Chapter 332: The Return of the Dragon King! |
The first time he saw Xiao Lu was on Water Blue Star, where the creature was found inside the locomotive of the Stellar Train. He only learned later that Xiao Lu had previously lived as a parasite on Kun Ye's train.
Eventually, it had fled to his train.
And it had stayed there ever since.
Xiao Lu had smoothly reached adulthood. Although its everyday temperament seemed no different from that of a child, one could not ignore the fact that Xiao Lu was a Star Devouring Beast with S-Rank Potential. Simply by reaching adulthood, it could hit Level 180.
Level 180.
It was not an overwhelmingly high level.
At least for a Level 3 civilization, it was absolutely not an impenetrable existence. One of the conditions for advancing to a Level 3 civilization was having an attack energy range exceeding twenty thousand, which meant possessing a Level 200 Rainbow-grade firepower component.
However...
The sheer volume of a Star Devouring Beast in its devouring state was simply too massive. In the face of such colossal size and mass, the Level 200 Akhenaten Light Energy Main Cannon was like a mere toy, completely outmatched.
Sitting in his chair, Chen Mang looked with a complex expression at the Universe Broadcast on the console screen, one that originated from nearly a hundred thousand years ago.
Which meant...
Assuming that the Star Devouring Beast from a hundred thousand years ago was Xiao Lu's father or mother, he might understand the reason behind its furious rampage. Losing one's own cub would naturally invoke such wrath.
But the time span between then and now was simply too vast.
Nearly a hundred thousand years had passed.
Had Xiao Lu been lost for a hundred thousand years?
The growth of a giant cosmic beast required not only time but also a massive supply of energy. Without that energy supply, even after a hundred thousand years, it was perfectly normal for Xiao Lu to remain a dormant cub. It was just that...
A hundred thousand years.
Did giant cosmic beasts even live that long?
Therefore...
Chen Mang walked over and picked up Xiao Lu, who was curled up in the corner, cradling the creature in his arms. He reached out and flicked its nose as usual. "When you were zoning out at the window last time, did you sense the lingering aura of your mother?"
Xiao Lu did not make a sound, only groggily rubbing its head against Chen Mang's chin.
He hadn't seen any other Star Devouring Beasts on the radar, anyway.
Too much time had passed.
This little guy's mother might have already forgotten about Xiao Lu, or perhaps she had died in some forgotten, forsaken corner of the universe.
However...
There was another, more important issue.
He looked at the galactic map with a slightly odd expression. He was now beginning to suspect something: was the Dead End Star System originally this barren, or had it become this impoverished because Xiao Lu's mother had furiously devoured it in the past?
It should be the former.
Because the existence of the Niya Civilization spanned 124,700 years. In the universe, that was considered an incredibly long lineage for a Level 4 civilization. This civilization had definitely experienced the era when Xiao Lu's mother wreaked havoc in the Dead End Star System. It was just unknown exactly what had transpired, as all related traces had been erased.
Moving on.
For the entire day, Chen Mang did practically nothing else. He just sat in the train compartment, going through those Universe Broadcasts with Xiao Ai. There were nearly 240,000 of them. Even flipping through them quickly, it would still take a very long time to read.
There were all kinds of messages.
For example, romantic declarations.
-
[Level 2 Civilization, Hello Civilization]: Li Xia, I love you. I want all civilizations and all living beings in the universe to know just how much I love you. For you, I am willing to give up everything.
-
Only civilization leaders were qualified to send a Universe Broadcast.
Obviously.
Such a deeply affectionate civilization leader was probably a rare sight in the universe. Naturally, this civilization no longer existed in the Dead End Star System. Perhaps love could wait until the oceans dried up and the rocks crumbled to dust, but a civilization could not.
It had long since perished in some gutter during an unknown year.
Like a stinking stray dog dead on the side of the road, unnoticed and uncared for.
As for that Li Xia, she must have died long ago as well.
There were also those bursting with overwhelming curiosity.
-
[Level 1 Civilization, Qi Ya Civilization]: Hello, hello! Can anyone hear me? Our civilization's cosmic coordinates are... Everyone is welcome to come and visit our civilization!
