Did the world end today?

Chapter 269 is slow enough.

FSB (Federal Security Service) interrogation room.
-
Or more accurately, it was the reception room.

Ivan sat awkwardly opposite the staff member in charge of negotiating with him, holding a glass of the world's most expensive vodka that he had once clamored to order in the bar.

Roussobart.

Ivan stared intently at the liquid in the glass, licking his lips, wanting to drink but hesitant to do so.

where is this?
This is inside the National Security Bureau!

He had never heard of anyone receiving such treatment here.

Therefore, there are only two possibilities.

Or perhaps this kind of treatment simply doesn't exist.

Either all those who received this treatment are dead.

And clearly, based on his own experience, the answer should be the latter.

Ivan's hands trembled slightly; it wasn't that he couldn't accept death.

He just felt that this way of dying was really too strange.

Just a few hours ago, he was merely a tour guide and an actor playing a hunter.

But just hours later, he was to be executed for violating state secrets.
Suka Bulie!

Suddenly, Ivan became fierce. He picked up his glass and drank it all in one gulp, then looked up at the man in front of him and said:
"Ask whatever you want!"

"I have nothing left to hold me back! Oh, and if possible, please don't use a gun!"

"Just give me a cup of poison, and I promise I'll mix it with this bottle of Russobalt and drink it!"

"I won't waste a single drop. Or is it that you actually mixed the poison in all along?"

The strong liquor made Ivan's throat a little hoarse, and his voice was as sharp and piercing as the cold wind on the icy plains, yet it also revealed a resolute desolation.

The man opposite him was both amused and exasperated.

He shook his head and said:
"Who said you were going to die?"

"Let me introduce myself first. I am Alexei Zamorochkov, a quantum physicist."

“I used to work at the Landau Institute for Theoretical Physics, and then I went to France—for reasons you know, I recently returned to Russia.”

"My purpose in coming here is, of course, the research on the 'high-dimensional channel' that you mentioned before."

"After all, the location where high-dimensional passages appear is completely random, and Russia possesses the world's largest land territory. Theoretically speaking, the probability of a high-dimensional passage appearing here is very high."

"--Sorry, I seem to have gone a bit off-topic."

"Let's get back to the main topic."

Alexei shifted slightly, picked up the empty glass on the table, and poured himself a glass of vodka.

He took a small sip, nodded, and said:
“Very good wine—let’s continue.”

"First of all, as I said, you will not die."

"Because what you've come into contact with isn't a so-called high-dimensional channel."

"To be precise, it was a 'fragment of time'."

"Time fragments??"

Ivan's eyes trembled slightly.

Yes, that was indeed a fragment of time.

I saw so many things there, things that couldn't be explained by the high-dimensional channels mentioned in the news.

Does anyone ever see mammoths in a higher dimension?
Of course not!
But if it's a fragment of time, then it's much easier to explain.

Just like in science fiction movies! Through the fragments, you can see different times, predict the future, and even see the past!

So, I was chosen?

Am I going to be the superhero who saves the world?

He looked excitedly at Alexei opposite him, and then asked:
"So I'll become a time traveler??"

"Time traveler?"

Alexei couldn't help but laugh.

"No, of course not."

"You don't think you're going to become some kind of superhero, do you?"

"."

Ivan lowered his head awkwardly and remained silent.

After a moment of silence, he finally spoke and asked:
"So how exactly did you find me?"

"What I mean is, I only saw that piece of debris less than an hour ago, and then you guys found me."

"This is the main point I'm going to make next."

Alexei's expression instantly turned serious.

He looked at Ivan and said solemnly:

"You're not the first person to come into contact with the time fragments."

"In fact, before you, there were two other people who came into contact with the time fragments."

"One of them is gone, and one of them is dead."

"You are the only one who survived."

"That's it??"

Ivan looked up in astonishment.

The Russian word for "gone" does not mean "dead," and he couldn't immediately understand what Alexei was trying to say.

