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Chapter 286: The Stubbornness of the USB Drive

Might as well pull the trigger. Chen Chen had Little X downloaded all the movies ahead of time while he quickly headed over to the nuclear power plant.

The total power generation of the Blacklight nuclear power plant was measured at 2 million kilowatts. Half of that had to be sectioned out to power the Eco Science City, so all that remained for his use was a million kilowatt. Since the first inertial confinement reactor built in the Spire Experimental Base was just the first-generation model and still had plenty of technological deficiencies, its total power was only about 200,000 kilowatts.

The energy consumption of the Spire Experimental Base had to be subtracted as well, along with the power requirements to electrolyze water to extract deuterium and tritium fuel from seawater. After factoring in everything, there was not too much remaining electricity available for use.

That was the reason Chen Chen did not move the charging port of the USB drive to the Spire Experimental Base.

Having said that, a fusion reactor spanning across an area less than 1,000 square meters managed to generate total power nearly equivalent to a full-sized thermal power plant nearly five times larger. The sheer cost-performance ratio displayed by the fusion reactor was a symbol of its reputation.

After arriving at the nuclear power plant again and unplugging the USB drive, Chen Chen first sat in front of the computer and silently thought it over.

To be honest, Chen Chen was still somewhat opposed to the idea of acquiring technical information by entering the dimension on the opposite side of the passage.

This was due to each opening of the passage represented a possible risk of exposure to an unknown source of danger.

Even Chen Chen himself could not guarantee whether the looming threat could be brought into reality by his opening of the passage or not.

Besides, there had been a history of interaction between the Ebola virus from reality and the T-virus from Resident Evil. There was also the case of the three statues from reality and the statues from Elysium that had proven a sort of chain effect with reality. These factors alone were enough to dissuade Chen Chen from opening the passage.

Having said that, it was a stretch to say that these factors would dissuade Chen Chen from ever using the USB drive again. That was impossible...

Just like the NZT-48, once you used it, there would be no turning back. Was the USB drive any different from the NZT-48 at its core?

No, they both brought great joy and unending gratification.

"However, if I'm just instantiating, I can probably only use..."

Chen Chen roughly estimated the accumulated energy within the USB drive. The only one which could be instantiated from was probably the black sphere from Gantz.

After all, the black sphere was the smallest of them all. The teleportation devices from movies Terminator, Star Trek or The Fly were extremely large.

A teleportation device like the black sphere was not without its limitations. At one point in the movie, the protagonist was seen using a grappling gun-type weapon known as the Y-gun. The firearm launched a special rope that locked its target in place.

After that, the bound target would be transmitted to the satellite. Sometimes, only a small part of the target will be transmitted. Either way, it accomplished the task of killing the target.

In that case, would it be correct to assume that these people selected by the black sphere to carry out combat tasks were also transmitted to the outside world through these satellites?

If that was true, then merely instantiating one black sphere alone was not going to cut it.

Besides, there was no guarantee of Chen Chen being able to break down the technology of the black sphere even after instantiating it. There was a greater possibility of him only managing to figure it out on a surface level without getting a handle on its fundamentals.

Therefore, Chen Chen still needed complete documentation of the technology.

However, none of the five films – The Fly, Doom, Terminator, Gantz, and Star Trek – contained a scene that showed the general research details of their respective technologies.

If Chen Chen wanted to acquire the technical documentation, his only solution was to enter the movie's dimension.

Chen Chen begrudgingly shook his head at the circumstances. He silently weighed the potential danger he could face in each dimension against each other. In the end, he settled with the movie, The Fly.

Compared to Star Trek and the other movies which were technologically superior that they were almost an otherworldly civilization, it may appear that The Fly was the safest choice considering the only threat in the movie was a Frankenstein product of a fly instead of aliens or robotic armies.

To be fair, this was only the case when put in a side-by-side comparison with the other movies. If faced with a Frankenstein that could threaten the existence of modern human civilization, it would be not much different from having to face aliens or robot armies.

With this in mind, Chen Chen made a copy of the movie The Fly downloaded by Little X and dragged it into the USB drive.

"Ding!"

