Chapter 625: Subspace Calling

The skin of this octopus monster was painted with a coat of red like fresh blood. Judging by its shape and form, it was merely a far larger and mature version of the tiny octopus creatures Chen Chen had exterminated in Detroit!

“So, those little octopus monsters sucking organs out of their hosts are this guy’s offspring?”

Chen Chen looked at this monstrosity and wondered.

The moment Chen Chen saw the octopus monster, his mind immediately went to another monster that he was very familiar with. Although this gigantic monster in front of him did not completely resemble the Consciousness Stealer, there were certain traits that the two creatures shared. Furthermore, there seemed to be some kind of internal connection between the two monsters…

Another thing that Chen Chen was not expecting was to identify a seemingly human-like emotion underneath this creature’s brazen eyes. Immediately after that, he felt a strange emotion arising from the depths of his mind.

Was this creature trying to communicate?

Chen Chen was baffled by this impression. He silenced all the voices in his head and focused on this concealed voice. To his surprise, he managed to make out the message this creature was attempting to deliver to him, it was a question –

“Dependent of Alosorthoth, you dare oppose the Great Asmontis?”

Chen Chen knew that Alosorthoth was the name of the Consciousness Stealer. He discovered it previously in the Consciousness Battlefield.

So, this octopus creature presumed that he was a dependent of the Consciousness Stealer?

Chen Chen understood now. This body which he resided in now was his avatar in the end dimension. It was not so much as a body but more so an immense concentration of the psionic energy of countless inmates. This body had been slumbering for several decades since. This creature may have formed an albeit understandable assumption that he was a dependent of the Consciousness Stealer.

“I’m not a dependent of Alosorthoth.”

Chen Chen mirrored the way this creature communicated with him and responded accordingly, “This is the territory of humans. If you want to enter, you’re going to have to offer something in exchange!”

Chen Chen planned to make use of this opportunity and extract some information or come to some sort of negotiation with this creature. Unfortunately, his plans had to be discarded almost immediately because this mere suggestion seemed to have enraged it!

“Roar!”

Its thunderous voice echoed across the desert and it started to lumber out of the passage furiously. Sensing its intentions, Chen Chen immediately flung out a large reality anchor and rooted it deep underground by propelling it underneath layers of sand using Field!

“Zoom!”

The air in the atmosphere changed and took on a strangely stagnant quality. The octopus monster immediately sensed the changes as well. It realized that its psionic energy was constrained within this space!

Sensing this, thousands of large tentacles emerged from a section of its body and they lurched altogether at Chen Chen. There was hardly a room for escape amid the intricate webs of tentacles!

“You can’t even defeat Alosorthoth, how do you expect to overpower me now that your psionic power has been nullified?”

Chen Chen glided with an almost nonchalant quality in the air above while the tentacles that drew close to him burst into clouds of red mist and their shattered pieces rained down below!

Each time the tentacles were destroyed, they regrew within seconds. Their regenerative abilities made them seem indestructible!

Chen Chen raised an eyebrow upon noting this. He proceeded to unleash a stronger burst of Field concentration from his body. This time, he went all out!

Chen Chen had raised his Field to unprecedented levels by now, but the essence of Field’s strength was not in its sheer volume but its concentration!

Field’s dangers lay in its ability to obliterate his enemies on a cellular level. The interwoven limbs shaped like tentacles sensed the incoming danger and trembled!

It only took a second and like snow melting under summer weather, all of the tentacles which Chen Chen’s Field swept across immediately corroded. Both skin and muscle tore away immediately and melted into the void!

“Never should’ve come here!”

Chen Chen denounced the octopus monster that was still halfway through crawling out of the passage. At this moment, his concentration of Field held a resemblance to a furious, raging storm that bent and twisted the atmosphere at its will. It barged through all resistance and went for the creature!

“Boom, boom, boom, boom!!!”

Invisible shockwave explosions burst continuously in the skies above, like new stars forming in the vast expanse of the universe. It was like a calamity arriving, scorching and blinding beams of light filled Chen Chen’s vision and soon, everything in his path was vaporized!

“Rrr!”

A sharp wail was muffled by the frantic rounds of shockwave explosion. The growl of the beast grew weaker and when the final note of the explosion expired from the sky, there was no longer the wailing of the monster to be heard!

“Whoosh…”

The sandstorm kicked up by the turbulent Field energy spread into every direction, with the torrent of Field energy at its center. By the time the sandstorm had cleared, the only thing that remained was the giant passage but the octopus monster was nowhere to be seen…

It had been vaporized.

