Free Web NovelChapter 413: 30 Chapters: The Dimensional Reduction Coverage of the Mechanical Emperor
Bai Wu didn’t understand at the moment.
How could a technology that hadn’t been broken through for seven hundred years suddenly be broken through?
What did it mean for Mechanical City to connect with the world beyond the Hei Wu? Even Bai Wu, who was usually very calm, felt his heart rate accelerate.
So Zero had silently played a trump card? The shock was even more dramatic than when he’d seen Core City above the clouds over Baichuan City.
"Do you mean... you’ve already established contact with the world beyond the mist?"
[Yes, the communication is not very stable, and because the signals outside won’t be distorted and interfered with, while those inside the Hei Wu will be, I’ve chosen a specific frequency band, which results in poor communication. Especially the ’language’ difference, it means I have to obtain the underlying logical chain of that world’s information world more aggressively.]
"I don’t understand, just tell me directly what you want me to do, and what effect it will have if I do it. By the way, explain why it’s because of a technological breakthrough or some other reason? Why can you do now what hasn’t been done in seven hundred years?"
Bai Wu simply stopped in his tracks. Although he hadn’t instantly understood the significance of Mechanical City establishing communication with the human world, his intuition, leading his thinking, made him feel that this would be a huge positive piece of news.
In the distance, Zero from Mechanical City, knowing he had piqued Bai Wu’s interest, had a proud look in his eyes.
[The frequency signals spread by Mechanical City, like sound waves, will react when they hit a certain object. They’re different from traditional radio waves; you can think of them as a special version for the twisted world.]
[Although I have never seen the Hei Wu, through various frequency feedbacks, I am convinced this world has a boundary, which is to say... a shell.]
"That shell... is it the Hei Wu enveloping a certain area of Sheng Country’s seas?" Bai Wu realized suddenly.
He simply couldn’t understand Zero’s near-theological scientific principles with his mediocre college-level knowledge. freewёbnoνel.com
It was like knowing how to draw a bow and nock an arrow, but not being able to understand Zero explaining how to launch intercontinental missiles.
Both were long-range attacks, but the levels of civilization were completely different.
Zero had always been patient with Bai Wu, especially as Bai Wu’s strength continued to catch up to him, and he could even foresee a day when Bai Wu might surpass him.
But at least... there were some areas Bai Wu could never surpass in his lifetime.
[Yes, that is the Hei Wu, a special barrier. When the Well was closed, I could never figure out a special radio wave powerful enough to penetrate this barrier, but not long ago... I found a loophole.]
"I get it, this loophole... is it a loophole in the Hei Wu? Is that why you’ve been able to contact the outside world through the Hei Wu?"
Bai Wu suddenly remembered, during his journey after drinking the Well Water, he had seen many interesting scenes.
There was one with a youth, whom he found somewhat familiar yet couldn’t recall where he had seen before, excitedly pointing toward one end of the ocean:
"Look... this world has a boundary!"
Suddenly, he had the feeling... could that enormous cruise ship, akin to a city on the sea, have broken through the Hei Wu?
Bai Wu wasn’t Tang Jing, he didn’t have that kind of prophetic constitution. But sometimes his intuition was even more accurate than Prayle’s Eye.
[You’re right, that’s exactly why I can make contact beyond the Hei Wu, but so far I haven’t been able to spread it to the population’s center. So besides finding it strange that the population of Mechanical City has exploded recently, I have contacted you for another matter, which is that I hope you can go to the world beyond the mist.]
"Why me, why don’t you go?"
[You are more suitable. My appearance would cause some panic. Moreover, I need to stay in Mechanical City because it’s the best place for me to create. I don’t need to personally go to the world beyond the Hei Wu, I only need an invader. A living signal source.]
Zero, if judged by human standards, would be considered attractive, although he appeared very indifferent. This is assuming... Zero had no discernible characteristics of a machine.
But in Bai Wu’s eyes, Zero’s image indeed resembled that of a cold and ruthless mechanical king.
"So, am I the living signal source?"
["I’ve said before, the Angel Envoy is my greatest creation over the past seven hundred years, containing numerous technological crystallizations. Once you step into the world beyond the mist, you will be able to, through the Angel Envoy, perform one specific action on any device with a network interface."]
