Interstellar Survival: Invasion

Chapter 269: Magic Square Password

"Let's begin immediately. How should we open the black door?" I asked Little Forest.

"Just ram through it," said Little Forest.

Hearing Little Forest's words, Big Forest had the ship accelerate toward the black plate.

"Hey, isn't that too dangerous?" exclaimed Zhang Bao'er nervously.

With a bang, the ship shook, and I was thrown into the cockpit. There, I noticed that a suction pad had stretched out from the top of our ship and was stuck on the black plate. It was pulling in the opposite direction. Big Forest had the ship reverse, and with the powerful pull, the plate slowly separated from the wall.

"Eight minutes before contact with the enemy," reminded Little Forest, who had also entered the cockpit.

The ship applied more force, and with a loud noise, the black plate was torn off the wall. Behind it, a long and narrow passage could be seen. The passage was shrouded in darkness.

"After you enter the tunnel, I'll put the plate back immediately. At the end of the tunnel, there is a switch that will allow you to enter the particle space. When you're there, I'll teach you how to unlock it. We will lose contact once you enter, so best of luck to you there," said Little Forest, not forgetting to send us well wishes.

"You need to move faster. We only have five minutes left," said Big Forest.

The four of us hurriedly readied our gear. Then, Big Forest extended a bridge from the side of the ship to the tunnel before opening the door. We immediately stepped into the tunnel.

The moment we entered, the plate was returned to its previous position, covering the tunnel exit behind us.

"Canyue, the enemy is arriving soon. We will hide. There is an airtight door on the other end of the tunnel. When you're there, tell me about the lock you see there," said Little Forest through the communicator.

After hearing his reminder, we rushed forward. The tunnel wasn't too long. About 10 minutes later, we found the airtight door he mentioned. It was thick and white. When I touched it, it felt like extremely solid plastic, hard yet pliable. This was probably a door capable of resisting explosives.

On the surface of the door were nine boxes that could be moved around. In the boxes were nine Sacred Wing characters. We couldn't read the characters. We immediately notified Little Forest of our discovery, including the detailed description of the Sacred Wing characters. After checking with him, we confirmed that these characters were the numbers one to nine in the Sacred Wing language.

"Numbers? If so, this should be a simple password. A nine-digit combination isn't something too complex," said Old Du.

"Little Forest, how should we arrange these numbers?" I asked.

"This is a numbers game. I'm checking the database for more information," said Little Forest.

"Canyue, this looks like a magic square. If I remember correctly, the sum for each line of this puzzle should be 15," suggested Old Du.

"Old Du, you mean the sum of every row, column, and diagonal line will be 15? But would the puzzle of a star-level civilization be so simple?" asked Zhang Bao'er.

"We still need to try," I said as I started to attach each character to a number with Little Forest's guidance and began solving the puzzle with Old Du's suggestion in mind.

"816, 357, 492." After rearranging the numbers, nothing happened.

"I told you. It won't be so simple," said Zhang Bao'er smugly.

"There are four sets of answers for this puzzle. Try them all first," suggested Old Du.

I followed Old Du's suggestion, but there was no result.

"Little Forest, have you found the password?" I asked.

"I'm looking. I don't think it will be as simple as you've thought," said Little Forest.

"Weird. There are only nine numbers here. Is the password fixed?" muttered Old Du as he kept moving the numbers around, changing the sequence to no avail.

"Looks like this isn't a puzzle to solve. There is only one fixed password," said Anxashe.

"Canyue, I checked everything I have. No related information can be found. The sum of each line is 15, but there seem to be more than four sets of combinations," said Little Forest, reminding me of something.

"Old Du, use the reflections of those four combinations instead," I said.

Hearing my words, Old Du did as told and arranged the four possible combinations in inverse order. The moment the final number was put into place, sounds started coming behind the door.

"Succeed! Looks like the password isn't that difficult after all. Star-level civilizations aren't all that special, it seems," said Zhang Bao'er, taking the chance to step on Little Forest's concept of superiority based on the levels of civilization.

"You must have gotten lucky to guess it correctly. Remember, use the dark matter bottle after entering. All four of you need to work together. You only have one minute. I'll be waiting for you to return to the communication channel," said Little Forest, not wasting any time bickering with Zhang Bao'er.

