I Have A Super USB Drive

by <unknown>

  Thinking of this, Chen Chen returned to the castle again but when he approached the castle, he suddenly got a strong whiff of blood. Chen Chen had never been so sensitive to the smell of blood, but now he was in the consciousness battlefield after all. Although the smell of blood was the same as usual, for Chen Chen, there was a hint of sweetness in this bloody stench.

  However, this kind of diversion was not too tempting to the strong-willed Chen Chen. He flew straight to the castle and immediately saw a trace of blood flowing out of the inner floor of the castle.

  Someone seemed to be injured.

  Chen Chen glanced at the trap inside. Sure enough, in the brick above his head, all the spikes had flown out, and they were tightly nailed to the ground. At the same time, a few spikes were missing and on the ground, only a puddle of blood was left.

  The track of blood trailed out from the castle, extending into the cluster of houses behind him.

  Chen Chen's expression flashed twice. He was about to chase after the blood trai, but once again he paused. "The spiked trap was launched from the top. If one was not prepared for it, one would die at once. It's unlikely that someone would be injured but still survived, not to mention the amount of bleeding was not much… In other words, someone is setting up an ambush for this trap again?"

  Thinking of this, Chen Chen's mouth twitched into a smile. "Interesting…"

  He did not follow the bloodstains directly but returned to the castle. At the same time, he stretched out his hand. The spikes popped out of the ground one by one, and then landed into Chen Chen's palm like birds returning to their nests.

  After that, Chen Chen walked to the other side of the second floor of the castle and vaulted over the window at the back.

  At this time, his Field power was fully activated and he tried his best to detect signs of people around him. At the same time, he went around in a circle to explore the direction of the blood track from the side. Finally, after traveling over a hundred meters, he had reached a small square where a pile of bandages was left after being used to dress a wound.

  In the surrounding houses of the small square, several adventurers were waiting quietly. Sure enough, this was still a trap.

  Chen Chen first spotted two warriors with scruffy beards. One of them was only about 1.6 meters tall, but his head was twice as large as an ordinary person, with a big nose and two giant axes in his hands. Chen Chen immediately recognized that this was a dwarf warrior.

  The other person was an ordinary human warrior and not a paladin because Chen Chen did not feel the threat of a paladin from his presence.

  In a residential building near these two people, there was a man in black who was raring to go. He was dressed fully in black clothes, revealing only a pair of eyes, and he was not wearing any armor. Only two scimitars hung at his waist and he looked just like an assassin.

  There were three of them in these two houses.

  Chen Chen did not know where the remaining people were, but it seemed obvious. The remaining people were in the houses that surrounded the small square, but at this time, these people were acting as support by guarding the rear. It was impossible for Chen Chen to enter the small square to locate the remaining people, and if he continued to approach these people, he would be noticed by them.

  Chen Chen was still keeping in mind the distance of 40 meters.

  Unless Chen Chen could head in and slaughter them without attracting too much attention…

  Thinking of this, Chen Chen immediately narrowed his eyes. He first selected the assassin in black and then he approached this opponent step by step. Although the limit of Field's range was 50 meters, his control over Field at this distance was greatly diminished both in accuracy and strength.

  Forty-five meters, forty-four meters, forty-three meters…

  When Chen Chen was forty-three meters away from the black-clothed assassin, the assassin suddenly shuddered. He quickly stood up and was about to draw the scimitar at his waist but found that there was only air!

  "Swish!"

  There was a sound of metal slicing flesh and the black-clothed assassin only felt a chill at his neck. Following that, a large volume of blood sprayed from his neck!

  "Hiss, hiss, hiss…"

  The black-clothed assassin struggled constantly but he could not break free from the invisible shackles. He opened his mouth but his scimitar had already cut his throat, making him unable to utter a sound.

  After half a minute, the black-clothed assassin had become limp, approaching death little by little.

  Although Chen Chen was far away, he knew that there must be a bloody stench emanating from the scene and he had to kill as many as possible before others could smell the blood.

  Thus, Chen Chen did not stop. He once again targeted the two warriors who were stationed together. At the same time, with a flick of his finger, four spikes flew toward the house of the two warriors at a leisurely speed.

  "Hum…"

  The four spikes were like four feathers. They drifted into the building through the gaps in the door and the window and silently hovered over the two people's heads. Just then, Chen Chen raised his right hand, then abruptly closed it into a fist!

  "Whiz!"

  In an instant, the four spikes suddenly accelerated and penetrated the open eyes of the two at a lightning speed!

  "Argh!"

  "Aghh!!"

  Two screams came from inside the house. Chen Chen did not proceed to kill them but immediately retreated and re-entered the shadows behind him.

  "Roar!"

  Sure enough, outside the small square, a furious cry suddenly burst out from one of the hidden buildings and then a warrior surrounded by a white halo rushed out. This soldier was brawnier than the paladin captain killed by Chen Chen. His silver-white halo was also more compact.

  At this time, Chen Chen was already hiding in the shadows. He stoically watched the paladin rushing forward but when he saw the weapon wielded by the paladin, his pupils suddenly shrank.

