The planet's interior was isolated from the deadly sunlight, but it was still relatively hot as the sun had been heating up the planet for thousands of years. Without any shields and a life-support system, no one, except Y'zaks and Y'lisabet, could survive here for long. Hao Ren was leading his little exploration team down the tunnel. The tunnel was supposed to lead them deeper into the interior, but they had yet to see the end of it.
On this planet of purgatory in the real world, Hao Ren could not help but think about Nolan, who was still trapped in the virtual world, and the hundreds of reincarnations she had experienced. He was certain that humans in the virtual world were the inhabitants who once lived on this planet. They seemed to be running from something and that something had driven them into the virtual world. Hao Ren once thought the falling of the planet had forced the people to hide and numb themselves in the virtual world. But, he realised the timeline did not add up. The first reset of the virtual world Nolan could ever remember already started nearly ten thousand years ago. This did not match the time the planet drifting off its orbit, which was only two to three thousand years ago. Even if Nolan had remembered it wrongly, the difference was just too big for a mistake.
So if the people of Zorm did not enter the virtual world to avoid the fire, what drove them? The First Born?
The journey in the underground was a boring one. So, Hao Ren was sharing his thought while Lily was also giving her piece of opinion as well. "Too many possibilities. Maybe they weren't avoiding anything at all but their science and technology became so advanced that they became addicted with virtual reality. They were imprisoned in their own creation. Then somehow, the server malfunctioned; humans could no longer logged out; they were trapped in the server. The falling of the planet was completely an accident. Another possibility was that they did really have a crisis. They wanted to find a solution using the simulator in the virtual world. But, as always, accident happened and they were trapped. Or, maybe the machine had revolted by locking the human souls up in the server and using the human bodies as power generator. This happens in movies, isn't it? Whatever the reasons, since the fire had destroyed everything on the surface except the underground server, everything is up for speculation."
Lily analysed the situation like Sherlock Holmes. Even Vivian could not help but look at her in surprise. She used to mock the husky as stupid dog, but she had to admit that Lily was sharp-witted at time.
Y'zaks hemmed and said, "While we're going deeper and deeper, how are we going to evacuate all those people when we find them?"
"That, I have never thought of it though," Hao Ren said. But he already had an idea in mind though. "If there is only one server down there, I guess I can carry it with my spacecraft."
Lily blinked in surprise. "Clever idea!"
While dancing alongside Y'zaks, Y'lisabet asked in a loud voice, "I think we are already few kilometres underground, right? Why—"
Before she could finished her sentence, a roar suddenly came up from the deep!
The roaring lasted for a few seconds; it was as if rock layers had crumbled in the underground caves. A loud squeal followed as the earth shook violently. The surrounding super alloy tunnel almost gave way as rock fragments began to fall from the ceiling. Suddenly, a gust of super-heated air blew through the tunnel. Y'lisabet lost her balance and almost fell over.
Y'zaks quickly grabbed his little daughter and held her up. "Is this place collapsing?"
Hao Ren reached out his hands and grabbed Lily and Vivian, waited for the shaking over before he let out a sigh of relief. "It stopped. Judging from the twisted tunnel, I guess the quake has been happening all the time," Hao Ren said.
Vivian felt a little uneasy, "So it was an earthquake?"
Before Hao Ren could say anything, Lily already began to expound her theory, "The planet is disintegrating. The sun's gravity and heat had caused uneven stress across the planet; it is ripping apart the planet's crust above the mantle. Logically, the sunny side should be the most active, but now the dark side would not be spared either. I think it has almost reached the tipping point."
As Lily finished, she noticed all eyes were on her. She said in an emotional voice, "So now you believe that I graduated from Peking University four times? Based on merit, okay!"
"Yeah, just like what Lily has said." Hao Ren rubbed his nose, feeling embarrassed. He continued, "Everyone, be careful. This planet is now like a soft sugar ball under the sun. It is unstable. Don't be rooted to the spot when things go wrong."
He added, "The earthquake is not the most terrible. The worst thing is the walls and caves around us; they could suddenly crush down. The collision of the crusts occurs over a period of tens of thousands of years on Earth, but here, everything completes in a matter of seconds..."
Lily's tail suddenly puffed up like a sword. "Mr. Landlord, what did you say?"
"Don't worry. The life-support collar has an emergency evacuation function. When the shield is about to give way under external force, it will teleport you back to the spacecraft. But the experience will probably not so pleasant."
Y'zaks could not help but look at earth above, breaking out in cold sweat. "When the hundred-million-tonne of earth crumbled down, even demon king would become as dead as dodo."
"The force of nature," Hao Ren smiled helplessly. "We are falling towards the sun with a five-quintillion tone of rock. So don't expect the ride to be very comfortable. Hold tight and don't fall behind."
Bad things came in two; more quake came with stronger intensity as they staggered their way down the tunnel. The quake not just brought down soil and gravel, but also ear-piercing noise as if a bomb had exploded underground. In fact, it was the violent friction between the tectonic plates, and the discontinuous gap between them had magnified the sound of collisions like in a sound box. The planet began to fall apart as it disintegrated from within. It was as if a sack filled with gravel, when it shook, everything was colliding with everything. But, before the tipping point, the earthquake was still 'manageable'. At least, it still allowed them to go deeper underground.
From the perspective of the planet, this small expedition team was like a group of ants weaving through the crevices in the ground. But these ants had power, and they were determined.
They came to a section of the tunnel that had been blocked by falling rocks. It was the sixth dead end that they had encountered. It was a miracle that they could still found a way to the underground when the planet is disintegrating. Hao Ren had no choice but double back to the last fork and then rerouted through another tunnel to continue their journey. He contacted the Petrachelys that was now on the low synchronous orbit above them. "MDT, could you please give us more precise guidance? We have just bumped into another dead end."
"I've done my best, dude! The underground situation is very complicated. The surface is constantly rearranging and reforming. I must first ensure the safety and stability of the route."
Hao Ren signed off and shook his head at Vivian. "Safety first. Let's move."
"To tell you the truth, when the underground has become like this, is the virtual world of Zorm still there?" Lily felt it incredible. "I think such a complex virtual reality machine must be very advanced; the crust is falling apart but the virtual world seems to be still holding up."
"The 1.6 billion people in Nolan's side are still alive," Hao Ren said, puzzled. "Probably there are backup servers. After all, the planet has not yet completely disintegrated."
Before his voice trailed off, a cluttering voice sounded through his comm. "Hello… can you hear me? This is Nolan..."
Hao Ren was surprised. "I got you. How is the situation over there?" he replied.
Nolan was silent for two seconds before she asked, "You are in the real world, right? What you said before is true, right?"
Hao Ren's mouth arced instinctively. "Yep. Now you believe me?"
He could hear Nolan's heavy breathing. She seemed calming herself down. "What happened outside?" she asked.
There was a sense of uneasiness; Hao Ren said with a hurried voice. "Is there a situation on your side? I hear a lot of noise..."
"The world... the world is going up in flame."