Chapter 583: Entering Event Horizon
Chen Chen spent the following period making preparations for entering the Event Horizon dimension.
The first thing he had to do was to memorize the plot of Event Horizon until he could recite the entire thing effortlessly.
There was a good reason Chen Chen did not choose to borrow the s.p.a.ce warp technology from the movie initially. Although the s.p.a.ce warp machine was shown in the movie in the form of a large magnetic ball surrounded by two rings, the device was merely the central part of the system. There was no use only obtaining the core of the engine since Chen Chen required the full doc.u.mentation of the s.p.a.ce warp technology, which included the blueprint and all of the a.s.sociated data.
The only way to obtain these was to dive into the dimension.
Chen Chen began arranging the sequences of events in the movie. The movie was played out in a chronological order that went like this:
In 2015, mankind established the first permanent colony on the Moon.
In 2032, mankind established a colony on Mars and began mining resources from Mars as well as its surrounding asteroid belt.
In 2040, the first s.p.a.ceship capable of utilizing time warp technology named the Event Horizon embarked on its maiden voyage. The purpose of this voyage was to determine the viability of s.p.a.ce warp travel while the official announcement made to the world was that it was to explore the edges of the Solar System.
However, two months after Event Horizon embarked, the entire s.p.a.cecraft along with its hundreds of crew members disappeared without a trace while attempting to perform a warp drive in the regions of the planet Pluto...
The incident from that point on was remembered as the great disaster in the history of mankind’s s.p.a.ce venture.
The story then jumped to 2047. On the day that was the seventh anniversary of Event Horizon’s disappearance, the s.p.a.cecraft and its crew that was supposed to have met their demise suddenly appeared again on the edges of Pluto, the same spot where it attempted a warp drive jump seven years ago...
With its reappearance, NASA received a distress signal that originated seven years ago. A crew of rescuers along with the designer of the Event Horizon, Dr. William was dispatched to its location where they decrypted the distress signal that consisted of a series of screams and howls but Dr. Wiliam managed to make out a clear distress call being spoken-
“Liberate, Tutemet!”[1]
This was the background of Event Horizon.
The rest of the movie was an account of the rescue crew’s exploration in the Event Horizon. They soon found that all the humans on the s.p.a.cecraft were dead and according to the voyage recorder, there was a terrible ma.s.sacre on the s.p.a.cecraft where all the crew members slaughtered each other. Many of their eyes were carved out of their sockets and what was even more bizarre was that these people seemed to have carved their eyes out voluntarily...
The plot continued progressing from there. The rescue crew who entered the Event Horizon began experiencing varying degrees of hallucination. The most vulnerable parts of their psyche were drawn out by these hallucinations and they began dropping like flies. At the end, even the most crucial member of the crew, Dr. Wlliam became dominated by an extraterrestrial demonic being.
There was a certain quote in the movie by Dr. William that left a deep impression on Chen Chen while also greatly unsettling him – “I created the Event Horizon to reach the stars, but she’s gone much, much farther than that. She tore a hole in our universe, a gateway to another dimension. A dimension of pure chaos. Pure... Evil. When she crossed over, she was just a ship. But when she came back... ”
In many ways, this movie was deeply connected with what Chen Chen had experienced thus far. Even during his previous confrontation with the former owner of the USB drive, he resorted to carving his eyes out to flip the situation in his favor. He had never expected that after all these years, he would have to face a similar predicament again.
After familiarising himself with the plot, Chen Chen did not hesitate any longer and immediately downloaded the movie Event Horizon. Then, he transported himself and the USB drive to the end dimension before opening a portal leading to the world of Event Horizon.
Chen Chen took this cautious approach in case the opening of the dimension caused a rippling effect on the real world. The nature of Event Horizon was too bizarre and unpredictable to take the risk. It was easily the strangest movie he had dealt with so far which warranted extreme caution.
The opening of the portal was done at the remote island as usual. Behind Chen Chen, there were hundreds of Black Knights, all fully armored and ready for combat. Furthermore, five ultra-small reality anchors were specifically prepared for the occasion with two of them acting as a backup. With everything ready, the portal to the Event Horizon dimension was instantiated.
As soon as the portal was established, the first group of Black Knights entered with a drive that contained X-112. They vanished into the tunnel inside the computer display.
Meanwhile, the remaining Black Knights stood guard by the portal. One of the Black Knights stood alert with the reality anchor at the ready, ready to be activated the moment any monster was spotted exiting the portal.
To Chen Chen’s surprise, the group of Black Knights returned very quickly. They relayed the happenings in the other dimension to Chen Chen.
“Another regular world...”
From the obtained footage cast onto a virtual display, Chen Chen saw that the portal did not lead to the s.p.a.ceship, but a location on Earth instead.
Upon their arrival, they traveled only a short distance before arriving on a beach and spotted piles of bonfires arranged in the distance. There was a group of teenagers who seemed to be having a bonfire party by the beach.
Upon witnessing this scene, Chen Chen took it to suggest that the dimension in Event Horizon was similar to Doom, a perfectly functional world.
“Unbelievable...”
Chen Chen gawked in disbelief.
The footage was replayed several times and there were still no major takeaways. With that, Chen Chen ordered X-112 to take control of the Black Knights and investigate further into the world.
A day later, the Black Knights returned with an elaborate report.
The current date inside the dimension was March 2047. A similar Earth Federation that united the nations was present. Apart from that, X-112 could not find anything else that stood out.
“2047?”
Chen Chen displayed a ruminative look upon hearing of this. The plot of the movie was unraveled in 2047. Although the exact date was not specified, it was clear enough that the events depicted in the movie were about to happen.
On that note, it made sense that the Black Knights could not find any information regarding the s.p.a.ce warp technology since it was an extremely confidential governmental detail, the likes of which the common person would never gain access to.
