I Have A Super USB Drive

by <unknown>

  "Why are they here again?"

  Zhao Shanhe, who had been deep in sleep, frowned impatiently. He did not move and directly activated the power of the black slate, trying to control the opponent to turn away but all this while, he still did not hear the opponent's footsteps leaving.

  "Thud, thud, thud…"

  The soft sound of knocking on the iron door rang out slowly, echoing in the prison.

  "Hmm?"

  Zhao Shanhe activated the black slate several times in a row, but the entire time, the black slate could not drive away the opponent. Thus, he opened his eyes suddenly and looked at the door with vigilance.

  At the grille of the black iron gate, a middle-aged man who seemed to be a high-ranking official was standing outside the gate with a sullen face, looking at Zhao Shanhe with a blank stare.

  Zhao Shanhe was shocked. He turned over, got up, and asked, "Who are you?"

  "We met some time ago."

  The other party's lips and teeth squirmed slowly, but the words spoken were stiff as if this was not a living person. "Zhao Shanhe, I can cooperate with you."

  "You are…"

  Zhao Shanhe squinted his eyes and looked at the man alertly. "You are… That young man, the previous owner of the dimension key!"

  "Hahaha…"

  Hearing this, the other man laughed but the laughter still had a stiff rhythm. "You've come to your senses so quickly? That's right, I'm him."

  "How are you doing this?"

  Zhao Shanhe looked even more astounded. "Technology? Or some mysterious power?"

  "We can discuss this issue later."

  The other party woodenly replied, "Seeing that only two of you came back, it seems that you've failed to remove the antimeme. In that case, you can try to cooperate with me. The result might be different."

  Zhao Shanhe's expression flickered and then he sneered. "How do you want to cooperate?"

  "Tell me everything you know."

  The other party said, "In exchange, I'll save you first."

  "If I wanted to come out, I'd have come out long ago."

  Zhao Shanhe snorted coldly and said, "The reason I'm willing to be caught by them is just to let them treat Jenny's injury. When Jenny recovers, I can take Jenny away at any time."

  Hearing this, the slack-looking senior official was silent for a moment and then said, "I understand. In that case, I'll wait for you outside."

  As he spoke, he slowly withdrew from the edge of the grille, and then disappeared from behind the gate.

  It was not until the senior official disappeared that Zhao Shanhe frowned, wearing a thoughtful look.

  The high-ranking official was naturally the result of Chen Chen's use of the God chip. At this time, in a small town more than ten kilometers away from Islip's secret military base, Chen Chen slowly opened his eyes and frowned. "Zhao Shanhe said that he could leave at any time?"

  "Could it be the power of that black slate?"

  X-112 asked, "I've checked the information from Islip's secret military base and I'm sure that all the items he was carrying have been confiscated. Since he's imprisoned there, it's impossible for him to carry anything else with him."

  "Indeed, when I first encountered him, I also realized this."

  Chen Chen nodded. "When I checked the videos of Zhao Shanhe's interrogation, I saw that something was wrong. In each interrogation, the interrogators didn't find anything meaningful at all and then gave up halfway. However…

  "That black slate seemed to appear out of thin air. He hadn't had anything in his hand before, but when he opened his palm, there was an extra black slate in his hand.

  "From the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey, it can be seen that the black slate has the ability to disrupt people's thoughts. This weird interrogation recording is likely thanks to his manipulation of the black slate…"

  "If this is the case, if you cooperate with him, I'm afraid you have to be careful."

  X-112 was a little worried. "Does it disturb people's thinking ability? This ability is probably very terrifying."

  "Don't worry, I've faced it before."

  Chen Chen nodded. "There's probably a limit to its ability to control thoughts. He can control ordinary people but he can't control me. Otherwise, I'd have been killed when I fought him for the first time."

  Despite saying that, Chen Chen still shook his head a little ruefully. Unfortunately, he could not get a second black slate from the movie, which meant that he had narrowly missed out on this powerful movie prop.

  "So, what shall we do next?"

  X-112 asked.

