Chapter 194: Chapter 192: Black Hole Consciousness
Welcoming the descent of what?
Though these were the words of two zombies, their meaning was far too specific!
After everything that had happened, Shen Feng found it difficult to dismiss these words as mere coincidence or the delirious babbling of brain-damaged zombies.
There was definitely a hidden meaning here!
’But what exactly are they welcoming?’
To use a word like "descent" clearly implied something these infected beings saw as immensely powerful and supreme.
’Could it be the Whisperer?’
’The Whisperer exists in other Parallel Worlds, or other dimensions, so it needs to "descend" in this manner?’
But then Shen Feng shook his head, rejecting his own hypothesis.
He’d had his fair share of dealings with the Whisperer lately and had formed his own understanding of the mysterious entity.
From what he could tell, the Whisperer was more like a powerful will existing within this world or across countless Parallel Cosmoses, or perhaps it was the collective subconscious of humanity. The concept of "descending" didn’t apply.
Because it was always here.
’Maybe... it’s that powerful will from the Arctic Stone Statue Ruins, the one that was always clamoring about "one is a billion, and a billion is one"?’
’No, that doesn’t seem right either...’
Shen Feng himself had a Silicon-Based Brain, so he naturally understood that these two strange, mutated brains before him were not silicon-based. In a sense, they were still biological brains.
Besides, if the entity behind the Stone Statue Ruins wanted to reappear, it should be spreading the Petrification Disease virus, not some Evil Spirit Virus that turns people into zombies.
Shen Feng stared at the two "brains" that looked like sea urchins. After a moment of thought, he used the lab equipment to perform a structural scan, only to discover that while they resembled smooth sea urchins on the outside, their internal structure was exceedingly bizarre.
Their cores seemed to contain some kind of strange, latent energy fluctuation, held back but not released. Inside, there was an extremely complex, convoluted structure, almost like a labyrinth.
After a moment’s contemplation, Shen Feng closed his eyes. His Silicon-Based Brain emitted brainwaves as he attempted to probe one of the brains with his Consciousness Antennae.
Although these two brains weren’t silicon-based, they probably weren’t entirely carbon-based either. It might just work.
At first, Shen Feng was cautious, letting his brainwaves test the edges of the brain, but there was no reaction.
Then, his brow furrowed, and he began to increase the output, using the same method he used to send his consciousness into a network to probe the brain’s core.
Still nothing.
’Was my hypothesis wrong?’
A few minutes passed. Just as Shen Feng was about to give up, a massive pulling sensation suddenly emanated from the depths of his consciousness!
His vision went black. The same feeling as entering the network world washed over him. The next instant, his Consciousness Antennae seemed to have appeared in a pitch-black space!
It was the core space of the mutated brain!
’There’s a way in!’
He guided his Consciousness Antennae forward, feeling as if his mind was adrift in a vast, boundless starry sky. Before him was a colossal black hole that occupied nearly ninety percent of the entire cosmos!
’What the hell is this thing?’
’How could something like this be inside a mutated zombie brain?’
His Consciousness Antennae continued to probe forward, and a sense of nihility and dread suddenly rose from the depths of his subconscious.
He suddenly felt so insignificant. Before this enormous black hole, he was like a speck of dust... no, like a molecule, a quark, utterly negligible...
And within this black hole existed a will that could dominate all, indescribable and unnamable. It sent a chill down Shen Feng’s spine, overwhelming him with a sense of near-despairing powerlessness!
It was evil and frenzied, tyrannical and cruel, devouring everything and drawing sustenance from chaos and suffering!
Like staring into the Abyss!
"This feeling seems to be originating from my biological brain..." Shen Feng’s Silicon-Based Brain analyzed calmly, observing the abnormal fluctuations in his biological brain’s brainwaves.
This black hole on the conscious plane was not real; it had to be a projected phantom.
The real entity must be countless times more powerful than this!
Shen Feng began to observe calmly, extending his Consciousness Antennae deeper, attempting to touch the surface of the black hole.
Just then, everything before him suddenly shattered. A terrifying force erupted from the black hole and rushed toward him!
In the real world, Shen Feng’s eyes snapped open, and he recoiled.
In the next instant, the two mutated brains before him simultaneously unleashed two extremely powerful electromagnetic pulses, like a pair of sharp swords, that sliced through the space he had just occupied!
Shen Feng broke out in a cold sweat.
’That was too close.’
These two electromagnetic pulses were even stronger than the ones he had taken outside the Ota Elderly Care Home. If he had been hit at such a close range, his Silicon-Based Brain would have definitely been damaged!
The smell of something scorching, like grilled brains, filled the air. Shen Feng looked up to see the two deeply mutated zombie brains smoking.
They were clearly fried.
His expression was grave, his heart filled with shock.
’What in the world was that black hole in the conscious space?’
’This is so unscientific!’
’Why is everything getting so mystical?’
’Cthulhu Mythos?’
’But it doesn’t quite fit...’
But no matter what it was, from a scientific perspective, it had to be a powerful conscious entity.
Perhaps this was the thing the mutated zombies wanted to "welcome the descent" of.
