Translator: AnubisTL
"This doesn't make sense," Old Pig muttered, his brow furrowed in confusion. "What's going on?"
"Normally, we haven't revealed our full strength. The Green Mountain Civilization is a Sixth-Tier Civilization, a dominant power in this region. When their expeditionary forces encounter danger, shouldn't they investigate before sealing themselves off like turtles in their shells?"
"Are they being overly cautious, or did we inadvertently expose something?"
Chen Mang pondered for a moment before speaking softly, "We might have underestimated our own strength. Even though we tried to conceal our true capabilities, we still demonstrated the ability to annihilate a major Green Mountain Civilization military force in under ten minutes."
"That level of power speaks volumes."
"Most importantly—"
"Within a hundred million light-years, the Green Mountain Civilization is the only Sixth-Tier Civilization. The Fourth and Fifth-Tier Civilizations lack the necessary power. The only entity capable of such a feat is that... 7th Tier Civilization."
"Therefore—"
"From the Green Mountain Civilization's perspective, it was the 7th Tier Civilization's train that appeared on the outskirts of the Niya Star System and annihilated their military force."
"Whether they came to aid the Niya Star System, were simply passing through, or specifically targeted the Green Mountain Civilization,"
"The Green Mountain Civilization chose to abandon their conquest of the Niya Star System and immediately sealed off all space within their territory, ensuring that the 7th Tier Civilization's military forces or attack methods could not penetrate their borders or approach their vicinity."
"From this perspective, the Green Mountain Civilization's actions were perfectly justified."
"This Green Mountain Civilization controls a vast territory spanning 32 million light-years and encompassing seven galaxies."
"To seal off such an immense expanse of space requires an enormous expenditure of resources. The Green Mountain Civilization must be incredibly wealthy," Chen Mang murmured, his voice tinged with admiration.
Through sheer coincidence, the Green Mountain Civilization had made the optimal decision.
He could no longer access their territory directly.
The closest he could establish a wormhole was approximately 17 light-years from the edge of their territory. While 17 light-years might sound insignificant, without relying on wormholes, traversing that distance at conventional speeds would take decades.
Even at the Stellaris train's maximum speed, one-third of the speed of light, traveling 17 light-years would take decades—no small feat.
In other words, no civilization could currently reach the Green Mountain Civilization.
At least, he couldn't.
Perhaps advanced civilizations possessed methods beyond his comprehension.
"Fine."
Chen Mang glanced at the Doppler Radar. His plan had faltered; the strategy of encircling the enemy and ambushing reinforcements had completely failed. In truth, whether he had annihilated the enemy force in ten minutes or an hour made no difference.
The Green Mountain Civilization had resolved that any entity daring to destroy their train in the cosmos must also possess the power to destroy their entire civilization—a power held only by the 7th Tier Civilization.
The moment trouble arose, they immediately sealed off their entire territory.
There were no half-measures.
After consuming a hundred trillion tons of iron ore, he created a wormhole leading to the Mediocre Civilization, a Fifth-Tier Civilization under the Green Mountain Civilization's control—essentially their subordinate.
Naturally, he couldn't reach the Green Mountain Civilization for now.
He'd visit this civilization first.
He just needed to wait patiently for the Green Mountain Civilization's territorial blockade to lift. He refused to believe they could keep him sealed off indefinitely.
From the AI Database he had stolen from those trains, Chen Mang learned that the Green Mountain Civilization possessed the means to seal off entire regions of space. This method required a continuous expenditure of resources, with the cost increasing the longer the seal remained active.
The Green Mountain Civilization couldn't maintain this seal indefinitely.
An hour later, on a planet within the Mediocre Civilization's territory, Chen Mang strolled through the streets with Biaozi, Old Pig, and their companions. Their wormholes now generated no spatial disturbances, allowing them to travel freely between civilizations undetected.
As they walked, the Mediocre Civilization remained completely unaware of their presence. Had Chen Mang harbored malicious intent, this civilization would already have been annihilated.
"Tch," Chen Mang clicked his tongue, glancing at the radar display on his tablet with a wry smile. As expected, the Green Mountain Civilization was likely straining every resource to monitor the areas near their territory for newly opened wormholes.
The longer they found nothing, the greater their anxiety would grow. After a period of panic, they would gradually calm down, allowing the seal to be lifted.
"Lord Mang,"
Just then, Old Pig, who had been following beside them, suddenly spoke up with curiosity: "Let's hypothesize for a moment. If we were a 7th Tier Civilization and our territory contained a 6th Tier Civilization, and we had no way of knowing when that 6th Tier Civilization might advance to the 7th Tier, what should we do?"
"Shouldn't we eliminate the 6th Tier Civilization preemptively?"
