by <unknown>
Inside the bridge, Shaw's forehead kept dripping with sweat. He stared ahead and did not dare to check the condition of the spaceship. He was afraid that the spaceship would automatically disintegrate in the next second and then, he would never be able to return to the human world.
Behind him, two bodies, dead for some period, were sitting quietly in the steel seats on both sides. The corpses had been dried by the circulating air and turned into two rotten corpses, but even so, their faces were still hideous. Their mouths had opened before they died, like a black hole, and they seemed to have seen something terrifying.
His two assistant navigators died a few months ago…
At this time, the blue veins on Shaw's forehead throbbed and his spiritless eyes stared at the space ahead. His consciousness had penetrated time and space and looked toward the distant horizon. In front of him, an ice-cold star that nonetheless still glowed brightly was flickering, like a lighthouse, constantly showing him the way.
He did not discover this star when he left the solar system two years ago, but when the Blacklight was returning, he gradually noticed it.
The reason Shaw was able to notice it was that this star was special. No matter where the spacecraft flew, the star was always located directly in front of its path and coincided with its destination.
In the beginning, the star was almost invisible to the naked eye and it was so small that it could be concealed by a trace of the subspace airflow. However, after a year of flying, the star became closer and closer and it became bigger and brighter!
Now, this star had become the size of the sun or the moon!
Even so, Shaw understood that this star was not the sun or the moon. He was in the subspace at this time and it was naturally impossible to see anything like the sun and the moon. He only called it a star based on his own framework of knowledge. There was no lack of luminous objects in the subspace. As for what those luminous objects were, it was not known.
"Rumble…"
Suddenly, a tremor ran through the spacecraft again and Shaw's heart also trembled. He had "seen" with the AI that the tail of the spacecraft had been damaged again and a large part of the hull was stripped away by something unknown!
"Warning, areas 21 and 22 are missing, areas 18, 19, and 20 have air pressure leaks, nuclear fusion engine No. 3 has stalled, and damage to the hull of the spacecraft has exceeded 30%!"
The AI issued a warning.
"Close all hatches in areas 18, 19, and 20!"
Shaw ordered, "Send the android engineer to make repairs!"
"The android engineer has been destroyed!"
The AI continued. "There are currently only 36 Black Knight guards left. Should they be sent to make the repairs?"
"No, then forget it, leave it alone!"
Shaw gritted his teeth and said, "AI, have all the Black Knights guard the space warp engine. We're going home soon!"
However, there was no response to his order. Shaw could not help raising his eyebrows. "AI, AI?"
"Whimper, whimper…"
A faint crying sound abruptly rang out by Shaw's ears.
"It's, it's happening again?"
There was panic in Shaw's eyes and then he stared straight ahead, watching the subspace airflow that was constantly breaking apart by the bow of the ship outside the window, and he no longer cared about everything going on around him.
"Shaw, Shaw…"
He heard a pair of male and female voices on both sides of him at the same time, accompanied by a weird gurgling moan. A stinging icy chill slowly crept up from behind him.
Shaw's forehead was drenched in a cold sweat. Although he knew that all of this was an illusion of the subspace, this feeling was too real. He could even sense the two corpses behind him crawling up and clinging to his steel seat!
"Shaw…"
A bloody disfigured face slowly came into Shaw's peripheral vision. Shaw's body could not stop shuddering, but long-term training allowed him to maintain control of the spacecraft. There might be unknown substances blocking the spacecraft's way at any time in the subspace airflow. If he did not concentrate, he could easily cause the spacecraft to crash into a sea of chaos and thorns.
If that happened, considering that he was being pursued now, Shaw would be done for!
"Hee, hee, hee…"
Suddenly, another harsh and piercing laughter burst out by his other ear. Shaw resisted the intense urge to turn his head back. Then, he only felt a pair of extremely cold hands clasping his head, silently pressing against his forehead!
"Leader, why don't you dare to look at me? Join us, join us…"
The shrill voice echoed in Shaw's ears, making his hair stand on end as his mind was sent into an anxious turmoil.
"Gordon, Marcy, you're still causing trouble after you're dead!"
Shaw roared fiercely and at this very perilous moment, the spacecraft finally reached the range of the star's illumination. All at once, the surrounding subspace air currents cleared up!
"Boom!"
Light shone everywhere!
In the next second, two mournful screams quickly arose, wailing harshly beside Shaw.
"Argh—!"
It was like snow under the spring sun. The two phantoms melted almost as soon as they came into contact with the light of the star. At the same time, the illusion in Shaw's mind had also disappeared. Except for the subspace outside the window, his world was dark once again!
At the same time, the viscous substances attached to the spacecraft began to dissolve rapidly and even the bubbles that kept bursting behind the spacecraft halted at the moment they entered the shining range of the star. Low snarls of anger erupted from the bubbles as if they were unhappy about this!
"Hmm? That fellow behind isn't coming after us?"
Shaw looked behind him with lingering fear. He could not help being a little flabbergasted. Could this star be something even more peculiar than the bubbles behind him?
