Chapter 355: One Shot, One Soul |
"A Refrigerator?"
"Captured from that train?"
"You couldn't even break through that train's defenses and were beaten completely one-sidedly. Something you managed to capture from them under such circumstances... could it have been intentionally handed over to you?"
The leader of the Good Cat Civilization frowned and stepped forward to pull the Refrigerator open.
Inside the Refrigerator.
It was completely empty, with absolutely nothing inside.
There really seemed to be no problem with it.
"No,"
The general replied earnestly, "I have already inspected it, and there are no issues. The only thing of note is that it is unusually sturdy. This should be the Overlimit Effect of the Human Civilization upgrading this Refrigerator to level 200, or perhaps even level 500."
"Besides, although we couldn't break that train's defenses, we captured this Refrigerator from a Shuttlecraft dispatched by that very train."
"Furthermore."
"It is just a Refrigerator. Even if it were upgraded to level 1000, what kind of formidable Overlimit Effect could it possibly have? It's not like it can self-destruct and form a black hole, right?"
"True."
Hearing this, the leader of the Good Cat Civilization nodded slightly. A component's Overlimit Effect would not stray from its fundamental nature. Much like the Akhenaten Light Energy Main Cannon component, no matter how much it was upgraded, it would never gain an Overlimit Effect that could produce cola.
It was just a Refrigerator. What kind of Overlimit Effect could it possibly have?
He immediately dismissed the concern.
Waving his hand, he instructed, "Have everyone get ready. We are preparing to depart."
There was a hint of trance in his words. Leaving their home this time, he did not know if they would ever have the chance to fight their way back in this lifetime.
"..."
Meanwhile—
Sitting inside the control room of the train, Chen Mang wore a rather odd expression as he looked at the screen of his Doppler radar. He had a good habit: no matter where he went, he would first throw out a Refrigerator.
The production cost of a Refrigerator was not expensive anyway.
Throwing out a Refrigerator meant that he could come to this area whenever he pleased in the future, without needing a Wormhole.
Moreover, one of the Overlimit Effects of his Refrigerator was that, within radar range, it possessed defense equivalent to the train's armor. His radar range was a million light-years; the Refrigerator he threw out was practically invincible.
He had just dispatched a few Shuttlecrafts into space, loaded with Refrigerators.
The main purpose was simply to drop them off.
As a result...
One of the Shuttlecrafts had unexpectedly been blown up, and its Refrigerator was captured. According to the radar display, it seemed it had even been brought directly into the enemy's main base. By now, the enemy's main forces had fully retreated to the rear, taking his Refrigerator right along with them.
"There's actually such a good thing?"
Chen Mang let out a long sigh of realization. This really was getting what he wanted without expending any effort. This incident also taught him a lesson: in the future, if he didn't know the specific use of an item, he should try his best to avoid casually bringing it back to his own base.
No one knew if what they brought back was a ticking time bomb.
Since that was the case.
He did not linger any further.
It was time for a swift and decisive battle.
Looking out the window at the gradually ceasing fires of war, countless train fragments floated in the cosmos, spectacular as a dust cloud. The combat units that had surrounded him were completely wiped out. Now that they were gathered together, they would be much easier to deal with.
The next moment—
The train suddenly vanished from its spot, turning into a brooch that appeared on Chen Mang's chest. Floating in the void of space, Chen Mang took one last look around before dropping into the Refrigerator below him.
He pushed the door and entered.
When he pushed the door and stepped out again.
He had already appeared on a planet. At this moment, there were quite a few people around him. Each of them was armed with firearms and clad in military uniforms, looking extremely intimidating. Numerous trains hovered in the sky above. The person closest to him blanked for a brief moment upon seeing him.
"When did you get in there?"
Chen Mang chuckled lightly. The Stellar Train abruptly materialized across the horizon. Taking a step back through the Refrigerator behind him, he returned to the train's control room. On the roof of the train, the Akhenaten Light Energy Main Cannon began to slowly illuminate.
A deafening voice echoed from the train's speakers.
It spread across the vicinity.
At the same time, the same message was broadcast through the train's radio, enveloping the entire planet.
-
"Lay down your resistance. Surrender and join the Human Civilization, and you shall be spared."
"The Human Civilization welcomes the addition of every human."
"I do not wish to cause meaningless slaughter."
"Surrender, and you may live."
-
The moment this voice resounded across the globe.
The leader of the Good Cat Civilization looked up at the Stellar Train hovering in the sky, his face turning entirely green. How had this train suddenly appeared here? Yet, at this moment, everyone was crystal clear on one fact.
Fight?
Even if everyone here joined forces, they couldn't defeat the Stellar Train.
Flee?