As the door opened, the noise became louder and louder. It was as though there were numerous checkpoints behind the door, all of them opening one after another. Abruptly, the door spun open, revealing a circular entrance. Beyond the entrance was the particle space. The particle space was a world filled with white light. The white world looked quiet and peaceful, but I had a feeling that the white world was in fact spinning at a rapid speed.

"The door might not stay open for long. Don't waste any time," came Little Forest's reminder.

I nodded at my comrades, gesturing at them to get ready. "Little Forest, we're going in now. I'll talk to you later."

"Good luck. I'll be waiting," Little Forest replied.

And then, I took the lead and stepped through the entrance into the particle space. The moment I stepped through the entrance, I felt a sense of weightlessness. I found myself hovering in a white world. Strictly speaking, I wasn't exactly floating. Even though nothing could be seen below me, I could still feel the sensation of stepping on something soft. Then, I saw the other three joining me in the room. We had not gone too far from each other.

"Canyue, can you hear me?" Old Du asked.

"I hear you clearly. Looks like communication between those inside is not severed," I replied in joy.

"This looks like a clean world of no impurity," said Anxashe with a gasp.

"This place seems boundless. I can't see the end of it," said Zhang Bao'er as he started walking around.

I said, "Bao'er, don't roam. It is quite likely that we are close to the wall. How should we head toward the core room?"

"They said that the outer ring will be extremely hot, but when I scanned our surroundings with my infrared scanner, I couldn't find any such area. I feel like we're in a big space that is completely severed from the outside world," said Old Du.

"There must be some connection. The traces of the stripping of dark matter can still be clearly seen on the wall," I said.

"Little Forest said that this place is meant to be a pure space that can accelerate the speed at which the programs run. In that case, there must be a connection to the programs. How do we find the point of connection?" asked Old Du.

"Damn that Little Forest. He told us nothing before sending us here to risk our lives," Zhang Bao'er complained.

"Anxashe, do you still have your rope with you?" I asked.

"It has never left me," said Anxashe.

"Cut the rope into three and tie one to each of us. Hold on to the end of the three and remain where you are. We will split into three different directions. The moment our communicator loses signal with each other, we'll pull the rope as a signal," I ordered.

Following my order, Anxashe cut the rope into three and handed one end of each rope to each of us. I took the one given to me and tied it around myself. When Zhang Bao'er and Old Du were ready, we walked out in three different directions. Stepping on the ground that felt like cotton, I traversed the world of white.

Oddly, the system indicated that the air in the particle space was actually breathable. Theoretically, this space should lack oxygen. Then again, the system shouldn't be wrong either. I started wondering if Little Forest was the wrong one. Nevertheless, I still did not have the courage to remove my morph-capable suit and expose myself bare to the particle space. Only an expanse of endless white was visible before me. I could not see anything I could set as my target.

"Canyue, Old Du, Bao'er, I can no longer see the three of you," came Anxashe's anxious voice from the communicator.

I looked back and sure enough, I only saw an expanse of white. Anxashe was nowhere to be seen, but the rope still connected the two of us.

"Looks like the visibility here is limited. Everyone, be very careful. Do not lose your rope or you might be lost forever," I reminded the team.

"Apart from endless white, there is nothing here. For some reason, the system is indicating that the air is breathable," said Old Du, who had apparently noticed the same thing as me.

"Yeah. The air around us is excellent. I have been breathing without my helmet for quite a while," replied Zhang Bao'er, instantly causing me to pale in fright.

"Bao'er, have you gone crazy? What if this is an illusion?" I shouted.

"Illusions will be aimed at our brains. The suit's system won't be affected," replied Zhang Bao'er righteously.

He left me speechless, but now was not the time to be arguing.

"Bao'er, do you notice anything new without your helmet?" I asked.

"The air feels completely still. I think I can see some red light far from me, but I'm not sure if I'm seeing things," replied Zhang Bao'er, speaking in a manner that was very typical of him.

"Red?" I exclaimed in shock.

"The red light might be the traces of the heat. Zhang Bao'er is probably close to the outer ring," said Old Du.

"We can't draw proper conclusions from the observations of Bao'er alone. We need further verification," I said as my finger rested on the switch to turn off my helmet's defensive system.

"Zhang Bao'er, you're real, not an illusion, right?" I asked.

"Illusion my ass. Do you want me to burn your History of Resistance book?" replied Zhang Bao'er, instantly placating the worry in my heart.