Dark Moon Era

In fact, after entering the room, Tang Ling noticed the huge machine because other than that, there was nothing else in the room except for another messy bed.

So, it was easy to guess that the second exam had something to do with the machine.

What kind of machine is this? Tang Ling frowned, not having any words to describe it.

It looked nothing like the machines left behind by the old civilization and was different from the machine that Su Yao brought him to test his strength with. Instead, it looked very advanced. It was perfectly constructed, forming an irregular rectangle, under which was a hole big enough for a person to enter.

Above the body of the machine was a transparent item that looked nothing like glass or crystal. It was more transparent than glass and more textured than crystal.

A closer look at the transparent material revealed complicated yet natural patterns. The patterns extended downwards and blanketed its entire maroon body.

If he likened the patterns to something, he would relate it to something called CPU, the integrated circuits that were formed under microscopes. However, in comparison, the natural sense of the patterns was not something the integrated circuits on the CPU could have.

“Is it not that intricate?” Tang Ling had doubts lingering in his heart. He was very interested in the computers of the old civilization, so he spent extra effort to try to understand a CPU.

During the zenith of the old civilization, their CPU was a product of nanotechnology. It was understood that the integrated circuits on the CPU were extreme microscopic, so a machine known as the ‘stepper’ must be used to generate it. It basically used the theory of light exposure to etch the complicated integrated circuits on the empty chips.

The shorter the wavelength of the stepper, the sharper the stepper’s etching blade would be, and the higher the precision would also be.

It was a core technology of the old civilization. Even during the peak of their era, only a few countries had control over such technology.

Therefore, they controlled the source of many core production lines since microchips were vastly required.

The machine before Tang Ling’s eyes had patterns as thick as the size of a thumb. He was puzzled as to why such an advanced machine was not as intricate as a CPU.

However, upon a closer look, Tang Ling’s sharp eyesight finally noticed that the thumb-sized patterns were not a single line but consisted of countless tiny lines.

Due to its highly concentrated grouping, Tang Ling’s naked eye could not see through it at first glance, but his eyesight was considered ‘disgusting’ for being able to notice that.

The old civilization never had such technology! This must be a machine that surpassed the old civilization!

Tang Ling was even more certain that super technology existed in this era. He had no idea where the super technology came from, but he could not help but think that the CPU was the core processing unit of the entire machine.

In short, it was operating, analyzing, processing, and controlling all sorts of data.

With such a huge machine and a CPU of similar size, what was it built to analyze? Could it be…?

Tang Ling was immersed in his thoughts.

Yang Kong yawned and lazily pointed at the last in line. It was a girl named Christina. “Time is precious. You first.”

What first ? The young boys and girls waiting for the exam looked at each other in confusion.

Fei Long glared at Yang Kong with an annoyed gaze before he cleared his throat and explained, “To put in simple words, the second exam is about testing your talents. Before you is the one and only Genetic Talent Measuring Machine of Safety Sector No. 17. If there is no unusual anomaly, this measuring machine is a hundred percent accurate. All you need to do is—”

Before Fei Long even finished, Orston confidently asked, “Then, what if there is an unusual anomaly?”

Yang Kong chuckled in disdain.

Fei Long also showed a faint smile as he walked over and tapped Orston’s face. “Little man of the Gordin family, how badly do you want to be different?”

“You?” Yang Kong flipped his eyes white.

Orston was depressed, so he dared not go against Fei Long and he could do nothing to Yang Kong, the science maniac who was full of himself.

“Idiot!” Yu softly commented.

Agitated, Orston turned to Yu with angry eyes, but Fei Long stopped him and told him to shut up.

Then, he said, “There’s no need for all of you to think about the special situation. The chances are a hundred million to one or less. However, in the event that it happens, even if the machine cannot provide an answer, it will give warnings of the anomaly. Unless…”

Fei Long wanted to add more, but Yang Kong said impatiently, “There’s no ‘unless’. Based on the statistical probability, if the number falls below a certain level, it won’t provide a lot of actual meaning.”

Fei Long glared at Yang Kong with an annoyed gaze again, but when he thought about the special situation where a demonstration was not even possible, he did not argue.

He briefed the boys and girls on how to proceed with the exam and stopped talking.

“Well then, let’s begin.” Yang Kong sounded strict which was rare for him.

The first girl, Christina, then entered the measuring machine through the hole.

After she went in, a transparent door sealed the hole and nine halos appeared on the door, emanating a soft light.

“Sit down. Remember the essentials that Fei Long told you earlier. Otherwise, if the calculation goes wrong because of your own reasons, you won’t be given a second chance. We’ll simply assume that the candidate had no talents,” Yang Kong reminded.

“He’s right. Even if you have the Genetic Chain Talent, when your mind is exposed to the stimulation of the measuring machine and you cannot feel it, you are also considered useless.” Fei Long did not sound like he was joking either.

Both of them echoed each other’s reminders, making Christina feel even more nervous. Unfortunately, she had no better option at the moment. She nervously knelt down on her knees like how Fei Long instructed them earlier with her feet and palms facing upwards.

Yang Kong nodded after he saw Christina sit down. He walked to the back of the machine and clicked a transparent monitor to operate it.

With a beep, the maroon measuring machine glowed white and the whole room darkened once more. Similar to when Tang Ling and the others came in, the light was absorbed and they could not even see their fingers.

Only the machine was glowing white, making it look like it was floating in the void.

Broooom!

A heavy noise of something moving came from the ceiling. Tang Ling looked up instinctively and saw that the whole ceiling was slowly retracted to both sides, revealing the transparent roof.

The room was at the top of the building, and if the roof was transparent, then they would be looking at the sky above Safety Sector No. 17, but it was obvious that Tang Ling and the others were not looking at such a mundane but reasonable scene.

“Look up. If you gaze at it frequently, you’ll understand how it feels when even despair is annihilated,” Yang Kong suddenly spoke and his calm tone contained a sense of frantic madness.