Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation  Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

There was a reasonable explanation behind Little X's reaction and the way Chen Chen seemed to put this movie in a category of its own. It was because this movie was closely related to the hidden secrets of the USB drive.

Chen Chen was once afflicted by an antimeme known as “I Saw You!”. It was later discovered that the previous owner of the USB drive was the one who had set up the antimeme. It was also the closest Chen Chen ever came to dying since acquiring the USB drive.

Chen Chen suspected that this antimeme originated from Event Horizon.

Another piece of information that reinforced Chen Chen's belief was that the first time he cracked the quantum computer Adam, he discovered a message left behind by the previous owner of the USB drive. The message contained a mention of the movie Event Horizon.

The plot of the movie left a heavy impression on Chen Chen because it could be distinctly noted that there was a devastating threat and many secrets hidden in this movie.

To further decipher the secrets of the USB drive, Chen Chen managed to track down Professor w.a.n.g Xi by following the scarce tracks he had left behind. Before he had time to proceed any further with his discovery, Professor w.a.n.g Xi had vanished completely without a trace, still missing till the present day.

In the process of tracking down what became of Professor w.a.n.g Xi, Chen Chen came into a meme in Silent Hill. A mysterious bed was discovered that later became the source of the Weeping Angel accident…

At the end of it, everything collected to that point seemed to point toward this specific movie. Chen Chen was led to believe that this movie may contain secrets of the former owner of the USB drive, perhaps secrets pertaining to the existence of the USB drive itself…

It seemed woven into destiny that all the owners of the USB drive were going to run into this movie at one point or another. Event Horizon was a taboo name that drew extreme alert.

“Is there no other way around it?”

Little X found herself disconcerted by the mere suggestion of it. “Nothing good ever comes out of this movie. If you try to access it, who knows what kind of dangers would be waiting for you.”

“I know, but this is important.”

Chen Chen stated calmly, “Even if we don't do it now, we'll have to do it eventually because this is the only clue we have to find out more about the USB drive.”

Upon noting Little X's silence, Chen Chen smiled gently. “With that said, I'm not going to just barge in recklessly. Don't forget that I have my avatar.”

“Hm?”

The remembrance of this subject made Little X's eyes widen. “Does this mean that your other half has completed transformation?”

“Almost.”

Chen Chen stated with a short nod, “So rest easy, I know where my limits are.”

Following Chen Chen's remark, the story now s.h.i.+fts to an established military outpost on an island in the Bering Strait of the parallel dimension.

There were not many people in the outpost, only roughly fifty. Their faces were dull and empty since they had been camping inside a pitch-black cave for what seemed like years to them at this point.

Inside the cave, there was a large sack of meat coc.o.o.n that squirmed regularly.

The meat coc.o.o.n was nearly a hundred meters in diameter and its color was jet-black. It regularly squirmed and beat like a human heart. The silhouette of some kind of creature could be made out underneath its soft skin occasionally.

“Glug, glug, glug…”

The sound of blood coursing underneath its surface could be distinctly heard from outside.

This bizarre, Lovecraftian scene was an ordinary sight to the guards at this point. Their lack of reaction could also be explained by the fact that they did not have cognitive abilities.

The guards were a group of Black Knights.

The coc.o.o.n, on the other hand, was Chen Chen who had entered a deep slumber a decade ago.

Out of nowhere, the drumming of the meat coc.o.o.n suddenly grew several magnitudes stronger. For the first time in years, its regular beating rhythm was disrupted.

One of the Black Knights turned to the coc.o.o.n upon detecting this sudden change and seemed delighted by the occurrence.

“Pst-!”

While the Black Knight was looking at the bizarre coc.o.o.n in a state of trance, the lower part of the coc.o.o.n tore open and a ten-meter-long gap could be seen. At the same time, it expelled a powerful gust of wind that carried a faint, gastric scent that blew across the cave, scattering rocks and sand in its wake. The Black Knights hung on tight to the structure of the cave to prevent themselves from getting blown away.

After all the internal gas was discharged, the tear that was large enough started to grow larger. It seemed as if something giant was about to burst from its inside!

“Plop, plop, plop…”

The tear slowly widened and a gooey substance began dripping along its surface. The Black Knights slowly retreated from the cave to give whatever creature lurking underneath the coc.o.o.n some s.p.a.ce.