  The paladin was holding the simple longsword without any embellishments that Chen Chen had first discovered?

  Thinking of this, Chen Chen's expression darkened instantly. This longsword was prepared for the paladin and that was why it caused such grievous harm to Chen Chen.

  Now, the longsword was found by his opponent, so the danger level had soared exponentially. Chen Chen was not even sure that his Field could stop the paladin's slash!

  Chapter 548: Return |

  As Chen Chen beheld the humanoid creature constantly extending its tentacles outward, a harsh, piercing gaze appeared in his eyes. Despite his injuries, he forced himself to form a drill-shaped Field and launched it at the enemy at full strength!

  "Psst!"

  The Consciousness Stealer was blown up into a fine splatter of blood and flesh that painted the hall of the castle red!

  "Huff... Huff...!"

  Chen Chen stood in place, beginning to feel worn out by this point. He fixed his gaze at the mash of meat splattered all over the ground. Suddenly, they turned into countless spots of green light and flew toward him...

  Chen Chen quickly stumbled backward and instinctively raised a barrier of Field to stop the advance of these strange spots of light. However, these strange objects did not seem to have a physical form and managed to effortlessly slip through his Field and fuse into his body!

  The moment they fused into Chen Chen, he saw countless visions. He saw the luminous night sky, a vast field on an alien planet, and a glimpse of an enormous dark figure...

  The magnificent figure rose over the horizon and loomed over the sky of the planet. Due to the alignment of the sun, he could barely make out the silhouette of the figure. It was a figure with what seemed like tens of thousands of tiny strands of tentacles crawling over its body, a monster made up of massive carpets of flesh and blood!

  It drowned out the light of the sun. With just a glance, Chen Chen felt overwhelmed with a sense of despair and madness!

  "W
hat... Is that…"

  "The Consciousness Battlefield has come to an end!"

  A bright voice shattered the darkness and snapped Chen Chen awake as he heard the same voice continue declaring. "Participant Chen Chen, you've successfully devoured the opponent, prepare to return."

  Chen Chen began to relax upon hearing this familiar voice. He collapsed weakly onto the ground and tried to detect the changes in his consciousness. Before he had time to properly catch his breath, he suddenly noticed cracks forming out of thin air in front of him, like reality itself shattering and crumbling away. The sharp sound of breaking glass filled his ears.

  Chen Chen rubbed his eyes in confusion and yet the strange phenomenon was still occurring. With one final break, the glass in front of him had completely shattered and his world was yet again plunged into complete darkness.

  Something was not right!

  Chen Chen was shocked by what was happening around him. The darkness filled him with a peculiar sense of dread that he could not identify the root cause of. It felt as if his very consciousness was split into two identical halves and somehow each half was feeling different things.

  What was going on?

  Chen Chen was suddenly filled with an extreme sense of tiredness. The moment he tried to sit up, he banged his head hard into the metal plate above, which immediately resulted in a bloodied head.

  Chen Chen tried to rub the pain away and as he opened his eyes, he found himself in a suffocating, almost claustrophobic space.

  After further inspection, he realized he was sleeping inside a space that seemed like the inside of a coffin. He was surrounded by metal walls with two rows of faint red LED lights along the sides of his body.

  'Am I inside a cryogenic chamber?'

  Chen Chen looked around, puzzled by what was happening. He was having a harder time focusing as his mind was invaded by another sweeping sense of drowsiness. However, he refused to submit to this sleepiness. He realized that he was seeing two separate images at a time.

  It felt as if one half of his consciousness was looking at a space faintly lit by two rows of dim red light while the other half of his consciousness was staring at the pitch-black, ominous void.

  What was going on, was this caused by the Consciousness Battlefield?

  Chen Chen was dismayed by this thought. Before he could further study his situation, another wave of sleepiness came over him.

  Before long, Chen Chen had lost consciousness...

  While this was happening, in the Spire Experimental Base faraway, the USB drive suddenly emitted a blinding white glow and began to melt away like a bar of soap while basking amid the blinding light!

  By the time the light faded out, the shape of the USB drive was only a faint remembrance of what it once was. It continued to evaporate into thin air and by the time Little X tapped into the camera inside the charging room, the USB drive had completely vanished!

  Nobody knew where the USB drive could have gone...

  ...

  Seemingly out of nowhere, the strange virus that could potentially devastate the entirety of mankind had disappeared.

  It was as if somebody pressed the pause button. The virus that was still spreading furiously had instantly disappeared. After disposing of the final batch of corpses, the remaining infected people managed to regain their sanity. Meanwhile, the ones who were identified as at risk of infection due to exposure were out of the woods as well since there were zero signs of unnatural observation when they were put into quarantine.

  In the beginning, the Earth Federation was not certain that it was over. However, as time went on and they arrived at a month's mark without any new cases of infection or deaths reported, everyone took it as a sign that the nightmare was finally over.

  To ensure that the infection was truly gone, the Earth Federation made sure to check with the quantum computer, Adam. The answer Adam provided was simple and elaborate, being that mankind was currently not facing any potential world-ending crisis...

