A higher-dimensional incarnation, starting by leveraging the stars.

Chapter 63 Hope and Despair: The Collapse of Order

"boom----!!!"

In the final moment before the two destructive stars were about to completely crush the "Prometheus" base along with everyone's consciousness, time and space seemed to be roughly kneaded and folded by an invisible giant hand.

There was no terrifying heat or shockwave that could evaporate one's soul, contrary to expectations.

There was only a brief, almost imperceptible feeling of weightlessness and a complete loss of direction, as if I had been thrown into a high-speed spinning washing machine, or as if my entire being had been stretched into an infinitely thin string and then snapped back.

Then, the light returned.

But it wasn't the intense, familiar midday sunlight of the tropical seas of Earth.

Inside the control room, the piercing alarm continued its inertial wail, but the scarlet numbers representing the countdown to the impact had frozen and vanished.

On the circular screen, the data from the ecological cabin and the external monitoring images that were originally displayed turned into a distorted snow and gibberish. Then most of the screen went completely dark, with only a few emergency lights and independent systems still struggling to survive, emitting a pale and unstable light.

A dead silence.

A few seconds later, coughs, suppressed groans, and the sound of objects falling began sporadically. People lay sprawled or collapsed, struggling to get up from the ground, their faces a mixture of extreme fear, bewilderment, and... an unbelievable sense of survival.

"We...are we still alive?" A young researcher touched his intact body, his voice trembling.

"God...that was just now..." Another person looked into the observation window, then his voice stopped abruptly, his eyes widening as if he had seen something more terrifying than the collision of two asteroids.

Everyone followed his gaze, or looked out the window through the still-intact observation equipment.

The base's dome and some of its camouflaged structures seemed to have been subjected to some kind of pressure during the transfer, resulting in damage and deformation that revealed the real sky outside.

That's not the blue sky and white clouds of Earth.

It was a deep, almost inky purplish-black sky, like the thickest velvet, yet carrying an ominous quality.

A huge, dark red, faint, and cold star, like a dying giant eye in the universe, hangs low in the sky, sparingly casting its cold, dark red light upon this strange world.

Even more strangely, on the other side of the sky, two other stars could be faintly seen as blurry points of light.

The earth is dark, almost black rock, jagged and menacing, stretching to the horizon, without soil, without vegetation, without any trace of life on Earth.

The terrifyingly thin atmosphere distorted distant scenery slightly, and the air, when inhaled, brought a strange, cold, stinging sensation to the lungs; the oxygen content was so low that it made one dizzy.

"This...this isn't Earth." Dr. Carlson, an expert in atmospheric simulation of the ecosystem, was the first to make the judgment. His voice was hoarse as he glanced at a screen that was still lit up beside him, then his eyes narrowed sharply. "The atmospheric spectral composition is completely wrong...the gravity parameters are abnormal...a star...that's...that's..."

"This...this should be Proxima Centauri..." Astrophysicist Junichi Watanabe stared intently at the dark red star, his face ashen. "...We...we should be in the Alpha Centauri system? 4.22 light-years away from Earth?!"

As an astrophysicist, I have conducted in-depth research on Proxima Centauri B, our closest neighbor to Earth. Now, being here in person, although I cannot be certain, the strange celestial phenomena here are very similar to the Proxima Centauri B simulations I have done before.

"Impossible!" roared a security captain, rushing towards a broken passageway, trying to see more. "A hallucination! It must be a hallucination from the impact! Or maybe we're somewhere underwater..."

He stopped speaking before he could finish...

Beyond the passage lies an even more vast, desolate rocky landscape that is absolutely not found in any sea or underground on Earth.

In the distance, strangely shaped, dark rocky mountains stand silently, casting long, ghostly shadows. There is no sea, no familiar starry sky, only eternal desolation and that cold "sun".

"We've been... teleported?" a genetic engineer murmured, the conclusion sounding even more unreal than death.

