Did the world end today?

Chapter 394 The Out-of-Control Experiment

"Countdown to 30 minutes!"

"Everyone get ready!"

"One by one! Don't panic!"

"This is the final drill!"

"You must all enter the high-dimensional portal within 5 seconds! Each of you has only half a second!"

"Now, focus on the ring in front of you!"

"Line up in a row!"

"Three! Two! One! Charge!"

At a command, the testers, lined up in neat rows, rushed toward the circular structure made of ropes not far away, representing the "high-dimensional passage."

Like animals jumping through hoops of fire in a circus, they leaped into the hoop one after another from one side and rushed out from the other side at high speed.

Dust filled the unpaved area, and air currents carried it to every corner of the venue.

The researchers who were debugging the precision equipment started cursing, and the instructors in charge of training retaliated without holding back.

The scene was chaotic, and in the end, Andy, who was in charge of the overall command on site, stepped between the two groups who were arguing and stopped a new round of so-called "mobility tests".

"That's enough training for now, you've had more than enough time!"

"enough?"

The instructor stared wide-eyed.

"It now takes them all 8 seconds to get through the passage, which is a full 3 seconds slower than the planned 5 seconds!"

"What do you mean 'enough'? I don't want my men going to their deaths!"

"If they can't enter the passage as planned, are they supposed to..."

"All right!"

Andy shouted:
"You are slow because you haven't truly entered the higher-dimensional channel. In fact, once you enter the higher-dimensional channel, the people in front of you will disappear!"

"So all you have to do is jump in, that's all!"

"There's definitely enough time. Now stop everything and let the others debug the equipment!"

".clear."

The instructor waved his hand impatiently, signaling everyone to disperse.

The chaotic line instantly quieted down. The burly tester at the front of the line took off his heavy protective helmet and plopped down on a chair.

"Sit down, what are you still looking at?"

He spoke to the others in a slightly sarcastic tone:
“They don’t need us at all; we’re just a bonus.”

"Buy one get one free, understand?"

"So there's absolutely no need to be so serious—why be so serious?"

The man held up two fingers and made a smile at the corner of his mouth, as if imitating the classic clown pose.

After looking around, the others realized that no one seemed to care about this corner, which should have been the core of the testing process, so they all sat down next to him.

"It's ridiculous."

The short, ordinary-looking man bit his thin lips and said:
"Now I know why we were the only ones participating in the test. Turns out we were just consumables."

Seeing his expression, the first man to sit down said in a matter-of-fact tone:
"Otherwise what? Otherwise why do you think only us ordinary soldiers are participating, and there isn't even a single scientific researcher?"

"We were just insignificant nobodys to begin with."

After he finished speaking, the instructor glared at him with a cold look. He met the instructor's gaze without any mercy, seemingly without any fear.

"Alright, bro."

The short man patted him on the shoulder and said:

"Be careful, they might stop your family's bonuses and subsidies."

"I have no family."

The man replied:
“My family died in the pandemic a few years ago—I left all my benefits to the veterans’ association.”

"Of course, I don't care whether they get it or not."

"Anyway, they're just like me, worthless lives."

"Without this money, they would just drink a few less drinks."

These words left the short man speechless. After a long silence, he finally extended his hand.

"Lucas, CIASAD."

"SAD?"

The veteran grasped his hand and asked in confusion:
“My name is Rooney—wait, you guys are still alive? I thought this operations department was going to be shut down in the MLS era.”

"I'm here because the department is being shut down—in reality, we don't have anything else to do."

"I'm here just to earn some money for my child's college tuition."

"University?"

Rooney shook his head with amusement.

"What time is it? Still going to university?"

"I've heard that brain-computer interfaces capable of bidirectional information transmission are about to be developed."

"By then, knowledge will be directly poured into your brain, so why bother going to school?"

"Who knows if it will succeed?"

Lucas rolled his eyes.

"But it's never wrong to earn more money."

"Besides, we might not even die inside."