However, when he looked at the subspace coordinates at this time, he was taken aback.
He had already entered the scope of the solar system without realizing it?
By this time, the star had begun to bloom with incomparable light and the entire void was filled with the luminescence of the star. Shaw even had the illusion that he was about to melt into the light.
The light dispelled the subspace airflow and at the same time, dispelled most of the demons and ghosts within the solar system!
"This… Is this the projection of the solar system in subspace?"
Shaw stared blankly at everything outside the window. In his vision, he seemed to "see" thousands of light spots. These light spots were densely arranged next to the huge star, like stars grouped around the moon. Still, compared with that strange star, these light spots were extremely tiny…
"Wait, why is the presence coming from this star so familiar?"
Shaw seemed to understand something but his eyes, which had already lost their sight, were getting brighter now…
Immediately, Shaw jolted himself into action. He exhausted the last of his strength and roared, "AI, head to the Mandeville Point immediately. Let's leave the subspace!"
…
As the game Ancient Civilization took the world by storm, all other topics were suppressed, be it celebrity scandals or political developments.
There was only one topic that could keep pace with Ancient Civilization and that was the construction of the Dyson cloud.
On the day the game was released, the first Mercury factory of the Earth Federation had been built and was starting to mine the metal mineral resources on Mercury. At the same time, tens of thousands of heat-resistant engineering robots began to use these resources to replicate themselves, growing their numbers at a swift, geometrical pace.
It was estimated that in one year, the engineering robots of the Dyson cloud project would exceed one billion units, meeting the most basic requirements of the engineering project.
After that, humankind would b
egin to officially dismantle Mercury…
Nevertheless, just a few days after the game was officially launched, a new message was sent back from the orbit of Pluto.
Once this message was received, it was immediately listed as top secret by Little X, and it was delivered to Chen Chen's desk as soon as possible.
"What, the Blacklight is back?"
Chen Chen stood up suddenly, a hint of delighted surprise dancing in his eyes.
Few things in this world could get Chen Chen worked up. A few days ago, one million game chambers were sold out in one second and the Dyson cloud plan was fully launched yet he remained unperturbed as all these were mere trifles to him.
If there was one thing in the world that could move him, it would have to be information related to the subspace.
Immediately, Chen Chen seemed to have thought of something and his surprise instantly turned into a vigilant look.
"Are you worried about whether the other party is successful?"
Little X was understanding. After all, everything in the subspace was too mysterious for humans. "Please be rest assured, the information we received is normal and even the code is correct. There's no memetic effect and our radio telescope is also aimed at the position of the Blacklight. We'll be able to 'see' it in less than half an hour."
"Tell them to stay where they are."
Chen Chen nodded and ordered, "They are to wait for our team to perform an inspection and they'll only be allowed to return to the Moon Rabbit Space Station when everything is confirmed to be normal. Otherwise, they'll all be killed!"
Half an hour later, Chen Chen quickly received the information from the Blacklight, which was submitted only after going through Little X's review and processing.
When reading the contents, Chen Chen was pleasantly surprised at first, then he frowned slightly.
The pleasant surprise was that Kepler-642b was a planet very similar to the earth. It also had an atmosphere, in which the oxygen content was very similar to that of the earth. There was even a group of natives on the planet — a group similar to dinosaurs.
Still, he frowned because the Blacklight experienced the impact of the subspace tide on its way back. This tide had damaged the reality anchor. What he did not expect was that after this damage, it was as if the spacecraft had lost its protective shell. There were countless things in the subspace, nameless and formless, that launched attacks one after another, and the Blacklight was almost wrecked!
In the end, it returned to the solar system smoothly because of the guidance of a strange star located in the subspace.
"A strange star?"
Chen Chen raised his eyebrows thoughtfully. "I once entered the subspace during the psionic boy incident, and at that time, I didn't see any stars that could dissolve the subspace airflow…"
"The star that Shaw mentioned is probably you," Little X reminded.
Chen Chen was startled when he heard this and then showed a contemplative look…
In the next few days, the inspection ship departed from Mars and went to the Pluto orbit before boarding the Blacklight colony spacecraft. After it was determined that all the subspace energy in the spacecraft had been eliminated, the battered, broken spacecraft officially returned to the Moon Rabbit Space Station in the earth's orbit.
Then, the most comprehensive subspace navigation data, tracking the entire journey, was presented in front of Chen Chen and Little X.
Looking at everything recorded on the spacecraft, Chen Chen suddenly felt like it was akin to a great voyage in the Middle Ages. In the past, to conquer the sea, human beings sent fleets to cruise deep into the ocean over and over again. After one fleet was wiped out, they would send another, and finally successfully conquered the ocean and expanded humanity's world to the entire planet.
Now, all of what he had done was no different from the past era of great voyages. The only difference was the progress of science and technology, and the changes of the times…
"Two thousand 'emigrants' have been sent to Kepler-642b."
