Chapter 378: Eyes
Perhaps the reason the antimeme could do everything it had done up until now was not that the antimeme had a human mind, but that someone was behind it.
“Could it be ‘that person’?”
Chen Chen muttered in a low voice and a theory emerged vaguely in his mind.
Still, in the next second, Chen Chen frowned again. “If it’s really ‘that person’, then how did ‘he’ do it?
“I saw you...”
Chen Chen kept chewing on this sentence, trying to find some clues, but he still did not get anything.
Thus, Chen Chen simply put aside this question for the time being and turned to look at the environment of this Ju-on’s dimension.
Only then did he realize that his current location was on a hill.
It was already noon. Looking down from the top of the hill, Chen Chen could see a small town. The streets were full of bustling traffic. He could even hear the hustle and bustle of the city and the noise of the market.
“What’s this?”
Chen Chen looked over in amazement. This was the world of Ju-on. According to the inherent nature of the USB flash drive, it should have been a world that was already destroyed. How could there be people?
Besides Gantz, this was the second time Chen Chen had encountered a dimension with humans.
Could it be that the Basilisk pattern vaccine provided immunity to memes?
Chen Chen quickly took out the material from his pocket and looked at the image recorded in it, but when he saw the image, Chen Chen suddenly felt himself becoming lighter.
It was as if a weight was taken off his heart. Chen Chen felt himself quivering, overcome by a sense of vigor and vitality...
It truly worked!
Chen Chen was overjoyed as if something had been removed from him. It was like being relieved of a burden, which he knew must have been the Ju-on meme.
“Sure enough, I was right.”
Chen Chen whispered. The reason this occurred was that the Basilisk pattern was invalid in reality and it was only effective after one had entered the movie’s world, probably because the Basilisk pattern had limitations.
After all, the Basilisk pattern was not a complete meme but was more similar to an artificially processed inactivated vaccine, which had lost its effectiveness due to the environment. The dimension of the new Ju-on and the dream world where Chen Chen was located were essentially distinct.
If it were a complete meme, a little difference was not a big deal and it could still spread, and even actively mutate and evolve like a virus. However, for the Basilisk pattern, it was difficult to do this.
Therefore, this type of Basilisk pattern was extracted, yet it was invalid. Chen Chen needed to come to Ju-on’s dimension to suit it.
Thinking of this, Chen Chen looked at the cave-like pa.s.sage behind him. At that time, the situation was extremely urgent. Chen Chen had no other choice, so he came through here desperately, but he was indeed too lucky, now that he thought about it.
He had no idea what was the situation on the other side of the pa.s.sage now. After entering the pa.s.sage, the laptop must have fallen from a high alt.i.tude. If the laptop was broken, would it mean that the pa.s.sage was closed and he could not go back again?
Still, now it appeared that the channel had not disappeared.
It seemed that there were indeed many undiscovered rules of the USB drive and this was likely one of them.
This thought flashed by in Chen Chen’s mind. Now that the pa.s.sage had not disappeared, there was no rush to return. Therefore, Chen Chen took a big stride forward and rose into the air as if breaking free of gravity, and flew toward the town at the foot of the mountain.
The closer Chen Chen was, the more he could see that this town was obviously a typical j.a.panese town. The surrounding area was full of wooden j.a.panese-style self-built houses, and the commercial area in the center of the town was filled with the sleazy, gaudy atmosphere of shops and pubs. There were even ramen restaurants.
As he flew closer and closer, the noises of the town got louder and louder. Countless pedestrians and vehicles pa.s.sed by on the street and in a park, he could even see hundreds of children playing raucously in large crowds. The children were all wearing kindergarten uniforms, which were dark blue.
However, when Chen Chen saw this scene, his expression gradually stiffened.
He hovered halfway up the hill and did not fly down.
Indescribable anxiety gripped Chen Chen’s mind. He gradually realized that this city seemed to be too lively.
From the top of the hill, the area of this town indicated it was a small town that could accommodate tens of thousands of people, but if he put together all the densely packed pedestrians on the street, there seemed to be something inexplicably fishy.
