Chapter 585: Swindling

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

The man whom Chen Chen identified as Zhao Shanhe was baffled. “What, you’re the former owner of the dimension key?”

While endless waves were flapping about in his mind, Chen Chen was similarly astounded by this discovery as well. The moment he saw this man appear, he recognized that it was Zhao Shanhe, the one who he met in the past inside the quantum computer, Adam!

In the video Zhao Shanhe had left behind, he clearly stated that he would venture into the dimension of Event Horizon without specifying a reason. Chen Chen determined that Zhao Shanhe had probably met his demise in the Event Horizon dimension and yet, the exact person in question appeared before him!

Was it a timeline disturbance? Or perhaps this was the work of another party?

Countless speculations raced through Chen Chen’s mind. He decided that he would need to come up with a believable scheme to extract more information.

“Of course, who else were you expecting?”

Chen Chen remarked with a coy smile, “Were you expecting Wang Xi?”

“You, you even know about Professor Wang Xi...”

Zhao Shanhe’s expression was fixed with shock.

Upon noting this reaction, Chen Chen became surer of his initial suspicion. Just as expected, Professor Wang Xi must be closely related to the USB drive! This was something he had determined a long time ago when the professor suddenly disappeared, but now he had a clearer confirmation of the fact.

“You’re a student of Shangdu Jiao Tong University, that’s also where you obtained the dimension key. Meanwhile, the black slate in your hand, ‘Civilization Monolith’, comes from 2001: A Space Odyssey.”

Chen Chen went on, his whispers passing into their ears from a distance. “The powers you refer to as the Force originated from Star Wars. Your outfit is inspired by Men in Black, which is also where you obtained the memory eraser... Is everything I’ve said true so far?”

“Does this mean that you were the one who planted the antimeme?”

A wipe of hatred appeared in Zhao Shanhe’s eyes. “You planted the antimeme and forced me into this Event Horizon dimension. What are you plotting?”

“What am I plotting?”

Chen Chen raised an eyebrow at the accusation and froze briefly. All this time, he assumed that Zhao Shanhe was the person behind the antimeme but now it seemed like Zhao Shanhe was a victim just like himself. Could this mean that someone else was responsible for the antimeme?

Could the former owner before Zhao Shanhe be Professor Wang Xi? Were all of these the calculated schemes of the professor?

Again, countless conspiracy theories formed in Chen Chen’s mind. He tried to obtain a clearer picture of the current circumstances and stated solemnly, “I’m a victim of the ‘I Saw You!’ meme just like yourself. I gave you the dimension key because I saw the potential in you. After all, we can only erase the antimeme by coming here, isn’t it?”

From the footage Zhao Shanhe had left behind in the past, he must have come to the Event Horizon after suffering the effects of the antimeme. He must have seen certain prospects in the movie to have done so!

Chen Chen speculated.

“You too?”

A tint of suspicion rose in Zhao Shanhe’s eyes upon hearing Chen Chen’s claims. He hesitated briefly and wondered. ‘Was I mistaken all along? Maybe the former owner wasn’t Professor Wang Xi but this young man here instead?’

The two of them were not ready to lay their cards on the table just yet. Their dialogue had shocked Zhao Shanhe’s subordinates to the core.

“We should join forces.”

After dropping this atomic revelation, Chen Chen suggested. “You and I share the same goal and that is to find some way to get rid of the antimeme and explore the secrets of the dimension key. There’s no reason for us to be enemies. We should be on the same side.”

An uncertain look surfaced in Zhao Shanhe’s eyes. He did not know whether he could trust this young man or not.

“How did you get here if you don’t have the dimension key?”

Zhao Shanhe was not entirely convinced yet and enquired further.

“I have my methods.”

Chen Chen smiled. Just as he was about to continue swindling Zhao Shanhe, the urgent blaring of police sirens coming from the distance interrupted their conversation. The commotion caused by their previous battle had drawn the attention of the Washington police department.

“Looks like this isn’t the best time to talk, I’ll see you soon.”

Chen Chen smiled and retreated into the darkness, departing them immediately.

Zhao Shanhe clenched his teeth, a small part of him wanted to pursue this mysterious man but ultimately decided against it. He gave a signal to his subordinates, suggesting their retreat as well.

