Chapter 530: Dream
Liquid?
Looking at the sticky goo slowly flowing out of the meteorite, Chen Chen could not help but tilt his head.
This liquid was very viscous and looked to be black. It seeped out directly from the crevices of the meteorite, but when it came into contact with the outside world, it froze, forming a dark blue crystal.
Chen Chen scratched his head. He picked up a small stick from the ruins on the side and used it to chip at the meteorite.
“Snap!”
A piece of meteorite fragment was hacked off and a volume of liquid spurted out. Before it hit Chen Chen, it was automatically blocked by an invisible barrier.
This liquid solidified at once and turned into blue ice crystals.
Chen Chen’s Field energy could zoom into the substance, magnifying it by more than a thousand times. Under such subtle observation, bacteria and other microorganisms could be seen clearly, but he did not see any microbial substances in this liquid.
In other words, the material in the meteorite was originally a crystal, but it melted after entering the atmosphere and became a liquid.
However, as to what exactly this substance was, Chen Chen had no idea. Still, using the method of elimination, he first discounted the possibility that it was water.
To know what it was, Chen Chen’s Field energy had to attain one hundred thousand times of magnification at the subatomic-level before he could observe the molecular structure.
At this time, Chen Chen turned his head and looked behind him, only to see that Hannibal had put on his protective suit and walked out from the airtight door.
“Boss, why are you on Mars?”
Hannibal asked through the communications system. Although Chen Chen could not see his expression, Hannibal must be quite puzzled at this time. “I thought the rescue would only arrive in seven days at the earliest. Could it be that our Blacklight Biotechnology has already developed technology that takes an hour to reach Mars from the earth?”
“You’re just lucky.”
Chen Chen said casually, walking into the laboratory at the same time, only to see a small pool of blood that had been licked on the ground in the laboratory. At the same time, there were two male corpses piled up in the corner. The eyes of the two men were wide open, with a look of horror and confusion on their faces as if wondering why Hannibal had to suddenly, painfully become a killer.
“In the past, I probably wouldn’t have the guts...”
Hannibal followed Chen Chen and said a little reticently, “But after I did so many human experiments in the Spire Lab, I just...”
“You don’t have to explain. It’s understandable.”
Chen Chen waved his hand and then looked toward an experimental platform, only to see two large tanks of blood placed on the experimental platform. There was a stripped wire on the side.
“Were you going to generate oxygen by electrolyzing water?”
Seeing this, Chen Chen asked immediately.
“Yes.”
Hannibal nodded. “An adult has about 5 liters of blood and two people have 10 liters, which is equivalent to water of the same weight. The ma.s.s fraction of oxygen in water is 88.89%, which means that a total of 8.9 kg of oxygen can be electrolyzed from the blood of two people.
“An adult only needs 0.75 kg of oxygen a day.
“In addition, the bodies of the two people also contain a lot of water. If they’re crushed and placed in a centrifuge for separation, an additional 10 to 20 liters of water can be collected. This water and the crushed corpses would be perfectly capable of ensuring my subsequent survival.
“Therefore, after killing both of them, I can survive in the laboratory for more than ten days, until the Ares s.p.a.cecraft comes to my rescue.”
Chen Chen could not help but glance at Hannibal when he heard the meticulous explanation from the other man. He had to say that this young man had a calmness beyond ordinary people. Even in such a desperate situation, he could find a trace of life in the cracks.
As for Hannibal’s approach, Chen Chen did not have any opinions. If Hannibal did not kill them, the oxygen in the laboratory could only last for ten hours at most and all three of them would die after that.
Thinking of this, Chen Chen suddenly took out a test tube from the experimental rack on the side, then walked out of the laboratory to the meteorite, and filled it with a few crystals.
“Boss, what is this...”
Hannibal asked, puzzled.
“I don’t know, so I’m taking it back to study it.”
Chen Chen said casually. After that, under his stare, a few cans of alcohol in the warehouse flew out automatically and poured down over the remains of the scientific research station.
The freezing point of alcohol was negative 117.3 degrees, so it was still in a liquid state at this time. After pouring the alcohol on the research station, Chen Chen waved again. An igniter in the laboratory ignited automatically and flew onto the alcohol at the same time.
“Whoosh!”
Suddenly, the ruins of the research station burst into a huge blazing fire!