Logically speaking, a Universe Broadcast should be a very solemn matter. But not every civilization leader was a serious person. Take this naively cute one, for example. One could only be thankful that the propagation speed of the Universe Broadcast wasn't entirely instantaneous. Otherwise, blatantly broadcasting one's cosmic coordinates into the deep universe like this was no different from waiting for death.
Besides these, there were also declarations of war.
-
[Level 1 Civilization, Grim Reaper Civilization]: Today, we have achieved enlightenment and hereby declare war on all living beings in the universe. To all civilizations receiving this broadcast: unfortunately, you have just received a kill order from the Grim Reaper. The Grim Reaper Civilization will soon trample your civilization and conquer the entire universe!
Perhaps because Level 1 civilizations possessed virtually no understanding of the broader universe, he found many of them to be incredibly arrogant. These Level 1 civilizations dared to spout words that even he wouldn't dare utter.
He searched through the galactic map again.
Unfortunately for them.
This Grim Reaper Civilization had met the actual grim reaper very early on. They were yet another civilization that ceased to exist.
"Eh?"
Right at this moment...
A hint of surprise flashed through Chen Mang's eyes. He saw a Universe Broadcast from the Mechanical Civilization. Now, this was a rare occurrence.
-
[Level 2 Civilization, Mechanical Civilization]: Let me clear my throat first. Ahem, ahem. Hello everyone, can you hear me?
-
In his mind, the Mechanical Civilization was a very rigid and serious entity. Its leader, though they had never met, should have been a stoic figure. He had never expected the Mechanical Civilization to have such a reckless and casual leader.
It seemed this was exactly the sort of thing that the "Former Leader of the Mechanical Civilization" would do—the owner of the diary he had found on that masterless planet within the Mechanical Civilization Ruins.
That guy had a natural affinity for interacting with people from other civilizations.
He had even hosted a traveler from a higher-level civilization.
At that time, the Mechanical Civilization was still just a Level 2 civilization.
Chen Mang also found the automated Universe Broadcast that was sent out when the Mechanical Civilization advanced to Level 3, along with several others.
The whole process felt like an archaeological dig.
Events from tens of thousands, even a hundred thousand years ago, were slowly unfolding before him through the Universe Broadcasts. Although he couldn't see the exact scenes, he could piece together these fragmented pieces of information to vaguely sketch out the developmental history of the Dead End Star System over these past epochs.
Throughout these hundred thousand years.
The most powerful civilization to ever emerge in this region was the Niya Civilization, a Level 4 civilization.
Beyond that, there was nothing stronger.
If the Mechanical Civilization hadn't been exterminated, they would have had the highest chance over the years of becoming the second Level 4 civilization.
This was the usefulness of this "Universally Unique Overpowered" effect.
Not bad at all.
He found it extremely handy.
Just then, Xiao Ai's voice echoed through the train. "Captain, the Starlight Civilization has sent the miner back. Should we begin preparing to establish contact with them?"
"Get things ready."
Chen Mang said softly.
He would have to take another trip to the Starlight Civilization shortly. He had forgotten to ask last time: just what standard did a Star Devouring Beast with S-Rank Potential represent when compared to other civilizations across the universe?
Deep within the universe, on an Ore Star belonging to an unknown civilization.
A rather young, obese man was currently sitting in his room, looking at the surveillance screens showing every corner of his mining site. After carefully scanning the area, he grabbed a slice of watermelon from the Refrigerator, took a bite, and mumbled.
"Is he really not coming?"
"Is he actually that easy to talk to?"
Right at this moment...
Ring, ring. Ring, ring.
A harsh ringing tone echoed through the room.
The obese man raised his sleeve to wipe the watermelon juice from the corner of his mouth, then hurriedly tapped the incoming call prompt on his wristwatch. He spoke rapidly, "Mom, what happened? Speak quickly!"
"S-son, Mom is fine. M-Mom just missed..."
"Stop talking!"
The man's voice trembled with a hint of a sob. "Mom, this is an inter-regional long-distance call! It's incredibly expensive! I'm in the Northern Frontier and you're in the Southern Frontier. A single minute of this consumes one hundred million units of iron ore!"
