jdhmnovel Chapter 230: Showing Off Again
Chapter 230: Showing Off Again
“Uncle, let’s go down and take a look.” Panna shook Zhou Yuan. She couldn’t contain her curiosity, especially since there were two Mei Ruolan. Panna and Mei Ruolan had a good relationship, but nearly eight hundred years had passed, and Panna knew that these two Mei Ruolan should be clones. If they were in deep hibernation, they could maintain their original appearance after eight hundred years. But what she saw just now was the kind of culture medium in a glass chamber, so Panna deduced that they were clones.
"Okay, little beauty, I'm also very curious to know what's wrong with this world."
Zhou Yuan and Pan Na transformed into two tiny specks of light, entering the large circular funnel that transported the grain. Through the passage, they arrived directly in this underground world, reaching the UWARS company building. They passed through the walls and arrived directly at the door of the general manager's office, where a plaque read "General Manager's Office."
Zhou Yuan and Panna reverted to their human forms, this time without wearing the thin membrane masks, appearing in their original appearances. Panna knocked on the door, and a series of frantic rustling sounds came from inside, followed by a sweet, soft voice, "Please come in."
Pan Na pushed open the door and entered, with Zhou Yuan following closely behind.
When Panna and Zhou Yuan appeared, Mei Ruolan seemed stunned for a moment, then quickly stood up from her office chair, "Sister Pan?!"
"Xiao Lan, it's me, Panna."
When Mei Ruolan saw Zhou Yuan standing behind Panna, a complex expression of joy and fear appeared on her face.
"Sister Pan, Professor Zhou, please have a seat." Mei Ruolan stood up, went to the automatic water dispenser in the corner of the office to get some water, and brought it to the two of them.
"Sister Pan, you've arrived three months ahead of schedule for the thousand-year promise."
"Xiao Lan, I want to know what happened in the eight hundred years after we left?"
Mei Ruolan gently covered her mouth, making a shushing gesture to tell people not to speak loudly.
Zhou Yuan had already noticed that there were surveillance cameras installed in the room. He stood up from his chair, turned around, and gently tapped some spots on the walls with his finger. With a series of popping sounds, the broken surveillance cameras did not fall to the ground but floated in the air and fell directly into the trash can in the corner.
Mei Ruolan was stunned again.
"Xiaolan, you know I have many ways to find out the truth, I just want you to say it yourself."
"Professor Zhou, I know. It's just that things have taken a bit of a turn."
Mei Ruolan began to tell Panna and Zhou Yuan what had happened after they left.
The fleet of descendants of the Western Turks, 14 light-years away, arrived in the solar system in the year 234 of the Earth New Era. The Earth's human civilization fleet was no match for the Western Turks fleet. In less than three days, the human civilization fleet, orbital cannons, and space-based lasers in the sky above the Earth were all destroyed. Earth's ground-based air defense weapons and military bases were all destroyed in less than a day.
Humanity on Earth retreated underground to wage a protracted war against their enemies.
In the year 235 of the New Era on Earth, a fleet of colonists from the Western Kingdom on the planet Wolf arrived on Earth. The Western Kingdom descendants were preparing to build factories, military bases, and settlements on the surface. However, a sudden, simultaneous launch of numerous nuclear weapons hidden deep underground by Earth's humans destroyed the planet once again, wiping out the vast majority of the Western Kingdom descendants. This was a heavy blow to the Western Kingdom fleet. Considering the severe nuclear contamination on the Earth's surface and the fact that Earth's humans were hiding deep underground, making combat difficult, the Western Kingdom fleet retreated. Later, Earth's humans reflected on this and were grateful that the Western Kingdom fleet hadn't destroyed Earth; it would have been an easy task for them. However, the Western Kingdom fleet didn't do so, presumably considering their own feelings, as Earth was also their home planet. Perhaps, after the nuclear attack, the leaders of the Western Kingdom fleet didn't want a repeat of the past; in any case, many possibilities exist.
Because Earth has experienced two large-scale nuclear radiation events, its surface is unsuitable for human habitation and cultivation. For a long time, humanity has lived, thrived, and developed underground.
Six hundred and thirty years later, in the year 665 of the Earth New Era, the underground humans finally determined that the Earth was safe to breathe and move around again. However, this time, the Earth's humans did not return to the surface, but chose to continue to stay underground.
Around 695 AD, underground humans began to cultivate crops and build factories on the surface. It took more than 300 years of development for them to achieve their current prosperity.
About three hundred years ago, the Earth Federation Council lifted the ban on the fourth version of the Space Wars game and used Merlan DNA to clone and reorganize the UWARS Corporation. It can be said that the new UWARS Corporation had a strong government background from the beginning.
The high-tech features from space battle games are gradually being incorporated into real life. UWARS has become a place for the military to develop high-tech secret weapons and equipment.
