Chapter 1 The Development of Things

Things developed as Feng Bujue predicted. The first thing Dr. Dian Dian did upon returning to the past… was to find "himself."

In Universal Era 8225, fifty years before Feng Bujue and the Main Faction's era (note: although "Universal Era" contains the word "universe," it's actually a dating system that uses Earth time), there wasn't a super-criminal called Dr. Dian Dian. There was only the Blasting Star's genius scientist, Bai Lei Si Dian.

For Dr. Dian Dian, finding Bai Lei Si Dian back then… was a piece of cake. He just needed to confirm the specific date and then recall what he was doing on that day fifty years ago.

Such "memory ability" might seem a bit unbelievable to humans, but for the wise among those high-intelligence races in the universe, this was as easy as an Earthling recalling what they had for dinner last night… very easy.

In short, Dr. Dian Dian quickly arrived in his hometown after time-traveling.

However, when he was about to enter the planet's atmosphere, he found… the energy remaining in his body was insufficient for him to complete a safe landing.

There was no helping it… Although Dr. Dian Dian mastered very advanced technology, the consumption of using a modified body to directly perform interstellar teleportation was still too great.

Of course, the Doctor wasn't completely without options. He still had the "forced landing" plan to choose from; but… after thinking for a moment, he realized there was no need to do that.

Because… just as he was thinking, a space station in Blasting Star's orbit had already discovered his existence and sent a small space shuttle to contact him.

As for what happened after that, I believe everyone can guess…

Dr. Dian Dian, who was brought back to the space station, easily controlled the stronghold. After replenishing his energy, he stole a spaceship and landed on Blasting Star.

…

On the other hand, in the Ze Di Star System, in a certain space base.

At this time, in the base's conference room, Feng Bujue, the Main Faction, and all ten heroes of the Ultra Dimension Union of this era were gathered here.

After a brief introduction by the Tin Foil Hero, Feng Bujue began his explanation…

Jue Ge used a very efficient way of expressing himself, explaining the whole story from beginning to end in the shortest possible time.

And the heroes who learned about this series of events… all reacted differently.

Among them, Toad Hero, Tin Foil Hero, Eternal Doctor, and Thousand-Eyed Hero all showed serious expressions, as if they were deep in thought.

As for Captain Crapstar and Lucky Hero, they seemed to have a slight inability to comprehend the situation, but they also knew its seriousness.

Then, there were Poison Hero and Crappy Man… these two were the kind of heroes who were more irritable and lacked patience. It wasn't necessarily that they didn't understand Jue Ge's time theory, but… they were simply too lazy to use their brains. For these two, all they needed to know was "where to go" and "who to kill," and then take action… that was all.

Finally… there were the two female heroes, Black Hole Queen and Ten Thousand Bug King (if you have to argue about gender, yes, they are both women); because the former was a black sphere of light and the latter looked like a walking pig trotter… so no one could judge their thoughts from their "expressions."

"Alright, that's roughly the situation." After Feng Bujue finished speaking, he continued, "Given our current state, the support we can provide to you in terms of force is probably very limited; as for intelligence, I will naturally tell you everything I know without reservation, but as I said… I am also 'an Earthling from a parallel universe.' I am not clear about some historical common sense between our two eras; of course, in this regard… you can ask Park Hero."

"Intelligence or something… I think it's enough already." As Jue Ge said this, the first to respond was Poison Hero, "According to what you said, that Dr. Dian Dian's combat ability, if converted into hero levels, is only the so-called 'planetary level,' right?" He paused for half a second, then continued, "Even if he used tricks to plot against you once in your era, after coming here, he has lost all the resources he had in the future, and he doesn't have any time to prepare; in this state, let alone mobilizing the entire team… even if only one of us ten goes, we can easily eliminate him."

"Yes, my thinking is similar to Poison Hero's." Two seconds later, Crappy Man also took the opportunity to add, "In my opinion, the most effective way to resolve this crisis is to find this guy called 'Dr. Dian Dian' as quickly as possible and kill him before he causes too much change to history."

"Then…" Toad Hero spoke at this time, "Does anyone have any different opinions?"

As he spoke, he looked around the conference table.

About five seconds later, seeing that no one was speaking, Toad Hero said, "Well… let's settle it like this then." As he spoke, he looked at the two who had spoken earlier, "Although Poison Hero and Crappy Man have, as always, put forward simple and crude suggestions, this time I have to admit… their idea is correct."

"Hey, hey…" Poison Hero curled his lips and said to Toad Hero, "The way you say it… makes it sound like nine out of ten of the suggestions we two usually make are wrong."

"Hehe…" The Tin Foil Hero, who was sitting next to Toad Hero, laughed at this time, and replied before Toad Hero could, "That's because simple and crude solutions are inappropriate nine times out of ten…" He spread his hands, "It's just a matter of probability…"

As they said these two sentences, Toad Hero had already left his seat and was walking towards the outside of the conference room.

"Hey, Toad Hero, where are you going?" Lucky Hero, who was sitting closest to the door, asked when he saw this.

"Preparing the spaceship." Toad Hero replied in his usual calm tone, "Flying to… Blasting Star."

As soon as he finished speaking, he had already passed through the electronic door and walked out of the room.

"Alright, everyone, let's each prepare ourselves." The Tin Foil Hero also stood up, "Those who need to get spare equipment, come with me."

Before long, the heroes walked out of the conference room one after another; however, there were two people who didn't leave…

One was Feng Bujue; the other was… Black Hole Queen.

It turned out… two minutes ago, when the Tin Foil Hero was speaking, a woman's voice suddenly rang in Jue Ge's mind; that voice only left two sentences: "Don't leave yet, I have something to tell you."

