Translator: AnubisTL
Just then—
Xiao Ai's voice finally rang in Chen Mang's ear after a long absence.
"Train Conductor, it got away. The opponent was extremely cautious. When it came to investigate and sensed something was wrong, it immediately turned tail and fled. I pursued it relentlessly for half a day but lost its trail."
"However, it now knows we exist."
"From now on, it's like playing with our cards face up."
Chen Mang nodded slightly. "In that case, if we can spend our 1 quadrillion Merit Points freely, wouldn't we be able to quickly bankrupt this game? Why isn't the opponent taking any countermeasures?"
"Um..."
Xiao Ai hesitated before replying, "Actually, there's very little to spend them on. This game has no shops. The items sold in the stores are all ordinary and can't be taken out of the game."
"Resources that can be brought out of the game, like iron ore and blueprints, must be produced by players."
"Since the game just launched, there hasn't been much resource or blueprint production yet. It's going to be difficult to spend our 1 quadrillion Merit Points quickly. We're basically rich with nowhere to spend it."
"Hmm."
Chen Mang nodded slightly before exiting the game, choosing not to linger.
Standing in the locomotive cabin, he glanced around before stretching lazily and settling onto his bed. "Seven days of rest. A short vacation for myself. During this time, I need you to focus on two things."
"First," he said, "locate the AI's deployment location within the game as accurately as possible."
"Second," he continued, "use Doppler Radar and other information networks to monitor the universe for any zones experiencing frequent resource theft, similar to how we used the Dreamstone to plunder other civilizations' resources."
"Understood," the Auxiliary AI replied.
Patience was key.
Currently, there were few concrete leads. His hypotheses required time to verify, so he had to wait.
During those seven days, Chen Mang did indeed do nothing. He didn't re-enter the game, spending his time either in his locomotive cabin, wandering through the God-Tier Civilization "Human Civilization," or taking leisurely strolls around Aquablue Star.
A complete vacation.
During this period, Kira approached him, expressing her desire to return to her own civilization, the God-Tier Civilization "Zerg Civilization," for a visit. However, he temporarily denied her request.
Now wasn't the time.
It wasn't suitable to fully expose themselves to public view.
There was no need to rush.
The seven days had passed in a flash. Chen Mang sat in the locomotive cabin, reviewing the information Xiao Ai had gathered. His Doppler Radar now covered the entire universe, and Xiao Ai could extract data from all Death AIs within its range, in addition to other intelligence-gathering methods.
Their information network was far from weak.
A Full-Tier AI paired with a Full-Tier radar possessed terrifying information-gathering capabilities.
After reviewing all the data, Chen Mang slowly closed his eyes and murmured, "This is interesting. So, over the past seven days, the amount of resources stolen by the Dreamstone across the universe has been minimal—far less than the resources generated by the 'New Universe' virtual online game."
"The numbers don't add up."
During these seven days,
the "New Universe" virtual online game had become a massive hit. With in-game resources now transferable to the real world, many had turned it into their full-time job, and numerous Gold Farming Studios had flocked to it.
Yet strangely, the amount of resources stolen by the Dreamstone from the First Universe remained remarkably low.
The conservation of energy is a fundamental law of this universe.
If something increases in one place, something else must decrease elsewhere.
Even resources obtained through Dreamstones originate from specific corners of the universe, never appearing out of thin air. Yet the resources in the game "New Universe" were being generated from nothing.
Moreover, they were being produced in vast, endless quantities.
This was utterly illogical.
"Could they be resources from the Second Universe?" Xiao Ai ventured tentatively.
"No," Chen Mang replied, shaking his head. "Resources from the Second Universe all carry a 'hell prefix' and cannot be used normally in the First Universe. I'm increasingly curious about this game—how exactly is it generating such massive, endless quantities of resources from nothing?"
"If the resources aren't coming from countless corners of the First Universe..."
"Then where are they coming from?"
"There must be a corresponding source somewhere."
"Could it be that the 27 God-Tier Civilizations pooled their resources as an initial gimmick to attract players, which will run out in the mid-to-late game?" Xiao Ai suggested again.
"That's even more unlikely," Chen Mang said, shaking his head again. "This isn't just a gimmick anymore; it's a core gameplay mechanic. If they remove it later, the game will practically die. Besides, even if it were just a gimmick, have you ever heard of a virtual online game that lets you bring items from the game into the real world?"