"It disappeared, disintegrated, and perhaps traveled to another world."

In short, he no longer exists in our world.

"But you are different."

"You're still here, you're even alive and well, right?"

They are indeed alive and well.

Ivan scratched his head.

After coming into contact with that fragment of time, I didn't seem to have any special reaction.

Aside from some initial dizziness and a confused, drunken feeling, there was nothing else.

But even with this illusion, I quickly adapted.
"So now you know what makes you special?"

Alexei looked into Ivan's eyes and continued:

"You likely possess some kind of special high-dimensional adaptability."

"Of course, we cannot draw any conclusions on this yet."

"After all, research in this area is still in its very early stages."

"You may be adaptable, or you may just be lucky."

"But in any case, you are a special research subject."

"So, after you finish this drink, you should get going."

"On the way?"

Ivan instinctively stood up.

"Where am I going?"

"Go to China."

Alexei replied:
"Go to the Nanjing Command Center, which is the world's center for high-dimensional technology research—well, it seems to have become the world's center now."

"what?"

Ivan was completely dumbfounded.

"Me? Going to Jinling??"

"Yes."

Alexei nodded again.

"I can't refuse, and there's no excuse."

"You must go."

"I know"

Ivan let out a heavy sigh.

Research object
So, will I be cut into pieces by those people?
No, that shouldn't be the case.

After all, judging from the words of those Chinese tourists, he could tell that it was a fairly civilized country.

However, he had no idea what he was about to face. This brought him a strange sense of fear.

What about you? Will you be coming along?

"Will you take that... fragment of time with you?"

"of course not."

Alexei shrugged.

"No one can take away the fragments of time; we can only try to study them as quickly as possible."

"Because it can also dissipate or disappear in a short period of time."

"In short, just go to Nanjing with peace of mind."

"By the way, once you get there, whatever you do, don't drink alcohol, and definitely don't brag."

"Especially don't tell the story of how you cheated Chinese tourists out of tips as a joke."

"That won't do us any good."

Meanwhile, on the icy plains...

The blizzard continued to rage, the wind howling like a ghost that had lingered for millennia in this frigid land.

No living thing can survive for more than two hours in a blizzard of this magnitude. In the face of the power of nature, animals, plants, and insects all seem so insignificant.

The cold wind is the god that governs this land, and even when the once powerful republic still existed, no one could challenge its authority here.

But today, its authority is not only being challenged.

It should be said that its power was completely shattered that very night.

In the air, heavy transport planes roared past, breaking through the wind and snow, and landed on the temporary airport that had been built just a few hours earlier.

The cement had just dried at a low temperature, and the huge load-bearing wheels on the landing gear were rubbing together, producing blue smoke.

The Mi-26 helicopter, carrying a massive precast slab, braved strong winds that seemed poised to blow the entire helicopter and the slab away, and forcefully inserted the 19-ton slab into the ground.

The propellers tore through the blizzard, even blowing snowflakes upwards against their direction of descent.

When the heavy precast slabs landed, the frozen soil on the ground collapsed to both sides as if it had been cleaved in two by a sharp blade falling from the sky.

Immediately afterwards, the four-legged wheeled excavators that had been waiting on the sidelines quickly rose up like beetles and fixed the precast slabs onto the already constructed foundation.

The bolts were tightened, and the reinforcing bar was penetrated.

The raging forces of nature continued to try to destroy this thin wall, and from this moment on, the battle between the two sides officially began.

Countless lights illuminate the shores of Lake Baikal.

Above the sky, a large number of silver iodide bombs used to disperse localized blizzards exploded.

Although the effect was minimal, light had already dispelled the darkness, both on the ground and in the sky.

A long line of trucks rushed toward the central battlefield, where workers dressed in uniform, heavy winter clothing swung sledgehammers and hammered steel chisels, creating scorching sparks in the -32 degree Celsius air that could burn the skin.

