novelraw Chapter 377: Sever the underworld river
Chapter 377: Sever the underworld river
"Is there a way to deal with it?" the elder behind Alexander asked with a grave expression.
"All the existing technological weapons have been tested, and they can’t pose any threat to the Underworld River, not even penetrate the white mist that envelops the entire Underworld River. If we don’t find a way to harm it, we can only be at its mercy!"
"Fortunately, we’ve found something that can harm those black beetles!" Sofia, picking up a strangely shaped silver gun from a nearby shelf, said:
"The Underworld River needs pure mental energy, but living beings possess not only mental energy but also the emotions and thoughts that govern it. These things are like poison to the Underworld River, forbidden! This gun was made with the forbidden energy of tens of thousands of people and can fire ten shots."
As Sofia spoke, she aimed the gun at a distant wall and pulled the trigger.
A white light shot from the barrel, leaving a white spot on the wall. A faint white smoke lingered around the spot, not dissipating for a long time.
"This power isn’t strong at all, not even as good as our electromagnetic guns!" Alexander frowned and said:
"The message from General Akali indicates that the black beetles comprising the Underworld River are extremely powerful. Even electromagnetic guns struggle to penetrate their defense, yet they can easily bite through our spacecraft and warships."
"It’s different!" Sofia shook her head, placing the body of a black beetle into the white smoke.
The white smoke quickly penetrated the beetle’s body, and white spots appeared on it immediately.
"This is why emotional energy is forbidden to the Underworld River. It can deactivate the Underworld River cells and impair their self-control."
Seeing Sofia had found a way to counter the black beetles, Alexander’s face didn’t show joy. He asked in a heavy tone: "Tell me, what’s the difficulty?"
Sofia, knowing she couldn’t deceive Alexander, sighed and said:
"There’s too little forbidden energy! The energy emitted by ten thousand people over ten days, gathered together, only suffices for ten shots from this gun. Using interstellar prisoners with guilty hearts for our experiments, a complete consciousness can only yield a maximum of two hundred shots.
The massive Underworld River, stretching over a million miles, even if we exhaust the resources of a trillion federation citizens over three years, we might only blast a trivial gap in the Underworld River."
"Is there no other way?" Alexander asked, frowning.
"There is!" Sofia walked over to a nearby instrument and operated it for a while, and suddenly a starry sky appeared on the screen.
Pointing to the great river crossing the stars and the white mist surrounding it:
"These white mists are the excretions of the Underworld River, made entirely of the forbidden energy that the Underworld River cannot absorb. They protect and grow with the Underworld River. If we can harness them for ourselves, perhaps we can sever the Underworld River!"
Alexander was well-informed about the institute’s research; in fact, much of it was guided by him, which is why Sofia was such an excellent apprentice.
Thus, after a moment of contemplation, he spoke: "You’ve managed to extract the diffused mental and cognitive energy from human thoughts to create this gun. Extracting the Underworld River’s protective Mist to make weapons shouldn’t be difficult!
Creatures of the Underworld River enter a Rampage State once they get close, but unmanned drones and robots can still approach it. Is the research halted because there’s something peculiar about these protective Mists?"
"You guessed it right! Look here, Marshal," Sofia nodded and operated the instrument in front of her.
The image on the screen was enlarged and brought closer.
In the endless starry sea, amidst the myriad stars, a massive black river flowed majestically. Around the black river, thick white mist, like billowing fog, filled the space.
As the image zoomed in, through the white Mist, countless beetles could be seen flapping their wings, forming a turbulent river – a sight that sent shivers down one’s spine.
However, Alexander’s attention wasn’t on the Underworld River itself. Following the direction pointed by Sofia, within the Mist, seven massive shadows could be faintly seen roaming.
"Are these creatures? No, are these consciousnesses generated by the Mist?" Alexander exclaimed in surprise.
"That’s correct!" Sofia nodded, pointing at the seven figures:
"Based on our observations, the Underworld River doesn’t have its own consciousness; it acts purely on instinct. Or perhaps this part we see is just a tiny fragment of the Underworld River, a tentacle, a hair, or even just a sweat gland.
In the distant reaches of space, its true form might possess real consciousness, but that’s too far from us. Our actions are like cells floating around a giant, having no impact on the whole.
This segment of the Underworld River lacks consciousness, but the forbidden energy it excretes, all emotional energy, has formed conscious entities under high concentration. These entities are the excretions of the Underworld River, useless and even poisonous to it.
But tending towards symbiosis, these consciousnesses created from the forbidden energy see the Underworld River as their parent, becoming its first line of defense. In the section we can observe, there are seven such consciousnesses, which we call the Guardians.
If we use unmanned spacecraft to extract these forbidden energies, a small amount at the fringes might go unnoticed. But a large-scale extraction will definitely attract the attention of the Guardians. Then, not only will we fail to extract the forbidden, but our plan will also be exposed.
What’s more terrifying is that although these consciousnesses can’t directly control the Underworld River, our probes indicate they have some ability to guide, even command it! Sending aero-space warships for an attack was already a risky move.
If we really draw the attention of these Guardians, it’s not out of the question that they, being conglomerates of forbidden energy, might have special means to access our memories. If that happens and our base is exposed, that’s when the real trouble begins!
We have no retreat, because of our actions!"