Chapter 1124 Ring World

It feels the same as last time.

The entire body of consciousness seems to have fallen into a boundless abyss, falling towards the edge without boundaries in a world that does not feel gravity.

Perhaps because the amount of information is too large, this time the "waiting for loading" time is a little longer.

Just when Lu Zhou's patience was almost exhausted, a spot of light the size of a grain of rice finally appeared in the dark abyss.

Quietly waiting for it to approach him, waiting for the spot of light to gradually enlarge.

Then, a huge gravitational force struck from the light source, pulling him in fiercely.

Lu Zhou subconsciously closed his eyes as the shining light came rushing towards him.

And when his eyes opened again, the boundless darkness had faded from his field of vision, replaced by an empty and strange space.

The five senses returned, and both feet touched the ground, but the feeling of gravity was quite thin.

Looking around, Lu Zhou deduced based on his first intuition that this is probably the cabin of a spaceship. Outside the portholes embedded in the wall, there is a deep and dark starry sky.

In addition to standing here, there are twenty-five "people" who are dressed the same as me, and even have the same height.

Judging from their temperament, their identities should be soldiers.

The streamlined exoskeleton armor exudes a murderous air, and the angular stick hanging on the chest should be something similar to a rifle.

For some reason, Lu Zhou suddenly remembered the game he designed in virtual reality to test system performance some time ago.

Thinking of this, a strange expression appeared on his face.

Could it be that I made a mistake in something?

"Xiao Ai..."

He called softly, but there was no response.

Lu Zhou frowned, and a bad feeling gradually rose in his heart.

Wasn't the launch of the virtual reality device a success?

Or is it that the dream has not been synchronized?

Or... the synchronization is synchronized, but because the neural modem he made is too crude, the stimulation intensity is weaker than the "system" that surpasses the technological level of human civilization, so his crude equipment cannot interfere with dreams at all .

To put it bluntly, there is just no way to cheat here.

Thinking of this, Lu Zhou frowned more and more.

For this plan, he had been preparing for a period of time, but he didn't expect to get off to a bad start at the beginning.

"...I can only take one step at a time."

With that in mind, Lu Zhou began to carefully observe the surrounding environment, especially those soldiers who were armed to the teeth.

Because of the cover of the mask, Lu Zhou couldn't see the faces of these people clearly, and he wasn't even sure if they were "human beings", let alone what language they were using.

But at this moment, the voice from the communication channel next to his ear dispelled his worries.

The language that appeared in this "memory" was simultaneously interpreted by the system into Mandarin that he could understand.

"Here we are."

Almost as soon as the words fell, the spaceship captured by the gravitational field trembled slightly.

It seems that a century of darkness has passed, and finally there is a ray of light outside the porthole.

Immediately afterwards, Lu Zhou saw the most spectacular and shocking scene he had ever seen in his life.

That's not Reach.

but—

"Welcome to the center of the empire. This is the 'capital'... Probably the most prosperous place in this constellation. After all, until now, there is no evidence that aliens have visited us."

This sentence was said in a joking tone, and the atmosphere in the cabin became a little more relaxed.

It's just a pity that Lu Zhou didn't get the joke.

Although this joke is not funny for one reason, the real reason is that at this moment, his eyes have been completely taken away by the world outside the porthole.

It was a huge metal ring, the end of which could not be seen at a glance, only the star surrounded by it in the center could be seen. Countless spacecraft shuttle around it, witnessing its prosperity.

The civilization that created this ring emptied all the planets in this star system, and used these materials to build this ring-shaped world along the habitable zone, and inhabit and multiply on it.

It's hard to imagine what kind of power they possess to do all of this.

At least, in terms of technology, they have gone far beyond what human civilization can imagine.

"……incredible."

It seems that he heard his soft murmur, or maybe because he was the only one whose eyes were completely glued to the porthole, a slightly mocking chuckle came from the communication channel.

Unlike the previous voice, this voice seemed to come from a private communication channel.

"Everyone who comes to the 'capital' for the first time will have a similar exclamation. I have seen too many country bumpkins from border planets, and even knocked my chin on the window. Where are you from? Industrial planet? Or agricultural planet ? Don't tell me it's a mining station."

Lu Zhou opened his mouth, but did not speak.

Because he didn't know how to answer this question at all, and he didn't expect that the memory fragments this time had such a "firework atmosphere" and a sense of participation. These NPCs are like living people, and he is not a bystander. entered this world as a soldier, but participated in the "plot" as a soldier...

As if he had lost interest in this dull "hick", the soldier standing next to him quickly looked away as if giving up, and ignored him.

At this moment, the hatch in front of them suddenly opened, and a tall and burly soldier who was also wearing an exoskeleton stood in front of them.

At the same time, the voice that mentioned their "arrival" sounded again in the communication channel.

"Nice to meet you. Let me introduce myself. I am your commander Saines, from the C-12-27 sector defense station in the capital."

