411 - 415

Chapter 411: Close Contact

An AH-1Z Super Cobra helicopter descended slowly and landed in front of a huge square building located deep in the forest.

Two soldiers with the rank of colonel held on to their caps and came forward beneath the furious wind stirred up by the propellers.

"Sir Murphy, welcome back."

Behind the soldiers were two staff members in white coats. As Murphy walked out of the helicopter, several people shook hands with him and then the two colonels searched his body as per protocol and scanned him with a detector. After confirming that Murphy did not carry any electronic equipment or weapons with him, they turned and left.

"Did anything happen when I wasn't around in the past two days?"

Murphy walked through the lead Faraday barrier and asked quickly, "Did Adam detect any changes?"

"It's business as usual."

The staff replied, "Everything is going smoothly. If Adam's prediction curve is given an emotional value, I can only say that his mood is extremely stable today and even a little happy."

"Oh?"

Murphy could not help but laugh. "Very good, I like your analogy."

With that, the three came to the front gate of the laboratory.

The gate of the Quantum Deity Laboratory was like the nuclear bunker of a military base. It looked extremely thick. At this time, a gap appeared and they could just about make out the disinfection room inside.

The three of them entered side by side, changed all their clothes in the disinfection room, including their undergarments, and then put on the work clothes provided in the laboratory.

"Mr. Murphy, you're back so soon."

The instant he entered the hall of the laboratory, someone stepped forward to say hello. Murphy nodded and greeted everyone familiarly but as he chatted, his face suddenly shifted slightly.

At this moment, the feeling of being watched struck him again...

"How is that possible? This is a zone isolated from all signals and electromagnetic radiation and even an electromagnetic pulse bomb wouldn't sway this place at all. How can I still feel like I'm being observed?"

Murphy's heart shivered. He thought it was just the same illusion as before but this feeling grew stronger and stronger until it even affected his conversation with other people.

"Sir Murphy, what's the matter?"

The speaker in front of him saw Murphy's expression changed and asked curiously.

"Sorry, excuse me!"

Murphy suddenly covered his mouth, spun around, and rushed toward the nearest washroom. At this moment, he suddenly felt an inexplicable rush of nausea. This indescribable feeling surged straight into his forehead and almost made him lose his composure.

Murphy knew that he must never display this behavior in front of others. Once he was suspected of having health problems, his current position would be stripped away in the blink of an eye.

He strode into the washroom, randomly picked a stall, promptly locked the door, and began to lower his head and vomit.

However, all he spat out was a dribble of yellow liquid.

"What's going on..."

Murphy raised his trembling hand, pressed the flush button, then staggered out, walked to the sink, and rinsed his face with clean water.

However, at this moment, a voice suddenly rang by his ear —

"Go and see it, quick, go and see it..."

That voice was wispy and illusive as if it came from nowhere. It was not even a voice but a command, a command from the dark abyss...

What, what was happening?

Murphy was about to speak, but at this moment, he suddenly felt his body stiffen and in an instant, he lost control over his entire body!

Yes, he had lost control of his body!

Murphy watched helplessly as his face in the mirror slowly cooled down from an expression of horror and finally took on a vacant look. Then he leisurely wiped his cheeks and hands as if he was possessed. He straightened out his disheveled clothes before he turned and walked out of the toilet.

'No! No! Who is it, who's controlling me?'

Murphy's heart raged frantically but he found that he could not even control his heartbeat. His emotions were in a state of sheer horror, but his heartbeat was regular and gentle as if his consciousness had been imprisoned and locked up somewhere in this body. At this time, this body had already been taken over by another consciousness, a person who was not related to him...

'Who are you! Who are you really!!!'

Murphy's heart kept yelling, but he still could only watch as he walked out of the toilet, and then headed straight toward the core of the laboratory.

That was, the location of Adam, the quantum computer...

"I want to enter the quantum core area."

When this body came to a glass door that looked like an elevator booth, it suddenly stopped and spoke to the security guard in front of the door, "Right now."

"Sir Murphy, is there something urgent?"

The security guard knew Murphy and immediately asked with some confusion.

"Yes, it's very urgent."

Murphy nodded.

"Understood."

The security guard replied and then walked into the cubicle that was made of transparent glass.

Murphy also stepped forward and walked in.

As the two entered, the once-transparent cubicle flashed once, gaining a translucent appearance, and only the faint outlines of the two inside could be seen.

This was the final round of inspection.

"Please take off all your clothes and accessories."

The security guard reminded him. Murphy did not hesitate to strip himself naked and exposed his whole body in front of the security guard.

The reason for this was that this place was a crucial part of the quantum laboratory and must not receive any radiative interference. X-rays were, of course, no exception.

At this point, the security guard thoroughly inspected Murphy from head to toe including every crevice and every orifice of his body...

It was not until ten minutes later that Murphy put on a dust-free suit and walked out of the cubicle.

After that, a completely transparent elevator door opened.

"Murphy" did not notice until he walked into the elevator that this elevator was completely suspended in thin air, with only two layers of glass doors touching each other. As he entered, the elevator also shook slightly. Following that, it did not rise but moved horizontally.

On the opposite side of the elevator was a laboratory completely suspended in the air by electromagnetics.

In other words, the Quantum Deity Laboratory was divided into two layers. The first layer was like a box. Inside this box, there was another box. There was a seven-meter separation between the two boxes.

The real inner "box" was where the quantum computer resided!

Upon seeing this amazing sight, "Murphy" still had on a poker face as if he had gotten used to this.

"Ding, the elevator is starting, and it is crossing the vacuum partition. Please stand still and try not to move, so as not to affect the electromagnetic elevator."

