Translator: AnubisTL
"But—"
The Great Elder of the Rugged Civilization first praised Chen Mang before abruptly changing his tone.
Chen Mang sat calmly in his chair, his knuckles lightly tapping the armrest. The "but" told him that the conclusion to his story with the Rugged Civilization wouldn't be pleasant.
It was highly unlikely the Rugged Civilization would ever return to their homeworld.
As expected.
Between civilizations, plunder was the most efficient method; cooperation was a waste of time.
The Great Elder of the Rugged Civilization looked at Chen Mang with grave sincerity. "But..."
"A Tier 9 Civilization on the cusp of becoming a God-Tier Civilization is destined to face relentless attacks from multiple God-Tier Civilizations."
"The Sagittarius Clan's homeworld is currently a Tier 9 Civilization. After years of striving toward God-Tier status, they are finally nearing their goal. When you reach Tier 9, you will inevitably face the same onslaught from God-Tier Civilizations, which will likely include the Sagittarius Clan."
"This is unavoidable."
"I want you to understand that this is not my personal desire. It is the Cosmic Law. After returning to my clan, I will not hold a position of sufficient authority to change this."
"But if human civilization truly falls in the war to ascend from Tier 9 to God-Tier Civilization..."
"I will use all my connections and resources to ensure your safety and that of your family and friends. As for others, I regret to say my power is limited."
"..."
Chen Mang paused, his expression calm, before continuing, "What I'm more concerned about now is whether the agreement we made three months ago still stands."
"Naturally."
"I'm not one to break my word. Besides, even if I wanted to, I can't take anything through the Bloodline Wormhole. Those resources would only remain for you. Moreover, you've solved such a significant problem for the Rugged Civilization."
"This repayment is only right."
The Rugged Civilization Grand Elder spoke with utmost sincerity.
Chen Mang smiled.
"Good."
"In that case, I'll make you a promise as well. If, when human civilization attempts to ascend to God-Tier Civilization, we are besieged by the Sagittarius Clan, I will annihilate their entire clan, but I will spare you, your family, and your friends."
The Rugged Civilization Grand Elder paused, slightly surprised, before nodding solemnly. "Agreed."
The three-month period had come to an end.
Under Chen Mang's watchful gaze, crimson wormholes erupted near every planet of the Rugged Civilization. Countless wormholes materialized simultaneously, unlike any he had seen before.
They were entirely crimson, resembling the gates of Hell itself.
On every planet of the Rugged Civilization, countless naked clansmen were gradually drawn into the wormholes, leaving not a single soul behind.
Chen Mang also gifted the newly appointed Holy Arrow a refrigerator.
The human civilization was no longer the weakling it once was. It now possessed its own civilized customs, and the refrigerator, being quite useful, served as a fitting gift.
After personally seeing off the Rugged Civilization, Chen Mang confirmed via radar that all the resources had indeed been left behind. Only then did he finally relax, a faint smile curving his lips. With a sweeping gesture, he commanded, "Load the cargo!"
The Rugged Civilization's domain was vast, encompassing numerous planets.
Even though the Rugged Civilization had ordered all clansmen to concentrate their resources for Chen Mang's collection before departing, many items remained uncollected.
For example,
Those planets with perfectly preserved structures—we absolutely have to take them!
The opulent cities of a 7th Tier Civilization's prosperous planet are too valuable to waste.
And the Rugged Civilization has developed here for so long, with wormholes connecting to every planet. This foundation is invaluable. If he chooses to establish a permanent base in this zone, it would be perfect.
"..."
He delegated the resource collection and planet acquisition to his subordinates.
Chen Mang sat in the locomotive cabin, gazing at the control panel screen.
The train currently had 69 Foundation units of iron ore remaining. He had nearly exhausted the resources gained from the Green Mountain Civilization during their last expedition. Now, he awaited the harvest from the Rugged Civilization.
He glanced at the Doppler Radar.
The radar screen displayed the vast territory of the human civilization, spanning hundreds of millions of light-years. The Rugged Civilization's former domain, abandoned after their withdrawal, had now been entirely absorbed by the human civilization.
Although the civilizational territory had been arbitrarily drawn, establishing its boundaries required ensuring that no civilizations within the designated area were of equal or higher Tier.
In this zone, he was the only Sixth-Tier Civilization.
The Rugged Civilization had annihilated all other Sixth-Tier Civilizations in previous years. Only the Green Mountain Civilization had managed to survive, thanks to the Rugged Civilization being too preoccupied to finish them off.
