The reason for strapping safety belts to the Black Knight was to serve as insurance since the Prometheus s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p was destroyed at the end of the movie.

Chen Chen was unsure if there was still anything useful at the coordinate or if the pa.s.sage led to the room on the s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p. There was a chance the pa.s.sage would lead to a void in s.p.a.ce or simply to the wreckages of the s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p.

Contrary to Chen Chen's expectations, the Black Knight had returned from the opposite end of the pa.s.sage in less than ten minutes.

Unlike previously, the Black Knight labeled T0421 was covered all over in a layer of grayish-brown dust as if he had weathered a sandstorm in the other end of the pa.s.sage.

The Black Knight also brought back a recording with him.

“Minor traces of radiation detected!”

Little X immediately alerted, “Sir G.o.dfather, please be careful. The dust particles on T0421 are radioactive dust.”

“It's alright, this radiation is only in the range of several X-rays. Besides, I'm wearing the GS Combat Suit.”

Chen Chen made a waving gesture. “It's not the void or the planet LV-223 on the other end?”

After a brief exchange, Chen Chen made the Black Knight get disinfected while he took the recording and played it.

Chen Chen was immediately greeted with the sight of a vast landscape.

The video showed broken remains of structures and a depressing amber sky spelling the end times. A ruthless sandstorm whirled on endlessly and the ruins of a city could be seen off in the distance. They were what remained of skysc.r.a.pers, the greatest badge of achievement left behind by mankind.

Chen Chen even saw a black tower-shaped building that had partly collapsed. It was the Eiffel Tower in Paris.

Chen Chen's pupils shrunk when he saw this.

The pa.s.sage did not lead to the planet LV-223 nor did it lead to a void in s.p.a.ce, it led to Earth…

“Isn't this scenery quite familiar?”

Chen Chen mused pensively and turned to Little X. “If I'm not mistaken, the footage returned by the Black Knight should be the ending sequence in Alien 4, right?”

“Yes.”

Little X answered, “I looked it up, there are two separate endings to Alien 4. One of them is where the protagonist Ripley and the cyborg Call overlooked the comely natural terrain of the Earth from their s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p. The other ending is one where they landed the s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p on Earth and upon walking out, found out that Earth and its cities were devastated with mankind seemingly wiped out.

“What's also worth mentioning is that in the latter ending, a destroyed Eiffel Tower could be seen as well. The footage taken by the Black Knight may display a different angle but it's otherwise completely identical…”

“I knew it!”

Upon receiving the conclusion, Chen Chen could not help but nod as he smiled bitterly. “USB drive, you're something alright. The movie I selected is Prometheus, but you went ahead and skipped to the timeline in Alien 4. Prometheus should be set in the year 2091 and the timeline of Alien 4 is set in 2381. It skipped nearly three-hundred years ahead…”

“So, it's just as we presumed, all the worlds connected via the USB drive cannot escape their fate of destruction?”

“Should we continue the mission then?”

Little X asked, “Even though Earth is mostly rendered a wasteland, there's still the chance of us finding the holographic imaging technology among the ruins.”

Chen Chen immediately fell silent following the remark.

It was then when the test result of the previous Black Knight labeled T0421 was produced. Apart from the layer of radioactive dust on the Black Knight, there were no signs of any abnormal bacteria or viruses in the dust. It may appear that the virus was all killed by radiation.

“Since it's radioactive dust, then I believe the situation is clear.”

Chen Chen went on. “This implies that there was a nuclear war on Earth which destroyed the Earth's habitat, bringing an end to civilization. This explains why there's so much radioactive dust.

“However, more so than the nuclear war, what I'm more concerned with is…”

Chen Chen suddenly altered his tone. “The exact motivation for humans inciting a nuclear war in the Alien universe. Or better yet, could they have started a nuclear war due to an external threat?”

“Are you referring to… A war between mankind and aliens?”

Little X remarked suspiciously, “If the people in the movie Alien 4 knows that Earth has been destroyed by aliens, then there's no explanation behind them stubbornly trying to keep the aliens in s.p.a.ce. I believe that the people in the movie had no idea that Earth had been destroyed. It was only until the protagonist returned to Earth when they realized everything that had happened. All of this doesn't make sense at all.”

“Your a.n.a.lysis is excellent, but you may have taken the wrong approach.”

Chen Chen considered for a moment before continuing. “First of all, the ending of the movie only showed Earth as a barren wasteland, but there was no mention whatsoever of civilization peris.h.i.+ng. This means that a nuclear war did break out, but humans were not completely wiped out.

“Second, the true subject matter in the Alien series isn't humans nor aliens. There's another far more secluded factor. With this clue exposed, the cause behind mankind starting a nuclear war becomes apparent.”

“You're saying?” Little X sounded uncertain.

“Cyborg.”

Chen Chen nodded. “From Prometheus onward, there was a cyborg called David. If it wasn't for him bringing the black goo on board and secretly feeding Halloway the scientist, the protagonist Elizabeth Shaw wouldn't have got pregnant and given birth to the octopus-like monster.

“From there on, in the sequel Alien: Covenant, David used the black goo to eradicate the 'Engineer' race, even killing the protagonist of the previous film, morphing her into the alien queen. You could say that David was the one behind the formation of the alien.

“That's not the end of it. There had always been appearances of cyborgs from the first Alien film to the fourth. It was not so bad in the first three films when people were still relatively tolerant of the cyborgs. However, from the fourth installation of the Alien series onward, there was a sudden major s.h.i.+ft in people's att.i.tudes toward cyborgs. Upon discovering that Call was a cyborg, there was a strong sense of distrust and disappointment. What does that make you think of?”

Chen Chen asked.

“Are you saying that there was a war between mankind and cyborgs? Following that theory, the poor state of Earth was the result of the war between mankind and cyborgs?” Little X was astonished.

“Yes, that's my speculation.”

Chen Chen snapped his fingers. “The main theme of the movie Prometheus is a narrative of how the creator and the creation can co-exist. For example, the 'Engineers' created mankind but later decided to wipe them out. Humans created the cyborg 'David' who was responsible for vanquis.h.i.+ng the 'Engineer' race and created the alien. There are many themes revolving around the director's perspective on religion and even G.o.dhood. The way I see it, the most important element is David's att.i.tude toward mankind.

“It's rather obvious that as a new form of life, David held a grudge toward mankind and all other life forms…”

With this in mind, Chen Chen could not stop himself from letting out a sigh. “No, perhaps it's not so much as a grudge, but a belief of 'impunity'. The life and death of mankind and all life forms are hardly more significant than an experiment to him…”