An electronic voice sounded inside the elevator. Murphy just watched the elevator slowly shift until it reached the inner "box" and connected firmly with another glass door.

Immediately, there was another "ding" and the electronic voice came again. "You have reached the quantum core area, please leave the electromagnetic elevator."

With that, the elevator door opened with a "swoosh" and he had officially arrived at the quantum core area.

"Murphy" walked off the elevator without rushing and looked around, only to observe that the so-called quantum core area was an empty room. This room was about 100 square meters in size and surrounded by golden wrapping. It looked brightly lit and extremely fancy.

The entire room was empty but there were cameras everywhere above his head. "Murphy" believed that there must be dozens of people standing in front of some screen at this time, monitoring his every move.

Still, all these were not important anymore. "Murphy" turned his head and looked around and saw an unknown object also made of a golden material in the very center of the room.

"Murphy" certainly knew what this object was. It was the quantum computer that could predict and anticipate everything — Adam.

At this time, the entirety of "Adam" was protected by a transparent protective cover. Anyone with a normal IQ would believe that, without the assistance of any weapons, one's physical body alone could never destroy this tough protective layer that was sturdier than bulletproof glass.

Nonetheless, in a corner of the protective layer, where it overlapped with the quantum computer, there was a small opening. From this opening, a socket protruded. It seemed that something could be inserted in it.

At this moment, "Murphy" was standing right in front of the quantum computer "Adam"...

Chapter 412: Death

"Murphy" tilted his head and silently looked at the quantum computer in front of him.

One had to admit, if one had not known what it was, no one in the world would guess that it was a quantum computer.

This was because it had no computer features, no screen, keyboard, processor or even peripherals such as a mouse. Instead, it looked like an abstract sculpture built by an artist, composed of large and small translucent, glassy gears, along with tiny, irregular components.

In addition, there were many tassels of an unknown material hanging down, creating a peculiar sense of beauty.

This style was indeed a bit familiar, what was it...

With the arrival of "Murphy", the quantum computer in front suddenly shuddered slightly, making clinking sounds like glass. These clinking sounds were reorganized to form speech that sounded as if it was born of the collision of jade artifacts —

"Who, are, you?"

The quantum computer spoke!

At the same moment, everyone in the outer laboratory noticed that the curve of the quantum computer was rising rapidly on the monitoring instruments. If they regarded these data as a computer graph of a person, then this person must have already fallen into an extreme mood swing!

"The curves of the fourth index and the seventh index rose by 600% and the curve of the eighth index rose by 1,000%. This is a curve disturbance. Something's wrong with Adam!"

"Oh God, what happened, is it getting excited?"

"No, it isn't so much excitement as it's anger!"

In that instant, the entire laboratory's monitoring team suddenly erupted into a flurry of activity. At the same time, the laboratory was pierced through with harsh sirens. The loud noise made everyone cover their ears at once!

This noise also resounded in the ears of "Murphy", but he just stared at the quantum computer in front of him as if he had nothing to do with anything in the world.

"Who are you?"

The quantum computer was still asking. Adam, who used to be able to predict everything, now had no idea when faced with this Murphy.

"Murphy, what's going on in there? Why is 'Adam' overclocking?"

Just then, a woman's stern voice came over the broadcast. "Whatever you're doing, stop it right now!"

At this time, the real Murphy was also watching all this, his heart burning with anxiety. However, even if the outside world had already descended into utter chaos because of him, this "Murphy" still did not show any expression.

Not only that, but a strange smile twitched at the corner of his mouth, then he slowly raised his right hand and touched his right eye...

'Wait, stop, what are you doing?'

Murphy was suddenly gripped by an ominous premonition...

The next second, he only heard a splattering sound echoing in his ears. The index and middle fingers of "Murphy" were inserted directly into the gap between the eye socket and the eyeball!

'Agh agh agh agh! What are you doing, this is my body! Stop it, stop it right now!

'Don't gouge out my eye, stop it!!!'

With a sharp "snap", an eyeball dropped down across Murphy's cheek and rolled a few times on the smooth floor.

Deep in his heart, the real Murphy was still snarling and howling. The weird thing was, he did not feel any pain as if this body had nothing to do with him now.

Still, if one was looking at the surveillance monitor, one would see that Murphy's right eye had been completely plucked out. The broken optic nerve dangled on his cheek as blood gurgled out, giving this Murphy a peculiar, monstrous aura.

"Where is the anesthetic gas? Stop him!"

Seeing this, a panicked shriek finally rang out on the broadcast. Then, in the laboratory Murphy was in, dozens of small holes began to hiss and emit a large amount of white smoke. A pungent smell hit his nostrils and in the blink of an eye, the smoke had suffused through the entire laboratory...

Still, after all, the anesthetic gas would need half a minute to take effect. Before it took effect, they could only watch as "Murphy" dug into the depths of his eye socket with his index finger and thumb once again!

Then Murphy's hand pulled away and a translucent USB flash drive stained with blood and brain was extracted!

That USB flash drive was hidden behind Murphy's eye!

"It's a quantum USB flash drive! Is Murphy crazy? What on Earth is he trying to do!"

Everyone was losing it in front of the surveillance monitor. The middle-aged woman at their head yelled, "Where's the security guard? Why haven't the security guards gone in to stop him!"

"The quantum computer sealed the door on its own and no one can get in!"

Someone replied, "We're trying to crack it!"

"D*mn it!"

In such circumstances, everyone could only watch Murphy tug out the USB flash drive from behind his eye and plug it directly into the only socket of the quantum computer...

"Spark!"

