“How can this be…”
Looking at the data report on the computer screen, a XTN robot with a screen for its head turned around in a human-like gesture. The cartoon face on its screen turned into a corresponding question mark.
Then, the XTN robot hesitantly looked at Captain Boris who was deeply anesthetized, then turned around again and pressed a few buttons on the computer in front of it.
At once, the robot’s voice device made that puzzled remark again.
“Impossible…”
The robot was still muttering in a low voice. It looked at the computer but saw that it still showed that the DNA and blood samples collected from Boris were all normal.
There was no DNA mutation and no microbial infection.
The most important thing was that the sample taken from Boris was a cauliflower-like sarcoma with a small hole on it and a drooping tentacle could even be seen in the small hole at this time…
“It’s unbelievable!”
In the end, the robot let out a speechless sigh. Its screen face turned into starry eyes as commonly seen in anime. At the same time, it opened its hands and said, “This is not a microbial infection from the other world nor is it any form of parasitism. This is a new form that humans have never seen before!”
“That’s enough, Edward…”
Just then, a heavy, resonant voice suddenly came from behind the robot. At this point, the robot turned around while stretching out a hand to touch its eye. After that, it paused and when it resumed action again, it had reverted to the actions of a stiff robot…
In the real world at this time, in the laboratory of a huge ship, a middle-aged man of half-Chinese and half-European descent, who had bushy hair and whose hairline had receded to the back of his head, took off his head-mounted AR brain-control device. He looked at Professor Will standing behind him. “What’s the matter, old man?”
“How is the situation?”
Professor Will’s mouth twitched slightly but he still asked, “What’s the situation? Boris is the leader of the task force and the task force is also the mainstay of the Foundation. Every single person is of incomparable value. I hope you can do your best to treat him.”
“Come on…”
Hearing this, the bushy-haired man sneered. “If they wanted to treat him with all they’ve got, then the Blacklight Fully-automated Medical Platform would already be on its way here, but is there any such thing? Those pigs don’t even want to tell the middle level of the Foundation about the Blacklight Fully-automated Medical Platform. Do you even believe in your own words?”
Hearing that, Professor Will’s mouth pursed even more but he still kept his cool, and said with a chuckle, “You can’t say that. The Blacklight Fully-automated Medical Platform is a strategic machine comparable to ‘Adam’. There are only five of them in the world and you can’t manufacture more. Naturally, those extremely precious things cannot be taken out. Still, the fact that you’ve been asked to come here, Edward, also shows that the assembly highly values these task force members…”
“Heh heh heh…”
Even so, after hearing Professor Will’s high-sounding words, the man with the bushy hair just laughed humorlessly.
He laughed for more than half a minute, only to find that Professor Will was staring at him with an unamused expression. Then Edward turned solemn and said, “It’s impossible. I’ve tried all methods including radiotherapy and chemotherapy, yet I can’t inhibit those ‘tumors’ outside his body… Let’s call it a tumor for now. This is something beyond the known physiological framework of humankind. I can’t even find the cause of his appearance because from a physiological perspective, he’s completely fine.”
“Is that right?”
After hearing this, Professor Will looked somber. “No wonder the microbiological test can’t detect it…”
“The only lucky thing now is that we haven’t brought them into reality.”
The bushy-haired man continued. “We don’t know how infectious this disease is or how it’s transmitted. If the infection rate reaches the level of a cold, once it appears in reality, humans will be done for because all of our biological knowledge is useless when faced with this!”
After their conversation, Professor Will silently watched Dr. Edward who had put on the AR brain-control device again and started working. He then went to another room full of electronic equipment and restated everything that Dr. Edward had surmised.
The room was full of various known and unknown instruments, and in the center of these instruments was a huge screen. The screen was divided into two parts, one of which showed the various surveillance feeds of Living Area A. Below these feeds, there were five inconspicuous logos of figures with only their upper halves showing.
