Epic Of Caterpillar

Chapter 2830 - 2831: Discovering The Truth

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The first weeks were grueling: constant exercise and terrible food. They were all fed flavorless vitamin shakes that offered nothing to enjoy.

Every day they were forced to move objects with their minds. Among them, X0-9 struggled the most at the beginning.

Not because they couldnʼt, but because they lacked the will. Unlike their peers, X0-9 was never fully obedient and always felt something essential was missing.

Their more complex mind made it difficult to channel psychic power. Constant emotions, memories, and stray thoughts clouded their abilities.

Because of this, X0-9 was punished again and again: less food, no recreation time, and various forms of abuse from the scientists in that underground laboratory. The punishments lasted weeks, then months, then years.

Until the age of three, after four failed escape attempts, X0-9 finally gave up. Security was flawless, and the other Espers—their own siblings—were used against them to prevent any breakout.

Escape was impossible. Realizing the futility of resistance and the emptiness of the life they had once dreamed of, X0-9 surrendered completely and became obedient.

Their mind cleared. They could now exert psychic power effortlessly when commanded, turning into just another cog in the vast machine these people had been building for years.

It was on one fateful day, when X0-9 was three years old, that they learned the complete truth about the world.

They had expected another boring test, but this was no test; it was an experiment.

The experiment involved more than twenty Espers, including X0-9.

They were placed inside a massive machine. Helmets connected their heads to the device, draining their combined Psychic Energy.

The scientists used that energy to manipulate the thin yet indestructible barrier between their Reality and the Supernatural Plane.

”Uugh!”

”Aaaaaaggh!”

”Help me!”

”Nooo! It hurts!”

X0-9 watched in horror as their siblings screamed and clawed at the helmets. Lacking physical strength, none could remove the devices fused to their brains.

Blood began pouring from noses and eyes. X0-9 barely stayed conscious, groaning in agony, drooling as their skull throbbed without pause.

Vision blurred. For a moment they saw endless colors stretching across the horizon between planes.

Countless worlds, realms, and lifeforms flashed by.

Beyond that, an immense spiderweb of stars wrapped around the dimension containing Earth.

The scientists gasped at the images. So did X0-9.

Their understanding of outer space had been completely wrong.

”W-What is this?!”

”Impossible...”

”Weʼre extending our view past the solar system, but... it stops?!”

”Then what...! Is the solar system encased in something?!”

”This doesnʼt make sense...!”

”Is everything weʼve ever known a lie?! What is our world? What is this universe?”

X0-9 and the surviving siblings saw it far more clearly.

A gigantic Entity beyond the Cosmic Horizon.

Countless legs. Countless eyes. Jagged jaws.

”Who are you?”

It stared back.

TRUUUM!

Its mere words struck every Esper. Bodies twisted and burst into bloody chunks one after another.

”Uuuaaaggghh!”

”Aaaaaagghh!”

”Nooooo!”

”Aaaahhhhh!”

X0-9 resisted the pain while watching black spiders pour from every orifice of their siblings in utter disbelief and terror. They poured all their psychic power into resisting and trying to escape.

The others could not. The spiders tearing them apart existed only in their minds, yet the damage was real.

The experiment, officially named the Universal Mapping Project, had aimed to chart the known universe using the expanded consciousness of twenty Espers.

It ended in catastrophic failure.

Or, from a certain perspective, horrifying success—one every scientist involved would have preferred never to witness.

Only X0-9 and two others survived. Seventeen Espers died in agony. Even years later, X0-9 still thought about that night while lying in bed, eyes unfocused, unable to sleep.

The face of that Entity and the truth behind it still made them tremble. Sometimes they screamed in the dark, prompting the scientists to sedate them.

Locked in their room, X0-9 overheard the whispered conversations.

”This changes everything...”

”The known universe is not what we thought!”

”A spiderweb made of stars?! What does it mean?!”

”A monster... Weʼre inside the dominion of a monster beyond the stars...”

”Are we just prey? Or something else?”

”The web seems to feed the world rather than trap it...”

”We also saw two other worlds below us, perfect mirrors of our own, but we canʼt even explain it!”

Days of frantic discussion passed until one scientist reached a terrifying conclusion.

”Is our world fake?”

The reason the world was ending so soon might not be solely the thinning Plane of Reality.

Perhaps this world, like the Espers themselves, was artificial, created by someone else.

”What... What are you talking about?”

”None of the knowledge humanity has gathered matches the universe we just explored... Either weʼve lived a lie our entire lives, or... our world isnʼt real.”

”...?”

”Think about it! Maybe... just maybe... the original Earth died long ago and weʼre living inside some kind of simulated second world... or something! I donʼt know, but the planet we thought we knew might be gone.”

”What?!”

”That cosmic monster was raising us, cultivating us like livestock! In a hundred years... weʼll all be harvested!”

”...?! ”

”N-No...”

”Thatʼs nonsense...”

”...”

X0-9 heard every word. Understanding dawned at the same moment their hatred for these people grew deeper, yet their will to live faded even further.

Many years passed.

When X0-9 reached twenty years of age—well past the usual Esper ”expiration date” of eighteen—they were labeled a ”mutant” for their superior power and extended lifespan.

The Quantum Gate Project finally began. Dignitaries filled the observation gallery: the President of the United States, high-ranking government officials, and billionaire conglomerate owners who truly ruled the world.

They had come to witness humanity making history.

A colossal mechanical gate stood ready, linked to one hundred Espers. X0-9, the strongest, most gifted, and most tormented, occupied the central position.

Many times X0-9 had wished only for death, to fade into the same void as their siblings. They never pitied the dead; they envied them.

They craved the sweet release those seventeen had found.

”Ladies and gentlemen, today we make history. With all our preparations complete, we will breach the Dimensional Wall once and for all. We shall claim everything that has been denied to us! Humanity will no longer cower; we will seize the otherworld and all its resources for our growth... and eventual ascension.”

The bearded project leader spoke, now much older, gray beard framing a face still burning with the same obsession.

The audience applauded. Even the president looked satisfied.

They turned toward the distant gate, isolated inside a chamber reinforced beyond human limits.

There, one hundred Espers formed a spiral around the machine. The gate began to glow with ominous light.

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