"Not to mention, Mom, you stutter! That makes it even more expensive!"
"It's not easy for me to earn money, Mom, could you please save some for me?"
"B-but Mom doesn't lack money. Come back... Mom has money at home... I'll give it all to you."
"No!"
The Young Man looked strictly at the kind face of the woman projected in the air and declared firmly, "Father said it last time. He said I'm just a piece of trash waiting to die! I absolutely must achieve something significant this time before I can go back!"
"Say no more!"
"Also, Mom, please, really don't call me next time. It's just too expensive!"
"Mom's heart aches for you... The Southern Frontier is undeveloped, in a desolate state... Bizarre things happen there frequently... I heard the Wang family boy next door went to explore the Southern Frontier a few days ago. He suddenly lost signal and was never heard from again. He's likely met with disaster..."
"Alright, alright."
The Young Man checked the call duration on his watch and spoke hurriedly, "Mom, time's almost up. Take care of your health. Everything is fine here with me. Also, tell my father that I will definitely make something of myself and viciously slap that smug face of his."
Right after that.
Just as the call time hit fifty-nine seconds, the man swiftly hung up.
Only then did he let out a long sigh of relief.
These call charges were way too expensive.
The Southern Frontier was incredibly far from the Northern Frontier. This place was practically uninhabited, still in an undeveloped stage, and situated in a relatively chaotic region. Crises like space pirates, stellar explosions, and full-screen radiation storms occurred from time to time.
If it were the civilized Northern Frontier region, these dangers would have been detected and eliminated in advance.
But here...
It was essentially a lawless zone.
However...
As the saying goes, chaos often breeds opportunity.
The cost to contract a mining site here was extremely cheap. He had done the math. If everything went smoothly, once this mine was fully excavated, he could earn a profit of a hundred billion!
Then, he would use that money to contract even more mining sites.
Then go on to contract whole Ore Stars.
After that, he'd contract even more Ore Stars, growing bigger and stronger step by step.
The "Southern Frontier" belonged to the undeveloped territories. The civilization had constructed many Wormholes leading to various regions within it, and the Ore Stars in these regions were bundled and sold by second-generation officials to their "well-connected friends."
Those privileged brats were too lazy to develop them.
With a wave of their hands, they'd declare a cluster of Ore Stars as their own, and it would be so. They didn't need to do anything else; they could just sell them off for cash.
Those who bought the Ore Stars were equally too lazy to mine them themselves.
These people held hundreds or even thousands of Ore Stars. There was no way they could mine them all, nor did they want to earn that hard-earned money. So, they subcontracted these Ore Stars one by one to middlemen, who then subcontracted them out to people like him.
They had to bring their own armed forces to fend off pirate raids, and they had to bring their own mining robots to extract the resources themselves.
Barring any accidents, it was basically guaranteed profit.
Moreover, the Ore Stars that were available for contracting were rarely in high-resource zones or within the civilization's planned territory. They were mere scraps casually sold off by the elite heirs. But even as scraps, they were enough to make many people filthy rich!
The leftovers of a high-level civilization.
Could stuff an ordinary person to bursting.
They wouldn't even be able to swallow it all.
Everything had originally been developing beautifully. But recently, a mysterious thief had continuously appeared at his mining site and stolen a piece of Level 9 Iron Ore.
No...
Perhaps "thief" wasn't the right word.
That guy didn't even steal the ore that the robots had already mined and dropped on the ground. Instead, he brought his own pickaxe and mined it himself. His posture was clearly that of a veteran miner with years of experience. The Young Man had killed him many times, but every time the clock struck the hour, that guy would spawn right on time.
Come rain or shine.
Just like clocking in for a shift.
And the kind that never took a day off.
What was even more bizarre was that he couldn't see the guy's face at all, nor could he clearly discern what clothes the person was wearing. He could sense it was a person, and even sense that it was a man.
But the moment his eyes tried to focus for a closer look, his mind would fall into chaos, unable to process any information.
It gave him a drowsy, lethargic feeling.
This even happened when looking through the surveillance monitors.
It was incredibly eerie.
