Volume 1 Chapter 2: Federal Zone 91

After coming out of the transport pod, Qin Lun was moved into a bright, enclosed room. The walls of the room were made of steel plates, and the entire room was empty, with no furniture at all. Only the upper four corners of the room had several rows of holes the size of a thumb.

“Hiss…” Shortly after Qin Lun entered the room, these holes released thin white smoke, which spread throughout the room.

Poison gas? Am I going to die? Qin Lun felt dizzy in his head, and for the first time, a flicker of emotion appeared in his clear, pure eyes.

“Bang!” Soon, the sound of the Steam Restraint Device hitting the floor echoed in the room.

…

Huaxia District, Northeast Passage, Greater Khingan Range, Federal Military Zone 91.

Before the Federation unified, there were many unsolved mysteries and mysterious places in human history, such as the Bermuda Triangle, the Tunguska event, the incident at Mohenjo-daro in India, and so on.

However, with the development of human technology, these unsolved mysteries and mysterious places were gradually solved by later generations. Currently, there are very few unsolved mysteries left in the Human Federation, and Federal Military Zone 91 is one such mysterious place.

Several hundred years ago, there was a small explosion in the primitive forests of the Greater Khingan Range in the northeast, in what was then the superpower of the human world—Huaguo. Afterward, the Huaguo military sealed off the area, claiming to the public that it was an earthquake disaster.

After the peaceful unification of the Human Federation, the Federation military established Zone 91 in this area and began secretly gathering elite human scientists.

The explosion that happened hundreds of years ago did not have a large destructive range, only a few hundred meters in diameter, and it was spherical in shape. The missing parts of the cliffs and ground were like smooth concave mirrors, and the rocks and soil had crystallized. What was shocking was that unstable Space-Time Rifts appeared in this spherical explosion area.

These Space-Time Rifts varied in size. The smaller rifts appeared frequently but lasted for a very short time, almost only a fraction of a microsecond. The larger rifts appeared almost every few years or even decades, depending on the surrounding energy supply, and could last from a few seconds to a few minutes.

Hundreds of years ago, limited by technology and strength, Huaguo did not achieve many practical results in Zone 91. However, the unified Human Federation had sufficient scientific power to study the physical phenomena of the Space-Time Rifts. During a random exploration, Federation scientists used magnetic light to obtain a small piece of mysterious metal from one of the rifts.

This metal piece was composed of unknown elements. It was not only light as air but also performed better under extreme high and low temperatures than the best aerospace materials the Federation had at the time. It was also a memory metal that could repair itself to some extent. Thanks to this metal piece, the Human Federation achieved several major breakthroughs in aerospace and military technology.

After tasting success, the Human Federation increased its investment in Zone 91 and even wanted to send military personnel into the Space-Time Rifts. Scientists first sent a Husky into a rift, but the highly anticipated pet show turned into a murder. The dog’s head that entered the Space-Time Rift completely disappeared, as if cut off by a blade.

However, failure did not deter the dedicated Federation scientists. In one experiment, they finally managed to send a team of Federation soldiers and scientists into the largest and most stable Space-Time Rift discovered so far and successfully brought back the only survivor from that team.

This scientist successfully brought back three items from the Space-Time Rift: a medieval teapot, the skeletal remains of an alien creature, and a small space teleporter.

Leaving aside the medieval teapot, the skeletal remains of the alien creature allowed the Human Federation’s biotechnology to advance by leaps and bounds, finally achieving true limb regeneration. The small space teleporter became the core of the Federation’s current sky-track teleportation technology.

It is easy to imagine how significant Zone 91 was to the Human Federation. However, the Federation hero who successfully returned from the Space-Time Rift suffered brain death the moment he came back, becoming a vegetable. Strictly speaking, the entire team of thirty-two Federation elites was wiped out, with not a single person returning to the human world in a conscious state.

In the two hundred years that followed, Zone 91 never again saw a Space-Time Rift as large and stable as the previous one. Moreover, Federation scientists discovered that the spatial phenomena in the explosion area were slowly decaying. The frequency of large Space-Time Rifts became longer, now appearing almost every ten years or so, and the duration they lasted also decreased sharply.

In other words, the spatial phenomena in the spherical area were likely to disappear completely at some point in time. At the same time, the danger of sending humans into the Space-Time Rifts increased over time.

Most humans who entered the Space-Time Rifts were directly torn into powder by the spatial turbulence. Although a small number of people successfully entered the rifts, because the rifts existed for too short a time, they were basically lost on the other side of the rift.

Only a very few lucky ones were able to pull back in time and return from the Space-Time Rifts. However, all of these people suffered brain death upon returning, becoming vegetables. The items they brought back were all sorts of strange things, and not many of them were truly valuable.

Currently, Zone 91 no longer sends scientists or Federation soldiers into the Space-Time Rifts. Instead, death row prisoners from prisons around the world are assigned to carry out this dangerous work. Before entering the rifts, these prisoners are told a beautiful fairy tale.

