Chapter 649
The Hermitage's Grand Plan
Chapter 649 The Hermitage's Grand Plan
"Deep Rock Fortress," this secret base that once belonged to Old Joe, has now been completely taken over by Yu Sheng. Even the remaining clone troops around the fortress have chosen to surrender after receiving orders from inside the fortress.
Meanwhile, within minutes of the battle ending, Lo took control of the entire fortress's antenna system. She severed the connection between the local network and the Black Dot Group's main data network, and replaced all network ports with a whole set of fake addresses and database interfaces—to ensure that no one would know what had happened here.
In the core area of the fortress, in the hall where Old Joe originally used to collect his "artworks," a new tank was activated and connected to a simple interactive system. Lo moved "Old Joe" into this new tank, and among the cables and processors connected to the tank was a temporary cage she had prepared for her "old friend."
A series of bubbles rose from the nearly transparent biomass solution inside the glass tube. The shriveled and wrinkled brain floated quietly in the container. Green characters jumped on the display screen next to the tank—this display screen was "Old Joe's" only channel of external interaction at present. He had been stripped of all his senses, and his consciousness was locked in a brain that had lost its connection.
Looking at the device in front of him, Yu Sheng found it hard to imagine what that feeling was like.
“It’s an extreme darkness and silence, a sense of nothingness that gnaws at a person’s spirit and will from all sides,” Luo explained softly, standing beside the storage tank, with a hint of reminiscence. “Without the stimulation of the real world as an anchor, the brain’s perception of time will quickly become chaotic, every second will be stretched infinitely, and in the long night, fear will be almost eternal, and death will become a luxury.”
She breathed a soft sigh of relief, a smile on her face, as her fingers slowly traced the cool outer shell of the storage tank.
"He often used this method to punish disobedient or seriously wrong assistants—sometimes simply to satisfy his... 'research' needs."
On the makeshift display screen connected to the storage tank, green characters flashed: "Darkness...Cold...I'll agree to anything...Anything!"
"Who is your contact person in the Secret Order?" One of Luo's mechanical limbs was directly connected to the tank, and her thoughts, translated into text, quickly appeared on the screen. "Do you have a rendezvous point?"
“There are no fixed contacts—they claim to be messengers of the ‘Holy See,’ and the contacts change each time. We communicate through an encrypted channel,” lines of text scrolled across the screen. “There is a delivery location, within a gravitational collapse point near the Morena Fault, but they never show themselves… I also contact them through agents…”
While quickly taking notes of what Old Joe had told him, Luo continued to ask, "You trust those cultists that much? How did you get in touch with them?"
“...I don’t trust them,” the text on the screen appeared with a hint of hesitation this time, “but they offered me terms I couldn’t refuse.”
"An irresistible condition?" Yu Sheng frowned upon seeing this answer. "What condition?"
Luo quickly typed in the question, and a series of bubbles rose from the biomass tank. Old Joe's reply soon appeared on the screen: "They showed me something, a... new world waiting to be conquered."
Even Luo was taken aback: "A new world?"
“Those secret order followers used an ancient word to refer to it; they called it ‘Eden,’” the brain in the container answered honestly. “They discovered its existence by chance and then saw it as the hope for achieving the ‘path of holiness’… You know, it’s their mystical doctrine; they believe ‘Eden’ is an unpolluted ‘primitive paradise’ that can be ‘exquisitely and perfectly transformed’…”
Luo frowned deeply: "And then? What does this have to do with the 'Zolda Black Stone' and 'Rift Technology'?"
"Because they only observed the existence of 'Eden'—and in order to safely get there, they needed to open a stable passage. Those charlatans called that thing the 'Gate of Eden,' which is essentially... an enlarged and stable version of what you did. It's just that it seems their Gate of Eden has run into problems now."
Yu Sheng and Luo looked at each other, both seeing a hint of shock in each other's eyes.
They had all considered that those cultists might be involved in some kind of massive event, but no one had imagined it would escalate to this extent—it seems that digging holes all over this world is no longer enough for those charlatans, and they've finally started planning to dig a hole and wreak havoc in other worlds?!
Luo's expression was one of disbelief: "What are they trying to do? Find a new world and then descend there to 'become gods'? Do they even intend to become 'creators'?"
A line of text quickly appeared on the screen next to them: "...That's what they think."