The Young Man laid against his desk in utter boredom. He couldn't access the internet here; the network hadn't been expanded to the Southern Frontier yet. There were no signal base stations, so going online here was astronomically expensive—also costing one hundred million units of iron ore per minute.
He was definitely not going to spend that kind of money.
Even though he knew when he arrived that this upcoming journey was destined to be a lonely and isolated one, actually staying here was still somewhat torturous.
But soon enough...
"You can do this!"
The Young Man sat up straight, radiating an unyielding aura, his eyes filled with determination. He couldn't go back in disgrace like this. He'd definitely be ridiculed to death by that old geezer. He absolutely had to make a name for himself!
He would let that old fart know that just like he had built his fortune from scratch back then, his son could do the exact same!
Following that, he let out a sigh of relief. He pulled out a tablet screen from his desk drawer and swiped through a list of videos, picking out today's entertainment. Fortunately, he had downloaded quite a few before coming here. Watching ten a day would last him three years.
Three years later.
The Return of the Dragon King!
It was just that...
He looked at the remaining videos with a somewhat ugly expression. Not even half a year had passed, and he had already watched more than half of them. What was he supposed to do? He had a bit of an OCD-like quirk: he absolutely never re-watched a video he had already seen.
Right at this moment...
From the corner of his eye, the man suddenly noticed the surveillance screen. The unfathomable "Mysterious Miner" had appeared again.
"He's here again!"
The man's expression shifted slightly, and for a moment, he had the urge to curse up a storm. But he quickly realized that something was different. Although this man still held a pickaxe in his hand, he didn't immediately start mining upon spawning like usual. Instead, he stood perfectly still, as if waiting for something.
Could it be...
He set the tablet aside. After pulling his pants back on, he took an "Armed Robot" control controller from the drawer. Soon, an armed robot walked out from behind the house, striding toward the location where the Mysterious Miner had appeared on the monitor.
Very quickly!
The armed robot arrived in front of the "Mysterious Miner."
While carefully micro-managing the controls, he looked at the screen at the mysterious man who remained unfathomable to the eye, his surface light constantly twisting and distorting. He tried turning on the loudspeaker to communicate: "Hello...?"
He had only seen this kind of phenomenon on the surface of one specific entity.
It was a giant cosmic beast whose volume had instantaneously expanded to colossal proportions. Since the naked eye couldn't keep up with the speed of its physical expansion, its surface would exhibit this distorted, unfathomable warping of spacetime.
But he had never imagined that one day he would see this effect on a humanoid figure.
The Mysterious Miner remained silent, not saying a word.
After a long time.
He finally spoke slowly in a hoarse voice, "Greetings."
"..."
The Young Man paused in surprise. He hadn't expected the other party to actually communicate successfully, and they were using the Ancient Cosmic Language to boot. He knew of the Ancient Cosmic Language; the cliques of second-generation officials and wealthy heirs loved using this language when they gathered.
It made them seem sophisticated and high-class.
He didn't like mingling with those people and never used it in his daily life.
He felt it was rather pretentious.
But that didn't mean he didn't know it. After all, his parents were indeed extremely wealthy. If he wanted to mingle, he could easily join their circles, or even form his own little clique.
He quickly cleared his throat. Although it had been a long time since he had spoken the Ancient Cosmic Language, muscle memory was still there.
"Hello, Senior. Might I ask... why Senior has visited this junior's humble abode so many times? Is there something you need?"
However.
The Mysterious Miner fell into a prolonged silence this time, not speaking for a very long while.
Meanwhile, on the other side, inside the Stellaris Train!
The miner's dreamscape was currently floating within the Stellaris Train.
"How should we reply?"
Xiao Ai's voice echoed through the train.
"Hold on."
Chen Mang gently rubbed his temples, nursing a slight headache. This was a deviation from the plan. He had originally wanted to use the Ancient Cosmic Language to intimidate the other party, but now things were taking a ridiculous turn. The other party was entirely fluent, while he only knew a few simple phrases.
Communicating further was going to be an issue.
His miner certainly couldn't speak the Cosmic Language.
So how were they going to communicate?
Speak common tongue?
"Wait a minute. Call Keke's Captain over..."
