The Gate

Elizabeth took forty years to fully process 4.1 billion years of memories, while Chen Changsheng directly used the Web of Conspiracy to selectively skim through important memories. Even so, it took him decades to get a general impression.

Within Elizabeth's 4.1 billion years of memories, Chen Changsheng actually found some issues that piqued his interest. It turned out that at the very beginning of life on Earth, in the deepest part of the ocean, there was a miraculous place that even Elizabeth couldn't damage in the slightest.

However, due to the immense passage of time, Chen Changsheng couldn't pinpoint its exact location from the memories. But he clearly saw that this mysterious place was a quest bubble, a type of interface he was more familiar with than anyone else—the quest interface from his transmigration.

Chen Changsheng called this quest bubble the Gate, because he felt he could return to his original world through it.

Chen Changsheng desperately wanted to find this Gate quickly. Although he had developed very well in this world, he still wished to return to his original world… a wanderer longing for home.

During the ten years Chen Changsheng spent in seclusion digesting memories, the Umbrella Corporation had also made significant progress. The Neuro-Bug Strategist Corps he had envisioned was now fully established, with hundreds of thousands of Neuro-Bugs distributed worldwide, managing Chen Changsheng's Umbrella Corporation.

Through the mysterious connection between viruses, the Neuro-Bugs formed a vast network enveloping the world, monitoring everything without exception.

But he was merely observing. Chen Changsheng had no desire to get involved in the current human schemes and intrigues, nor did he have the time. Chen Changsheng's enterprise was now vast, but with his small-town mindset, he found it difficult to manage such a colossal undertaking.

Meanwhile, the biological experiments conducted on various small islands in the ocean had yielded results. Islands with unique ecosystems now stood in the ocean like brilliant stars.

Like Elizabeth, Chen Changsheng had also imposed restrictions on the Blacklight Virus on these islands: infected individuals could not survive in water for extended periods and had an extreme aversion to seawater.

Manhattan Island had become a world-renowned gathering place for adventurers. After Chen Changsheng released the formula for the Elixir of Life, adventurer groups from all over the world flocked to Manhattan Island, hunting Zombies to obtain precious Zombie Spinal Cord.

Since large-scale destructive weapons would shatter the Zombies, adventurers couldn't obtain much of value. Therefore, most mercenaries hunting on Manhattan Island used light weapons. However, these light weapons were no match for the creatures that had evolved super abilities on Manhattan Island.

In recent years, the Umbrella Corporation had also gradually released some Enhancement Potions, allowing ordinary humans to keep pace in the evolutionary race against the bio-viruses.

Evolution meant there was a back-and-forth; unilateral crushing couldn't be called evolution. Chen Changsheng feared that humanity might be overwhelmed in one fell swoop.

Those who had undergone one enhancement by the Umbrella Corporation were known as Level 1 Enhancers. The Umbrella Corporation could enhance each person up to ten times. Level 10 Enhancers possessed abilities far exceeding those of Hunters, making them the dream of all mercenaries in this world.

However, reaching Level 10 required the spinal fluid of over a thousand Hunters, and the processing was extremely complex. Clearly, this was not something ordinary people could obtain.

Only nations on the level of the Five Permanent Members had a few such super-soldiers. Warriors enhanced ten times could fight Alex one-on-one, though these warriors lacked Alex's peculiar abilities.

Alex still lived on Manhattan Island. Although his sister had left the island to work for the Umbrella Corporation, she still visited him frequently.

Alex also hunted Hunters daily on Manhattan Island, selling their spinal fluid to the Umbrella Corporation in exchange for things he needed.

It wasn't that Alex didn't want to leave; it was just that Elizabeth's genetic confinement was too powerful. Mercer was completely unable to learn to swim…

Manhattan was surrounded by fire control radar operating 24 hours a day, preventing even a bird from flying out. As for the bridges, they were heavily guarded by Umbrella Corporation's enhanced soldiers. It wasn't that Alex couldn't defeat those Level 10 enhanced soldiers in a one-on-one fight, but he couldn't withstand a group assault.

The Island Nation predictably became a testing ground for biological weapons. The United States' "godfather" considered Zombies to be a good thing; their spinal fluid could yield Longevity Substance, and the remaining flesh and blood could catalyze new Hunters. Hunters, in turn, could yield Enhancement Fluid to create super-soldiers—a perfect process.

As for the Island Nation, who were they? Were they valuable? They weren't my own children. Without the backing of the American father, the Island Nation seemed to have returned to its mythical era as described in legends.

Now, mythical creatures roamed freely on the Island Nation, and all sorts of superhumans were everywhere. It was unclear whether this was good or bad for the people of the Island Nation. The Blacklight Virus had not only enhanced the native animals and plants but had also enhanced humans.

Without the US military dictating terms and the suppression of armies with weapons of mass destruction, Japan easily returned to its Warring States period, with numerous small city-states emerging.

In the apocalypse, humanity was never the dominant force. Various strange creatures evolved bizarre abilities. Humanity's advantage lay in its intelligence, but in nature's evolutionary process, it wasn't at the forefront of other species.

Willow Tree and Elizabeth each occupied a large island in the Island Nation. Following Chen Changsheng's orders, the two virus aggregates engaged in powerful single-entity offensive and defensive wars, preparing for the future.