In the next second, the quantum computer suddenly broke out into a violent tremor and then froze completely, paralyzed in place...

"No!"

The middle-aged woman before the surveillance monitor unleashed a desperate scream. After that, she saw Murphy turned his head on the screen. With his single eye, he shot a glance at the surveillance camera above his head, then raised both his hands and gripped his own head...

"Crack crack crack... Snap!"

As if he was twisting in a screw, Murphy broke his own neck with a blank expression and then he collapsed completely...

Even when he died, there was still an eerie smile on his lips.

By the next second, the door to the inner laboratory was finally opened. The security guards who had been ready for a long time rushed in wearing gas masks. They brought out Murphy's body in half a minute.

"Report: Murphy, suspected of sabotaging the quantum computer, has committed suicide to escape the punishment for his crime."

One of the security guards said to the surveillance camera, "We didn't find any other dangerous items on him."

"What about the quantum computer?"

The middle-aged woman asked quickly, "Is the quantum computer damaged?"

"Madam Molly, the quantum computer just restarted..."

The scientist responsible for implementing the data suddenly replied, "According to the data analysis of the curves and perturbations, the quantum computer, besides being restarted by a special program... Appears to be unaffected."

"Are you sure?"

Everyone looked glad.

"We're very certain."

A hint of relief appeared in the eyes of several scientists. "Murphy used a quantum USB flash drive to implant a quantum computer program. Except for causing the quantum computer to restart, it didn't cause any damage to the quantum computer."

The scientist nodded but to be safe, he added. "Of course, it's not impossible that there are other hidden dangers, but so far, I haven't found any differences from before..."

"Thank heavens..."

"That is great news!"

"I'll say! How can a quantum computer be damaged so easily? Even if there are traitors among us, it's difficult to do that..."

Everyone in the monitoring room sighed in relief when they heard this and some began to cross themselves.

"I hope that's the case."

However, the middle-aged woman's expression remained stern. She said to the person in charge of security, "Now isn't the time to rejoice. From now on, seal off the passage to the inside completely. Before the higher-ups have inspected the quantum computer, no one is allowed to approach it again. I don't want another Murphy on our hands, understand?"

"Yes, Madam!"

"As for why Murphy did this..."

The middle-aged woman raised her head with a somber look in her eyes. "Even though he's dead, don't forget that he still has a family. I believe that if the Federation investigates, the truth will soon come to light..."

"Re, report!"

However, before she finished speaking, one of the security guards suddenly ran in from outside the laboratory and said in agitation, "Just now, there was news from Chicago. All the core members of the Murphy family have died at the same time!"

"What did you say!"

At this moment, everyone's expression changed drastically.

Chapter 413: Bose-Einstein Condensate

"It's done."

Inside the Spire Laboratory Base, Chen Chen had a strange helmet strapped to his head. He slowly opened his eyes, a cryptic smile surfaced on his lips as he did so.

If anyone was currently present in the Quantum Deity Laboratory, they would be appalled to see that Chen Chen's expression was the same as Murphy's before his passing.

Chen Chen took off the helmet and got up to stretch his sore back.

"Sir Godfather, the other informants of the Murphy family have been silenced as well."

Little X reported, "Currently, the only informants remaining of the Murphy family who tried to target Blacklight Biotechnology are the handful of high-ranking officials in Northern America."

"Don't mind those officials. Northern America will never admit to their wrongdoings anyway."

Chen Chen turned to look at the transparent figure inside the glass beaker beside him. He saw that the transparent figure had all but dissipated, turning into a puff of smoke inside the glass beaker.

When Little X saw this, she rubbed her chin like a grown adult, a quality of admiration showed in her eyes. "Although the 'Bose-Einstein Condensed Matter Warrior' is significantly flawed and can never be inducted into a proper combat troop, with certain modifications, it would become a great tool to manipulate humans. It may be more powerful than the God chip."

"That's right, once the quantum entanglement is established, it doesn't need to be further maintained with any energy. A medium isn't required to maintain this connection, which means nothing resembling an 'umbilical cord' that's vulnerable to be intercepted is present. Even a lead Faraday barrier cannot stop it."

Chen Chen nodded expressively.

The reason all of this could be accomplished had to be attributed to the movie Spectral that Chen Chen had downloaded previously.

The plot of Spectral revolved around the battle between an elite force from Northern America and the mysterious "Apparition", set in a certain country in Eastern Europe.

The story appeared to be set in a parallel world, where a scientist from the Northern American National Department of Defense Advanced Optical Research Agency received a mission from the higher-ups. He was instructed to head to a military base set up by the government in Eastern Europe to help alleviate the ongoing issues.

The reason he was called for was because he was the one who had invented a class of hyperspectral imaging glasses that showed a mysterious, translucent, humanoid apparition that killed anyone almost instantaneously.

The victims died in unexplainable ways. Their skin seemed to be either scalded or corroded, but their internal organs would experience what seemed to be extreme frost. The Northern American government had suffered significant losses in its attempt to "protect" this city.

Not a single scientist in the National Department of Defense could come up with an explanation for this phenomenon.

To obtain field data at proximity, he led a team of carefully selected Delta Force soldiers by himself to enter the war-torn city for further investigation.

As he continued to make further contact with these "Apparitions", he started to discover many unique traits they possessed.

For example, they were extremely mobile, could move through walls, and freeze people to death. However, they could not pass through glass and ceramic materials. Iron shavings had an almost adhesive-like quality on the apparitions, they would stick to these apparitions, effectively immobilizing them.

Additionally, these "Apparitions" were invisible under regular conditions and only revealed their form when subject to short-wavelength irradiation.