"According to statistics from previous reports of higher-dimensional experiences, the overall mortality rate of all those who have entered higher-dimensional channels is no more than 50%."

"Don't you think this is much safer than going to the Middle East for a field mission?"

“Furthermore, in addition to the fixed compensation, we also have the opportunity to return through a higher-dimensional channel and gain unparalleled ‘higher-dimensional abilities’.”

"From an economic perspective, the overall expectation of this mission is simply too high to be true."

That makes sense.

Rooney nodded in deep agreement.

"This is the first time I've heard someone explain this mission from this perspective."

"But here's the question—if this mission is so good, why are we the only ones participating?"

"Because those in positions of power don't need to take risks, but we do."

Lucas sighed, then continued:

"Okay, there's no point in discussing this now."

"Are you sure you don't want to call your friends or comrades in the last 10 minutes?"

"I've already said, I don't have any friends."

Rooney leaned back in his chair, tilted his head back, and said:
"I do wish someone would talk to me, but..."

"Most of the people I know are so tormented by PTSD that they can no longer think normally."

"So that's why you're leaving the money to the veterans' association?"

"No."

Rooney replied casually:
"It doesn't matter who gets it; I just want the government to bleed a little."

"It's really unlucky to say that our generation has caught up with the worst time."

"The era of the Major Leagues eliminated all possible pain, but unfortunately, the pain that already exists cannot be erased."

"Perhaps, when technology becomes more advanced, when we truly enter higher dimensions, these things will improve."

"Then it depends on those Chinese people."

Lucas said thoughtfully.

"Yes, then it depends on those Chinese people."

"They are really amazing."

"Yes."

The two fell silent.

Ten minutes passed in the blink of an eye, and when the whistle signaling assembly sounded, everyone in the waiting area stood up almost simultaneously.

A minute later, an "entrance" appeared before them, unfathomable and as elusive as the void.

But the opening was several meters away from their prepared location. "Positioning error! Positioning error!"

"Go! Go!"

"Proceed according to the plan!"

"Come in!"

Rooney gritted his teeth.

Then, he rushed towards that higher-dimensional passage that felt like his "home" to him.
The next morning, in Nanjing.

Lin Xu had just finished washing up and stepped out of the room, and hadn't even had a chance to sit down at the dining table, when he bumped into Qin Feng, who had a displeased look on his face.

He looked at the other person with a puzzled expression and asked:
"What's wrong with you? Why do you look so grumpy so early in the morning?"

"I don't want to either."

Qin Feng replied helplessly:
"The Americans are up to their old tricks again."

"them??"

Lin Xu was taken aback.

"What other tricks can they pull? They have no technology, no organization, and in this high-dimensional context, without our support, what can they possibly do?"

"Don't tell me, it really works."

Qin Feng unconsciously gritted his teeth, then said:
"We have received information that the US has just completed a high-dimensional experiment."

"They plan to do what we did, sending a group of test subjects directly into a higher-dimensional space."

"Based on intelligence feedback, they saw the success of the Zhenjiang experiment and planned to use this method to obtain high-dimensional information, thereby further gaining dominance in the field of high-dimensional technology."

"In fact, in principle, this kind of experiment is not strictly prohibited by any rules."

"However, because all parties are aware of the dangers of high-dimensional channels and high-dimensional spaces, no country or force has ever dared to launch an experiment without our permission or the participation of our personnel."

"This time, the Americans' actions have clearly broken with convention."

"They completely covered up this experiment. If our satellites hadn't detected the local gravitational fluctuations, we probably wouldn't have even been notified of the results."

"What exactly are they trying to do?"

Qin Feng's news plunged Lin Xu into a tremendous sense of "absurdity".

Logically speaking, given that there is already a powerful leader who is supporting them, and so far this leader has not done anything wrong and is even continuously creating value for the subordinates and promoting profits for all parties, maintaining the status quo and sticking close to the leader is the most reasonable solution.

But these people chose a path that is completely incomprehensible to others.

"who knows?"

Qin Feng said speechlessly:
"This is probably the underlying nature of what they call liberalism."

