by <unknown>
A prison was built here.
Unlike ordinary prisons, this was more like a restricted living area. What one would see were two rows comprising more than a hundred rooms with tungsten alloy fences. The dark corridor extended all the way to the end, but in such a large-scale prison, there was only one guest.
The guest was detained in the first cell with his hands and feet tied up, and his body was also chocked full of life-saving equipment. Without such equipment, he would have lost control of his emotions and died of endocrine disorders.
Outside his door, there were two heavily armed Black Knights standing guard.
Seeing Chen Chen, the Black Knights saluted immediately, then opened the door of the cell without any second thoughts and invited Chen Chen in.
As Chen Chen stepped into the cell, he could not help raising his eyebrows when he saw the experimenter.
The eyes were rolled back and the veins were bursting at the temples. The aura of insanity was far more violent than seen in the video.
Not only that, Chen Chen clearly detected a familiar smell after entering the cell.
He could not tell what it was because this smell was not something his nose had picked up but a psionic sensation. If he must describe it physically, it was an odor similar to sulfur…
This was not an intense smell, but when Chen Chen "smelled" this, he was taken aback.
It was because he had detected this before only when he entered deep into the subspace.
"A being that enters the subspace will be contaminated with the presence of the subspace?"
Chen Chen tilted his head. He silently opened his right hand. Suddenly, a black slate appeared out of thin air on the palm of his hand. In the next second, an invisible wave rolled out in all directions. The wave was so subtle that even the fine sand would not be blown away. Nonetheless, it dispelled all the surrounding subspace energy in an instant.
At the same time, it also refreshed Chen Chen's spirit.
"It works."
Chen Chen's eyes glimmered with glee. He looked at the experimenter again, only to find that the other person's expression had eased up a little bit. At the same time, the other person's heartbeat dropped from more than one hundred and fifty times to one hundred times per second and then continued to fall.
"His emotions have begun to stabilize."
Nancy's voice came from his side. "But his consciousness seems to be in a coma. Should we wake him up now?"
"That's not needed."
Chen Chen shook his head. He walked straight forward, took off the person's gag, and then placed the black slate in his hand in front of the person.
The black stone slab was at once suspended in the air, spinning silently at an extremely slow speed, looking very mystical.
"Baruch."
Chen Chen had read the man's information. He naturally knew the man's name. At this time, there was only the sound of Chen Chen gently saying, "Baruch, you're very tired now.
"You're sinking bit by bit, sinking into the deep sea of the subconscious, but you don't have to be afraid because the ocean of your origin is there, where your consciousness will be free and liberated…"
Chen Chen's voice seemed to come from a distant horizon and at the same time, it reverberated slowly in the small quiet room. Soon, the mind and body of this experimenter entered a state that was half asleep and half awake.
"Now please tell me, what did you see on the Courage Voyager spaceship?"
Chen Chen asked suddenly.
"I… I saw many people like me and they were all taken aboard the spaceship. I found out from others that the name of this spaceship is the Courage Voyager…"
Baruch's voice was very hoarse. After all, he had not eaten food or drink water for a whole day, relying on drips to maintain his energy.
"Very good."
Chen Chen nodded and said again, "After you've waited for a while, you can feel that the spacecraft has already set off and is sailing to the depths of the universe. You're a little nervous because you don't know what it is you have to face in the future…"
Suddenly, Chen Chen's tone changed and asked, "But at this moment, you suddenly feel a tremor in the spacecraft. Do you know what has happened?"
"It's… It's the space warp."
Baruch's voice was low and hoarse. "I heard the broadcast, which told us that the spacecraft is going to make a space warp, so we should be prepared… I don't know what a space warp is, so I just grabbed something next to me to prevent the accelerating spaceship from tossing me around…"
Chen Chen continued to inquire encouragingly, "Next, what did you see?"
"I saw that the spacecraft had sailed into a hazy world."
Baruch continued. "It was a weird world. The windows were all red and blurry and a special kind of fog was permeating the outer space. I had never seen such a weird cosmic space and… I felt that, when I looked out the window, there seemed to be countless pairs of eyes, staring at me closely…"
"Staring at you?"
Chen Chen rubbed his chin. Indeed, it fitted the characteristics of the subspace very well. In the subspace, it was necessary to close one's eyes but because these people were in the spacecraft, they were not attacked by the subspace even though they did not close their eyes.
However, if things were that simple, Chen Chen would not be standing here right now. At this time, he continued to ask, "What next? What happened next?"
"Next…"
Baruch's voice suddenly slowed down and his body began to tremble gradually as if something was about to gush out of his body. Not only that, but Chen Chen also smelled the energy of the subspace again.
The energy this time radiated from Baruch's body…
"What happened next?"
Chen Chen continued to ask as he looked at the man's face that was turning ferocious again. There was a vague sense of urgency, so he accelerated the speed of his questioning.
"It's the eyes!"
Suddenly, Baruch widened his eyes. He seemed to be looking at Chen Chen but his eyes were not focused at all. He just wailed mournfully. "The eyes, I saw countless eyes, they… They were watching me too!"
