by <unknown>
It was the resplendent Milky Way!
Yoru Kamidera silently wore the wireless headset over his ears, then walked to the front of the spacecraft and sat down as did the other three Black Knights.
The four of them were split into four directions, with the spacecraft in the middle. The advantage of this was that, in the event of any abnormality, they would notice it at once.
Time ticked by, minute by minute…
In no time, it had turned from early night to deep night.
Without their realizing it, night had grown denser, permeating the air like a fog. Perhaps because of their exploits during the day, Yoru Kamidera felt a hint of oncoming sleepiness in the darkness.
At first, he could not refrain from yawning a few times. Then, he shook himself, startled, quickly picked up the water before him and took a big gulp, recovering his spirits.
Even so, Yoru Kamidera could not last long and soon the sleepiness washed over him again. Without realizing it, Yoru Kamidera had closed his eyes while his head was slowly drooping…
However, just as he was drifting between sleep and wakefulness, an indescribable chill crept up to him.
In his sleep, Yoru Kamidera only felt that the temperature had dropped a few degrees. Puzzled, he opened his bleary eyes, but in the next second, his pupils shrank furiously!
At an unknown time, a white figure was sprawled on its stomach upon the spaceship!
It seemed to be a human figure, all in white, with both arms holding onto the spaceship. Its head was turned sideways, one ear pressed closely to the porthole.
This action…
At this moment, Yoru Kamidera seemed to understand something.
[Not only that, but I also found some oil stains on the wall of that bedroom. It seems that the woman had frequently assumed the same position against the wall when she was alive, placing an ear on the wall to listen to the other side…]
Chen Chen's description flashed in his mind. In this instant, Yoru Kamidera fully understood why Chen Chen was infected with this mysterious phenomenon.
That was, Chen Chen must have assumed the same position as this white figure did, based on the oil stains on the wall!
It was even very possible that while Chen Chen was performing this action, on the other side of the wall, this white figure was also leaning against the wall, performing the same action as Chen Chen…
Was the mysterious phenomenon happening now?
Yoru Kamidera's heart was pounding wildly. Although he had many years of experience, being someone well-informed even among the survivors, he was only sixteen years old after all. His mind was far from reaching an adult's maturity.
Now, he was forced to face a mysterious phenomenon again and he was no more than three meters away!
He subconsciously looked at the Black Knights on the left and right sides of the spaceship. It stood to reason that the three computer-controlled clones should have taken action when faced with this situation, but at this time they were sitting in place, motionless as a block of wood.
Even the computer AI in the spaceship did not respond just as before…
"Sure enough, AIs and other artificial existences can't come into contact with mysterious phenomena? No, it must be that certain manifestations of mysterious phenomena cannot be observed by artificial intelligence life.
"In that case, His Excellency Chen Chen is in danger…"
With this in mind, Yoru Kamidera was caught in a dilemma.
If he notified Chen Chen, he was likely to attract the attention of the white figure and this might even lead to him getting involved in the mysterious phenomenon.
However, if Chen Chen was not alerted, then it was very likely that Chen Chen would die in this mysterious phenomenon's outbreak…
Chapter 323: Counterattack |
In truth, Yoru Kamidera did not want to care whether Chen Chen lived or died.
If Chen Chen died in the midst of a mysterious phenomenon, Yoru Kamidera would have a chance to obtain that incredible armor. He had personally seen how exceptional the Black Knights were with this armor.
If he could get his hands on that suit of armor, Yoru Kamidera was confident that he could survive this doomsday for more than ten additional years…
However, if he did not alert Chen Chen and Chen Chen survived this mysterious outbreak, what would happen?
It was obvious. He must not be fooled by how nicely Chen Chen had treated him this whole time. If he pulled something like this, he would be the next one to die…
From this man's every word and deed, Yoru Kamidera had already discerned that Chen Chen was basically like a ruthless hero. He had treated Yoru Kamidera with respect, but on second thought, it was not as if Chen Chen had given him any choice. Chen Chen's word was the law.
It was just that Chen Chen did not present his brutal side on the surface.
All these thoughts flashed through Yoru Kamidera's mind. Meanwhile, the white figure was still propped up against the door with both hands. However, its back suddenly arched while its head and body were pulled back.
This was…
Yoru Kamidera vaguely thought of something.
In the next moment, the white figure suddenly lurched forward violently. It bashed its head against the gull-wing door of the spacecraft, making a loud thud!
"Thud!"
This sound…
At this moment, Yoru Kamidera finally understood that the thuds were nothing else but the sound of the white figure hitting its head against the spaceship!
However, even at this time, the spaceship and the three Black Knights remained silent as if their program had crashed.
When he saw this, Yoru Kamidera finally mustered up the courage. Fine, he would take a gamble!
Thinking of this, Yoru Kamidera softly turned on the button of the wireless headset while he lowered his voice and said, "Your Excellency Chen Chen, there is…"
In the instant he turned on the wireless headset, before he could even finish the phrase "there's something", there was an inexplicable rustling sound from the headset.
It was as if the communication signal had been interfered with in some way!
