Chapter 173 The Light Cone Vibrator

After Jue-ge and Ben Bu were carried onto the spaceship, they were locked into two separate transparent cylindrical containers.

Subsequently, Doctor Dian and his replacement robot put respirators on Jue-ge and Ben Bu inside the containers. Then, the doctor went to the operating table on the side, used the computer to control the closing of the hatches of the two containers, and… started pouring "water" into them.

Of course, the transparent liquid flowing into the containers through the pipes, which looked very much like “water,” was not actually “water”… but an organic liquid used as a conductive medium.

After a large amount of research and experimentation, Doctor Dian discovered that the blood of the Tetraformians (whose bodies transform into solid, gaseous, liquid, and pseudo-light states in cycles of one cosmic century; this is an inevitable physiological phenomenon of the race) in their solid state, after being refined, could become an "ultimate conductor," which was also one of the necessities for driving his device.

"You don't have to worry too much," Doctor Dian said to the two heroes in the containers while busying himself in front of the screen. "When my vibrator starts successfully, the power supply will automatically stop; at that time, if you are lucky, you may still be alive." He paused, "Oh... but then, after being drained of your bio-energy, you will still have to face the super-torsion... so..."

At this point, the doctor tilted his head at them, revealing an indifferent expression.

Obviously, this guy had long ceased to take the lives of others seriously; in fact, what he was about to do was devastating to the entire universe, so... the lives of one or two people were indeed not worth his attention.

"Tch... looks like I'm really going to kick the bucket here..." Jue-ge thought to himself, already completely submerged in the liquid, "I wonder what the resurrection mechanism is after dying in Free Exploration Mode... Could it be like Kenny (referring to Kenny from *South Park*) waking up the next day at the save point, and everyone around me doesn't remember that I died? Or... direct save rollback?"

The moment he thought of the words "save rollback," a flash of inspiration struck Feng Bujue’s mind: "Wait... this guy just said that his device is called the 'Light Cone Vibrator', right..." He immediately recalled the settings about the super-torsion and suddenly realized, "Holy crap! No wonder he said 'time is running out'!"

In that second, Feng Bujue finally understood what Doctor Dian's purpose was...

"No wonder he said I haven't seen the full picture of his plan..." Jue-ge thought, "Capturing heroes alive is just one part of his plan; today's scheme, he's using the unique 'heavenly timing' of the super-torsion, the 'geographical advantage' of this dangerous area of Warm Ocean Star, and the cooperation of us two idiots..."

From his internal "idiots" remark, it was not difficult to see... Jue-ge's mood was quite depressed.

Because he was a person who was accustomed to looking for reasons in himself when experiencing failure.

The situation before him... although it seemed that the responsibility was not on him, mainly due to the opponent's deliberate scheming and the difficulty to defend against, Feng Bujue could still see it very clearly... He knew that he was ultimately affected by the "super-torsion" factor and had been somewhat rash in his actions; if he could have been more cautious, he might have had a chance to avoid this situation.

"Hmm... the time seems to have come."

About two minutes later, Doctor Dian murmured as he stared at the screen, then pushed a control lever on the operating table.

Immediately afterward, the equipment around the two containers lit up completely, and the cabin was filled with bursts of noise; and Feng Bujue and Ben Bu... both clearly felt that the "power" within their bodies was rapidly draining.

This feeling of "loss" was significantly different from the burning-like feeling of weakness after being poisoned by the gas; to make an analogy, the latter was like losing too much blood, while the former was like having organs directly removed.

"Mmm—uh—" Only three seconds after the machine started, Ben Bu's muffled shouts came out through the respirator; his voice could be heard outside the container.

Feng Bujue didn't cry out, because... the shock in his heart at that moment had reached a level that was enough for him to ignore the physiological pain.

"Whoa, whoa… this isn’t good…” As Jue-ge thought that to himself, he was watching his Survival Points, Stamina Points, and Spirit Points all drop before his very eyes, and… what was dropping was the “upper limit.”

Fortunately, the "power supply device" didn't work for too long. About twenty seconds later, the surroundings suddenly fell silent...

In fact, this was no longer "silence" in the general sense, but an extremely unusual tranquility, as if... the concept of "sound" had disappeared from the world.

Feng Bujue quickly realized... the "super-torsion" had begun.

Surprisingly, when this "silent" realm descended, Doctor Dian actually opened the hatch and ran outside the spaceship.

Almost simultaneously, the power supply device stopped working.

