Umbrella, The Light of Humanity

midsummer.

mid-afternoon.

The bustling area of ​​a certain colonial metropolis.

The traffic flow on the surface is surging, and the drivers follow the physical traffic lights or holographic signs to shuttle between blocks.

There are also flying boats of different specifications and purposes in the airway, driving in an orderly manner...

It should be said that most of them obeyed the order.

For example, right now there is a purple matte-painted, streamlined, two-door, four-seater flying boat that is driving illegally at an extremely fast speed in an area outside the waterway.

While the driver of the flying boat was irresponsible for his own safety, he also seriously endangered the safety of other drivers and even the citizens of this area.

The driver may have a problem with his mental state, but the greatest possibility is "drunk driving".

However, before the driver continued to "drunk driving", two airships from the local public security department quickly approached, flanked, and then unfolded to distort the space slightly, making the purple airship slow down forcibly.

In the end, the sheriffs took the suspected drunk-driving driver and his car directly out of the area, climbed to the dedicated waterway, and then drove towards the Public Security Department, preparing to conduct a "friendly" questioning of the driver.

And below this area.

On the air corridor for pedestrians to cross the street, there is a group of young male high school students who look to be only sixteen or seventeen years old, all wearing short sleeves and shorts.

One of them, who is considered to be the strongest among his peers and has flat hair, raised his head and witnessed the scene where the sheriff subdued the "drunk driving" driver. He couldn't bear his temper and said to the students beside him:

"Tsk, it's almost 2090, how come there are such guys who threaten social stability? They should be severely punished. If drunk driving is executed, I'm sure no one will dare to go on the road after drinking!"

"Hey! Tom, your thinking is a little dangerous." A classmate shrugged and said, "Besides, the world is impermanent. How can you absolutely guarantee that no one will dare to continue drinking and driving?"

"That's right, with your radical attitude, I think you'll be able to become the Astartes you've dreamed of for a long time." Another student nodded.

"Go." The boy named Tom waved his hands in disgust, but he didn't refute anything. He continued to walk towards the end of the corridor and said angrily:

"Just pretend I didn't say anything just now, okay."

"Don't be sullen, I'll give you an orange outfit later, how about it?"

"Huh? Which set?"

"It's the trench coat from the Demon Hunter series..."

After a short episode, the group of high school students left the air corridor, came to the bustling commercial street opposite, and headed for their destination.

During this period.

The holographic images on both sides of the commercial street are playing advertisement clips of different products, and at the entrance of the main entrance of the large shopping mall, there are also highlights and previews of popular or upcoming movies.

From the images that can be seen everywhere on the commercial street, it can be known that this colony is called "Kogler", and the local time is June 25, 2089.

2089…

It has been three earth years since the incident in the border star area caused by the fallen goddess Pallas Athena, and its impact has been minimized, and the Mar galaxy has long been included in the human territory.

The Mar people, whose face and figure are extremely similar to humans, announced three years ago that they would become "allies" of humans and that they were about to be incorporated into the human system, which indeed caused waves in society.

But it only lasted for a while.

In fact, human beings have long been used to such events, and are even getting ready for more and more friendly races to gradually merge into human life and systems.

What is worth discussing by netizens and people is the appearance and spiritual talent of the Marr.

With Umbrella's open face, and the White Queen's secret guidance and dissemination, "spiritual energy" and "abnormal phenomena" have also emerged into the public eye in just three years.

The term psychic has changed from being unfamiliar to being familiar and taken for granted. Some netizens even bluntly said whether psychic power is a "special function".

At first, many opportunists and criminals used the gimmick of "psychic power" to defraud and amass money.

However, as hospitals around the world have successively disclosed medical examination items for identifying psychic levels, and after the government intervenes, opportunists and criminals will either be imprisoned, or "the whistle will disappear", and they will no longer be rampant.

As for "anomalies"...

To be honest, everything announced by the official side and the dark side is just a "small scene" for human beings who have fully entered the era of interstellar colonization, and it is nothing more than chatter after dinner.