"But why hasn't the 7th Tier Civilization taken action against the Green Mountain Civilization, which has existed for so long? Given the vastness of their territory, they must possess Tier 2000 Radar and be fully aware of the Green Mountain Civilization's existence."
"There's only one explanation."
Before Chen Mang could respond, Old Pig answered his own question: "The 7th Tier Civilization must have been dealing with a far more pressing matter all these years—something of such critical importance that it far outweighed the need to eliminate a 6th Tier Civilization within their territory. This matter must be incredibly complex and demanding, consuming all their energy and leaving them no resources to spare."
"Hmm."
Chen Mang nodded casually. "That's quite possible, but we have too little information to speculate meaningfully. Let's wait patiently for the Green Mountain Civilization to lift its seal."
He had upgraded the resource detection radar to Tier 100 long ago and hadn't bothered with further upgrades since.
There was simply no point.
The Tier 100 overpowered effect of the accessory was nonexistent. The human civilization no longer needed to detect individual mines; they now scanned entire mining stars directly. And for detecting mining stars, the resource detection radar was unnecessary—Doppler Radar could handle the task just as well.
This accessory hadn't seen use in ages.
But—
Just now, Xiao Ai had informed him that Qi Kexiu's team had successfully developed the original Blueprint for this very accessory.
Excellent.
Chen Mang nodded with satisfaction.
Though the accessory was obsolete, it was still a green-grade item. This breakthrough at the Research Center marked another step forward, paving the way for the eventual development of Blueprints for Seven-Colored Accessories.
With unlimited rescreening, the higher the grade of the original Accessory Blueprint, the greater its value to him.
And just then!
"Hmm?"
Chen Mang raised an eyebrow, glancing at the tablet Xiao Ai handed him. A pleasant surprise awaited him.
A few days prior, Qi Kexiu had developed nine Accessory Blueprints, including one for a "refrigerator." While the refrigerator had achieved a Cosmic Unique Overpowered Effect on its first rescreening, the other Blueprints had been undergoing continuous rescreening ever since.
His goal was to achieve a Cosmic Unique Overpowered Effect for each Blueprint and then stop.
After all, the Stellaris train already had a perfectly functional set of accessories. However, those accessories' overpowered effects had been rescreened by the Mechanical Civilization. He didn't need these new accessories to possess any earth-shattering overpowered effects; the Unique Overpowered Effect was sufficient.
But now—
He had finally randomly rolled another Cosmic Unique Overpowered Effect.
The accessory in question was the "Moldy Bread Slice Production Line."
[Simulation #239,293 complete. The Cosmic Empowerment's overpowered effects for this simulation are as follows!]
[Moldy Bread Slice Production Line Tier 5 Overpowered Effect]: Can produce fresh bread.
[Moldy Bread Slice Production Line Tier 10 Overpowered Effect]: Bread contains fruit jam inside.
[Moldy Bread Slice Production Line Tier 20 Overpowered Effect]: Consuming a single slice guarantees a week without hunger.
[Moldy Bread Slice Production Line Tier 50 Overpowered Effect]: After consumption, memory is slightly enhanced.
[Moldy Bread Slice Production Line Tier 100 Overpowered Effect]: After consumption, physical fitness is significantly enhanced.
[Moldy Bread Slice Production Line Tier 200 Overpowered Effect]: After consumption, comprehensive physical fitness is greatly enhanced.
[Moldy Bread Slice Production Line Tier 500 Overpowered Effect]: After consumption, randomly gain one racial talent from any race in the universe. This talent can be discarded but not replaced, and each individual can only obtain it once.
[Tier 1000 Overpowered Effect of the Moldy Bread Slice Production Line: After consumption, guarantees the soul's integrity upon death within 24 hours, regardless of the cause.]
[Tier 2000 Overpowered Effect of the Moldy Bread Slice Production Line: After consumption, randomly grants one inanimate object from tens of thousands of future timelines. Each individual can only obtain this effect once.]
[(PS: In this simulation, the Tier 200, Tier 500, Tier 1000, and Tier 2000 Overpowered Effects are Unique Overpowered Effects, the only ones of their kind in the universe.)]
[(Once a Unique Overpowered Effect is confirmed and saved, no other civilization will ever re-screen it. Furthermore, the civilization that confirms and saves it will be permanently unable to re-screen the Cosmic Empowerment of that accessory.)]
["Save or Re-screen?"]
Among the long list of panel entries, the final four overpowered effects were enveloped in a dazzling seven-colored light, radiating extraordinary brilliance!
Tier 200, Tier 500, Tier 1000, Tier 2000!
These four transformative overpowered effects were all Cosmic Unique Overpowered Effects—the only ones of their kind in the universe!
Four consecutive Cosmic Unique Overpowered Effects.
"..."
