Infinite Horror: The Strongest Zhongzhou Team

Their expressions all turned strange.

This wasn't their first time in the dungeon; of course, they had been to other planets before.

Those colonized planets, if the environment is suitable, will be modified; if the surface is unsuitable, then the underground will be used.

As a mercenary with an adventurous spirit, he had naturally been to some dungeons.

John glanced at it with the electronic telescope in his hand, then put it back in his pocket:

"Liquid fluorescent lighting, yes, and these streets and houses made of metal."

"This looks a bit like the dungeons of Umbrella, folks."

John said, pointing to a mechanical badge on his chest.

A layer of nanospacesuit is released and then contracts.

"Oh, thankfully, none of the small parts are faulty."

"The air and temperature here must have been artificially altered."

Wells added:

"Cole, are you sure we didn't accidentally cross a black hole just now?"

"I've been transported to Umbrella?"

Cole nodded firmly: "Of course not, this is still Earth."

"I think this must be the dungeon mentioned in the logbook."

Wells and the others nodded; they had nothing else to say.

He's bold and adaptable; otherwise, he wouldn't have become a professional mercenary.

The four-person team also began to examine this unknown space located more than 5,000 meters below.

The group cautiously formed a circle and walked towards a metal fence on the right.

The walls and houses are clearly made of metal.

But Li Xiao found it increasingly strange.

If it's a futuristic sci-fi style building, or even a wasteland style building, that would be reasonable.

However, in Li Xiao's view, the structure of this house is more like an older self-built rural house.

Li Xiao stopped immediately after entering.

Because a blurry black shadow in the distance moved.

John gripped his gun tightly and said nervously:
"Wait, what's that in front of us?"

Cole asked in confusion, "The stove?"

What is a stove?

Cole replied:

"It is a simple structure used by humans to start cooking over a fire in the early morning, usually made of mud and stones, which is this."

Li Xiao ignored Cole's attempt to educate them.

If he wasn't mistaken, there seemed to be a figure in front of the stove.

"It moved! It moved! And it really looks like a person??"

"And Cole, is he preparing to start a fire?"

The indistinct figure sat in front of a stove made of mud.

With both hands, he skillfully broke the branches around him into small pieces, making them easier to burn.

The fire in the stove will be bigger then.

After breaking off the branches around him, the figure filled the gaps between the branches with leaves from the other side.

Then, from the front, he must have reached into his pocket and pulled out a tool.

"wipe!"

As the sound rang out, a very faint flame appeared.

Li Xiao, who lives in the real world, guessed that it should be a match.

Wells and the others also understood after being introduced to Cole.

As the distinctive sound of friction passed by.

A flame the size of a soybean lit up, the match paused in mid-air for a moment, and then the figure threw it away.

It finally landed on the withered leaves.

The tiny flame first managed to ignite a few leaves, which then burned into a larger flame that ignited the branches.

The figure who saw this seemed very happy and immediately spread his hands to block the stove opening, probably to prevent the wind from blowing it out.

After a while, the flames finally grew larger, and the figure in front of the stove relaxed, as if he had breathed a sigh of relief.

However, this is precisely because of the magnification of the firelight.

Christie immediately screamed.

Despite trying to cover his mouth, enough sound still escaped the other person's ears.

The figure in front of the stove turned around.

This time.

Christie wasn't the only one who screamed; even Cole instinctively took a step back.

Because they had always thought it was a human figure.

It turned out to be a rusty machine with bare wires, some of which were even exposed.

Calling it a robot is not quite accurate; it's more like a humanoid machine.

Because the technology used was too outdated.

Even the metal bones, due to quality issues and long-term oxidation, are covered with cracks of various sizes.

Some screw-like parts hung loosely on the back.

Just moments ago, every movement was as meticulous as a human's; now, it's just a dilapidated, abandoned machine in the firelight.

It is clearly a synonym for contradiction, yet it points incongruously to the existence in front of them.