"Just a month ago, the security department received news that Professor Ryan of the C-12-01 Sector Research Institute was persecuted by an unidentified terrorist organization and is currently in danger of life. The reason is said to be because of an imperial secret. physics experiments."

"Leaving aside those insignificant things, as soldiers, it is our duty and our obligation to defend the order of the empire. If someone tries to play with fire under our noses, then we will put out the fire! Our task is to save Professor Ryan from Escort the hideout to the Imperial Chamber and clear it of possible attackers."

"The information that can be disclosed has been uploaded to your mission briefing. From now on, you are under my command."

"Set off!"

With uniform steps and sonorous responses, a group of people stepped out of the cabin in an orderly manner.

While walking in the queue following the footsteps of the officer named Saines, Lu Zhou opened the mission briefing through the AR interface of the helmet.

Very little information can be disclosed.

In short, a physicist named Lane discovered a shocking secret in a physics experiment, and this secret may affect the future of the Empire for the next hundred years-or even longer than a hundred years.

The code name of this secret is marked as "Oracle", and it is impossible to guess what it is just by looking at the name.

As for Professor Ryan, who has the power to influence the future of the empire, he was naturally summoned by the parliament, hoping that he could go to the imperial chamber to explain his findings in detail and debate his claims.

Although it is an empire, the system here is quite enlightened.

It's just a pity that this kind of enlightenment is only reflected on the bright side, and there is still a turbulent undercurrent flowing behind it. For some reason, some people don't seem to want Professor Lane to get there, or to let him convey the "Oracle" to the political center of the empire.

Professor Lane?

who is he?

What exactly is an "oracle"?

And, what exactly is the physics experiment he did?

Silently remembering the name and the scattered clues in his heart, Lu Zhou closed the mission briefing thoughtfully.

Intuition told him.

The physicist named Ryan should be the key to this memory.

If he wants to collect the information that this memory wants to convey to him, he must contact this Professor Ryan to find out what the "oracle" is.

Fortunately, the role he is playing now is the bodyguard who sends this VIP to each other.

If there is no accident, he should be able to meet this professor, maybe even chat with him a few words, maybe even exchange academic issues.

Of course, for the latter, in fact Lu Zhou did not hold much hope, the probability that the system would allow him to take advantage of this kind of loophole is too low.

If this memory does not contain those obscure physical theories, even if he chats all night, he may not be able to extract the secrets of surpassing the speed of light from Professor Ryan, or those physical knowledge that only advanced civilizations can master. .

The spaceship is docked at the Starport.

Through a narrow corridor, the soldiers boarded an elevator shaped like a train.

People around cast awe-inspiring gazes at them and kept a certain distance from them.

Lu Zhou looked around with some embarrassment, and finally saw what the residents here - including himself, looked like.

Generally speaking, the appearance of these residents has many similarities with humans. They all have two arms, two legs, and even five fingers. The only difference is the blue skin and the slightly long and narrow skin. facial features.

Curious about this magical similarity, but just as Lu Zhou was about to study it carefully, the elevator under his feet had stopped.

"It's time to stop."

The concise order reminded him to keep up with the team. In order to avoid unnecessary trouble, Lu Zhou did not stay in the elevator, and left here with the team, and came to an empty and magnificent building.

Not surprisingly, this should be the world on the surface, or the world on the "ring".

The atmosphere here is quite lively, people coming and going are shuttling in the main hall, or boarding the "elevator" to the space station through the security check entrance, or standing beside a long and narrow assembly line waiting for their luggage.

Through the glass window on the side of the corridor, Lu Zhou saw the world outside the building.

The labyrinth-like complex of buildings stretches to the end of the horizon, and the endless stream of vehicles gallops through the air at such a fast speed that one can't help but worry about whether they will collide.

Besides, what really interested Lu Zhou was the buildings here.

Perhaps to cater to the aesthetics of "efficiency first" in this civilization, except for a few decorations on the surface, most of the buildings here have square outlines.

Compared with the houses built with bricks on the earth, they are more like "standardized modules" produced from the assembly line of the factory, stacked according to a specific pattern, like building blocks spliced ​​​​piece by piece, layer by layer to the present height.

This may sound a bit weird, but if you think about it carefully, it seems that there is nothing to make a fuss about.

After all, the whole world is a huge man-made object, and all the buildings located in this ring world can be abstractly regarded as the expansion space capsule on the space station.

If you still use that original architectural method, it will make people feel incredible.

After passing through the security check channel, Lu Zhou felt more intuitively how huge the population of the empire was.

If it wasn't for the people next to them taking the initiative to avoid it, it would have taken a lot of time just to get out of this traffic building.

Through the panoramic screen hanging in the lobby, Lu Zhou also learned an unexpected piece of news—that is, this elevator, which is similar to the Tower of Babel, has 1~2 partitions in each section of the entire ring world. seat. The commute between the "ring" and the space station is via elevators, and the commuting between partitions and sections, as well as between sections, has to rely on the vacuum tube train located in the center of the ring.

