===Chapter 4 Chapter 4===
Si Chen was still waiting for Shen Yanxing’s answer when the underground laboratory suddenly shook.
The ceiling fell to the ground and his originally bright field of vision instantly turned dark. The ground shook. Gravel and iron pieces fell all around him.
The floor under Si Chen’s feet bulged like a hill and then cracked.
Ordinary people have no power to fight back under the mighty power of nature.
His first reaction was that it was an earthquake and so, he headed straight for the corner closest to him and hid under the table. He could hear the sounds of heavy objects continuously falling to the ground.
Si Chen was quickly dispelled of his misconception when, from between the cracks of the floor and ceiling, he saw thick, gnarled roots drilling in.
The news he heard on the radio before flashed through his mind. “There is a High Dimensional Invasion incident in Zhuangshan District; resulting in a Level 3A Space Fold… The High Dimensional Invaders of this Space Fold come from an Incest-type Civilization of the Fifth Dimension. ”
“It is reported that a large number of heterogeneous plants and a small number of High Dimensional creatures have appeared in the Space Fold… Most of the High Dimensional creatures in this area are Insectoid. To know more about the specific situation we will need to wait until the Space Fold terminates and relevant personnel are able to carry out further investigation.”
The earthquake lasted less than two minutes but to Si Chen it seemed extraordinarily long.
He was worried that he would be buried under the rubble, but the laboratory seemed to be sturdier than he thought and it didn’t collapse any further.
When the tremors stopped, Si Chen knew that the Space Fold had been formed. He was stuck in here.
People outside the Fold can’t get in and the people inside can’t get out. The black mist will separate the normal world and this place into two distinct areas and all one can do is to wait for the Space Fold to run out of energy.
Every Space Fold results in uncountable deaths of ordinary people. The unknown is always mysterious and frightening.
It was so quiet and pitch black. The only thing Si Chen could hear was his own breathing.
Having drank evolution fluid for five straight days, he was physically much stronger than before. In his pocket was the prosthetic eye Shen Yanxing had given him.
Inside a Space Fold, there is never a right choice, only suitable ones. He thought of the experimental subjects not far away and the tool kit that must have fallen to the ground.
Si Chen pushed away the big slab of concrete in front of him and crawled out from under the table.
As soon as he came out, Si Chen was stunned.
Long vines hung on those savagely growing branches. On the vines were small flowers glowing with a faint yellow light.
The small flowers bloomed and wilted in just a matter of seconds. The falling petals were like fireflies.
If you ignore all the industrial debris, it was a scene straight out of a fairy tale.
The two experimental subjects had no protection when the earthquake hit and they were crushed by the heavy falling objects, their skulls cracked.
Si Chen took a closer look and saw that some tiny green vines had made their way into the broken bodies of the experimental subjects, like thirsty plants greedily sucking spring water.
The smell of blood was very strong and with his sense of smell so sensitive, Si Chen felt a little nauseous.
Fortunately, humans have always been very adaptable.
Despite the flowers providing some light, visibility here still wasn’t great. Si Chen groped amidst the rubble for almost half an hour before finally finding the smashed and deformed cooler.
The box’s hardware was broken. Si Chen easily pried open the box with his fingertips and the transparent water inside dripped onto his hand. There was a strange sweetness to it.
The reagent containers were all broken.
Si Chen ignored it. What he was after was the pulse cutter.
As expected of a High Dimensional Technology product. The cutter was still functional and seemed to be as sharp as ever. Si Chen used the cutter to cut off a piece of fabric from his protective suit. He wrapped it around the cutter and put it in his pocket.
Right now, for Si Chen, safety was the most important thing. To live is to have a future.
In addition, there was the Eternal Life Abyss living as a parasite in subject A. He had no idea if this creature had escaped.
Si Chen walked towards the operating table and he couldn’t help raising his eyebrows at what he saw.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
The damage dealt to both bodies were the same. However, the vines rooted in A’s body had all died while the vines in B’s body were glossy like new growth, thin red blood veins have even appeared on the green vines.
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As for why the vines on Subject A withered, Si Chen also found the answer a few seconds later.
A thin, black, snake-like creature emerged from the edge of Subject A’s smashed and shattered head.
Its body was covered in soft fur, making it look like a kitten’s tail.
The Eternal Life Abyss stood up, revealing a relatively soft underbelly where there was a raised ring. Around the ring were sharp teeth that it must use for chewing.
Although the creature didn’t have any eyes. Intuition told Si Chen that this thing was staring right at him.
A strong sense of crisis hit him and he clenched the cutter tightly.
The next moment, the soft little snake suddenly moved and bounced. It was hard to imagine that something as big as a chopstick could have such amazing explosive power.
Si Chen could see its movements but his motor nerves couldn’t catch up with his brain’s reaction.
He watched as the Eternal Life Abyss rushed towards his face and then brushed past it.
Si Chen turned his head.
The Eternal Life Abyss was coiled around a moth several times the size of its body.
