Chapter 495: Inceptive Template

The moment Chen Xiaolian got up from his bed, he realized the abnormal situation within his room

All the power was cut off!

The lights inside the room could not be turned on. After pulling the curtains, he saw that the simulated scenery on the outside had disappeared. All that was left was an empty screen.

He moved to the corner of the room and reached his hand out to feel the air-conditioning outlet within the room. There was no flow of air.

A few minutes later, he felt the temperature getting hotter.

Chen Xiaolian frowned.

He sensed that something might have occurred.

As he was trying to open the door to step outside… … he found that the door was locked.

Every room of the hotels inside Zero City was equipped with electronic locks. This was a convenience brought about from their advanced level of technology. The first time the hotel guest entered their room, by gripping the door handle with their palm, the door handle would automatically read the guest’s palm print, heart rate, temperature, etc. Those details would form an automatic identification for the guest. After that process, only that hotel guest would be able to enter and exit through the door. No key was needed at all.

This was a very advanced and convenient form of technology.

However… … in the case of a power outage, this would result in a terrible situation.

Chen Xiaolian found that he was now locked inside.

He had wanted to pull out his Sword in the Stone to hack the door open. However, after a moment’s hesitation, he decided to adopt a ‘wait and see’ strategy.

The room’s soundproofing was outstanding. Despite plastering his ears to the wall and door, he was unable to hear any sound from beyond the room.

As for the cat’s eye on the door… … unfortunately, none of the doors within the hotels here had that. Instead, the hotel guests could open up the TV and monitor what was going on in the corridor outside at any moment. This design was unquestionably more useful compared to a cat’s eye.

Most unfortunately… it was now utterly worthless.

Chen Xiaolian picked up the room phone and attempted to contact the hotel’s call centre only to find that the line was already cut.

Chen Xiaolian looked at his watch.

Seven or eight minutes had passed since he got up.

His heart began beating anxiously.

He had a faint feeling that this matter may have… … something to do with those peculiar prompts he had received from his personal system.

[????: Unlocking in progress…]

This prompt remained inside his personal system

The ‘…’ symbols were still flashing.

Chen Xiaolian speculated that meant the unlocking process was still on going.

He forced himself to calm down. Next, he checked the contents of his Storage Watch. Seeing the contents, he felt confident.

The number of reserve food and water was very sufficient. It was enough for him to live here for a month without starving to death.

In the case of an emergency, there was also four mini oxygen equipment inside his Storage Watch. Those equipment could provide him with at least six hours of oxygen.

After calming himself down, Chen Xiaolian began searching for ways to get out of the room.

After checking the ventilation holes for a moment, he decided against it… … the ventilation ducts for the room was only the size of a fist. Chen Xiaolian did not possess any transformation skills and was unable to transform himself into a mouse.

Chen Xiaolian stood up on the table. While he was in the middle of using a dagger to pry open the air-conditioner’s pipe…

The TV inside the room suddenly flashed and lit up.

Chen Xiaolian’s teeth was clamping onto a mini flashlight. As the room was in total darkness, the mini flashlight was the only source of light. However, when the TV screen mounted to the wall behind him suddenly lit up, Chen Xiaolian became shocked.

He abruptly turned around to see a green light appear on the screen.

Seeing the green light, Chen Xiaolian’s heart grew tense.

He had originally assumed that the power was back. However, he now noticed that something was not right.

This green light… … looked like… … it looked a lot like the green scanning light that would appear when he was entering an instance dungeon area.

As Chen Xiaolian was in shock, he realized that a line of text had appeared on the screen.

At the same time, the same line of text appeared in his personal system. The two of them were exactly the same.

[????: Unlocking process complete: Entry granted.]

Entry… … granted?

Entry?

To where?

Chen Xiaolian jumped down from the table. He then moved to stand before the screen and examined it. A thought flashed across his mind and he reached out his hand to touch the green screen.

[????: Identity verification, identical template, you may enter.]

The next instant, Chen Xiaolian, who was standing inside the room, suddenly found himself transforming into a green beam of light. He disappeared from where he was standing and was seemingly sucked into the screen.

Everything happened in an instant. After that, the light on the screen faded away and the room returned to a state of darkness. It was as though nothing had happened.

…

“Turn on all the backup power units.” Angel Wu quickly gave the order. “Notify all on-duty Angel Corps personnel to cancel all their leave days and initiate emergency rally of troops! All lookouts are to enter a state of high alert! All areas in Zero City will now be in emergency control mode! I will give you one hour. After this one hour is up, no one is allowed to move around the public areas! Everyone is to gather here in this Board of Patriarchs’ building!

