Same feeling as last time.

The whole body of consciousness seems to have fallen into an infinite abyss, in a world where gravity is not felt, towards the edge without boundaries.

Perhaps because of the sheer volume of information, this time the "waiting time" was a little longer.

Just when Lu Zhou's patience was almost exhausted, a point of light the size of a grain of rice finally appeared in the pitch-black abyss.

Quietly waited for it to approach itself, waiting for the point of light to gradually enlarge.

Then, a massive gravitational pull came from the light source and pulled him in.

The shining light source came to his face, and Lu Zhou subconsciously closed his eyes.

And when his eyes opened again, the boundless darkness had faded from his field of vision, replaced by an empty and unfamiliar space.

The five senses returned, and the feet touched the ground, but the sense of gravity was quite thin.

Looking around, Lu Zhou deduced from his first instinct that this was probably the cabin of a certain spaceship, and beyond the porthole embedded in the wall, there was a deep and dark starry sky.

In addition to standing here, there are twenty-five "people" who are dressed the same as themselves, and even their height is uniform.

Judging by temperament, their status should be military.

The streamlined exoskeleton armor exudes a murderous aura, and the angular sticks hanging from the chest are supposed to resemble rifles or something.

For some reason, Lu Zhou suddenly remembered the game he designed in virtual reality some time ago to test the performance of the system.

Thinking of this, he couldn't help but have a strange expression on his face.

Could it be that something is wrong?

"Little Ai ......"

There was a soft call, but there was no response.

Lu Zhou frowned, and a bad feeling gradually rose in his heart.

Wasn't the launch of the virtual reality installation successful?

Or is it that the dream is not in sync?

Or ...... Synchronization is synchronized, but because the neural modem he made is too rudimentary, and the stimulation intensity is weaker than that of the "system" above the technological level of human civilization, his rudimentary equipment cannot interfere with dreams at all.

To put it bluntly, there's just no way to cheat here.

Thinking of this, Lu Zhou's brows furrowed deeper and deeper.

For this plan, he prepared for a while, but he didn't expect to be unfavorable at the beginning.

“…… You can only take one step at a time. ”

With this in mind, Lu Zhou began to carefully observe his surroundings, especially the soldiers who were armed to the teeth.

Because of the mask, Lu Zhou couldn't see the faces of these people clearly, and he wasn't even sure if they were "people", let alone what language they used.

But at this moment, the voice in the communication channel in his ears dispelled his concerns.

The language that appeared in this "memory" was translated into Mandarin that he could understand by the system.

"We're here."

Almost as soon as the words fell, the hull of the spaceship, which was captured by the gravitational field, trembled slightly.

It was as if it had spanned a century of darkness, and a glimmer of light finally appeared outside the porthole.

Immediately afterwards, Lu Zhou saw the most spectacular and shocking scene he had ever seen in his life.

It's not a telescope.

Rather—

"Welcome to the heart of the Empire, the 'capital'...... Probably the most prosperous place in this constellation. After all, until now, there has been no evidence that aliens have visited us. ”

The words were said in a joking tone, and the atmosphere in the cabin was a little lighter.

It's just a pity that Lu Zhou didn't get the laugh.

Although this joke is not funny, the real reason is that at this moment, his eyes have been completely taken away from the world outside the porthole.

It was a huge metal ring, and there was no end to it as far as the eye could see, only the star in the center that it was encircling around. Countless spacecraft shuttled around it, witnessing its prosperity.

The civilization that created this ring emptied all the planets in this star system, and used these materials to create this ring of worlds along the habitable zone, and inhabit and multiply on it.

It's hard to imagine what kind of power they have in their hands to do all this.

At least, in terms of technology, they are far beyond what human civilization can imagine.

“…… Unbelievable. ”

It seemed to hear his soft murmur, or perhaps because he was the only one whose eyes were completely glued to the porthole, and a slightly mocking chuckle came from the communication channel.

Unlike the previous voice, it appeared to be coming from a private communication channel.

"Everyone who arrives in the 'capital' for the first time will have a similar exclamation. I've seen so many hillbillies from the border planets that I've even banged my chin against the window. Where are you from? Industrial planets? Or an agricultural planet? Don't tell me it's a mining station. ”

Lu Zhou opened his mouth and did not speak.

Because he didn't know how to answer this question, and he didn't expect that this time the memory fragment was so "fireworks" and participatory, these NPCs were like living people, and he did not enter the world as a bystander, but participated in the "plot" as a soldier......

As if he had lost interest in the wooden "hillbilly", the soldier standing next to him quickly gave up and ignored him.

At this moment, the hatch in front of them suddenly opened, and a tall, burly soldier wearing an exoskeleton stood in front of them.

At the same time, the voice that had previously mentioned their "arrival" sounded again in the communication channel.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, and I'm your Commander Sainz, from the C-12-27 Sector Defense Station in the capital."