  "We wait."

  Chen Chen looked up at the sky, and said, "Anyway, we have fired the missiles and destroyed the Event Horizon. The threat from beyond the skies has been vanquished. So, what if we wait for him a little longer?"

  …

  One month later.

  When Chen Chen had been in Event Horizon's dimension for three months, Zhao Shanhe and a woman who had healed slowly walked out of the Islip secret military base.

  The two of them walked out brazenly and a group of troops opened the doors to release the two.

  "Phew!"

  Zhao Shanhe exhaled. He turned his head and looked at the tightly guarded military base while controlling several high-ranking officials to personally drive the military car to them.

  "Get in the car."

  Zhao Shanhe said to the woman beside him. Then, he got into the car first and both of them were directly chauffeured out of the military base.

  Nonetheless, just as the military vehicle was halfway on its journey, a young man landed from a high altitude and stood in front of the military vehicle.

  "Screech!"

  The military car stopped directly in front of the young man.

  "You're finally out."

  Chapter 591: The USB Drive's Secret |

  The appearance of Chen Chen naturally aroused the vigilance of the soldiers in the car.

  Several guns popped out but the next second, there was a dazed flash in the eyes of the two high-ranking military officials. They lowered their arms and then got out of the car, vacating their seats.

  Chen Chen smiled and sat directly in the back seat of the car.

  At this point, there was only one soldier who was driving. In the front passenger seat was the woman who had followed Zhao Shanhe while Chen Chen and Zhao Shanhe were sitting in the back seat of the military vehicle.

  Immediately, the vehicle drove in the direction of the center of New York City again.

  "I have to say that the power of your Civilization Monolith is baffling."

  Chen Chen looked at Zhao Shanhe beside him. "It manipulates people's thoughts and makes them a marionette who will do whatever you want. It's no wonder that you can create the Earth Federation by yourself. With this ability alone, you're already invincible."

  "But the power of the Civilization Monolith cannot affect you."

  Zhao Shanhe took a deep look at Chen Chen. He raised his palms slightly and was also secretly wary of Chen Chen. "However, during this period, I've realized that there are still many flaws in your story. I dare to assert that you're not the previous dimension key owner at all! So, who on Earth are you?"

  Chen Chen nodded. "I hadn't planned on lying to you for long. Yes, I'm indeed not the previous owner of the dimension key, but all you need to know is that I can help you."

  "If someone who doesn't even reveal his identity wants to help you, would you believe him?"

  Zhao Shanhe chuckled. "What's more, why do you have to cooperate with me? It's nothing more than a plot against me."

  Hearing this, Chen Chen could not help laughing. A pitying look glimmered in his eyes. "Do you want to know who I am? If I tell you, I'm afraid you'll regret it."

  Zhao Shanhe still looked fixedly at Chen Chen as if he would not cooperate with Chen Chen if Chen Chen did not reveal his identity.

  Seeing this, Chen Chen thought for a while and then he said, "Tell me, what year was it in the real world when
you came to the dimension of Event Horizon?"

  Zhao Shanhe frowned but still said, "It was 2002, why?"

  "I'm from 2040."

  Chen Chen said immediately, "I'm 38 years old this year and have owned the dimension key for 20 years. At that time, I was a student of the Institute of Biological Sciences at Shangdu Jiao Tong University. When I obtained the dimension key, it was in Professor Wang Xi's class…"

  Hearing Chen Chen's words, Zhao Shanhe's expression changed drastically. Even the woman in the front seat turned around in disbelief and glared at Chen Chen. "No, you're lying to us, right? You must've done a background check on Boss, so you fabricated such a lie to deceive us!"

  Chen Chen ignored the woman in the front seat. He just looked at Zhao Shanhe silently.

  Zhao Shanhe's expression was slightly somber. He stared at Chen Chen's eyes, trying to see if Chen Chen showed any signs of lying, but he was disappointed.

  Chen Chen's eyes were pure black, like a dark bottomless pool. One was unable to discern any truths or lies at all.