However, the laptop emitted a notification indicating a program error.

Chen Chen was immediately taken aback upon realizing that The Fly was rejected by the USB drive...

"WTF..."

Chen Chen frowned. Based on his observation, the world-building of The Fly was considerably simpler than most sci-fi movies. The simpler a movie was, the more it should align with the rules of the USB drive and should be more likely to be accepted by the USB drive.

"The only thing in this movie that dealt with scientific theory is the molecular transportation technology. In this case, does this mean..."

Seemingly understanding something, Chen Chen took a breath and made a copy of the movie Star Trek. Without sparing any further consideration, he dragged it into the USB drive.

"Ding!"

The USB drive had rejected Chen Chen yet again.

Chen Chen was certain that this was not a problem of the integrity of the story structure.

Based on Chen Chen's previous attempts, he had concluded that even if a movie was a part of a large series, it could still be recognized by the USB drive. Even if he had only put one portion of the series, it should still be accepted by the USB drive.

Unless it was a TV show, the entire season had to be inserted to be played.

This meant that the world setting of Star Trek was denied by the USB drive.

The way Chen Chen saw it, Star Trek perfectly aligned with the common ideals of a sci-fi universe. Its scientific component was more put together than most sci-fi movies. The only plausible reason that it would be rejected by the USB drive was possibly due to its enormous world background.

After all, the filming of the Star Trek series spanned over more or less fifty-years in total, producing over a thousand TV series episodes and more than a dozen movies. Due to its enormous world setting, there must have been some contradiction somewhere along the lines which led to its world setting being rejected by the USB drive.

"It seems that both of these movies are rejected by the USB drive..."

Chen Chen suddenly heard the voice of Little X. "Sir Godfather, we've already confirmed that Terminator and Gantz can both be contained inside the USB drive, so all that's left is the movie Doom. There's no telling if this movie can be accepted by the USB drive."

"I'm pretty sure I can wager the outcome at this point."

Still, Chen Chen moved his hand and dragged Doom into the USB drive, all the while shaking his head dejectedly. The USB drive once again produced an abrupt "ding".

All three movies were rejected.

"How did you figure that out?" Little X asked, somewhat astonished.

"It's pretty obvious at this point that the problem stems from the teleporter."

Chen Chen said while deleting the three rejected movies from the USB drive, "Did you notice? One thing all three movies rejected by the USB drive had in common was that all of their teleporters applied the so-called theory of particle decomposition. This means that a person is positioned on the teleporter platform while an operator toggles the button on the control panel in the control room. What happens after that is the teleporter targets each atom of the person on the platform and uses its transmission carrier to send these particles to the operator's desired location, where the atoms are reorganized accordingly.

"You can see this in Star Trek when Captain Picard and his crewmates dissolve into a scatter of light before reappearing on a distant planet..."

Chen Chen let a frown slip upon noting this. "But when you think about it, does this form of teleportation truly conforms to the concept of teleportation? The principle applied here leans closer to a modern fax machine – wherein the receiving point creates a copy of a person, just like creating a clone. In a similar vein, even we can clone a copy of a person by strictly adhering to the person's genetic information. This way, we can reproduce a person with matching genetic information, essentially a counterpart of the original body.

"Still, we all know that despite the similarities exhibited by the clone and the original body, there's zero relation whatsoever between them. Even if both of these entities possess the same memories, they aren't the same person!"

Chapter 287: Secret of the Teleporter

There was this little story Chen Chen had once heard:

It was a tale of the distant future, which by that point human civilization had invented countless dark technologies, one of them being teleportation.

This was how it operated: You would walk into the teleportation platform, which was a very small room. After that, you would select your desired location, assuming you were departing from Shangdu and headed for Kyoto.

Upon choosing your destination, you would then click the button. At that point, the devices in the teleportation room would perform a full scan of your body, collected data on each atom as well as the precise location of each atom on your body.

While the teleportation room performed its scanning routine on you, it was also demolishing you part-by-part. While scanning, it tore down each cell in your body and decomposed them into its most basic, particle state.