"Just a month ago, the security services received information that Professor Ryan of the C-12-01 Sector Research Institute had been unidentified and feared. The terrorist organization is persecuted, and his life is currently in danger, supposedly because of a physics experiment related to the secrets of the Empire. ”

"Putting aside those inconsequential things, as soldiers, it is our duty and our obligation to defend the order of the Empire, and if someone tries to play with fire under our noses, then we will put out the fire! Our mission is to escort Professor Ryan from his hideout to the Imperial Chambers and clear out potential attackers. ”

"The information that can be disclosed has been uploaded to your mission briefing, and from now on, you are under my command."

"Let's go!"

With a uniform step and a sonorous response, a group of people stepped out of the cabin in an orderly manner.

While following the footsteps of the officer named Sainz in the queue, Lu Zhou opened the mission briefing through the AR interface of the helmet.

There is very little information that can be disclosed.

In short, a physicist named Ryan discovers an astonishing secret during a physics experiment that could affect the empire for the next hundred years – or even more than a hundred years in the future.

The secret code name is labeled "Oracle", and it is impossible to guess what it is just by looking at the name.

As for Professor Lane, who had the power to influence the future of the Empire, he was naturally summoned by the Council to go to the Imperial Chamber to elaborate on his findings and debate his claims.

Although it is an empire, the system here is quite enlightened.

It's just a pity that this kind of open-mindedness is only reflected in the bright side, and there is still a turbulent undercurrent flowing behind the scenes. Some, for some reason, don't seem to want Professor Lane to get there, or rather don't want him to convey the "oracle" to the political center of the Empire.

Professor Lane?

Who is he?

What exactly is an "oracle"?

And, what exactly is the physics experiment he does?

Silently writing down the name in his heart, as well as those scattered clues, Lu Zhou thoughtfully turned off the mission briefing.

His instincts told him.

The physicist named Ryan should be the key to this memory.

If he wants to gather the information that this memory wants to convey to him, he must make contact with Professor Lane and find out what that "oracle" is.

Fortunately, the role he is playing now is to send this VIP bodyguard to each other.

If nothing else, he should be able to meet the professor, maybe he can talk to him for a few words, and maybe he can also exchange academic questions.

Of course, for the latter, in fact, Lu Zhou did not have great hopes, and the probability that the system could let him exploit this loophole was too low.

If this memory did not contain those obscure physical theories, even if he talked all night, he might not be able to extract the secret of the speed of light from the mouth of this Professor Lane, or the knowledge of physics that only advanced civilizations can master.

The spaceship is docked in the starport.

Through a narrow corridor, the soldiers boarded an elevator shaped like a train.

The people around them cast awe-inspiring glances at them and kept a certain distance from them.

Lu Zhou glanced around a little nervously, and finally saw what the inhabitants of this place, including himself, looked like.

Generally speaking, the appearance of these inhabitants still has a lot of similarities with humans, they all have two arms and two legs, and even five fingers, the only difference is that the blue skin and slightly narrow facial features.

Curious about this magical similarity, but just as Lu Zhou was about to take a closer look, the elevator under his feet had stopped.

"It's time to stop."

Concise commands, prompting him to keep up with the group. In order to avoid unnecessary trouble, Lu Zhou did not stop in the elevator, and left here with the team, and came to an empty and magnificent building.

Not surprisingly, this is supposed to be the world on the surface, or the world on the "ring".

The atmosphere here is quite lively, with people coming and going through the main hall, boarding the "elevator" to the space station through the security entrance, or standing next to a narrow assembly line waiting for their luggage.

Through the glass window on the side of the corridor, Lu Zhou saw the world outside the building.

A labyrinth of buildings stretches to the end of the horizon, with a steady stream of vehicles speeding through the air, so fast that one can't help but worry about crashing into them.

In addition, what really interests Lu Zhou is the architecture here.

Perhaps catering to the "efficiency-oriented" aesthetic of this civilization, the buildings here are mostly square in silhouette, except for a few decorations on the surface.

Compared to the brick-built houses on the planet, they are more like "standardized modules" produced on the assembly line of a factory, stacked according to a specific pattern, like building blocks spliced together, layer by layer to the current height.

It may sound weird, but when you think about it, it doesn't seem like there's much to fuss about.

After all, the whole world is a huge man-made object, and all the buildings located in this circular world can be seen in the abstract as an expansion space module on the space station.

If you still use that primitive way of building, it will make people feel incredible.

After passing through the security passage, Lu Zhou felt more intuitively how huge the population of the empire was.

If it weren't for the crowd next to me taking the initiative to avoid it, it would have taken a lot of time just to get out of this traffic building.

Through the panoramic screen hanging in the hall, Lu Zhou also learned an unexpected news - that is, this kind of elevator similar to the Tower of Babel has 1~2 divisions in each section of the entire circular world. The commute between the "ring" and the space station is by elevator, while the commute between the zones and between the zones and the segments depends on the vacuum tube train located in the center of the ring.