Chen Mang froze in place, utterly stunned. Xiao Ai had only mentioned randomly obtaining one Cosmic Unique Overpowered Effect, not four! After over two hundred thousand randomizations without seeing a single Cosmic Unique Overpowered Effect, suddenly four appeared at once?
His expression was a complex mix of emotions, bordering on contorted.
On one hand, these four overpowered effects were undeniably excellent—clearly valuable assets.
But...
On the other hand, he felt a pang of regret. Luck is a finite resource, and having used up his fortune on four unique accessory components meant he was unlikely to encounter such fortune again.
If only this "Four Uniques" attribute had been applied to armor or a Light Cannon!
A Moldy Bread Slice Production Line was such a waste!
What a waste!
Fucking waste!
Chen Mang took a deep breath and immediately led Biaozi and the others back to the train. With a heavy heart, he crafted the accessory.
After consuming 200 trillion units of iron ore, he upgraded the accessory to Tier 2000 in one go. Being a white-grade accessory, it didn't require excessive resources.
This marked the fifth Tier 2000 accessory on the train.
Upgrading accessories wasn't expensive, but manufacturing bread was a different story.
Producing a Tier 200 bread required 200,000 units of iron ore.
Understandable.
After all, a Tier 200 bread could drastically enhance one's comprehensive physical fitness. A mere 200,000 units of iron ore was an incredible value. It was even feasible to distribute one to every person on Aquablue Star, significantly improving the physical fitness of the entire civilization.
This wasn't just about increased strength; it was about enhancing overall physical fitness—greater speed, improved immunity, faster wound healing, reduced susceptibility to illness, better stress resistance, and more.
Producing a Tier 500 bread required 200 million units of iron ore.
The price had multiplied exponentially.
But it was justified.
After all, it granted a racial talent. Humans, lacking any innate racial talents, either possessed them from birth or never acquired them. This was akin to defying fate itself, making 200 million units of iron ore a bargain.
Producing a Tier 1000 bread required 20 billion units of iron ore.
Still not expensive.
This is equivalent to a life-saving elixir. Even if the Cosmic Big Bang were to occur, it would ensure your survival and absolute passage to the Second Universe, granting you a second life. The price is absolutely justified.
Manufacturing a Tier 2000 Bread requires 2 trillion units of iron ore.
This price is a bit steep.
The ability to randomly retrieve an inanimate object from the future is a gamble. Its value could range from negligible to immense, depending on what you get.
Chen Mang stared expressionlessly at the four breads in his hand. After a moment's pause, he first devoured the Tier 200 Bread, worth 200,000 units of iron ore.
He nodded slowly as he chewed.
It must be said,
The Tier 200 Bread, priced at 200,000 units, was flawless in both appearance and taste. Even without its special effect, it would still be considered a top-tier delicacy.
After swallowing the bread,
Chen Mang could clearly feel his comprehensive physical fitness improving. Had he possessed an Iris Chip, he could have quantified the changes with precise data. This Tier 200 Bread, however, could only be consumed once for its effect.
The initial dose granted the full benefit; subsequent consumption would merely be for enjoyment, with no further special effects.
Next, he devoured the second bread, a Tier 500 Bread worth 200 million units of iron ore.
Almost immediately, a panel appeared on the screen:
[You have consumed a Tier 500 Moldy Bread Slice. You will now receive a random racial talent from among the countless races in the universe. Drawing in progress.]
[Please wait patiently.]
[Estimated time: 24 hours.]
Chen Mang nodded calmly, showing no impatience. Even if the randomly acquired racial talent proved unsatisfactory—or even detrimental—he could simply discard it, though he would then lose the opportunity to obtain another.
He was confident his luck wouldn't fail him.
Any reasonably useful talent would suffice as an improvement. If all else failed, even the goblin racial talent would be acceptable. Nothing was off the table.
This required time.
He remained unhurried.
This was the true value of the Cosmic Unique Overpowered Effect!
His fascination with the Cosmic Unique Overpowered Effect stemmed not merely from its uniqueness. After all, this uniqueness applied only to civilizations, not absolute existence.
Even if he sealed away the original Blueprint and prevented any copies from being made...
However, if someone from the "human civilization" were to later discover the original Blueprint for the "Moldy Bread Slice Production Line," the overpowered effect they would obtain would be identical to the one Chen Mang had just acquired—unchangeable and un-rerollable.
The primary reason for this was that the "Cosmic Unique Overpowered Effect" was inherently extremely overpowered. Its base effect was already incredibly strong; the "unique" aspect was merely a bonus, not an essential component.
Chen Mang then stuffed the bread, worth 2 trillion units of iron ore, into his mouth.
This was the most expensive piece of bread he had ever eaten.
As for the Tier 1000 bread, there was no immediate need to consume it. He had simply crafted it as a precaution.
To be honest, all four tiers of bread looked and tasted almost identical, lacking any distinctive qualities.