Although it was just some insignificant knowledge, it also gave Lu Zhou a deeper understanding of the degree of development of this civilization.

Here, all the problems of food, clothing, housing and transportation seem to have been perfectly solved.

People don't need to make special efforts, as long as they climb the circle, they can live a good life.

the capital.

It's like a utopia...

Although he is very interested in the form of this civilization, it is a pity that he has a mission now, and Chief Seins did not give them any time for sightseeing.

After leaving the traffic building, they boarded the flying car parked at the door, merged into the continuous flow of traffic, and arrived at their destination soon after sailing for about half an hour.

7 jet-black speeding cars with the imperial military emblem on them stopped at the berth in front of a boxy building.

Following the actions of the soldiers next to them, Lu Zhou got out of the car. At this time, Lu Zhou noticed that a thin man wearing a white coat and looking a little flustered was walking quickly from the open metal bag with a small leather bag. walked out of the door.

"I'm being targeted, I feel like someone is following me!"

After seeing Officer Saines, the scholar immediately trotted up to him, expressing the panic in his heart with the desire to panic.

The burly warrior listened to what he said quietly, and then comforted him with a gentle voice.

"Please rest assured, Professor Ryan, now that you are under the protection of the imperial army, we will escort you safely to the imperial chamber."

Perhaps because of the lofty status of the army in the empire, this reassurance seemed to have played a role. Professor Ryan's expression eased a little, took a deep breath, and quickly calmed himself down.

"...Let's go, it's getting late."

"Okay," Officer Sainz nodded, gestured with his eyes, and pointed to the flying car in the front and middle of the queue, "Please get on the car."

The VIP was recovered successfully, and the group went on the road again.

Lu Zhou really wanted to sit in a car with Professor Ryan, but unfortunately, the car he was in was at the back of the queue.

Although a little anxious, there is no better way than to wait patiently at this moment.

If you make some unnatural actions at this time and are suspected of conspiracy, it will be even more difficult to contact this Professor Ryan.

The seven speeding cars lifted off slowly and returned to the high-speed running track.

Along the way, there was nothing wrong, and Lu Zhou, who was bored, could only watch the scenery outside the window to pass the time.

However, at this moment, a sudden change occurred. There was a sudden violent explosion sound from behind, and a crimson flame was reflected on the rearview mirror.

Lu Zhou's heart suddenly tightened, and he subconsciously clenched the rifle hanging on his chest. Almost at the same time, a voice came from the communication channel.

"Vehicle No. 7 was attacked, the damage was 95%, and the people on board were killed."

"Squad A continues to advance, and Team B descends to meet them on the ground."

"receive."

As if talking about an ordinary thing, the voice from the communication channel was so calm that it made one's scalp tingle.

I don't know if it's the unique culture of this civilization, or they have already unlocked the transcendent philosophy of life and death. They didn't show any anger, not even the slightest emotional ups and downs, about the death of their comrades-in-arms.

However, it is precisely this kind of calmness in the face of danger that endows them with strong fighting power.

Almost immediately after being attacked, all combat units responded quickly like gears on a spring.

The blue ballistic trajectory flew all over the sky, weaving a firepower net in the air, biting towards the fragile chassis engine of the vehicle behind.

Due to the deterrence of firepower suppression, the pursuing vehicles were forced to drop to the same height as Lu Zhou's moving vehicle, and made an emergency landing on the open metal ground.

"Ready to attack!"

Under the leadership of the officer, the well-trained soldiers quickly rushed out of the vehicle, used the vehicle beside them as a cover, set up their rifles, and began to fight back at the attackers.

Although he didn't really want to fight on the field, but in order not to be seen by others, Lu Zhou bit the bullet and did it.

Following the actions of other people, he opened the insurance, and desperately recalled the three-legged cat skills that Dr. Yan taught him at the training base. In the safest shooting posture, he poked the muzzle out of the bunker and pulled the trigger. Allies around provide suppressive fire.

As for hitting people or not, it doesn't matter at all.

It would have been fine if he had been shooting regularly. In such a complex battlefield environment, with no combat experience, his marksmanship was not accurate at all.

The azure blue trajectory almost filled the entire firefighting area, leaving pitted bullet holes on the ground and the surrounding walls. However, surprisingly, the few vehicles that were used as bunkers remained intact. .

It was as if some kind of special force field covered the surface of the car shell, dispelling those rays of terrifying energy.

The muzzle of the gun made a sound of overheating.

Lu Zhou, who quickly emptied a round of magazines, hurriedly imitated the actions of other soldiers to reload.

However, at this moment, he suddenly caught a glimpse from the corner of his eye, the empty battery that ejected from the barrel of the gun, dragging hot white smoke.

The pupils shrank slightly, and a sense of deja vu suddenly climbed into Lu Zhou's heart.

This battery...

Where did he meet?