Light Speed ​​War

Chapter 231: To Follow or Not to Follow

The door to Mei Ruolan's office opened automatically. Outside, Thomas and George stared blankly at the strange scene unfolding inside. However, they quickly recovered and waited respectfully at the door.

"Thomas, George, come in."

“Yes,” Thomas replied, and the two went inside. George found it strange that the divine messenger seemed to know him “at a glance.”

“Divine messengers, we did not know that you had arrived three months ahead of schedule.”

“I missed you all.” Panna smiled.

“Thomas, we just heard Xiaolan describe the situation of you humans over the past eight hundred years. You have indeed had a tough time. I want to know what your plans are for the future. You, put your hands down.” Zhou Yuan said to the nine burly men, who looked at Thomas and then at Panna.

Panna said to the nine burly men, "You are free now."

Thomas said to the nine people, "You can go out first and wait for me in the lobby downstairs."

"Yes, sir," the nine men replied in unison, then left one after another.

“Divine Messenger, the question you just asked is also being discussed by our council. Although we can survive here underground for another seven or eight hundred years, if we don’t leave this Earth and find a suitable Earth-like planet outside, we humans will eventually run out of resources. The council has decided to wait for the divine messengers to descend again, hoping that the divine messengers can help us get out of this predicament once more.”

Zhou Yuan understood that if the humans of this parallel world were to break out of the solar system, it would take at least another hundred years. During that time, their civilization would lack the resources for interstellar travel. Resource scarcity was their fatal weakness. If they hadn't gained technological inspiration from the StarCraft game, they might already be buried beneath this planet.

"If I take you away, away from this planet, to other worlds, would you be willing?"

Thomas and George exchanged glances. "Divine Messenger, we need to discuss this with the council before making a decision. However, I personally hope to leave here. We have been pushing for the fourth version of the Space Conquest game, hoping that we can solve the final obstacle in the game, that distorted strange space, as a reward for the Divine Messenger. Unfortunately, our abilities are limited, and we just can't solve it."

Zhou Yuan and Panna hadn't expected Thomas to say that. Although their initial intention was indeed to use collective human intelligence to crack the "dimensional ascension attack" that Zhou Yuan had speculated about, they didn't expect the humans in this parallel world to ultimately solve it.

“Thomas, I appreciate your kindness. This strange space will take time to unravel. If you leave here with me, I will create a better environment and conditions for you.”

Thomas and George exchanged another glance.

"Sage, Nana is calling you." Suddenly a voice came from Zhou Yuan's pocket.

"Little bee, come out. Holographic display."

"Yes, sage."

Thomas and George saw a small bee stick its head out of Zhou Yuan's pocket, then flutter its wings and fly to a larger open space in the room. Centered on the small bee, a large three-dimensional spherical holographic display showed a clear female figure approaching.

"Nana, what's wrong?"

"Sage, near our base of the Nine Stars Orbiting the Sun system, four light-years away, a spatial anomaly has appeared. A huge vortex-shaped hole has appeared." On the holographic screen, a processed and visualized vortex hole still exudes a surging, rotating force even in the dark space.

"Nana, teleport everyone here to the flagship. Then use the portal to send this Earth to the nine-star orbiting system four light-years away. We'll leave this galaxy and head to the base in the neighboring galaxy."

"Yes, Sage." With that, the holographic screen dimmed and gradually disappeared. The little bee flew back into Zhou Yuan's pocket. Before Thomas, George, and Mei Ruolan could understand what was happening, they lost consciousness. Zhou Yuan and the others had already arrived at the flagship command center.

A woman with a light blue aura walked over and gestured for Thomas, George, and Mei Ruolan to sit down. "I am Nana, the AI ​​butler. Please have a seat. The Sage will be here to see you shortly."

Thomas, George, and Merylene noticed that in an empty space ahead, there was also a spherical rotating holographic screen. On the screen were the sun, the earth, and other planets. Near the sun, a huge ring had been assembled, and the holographic image of the earth was magnified.

"Sage, begin the teleportation to Earth."

Thomas and his two companions were startled. They saw Earth disappear from the holographic screen. Then, they felt a change in light intensity outside the warship, followed by a dazzling flash.

"Sage, the Ten-Star Sun-Orbiting System has accelerated and entered hyperspace."

In Thomas and the others' perception, about ten minutes later, Nana's voice rang out again, "Arrived at the Milky Way base. The Milky Way is preparing to accelerate and enter hyperspace."

"Nana, wait a minute."

"Yes, sage."