Upon completing the scanning sequence, you would be entirely broken down as well. Right after that, the teleportation platform would transmit all of the collected information to the transmission station located in Kyoto. Your body would be rebuilt in accordance with all of the data collected during the scan.

It may seem like a lengthy process when in truth, the entire segment took less than a second. In just a second, you had traversed more than two-thousand kilometers and arrived in Kyoto from Shangdu.

There would be no difference between the current you and the previous you – your mood unaltered, perhaps you might feel just as peckish as you did previously. Even the minor scratch on your fingers remained untouched. This was your experience as far as you were concerned: your vision turned dark upon clicking the button and the next second, you found yourself in Kyoto.

In the twenty-eighth century, this had become an extremely commonplace technology. Everybody traveled this way. It was just as convenient as it was safe.

One day, you were preparing to head on a business trip. Once again, you came to the teleportation room and pressed the button. You heard the device scanning you as usual, but you did not find yourself transported.

So, you went to get the service staff at the teleportation station to inform her that the device in the transportation room may have malfunctioned. The service staff took a look at the user log before informing you: "The scanning device is operating as usual and it has collected all of your information. However, it seems that the cellular decomposition device that works in sync with the scanning device malfunctioned."

"I'm about to be late for work, just quickly assign me to another teleportation room!" You had no time to listen to her explanation as you reiterated your point with greater emphasis.

At this point, the service staff turned on the surveillance footage, revealing footage of you in Kyoto. "Look, this is the surveillance footage of you in Kyoto, you're already in Kyoto."

You become enraged upon hearing this. "But that's not me, I'm still right here!"

At this point, the manager who heard the ongoing commotion came over and explained, "The scanning device is indeed functioning as usual and 'you' have already arrived in Kyoto. The only minor issue is that the cellular decomposition device here in Shanghai malfunctioned. You won't have to worry about that, we shall just take you to another teleportation room and just activate the cellular decomposition device in that room to break you down."

Although at this age, the theory behind a teleportation room transmission had all but become common knowledge, you panicked. "Hold on, doesn't being broken down means that I'll be dead?"

The manager explained patiently, "That's not the case sir, please look at the surveillance footage, you're in perfect condition in Kyoto over there."

That only caused you to panic more. "But that's not me, that's just a copy, I'm the real me!"

The service staff and the manager exchanged a hesitant look. "I'm very sorry sir, but the law dictates that we must demolish your cells as the law constitutes that there must not be two of you existing in the world at the same time."

You look at them, absolutely mortified, and prepared to make your escape. However, two security guards had grabbed you from behind and dragged you into another teleportation room...

...

"This may come across as a rather ridiculous, even funny short story, but the logic is sound – the 'you before teleportation' and the 'you after teleportation', which one is the real you?"

Chen Chen smiled and explained to Little X, "At the end of the day, the true indication of whether someone is the true self still has to be determined by their conscience. The 'conscience' here has nothing to do with likeness. Based on the previous story, if mere likeness is used to define a person, then the 'you' in Shangdu and the 'you' in Kyoto should be the same person since both of you share the same memory and have the same personality. But if applied in the real world? The 'you' are 'you', but the 'you' in Kyoto isn't 'you'."

"If likeness cannot be the determining factor, then what is?" Little X asked thoughtfully.

"The answer is continuity."

Chen Chen answered, "The human conscience operates on a linear basis. Your thoughts, personality, and memory all contribute to the shaping of your subjective consciousness. Take the growth process from an infant to an adult for example. Everything the infant experiences shapes his or her conscience, there's no way you can say that someone at one-year-old and fifty-year-old is a different person."

"It's true that from a physical perspective, the 'you' at one-year-old and at fifty-year-old doesn't have any similarities. All of the cells in the infant's body had been dead for decades, but the continuity of consciousness remains the same. A fifty-year-old may not be able to recall memories from an infant age but may be able to recall memories from forty-years-old. And the forty-year-old self may be able to recall memories from thirty-years-old. Even with amnesia, this principle of cause and effect remains unchanged..."

"I understand now!"

Little X immediately remarked, "In this sense, the molecular teleporter did shatter the continuity of consciousness. The consequence of this disruption of continuity is the termination of the previous conscience. Even if it were to make a copy of a particular conscience, it wouldn't be the same as its original version."