"This technology is unprecedented."
"How's the random selection for the powerful magnet going?"
"It's already rolled the overpowered effect you wanted, Train Conductor. I didn't bother you these past few days since you were on leave."
"Hmm."
Chen Mang nodded slightly, glancing at the panel that had appeared on the locomotive cabin's control panel screen.
[Simulation cycle 1789813 complete. The Cosmic Empowerment's overpowered effects for this cycle are as follows!]
[Powerful Magnet Tier 5 Overpowered Effect]: Absorbs items dropped by monsters killed by the train or its crew within the train's vicinity.
[Powerful Magnet Tier 10 Overpowered Effect]: Provides a powerful magnetic pull.
[Powerful Magnet Tier 20 Overpowered Effect]: When approaching other trains, there is a chance to consume a small amount of energy stored in the energy shield.
[Powerful Magnet Tier 50 Overpowered Effect]: Halves the energy consumption of the Powerful Magnet.
[Powerful Magnet Tier 100 Overpowered Effect]: The Powerful Magnet can be freely controlled within the range of the target acquisition radar.
[Powerful Magnet Tier 200 Overpowered Effect]: Halves the energy consumption of the Powerful Magnet.
[Powerful Magnet Tier 500 Overpowered Effect]: Allows for weak directional control over enemy Physical Projectiles. This effect does not apply to Energy Cannons.
[Powerful Magnet Tier 1000 Overpowered Effect]: When a train crew member dies near the train, their soul can be fully drawn into the train. This effect is probabilistic and not guaranteed to succeed every time.
[Tier 2000 Overpowered Effect: Powerful Magnet]: Creates a strong gravitational field.
[Tier 5000 Overpowered Effect: Powerful Magnet]: When continuously activated, nearby mining stars will be rapidly drawn toward the train.
[Tier 10000 Overpowered Effect: Powerful Magnet]: Can attract all celestial bodies within a 1 million light-year radius. When fully activated, it can pull all celestial bodies within this range into the train's vicinity within approximately 100 million years. If combined with a fully upgraded [Wormhole Opener], the required time will be significantly reduced.
[(PS: This simulation run did not yield a Unique Overpowered Effect.)]
[(Once a Unique Overpowered Effect is confirmed and saved, other civilizations will no longer be able to reroll for it. Furthermore, the civilization that confirms and saves it will be permanently unable to reroll the Cosmic Empowerment for that accessory.)]
[Save or Reroll?]
Chen Mang gazed calmly at the panel. This was the overpowered effect he had obtained after re-screening over a million times. There wasn't a single unique overpowered effect, but that didn't matter; it was sufficient for his needs.
This was a green-grade Accessory.
Without hesitation, he immediately saved the Accessory Blueprint and used the copied blueprint to consume 205 Foundation units of iron ore, instantly upgrading it to its maximum Tier.
He did not obtain the "Holy Temple" Overpowered Effect.
He was not the first civilization in the universe to upgrade this Accessory to its maximum Tier.
He then turned his attention to the "Wormhole Opener," a Seven-Colored Grade Accessory within the train. At Tier 2000, its maximum wormhole creation range was 100 million light-years, which was also sufficient for his purposes.
Since the Tier 2000 Overpowered Effect for this Accessory was nonexistent, he had stopped upgrading it at that point.
But now...
He consumed another 1,100 Foundation units of iron ore to instantly upgrade the Accessory to Tier 10,000—its maximum Tier.
In the next moment—
A panel suddenly appeared on the train control panel screen.
[The human civilization is the first in the entire universe to obtain a fully upgraded "Wormhole Opener" accessory. This accessory has automatically been upgraded to the "Holy Temple" grade.]
[As a result, the civilization has acquired the Civilization Wonder "Creator."]
[Wormhole Opener "Holy Temple" Overpowered Effect]: Wormholes created can exist within High-Dimensional Chaotic Zones.
"Excellent."
The corners of Chen Mang's lips curled slightly upward. It seemed that the higher the grade of an accessory, the fewer civilizations had ever forged it to its maximum Tier. After all, the resources required were simply astronomical.
The Sanctum Overdrive Effect was particularly intriguing.
At its maximum Tier, the Wormhole Opener could create wormholes spanning the entire universe. This meant that, with sufficient resources, Chen Mang could open wormholes to any corner of the cosmos.