In fact, he found the Tier 2000 Overpowered Effect less appealing than the earlier tiers. It sounded too vague and unreliable—randomly taking an inanimate object from his future. Who knew what it might be? Perhaps a used tissue or a discarded cigarette butt.
The randomness was simply too high.
Several seconds had already passed.
He felt nothing, as if nothing had happened.
Chen Mang sat in the locomotive cabin, glancing around. Nothing seemed amiss, and no new objects had appeared. It was as if he had eaten an ordinary piece of bread.
But then—
Beep! Beep! Beep!
A piercing alarm suddenly blared through the train.
Following the alarm's direction, he saw that the Doppler Radar was alerting him to a massive object looming just beyond the train. He instinctively looked up and saw something colossal, nearly the size of a planet, hovering above the Stellaris train in the outskirts.
It was none other than—
The Heavenly Palace!
That damned Tier 2000 bread had randomly pulled an inanimate object from his future timeline—and it was the Heavenly Palace!
Without hesitation, Chen Mang, his face pale with panic, shoved the Tier 1000 bread into his mouth as quickly as possible. This bread would ensure that no matter what happened, his soul would remain intact, allowing him to reach the Second Universe!
It's over!
Everything is over!
I'd rather have brought back toilet paper than this damned thing!
When the Present State and Past State of a Cosmic Forbidden Item collide, they trigger a cataclysmic explosion. The larger the object, the greater the destructive force. If two Heavenly Palaces of this scale were to collide, the resulting explosion would be unimaginable!
The Heavenly Palace he had taken from the Nami Civilization was right here on his train.
To prevent this very scenario, he had specifically ordered Doba and the others to halt the Heavenly Palace's construction.
Yet...
Yet, this had still happened.
Goddamn it!
However...
After several seconds, nothing happened.
Chen Mang gradually calmed down and tried to activate the control lever to create a wormhole and escape. Perhaps because the Heavenly Palace on his train was inside the space gate, the two objects hadn't detected each other?
But just then—
Xiao Ai's voice echoed through the train.
"Train Conductor, the Heavenly Palace above shows no signs of temporal distortion. This means it's not a Cosmic Forbidden Item."
"Not a Cosmic Forbidden Item?"
"Exactly. You brought it directly from the future without it passing through a temporal rift. The first requirement for a Cosmic Forbidden Item is that it must traverse a temporal rift. Even if it were to encounter the Heavenly Palace inside the train, no explosion would occur."
"Hmm?"
Chen Mang frowned, but before he could speak, Xiao Ai continued.
"For a Cosmic Forbidden Item, once it returns to the past through a temporal rift, its counterpart in the past becomes the 'Past State.'"
"The moment the item is created on its original timeline, it exists in the 'Present State.'"
"As we all know—"
"The Past State and Present State only have an extremely low probability of encountering each other and triggering an explosion."
"In the future timeline, the moment this object fails to return to the past through the temporal rift, it enters its 'Future State.'"
"Theoretically speaking,"
"It's virtually impossible for an object to exist in all three states simultaneously on the same timeline. The probability of this occurring is even lower than the probability of life emerging from the Cosmic Big Bang."
"But—"
"Train Conductor, you're incredibly fortunate. You've already successfully acquired the Past State and Future State of the Heavenly Palace. Once Doba and his team complete the construction of the Heavenly Palace, you'll possess all three states: Past, Future, and Present."
"This is something many Divine-tier civilizations can't achieve."
"Are there any benefits to this?"
"Currently unclear, but most likely none."
"Then what's the point?"
"No practical use. It's just exceptionally rare. If you wish, Train Conductor, the Heavenly Palace could become the most dazzling and coveted collectible in the entire cosmos."
"..."
"Fuck."
Chen Mang sighed deeply, gently massaging his temples. To be honest, he hadn't initially intended to collect all three states of the Heavenly Palace, but somehow they had inexplicably come together.
This is truly... absurd!
The good news was that the Future State and Past State didn't explode when they met.
"Didn't you absorb all the AI Databases from within a 100 million light-year radius, covering the period since their destruction? Did they mention what would happen if these three states collided?"
"Not at all."
"Ask Kira."
After a moment, Xiao Ai spoke again: "Kira also claims to be completely unaware. However, Train Conductor, there's an ancient saying in human civilization: 'Practice yields truth.' Perhaps we should..."
"Enough. You can shut up now."
Chen Mang waved his hand irritably. "This kind of 'practice' could end up burying both of us."
"Hear the Dao in the morning..."
"Stop right there. This isn't 'Hear the Dao in the morning, die content by evening.' This is 'Hear the Dao in the morning, die by noon.'"
"Once we've destroyed the Green Mountain Civilization, we'll check their database for any relevant information."
(End of the Chapter)
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