At the same time that Yoru Kamidera spoke, the white figure suddenly halted, then turned its head at lightning speed and looked toward him!
At present, Yoru Kamidera felt that the blood in his body was about to freeze…
By the dim moonlight, Yoru Kamidera saw at last that it was a blank face with no facial features, no contours, just like a monstrous picture scroll, upon which the painter had not painted any details…
However, just as Yoru Kamidera's heart seized in horror, the gull-wing door suddenly swung out into the air. An arm covered in black armor stretched out and viciously struck the white figure in the face.
Suddenly, from Yoru Kamidera's perspective, he only saw that arm plunging directly into the head of the white figure like it was a block of tofu. The white head was instantly deflated and its entire face caved in!
Even so, in the next moment, the white figure had vanished into thin air…
Only then did Chen Chen walked out of the spaceship with a somber expression.
He looked down, gripped his fist, then glanced at Yoru Kamidera at one side. "You did well."
"Your Excellency…"
Seeing this scene, Yoru Kamidera was completely stupefied. He said incredulously, "You hit that white figure?"
"No, I didn't hit anything."
Chen Chen shook his head. He looked extremely disgruntled because just now, he had not only used the PK Armor to attack the opponent but had also secretly used Field energy.
The weird thing was that, whether it was physical force or Field energy, it was impossible to make any contact with the white figure. Chen Chen only felt his vision momentarily going out of focus. When he recovered, he found that he was just punching the air.
One should recall that everything in the world, as long as it was made of matter, would have electromagnetic force. If even
Field energy could not touch the white figure, did it mean that the white figure was not made of matter at all, without even atoms and electrons, but something else completely…
In other words, the white figure did not exist.
As for how Yoru Kamidera performed outside just now, Chen Chen also saw it clearly from the surveillance. Although Yoru Kamidera struggled visibly with his hesitation, in any case, ultimately he kept his promise and assisted Chen Chen when the mysterious phenomenon occurred.
Although this assistance did not do sh*t, at least it showed that Yoru Kamidera could be tentatively trusted.
At this time, looking at the youth's dumbfounded eyes, Chen Chen sighed. Then he looked at the gull-wing door of the Bugatti Spaceship, only to see that the door was now dented and the mark was much deeper than before.
Before this, the figure had only hit it once before it was distracted by Yoru Kamidera. If it had hit it a few times, the gull-wing door might be smashed through.
This was a preposterous matter. After all, although the Bugatti Spaceship was not a military spacecraft, the hull could still withstand the vacuum of space, but now it had crumpled like tofu.
It was clear that the white figure did not use much force as if it had not eaten for a long time. Even so, the actual mark of impact far exceeded one's common understanding of physics.
"Could this be the outbreak phase of the mysterious phenomenon just like what the Gantz server said?"
Chen Chen murmured.
"No, it's not…"
However, Yoru Kamidera quickly interjected, "I've also heard about the outbreak phase, but if the mysterious phenomenon is approaching that phase, you won't be able to drive away the opponent with just one punch."
"How do you know that?" Chen Chen raised his eyebrows upon hearing this.
"Now that I think about it, the reason that monster disappeared is probably because a condition was broken."
Yoru Kamidera did not directly answer, but earnestly explained, "It's just that because you dared to open the hatch to fight back, it might give the impression that you drove it away with a punch, but in fact, that may not be the case…"
"You mean that because I left the spaceship, the enclosed environment was nullified at that moment, so the condition of the strange event was disrupted and it disappeared?"
Chen Chen interrupted with a question.
"Yes."
Yoru Kamidera nodded and said, "It's not necessarily that you left the spaceship. It may also be that I saw it, which caused it to vanish. You said that when the strange phenomenon of 'Thuds' occurred for the first time, the sound stopped when the door of the next room was opened by the Black Knight. From this, it can be seen that an observer should be the key to breaking the condition."
"But just now you've already noticed it, yet it didn't vanish. How can that be explained?"
Chen Chen frowned.
"I suspect this is an issue at a more complex level of detail."
Yoru Kamidera thought for a while. "If possible, I think this mysterious phenomenon called 'Thuds' may have the rules of 'active sighting' and 'passive sighting'. When the Black Knight pushed open the door of the next room, it was an active sighting, so the rules were broken and the white figure disappeared.
"But just now, I first noticed the white figure in a half-asleep state. At this point, it might still be counted as a 'passive sighting'. Therefore, the white figure didn't vanish until I acted to alert you. This turned the 'passive' into the 'active', so the white figure disappeared…"
Chapter 324: Back to Reality |
"Passive and active?"
Chen Chen muttered in a low voice. Yoru Kamidera's analysis had given him a lot of food for thought.
"As for why I said this isn't an outbreak phase, it's because I've seen many strange phenomena that have become increasingly malevolent over time."
Yoru Kamidera went on to explain, "For example, in the 'Woman in Dreams' phenomenon, every time the infected person dreams, they'll see that woman. She'll get closer and closer as time goes by and eventually reach the bed of the infected person and strangle them to death.
