262: Chapter 264 What's outside the wall? Is it also wasteland?

That feeling was strange.

It was like being suddenly thrown from a water-filled fish tank into the vacuum of the universe.

No pressure, no suffocation.

Jiang Chen felt as if his body had lost all its weight, and even his thoughts were enveloped by some kind of warm, gentle liquid, undergoing a deep baptism across dimensions.

"Hum—"

After a blinding white light, he regained his senses.

The moment his feet touched the ground, a nauseating stench, a mixture of rust and sulfur, rushed directly into his nostrils.

That was the smell of the Wasteland.

Jiang Chen opened his eyes abruptly, immediately raised his right hand, and activated the individual shield on his watch.

A blue light membrane instantly expanded, isolating him from the corrosive toxic fog surrounding him.

He stood on top of a towering rock, gazing into the distance.

What he saw before him made his heart tremble violently.

It was not the luan bird command room he was familiar with, nor was it the hope-filled Solar System.

This was a world of dead silence.

The sky displayed a sickly, almost painting-like, vivid purple-red color. Under that dim light, the earth appeared as cracked, charred black.

There were no cities, no high-rises, not even a single tree.

There were only countless broken metal spires, like ominous tombstones, slanted and stuck into the desolate plain.

"Is this... the world outside the 'wall'?"

Jiang Chen took a deep breath, trying his best to calm his racing heart.

He turned his head and looked behind him.

There was a huge spatial rift that almost connected heaven and earth. That was where he had just rushed through, and purple electric arcs still remained, as if it could close at any moment.

"System, what are the energy readings here?"

[Scanning...]

[Current area radiation level: 300% above limit.]

[Spatial stability: Extremely low, on the verge of collapse.]

[Residual civilization code fragments detected: This area once belonged to the 'Wasteland Civilization · Pre-Epoch', destruction time: approximately 70,000 years ago.]

Jiang Chen stared at the wreckage on the ground, his eyes gradually becoming grave.

The material of these broken towers was exactly the same as that of the "Skynet" mainframe.

They were not formed by Nature, nor were they destroyed by external force.

They seemed to have been forcibly "erased" halfway from the three-dimensional world by some kind of... "dimensional reduction" rule.

"This is hardly outside the wall."

Jiang Chen picked up a piece of metal debris at his feet and squeezed it hard, discovering that even after 70,000 years, this thing still possessed terrifying strength.

"This is simply... a landfill that hasn't been completely cleaned up yet."

"Or rather, a 'remnant of a farm' abandoned by the Sweeper Civilization."

He strode forward, and with every step, the metal wreckage under his feet made a crunching sound.

The resources here were so abundant that it made one's scalp tingle.

Energy cores were visible everywhere, scattered like pebbles on the roadside.

Some were even emitting a faint green light.

"These aliens are really wasteful."

Jiang Chen casually picked up a crystal emitting a green light and threw it into his spatial warehouse, "Leaving so many good things here—if this were on Earth, it would be enough for those scientists to study for three hundred years."

Academician Chen Shuyin's voice suddenly came through the communicator, carrying a hint of anxiety:

"Jiang Chen! What exactly is going on over there? The data transmission is too slow, and we have detected that the spatial parameters on your side are changing drastically!"

"Don't worry, it's fine."

Jiang Chen turned around, looking at the spatial rift that was slowly healing, "Although this place is dilapidated, there are plenty of good things. I'll send you some samples later, you can study them first."

"Stop studying there!"

Academician Chen Shuyin almost shouted, "We are going to pull you back! The coordinates are locked, and as soon as we confirm you are safe, we will forcibly close the dimensional channel!"

"Don't move! I know what I'm doing!"

Jiang Chen was about to refuse when suddenly, his gaze sharpened.

He looked deeper into the ruins.

At the very bottom of that pile of wreckage, something... was glowing.

It was not the blue light of electronic equipment.

It was an extremely warm, gentle white light, like moonlight.

This light made Jiang Chen feel somewhat familiar.

"Wait."

He strode over and pushed aside a huge alloy armor plate.

Beneath it was a small metal box that appeared to be extremely well-preserved.

There were no sinister combat symbols on it, nor any destructive markings.

It was printed with a simple, even slightly cute...

Rabbit icon.

Jiang Chen's heartbeat stopped at this moment.

That was one of the most common icons in his childhood memories on Earth.

How could it appear in the Wasteland ruins from 70,000 years ago?

"This... is this?"

Jiang Chen squatted down, held his breath, and carefully opened the box.

There were no weapons inside.

Nor any energy ores.

Only a yellowed sheet of... letter paper, written on Earth paper.

And a... still carrying a warm breath...

"Pacifier?"

Jiang Chen held the rubber pacifier, completely stunned on the spot.

He had dug up a... baby pacifier in the ultimate battlefield of the Wasteland Civilization?

How is this possible?!

What kind of civilization is this exactly?

Why were the things they left behind exactly the same as the daily necessities of Earthlings?

Just then.

The system's notification sound suddenly exploded in his mind, the voice unprecedentedly terrified:

[Warning! Detected extremely high-energy civilization origin signal!]

[This is not a Wasteland ruin!]

[This is not a coincidence!]

[Host, run! This wall is not protecting Earth, but... something that is incubating—]

[A galaxy-level lifeform!]

Jiang Chen's pupils contracted violently.

Before he could react.

The so-called "wall" shattered completely.

The entire space began to shrink crazily.

In the darkness in the distance, a huge, slowly beating heart revealed its true form.

That was the true core of the Sweeper Civilization.

It was not some spaceship.

It was the entire star region.

It was alive.

And that pink pacifier, at this moment in Jiang Chen's palm, seemed to have sensed something, erupting with a blinding... that made the entire universe tremble—

Light!

"It's over..."

Academician Chen Shuyin on the other end also saw all of this.

She looked at the radar on the screen that had instantly turned into dead silence, her voice desperate to the extreme:

"Jiang Chen... we've poked a hole in the sky."

"This is not a war between civilizations."

"This is..."

"Spilling salt in God's cradle."

Jiang Chen listened to these words, but felt no fear at all.

He gripped the pacifier backhanded, a flash of ferocious madness in his eyes.

"What is there to be afraid of?"

"Since it's a cradle, then I'll tear it apart!"

"I, Jiang Chen, have lived for so many years, and I have never seen anyone dare to compete with me in raising a child!"

He looked at the golden eye that had opened above his head.

"You want to play, right?"

"Then let's see, whether your dimensional suppression is fiercer, or my—"

"Pinduoduo system is fiercer!"

He turned around and strode towards the spatial rift that was about to close.

He knew.

The upcoming battle would determine the survival of the entire Solar System.

It would also determine what kind of universe his unborn child would live in.

Forget about The Sweepers, forget about whatever higher civilization.

Anyone who dares to stand in front of me will be wiped out!

"luan bird!"

"Give me... full power propulsion!"

Jiang Chen dove into the rift.

In the last second before the rift closed, he heard a cold laugh from the depths of the universe, filled with endless mockery:

"Ignorant human."

"Do you think you have changed your destiny?"

"You have merely..."

"Pushed open the gates to hell."

Jiang Chen did not reply.

Because he had already disappeared into the end of the dimension, carrying that secret filled with the "pacifier".

A new war.

Has just begun.