A few minutes later.
Keke's Captain, the sole Train Captain of the Niya Civilization, arrived in the compartment. Before he could even survey his surroundings, Chen Mang pulled him over to the table. "I wander the corners of the universe, attempting to find my lost name. Do you know what I am called?"
"Translate that sentence into the Cosmic Language and write it down on paper."
Promptly.
The middle-aged man didn't hesitate. He immediately picked up a pen and wrote the sentence down on paper. Shortly after, this piece of paper materialized in the hands of the miner in the dreamscape. The miner then handed the slip of paper to the armed robot in front of him.
The contents within the dreamscape could be freely manifested by Xiao Ai.
However, whether or not these things could be brought into reality depended entirely on luck. Furthermore, bringing them into reality consumed the capacity of a "Dream Stone," and objects exceeding the Dream Stone's energy limits couldn't be brought out at all.
It was just that...
If the other party perceived the dreamscape as reality, the things he manifested in the dream seemed to be capable of being handed directly to them.
Though, this was strictly limited to ordinary objects.
Like a slip of paper. He had no way of materializing hundreds of pieces of Level 9 Iron Ore out of thin air to hand over; a single Dream Stone simply could not provide that much energy. "..."
The Young Man sat in his room, looking at the contents of the slip of paper on the screen. A tremor of fear flashed through his eyes. Had he... had he run into a damn ghost? Was the air conditioning in the room set too low?
Why did his back feel so cold?
The content of the sentence written above was incredibly eerie.
The universe was too vast.
It was normal for all sorts of bizarre things to occur. At this moment, he didn't want to think about anything else. He just wanted to hurry up and send this entity away so it wouldn't wreak havoc on his mining site. Most importantly, so it wouldn't wreak havoc on him. He just wanted to mine some ore; he didn't want to lose his life.
He hastily spoke through the loudspeaker again, "I don't know, bro."
Quickly.
The other party handed over another slip of paper.
[I remember I have an enemy from a Level 6 civilization, the Kakakaka Civilization. Are you from this civilization?]
"Phew..."
The Young Man let out a long sigh of relief and spoke again, "No, bro, you've got the wrong person. I'm from a Level 5 civilization, the Naomi Civilization. I'm one of the good guys."
Right after that.
The other party handed over yet another slip of paper.
[You are a good person. Can we be friends?]
The Young Man was just about to reply when his slightly opened mouth suddenly froze. Could it be... could this be a cosmic encounter? There were many fortuitous encounters deep in the universe; could this be one of them?
After a moment's hesitation, he spoke tentatively.
"Of course we can."
[Then, as a friend, could you tell me some interesting things about your civilization?]
"Uh, what kind of things do you want to hear?"
[Any kind will do. As long as it is told by a friend, I will love listening to it.]
"Let me think... hmm... what should I talk about? How about this, I'll tell you how my father built his fortune from nothing. Even though I really dislike him, I have to admit that his life experiences are absolutely legendary."
"In this regard, I do admire him a lot."
"To this day, I don't exactly know how he made his first pot of gold. I just know that he suddenly earned ten billion out of nowhere. Listening to my mother tell it, it seems he stumbled into some Time Fissure or some mess like that. For us back then, it was an astronomical sum. After getting that money, it was as if my father suddenly maxed out his investment talent tree..."
At this exact moment.
In the outer space atmosphere of the Ore Star where the Young Man was residing.
A train, armed to the teeth, was currently concealing its form, hidden within a "pseudo-four-dimensional" space, undetectable by any radar.
"Sigh."
Inside the train, a white-haired man with long hair was lying out of sheer boredom on a sofa, clipping his nails. He drawled lazily, "Boss, we're a renowned escort fleet in the Naomi Civilization. We've participated in quite a few large-scale civilization reclamation projects and even attacked several major Level 3 civilizations."
"And as a result..."
"Have we now been reduced to babysitting for a living?"
"Isn't this kind of life way too boring?"
The middle-aged scarred man sitting in the chair replied coldly without even looking up, "The daily profit we make here is more than what we made in a day during any of those large-scale projects. The employer is very generous. Since we've taken the money, we have to do the job properly!"