These five logos were marked with 01, 02, 03, 04, and 05 respectively.
At this time, below the 01 figure, the straight dotted line turned into a wavy line that was constantly fluctuating and at the same time, a processed voice came out. “We’ve heard your conversation. At present, it seems that the world on the other side of the Rosen bridge is very dangerous.”
“Yes.”
Immediately, there was also a wavy line below the 03 figure. “05, do you have any suggestions for us?”
“Does this still need to be said?”
The 05 figure laughed in a low voice. “I said a long time ago that, as we human beings developed, behind anything that doesn’t seem too complicated, there may be a crisis of extinction facing mankind. This is the reason for my firm request not to bring the sample back to reality.”
“You’re right.”
01 was silent for a while, then said, “It seems that the establishment of the foundation was indeed not making a mountain out of a molehill. If this foundation were not around, I’m afraid it wouldn’t have been the task force that entered the other world, but the armies of all continents. And it’s very likely that that special ‘infectious disease’ would’ve also been brought to Earth.”
“Then let us establish a continent-level organization to liaise with the foundation as soon as possible.”
05 proposed.
“Agreed.”
01 spoke up.
“Seconded.”
“Seconded.”
“Seconded…”
All the tiny figures spoke in unison, reaching a decision swiftly.
“Then the question now is, could this infectious disease be…”
At this moment, 03 suddenly spoke again with hesitation in his tone, “Could it be… ‘That’?”
However, the expected answer did not come and all the figures fell into silence.
After half a minute had passed, 05 spoke again, his voice was low and rather heavy, “Based on the information currently known, it’s certain… Yes, it’s the same thing as the ‘Weeping Angel’ and ‘This Man’, and more lethal.”
“So, is there a solution in the legacy left by ‘that person’?”
03 asked again.
“I’m very sorry to say that there isn’t.”
After saying that last sentence, the 05 figure changed from black to gray, apparently having gone offline.
Seeing this, the other figures also turned gray and finally, only 03 remained online.
“Professor Will.”
03 suddenly said.
“Sir.”
Hearing the other party calling him, Will stood up. “May I ask what your orders are?”
“I don’t have an order but you should be as careful as possible.”
03 said, “Now the situation is very clear. What you have to do is to instruct everyone to figure out everything about this infectious disease. Even if you can’t figure out its pathogenesis, but at least the mode of infection, the infection process, the incubation period, and the outbreak period — these must all be figured out and we must come up with corresponding plans for these.
“For example, if this infectious disease spreads to the entire task force, what should we do? If the infectious disease accidentally spreads to reality, how should we defend against it and block it off? You must prepare for these.”
“Understood!”
Professor Will nodded his head seriously. “This is my duty and also the duty of our foundation.”
“Very good. I’ll leave it to you.”
Hearing Professor Will’s assurance, the 03 figure finally turned gray and was completely disconnected.
“Phew…”
Seeing that everyone had left, Professor Will was slightly relieved. The amount of information revealed in the previous conversation was so mind-blowing that he did not even dare to breathe.
Still, his position was of sufficiently high clearance and they did not try to hide things from him, so he picked up on a lot of clues.
For example, “This Man” and “Weeping Angel”. As far as he knew, these two names were two catastrophic events that had occurred in Northern America. Among them, the This Man incident caused social chaos in Northern America. The collapse of financial and religious systems had caused losses amounting to trillions of dollars in Northern America.
The other Weeping Angel incident triggered a disaster in Los Angeles. About a thousand people died in this disaster and he heard that one army was wiped out.
The Earth Federation United Front had blamed these two quintessential cases as abnormal events beyond the scientific system. Furthermore, according to the highest-level information in the foundation, they all belonged to something called ‘memes’…
“That means…”
Professor Will murmured, “This is also a mysterious ‘memetic’ incident?”
“Hiss…”
Thinking of this, Professor Will could not help but gasp sharply, a look of incomparable horror dawning in his eyes.