Upon hearing this answer, Eileen, who was sitting on Yu Sheng's shoulders, couldn't hold back any longer. The little doll bluntly said, "...They're a bunch of idiots. Do they even know how to spell 'Creator' before they dare to think like that? Think about it, think about it, there's some basic law to follow!"
Luo frowned immediately, then suddenly realized something: "So what about you—the so-called 'unavoidable conditions' shouldn't just mean you were completely convinced after they showed you the 'New World,' right? What conditions did they offer you? To make you a 'god' of the New World too? Don't tell me you fell for that stupid reason!" The text on the screen flickered, many jumbled symbols flashing by, seemingly indicating that Old Joe was somewhat agitated. After several seconds, the text stabilized: "...They will indeed reserve a place for me in the New World, but I'm not really interested in their 'becoming a god of the New World' rhetoric, but..."
The text paused for a moment, then refreshed rapidly: "But, Luo, aren't you tempted by this? Think about it, a world! A new world unclaimed, unoccupied, undiscovered, without the interference of the so-called Borderlands Council and the Terra Council! Abundant resources, vast territories, boundless freedom—with just a few cargo ships and industrial motherships, you can become the first conqueror, setting all the rules, and without even worrying about the corporation's oversight! Putting aside all that hypocrisy and conservatism, aren't you really tempted?"
Luo's expression became somewhat subtle for a moment, and before she could reply, she saw Yu Sheng next to her suddenly stroke his chin and say, "To be honest, it's quite tempting now that you mention it."
Luo almost lost his composure, staring at Yu Sheng in disbelief: "Uh, boss?"
“Just from this description, it’s clear you’re tempted. What’s wrong with admitting it?” Yu Sheng said confidently. “Being tempted is different from taking action, and besides, there are differences between different actions…”
Eileen perked up as soon as she heard this, holding Yu Sheng's head with one hand: "That's right, with your personality of considering it a loss if you don't pick up anything when you go out, why don't you go and spread the fungal carpet as much as you can if you really have the chance?"
Hu Li, standing nearby, looked up at Yu Sheng, then at Luo, and muttered softly, "If there's good food over there, I'd be tempted too."
Luna thought for a moment and nodded: "Yes, that's right."
Luo hesitated for a long time before finally saying, "Uh, no, I was just trying to find some righteous words to retort to him, you guys can't do this..."
Yu Sheng chuckled upon hearing this, a smile playing on his lips: "It's the same old story, being moved is different from taking action, and taking action is different from taking action. If there really is such an 'Eden,' I'd love to go and see what's going on—those hermit cultists are opening spatial rifts everywhere, while I'm opening doors all over the world all the time. Why are they being universally reviled, while I'm receiving widespread praise? The key is that we have to be in the right, right? Some people's biggest problem is that they're too wicked at heart and too incompetent, so now they're stuck in jars..."
Yu Sheng's theory left Luo completely bewildered, but Eileen, while tugging at his hair, muttered, "How come I remember you were quite universally resented when you first started opening doors all over the world?"
Yu Sheng kept a straight face and pretended not to hear.
Looking at this scene, Luo suddenly had a moment of self-doubt: Had he really abandoned darkness and embraced the light?
However, she had been having a lot of self-doubt lately, so she quickly put the little problem aside and focused her attention on the interactive screen in front of her.
Old Joe was cut off from all perception of the real world and could only rely on the text interface of this simple interactive system to communicate with the outside world. In the short few minutes that Luo stopped typing, the mental stress index and toxic protein index of that brain began to rise sharply.
"Do you know how far those cultists' 'projects' have progressed?" Luo asked another question.
“I don’t know their specific progress—those charlatans keep this information very secret, but they must have already built some kind of… ‘prototype’ of the ‘Gate of Eden’, because they have mentioned the charging and stability issues of the Gate of Eden many times. They asked me for the original data of the Zolda Black Stone, also to use it on the Gate of Eden.”
Luo's face was ashen. From Old Joe's reply, she vaguely sensed something. After a moment of thought, she suddenly realized: "You, and those cultists who 'deal' with you, when exactly did you start targeting me?"
The characters on the screen flickered violently again, and garbled symbols scrolled continuously before a logical response appeared after a moment.
"In the beginning."
Luo frowned, but before she could ask further, a new sentence appeared after the previous line of text: "Luo, do you really think that the news about the Zolda Black Stone appeared in front of you by 'coincidence'? That stone... was a 'gift' we gave you from the very beginning."
"...Your mother must have gone in and out of the Usob insect nest seven times!!"
(End of this chapter)