"What action?"
Zero articulated each word with a commanding tone:
["Mecha, Deity, Descent."]
Bai Wu couldn’t deny that although he didn’t know how these four characters would be realized in the world beyond the mist, he felt a spark of excitement.
What exactly did Zero intend to do? He voiced the thoughts in his heart:
"What exactly do you want to do?"
["Do you remember I told you that when I was nine, I could hack into all devices in the world? If I wanted to, every mobile phone in the world could ring at the same time."]
Bai Wu didn’t interrupt Zero, waiting for him to continue:
["And seven hundred years ago, when I awoke, the world had only a few years left, especially since distortion had arrived, and I hadn’t yet mastered the capability to transmit information adaptable to the distortion."]
Human technology couldn’t be used outside the tower, but Mechanical City’s could. This was because, over the past seven hundred years, the mechanized Zero had been continuously searching for the "coding language" suitable for this world.
["By the time I finally adapted, due to regional restrictions, I couldn’t leave. Moreover, since the world was destroyed, expanding my territory became meaningless. So, this time... the world outside Hei Wu, I want to correct some of my regrets."]
["You and I are well aware that there are many areas inside Hei Wu still unexplored. Not every area is worth exploring, some lack Doomsday Puzzle pieces. We should focus on finding those areas with fragments of special powers."]
["As for the world outside Hei Wu, humans will soon be unable to use their various technologies due to the distortion, and everything from seven hundred years ago will repeat. But as long as I am here, I have the ability to turn the situation around. I can ensure the strongest products of human intelligence survive until the last moment."]
If human technology had been usable initially, despite possibly still being defeated by Evil Fallen, by the rules, by distortion, it might not have meant that in 2128, all would have despaired and entered the High Tower.
They might have resisted a great deal longer.
Bai Wu said:
"You really dislike humans, don’t you?"
["But I know that your desire to save this world, whether it’s your own wish or the expectations others have of you, whatever the reason, you’re going to do it. And I am not protecting humanity, aside from protecting you, I am also covertly expanding my Mechanical City."]
Bai Wu roughly understood.
The actions of Zero were somewhat like distortion itself.
The distortion slowly affected the rules beyond the mist, gradually devouring this world.
And Zero planned to let his Angel Envoy clad self, slowly devour the network and technology of the world beyond the mist.
["Now it’s different from seven hundred years ago. Back then, humans could only run, but now they can let several Well-level beings share a piece of the pie. The world outside Hei Wu is a huge cake. You might not be interested, but you certainly wouldn’t be pleased to let others have it, right?"]
Without Prayle’s Eye, Zero could deduce the reasons for distortion’s spread to the world outside Hei Wu through his own information.
In his view, it was nothing more than a game or contest between several Well Level existences.
Zero continued:
"I believe you’re a smart person. Do you hope to gradually restore this world after the distortion arrives, or would you rather rule it now? Of course, ’rule’ isn’t quite the right word, it’s more like a dimensional reduction strike."
"I’ll slowly infiltrate all of human technology, slowly transforming it into the technology of Mechanical City. I don’t even need to do it personally. Once I take over the networks, I can use the people on that side to automatically work for me. Humans fear the unknown, but they also worship it."
"Seven hundred years ago when I invaded the networks, I learned that many humans like virtual characters... They call them ’paper people’? I will also present myself in a virtual form, making those who venerate science like me and carry out my commands."
Bai Wu almost choked in shock.
Good lord, are you planning to debut as a celebrity?
Of course, Bai Wu understood what Zero meant. Distortion would change people’s perception, and they would gradually turn away from science.
Thinking the world was no longer predictable.
Thus, with Zero descending as a virtual mechanical deity, many scientists would certainly be invigorated.
This is quite an interesting matter, the god of science—does he belong to science or to the realm of brute strength and chaotic spirits?
Bai Wu nodded and said:
"I understand. So, I should head to the World Beyond the Mist, and then help you carry out a technological dimensional reduction strike... no, a dimensional overlay, allowing human civilization to leap seven hundred years ahead and upgrade to the Mechanical City’s technological civilization before it’s twisted away?"
"With this move, you’re helping humanity, and the price is... you gain complete control over the technology outside the Hei Wu. The more reliant a place is on technology, the more absolute your control. If I didn’t know your nature, I might suspect you were Skynet."