Surely the streets of this small town were a little too busy.
Not only that, but Chen Chen was also looking at the only park in the town. The park was crowded with thousands of children chasing and playing, creating an extremely festive atmosphere.
However, in a small town with ten thousand people, where would more than a thousand kindergarten children come from?
Chen Chen stood in the high distance and drifted over the town, but only found one kindergarten. No matter how one looked at it, the kindergarten was of average size and could only take in over a hundred children at most.
Even so, the number of kids in the park was more than ten times this number.
Something was wrong, very wrong...
This town seemed to have an evil aura.
Chen Chen narrowed his eyes. After noticing these unreasonable scenes, he finally stopped hesitating, turned, and flew toward the sky.
However, the moment he turned around, the hustle and bustle of the town behind Chen Chen fell silent!
It was as if a TV had been blaring in a room, but someone had suddenly switched it off without any warning. In an instant, it was so quiet, one could hear a pin drop.
This peculiar development sent a chill over Chen Chen’s scalp. As he flew further up, he turned to look back...
Chen Chen could see all the pedestrians walking on the streets and the children playing in the park across the town. At this moment, they all stopped their activities. They stood stiffly in place while raising their heads, staring fixedly at Chen Chen.
This sight caused Chen Chen’s heart to shiver. He blinked involuntarily.
However, when he looked again, he found that the entire town was empty. There were no pedestrians on the streets or children playing in the park, none at all.
The entire town was empty without a single soul as if the scene just now was an illusion in his mind...
“Sure enough, I was too optimistic.”
Chen Chen did not look back and rushed straight to the top of the hill, returning to the pa.s.sage of the black hole.
Just when Chen Chen was about to head back, he suddenly thought of something and the movement of his feet suddenly froze.
He suddenly realized that if he went back right now, everything he had inferred just now would be forgotten again. This was the most basic ability of antimemes and it was impossible to prevent it anyway.
If he wanted to defeat the antimeme, the only way was to find “that person”...
Nonetheless, even if he saw that person, how was he supposed to remember everything under the influence of the antimeme?
Just when Chen Chen was stalled by uncertainty, a weird cry suddenly came from behind him.
It was a baffling crying noise. The voice stretched on forever as if there was no need to breathe. Every cry was heart-piercing and Chen Chen’s whole body shuddered in terror...
Moreover, this cry was just one voice at first, but as time pa.s.sed, one after another, more voices joined the crying. In an instant, it seemed that thousands of people were crying together, rushing from the foot of the hill in the direction of Chen Chen...
What kind of people could cry ceaselessly without gasping for air?
In Chen Chen’s mind, the answer faintly emerged.
“D*mn it!”
Chen Chen cursed. Now he must return to the pa.s.sage immediately, otherwise, he would only end up dying here. Still, if he returned, everything he had remembered just now would be forgotten again.
At once, Chen Chen was caught in a dilemma.
“Wait, hold on!”
The sound of crying behind him was getting closer and closer. When he was about to reach the top of the hill, his mind suddenly made a connection and he thought of a movie —
Event Horizon!
“So, is that it?”
At this moment, Chen Chen seemed to understand something and it all suddenly became clear in his mind. The next second, Chen Chen gritted his teeth and promptly raised his hands to clasp his eyes!
“Win or lose, it all comes down to this!”
As Chen Chen muttered in a low voice, his fingers directly gripped his eyes while he exerted a violent force. Suddenly, his index and middle fingers were inserted straight into the gap between the eye socket and the eyeball!
“Agh agh agh agh agh!!”
Strips of blue veins protruded from Chen Chen’s forehead and an extreme pain seized him. Chen Chen could only sense countless gold stars twinkling in front of him and he could not help but let out a spine-chilling scream!
Even so, he still did not let go, but clenched his fingers and tugged at the same time!
“Splat!”
With two sharp sounds of nerves and muscle fiber snapping, Chen Chen’s vision that was dazzled with golden stars now disappeared totally. His eyes were fully plunged into endless darkness!
