Chapter 1321: Existence of the system
Disaster... Project 0924... Cosmic Alliance...
It might be because too much information flooded into my brain in a short period of time.
Even though Zhao Chen had undergone physical enhancement, he felt a little dizzy.
"You... did you also gain some knowledge?" Zhao Chengcheng looked at Zhao Chen with complicated eyes.
Zhao Chen nodded.
Zhao Chengcheng then began to look Zhao Chen up and down.
After a few breaths, she chuckled and said, "I had a strange feeling about you before."
Add to that our coincidental shared names.
But little did we know, we were merely pawns in someone else's plan.
Zhao Chen took a few deep breaths.
He turned around and walked toward a small room on the side of the bridge.
He... he needs some time to process the information he has received.
Give me a few minutes.
You will be in charge of the rest of the voyage arrangements.
Before Zhao Chengcheng could catch up, Zhao Chen said without turning his head.
Then he went into the small hut next to the bridge and closed the door.
Zhao Chen closed his eyes.
"system!"
【I am here】
"You've finally made a move."
【I've always been here】
"Then why didn't you say anything for the past six months?"
【Because at that time, I did not trigger the intelligent program.】
"That means even the usual annual and quarterly targets will be gone."
Because you have already completed 99% of the plan.
At that time, I could no longer give you anything.
Therefore, the system entered hibernation mode.
Waiting for... an opportunity
"Is the opportunity you're talking about the current situation?"
【Yes】
"So, you were the one who brought me to this universe?"
【Yes】
Zhao Chen gritted his teeth. If the voice in his head were a real person standing in front of him right now, he definitely wouldn't be able to control his fists.
"Just to activate the current you?"
【Yes】
"Can't you say anything other than those two damn words?!"
【Can】
"Go to hell!"
【I'm just an edited data stream, I don't have a mother.】
Zhao Chen truly felt a deep sense of powerlessness towards this guy.
"Okay, okay, okay."
Let's not talk about that.
Now that you can speak on your own, don't you have anything to tell me?
【have
But you've been asking questions the whole time.
Therefore, I will answer your question first.
This damn system!
Zhao Chen suppressed his anger.
Because of the information he had just received, he now truly felt like a volcano that could explode at any moment.
If any more enemies were to appear on the bridge now, Zhao Chen estimated that he would be tempted to kill them using the most ruthless methods.
"Now you can speak."
I am the system
The cultivation system in Project 0924
You are one of the candidates
You triggered a hidden message; I'm going to tell you something.
And after that, I will disappear completely.
This will be the last time we talk.
Zhao Chen's heart skipped a beat.
The last time?
Why is this the last time?
Because my task has been completed
I have very little energy left, so there is no need for me to exist.
"Okay, continue." Zhao Chen paced back and forth in the room.
He had just received a lot of information, and although he found the information quite credible, it left Zhao Chen with a lot of doubts.
Zhao Chen was shrouded in a huge mystery.
It gave Zhao Chen the feeling of being controlled by a pair of hands.
I was both angry and confused.
It's like my own life.
Everything about myself.
Everything happened step by step, arranged by others.
Zhao Chen didn't like this feeling.
【order
One of the greatest threats to the universe
Unlike other interstellar invasions, they completely control this universe, integrating everything within it into their own bodies.
In the beginning, they waved the banner of new ideas.
Join them, integrate into them, and you can escape war, disaster, suffering, and everything else.
...
The system's explanations are largely similar to Zhao Chen's understanding of 'order'.
They consider themselves the noblest beings, the most superior life forms.
They believed they had established a new order, and they named themselves 'Order'.
The first law of order is that no cosmic technology is allowed to enter the T6 technological civilization, because only the unique T7 technological civilization of order can ensure its continued existence.
Zhao Chen recalled the nuclear weapons of the planetary era.
Although nuclear-armed superpowers often act in their own self-interest, they may do things that bully others.
But in a sense, nuclear weapons have indeed silenced the traces of large-scale wars and created peace in most areas.
Order is very similar to this.
In the beginning, other cosmic civilizations simply resented the existence of order.
But they felt no other emotions; after all, while the order was powerful, it posed no threat to their existence. As for restricting research into T6 technological civilization...
This is a very distant prospect for most civilizations in the universe. To fight a powerful T7 civilization for something so far in the future would be extremely unwise.
Therefore, initially, everyone accepted the existence of order.
It must be acknowledged that the existence of order at that time did indeed prevent many large-scale intercosmic wars from occurring.
But I don't know when it started.
Order is no longer the earliest order.
They bared their fangs, and their aggression grew stronger.
They began labeling some universes as research sites for T6 technological civilizations and launched invasions.
They established their own legions, the Dark Legion fleet.
It belongs to a fleet of consciousness entities that can be continuously resurrected.
With this overwhelming interstellar fleet, they systematically eliminated those extraterrestrial civilizations and regimes marked as researching T6 technology, then absorbed all life within the universe, integrating it into the existing order.
It is publicly claimed that this was a voluntary choice made by life within that universe.
At first, no one doubted it.
But soon some 'refugees' appeared.
They are the original inhabitants who escaped from those universes that had been swallowed up by order.
They publicly declared that the erosion of order was coercive.
In the beginning, they will first brainwash the original inhabitants of the universe, and some people will indeed believe that by joining the order, they can escape their current poverty, suffering, and calamities...
However, some people do not want to give up their current lives and integrate into the established order.
But the authorities simply ignore the voices of these people.
They lacked the ability to resist and ultimately could only become part of the order.
And as these things continued to happen...
Other cosmic civilizations naturally began to protest, fearing they would be the next universe to be swallowed up.
But do they even have the right to resist a T7 technological civilization?
"So, that organization was born?" Zhao Chen asked.
