nashuaworldcup Chapter 34 The Shadow Zone, Here I Come
Chapter 34 The Shadow Zone, Here I Come
"I had hoped that my expertise in this area could be applied to academia..." An energy signal was displayed on the screen in the base's main hall.
"The signal is very weak, but I'm certain it's a dark super-energy entity, and it's moving rapidly." The ambulance turned to look at Optimus Prime; the signal even reached a familiar place—the location of Quasar's body.
They don't rule out the possibility that Megatron wants to unleash another zombie army.
Rosa is unlikely to participate in this operation, as she is still cleaning up her room, which has been bombed beyond recognition, and trying to salvage any usable parts she has made.
The ambulance driver could probably guess that the weapon Rosa was making was quite powerful, so he didn't call her out and let her continue her research.
So when Rosa finally crawled out of the room after she had done most of her work, she heard the news that three humans had gone missing.
"They crossed the land bridge, but didn't return to base?" Rosa listened to their account with a puzzled look, quickly recalling the first piece of knowledge she had tried to understand when she arrived.
Parallel worlds, the shadow zone between parallel worlds, and what she wants: a device to go home, a device that can even tear apart the shadow zone.
So Jack and the others were transported to the Shadow Zone? Rosa suddenly became curious, curious about what the Shadow Zone was like. She needed to see it up close to know how to tear it apart to reach another world, right?
Even if we can't tear things apart right now, we still need to understand them.
"Can I go over there? I want to go and see," Rosa said, looking at the ambulance with some anticipation.
"No! This is cross-dimensional transport! Rosa! Resetting the vortex trajectory is far too risky!" the ambulance shouted. "If the reset coordinates aren't exactly the same, who knows what will happen? The most important thing now is to find those children!"
“Okay,” Rosa shrugged, but how could she give up on a lead that led her home? She would certainly try, but not now, but… tonight.
The ambulance's reprogrammed interdimensional teleportation was successful, and Meiqi and the others were brought back safely. It was clear that Meiqi, Jack, and Raffi had sneaked away.
Meiqi has realized her mistake. She even saw that the mechanical zombie was the resurrected Tianzhen, and she was being chased by Tianzhen's hand. In the end, she was able to return by sending a signal to the Autobots.
For some reason, when they heard that the arm could run, Optimus Prime, Ratchet, Arcee, and Bumblebee all looked at themselves at the same time. At that moment, they all thought of the same question: Was Rosa related to the zombie machine?
Last time, when the ambulance fought the zombie army resurrected by Optimus Prime and Megatron, one slash and her arm stopped moving. They could still avoid associating her with the zombie machines, but now...
Well, how should I put it? In fact, all awakened solvers can be called zombie machines, since the initial solvers needed to die first to awaken, and after awakening, part of their core would be converted into flesh and blood.
So strictly speaking, she really is a zombie machine.
Rosa had no idea what they were thinking, nor did Bumblebee, Bulkhead, or the other humans. They looked at the other Autobots who were also looking at Rosa with some confusion.
"What's wrong?" Meiqi looked around in confusion.
"It's nothing," the ambulance driver shook his head and turned to continue clicking on something on the control panel. Rosa wanted to go up and ask about the teleportation in the shadow zone, but she knew she couldn't rush it.
Conceal your purpose, wait for the right opportunity, and remain quiet...
Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.
At 3 a.m., Rosa was woken up by the alarm clock built into her system. She got up quietly, tidied herself up quickly, then tiptoed out of the house, opened the door a crack, and closed it again.
The lights in the lobby had long been off, and she wouldn't turn them back on—it would be too obvious. She even peeked around to see if there were any security cameras in the base lobby. There was one, but she wouldn't turn her head away from it; that would make it too obvious if someone were to check it.
So she chose to keep the surveillance cameras recording the same scene over and over again, then hacked the camera into the camera with the solver. After that, the cameras would not capture any footage of her, but would only keep repeating the same scene: the dark and empty base.
Now, she has to try to figure out how to remotely open the land bridge, because she won't be able to get back if she doesn't.
Rosa thought for a while and then tried to hack the land bridge system with the solver. Since there was a signal in the shadow zone, she could use the signal to hack the land bridge and then activate it to go back.
Now, think back carefully about how the land bridge should be operated using only commands, and how the vortex track should be reset solely by commands.
Let's start with the simple one: locate the location, activate energy transmission, and simultaneously open the land bridge. Then, the more difficult one...
After Rosa ran the simulation in the core, she used the solver to hack into the land bridge. The ambulance probably never imagined the land bridge would be compromised; the system had no firewall and was instantly taken over by Rosa.
Now, she can send commands to the control panel.
Rosa looked back at the land bridge. As the prepared instructions were sent, the land bridge opened by itself. Rosa was directed to the place where she would meet the humans. Afterward, she would reopen the land bridge leading to the Shadow Zone from there.
