Only I Walk Alone

As is well known, among the planets in the solar system, Venus is the closest to Earth. However, the environment on Venus is harsh, with surface temperatures near 500 degrees Celsius, which is why there have been few explorations to Venus.

But as time progresses and technology advances, the Earth civilization has begun to explore places that ordinary creatures cannot reach. For them, achieving what others cannot is how they gain a sense of extraordinary accomplishment.

Many people in this world feel superior by doing what others cannot, but in reality, this is not the case.

Of course, Xiao Chao had already built a Venus scientific research station, but it was unmanned, because only robots can work unimpeded in such environments. When the scientific department needs data, they just have robots collect it.

However, there will always be people who, not to say courting death, are challenging themselves. In their view, measuring the world with their own feet is a fascinating thing.

The exploration of nature by life is actually the bud of the development of science and technology, so Wu Ge does not stop them.

But the continuous disappearance of civilian exploration teams has frightened the current supreme governor. After all, even if they are civilian teams, it’s not something to be taken lightly to allow them on Venus. Once a decision to allow this civilian team to Venus is made, the governing body must take responsibility.

Knowing the danger, why let the people go to their deaths?

The governing body would be questioned like this, especially when the civilian exploration team includes important followers of the God religion or important scientists from the scientific faction. This questioning could become even more severe, even affecting the prestige of the ruling faction.

So, after reporting this matter to Xiao Chao, the supreme governor immediately dispatched a highly professional official rescue team to search for and rescue the missing explorers.

Upon hearing Xiao Chao’s report, Wu Ge asked, “Were all three exploration teams entirely composed of Earth civilization members? Were only living beings missing?”

Xiao Chao answered, “Robots found some fragments of heat-resistant tents and a damaged high-temperature camera in a lava river. Besides that, all other equipment and supplies of the exploration teams have disappeared.”

Wu Ge began to take interest in the matter. Xiao Chao projected a map of the surface of Venus, marking three red dots. The greatest distance between these three dots was no more than 50 kilometers, suggesting that the three teams might have disappeared due to the same incident!

Xiao Chao responded, “Robots have explored the area for many days but have not found anything unusual.”

Wu Ge, stroking his chin, said, “Perhaps it’s a secret space that only life forms can discover, similar to the Underworld.”

Hundreds of years ago, Wu Ge had reached the Underworld, a place that robots could not find but only alive lifeforms could discover and enter. However, that place was already empty and eventually destroyed.

The Fox Immortal asked, “Are you suggesting there exists a second spatial layer on Venus, where someone has created a new space?”

Wu Ge shook his head, “I didn’t say that. Now, we cannot attribute everything to the second spatial layer.”

Hundreds of years ago, people attributed any anomaly to magnetic field disturbances. But magnetic fields are not so powerful. If magnetic disturbances could allow for time travel, instant teleportation, or access to a second spatial layer, humanity would have created time machines by controlling magnetic fields long ago.

The so-called magnetic disturbances were just a reason for unexplained phenomena at the time, a way for people to console themselves. Now, when Wu Ge and others encounter miraculous phenomena, they attribute it to the second spatial layer, as many similar spaces have already appeared on Earth.

However, this is a mistaken view, similar to how hundreds of years ago, humanity blamed everything on magnetic disturbances. Now, they begin to blame everything on the second spatial layer. But since the discovery of the fourth dimension, Wu Ge has abandoned this way of thinking.

“Ignorance is not a fault, but the arrogance of trying to explain all phenomena with superficial knowledge is.” — This was once written in the famous cosmic sociology “The Three-Body Problem.”

What was once a novel is now a textbook. We differentiate between the two by their effect on us. If it entertains, it’s a novel. If it educates, it’s a textbook.

So, Wu Ge started to pay close attention to the matter, saying, “I approve the use of Divine Creation Particles for this official Venus rescue operation. Additionally, have the God religion send a strong being at the Enlightenment realm to accompany them.”

Now, Wu Ge is a god high above the Earth civilization, the supreme being, the spiritual leader. Thus, he can’t do everything himself like before; he must learn to use and trust his subordinates so that his subordinates can grow.

Only when encountering something the Earth civilization cannot solve will he take action.

This is also why many ancient texts record that the protagonist only faces the big villain after defeating various minions first. For the protagonist, there is only one main villain, but for the villain, there are countless challengers. It’s unrealistic for a major antagonist to personally snuff out every potential threat they encounter.

Although this plot might seem melodramatic, there’s an underlying logic to it.

However, even though Wu Ge does not plan to go personally, he still requests Xiao Chao to use a levitating camera for comprehensive monitoring. This camera is made with Divine Creation Particles, and its lens and casing are taken from a peculiar camera that once could capture images of ghosts.

The rescue process will be fully recorded by this special camera, and Wu Ge will receive real-time updates on the rescue operation.

The official rescue team is unaware of this because, due to the special effects of the Divine Creation Particles, the camera is invisible.

Under Wu Ge’s anxious watch, the official rescue team set off. They successfully landed on Venus and began searching for the missing exploration team among the volcanoes.

Thanks to the presence of a God religion temple knight and the use of Divine Creation Particles, they indeed found a member of the missing exploration team.

However, something bizarre happened. The team member they found was an incredibly aged old man. After investigating, they discovered that this old man was indeed one of the exploration team members, but he was only twenty-five years old before he disappeared. Now, just over a day later, why had he aged to appear as if he were in his seventies or eighties?

The team planned to get some information from him, but the old man was severely senile. He couldn’t remember anything, and his brain cells had aged drastically. Even using memory-extraction technology might yield nothing.

The special camera controlled by Xiao Chao didn’t capture anything, and the rescue team didn’t encounter any bizarre incidents. It was as if the old man had appeared out of nowhere.

This incident raised suspicions in Wu Ge, and he decided to personally investigate the disappearance site.