This moth had two pairs of wings. The pattern on the scales looked like a Yaobian Tianmu tea bowl and it bled a disgusting dark green.
The moth was dying and struggling on the ground but the Eternal Life Abyss wrapped around it didn’t move at all.
This High Dimensional creature withered right before Si Chen’s eyes. The Eternal Life Abyss stretched its mouth wide and its abdomen bulged.
Maybe it was an illusion but Si Chen thought he saw it burp.
The Eternal Life Abyss let out a “squeak”. It was very quiet. If Si Chen’s hearing hadn’t been strengthened after taking the evolution fluids, the range of soundwaves he could hear having widened, he wouldn’t have heard the Eternal Life Abyss’ voice at all.
He remembered the information sent by Shen Yanxing.
“High Dimensional organisms”, “Implanting”, “Evolution”…every word scratched at Si Chen's heart, tickling it like a feather.
This must be what a poor man who couldn’t even afford to eat suddenly picking up a 5 million lottery ticket felt.
Si Chen knew that he could redeem the prize, or he might be assassinated by the original owner after the prize was redeemed, or he might be assassinated by the lottery ticket itself. So was this lottery ticket worth it or not?
But, in the end, Si Chen wasn’t the adventurous sort. He had nothing. He couldn’t afford to take these risks. He could only live his life cautiously.
Besides, he could earn five million by himself. It will just take longer. So, after a moment’s hesitation, he looked away.
For ordinary people, the air in a Space Fold is poisonous.
This is a different dimension where two cosmic spaces have merged. The air composition of most High Dimension universes is different from that of the Blue Planet’s. Only the Evolutionaries have a higher chance of survival.
Si Chen has only been in the Space Fold for a while but he was already feeling a little light headed. Moreover, it was like a steamer here; so hot that he could barely breathe.
Numerous cases have proven that in a Space Fold, staying in one place did not improve one’s survival rate. It was just passive and cowardly, waiting to die.
Si Chen didn’t look at the Eternal Life Abyss anymore, looking instead at his surroundings.
The earthquake had caused most of the ceiling above to drop, exposing the sky beyond. It appeared a bit bright.
Si Chen gave the hanging vines a few pulls. They were very strong.
He climbed up the vine. Only then did he realize that he’d been underground.
Everything around was in ruins, tree and shrubs blooming amidst the rubble.
In the sky were two suns. One was a deep red and the other a bright gold.
The two suns brought abnormally high temperatures and Si Chen was soon sweating.
Based on the amount of water loss, Si Chen estimated that he would not be able to live beyond 6 hours. This was already the result of his strengthened body.
Ti2, The environment has abnormally high temperature and there is a high amount of oxygen in the air. I must stay hydrated.
Just as Si Chen was about to set off, he felt something grab the leg of his pants.
He looked down and saw that Eternal Life Abyss had climbed up, making a “squeak” sound.
It was very fast, arching its body, it quickly crawled from the bottom of Si Chen’s pants to his hand.
This felt a little strangely disgusting.
Si Chen’s expression changed slightly. He grabbed the creature with one hand, intending to throw it.
Although it was covered in fine fur, the Eternal Life Abyss didn’t not feel dry to the touch but rather wet and sticky.
This little black tentacle wrapped around his finger like a snake.
Si Chen felt a slight sucking sensation on his fingertip.
The thing was licking him, not biting.
When Si Chen opened the cooler, the liquid inside had flowed all over Si Chen’s hands.
Because of the high temperature, those reagents also dried up quickly so Si Chen paid it no mind.
But actually, Reagent D had been the cell fluid of a mature Eternal Life Abyss.
The Eternal Life Abyss is oviparous. It reproduces asexually and is fed by the mother.
A juvenile Eternal Life Abyss depends on drinking the cell fluid of its mother in order to grow up to the point that it could find food by itself.
Although this Eternal Life Abyss was bigger than a newborn, it was still a cub and its instinctive desire for survival made it stick with Si Chen.
Included in its “squeak” was a call.
It was calling “Mom”.
While it hasn’t yet grown eyes, it distinguishes objects and directions by vibration and smell.
The Eight Dimension Universe where the Eternal Life Abyss had been born was extremely dangerous. Its instincts told it that cubs abandoned by their mothers will die. And so it didn’t want to be too far away from Si Chen.
Eternal Life Abyss mothers will only abandon their cubs under one circumstance; that is, if the cub has a certain disability.
This Eternal Life Abyss has already been abandoned by its mother once. Otherwise it wouldn’t have been caught by humans.
The Eternal Life Abyss finished licking the remaining water stains on Si Chen’s hands and had now wrapped itself around his wrist.
Si Chen had a subtle feeling that this Eternal Life Abyss was feeling very happy.
He hadn’t wanted to pick up the lottery ticket but the lottery ticket jumped into his pocket…Let’s just carry it around for now.
Si Chen walked along the edge of the road, hiding under the shade of the trees as much as possible, observing the Space Fold.
