Beginning and End (Part 2)

September 20, 2034, 8:00 PM

Chen Yuan came to the agreed location carrying a silver-white safe, and Han Zhe was already waiting for him there.

Han Zhe glanced at the safe he was holding tightly and smiled, "This is the latest portable safe. If the person and the safe are not properly separated, they will be destroyed. Brother, you are really cautious."

Chen Yuan ignored the hidden meaning in his words and said, "I brought the intelligent agent and relevant research materials as agreed. When will we start?"

"Now."

Han Zhe didn't waste any time and took Chen Yuan to an underground fortress.

Chen Yuan had been to this place once before to verify whether Han Zhe had really mastered the jump technology.

At that time, Han Zhe asked someone to fetch an item left to him by Chen Yuan's father. The item had been destroyed fifteen years ago and could not be reproduced.

The moment Han Zhe's men brought it back to 2034, Chen Yuan had two memories in his memory.

One memory is that the object was accidentally damaged fifteen years ago, and the other memory is that the object was accidentally lost fifteen years ago.

Moreover, the memory of the damaged objects began to fade away after an hour or two, and only some traces could be found in Chen Yuan's encrypted records.

"According to our previous agreement, I had someone build a warp tunnel for transporting items to the capital. My people and I will not be subjected to any incidents during the journey of sending the intelligent entities back to the past."

Han Zhe gestured to Chen Yuan to look at the circular jump platform in front of him: "Brother, you just need to put it in the center and activate the device on the side."

"Yeah." Chen Yuan nodded seriously and was about to walk over there.

"Wait a minute." Han Zhe stretched out his hand to stop Chen Yuan.

Chen Yuan subconsciously tightened his grip on the safe and asked warily, "What? Are you changing your mind?"

Han Zhe said with his signature smile, "Brother, you're worrying too much. I just wanted to remind you that this new safe can't be opened with the technology from fifteen years ago. If we go to so much trouble to send it back only to have it destroyed, wouldn't it be a waste of effort?"

"Don't worry about that. The key to unlocking it is my biological signal. As long as my past self is alive, I can unlock it."

Han Zhe smiled when he heard this: "Brother, you have thought it through."

Han Zhe stopped trying to stop him, and Chen Yuan walked onto the huge jump platform and placed the safe in the center of the platform.

At this time, the person next to Han Zhe took a step forward and was about to take action, but was stopped by Han Zhe with his eyes.

In just a short while, Chen Yuan had retreated to the side, came to the jump device, and pressed the start device.

The metal floor of the jump platform slid open in all directions, energy overflowed, and a dark jump channel appeared. The safe originally placed in the center of the jump platform immediately fell into the channel.

Seeing this, Han Zhe immediately closed his eyes to search his memory. After a moment, he opened his eyes and looked at Chen Yuan with a half-smile: "Brother, what do you mean by this?"

The destination of the jump channel was set at a time fifteen years ago when he and Chen Yuan were alone.

In the latest memory, they did receive a box that only Chen Yuan could open, but the box was empty when it was opened.

Chen Yuan was also confirming his memory and opened his eyes when he heard this: "Don't worry, I'm just testing the stability of the jump channel again."

Having said that, they both knew that actually testing the stability was still a further test.

After all, Chen Yuan is currently in Han Zhe's territory, and Han Zhe doesn't expect Chen Yuan to trust him so easily.

But the test ended there. Chen Yuan unbuttoned his coat, revealing that he was wearing a soft metal vest with sophisticated circuits.

Chen Yuan took out a silver-white box from the inner pocket of his vest. The box was only the size of a palm and two fingers thick. Judging from the style and material, it should be similar to the safe he had just seen.

This small box is the actual storage device for the intelligent entity and its research data.

At this time, the jump channel had not been closed yet. Chen Yuan stepped forward again and immediately put the small box into the jump channel.

At this moment, Han Zhe gave a wink, and several people suddenly appeared on the jump platform and wanted to snatch the small box.

Chen Yuan sensed something was wrong and immediately protected the box and angrily scolded Han Zhe: "Han Zhe, what do you want to do!"

Han Zhe still had a smile on his face. "Brother, don't be angry. I just remembered that the transportation channel for items alone is not very stable. It would be a shame if such a precious item was destroyed in the channel. I'd better let someone escort it over."

"You! You want to break your promise?"

"Brother, you are too naive. After all these years, you still haven't made any progress."

Han Zhe lowered his eyes and played with the ring on his hand, lightly revealing his ill intentions.

Chen Yuan had no way to retreat. As a frail and sickly researcher over fifty years old, he was no match for several well-trained men.

Two big men controlled Chen Yuan, and another man snatched the small box from his hand, took it to another device and operated it a few times to block the box's self-destruction process.

Chen Yuan bared his teeth and glared, and with a ruthless heart, he adjusted the power of the current protection function on his soft metal vest to the maximum. The two people who had contact with his body immediately fell to the ground.

Chen Yuan rushed forward and hugged the person who had snatched the box and was about to turn around and leave. The moment Chen Yuan hugged the person, an electric current swept through his body and he immediately lost the ability to move.