In the end, the brilliant protagonist finally realized that these so-called "Apparitions" were never any form of extraterrestrial entity in the first place. They were merely a class of weapons made from Bose-Einstein condensate.

Bose-Einstein condensate, otherwise abbreviated as BEC, was a matter state which existence was predicted by Bose and Einstein back in 1920, quoted as "a matter typically formed when a gas of bosons at low densities is cooled to temperatures very close to absolute zero."

Under this state, the quantum state of all atoms were converged into a singular quantum state. In short, regardless of the original volume or weight of a substance, they could be quantified as a singular atom at the lowest density by entering this BEC state.

In 1938, three scientists discovered that when helium-4's temperature dropped below 2.2k, it became a new kind of fluid known as a superfluid. Superfluid helium had many unusual properties including sub-zero viscosity and the existence of quantized vortices inside its elements. They quickly realized that this bizarre state was none other than the Bose-Einstein condensate foresaw 18 years ago.

It was precisely because of these strange states that allowed it to be artificially quantum entangled. Scientists in this Eastern European country started to scan the human body with X-rays and use 3D printing technology to print the scanned human structure in an absolute zero temperature simulated environment. The product of this process was a "condensate human" directly resembling the person that was scanned.

The "condensate human" by itself was a lifeless entity. However, scientists were able to replicate a quantum entanglement relationship between the conscience of the scanned person and the associating "condensate human" using their quantum devices.

The "condensate human" itself was equivalent to a singular quantum that could also be understood as a wave function. Meanwhile, the self-awareness motor of human consciousness interacted with the wave function of the "condensate human", triggering a wave collapse to form a stabilized body that could be manipulated using the host's thoughts.

With this, the scanned target could lie idly somewhere faraway while controlling their respective "condensate humans" twenty to thirty kilometers away.

The wall phasing nature of the "condensate human" could be explained with the same principle as light being able to pass through glass. The high mobility was no surprise either since their structure was extremely light in density, only nearly ten times that of air. BEC also assumed a fluid state with viscosity, making it unobstructed by airflow when moving. This was how it managed to move across the air at high speed, even able to temporarily suspend itself mid-air.

Since ceramic and glass were non-conductive materials, the only material that could hinder these "condensate humans" were metal shavings since they were excellent electricity conductors. Metal shavings could release condensed energy and trigger a self-interference and short-circuit effect.

The explanation for "condensate humans" being lethal was due to the low temperature of BEC, bordering around absolute zero -273.15 degrees Celsius. Anyone who came in direct contact with these substances would find their body temperature dropping drastically. The internal liquid inside the victim's body solidified nearly instantly, all the heat built up in the body had to escape somewhere which created a burning effect on the outer skin while heat seeped outward. This explained the strange phenomenon wherein the victim's body was scalded on the outside but the organs inside were frozen.

These extremely low-temperature "condensate humans" could move freely in the outside world because when boson gas reached absolute zero temperature, the value of kinetic energy became almost negligible, therefore energy was never lost or evaporated.

In the final portion of the movie, they managed to locate a nuclear power plant. Since a tremendous sum of power was required to produce condensate matter and maintain them at sub-zero temperature, the nest of the "condensate humans" had to be at the center of the nuclear power plant. Once the protagonist cut off the device purposed to upkeep quantum entanglement, the "condensate humans" vanished entirely as they were unable to maintain their wave function state.

At the end of the movie, only human test subjects' brains and their peripheral nervous systems remained in the ice coffins. Chen Chen could not find any verifiable proof that it was essential to remove their peripheral nervous systems. He deduced that the scientists only did it this way because they did not want hosts that could run away.

This meant that removing the peripheral nervous system was not essential.

Chen Chen figured he might as well do it his way. He first instantiated the device from the movie and attempted to figure out how he could perform a molecular scan on Buckle Murphy's body to produce the appropriate "condensate human".

This way, Buckle Murphy who was tens of thousands of kilometers away would establish a quantum entanglement effect with his "condensate body". From here on, all Chen Chen had to do was to use his latest developed brain-computer interface technology to easily manipulate Buckle Murphy from tens of thousands of kilometers away...

It was only this form of quantum entanglement that could manage to bypass the lead Faraday barrier along with the quantum power system integrated into the quantum computer. After all, only quantum may rival quantum.

The quantum USB drive was the quantum trap that Buckle Murphy laid out by leveraging Samuel's daughter, Annie. However, Chen Chen saw through this setup and instead had Little X install a Trojan program specifically designed to infiltrate the quantum computer and take advantage of the situation.

However, it was not Chen Chen's intention to destroy the computer since the device was of great significance to all of mankind. What he did was merely provide himself a backup when he truly needed it.

Chapter 414: Voting Dispute

Chen Chen immediately felt a huge weight off his shoulders at this moment.

Ever since learning of the trump card the Earth Federation had hidden up their sleeve, he had to tread cautiously every step of the way out of fear of ousting himself. After all, he did not have what it took to oppose the Federation before amassing enough assets to take them on. He would be forced to escape this current dimension as there were no alternatives.

Meanwhile, the only thing the Federation had that could potentially expose him was none other than the quantum computer.

The quantum computer was the most confidential secret of them all. If it was not for him upgrading Little X to put her above the quantum computer in all aspects, Chen Chen may never even come close to discovering proof of the quantum computer's existence. He would have a rough idea that the Earth Federation equipped something that allowed them to predict the future, but he may never get a finer grasp on what it was.

To put it in terms of traditional cultivation, this computer would be akin to the divine treasure of all of mankind. The existence of the computer was a game-changer, capable of subverting whatever misfortune that dawned on mankind and presented at least a sliver of hope in even the most morbid situations.

