Chapter 2001: U: Beyond Major Event (90) _1

Shiller glanced at the portal next to him, slightly raised his head and said, "If everything in this manufacturing plant was normal before, where have all the Hewey gone now? Don't tell me you guys haven't noticed, there's not a single living person left on this planet."

Lord Batman had been contemplating this issue for a while now. He touched his chin with his finger and said, "The alien civilization uses the Hewey to synthesize the materials they want. The advantage is that intelligent lives can reproduce and die on their own, saving them the effort of harvesting. But if they harvested once and exterminated all the raw materials, there would be no need to create this planetary factory."

"So, the Hewey didn't go extinct because of the advanced extraterrestrial civilization. Then who did it?"

Shiller then looked down at his own feet, saying, "The answer lies beneath us."

"Hold on, what's going on now?" Eddie stopped them and said, "Haven't you already won? Shouldn't we return to camp via the portal?"

"Obviously, things aren't that simple." Loki, who walked past him, patted his shoulder, and Stark also turned back to talk to him: "Even if the game is over, we still need to find the truth."

Everyone followed Shiller to the massive crystal, and after Shiller pressed a button on the panel, the crystal lowered to reveal an elevator with a transparent shield.

They all stepped into the elevator, which descended slowly for about ten floors before stopping. As the elevator door opened, they were faced with a spacious research center.

This was completely different from the temple style above, and looked entirely like a product of modern science. After everyone got out of the elevator, it immediately returned to its original place, leaving no trace.

As they walked forward, they saw a figure in front of a huge piece of equipment ahead.

Only when the figure turned around did they realize that it was a red projection. Looking up, there was another crystal above, hanging with a projection device.

This figure was shorter than the average height of a human, about 1.5 meters tall, with limbs slightly longer than a human's. But it was also a five-fingered race. The face was a bit blurry, and specific facial features could not be clearly seen, but there were two eyes and a nose.

Either the figure couldn't clearly see the people, or it was just an automatic program left behind. As soon as they approached, the figure began to speak in standard English.

"Hello, victorious one. I assume you must be quite curious about what is happening. I exist to answer your doubts. You can call me Hewey, a projection of the last Hewey."

"After years of excavation, my master, the owner of the largest tech company in all of Hewey, Roan, discovered the secret of this planet in the legendary deep well ruins."

"Despairingly, we are but ephemeral creatures created by another species to extract a rare element, because this rare element can only be obtained by such a reaction. We were conceived and lived for this purpose."

"The heavy fog forever seals the sky of this planet, and we can never touch the depths of the cosmic sky, but after thousands of generations of research, we have created a portal out of nothing."

"Regretfully, the appearance of the portal was an accident, but the person who ultimately caused this accident has gone to your universe, seen what truly naturally evolved civilizations are like, how vibrant you are, and what kind of miracles you have created in the depths of the vast universe."

"He decided to come back and guide us. With the help of your compatriots, he returned to this planet following the coordinates of the portal."

"When he returned, another fog disaster engulfed this city, and countless compatriots were walking towards death in pain, which caused him deep indignation, so he made a decision."

"He brought a kind of impurity that can melt in Hewey's blood from the other universe and dumped it into important water sources. This way, the production process was no longer pure."

"Our creators found out about this, but they didn't have any more seeds to recover the pure bloodline. They wanted to purify the impurity, but my master activated the machine; the impurity killed all the Hewey on the planet and poured the power of the crystals within them into the machine."

"The machine brought you here, but please forgive us, we only need the strongest among you, so we have created a game for you using our remaining city."

"The traveller who went to your universe told us that humans are always killing each other, distrustful of each other, so he created a totem with the power of the crystal, which is a trap."

"The person who uses the totem to infuse the power of the crystal into others will also be contaminated by the power of the crystal. If you kill all the other people, it proves that you've also been contaminated."

"And if you don't want to turn into dust after a short life like us and melt into the heavy fog, you must go find them and learn how to expel the power of the crystal from them."

"As a reward for victory, we will also open the gate to their land for you. We don't need you to kill them all, but you must stay alive to see them."

"See whether the high and mighty creators are genuinely sorrowful for the death of their creations, or whether they just regret losing a good piece of land."

"If this is our destiny, please go on our behalf to the depths of the heavy fog to see if there are the stars we've been longing for and whether we will someday be able to reach there."

The projection disappeared.

Everyone stood silently where they were.

"So, this wasn't the organizer's mission at all." Thor sighed, "The hunter and the priest or something were probably arranged by the organizer, but this so-called totem curse killing, was concocted by the Hewey themselves. I knew these two rules seemed somewhat mutually exclusive."

"They purposely contaminated the humans they brought over so they'd have to stir things up among higher civilizations to save themselves."

