by <unknown>
Upon touching the black slate, an abstract picture formed in Chen Chen's mind.
It was a planet in its earlier, primitive form. There was a group of apes leading their lives in a tribal ecosystem. This collection of animals was still in their earliest, emergent form. They fed on whatever live animals they could find. These organisms had yet to place themselves on the top of the food chain.
On a fateful day spelled by destiny, a black slate emerged from the ground and levitated over the territory of the apes.
The tribe of apes looked upon it like they were witnessing a divine miracle. They gathered around it and began to instinctively worship it.
Moments after, the black slate released an invisible shockwave. The tides of its ripple spooked the apes and made them flee from its source in a fit of panic. What these primitive animals did not know was that the seeds of civilization were planted in the deepest corners of their mind from that day forward.
It did not take long after that occurrence for the apes to learn skills such as crafting tools, making fire, then on to systemized farming...
With the passing of each day, the apes soon learned to walk on two limbs instead of four. Their arms were now primed for better purposes such as operating tools instead of for walking. The seeds of civilization sprouted with a delightful radiance...
These montages came to Chen Chen's mind. He watched the rise of civilization play out in his mind. He saw the apes gradually evolving into a hybrid form that began to resemble men, then soon evolved into the human race as he knew it. They propagated the planet like a viral virus.
The advancement of civilization only sped up from there on and in time, mankind had traveled into space. At that point, the pictures in Chen Chen's mind stopped playing, representing the completion of the first phase of human civilization.
"So, this is the Civilization Monolith..."
When the montage concluded, Chen Chen pensively put away the fragments of the black slate and then he took one final look at the endless subspace.
There were still many profound questions that demanded an answer, such as the appearance of Professor Wang Xi, the robot in human skin, and what was lurking beneath the depths of the subspace...
There were still countless secrets hidden beneath the subspace, secrets in which Chen Chen at this phase was not qualified enough to unearth yet.
It was not a task to be carried out by Chen Chen as an individual, but by mankind as a whole. After all, the evolution of civilization was not an individual effort but a collective effort.
At this point, Chen Chen could feel the corrosion of the subspace slowly growing in severity. Without wasting another moment, he quickly entered the passage...
Again, he was basked in a lucid dream state and by the time he regained his senses, he had departed the subspace and returned to the upstream that intersected the subspace and reality. Even here, Chen Chen could feel the tidal wave of subspace eating away at his conscience. He quickly moved toward the outside world.
Just as he was about to exit the edges of the subspace countercurrent, he suddenly heard a deep, foreign hum coming from somewhere behind him.
Chen Chen frowned and turned around just in time to see the Air Force One falling apart, kicking a cloud of dusty mist. The passage leading to the subspace was expanding rapidly!
While the gap in-between space was being torn apart, an undefinable entity without a determined shape and form broke through space and hurdled through everything in its path and made its way toward Chen Chen!
"Hum! Hum! Hum!"
It bellowed a drumming hum that sent tremors down the depths of Chen Chen's soul. He immediately sensed an apprehending sense of doom looming over him!
Chen Chen could sense the presence of this unknown entity that greatly surpassed that of the Consciousness Stealer which he was previously acquainted with. It was several tens of thousand times stronger!
Without wasting a moment, Chen Chen took off at full speed. He broke through the subspace countercurrent in an instant and the moment he emerged from it, the light in the world was shut off again. Everything descended into darkness.
Chen Chen quickly prodded forward cautiously with his psionic power and saw that the reality anchor that anchored the black fog in place began to tremble violently. What seemed like dark, demonic figures circling it was trying to break free!
"Escape!"
This was the only thing on Chen Chen's mind. He bolted to the reality anchor at full speed and grabbed the device swiftly. Then, he went to where he had stashed X-112's drive and immediately retrieved it and bound for Miami. The thought of taking the Black Knights with him hardly crossed his mind!
"Sir Commander?"
X-112 sounded puzzled by this sudden urgency. "Didn't you enter with Zhao Shanhe? Why are you alone? Where are we going?"
"Home."
This was Chen Chen's short reply, followed by, "I can't see anything now and am relying on Field for flight. Make sure to inform me when we get to Miami..."
"Your eyes..."
X-112 only just realized that Chen Chen had lost his eyes. She had a faint idea of what had happened amid the black fog but knew this was not the time for constant questions so she guided Chen Chen faithfully.
Chen Chen burned through all the Field concentration he had without any reserve and arrived in Miami in only half an hour. Not a single moment was wasted before he delved into the passage created by the USB drive and finally returned to reality.
Upon emerging from the passage, he quickly unplugged the USB drive from the computer and severed the connection between both worlds.
"Phew!"
Two Black Knights mechanically carted a stretcher to Chen Chen for him to lay on top and immediately operated on his injuries after that.
Chen Chen's chest injury was almost healed up by this point. This was especially astounding considering how a major portion of his chest was carved out by the lightsaber and the extreme temperature of the lightsaber had burned through all of the surrounding muscles. Any ordinary mortal that suffered such injuries would be dead on the spot. Chen Chen's survival was completely attributed to the inhumane body he resided in.