"Our mission is to ensure the absolute safety of the young master on the Ore Star below!"
"Even if this Ore Star suddenly explodes, that young master must survive!"
"Sigh."
The white-haired man on the sofa helplessly spread his hands. "Of course I know that, Boss. It just feels a bit boring, you know? A life of fighting and killing suits me better. Watching over a kid is the most uninteresting thing ever."
"Plus, this guy's taste is really unique."
"Other rich heirs bring a bunch of babes when they head out to these desolate backwaters, but he brought a bunch of movies instead. That's a bit too down-to-earth, isn't it?"
"I'm actually quite curious."
"Does he even know that even if he mines this entire site dry, the profits will only be enough to hire us to stay here for a single day? It's so nice having a rich dad. Why couldn't I have one?"
Right at this moment...
The middle-aged scarred man's expression suddenly turned cold as he looked at several red dots gradually approaching on the radar. "Pirates are nearing the Ore Star. Prepare to take action. Don't make too much noise."
"You got it!"
Inside the wooden house.
At first, the Young Man had only been tentatively trying to converse, but as the chat progressed, he opened up entirely, excitedly rattling off the interesting stories he knew.
He hadn't spoken to anyone in a very long time.
He had been holding it in for far too long.
A long time later.
The Young Man finally stopped, still looking as if he wanted to share more. "What about you? Have you experienced any interesting stories in the past?"
[I once saw a massive giant cosmic beast.]
"How massive?"
[Its body was 2.5 light-years long.]
"Impossible. There is no way a giant cosmic beast of that size exists. That is simply illogical," the Young Man subconsciously shook his head in retort.
[I truly did see it.]
The other party not only handed over a slip of paper but also passed along a photograph. The picture showed the blurry visage of a giant cosmic beast.
The Young Man glanced at the photo. It was honestly very difficult to determine its specific size from the picture since there was absolutely no point of reference. But after hesitating for a moment, he decided to treat it as true. "Alright, I believe you."
Perhaps it really did exist.
Even if he hadn't seen it, there were countless things in the universe he had never laid eyes on.
"Are there any other interesting things?"
[I want to hear yours.]
"Alright then..."
The Young Man pondered for a while before suddenly recalling something, his voice taking on a slightly somber tone. "Let me tell you a secret. I've never told anyone this before, but since we're friends now, I'll share it with you."
"Do you know how much my father's net worth is?"
"I think it has to be at least ten trillion, possibly even more. He never flaunts his wealth. In public, he stays as low-key as humanly possible. Do you know why I admire him for building his wealth from scratch?"
"Because the class stratification in our Naomi Civilization is too severe. Unless you explore the civilization's uncharted territories, it is virtually impossible to break through your social class."
"When I was little, I secretly sneaked into my father's study once."
"Back then, my father had just started making his fortune. He was working round the clock every single day, with absolutely no time to keep me company. I was young and ignorant then, oblivious to the adult world. I was just angry about why he couldn't spend a little more time playing with me."
"And my father never allowed me into his study."
"I wondered if I could find a way to make him pause his work for a day to play with me."
"After stepping into the study..."
"I saw a Telescope. That Telescope could see very far. When I found it, I became completely enamored and couldn't put it down. I secretly sneaked it back to my own bedroom."
"When my father returned, he discovered the Telescope was missing."
"He was furious."
"Or rather, frantic. I had never seen my father in such a state. I was terrified at the time and hid in my room, not daring to make a sound."
"Even though my mother didn't know why losing a Telescope made him so angry, she still urged him to call the police."
"My father didn't call the police. After venting his anger, he locked himself in his study alone. He didn't come out until three days later. After he came out, he never brought the matter up again, as if it had never happened."
"It wasn't until I grew up that I realized that Telescope was actually a Level 10 item, a type of train component."
"Only then did I know just how luxurious that little toy was. A Level 10 Telescope required the consumption of eight Murphy Stones."
"I've never dared to tell my father the truth about this matter."
[Is that Telescope still with you?]
The rather melancholic obese Young Man looked at the slip of paper handed over by the other party and instinctively replied, "I've kept it hidden by my side this whole time."