"As a result, some people tried setting an alarm clock to target this condition and only allow themselves to sleep for five minutes at a time. After all, dreams take time to generate. If you only sleep for five minutes at a time, you may be able to avoid dreaming, thereby avoiding the woman."
"So, this method failed?"
Chen Chen asked.
"That's right. This method did have a certain effect on the infected person at the beginning. With this method, he succeeded in surviving a week, but he also failed several times during this period, which allowed the woman in white to reach his bed. The next time he dreamed, he would die.
"At this point, he was beyond cautious. He even found a companion to stay by his side, in case the alarm clock could not wake him.
"However, after falling asleep for the last time, he never woke up. Neither the alarm clock nor his companion could wake him up. His companion could see that he had begun to struggle with himself, but ultimately he couldn't escape that dream, until the woman in white emerged out of his chest."
Yoru Kamidera concluded, "This is the outbreak phase. During the outbreak phase, mysterious phenomena will become more and more aggressive and even completely irreversible. This time, you could still restrict the opponent through the rules, and even escape. This means that you're not in the outbreak phase for now."
After thinking about it, Yoru Kamidera added. "Of course, based on the situation just now, your current state is very close to the outbreak phase."
Chen Chen wore a pensive look after listening to all this. "Your analysis is good, but there are still some points that are far-fetched. Since you've mentioned the outbreak phase, is it possible that the change in rules this time is because I'm close to the outbreak phase, rather than due to any active or passive sighting?"
"I'm not sure about that. After all, I'm just guessing based on my experience," Yoru Kamidera answered with some embarrassment.
Hearing this, Chen Chen did not continue to question him but looked at the Bugatti Spaceship at the side. At this time, X-112 in the spacecraft spoke up, "Sir Commander, I'm sorry that I failed at my job again…"
Chen Chen waved his hand. "This isn't your fault. Don't blame yourself because even the surveillance on the spaceship was disturbed at that moment, showing only static on the screen. Electronic products seem unable to detect this kind of existence."
Since even X-112 could not observe the white figure, naturally the three Black Knights were the same. Chen Chen's strongest force had completely lost its effectiveness in the face of this mysterious phenomenon.
With this in mind, Chen Chen returned to the spacecraft. He had also considered whether he could escape catastrophe if he slept in the open field or if he kept the spacecraft's hatch open the entire time. Still, this was just an idea.
After all, although the white figure appeared every time the infected person was in a closed space, one must not forget, its purpose was to break into the closed space of the infected person. Who could guarantee that, if the infected person slept in the open wild or left the cabin hatch open, it would not directly trigger a fatal kill?
Therefore, Chen Chen would never dare to try this.
Thinking of this, Chen Chen closed the hatch again and placed himself in an enclosed space while Yoru Kamidera remained outside the spaceship, waiting silently.
Fortunately, after the thuds were disturbed, they would not reappear for a period of time. It seemed that this rule was still valid. Everyone struggled to stay up until the next morning, and nothing happened again.
Not only that, but as midday approached, the black vortex that had vanished before the spaceship appeared again!
"Sir Commander, my progenitor seems to have fulfilled your request."
X-112 notified.
Seeing this scene, Chen Chen nodded while secretly heaving a sigh of relief. "X-112, transfer yourse
lf back to the hard drive and I'll take you back."
"Understood."
After X-112 agreed, the entire spacecraft was fully turned off. Five minutes later, a hard drive bounced out of the spacecraft and was immediately caught by Chen Chen.
Following that, Chen Chen patted his chest. In the next second, in a burst of blue plasma, the PK Armor resumed its form as an armguard, then slid off Chen Chen's arm.
Not only that, but Chen Chen also took out a small knife, then walked toward the three Black Knights. After making them take off their PK Armor and GS Combat Suits, he made direct incisions in their necks with the blade, from which he took out three bloody microchips.
Yoru Kamidera watched this with mouth agape.
"I can't guarantee whether they were also infected with any mysterious phenomena, so the best thing to do is to keep their bodies here."
Chen Chen looked at Yoru Kamidera and explained, "Of course, you're different. Both your experiences and your hyperthymesia have high research value, so you can rest assured that I'll bring you with me."
"Your Excellency, you haven't told me what's on the other side of this passage."
Yoru Kamidera was a little apprehensive. "Are you from the future?"
"No."
Chen Chen moved toward Yoru Kamidera, step by step. Although Chen Chen had taken off the PK Armor, his mere presence was still overwhelming to Yoru Kamidera. "The place to which I'm taking you, strictly speaking, is a parallel universe.
"In this parallel universe, there are no mysterious phenomena on Earth, nor the first calamity, not even Gantz. It's a completely peaceful world."
"Really?"
Upon hearing Chen Chen's words, Yoru Kamidera's eyes gleamed with shock. "Is there such a thing as a parallel universe?"
"I never lie to anyone."
Chen Chen was standing next to Yoru Kamidera now. He promptly gripped Yoru Kamidera by the shoulders and in a half-coercive manner, walked them both toward the dark vortex in front.
Yoru Kamidera was so scared that he closed his eyes involuntarily.