Chapter 508 Return to Zero
Chapter 508 Return to Zero
”…You have been frozen for too long, and your hematopoietic function has not fully recovered. A blood transfusion may be better for you.”
Outside Shelter No. 0.
In a tent in the base, a doctor in a white coat looked at Yi Hai lying on the bed and said.
”No need, I feel fine.” Rejecting the doctor’s kindness, Yi Hai looked at his brother standing beside the bed with tired eyes, and said in a gentle voice, “Can I rest for a while?”
Looking at his brother lying on the bed with concern, Yi Chuan nodded.
”…You should take care of your rest.”
Although there were many things he wanted to say to his brother, considering that he had just been rescued from the hibernation capsule, what he needed most at the moment was rest.
Yi Chuan stood up from his seat and walked to the door.
However, just as he reached out to lift the door curtain, he happened to meet Chu Guang who was walking in from outside.
”Chu Guang?” Yi Chuan looked at him in surprise, thinking that he was looking for him, so he asked, “What’s the matter?”
Looking at the representative of the Silver Wing Group, Chu Guang smiled friendly and said.
”I want to talk to your brother about something. Can you take up a little of his time?”
Seeing that Chu Guang was not looking for him, Yi Chuan was slightly stunned. After listening to his request, an embarrassed expression appeared on his face.
”But he needs to rest now–”
Before Yi Chuan finished speaking, a voice from behind him interrupted him.
”It’s okay, let Mr. Chu Guang in.”
Yi Chuan immediately turned his head and looked at his brother who had just said that he was going to rest with a strange expression, but in the end he didn’t say anything and opened the door.
Chu Guang gave him a thankful look.
”Thank you, leave this to me, you go and do your own things first… Don’t worry, I won’t disturb your brother for too long.”
Yi Chuan nodded.
”Okay… Then you guys chat first.”
”Yeah.”
Chu Guang nodded, borrowed from Yi Chuan, walked straight to the bedside, picked up an iron chair and sat on it.
Looking at the azure armor on his body, Yi Hai, who was lying on the bed, smiled weakly and said.
”You are still the same, wearing this armor all the time.”
Chu Guang smiled faintly.
”After all, this is a wasteland, and any accident is possible… I am honored that I have left such a deep impression on you.”
”Of course, it is a special place, different from all the places I have been to, not just you, including you… Many people have left a deep impression on me and my teammates.”
The pale face was full of weakness, but the man on the hospital bed still forced a friendly smile.
”It’s a pity that we were on a mission at that time, so we couldn’t stay for too long, otherwise I really hope to stay there for a while… to see how many delicious foods you have hidden in the shelter.”
Hearing him talk about their common memories, Chu Guang smiled, suddenly sighed softly, and said with some regret.
”That night I said… when you recover a little, we can sit together and have a good chat about what happened to us after you left.”
”I am really curious… What happened to you, and there have been such big changes in just half a year.” Yi Hai’s voice also had a hint of emotion, and his eyes seemed to be lost in memories.
Chu Guang didn’t say anything, but just stared at him silently for a while.
It was hard to tell what he was thinking with those dark pupils. Yi Hai, who was looking at Chu Guang, gradually had a look of confusion in his eyes.
”Is there something on my face?”
”No,” Chu Guang shook his head, and suddenly put away the sharpness in his eyes, and continued in a gentle tone, “Let’s talk about… what happened before we met you.”
Yi Hai didn’t speak, and waited quietly for him to continue.
Chu Guang thought for a moment and continued.
”A long time ago, I had a very long dream. In the dream… I was killed by the wastelanders, killed by the mutants, and killed by the residents I trusted most. At the most desperate moment, I touched the edge of the dream again and again, but every time I was about to get through the fog, I would wake up from the dream again. Sometimes I can’t help but wonder if this will be the beginning of the next cycle.”
