Chapter 334: Iceberg Tip

"Dr. Lou?" Su Zhiwei hadn't expected Chen Ling to ask such a question. After a moment of surprise, she replied hesitantly, "His research... seems to be in materials science?"

Materials science...

Chen Ling's brows furrowed as he recalled Dr. Lou's actions throughout their journey. Compared to Yang Xiao, a scientist on his first exploration mission, Dr. Lou had been remarkably calm, even nonchalant, from beginning to end. Perhaps it was just his personality? However, Su Zhiwei was also usually calm, yet she couldn't help but panic somewhat when facing disaster. By comparison, Dr. Lou's composure seemed unusually excessive.

He was the first to ask Su Zhiwei about parallel universes, and also the first to voluntarily split up... Perhaps due to his long association with Wen Shilin, Chen Ling's perception of details had become extremely sharp. His intuition told him that this person was definitely not simple.

"If... I mean, if," Chen Ling said, looking seriously at Yang Xiao and Su Zhiwei. "If, one day, your respective theories became reality and could be fully controlled, would it be possible... for someone to travel through time?"

All three froze. They seemed confused as to why Chen Ling would ask such a sci-fi question at a moment like this.

"Director Chen, why do you ask?" Yang Xiao inquired, puzzled.

"No reason. Just answer me."

Su Zhiwei pondered for a moment. "That concept is too broad... If there are no limitations, many theories could achieve it."

"Indeed," Yang Xiao nodded. "However, if we're talking about strictly defined time travel, then Dr. Ji's research on the God Particle would probably be the most likely candidate?"

"What is the God Particle?"

"The God Particle, also known as the Higgs Boson, is the particle that gives other particles 'mass'. Simply put, from electrons to the sun, the mass of all matter is imparted by this particle, like a god, which is why it's called the God Particle," Yang Xiao explained gravely. "From the perspective of general relativity, if you infinitely increase the mass of an object using the God Particle, it could potentially warp spacetime, create a 'wormhole,' and thus enable time travel."

Immediately, Dr. Ji's image surfaced in Chen Ling's mind again...

Initially, Chen Ling had suspected Dr. Lou, but now it seemed Dr. Lou's materials science likely had no connection to time travel. Instead, Dr. Ji, who had caught up later, might have traveled back from the future? Only then could the power fluctuation, comparable to that of the Nine Sovereigns, be explained.

No, no, no... This seemed a bit too far-fetched. Chen Ling found his own wild theory absurd. But then again, if an entire era could be archived, then Dr. Ji traveling through time didn't seem quite so impossible to accept.

Chen Ling's thoughts were in complete disarray. He suddenly realized that he had underestimated this fragment exploration mission far too much... This event, which occurred over three hundred years ago and led to the creation of the Nine Sovereigns, was far from as simple as Dr. Yi had made it out to be with a few words. He vaguely sensed that this operation was much deeper than he had anticipated; what he was seeing now was merely the tip of the iceberg.

"No way, you guys are seriously discussing something this outlandish?" Wu Tongyuan muttered under his breath, limping forward. "If you could truly master your respective fields of research... wouldn't I be invincible?"

As they continued, the rain gradually subsided. The cold wind before dawn dispersed the clouds above, revealing faint starlight. After walking for a while, Yang Xiao's voice suddenly broke the silence: "Is that it?"

Following Yang Xiao's point, they saw a shadow, six or seven stories high, outlined by starlight in the distant forest. Its edges were irregular, as if something had broken off parts of it.

"That's right, we're almost there." Chen Ling felt the magnetic field around the object and nodded slightly.

Before encountering the disaster, they had already been close to the fragment's location. After their frantic escape, they had now arrived in its vicinity. It was still dark, so Chen Ling couldn't see the object's full appearance, but aided by the starlight, he could vaguely make out that its surface seemed to be dark red... consistent with the color of the Crimson Star.

As they approached, strange, low roars faintly emanated from the surrounding forest. Hearing the sound, Wu Tongyuan immediately cowered behind Chen Ling, glancing around in terror, fearing something might leap out of the woods and bite off his precious head. But Chen Ling found it strange; these roars didn't sound like the murderous, enraged growls from the earlier battle. Instead, they sounded more like a pained wail...

"There's a monster!" Su Zhiwei suddenly pointed to a spot in the forest.

Chen Ling turned to look and saw a two-meter-long shadow sprawled on the ground. It looked like a pangolin, but its surface was now emanating an eerie red glow, and its tail had split into three sections from the middle, still slowly growing... Low growls escaped its throat, as if in great pain, and it writhed on the ground like a maggot.

"It looks... unwell," Yang Xiao said, his brows furrowed. "Like it hasn't fully mutated yet?"

"So, the monsters we encountered earlier were all forest creatures that got close to the fragment? Some approached earlier and fully mutated, while others are still in the process of mutating," Su Zhiwei mused. "It seems the fragment's radiation is indeed real."

"Will this radiation affect humans? I don't want to turn into a monster when we get back!" Wu Tongyuan quickly interjected.

"It's hard to say, but most likely yes."

"We're wearing protective suits, which should block some of it... but unfortunately, without the masks now, they're pretty much useless."

Wu Tongyuan's face instantly twisted into an expression as if he had just swallowed a fly.

However, led by Chen Ling, they had no choice but to push on. When they were only a few dozen meters from the fragment, Yang Xiao suddenly stopped. Chen Ling looked back, puzzled, and saw that not only Yang Xiao, but Su Zhiwei and Wu Tongyuan also stopped abruptly after taking half a step forward... The three of them stared blankly at the fragment, their eyes slowly losing focus, as if something had seized their souls.

Seeing this, Chen Ling frowned and walked up to Yang Xiao: "Yang Xiao, Yang Xiao? Are you alright?"

"I..." Yang Xiao stared blankly into the void before him, speaking absently. "I, I think I saw..."

"Saw what?"

"Magnetic fields... electric charges... They... they seem to be right before my eyes... They seem to have come alive."