Superbrain Time-Space

Chu Minghao had many things he could not tell the three of them, just as Wu Pifu could not tell Yamadai and Xu Shilan what "weekends" were.

Many secrets involving the Dream World, the root cause behind all these changes—unless one had experienced them personally, they could not be spoken of to others. Otherwise, not only would the speaker be in trouble, but the listener would suffer a great calamity as well.

And even if one had personally experienced them, if their strength, temperament, or willpower was insufficient, they would still die, mutate, become contaminated, or even vanish without a trace.

So Chu Minghao could only explain one thing simply.

As the number of living people on Gaia dwindled, all surviving people would face increasing danger during "weekends." According to Chu Minghao, there were several critical thresholds. Once the next threshold was reached, the duration of "weekends" would become forty-eight hours, or seventy-two hours, or something similar. It definitely would not reset after just twenty-four hours.

As those thresholds were continually crossed, "weekends" would last longer and longer. At the same time, the truth behind the deeper regions would gradually reveal itself, eventually surpassing the bounds of human comprehension and entering an indescribable chaos and disorder.

Wu Pifu thought of what he had seen during the previous "weekend." The outermost layer of reality had been a meat processing plant, surrounded by workers and employees. But at a deeper level of "truth," those employees had all been monsters, while the livestock being processed had all been humans. If he went one step further into the "truth," those monsters had all become various cyberpunk robots, and the processing plant had turned into some sort of ultra-high-tech mechanical base. And that still had not been the final "truth."

"For certain reasons, I can only appear on Gaia for less than thirty minutes every thirty days or so. And during those thirty minutes, I should avoid using supernatural power as much as possible. Otherwise, that time will be rapidly shortened; it might even be reduced to only a few seconds. So I cannot help you liberate Gaia in the real world. All I can do is assist all of you maintenance personnel in the Dream World."

Chu Minghao spoke frankly.

Xu Shilan was still staring blankly ahead, seemingly pondering the matter of the so-called afterlife. Yamadai was not good at conversation or thinking, so Wu Pifu could only ask, "Then why did you only appear now? As far as I know, the changes in the Dream World have been going on for at least a century, perhaps even longer. Why hadn't you appeared before?"

Chu Minghao raised a hand and flicked out one finger. "First, I only awakened a year and three months ago. Second, I initially could not track you in the Dream World. Third, I was being hunted by the remnants of the Thirteen Singularity Group and the Human Revolutionary Union, those two major factions. Only during the last 'weekend' did I kill the two teams tracking me, finally freeing up my hands. Fourth, I acquired the Magic Mirror less than a month ago. Fifth..."

"There's a fifth?"

Wu Pifu and Yamadai spoke at the same time.

Chu Minghao seemed to like their straightforwardness. He laughed heartily. "Of course there's a fifth... I only learned many 'truths' over the past two months as well, including the truth about the Main Brain, the truth behind the changes in the Dream World, and the truth about humanity's future."

Wu Pifu fell silent for a moment, then suddenly asked, "Which layer of truth?"

Chu Minghao froze slightly. He studied Wu Pifu carefully. "Right, you saw my sword light just now, didn't you? Your strength is quite good, and in terms of intuition, you have a talent for 'truth'... If I have to put it into words, I saw the truth at the Baseline Reality 0.3 level. I am still incapable of seeing deeper truths, but merely Baseline Reality 0.3 has already let me learn many things."

Wu Pifu silently calculated. Based on what he had seen in the meat processing plant during the "weekend," the "employees" counted as Baseline Reality 0.9, the monsters were 0.8, and the machinery was 0.7. He could not see anything beyond that. If that was how it worked, then this Chu Minghao... was terrifying beyond measure!

Wu Pifu collected himself and asked solemnly, "What do you need us to do?"

Chu Minghao said, "Stay alive. Survive as long as you can. That is the only goal."

Before Wu Pifu could speak, Yamadai shook his head. "You can't do anything impressive on Gaia anyway. In the Dream World alone, how many people can you save? All of Gaia is already a complete mess. I don't know about other regions, but in our Z District's 6123 Subdistrict, there's currently only one hibernation chamber, one maintenance station, and one medical station. Every other area is still under quarantine. And even those were only activated because Wu Pifu risked his life. Most other areas are completely dead silent now. Did you know that?"

"I know."

Chu Minghao lowered his head slightly, his voice somewhat hoarse. "I'm sorry, but I hope you can endure. Keep living, even if only for yourselves. I can only provide you with some help in this Dream World for now, but I will recover as quickly as possible and return to Gaia as soon as I can. Before then... please try your best to stay alive."

Yamadai wanted to say more, but Wu Pifu stopped him. Then he looked at Chu Minghao and asked, "What kind of help can you provide us?"

Chu Minghao immediately said, "First, I can help you establish at least a Level Two shelter in this world. Second, if you have any clearly identified enemies, anomalies, or nightmares in this world, I can help you wipe them all out. Third, I can tell you some intelligence about the Dream World that can be spoken aloud... I'm sorry, but this is all I can do at present."

Wu Pifu and Yamadai looked at each other, then both looked at Xu Shilan. Xu Shilan was feeling irritated at the moment. She waved a hand and said, "Listen to him. Other than being bad at judging people, he's basically never been wrong about anything else. And although he looks unreliable, he's actually an honest person..."

Wu Pifu nodded. "I already have a Level Two event-type shelter in this world. Neither of them does, so just establish shelters for the two of them."