“Think of a way to get in touch with those that are trapped inside their rooms. After contact is made, ask them to wait for assistance and not move around. Zero City is now in a state of emergency!”

After pondering some more, Angel Wu looked at Bluesea. “Do you have any suggestions, Bluesea? You are currently the on-duty Patriarch after all.”

“I have no issue with turning on every backup power units. However, I think there is a need to initiate an assessment and turn off the power to those areas that do not require them. More operational equipment would only consume our limited reserve of oxygen.”

“There is also the Sentinel mechs.” Bluesea thought about it and added, “When Sentinel mechs moves around, their turbines would consume oxygen. I suggest having all our armed men put aside their mechs when patrolling.”

“Agreed.” Angel Wu was quick to nod his head.

“Under this state of emergency, everyone must obey these orders. Should anyone attempt to take advantage of this time to incite chaos…

“Kill with absolute prejudice!” Killing intent flashed across Angel Wu’s eyes.

“Keep trying to make contact with Zero City’s main control system and figure out a way to seize back control! We cannot just sit still!” Bluesea sighed. “Every member of the technical department are to return to their posts! Every second is precious to us!”

…

Chen Xiaolian was standing within a strange place. There was darkness all around him. However, he was vaguely able to make out some outlines.

The reason for that was due to the motes of light dancing in the air. They were like fireflies.

Thanks to the faint illumination, Chen Xiaolian was vaguely able to tell that he was inside a circular room.

When Chen Xiaolian attempted to step forward, he immediately felt a sluggish sensation from his legs. He crouched down and stretched out his hand. He felt something smooth and soft.

He found that his feet were stuck within a soft, velvety, semi-viscous object… … it was like jelly.

However, when he touched it with his palm, he found the item to be dry.

The item rose up to Chen Xiaolian’s calf, making it somewhat difficult for him to move forward. Chen Xiaolian waded tens of steps forward in an attempt to reach the edge of the circular room.

To his surprise, as he moved, the firefly like motes of light that hovered around him suddenly flew toward him. Then, they all attached themselves to the surface of his body.

Arm, chest, thigh…

It did not take long for his figure to become like a huge glow stick.

When those sources of light gathered together, his vision also became better.

Chen Xiaolian lowered his head to look at his feet. The thing that his feet were submerged in, the jelly like substance, exuded a faint green lustre.

This thing… … Chen Xiaolian’s heart promptly sank.

He recalled seeing these liquid metal substance in the Board of Patriarchs’ building during the day. Are they the same?

Finally, the fireflies enveloped Chen Xiaolian’s whole body. They were so dense in numbers that if he had not used his hand to wipe them away from his eyes, even his vision would be blocked by them.

He could not sense any weight from those motes of light. It was as though they had no weight at all.

Suddenly, the interior of the circular room lit up.

That caused Chen Xiaolian’s body to recoil. What he saw stunned him.

Such a beautiful…

Starry sky!

…

No. More accurately, that was not a starry sky, but… … the universe.

Within the void were stars, nebulas, asteroid rings and the distant flashing lights… all of them appeared like the scenes of space depicted in sci-fi movies.

Chen Xiaolian found that the room had disappeared as well and his feet appeared to be resting on the nothingness of space. He simply stood there amid the universe, observing the nebulas around him.

“This… … what the Hell is this?”

Chen Xiaolian muttered out subconsciously.

To his surprise, something answered his question.

A voice came, not just from his heart, but from every direction. It suddenly rang out and entered his sea of consciousness.

It was a very impartial voice and Chen Xiaolian could not identify if it was a male or female. There was an ethereal quality to the calm voice.

“This is… … the true appearance of this world… … or should I say, this is what the founders believe what the world truly looks like.”

Chen Xiaolian’s body flinched.

He quickly turned around to observe his surroundings. “Who is it? Who is talking? Who?”

“It is me.” The voice came once more.

Chen Xiaolian’s heartbeat accelerated and he took a deep breath… … however, when he did so, he felt extremely strange. When he took a deep breath, he found that he could not suck in any air at all.

However, nothing abnormal happened to his body.

“You do not need to breathe because your body is not here. This part of you here is your consciousness.” The voice said calmly.

“But…” Chen Xiaolian raised up both his hands and examined them. He saw that the firefly like motes of light had, at an unknown moment, disappeared.

“Your present body shape is simply something created through your imagination. This appearance is created according to your thoughts and what you remember of yourself. It is all an illusion.”

“… …” Chen Xiaolian hesitated for a moment. “If so, where am I?”

“You are in my world.”

“You… who are you?”

“I am Zero City.” The voice replied calmly. “To be more accurate, I am part of the inceptive template of this world. A part that was cut out.”

…