"Deserving of condemnation." Loki assessed, "They're raging about the factory fire, and you charge out of the ruins and demand compensation. It'd be more surprising if they didn't end up fighting."

"And even knowing that many individuals among humans are very strong, they directly opened the portal to their home base. Isn't this clearly an invitation for us to wreak havoc?"

"That's kind of understandable," Bruce lightly shook his head and said: "Such a large plan can't be carried out by one person or one family alone. Just the poisoning operation would require cooperation in various places. It seems this fog disaster gave them quite a hard time."

"It is pretty terrifying to think about." Eddie shivered, "If fewer people die, a natural disaster will occur. Will there be innocent people who die because of the disaster? At the time of disaster, will there be any of their own families and friends who are killed?"

"If it were only natural phenomena, it would be one thing. After all, there isn't a definite object of revenge—you can't very well go and shoot at the land. But to suddenly find out one day that all other civilizations are living in peace and prosperity while only you are having a such tough time—it would be enough to make anyone upset. Realizing that all of this was man-made, I too would want revenge."

"We stand in the perspective of God hearing just a story, but what happening to them are countless painful experiences of parting in disaster. The longer a family's history, the clearer the records of this will be and the more resentment there will be. It's no wonder they would do such a thing." Shiller commented.

"So, should we go?" asked Lord Batman, glancing upwards. He was clearly looking at the portal above.

"The ones on the other side won't be friendly," Thor frowned: "But the real way through the gate is probably on the other side of this portal. We can't truly complete the game if we don't go."

"If the other side is indeed an advanced interstellar civilization, then perhaps we have a tough battle awaiting us."

Shiller, however, chuckled: "We have to go, but there is no need to start a war with them."

Everyone turned their attention to him.

Shiller looked up, his eyes piercing through layers of buildings, past the thick fog in the high sky, reaching into the depths of the starry sky. In a nonexistent voice, he said, "The Heweys want to know if there are shining stars behind the fog blocking them, and those civilizations that have stepped out of their planets and ventured deep into space have long forgotten their longing for the stars since they became ground civilizations, and have therefore indiscriminately wiped out the hope of intelligent life development."

"But what they don't know is that the cosmos is an endless territory, and there are still shining stars in the deeper depths."

After Shiller's voice fell, everyone instinctively looked up, and instead of seeing the enclosed ceiling, the dim fog, or even the vast universe, they saw an indescribable scene of beautiful and terrifying stars.

Lord Batman seemed to hear, in a daze, the sound of a flute accompanying the howl of the wind, the rumbling sound of a drum coming from afar. In the massive black palace, he saw a tall golden figure.

A somewhat childish voice rang out: "Shiller, why did you call me again?"

In an instant, the illusion dissipated.

A small illusion appeared in mid-air, numerous Black tentacles obscuring all light in the room. Upon closer inspection, it was a juvenile version of Bruce Wayne.

The difference between him and the two Batmen present was the countless tentacles behind his back, and his pupils which were completely black, except for the tiny golden glow at the center.

"A guy named Jerome is investigating me. He found the scriptures about the 'Large room' left by the British Missionary in the cathedral. I suspect he wants to summon one of us, but I can't allow other Outer Gods to descend on Gotham."

Shiller narrowed his eyes slightly and said, "I can lend you the 'Book of the Dead', so you can figure out who he wants to summon, but you have to do me a favor."

"Damn it, you've known about my trouble for a while now. Fine, tell me your demands. I have to drive that annoying hoof out before he completes the resurrection ritual."

In an instant, the original bright silver gate turned black and expanded about ten times. Little Bruce disappeared into the portal.

After a series of harsh growling and screaming, everything returned to calm. When several people stepped into the portal, the scene they saw could make Innsmouth Town weep and Kingsport town heartbroken.

When it came to parting, Lord Superman and Lord Batman firmly stood together, really close, indicating their resolute boundary with the madmen on the other side who all knew Shiller.

Now, everyone had realized: Doctor Shiller, who was called Shiller, was not quite normal, and everyone who was acquainted with him was even worse.

Never mind that weird Outer God just now, if you knew Shiller before and knew his demeanor well, then why didn't you stop him earlier?!

As a result, not only were they all familiar with Shiller, they had watched on at the start and even assisted with the madness later on. Is this what superheroes do?!

In their hearts, everyone drew a mental line to classify all those who had dealings with Shiller as madmen.

Batman, who had been observing from the sidelines, turned to Peter and asked, "Are you coming?"

Peter was a bit hesitant, then he turned his head to look at Owen and said, "I have to ask my teammate's opinion."

Owen sighed, but still dialed a video call for Peter. The next second, the face that appeared on the video was Shiller's.

Batman wanted to get a refund.