He glanced at his Civilization Panel.
[Advancement Conditions]: Peak attack energy range exceeding 300,000, possession of three Civilization Wonders, and a territory spanning one hundred million light-years.
He didn't yet possess a Tier 3000 Arcanon Light Energy Main Cannon.
However, after tallying all the resources he had acquired, meeting this requirement seemed quite manageable.
The territory spanning one hundred million light-years was already satisfied.
The Civilization Wonders requirement was also met.
The human civilization currently possessed three Civilization Wonders: "Insect Silence," "Divine Silence," and "Miracle Descent."
The latter was obtained when he upgraded the "Armor" accessory to Tier 10,000.
Any accessory that was the first to be upgraded to Tier 10,000 by any civilization would automatically advance to the "Holy Temple" grade, representing the maximum level for accessories!
Upon reaching this maximum level, he had acquired the "Miracle Descent" Civilization Wonder.
Notably, this "Civilization Wonder" wasn't located anywhere within his territory. Instead, it materialized directly within his train, specifically in Carriage 13, taking the form of a "Triangular Pyramid."
It resembled the Triangular Pyramid from the Red Alert series.
Standing over seven meters tall and three meters wide, it was relatively compact.
Within the holographic projection at its apex, a ghostly blueprint of the "Armor" accessory floated. Requiring no energy to sustain itself, the pyramid's peak continuously rotated, emitting a radiant white light.
The effect of this Civilization Wonder was:
[Special Wonder: For civilizations possessing this wonder, all accessory tiers are automatically increased by one level.]
A perfectly ordinary accessory.
If a component on the Stellaris train were Tier 100, this wonder would boost it to Tier 101.
However, if it were already Tier 199, even after leveling up, it wouldn't unlock the overpowered effects of Tier 200.
It's just a single-tier increase.
It saves some resources, but that's about it.
After all, it's just a default one-tier upgrade.
For accessories, a single-tier increase doesn't make much difference.
Unless...
Unless your strength reaches its peak. For instance, if a God-Tier Civilization's accessories were already at max level, gaining one more tier would push them to Tier 10,001. Though seemingly just a single-tier increase, it would grant overwhelming dominance.
A Tier 10,001 "Train Auxiliary AI" could invade any train with an AI below its level. That single-tier advantage would mean absolute crushing superiority.
This is a Civilization Wonder designed to push the limits in the late game.
In the early stages, it's virtually useless, barely saving any resources.
"Not bad," Chen Mang murmured, glancing at the Civilization Wonder located in Carriage 13 on the control panel screen. He chuckled softly, saying nothing more.
Just then—
Several panels gradually materialized on the control panel screen.
[Human Civilization - Civilization Empowerment: For each Civilization Wonder recognized by the Cosmic Rules, you will receive a Mysterious Box containing a random, mystical reward. The maximum number of boxes is nine.] (Seven-Colored)
[The human civilization has successfully constructed a Civilization Wonder recognized by the Cosmic Rules. The cosmos has named it 'Miracle Descent'.]
[You have successfully obtained a Mysterious Box containing a random, mystical reward.]
This was his third Mysterious Box.
In a sense, if he could construct nine Civilization Wonders, that would be equivalent to nine boxes.
Unfortunately, he currently didn't know how to actively build Civilization Wonders, only how to passively acquire them.
Perhaps if the construction of the Heavenly Palace's Present State were completed, it would also count as a Heavenly Palace. However, he had urgently halted that project temporarily, as he already possessed the Heavenly Palace's Future State and Past State.
With the addition of the Present State...
He knew that when the Past State and Present State met, a massive explosion would inevitably occur—a truly spectacular blast.
The question remained: would all three states colliding trigger an even greater explosion?
He suspected not.
After all, Yan Yao and Ji Chuchu hadn't exploded when they met.
"That's right..."
Chen Mang's pensive thoughts drifted further away. He had initially dismissed Ji Chuchu and the others' randomly acquired racial talents as mere entertainment—something to pass the time during leisure.
But now it seemed...
They might be subtly connected to the Heavenly Palace in some way.
After pondering for a while, he couldn't come up with a clear explanation.
He temporarily put those thoughts aside and opened the newly acquired Mysterious Box. It was time for another unboxing.
When he opened the first box, the reward was:
[Seven-Colored Civilization Empowerment for High-Dimensional Planets.]
Its effect was to grant the civilizational territory and all planets under its jurisdiction a High-Dimensional Superposition State, preventing them from ever being forcibly collapsed into two dimensions. Furthermore, it granted priority during Advancement to higher dimensions.