Although it is only some inconsequential knowledge, it also gives Lu Zhou a deeper understanding of the degree of development of this civilization.

Here, all the problems of food, clothing, housing and transportation seem to have been perfectly solved.

People don't need to make any special effort, as long as they climb this ring, they can live a good life.

The capital.

It's like a utopia......

Although he was very interested in the form of this civilization, it was a pity that he had a mission on his part, and Chief Sainz did not leave them time for sightseeing at all.

After leaving the traffic building, they got into the flying car parked at the door, blended into the endless traffic, and sailed for about half an hour before arriving at their destination.

Seven black flying cars with the Imperial insignia came to a halt at a berth in front of a boxy building.

Following the movements of the soldiers next to him, Lu Zhou got out of the car together, and then Lu Zhou noticed that a thin man in a white coat who looked a little panicked walked out of the open metal door with a small leather bag.

"I'm being targeted, I feel like someone is following me!"

Upon seeing Chief Sainz, the scholar immediately trotted in front of him, telling him the panic in his heart at the moment.

The burly warrior listened quietly to what he had to say, and then reassured in a gentle voice.

"Rest assured, Professor Lane, now that you are under the protection of the Imperial forces, we will escort you safely to the Imperial Chamber."

Perhaps because of the military's exalted position in the Empire, this reassurance seemed to have helped, and Professor Lane's expression softened slightly, and he took a deep breath, quickly calming himself down.

“…… Let's go, it's getting late. ”

"Okay," Chief Sainz nodded, gesturing with his eyes to the speeding car in the middle of the line, "please get in." ”

The VIP was successfully recovered, and the group hit the road again.

Lu Zhou really wanted to sit in the same car as Professor Ryan, but unfortunately, the car he was in was at the back of the line.

Although I was in a hurry, there was no better way than to wait patiently at this time.

If you make some unnatural moves at this time, and you are suspected of bad intentions, it will be even more difficult to contact this Professor Lane.

Seven flying cars slowly lifted into the air and returned to their high-speed tracks.

Along the way, there was nothing to do, and Lu Zhou, who was bored, could only look at the scenery outside the window to pass the time.

However, at this moment, the anomaly suddenly happened, and a violent explosion suddenly came from behind, and a crimson fire reflected on the rearview mirror.

Lu Zhou's heart suddenly tightened, and he subconsciously clenched the rifle hanging on his chest, and almost at the same time, a voice came from the communication channel.

"Vehicle No. 7 was attacked, 95% of the damage was achieved, and the occupants of the vehicle were killed."

"Team A continues to move forward, and Team B descends to meet them on the ground."

"Roger."

It's like telling an ordinary thing, and the voice coming from the communication channel is so calm that it makes people's scalps tingle.

I don't know if it's the unique culture of this civilization, or if they've unlocked the transcendent philosophy of life and death, and they don't show any anger at the death of their comrades, not even the slightest emotional fluctuation.

However, it is precisely this kind of calm in the face of danger that gives them strong combat effectiveness.

Almost as soon as they were attacked, all combat units reacted quickly, like gears on a spring.

Blue ballistics flew through the sky, weaving a web of fire in the air, biting at the fragile chassis engine of the vehicle behind it.

Forced by the deterrence of fire suppression, the vehicles pursuing in the rear were forced to descend to the height with the moving vehicles of Lu Zhou, and forced to land on the empty metal ground.

"Get ready to attack!"

Led by the officer, the well-trained soldiers quickly rushed out of the vehicle, took cover for the vehicle next to them, set up their rifles, and began to return fire at the attackers.

Although he didn't really want to fight, in order not to be seen as flawed, Lu Zhou also took the plunge.

Learning from the movements of other people, he opened the safe, desperately remembering the skills that Dr. Yan taught him at the training base, and he poked the muzzle of the gun out of cover and pulled the trigger in the safest shooting position, providing suppressive fire for his teammates around him.

As for whether it hits or not, it doesn't matter at all.

It's okay if he shoots a fixed target, but in such a complex battlefield environment, he has no combat experience, and his marksmanship is not accurate at all.

The blue ballistics filled almost the entire area of the firefight, leaving cratered bullet holes in the ground and surrounding walls, but surprisingly, the vehicles that served as bunkers remained intact.

It was as if some special force field had covered the surface of the car body, dissolving the rays that contained terrifying energy.

The muzzle of the gun made a loud overheating sound.

Lu Zhou, whose magazine was quickly empty, hurriedly learned the movements of other soldiers to change ammunition.

However, at that moment, he suddenly caught a glimpse of the empty battery that dragged the hot white smoke and ejected from the chamber of the gun.

The pupils contracted slightly, and a sense of déjà vu suddenly climbed into Lu Zhou's heart.

This battery ......

Has he seen it somewhere?

Lamp pen