Parallel world.
In a male dormitory at Beijing University of Science and Technology in Beijing, China.
It was the middle of summer and the weather was scorching hot. Most of the students that lived in the dormitory had gone to the self-study room to enjoy the cool air conditioning. Only one male student remained in the dorms.
The student looked to be about 1.78 meters tall with a simple and neat buzzcut to go along with his handsome facial features. He wore a cool and clean white t-shirt and black shorts. His skin was pale, but his muscles were clearly defined, especially around his chest and abdominal area. This was the result of having a well kept workout routines.
This student's name was He Xingzhou. He was a 19-year-old third year student in the Physics Department of Beijing University of Science and Technology.
At this moment, He Xingzhou was browsing the news on his computer when he saw something that made him angry.
"Breaking news! Japan has decided to release nuclear waste into the sea. Research shows that in 57 days, half of the Pacific Ocean would become polluted by it!"
"They released nuclear waste water into the sea to save money? How shameless can these people get?" He Xingzhou could not help but curse.
In the comments, the Chinese netizens were also unanimous in their condemnation.
"They're trying to apologize for it? What's the point of apologizing if they still insist on releasing nuclear waste water! What hypocrisy! This must be the so called political apologies where politicians know that they're doing something wrong and will not change the way they act because bowing and apologizing will always solve the problem!"
"The environment of our Earth has been polluted to this extent by them. Are they not thinking about the lives of the future generations at all?"
"I heard that they had long polluted the water. The environmental protection organizations have already detected some aftereffects and radioactive substances around the area!"
"Will this lead to sea creatures mutating in the future?"
"I'm really worried about the future of mankind." Although he Xingzhou was just an ordinary university student, this did not stop him from thinking about the future of mankind, the starting point of time, the end of the universe, and other issues.
He gently swiped his finger and clicked on another piece of news.
"In the southern waters, fishermen have caught a deformed shark. This shark has a human-like face. Experts have confirmed that this was a thresher shark that had mutated for some reason."
He Xingzhou looked at the photo. It was a baby thresher shark whose eyes were actually on the its belly which caused it to look somewhat like a human face. It looked very strange.
"Recently, there seems to be a lot of news about mutated creatures." He Xingzhou had noticed that there had been more and more news about mutated creatures spreading around the world lately.
"Could it be the result of survivorship bias? Am I getting this misconception because I have been reading up on this topic a lot more recently? Am I getting more news about these things because my web data is being tracked?" He Xingzhou thought.
"It's not a misconception, it's the truth." A voice sounded in his mind, giving He Xingzhou a fright.
"Who's there?" He Xingzhou looked left and right, but did not see anyone.
"Stop looking, I'm right here. In your brain!" A ball of light seemed to appear before he Xingzhou's eyes.
Before he Xingzhou could ask, the ball of light sounded in his mind again, "Let me introduce myself. I'm a Quantum Processor, a product left behind by a god-tier civilization. Due to some unknown reasons, I was activated by you. Now, I belong to you. You can treat me as a portable AI."
"You are the only one who can see the content and information that I display."
He Xingzhou was stunned for a few seconds, then replied in ecstasy, "Are you the legendary goldfinger of a system?"
"You can call me that, but I am not a system. I only have a technology tree, or in simpler terms, a hierarchical visual representation of the possible sequences of upgrades."
"Why are you bound to me? What do you want from me?" He Xingzhou was a little skeptical and stayed vigilant. After all, there was no such thing as free lunch.
The Quantum Processor explained, "Countless years ago, there was a powerful god-tier civilization in this universe. They had reached the pinnacle of technological advancement. Their various technologies, in the words of you Earthlings, are at the level of gods!"
"In order to understand the ultimate mysteries of the universe, the god-tier civilization created me, the Quantum Processor, a quantum robot with super computing and analytical abilities."
"My goal was to develop the [Universe Matrix], which contains the ultimate profound mysteries of the universe."
"However, before the god-level civilization could successfully develop the Universe Matrix, they were caught in a surprised attacked by an enemy civilization which led to their collapse and disappearance in this very universe."
"I chose you because after calculating countless possibilities, you were the most likely to develop the Universe Matrix to fulfill the long-cherished wish of the god-level civilization and my mission."
"Wow. Am I that awesome?" He Xingzhou was shocked. "Then what are the chances that I'll be able to develop the Universe Matrix?"
"About one in 10 trillion." the Quantum Processor replied.
He Xingzhou said, "F*CK, are you kidding me?!"
The Quantum Processor continued to explain, "You're already the one with the highest probability. The Universe Matrix holds the ultimate mysteries of the universe. If it can be developed so easily, the god-tier civilization will not have been destroyed."
"In the process of researching, you will also encounter various problems: technological bottlenecks, resource constraints, attacks from enemies of alien civilizations, and so forth."
"However, even if you don't completely finish the research on the Universe Matrix, just stepping on the path of research and development towards it will be enough for you to become an era-leading figure on this planet, or even in the galaxy!"
With that, the Quantum Processor showed him the technology tree.
"Electromagnetism, Materials Science, Quantum Physics, Genetic Engineering..."the technology tree had countless branches, and each branch represented a different path in science and technology.