Chu Minghao gave Wu Pifu another two looks and said with a smile, "Impressive. You've already established a Level Two shelter in the Baseline Reality 0.7 Dream World."

Wu Pifu said indifferently, "I got this shelter entirely through luck. What about you? With your strength, you've probably reached 0.4, perhaps even 0.3, right?"

Chu Minghao answered seriously, "No. Although I have three shelters, my strongest one is a Level Five shelter in the Baseline Reality 0.7 Dream World. I have not established shelters at deeper levels."

Wu Pifu and Yamadai both found that hard to believe. Xu Shilan, on the other hand, wore an expression as if she had expected it.

Wu Pifu immediately said, "Impossible. You slapped that sword case, and heaven and earth froze. That kind of ability is practically divine. I refuse to believe a Baseline Reality 0.7 Dream World can accomplish that!"

Chu Minghao suddenly understood. "You mean that? That is a cultivation method from Baseline Reality 0.7, the Sword Condensation Art. When cultivated to its ultimate stage of manifesting sanctity, it can release a sword strike and leave behind sword light for roughly 0.03 seconds. Even an ordinary person's retina can see it."

"That's not believable!"

Wu Pifu said directly, "Come on, I'm not blind. That was a vast expanse of sword light, brilliant like stars, all right!? And heaven and earth froze too. You're telling me that was the Sword Condensation Art from a Baseline Reality 0.7 world??"

With an utterly sincere expression, Chu Minghao patted the sword case. "This sword case is also a fantasy item. Its effect is to store all kinds of energy, Dao techniques, demonic arts, and supernatural power within it in a frozen state. When I practice swordsmanship normally, I place the sword light from the Sword Condensation Art inside it. Over time, it accumulated into hundreds of thousands of strands of sword light. As for the effect of heaven and earth freezing..."

"Superbrain Time-Space, right?" Xu Shilan suddenly said from the side.

Chu Minghao smiled but said nothing. Xu Shilan turned to Wu Pifu and said, "It's a unique ability he possesses, called Superbrain Time-Space. Didn't I mention it before? During humanity's Fourth War, three superhumans appeared. They possessed a super ability called the Superbrain, which the scientific community of the time identified as the next stage of human evolution. So those three were also called New Humans. In an instant—roughly one picosecond—they could experience a sense of time equivalent to three to five seconds for ordinary people. Although their physical bodies remained nearly motionless like ordinary people during that time, their minds could still function. So scientists created Superbrain assist devices for them, allowing them to control weapons with their thoughts."

"Furthermore, in the Superbrain state, their mental control was completely different from that of ordinary people. Like supercomputers, they could split their thoughts into countless streams and simultaneously control tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, or even millions of lines of thought and execution!"

Chu Minghao took over, saying, "Exactly. Although my Superbrain assist device was destroyed after the Fourth War ended, my Superbrain Time-Space ability is innate. And the sword light of the Sword Condensation Art can be influenced and controlled by my thoughts. The sword light may appear to last only around 0.3 seconds, but to me, that is an extremely long period of time. I can control it to take someone's head from a hundred miles away, or use it to create all sorts of drawings, solid forms, lifting and flight, protective barriers, and other abilities. That is the truth you saw in that instant... I think that aside from having extremely strong intuition, you may also have the potential for Superbrain Time-Space."

Wu Pifu and Yamadai did not react much, but Xu Shilan's reaction was startling. She abruptly pushed herself upright and stared intently at Chu Minghao, asking sternly, "He really might have a Superbrain ability!?"

Chu Minghao said seriously, "You know I never joke about such matters. If it were merely strong perception or strong intuition, one could at most notice something unusual. They would be unable to see my sword light in that instant, when heaven and earth seemed frozen. That is a passive manifestation of the Superbrain ability, what you call the mutual attraction between New Humans."

Xu Shilan bit her lower lip and stared blankly for a moment before smiling bitterly. "Unfortunately, it's only potential. Unlike you and 'him,' it wasn't naturally awakened at birth. To awaken it, he would need to go to the Main Brain's control room and use the Main Brain to simulate the sensation of Superbrain Time-Space. Only then can it be fully awakened..."

Chu Minghao smiled. "That is why you need to stay alive. Once I can return to Gaia, I will naturally help Brother Wu awaken his Superbrain Time-Space ability. I have authorization to control the Main Brain."

But Wu Pifu did not care about any of that. He asked again, "Speaking of which, Xu Shilan, you mentioned before that three people had this ability. One is him, and another... is probably some high-ranking figure in the Human Revolutionary Union? The 'him' you keep mentioning. What about the third person? Someone with such a powerful ability must have had a name, right?"

Xu Shilan lowered her head slightly and said nothing. Chu Minghao sighed, looked at Xu Shilan for several seconds, then said to Wu Pifu, "The third person... was Miss Xu's younger brother. A latent Superbrain ability user. If you also possess a Superbrain ability, then you are the same type."

Wu Pifu did not ask any further questions about Superbrain abilities. He might have been a blunt, straight-laced man, but he was not an idiot. He would not rub salt into Xu Shilan's wound.

The entire dining table fell silent for several seconds. Only the sound of Yamadai shoveling food into his mouth remained. Then Wu Pifu asked, "All right, let's not talk about that. You mentioned intelligence just now, right? Then I do have some information I want to ask about."

Chu Minghao naturally nodded. He said frankly, "Ask away. So long as it does not involve harmful contamination, I will tell you everything I know."

"All right, first question."

"Why is it called a shelter? This shelter..."

"What exactly does it shelter?"