Chapter 11: Nightmare Catastrophe and Eating

The middle-aged man’s name was Amadai, a name that sounded quite feminine, yet it belonged to a truly iron-blooded, masculine warrior.

He was born in the middle of the Third World War.

Contrary to what people in the 21st century had envisioned, the Third World War did not end quickly; it lasted for a full one hundred and twenty years.

In 2317, the remnants of the Western forces launched a surprise attack on the Eastern capital and various important cities and military regions, applying portable phase-matrix nuclear explosive mines on the battlefield for the first time. This type of nuclear weapon broke through the critical mass threshold of nuclear weapons, with the smallest portable phase-matrix nuclear explosive mine weighing only sixty grams!

As the East was caught off guard, the remaining Western nations and neutral Third World countries declared war on the East one after another. Thus, the Third World War broke out.

Because of the existence of the super-electromagnetic sky curtain force field, conventional high-yield nuclear missiles were declared ineffective, so the mushroom-cloud apocalypse did not arrive. What arrived was a Third World War characterized by miniaturization, popularization, nanotechnology, and biochemical warfare. The entire global population of 11 billion was drawn in; no place was safe, and no one could remain aloof.

During the 120-year world war, the East collapsed, the West was completely finished, and almost every country in the world lost its unified government. Humanity was divided into small teams fighting alone, and the world turned into isolated islands cut off from one another. The reason was the biochemical runaway that evolved during the middle and late stages of the Third World War.

It was not a biochemical crisis, but a more terrifying biochemical-mechanical nanolife form that replicated and evolved globally, then besieged any life form, killing them and using their bodies as materials to continue replicating.

In terms of the worldview Su Xing once knew, the middle and late stages of the Third World War were roughly equivalent to the *Metal Max* worldview. Any animal could suddenly extend machine guns, cannons, or laser guns from its mouth in the next second, tearing humans apart.

Because of this catastrophe, civilization was almost annihilated. Human races and nations were pulverized, various skin colors lived together, various languages were spoken simultaneously, and various races evolved into one another.

Amadai was born and raised on such a battlefield. He didn't know who his parents were, or rather, the elders in his team were all his family. The oldest among them were only in their forties—also humans born and raised during the Third World War. They hadn't spent a single day in school, only knowing of the prosperous pre-war world from fragmented words.

At the same time, because civilization, nations, and ethnicities were completely mixed, regardless of your skin color, names were all this strange, gender-neutral, and origin-neutral style.

Amadai was a battlefield veteran. His greatest stroke of luck was encountering a salvation organization.

When humanity was at its most desperate during the Third World War, an organization named "Azure" emerged.

This organization mastered pre-war human technology, had a highly organized political structure, and held the grand ambition of saving humanity and the Earth. Countless humans joined this organization, and Amadai was one of them. Although he was a battlefield veteran, he was at the very bottom of this organization, the kind of grunt whose name might not even have been recorded.

He was severely wounded in a battle against a giant beast-type biochemical weapon. That kind of injury would have been a death sentence in the 21st century. Although emergency battlefield treatment saved his life, it couldn't keep him alive for long. Ultimately, in recognition of his sacrifice for the organization and the merits he had accumulated on the battlefield, he was frozen and entered a state of suspended animation, becoming a "Future-dweller" like Su Xing.

People who froze themselves due to terminal illness, injuries, or various other reasons, waiting to wake up in the distant future, were collectively referred to as Future-dwellers.

Then, at the moment the Gaia was completed in 2877, Amadai was revived and saved by the Unified Human Government just like Su Xing. However, he also incurred a sky-high medical bill, and ultimately had to sign a maintenance worker contract, becoming a glorious maintenance worker.

Compared to Amadai, the name of the curvaceous woman was much more normal. Her name was Xu Shilan.

She was not a Future-dweller, but a criminal from the Unified Human Government, a former citizen, and now a maintenance worker.

Fraud, theft, murder, arms trafficking to the Human Revolutionary Alliance, war crimes, genocide—an eight-hundred-year sentence!

Of course, Su Xing didn't hear this from Xu Shilan herself; the Main Brain had marked it so that everyone could see. This was also to distinguish Future-dwellers from criminals. Although the Unified Human Government treated them all as maintenance workers, Future-dwellers could barely become citizens after earning enough merit, while criminals... the Unified Human Government actually wished they would all just die, especially heavy offenders like Xu Shilan.

Regarding the crimes marked by the Main Brain, Xu Shilan showed no sign of rebuttal. She just kept looking at Su Xing with interest, which actually made him feel a bit awkward.

Xu Shilan was truly a very sexy woman. It wasn't that her attire was revealing; on the contrary, she wore the standard maintenance worker uniform, showing nothing but her neck and above.

But her posture, expression, and movements all exuded charm. Even a single glance made one feel that she... was very seductive!

Su Xing was currently answering various questions from Amadai. Only Amadai was asking; Xu Shilan just stood there quietly, exuding her charm.