Chen Chen reflected on these findings and decided to put on a regular shirt and entered the dimension himself. He had the Black Knights posted by the entrance to guard it.
The moment he stepped into the portal, his vision turned dark and all his senses became m.u.f.fled. He did not panic since he was well familiar with this sensation by now.
A beam of light penetrated Chen Chen’s vision as he found himself appearing undersea. He turned around and saw the pitch-black portal basked under the sea, then he proceeded to swim toward land.
The nature of the portal was mystical as it had always been. Despite being drowned underwater, the seawater would not flow through it and enter the real world.
“Splash!”
Chen Chen stepped onto the beach completely drenched. He arrived in the middle of the night, compared to its lively state during the day. The beach during the night was tranquil and without much activity. Chen Chen could see one or two people strolling the beach, his appearance did not attract any attention otherwise.
“This is a beach in Miami, Northern America.”
Based on the gathered intel, he knew that this was a southern beach island of Miami. It was located in the southernmost part of the Northern America Continent and its geography made it the warmest region in the continent, with an average temperature of 19.5 degrees Celsius.
There was no distinct separation of four seasons in Miami. The years were marked merely with wet and dry seasons. The warm heat of the sun, golden beaches, palm trees, and of course... Girls in bikinis. This was Chen Chen’s general impression of the region. It was the ideal vacation spot for most people on the continent.
After landing on the beach, Chen Chen used a tiny amount of Field to generate heat and dry himself off. He surveyed his surroundings briefly before obtaining a drive containing X-112 from a Black Knight and then put a wireless earphone into his ears.
“Sir Commander, what’s the first move?”
X-112 spoke to Chen Chen from the earpiece.
“The first step is to determine whether the events in the movie have transpired or not.”
Chen Chen noted immediately, “If this is before the movie begins, we may be able to persuade the Earth Federation to not dispatch a rescue team for the Event Horizon s.p.a.cecraft and change the trajectory of the story. On the other hand, if it had already happened, then we may need to be careful... There’s a potential for a catastrophic event.”
Chen Chen looked at the hotel nearby the beach. “X-112, have some Black Knights posted by the hotel to prevent anyone discovering the pa.s.sage. In the meantime, try to collect any additional clues.”
“Understood.”
X-112 responded by having the Black Knights salute the commander Chen Chen then she marched them to the hotel.
Chen Chen gazed at the stars above then proceeded toward the city center.
It was 2040 in the real world and 2047 in this dimension.
Chen Chen strolled the streets of Miami and noted minimal differences from the real world. The city was decorated with dazzling neon lights and 3D projections everywhere. Futuristic buildings spanned across the skylines like in the real world.
This entire world was a photocopy of the real world.
Chen Chen was dressed the same as any other person in the streets of Miami to avoid drawing any unwanted attention. Whenever he brushed past other people, the dollar bills in their pocket would slip out unnoticed and enter Chen Chen’s pocket.
After taking a short walk around the city, there was a large wad of cash in Chen Chen’s pockets.
By this point, most people had transitioned to mobile wallets but there was still a small population who stuck with using cash. Chen Chen took advantage of this nostalgic population.
Chen Chen took out several dollar bills to inspect them. They looked slightly different from their real-world variant and the printed date on the money read 2030.
It seemed like the old previous American dollar bills had been replaced with new editions.
Chen Chen bought some newspapers with his borrowed money. With just several glances, he digested all the information on the newspapers.
However, the information in the newspaper was still too fragmented to provide any substantial information. He decided to head toward the city hall located at the center of the city.
The internal network hub must be located in the city hall. If he could connect X-112 to the network, he could access whatever information he wanted.
Chen Chen attended to the task right away. First, he found a vacant alleyway then leaped into the sky. This wondrous display was camouflaged under the darkness of the night and he went to the city hall more than ten kilometers away. There was a vacant room in the city hall where windows were left open. Chen Chen entered uninvited.
“Pretty nice place.”
Chen Chen surveyed the interior. It was 2047 and the futuristic design of the office certainly reflected the era as well. There were transparent bars and matte polished desks with clear transparent displays built into them. Everything in the office gave it a modern impression.
Chen Chen did not pay any more attention than needed to its decoration. He proceeded to connect X-112’s drive to the main computer and waited silently.
“Beep!”
The computer booted up as soon as X-112 was inserted. The display turned on without noise and a stream of data appeared on the screen.
This was a sign of X-112 hacking into the internal network.
Despite human rapid technological advancement, it was still inferior to the advanced programming of Little X’s clone. The network firewall was promptly and nearly effortlessly breached by X-112.
Only several minutes later, X-112 declared, “I’ve hacked into the central network and filtering data. It will only take several minutes.”
Considering the sheer scale of Northern America’s national database over the years, only needing several minutes was an astounding speed in itself. Chen Chen nodded and waited patiently.
Inside the city hall basked under the moonlight, Chen Chen took a seat and waited quietly. In time, the display began displaying information that may interest Chen Chen.
[28 March 2033. Dr. William developed the s.p.a.ce warp engine and established his position as one of the most important engineers in Northern America. The warp engine project was cla.s.sified as a tier S secret...]
[1 January 2035. The Northern American Congress unanimously decided on approving the construction project for the ‘Event Horizon’ experimental s.p.a.cecraft. 300 billion U.S. dollars was allocated for the project...]
[30 September 2039, the Event Horizon s.p.a.cecraft was completed at the “Yodel” interstellar s.p.a.ceport...]
[29 May 2040, Event Horizon embarked on its maiden voyage, the purpose was to experiment with its capabilities. The crew includes the commander of the Third Fleet Battleship, Colonel Wilson...]
[1] A Latin phrase that can be implied both as ‘save me!’ or ‘save yourself!”.