Great! I'm surrounded by villains!
Chapter 333 - 252: The Second Dimension

Chapter 333: Chapter 252: The Second Dimension

With the Judge’s reawakening, Duan Mingyuan finally understood the true nature of the Eisenberg Plan.

——It was an invitation for everyone to live in a two-dimensional existence.

After the destruction of planets and civilizations, human consciousness could continue to exist in another virtual dimension; he couldn’t help humanity win this war, but he was able to build a haven that existed even after the end of the world.

In more advanced terms, it is the "Digitalized World" technology that is highly valued by the Chamber of Commerce. Many years ago, Morgan VII abandoned everything in the real world and went to live in the two-dimensional world.

To this day, he remains the Family Head of the Silver Lotus Family, and no matter how many years pass, the role of the Family Head will never change.

Eisenberg’s mentor was Morgan VII’s close friend, which concern allowed Morgan VII to obtain the only opportunity for an internal test.

"Of course, this research wasn’t initially intended to construct a sanctuary, but rather to allow the lives of certain individuals to continue indefinitely,"

Eisenberg said.

Humans have been pursuing immortality since ancient times; the higher one’s position, the more they feared the arrival of death.

As far as he knew, the company executives paid a huge sum of money to the Department of Life Sciences every year to extend their lifespans, from the past average of 80 years to now 160. Prosthesis, cloning technology, people have made countless breakthroughs but never achieved satisfaction.

years were still too fleeting; they hoped their lives could be as long as that of the stars.

"This led to the initial model of the plan being suitable only for a very small privileged class; if you regard the Digitalized World as a server, my mentor’s research could only accommodate a few dozen people."

Worse yet, before the mentor could further advance the plan, he was killed in an explosion at the research base by a half-mechanized human.

"And that, that’s why I must continue this research—if we want to accommodate the consciousness of the majority, we need a larger server, an unprecedented one."

The guidance within the "Black Hole" brought a harbinger of destruction, but it also offered them a glimmer of hope. The success of the "Key of Dominance" made Eisenberg-Adler more certain of this fact.

Neither the company nor the Chamber of Commerce could provide such a super server; only the power of the "Cocoon" could bring him the answer.

"That’s the true purpose of your research into the soul."

Duan Mingyuan had an epiphany.

He finally understood where this familiar feeling came from; the Judge’s ability to extract the souls of prisoners, like what he saw on Mechanical Star and Forest Sea Star, was a power brought about by the "Cocoon" transformation.

Eisenberg-Adler, through some means, turned the Judge into a "Cocoon."

And it was a "Cocoon" that did not show strong hostility towards humans; the fusion of artificial intelligence and "Cocoon" energy created the server Eisenberg envisioned—a super server capable of accommodating countless human consciousnesses.

"You never thought of breaking out of jail."

Or rather, when Eisenberg’s plan was completed, he would have already broken out.

Together with everyone in the Prison Star Jail!

At the same time, Universe Company and the Chamber of Commerce both took notice of the changes on the Prison Planet.

Or more precisely, it would have been difficult for them not to notice such a sudden anomaly.

"The Prison Planet has disappeared? What do you mean, disappeared?"

The commander of the Destruction Fleet was stunned upon receiving the news. Their mission had been to prepare for full-scale warfare with the Shanqi Commerce Association, and the failure of the United Front left everyone holding their breath. The forces deployed this time were the company’s real elite, whether against Specters or the Chamber of Commerce’s fleets, they would bear their wrath.

However, as the fleet performed a Fold Jump into the Star Zone where the Prison Planet was located, this unexpected intelligence suddenly came in.

"It’s just... gone."

The adjutant also found it difficult to explain the strange sight before him.

Just moments ago, Prison Planet had disappeared out of thin air—no signs of destruction, simply vanished in the blink of an eye.

This was a phenomenon that had never been recorded, and they could hardly imagine what kind of cosmic spectacle could cause a planet to suddenly disappear.

"Don’t make a fuss, this might just be some trickery by the Chamber of Commerce!"

The fleet’s commander spoke with unwavering certainty, uttering words he himself didn’t believe.

He had prepared a pre-battle speech and a post-victory declaration. The civil servants had written over a dozen pages of text, and there were even media aboard the flagship to ensure that news of the great victory would spread to every corner of the universe in real time.

However, before the battle had even begun, the battlefield had disappeared.

The navigation coordinates never lied; they clearly indicated the Star Zone where Prison Planet was located, yet there was nothing but empty darkness in front of them.

...

"What do you mean we have disappeared?"

Jiuyue also blurted out the same question. She opened the web page to find that all of the mainstream media were reporting the sudden disappearance of Prison Planet, all verified authoritative sources, surprisingly unanimous in their reporting.

But their ship was currently docked on the surface of Prison Planet. Although the appearance of an artificial intelligence voice on the ship had given her quite a scare a moment earlier, nothing had occurred since then.

Looking up, the sky was still pitch black.

The distant lighthouse was still shining brightly, and just a few minutes ago, the prison broadcast had stated that the guards had brought the situation under control. They advised the jailbreakers to surrender promptly to merit leniency.

She took out her cell phone and forwarded a news report to Duan Mingyuan, accompanied by a cartoon fox with a puzzled expression.

"It’s a bit complicated to explain."

Soon after, Duan Mingyuan replied.

Jiuyue breathed a sigh of relief; since Mr. Mingyuan still had the leisure to reply to her, it meant that things were not urgent.

"No worries, you can explain slowly, I’m pretty smart."

The curiosity of the little fox was piqued, another reason being that she had simply nothing to do at the moment.

Several hours had passed since the live broadcast of the trial was interrupted, and all of the prison’s internal facilities had been cut off. They had almost no way to learn about what was happening inside the prison.

After sending the message, Jiuyue added another cartoon fox with an eager expression and typed, "If you’re too busy, we could have a voice call, or even a video call."

"Not convenient right now."

Duan Mingyuan replied.

After all, the Specters were still diligently guarding outside the lab. If they heard their most respected Sergeant mingling with his little girlfriend on a call during a mission, it would surely have a tremendous negative impact on them.

Duan Mingyuan stared at the screen for a long while afterward, lost in thought.

Dr. Eisenberg’s theories and ideals couldn’t be explained in just a few words, and it was even harder to translate them into language that Jiuyue could understand.

But this was not beyond him.

He thought of the anime Jiuyue had recently downloaded onto her tablet to avoid boredom during space travel.

——"Simply put, we have been sent to the second dimension."