Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation  Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

“A developing civilization will stumble into the subs.p.a.ce, one way or another.”

The deepest voice among them spoke, making itself more p.r.o.nounced over the other two bickering voices, “The subs.p.a.ce is a mirror to the reality which is the existing civilization. It can reflect the thoughts, emotions, and spirit of the sentient creatures in civilization and as long as these beings exist, the subs.p.a.ce will never fade…

“There are other ways to join us apart from bringing the destruction of mankind. You can take the path of fortune and joy, of persistence and fort.i.tude… All you need to do is to offer the Civilization Monolith…”

Chen Chen listened to these whispers in his ears and remained unmoving. He silently looked at the black slate glowing in his palm that seemed to have invisible eyes looking back at him as well.

“What are you waiting for?”

Sensing Chen Chen's disinterest, that voice started to carry an anxious quality as it persuaded again, “The black slate doesn't do much for you, nothing more than a sentimental object. If you offer it up, you can become an immortal being in the subs.p.a.ce, a G.o.dlike ent.i.ty. Isn't that what you want?”

“You speak of G.o.d, what is G.o.d anyway?”

Chen Chen did not waver, his voice was now sharp with mockery. “All my life, people have been telling me the same thing that G.o.d doesn't exist. And now you're trying to tell me that I can achieve G.o.dhood?”

A tint of contempt colored Chen Chen's eyes. “I don't know what kind of being you are. Perhaps you like playing G.o.d for your own fancy but the way I see it, you're just a pathetic bunch bound to this s.p.a.ce. If you have to beg someone to liberate you, what makes you think that you can crown yourself as G.o.d?

“The way I see it, all of you are just sentient beings made possible by the emotions of the material world as you described it. You fear the power of the Civilization Monolith and you want to convince me to put on the same shackles as you lot and join you as a schizophrenic, delusional G.o.d bound to this s.p.a.ce eternally, is that it?”

The voices fell silent upon hearing these pointed mockery flung by Chen Chen.

“Want to know something, human?”

The sharp screech could not hold itself back anymore as it spoke harshly, “The subs.p.a.ce isn't only a mirror of the intelligent life forms of the universe, but it also has the ability to reflect the past and the future. We've already seen your future!

“Even if you refuse us, it will only be a matter of time until one of the intelligent life forms in the vast universe unshackles us from this s.p.a.ce… When we find the fated tribe that would liberate us, we'd never grant you a chance to lord over any of the cornerstone continents even if you beg for it. You'll be eternally trapped in a life full of suffering. You'll reach for death but it will not answer you!

“Your future, just like the fate of mankind, will be full of suffering. You'll be betrayed by the ones you trust most. All the courage, determination, and perseverance left in you… They will all be voided by the subs.p.a.ce and crushed by us…”

“I'd like to see you try.”

Chen Chen was completely unfazed as his lips formed an audacious smirk. “You're getting ahead of yourself. I'd like to see how you plan to achieve any of these things you mentioned.”

When Chen Chen said this, the brilliant flames of his psionic presence erupted and overpowered the subs.p.a.ce. His willpower was fortified and became stronger than ever!

The three whispers in his mind seemed to have finally understood that Chen Chen's heart was impenetrable. Upon realizing that all their efforts were in vain, they finally dispersed into the unknown, restoring the previous calmness to the subs.p.a.ce.

Chen Chen took one last look at his surroundings, then he turned and left. He departed from the same route he came in from, pa.s.sing through the pa.s.sage woven by lumps of flesh mixed with blood. When he emerged from the pa.s.sage, it began to close in on itself at a rapid pace…

Only moments after his return to reality, the subs.p.a.ce pa.s.sage had collapsed into itself and disappeared entirely.

“Just in time…”

Chen Chen's eyes which he cut open himself had completely regenerated. He slowly opened his eyes and saw the ocean of blue sky above him and breathed the air of the world that was so familiar to him. Then, he shot into the sky and flew until his figure vanished into the clouds…

…

“The boy named George is dead.”

Before the sun had even risen the next day, Chen Chen sat at his desk in the Blacklight building in Eco Science City and went through stacks of files as thick as encyclopedias.

Chen Chen had already gone through the majority of these files some time ago. Now, he was only reviewing them, hoping for the off chance that Little X may have missed some crucial detail that he could draw more information from. He was hoping for inspiration.