Two plump, white eyeballs began to grow from his eye sockets as well. Chen Chen had been suppressing the regeneration of his eyeballs while he was in the subspace, otherwise, it would have fully regenerated by now.
The mass of injury Chen Chen sustained had weakened his body greatly. In time, he should be fully recovered with the careful monitoring of the crew of Black Knights.
"Keep these fragments in a safe place."
Chen Chen suddenly produced a handful of black slate fragments and handed it to a Black Knight while instructing, "Remember, this is very important. Make sure you stash even the smallest trace of powder."
"Understood."
X-112 noted. "But there are two reality anchors left behind in the Event Horizon dimension. Are we going to leave them there and let them go to waste?
"Do you want to retrieve them?"
Chen Chen shook his head. "It's too late for that. It's over for that dimension and even the mysterious civilization from DOOM cannot save it by this point... It's over."
X-112 left the subject upon hearing this remark.
"The subspace is far more terrifying than I ever expected..."
Chen Chen drew a silent sigh and reflected on what he encountered before leaving. Everything was fine when he entered the subspace, even during the exchange with Zhao Shanhe. It was only moments before he exited the world when a catastrophic entity made its entry. The timing was too uncanny to be a mere coincidence.
Could it be...
Professor Wang Xi's face flashed across Chen Chen's mind. What he experienced had the professor's handwriting written all over it. Why would he do something like that?
Chen Chen craved an answer.
Chapter 597: Subspace Navigation Technology |
A day later.
After receiving proper nutrition, Chen C
hen had returned to tip-top condition. He received a swift report from X-112.
"Sir Commander, we have reassembled the black slate you collected."
Chen Chen was delighted by the good news brought by X-112. Shortly after that, a Black Knight showed up and presented a tightly sealed glass bottle in front of Chen Chen.
Chen Chen immediately noticed a small black slate levitating in the middle of the glass bottle. It exuded a faint glow inside it.
"Civilization Monolith..."
Chen Chen carefully uncapped the bottle and placed the black slate in his hand. An unknowingly familiar sensation came over him the moment he placed it in his hand.
This seemed to be the way of the Civilization Monolith accepting him as its new owner, having inherited it from its previous owner.
With this suspicion in mind, Chen Chen shut his eyes and injected his presence into the black slate.
"Thump!"
A shockwave surged from the black slate. Chen Chen felt his spirit ascending to another plane. His inner conscience rose above Blacklight City and watched over it like an ancestral being.
This was the vantage point of God...
From this vantage point, the Blacklight City in this end dimension took on a different form - a faint beam appeared above the city. It was a column of energy with the shadow of a black chain dwelling inside it.
The chain was in a poor shape, with many cracks and rusted spots riddled over its cuffs. Still, it stubbornly clung onto the beam of light, acting as a symbol of restraint.
"Law and order..."
Chen Chen narrowed his eyes and subconsciously interpreted what this chain represented.
Despite the ruined condition of the chain, one could see that there were many signs of repair done over time as well. He recognized that this was a symbol of the complete restructure he had performed on the city nearly a decade ago when he revamped the ruling cabinet.
Despite Chen Chen's efforts, the chain was still rusting away at a steady pace. It seemed even his efforts of ushering a new ruling group was unable to purge off the darkness within. Furthermore, the new rulers which he had appointed himself were beginning to show signs of corruption like their predecessors...
Live long enough and you would see the heroes turn into villains as well.
Chen Chen's eyes followed up where the beam of light pointed at. At the end of the chain, he spotted a faint shadow of a cross with an old man nailed to it. The face of this figure was blurred but it had an enchanting effect of projecting the face of whoever was beholding it.
"Religion."
Chen Chen understood that this was a religious symbol. This religion originated from the period during the fusion calamity. The Joint Resistance Army needed a recognizable icon to rally the hearts of the people to rebel against the mightiest Divine Fusion Church and so they propagated the cross to the commoners.
Chen Chen saw many other things within the beam of light. He saw weapons that represented technology and war. He saw sullen faces and figures that represented different facets of the city. This was the city's principle of civilization.
Chen Chen continued craning his neck upward until he gazed at the sky and could see the figure of an enormous Consciousness Stealer looming over the entire planet.
This was to represent that this was a dimension ruled by the Consciousness Stealer. Under its governance, the Blacklight City and Joint Resistance Army were merely one of many bodies struggling for survival.
In this realm, the Consciousness Stealer was the embodiment of the principle of civilization...
Chen Chen retracted his gaze. His consciousness promptly exited from this divine perspective and returned to his body.
"How spectral."
Chen Chen commented on the experience, "This thing surpasses any technological creation. Just like the USB drive, it maintains an anchored characteristic even within the multiverses."
"Perhaps this isn't a product of technology?"
X-112 suggested, "The scale of the universe is far beyond our comprehension. This black slate might not be a man made creation. It could be gifted to mankind by another civilization."
"You make a very good point."