At last, there was a deep, rumbling roar that broke out from within the coc.o.o.n. With a loud rip, an enormous figure erupted from within and tumbled onto the ground, quaking the earth in its wake.

The transformation was finally complete!

Chen Chen sighed deeply as he felt his senses returning to him. He felt a gust of wind rus.h.i.+ng at him and felt his bare naked body against the earth like a child who had just exited in his mother's womb. The cold of the air the moment he exited stung every pore of his skin.

Upon feeling his senses awakened, he quickly noticed that he did not revert to a humanoid form but instead to the form of the Consciousness Stealer.

Chen Chen's body was split into two distinct halves. The upper part of his body was the chest with countless eyes arranged in a trypophobiinducing pattern. They looked like countless black pearls sticking out of every region on the chest.

In the bottom part of his body, there were numerous fleshy gonads shaped like b.a.l.l.s and suspended below his lower body like a bundle of grapes.

Furthermore, he discovered four slender and long limbs that made him resemble a crab. The four limbs stuck out of the front, back, and the sides of the chest, which meant that there was no clear indication of which part of his body was front-facing. Without the limbs, his figure would resemble the figure of a gourd.

Chen Chen slowly adapted to his new body and rose on his slender limbs. Standing upright, his body shattered the roof of the cave, scattering rocks and boulders around himself.

“This vision…”

Chen Chen inspected his surroundings and quickly noticed that there was no color nor distinguishable shapes in the world of the Consciousness Stealer. All he could see were faint yellow blobs scattered in irregular patterns below his feet. These yellow blobs represented the Black Knights.

Perhaps these yellow blobs represented life forms?

Chen Chen looked up at the sun but could not make out the shape or form of the sun. All he could see within his vision was faint glimmers of radiation of which a color he could not describe.

“Is this the sun's radiation waves?”

Chen Chen quickly understood that the vision of the Consciousness Stealer was different from that of regular humans. In the lens of the Consciousness Stealer, the world was composed of radiation waves.

“Sir Commander…”

While Chen Chen was adjusting to this brand-new world, he heard a voice coming from below him. The mult.i.tudes of eyes glanced down and saw a tiny yellow blob. It was a Black Knight looking at him.

It was X-112.

Chen Chen recognized the ident.i.ty of this voice immediately. Judging by the size of the radiation wave he sensed from this tiny figure, he estimated that the body which he resided in should stand at a hundred and fifty meters…

Chen Chen heard X-112 informing him, “I've prepared ten years' worth of acc.u.mulated energy for you to consume.”

“Energy?”

Chen Chen glowed at the suggestion. He had been starving for a decade since the moment of his birth and his body was aching with hunger. He immediately surveyed his surroundings and quickly noted the presence of food in a nearby warehouse.

Without waiting for X-112's further prompts, Chen Chen evoked the power in his mind and tore the reinforced gate of the warehouse apart. The reinforced gate was instantly deformed and flung away into the sky with tremendous velocity that it did not hit the ground until it traveled more than ten kilometers away!

“Such powerful Field!”

Chen Chen was amused by this terrific display. Without any hesitation, he used Field to devour all the nutrient solutions stored in the warehouse. Hundreds of barrels of nutrient solutions were finished in seconds.

After this, the aching hunger in his stomach was alleviated considerably.

“X-112.”

Chen Chen spoke. He did not possess the vocal cords humans do so he had to resort to simulating human speech by condensing and vibrating the air around him using Field. “How are things in the Blacklight City?”

“Everything is progressing well.”

X-112 replied, “Due to the disappearance of the fleet ten years ago as well as your prolonged retirement, the city was in an unstable state for a short period. However, the problem was nothing too severe that I couldn't sort out in time. Thanks to the time machine, I was able to routinely carry resources from the other world and bring gradual improvements to Blacklight City. It's now the most prosperous city in the Joint Resistance Army.”

“Excellent.”

Chen Chen was pleased to hear this. “It won't be right for me to arrive at the city in this form. I'll try to revert to my original form and in the meantime, prepare the time machine for me. I'll be returning to the real world very soon.”

“Understood.”