He Xingzhou only took a glance around the tree and saw things like Nuclear Fusion Technology, Spaceships, Neural Machinery as well.
His heart started to beat rapidly. As a person who had received a modern university education, he naturally knew what this meant!
The technology tree was filled with technologies that mankind had yet to complete and realize!
Any one of them would be enough to cement He Xingzhou in the history books and make him famous around the world! As for becoming the richest person in the world, that was a cakewalk!
How could he not be tempted? He was simply about to go crazy!
"How do I research the things on the technology tree?" He Xingzhou quickly asked.
"It's very simple. You just need to supply me with energy and complete some small goal. Then, I can unlock my computing power and automate the research for you."
"To unlock a new technology, you'll need to fulfill the pre-requisites and supply me with endless energy."
"How much energy is would you need?" He Xingzhou knew that this was definitely would not be a simple matter.
"Well, let's put it this way. According to the current situation in the solar system, phase one of completing an energy supply device is to build a Dyson Sphere that can surround the sun." said the Quantum Processor.
The so-called Dyson sphere was a type of energy collection device. It was a man-made celestial body with a diameter of more than 200 million kilometers that could envelop an entire star!
It could maximize the absorption of all the energy output from the star and produce a huge amount of energy in return.
"Build a Dyson Sphere?" He Xingzhou found it hard to believe. Humans could barely build a spacecraft and land on the moon. Now he was expected to build a man-made Dyson Sphere that could envelop the sun? Even the author of web novels did not dare to make such a story!
"Yes, a Dyson Sphere. This is only the first stage in studying the Universe Matrix. The first stage can be considered to be just the beginning. There are still higher stages that have yet to be unlocked." The Quantum Processor's lack of emotional fluctuations shocked He Xingzhou.
With the imagination of a creature from a low-level civilization, the greatness of a god-tier civilization back then was simply unfathomable!
"Don't talk about a Dyson sphere. If we really created a Dyson sphere and envelop the sun, without the sunlight, the Earth would go directly into an Ice Age and cause all the creatures in the world to become extinct!" He Xingzhou said.
"If you want to protect the ecology of Earth you can build a Dyson ring or a Dyson Cloud, or even a part of the Dyson sphere. You can adjust their position through the planetary spacecraft's orbit control system to avoid directly impacting Earth."
"Although this way, we will have less energy supply."
He Xingzhou: "..."
"I really don't know if I can do it," He Xingzhou said with a sigh. It was not that he did not dare to do it, but this matter was simply too unbelievable.
A penniless student building a Dyson sphere? It was ridiculous!
"It's not whether you can do it or not, but rather, you have to do it. That's because if you don't do it within a certain amount of time, you might be buried along with this planet!"
He Xingzhou: "? ? ? What?! Are you going to destroy the world if I don't do it?"
"I'm just a technological research and knowledge storage device, I won't do that kind of thing." The Quantum Processor's voice was emotionless. "According to the information I've obtained, the Zerg race has already appeared in this world."
"This is a type of alien as you guys might call it. They rely on devouring matter and energy for food. As the locusts of the universe, they can eat up entire planets!"
"According to their law of evolution, they should be able to wipe out the human race within 50 years. Within 100 years, they will have eaten up all the living beings on Earth. If they give birth to a planet devourer, the entire solar system will probably be eaten up by them!"
"Are you trying to scare me? "He Xingzhou was not very convinced. "I haven't seen any aliens at all."
The Quantum Processor replied, "The mutated life forms you have seen are the infant form of the Zergs. This is a self-protection mechanism for them, allowing them to leech their genes on the life forms on this planet. When they mature, they will take over the main body and completely mutate into a Zerg."
"I have to remind you that the Zerg can absorb nuclear radiation to speed up their evolution. Your planet seems to be doing something that is beneficial to the evolution of the Zerg. For example, releasing pollutants into the seas and oceans."
"If no precautionary measures are taken, in a few decades time, the Zerg will emerge onto land from the ocean. Normal weapons will deal limited damage against them. Even your nuclear weapons will not be able to completely destroy them. There are even Zerg kings that can absorb nuclear energy from these weapons."
"These Zergs will eat devour the entire human race and everything else and then enter space."
"Things may be more serious than what I have just described. Don't you guys have a saying that goes like: when you see a cockroach in the kitchen, there will definitely be more than one cockroach in your house! So it may not be just Earth, other planets in the solar system may also have the infested by the Zerg race."
"With the Solar System's energy, it's very likely that a planet devourer will be born. These things can eat entire planets! If one with the size of Earth appears, do you Earthlings have a way to deal with such a creature?"
"No," He Xingzhou answered decisively.
"Only by unlocking advanced technology can we have the ability to deal with them!" The Quantum Processor continued. "The Dyson sphere can provide energy for the planetary destruction cannon. As long as you build the Dyson sphere and the planetary destruction cannon, even if there are planetary devourers, the planetary destruction cannon will be able to destroy them!"
"Meanwhile on Earth, you can build steel cities, Mech soldiers, aircraft carriers, and so on to defend."