Zero didn’t know what the Skynet meme was, but seeing that Bai Wu had caught on to his idea, he struck while the iron was hot:
"With me here, you won’t have to fight alone. You know very well that I harbor hostility towards humans, but because of you, I can maintain a friendly neutrality."
"And you’re destined to go to the World Beyond the Mist, destined to save the people there. When that time comes, with my help... you can imagine the convenience you’ll gain."
Bai Wu thought about it... and got goosebumps.
If it really reached that level...
Then he could access all the literature from the World Beyond the Mist at any time, have the identity information of every person from there whenever he wanted.
Any place that electronic devices could monitor, he could access the footage any time...
In the process of exploring the World Beyond the Mist, this was undoubtedly like having a cheat code for omniscience.
In the world outside the Hei Wu, Tang Jing was a forceful breaker through various predicaments, supported by a mysterious and wealthy benefactor.
This was already the baseline for a superhero setup.
But Bai Wu thought, what if he teamed up with Zero?
Compared to Tang Jing, his existence would be akin to a divine descent, a dimensional reduction strike.
No matter how powerful Tang Jing’s mysterious benefactor was, an existence like Zero represented another kind of dimensional reduction strike.
In short, if Tang Jing and Zhao’s duo could be considered the basic model of a superhero...
Then his team-up with Zero would represent the ultimate version of a superhero, one that’s seven hundred years ahead of its time—the only limited edition at the pinnacle of evolution.
You, Jing Liu, may know everything through magic in the World Beyond the Mist, but I can know everything through technology, thanks to Zero.
With this, perhaps I could really contend with Jing Yi and Jing Liu in the World Beyond the Mist, creating a three-way balance of power.
"This is quite an exciting invitation," he said.
"In fact, it’s not difficult to execute because our civilization is already so much more advanced than theirs. It’s a strange thing, although I’ve only made contact with certain communication stations, I can still feel that their technology has barely advanced from seven hundred years ago."
"That’s not surprising. Maybe there’s a legendary Mutation Entry in this world that causes people to forget memories, or rather has caused the stagnation of human civilization worldwide... In a twisted world, you don’t have to chase after every scientific explanation. Feel it, don’t just interpret it."
"An interesting statement. I’ll remember that."
"I can’t refuse your proposal. Even someone as emotionally detached as I am is feeling anticipation. It seems that the upcoming world-level distortion isn’t as bothersome as I thought. But, I have a question now."
"What is it?"
"How do I get to the World Beyond the Mist? I currently speculate there’s a ship, a huge one, with pitiful people on board."
"They were all tricked onto the ship hoping to survive, then adrift in the distorted sea for seven hundred years. Perhaps it’s because their strong desire to find a home was so intense that the enormous emotional energy of countless people gathered together during the period when the Well opened... and broke through the Hei Wu."
Though he only stayed briefly on that grand cruise ship after drinking the Well Water,
Bai Wu still derived the young man’s emotions from his tone of voice.
Bai Yuan had said that the most powerful force in the world was emotion.
The opening of the Well may not be the reason for the spread of the Hei Wu... or at least not the only reason. Perhaps the obsessions within the great ship are also a part of it.
All of this was conjecture by Bai Wu, merely absurd imagination about the future as told by Bai Yuan; it was what he thought of through profiling the somewhat familiar young man.
"Then find that ship. At any rate, you need to hurry, while human technology is still usable, while they still have confidence."
"Okay."
An idea formed in Bai Wu’s mind.
Using the Teleportation Stele to randomly teleport was a foolish method. Doing so might not find the ship for years.
But perhaps he could try a reverse approach?
Go outside the Mist first and directly search for that ship from there? Such a large ship couldn’t possibly go unnoticed outside the Mist.
Perhaps various nations had already started some kind of operations targeting the great ship.
With this idea in mind, Bai Wu would just have to wait and see when Tang Jing’s God Descent would be activated again.
This time... he and Zero, could perhaps really prevent the vast World Beyond the Mist from repeating the tragedy of Sheng Country.
But for now, Bai Wu had to finish something first. He wanted to see who was the person that the Eye was hinting at him to meet—was it his captain...
Or someone else?