Meanwhile, Little X seated in front of him reported to him like she always did in the past, “The final subs.p.a.ce pa.s.sage was built using George's own body, which was why the giant monster managed to crawl through the pa.s.sage and threaten to enter the real world.”

“I suppose it can't be helped…”

Chen Chen put down the stack of folders and looked Little X square in the eye. “Simply put, this entire incident is an anomaly. Everything that happened was a sequence of events that originate from the psionicist George's ability to connect subs.p.a.ces with his dream manifestations and transport those octopus monsters to reality.”

“Yes.”

Little X nodded. “Those monsters establish their pa.s.sage to their dimension by harvesting human organs. They hide in the insides of psionicists during the day to sustain themselves by draining their psionic powers and at night, they'll continue their task of harvesting organs to further expand their pa.s.sage. Everything we've encountered stems from these beings.

“I have to admit, I wasn't expecting an anomaly like this to result in so much damage…”

Chen Chen finally had enough of the stack of folders and leaned back on his chair. “I'm sure we're all aware of the dangers of the subs.p.a.ce by this point, but the trouble it brings is far trickier than I ever expected. As much as I hate to admit it, I should've put more consideration into it before even beginning the psionicists project and before developing these subs.p.a.ce technologies.”

“It's just like what you always said, that the advancement of science and technology is a double-edged sword. When pulling apart the vines in our path, we'll be p.r.i.c.ked by it occasionally.”

Little X consoled Chen Chen. “Hasn't this been the story of mankind from the beginning until now? As long as you're safe, the day will come when mankind will reach the peak of the universe and reign over all civilizations!”

“I do hope so…”

Chen Chen had very little to say. He discarded the folders for Little X to sort out. “Let the Northern American government have these files. They suffered the greatest loss of them all and these detailed reports should at least serve as a bit of consolation.”

Little X nodded, took the folders, and left.

Left by himself in his office, Chen Chen stared at the s.p.a.ce in front of him and put his mind in a trance.

Chen Chen's current problems were resolved, but also not completely either. The threat of subs.p.a.ce still loomed over him like a mountain and the more he explored the dimension, the more threats he uncovered. These acc.u.mulated threats had reached a point where it had become very tricky for him to proceed.

Very tricky.

A dark cloud fogged over his eyes when he thought about it. The subs.p.a.ce navigation technology had opened broad highways for human civilization to expand, but it had set many pitfalls and dangers in its path as well. It would take tens of thousands of years to fully address these problems…

One minor slip up and mankind may find itself caught in a disastrous situation which it may never recover from.

“Professor w.a.n.g Xi, did you foresee any of this when you left the dimension key for me?”

Chen Chen slowly opened his left palm and a USB drive s.h.i.+ning radiantly rested in the center of his palms. If humans were to avoid dealing with the subs.p.a.ce, the only alternative was to abandon s.p.a.ce colonization entirely and take another approach, which was parallel universe expansion.

However, a parallel universe may prove to be even more problematic than subs.p.a.ce navigation so he found himself caught in a dilemma.

Then, he turned and looked out the window. He saw a lonely, dark cloud slowly approaching the city, bringing with it a storm that would envelop the entire city…

…

“Kaboom!”

A terrific thunder tore across the sky above the Eco Science City, jolting numerous of its inhabitants awake. At this hour, somewhere inside an international university in the Eco Science City was a dormitory room with its walls plastered with posters of female characters from various anime. A young man snapped awake on his bed.

“Woah!”

The young man jumped from his luxuriously designed, soft bed. He looked at his empty room with sweat pooling on his forehead…

“Huff, huff… Where am I?”

The young man gasped for air for some time before he calmed himself down. He looked around him fearfully.

This was a strange room he found himself in.

Four slender and transparent pillars could be seen installed in all four corners of the room. Their luminescent surface made them look like large columns of crystals. Posters were splattered across the wall. There was hardly a single spot that was left blank. The display on the wall in front of him drew most of his attention. It was a cabinet decorated with countless limited edition figurines. Any one of these could probably be auctioned online where a group of rabid fanbase would fight over them…

“Wait, didn't I die?”