Now that the threat had been eliminated and its psionic presence could no longer be detected, Chen Chen breathed a sigh of relief.

A faint buzz of electricity came from behind Chen Chen shortly after that. It was a fleet of combat drones announcing its appearance. These drones were equipped with variants of missile warheads, phosphorus bombs, incendiary bombs, nano bombs, and even nuclear bombs if the situation called for it. Chen Chen figured that if he could not take care of the threat, then he would resort to using man-made technology.

With that said, these weapons were not going to be of much use if the opponent relied on psionic powers. The only man-made creation that could have any effect at all against it was the reality anchor.

“X, deactivate the reality anchor.”

The atmosphere became easier to breathe at the moment Chen Chen gave this order as the psionic limitation in his surroundings was lifted.

The reality anchor did not only suppress psionic energy in its range but also the subspace passage as well. As soon as it was deactivated, traces of thick black mist poured from the deepest depths of the passage and seeped into reality.

“There are many more yet to be identified threats in the subspace. I suspect that the only reason the octopus monster is easy to manage is that it’s one of the weaker species in the subspace. It’s only on par with the Consciousness Stealer at best.”

Chen Chen deduced, then suddenly turned into a frown as he looked into the deep end of the subspace passage.

The passage that distorted space and time wove between the seams of reality and created a tunnel out of thin air. It looked like the entrance to the underworld, made entirely of flesh and blood on every inch of its walls. Chen Chen suddenly had an inexplicable sense that something was calling out to him at the end of the passage.

The nature of this sensation was impossible to define. He felt like he was stepping on puddles of blood, like somebody or something was whispering into his ears, all while still being awake and wholly conscious. Try as it may, this mystical voice was unable to dominate Chen Chen, but it did breed a queer sense of familiarity in Chen Chen.

Chen Chen seemed to be deep in thought at this moment. Countless speculations and theories boiled over in his mind. Suddenly, his expression changed and a firm determination shone in his eyes. He took a quick step forward and lunged into the passage!

“Sir Godfather!”

Chen Chen’s sudden action without even giving any warning frightened Little X. “What are you doing?”

“I’m going to take a look.”

Chen Chen answered, his eyes still fixed at whatever was lurking inside the darkness, “I can feel something inside it calling for me.”

“But…”

“Don’t worry, it’s not a trap. Plus, I can handle myself.”

Chen Chen interrupted Little X mid-sentence. In truth, even he could not understand what he was feeling but one thing he could make out for certain was that this thing calling for him meant no harm. Eventually, he decided to plunge right in.

Chen Chen flew into the tunnel. Its inside was nearly a hundred meters wide and just like before, its walls were lined with nothing but clumps of flesh and internal organs. They produced an utterly disgusting smell that clung to his skin.

Chen Chen did not let it bother him too much. He swept through the passage quickly and soon enough, he landed on solid ground. His feet felt the very real and physical quality of the ground coating around him.

“This is…”

Upon setting foot in this place, Chen Chen immediately shut his eyes and raised his hand to his face. With a quick motion, his sharp fingers sliced across his eyes, but he did not yelp nor wince at the pain. Chen Chen had become blind.

Losing his sight granted him a vision in this place. He could now see everything in this place.

It was a large piece of land completely dyed in blood.

However, there were very clear distinctions with the real world. To start, the sky was a mixture of dark yellow and the unmistakable tint of blood. There was no sun nor were there any clouds. Instead, strange-looking beings were floating about the sky. Their entire body structure was impossible to define.

These substances swayed endlessly in the void above. Either they were a collection of dark shadows or the product of some sort of unknown phenomenon in this separate dimension where the laws of the universe did not make sense. They slowly loomed toward Chen Chen as if they were attracted to him, but the moment they touched his skin, they were immolated and turned into ashes and dust!

Ashes and dust.

Chen Chen looked at his body and realized that without his notice, his body had turned into a fire source. It would appear that the dense concentration of psionic energy in his body sparkled like a radiant torch in this place. His light illuminated the surroundings and was visible at least twenty or thirty kilometers away from his position.

From a distance, his figure was like a miniature sun…

Furthermore, there were also countless flickering stars glowing and dimming periodically around Chen Chen. Upon closer inspection, he realized that they were not stars but beings that looked like fireflies, subspace fireflies. They flickered like a light switch constantly toggled on and off for no reason.