...

Several minutes later, Chen Chen retrieved the reality anchor he had placed earlier and sat atop the rooftop of a building. He silently looked at the modernistic city before him, his eyes wore a pensive look.

“Zhao Shanhe, so it truly is Zhao Shanhe...”

Chen Chen commented to himself with a slight frown, “Based on his reaction, it doesn’t seem like he recognizes me. This does add up considering he came from the early 2000s timeline. This means that he must’ve come here using the USB drive passage just like I did.

“How very mysterious. We’re separated by four decades in the real world but managed to meet each other under such strange circumstances in this Event Horizon dimension.

“But it seems like he’s taken a different approach. While I employ Black Knights without conscience, he has a team of real people. It seems like his method of exploring alternate dimensions is by building an elite task force.”

By now, Chen Chen was beginning to gain an understanding of how Zhao Shanhe managed to unite the nations and establish the Earth Federation.

“His elite forces are nothing. It doesn’t matter if they have the Force that comes from Star Wars or the technology from Men in Black, all those are inconsequential to me. However, the black slate he summoned in his hand is interesting...”

Chen Chen reflected on the previous confrontation. “If I’m not mistaken, it comes from 2001: A Space Odyssey. His reaction when I pointed it out proves it, but why do they call it the ‘Civilization Monolith’? What does it mean?”

Chen Chen dug through countless sci-fi films and 2001: A Space Odyssey was certainly one of the classics among them. This movie was a sci-fi thriller released in 1968. It was a genre-defining film that fully showcased the director’s imagination with its stream of conscious oriented plot. It was a marvelous film and anyone who spoke against its impact on the genre as a whole certainly did not know a thing about filmmaking.

The movie began in the ancient ages when humans were still apes. This was until a day when the apes discovered a certain black slate. It permeated a shockwave which altered the ape’s brain structure and from there on, the apes started to learn to create tools and how to properly utilize them.

The message was that the emergence of mankind was an orchestrated event all along.

The movie then cut to the present time when humans once again discovered the same slate on the Moon. The slate emitted a bolt of laser that pointed at the planet Jupiter.

To unravel what the slate was hinting at, mankind dispatched several astronauts accompanied by an artificial intelligence entity to Jupiter.

However, on the way to Jupiter, the artificial intelligence malfunctioned. The crew of astronauts immediately took action and shut down the artificial intelligence controlling their spacecraft. This was because a malfunctioned artificial intelligence may no longer be entrusted with the task of navigating their spaceship in case it made any further error that could worsen their circumstances.

However, while the crew was discussing their plans to shut down the artificial intelligence, their ploys were overheard by the artificial intelligence. It set up countless traps on the spaceship and killed all of the astronauts on board save for one who managed to turn it off at the cost of his own life. In the end, they reached the black slate on Jupiter...

End.

Apart from the initial segment of awakening the brains of the apes, the movie did not go further into what the black slate was capable of. However, it was reasonable to assume that it was some sort of highly sophisticated extraterrestrial entity. It seemed to manage to disrupt Chen Chen’s brain waves and interrupt his channeling of Field. There was no telling what else it was capable of.

“Civilization Monolith, Civilization Monolith...”

Chen Chen chanted the name religiously and seemed to gain enlightenment by doing so. “Judging by the name, could it be a written scripture on the basis of civilization? What is the basis of civilization? Is it science? Humans? Perhaps its nature?

“No, it’s not...”

Chen Chen felt like he was close to grasping its meaning. “In the movie, this black slate enlightened the apes and inspired the foundation of civilization, paving a pathway to modern science. Based on this observation, could the black slate be a guide of some sort? Was its purpose to navigate the course of human civilization?”

Chen Chen thought about this for what seemed like forever before deciding there was no need to contemplate the subject any further. At the end of the day, there was no need for him to treat Zhao Shanhe as an enemy. Strictly speaking, there should not be any animosity between himself and Zhao Shanhe, especially considering Zhao Shanhe was probably already deceased in his timeline, which was how the USB drive came to accept Chen Chen as its new owner. There was no need for Chen Chen to quarrel with a dead man.

On the contrary, he would much rather employ the help of Zhao Shanhe to unravel the secrets of the USB drive.