The four major living areas of A, B, C, and D at the outpost in the other world were all cordoned.
Not only were they sealed off but a large number of XTN robots were also transported through the light spot. At the same time, various Mark drones finally arrived in the other world and began patrolling missions in the other sky.
Nonetheless, whether drones or robots came, all the task force soldiers trapped in the other world gradually realized that there was no second batch of task force soldiers coming.
Drones and robots were just auxiliaries after all. The ones who were truly flexible and adaptable were the fighters trained by the foundation at a huge price. Now, no task force soldier was coming into this world. In that case, whatever the higher-ups were planning, it was becoming clearer…
“We’ve been abandoned!”
48 hours later.
In Living Area A, a task force soldier hammered the wall in front of him severely, even hammering until his skin broke, and some sticky substance was smeared on the wall.
“D*mn it, they sent us ahead as the vanguard. Now that there’s a problem, are they going to just abandon us? Why don’t we break out? They’re using those robots to restrict our movements, humph. I want to see if they dare to command us to be shot!”
With that, this task force soldier was angrily preparing to rush out of the dormitory door.
“Don’t be rash, Richard!”
The three companions next to him immediately stood up and stopped him. “It’s not only us but the other three living areas are also closed down. There are more than 80 of us. It’s impossible for the higher-ups to give up on all of us!”
Someone persuaded. “Also, although it has been sterilized, who knows if the air outside the door has been infected by Captain Boris? Do you want to become like Captain Boris with sarcomas all over your body?”
When talking about this, everyone’s eyes could not help but flicker in fear. They all saw Captain Boris’ tragic situation from the androids that came to examine them.
No one had thought that, in just one night, Boris, who was originally normal, would end up looking like that. Was he even still a human being…
“Also, I was listening through the wall just now and seem to hear movement in the dormitory next door.”
At this moment, another task force soldier suddenly spoke in a low voice. He tilted his head and leaned his half-meter-long neck against the wall, leaving behind a sticky red liquid. “I heard groaning from the dormitory next door. It sounded like the voices of Barney, Walter, and the others. They seemed to be infected with Captain Boris’ disease…”
Everyone was alarmed when they heard this and they walked to the wall that the soldier had mentioned, and with loud splats, pressed their ears to it.
“It’s useless, there’s no sound anymore.”
However, the soldier revealed a frustrated look and said in a low voice, “I’m guessing those in the dormitory next door have been taken away. I don’t know how many people have contracted this disease and whether they can survive…”
Suddenly, a deep terror flashed in everyone’s eyes.
Although they were the crème de la crème, they were facing a soul-crushing infectious disease and they were still in an unfamiliar world. The human instinct for survival was infinitely magnified and everyone could not suppress the deep pang of loneliness and fear in their hearts.
“No, let me go, I want to leave!”
Finally, the soldier who was clamoring to leave before got up like a madman and he rushed toward the door without thinking!
“Bang!”
There was a series of heavy impacts and finally, the dormitory door that could withstand a ton of force was smashed open. However, what he did not expect to see, outside the door that was knocked open, was a scene where Captain Boris and all his comrades were lying in a pool of blood!
Standing above them, there was a group of strange-looking XTN robots holding electromagnetic rifles!
Seeing the death of his former comrades in arms, the soldier only felt an indescribable fury surging up to his head. He could not help roaring and then barged forward like a lunatic!
“We’ll fight them!”
Seeing this, the rest of the teammates finally went for broke. They howled as they ran out of the dormitory and rushed to the group of XTN robots that were changing their aim!
“Buzz buzz buzz buzz buzz!”
Endless sacs of mucus exploded like ketchup and a glimmer of yearning shone in the eyes of the soldier named Richard. His body and the tentacles all over his body were split into fragments, falling to the ground with a loud splatter, wriggling like bugs…
During the 60th hour after entry into the other world, the East Crow task force of the North Sea Continent was eliminated.