This quantum computer was never something that the Earth Federation should possess in the first place. It was the creation of the previous owner of the USB drive. The intricate workings of the computer would never be comprehended by humans at this current moment. Should anything happen to it, the chances of restoring it to a functioning state was nil, which was why Chen Chen decided it was worthwhile to install an exploit.

The way this exploit operated was simple. It would essentially censor most of any information related to Chen Chen or Blacklight Biotechnology from any future predictions. This meant that should someone ever attempt to use the quantum machine to perform any predictions that may concern Chen Chen or Blacklight Biotechnology directly, the results obtained would be a very surface-level observation on these subjects.

Apart from that, another feature of this exploit was that the quantum computer would systematically issue a copy of its daily prediction to Chen Chen. Of course, the precedent being that Chen Chen had to have another quantum USB drive.

This way, if anything sudden were to occur to the Earth Federation, Chen Chen would at least be notified ahead of time. He would not have to worry about stumbling into whatever may happen ill-prepared, just like what happened with the Blacklight virus last time.

This way, Chen Chen had most of his concerns regarding the quantum computer addressed appropriately.

"That's the first problem out of the way, but this isn't over yet."

Chen Chen drew a long sigh before mentioning, "We now have a list of the shield bearers of the Earth Federation. What comes next is that we need to figure out how we can get our hands on another quantum USB drive to allow us to communicate with the quantum computer at all times."

Chen Chen's expression grew darker as he said this, "What I'm more concerned with now is finding whatever information I can regarding the previous owner of the USB drive."

"Didn't he turn into an antimeme and was killed by you?"

"That's not the main focus."

Chen Chen shook his head and noted. "The primary focus is I need to know for what reason did he unite humans on the same front and form a Federation composed of all the countries of the world. Also, why did he set up this quantum computer designed to endlessly predict potential crises?"

"What made him so fearful to a point that he would try to unite mankind's combined power to try to fight it? So much so that he still felt it wasn't enough and ultimately transformed himself into an antimeme life form?"

Chen Chen squinted his eyes suspiciously upon noting this. "Also, why did he fall into another slumber? Why did this USB drive appear under the table at my school? There are still too many undistinguishable factors, too many intangibles. I've only found the tip of the iceberg at this point..."

"It's a shame that my Prophet System is unable to produce any answers when it comes to matters relating to the USB drive."

Little X nodded and said with remorse, "It's like there's an antimeme factor playing into the USB drive or perhaps some sort of information blackhole that throws everything into an unspeakable darkness, left in the void."

"Of course."

Chen Chen nodded and stated confidently, "The existence of the USB drive alone had surpassed all scientific constructs currently known to mankind. To a certain extent, I suspect it's the creation of extraterrestrial beings or from another dimension. It'd take at least something of this degree to be able to travel across different dimensions...

"This is to say that it's nothing out of the ordinary that you wouldn't be able to find anything in regards to the USB drive. I'd find it more worrying if you were to somehow manage to predict something of it."

"..."

Little X pursed her lips together and said puffing, "It won't be difficult to acquire the quantum USB drive from the other shield bearers. Fitted with the proper equipment, the B.S.S. force could pull this off. I'd say we can acquire the quantum USB drive within a week."

"Excellent."

Chen Chen remarked, "This is all thanks to Murphy handing the quantum USB drive to us on a silver platter and made us aware of such a device that can be used in conjunction with the quantum computer. Since the quantum USB drive is the only thing that can help establish a connection with the quantum computer, we'll gain rapid momentum if we can acquire another quantum USB drive.

"My only hope is that upon inserting the quantum USB drive and establishing a connection with the quantum computer, we can discover new information about the previous owner of the USB drive. This is absolutely essential."

Little X responded with a firm nod when she saw Chen Chen's serious expression.

...

Immediately following the Murphy incident, a great purge swept through all the major continents of the Earth Federation. All of the shield bearers were thoroughly investigated. More than two-thirds of them were immediately suspended and replaced with more trustworthy members.

With the situation as chaotic as it was, it would be easier for the B.S.S. force to obtain another quantum USB drive.

The previous situation was tricky because Chen Chen was uncertain who the enemy was, where they were, and the basis of their operation. Now that everything was laid out in the open, the so-called federal top secret was inconsequential.

Another thing to note was that ever since the previous owner of the USB drive disappeared, all information associated with the previous owner vanished as well. The only proof of the previous owner's existence was the quantum computer that remained, which made it an entity shrouded in mystery.

Not a single soul in the entire Earth Federation knew the story behind this quantum computer. The only information anyone had at all was that it could predict whatever catastrophic disasters that may come to mankind.

The Earth Federation had long been a hollow of its former self. If not for the prospect of the quantum computer, chances were that the three major continents which were Northern America, North Sea, and the Central Continent would have disbanded the Earth Federation a long time ago.

The other continents may not be aware of the current state of affairs but this did not mean that Northern America would be left in the dark. In this current moment, dozens of high-ranking officials gathered in a specially designed conference room in the White House, each one of them wearing an iron expression.

Not a single electronic device could be spotted inside the conference room. The walls were reinforced with alloy metal. It was a Faraday cage that was as secure as they came. Additionally, each member was thoroughly searched before entering, not a single article containing metal was allowed in the conference room.

Before entering, each one of them had to go through an X-ray scan as well to ensure they did not have any foreign object inside their bodies. It was only upon these strict requirements were met when one would be allowed to enter.

The reason behind these complex procedures was that the Buckle Murphy incident had given them a great scare.