Chen Chen frowned when he heard these words. He was about to continue asking something, but a large gust of subspace energy began to emerge from Baruch's body. At the same time, Baruch's body began to decay at a speed visible to the naked eye!
First were his eyes, which changed from black and white to a blood-red mass, then to black again, before finally transforming directly into black juice that flowed down his face!
Then, his cheeks, body, and limbs began to rot rapidly, just like a piece of rotten meat that had been left out for hundreds of years. Still, in this decaying, an eerie vitality was revealed!
Before Chen Chen, Baruch was turning into an unknown life form!
Seeing this scene, Chen Chen quickly backed away. At the same time, with a single gesture, the black slate flew back to his palm through the air and then a more intense wave surged out on the black slate again!
"Boom!"
The fluctuations swept across the cell in an instant. At this moment, Baruch suddenly widened his mouth and erupted in a heart-piercing roar. Meanwhile, his body melted rapidly in the fluctuations as if he had encountered sulfuric acid. He turned into a pile of scattered ash in an instant, hovering thickly in the entire cell!
Baruch was dead.
After all this, Chen Chen's expression became completely serious. He stretched out his other hand slightly and watched the ash land on his palm. Even so, Chen Chen's face was very solemn.
"The subspace is indeed more terrifying than I thought…"
Chen Chen frowned. "The black slate can dissipate the presence of the subspace but it can't save the lives of ordinary people? Also, what caused that zombie-like transformation? Why was his body filled with the subspace energy?"
Nancy beside him also wore a silent expression. She was just a larger clone of Little X after all. Although she was not inferior to humans in terms of i
ntelligence, she was still significantly inferior to Little X. She was also at a loss when faced with these questions.
Chen Chen frowned and walked out of the cell. He looked back at the cell again and then a lightbulb suddenly flashed in his mind. "The spaceship will be corroded when it enters the subspace. The Black Knights can enter the subspace without any problems and ordinary people will end up like Baruch. What about psionicists?"
Psionic energy was a power that could come in touch with the subspace, unlike Field energy. Chen Chen's Field energy could not be utilized in the subspace at all, but psionic energy could penetrate the fog of the subspace and be used as a way of exploring one's surroundings instead of eyes.
In this case, if a psionicist entered the subspace, would there be a different outcome?
This thought quickly flashed through Chen Chen's mind and he immediately gave an order, "Nancy, send a message to X and tell her to send ten psionicists immediately. The stronger the psionic power of these psionicists, the better."
"Yes."
Nancy nodded and agreed.
This matter was not complicated. Nancy only needed to transmit Chen Chen's order to Earth and Little X would receive it within a few minutes. Then, the psionicists could be transported over by teleportation.
The only shortcoming might be that it could take a lot of time to find high-level psionicists.
After they were sent here, Nancy could use the launch vehicle to send these psionicists to Mars orbit and dock with the Courage Voyager there to continue the next subspace experiment.
Chapter 608: Shaw |
There was a fifty percent chance across the board for the felon experiment subjects to have their psionic potential awakened with just a standard vial of L compound injection.
Psionicists were not worth too much. It was the L compound that was considered valuable.
Following Chen Chen's orders, ten psionicists were transported to Spire 2 with the Watchman teleporter. Upon their arrival, they threw up all over the place like they just stepped off a roller coaster. This was the side effect of interplanetary teleportation.
These psionicists were not particularly powerful. They were made to stand in a line by the Black Knights for Chen Chen to evaluate them. With a glance, Chen Chen quickly noted that the strongest of the bunch were the three Gamma-level psionicists while the remaining seven were all of the lowest Delta-level. Even mere Gamma-levels were considered elite among this group.
These felon subjects were also fitted with a custom-made tungsten collar around their necks. At Gamma-level, they did not yet possess the strength to resist the explosive capabilities of these tungsten collars, not even with spirit form since it would only be at novice level, therefore it was easy to keep them in line this way.
Their psionic manifestations were relatively common as well. Among the three Gamma-level subjects, two of them acquired steel body fortification which was as common as they come while the other one was fortunate enough to attain a power known as "astral sight".
After the L compound injection, the person's eyes turned into a fogged mirror-like his iris had developed cataracts. There was no cure for this symptom, even if the help of the reality anchor was employed. If not for the psionic presence in his body, any observer would think that he was a regular person plagued with a cataract.
The only function of this ability was that he could detect the presence of other psionicists...
What a strange power...
Chen Chen stepped in front of the psionicist with cataracts. The psionicist had his eyes shut tightly. Since his vision was clouded by this ability, he always had his eyes shut like he was a blind man.
Chen Chen sized up this weakly looking man who was still trembling with fear. An idea sparked within him and he proceeded to ask, "What's your name?"
"Shaw Winfred."
The man shuddered when he heard Chen Chen's voice, his voice quivering. "You can just call me Shaw."
"So, your ability allows you to identify psionicists, will you tell me how that works?"
Chen Chen asked casually.
"I, I just need to open my eyes and if there's any psionic presence nearby, I can see them..."