[Can you let me take a look at it?]
"This..." The Young Man hesitated for a moment before speaking, "Of course you can."
He subsequently retrieved a Telescope from the drawer and strode out of the wooden house. Soon, he laid eyes on the "Mysterious Traveler" in person. This was the first time he was seeing the mysterious traveler with his naked eye. After a moment of hesitation, he still walked up and handed the Telescope over.
"This is it."
"..."
Inside the compartment of the Stellaris Train.
Chen Mang remained expressionless, falling into a prolonged silence. His eyes narrowed slightly as he gazed at the Level 10 Telescope on the screen.
A very, very long time ago.
Back when he was still on Water Blue Star.
He had encountered a Time Fissure within the City Ruins. That was his very first time encountering a Time Fissure. Back then, Doba had even personally gone in to investigate it. When Chen Mang first started experimenting with it, he threw a Level 10 Telescope he had just finished upgrading straight into that Time Fissure.
The Telescope before his eyes was exactly the same as the one he had thrown in back then.
The shape was the same.
The level was identical.
The only uncertainty was whether this Telescope was definitively the one he had tossed in.
But he felt it was highly possible.
After all, logically speaking, the mining sites materialized by the "Dream Stone" were completely randomized. Why would his miner continuously manifest at this person's mining site for more than a dozen days straight? It must be because this person had some sort of connection with the Stellaris Train.
Looking at it now, this Telescope was likely that very connection.
Right at this moment...
The image on the screen suddenly began to shake violently.
Xiao Ai's voice quickly echoed through the train.
"Captain, the miner's emotional response suddenly became extremely turbulent. The dreamscape was forced to terminate."
"Eh? Eh?! Eh!!!"
Standing at the mining site, the obese Young Man looked at the rapidly dissipating mysterious traveler before him and hastily shouted a few times. However, this traveler who had just befriended him vanished into thin air in the blink of an eye.
Leaving only that Telescope tumbling onto the ground.
The Young Man somewhat dazedly picked up the Telescope from the ground. Staring at the empty spot before him, he felt completely perplexed. "Couldn't you at least say goodbye before leaving?"
"Weren't we supposed to be friends?"
He then carefully wiped the Telescope he had retrieved. With his current financial resources, a Level 10 Telescope wasn't worth much. It wasn't like it was Level 20. A Level 20 one would be valuable, primarily because they were banned from sale and manufacture. If it weren't for that reason, even they wouldn't be worth much.
But this item was something he had stolen from his father's study.
When he was little.
Every night he would sleep hugging this Telescope, as if he were hugging his father.
He had even planned to come clean to his father about all this once he had established his own successful career. Otherwise, it would always feel like there was a knot stuck in his heart.
Meanwhile...
Inside the compartment of the Stellaris Train.
Chen Mang furrowed his brows deeply, looking at the man standing before him who had a trace of fear in his eyes. This man was the miner from earlier. Chen Mang suddenly realized something: it probably wasn't the Telescope that had a connection with the train.
It should be that the Telescope had a connection with this miner.
Otherwise, why was it that no other miners went to that site? Only this specific miner was able to consistently travel to that mining site.
"M-Master Mang."
The man standing rooted to the spot spoke with a slightly trembling voice, "That Telescope used to be mine, but suddenly one day, it just vanished. I searched for a long time but could never find it."
He had been listening in the entire time. Upon seeing that Telescope, his emotions had fluctuated violently, causing the dreamscape to collapse.
"Tell me in detail, from beginning to end."
"Okay."
The man took a deep breath before lowering his head and speaking hoarsely. "During the apocalypse, I was a Train Captain. Of course, after the civilization was unified, all Train Captains reverted to civilian status. I joined the Stellar Train and became a cyber-miner."
"This happened back when we were still in the Zombie Basin. Actually, I saw you a long time ago, Master Mang. At that time, a train called the 'Bull Rush' issued a bounty on you. Anyone who sent your train's coordinates to them would receive a reward."
"I... I discovered your train back then and told him your coordinates."
"Mm."
