Umbrella, The Light of Humanity

midsummer.

in the afternoon.

A prosperous area of ​​a colonial metropolis.

The traffic on the surface is surging, and drivers follow the physical traffic lights or holographic signs to shuttle from block to block.

There are also flying boats of different specifications and purposes in the air channel, which travel in an orderly manner…

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

For example, there is now a purple matte paint finish, with a streamlined overall shape. The two-door, four-seater airship is driving illegally at an extremely fast speed in the area outside the fairway.

The driver who controls this airship is irresponsible for his own safety, but also seriously endangers the safety of other drivers and even the citizens of this area.

The driver may have a mental state problem, but the biggest possibility is "drinking and driving".

However, before the driver could continue "drinking and driving", two airships from the local security bureau quickly approached and attacked, and then unfolded to distort the space a little.

In the end, the sheriffs took the suspected drunk driver with him and his car, took him directly into this area, climbed to the dedicated waterway, and then drove towards the Sheriff's Office, ready to conduct a "friendly" interview with the driver.

And below this area.

In the air corridor for pedestrians to cross the street, there is a group of young high school boys who look like only sixteen or seventeen years old, all wearing short-sleeved shorts.

One of the boys with a sturdy physique and flat hair looks up to the scene of the sheriff subduing the "drunk driving" driver.

"Tsk, it's almost 2090, how come there is still such a guy who threatens social stability? They should be severely punished. If they are shot and executed if they drive drunk, I'm sure that no one dares to go on the road after drinking!"

"Huh! Tom, your thinking is a little dangerous." A classmate shrugged: "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 aggressive attitude, I think you've worked hard to become the Astarte you've been dreaming of for a long time." Another classmate nodded.

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

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

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

"Huh? Which set?"

"It's the trench coat from the witcher series..."

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

During this period.

The holograms on both sides of the commercial street play advertisement clips of different products, and at the main entrance of large shopping malls, highlights and previews of hot movies or upcoming movies are also played.

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

2089…

Three earth years have passed since the frontier star area incident caused by the fallen goddess Pallas Athena, and its impact has been minimized, and the Mar galaxy has long been included in the territory of human beings.

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

But it only lasted for a while.

In fact, human beings have long been accustomed to such events, and even prepared for more and more friendly races to gradually merge into human life and system.

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

There are Umbrella openly open, and the white queen secretly guides and spreads, so that "psionic energy" and "abnormal phenomena" have also emerged into the public eye in just three years.

The term psionicist has changed from unfamiliar to familiar and accustomed, and some netizens even bluntly said whether psionics is a "special function".

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

However, as hospitals all over the country have successively opened up physical examination programs to identify psionic levels, and after the official intervention, opportunists and criminals are either imprisoned or "whistleless", and can no longer be rampant.

As for "abnormal phenomena"...

To be honest, all the official announcements on the bright side and the dark side are just "small scenes" for the human beings who have completely entered the era of interstellar colonization, and they are just talk after dinner.

Of course, Umbrella did not disclose the high-risk abnormal phenomenon that distorted common sense and made people feel creepy, so it did not cause much shock to society.

Commercial Street at the moment.

An advertisement for Umbrella Cosmetics happened to be playing, and its endorsement model was a Marr woman whose ears were different from humans, but her face and body conformed to human aesthetics.

When passing high school students saw this advertisement, a shorter boy sighed with emotion: "It would be great if there was a wife like a fairy."

? ? ?

As soon as these words came out, all the partners were instantly "alert", and they all turned their heads and looked at the boy who just expressed their emotions with the appearance of "you're wrong".

then.

A classmate picked up the conversation and said: "If you go to the border star area 600 light-years away, if you are lucky, you may meet an "elf grandma". The Internet says that their family's adult age is 270 when converted to us humans. to 275 years old."

The boy named Tom made a fist gesture, gritted his teeth and said, "I don't care whether humanoids are beautiful or ugly, as long as they are hostile to humans, they should be fed a few bullets to taste."

"Okay guys." A tall boy walking at the front stopped, turned around and said loudly to the group of partners:

"Stop for a while, now we have to think about how to pass the dungeon! Take advantage of the double experience and rewards today, let's all cheer up!"