Shaw trembled like a feeble branch disturbed by a storm. "Well... I can only see a luminescent silhouette of psionicists with my eyes, I can't see regular people at all..."
"You're afraid?"
Chen Chen suddenly shifted the topic and looked straight into Shaw's eyes. "Why are you shaking? What are you afraid of?"
"I..."
Beads of sweat trickled down Shaw's forehead relentlessly. His legs gave out under him and he tumbled onto the floor.
Chen Chen winced at this sight and became even more perplexed. "I've looked up your information. Based on your background, I made you out to be quite competent, what makes you so terrified?"
"Sir, it's... I'm blinded by this dazzling light..."
Shaw buried his head into his chest. "Even with my eyes shut, I can still see the radiant sunlight stubbornly penetrating the gaps between my eyelids..."
Chen Chen raised an eyebrow and seemed to understand what Shaw was suggesting. "You mean you can see me?"
"Yes, I've never seen anything so bright in my life..."
Shaw saying something like this could easily be mistaken as a pathetic attempt at shining Chen Chen's boots, except it was an honest statement because this was Chen Chen he was dealing with.
Could this imply that Shaw's true ability was gauging the psionic potential of a person?
A blind man who could measure psionic level?
It was a profound idea. Chen Chen had an inkling of suspicion that this person called Shaw could offer some surprisingly meaningful contribution to his subspace navigation technology...
With that, Chen Chen moved on from Shaw and turned to the others. "All ten of you have had your task relayed to you earlier but there's one more term I'd like to add - if you can survive this experiment, I promise to grant you freedom."
These psionicists were shocked to hear of such a grand promise. They exchanged glances with each other as their eyes flickered with excitement.
"This person here is the supreme leader of Blackwatch."
Nancy stepped forward and added. "You can trust him."
This further riled their spirits.
"Provided that you can offer your cooperation in this experiment."
Chen Chen added, his voice symbolic as ever. "If you don't abide by the orders issued from the spaceship just so you can keep yourself safe, I promise that you'll face severe consequences when you come back alive..."
This threat was extremely effective and quelled whatever ideas they were conjuring in their minds.
"Alright, get ready to depart."
Chen Chen shot an intense look at Shaw one last time before leaving the teleportation hall.
After leaving, Chen Chen looked up Shaw's information again on his wristwatch.
Shaw Winfred, thirty-five years old, born and raised in Sydney. This was a man with powerful conviction.
The reason Chen Chen evaluated him so was that years ago, Shaw had chanced upon his wife cheating on him with another man. In a fit of rage, he murdered the two of them then fled to Gambia, Africa.
Unsurprisingly, he had a hard time finding a place for himself in Gambia and resorted to the life of a nomad, seeking food and shelter everywhere he went. One time, he accidentally killed a local civilian in his frenzy for food and shelter and was sentenced to thirty years in prison by the Gambia officials. This was how he came to be sold to Blacklight.
This was a summary of Shaw's life.
Chen Chen looked at Shaw's psionic powers documentation. The nature of his psionic manifestation was queer, to say the least, and would not give him a respectable placing in Blacklight Biotechnology. Despite these setbacks, he worked himself off night and day and honed his power as close to perfection as he could until he was finally promoted to Gamma-level. If not for the work he had put in, he would never se
e the light of day nor be brought to Chen Chen today.
Ten minutes later, Nancy reported again, "The transport rocket has successfully docked with the Courage Voyager. All ten psionicists have entered the transport."
"Give them a rundown of the safety precautions."
Chen Chen replied with a quick nod then diverted his full attention back to the current experiment.
...
Shaw always felt his life was separated into two distinct halves - one plagued with more misfortune than the other.
He was born in a wealthy family and things went just as well as they could for him during an early age. His parents loved him and he was relatively bright compared to most of his peers. He managed to enroll in the university of his choice. His venture in business after university went well and he even met the girl of his dreams.
Everything went downhill after he married her...
It was a regular day. He remembered some trivial incident had happened at work that day so he got to head home early. He wanted to give his beloved wife a surprise but life had a way of irony at times because he was just as surprised as his wife when he came home to what he saw.
In an instant, he went blind and senseless with rage. All the reasoning in the world went out of his mind. The only thing in his mind was a voice screaming at him to kill this person!
By the time he came back to his senses, he was sitting in a pool of blood joined by two puddles of blood, and feeling the cold steel of the gun in his arms.
To escape the judgment of the law, he had to escape his family, friends, and everything he acquired in his life to that point. He got in touch with a friend familiar with underground dealings and got himself ferried to Africa.
Things went well enough till the point when he arrived in Africa. That was when things went south again. It turned out that the friend that shipped him to his destination was never on his side to begin with. As soon as they arrived, he was stripped of all his possessions and abandoned in a fishing village somewhere in the region.
With that, his life took another sharp turn as if things were not terrible enough as it was.
Someone who was once in the IT industry himself quickly realized that there was no demand for his talents here. He became homeless and would spend his days hiding in the reefs on the coast and venturing into the village at night to steal food from the fisherman's homes.