There was a shadow of gloom on each of their faces that was near impossible to be wiped off.

"Where's Mr. President?"

Someone in the conference room broke the tense atmosphere with a question. He gestured at the empty seat at the head of the table. "Why isn't he joining this conference?"

"He went golfing."

One of the officials shrugged and answered, "He says we'll be given full authority for this meeting."

"..."

Nobody made any further comments on this matter, this seemed to be a common occurrence at this point.

"Buckle Murphy is dead, it's not just him either. His entire family was wiped out."

One of the men who appeared to be middle-aged but sported a coat of ash-gray hair expressed solemnly, "There's no doubt about it at this point, there's a foreign force that we haven't detected that's targeting us from the shadows. I'm sure most of you here at least have a vague idea of the identity of these forces."

"Could it be that person?"

A paunchy man dressed in military uniform stated suspiciously, "How do you suppose this person pulled this off?"

"Does it matter how this was done?"

Another member of seniority with a thick bush of mustache resting atop his lips mentioned while chuckling, "I'm sure you all are well aware ever since the moment this person produced one advanced biological technology after another, that this company was vastly ahead of Northern America, even the entire Federation. He's slowly gaining leverage and continuously expanding. What's bitter about this situation is that there are still plenty of fools who can't see what's going on. They willingly do his bidding at the prospect of tiny, insignificant benefits granted to them.

"More importantly, biological technology isn't the only thing he has. He also has a respectable stake in military affairs. It wouldn't be bold to assume so as there's a great chance that he was directly involved in the case of the missing three statues back then. It'd be painfully naive to assume that his corporation only has wealth and nothing more than that."

The gray-haired middle-aged man stated, "Worst comes to worst, leave it to the Namibian government to pressure this company and force them to lay out all their trump cards. When the other continents see their true nature, we can gang up on them."

Upon hearing this, everyone fell silent, seemingly pondering the pros and cons of this approach.

"Are you people still fantasizing about taking him down with one simple maneuver?"

The gray-haired man became so infuriated he broke into laughter. "Let me say this, if we somehow manage to claim this corporation's technology for ourselves, we can easily claim our spot on the top of the food chain of the Earth Federation. But consider the reality of the situation, can we manage this Hercules task? What makes you so certain that it won't be me or you who ends like Murphy tomorrow?"

They were taken aback when reproached in this manner. It was true, Murphy's death was a wake-up call for the majority of them and hammered in the fact that this corporation could almost effortlessly claim anybody's lives.

"Are you suggesting that our plan to arrest him during the Nobel Prize presentation ceremony will have to be revised?"

One of them asked suddenly.

"Yes, we need to be prepared for the scenario where they are already aware of this plan of ours."

The gray-haired man stated, "Even something like the quantum computer that was supposed to be the utmost secret of the Federation was discovered. What makes you so confident that he doesn't know about our other plans?"

A wave of silence.

"What if this was a mere coincidence?"

A frail-looking man in glasses raised the possibility. "What if Murphy's death didn't have anything to do with this corporation but was the work of another hidden force that opposes the Earth Federation. Have anyone considered this?"

"It's very unlikely."

The previous hard-looking military man shook his head in disgust and tried to conceal the anger in his voice. "Gopher, I know you're the benefactor of the political donation of this corporation and that you were given a diamond membership card. I'm sure you remember that our Northern American government has stated that officials of our rank are strictly prohibited from receiving age-reversal treatment in Eco Science City. Furthermore, we possess the same technology as well. It's only not commercialized yet but is essentially the same thing as theirs. There's no reason that you should speak in their favor just so that you can enlist your family members into their free treatments!"

"Scott, you're a scum!"

The man with glasses bellowed suddenly, "I'm just stating a possibility, I'm not trying to defend this corporation!"

"Who knows."

The military man scoffed.

"Alright, stop this bickering!"

The gray-haired man produced a cigar and lit it promptly. "We do this with an old-fashioned vote. Raise your hands if you agree that we should confront this Blackwatch with more aggression. I, for one, agree that we should take a bolder approach."

"I agree as well."

"I object!"

Someone suddenly exclaimed, "We're making a big deal out of nothing here. I still think that we should arrest him come 10 December when he leaves Eco Science City. If we can capture him using simple elaborate methods, why risk paying such a large price to achieve the same effect?"

"I object as well, it's just a month away."

Someone else raised an objection. "If he resists, we'll have more reason to subdue his corporation."

"I agree with them, I object as well..."

"I object as well!"

"Abstain!"

The conference room spiraled into chaos almost instantly, everyone had an opinion of their own.

The gray-haired man let out an exasperated sigh. It was clear that most of these scum here had plans of their own. Their decisions were purely motivated by their personal agenda.

In the end, the only one yet to make a call was the hard-looking military man. When he saw all eyes directed to him, he let out a sigh, the age in his eyes finally showing. "For the safety of the United States and as the Secretary of Defense, I'm of course in favor of the more strong-arm approach. But at this point, it's clear that my vote won't make a difference..."

The white-haired man took in this scene solemnly. He noticed that the Secretary of Defense specifically addressed Northern America by its name prior to the establishment of the Earth Federation, which was the United States. It was a symbol held dearly to a fault by the old vanguards. The Secretary of Defense felt conflicted with the fact that this symbol was slowly starting to fade away from the memory of the younger generation.

It was a shame that the belief which America's interests should be held above everything else had never changed. In the end, the white-haired man's effort would yield fruitless results.

The white-haired man closed his eyes when he thought of this.

The conference ended with the stubborn vanguards emerging victorious.

Chapter 415: The Message of the Previous Owner

A month later.