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

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

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

Especially for students who like to form groups to open black in the winter and summer vacations.

However, the Internet cafes today are quite different from the past…

The decoration in the Internet cafe is neat and bright, there is no excited, angry roar, and there is no 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, he tapped on the counter with his right hand, and said lazily:

"Come here and scan."

heard.

The high school students also immediately turned off their voices, hurriedly walked to the front desk, and placed their hands on top of the front desk one by one, like a black flatbed scanner.

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

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

"Four hours." The tall boy answered first.

"right."

"That's right."

The other students responded.

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 in the middle of 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 select the "single room" with a green light above.

Pull open the sliding door.

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

At the foot is a treadmill-like platform, and a helmet placed above it. There are also physical "handles" like rifles, pistols, bazookas, and great swords hanging on the left and right.

And the helmet of this suit will stab the scalp nerves to simulate various touch 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 highest-configured suit on the market, it will have a "simulation suit" that is close to the skin to achieve an absolutely immersive experience.

Of course, the price also keeps ordinary people away. Even such a medium-sized configuration is not a "toy" that ordinary high school students can afford, and ordinary parents will not use this kind of virtual suit to spoil and accustom their children. .

So Internet cafes are their best choice.

And they are 16 years old or older, and they 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 the treadmill-like platform, fastened the fixed belt and seat belt, took off the helmet to adjust the tightness, and then used the holographic screen automatically displayed in front of him to select the game, put on the helmet, and prepare to go to the appointment. Good place to meet up with friends.

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 be...

Confused, he took off his helmet, and just as he was about to unfasten the harness and seat belt, a sudden "Boom!" sound reverberated around, causing the ground to tremble violently.

? ? ! !

"This is... ah!!"

Before he could shout "What's wrong with this body!", he couldn't control his voice because of the strong feeling of falling and the collapse of the ground.

Outside the single room…

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

The plume of smoke from the collapse hit the surroundings.

! !

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

However, there are always bold and enthusiastic people. Even if they witnessed the whole process of the collapse, they still ignored the obstruction of the thick smoke, raised their hands to cover their mouths and noses, and rushed to the collapsed area in the opposite direction.

Wait for the smoke to dissipate gradually.

The 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.

What caused all this was not caused by geological movements or some kind of man-made accident. At the bottom of the collapsed area, there was a whirlpool entrance that looked like battleships and ships sailed into the fault space and radiated blue light.

Visually estimated to be about 30 meters in diameter.

Vortex inlet?

How can this help?

A group of enthusiastic people looked at each other in 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 this block.

Descend into an open area.

Four sheriffs equipped with mechanical bones and protective gear immediately left the airship and dispersed the crowd that gradually gathered around.

One of the sheriffs walked to the edge of the collapsed area and used the helmet's external function to loudly remind the enthusiastic people to get away from here as soon as possible. After he also walked to the edge and looked down to check the situation, he was also surprised and couldn't help sighing:

"my God…"

Afterwards, the sheriff immediately opened the communication channel: "Main station, this is KE22379 who responded to the collapse of the 116th Commercial Street in District 09 of the Metropolis, and is uploading the scene and applying for a more professional person to assist in handling this incident. ."

"Understood." A female operator responded immediately through the communication: "More sheriffs are rushing to the collapsed site. Please stabilize the situation on the spot and evacuate the crowd."

"KE22379 received."

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

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

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

lower the altitude.

Before it touched the ground, the assault boat took the lead in unfolding the hatches on both sides, unloading more than 20 "soldiers" wearing special types of 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 alert.

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

The "soldiers" at this time had already taken over the right to block the edge of the collapse from a group of sheriffs who were confused, so that the technicians could analyze and investigate the "vortex" at the bottom.

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

"Umbrella's Emergency Response Department has taken over this incident, sergeant, tell your people to stay away from the collapsed area, and assist us in securing a blockade to prevent the masses from entering this place by mistake."

"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, then nodded and replied:

"Okay, then I'll leave it to you experts."