Chen Chen let out a stifled wail and the intense pain caused him to tremble like a leaf, but at this time Chen Chen had no time to recover at all. He immediately stepped forward and entered the pa.s.sage!
This was because, at this time, the crying behind him was already close at hand...
The moment he entered, Chen Chen seemed to hear an angry roar behind him but before he could hear it clearly, his body suddenly turned weightless, and he tumbled out of the pa.s.sage!
The moment he returned from the pa.s.sage, Chen Chen collapsed directly to the ground. He covered his eyes and rolled over in pain, unable to recover for a while.
About half an hour later, Chen Chen sat up again. His eyes were closed tightly and the two lines of blood stained his cheeks, flowing from the eye sockets.
At this time, Chen Chen’s hands were tightly gripping two spherical items...
Those were the two eyeb.a.l.l.s removed by Chen Chen himself.
“What happened?”
Chen Chen kept his eyes closed and murmured in a low voice, “What happened across the pa.s.sage? Why did I make up my mind to blind myself?”
At this moment, Chen Chen had once again forgotten everything about the antimeme on the other side of the portal. The only thing he could remember now was that he had blinded himself for a certain purpose.
“The channel has the ability to cut off memes. Doesn’t this mean that after entering the channel, I’ve recalled what the antimeme is?”
Chen Chen looked thoughtful.
However, now was not the time to think about this. Chen Chen, who had lost his eyes, must instead try to find something to replace his vision.
Obviously, “Field” would be a very good method.
Thus, Chen Chen began to try observing the surroundings with the power of “Field”.
He did not know why, in this dream world, his Field energy was more than ten times stronger than in reality. This also meant that the range he could explore by relying on Field energy had expanded, reaching a range of 20 to 30 meters.
At this time, under the sensing of Chen Chen’s Field energy, he had “seen” everything in a radius of more than 40 square meters.
This was the middle of a wide road. Chen Chen realized that the exit of the pa.s.sage was still on the computer screen, but the Alienware notebook he was holding had fallen to the ground from a high alt.i.tude and broken to pieces.
On the smashed wreck of the computer, there was also a USB drive flickering with stars.
Chen Chen slowly squatted and pulled out the USB flash drive from the wreckage of the computer. Only then, the dark portal on the computer screen vanished completely...
“As long as the USB drive was not unplugged, the channel will always be retained and will not even disappear due to equipment damage?”
Seeing this scene, Chen Chen could not help sighing silently.
This rule had not always been the same. Chen Chen once tested it. When he opened the channel of the USB drive by himself before, if he moved the computer, the channel on the computer screen would also move.
Nonetheless, now, even if the equipment was damaged, the formed channel had not disappeared due to the destruction of the equipment. What this indicated only raised more hypotheses for Chen Chen.
Still, now was not the time to think of this. Chen Chen put away the USB drive and thought for a while. Then, he took off again and flew shakily in a certain direction.
“According to the layout of the towns in my memory, this direction should be where the city of Shangdu lies...”
Chen Chen murmured in a soft voice. He adjusted his bearings and flew in that direction unsteadily.
The reason he was wobbling was that after lift-off, he had no surrounding reference objects, so it was difficult to pin down his own position.
After all, the distance that he could survey was no more than a radius of about 20 meters.
However, as Chen Chen began to adapt to the condition of having lost his vision, he became more stable and faster while flying.
He simply rose directly into the clouds. At this distance, he could avoid being spotted by the army on the ground or by the satellites above him. The water vapor in the clouds was denser, so there was no mistaking it.
Relying on the sense of direction in his mind and the memory from before, Chen Chen flew at subsonic speed for about half an hour. After arriving here, Chen Chen gradually stopped in the clouds.
He held his breath, suppressed his heartbeat to the lowest volume, and tried to listen to the sounds below.
Below the clouds, there were the faint noises of honking cars and the babble of a crowd.
“It seems that I’m back.”
Chen Chen murmured in a low voice then he dived and dropped directly toward the ground...
The wind whistled past his ears. Chen Chen calculated his current height while counting the seconds. When he felt it was almost time, he suddenly started to slow down.