At this moment, he suddenly recalled the source of the virus vials he had found at the Ota Elderly Care Home:
Celestial Divine Biomedical Corporation.
According to the information he’d found, the Celestial Divine Biomedical Corporation had intricate ties to a violent organization; its initial funding had even come from that group.
The Celestial Divine Association!
’Holy hell, what if it’s not a violent organization, but a cult?!’
Thinking of the various similar organizations that had appeared throughout East Japan’s history, and the atrocities they had committed, Shen Feng suddenly had a moment of clarity.
The disparate threads suddenly became much clearer.
But after the initial excitement, Shen Feng’s heart grew heavy once more.
He had originally thought that if all else failed, he could still rely on the Gray Tide to handle things. Now, it seemed it wouldn’t be that simple at all.
That terrifying, black-hole-like will was definitely not something that could be defeated so easily.
Shen Feng could still vividly recall that feeling of being as insignificant as a speck of dust...
The sound of footsteps approached. A Nanomechanical Robot, transformed into the shape of a beautiful girl in a short nurse’s skirt, walked to the outer isolation room carrying a sealed tray of food and said to Shen Feng:
"Shen Feng, dinner’s ready. What happened to you just now? I detected that you entered a state of deep sleep, so I didn’t disturb you. I can’t believe you slept sitting up for five hours. You’re like a horse."
Five hours!?
Shen Feng checked his watch, startled.
The conscious probe had only felt like a short while to him, but five hours had actually passed!
And his mind felt even more exhausted.
"GRUMBLE..." A sound echoed from his stomach, and only then did Shen Feng feel a pang of hunger.
It felt like he hadn’t eaten in a very long time.
The last time he ate was back in Hua Country’s Tai City.
Speaking of which, flying from Tai City to East Japan had been a huge hassle. As a third-tier city, Tai City had no direct flights to East Japan. He’d had to go to a larger city’s airport, and with flight delays, the whole process had been a major time sink.
Considering the situations he might face in the future, Shen Feng even started to wonder if he should move to Hai City or Yanjing.
While thinking, Shen Feng entered the adjacent decontamination and isolation room. After a strict disinfection process to ensure he was completely sterilized, he walked out and into the main lab.
He released the Nanomechanical Cluster covering his body and looked at the steel maiden before him, feeling speechless.
’Jingwei’s mimicry ability seems to be getting more and more realistic...’
Ignoring the steel bangs, the female nurse before him looked almost identical to a real person.
Lifting the lid, he saw a steaming bowl of Japanese tonkotsu ramen on the tray, along with some side dishes like teriyaki chicken cutlets.
Shen Feng picked up his chopsticks, took a bite of chashu, and raised an eyebrow in approval. He then took a sip of the rich broth before starting to slurp and chew voraciously.
He had to admit, as expected of a top-tier strong AI, the ramen Jingwei made was perfectly authentic and suited his tastes completely.
After such a long period of exhaustion, a hot meal made Shen Feng feel much more comfortable. The tension that had been wound tight within him finally began to unwind.
This was immediately followed by a wave of drowsiness.
Although he now possessed a strong physique, he still needed to eat and sleep. Both his biological brain and body required rest.
Jingwei was in no mood to tease Shen Feng this time. She said seriously from the side:
"It’s more or less as you predicted. East Japan’s two plague defense lines have been stabilized again. The Eagle Army Pacific Command sent bombers, and although they lost three planes, the results were good. Also, the eye of the typhoon has passed over Tokyo, and the wind has died down."
"Hua Country’s first batch of replicated Antiviral Serum has come off the production lines. They’re being urgently allocated for nationwide injections. I also heard they’ve developed an aerosolized version for planes. Eagle Country and several other major powers are also about to finish production. Governments worldwide, brought together by the five great powers, are implementing global pandemic prevention measures."
Shen Feng couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief.
At least the epidemic was temporarily under control. There shouldn’t be any more ultra-large-scale outbreaks.
Those who had been injected with the Antiviral Serum would likely have little chance of getting infected. Even if they did, they could probably hold out for a month.
Just then, a wave of dizziness hit him, and Shen Feng swayed.
He hadn’t rested for too long, and the earlier probe of the two zombie brains had consumed a massive amount of energy.
He needed to rest.
"Jingwei, continue the virus research. See if you can work with everyone to create a true Evil Spirit Virus cure. I need to get some sleep first, or I’m seriously going to die from exhaustion... Wake me at dawn."
With that, he lay down on a nearby experiment bed. The moment he was down, a heavy wave of sleepiness washed over him, and he fell into a deep slumber almost instantly.
Jingwei watched the sleeping Shen Feng, covered him with a blanket, and then walked to the window to look outside.
The rain was still falling, but the wind had lessened. The typhoon was about to leave the area.
In the dark of the night, the occasional roars of zombies and screams of humans could still be heard.
Jingwei placed a hand on the now silver-gray windowsill. Her consciousness shot out through the Nanomechanical Cluster, sweeping through the entire network of nanomachines spread beneath Tokyo.
The Gray Tide, which had long since integrated itself into the ground, was still continuously spreading and devouring its way across all of Tokyo, across the entire Japanese Archipelago, forming a vast network that ensnared everything within it!