These grayish-white things looked like people, but not quite. They emitted a faint white glow as they crawled, and their bodies seemed to be surrounded by a hazy afterimage. It was an incredibly strange sight.
’What are these things?’
’Biochemical zombies? Scientific monstrosities? Magical creatures?’
Shen Feng frowned, knowing that whatever these things were, they were definitely trouble.
What surprised him even more was that these things crawling out of the building showed no change whatsoever in his passive infrared night vision.
Normally, if they possessed a significant heat signature, they would have appeared as bright, colorful blotches in the infrared scope. This complete lack of a reading was truly bizarre.
"Don’t worry, Xiaofeng. Let’s have the Gray Tide slap them around and teach them a lesson." Jingwei’s voice rang out from the Silicon-Based Brain on his chest, full of self-satisfaction. "We brought the Gray Tide this time. No more being suppressed and forced to cower like before."
Shen Feng smiled and shook his head. With a wave of his hand, the Gray Tide that had been following him immediately surged upward, extending its mechanical tentacles toward the dozen or so gray figures that were about to land.
’No matter what kind of monster they are, once the Gray Tide gets ahold of them, it’s over.’
Two mechanical tentacles danced like cobras, instantly reaching the gray figures at the front. They then whipped about violently, sprouting a dozen smaller tendrils that lashed out at the grayish-white shapes.
Then, something shocking happened. The instant the nanomechanical tentacles touched the gray figures, it was as if they were stabbing into a mass of light and shadow. They met no resistance whatsoever, passing straight through and slamming hard into the wall of the building ahead!
The gray figures met no resistance at all. They continued to lunge for Shen Feng, passing through the dozens of nanomechanical tentacles below them in an instant, as if they were made of air.
No, it was more like the Nanomechanical Cluster was passing through air when it touched the grayish-white figures!
’What in the world are these things!?’
’Ghosts? Gaseous life forms? Holographic images?’
Thoughts raced through Shen Feng’s mind once more as he stood stunned by the scene before him.
"Something’s wrong. Xiaofeng, fall back! Could the physical laws of this cosmos be different? Even a gaseous life form couldn’t get through the Gray Tide’s blockade!" Jingwei’s voice rang out, much more serious and urgent this time. "It’s highly likely that there are places in the Parallel Cosmos where the physical laws are completely different from our home cosmos. Maybe a Magic-based cosmos or something like it exists... If this isn’t an unnatural phenomenon, then there’s only one other possibility..."
In the time it took to speak, the dozen or so grayish-white figures above were already less than twenty meters away. They leaped in unison, pouncing toward Shen Feng!
The Nanomechanical Cluster surged upward with a roar, forming a dome of tentacles. Yet the figures passed right through it and were about to land on Shen Feng in the next instant!
Shen Feng, however, had become perfectly calm. A mechanical tentacle on his back instantly retrieved a finger-sized metal sphere from his backpack and thrust it skyward, as both he and Jingwei said in unison:
"...Quantum State Life Forms!"
HUMMM... A low hum vibrated through the air. The metal sphere held aloft by the mechanical tentacle erupted in a blue glow, instantly forming a force field several meters in diameter above Shen Feng.
The dozen or so falling grayish-white figures, previously able to pass through any barrier like ghosts, were now completely blocked by the invisible force field. They hung suspended in mid-air for a moment, then were violently thrown back, letting out screeches like wildcats!
Shen Feng made a gesture, and the metal sphere fell into his hand.
It was a Quantum Force Field Core!
During the month he spent preparing to enter the Dark Apocalypse, he had the scientists sent to Shield UY rush-produce a few Quantum Force Field Cores.
After all, it wasn’t an especially difficult task. They had enough Beast Gold and the proper manufacturing methods. They also had the support of the Endless Gray Tide, a group of the world’s most brilliant minds, the Shield UY Red Supergiant Star as a power source, and a super-AI to assist them.
He’d originally intended for them to be an escape route for dealing with sudden, inexplicable dangers. After all, the function of the Quantum Force Field Core was almost like Magic.
He never thought he’d be attacked by these creatures right at the outset, nor that the core would prove so remarkably effective!
Shen Feng held the Quantum Force Field Core, guiding its functions with electromagnetic waves from the Silicon-Based Brain. Feeling the immense energy of the Beast Gold contained within, his heart calmed slightly as he stared grimly at the grayish-white figures around him.
Quantum State Life Forms. Though theories about them had existed, he had never truly encountered one before.
He remembered how during the Water World Apocalypse, humanity had once proposed the Quantum Ghost Fleet project. The idea was largely based on a concept from the science fiction novel *Three-Body* by Liu Cixin.
It was just that at humanity’s level of technology back then, creating something as reality-defying as a Quantum Force Field Core was already an incredibly difficult feat that required immense luck. Creating a life form in a quantum state was something they didn’t even dare to imagine.
After all, a quantum state is chaos itself. It was difficult for humans to imagine how to control such randomness, let alone talk about creating life from it.
And yet, these "things" before him were clearly Quantum State Life Forms!
"Jingwei, can you deduce how these things survive? If our consciousness is the observer, why haven’t their states collapsed back into reality under our observation? Why are they still in a quantum state?" Shen Feng asked, keeping a wary eye on the grayish-white creatures around him.
By now, the "things" had gotten back up. Shen Feng could vaguely make out their forms—they looked like a chaotic amalgamation of different human bodies, the very picture of a Ghost. Moreover, they had the appearance of the vicious specters and Evil Ghosts from myths and legends.
He didn’t for a second believe that last lunge had been a friendly greeting. A direct hit from one of them would likely tear off a layer of his skin, if not kill him outright.
Jingwei, on the other hand, sounded incredibly energized, its tone full of excitement as it spoke:
"Hahaha, they really are Quantum State Life Forms! There’s no doubt about it. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have been repelled by the Quantum Force Field Core. It’s because their own quantum state had a repulsive reaction with the core. As for why they don’t collapse after being observed... that’s all basic Science, the sort of thing for those bald, bespectacled physicists to figure out. I don’t know either! Anyway, when in doubt, just blame quantum mechanics! Don’t worry so much about the ’why’ right now, let’s just deal with them! See if we can’t figure out a way to capture one alive for study."
The corner of Shen Feng’s mouth twitched. For a moment, he was at a loss for words.
"I’m telling you, Xiaofeng, since Quantum State Life Forms actually exist in this world, it seems like all those demons, monsters, and ghouls from ancient human myths might have been real after all. It was just humans back then encountering Quantum State Life Forms! They didn’t understand what they were seeing, things that glowed and passed through walls—how terrifying is that? In the end, they could only explain it as the supernatural. Tsk, tsk, what a major discovery! You... Whoa, look out!"
As it spoke, a horde of faintly glowing, grayish-white humanoids crawled out of the surrounding darkness. They encircled Shen Feng, letting out guttural "Heh... heh..." sounds, seeming extremely excited.
There were nearly a hundred of them in total.
Shen Feng snorted coldly. A nanomechanical tentacle beside him coiled tightly around the Quantum Force Field Core, then rapidly reformed into the shape of an iron rod with the core embedded in it, which he then grasped in his hand.
Shen Feng grinned, gave the core-embedded rod a test swing, and said:
"Come on, then. A perfect chance to test my demon-slaying skills!"
As he spoke, the foremost Quantum State Life Form instantly rushed him. With a deadpan expression, Shen Feng swung the long rod in a sharp arc. The Quantum Force Field Core stabbed directly into the creature’s body, violently shattering it into countless glowing fragments!