Chapter 224: Sculptures
Half an hour later, an aircraft coated in green camouflage raced across Elysium’s sky and appeared over 2111 Basin.
This was a military aircraft. It would be an exaggeration to say that it was a spacecraft because it did not have the ability to navigate in outer space. It could only fly briefly at high altitudes and outer space, with a maximum travel distance of 36,000 kilometers.
This was the distance between Elysium and the surface of the earth.
Nonetheless, this was sufficient for those living on Elysium. Currently, the four jets of the aircraft shifted to point downward. Following that, the aircraft was suspended at a high altitude before it descended little by little.
At last, the military camouflaged aircraft stopped at the edge of the basin. The gull-wing doors were slowly raised.
Chen Chen strode out of the aircraft, wearing the PK Armor.
X-112 had already tested Elysium’s environment. Other than the standard bacteria, it was as clean as his own toilet. The air composition posed no problems as well, with just a slightly higher percentage of oxygen.
Even so, Chen Chen did not remove his mask since he had learned that there was an unknown threat in this dimension.
After exiting the aircraft, Chen Chen looked toward 2111 Basin.
Strictly speaking, this basin had the topography of a valley surrounded by mountains on all sides. However, at this time, the valley was full of corpses that stretched as far as the eye could see. These corpses stacked up like a mountain peak, reaching dozens of meters in height.
These corpses had wasted away into a heap of bones, which had become nourishment for the thick vines that covered them.
Chen Chen narrowed his eyes as he observed the endless swathe of bones. “Have you found the reason? Why did they act in that manner?”
“I couldn’t find any reason.”
X-112’s voice came from the communications system of the aircraft behind him. “It seems that the Elysium government has imposed certain restrictions on artificial intelligence. The main AI here doesn’t have the ability to think and reason and I can only speculate based on the clues it already knows.”
Chen Chen nodded. “Then let me sum it up. On 20 July 2165 at 23:59, all the citizens of Elysium who lived here simultaneously lost control over their personality and consciousness for unknown reasons.
“The indication that these people had lost their personality and consciousness was that they stopped any work they were doing, turned around, left their houses, and walked toward 2111 Basin.
“Upon arriving, they seemed to have completed their mission. They simply stood here, motionless, until they died...”
Chen Chen looked up and asked, “Have I made any errors in my summary?”
“No, Sir Commander,” X-112 replied.
“Very well. Then do you think that all of this resembles a program?”
Chen Chen paced back and forth. “If you think of humans as robots, human instincts such as eating and sleeping can be understood as a kind of program. That abnormal occurrence was due to a hacker’s attack. Wouldn’t that explain it easily?
“As the hacker broke into the mainframe, a special command was implanted in everyone at the same time. The only request of the command was for everyone to stop everything they were doing and come to the 2111 Basin.
“Furthermore, this kind of command possessed the highest authority that cannot be disobeyed. It even exceeded the survival instinct of human beings. There was no room for disobedience. Therefore, what happened, happened...”
At this point, Chen Chen frowned. “However, the one behind the implanted order did not give them a second order, so everyone could only wait indefinitely. However, because humans and machines are different, in just a few days, this group of people died due to a lack of energy intake.”
“I understand what you mean.”
X-112 responded, “You think that this was a sort of cyber attack?”
“Yes, what happened in Elysium was like being hacked. Apart from that scenario, I don’t know what else can explain all this.”
After speaking, Chen Chen walked to those bones and gently picked up a yellow skull. He noticed the operation marks on the skull and smiled immediately. “If my guess is correct, the brains of those in Elysium have been implanted with something like a smart chip, right?”
“It’s true that there was something like that.”
X-112 answered, “But only about one-third of the people have been implanted with brain chips. Still, these chips were designed to facilitate interactions between machines and humans, and didn’t have the function of manipulating thoughts.”
Chen Chen’s hand froze when he heard this. Following that, he picked up another skull and looked at it. Indeed, this skull was smooth and shiny, without any marks.
When he saw this, Chen Chen’s expression stiffened. “In that case, my hypothesis is incorrect?”