It is said that war is a great driving force for technological development, and this saying proved true. Catalyzed by the wars between these two super virus aggregates, numerous mythical super-creatures were created.

Countless fleshy smoke towers continuously sprayed the Blacklight Virus into the sky, obscuring satellite signals. No one could obtain information about the Island Nation through spy satellites.

Consequently, the Island Nation always detected reconnaissance personnel from across the ocean. Elizabeth and Willow Tree paid no mind to this, diligently continuing their offensive and defensive wars.

The various abilities of the mythical creatures on the Island Nation astonished the national personnel who came to investigate. The development of the Island Nation truly exceeded everyone's imagination.

Because countless Blacklight Viruses floated in the air, everyone knew the Island Nation had fallen, but no one could have possibly imagined it had fallen in such a way.

The residents of the Island Nation, who were on the verge of being wiped out, also progressed. They evolved many interesting abilities, which protected them and allowed humanity a sliver of hope for survival in the apocalypse.

Willow Tree's presence could be found in many parts of this world. Willow Tree had infected and evolved many plants. Overwhelming greenery spread across the globe, performing massive photosynthesis daily, converting solar energy into life essence stored in underground root networks for future use.

No one on Earth mentioned global warming anymore. Forests and wild grasses had begun to encroach on human living spaces, and various mutated plants emerged continuously—rice with high yields, fruits with excellent taste, corn that improved physical fitness, and so on. In short, people worldwide experienced both joy and pain.

Elizabeth strictly followed Chen Changsheng's orders, conducting her evolutionary experiments on the islands, creating only marine life that could be directly controlled. Elizabeth catalyzed prototypes of all sorts of creatures, whether Chen Changsheng had thought of them or not, whether they were scientifically plausible or not, and experimented with them all.

Upon discovering the anomalies in the Island Nation, other countries around the world also strengthened their research and control over biological weapons.

However, because the Zombie spinal cord contained substances that could resist aging, humanity remained obsessed. Thus, there were always some people who secretly raised Zombies for unspeakable purposes.

The vast ocean was also patrolled by special custom-made biological weapons from the Umbrella Corporation.

Chen Changsheng had always cherished the ocean, as water resources were also precious. Elizabeth had also evolved some creatures in the ocean that could follow commands, rapidly capturing fish to produce and store biomass.

In creating deep-sea creatures, Elizabeth referenced Chen Changsheng's Neuro-Bug designs and developed a set of Zerg control concepts.

In this system, Neuro-Bugs did not participate in combat. They lacked combat capabilities but possessed extremely high intelligence, allowing them to plan and formulate combat strategies. Overlords, on the other hand, had no thinking ability and only served as information relays, connecting the Queen to the Drones. They had command and dispatch functions, allowing precise control over each Zerg.

Although this system had many flaws, it could accurately control each Zerg without causing unknown changes, so Elizabeth was quite fond of this method.

Through the mysterious communication method between viruses, Chen Changsheng directly contacted Elizabeth, who was far away in the Island Nation, to inquire about the Gate.

However, the inheritance was too ancient, and Elizabeth only remembered the general details. Fortunately, the Gate's location seemed to be in the Pacific Ocean, not too far from the Island Nation. Thus, Elizabeth, along with her Zerg army, began searching from near the Island Nation.

Before long, Elizabeth found a Gate hidden in the depths of the ocean. This Gate was truly miraculous, appearing as a black and red ball of light suspended in mid-air.

As Chen Changsheng approached the ball of light, a prompt appeared requiring energy to activate the teleportation, but others did not see this prompt. To them, it was simply a plain bubble of light.

By consuming some fish, Chen Changsheng quickly evolved the organ for underwater breathing and quietly hovered nearby, observing the Gate.

Chen Changsheng didn't know what energy was needed to charge this Gate, but professional matters were handled by professionals. The Umbrella Corporation had sufficient talent.

Chen Changsheng summoned a large group of professional personnel to the vicinity of the Gate to research how to open it. Although these individuals couldn't see the prompt, they could use instruments to detect the Gate's energy absorption method.

After a period of experimentation, researchers discovered that the Gate reacted to various forms of energy. Whether it was electrical energy, the bio-energy from the Willow Tree, or the biomass fed to Elizabeth, all could trigger a response from the Gate.

However, this was merely enough to make the Gate react; a massive amount of energy was still needed to truly open it.

With Umbrella's financial resources, Chen Changsheng directly commissioned two enormous nuclear-powered transport ships. These were docked on the ocean near the Gate, and long cables continuously supplied electrical energy to it.

Under the uninterrupted power supply from the oceanic nuclear power stations, it took over half a year for the Gate to finally open a wide gap.

A lot of white light emanated from the gap. This white light was so familiar, just like the white light Chen Changsheng had experienced when he first crossed over.

Approaching the Gate and sensing it, Chen Changsheng could clearly feel that by passing through the Gate, he could reach two places. One was his original world, and the other was a different place, an unknown world filled with various energies.

Since the Gate was here, Chen Changsheng could return to his familiar place at any time. Therefore, Chen Changsheng decided to explore the unknown world first.

After all, if he returned to his familiar place, Chen Changsheng had reservations. It would be difficult to get enough energy to return again. However, in an unfamiliar place, Chen Changsheng wouldn't have so many concerns.

Once the Blacklight emerged, viruses would be floating all over the world, turning the entire planet into a living entity. How much energy could one possibly need then?