He was lucky to find a vending machine lying on the ground.
In the Disaster Zones, there are many such vending machines. The things sold include water, oxygen, nutrient cream and simple medicines. Its purpose is so that people in Disaster Zones can get the most basic survival supplies if they accidentally encounter a Space Fold.
You only need to scan your resident code to use it. The money will be deducted automatically once network coverage is recovered.
In order to prevent violence from erupting, the items in the vending machines are very cheap. The water is plain tap water, the air is in compressed capsules and the nutrition cream is the leftovers from feeding pigs. The quality is very poor but it can be life-saving in emergencies.
The items in the vending machines are inexpensive but the machines themselves are super expensive. It was fall-resistant, shock-resistant, water-proof, freeze-proof and won’t melt even at temperatures hundreds of degrees high.
Si Chen took three bottles of water, thirty capsules of air and a can of nutritional cream.
Citizens of any class are treated equally in front of this machine. You can only exchange a limited number of supplies each day.
There have indeed been incidents of looting but this is already the best system to allow more people in the Disaster Zone to survive.
Si Chen had yet to meet any of his kind but he has come across the corpses of his kind.
These corpses lay in a mess, like strips of dried meat. The one closest to Si Chen, by the look of her attire, had been a woman. She was holding her phone tightly in her hand.
Si Chen knelt down beside her and checked the time on the phone.
January 19th. And the last time he’d checked the time was on January 13th.
There was no password set on the phone, Si Chen slid it open, and there was an open memo on the screen, with only one line written on it.
“Xiao Tian, mother loves you.”
She might have been on her way to pick up her child from school. If the area covered by the Space Fold was large enough, there was a high probability that her child has already died here as well.
Si Chen slowly let out a breath and returned the phone to her.
Si Chen had no idea how big the Space Fold was this time. Looking around, there were huge trees blotting out the suns and sky everywhere.
These trees were growing at a remarkable speed. With them blocking the sun overhead, the ground cooled down rapidly, making it much more tolerable.
Every universe’s civilization has its own form. And if intelligent lifeform is born, it will have its own ecosystem.
These trees must be an extremely important part of Insect civilization.
This also meant another thing. The space fusion was almost settled and more High Dimensional creatures will be rearing their heads.
…
…
The Ji Family.
As the largest shareholder behind the Machine Core Group, the Ji Family occupied an incomparable position in today’s world.
Like other big families, the Ji Family is also deeply rooted. In the three generations before and after, there are hundreds of heirs.
The current Patriarch was very old and no one could tell when he would die.
Because his body had been damaged by his mechanical transformation when he was young, the Patriarch only has one child and it was one he’d had when he was well into his later years. His son’s name is Ji Chuyao and he has yet to reach 25 years old this year. He was currently studying for a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering. His mother came from the equally prestigious Chu Family.
Old Man Ji was lying in his home’s garden, a garden spanning 800 square meters, recharging his batteries.
Except for his head, his whole body has been completely mechanized. His skin was bionic skin. He had had his redundant internal organs removed and a high-energy cannon could be pulled out from his chest at any time.
This transformation greatly prolonged his lifespan, but the side effects were also obvious. Old Man Ji consumed the power of a small nuclear reactor every day. Otherwise, he would fall into sleep mode due to insufficient power.
Today, he was recharging his batteries when the robot butler ran in in a rush, “Master! Something has happened!”
Old Man Ji’s eyes opened a crack. “What’s the matter? Xiao Wang, I have transformed you into a robot but you’re still as impatient as before.”
Because speaking would take too long, Xiao Wang simply chose the Bluetooth connection and sent the data over. “Master, something is wrong. The Young Master along with someone from his university went to the Disaster Zone for scientific research but a Space Fold appeared there again!”
Old Man Ji waved his hand dismissively. “Here I thought there was something the matter. The child needs to temper himself. When I was his age, I had already experienced so much that I was unmatched on Heaven’s Stairway.”
Xiao Wang tremblingly said, “But according to the tests, that Space Fold came from a Fifth Dimension Insect civilization. What’s more, its civilization is in the midst of heat death!”
Old Man Ji suddenly opened his eyes, his expression had changed drastically, “Call for the car. Get people to Zhuangshan District! Begin rescue operations!”
External life abyss cub: 🥰 I wrapped around Mama!
Si Chen: ……I’m Mama. You’re Lottery.
The cub could be lottery, 5 million or sticky I guess.
And so our MC gained a son already…
Future ML: WAIT I’M NOT READY TO BE A DAD–
curious if the worm will be useful later… also seems it’s where they meet
Thanks for this awesome story translation! 🤣❤️
Almost forgot! Typo: in seventh paragraph Incest-civilization >> should be Insect-civilization.
Did spit take on that one!
Seconded 🤣
Si Chen is a mommy now. Well, who is the daddy 😏
Thanks for the chapter 🌹
Wait this is ML but didn’t it say earlier that MC offended someone from the Ji family so did he offend ML??? Is ML a snob?