Moreover, these wormholes could exist within the High-Dimensional Chaotic Zone.
In other words, he could theoretically travel to the High-Dimensional Chaotic Zone beyond the Observable Universe right now. Of course, whether he could survive there was another matter entirely.
Perfect.
I like it.
He then turned his attention to the new Civilization Wonder: the Creator.
This marked the sixth Civilization Wonder of the human civilization.
[Special Wonder: If the civilization possessing this wonder gains the Creator's favor, it receives an overpowered effect granting +1 to the Tier of all accessories.]
[Human Civilization, Civilization Empowerment]: For each Civilization Wonder recognized by the Cosmic Rules that is constructed, the civilization receives a Mysterious Box containing a random reward, up to a maximum of nine boxes. (Seven-colored)
[The Human Civilization has successfully constructed a Civilization Wonder recognized by the Cosmic Rules. The cosmos has named it 'Creator'.]
[Successfully obtained a Mysterious Box containing a random reward.]
It's worth noting that—
He discovered that the Civilization Wonder obtained by upgrading the first accessory to its maximum tier seemed to grant mostly excellent overpowered effects. The only one he couldn't quite understand was "Good Weather for Crops," but the rest were quite impressive.
And now!
This Civilization Wonder had been activated.
The so-called "recognition by the Creator" actually meant obtaining the Hell Set. Having already acquired this set, its Civilization Wonder effect naturally activated as well.
This effect increased the tier of all accessories on his train by one.
Even accessories like the Train Auxiliary AI, armor, and Arcanon Light Energy Main Cannon had reached Tier 10002—two tiers beyond the maximum.
Each tier beyond the maximum after reaching full tier represented a dimensional reduction strike.
When others hadn't reached full tier, being at full tier naturally made you formidable. But when everyone was at full tier, each additional tier became the new upper limit.
"Not bad," Chen Mang murmured with a slight smile, before immediately driving his train away from the God-Tier Civilization "Human Civilization" and heading toward the star systems left behind by the Rugged Civilization.
There, countless stars, mining stars, and inhabited planets awaited his acquisition, completely unclaimed.
Chen Mang's space gate had been upgraded to its maximum Tier, granting it infinite space capable of containing countless celestial bodies. Theoretically, he could even store all the planets in the First Universe within it.
After all, the First Universe had an observable diameter limit. Though vast in area, it was ultimately finite. Beyond that lay the High-Dimensional Chaotic Zone, while his space gate had no such limitations.
In the next moment—
As the full-Tier powerful magnet and full-Tier Wormhole Opener activated at full power, the hundreds of billions of planets in the galaxy trembled simultaneously. Under Xiao Ai's precise control, countless wormholes materialized across the galaxy.
A powerful suction force emanated from these wormholes, drawing in all nearby planets. The powerful magnet then pulled them directly into the Stellaris's full-Tier space gate.
The entire process was remarkably swift and efficient.
"Based on the current progress, we estimate that all high-value planets in this galaxy will be extracted within one hour. The estimated yield for this galaxy is 692 billion stars."
"Good."
Chen Mang leaned back in his chair with a smile and nodded slightly, idly playing with his newly acquired Mysterious Box. He didn't open it immediately.
He was far more satisfied with the current efficiency.
Vast numbers of planets poured into the three fully upgraded Tier Space Gates he had already constructed, moving like items on a conveyor belt.
With this many stars, his main cannon could fire almost without limit.
However...
This once-abundant region would become a vast Cosmic Void after his departure.
The Rugged Civilization comprised 37 galaxies.
Before long, the universe would lose 37 resource-rich galaxies, replaced by 37 brand-new Cosmic Voids.
Chen Mang's brow suddenly furrowed. Could it be that some Cosmic Voids in the universe were artificially created by God-Tier Civilizations after they had completely plundered resource-rich galaxies?
It wasn't an impossible theory.
Over the next few days, the Stellaris train worked tirelessly like a busy bee, diligently loading all the high-value planets from the Rugged Civilization's 37 galaxies into its cargo holds.
After losing all their stars, these 37 regions quickly plunged into utter darkness. Had the Sagittarius Clan not used their Bloodline Wormholes to transport their entire population back to their homeworld, this environment would have spelled a Cosmic-Class apocalypse, with few living beings capable of surviving under such conditions.
Certain death awaited them.
(End of the Chapter)
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