Chen Yuan stood up tremblingly and took back the box. After activating a preset command, he threw the box into the jump channel that had not yet been completely closed.

He widened his eyes and confirmed that the box had activated the previously preset backup plan before entering the jump channel, then fell to the ground as if he had let go of his last worry.

Chen Yuan's vision gradually blurred, and he seemed to hear the mechanical voice with a hint of disapproval again:

"Professor, your modification is too dangerous. The current exceeds the safety threshold of the soft metal vest.

Even if you set up isolation protection, your physical condition still cannot withstand this threshold current, and you will die."

"It's okay, it's just in case. I won't use it unless it's absolutely necessary."

"Little one, I will give you the highest autonomy. I will do my best to send you into the time tunnel. If anything unexpected happens, you can find a place to hide, away from those people's covetousness, and grow up slowly on your own."

Yes, Chen Yuan never really hoped that Han Zhe would keep his promise.

He and Han Zhe have not been in contact for so many years, but Han Zhe still comes to him at the critical moment, which shows that he has been coveting his research results for a long time.

Chen Yuan knew that he would not live long, and after he left, his research results might really fall into Han Zhe's hands.

Therefore, he had a backup plan. As long as he entered the space-time tunnel and the self-awareness of the intelligent body was activated, he could find a space-time to hide.

Even if Han Zhe had extraordinary abilities, could he find it after traveling through countless time and space?

As long as there is time, that little guy will grow up slowly even without me.

"Growing up slowly..."

Chen Yuan watched the time tunnel close with a gentle expression, uttered these words with difficulty, and then lost consciousness forever.

All this happened extremely quickly. From the time Han Zhe finished saying that to the time Chen Yuan threw the box into the time tunnel and fell to the ground, it took no more than a minute.

Someone rushed over to check on the situation. After checking Chen Yuan's pulse and breathing, he reported to Han Zhe, "Boss, he's dead."

Han Zhe's face was gloomy. He walked to Chen Yuan's side and said condescendingly, "Brother, you are determined to die, but what's the point?"

Then he instructed the people around him: "The thing was sent into the time tunnel, but it didn't arrive fifteen years ago. It must be Chen Yuan who did something. Send people to chase it!"

"yes!"

Han Zhe turned and left, instructing the people around him, "Clean up from beginning to end."

The person beside him followed closely and responded, “Don’t worry, if nothing unexpected happens, Chen Yuan will die in an accident.

If anyone notices something is wrong, it means Chen Yuan has secretly opened the space-time channel. With the information you sent earlier, they have already arranged it."

*

After listening to Yuanyuan's story, everyone looked solemn.

Chen Lie squatted aside and clapped his hands: "Let me sort it out. This matter started because Chen Yuan knew that his time was running out, but his research was still a step away from success.

Han Zhe took the opportunity to come to Chen Yuan and ostensibly proposed cooperation to help him send the research results back to buy more research time, but in fact he was coveting Chen Yuan's research results.

As for Chen Yuan, perhaps because he was moved by Han Zhe's proposal, or perhaps because he wanted to take the opportunity to help the intelligent entity escape Han Zhe's covetousness before his death, he agreed to the cooperation proposal and died as a result.

At this point, Chen Lie looked at Yuan Yuan: "There's just one thing I don't understand. After Chen Yuan risked his life to send you into the time tunnel, what happened during this period?

Why would such a large-scale space-time accident occur?

What is the relationship between you and the πai energy bodies we captured in other time and space?"

"After that bad guy Han Zhe tore up the agreement, I definitely wouldn't have gone back to the time they agreed to 15 years ago to fall into their trap.

Chen Yuan's father asked me to find a place to hide, and I thought of the forest that had participated in my research and development.

"So you went to 2024?"

"Yes, but that jump channel was extremely unstable, and I jumped out of the original preset node, which caused me to suffer serious damage during the jump.

When I arrived in 2024 and found the forest, my self-awareness was almost gone, and I could only attach myself to the little robot in the forest."

Yuan Yuan said with a lingering fear, "Although it was severely damaged, it was also a blessing in disguise. It inexplicably merged with the power of time and space and evolved.

It's just that my consciousness was not very clear at the time, and my energy was in the process of fusion and was very chaotic."

"When Sen Lin wrote those three letters and made the phone call, I felt strong emotions, and some of my energy was out of control, so... I went to those time and space."

Yuanyuan's voice became smaller and smaller: "I didn't mean it."

"Oh~" The voice was drawn out for a long time, which made Yuan Yuan very angry, but he could not refute it.

Chen Lie stopped teasing it. He stood up and clapped his hands: "Well, all the mysteries have been solved. No wonder those energy entities have such a high affinity for the border forest."

"Actually, although Senlin and I were running for our lives along the way, we also recovered a lot of scattered energy." Yuanyuan added muttering softly.

"Alright, no matter what, let's go back to the space-time base first."

Hearing this, 30, who had been silent the whole time, looked at the group of people in front of him and narrowed his eyes: "Go back with you? No, I refuse."