At that time, Jue Ge wasn't too sure about the source of this voice, because throughout the entire meeting, the Black Hole Queen had been silent.

Until this moment… when only the two of them were left in the conference room, Feng Bujue confirmed who was looking for him.

"Just now… did you implant a sound in my mind?" After a brief silence, Jue Ge was the first to speak.

"That's not a sound." The Black Hole Queen's response came from the black sphere of light, which was one meter in diameter, "Just like, 'you' are not the 'you' that I see."

"Oh?" Feng Bujue caught something from these ambiguous words and tentatively asked, "You mean?"

The Black Hole Queen's next sentence startled Jue Ge: "As a projection, what you 'hear' is not determined by you, but by the 'existence' that 'projected' you here, and whether the form in which you 'hear' this content… is 'hearing' in the general sense, or 'telepathy,' is just a feeling created by 'it'."

"You know I am…" Feng Bujue only said half a sentence.

"Interdimensional traveler, player…" The Black Hole Queen didn't wait for Jue Ge to finish speaking before continuing, "Or an artist, a great writer? To be honest, I don't care." The information she revealed in these few sentences had obviously far exceeded what an average NPC could grasp, and could even be said to have surpassed derivative beings, "What I care about is… the order of this universe."

"What… exactly are you?" Feng Bujue didn't even mention the word "person" this time.

"I am also an 'existence,' just like the 'existence' that sent you here…" the Black Hole Queen replied, "We 'existences' are incomprehensible to the knowledge systems of most species in the multiverse… this naturally includes the system you are in."

"Simply put… you are not a 'living thing'?" Feng Bujue continued.

"'Living thing,' that is also a wrong perception." The Black Hole Queen said, "The inferiority of low-level intelligent life forms lies in the fact that they almost all have baseless arrogance; they use their own uniqueness as the basis for constructing the most basic theories, 'defining' countless things they do not understand, and explaining everything in the world with measurement standards that are easy for them to understand, thereby forgetting, ignoring, and discarding the… truth that they find difficult to understand."

Listening to her remarks, a look of excitement inexplicably appeared on Feng Bujue's face: "Ah… I also know that the systems we create are all bullshit, and that this world has never truly been governed by mathematical laws." He paused, "But… I have never known what it is that governs everything."

"What?" The Black Hole Queen asked suspiciously when she heard this, "You want to know the truth?"

"Of course, I do." Feng Bujue said.

"I have to remind you…" The Black Hole Queen said in a deep voice, "There is a reason why the ancestor of 'existence' in your dimension abandoned 'truth' at the time of 'origin'."

"Heh…" Feng Bujue said with a smile, "That reason… I will probably understand after I learn the 'truth,' right?"

As soon as these words came out, the Black Hole Queen slowly moved in front of Feng Bujue.

Jue Ge thought that the other party would say something more to him, but… the other party didn't even say hello; the next second, a huge pulling force came from the black sphere of light, dragging Feng Bujue into it…

The feeling at this moment was very similar to the moment when he left the space-time rift.

And the moment Jue Ge came back to his senses, he was already lying on the ground, and what came into his eyes was a white ceiling…

"Was I teleported again?" He muttered to himself, then sat up.

For some reason, he suddenly felt dizzy, as if he had just woken up after sleeping for a long time.

"This is…" After sitting down, Feng Bujue still observed the surrounding environment as usual, "A mental hospital ward?"

Indeed, the place he was in now looked like a mental hospital ward at a glance, and it was specially customized for patients with a certain tendency for self-harm…

The total area of this room was only a few square meters, and the four walls and floor of the room were all made of a cushioning material. Even the back of the door was covered with this kind of "cushioning pad"; there were no windows in the room, nor were there any vents. In fact… there wasn't even a bed in this room.

In the corner of the ceiling, there was a light tube embedded in the wall, emitting a soft white light; and next to the wall away from the door, there was a squatting toilet embedded in the floor. By the way… this "toilet" didn't even have a cover.

That's all there was to this room.

"Hoo… it's really done quite thoughtfully." Feng Bujue shook his head and got up from the ground, "Even if the person living here wants to commit suicide, I'm afraid they can only use their head to hit the squat toilet and commit suicide by swallowing feces…"

While complaining, he tried to open the game menu.

But…

"Hmm?" At this moment, Jue Ge finally realized something, "What's going on?"

He couldn't open the game menu.

"Something's wrong…" He looked down at his body again and saw a set of patient clothes printed with light-colored stripes. The number on the clothes was——【3232】

"This kind of tactile sensation…" Feng Bujue thought for a few seconds, then without saying a word, he took off his pants.

He succeeded…

After standing there blankly for a few seconds, he put his pants back on and muttered, "Could it be… that I'm no longer in the game world…"

After confirming this fact, Feng Bujue's expression couldn't help but become serious, and he fell into deep thought.

"Is it 'consciousness transfer'? Or some kind of deeper 'connection' state that I can't exit? My body is lying in the game pod in the real world, so am I using someone else's body now?"

Thinking of this, he reached out and touched his face again…

"Hmm… it's me." Feng Bujue muttered, "And… what's with this beard? It feels like I haven't shaved for almost half a month…" He felt that the stubble around his mouth was a bit prickly when he touched his face.

Squeak——

Just as Jue Ge was wondering, accompanied by the sound of a mechanical movement, a rectangular opening opened above the door of the room.

A pair of eyes appeared behind that opening…

"Number 3232." Immediately afterward, a strange man's voice came from outside the door, "It's time to shave today." He paused for a second, then continued, "I'm warning you, if you dare to yell something like 'Moon Step' or 'Tempest Kick' and attack me again… it won't be as easy as changing wards and increasing the dosage… you can just wait for electroshock therapy."