The firewood crackled and popped in the stove.

Apart from the surprised looks of a few people and the sound of guns being cocked, the entire metal courtyard suddenly fell silent.

This was true for both Li Xiao, who hadn't moved at all, and the dilapidated robot that had turned around.

But at this time.

Wells and his companions could clearly see that the head of the machine, which acted as the eye, was constantly rotating.

It seems to be magnified and focused outdoors.

"General!"

The voice that uttered those two words was extremely hoarse, like dry machinery rubbing against each other, harsh and distorted.

Upon hearing this address, Li Xiao was taken aback and walked directly to the stove.

The old machine, with its joints creaking, slowly stood up like an old man.

The last one stood straight.

"you know me?"

As you get closer, the ear-piercing scraping sound starts again:

"Of course, General!"

Li Xiao looked into those mechanical eyes that contained emotions unique to humans and took a deep breath.

"Tell me, what happened back then, and what has happened over the years?"
-
The impending doomsday brought the hidden masterminds into the spotlight.

2119 years.

The actual controllers of the Earth are five major technology companies.

Prodigy.

Weyland-Yutani.

Lynch Company.

Dynamic Company.

Threshold.

Apart from the military, the federal government, in name only, is nothing more than a manipulated puppet.

Faced with four solutions, influenced by technology companies.

One option that humanity collectively made was Plan Three, also known as the Digital Life Project.

Five major corporations are preparing to extract human consciousness to completely eradicate the impact of the human race on the Earth.

The initial phase of the Digital Life Project has proceeded exceptionally smoothly.

Led by Prodigy Corporation, five companies worked together to overcome the challenges of human consciousness extraction technology.

They have developed the first hybrid robot in human history, Wendy!

Wendy possesses human consciousness and a humanoid mechanical form.

In other words, Wendy is a human with a mechanical body.

The success of this experiment marks the possibility of human immortality.

If history continues in this manner, humanity will embark on a unique path.

To become a civilization that lives only in data hard drives.

But a fork in the road of civilization appeared.

In the same year, 2120, an alien spaceship appeared out of nowhere in the Milky Way.

And it crashed unexpectedly, landing at the headquarters of the Prodigy Corporation.

Like a twist of fate, the hybrid robot prototype, which had just been successfully tested and imprisoned, was unexpectedly released.

It was also the only surviving achievement at the time, Wendy.

Having gained temporary freedom, Wendy awakens to an emotion unique to human beings.

That is ambition and the yearning for freedom.

Wendy modified his underlying logic code and betrayed the company that created him.

He took advantage of the chaos to release the terrifying creatures from the alien spaceship.

Alien!

Aliens, born for slaughter, began a grand carnage in a densely populated open area.

With Wendy's help and the Xenomorphs' unusually fast reproduction rate, they were able to survive.

The Prodigy Company was thus destroyed, igniting the underlying energy source.

Millions of people died.

All related technologies, records, and experiments have disappeared.

The Digital Life project has failed.

During this year, alien creatures on an alien spaceship brought about a crisis.

But it also brought hope.

That's the alien spaceship that survived the explosion.

The futuristic technology contained within this alien spaceship became one of the most desperate things humanity needed.

That is hope.

"So, this is the truth behind the technological explosion?"

"It's because of the spaceship the aliens are traveling in?"

"Don't interrupt, and then what!"

What happens after 2120?

Why has Earth's civilization become what it is today?

Ripley asked impatiently.

The machine, enveloped in Moss's silver nanoparticles, sensed its body being repaired and then continued:
Aviation technology developed rapidly, and the colonization plan proceeded in an orderly manner.

But humanity has forgotten.

Forgot about Wendy!
Wendy did not die back then.

Just when everyone thought the human crisis would pass by.

2122 years.

A digital revolution suddenly erupted across the world.

This is a revolution that restarts the digital life project.

Revolution is not just about marches; it also involves the support of armed forces.