"Yes, conscience is wholly unique and isn't something that can be simply preserved by making a copy."

Chen Chen nodded. "In the Star Trek film series, there had been instances of malfunction with the teleportation device. In the film series, when Captain Picard was molecularly reassembled into two separate individuals, the result was the formation of a new parallel universe. From this, we can conclude that this molecular teleporter is inherently flawed to a point where even the USB drive suspects it's probable usability."

"Does this mean that it's not that the teleporter doesn't abide by the construct of science, but that nobody knows how to use this device?" Little X asked.

"Yes, that's the gist of it."

Chen Chen responded, "I've tried both Gantz and Terminator a long time ago, and verified that there was no problem with these movies and that they can be accepted by the USB drive. This means the implementation of their teleportation technology should be distinctly different from molecular teleportation."

With that said, Chen Chen dragged both Terminator: Genisys and Gantz into the USB drive.

With a swift audio prompt, the two movies were successfully pulled into the USB drive.

"Terminator: Genisys was the first instance in the film series where the time machine was introduced. It was a gigantic platform nearly the size of a hill and is pretty much impossible to be instantiated. However, its features exceeded that of all other teleportation devices – to transport a life form from one timeline to another, but doesn't this cause a timeline paradox?"

Chen Chen muttered to himself, "Or there may be another explanation for this..."

Chapter 288: M Theory

"Based on my understanding, in the universe of Terminator, the future can be altered. Even the past can be altered. This is done with the time machine that can send someone back to decades ago."

Chen Chen pondered. "But in practice, this shouldn't be possible because Einstein's Special Theory of Relativity tells us that time cannot be reversed. Humans can travel to the future by moving close to the speed of light, but it's impossible to return to the past in any way.

"Otherwise, time paradoxes such as the 'Grandmother Paradox', 'Banana Peel Theory' or the 'Time Traveler's Party' may occur."

"But the plot of the movie was verified by the USB drive," Little X stated.

"To start, let's look into the parallel universe theory."

Chen Chen nodded. "When discussing parallel universes, apart from Quantum Mechanics, we also have to mention the most well-defined M Theory. The reason this theory was proposed in the first place was that physicists wanted to settle on a unified physics framework which encompasses the four forces in physics – strong force, weak force, electromagnetism, and gravity.

"With that, the earliest form of String Theory was born.

"After another laborious process, the String Theory was merged with the concept of supersymmetry, forming the Superstring Theory which astounded the physics world...

"Later, Jewish scientist Edward Witten used the Superstring Theory to verify the existence of a new dimension in the universe – the 11th dimension which soon led to the formation of the definitive theory of physics, the M Theory."

Chen Chen arranged the thought in his mind. "Explanations such as Quantum Mechanics and M Theory in relation with the time paradoxes such as the 'Grandmother Paradox' are essentially an embodiment of the parallel universe. After all, there are multiple facets to the universe known as a multiverse. The multiverse is a cumulative sum of countless parallel universes while each one of these parallel universes is a division of the original universe. They are simultaneously the same as but also different from the original universe."

With that said, Chen Chen glanced at the USB drive. "In this vein, all of the movie dimensions accessed from the USB drive are parallel universes, this point has already been proven. This means that the time machine from Terminator doesn't actually send someone back to the past but instead to a separate universe closely identical to the original universe.

"And inside that universe, there are also the Skynet, John Connor, and all of the inhabitants from the original universe as well. The only difference between the two universes is that the timeline of the other universe is set nearly a decade in the past.

"This is also the reason that the protagonists had been trying to stop the arrival of judgment day ever since the first part of Terminator, but was never able to accomplish it."

Chen Chen remarked and sighed, "This means that the device in the Terminator universe is almost an identical copy of the USB drive, save for its only flaw – it can only send someone to a parallel universe of the Terminator series and is unable to cross over the boundary of the series."

"Cross over the boundary of the series?"

This statement was rather abstract and caused Little X to struggle with grasping its meaning for a moment.