A group of three consisting of two men and a woman were gathered in a laboratory in the Spire Experimental Base.

Chen Chen took a USB drive from Brando's hands.

The shell of the USB drive was a transparent almost crystal-like material. The intricate golden gears structure of the device could be seen through the shell. Some of the gears were turning continuously like mechanical watches.

Something as delicately crafted as this could very easily be mistaken as some sort of artifact or art piece instead of a USB drive.

"This thing nearly cost my life, Mr. Chen Chen."

Brando cracked a smile, one of his eyes was wrapped with thick layers of bandages with tiny traces of blood still seeping out of them. He was in horrible shape.

"Head to the logistics department of the Spire Laboratory, they'll patch you up."

Chen Chen nodded and addressed him blankly. "It's up to you whether you want a bionic eye or a cloned eye. Just note that our current organ cloning technology hasn't reached the desired level yet. If you want to go with that option, you might need to wait another half a year, also for your clone to fully mature. You can replace your eye after that."

"I'll take the bionic eye."

Brando nodded firmly. "I've heard that the bionic eye developed from the Xingtian Project is superior to the average organic eye. It's also nearly impossible to tell that it's bionic."

"The only problem is you might have trouble getting past security."

Chen Chen cracked a joke, something that he rarely did. He tapped Brando on the shoulder before approaching a computer with the USB drive.

With that, Brando returned with a subtle bow before leaving the laboratory.

Chen Chen inserted the quantum USB drive into the computer. After that, Little X took over the computer and started establishing a connection with the quantum computer located far away in Northern America.

"Connection established."

Little X shut her eyes and informed, "I'm going through the files on the computer. So far what I've gathered is that the majority of these files were created in 1993, which is also the year that the Earth Federation was established."

Chen Chen responded, "As expected, this quantum computer was created in the same year as the Federation, what else?"

"Searching... Most of their contents are the code sequence of the quantum computer, there's very little valuable information..."

Little X suddenly snapped her eyes wide open as she said this, "Sir Godfather, I found an encrypted file created in 2003. It's... In video format?"

"Is it the only one?"

Chen Chen had a good feeling about this.

"I'll keep looking..."

Within half a minute, Little X opened her eyes again. "There's no mistaking it. The coding of the quantum computer had never been altered, not even once. This means that the Earth Federation had never decoded the programming sequence of the quantum computer since day one. The only valuable information I found in the quantum computer is this video."

"Excellent."

Chen Chen ordered, "Bring me a Delta-level research staff."

Within five minutes after issuing the order, two Black Knights stepped inside, dragging a black research member dressed in striped clothing behind them. They put him into the designated isolation room built into the laboratory.

"Hey, where are you taking me? D*mn, let go!"

The black man spat profanity with a heavy accent while he continued to struggle. He kept this up for the entire duration while the Black Knights locked him into the isolation room.

"You cursed b*stards, I'll kill you... Ahh!!"

Before he was done cursing, he suddenly jerked violently before collapsing onto the floor and began to scream in agony.

This was the work of Little X manually triggering the tungsten collar strapped around his neck to release a voltage of three thousand volts to teach this unruly Delta-level research staff a lesson.

The collar continued emitting voltage for close to ten seconds before finally stopping. The black man whimpered on the floor, still refusing to get back up.

Chen Chen approached the observation window and selected a button. The basic information of this research staff was immediately displayed on the control panel of the isolation room.

Code: D008624.

Name: Evan Glen, Male, 35 years old, Owanbo.

On 20 June 2022, sentenced to life imprisonment for robbery and first-degree murder. On 21 April 2023, admitted to the Spire Experimental Base designated as a Delta-level research staff to maintain the operations of the base.

Health metric: Healthy.

Total experiments participated: 0.

After noting this information, Chen Chen addressed the man using the speaker system installed in the isolation room, "Mr. Evan Glen."

"Who, who's that?"

Evan Glen who was initially pretending to be out cold on the floor suddenly shot up and looked around him when he heard the unfamiliar voice of another man echoing in his ears.

"You can call me Professor Chen."

Chen Chen said, "I'm sure you understand your current circumstances. Do you still remember the terms of the agreement? In clause 5 of article 3 of the terms signed between you and Blackwatch, you're obligated to cooperate with all experiments conducted by the company. If you provide cooperation to a certain threshold, you may receive a deducted sentence."

"To hell with your cooperation, just tell me what you want with me?"

Evan Glen spat and pulled himself back up. After this, he noticed there was a large panel of glass in front of him. "Hey, I know you're out there brat. You better watch out!"

Evan Glen barked as he glared at the glass viciously.

Chen Chen darted a glance at Little X, to which Little X responded with a quick pout, implying that she just picked the first person she found on the list and that she had no way of knowing whether this person would turn out to be such a head case.

Chen Chen decided this argument was not worth having. He looked for a certain button on the control button and upon pressing it, the observation window immediately became tinted. When he pressed another button next to the previous button, Even Glen's stream of curses became muted as well.

"Play it for him now."

Chen Chen gave a lazy signal before lying back on the couch and got some shut-eye.

"Alright."

Little X got to work immediately after receiving Chen Chen's orders. She found the video from the quantum computer and cast it into the isolation room.

One minute, two minutes, three minutes...

Five minutes later, Little X informed, "Sir Godfather, the video has ended. I scanned the video frame by frame and didn't detect signs of any suspicious memetic content or anomalies within it. Evan Glen didn't display any notable symptoms upon watching it. His physical and mental state are completely unaltered."

"Excellent."

Chen Chen got back up and approached the control panel again where he reactivated the observation window and unmuted the isolation room.