  "No, you must be lying to us, you must be!"

  The woman in the front seat screamed. She even snapped and was about to pull out her lightsaber, but Zhao Shanhe stopped her instantly.

  Seeing this, Chen Chen continued slowly. "You created the Earth Federation in 1993 but because of an antimemetic infection, the entire Earth Federation completely forgot your existence. Only one quantum computer is left maintaining a fragile alliance…

  "Because you knew that you might die, you left a video in 'Adam'. The video hints at a crisis that had been brewing in the dark. At the same time, you suspect that your predecessor is Professor Wang Xi, but you can't say it explicitly for some reason. Therefore, you can only use such means to store your student certificate on the campus server. Only by investigating the entire network could someone find the only trace of your existence and Professor Wang Xi's name is also written there…"

  Chen Chen said successively, "You've left a hint that you're going to the dimension of Event Horizon in the video, am I right?"

  Hearing this, Zhao Shanhe was completely silent.

  Chen Chen understood that it was normal for the two of them to react so strongly because if what he said was true, it meant one thing — Zhao Shanhe died in the dimension of Event Horizon.

  "No, maybe it's a parallel universe!"

  The woman in the front seat was still unwilling to believe all this. She emphasized. "It's a parallel universe, right? Aren't the worlds that we constantly shuttle through all parallel universes? We shouldn't be dying here, absolutely not!"

  However, Zhao Shanhe only shook his head with a wry smile. Only he could understand that the parallel universes did exist, but the dimension key was unique, like the Civilization Monolith in his possession. If the mysterious young man in front of him was the next owner, there was only one reason, and that was that he died…

  Zhao Shanhe wanted to refute this, but everything Chen Chen said was indeed what he had orchestrated in reality. Only the holder of the dimension key could explain all this in such detail, right?

  All at once, Zhao Shanhe felt powerless.

  'No, I won't necessarily die…'

  Still, at this moment, Zhao Shanhe seemed to have thought of something. There was a dark glint in his eyes and at the same time he thought to himself, 'He said he was also ambushed by the antimeme, doesn't that mean… If I carry out the plan I have in mind, there may still be hope…'

  Thinking of this, Zhao Shanhe took a deep breath and pulled himself together. Nonetheless, on the surface, he still laughed loudly. "I don't know if what you said is true or false, but since I've come here, I'm naturally prepared to die!"

  "Oh?"

  Chen Chen suddenly glanced at Zhao Shanhe with a subtle smile. "You don't need to believe me, but everything I've said is true. Can you tell me everything you know now?"

  "What else do you want to know?"

  Zhao Shanhe asked solemnly. "Whatever I know, I'll tell you."

  "All the secrets of the Event Horizon dimension."

  Chen Chen said, "And how did you link Professor Wang Xi to the dimension key."

  "This is a long story."

  Zhao Shanhe's expression suddenly became serious. He turned his head and looked at the black fog across the horizon in the distance, wearing a sorrowful look. "I was an ordinary college student… My parents were both from the mountains. For me to attend university, they pawned almost all the valuable things in the family and even the land was sold…

  "And I had great aspirations. Finally, I was admitted to the Shangdu Jiao Tong University and entered Biological Sciences…

  "In my year of enrollment, I met my life mentor — Wang Xi. He knew that my family was poor and he looked after me. After learning that I was very interested in computers, he personally sponsored me with a computer."

  However, when talking about this, Zhao Shanhe's eyes flared with a hint of hatred. "But I didn't expect that all this was part of his plan. One day, I found a CD in his class. I wanted to hand it in, but in the end, I still thought of using the computer to see what was in it. At that time, I was still young and harbored a strong curiosity about everything…"

  CD, huh?

  Chen Chen's heart suddenly jolted. He still remembered that Zhao Shanhe graduated in 1988, which meant that he was in college in 1984. At that time, there was indeed no storage device like a USB drive.

  In other words, at that time, the dimension key existed in the form of a compact disc?

  "So, I secretly brought the CD back to my dormitory and put it into the computer when the other students were away."