"This means that inside the movie Terminator, the protagonist and his group can only transport themselves to a 'separate timeline parallel universe' of the 'base universe', but they cannot transport themselves to a parallel alteration of a separate universe."

Chen Chen made an example. "For instance, the protagonist and the Skynet would never be able to send themselves to the world of Avengers. Even if they were to somehow pull it off, director Cameron might find himself receiving complaints from Disney..."

"..."

"From here, we can see that the time machine in the Terminator universe should operate on a space-time dimension principle, which is unlike the molecular teleportation device which operates on a separate principle. In that sense, it's also spared from the concern of 'killing the messenger'."

Chen Chen elaborated further, "But inside the movie Terminator: Genisys, there was another time machine apart from the hill-sized teleporter shown in the opening sequence. It was a teleporter handcrafted by the female protagonist and T-800 which was used to send them back to 1984. This means that if we can get our hands on the design specification of that custom-made time machine, then we should also be more than capable of replicating it."

Chen Chen continued prodding into his thoughts. "If I can get my hands on that machine, then I'll be able to traverse across a parallel universe of varying timelines. I'm curious to see if the 'me' from other parallel universes will also own the USB drive or am I a special exception across the multiverse?"

"Sir Godfather, I think it's better to avoid such methods."

Little X advised, "If the USB drive isn't a unique instance, then your actions may very well trigger an unpredictable chain reaction!"

"I understand what you mean."

Chen Chen smiled, suddenly realizing. "If the USB drive isn't a unique instance, then if I instantiate the time machine technology from Terminator, the 'me' from other parallel universes may do the same as well. If that happens, there's a great chance of 'me' from another parallel universe arriving in our current universe, which may cause an unprecedented conflict..."

"That's right, which is why I think this approach isn't recommended," Little X answered.

"But even if I don't do this, what guarantees do you have that the 'me' from another parallel universe will not go through with it?"

Chen Chen shook his head and turned it around on Little X. "The reason it's called 'parallel universe' is that there's no such thing as a main universe or sub-universe. The universe which we reside in doesn't function as the core of plenty of other universes, since the others are on an equal level as ours as well. Just because I choose to not commit to this option doesn't mean I can stop the others from doing so."

"Is that so..." Little X responded helplessly.

"Still, I have to say that the teleportation technology from Gantz fits my needs better than the time machine from Terminator."

Chen Chen considered for a moment before resuming. "For now, I don't have any particular requirement for parallel universe traversal, since I hardly have a grasp on my own universe so it's not the time to be concerned about other parallel universes yet. So from here on, we shall prioritize attaining the teleportation technology from Gantz.

"Of course, the operating principle of the teleporter in Gantz is unlike the molecular teleporter. You can see from the show when the protagonist and his crew were transported by the black sphere otherwise known as Gantz, the continuity of their consciousness is preserved. Meanwhile, the basis of molecular teleportation cannot achieve such a result where the teleported can preserve their consciousness."

"How do you explain the resurrection as shown in the movie then?" Little X asked.

"There are already plenty of explanations online."

Chen Chen's expression turned grave as he considered this. "There are many minor hints that can be taken from the canon story. For example, when the protagonist and his group went on missions, they could achieve real-time teleportation while also preserving their consciousness. However, it's another matter if they sustained injuries in the middle of a mission...

"If they sustained grave injuries or in certain cases, attempted to resurrect a dead ally, the black sphere would've to run a slower 'print' process. With this, the 'printed' person will lose all memories they have of the injuries they sustained. Therefore, many people online speculated that the resurrected person isn't the same as the original 'person' anymore but a mere copy...

"This means that the black sphere has two abilities. The first one: perform real-time teleportation on a living person and the second: use every single detail of a person, including that person's memory to produce a replica, in a fashion similar to 3D printing.

"This is the true nature behind the black sphere's ability to resurrect a person.

"Even after the resurrection, the person brought back to life is no longer the original 'person' anymore. Instead, the person becomes a mere replica with the same genes, memory, and even thoughts of the original version."

Chapter 289: Gantz Black Sphere

After listening to Chen Chen's analysis, Little X suddenly became contemplative. "If what you said is true, the black sphere from Gantz has the ability to print a human body out of thin air. Isn't this the same principle as the particle teleporter you talked about?"

