Hao Ren did not know how to react when he heard what Nolan said. "The world is going up in flames?"
Nolan paused as though she was reorganizing her thoughts. There were faint noises and sounds of explosions in the background. After a few seconds, Nolan continued, "I don't know how to describe it... Everything ignites spontaneously, including the water and stones. I just saw a building suddenly going up in flames like cotton. People are seeking refuge in the steers. Human beings are the only ones that don't ignite spontaneously."
"Spontaneous combustion? Water and stones?" Hao Ren's heart sank. At the same time, the earth around him began to quake again. A gust of heated air blew through the tunnel. Despite with the Steel Membrane Shield, he could still feel the heat, so hot that it was enough to melt gold and iron. When he began to link what was happening in the virtual world to the situation here, he got the answer. "Perhaps the real-world disaster is affecting the virtual space..."
Yet another sound of rock collapsing reverberated in the tunnel. Lily grabbed Hao Ren's arm, harder this time, and hurried him. "Get out of here, Mr. Landlord. It's not safe here!"
As Hao Ren ran, he asked Nolan, "How is the situation there? Is the fire spreading?"
"The spontaneous combustion seems to have stop temporarily. The fire is still a distance away from me. I'm fine," Nolan said. She sounded nervous. "But I can see the fire is inextinguishable. Are you in the real world? Now I believe you, absolutely. What happened on the outside?"
To tell the truth, Nolan did not even know how to verify that Hao Ren indeed came from the real world, but the question seemed irrelevant now considering the situation at hand. The world as she knew it was undergoing mind-blowing changes that had never happened before in the previous rounds of resetting. The scripts of the world were used to be 'reasonable' compared to the omnipresent, spontaneous combustion, a phenomenon that defied all laws of nature; it was more like a nightmare. The scene of Hao Ren's suddenly disappearance and the words he said were still reverberating in Nolan's mind. The 'real world' was her last ray of hope.
"The outside world is also burning... the planet is slowly falling towards the sun. I'm afraid it is affecting the virtual world." Hao Ren told her as summarily as he could. He then realised the comm had a projector function. "Open the lid at the bottom of the comm. There is a blue button. Click it. I'm sending you images."
A moment later, Hao Ren had sent images of the falling planet and the underground bunker.
"As you can see, this is how the real world looks like. The world was destroyed about a few thousand years ago or even earlier. The planet started to heat up two or three thousand years ago. We have found no traces of human civilisation on the surface. But a huge refuge was underground. We are lucky to have found the entrance; we're now trying to enter to the heart of the refuge."
Nolan looked at the horrifying image of the burning sea of fire. She was lost for words. It seemed for a moment that the knowledge and experience she had accumulated through countless rounds of resetting suddenly became a joke. Those things she learned appeared useless in the real world.
Nolan was rooted to the spot for a long while. She needed time to digest all of these. But, time was what she lacked now. She could only force herself to accept the reality and think of ways to do something. At least, her long experience in the battlefield had more or less hardened her. She patted her cheek trying to calm herself. "What can I do here?" she asked.
"Keep me posted about the situation in the virtual world. Perhaps my PDA ... I mean Pattie could figure out the location of the server based on these signals. Be safe. Perhaps this is really the last round. If you die... this dream could your last."
Nolan nodded silently. But she still could not help asking, "What's your plan?"
"Find the server that runs the virtual world. Humans should be stored inside. I have a spacecraft here; I can move the server," Hao Ren said, trying to sound as calm as possible, as if everything was in place and would go as planned. "Don't worry. I have done relocation operation bigger than this one. Moving you won't be any harder than moving a large computer room."
Nolan had calmed down somewhat. She took a few breaths. "I trust you... there's not much choice now isn't it? I wish you good luck."
"I wish you safe. And, keep away from the fire."
As Nolan signed off, the voice of the MDT suddenly popped in. "You didn't tell her that this planet can only last for 40 hours?"
"Be positive. We still have more than 40 hours to clean up this mess," Hao Ren exhaled. "Provided we can find the server before it burns…"
"Also provided you really know how to get the server out. Considering the size of the refuge and the complexities underground, you may need machinery to get this done, and you need to have even longer—"
"Well, let's talk about that later when we find the server," Hao Ren cut in. "Now give me more precise guidance, and the likely location of the server. You have been scanning for so long, haven't you got something?"
The MDT paused for a few seconds as if it was in the midst of gathering data. "Maintain your current direction. You are on the right track. I have detected current signals that were distributed in and around the refuge. That should be the server's power supply system. A major node is just a few kilometres ahead. You will be on the edge of the system when you get there."
To find a virtual world server in the interior of a disintegrating planet, luck and impulse alone were not enough. They were moving along according to the guidance of the spacecraft's radar as the MDT analysed the energy response of the server signal. Though the guidance was not very accurate, they were generally moving in the right direction.
As the tunnel became wider with more common equipment and rooms, they knew they were very close.
The tunnel ahead had suffered considerable damage. There were cracks on the super alloy walls on both sides, and dark red rocks that looked like solidified resin had pushed through the cracks into the tunnel. Lily cut a small piece of the rock with her claw and kept it in her pocket. "How long have we been here?" she asked.
Vivian took out her cell phone and checked the time. "Not including the time on the surface, we have spent three hours underground. According to the cycle of the planet's rotation, it was already halfway through the night."
Hao Ren picked up his comm and called the MDT. "How is the situation on the outsides?"
"The good news is that you will enjoy the calmest time of the night for next two or three hours, as the geological activity is at its lowest. The bad news is that the sun will rise in three hours, the rock formation above your head will be heated up and everything will be alive again; it will be very exciting to stay underground. You'd better find the server, or get out of there before that," the MDT reported. Suddenly, its voice went up one pith higher. "There's another bad news; the probe I released earlier has capture the image of a massive volcano eruption on the sunny side. A piece of crust, equivalent to the size of South America, was blown into space. You will experience an earthquake on your side in ten minutes."
"Earthquake? Earthquake around here is already as frequent as lamp posts on the streets," Hao Ren said, looking at the clods of rock that had fallen from above his head, he sighed with a forced smile. "The real bad news is that the planet is about to reach the tipping point. The sun's gravity is ripping the planet's surface apart. When it crosses the critical moment, things will fall like dominoes.
"My calculations would not be wrong. The planet would hold up until the fourth sunrise. But whether the refuge down there can hold on so long is hard to tell."
"Then I hope you're wrong," Hao Ren said and hung up.
They kept going down the seemingly endless, downward sloping tunnel and shafts. They sped up; sometimes almost fell into the cracks that suddenly appeared. The path ahead was getting wider. There were massive cave and structure that look like abandoned settlement along the way. The cave could be the place where the last people of Zorm lived. Unfortunately, the place was so long abandoned that they did not find anything that was still connecting to the virtual world.
As they entered yet another large cavern, Lily, who was running around and scouting, suddenly called out, "Come and see this!"
They came up to Lily and saw a large, seemingly root of some tree growing through the rock formation lying on the ground.
"If I'm not mistaken..." Hao Ren swallowed. "This is the First Born's tentacle."