Surrounded by countless odd observations and beings that functioned in mysterious manners, Chen Chen felt like he had descended into a fever dream without himself even realizing it. At a certain point, he could no longer make out whether he was wide awake or lumbering inside a dream.

“So, this is the subspace.”

Chen Chen muttered and looked around pensively. He could tell that this dimension did not subscribe to the laws of reality. The only thing that ruled in this place was chaos and disorder.

“You’re here…”

While Chen Chen was still lost in thought, a voice from an unknown source carried into his mind. He instinctively raised his head, sharp with alert, but could not notice anything.

“Who’s this?”

Chen Chen looked around himself and unleashed his psionic energy, causing his already radiant glow to turn several notches brighter. The moment he had done so, the burning rays of his presence spread across a ten-kilometer radius, immediately immolating all of the subspace beings in the vicinity. They shrieked horrifically before turning to ashes.

“We’re nobody.”

The voice dragged on, its tone was heavy and ominous. “We have no names, no gender, we don’t exist… We’re merely the gathered particles in the subspace, absent of emotions or feelings. We’re the subspace itself…”

The voice continued to prattle on and on like it was addressing no one in particular. “The accumulated emotions of all creatures in all the multiverses are combined here. Their joy, anger, sorrow, and hope give me enough sanity to preserve, but it also binds me to endless suffering…”

“Do you need me to put you out of your suffering?”

Chen Chen squinted when he said this. The psionic energy under his feet boiled and threatened to explode. The great concentration of his power burned the ground below him and shafts of embers appeared everywhere.

“Save your strength…”

The voice mentioned with what could be a sigh, “We don’t exist and cannot be killed. If there’s a way you can put us out of our misery, we’ll take it, but you cannot do that.”

“Why did you summon me here?”

Chen Chen brushed aside the sentiments this being was emitting and asked his question.

“Civilization Monolith!”

Another voice answered Chen Chen. It was a sharp screech, distinctly more emotive than the carrier of the previous voice. “Only the Civilization Monolith in your hand that represents order can unchain us from this suffering!”

“And who are you?”

Chen Chen asked, still frowning.

“We’ve already introduced ourselves…”

The screeching voice answered mischievously, “We’re the fusion of all the emotions in the multiverse, interwoven with time and space itself. Our periods of sanity are far and few in between. One second we’re conversing with you and the next we may lose our minds entirely. We need your help…”

“You mean this?”

Chen Chen presented the black slate from the center of his palms. The moment he revealed it, the surrounding subspace current scattered in every direction, immediately leaving a large, vacant spot around Chen Chen. It would seem that the Civilization Monolith repelled the substances in the subspace.

“Yes!”

Under the presence of the Civilization Monolith, the sharp screech had turned into almost a whimper, soft like the buzzing of a fly. However, the excitement in its voice was not impossible to discern. “The Civilization Monolith is a manifestation of civilization that has ascended to its peak before it perished. It’s a particle that contains the principle of civilization. It’s the only thing that can liberate us!”

“Don’t believe them!”

Yet another voice interrupted the previous voice. The voice of this one was powerful and resounded in Chen Chen’s mind like the pangs of harsh steel when two swords collided. “They are lying to you, they want to use you to awaken us from our eternal slumber. Once you do this, all of the material world will be plunged into an eternal war with itself!”

“A third voice?”

Chen Chen could no longer hide the confusion in his tone when he heard yet another voice communicating with him in this subspace.

“Do you want to achieve godhood?”

The sharp, screeching voice spoke to Chen Chen again, “Look around you, there are four continents in this vast void, they are the columns of reality. If you’re willing, you can become lord over one of these continents. All you need to do is wipe out mankind and throw civilization into the endless fires of a raging war. With chaos and disorder, you can join us and become one of us, achieve godhood…”

“Don’t listen to them, they are the manifestation of all the loathsome and wretched desires of the creatures in the material world. You’ll fall into a depthless abyss and never regain yourself if you abide by them!”

The powerful voice urged Chen Chen. “Don’t believe it, don’t trust it!”

“Hahaha, you’re afraid of him taking your place after he wipes out his kind, aren’t you?”

The sharp screech of a voice howled with laughter.

Chen Chen listened to their exchange. None of the three voices managed to disturb his spirits in any form. Even after all this, the Civilization Monolith in his palm glowed with vibrant strength as it protected his sanity…