Hannibal looked at this miraculous scene with a shocked expression.
However, Chen Chen did not bother to explain at this time. He grabbed Hannibal’s shoulder with one hand and commanded, “Hold on to me.”
Hannibal grabbed Chen Chen’s arm somewhat reservedly without knowing what was going on, but before he could ask anything, he suddenly realized that he had risen into the air!
“Huh? This...”
“Just bear with it, our protective suits can only maintain oxygen for two or three hours...”
Chen Chen spoke, then he slowly accelerated and flew in the direction from which he came.
As Hannibal had not been injected with the T-virus, Chen Chen could not directly accelerate to the speed of sound and could only accelerate gradually. Even so, after ten seconds, he still reached the speed of sound!
“Boom!”
A wave of air was generated behind the two of them, but this was just the beginning. Chen Chen was still accelerating to the limit that Hannibal’s body could bear!
“Boom!”
“Boom!”
“Boom!!!”
Double, triple, quadruple... Ten minutes later, Chen Chen had accelerated to ten times the speed of sound. At this extremely frightening speed, the two once again swept across the Martian continent and flew from the south pole to the north pole!
One and a half hours later, when Chen Chen’s oxygen was low, the two finally returned to the Spire 2 at the north pole of Mars.
As soon as he landed, Hannibal sprawled directly on the ground and vomited violently!
It was a pity that he threw up in his helmet...
After asking the Black Knight to take Hannibal away, Chen Chen returned to the teleportation room and took off his protective suit.
“Sir Commander, it seems that you’ve harvested something?”
Nancy could not help asking when she saw the test tube in Chen Chen’s hand.
At this time, once it was exposed to heat, the crystals in the test tube melted into a thick dark blue liquid again. If one did not look closely, it would look black.
“Take it and a.n.a.lyze it. Remember to send me the experiment report.”
Chen Chen handed the sealed test tube to a Black Knight, rubbed his head which was aching due to excessive use of Field energy, and then stood on the teleportation platform again.
Immediately, a stream of water gushed from the center of the platform and hovered in front of Chen Chen.
This time, Chen Chen was more used to the process. He stretched out his hand and touched the stream of water. Then, he only felt his vision turn dark and he was suspended in that sensation between dreaming and awakening.
When Chen Chen regained consciousness again, he was already lying on the teleporter in the Spire Lab. Little X on the side hurriedly came up. She helped Chen Chen up and at the same time said with concern, “Sir G.o.dfather, how do you feel?”
“I’m fine.”
Chen Chen waved his hand. “I think you must’ve received the news from Mars, right?”
“Yes, I first received a distress signal from Mars three hours ago and then half an hour later, I received a message from X-113. She said that you’ve personally gone to the rescue.”
Little X said, “The scale of the meteor swarm this time is very large. According to the information I’ve received from all over the world, this group of comets has only flown into the solar system from the Kuiper Belt in recent years and the breadth of their area is very huge. Not only does it cover Mars but even the earth’s...o...b..t is within its range. After about a day, comets will hit the earth and the impact area includes the entire continent of Europe, China, North Sea, and the rest of the Eastern Hemisphere.”
“Does it pose a threat to human civilization?”
Chen Chen asked.
“You can be rest a.s.sured that these comets aren’t large and will only form a vast meteor shower at that time. Only one or two of them will fall to the ground.”
Little X shook her head. “At least two or three similar situations have occurred in the last 100 years. Even if there are losses, they’ll just be sporadic casualties.”
Chen Chen nodded.
At present, with human technology, it was not possible to accurately calculate the distribution of the dust particles from the meteor shower’s parent comets. Therefore, it was impossible to accurately calculate the occurrence and scope of the meteor shower. At most, only a rough forecast could be made.
After communicating with Little X for a while, Chen Chen only felt that his head was groggy. He did not know whether it was a side effect of cross-planetary teleportation or overuse of Field power, so he returned to his room and went to rest early.
...
“Patter, patter, patter...”
At some point, Chen Chen found himself walking on a bustling street.
It was nighttime. The sky was dark, but the road was filled by an unending stream of cars and the streets were lined with colorful shops.
There were all kinds of stores including hotels, restaurants, merchandise stores, clothing stores, and many other stores — even Chen Chen did not know what they sold.
