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Chapter 271: 271

The reason for strapping safety belts to the Black Knight was to serve as insurance since the Prometheus Spaceship was destroyed at the end of the movie .

Chen Chen was unsure if there was still anything useful at the coordinate or if the passage led to the room on the spaceship . There was a chance the passage would lead to a void in space or simply to the wreckages of the spaceship .

Contrary to Chen Chen’s expectations, the Black Knight had returned from the opposite end of the passage in less than ten minutes .

Unlike previously, the Black Knight labeled T0421 was covered all over in a layer of grayish-brown dust as if he had weathered a sandstorm in the other end of the passage .

The Black Knight also brought back a recording with him .

“Minor traces of radiation detected!”

Little X immediately alerted, “Sir Godfather, please be careful . The dust particles on T0421 are radioactive dust . ”

“It’s alright, this radiation is only in the range of several X-rays . Besides, I’m wearing the GS Combat Suit . ”

Chen Chen made a waving gesture . “It’s not the void or the planet LV-223 on the other end?”

After a brief exchange, Chen Chen made the Black Knight get disinfected while he took the recording and played it .

Chen Chen was immediately greeted with the sight of a vast landscape .

The video showed broken remains of structures and a depressing amber sky spelling the end times . A ruthless sandstorm whirled on endlessly and the ruins of a city could be seen off in the distance . They were what remained of skyscrapers, the greatest badge of achievement left behind by mankind .

Chen Chen even saw a black tower-shaped building that had partly collapsed . It was the Eiffel Tower in Paris .

Chen Chen’s pupils shrunk when he saw this .

The passage did not lead to the planet LV-223 nor did it lead to a void in space, it led to Earth…

“Isn’t this scenery quite familiar?”

Chen Chen mused pensively and turned to Little X . “If I’m not mistaken, the footage returned by the Black Knight should be the ending sequence in Alien 4, right?”

“Yes . ”

Little X answered, “I looked it up, there are two separate endings to Alien 4 . One of them is where the protagonist Ripley and the cyborg Call overlooked the comely natural terrain of the Earth from their spaceship . The other ending is one where they landed the spaceship on Earth and upon walking out, found out that Earth and its cities were devastated with mankind seemingly wiped out .

“What’s also worth mentioning is that in the latter ending, a destroyed Eiffel Tower could be seen as well . The footage taken by the Black Knight may display a different angle but it’s otherwise completely identical…”

“I knew it!”

Upon receiving the conclusion, Chen Chen could not help but nod as he smiled bitterly . “USB drive, you’re something alright . The movie I selected is Prometheus, but you went ahead and skipped to the timeline in Alien 4 . Prometheus should be set in the year 2091 and the timeline of Alien 4 is set in 2381 . It skipped nearly three-hundred years ahead…”

“So, it’s just as we presumed, all the worlds connected via the USB drive cannot escape their fate of destruction?”

“Should we continue the mission then?”

Little X asked, “Even though Earth is mostly rendered a wasteland, there’s still the chance of us finding the holographic imaging technology among the ruins . ”

Chen Chen immediately fell silent following the remark .

It was then when the test result of the previous Black Knight labeled T0421 was produced . Apart from the layer of radioactive dust on the Black Knight, there were no signs of any abnormal bacteria or viruses in the dust . It may appear that the virus was all killed by radiation .

“Since it’s radioactive dust, then I believe the situation is clear . ”

Chen Chen went on . “This implies that there was a nuclear war on Earth which destroyed the Earth’s habitat, bringing an end to civilization . This explains why there’s so much radioactive dust .

“However, more so than the nuclear war, what I’m more concerned with is…”

Chen Chen suddenly altered his tone . “The exact motivation for humans inciting a nuclear war in the Alien universe . Or better yet, could they have started a nuclear war due to an external threat?”

“Are you referring to… A war between mankind and aliens?”

Little X remarked suspiciously, “If the people in the movie Alien 4 knows that Earth has been destroyed by aliens, then there’s no explanation behind them stubbornly trying to keep the aliens in space . I believe that the people in the movie had no idea that Earth had been destroyed . It was only until the protagonist returned to Earth when they realized everything that had happened . All of this doesn’t make sense at all . ”

“Your analysis is excellent, but you may have taken the wrong approach . ”

Chen Chen considered for a moment before continuing . “First of all, the ending of the movie only showed Earth as a barren wasteland, but there was no mention whatsoever of civilization perishing . This means that a nuclear war did break out, but humans were not completely wiped out .

“Second, the true subject matter in the Alien series isn’t humans nor aliens . There’s another far more secluded factor . With this clue exposed, the cause behind mankind starting a nuclear war becomes apparent . ”

“You’re saying?” Little X sounded uncertain .

“Cyborg . ”

Chen Chen nodded . “From Prometheus onward, there was a cyborg called David . If it wasn’t for him bringing the black goo on board and secretly feeding Halloway the scientist, the protagonist Elizabeth Shaw wouldn’t have got pregnant and given birth to the octopus-like monster .

“From there on, in the sequel Alien: Covenant, David used the black goo to eradicate the ‘Engineer’ race, even killing the protagonist of the previous film, morphing her into the alien queen . You could say that David was the one behind the formation of the alien .

“That’s not the end of it . There had always been appearances of cyborgs from the first Alien film to the fourth . It was not so bad in the first three films when people were still relatively tolerant of the cyborgs . However, from the fourth installation of the Alien series onward, there was a sudden major shift in people’s attitudes toward cyborgs . Upon discovering that Call was a cyborg, there was a strong sense of distrust and disappointment . What does that make you think of?”

Chen Chen asked .

“Are you saying that there was a war between mankind and cyborgs? Following that theory, the poor state of Earth was the result of the war between mankind and cyborgs?” Little X was astonished .

“Yes, that’s my speculation . ”

Chen Chen snapped his fingers . “The main theme of the movie Prometheus is a narrative of how the creator and the creation can co-exist . For example, the ‘Engineers’ created mankind but later decided to wipe them out . Humans created the cyborg ‘David’ who was responsible for vanquishing the ‘Engineer’ race and created the alien . There are many themes revolving around the director’s perspective on religion and even Godhood . The way I see it, the most important element is David’s attitude toward mankind .

“It’s rather obvious that as a new form of life, David held a grudge toward mankind and all other life forms…”

With this in mind, Chen Chen could not stop himself from letting out a sigh . “No, perhaps it’s not so much as a grudge, but a belief of ‘impunity’ . The life and death of mankind and all life forms are hardly more significant than an experiment to him…”