  Zhao Shanhe did not know Chen Chen's thoughts at this time. He just continued to speak, "But I never thought that what was stored in it turned out to be a movie… A movie named 2001: A Space Odyssey…"

  Chen Chen's pupils shrank when he heard that. It turned out that Zhao Shanhe had obtained the black slate so early? However, why was this movie on the CD? The black slate was so valuable. If one wanted to obtain it, one definitely would not hand it over to others.

  Is there some deeper plan behind the scenes?

  "From then on, there was no stopping my career development…"

  Zhao Shanhe turned his head and looked at Chen Chen. "Presumably you can guess what happened next. I easily reached the pinnacle of my life by virtue of the Civilization Monolith and easily entered the top ranks of the country. Then I found out, in those dimensions of various movies, humanity was in a state of extinction or on the verge of extinction. There were various clues in the pattern, so I gradually deduced that human civilization was probably not far from extinction…

  "I don't want my homeland to perish like a movie dimension, so I created the Earth Federation by myself, wishing to use the power of uniting all mankind to deal with that crisis… But at the same time, I've been tracking down who had left this magical CD that I now owned. Even so, when I investigated my mentor Wang Xi, I was surprised to find that Wang Xi had evaporated…"

  Chen Chen's heart suddenly leaped. He also remembered that when he first suspected that Professor Wang Xi was related to the USB flash drive, Professor Wang Xi had also disappeared and without a trace at that as if an antimeme had erased everything about Professor Wang Xi.

  Now it seemed that it was not a coincidence.

  "So, I continued to investigate, but when I was investigating his home, I found a black box…"

  Zhao Shanhe's expression at this time was faintly fearful. "I'll never forget that day when there was such a terrifying thing in that black box… Fortunately, I resisted its attack with the Civilization Monolith. But this also caused me to get infected by the antimeme, so I might die at any time!"

  Hearing this, Chen Chen immediately interrupted. "So, what was in that black box?"

  "I can't say…"

  A peculiar expression crossed Zhao Shanhe's face. He raised a finger to his lips with a look of dread. "If I tell you, I'll die."

  Chen Chen frown
ed.

  "But I have to warn you."

  Zhao Shanhe suddenly changed the topic again and said with an icy smile, "You must think that the Civilization Monolith in my possession is very powerful, being able to counter even an antimeme. Nonetheless, you must know that even if you burn the movie into the dimension key, you'll have no way of extracting it. The Civilization Monolith is the same as the dimension key — it's unique."

  Upon hearing this, Chen Chen put on a look of disbelief.

  "If you don't believe me, you can go back and try."

  Zhao Shanhe said carelessly, "By the way, since you've also been targeted by the antimeme, this is also Wang Xi's grand scheme. He must've planned some great conspiracy and he harbors absolutely no good intentions."

  Chen Chen had to nod. "Understood, what happened next?"

  "That's all."

  Zhao Shanhe leaned back on his seat and began to close his eyes to calm himself. "I've told you everything I was able to learn."

  "There's still the Event Horizon dimension."

  Chen Chen frowned. "Tell me, why did you come here?"

  "I just found traces of the meme in this dimension."

  Zhao Shanhe closed his eyes and replied, "It has been five years since the movie was released. I discovered the existence of this movie very early on. Then, out of curiosity, I tried to burn the movie into the dimension key and the result was successful.

  "Initially I didn't intend to come in here. After all, the plot of this movie is too eerie, but when I was infected by the antimeme, I made a final desperate move to find a way to save myself here. Even if you assert that I'll be dead in the future, I still want to try…"

  "I understand."

  Chen Chen nodded and said no more.

  The entire car was completely quiet for a while, with only three people harboring their own motives, a controlled driver, and the roar of the car engine.

  Chen Chen knew that most of the information revealed by the other party was half-true and half-false. At least Zhao Shanhe had not hesitated to enter the black fog, so he was prepared.

  Nonetheless, Zhao Shanhe had concealed some things. As for the credibility of his other claims, it was evidently still a question mark.