The neon lights on the shops were colorful, dotting the entire city with various gorgeous hues.
Strictly speaking, this was indeed a bustling street.
Listening to the sound of his own footsteps constantly echoing, Chen Chen kept feeling something was wrong for some reason.
He could not tell what was wrong with this street, but there was an unusual feeling of uneasiness that kept gripping him. Waves of this feeling swept through his perception and made him feel uneasy.
What was wrong exactly...
Chen Chen was rather suspicious. With his brows furrowed, he kept walking down this road.
As he walked, Chen Chen felt a little thirsty, so he subconsciously opened the door to the hotel on the side.
The lights in the hotel were bright and dazzling crystal chandeliers were hanging high up in the hall. The bright lights continued to stimulate Chen Chen’s nerves and the entire hall was as bright as daylight.
At the same time, a scorching sensation swirled out of the room. Although it was winter, the temperature in the room was very high. It seemed to be more than 30 degrees.
Was the heating in the hotel so potent?
With a soft mutter, Chen Chen walked in slowly.
“Patter, patter, patter...”
After hearing his own footsteps again, Chen Chen suddenly froze.
He finally discerned what was wrong...
He stopped abruptly and paused in the empty hotel lobby.
At this time, he was astounded to find that there was not a single person in the lobby of the huge hotel!
Something was wrong, very wrong...
Chen Chen’s brows were twisted into a small knot. He squinted his eyes and looked around, but he still could not see a single human figure. The people in the hotel seemed to have evaporated.
Seeing this, his wary nature told him not to stay here. He retreated out of the hotel step by step and then opened the door again.
Outside the door, there was still a lot of heavy traffic.
However, by now, Chen Chen had thoroughly discovered the problem, that was, there was no pedestrian on the street except for himself.
This was the source of his uneasy feeling from before. Even in the middle of the night, there was not even one person on the entire street...
Thinking of this, Chen Chen turned his head subconsciously, looking at the pa.s.sing cars, and then his pupils shrank!
Those vehicles were empty and even the driver’s seat was empty!
In other words, was he the only person on the entire street?
Chen Chen inhaled sharply. He sensed, for the first time, that this bustling street was filled with an unparalleled eeriness...
As uneasiness washed over him as Chen Chen looked around with alertness. He wanted to know why there was no one in the entire world.
Still, as soon as he raised his head, he saw that, on the upper floor of the residence across the street, several households were glowing with human silhouettes.
Chen Chen fixed his gaze on them intently and then saw that these people were standing at the window as if they were observing something in front of the window...
No, it was not just a few windows. As Chen Chen took a closer look, he noticed that except for some dark windows, a person was standing in front of each window that had a light on!
Those people were watching... Him!!!
In the instant he understood all of this, Chen Chen felt a chill crept up his spine. He could not describe this feeling. Although these people had their backs to the light, so he could only make out their silhouettes, Chen Chen was gripped by an intuition — these people were truly all staring unwaveringly at him...
“Swish!”
Chen Chen suddenly opened his eyes and sat up from the Blacklight Fully-automated Medical Platform, gasping for breath.
Only then did Chen Chen notice a coolness on his back. After he reached out and touched his back, he realized that cold sweat had soaked his back without his realizing it when he was dreaming earlier.
“Sir G.o.dfather?”
Little X’s voice came. “Did you have a bad dream?”
“Dream?”
Chen Chen looked around blankly. He stared at the room and furniture he was familiar with, and then heaved a sigh of relief.
It turned out to be a dream.
Chen Chen stepped off the fully automated medical platform and walked barefoot on the soft carpet, only feeling the warmth in the room.
It turned out that the warmth of the hotel in the dream had come from reality?
Chen Chen looked at the remote control of the central air conditioner in doubt but saw that the temperature on the remote control was only 24 degrees, which was not as hot as the lobby of the hotel in his dream.
Perhaps it was an illusion.
Chen Chen shook his head and stopped thinking about all this.
“Oh right, Sir G.o.dfather.”
Little X’s voice came again. “X-113 sent an a.n.a.lysis report. The subject of the report is an ionic crystal substance that melts in a warm environment. However, according to the tests, this substance seems to be a kind of cell protoplasm, that is to say, it’s a type of biological fluid.”
“What, biological fluid?”
Chen Chen instantly looked stunned when he heard this.