Yi Hai was stunned, and seeing that his expression didn’t seem to be joking, after a long while, he sighed softly and said what he said.
”That’s a really bad memory.”
”Yes.” Chu Guang nodded, “I rarely tell people about the specific content of my dreams, even the people I trust the most.”
After a pause, he continued.
”Although this statement sounds a bit strange, even I am surprised… I don’t hate the people I saw in my dreams.”
Yi Hai’s face showed an expression of laughter, and the corners of his mouth twitched twice as if he was laughing.
”This does sound strange… Dreams and reality are two different things after all. Normal people should not hate people in reality because of a nightmare.”
Chu Guang also smiled and said.
”Right? Let alone dreams and reality, even people in reality are different. Some wastelanders are full of bad intentions, but not all of them are like that. I often remind myself to use the power in my hands carefully, including the authority given to me by the shelter, to put aside the arrogance and prejudice of civilized people, to treat everyone equally as much as possible, and to use rules to restrain others. Only in this way can we unite as many people as possible.”
”Whether it is the residents in the shelter or the survivors outside the shelter, they have the right to live equally in this world, not to be born to serve someone, to give priority to satisfying someone’s wishes and ambitions, or to become someone’s slave… Do you think I’m doing the right thing?”
Yi Hai was silent for a while, and said with heartfelt emotion.
”You are an excellent manager, no wonder you can manage your shelter in an orderly manner.”
This sentence sounds like a sincere compliment, and in fact it is true, but in Chu Guang’s ears, it has a different meaning.
Especially when he has noticed something.
This compliment is even more ironic.
Chu Guang didn’t plan to continue playing along with him. He looked directly into the pupils that hid hypocrisy behind weakness and said in a very light voice,
”I wasn’t so proficient in my business at the beginning. I just gradually learned a little bit after getting along with the survivors for a while. So I don’t understand it. If they were slave traders, it would be fine… They can still use the environment and ignorance to justify themselves. But you, as the inheritors of the civilization heritage, why do you also want to go along with those people? Isn’t what the Human Union has given you enough?”
”In cahoots with… those people?” Yi Hai was slightly stunned, and his expression gradually became serious. “What do you mean? Are you saying… there are traitors in the company who are trading with mutants?!”
This guy was still pretending to be stupid until the end.
Chu Guang admitted.
He actually pretended quite well.
If this guy had been so attentive from the beginning, or if he hadn’t exposed his pride so obviously, he might have really been fooled by him.
After all, when facing the wounded, people will instinctively treat them with tolerance, rather than demanding that they explain every detail clearly. Even if they sometimes find inconsistencies in the transcripts, they will be tolerant and understand them as normal reactions after trauma.
However –
some things can be explained as memory confusion, but some things cannot.
People may get the order of events wrong and confuse the key figures in the events because of memory confusion, but it is impossible to predict things that have not happened for no reason.
Almost at the same time, Xiao Qi’s voice came from his ear, reporting to him what his little players found in Shelter 0.
Even if the walls of the shelter can block electromagnetic waves, they cannot block the connection established on the “morphogenetic field”.
”Stop pretending… the real Yi Hai has died in that shelter.”
Seeing that Chu Guang had made it clear, the man lying on the hospital bed finally stopped acting.
He completely tore off the mask of weakness, his pale face was distorted by emotional fluctuations, and a creepy chuckle came out of his dry mouth.
He looked like a crazy corpse.
Chu Guang looked at him calmly.
He knew that this guy must have been holding back his laughter for a long time, and he might have been holding back his laughter since the moment he woke up.
It seemed that he had laughed enough.
The distorted face returned to normal, and the man let out a long breath and looked at Chu Guang with a happy expression.
”Huh… It’s really not easy to hold back your laughter, you know? The stupid way you guys are busy around me is really funny, haha!”
After a pause, he looked at the man in power armor in front of him curiously.
”Chu Guang, right… I’m still a little curious, how did you find out? Those guys shouldn’t have come out of the shelter yet?”