Their figures were not imposing.

Yet, when they stood at the edge of the vast black shadow cast by countless searchlights, they exuded a terrifying aura that made all petty villains tremble with fear.

They had no guns, no weapons.

But who can say they have no power?

"What the hell is the second construction team doing?"

"Get this up there already!"

"I need you to build a windbreak wall within half an hour!"

"Northwest direction, proceed with construction according to the plan!"

"What do you mean you can't understand the drawings? What a draft! Where's the construction worker?!"

"Forget about qualifications, get on this!"

The vulgar shouts, so out of place in this land, almost drowned out the howling of the storm, and moments later, everyone surged toward the battlefield.

The young construction worker took off his glasses, which were covered in frost, and the workers around him surrounded him, shining flashlights on the blueprints in his hands.

The next second, the super-heavy transport drone took off.

A powerful flight control system gives it the ability to withstand storms, and thin but strong cables sway in the air, transmitting the electrical energy from the roaring diesel generator to the lighting bulbs carried by the drone.

Countless stars with umbilical cords rose into the sky, illuminating the entire area.

The storm seemed to be intimidated by their unparalleled courage and began to gradually subside.

"Hurry, hurry, hurry!"

"If we're not fast enough, are we supposed to rely on the Russians?"

"This is our territory now! Show us your strength!"

"Two hours! Get the experimental site set up within two hours!"

"The research equipment will be on site soon. Do you want your brothers to wait for you?!"

The man in charge of the on-site command held a walkie-talkie in his hand; his fingers were frozen stiff, but steam was rising from his face.

"Two hours!"

More and more workers joined this extremely intense battle, and flesh and machine melted the solid ice with the same scorching heat.

The windbreak has been erected, 6 minutes faster than expected.

Then, more and more precast slabs were erected, one after another, like building blocks.

At the very center, the outline of a massive building has already been taken shape.

"One hour to prepare for topping out!"

"Lift the hoist! Lift the hoist!"

"Be careful! If it collapses, I'll bury you all one by one!"

The unexpected event that the man feared did not occur. As the two arched precast slabs were steadily lowered, the roofing work of the factory building was officially completed.

His workers still need to complete the construction of more auxiliary facilities, but at the same time, experimental equipment has also begun to arrive on site.

"Be careful! Watch out for collisions!"

"There are precision instruments inside, so please don't drop or break them."

"We only have two redundant backups. If they both fail, we're doomed!"

"First, build a computing center!"

"It's built? Oh, an integrated center, right? Okay, no problem. Connect the energy equipment and start distributing energy."

"Prioritize energy management!"

A middle-aged man with graying hair directed his lab technicians to deploy the experimental equipment.

He glanced at his watch; there was still an hour until the scheduled delivery time.

Theoretically speaking, that's enough.

But we still need to be quick!
Faster!
Because no one knows when the crystal suspended in the center of the factory will disappear.

Every second is a race between "human beings" and "laws"!
Fortunately, the people he knew were good at this.

45 minutes later, all the equipment was set up.

The computing center has already planned a series of experiments to be conducted. All it takes is for someone to press a start button to start the experiments immediately.

"Alexei, the specific research work here will be handed over to you."

"If you have any questions, you can discuss them with our expert team."

"They are the best!"

"no problem."

Alexei, who had just arrived at the scene, was shocked by what he saw.

Just hours earlier, when he followed Ivan into the Federal Security Service's reception room, it was still a desolate snowfield.

But a few hours later...
This place has been transformed into a fully equipped and functional laboratory!
The outside wind and snow have been blocked for safety.

There was even heating inside, which made him sweat.

Alexei looked around in shock.

After a long silence, he suddenly asked:
"So... how did you do that??"

"So fast and so good."

"Fast?"

The man laughed heartily.

"It's already slow enough."

"My old friend, this is the power of the industrial monster!"

(End of this chapter)