Chen Mang nodded slightly, rapidly searching through his memories for this piece of history. Although the name 'Bull Rush' sounded a bit unfamiliar, he did have some recollection of it. He remembered that such an incident had indeed happened.
"Continue."
"And the reason I wasn't detected by your train's radar back then, Master Mang, was because I was extremely far away, entirely outside your radar range. I used that Level 10 Telescope to observe you."
"Wait, I need to interrupt here for a moment."
Chen Mang spoke softly, "I remember now. Before the Bull Rush arrived back then, there indeed was a train lying low in the distance. However, you were within my radar range at the time. I was just too lazy to bother with you."
The man paused in surprise, then continued, "My Telescope back then was scavenged from a garbage pile in a Trial Map. I was quite curious at the time as to who would upgrade a Telescope component to Level 10 and then throw it in the trash."
"After that, I used that Telescope for a very long time. It was extremely useful."
"It's just that one day, it suddenly vanished."
"And I never found it again."
"Hold on..."
Chen Mang frowned. He summoned Doba and then instructed, "Doba, cross-reference the Trial Map you saw in the Time Fissure that day with him. See if the Trial Map he's talking about is the same one."
Ten minutes later.
"Phew..."
Chen Mang let out a long breath and gently massaged his temples. The situation was very clear now. The Telescope this guy had picked up was precisely the very same one he had tossed into the Time Fissure back then.
It was just that...
The timeline was a little mismatched.
This guy had used the Telescope to observe him back when they were in the Yellow Zone, the Zombie Basin. But Chen Mang had thrown away the Telescope when he was in Qiu City within the Purple Zone, the Land of Stone Men.
That meant...
This guy had already started using it before Chen Mang had even thrown it away.
Chen Mang had directly tossed that Telescope into the past.
That Time Fissure led to a Trial Map in the past. As for the time span, it wasn't too long, probably just a month or two.
The matter was clear.
But he truly hadn't expected that Time Fissure to actually lead to the past.
However, even so, how did this Telescope end up in that guy's hands over in the Naomi Civilization?
"Think carefully. How exactly did you lose this Telescope? Before losing it, what else did you use it for? Think hard."
"I..."
The man stood in place, pondering for a long while before whispering, "The last time I saw it was shortly after leaving the Zombie Basin. I even used it before going to bed at night. The next morning when I woke up, it was gone."
"There were surveillance cameras in the train compartment, right?"
"Yes, but the cameras caught absolutely nothing. The footage clearly showed me putting it in the drawer before sleeping. Yet when I woke up, I couldn't find it in the drawer no matter what. I searched high and low, but it was just nowhere to be found."
"I thought the place might be haunted, so I just ignored it after that."
"That's not right, is it?" Lao Zhu, standing to the side, spoke up with an odd expression. "You thought you were haunted—a huge deal like that—and you just ignored it?"
"Uh... considering the circumstances back then, a haunting didn't really seem like that big of a deal..."
"That makes sense."
"Alright."
Chen Mang paused for a moment before speaking softly, "You can go back for now. I'll call you if I need anything."
It was confirmed now. The Telescope in that chubby kid's hands was indeed the one forged on his train. As for how the kid's father had managed to acquire it back then, that remained a mystery. But it must have been incredibly important, otherwise the man wouldn't have been so enraged.
After a long silence.
He leaned back in his chair, letting out a long sigh as he murmured, "There's simply way too much chaotic, unexplainable nonsense in this universe."
The distance between the two civilizations had to be at least a hundred thousand light-years; he was certain of this. He wasn't sure exactly how far, as he could only see civilizations within a hundred-thousand-light-year radius. Across such a vast distance, how on earth did that guy manage to steal the Telescope?
However...
The sudden rise to wealth of this chubby kid's father was very likely due to this exact incident.
This chubby kid was quite endearing and rather naive. He hadn't even had to fish for the secrets regarding the father; his initial goal had just been to gather general information about the Naomi Civilization. Yet, this little chubby kid had enthusiastically spilled everything all on his own.
If his father were to find out, a vicious beating with a leather belt was definitely inescapable.
How the incident occurred was not important for the time being.
What he needed to know was...
How to utilize this matter to bring himself the maximum possible benefit.