Chu Guang said in a calm voice.
”Although you acted very well, even the surprise when you saw me, the feelings for your brother, the emotion when you saw the rescuer… all of it, but you have too much information.”
”The Weylanders, the mutants, the Enlightenment, and the final betrayal of the Enlightenment, you know everything.”
”Isn’t it strange? It’s as if you participated in everything, including the conflict with the Weylanders and the mutants, including the cooperation with the Enlightenment and the final betrayal by the latter… In the end, you returned to the starting point of everything safely.”
”Smart,” the man looked at Chu Guang with appreciation, “I admire you more and more… Yes, I am a member of the Enlightenment.”
”But I still don’t understand one thing,” Chu Guang stared at him, his voice carrying a hint of curiosity, “How did you disguise yourself as Yi Hai?”
”Ah… this, is it difficult?” The man had a happy smile on his face, and his reaction was beyond Chu Guang’s expectations.
He did not hide anything and confessed very straightforwardly.
”Have you heard of the mind interference device?”
Chu Guang nodded.
”I’ve heard that some people like you have the same technology, but if I remember correctly… the higher the intelligence, the more specific the information you can receive, but the less affected you are. The lower the intelligence, the less information you can receive, but the greater the impact you are relatively.”
This technology originated in the colonies and was inspired by the “unified consciousness” of alien life forms. It was developed as a substitute for the “infrasonic fence” technology. Later, it was used by an unscrupulous company on customers visiting the ecological park, selling a product worth less than a bottle of mineral water at a sky-high price, which almost subverted the advertising industry. The
mind interference device can control some immature alien species, but for mature humans, the only impact it can have is to give them a push when they have the idea of ”buying it”, not to mention the advanced version of mental domination.
”Resonance theory, that’s true,” the man continued with a smile, “In theory, it is impossible to control higher life forms through resonance theory. The complexity of the mind of higher life forms is tens of thousands of times that of lower organisms, but there are exceptions.” Chu Guang stared at him for
a while, and suddenly a hint of surprise appeared in his eyes.
”…clones?”
”Yes, especially those with minds as pure as a blank sheet of paper,” the man nodded approvingly, “thanks to those Weilant people, I now have at least a thousand quick clones. I just need to pick one of similar height and give him a plastic surgery and chip implantation surgery.”
”As for the memory problem, it is easier to solve. While this guy is still alive, lock his consciousness in the virtual space and slowly interrogate him. Through imaginary dreams and subconsciousness, there is always a way to squeeze out the content we don’t know.”
When he said this, he deliberately paused and slowed down his speech.
”But speaking of this, I have to praise you. Your shelter really left a deep impression on this guy… out of 1,700 dreams, at least 320 were about your scenes. Maybe his last wish before he died was to go and see you again, hehe.”
Chu Guang took a deep breath and continued to ask without being angered by his provocation.
”So all the crew members of the Pioneer are dead.”
The man said with a smile, “How could that be? If I hadn’t let one of them escape on purpose, would you have come all the way here?”
”Since the Pioneer entered this area, all of you…whether you are inside or outside it, are under my calculations.”
”It seems that you seem to be very satisfied with your plan.” Chu Guang raised his chin slightly and looked down at the ugly and twisted personality.
It was like looking down at a maggot.
However, the man didn’t care about it. Instead, he seemed to get pleasure from the look and nodded happily.
”Of course, I expected that only the Enterprise and the Legion would come here, and now there is an academy unexpectedly…it couldn’t be more perfect!”
Suddenly thinking of something, he stopped talking again.
”Ah, maybe four, but unfortunately, I have no interest in you. A three-digit shelter, here, there are many managers of two-digit shelters.”
Chu Guang stared at him.
”Is it the Enlightenment?”