Among the four surviving companies, there were traitors.

Or rather, he was being manipulated by Wendy.

2124 years.

As the interstellar colonization project continues, the number of humans with superior genes is decreasing.

The remaining Earthlings.

The marches and revolutions escalated, and humanity was divided.

In order to create more of their kind and control the future of humanity, Wendy decides to accelerate the collapse of Earth's environment.

Therefore, Project Moonfall was initiated.

Then the moon disappeared.

For this reason, Earth's environment has entered its final countdown.

For those humans who remain on Earth.

A crisis suddenly occurred.

In order to cope with the rapidly changing living environment.

Humanity was forced to initiate the underground city project.

As a result, the number of hybrid robots began to rise rapidly.

Initially, because hybrid robots did not require food and water resources, some humans were willing to be transformed into hybrid robots in order to protect the remaining humans.

Therefore, it was possible to build enough underground fortresses to sustain all the remaining humans in the equatorial region in just one year.

Ten thousand underground cities.

And a year later.

Wendy has achieved her goal.

As hybrid robots, that is, people with human consciousness and humanoid mechanical bodies, become more and more common.

A new racial consciousness has emerged.

Amidst crises and difficulties, the Earth quietly underwent a change of ownership.

Or perhaps it's more accurate to say that some humans have completed evolution and achieved immortality!

Mechanical... immortality...

Wendy, who had gained more power, did not change anything.

They even continue to secretly and vigorously promote the development of the interstellar colonization era.

When the number of humans on Earth is less than one billion.

Wendy thought the time was about right.

When he was preparing to lead all the hybrid robots on Earth out of the Milky Way.

Wendy discovers that God has played a huge joke on him.

That is, within the already established interstellar network, above the federal government, there is already a master.

But this owner rejected Wendy, and rejected all hybrid robots.

At the same time, all technologies and records related to human consciousness extraction and intelligent life were erased.

Even everything related to Wendy and the alien spaceship disappeared simultaneously.

Furthermore, the space elevator and the space-based space station were also destroyed by that unknown entity.

The Earth was completely sealed off.

It turns out that Wendy was indeed the first hybrid robot.

However, he was not the first human whose consciousness was successfully extracted.

It turns out that this happened long before the Digital Life Project officially began.

A scientist in a related field was involved in a serious car accident on the road.

He survived, but his son died on the spot.

It has been repeatedly proven that humans who have just died are not actually truly dead.

Or rather, the brain remains quite active.

This scientist, who was also a father, used the then-immature extraction technology to conduct the first-ever human experiment.

The final result was not made public but was kept confidential.

But Wendy knew that the experiment was not just a success.

This first intelligent consciousness, transformed from humans, has undergone evolution or, more accurately, sublimation.

It also possesses extremely strong exclusivity.

Otherwise, they wouldn't have been exiled or confined to this dead Earth.

"Then why are there such 'crazy' legends?"

"Also, how do we implement a lockdown?"

"The Wendy you're talking about is just a cyborg to me. By the way, you might not know what a cyborg is. Cole is like that."

Wells pointed to Cole beside him as he spoke.

The machine turned its head to look at Cole, and after a while continued:
"I don't know what the lockdown is all about."

But I know it's madness, because these centuries of blockade have led Earth's technology down a strange path.

"Wendy constantly lured humans into becoming hybrid robots, and even invented a reverse consciousness extraction and transfer technology."

"It means reversing the flow of a robot's consciousness and instilling it into a human body."

"Remember, it's anyone."

"Faced with this technology, humans are no longer humans, but clothes that can be changed at will."

"How could anyone not go insane under such an experiment?"

"The people you call crazy are all monsters who have lived on Earth for over two hundred years, monsters like me."

"They've simply changed into bodies that are legal within the Federation of Interstellar Societies."

"They are the most natural terrorists once they enter civilized society."

"As for the infection, it's quite simple: they didn't actually die, but simply changed their clothes." (End of Chapter)