Zhou Yuan beckoned to Thomas, George, and Mei Ruolan, signaling them to come over. The three of them got up and came to Zhou Yuan and Panna's side. In front of Zhou Yuan was also a spherical holographic screen, on which was a galaxy with many stars.

"Thomas, George, Ran, this is your galaxy."

Thomas and his two companions stared wide-eyed as they discovered that the Milky Way galaxy Zhou Yuan had mentioned was now filled with the same enormous vortex-like holes that had appeared in the underground holographic display of the little bee. To their astonishment, many stars were being forcibly pulled toward those holes, and the holographic screen grew dimmer and dimmer. In less than four minutes, what had been the Milky Way galaxy was now complete darkness.

Thomas and his two companions stared in astonishment at this terrifying change, looking at Zhou Yuan with bewilderment.

"That was the virtual universe's virtual machine trying to cleanse us, but we escaped. Those vortex-like holes were like... well, let's just say they were like black holes."

"Black hole?" Thomas and the other two didn't know what a black hole was, and Zhou Yuan didn't want them to understand it now. After all, this virtual universe didn't have black holes at the beginning, but the vortex holes they were exhibiting now were somewhat similar to the black holes in his original world, except that they devoured stars much faster.

"Nana, let's go."

"Yes, sage."

The Milky Way accelerates, entering hyperspace travel.

Thomas and his two companions vaguely sensed that what they had experienced recently was somewhat related to elements from the game "Cosmic Conquest," such as portals and hyperspace.

"Thomas, George, Ran, let me show you the resources we have now."

The Zhou Yuan flagship accelerated instantly, moving away from Earth's skies. Thomas and his two companions looked out the porthole and saw a blue planet ahead. "This is your Earth."

Then the blue planet quickly moved away and shrank, and another blue planet appeared in front of them. Thomas and his two friends thought they were seeing things.

"This is also Earth." Thomas and his two companions looked at the planet and realized that it did indeed resemble their home planet.

Then this blue planet also rapidly moved away and shrank.

Ahead, another blue planet appeared.

"This is also Earth."

This time, Thomas and his two companions sensed a change in the warship's vision. Based on the direction and angle at which the previous two planets disappeared, the warship deflected at a larger angle this time, and the planet vanished instantly.

Then Thomas, George, and Merylene saw a large fireball appear in front of them, with about six or seven small dots appearing around it.

"Actually, there should be ten small dots, with three of them behind the sun. This is our ten-star orbiting system. Of course, the tenth Earth is your Earth. Originally, there should have been a nine-star orbiting system. We also have four more such nine-star orbiting systems."

Thomas and his two companions were stunned and speechless.

"Your Earth's surface has been contaminated twice by nuclear radiation and is no longer suitable for your survival. Underground resources are limited, Thomas, so I hope you will move to the Earth next door."

"Sage, what can we do for you?" Thomas changed his address from "messenger of the gods" to "sage," a change that clearly indicated his submission.

"Besides cracking the strange space, I want you to break through this virtual universe under my leadership. Do you still remember the six lines of text on the piece of paper Panna left for you?"

"Sage, of course we remember. The first line says that the four versions of the Cosmic War game reflect what you have experienced. This universe is a virtual universe."

"Yes, well said." Zhou Yuan expressed his satisfaction with Thomas's words.

“Your Majesty, I’m going back now to meet with the other councilors. They must be getting impatient.”

The people Thomas was referring to were the burly men in black and the people on the police airship.

Thomas and the other two, following Panna's instructions, stood in a yellow circle in the command room.

"These are rings. Wear them and contact me anytime." Zhou Yuan handed three light blue, ring-shaped objects to the three of them. "They're very easy to use. Just touch them to make a call."

The three of them took the rings and put them on their fingers. Strangely, the rings disappeared after they were put on, so they must have become invisible.

Zhou Yuan and Pan Na waved to the three of them, and the three of them waved back. In an instant, it was as if their consciousness was stripped away, and they felt a sense of emptiness, loneliness and coldness in their lives. In the blink of an eye, the three of them arrived at the lobby on the first floor of the UWARS company building.

The nine burly men in black quickly stepped forward to protect Thomas and George. After saying a few words to Mei Ruolan, Thomas left the building with George and the others. The police airships that had been circling the building also departed one after another.

"George, do you think we can follow the saint?"

“Speaker, I personally believe that the sage is right, and our underground resources indeed cannot last long. If the sage had ill intentions, there would have been no need for them to guide us back to Earth a thousand years ago. Of course, if we follow them, the risks are also great.”

"Okay, I understand. Let's go to the Parliament building."

The group boarded the spaceship and left the UWARS corporate building.