The Path to Lordship Begins in the North

After confirming that the black fog on the ground had dissipated, Linde finally had the leisure to carefully observe the planet beneath his feet, or rather, 550C finally provided Linde with another field of vision.

But what first caught Lind's eye was not the familiar yet unfamiliar azure planet beneath his feet, but the white space stations—and other space stations like the Tiangong command center—that stood around it like thumbtacks, anchored to the planet.

At this moment, the lights in a corridor inside the space station lit up in sequence, seemingly guiding Linde in that direction. Linde, while looking at the scenery outside the window, followed 550C's guidance, left the armory, and walked deeper into the space station.

"As you think, those are all space stations of the same specifications as this space station."

Linde knew immediately that 550C was spying on his mind again, but he was already used to it and didn't complain anymore. Instead, he asked, "Are those space stations also connected to the Tower of Babel?"

"That's right, but the degree of damage varies. Some can still be used directly, some, like in your area, require special methods to repair, and some are theoretically beyond repair."

"But I didn't see any other continents during my journey to the space station. The only continent that is adjacent to us, Solon, doesn't have any buildings or legends similar to the Tower of Babel."

At least in Linde's investigation and understanding, there should only be one Tower of Babel in this world, unless the other Towers of Babel are behind those mists.

The moment Linde had an idea, the voice of 550C immediately echoed in his mind:

Your guess is correct.

550C slightly rotated the corridor where Lind was located. In low gravity mode, Lind floated gently and quickly readjusted his posture. After the corridor rotated slightly, the view outside the window changed from the space stations next to the Heavenly Palace to the blue planet under Lind's feet.

All that could be seen was an endless fog, not only over the continent of Mu where Lind was located, but also over the continent of Soren, and the fog was even more pronounced in other places than in Soren.

Linde went to the window to observe carefully and found that the fog was not only fog in the physical sense, but also somewhat like the fog of war in RTS games. Something was preventing people in the sky from seeing the situation in other areas.

“Each region is separated from the others and not interconnected. Some are geographically separated, like the continent of Solon, but others are completely separated.”

At this moment, with the help of low gravity and the drone, Linde quickly arrived at the room indicated by 550C. The drone delivered a hazmat suit, which 550C then forced Linde to put on in a rather forceful manner.

"This is because, in order to prevent pollution from spreading throughout the world, humans spontaneously divided the region to ensure that even if a certain area is polluted, the remaining humans will not be wiped out."

"Just like the mental illness you saw on the continent of Mu, it did not pollute the continent of Solon through the sea of ​​consciousness. The people on the continent of Solon were not even aware of what had happened. This division is not only physical, but also includes the mental level."

Listening to 550C's instructions, the drone pushed Linde, who was wearing a heavy hazmat suit, to a door. Unlike the other automatically opening sensor doors in the space station, this door used the simplest door handle, seemingly without any modern machinery. It was just like an ordinary door that wouldn't be strange to install outside Linde's bedroom, completely out of place with the technologically advanced space station.

As Linde pressed the doorknob and pushed the door open, a rustic atmosphere greeted him.

Linde had imagined many things about the room that 550C had invited him to, even imagining it as a corrupted, worm- and tentacle-filled room with a Kremlin feel, but he never thought it would be a movie theater.

Like the movie theaters that were common in the early 21st century, but not the kind in big cities, but the kind in small rural areas. The equipment was quite simple and not particularly smart. Lin De even recalled that he had been to such a theater when his school organized activities when he was a child. It would not have felt out of place to hang a large red banner with yellow characters on the screen that read "Welcome all leaders to visit and inspect".

The 550C's voice came from the helmet of the Linde hazmat suit, but unlike the synthesized voice before, the 550C's voice was now quite hoarse and the sound quality had deteriorated considerably.

"Citizen, please note that the following is a pre-recorded audio message. After entering the archives, please close the door behind you."

After listening, Lin De consciously closed the door handle behind him and followed the instructions in the recording to the center of the theater.

There was no IMAX screen or high-end projector; Linde could even see the dust in the beam of light projected from the projector behind him.

A person dressed in a heavy hazmat suit, as if about to enter Chernobyl, is in a place that looks like a rural movie theater, listening to distorted recordings from next-generation artificial intelligence coming through his helmet.

Even in his dreams, Lind could not have imagined such an absurd dream, but now this has indeed happened.

For a moment, Linde even wondered if he was already dead, after all, there was a legend that after a person dies, they would review their entire life in a movie theater.

However, as the slightly trembling images on the screen began to light up, Lind realized that what he was reviewing was not his own life, but the "life" of all human civilization.

On the screen, a group of astronomers were zooming in on a photograph of the universe. There was no translation, but Lind could roughly tell that it was a photograph taken by the most expensive and advanced astronomical telescope at the time.

"When the first Homo sapiens looked up, humanity's yearning for the stars was irrepressible."

For some reason, Linde recalled these words. Perhaps on Earth, only humans would be so obsessed with the starry sky.

To be honest, Linde hasn't felt any mental discomfort so far. If it weren't for the heavy hazmat suit he was wearing, Linde would have thought it was just an ordinary science movie.

But Linde soon realized something was wrong, just like the astronomers on screen.

Although this photo was taken with the most expensive and advanced astronomical telescope at the time, although it can be said to be the culmination of all humankind's efforts, and although it can be magnified many times, but... but why is this photo still being magnified, and kept being magnified?

The astronomers on the screen seemed to share the same question as Linde: logically, this photo had already reached the theoretical limit of how many times it could be magnified, so why could it continue to be magnified? The photo was being magnified again and again, constantly peering into the depths of the universe.

No living being is more obsessed with the starry sky than humans, and this obsession drives these astronomers to keep magnifying this strange cosmic photograph, magnifying it... and magnifying it again... until they reach the depths of the universe. They even forgot to ask why the photograph could be magnified so many times; everyone wanted to explore the secrets of the starry sky.

Zoom in...and zoom in again. Even Lind couldn't help but widen his eyes, wanting to see just how many times this photo could be zoomed in.

"Citizen, please note that according to the normal schedule, you will soon face your first impact. Please remember that what you see is an illusion. You are not making direct eye contact with ****. Please remember that what you see is an illusion. You are not making direct eye contact with ****. Please remember that what you see is an illusion. You are not making direct eye contact with ****."

Important things must be said three times: the pre-recorded distorted and noisy sound of the 550C rang in Linde's ears.

Linde instantly snapped back to reality, staring intently at the screen as the photo was being magnified.

In that ever-enlarged photograph of the universe, seemingly imbued with some kind of power, in that rift beyond reason and perception, humanity met His gaze.