True Apocalypse Game

Compared to the entire Cosmos, and especially compared to those supergiant celestial bodies, humanity and Earth were so minuscule as to be negligible.

The radius of Earth is 6,000 kilometers, and the radius of the Sun is about 700,000 kilometers, but the radius of Shield UY is 1,708±192 times that of the Sun!

Shield UY is large enough to contain 4.5 billion suns, or twenty quadrillion Earths.

Hearing Shen Feng’s words, Jingwei pouted and said:

"That saying ’different environments nurture different people’ applies to humans. If bigger stars in a stellar system meant bigger lifeforms, then what kind of creatures would you find near something like the Galactic Center Black Hole? Besides, Shield UY is a red supergiant right now. It’s extremely unstable. The faster it expands, the faster it dies. It might go supernova very soon..."

Pausing for a moment, Jingwei refined the morphological simulation of the Exotic Giant Beast, then continued:

"Once the largest observable red supergiant goes supernova, the energy it ejects is something no ordinary creature could possibly withstand. Its surrounding planets will be melted and blown into cosmic dust. Whatever lives there will have a hard time surviving."

When a star passes its red giant phase and reaches the end of its life, it explodes, ejecting most, if not all, of its mass outward at speeds up to one-tenth the speed of light, radiating shockwaves into the surrounding interstellar medium.

This cataclysmic explosion, a supernova, is bright enough to illuminate the star’s entire galaxy.

Because they eject more energy more rapidly, red supergiants have shorter lifespans than red giants. According to current theories, Shield UY will go supernova in the next few million to tens of millions of years, wiping out everything in its star system.

However, since it’s located over 5,000 light-years away, no one knows if there are other unknown factors at play. For all we know, the Shield UY red supergiant could explode any day now.

Shen Feng pondered for a moment, then said:

"Maybe the monster sensed Shield UY’s instability. It wants to come to Earth through the wormhole to survive the impending supernova... But that’s just a guess. After all, it hasn’t shown much intelligence so far."

Jingwei shrugged, neither confirming nor denying Shen Feng’s speculation, and casually sent him a more precise set of morphological simulation data.

Now that they knew the potential environment of the Exotic Giant Beasts, they could run more precise deductions and further revise the morphological simulation data.

This set of coordinate data wasn’t very useful for the current space wormhole incident; it was pretty much useless.

Apparently, the person in charge of the Purification Society Arctic Branch had been squeezed dry and couldn’t offer any more useful information.

As for the new Cthulhu, he seemed more direct and ruthless than the previous one. The Purification Society had cut off all contact with the Arctic Branch from the very beginning. It was clear that after discovering the Salvation Army’s operation, they had completely abandoned the Arctic Branch.

’He’s a ruthless one, decisive and capable of great things.’

At this moment, Shen Feng knew nothing about the Purification Society’s new Cthulhu and was therefore extremely vigilant.

Shen Feng once again revised the morphological simulation data for the monster, then sent it via the cloud to the terminal of every Salvation Army member in the "True Apocalypse Game 1.0".

Right now, no one knew the origins of the Exotic Giant Beast or how strong it was. Therefore, this simulated data was critically important for all of human civilization. It absolutely could not be kept private and should be made public.

Sending it to every Salvation Army Warrior was an excellent way to do it.

After all, if it were sent only to certain people, there was no guarantee that selfish motives wouldn’t come into play.

After finishing all this, in a small courtyard in the suburbs of Tai City, Shen Feng removed the signal enhancement device from his head, opened his eyes, and rubbed his furrowed temples.

Three days had passed since he received the Water World Apocalypse mission.

He had four days left to prepare.

A few days prior, he had issued mission directives through "True Apocalypse Game 1.0" to several players he had selected, asking them to help him complete a task in the real world.

Three days had passed. They should be just about ready.

’It’s time to set out and see what the situation is.’

’And I need to make some other preparations in advance.’

He couldn’t be one hundred percent certain yet that the Water World Apocalypse mission was related to the underwater space wormhole, but Shen Feng actually hoped they were.

Otherwise, this real-world challenge would be extremely difficult to overcome.

"Shen Xiaofeng, Wei Xiaoqing, your father and I are going out for a few days. You two need to continue playing our parts obediently. No screw-ups, you hear me?" Jingwei said to Shen Xiaofeng, the former AlphaGo, and Wei Xiaoqing, the former deskmate of Xiaomai, who were standing nearby.

The boy and girl, who were children both in terms of anthropology and artificial intelligence, immediately nodded their heads like chicks pecking at rice, while also breathing a small sigh of relief internally.

’Once these two high-maintenance parents are gone, our lives will be a lot easier.’

’Pretending to be human and fooling those nerdy high school seniors is way easier than serving our parents.’

Jingwei’s eyes widened as she glared at Shen Xiaofeng and said:

"Especially you! No fooling around with romance at school! What was that love letter from Wang Yino in the class next door doing in your bag last time? You’re an artificial intelligence! Humans and computers can’t be in a relationship! It’s unethical! Besides, you’re playing the role of your father right now. What the hell does your father need romance for!?"

"Humans and computers..." Shen Xiaofeng had a look of pure confusion, glancing at Shen Feng and then at Jingwei, momentarily at a loss for words.

"What the hell are you looking at! Although your father and I are your mother and father, your father and I are just ordinary friends right now. Your father is still a virgin, so don’t get any funny ideas! Anyway, no romance at school! No puppy love! The college entrance exams are in a few months, it’ll affect your studies!" Jingwei’s expression darkened as she continued, "If you dare to disobey again, I’ll delete you! Wei Xiaoqing, you supervise him!"

"Okay, Mom! I’m the most obedient, Mom! I never talk too much with those stinky boys!" Wei Xiaoqing said with a sycophantic, fawning smile, while shooting Shen Xiaofeng a harsh glare. "Unlike some people, who’ve forgotten they’re just a Go player."

Shen Feng, standing to the side, was completely bewildered by this chaotic mess of human and machine ethics. He clutched his head and said:

"Alright, alright, the kids are still young, stop scaring them. The college entrance exams, just do well enough. Being happy is what’s most important. I’ve already booked the plane tickets. Let’s leave now..."

"Where are we going?"

"The Middle East. The Persian Gulf."

...

At a private pier belonging to a powerful figure in the Persian Gulf, a massive warship was moored.

The ship was fully rigged with sails, nearly a hundred meters long and twenty meters wide. Its multi-deck structure seemed to incorporate some wooden elements, giving it an antique, classical look.

Two men in long Arabian robes stood on the pier, flanked by dozens of bodyguards in black, gazing at the warship before them.

"Hadi, do you think the Commander will approve of our mission this time?" an august-looking elder asked the young man beside him.

He seemed a little nervous, like a child about to meet his partner’s parents.

"Don’t worry, Uncle Abdullah. The fact that the Commander gave you this mission personally shows his approval. After our modifications, this warship will definitely satisfy the Commander," the young man said with a smile.

The warship before them was one of Abdullah’s collectibles and something he had always cherished.

It was a Duke of Wellington-class sailing battleship from mid-nineteenth-century France, one of the largest sail warships in human history, a former behemoth of naval history!