”That’s right,” the man said simply, “Those who are chosen to become residents of the shelter are, without exception, the elites of the Human Union Society, or at least the descendants of the elites. This world should be ruled by us… But unfortunately, this cake is now full of cockroaches, so before cutting this cake, we plan to clean up those cockroaches first.”
When he said this, he suddenly changed the subject, his eyes turned, and stared at Chu Guang.
”But then again, although I am not interested in your shelter, I am quite interested in you personally. According to the rules, you manage three-digit shelters, even if you join us, you have to start as a disciple, but I can make an exception and let you become an elder.”
Chu Guang laughed.
”Your level division is quite interesting, you actually use the shelter number to rank the seats.”
The man said as a matter of course.
”That’s for sure. The ranking of the shelter represents the priority of the budget. The higher the ranking, the higher the social status before the war.”
The first half of his sentence is indeed true, but the second half is obviously just his own understanding, at least it is different from the information Chu Guang learned himself.
”Then what number are you?”
”Me?” The man was slightly stunned, then laughed out loud, “Of course I’m 0.”
”By the way, I haven’t told you my name yet… But forget it, a name is just a code name, that kind of thing is not important.”
After a pause, he looked at Chu Guang happily.
”You can be the same as my disciple.”
”Call me Guixu!”
The smile on that face was just like a devil.
He just lay here, watching the people from the enterprise, the legion, and the academy busying around in the maze he set up.
And his real body should be somewhere not too far from here.
The only thing Chu Guang can be sure of now is that the technology he uses is not the same morphogenetic field as Shelter No. 404, but is based on the resonance theory of origin in 2111, so the transmission of information will be affected by interference factors.
Otherwise, he should know everything about what happened underground.
”But I heard that Shelter No. 0 was not completed.”
”It means that you, like those little cuties on the Pioneer, know nothing about the Torch Project.”
Guixu continued casually.
”But this is also normal. Shelter Zero is an existence outside the sequence… It is not a real shelter, but a building composed of multiple components. Each of its components is carefully designed to complete the final plan – to eliminate all organisms on this planet outside the shelter and restart civilization before the heritage is exhausted.”
When he said this, Guixu smiled.
”The shelter under the ground is just one of many facilities. We originally came here to get something, but unfortunately we didn’t find the key to get in. Thanks to the little cuties on the Pioneer for helping us.” ”
You know what? Seeing how knowledgeable they are, I thought they knew what they were looking for. Unexpectedly, they had never heard of the Torch Project. It was just because of a legend that could end the wasteland. It’s hard for them to find this place with a lot of information… Hahaha, what a pity.”
He smiled and shook his head, and continued.
”I originally wanted to recruit them. The descendants of Shelter No. 6 are not impossible. For this reason, I talked a lot of nonsense to them earnestly, just like now.”
”However, after listening to my explanation, the guy named Lu Yang not only foolishly rejected me, but also betrayed me in a double-edged way, throwing the mother specimen hidden on the Pioneer into it, causing many of my men to be locked up inside.”
When he said this, he looked up at the wall clock, and the smile on his face became even happier.
”Thank you for chatting with me for so long. The thunderstorm should have arrived in this area, and it should have started thundering outside… From now on, no news can be transmitted from here. But don’t worry, whether it is the crew of the Pioneer, or those Willant people or the people from the academy, they will all go home safely… and we will say hello to your families.” At
this moment, the guy who called himself Guixu finally confessed all his plans.
He wanted not only something hidden in the underground shelter, but also planned to take this opportunity to replace everyone here!
Just like he usurped Yi Hai’s identity.
As long as they control everyone here and extract their memories through virtual reality equipment, they can use the Legion’s clones, plastic surgery, and mind interference technology to disguise themselves as those who are already dead, and arrange for disciples to live next to the puppets as servants or other identities, thereby completing the infiltration of the Legion, the enterprise, and the academy.
Chu Guang had to admit that this guy and his Enlightenment Society were really brave.
