My Exclusive Dream World Adventures
Chapter 222 - Chapter 222 222 not a single one left

Chapter 222: 222 not a single one left Chapter 222: 222 not a single one left After four hours of study, Chen Xu emerged from the learning machine, his mind foggy and lethargic. It took him tremendous effort to return to his residence before he collapsed into sleep.

This time, the side effects were even more severe than before. When he woke up, he vomited so violently that it took him a whole day to recover.

He sat at the desk, holding a cup of milk, taking a sip, and while looking at the electronic book on the screen, he asked, “When can I participate in the assessment?”

Taichu replied, “The assessment for an intermediate engineer has a fixed schedule, only once a month. The nearest one is in ten days.”

“Ten days from now…”

Chen Xu calculated in his mind. By then, almost a month would have passed. He was unsure what changes might occur, and whether he would have the opportunity to take the assessment was still uncertain.

Therefore, he simply relaxed and started reading the electronic book intently.

The books provided by Taichu, besides text, also included detailed images and high-definition videos, making them extremely comprehensive. They could be described as an encyclopedia-type manual.

If he had to memorize it all on his own, it might take years to complete. Now, with just a few hours, he could memorize such a massive volume in his mind.

This learning machine was undoubtedly a revolutionary invention. It compensated for the human brain’s slow memory retention, bypassed the lengthy learning process, and saved time for growth. It couldn’t be over-praised no matter how much it was lauded.

He had memorized an entire set of “Basics of Wireless Communication Maintenance” in his mind, and the knowledge gained had already exceeded his expectations. Even if the mission failed, it would still be worth it.

He sat there reading without being disturbed by Taichu.

“Chen Xu, an unexpected situation has occurred.”

Suddenly, Taichu’s voice rang out, the synthesized electronic tone sounding somewhat grave.

Chen Xu shifted his gaze from the book and asked with some confusion, “What happened?”

Taichu said, “There is an unidentified object directly in the spaceship’s trajectory, unable to be driven away or destroyed. It’s estimated that a collision will occur in one hour and five minutes.”

“Hold on.”

Chen Xu, catching the words, asked in shock, “A spaceship? You mean, this is a spaceship?”

“Yes, this is the Dawn Spacecraft, and you are the only crew member onboard.”

Chen Xu was dumbfounded; he had considered many possibilities, such as being in an underground base or a city of the future, but never imagined it would be a spaceship.

What struck him most was the vast size of this place. Based on his experiences riding the transport pod, he estimated a straight-line distance of at least several kilometers. How large must the spaceship be?

“Now is not the time to be surprised,” Taichu reminded him, “You should think about how to handle this situation.”

From Taichu’s urgent tone, Chen Xu realized the severity of the situation and, suppressing his shock, said, “Can it be avoided?”

“We’ve tried that before. After diverting the course, it reappears on the trajectory not long after. We’ve also deployed drones for interception, but all attacks have proven ineffective. Even collisions by the drones haven’t damaged it. We have now classified it as a threat of the highest level.”

After hearing its explanation, Chen Xu couldn’t help but give a bitter smile. “Handling this kind of situation, you surely have more methods than I do. I know nothing; asking me is futile.”

Taichu said, “According to the regulations, in a major crisis threatening the existence of the spaceship, the final decision must be made by a human. You are the last human onboard the spaceship, and you must take up this responsibility.”

Chen Xu calmed down, knowing this was a challenge he had to face in the dream game, and asked, “What exactly is that thing?”

“A black box, approximately one cubic meter in size.”

As Taichu spoke, an image appeared on the screen in front of him, a black cube, its material unidentifiable.

“One cubic meter?”

Chen Xu imagined for a moment. Compared to this spaceship, a one cubic meter seemed like a mere grain of sand. Yet, this tiny grain of sand-sized object had Taichu treating it like a formidable foe.

He couldn’t help but recall the novel “The Three-Body Problem” he had read not long ago. Could this cube be some sort of weapon, like the water droplets?

“It shouldn’t,” he decided after some thought. If it were really like a novice entering a game and facing the ultimate BOSS, there’d be no chance of completing the mission.

After all, this was a game, and its designers wouldn’t design a situation with certain death.

After a while, he had an idea and said, “I have a notion, perhaps we should give it a try.”

… …

When Chen Xu was facing a crisis, Yang Jinxia entered the vortex on the other side, and all the screens in front of her went black. A twisting force field tore at everything around her, causing a look of pain to appear on her face.

Soon after, all electronic devices sparked, and with crackling sounds, the entire control room went dark.

When everything settled down, Yang Jinxia did not attend to the control room but instead opened her personal panel, only to see the words “500 million kilometers” which made her laugh. “Indeed, it’s a wormhole.”

“But, still 500 million kilometers to go, how will I get there?” she pondered.

She struggled to her feet and groped in the dark, finding the fallen S01 and rebooting it.

Then, a screeching scratching noise came from outside.

“Look, the host here is really enthusiastic,” Yang Jinxia sat back down and said, “Go, reboot the other robots. And then, let’s properly respond.”

“Yes, Master,” replied S01, swiftly rebooting the fallen robots.

First to be rebooted was B01. Yang Jinxia commanded, “Come, help me put on the spacesuit.”

B01 pulled out a large metal box from under the seat, opened it, and took out a spacesuit to help her put it on.

When dozens of robots in the control room were rebooted, aside from the scratching sounds, thumping sounds began to emerge.

“Go out, kill them.”

Yang Jinxia waved her hand, and the foremost tall siege robot opened the heavy doors and charged out first.

Through the night vision capability of her spacesuit, she saw many alien beasts surrounding the exit, though they were noticeably smaller in size. She had some speculations.

Were they unable to traverse the wormhole due to their smaller stature?

She did not move, watching as her robots charged out, securing the doorway and expanding their territory, rebooting any fallen robots they encountered. As more and more reinforcements joined, the speed of clearing increased.

Meanwhile, some of the surviving maintenance robots were fully engaged in repairing the main system in the control room.

Half an hour later, the main system successfully rebooted.

The screens before Yang Jinxia lit up again, restoring her vision.

Outside was a strange world: a bare landscape with the black vortex behind and a massive structure ahead, which looked more like a hollowed-out mountain filled with countless holes, somewhat unsightly to behold.

She noted that the mountain was significantly incomplete, as if the peak had been destroyed by some force, likely a human masterpiece from a war centuries ago.

At that time, alien beasts continuously emerged from those holes, joining the fray.

“Is this the alien beasts’ stronghold?” she thought.

With the strength of these beasts, how could they possibly create a space-traveling wormhole?

Or was the wormhole naturally formed?

By now, all robots that had passed through the wormhole were rebooted and continued to push the front line outward.

“Charge in, spare none,” Yang Jinxia commanded, with no trace of mercy on her face; these alien beasts were environmental destructors, and leaving them alive would be a disaster.