“They do not believe in the power of the collective and order.”

"After all, this country was built by a bunch of criminals who fled from order."

"The alliance with us is merely based on practical interests."

"Now that the alliance has stabilized and the parties have begun to form a bond of shared interests, they are going to start testing our bottom line."

After Qin Feng finished speaking, Lin Xu nodded thoughtfully.

indeed.

The underlying civilizations of the two countries are completely different.

In the matter of "survival choices," Chinese civilization has repeatedly demonstrated the importance of order and collectivism over the past thousands of years. It is precisely this fundamental quality that has enabled this civilization to survive many disasters that could have led to the destruction of the nation and the extinction of the race.

This underlying character has long been etched into the very marrow of this civilization.

And what about the United States?
Throughout their centuries-long history, they did indeed gain a brief advantage through so-called "liberalism."

This led them to have a misconception about so-called "freedom".

They always thought this was the panacea for all problems.

Little do people realize that blindly believing in freedom is no different from being a gambler.
"never mind."

Lin Xu waved his hand and said:
"Let's not worry about their background or motives for now."

"So, what were the results of this experiment?"

"This is what I wanted to tell you."

Qin Feng pushed the tablet in his hand in front of Lin Xu.

"If their experiment succeeds, then at least it will have some value."

"As for problems such as being overly aggressive or disobeying orders, these can be punished and corrected through other means later."

"But the problem is..."

"This experiment can be described as a complete failure."

"completely annihilated??"

Lin Xu was dumbfounded.

"What's the specific situation?"

"Small-scale plasma storm".

Qin Feng replied:
“A small plasma storm swept through a large area near the high-dimensional channel, taking away all life there.”

"However, this is only part of the disaster."

"Our gravity monitoring satellite detected extremely strong anomalous gravitational fluctuations around the test site at the very moment the experiment began."

"At the same time, the surrounding terrain has undergone drastic changes."

"That kind of change wasn't caused by a simple explosion or geological movement. I don't know how to describe it in detail, so please look at the picture."

Lin Xu nodded slightly and reached out to swipe the screen.

A large number of satellite photos were instantly presented to him.

As he saw the content on the screen, his brows immediately furrowed.

这 是
Just as Qin Feng said, the changes in the terrain of this area could not have been caused by simple "physical factors".

It's more like a...
A chaotic reorganization!
The rugged terrain contained all sorts of bizarre landforms, and Lin Xu had never seen so many elements gathered in such a small area.

Grasslands, deserts, fault lines, lava fields, and even things that should absolutely not be there.
A large iceberg.

It's as if a God who isn't good at geography casually mixed together a multitude of elements.

These elements obviously cannot exist for long, but at this moment, their appearance is absolutely terrifying.

"What exactly did they do?"

Lin Xu gasped.

"Simply sending a living person into a higher-dimensional channel could never produce such an effect, could it?"

"That's definitely impossible."

Qin Feng replied:
"We are still looking into the more specific details."

"But the progress is a bit slow right now."

"Because their top decision-maker is currently in the hospital."

"no??"

Lin Xu was completely stunned.

"He's gone too?"

"That's not true."

Qin Feng waved his hand and said:
"If he were gone too, things wouldn't be like this now."

"But he has indeed been impacted in some way, and the government is currently in a state of partial dysfunction."

".Understood."

Lin Xu let out a long breath.

"Hurry up."

"We need to get specific information as soon as possible so that we can organize our resources to deal with any special circumstances."

"Understood, I'll follow up right away."

Qin Feng nodded solemnly, then turned and left.

Lin Xu sat silently at the table for a long time, until the soy milk in the cup had gone cold, and he still didn't move.
at the same time.

The complex terrain is melting away at a visible rate.

The rules that maintain this area seem to be gradually eroding the true "rules" of this world.

However, such erosion and dissolution are not actually peaceful.

At the location where the higher-dimensional channel had originally appeared, hundreds of millions of beams of light, seemingly frozen in time, were slowly growing and slowly spreading outwards.
(End of this chapter)