Declaring war on three fallen empires at the same time, plus a new alliance.
Generally, this kind of behavior is usually called tired of living.
”No wonder you told me everything without worrying at all.” Looking at the guy lying on the bed, Chu Guang said with emotion.
Guixu smiled faintly.
”Yes, your only chance to survive is to join us. To be honest, if you don’t get the cooperation of the person himself, it is a thankless task to seize the administrator’s authority, not to mention that we are not interested in taking the power from the disciples. As long as you cooperate with our work, you and your residents will be able to obtain the power to survive in the new world.”
”Has my status been downgraded from elder to disciple? But it’s a pity, I have no interest in the new world you mentioned.”
Chu Guang laughed.
While speaking, he had already closed the mask of his helmet.
”If you want my life, then come and try.”
As if he had expected his answer, the man lying on the bed just yawned indifferently.
”Then try it.”
Thunderstorms have formed.
In this special climate environment, aircraft cannot take off at all, and the transmission distance of signals has been weakened to the extreme.
In order to avoid the shield energy being consumed for no reason, the two airships hovering in the sky began to descend.
However, at this moment, a piercing alarm suddenly sounded in the sky.
Chu Guang frowned slightly and immediately pulled out the nitrogen-powered hammer behind him. The violent airflow spread in an instant, blowing the entire ceiling of the barracks out, and the debris in the barracks was also blown all over the place.
”Are you going to kill me? It doesn’t matter. Although it’s a pity to be asked to leave the special seats, I will keep an eye on you from other places.” Guixu laughed, looked at the murderous Chu Guang, and continued, “But before that, I suggest you pay attention to the sky above your head.”
He didn’t need to remind him at all.
Chu Guang was looking up at the sky.
The two airships floating above the camp were seen sinking at an uncontrolled speed, with the propellers on both sides spinning rapidly, but the limited thrust obviously could not support the heavy body. It was
not just the Heart of Steel that fell.
There was also the Judge not far away!
Chu Guang narrowed his eyes slightly.
Phase Energy Rectifier!
There was only one possibility that could make the deflector shield and anti-gravity system of the airship fail at the same time.
At this time, Yi Chuan, who had left the tent earlier, rushed in from outside in a hurry.
”The airship is falling?! What on earth happened–”
He suddenly stopped talking.
Looking at Chu Guang holding a war hammer, looking at the ceiling that was blown away, and then looking at his brother lying on the bed, Yi Chuan’s face was full of astonishment and helplessness.
The smile on the face of the man on the bed suddenly gave him a strange feeling, as if something had gotten under his brother’s skin.
Not only that.
That indifferent smile made him feel the coldness deep into his bones.
Without even looking at Yi Chuan standing at the door of the barracks, Guixu smiled at Chu Guang and said in a nonchalant tone.
”The Alliance, at the behest of the Enterprise, suddenly opened fire on the Judge, and Captain Adria requested reinforcements from Triumph City… What do you think of this scenario?”
Chu Guang replied expressionlessly.
”Not very good.”
”Indeed, I forgot about the academy,” the man nodded thoughtfully, “Let me think about it again.”
”Brother…” Yi Chuan stared at him blankly, and wanted to take a step forward, but a big hand covered with steel fell on his shoulder.
”The one lying there is not your brother.”
Pulling Yi Chuan who wanted to move forward, Chu Guang did not look at the falling airship, but looked outside the camp with a sharp look.
There are at least a thousand clones in this guy’s hands…
or even more.
Remotely operated by the disciples of the Enlightenment through mental connection… This sounds too much like déjà vu.
”Aren’t you going to run?” The man looked at Chu Guang, who was standing there motionless, curiously, and kindly reminded him, “If you don’t run now, it will be too late.”
”Run?”
Chu Guang raised his eyebrows and suddenly smiled.
”Why should I run?”
He wanted to take him down with a phase cannon.
That was underestimating him…
(End of this chapter)
