the contrary, disrupting the Consciousness Stealer's natural cycle. By cloning it in advance, which would only force its birth before its power reached its peak, was like induced ripening. Similarly, the power of this cloned Consciousness Stealer had not accumulated to a certain extent, so it could be easily wiped out by Chen Chen!
Thinking of this, Chen Chen was even more confident.
If this was true, then naturally he would have to keep on cloning. Otherwise, when it had accumulated enough human consciousness to be born from human corpses, it would likely have the power to destroy the world…
Chen Chen would never allow this to happen.
…
The Indian Ocean was close to Mauritius. There were more than dozens of cruisers stationed here all year round and even Northern America had stationed an aircraft carrier here. These vehicles wandered the waters all day to prevent any ships from approaching.
This sea area had gradually become a well-known secret and it had even begun to circulate on the Internet that there was a gate to another world in this sea area.
At this time, another military cargo plane flew in from the Indian Continent. As the continent most infected by the Consciousness Stealer, the Indian Continent was also the continent from which most planes were dispatched.
Due to the lack of local official capacity, the planes used to transport infected people in India were funded by the Earth Federation and rental for this service was pretty low too as it was used only to maintain fuel and cost prices. To face this epic level of disaster, schemes and greed had been put aside.
At this time, inside this cargo plane, the cabin had been transformed into a fixed seat model. An infected person was tied up in each seat. These infected people could still maintain their consciousness, but upon seeing those of the same kind, all of them showed symptoms of mania and irrationality. They struggled desperately, trying to break free from their seats, but they were still unable to do so.
These infected people who had lost their minds could not regain their minds even if they were separated again. Instead, they became walking corpses and their brains would slowly fail, resulting only in brain death.
A large military cargo plane could carry thousands of infected passengers. As it approached its destination, the military cargo plane began to gradually reduce its speed while raising the landing gear, heading toward a lower altitude.
In the distance, a huge light spot had appeared in its field of vision…
"Whoosh…"
The military cargo plane flew into the spot. At the same time, the pilot only felt that his vision was changing. The endless ocean disappeared and turned into a vast airport.
However, the pilot had long been accustomed to all this. He lowered the lever again and continued to slow down the plane. Finally, the military cargo plane landed and stopped completely after cruising on the runway for three minutes.
Then, a team of heavily armed XTN robots came forward and transported the infected people out. Next to the airport was a research institute where they would spend the rest of their short lives.
Many of them were medical staff, some were senior researchers from all over the world, and some were even soldiers and police. It was these people who maintained order who were often the most vulnerable to infection.
There was no other way. They could only be abandoned as long as the Earth Federation had not found a complete solution to the infection problem.
All this was done for the survival of mankind.
…
A week later.
In the dimension teleportation hall.
Chen Chen was half-lying on the recliner on one side, closing his eyes in rest. Not far from him, there was a fully transparent laboratory built from glass.
This laboratory was not in accordance with the international level-5 biosafety standards, but a very ordinary laboratory.
If it were not for those instruments in it, which w
ould even surprise the biological researchers in other continents, the layout of this laboratory was indeed ordinary.
There were no airtight facilities, no disinfection measures or even a cleaning area. It was just a basic laboratory.
However, for Chen Chen, there was no difference in what kind of laboratory it was because he had uncovered most of the mystery of the Consciousness Stealer. A level-5 biosafety laboratory was meaningless to this kind of life form. Moreover, in the entire dimension teleportation hall, he was the only living person.
The rest were bionic assistants.
At this time, although Chen Chen had closed his eyes, he frowned slightly, and at the same time, a drop of sweat slipped off his forehead. In addition to his slightly pale cheeks, it was obvious that he was suffering some kind of ailment at this time.
After some time, Chen Chen slowly opened his eyes. By now, his eyeballs were bloodshot. He was like a person who had stayed up for a few nights, whose spirit was weakened.
"Huff… The call of that dark yearning is becoming more intense."
Chen Chen sat up from the recliner and the android serving by the side immediately stepped forward and wiped the sweat from his forehead.
It had to be said that ever since he was infected by the Consciousness Stealer, he had not slept well for a long time. Whenever he closed his eyes, the yearning would call out in his mind, bewitching him and commanding him to find those of the "same type", then merge in liberation…
This call became much milder after he had killed the first Consciousness Stealer, but now, it had gradually become stronger.
Chen Chen had naturally figured out why a long time ago. It was because more dead people had turned up on Earth in the past week and the consciousness of those dead people had converged again.
Although there were not as many dead people as the first batch, Chen Chen's will had also been worn down significantly by now, and he was becoming increasingly unable to resist the bewitching call.
Thinking of this, Chen Chen looked up with a pale face and turned to the laboratory not far away. The transparent glass wall of the laboratory could not block his sight. His eyes finally fell on the life incubator in the center of the laboratory.
Inside, a ball of meat with a diameter of half a meter was constantly getting nutrients and growing vigorously.
"Kill it."
Chen Chen narrowed his eyes and suddenly ordered.
Chapter 542: Consciousness Battlefield |
At the moment Chen Chen gave the order, one of the androids who was researching in the laboratory suddenly walked to the side console. It lifted a lid and pressed a red button firmly.
"Squeak…"
Suddenly, a strong voltage struck and the monster in the incubator shuddered all over. The electric light exploded with sparks at the top of the incubator.
The high voltage was highly lethal and instantly boiled the amniotic fluid in the incubator but then there was a loud bang. The reinforced incubator exploded and the new Consciousness Stealer rushed out. It was as if there was an invisible barrier around it as it broke through the glass wall of the laboratory and rushed in Chen Chen's direction!
"Boom!"