X-112 responded swiftly and waited for Chen Chen silently.

Chen Chen shut his eyes and sensed every inch of particles on his body. Shortly after that, he was taken over by a mystical sense of clarity.

Just as expected, his physical form was secondary to his psionic source which was the true foundation of his existence…

Upon forming this realization, the form of the Consciousness Stealer began to melt rapidly.

Like a wax candle, the outer skin of the body was the first to melt. After that, the stratum corneum, then the internal organs, and the bones. Everything turned to wax while the power residing in the body became condensed and shrunk continuously…

Several hours later, the entire ma.s.s of flesh was rendered lifeless and useless. However, standing amid the puddle of flesh and bones was the silhouette of a human. The person took a light step forward and extended his arms out then took a deep, long drag.

“I feel powerful!”

Chen Chen commented. He felt endless power surging through his veins and his bones. This body was the culmination of the essence of the Consciousness Stealer's body.

Chen Chen sensed inside this body and he realized that this body was not the same as a common human sh.e.l.l. Put under an X-ray CT scan, one would come to find that this body was completely absent of any internal organs, bones, brain or any bodily structure whatsoever. The body was merely a replication of the human body.

Chen Chen's consciousness and power were present in every part of this sh.e.l.l. He had become an otherworldly life form like the Consciousness Stealer!

Without a heart or brain, the body was essentially without any weakness. This was an impenetrable sh.e.l.l wherein even if it was torn apart, so long as there was a slice of flesh left intact, he could regain his form upon restoring his power!

With this, Chen Chen was immortal!

With this body, Chen Chen could not comprehend there could be an end to his time in this world. He felt like so long as he was in this body, he could live on forever…

Consequently, this body also inherited the power of the original body. If Chen Chen wanted to, he could revert to the form of a Consciousness Stealer after acc.u.mulating enough energy.

All this power dwelling inside the body felt almost intoxicating. The tremendous strength of this body was not just a slight improvement. It was a transcendental improvement over his previous form.

“Sir Commander…”

X-112 approached with a GS Combat Suit.

Chen Chen put on the combat suit and nodded gratuitously at X-112. When he took a slow, composed step forward, his figure vanished.

Several minutes later, Chen Chen arrived above Blacklight City without drawing any attention. He admired the city that was now flouris.h.i.+ng and in an orderly manner. It seemed that X-112's work over the last decade had done a lot for the city. The city was completely revitalized.

Chen Chen nodded with pleasure and with another leap, he arrived at the warehouse where the time machine was housed.

The place was heavily guarded with Black Knights who greeted Chen Chen upon seeing him, then immediately returned to their posts as if nothing had ever happened.

Chen Chen stepped onto the time machine platform and recalibrated to the real world.

After that, he took off the combat suit and stood erect.

The Black Knights posted by the time machine clicked the b.u.t.ton for him.

“Humm…”

The room filled with dizzying flashes as the surrounding equipment began to spin. Chen Chen felt his vision turning into a blur as he became plunged into an altered state between dream and reality.

This was a familiar sensation to what he had felt on the Ark teleporter. The difference was that while the Ark teleporter transported someone from one point of the universe to another, the time machine from Terminator transported someone from one dimension to another.

Despite the difference in functionality, there were still many similarities between the two devices. This was why Chen Chen was experiencing this strange sensation.

When Chen Chen recalibrated himself, he found himself in a pitch-black underground s.p.a.ce. His surroundings felt extremely familiar. This had to be the teleportation hall.

When he saw Little X, he knew that his suspicions were proven right.

After seeing the familiar sight of Little X, he redirected his gaze to a cryogenic chamber beside her.

Upon approaching the cryogenic chamber, Chen Chen noticed that it was left unopened. He looked inside and saw a young man resting inside it. This person's eyes were shut tightly and the setup of the device suggested that he was not to be disturbed.

This person was none other than the original Chen Chen.

“How does it feel looking at yourself?”

Little X asked.

“It's nothing worth noting.”

Chen Chen pointed at his head and stated disinterestedly, “It's just like how you're able to switch bodies at will as well. As far as beings like us are concerned, our body is merely a sh.e.l.l for our conscience and at the end of the day, our conscience is where our true ident.i.ty lies.”