  Adam's reply was relayed to all the world leaders but most of them took the answer with a mixture of bitterness.

  It seemed like Adam's prophetic qualities were slowly degrading.

  Nobody knew what the cause for this was, but what was happening here could not be any more clear. There seemed to be some sort of error with the quantum computer Adam, otherwise, it would have at least issued a warning regarding this crisis they faced instead of remaining silent until directly enquired.

  With this, the terrible plague event which spanned for two and a half months, spreading all over the world and claiming more than three million lives in the process had finally come to an end.

  The infectious disease went away as quickly as it came, without any forewarning.

  Similarly, all of the Consciousness Stealer clones cultivated by countries all over the world from the meteorite protoplasmic liquid sample died a month prior. After that, nobody could create clones from the protoplasmic liquid anymore.

  Even the protoplasmic liquid itself followed the trend of rapid deterioration and lost all of its potency.

  While the world was busy celebrating the end of this plague, nobody noticed the sudden disappearance of a certain person who had been at the frontline, holding back the Consciousness Stealer all this while.

  Life went on.

  One month, two months, three months...

  There was a beautiful girl who ritually sat next to a blue, metallic coffin and waited quietly by herself every day. She would curl herself into a ball and wait for the slightest bit of movement from within the coffin.

  "Beep, beep, beep..."

  The girl's phone suddenly started to ring. She slowly opened her eyes and answered the call.

  "Little Chen, it's already so late, are you not coming home yet? Aren't you going to at least check in with us?"

  There was an aged and worn-out voice on the other end of the phone. Although the person on the phone sounded spent, her voice made her sound like she could not be anywhere older than thirty years old.

  "Mom, I've been a bit busy recently. You take care of yourself with Dad, I'll be back sometime soon..."

  The girl answered, but the voice that came out of her lips was that of a man's.

  "Alright then, don't stress yourself out now, child. Make sure to rest if you get tired. Your father misses you as well."

  The mother continued. "Look, we were to blame for what happened last night. We won't force you to look for a partner anymore, please don't be angry at us alright?"

  "It's no big deal."

  The girl smiled, her expression lucid. "Really."

  "That's good..."

  "Beep."

  The call ended.

  With that, the girl gently set the phone on the ground next to her and continued waiting with her back against the coffin.

  Nobody knew who or what she was waiting for...

  "Thump…"

  Just as she slowly closed her eyes and set herself to meditate against the chamber, she seemed to sense what could be the sound of faint knocking against the metal chamber.

  "Thump, thump…,

  It sounded like someone knocking against the inside of the chamber. She immediately widened her eyes and turned around to look at the chamber expectantly.

  "Click, click!"

  There was suddenly a light noise heard from inside the chamber as if someone had triggered a mechanism. Shortly after that, the lid of the chamber shook for a moment before it began to slide open!

  "Ah!"

  The girl exclaimed in surprise. She quickly went to look inside the chamber and saw a young man with his eyes squinted as he slowly lifted the cover. When the light from outside seeped into the chamber, the person inside shielded his eyes from the brightness of the sun.

  "Sir Godfather!"

  The girl could not be any more delighted to see this. She leaned over the chamber and became extremely emotional. "You've finally awakened from your slumber!"

  Chen Chen was still trap
ped in a dizzy state. He only looked at the celebrating Little X and did not elicit any distinct response. His eyes were still colored with a palate of strangeness and confusion.

  "Where am I..."

  Chen Chen did not sit up. He held his hands in front of his face and inspected it as if he was looking at a never-before-seen curiosity.

  "This is the teleportation hall."

  The girl froze slightly upon noting this remark and noticing Chen Chen's foreign expression. She stumbled backward ever so slightly. "Are you Sir Godfather?"

  "I am."

  Chen Chen finally set down his palm and looked at the slightly tense and unsettled Little X as his lips finally broke into a light smile. "Don't worry, I've already devoured the Consciousness Stealer, you can rest easy."

  Little X nodded firmly, it was true. There were no longer any infected people in the world. This person she was facing could not be the Consciousness Stealer either.

  Still, there was a strange look that lingered in Chen Chen's eyes. He kept trying to blink away this occult feeling in his mind.

  From his perspective, he seemed to be looking at two separate images.

  One image was of himself opening the cover of the cryogenic chamber. He saw Little X beside himself and he saw the familiar ceiling of the teleportation hall.

  Inside another image was nothing but the all-consuming darkness.

  Chen Chen felt as if his consciousness was split into two clean halves. One half had fully awakened but the other half was still slumbering.

  It was an extremely bizarre, unnatural feeling. It made him feel like he was losing grip of what was real and what was not, like the strands of reality and illusion were intertwined in an unexplainable manner.

  "Sir Godfather, are you feeling any discomfort?"

  Little X asked concerningly.

  "No, it's just..."

  Chen Chen tried to elaborate but realized he did not know how to put what he was feeling into words. He decided it was better to not try to explain his predicament. Instead, he reached out to hold the edges of the cryogenic chamber and pulled himself up.