"You said... these aren't biochemical beasts?" Amadai asked with a frown.

Su Xing replied very firmly, "Yes, neither of them are. One is a distortion, the other is a contamination. Neither are the biochemical beasts you speak of."

Amadai was full of confusion. He looked at Xu Shilan.

Xu Shilan finally spoke, spreading her hands. "Sorry, I don't know what a distortion is, nor what a contamination is. Although I am a citizen of the Unified Human Government—well, a former citizen—I know about the Thirteen Singularities Technology Company, I know about the Human Revolutionary Alliance, and I know about black technology, but I still don't know what distortions and contaminations are."

Both of them looked at Su Xing again. Su Xing thought for a moment, recalling his memories, and said, "So-called distortions are monsters that undergo physical and conscious changes because they cannot withstand the 'gaze.' They belong to material entities and do not possess infectivity, contamination, erosion, or parasitic properties. They are the easiest type of monster to deal with. Of course, don't underestimate distortions. Although some powerful distortions lack these special properties, their strength can reach an exaggerated level. Also..."

"Wait a minute?" Amadai rubbed his temples and forehead. "Although I understand what you said, I don't understand what you're actually talking about. Also, withstand the 'gaze' of what? You didn't say anything."

Su Xing spread his hands. "I can't say it, I can't even describe it. Main Brain, how much time is left until the 'weekend'?"

A countdown projection appeared before the three of them.

"Six days, eight hours, forty-two minutes, and fifty-one seconds."

Both of them stared blankly at the countdown. Amadai pointed at the total number at the end of the countdown and asked, "Why is it sixty-six days, six hours, six minutes, and six seconds? Does this have any significance?"

Su Xing nodded. "Yes, the time of a 'week'—sixty-six days, six hours, six minutes, and six seconds. I don't know the specific significance, but it's been like this ever since I woke up."

Xu Shilan asked in a sweet, coquettish voice, "What will happen after the countdown ends?"

Su Xing spread his hands. "The truth... the truth you want to know will be revealed."

Amadai immediately asked, "Have you experienced a weekend?"

Su Xing darkened his face and nodded. "Yes, I've experienced it twice... It's only been one hundred and fifty-six days since I woke up. Don't think I've been awake for decades or centuries."

Amadai and Xu Shilan looked at each other. Amadai said solemnly, "Then, can you tell us from the beginning what exactly happened?"

"I can."

Su Xing recalled the day he woke up. At that time, there were still several seniors in the 6123 sector, and as time passed, he was the only one left.

"At first, I woke up normally from suspended animation, just like you. That time, I didn't encounter any distortions, and the other two people also woke up normally."

"I was told by my seniors that the entire Gaia had become a terrifying cage filled with monsters. The Main Brain had sealed almost all passages, isolation rooms, and various convenient and functional buildings because these places were filled with monsters, terrors, ghosts, or things that only existed in fantasy."

"The reason is because... the 'gaze' of the '?', the Dream Network suffered a catastrophe. All citizens were trapped in the Dream Network, and only maintenance workers who were not connected to the Dream Network could wake up normally."

"This catastrophe is inexplicable and incomprehensible because the dream world, which should have been illusory and like a virtual reality, has become a dream world that can be entered physically and from which objects can be brought out."

"These dream worlds have been graded by the Main Brain based on information, evaluated by 'Baseline Reality.' Baseline Reality 1 is the real world, with no terror, no supernatural power, and no changes in history or culture. Starting from Baseline Reality 0.9, some subtle changes will appear. For example, my strength—you must be curious about what this strength is, right? This is *Wu Gong*, a cultivation method for tempering the body. It shouldn't exist in the real world, but I obtained it in a Baseline Reality 0.9 world. As the reality level goes lower, the deviation becomes greater, and even ghosts, spirits, curses, legendary creatures, and even... gods and demons will appear!"

"Of course, the supernatural beings in the dream world don't necessarily all have malicious intent. Some might be friendly, some neutral, some dangerous. They are roughly the same as us humans, except they possess supernatural powers, so they are all very dangerous to humans. The truly fatal threat comes from 'Nightmares,' a terrifying existence born in the dream world, specifically targeting us maintenance workers who enter the dream world!"

"And we must face these terrifying existences..."

Just as he said this, Amadai suddenly interrupted him. "Wait a minute, if it's really as you say, and the Dream Network has undergone such an incredible change, can't we just not go in?"

"Eating," Su Xing said helplessly.

"What do you mean?" Amadai and Xu Shilan asked simultaneously.

Su Xing spread his hands. "The Main Brain has sealed all the passages. Our current activity area is limited to the hibernation room and this maintenance base. We can't go anywhere else, so apart from fresh water, we have no food at all. Not a single bit."

"If you don't go into the dream world to eat, are you planning to cultivate immortality in this enclosed space?"

(End of chapter)