This made him...
"Wait a minute."
Chen Mang silently lit a cigarette. This Civilization Empowerment should have guaranteed that his civilizational territory would never be forcibly collapsed into two dimensions, rendering the Two-Dimensional Foil useless against him.
Then where had his Niya Star System gone?
How had he collapsed it into two dimensions?
Let him think...
After a moment, he flipped through the Train Log and found the answer.
It turned out—
It turned out that long ago, in order to maintain a low profile, he had canceled the delineation of his civilizational territory. The Niya Star System had been excluded from the territory's boundaries, leading to this outcome.
"Hmm."
Chen Mang nodded. After a long silence, he stubbed out his cigarette and dismissed the matter.
Never mind.
The Niya Star System wasn't important anyway.
If it was gone, it was gone.
No big deal.
A true man should roam the four corners of the world, not linger too long in some remote corner.
The second Mysterious Box had yielded a special item: a pack of only 19 white cigarettes. When lit, they could conceal the "human civilization" for 24 hours, rendering it undetectable by any means during that time.
He hadn't used a single one yet, as the opportunity hadn't arisen.
As for the third Mysterious Box now in his hand, it had also contained a special item:
A lighter.
Perfect, a matching set.
With cigarettes and a lighter, all that was missing was some wine and braised pork head.
Its effect was...
When this lighter was ignited, every lighter in the entire universe would simultaneously spark to life.
"Hmm."
Chen Mang picked up the seemingly ordinary lighter with a curious expression. After pressing it a few times, he noticed that as the flame flickered, other lighters on the drawer and desk ignited without being touched.
Quite peculiar.
But what use was it?
A few minutes later.
Xiao Ai's voice echoed through the train:
"Train Conductor, please cease the experiments. In the past few minutes, the number of accidental fires across all planets of the human civilization has surged dramatically. Fire departments are urgently requesting personnel from the Law Enforcement Bureau and other departments."
"The specific cause of the fires was initially unknown, but it has now been identified."
"Should we make this public?"
"No need."
Chen Mang cleared his throat. "Any casualties?"
"None."
"Every human in the civilization has been implanted with an Iris Chip. Upon detecting a fire, the chips immediately calculated optimal escape routes, though this did cause considerable panic."
"The situation is being addressed urgently."
"Good."
Chen Mang nodded awkwardly, twirling the lighter in his hand again. This is quite the artifact—a true Cosmic Rules item. This guy is practically the Great Lighter King, able to control every lighter in the universe.
I bet in the past few minutes, countless civilizations across the cosmos have experienced fires, to varying degrees.
Theoretically, if I kept flicking this lighter, or even just flicked it occasionally, no civilization in the universe would ever use lighters again. The unpredictability is just too great.
Just then—
"Huh?"
Chen Mang stared at the anomalous activity on the Doppler Radar screen, his expression shifting to surprise. "Why has a third of that Fifth-Tier Civilization suddenly been wiped out?"
Within a radius of hundreds of millions of light-years, the current range of human civilization, there were no Sixth-Tier Civilizations, but several Fifth-Tier Civilizations existed. At this moment, one-third of the planets within a Fifth-Tier Civilization's domain had been reduced to fireworks in a series of explosions, leaving nearly half of the civilization in ruins.
"Please wait, I'm capturing the Death AI's database and processing the information."
"Processing complete."
"The leader of this Fifth-Tier Civilization possessed a special item: a 'Self-Destruct Lighter.' Its power rivaled that of a Tier 2000 Arcanon Light Energy Main Cannon, covering an extremely wide area, though it did not cause Two-Dimensionalization."
"And just now..."
"The civilization's leader, perhaps wanting a smoke but unable to find a lighter, activated the Self-Destruct Lighter to light his final cigarette. The price was the annihilation of his entire civilization."
"..."
Chen Mang silently rubbed his nose. Wanting a smoke and not finding a lighter? Xiao Ai was getting quite cheeky.
The truth was simpler: the lighter, also under Chen Mang's control as the Great Lighter King, had self-destructed.
This was an unexpected development.
He hadn't imagined a Fifth-Tier Civilization would conceal such a devastating trump card.
Still...
Though he had never heard of or seen such an item before, it couldn't be unique. Other civilizations in the universe must possess similar devices. Of course... none of them would exist now.
Just now.
They had all exploded, reduced to fireworks.
(End of the Chapter)
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