As Doctor Dian said, Feng Bujue and Ben Bu did not die after the power supply ended; because their bio-energy was abundant, the vibrator had already successfully started before they were "drained."

Not only that, but after the "power supply" process, the effects of the poison gas were also "drawn out" along with their energy, which restored their ability to move.

It was just that... at this moment, Jue-ge and Ben Bu's physical qualities had dropped to the level of ordinary Earthlings, and soaked in the liquid... they couldn't even break the containers around them.

Besides, even if they broke the containers, there was still the doctor's replacement robot standing guard outside; with their current combat power, they probably couldn't withstand a single punch or kick from it.

However... no one expected that, after only a few seconds, an unexpected turning point appeared...

Under the effect of the "super-torsion," the outer walls of the containers where Feng Bujue and Ben Bu were located suddenly disintegrated on their own.

Then, two full tanks of conductive fluid spilled into the cabin, and the two heroes each removed the respirators from their faces and crawled out of the containers.

And until the two stood still, the replacement robot facing them remained motionless.

Although Ben Bu couldn't figure out what was going on for a moment, Jue-ge had already realized that the replacement robot's reaction indicated that... Doctor Dian himself was probably no longer within this space-time.

"Fol—low—me—" Two seconds later, Jue-ge patted Ben Bu on the shoulder and said to him, one word at a time.

Since sound could no longer propagate normally, Feng Bujue could only communicate with Ben Bu using exaggerated mouth shapes and sign language.

Although Ben Bu wasn't smart, he could still guess such a short sentence spoken slowly.

Thus, led by Feng Bujue, the two quickly left the spaceship and returned to the open space outside.

At this time, the scenery on the surface of Warm Ocean Star could be described as chaotic; things like plants growing backward, objects spontaneously turning into dust (like the outer walls of those two containers just now), and clouds moving at high speed like living creatures... such scenes that violated the laws of nature all seemed very ordinary in the super-torsion.

The thing that was truly worth noting now was... a "light gate" about ten meters high and three meters wide, shaped like a jujube pit, had appeared directly in front of Doctor Dian's spaceship.

"As expected..." When Feng Bujue saw the light gate, he thought to himself, "Because the actual size of the space-time rift cannot be determined, the vibrator's generation device was built outside the spaceship..."

While thinking, he was already walking toward the rift.

After only a few steps, Ben Bu grabbed his shoulder from behind...

Feng Bujue turned to look at Ben Bu. Although they couldn't speak to each other, the latter's eyes already revealed obvious doubt and unease.

"Stay—here…" Feng Bujue still said with his mouth shapes and gestures, “…is death too.”

He didn't say much. On the one hand, too many words would confuse the other party, and on the other hand... this one sentence was enough.

Ben Bu also understood what Jue-ge meant. He frowned and pondered for a few seconds, then swallowed his saliva, looked back at Jue-ge with a helpless yet somewhat relieved expression, and nodded.

Thus, one in front and one behind, the two walked into the "light gate" ahead...

…………

The situation after entering the space-time rift was surprisingly peaceful.

This experience was unfamiliar to Ben Bu, but Jue-ge was very familiar with it... because it felt similar to "teleportation"; however, it was also the first time he had walked with his own feet in this white light.

One step, one step...

Feng Bujue accurately adjusted his stride to calculate the distance traveled and recorded it.

After walking exactly fifty meters, Feng Bujue suddenly felt a huge traction force coming from ahead... This force was so amazing that Jue-ge didn't even have time to react before being dragged forward.

Seeing this, Ben Bu, who was following behind, wanted to reach out and grab him, but when Ben Bu's palm crossed an invisible boundary, he was also affected by that force, and then... he was also dragged away.

Bang—

When this gravitational force dissipated, a loud noise poured into the ears of the two.

This was simply a cruel attack for the two who had been in a silent environment until now.

Feng Bujue and Ben Bu both knelt on the ground, instinctively covering their heads and closing their eyes, enduring the shock and pain that went straight from their eardrums to their brains.

After a moment, when the two regained their senses and reopened their eyes, they found that... they were already on a flat rock ground; judging from the surrounding scenery and the sky, this was still Warm Ocean Star, but the super-torsion seemed to have stopped.

"Phew..." Ben Bu adjusted his breathing and then spoke, "Are you okay?"

"Not good," Feng Bujue said truthfully, "But I won't die for now."