"It's very similar indeed, but the black sphere is more refined because it not only includes 3D printing but also real-time teleportation technology. These are its two distinct technological features."

Chen Chen explained.

Little X seemed to perk up. "If that's the case, then if we use the black sphere's 3D technology to replicate the Black Knights, wouldn't it save us three months of cultivation time?"

"This kind of printing consumes a massive amount of energy."

Chen Chen explained, "Otherwise, the government in Gantz can just print tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of their best fighters. According to the comics, the technology of those aliens is nothing much. If the government used that strategy, wouldn't the aliens be defeated almost immediately? However, they didn't do that. It's a problem with energy.

"Of course, when I speak of numbers like tens or hundreds of thousands, it's all just my own conjecture. How it works exactly will depend on how the black sphere functions after we extract it. Who knows, maybe I've got it wrong..."

At this point, Chen Chen did not hesitate anymore. He directly moved the pointer to the movie Gantz that was in the USB flash drive.

Chen Chen's plan was that he would first extract the black sphere from the movie and analyze its technological aspects. Of course, it would be best if he could directly decipher the technology.

However, if this was not possible due to the gap in their technologies, Chen Chen could only choose to enter Gantz's dimension to track down the technology that was related to the Gantz black sphere.

With this in mind, Chen Chen started the movie while dragging the progress bar to the scene where, shortly after the opening, the protagonists appeared in the Gantz sphere and were given weapons.

At once, the camera shot was frozen on the black sphere that was directly about one meter away as it displayed two racks of weapons.

Seeing this, Chen Chen pressed the spacebar to pause. At the same time, he decisively stretched out his hand and reached into the screen...

It felt as if he had reached into a stream of clear water. Chen Chen was greeted by a cool sensation. Then, he made contact with the weapon rack on the edge of the black sphere. If it were not for the unfolded weapon rack, he would not be able to catch hold of that smooth black sphere.

The moment he grasped it, Chen Chen pulled out his hand promptly!

Suddenly, Chen Chen felt his grip loosen. Then, with a "thump", a huge black sphere directly appeared on the floor in front of the computer!

Extraction success!

Nonetheless, the first thing Chen Chen did after extracting the black sphere was to look at the weapon rack and into the interior of the sphere.

"Erm..."

What Chen Chen saw was that the inside of the black sphere was empty. Not only were all the X-gun weapons missing, but even the person in the black sphere had vanished.

Still, this was to be expected. In the USB drive's first form, no life forms were able to pass through.

Chen Chen did not have any plans for the X-guns either. No one in their right mind would want to use that kind of bloated weapon with a five-second delay in firing a shot.

After all, a traditional firearm was much stronger than those.

The only advantage of the X-gun was probably its power.

As for equipment that showed up later such as the gravity gun, Z-gun, and the binding teleportation device, Y-gun, the Internet had thoroughly analyzed them long ago. The gravity gun appeared to be just a fixed-position device and its gravity attack was more like a shockwave, which emanated from outer-space satellites.

The Y-gun's binding teleportation needed the cooperation of satellites in space even more so, so it was useless to extract it by itself.

"In terms of just its material, the shell of this black sphere seems to be some kind of carbon fiber material."

Little X observed through the high-definition surveillance camera and analyzed. "But the black sphere in the movie also has a display function, which is rather amazing."

"A carbon fiber IPS screen?"

Chen Chen stretched out his hand and touched it, only to feel a faint, cold sensation on the surface of the black sphere. Following that, he asked again, "X, can you detect its Wi-Fi network port? After all, whether it's the one in the movie or the original comics, it's shown that this device could connect to the wireless network."

"I'm already trying to infiltrate it."

Little X replied, "The protocol is correct. They are still using the 802.11 network protocol frame. Sure enough, Gantz is a parallel world similar to the real world and even the wireless network protocol is the same!"

"Good, try to crack it."

Chen Chen nodded. "It'd be better if this sphere contains various technical details about that world."

"Infiltrating...

"The firewall has been cracked and their encrypted data is being cracked..."