At this time, Shaw stood in front of Chen Chen's desk, lowered his head, and stated, "We built a colony on that planet in accordance with the requirements listed in the construction and agricultural templates. We didn't leave until we saw that the colony was built. When we left, the two thousand emigrants had already entered the farming life. They are the first human colonists on that planet."
The so-called construction and agricultural template was a unique smart AI system, which also included the corresponding assembly line. The construction template could build a large-scale camp out of thin air within a few days while the agricultural template could clear a large area of cropland in a few days.
These were all technologies specially created by Blacklight Biotechnology to colonize the extraterrestrial planets. At the same time, they also needed to be paired with extremely intelligent AI. The person in control would not need to have much related knowledge at all. They only had to follow the intelligent control of the template to create the corresponding items.
The so-called colonists were all felons purchased by Blacklight from all over the world. Under the threats and promises of Blacklight Biotechnology, they had signed an agreement with the company. Blacklight Biotechnology would give them freedom and they must act as guinea pigs to expand the territory for humankind.
To defend against potential extraterrestrial microbes, these colonists were injected with a drug called "adaptive evolution enzyme", which was extracted from a movie called Pandorum. It could help humans adjust their bodies and quickly adapt to an unfamiliar environment at the cost of genetic mutations.
Chapter 637: Kiss of the Subspace |
"On the way back, at first, it was as calm as before. The reality anchor isolated the subspace airflow and also protected the three of us from the subspace's erosion.
"However, it seems that the subspace isn't in a calm state all the time…"
Shaw's voice was low, with a kind of agitation. "It's like the ocean. There are occasionally extremely destructive tsunamis and hurricanes in the ocean, and the same is true for the subspace. On our way back, I saw a subspace storm that sprawled across dozens of star regions in the distance. We couldn't evade it at all…
"Therefore, I decided to let the spacecraft directly cut across the storm. After all, there's a reality anchor to isolate everything. In my opinion, with the sturdiness of our spacecraft, it wouldn't be difficult to pass through this storm…
"But, I was wrong. The power of the subspace storm was beyond my imagination. The barrier extended by the reality anchor was as fragile as a soap bubble in this storm. A few days after entering the storm, it was finally overwhelmed and shattered. At the same time, it also caused the subspace energy to flow into the spacecraft…
"It was then that Gordon and Marcy collapsed because they couldn't bear the spiritual erosion of the subspace. They lost their minds and even wanted to get up from the driver's seat. Fortunately, I have the authority to lock them in place, trapping them in their seats."
"So, the reality anchor is that important in subspace navigation?"
On the side, Little X thought out loud. "It seems that installing this piece of equipment in the spacecraft was a wise choice."
"Not only that…"
Shaw smiled bitterly and nodded. "After the reality anchor shattered, the ship's body was even intruded by something unknown. Those existences were invisible and formless, and the Black Knight guards and androids suffered heavy casualties before they could expel those existences. …"
"Enslavers?"
Upon hearing this, Little X and Chen Chen could not help but glance at each other, with a discerning expression in their eyes.
"Enslavers" was the name given to the subspace creatures in the previous "psionic boy" incident. They could infiltrate psionicists without anyone noticing and mix into the human world, collecting human internal organs and blood. Thus, a flesh-and-blood door that could cut through reality and subspace was formed
.
"So, those beings are called Enslavers?"
Shaw was stunned. Although he did not understand how Chen Chen learned this information, he continued to report faithfully, "Finally, Gordon and Marcy became crazy due to the erosion of the subspace, and their bodies began to mutate. I could only disconnect their life-preserving devices and lock them in their driver's seats."
At this point, Shaw's face was twisted in anguish. "They kept roaring and groaning in my ears until half a month had passed and both of them gradually died…
"Just after the two of them were dead, I thought I could've some relief, but I didn't expect that the spaceship would be targeted by a more powerful existence. This opponent was extremely fast and followed closely behind the spaceship. No matter how I sped up, I couldn't get rid of it because it followed me all the way in the path left behind by the spacecraft's navigation…
"In this way, I persisted for three months, using that star as my navigation point to keep moving forward, and finally returned to the range of the solar system. At the moment I returned to the solar system, all the subspace air currents dissipated. This was within the range of the star's light…"
In the end, Shaw could not help but look up at Chen Chen. "By the way, the energy that the star exuded was the same as yours, Mr. Chen…"
"I got it."
Chen Chen nodded, without showing too much emotion. "Apart from that star, what else did you see?"
"Countless smaller stars."
Shaw quickly replied, "There were tens of thousands of tiny stars around that star. The brightest of those stars was only one percent of that star and the dimmest was only one ten-thousandth or one hundred-thousandth of that star… These stars collectively surrounded that largest star, which was dispelling the subspace energy for them, and delineating a solar system-sized hole in the subspace."
"Other tiny stars, huh?"
Chen Chen's eyes glimmered with recognition. He had guessed what the stars were, but he asked again, "Are you sure you hadn't seen these stars when you set sail more than two years ago?"
"I had not."
Shaw affirmed. "I didn't notice it two years ago. If I did, I would've remembered it."