【Exiles Universe Alliance】
Full name: Anti-Order Star Exiles Cosmic Alliance Organization
It is a privately established exile cosmic alliance organization.
Nominally, it is an organization established by those exiles who escaped from the swallowed universe.
But could those exiles alone establish such a massive cosmic alliance?
Of course not
Behind this, there are actually many, many cosmic civilizations silently supporting it.
Provide human, material, and financial resources
And to send scientists who need them to this organization.
【To disrupt order, conduct research】
"That's Project 0924?" Zhao Chen recalled a particular numerical plan from that memory data.
It wasn't the 0924 plan at the beginning.
From its inception, the Exiles Cosmic Alliance has undertaken and carried out numerous projects targeting the Order.
Furthermore, they developed T6 technology and even T7 technology.
Technological blockade in an attempt to break through the order
Multiple lines running simultaneously
However, many plans failed.
The 0924 Plan was actually one of the failed plans.
"A failed plan?" Zhao Chen asked in surprise, "This plan has already failed?"
【Yes
At least in my latest updated data, I am part of the last batch of hyperspace system particles sent out under Project 24 of Laboratory Nine.
"Wait, you said you were the one who sent it out?"
So how did you choose me?
"Was it you who transported me to that world?"
Upon hearing Zhao Chen's question...
The system paused for a moment.
Is it possible?
You are not a time traveler.
The unexpected answer left Zhao Chen somewhat bewildered.
The owners of all the systems are not actually time travelers.
The memories they had of the transmigrators were all created by the system.
We were actually created by Laboratory Nine; you can think of us as seeds.
The concept behind Project 24 from Laboratory Nine is...
They believed that their organization alone could hardly overthrow the order.
However, the financial backers behind them—those extraterrestrial civilizations—are unwilling to openly defy the established order.
In this way, too little investment reduces variability.
Plan 24 was designed to increase variability.
And it rapidly accelerates the development of each universe.
Let them become a fleet in the chaotic currents of war against the established order.
Thus, Project 24 was born.
Each seed is so small that it cannot be detected even with the most advanced magnifying instruments; only in this way can it escape the blockade of order.
But within these seeds lies the potential of systems like ours.
The system has pre-loaded various technologies, especially interstellar warships.
"etc.
If that's the case, how do you explain things that appear out of nowhere?
For example, those starship cores, and... and the super soldier serum that injected me with! Zhao Chen was on the verge of a breakdown.
【Because the seed also contains a space technology, carrying its own small space.】
Those things were simply pre-stocked there.
As the system owner, you will receive rewards for completing the corresponding tasks.
Zhao Chen was speechless.
He felt like he was suffocating.
【Then, Laboratory Nine will release these seeds, a process commonly known as 'planting'.】
Furthermore, these seeds will automatically re-collect technological breakthroughs made by the system owner every so often.
After the system owner dies, it is secretly sent back to the laboratory.
Although Project 0924 failed, it must be said that the system owners cultivated through this method greatly accelerated the technological iteration of the Exile Universe Alliance.
Often, a technology requires thousands of years of research within an alliance.
However, for the system owners, it only takes a few hundred years, or even a few decades.
And the number of seeds released is very large.
After all, the number of universes is also enormous.
This is the characteristic of variability in the 0924 plan.
With each batch of seeds released, the technologies incorporated into subsequent seed releases become increasingly advanced.
The cutting-edge technologies they possess are becoming increasingly incredible.
"Then why did Project 0924 fail?" Zhao Chen questioned. "Did the Order discover something?"
The failure of Project 0924 was not due to order.
It's not because of the cosmic civilizations behind the Exiles' Cosmic Alliance...
They were originally not involved in the research of the Cosmic Alliance, but they did detect the rapid rise of some microcosms.
This led to the discovery of Project 0924.
They were the ones who terminated Project 0924, shut down Laboratory Nine, and laid off everyone.
And you, Zhao Chen, were among the last batch of seeds sent out.
After that, Project 0924 was declared a failure.
Zhao Chen fell silent.
He then asked, "Do you know how long it's been since Project 0924 failed?"
You mean the present state of this universe?
【Or the present state of the JF-17 universe】
Zhao Chen was taken aback.
"What's the difference?"
Does time flow differently in different universes?
Time is the same in different universes at the same time.
But the universe exists at different times, so the time itself is naturally different.
These words are like a tongue twister.
Zhao Chen was stunned at first, but he quickly came to his senses.
Wait! You mean...!
I!
"Not at the point in time in my original universe!" Zhao Chen's voice trembled.
【Yes】
This guy went back to his damn self, uttering just two words.
"what is going on?
Do you have the technology to travel through time?
If that's the case.
"Laboratory Nine could completely return to a point in time before the birth of Order and destroy it!" Zhao Chen questioned.
This is indeed spacetime technology.
However, it is not a very perfect technology.
It was even defined as a technology strictly prohibited from research by the Exiles Cosmic Alliance.
Just like back in your universe, advanced artificial intelligence was defined as a technology strictly prohibited from research.
While this plan might involve time travel and alter the timeline, the potential disasters it could bring might transcend the threat to order.
Therefore, it was strictly forbidden to study it.
However, after learning that Project 0924 was to be discontinued and Laboratory 9 would be permanently closed, a scientist at Laboratory 9...
He also incorporated this incomplete plan into those seeds.
"If the technology is incomplete, why would it trigger?" Zhao Chen asked, puzzled.
【Because of coincidence】
This incomplete plan has always existed in the system seed.
But a catalyst is needed.
Zhao Chen suddenly thought of something.
Something happened before he traveled to this universe.
"The three-dimensional world collapses into a two-dimensional world?"
Zhao Chen thought of the events that had occurred back then.
【Yes】