478: Creating a space for intellectual battles

Lu Chen estimated that the battle for the secret cave would last at least a thousand years. Withdrawing his Divine Sense, his consciousness returned to Earth. He suddenly remembered there was one important thing he hadn't done.

That was constructing the Universe Bubble spacecraft, which required the status level of a Small World, technology, and Zero.

Currently, the Small World was developing. The tens of thousands of scientists Lu Chen had captured for the Technology Zone were gradually getting used to this place and engaging in scientific collision and research. In just one day, they had already produced many new theories. Of course, this one day in the spiritual world was actually equivalent to a thousand years!! In other words, they had already developed for a thousand years.

Finally, there was Zero. As an AI, Zero was the key to creating and controlling the spacecraft in the future. However, Zero's current intelligence Rank was far from enough. Only by upgrading to a Higher Universe level AI would it be qualified to control the spacecraft.

And the key to Zero's upgrade was: wisdom! Absorbing human wisdom!!

Moreover, it had to be the wisdom of Earth humans, because the brains of Earth humans contained the special earth will.

Zero speculated that this earth will might be the key to its Breakthrough and upgrade.

Therefore, Lu Chen planned to find an uninhabited place on Earth, create a space, and then capture some humans to let them engage in a battle of wits there, making it convenient for Zero to observe and absorb the earth will.

Lu Chen flickered and teleported to the center of the Pacific Ocean.

Beneath his feet was the boundless blue seawater, with sea breezes rolling up waves that crashed down. In the distance, the water and sky met; not a single ship or island could be seen.

This was a remote part of the open sea, the perfect place to establish a hidden space.

Lu Chen raised his hand and shouted softly toward the sea surface: "Rise!"

As his voice fell, a dull rumble came from the depths of the seabed, as if an ancient beast had awakened.

The next second, a huge black shadow slowly rose from the seabed, carrying a sky full of water spray and mud. It was actually a mountain range that had been hiding in the deep sea.

The mountain range continued to rise, and the seawater around the mountain was pushed away by an invisible force, forming a huge water curtain.

A moment later, the top of the mountain range broke the surface, followed by the mountain body and the mountain hollows, eventually forming an island with an area of about a hundred square kilometers.

The island had towering, strange peaks, lush vegetation, and murmuring streams, as if it had existed there naturally.

Lu Chen flashed and landed on the peak in the center of the island. He traced the Void Realm with his fingertips, and golden runes surged from his fingertips, flying like living things to all corners of the island, merging into the land, mountains, and streams.

These runes intertwined into a huge Restriction network, completely covering the entire island. This layer of Restriction could not only block all external detection—even Earth's most advanced reconnaissance satellites would only see an ordinary stretch of sea and would be unable to discover the island's existence—but it could also maintain the island's internal ecological cycle, ensuring the stability of the space.

"Alright, the foundation is complete." Lu Chen scanned the entire island and nodded with satisfaction.

Next was to select the suitable "testers."

He had originally planned to capture some foreigners for testing, but Zero reminded him that only the brains of Chinese people contained the complete earth will. While people from other countries with Chinese ancestry had a weak residue, the concentration was too low to be of any help for the upgrade.

"Oh? It only exists within Chinese people?" Lu Chen raised his eyebrows slightly, a trace of curiosity rising in his heart.

Could this earth will be related to the ancestors of the Chinese nation? This guess seemed ridiculous, yet it faintly revealed a hint of rationality.

After all, Chinese civilization was the only ancient civilization on Earth that had never been interrupted. If it were said to have a special Legacy, it was not impossible.

However, he was too lazy to explore the reason for now; the priority was to finish selecting the candidates.

Lu Chen did not hesitate. His figure teleported again, appearing directly above one of the most prosperous cities in China—Shanghai.

His Divine Sense, like an invisible giant net, instantly covered the entire city.

The CBD filled with high-rise buildings, the bustling snack streets, the quiet and solemn research institutes, the complex and chaotic urban villages... Every corner of the city was clearly presented in his mind.

His goal was clear: to select 11 people of different types, covering various traits such as extreme intelligence, cunning, ruthlessness, innocence, and a strong sense of justice. Only then could the game between them be more complex, and Zero could collect more comprehensive data on the earth will.

For the first target, Lu Chen locked onto a quantum physics laboratory at a top university in Shanghai.

Deep in the laboratory, a young man in a white coat was standing in front of a large instrument, frowning as he stared at the jumping data on the screen.

His name was Chen Mo, 28 years old, a Genius in the field of domestic quantum physics. Young as he was, he had already published multiple papers in top journals and cracked several problems that had troubled the academic world for years. Chen Mo possessed logical thinking ability and thirst for knowledge far beyond ordinary people, belonging to the typical "extremely intelligent" type.

At this moment, Chen Mo was at a critical stage of research, completely immersed in the world of data, without noticing the anomaly outside at all.

Lu Chen flashed and appeared behind him. With a light tap of his fingertip, Chen Mo's body instantly stiffened, his eyes became vacant, and then he slowly fell.

Lu Chen waved his hand and stored his body into an independent storage space.

After grabbing the first one, Lu Chen teleported to a high-end office building in Shanghai.

This was the headquarters of a large investment company. In the president's office on the top floor, a middle-aged man in a custom-made suit with slicked-back hair was talking eloquently on the phone.

His name was Zhao Feng, 45 years old, the founder of this investment company, known in the industry for his sharp vision and cunning methods.

He was adept at using information asymmetry and the weaknesses of human nature for capital operations. Countless companies had gone bankrupt under his calculations, while he had made a fortune. At this moment, he was using a gentle tone to appease his partner on the other end of the line, his words full of promises and guarantees.

"President Zhang, don't worry, this project is absolutely profitable. How could I pit you?" After hanging up the phone, the gentleness on Zhao Feng's face instantly disappeared, replaced by a cold sneer.

He picked up the document on the table—this was a trap he had meticulously designed. Once his partner invested all his funds, he would deliberately cause a collapse and transfer all the partner's money away.

Just then, Lu Chen's figure appeared in the office.

Zhao Feng's pupils shrank. Just as he wanted to call for security, he was hit by a burst of energy from Lu Chen, instantly lost consciousness, and was stored into the storage space.

For the third target, Lu Chen chose an industrial city in the south—Guangzhou.

In an abandoned factory in the suburbs of Guangzhou, a group of burly men in black were kicking and punching a shivering young man.

The leader was a man with a scar on his face, named Dao Ge, 35 years old, a well-known local underworld boss who was ruthless and would stop at nothing for profit.

He controlled the local underground gambling, loan sharking, and other industries. Anyone who owed him money and could not repay it would suffer his cruel retaliation; broken hands and feet were common occurrences.

"Dare to owe me money and not pay it back? Tired of living, aren't you!" Dao Ge stepped on the young man's chest, his eyes fierce and his tone cold.

The young man spat blood and kept begging, but Dao Ge remained unmoved and raised his hand to signal his men to drag the person away to "handle" him.

Just then, Lu Chen's figure appeared in the factory.

Dao Ge and his men were all shocked, thinking the police had come: "Screw you, who are you? You scared the hell out of me!!"

The crowd drew weapons and surrounded Lu Chen.