"Is it an alien? Or... God?" someone began to ramble incoherently.

After the initial shock, chaos began to brew.

More than a hundred people were crammed into the relatively intact central area and some passageways, their panicked faces illuminated by limited emergency lighting. Portable lighting equipment was turned on one after another, the beams of light flickering on the broken walls and people's faces, adding to the eeriness.

"Communication! Try contacting Earth on all frequencies!" someone shouted.

But the communications officer shook his head in despair: "All the external antennas are either damaged or... all we're receiving is cosmic background noise. There's no signal at all, and if we really are on another planet, even the nearest star, Proxima Centauri, is over 4 light-years away from Earth. Even if we were sending a signal..."

These words were like a bucket of ice water, extinguishing the unrealistic hopes that had just been ignited in many people's hearts.

Most of the people present were common-sense elites. Was there anything more to say? Even if they could actually send a signal, it would take four years for Earth to receive it. That's...

"Resources! Check life support systems! Water! Food! Oxygen!"

At this moment, Dr. Eric Sen's voice rang out. He had stood up at some point, and although his face was also pale and solemn, he appeared unusually calm compared to the others who were completely at a loss. There was even an indescribable depth in his calmness.

His order temporarily brought some people back to their senses. Technicians began stumbling and haphazardly inspecting the core system.

Fifteen minutes later, the preliminary report was completed.

The main structure of the base was severely damaged but not completely collapsed during the "transfer" process. Some of the independent energy system remained, but most of the external circulation system was paralyzed. Some of the closed ecological experimental chambers inside were intact, while others were cracked, and the fate of the experimental organisms inside was unknown.

The most critical element is the freshwater reserve. The base has three large reinforced water tanks, originally used for circulation and experimental storage, which have now become their most precious lifeline.

However, Eriksson seems to have underestimated human nature.

After the initial inspection, when the exploration team began to be assembled, dissenting voices arose: "Why are there only security personnel on the exploration team, and no researchers?"

The speaker was the deputy captain of the security force, a Japanese man named Nakamura. He was physically strong, and his eyes, after the initial fear, gradually sharpened and gleamed. Several other security guards, who also looked uneasy, gathered around him.

"Nakamura, what are you trying to do, rebel?" Security supervisor Rick shouted angrily.

"Rebellion? Ha! This isn't Earth anymore. We might never be able to go back." Nakamura raised his voice, his gaze sweeping over Eric Sen and several high-ranking officials. "In that case, why should we listen to you? There are so many people here, how are resources allocated? If we can't find water, how long can the three water tanks last?"

"Yes, resources are limited and should be redistributed! Distributed according to need! Or... according to ability!" another voice rang out.

After the initial tension subsided, everyone gradually regained their composure and then realized an important issue.

resource!

This isn't Earth; there aren't two headquarters supplying unlimited resources here. The resources originally stored in the base were only enough for all personnel to use for one week. Even with the original reserves, it would only last for another week at most.

Most importantly, there are not just 100 researchers here, but also three or four hundred security and logistics personnel. How can these resources be enough? And how long can they last?

The crowd began to stir. The instinct for survival began to override order and reason. Some people instinctively moved closer to the water tanks and seemingly intact supply depots, their eyes filled with vigilance and possessiveness.

A split has also emerged within the security team, with some still habitually siding with management, while others have been clearly swayed by Nakamura's words.

"Shut up! Calm down!" The security chief tried to maintain order, but his voice sounded weak amidst the growing noise.

"Calm down? Are we just going to wait to die in this godforsaken place?" Nakamura abruptly drew his sidearm, a move that ignited a powder keg. "Here, we need resources, we need to survive. Whoever can lead us to survival, we'll listen to them!!"

Several people around him also brandished weapons or tools, and the atmosphere instantly became tense; they were all Japanese.

Within the ecological base, the original authoritative structure, in this desolate place far from Earth, is collapsing at an alarming rate.