Little X kept up a stream of updates. "It can be ascertained that this black sphere just functions as a terminal. There should be a higher-level server and the computing speed of this black sphere isn't fast. It seems to be missing a crucial component."

Upon hearing this, Chen Chen could not help taking another look inside the black sphere. It was obvious that the pilot was missing from the black sphere.

The naked man who should have been inside the black sphere was being tentatively called the pilot by Chen Chen. The pilot must be a very important part of the black sphere.

Unfortunately, in the story of the entire work, the meaning of the pilot's existence had never been explained.

In Chen Chen's opinion, the existence of such a pilot was unreasonable in the first place. After all, compared to artificial intelligence, the computing speed of the human brain was completely uncompetitive.

The real advantage of human beings was on the level of imagination, association, and reflection, not on the speed of calculation.

However, it now appeared that the existence of the pilot obviously held a special significance for the black sphere. Although the black sphere was very tightly guarded without the pilot, it was still defeated by Little X's dogged efforts.

Nonetheless, Chen Chen remembered that in the original work, even hackers could invade this black sphere.

"I've successfully cracked the encryption technology of the black sphere and I'm analyzing it..."

Soon, there was another update from Little X, then there was another silence.

Chen Chen was not in a hurry either. He just stared at the black sphere and waited silently.

About five minutes later, Little X spoke again, "Sir Godfather, I've completely cracked the black sphere's program, but the strange thing is, the black sphere's program and code are incomplete, just like a computer that lacks a CPU. You could even say that the black sphere has no AI to speak of, being just a bunch of dead code."

"It must be due to the lack of a 'pilot'."

Chen Chen nodded. "You did a good job, X. Can you control this black sphere now? For example, using the teleportation technology inside to teleport a person from one place to another or replicate a person out of thin air?"

"I'm sorry but I can't do it."

Little X said helplessly, "This black sphere is like a computer. In addition to missing an important component, it also lacks the support of a server. Most of its data must have been stored within a higher-level server."

Chapter 290: Probe

After hearing Little X's explanation, Chen Chen no longer hesitated. "If this is the case, then I can make a trip there..."

Having said that, Chen Chen asked the Black Knights in charge of defense to wear GS Combat Suits and PK Armor, so that they were equipped with the highest level of weaponry, just in case something bad broke through the channel into their reality while they were opening the portal.

Of course, until now, Chen Chen had not encountered such a situation.

As for the PK Armor, Chen Chen had extracted a few more when he was bored. As of now he already had ten sets of PK Armor in possession. As they used nuclear fusion battery technology, the power in these armors was still very durable.

Chen Chen still remembered that he had tested the internal energy of the items after they were extracted from the USB drive into reality. The result of the test was that the energy stored in the extracted items would not be greater than the amount of electricity consumed.

Case in point, the "Galaxy" pendant. Originally, the pendant should have contained energy comparable to an actual star, but after it was extracted into reality, there was only a small amount of energy left inside. This tiny amount of energy was equivalent to the power consumed by the USB flash drive when it extracted the Galaxy pendant.

Therefore, the same applied to the PK Armor. According to the formula that 1,200 kWh of electricity was required to extract one gram of material, extracting the PK Armor from the USB drive would consume approximately 36 million kWh of electricity.

The energy of a kilowatt-hour of electricity was roughly 3.6 million joules, and the energy released by the explosion of 1 kilogram of TNT was about 4.19 million joules. That was to say, extracting a PK Armor required roughly the energy of a nuclear bomb equivalent to 31 million tons of TNT. This was about half the energy of the Tsar Bomba.

No matter how powerful the nuclear fusion battery in the PK Armor was, the capacity of half a Tsar Bomba was way beyond its limits. Therefore, the extracted PK Armor was basically fully charged every time.

Just in case, Chen Chen also extracted the escape pod that charged the PK Armor in The Predator (2018) into reality, so there was no need to worry about the energy of the PK Armor.

At this point, after everything was in place, Chen Chen clicked on Gantz again and paused the image in the middle of the movie, in the room where the protagonist was.