Of course, Umbrella did not disclose high-risk abnormal phenomena that would distort common sense and make people feel creepy, so it did not cause much shock to society.

Commercial Street at the moment.

It happened that an advertisement for Umbrella cosmetics was playing, and its endorsement model was a Mar woman whose ears were different from human beings, but her face and figure were in line with human aesthetics.

Passing high school students saw this ad, and a shorter boy said with emotion: "It would be nice to have a wife like an elf."

? ? ?

As soon as these words came out, all the partners instantly became "vigilant", and turned their heads to look at the boy who expressed emotion just now with the appearance of "you are not right".

then.

A classmate took over the conversation and said: "If you go to the border star area 600 light years away, if you are lucky, you may meet a "elven grandma". It is said on the Internet that their adult age is 270 years old when converted to us humans. to 275 years old."

The boy named Tom clasped his fists, gritted his teeth and agreed, "I don't care whether the humanoid aliens are beautiful or ugly, as long as they are hostile to humans, I should feed them a few bullets."

"Okay everyone." A tall boy who was walking in the front stopped, turned around and said loudly to his companions:

"Calm down, now we have to consider how to pass the dungeon! Taking advantage of the double experience and rewards today, cheer up!"

"Oh~!" A group of high school students were excited.

While turning their attention back to the game, they also walked into an "Internet cafe" named Boya.

The Internet cafe industry has not been ruthlessly eliminated due to the rapid development of technology, on the contrary, it has been kept alive until now.

Especially for students who like to form a group to play black during the winter and summer vacations.

However, the current Internet cafe is quite different from the past...

The interior of the internet cafe is clean and bright, without excited or angry roars, and without a computer. Instead, the computers are replaced by rows of "single rooms" next to each other.

The boss sitting at the front desk by the door saw a group of young high school students walking into his store, so he knocked on the table with his right hand and lazily said:

"Come here and scan."

heard the words.

The high school students also immediately shut down, walked to the front desk quickly, and placed their hands on the front desk one by one, like a black flat-panel scanning instrument.

Soon, the boss saw the holographic screen displaying the gender, age, and name information of this group of high school students.

After confirming that everyone is over sixteen years old, the boss said to a group of high school students, "How long will you play?"

"Four hours." The tall boy answered first.

"right."

"That's right."

The other students responded one after another.

Knowing the specific time, the boss directly used the biometric information to complete the deduction, and then reminded: "Okay, you can choose the seat at will, but you can't change it halfway through the selection, don't forget."

"Thank you boss!"

Seeing that the formalities were successfully completed, the high school students thanked the boss, and immediately began to choose the "single room" with the green light on the top.

Pull the sliding door open.

What catches the eye is the medium configuration currently on the market, which belongs to the immersive virtual reality suit.

There is a treadmill-like platform under the feet, and a helmet placed on it, and physical "handles" like rifles, pistols, rocket launchers, and giant swords hang on the left and right.

And the helmet of this suit will stab the scalp nerves to simulate various tactile sensations in the "virtual world". There is no problem with safety, but the operator can also choose to turn off this function.

If it is the suit with the highest configuration on the market, it will have a "simulation suit" close to the skin to achieve an absolutely immersive experience.

Of course, the price keeps ordinary people away. Even the middle configuration in front of us is not a "toy" that ordinary high school students can afford, and ordinary parents will not use this kind of virtual suit to pamper and spoil their children. .

So Internet cafes are their best choice.

Moreover, those who have reached the age of 16 are legally compliant under the rules specified by UEG, but there is a time limit, which cannot exceed four hours.

It didn't take long for all the high school students to choose their seats.

After closing the sliding door, Tom stepped onto a platform similar to a treadmill, fastened the fixing belt and seat belt, took off the helmet to adjust the tightness, then used the holographic screen automatically presented in front of him to select the game, put on the helmet, and was ready to go to the appointment. Great place to meet up with your buddies.

only…

As soon as the helmet screen was turned on, it quickly returned to dim, and through the reflection of the mirror, Tom could clearly see his somewhat dazed face.

crashed?

shouldn't...