Following the rapid development of brain-computer interface technology, the government encouraged players to pursue professional careers. Professional players received various government benefits, including accommodation, welfare, and children's education. Later, the fourth version of the game "Cosmic Conquest" continuously updated its equipment and gameplay, introducing features such as "Brain Linking." "Brain Linking" involved multiple players using brain-computer interface technology and big data cloud processing technology to integrate their consciousness into the game on a super quantum computer platform. Within the game, the consciousnesses of different players could communicate and connect, collaboratively solving technological challenges or "overcoming technological hurdles." After players "linked their brains," the challenges in the fourth version of "Cosmic Conquest" were gradually overcome. However, all professional players discovered that no matter how hard they played, they were ultimately stuck at a certain hurdle: a strange, constantly changing, distorted space. Once players were trapped in this strange space, they could no longer escape, and even with multiple professional players linking their brains, they could not overcome this hurdle.
This situation naturally attracted great attention from UWARS and the federal government, both of which offered huge rewards to players to solve the puzzle. However, to this day, nearly 120 years later, no one has been able to solve it.
“Sister Pan, you know, I don’t know what this strange space is all about, but the federal government thinks that there is a problem with my clone’s memory, so they keep cloning me, hoping that I can get closer to the original Pan Ruolan’s memory.”
"What is your cultivation maturity level?"
Mei Ruolan seemed surprised by Zhou Yuan's question, but quickly calmed down. "My cloning maturity is 99.1%. The federal government hopes that Mei Ruolan's cloning maturity will reach 99.9%. Only Mei Ruolan has such high requirements for her cloning."
"When did you die? You know, I'm asking your Primarch."
Zhou Yuan stared at Mei Ruolan, which surprised Pan Na. Mei Ruolan looked confused. "I don't know. It's been too long. I can't remember."
"Oh, really? Then who were the other global heavyweights who were cloned back when Panna and I were on Earth?"
"Among those I've met so far are Tang Qianyu, Peak, Jamie, Tocaro, and others."
Upon hearing these names, Zhou Yuan realized that they were all acquaintances of his at that time.
Where are all these people now?
"them..."
Just as Mei Ruolan was about to speak, there was a sudden, urgent knocking at the door. Mei Ruolan was startled and gestured for Pan Na and Zhou Yuan to hide.
Zhou Yuan gave Mei Ruolan a look, signaling her to open the door. Mei Ruolan moved slowly, glancing back at them as she went; it was clear she was a little nervous.
Mei Ruolan opened the door, and nine burly men dressed in black with thin glasses rushed in, holding guns. When they saw that there was a man and a woman inside, the men immediately raised their guns and approached Panna and Zhou Yuan. Mei Ruolan was handcuffed by one of the men.
"Don't move, hands up!" the burly man in the lead shouted.
"Little beauty, it's your turn to shine again." Zhou Yuan's voice echoed in Panna's mind.
Panna was overjoyed. Before the nine burly men could understand what was happening, the guns in their hands began to fall to the ground piece by piece, like rotten wood, until all nine men were left only holding the gun butts. The nine men were stunned, fear showing on their faces, and each took three or four steps back.
The burly man at the head of the group tried to reach for his waist, but he failed. The instant he reached out, he felt his neck being gripped, making it hard to breathe. His hands involuntarily reached for his neck, trying to pry open the invisible hand that was choking him. Suddenly, the burly man was suspended in mid-air, his legs kicking, his eyes bulging, and his mouth agape.
“Hands up, don’t move, or you’ll end up like him,” Panna said to the other eight burly men, who obediently raised their hands.
The burly man at the front fell to the ground, collapsing to the floor. The others dared not approach to help him, remaining motionless. The burly man propped himself up, sitting upright and panting heavily. Once he had caught his breath, Panna pointed to the other burly men. The burly man immediately understood, stood up, and obediently raised his hands.
Panna beckoned to Mei Ruolan, who walked to Panna's side. Panna took Mei Ruolan's hand, and with a flick of her right hand, the handcuffs fell off like dust, terrifying the nine burly men. Mei Ruolan was also still shaken. A moment of silence fell over the scene.
Suddenly, a piercing siren blared from the window. Panna waved her hand, and the curtains automatically opened. Outside, more than a dozen police spaceships hovered, all with their bows pointed at the window.
“How did they know?” Panna approached the burly man at the head of the group, who pointed to his thin glasses. As soon as he pointed, the nine pairs of glasses detached from their eyes, hovering in mid-air and flying towards the window. Just as they were wondering what was happening, suddenly, the nine pairs of glasses accelerated instantly, rushing towards the window. They felt a flash before their eyes, and the nine pairs of glasses disappeared.
The people on the police aircraft observed what was happening behind them: the nine glasses pierced through the window glass and fell rapidly to the ground outside the window. The window glass, however, remained intact.
Just then, there was another knock on the door, and a gentle male voice came in, "Two divine messengers, please don't misunderstand, I am Thomas, the Speaker of the Federal Council. I just learned that the divine messengers have descended to Earth, so I came to pay my respects."
Thomas Zhou Yuan and Panna heard a familiar name again.
Zhou Yuan had pondered the many parallel universes of human civilizations he had encountered, including their leaders and great scientists. Although people from different parallel worlds might live in different eras, they shared the same names and had similar appearances. Zhou Yuan attributed this to the third major mechanism of the virtual universe: the resource recycling, cleanup, and conservation mechanism.