After thinking about it, Chen Chen asked again, “Are you sure that the citizens across the entire Elysium stopped their movements in just an instant?”
“According to the surveillance videos I’ve investigated, it can be determined that it happened to everyone at 23:59,” X-112 replied.
“Then, let me try another explanation.”
Chen Chen thought for a while and added. “Are you sure that all citizens of Elysium suffered from abnormal behavior on 20 July 2165 at 23:59? Or was it a successive occurrence such as some occurring at 59 minutes 01 seconds, some at 59 minutes 02 seconds, and so on?”
X-112 paused and then continued. “I’ve adjusted and compared the times in the videos and found no abnormalities. The citizens in all of Elysium had acted strangely at the same time.”
“What about the Earth?”
Chen Chen asked, “When that abnormality occurred in Elysium, were they in contact with Earth at that time?”
“According to the log report, the same incident happened on Earth at that time.”
Meanwhile, the 3D projection on the armed aircraft’s screen displayed images from various cameras on Earth.
From the images, one could see that when the phenomenon happened in Elysium, the same thing had befallen the humans on Earth at almost the same time.
“Does this mean that the humans on Earth are probably all dead? It’s not surprising that even after so many years, Earth hasn’t sent anyone to investigate this...”
Chen Chen’s pupils contracted as he ordered, “Break down and compare the videos from Earth and the videos from Elysium according to the number of frames!”
As X-112 occupied the main control computer of Elysium, this level of computing was not a problem. Soon, X-112 replied again, “Sir Commander, the answer has already been obtained.
“According to the frame-by-frame analysis of the surveillance videos with a 480 frame rate, the time when humans on Earth suffered the abnormality was 0.12 seconds after the humans in Elysium, and the time when humans on the other side of Earth acted abnormally was 0.3 seconds after the humans in Elysium.”
Upon hearing this, Chen Chen suddenly revealed an expression of realization. After all, one should know that the distance between Elysium and Earth was 36,000 kilometers and the speed of light was about 300,000 kilometers per second, which meant that light traveled from Elysium to the Earth’s surface in about 0.12 seconds.
This number was exactly the same as the time difference calculated by X-112.
“Travelling at the speed of light?”
Chen Chen looked thoughtful. “So, that’s it...”
X-112 continued. “According to my investigations, I found that the closer one was to 2111 Basin, the sooner this happened.”
“Understood.”
Chen Chen could not help but look at the ground beneath his feet and said in deep thought, “X-112, send me a construction robot to dig up this place. Even if I have to dig through the crust, I have to know what’s inside!”
“Sir Commander, according to the safety regulations, if you stay in Elysium’s world, the level of risk will rise to more than 10%. Please return to reality first.”
However, X-112 did not immediately agree to Chen Chen’s order and instead made a suggestion.
Chen Chen was stunned. “Has the risk risen to 10%? How did you calculate that?”
“Because I put together your reasoning, Sir Commander. The demise of the humans in Elysium was probably related to 2111 Basin.”
X-112 replied, “The excavation of 2111 Basin is likely to trigger that event again. According to my estimation, once the event is triggered again, your chances of dying are extremely high.”
“Very well. Your reasoning isn’t wrong.”
Chen Chen nodded, tossed away the skull in his hand, and turned to the aircraft. “In this case, send me a copy of all data on the Medpod 3000 and provide a decoding method based on the data. I’ll leave two Black Knights here. One of them will be deployed to you and the other is responsible for guarding the portal. All you have to do is restore Elysium’s power system and control the construction machinery here to dig through 2111 Basin.”
“Understood. Just leave this to me,” X-112 answered.
Thus, after that, Chen Chen was sent back to the government building and was guided by X-112 to a 3D printing room. Soon, Chen Chen was witnessing the printing room swiftly print out a USB drive.
It was a white USB drive.
“This is all the scientific and technological information that exists in Elysium’s dimension, including exoskeleton technology, robots, pulse rifles, close-range aircraft, the Medpod 3000, and so on.”
X-112 explained.
“Well done indeed!” Chen Chen put away the USB flash drive. Not even he could conceal his delighted surprise.