Suspicious, he took off his helmet, and just when he was about to untie the fixing belt and seat belt, a sudden "Boom!" sounded around, and the ground trembled violently uncontrollably.

? ? ! !

"This is... ah!!"

Before he could shout "What's the situation!", he couldn't control his voice because of the strong sense of falling and the collapse of the ground.

Outside the single room…

In other words, the outside of the Internet cafe, and even the low-rise commercial buildings where the Internet cafe is located, are rapidly collapsing downwards, and the entire building has "disappeared" almost instantly.

The billowing smoke generated by the collapse hit the surroundings.

! !

This sudden change made people walking and wandering on the street confused about the situation for a while, and instinctively fled the subsidence area and thick smoke.

However, there are always bold and enthusiastic people, even though they have witnessed the whole process of the subsidence, they still ignore the obstruction of the thick smoke, "go upstream" by covering their mouths and noses, and rush to the subsidence area in the opposite direction.

Wait until the smoke gradually dissipates.

Enthusiastic people standing on the edge of the collapsed area looked down and found that underground systems such as subways and sewage channels were also severely damaged.

All of this was not caused by geological movement or some kind of man-made accident. At the bottom of the collapsed area, there was a vortex entrance that was like a battleship or a ship sailing into the fault space, and emitted a faint blue light.

The visual diameter is about 30 meters.

Vortex entrance?

How can this help?

A group of enthusiastic people looked at each other in blank dismay.

At this moment, two security flying boats patrolling nearby responded to the command of the main station and rushed straight to the sky above the block.

Descend into the open.

The four security officers equipped with mechanical skeletons and protective gear immediately left the flying boat to disperse the crowd that gradually gathered to watch.

One of the security officers walked towards the edge of the collapsed area, and used the loudspeaker function of his helmet to remind enthusiastic people to stay away from here as soon as possible. After he also walked to the edge to check the situation, he was also surprised and sighed involuntarily:

"my God…"

Afterwards, the security officer immediately opened the communication and said: "Headquarters, this is KE22379, which responded to the collapse of the 116th Commercial Street in District 09 of the Metropolis. It is uploading the situation on the scene and applying for more professional personnel to assist in handling this incident. .”

"Understood." A female operator responded immediately through the communication: "More security officers are rushing to the collapse site. Please stabilize the situation first and evacuate the crowd."

"KE22379 received."

Next, more and more airships from the Sheriff's Department, the Fire Department, and the Trauma Response Team arrived on the block.

The sheriffs established the isolation zone, and the trauma team treated some people who were injured due to panic. However, the firefighters were unable to directly carry out rescue operations.

After the collapse accident, within five minutes, a large transport boat with a black exterior and red and white umbrella logos printed on its sides and belly, escorted by two atmospheric assault boats, appeared above this place. .

lower the altitude.

Before touching the ground, the assault boat took the lead in opening the hatches on both sides, and unloaded more than 20 "soldiers" wearing special power armor and holding customized laser rifles to the edge of the collapsed area.

Immediately afterwards, two assault boats quickly lifted into the air and began to circle and guard.

The large transport boat was completely moored to the ground, and the tail and side hatches were lowered, allowing a large number of technicians holding silver equipment boxes, as well as several people dressed in suits and sunglasses to leave the cabin.

At this time, the "soldiers" have taken over the right to blockade the edge of the collapse from a group of sheriffs who were a little confused, so that it is convenient for technicians to analyze and investigate the "vortex" at the bottom.

And those people in suits and sunglasses went straight to the temporary command center established by the sheriff. The first one took out a chip-shaped exclusive mobile phone from the inner pocket of the suit, showed his identity information to a sheriff sergeant, and said coldly:

"Umbrella's Emergency Response Department has full authority to take over this incident, Sergeant, tell your people to stay away from the collapsed area, and assist us in sealing it to prevent people from entering this place by mistake."

"Emergency Emergency Response Department..." After confirming the identity of the man in the suit through the holographic glasses he was wearing, the sergeant no longer had any doubts, and then nodded and replied:

"Okay, then I will leave it to you experts."