"Hmm..." Ben Bu understood what Jue-ge meant. His situation was similar to Jue-ge's. Although he wouldn't die, his combat power had been weakened by seventy or eighty percent. "I'm about the same..." He paused and asked, "Poker Face, what... what happened just now? Did we lose our hearing because of the effects of the poison gas, or because of the machine? What was that glowing door? Why did the super-torsion end after we went in and walked for a while?"

"We never lost our hearing," Feng Bujue began to answer almost without thinking, "The reason there was no sound was because the super-torsion was having an effect; similarly... the cracking of the two containers that imprisoned us was also due to the material decomposition effect caused by the super-torsion." He paused slightly, then continued, "As for that glowing door, it was undoubtedly created by the 'Light Cone Vibrator' that Doctor Dian mentioned. Simply put... it's a relatively safe, extremely tiny (relatively speaking) space-time rift."

"Uh... like a time tunnel?" Ben Bu, who only understood half of what he heard, interjected.

"You could say that," Feng Bujue replied.

"So... we are now on Warm Ocean Star at another point in time?" Ben Bu said again.

"That should be the case," Feng Bujue replied.

"Wait..." Ben Bu's expression changed suddenly when he heard this, "In that case... this Warm Ocean Star in front of us could experience super-torsion again at any time!"

"Ah..." Jue-ge replied weakly, "That is indeed a problem..."

"Hey! This is a matter of life and death, okay!" Ben Bu couldn't be as calm as he was, "If we don't find a way to escape this planet, we'll be done for in less than three hundred cosmic cycles!"

"There's no use in you being anxious," Feng Bujue replied, "Not to mention that our physical abilities have already been weakened, even if we weren't weakened... we're not the kind of species that can travel through space with our bare bodies; so, without a spaceship, we can't do anything."

"Didn't we still have the spaceship we and Doctor Dian…" Ben Bu just wanted to say something.

Jue-ge interrupted, "Assuming that the point in time we're currently in is in the 'past,' then these two spaceships obviously haven't landed on this planet yet; and if we're in the 'future,' then those two spaceships must have already been destroyed by the effects of countless super-torsions."

Unfortunately, Ben Bu had only thought of a beginning, but Feng Bujue already had a conclusion—a terrible conclusion.

"That's right!" After thinking for a few more seconds, Ben Bu said again, "What about that Doctor Dian? He came here too, right? Why isn't he here?"

"He ah... he definitely came," Feng Bujue tilted his head and replied, "But I estimate that he has already flown out of the atmosphere of this planet by now."

"What?" Ben Bu was shocked, "How is that possible? Didn't you just say... there can't be any spaceships here, whether in the past or future?"

"Hmph... he doesn't need any spaceship," Feng Bujue said, "Don't forget, Doctor Dian is a cyborg. He can completely transform himself into a form that 'can survive and travel in space'." As he spoke, he gestured with his eyes to the surroundings, "In fact, to carry out this crossing, he would have to undergo such a transformation; even he probably can't be sure whether there is a 'planet' at the position where he ends up after crossing."

"Huh?" Ben Bu didn't understand this sentence, so he uttered a sound of doubt.

"Sigh..." Jue-ge sighed and explained, "This is a problem that many time travelers overlook... Generally speaking, time machines only change the time coordinates, but they don't correct their own spatial coordinates in the universe... In that case, even if we don't consider the fact that the universe itself is constantly changing, we at least have to consider the planet's own revolution and rotation... Otherwise, with the premise that the time axis has been changed, but the spatial axis still overlaps, 99% of time travelers will end up in outer space... Those who are even less lucky might be embedded in the Earth's core."

"Oh!" Ben Bu widened his eyes after hearing this. In the next few seconds, he first feigned enlightenment, and then cold sweat dripped down his face, "Then... it's already considered very lucky that the two of us were able to land safely on the planet's surface!"

"It's not necessarily due to luck..." Feng Bujue replied, "I think there are two possibilities: First, it's indeed because we're lucky; second, Doctor Dian also solved the problem of the spatial axis when designing the ritual..." He shrugged, "It's just that the probability of the former is very low, and the latter... is not only low in probability but also extremely difficult and may not succeed. Of course, in any case, with Doctor Dian's character and wisdom... he would definitely make thorough preparations before acting; so, whether it's outer space or the Earth's core, he should be able to cope with it."

"Then... what should we do?" Ben Bu muttered, "Are we just waiting to die..."

Feng Bujue didn't respond to this question, because, just as Ben Bu's voice faded, the giant shadow of a spaceship appeared in the sky above their heads...