Provided that Zhao Shanhe was not the person behind the antimeme that was meant to kill him.

This was where another mystery arose again. If Zhao Shanhe was not responsible for the antimeme, then who was it that pulled him into the dream world?

No, Chen Chen was entering a territory where his speculations may be false due to a lack of information...

Another possibility soon came to Chen Chen. Perhaps Zhao Shanhe failed to wring himself free of this antimeme even after arriving at this dimension. Eventually, he resorted to attempting to fuse his powers with the antimeme in this dimension to...

Chen Chen chuckled at the ludicrous idea. One way or another, it did not matter if it was Zhao Shanhe behind the antimeme or not. His only goal now was to take advantage of Zhao Shanhe without his knowledge and obtain more information about the USB drive.

After having made up his mind, Chen Chen stomped on the tile below his feet and flew off.

The most important thing now was to acquire the space warp technology...

Chen Chen returned to the NASA headquarters under the camouflage of the night sky. Although it was at the height of midnight, the NASA headquarters building was still occupied. Chen Chen entered from one of the windows.

In a certain command hub designated for receiving communication signals from outer space, there was a team of NASA personnel. They were sweating profusely with their eyes fixed on the display above them.

“General, the rescue team have... Failed their mission!”

An elderly member who stood at the head of the desk promptly held his fingers over a button with a heavy expression over him. “The rescue team has successfully reached the Event Horizon but they failed to find any survivors on the spacecraft. To make matters worse, some kind of incident seemed to have occurred and the rescue spacecraft was destroyed in the process...”

“What, the rescue spacecraft is destroyed?”

A frantic voice came out from the other end of the communication channel. “D*mn it, what happened to Dr. William? He’s the designer of the space warp engine and we cannot afford to lose him. I’ll have you all fired if something happens to him!”

“That won’t be necessary yet...”

The elderly man sighed with relief and quickly explained, “Dr. William is still alive. The other remaining survivors are Richard Jones and another female crew member. All three of them are inside the hibernation chambers now and we’ll be dispatching another rescue team to collect them.”

“The one at the bow of the Event Horizon?”

The voice on the other end sounded confused.

“Let me explain, general.”

The elderly man began explaining, “During the design process of the Event Horizon, it was decided that it would be split into two sections. The bow and the hull are separated parts that remain functional even if detached from one another. The idea is that even if the wrap control engine located in the hull malfunctioned and cannot be salvaged, the bow and hull will be separated immediately. This way, we can at least ensure the safety of the crew on the Event Horizon...”

“But the Event Horizon still went missing for seven years!”

The general barked fiercely.

“There’s not much we can do about that.”

The elderly man explained again patiently, “Till now, we have no explanation for what happened seven years ago and we have no idea where the Event Horizon went off to in that period. The good news is that Dr. William is still alive and has also retrieved the black box in the Event Horizon. Upon their return, we should be able to find out just what happened to it in these seven years.”

“Let’s hope so.”

With that, the call ended without a formal farewell.

“Phew...”

The elderly man heaved a sigh of relief. The reason he was made the current director of NASA in the first place was the Event Horizon mishap seven years ago which had forced the previous director to step down. This was how the position became vacant and allowed him to take over as the new director. This time, the rescue team’s incident was entirely on his shoulders.

Fortunately, Dr. William was still safe and sound. This meant that he was only going to be harshly reprimanded but his position should be secure. As far as the elderly man was concerned, this was as good as it could be.

After that, he tapped another button and cast an image on the display. It was the live feed from somewhere in the distant universe.

A row of cryogenic chambers with transparent covers positioned upright could be seen on the display. Inside two cryogenic chambers, the silhouette of a person could be vividly seen inside them. This was footage from the Event Horizon showing that the crew members had now entered a cryogenic state as they were instructed to.

“Hm? Why are there only two occupied cryogenic chambers? Isn’t there someone missing?”

The elderly man was mildly disturbed by this observation. He tapped the refresh button to obtain the latest footage. It took eight minutes for light to travel from the Sun to Earth and a whopping 6.8 hours for light to travel from Pluto to Earth. This meant that to obtain the latest footage on the Event Horizon, they would have to wait six to seven hours.

Six to seven hours filled with agitation...