A blue-green light shone brightly in the dark base hall. Rosa slowly walked onto the land bridge and, upon arrival, shut it down via remote signal.
She's currently at the location where Optimus Prime met Jack and the others, and the commands are working fine.
The unmanned control panel shuts down automatically after receiving the command. Next, the main control panel lights up, automatically switches between navigation modes, resets the vortex track, and restarts.
"Whoosh—" A land bridge portal appeared in front of Rosa. She walked straight towards it. This time, it was a land bridge connecting to the Shadow Zone.
After entering the land bridge, Rosa extended her body directly from her back. What she extended was a camera. Since the camera could project images, it could also emit ordinary light. She used this to illuminate the surroundings.
Good, as expected, she was able to remotely connect to the base's land bridge from the shadow area. This time, she only explored for half an hour; any later and she was afraid of being discovered.
To be honest, she didn't feel any difference between here and the outside world. Oh, there was a slight difference; the colors here were a bit darker than outside, as if there was something separating them.
"Whoosh—" Another land bridge portal appeared near Rosa, but it wasn't one of the two locations she had set up before coming here, and the ones that came weren't Autobots, but Decepticons.
They seemed to be searching for something, muttering something, the Red Spider Commander's arm... They drove the land bridge right in front of him, but when they came out they didn't see him, and even walked straight through him and left.
Hmm... Interesting. If I create a black hole, will they be able to receive the energy signal? Or rather, will such energy be able to break through the shadow zone?
The little and ring fingers tighten, while the index, middle, and thumb extend, and a blue solver symbol appears in the hand, followed by a small black hole appearing in its center.
I wonder if they brought any energy signals... "Beep beep beep!!" A device on one of the henchmen went off like crazy. He picked it up and saw that there was a huge energy signal nearby.
But he looked around and didn't see anything.
Rosa smirked and crushed the black hole, causing an explosion around her. However, Rosa, who was in the center, was completely unharmed. The Decepticon minions' instruments went black and displayed the blue word "Null".
There was still time, so Rosa prepared to turn around and continue exploring.
"Click...click." Heavy footsteps suddenly sounded nearby. She didn't see any light from the land bridge teleportation system around her. Who else was here?
Oh, I remember now—
—Tian Zhen, he was slowly moving, dragging his body which was missing an arm.
He was covered in rust, his mask tattered, his body mangled, and his optical glasses gleamed with a purple light as he wandered aimlessly in the shadows.
When he saw Rosa, he rushed over. Rosa was ready to extend her body and pin him to the ground as he approached, but Tianzhen seemed to notice something as he got closer.
He slowed his pace, staring blankly at Rosa, his intention to attack gone.
Rosa frowned, watching as Tianzhen glanced at her and continued wandering behind her, completely ignoring her, as if... he had gotten close but realized he wasn't the one to attack.
Rosa ignored it, but after taking only a few steps forward, she heard a noise behind her. Tianzhen turned around and stared blankly at her, letting out a low growl, but without any intention of attacking.
This... is too strange. She's neither Unicron nor Megatron, and she doesn't possess any dark super-energy entities. Why isn't the other side attacking her? She's just an ordinary... zombie machine? Rosa remained silent for a moment.
“I am not one of your kind.” Rosa shook her head. Strictly speaking, the machines of the Awakened Solver are all zombie machines. They are just zombie machines, even though they are from different origins. As she continued to explore, a conjecture emerged in her mind.
She took two steps, then paused. She turned back to look at Tianzhen again, trying to hack into his brain module, but it was useless, because it was a structure more like a biological organism.
Perhaps we could try hacking into the internal system...if it still exists...
After all, the built-in system is connected to the brain; it's a personal space similar to a computer's backend program, existing within the TF's brain as an autonomous thought model. Here, program calculations and deductions can be performed, as well as private activities such as internal communications with other TFs.
She can try as long as the code exists.
But she had sneaked out, and with limited time, she didn't have time to do much. What she needed to do now was explore the shadowy areas as much as possible. She could leave hacking into other people's internal systems for another time.
She ignored the earthquake and immediately unfurled her wings, composed of countless enormous steel blades, to fly. She needed to see more moving creatures to better understand the differences between the shadow zone and the outside world.
She needed to know why she could pass through moving objects but not floors and walls. Why the solver's energy could be detected, while they couldn't detect their own life energy.
There's so much I need to know. I'll write it all down, whether it's useful or not; maybe I'll need it someday. These are all clues to getting home. As long as I can get home...
She didn't know where Tianzhen had landed. She flew for a long time before finally seeing a small town, but time was running out. She didn't have enough time to return without being discovered. She could only catch a glimpse of the town from afar before flying back.