If they successfully return from the Space-Time Rift, they would be pardoned by the Federation, exempted from the death penalty and hard labor, and could start a new life with a new identity. Of course, they would start this new life as vegetables in a hospital bed!

The entire Zone 91 is half-buried underground and is a large structure with a shrine-like design. The box-like top of the shrine structure is directly connected to the spherical area where the explosion occurred hundreds of years ago.

This spherical area has a diameter of several hundred meters. Ripples like water waves occasionally appear in the air, and tiny free particles flicker on and off, darting around like electric arcs.

“Doctor, how are the preparations going?”

At this time, in the control center of Zone 91, a Federation soldier who looked like a general was watching the large monitor and asking the base’s chief engineer.

“According to the supercomputer’s calculations, this Space-Time Rift appears only once every seventeen years. Its current size is still uncertain, but it should be large enough for an adult to pass through,” the gray-haired doctor said nervously. “The free particles accelerated their movement three days ago. If this continues, the Space-Time Rift is likely to appear within the next few days!”

…

In a certain medical room in Zone 91, Qin Lun’s eyelids trembled slightly, and he slowly opened his eyes. The bright light made the Serial Killer squint slightly. As his pupils adjusted, his vision began to clear.

“Clang!” As soon as Qin Lun tried to sit up, he felt a strong restraint on his limbs and waist. He tilted his head slightly and saw that he was lying on a simple stretcher bed. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed sturdy leather straps around his wrists. He was very familiar with these straps—he had been tied up with them countless times in the mental hospital.

“You’re awake!” A soft voice reached the prisoner’s ear.

Qin Lun turned his head and saw a young woman in a white coat and a nurse’s cap walking toward him.

This nurse seemed underage. Her round, chubby face had a baby-like plumpness, with pink, tender skin that was white with a hint of red. Her large eyes were pure and bright, and the faint freckles on her cheeks added a touch of playfulness and cuteness.

In terms of looks, the young woman was only average. However, the pair of huge breasts under her white coat, which were at least a G-cup, added quite a few points to her appearance. A childlike face with enormous breasts! Qin Lun suddenly realized that with such a developed pair of “weapons,” the young woman was clearly an adult, but she just had a baby face.

“Little Lian, don’t talk to him. This person is dangerous!” A cold female voice suddenly came from behind the young nurse.

“Sorry, Hu Fei jie!” Little Lian stuck out her tongue at the prisoner and said softly, “Don’t be afraid. We need to give you a physical examination!”

“Tap, tap, tap!” The sound of high heels came from behind Little Lian, and an expressionless, stunning beauty appeared in the prisoner’s field of vision.

Qin Lun had been transferred to a mental hospital at the age of twelve, moved to a juvenile detention center at fifteen, and sent to Handan Heavy Penalty Prison at sixteen. He had very little contact with the outside world, and his knowledge and aesthetic sense were based only on books. Even so, the Serial Killer immediately realized that the woman in front of him was a stunning beauty.

The woman had a delicate, oval face with skin as smooth as silk, looking as if it would break at a touch. Her phoenix eyes were not as large as Little Lian’s, but under long eyelashes, her bright eyes sparkled like clear waves, unintentionally revealing a hint of charm. However, her slightly raised, slender willow-leaf eyebrows and her cold, frosty face gave her an aloof and icy temperament that kept people at a distance.

This stunning beauty, whom Nurse Little Lian called Hu Fei jie, was likely a female doctor. With the crisp sound of high heels, she quickly reached the side of the stretcher bed. Though his view was limited, the prisoner could tell she was quite tall, standing half a head taller than Little Lian beside her.

Qin Lun felt a shadow fall over him as the beautiful doctor leaned over, blocking the light above the stretcher bed. A soft hand pressed against his eyelid, lifting it upward. A faint, delicate fragrance reached his nose. The prisoner rolled his eyes slightly downward and noticed a white work badge pinned to the breast pocket of her white coat. It had the words “Hu Fei” written on it, which was likely the name of this stunning beauty.

Qin Lun’s eyes shifted again, and through the collar of the white coat, he vaguely saw a pair of perky peaks and the tender, fair cleavage between them.

Hu Fei quickly noticed the direction of the prisoner’s gaze, and a flicker of anger appeared in her cold, phoenix eyes.

“Little Lian, inject him with a sedative!”

“But… Hu Fei jie, the sedative might affect the test results!” Little Lian looked at the prisoner on the stretcher with concern.

“It’s fine. As long as he doesn’t have any infectious or terminal diseases, it’s okay!” Hu Fei waved her hand coldly.

“Poor thing, it seems you’ve made Hu Fei jie angry!” Little Lian pursed her lips, apologetically injecting a syringe into the prisoner’s arm.

Qin Lun felt as if he had sunk into a cold lake. Everything around him began to feel unreal, and the sounds in his ears became hazy, as if coming from a faraway place. A wave of sleepiness washed over him…