Even so, as it just approached Chen Chen's 50-meter range, in an instant, its body seemed to have been subjected to a massive impact. The monster flew backward at a greater speed and at the same time, a large amount of black liquid was sprinkled!
Chen Chen's expression turned even colder, with a faint murderous intent. He stood up and cracked his neck, then moved step by step in the direction where the monster fell.
This monster had indeed inherited a lot of power, but it was also obvious that its power did not reach the level of the first Consciousness Stealer.
Little X had also calculated throughout this period. She divided the human infection event into two stages. The first stage started with the meteorite falling and its end was the death of the first Consciousness Stealer.
The starting point of the second stage was the death of the first Consciousness Stealer and the ending point was now.
According to her statistics, in the first stage, the number of human deaths was around 2,353,400 and the number of deaths in the second stage was only 400,000.
In other words, this current Consciousness Stealer could only absorb the will of 400,000 dead people at most.
It was not that it did not want to absorb more, but Chen Chen had already attacked it…
At this moment, this Consciousness Stealer was like a puddle of mud. Its body was torn apart by the huge impact and the internal organs in its belly flowed to the ground. Although its vitality kept it from dying, it still temporarily lost mobility.
Watching Chen Chen gradually approaching, the monster forced itself up. It opened the mouthparts in the center of its chest and abdomen as if it wanted to do something.
However, a few wisps of light that were barely there flashed by and the monster's movements suddenly froze. Then, its body split apart little by little and eventually, it broke into more than a dozen pieces and collapsed like a building block!
The muscles at the severed points were extremely smooth as if cut with the thinnest and sharpest knife…
After doing all this, Chen Chen waved his hand slightly and the group of androids immediately swarmed up with flamethrowers on their backs and began to aim at the monster's residual limbs.
In a while, the smell of barbecue wafted to the tip of Chen Chen's nose.
After completely killing the second Consciousness Stealer, Chen Chen's expression lightened slightly. He could feel that his brain had been held down by something heavy, especially just after he was sleeping. However, upon killing the Consciousness Stealer, that feeling was temporarily diminished.
It was like drinking poison to quench one's thirst…
This saying suddenly occurred to Chen Chen.
If they did not find a way to solve the infection of the Consciousness Stealer completely, it was useless to kill a Consciousness Stealer every now and then. He would still have a nervous breakdown sooner or later.
What he did today was only like drinking poison to quench one's thirst
As the world's first infected person, Chen Chen's consciousness was pretty formidable but even so, he had been tortured to the point of losing his former calmness. Although on the surface Chen Chen was still the same as usual, only Little X who knew Chen Chen better than anyone else had realized that Chen Chen had not spoken for a long time.
Chen Chen lay back on the couch again, his brows were knitted all this while.
"X."
Suddenly, Chen Chen spoke again. His voice had become hoarser. "Continue to clone the third Consciousness Stealer, don't stop."
"Yes."
Little X comforted him. "Sir Godfather, hold on for a few more days. James Watson, leading more than 300 researchers, is conducting research on the DNA of Consciousness Stealers. It will not take long to find a cure for consciousness infection."
Chen Chen shook his head. Of course, he knew the difficulty of this matter. This kind of consciousness infection was a blind spot for human beings. If they wanted to research it thoroughly or even find a solution, it could not be done overnight. It was difficult to arrive at any results without accumulating decades of experience.
Even so, forget about decades, a person's will could barely hold on for a few months.
As for using memetic technology to solve this, Chen Chen had considered it before. Nonetheless, Little X's understanding of memes was too superficial. Memes were easy to use as weapons but it was not easy to use them as protection.
It was well known that it was very simple to destroy a thing, but it was very difficult to create, maintain, change or otherwise operate it.
However, Little X still suggested an indirect solution, which was to use memes to create a consciousness battlefield in Chen Chen's mind. As long as Chen Chen's consciousness could defeat the consciousness of the Consciousness Stealer, he would probably be liberated…
Right?
Of course, this was just conjecture. Whether it would succeed was still open to debate.
First of all, Chen Chen's consciousness might not be able to defeat the consciousness of the Consciousness Stealer. The relationship between the two was like a white rabbit and a big bad wolf. The human consciousness was simply a powerless little white rabbit next to the Consciousness Stealer. This was a gap at the mental level.
Furthermore, even if Chen Chen defeated this opponent, Little X could not guarantee that the power of the Consciousness Stealer would be eliminated because the power of memes was rather chaotic and it was difficult to say how precise it was. Chen Chen's consciousness might even be injured by the meme.
Therefore, this plan was only an alternative. The main plan was to crack the DNA of Consciousness Stealers, find the element that could infect human consciousness, and try to erase it.
Although the success rate of the alternative was too low, Chen Chen still had two options.
First, he could go to a different dimension where humanity had been wiped out. As long as he left Earth or this original dimension, he could at least limit the interference of the Consciousness Stealer on his consciousness to a minimum.
Second, he could freeze himself and only thaw himself when a solution had been found to his consciousness infection.
Before Blacklight Biotechnology eliminated all cancers in humans, this plan had also been very common. There were many similar freezing institutions in the international community and the most famous one was the "Alcor Life Extension Foundation".
Everyone knew that cryonics was not something that could be done by storing a person at a temperature of more than a hundred degrees below zero degrees Celsius. The human body was 80% water, most of which was in the cells. Once the human body was frozen, the water would automatically freeze and expand, rupturing the cells, causing irreparable damage throughout the body.
That was to say, after a person was frozen and then thawed, nothing seemed to have changed in appearance but the cells of the body had long been dead beyond doubt. Naturally, this kind of person could not be resurrected.