The young man looked at his unfamiliar surroundings, countless past memories suddenly raced past his mind. A tinge of horror suddenly appeared on his face and his head began throbbing with pain!

“Ahh!”

The young man put his hands to his head and screamed in pain. Countless different memories stacked on top of one another in his mind and it felt like his head was about to explode!

“Master!”

Moments after he cried out, the vitals detector installed in the room immediately emitted a piercing alarm. At the same time, a gentle-looking female Android dressed in a maid costume barged through the entrance and pushed the young man on the bed. Then, a beam of light appeared from the Android's eyes which was promptly used to scan his body thoroughly!

“Vital signs: normal. Blood pressure slightly above average, no abnormalities with the blood lipids. Performing brain scan… No visible brain disease or infection. Performing body scan… No abnormal signals detected.”

After the brief inspection, the Android rose on its feet and heaved a sigh of relief the way a regular human would. Meanwhile, the young man who was suddenly thrown back into the bed seemed to calm down as well and stopped screaming.

“Master, do you feel uncomfortable? Do you need me to arrange an appointment with a specialist?”

The maid Android asked.

“No, it's alright…”

The young man shook his head and turned down the offer, then he shushed the Android out of the room. “Get, get out! Stop bothering me!”

“Yes, Master.”

The maid Android bowed obediently, then left the room at once, making sure to close the door as it left.

After the Android had left and the young man was alone, the pure astonishment and horror the young man felt rose to the surface and became clear in his expression. He looked at his trembling hands, then at the decorations of the room. His body grew so hot that even the gla.s.ses he wore began to fog up from his breath.

“I, I was reincarnated! I'm eighteen years old again!”

The young man fumbled out of the bed and tried to arrange the disarrayed memory swimming in his mind. A cold glare appeared in his eyes. “This, this dimension is on a different timeline from the world which I came from… This world hasn't been destroyed by the Consciousness Stealer and It's… It's because that man defeated the Consciousness Stealer and saved mankind from complete destruction.

“Heh, that's pretty impressive when you think about it, defeating the Consciousness Stealer.”

When the young man remembered that person, that detestable figure, his eyes shone with hatred and his body started to tremble. The pure boiling hatred inside him made the previous agitation and fear he was feeling seem like a false memory at this point. “Wouldn't you know, something has given me a golden opportunity for revenge!

“Just you wait, this time, I'll kill you with my own hands and take away everything you hold dear!”

The young man's expression turned wretched when he made this proclamation. Then, he searched the room and found and put on some plain clothes made with very expensive fabric before stepping into the corridor.

The young man was startled the moment he stepped out of the corridor because right by the entrance were three young men who looked about the same age as himself. They seemed very concerned when they saw him. One of them stepped forward and placed a hand on his forehead, “Zeyu, how are you feeling? The Android maid told us that you're sick, is that true?”

“No, it's just a nightmare.”

The young man shrugged and pushed off the hand on his forehead. Then, he looked back at them coldly. “DuPont, Edward, Herbert, I want you guys to keep this a secret. I don't want to cause my mom and dad any unnecessary worry, got it?”

“Alright!”

“Got it.”

“If you say so.”

Met with Zeyu's piercing glare, they could only keep their heads down and promise to keep it a secret.

With that, Zeyu took his eyes away from them and left the dormitory by himself.

“What's up with Zeyu today?”

After Zeyu left, one of them mentioned, “He wasn't like this before. Also, I've only ever seen such a sharp glare from my grandfather…”

“Probably some family problems, as usual. I'm sure you also know that he has some feud with his brother…”

Another one of them stared thoughtfully at Zeyu's departing figure and commented.

“Anyway, this has nothing to do with us, let's just mind our own business.”

The tallest among them remarked, “Didn't our family go through all the ha.s.sle of sending us here so that we can stop depending on the Chen family for everything? Don't bring shame to your family's name alright…”

They left the matter aside.

These three young men were the heirs of several great plutocrats in the Earth Federation. If any of them showed up in public, it was sure to cause a large commotion and draw the attention of people all around them due to their immense reputation. Despite that, they had to tread very carefully around Zeyu because he came from a family that somehow even eclipsed the family of these plutocrat bloodlines…

The full name of Zeyu was Chen Zeyu. He was the second child of Chen Chen's parents.