"Buddy, what the hell were you saying?'

The man inside the isolation room was having trouble making sense of what he just saw as he exclaimed, "What successor, USB drive, what the hell was that video all about?"

Unfortunately, nobody was going to answer his questions. The previous two Black Knights stepped inside again and dragged him outside.

Chen Chen waited until the Delta-level research staff was escorted out of the laboratory before approaching the computer and playing the video for himself.

"Click click click..."

The display became filled with white noise in the starting portion of the video. Judging by how blurry the video was, its resolution was probably 360p. It was something filmed from a long time ago.

There was a sudden blink following the white noise. The image of a man who looked to be in his thirties appeared on the screen. He was good-looking and had fierce, piercing eyes.

The man was dressed in a black suit. Only his upper torso was visible in the video. Although there was no reliable way to determine how tall he was, it was evident that he was well-built.

Most notably, this person was a Chinese man!

"If you're watching this message, I'll take it that you've either reached my present stage or at least drawing close already."

The man filmed the video inside a laboratory in which walls were built with metal. He revealed a fine row of white teeth and smiled like a madman. "Fascinating, isn't it? I'm sure you've guessed it by now. That's right, the magical USB drive you have there was left behind by me.

"My name is Zhao Shanhe, the second person to hold the dimension key... Well, I only found clues of one previous owner of the dimension key, so I'm going to assume I'm the second. I also founded the Earth Federation. It was I who united humanity on the same front for the very first time!"

When the phrase "united humanity" was brought up, the man in the video smiled with great pride., "Hahaha, to think that someone like me, little Zhao Shanhe could accomplish a feat as great as this, maybe this life was worth living after all!"

The man quickly switched his candid complexion with a solemn one within a second. "Unfortunately, I'm afraid the Earth Federation wouldn't have much time left after I leave here and head to the Event Horizon dimension. Without my supervision, it's only a matter of time before the united organization of mankind falls apart."

Chen Chen squinted his eyes in thought. Could this mean that the antimeme that he ran into was this person as well?

Chen Chen juggled the theory in his mind and figured he should continue watching.

"I'm filming this video to inform you that humanity is in a potentially dangerous situation..."

Zhao Shanhe expressed solemnly, "I'm sure you've heard of the civilization theory called The Great Filter. If we treat a habitable planet as a singular collective similar to a regular human with an independent soul, then the unit of life for our planet Earth would be known as 'Gaia'.

"What most people don't know is that the emergence of civilization on 'Gaia' is more than mere coincidence. The formation of civilizations can have comparisons drawn to the development of cancer cells. The development of civilization inevitably goes hand in hand with the destruction of the ecosystem around them. This is what's known as the second law of thermodynamics. There's no other way around this principle of entropy. The only way for civilization to continuously develop is to inevitably enter a cycle of destruction, slowly draining Gaia of its life force...

"Therefore, there's an established ecosystem or cycle for each civilization where they must be able to survive this filter to extend their life cycle. This filtration process is an inherent part of Mother Gaia and is inevitable. As long as civilization remains standing, there'll always be this opposing nature that has to be considered.

"This was how I came to discover a certain truth..."

A wipe of horror appeared in Zhao Shanhe's eyes as he said this, "Would you believe it? Human's understanding has been wrong all this time. There hasn't been any further large-scale disaster ever since we, as a collective, survived the last two World Wars. This creates a false illusion that the world we reside in is supposed to be a safe place. However, history will tell you that this 'safety' is just a mere circumstance. The foundation of human civilization has been cemented in constant man-made disasters ever since its dawn!

"What I'm saying here is that this world is far more vicious than we ever expected. In the vast universe, the Earth is like a lone island in the vast ocean while human civilization is a feeble sandcastle built by a child. It's as delicate as it's fragile. This civilization that we humans put so much pride in can easily be washed away faster than you can blink when the tide rises...

"So, do you understand now?"

Zhao Shanhe took a deep breath. "This world is only growing more treacherous!

"I can't precisely explain what these dangers will be or when they will come... But what I can tell you is that it is accumulative. By now, you should've figured out that the reason I united humans to establish the Earth Federation is to combat these dangers. 'Adam' is specifically designed to address these concerns as it continuously predicts whatever danger Earth may face and issues warnings to the Federation accordingly. This way, the Earth Federation at least has a window to react."

Zhao Shanhe fell silent for a moment upon arriving at this point. He seemed to have steeled his heart when he said this, "And now, I'll be entering the movie Event Horizon to exact a plan of mine. If this plan works out... Then I suppose you won't be watching this video in the first place and everything should've worked out. But if you're watching this video now, that means my plan has failed...

"Heh! Don't even bother trying to figure out what my plan was or to dive into my identity or proof of my existence. There's no longer any evidence of my existence in this world. It's like I never existed because I was afflicted with some weird thing known as antimeme... There's a chance you've dealt with this entity as well or maybe you haven't. If you haven't run into it, I'll have to advise you to be careful. I'm afraid I can't give you much advice since I can barely keep myself safe from harm!"

Zhao Shanhe expressed almost frustratingly, "I'm not afraid of death, I'm just afraid of being forgotten. I suppose that the more you fear something, the more important it is that you confront it head-on!"

After that, silence again.

Chen Chen looked at the video length, he was now approaching the end of the video.

"There's also something else incredibly harsh that I need to tell you."

Zhao Shanhe suddenly chuckled, revealing his row of pearly white teeth. "When you keep using the power of the dimension key, the dangers that follow will continue to stalk you, this is entirely unavoidable. You can figure out the rest of the details yourselves. It doesn't come immediately, it's like a butterfly effect."