Although it was very likely that at the other end of the portal lay a world where civilization had been destroyed, it was better to be safe than sorry, after all. It was more prudent to open the passage in a location with fewer people. Surely this was better than opening the passage in a subway station or even the room that housed the Gantz black sphere, right?

As Chen Chen opened the portal solemnly, the computer screen suddenly went black and the entire screen seemed to be upgraded from 2D to 3D. A continuously rotating black orb emerged from the center of the screen and rotated ceaselessly.

Black tentacles swarmed restlessly within this black orb. As the orb rotated, the tentacles were drawn into an arch-like spiral, finally causing the black orb to turn into a black galaxy...

This small black orb that looked like a galaxy expanded sharply, swallowing the screen within a few seconds, and spilling out over the screen.

The portal was formed.

As Chen Chen stared at the portal. He could not refrain from asking, "X, is it just me? Why do I feel that each time I open the portal, it seems to be constantly evolving in some way?"

"It's true and the portal is getting larger..."

Little X confirmed. "It's not just you, Sir Godfather."

"..."

Chen Chen pondered for a while before he wondered aloud, "Is this a phenomenon of the USB flash drive itself or is it that the second-form USB drive is imperceptibly evolving in a certain direction?"

He thought for a while but now was not the time to be worrying about this. Chen Chen finally waved one hand. Instantly, a Black Knight who was ready for defense, wearing a PK Armor, stepped into the passage.

From Chen Chen's point of view, the Black Knight seemed to have walked into a circular door through which no light could pass, only an endless black mist. Then, the Black Knight disappeared completely.

One minute, two minutes, three minutes...

When the agreed time of five minutes was up, there was a jingling sound and a silver Rubik's cube suddenly fell out of the dark passage, landed on the floor, and rolled over twice.

Chen Chen's eyes lit up. He gestured with one hand and the Rubik's cube flew directly into his hands. Then Chen Chen pressed a few of the keys familiarly. This silver Rubik's cube immediately opened up a few panels and lit up the entire room, filling the place with a lifelike 3D image.

In the image, the Black Knight who had just walked through the passage was standing amid ruins. The room that used to belong to the protagonist of Gantz, Kei Kurono, had long collapsed. Looking around, the entire city of Tokyo was a wreck with endless weeds and vines surrounding the place. Those vines were even wrapped around the skyscrapers, dyeing the entire city as towering greenery...

Seeing this scene, Chen Chen only felt that it was rather ironic.

Although it was destined that the USB drive would open a portal to a world where civilization had fallen, it was still ironic to see the majestic steel capital city, which once stood proudly away from the natural world, was now once again a paradise of nature.

Although humans had the ability to challenge the natural world, they still could not defeat time after all.

"Could it be that, under the scouring of time, no matter how splendid civilization was, it would only end up destroyed one day?"

Chen Chen murmured.

This rueful feeling came and went in a flash. Following that, Chen Chen gathered himself and looked again at the 3D world projected by the silver Rubik's cube.

He noticed that, in these five minutes, the Black Knight only walked around for a short time. Even so, he had seen many small animals living in the stretch of ruins including wild cats and dogs, along with many parrots and birds.

These were pets once raised by humans, but after the demise of humanity, they became the first masters of these ruins.

As the five minutes ended, the Black Knight turned off the images recorded by the silver Rubik's cube.

"Something's wrong."

After the screening was over, Chen Chen spoke immediately.

"Sir Godfather, what do you mean?"

"From the picture just now, we can see that those buildings collapsed naturally."

Chen Chen said at once, "Did you not notice that those buildings had collapsed naturally after decades of erosion from rain and vegetation? In other words, the city of Tokyo on the other side of the passage had only collapsed after the complete extinction of humans. The descendants of those pets also prove this point."

"I see. You're saying that mankind didn't perish in a war against aliens?"

Although Little X was only an artificial intelligence, it was close to the level of ordinary people in terms of divergent thinking. At this time, it immediately understood Chen Chen's thoughts. "If the world accessed by the USB drive must be a world where human civilization is extinct, based on the direction of Gantz's plotline, their world should have been destroyed by aliens. In that case, after opening the passage, we should've seen a crumbling, fallen city that had been ravaged by war."