The five people from team China who boarded the s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p earlier seemed lost. Xuan was in a state with his heart’s devil and hadn’t spoken a word. He set up a fraction of the grand plan in the beginning of the movie and brought the movie into his plan through HongLu. However, he had started to lose himself, evidenced by the lack of senses on his expression. The second cause that contributed to their condition was no one knew how to pilot the s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p. Aliens certainly had different physiological structure to humans and wouldn’t design a c.o.c.kpit with chairs and keyboards to accommodate human pilots. The s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p originally in Area 51 was modified during the years of research while this s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p was purely belonged to aliens. Inside the c.o.c.kpit was a glowing podium and nothing else. The s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p resembled a prison of steel.
After studying the s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p for some time, Zheng had no choice but to talk to Xuan. “I know you are battling your heart’s devil but can you wake up for a moment please? We are not progressing anywhere like this. We might as well ride a rocket like the president proposed.”
As Zheng spoke, Xuan walked over to the podium. He placed his hands on it and a light cylinder projected above it. Exotic rune words emerged on the cylinder. Xuan seized it with his hand then closed his eyes. The s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p slowly elevated, bringing excitement to the rest of the group. Before they got a chance to speak, the sudden acceleration crushed everyone onto the floor.
The force made Zheng bend his body but he laughed when he saw Xuan lying on his stomach in comparison. “Look at you getting pinned down… Haha. Hey, how did you maintain conscious with the heart’s devil?”
Xuan didn’t speak as he climbed up from the floor. Their bodies were strong enough that the acceleration force couldn’t actually pin them on the floor. It was the suddenness that brought down everyone.
The atmosphere grew dense with Xuan keeping his mouth shut. Heng laughed and said. “I wonder how Xuan controls this s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p. How did he know to read those words that are obviously not derived from human languages?”
The question eased some of the awkwardness Zheng was experiencing from the lack of response from Xuan. He said. “It’s a simple reason. Do you remember the captured alien in the movie? It possesses telepathy, which is the alien version of psyche force. The researchers in Area 51 discovered aliens do not have a sound reproduction system, so they probably transmit messages mentally. The s.p.a.ces.h.i.+ps in the movie and the ones that attacked us have extremely quick reflexes. There’s a high chance the aliens pilot the s.p.a.ces.h.i.+ps through psyche force. The Lambda Driver is the closest thing to psyche force among all the abilities we have here.”
Zheng noticed Heng looked shocked from his answer. Heng chuckled. “Your thinking has grown closer to Xuan and HongLu when we didn’t realize it. Hoho. Maybe you will become a weirdo like them one day.”
(Is that so? I have grown…)
Zheng was surprised to hear Heng’s opinion. He knew he had been improving all this time, little by little with each trial of life and death he survived. It didn’t appear to be much each time but his improvements have acc.u.mulated to a high degree. By the time he looked back at himself, he realized it was no longer mere improvements but an evolution of himself beyond humans.
(Is this the goal of the realm’s existence? Survive. As long as one can survive, they will eventually evolve. When enough tiny evolutions acc.u.mulate on an individual, even a lizard will grow into a dragon… I didn’t realize I have become so strong already.)
The s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p rose in an incredibly high speed. It shot into the stratosphere in under a minute. Its speed never changed after the initial acceleration. The s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p was undoubtedly equipped with an anti-gravity system like the Sky Stick.
As the s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p flew out of the exosphere, the people inside looked out the windows into a boundless darkness. A blue planet floated underneath. It was like a sapphire in a dark, lonely, and cold jail that was the universe. The blue planet was the cradle of mankind, the object that mankind needed to survive. With the invasion of the aliens on this planet, mankind had reached the border of extinction.
“It’s beautiful, the Earth.” Heng muttered as he gazed at the planet.
“Aren’t we protecting it all this time?” The voice sounded next to Heng’s ear. He raised his head and saw Zheng.
Zheng was also gazing at Earth. “We are living in G.o.d’s realm, struggling to survive, becoming strong to protect this beautiful blue planet and the people inside. Perhaps… when we return to the real world, we will be met with the enemies that humans fought in the past!”
Heng’s eyes lost its concentration. “Our planet and the people we protect, huh? What about this world, and the numerous movie worlds? What are the people in them? Humans? Or virtual data? Or merely illusions created by the Saints and Cultivators?”
“I don’t know.” Zheng looked to Heng with a bitter smile. “I can’t tell what the movie worlds are anymore. They are too real to be fake. Our growth here is undeniable. Yet, if they are actually real, can we rival the enemies of the people who were powerful enough to create these worlds?”
“Are these worlds truly created by the Saints and Cultivators?” It was Xuan’s voice. He looked at Zheng and Heng, then at XueLin and Imhotep. Xuan was conscious for only a fraction of the time. He said to Imhotep. “Do you feel the world you lived in is an illusion? Do you remember your childhood, your teenage years, your adult years, and all the events that happened after you killed the Pharaoh and was killed? Do you feel that they were all fake?”
Imhotep’s face paled from the question. He had been in team China for some time and had learned of Xuan’s att.i.tude through other members. He was furious but didn’t lose his composure. “Those memories are carved into my head. How can they be fake? I don’t know why there are so many different worlds but my world can’t be a mere illusion. What else am I then? It’s a fact that I am standing here with you in the same world. The me here is undeniably real.”
“Correct.” Xuan snapped his fingers. “Because you successfully joined team China, I have a new conjecture. Can the numerous movie worlds, including the one we are currently in, truly exist? They aren’t created by the Saints nor Cultivators. The worlds have existed since the beginning. This conjecture brings up a hypothesis. If time can be reverse and you can travel back in time, what is the world that you end up in? There is a paradox that if you go back ten minutes in time and kill yourself, the original you wouldn’t ever get the chance to time travel and kill himself, so he would have lived. Yet, that you from ten minutes ago died, creating a paradox. Time traveling might not bring you back in time but to an otherworld that is infinitely similar to the real world. Everything in this world is the same except the for the s.h.i.+ft in time it is in.”
No one in the s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p seemed to have understand him. Xuan didn’t show any expression as he continued. “Going by this conjecture, every moment in time has an otherworld, as much as an infinite number within a second, which leads me to question… are there infinitely different worlds that exist in our reality? The movies you watched, the comics and novels you read, and every fantasy you ever imagined no matter how absurd it is, do they exist in a corner of this dimension? Don’t you feel it’s interesting that the world has endless possibilities and unknowns?” Xuan’s eyes were beaming with fanaticism, and underneath it was a hint of brutality.