This time, obtaining all information on the technology of an entire civilization in one fell swoop could be said to be Chen Chen’s greatest harvest so far.
Following that, Chen Chen was sent back to the villa where the USB drive’s passage was located. Without any hesitation, Chen Chen returned to reality immediately.
After being disinfected, Chen Chen exited the disinfection room and removed the PK Armor with a contemplative look.
“Did something happen inside?”
Little X asked.
“Yes, I found something very interesting in the world of Elysium.”
Chen Chen was pensive. “If my guess is correct, it’s better to open as few portals as possible from now on...”
After thinking for a while, Chen Chen handed the USB flash drive to a Black Knight and ordered, “X, download the data in this USB flash drive and at the same time, organize a list of the data for me.”
“Is this information from Elysium’s dimension? Understood.”
“One more thing.”
Chen Chen gave it some thought and added again. “If the two Black Knights on the other side of the passage return, remember to isolate them. If you find anything wrong, report it to me as soon as possible.”
“Got it!”
Although Little X did not fully understand, it still replied quickly.
After he had settled everything, Chen Chen turned and left the substation, and stayed at the lounge of the nuclear power plant.
Two days went by.
Just when Chen Chen was about to leave the nuclear power plant temporarily until there was news from across the portal, Little X finally brought some news.
“Sir Godfather, a Black Knight has returned from the passage with a video file.”
“I’ll be right over.”
Chen Chen immediately returned to the substation upon hearing this. In a room next door, Chen Chen saw the video file that was mentioned.
It was a USB drive, similar to the one Chen Chen had brought back.
After thinking about it, Chen Chen inserted the USB drive into the computer. The computer screen flashed and a laboratory full of cold glossy walls appeared on the screen.
The camera first panned around, seeming to display the various equipment in the laboratory. According to Chen Chen’s memory, if he had not guessed wrongly, this should be a materials laboratory. The apparatuses here were used for experiments with materials.
However, the final image on the screen was fixed on three sculptures of human faces.
These three human face sculptures were about thirty centimeters long and twenty centimeters wide. They were almost the same size as ordinary human heads, but their shape was extremely peculiar.
In terms of style, these sculptures were like shoddy products made by beginners, without any refinement or beauty to speak of. Not only that, the lines that made up the sculptures’ patterns were also extremely simple, and could even be described as minimalistic.
The eyes of the first sculpture from the left were diamond-shaped and seemed to be closed tightly while its ears were pointed and long, standing up straight like a rabbit’s.
The eyes of the middle sculpture were opened but it seemed to only have a pair of eye sockets that sunk deep into the face as if the person in the sculpture did not have eyeballs.
As for the sculpture at the end, both its ears and eyes were normal. However, its mouth was wide opened and it looked like a black hole. Chen Chen felt an inexplicable chill just by looking at it through the video.
“Sir Commander, I’m X-112. What you see now are the three sculptures I dug out of 2111 Basin, which were the only objects found there.
“I checked all records regarding these three sculptures. The earliest record of them was their discovery in 2025 in the world of Elysium.”
The childish voice of X-112 was the same as that of Little X. The only difference was that it was more unflustered. At this point, Chen Chen was listening to it saying, “In 2025, the three sculptures were first uncovered in Elysium’s dimension by the wealthy North American collector, Gross. He held a ball especially for these three sculptures and exhibited them proudly at the ball.
“The collector claimed that the sculptures were dug out of a gold mine and were at least several million years old, but no one believed him.
“Subsequently, Gross, who was doubted by everyone, took the three sculptures to an expert for appraisal.
“However, after tomographic and isotope identification using the relevant instruments, the final result was that these three sculptures had only been carved in the past year. Namely, they were created recently. All at once, Gross became a laughing stock in the collectors’ circle.
“Following that, over a hundred years later, with the establishment of Elysium, the descendants of Gross moved here from Earth. It can be confirmed, from the records of transported items at the time, that these three sculptures were indeed brought over by descendants of Gross.”
X-112 continued. “These are the only records of these three sculptures, but in my inspection, I’ve also found something truly strange...”
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