Chen Chen agreed with several convinced nods, then he shut his eyes again and sensed the energy lurking within the black slate this time. There was a formless energy rippling within its confinements.
This time, he projected his consciousness into it and fused with the entity inside. The culmination of both presences enveloped a one-kilometer radius around its center.
Chen Chen sensed that every being within this radius had become an extension of himself. With a simple thought, he could alter their minds and have them carry out his will.
By simply invoking his mind, he saw a fat, wretched man sitting on the sofa in the official office of Blacklight City. This man was in the middle of dealing a shady affair with someone else. His guest was a skinny, frail man who tried endlessly to flatter himself.
The frail man unzipped a bag he carried with him to reveal several gold bars stashed inside. The fat man was satisfied with what he saw and expressed it with several contented nods. He said something to the frail man and patted his shoulder energetically.
The very next second, the fat man shot up from his seat with a dazed expression overtaking his previous enthused expression. He stood blankly and turned to the window, then he approached it and proceeded to open it then leaped out of it unhesitantly, leaving the frail man who was baffled by this unexplainable event.
After getting rid of one parasite within the system, Chen Chen continued scanning across the region covered by the power of the black slate. After feeling that his concentration had been exhausted, he immediately retracted his consciousness.
"Phew!"
Chen Chen felt clear-headed again after retracting his consciousness. He looked at the time and found out that he had been using the black slate for half an hour.
Surely enough, the black slate granted the ability to manipulate and dominate humans, but this puppetry was only temporary and the strings cut off after the black slate's powers were suspended.
Based on Chen Chen's previous observation, Zhao Shanhe's range was no more than a hundred meters. Each use of the black slate was extremely mentally exhausting, but even with his initial use his range was already ten times that of Zhao Shanhe's, and his duration extended as well.
"With this power, is there still any obstacle to leading mankind to space?"
Chen Chen smiled and drew his palm into the shape of a fist, absorbing the black slate into his body and allowing it to fuse with himself.
"Time to return."
Chen Chen turned to one of the Black Knights nearby. "X-112, I'll leave the work here to you. If any problem arises, you can find me with the time machine."
"Understood."
X-112 nested inside the Black Knight nodded. "Don't worry Sir Commander, I'll keep watch over here."
Chen Chen nodded firmly and pocketed the USB drive before heading to the secret warehouse where the time machine was located. He returned to reality using the time machine and with that, the three-month-long Event Horizon expedition had come to a close.
...
If the civilization in Event Horizon could be described as to have entered its twilight years, then the landscape of the reality dimension where Chen Chen resided could draw parallel to a radiant sun rising across the horizon.
The emergence of nuclear fusion reactors had ushered in an era of unlimited energy for mankind. Coupled with the emergence of countless aerospace technologies, mankind had unchained itself from the shackles of the earth and evolved from the status of planetary natives to a proper interstellar civilization.
Before Chen Chen returned, he had already sent the space warp engine technology from Event Horizon back to reality before him. By the point of his return, there were already thousands of aerospace scientists and experts of the Blacklight Biotechnology Space Department gathered in a hub located in the sout
hern suburbs of the Eco Science City. Each one of them eagerly dissected the space warp engine to see what knowledge they could extract from it.
This was the first thing Chen Chen was informed of upon his return to reality.
These scientists had signed an appropriate agreement with Blacklight Biotechnology. Even without the installation of the God chip within them, Chen Chen was not worried about the technology being leaked to the Earth Federation.
Blacklight Biotechnology was a powerful force to be reckoned with. As long as Chen Chen maintained his position of not selling the relevant technology, even all four major continents united could not force his hand.
Besides, the scientists were no fools either. They should know that with all the benefits they gained from Blacklight Biotechnology, it would be unwise to leak the information to other parties. The consequences would be extremely dire for the perpetrator.
At this stage, Blacklight Biotechnology could openly lay out all their cards on the table instead of having to take the cautious approach every time and make the extra effort to keep their secrets well hidden.
After returning to his office, Chen Chen cast the live feed in the aerospace department onto the display. He was immediately pleased by what he saw.
"It may take some time for them to fully dissect this space warp engine technology."
Little X stepped into the room wearing a dress and reported, "Based on what we've collected so far, it'd seem that the space warp engine technology is fundamentally flawed. It doesn't function by directly warping the spaceship from one point to another. Instead, it warps into the subspace first and uses the subspace as a transit point before it warps again to its final destination. The flaw with this approach is that it exposes the spaceship to the corrosion of the subspace during the warping process."
"Is that so?"
Chen Chen scowled and remembered a piece of relevant information.
The so-called subspace was essentially a barrier separating the positive matter space and the antimatter space. Einstein had theorized the existence of the subspace more than a century ago.
Based on the established Theory of Relativity charted by Einstein, it could be concluded that if the existing world existed in a positive matter state, then there must be a subsequent anti-matter world as well. The two sides interacted mutually to ensure that the universe maintained its balance and avoided a collapse of any form. In this sense, the subspace maintained a delicate balance between the two halves.