With the Stellar Train guarding this place, any Wormhole opened for escape would be destroyed the instant it was created.
At this moment.
They were left with only two choices.
Surrender as an entire race.
Or... die an honorable death in battle.
There was no third path to take.
"Let us surrender."
The general who had carried the Refrigerator back immediately walked over to the leader's side and whispered, "We cannot win. If we surrender, we can still live."
"Surrender?"
With a somewhat gloomy expression, the leader of the Good Cat Civilization operated his train's radio to send a private message to the Human Civilization: "Are you certain that if we surrender, you will spare our lives?"
"Of course."
Hearing this.
The leader of the Good Cat Civilization breathed a sigh of relief. Naturally, he would not trust the other party just because of this single sentence. The main reason was that since the other party had named their civilization the Human Civilization, it showed that they had the ambition to unite all humanity.
They would be more willing to accept humans.
When people from other civilizations joined the Human Civilization, it was recognized by the laws of the universe as a true induction. They would completely integrate into this civilization, leading to a higher degree of mutual trust.
Only then did a hint of mockery flash in his eyes.
As long as he could survive.
There would be plenty of opportunities later.
Although the leader of the Human Civilization was incredibly powerful, he clearly lacked political finesse. Once he joined the Human Civilization, he could slowly bide his time and scheme. Perhaps in the future, he might even have the chance to become the leader of the Human Civilization himself. Then, everything the Human Civilization currently possessed would belong to him. This outcome was naturally much better than his original expectation of fleeing into the depths of the universe.
"I have one more condition. The Good Cat Civilization can officially surrender to the Human Civilization, but—"
"The Human Civilization must create a permanent two-way Wormhole between the Dead End Star System and the Good Cat Galaxy, in order to completely connect the two star systems."
"Naturally. Are there any other conditions?"
"No."
"Very well, gather all your resources and hand them over."
The leader of the Good Cat Civilization nodded and said in a deep voice, "Alright."
Then he waved his hand, ordering his subordinates to collect the resources on this planet in preparation for the handover.
They had originally been preparing to flee, so naturally, they needed to bring enough resources. Thus, a massive amount of resources was piled up on this planet, all of which they had planned to take with them on their escape. Although his heart ached, knowing this was equivalent to handing over more than half of the Good Cat Civilization's foundation on a silver platter...
But...
There was no other way.
Clashes between civilizations were inherently driven by the pursuit of resources.
It was impossible for them to keep this batch of resources.
However, it didn't matter. They would hand it over first. As long as they could survive, they could slowly scheme later. There would always be opportunities. 'As long as the green mountains remain, one need not worry about lacking firewood.' No one failed to understand this reasoning.
Soon—
Massive batches of resources converged toward the Stellar Train like a tidal wave.
Tens of thousands of mining robots emerged from the Stellar Train and began gathering the resources, making for a truly spectacular scene.
It lasted for a full six hours.
Only then were all the resources stored inside the Stellar Train. This was no small undertaking, which showed just how vast this wealth of resources was.
"That's a lot."
Chen Mang looked with admiration at the rapidly increasing numbers on the train's resource panel. He couldn't help but feel a twinge of frustration at their incompetence. "With so many resources, you should have used them earlier. Upgrade whatever components needed upgrading, and you wouldn't have ended up in this state."
"Dying before you can spend all your money... how painful that must be."
"Captain."
Xiao Ai's voice chimed in within the train. "They didn't have enough Murphy Stones. Even if they wanted to spend these resources, they couldn't. Forging more low-level trains wouldn't have much meaning."
"They could only stockpile them as ammunition reserves, or wait until they acquired enough Murphy Stones to upgrade some top-tier components."
"True."
Chen Mang nodded. There were plenty of iron and copper ores, but the amount of Murphy Stones handed over was pitifully small. He believed that the Good Cat Civilization hadn't simply hoarded a massive amount of Murphy Stones in secret. Having Murphy Stones without iron ore was useless anyway. The reality was that the Good Cat Civilization truly didn't have many Murphy Stones in their inventory.
By now, all the resources had been collected.
He didn't linger any further.
The Stellar Train slowly ascended, appearing in the void of space. Immediately after, the Akhenaten Light Energy Main Cannon on the roof of the train began to slowly charge up again. A few seconds later.
A blistering pillar of light pierced through the planet below.
After a brief delay.
Countless scarlet fissures instantly appeared across the planet like sprawling veins. A silent yet deafening explosion reverberated through the cosmos, sending massive fragments rocketing out in all directions.
One shot destroyed the planet.
As for the main forces of the Good Cat Civilization on that planet, they were naturally reduced to ashes under this single blast. A small number of trains that still possessed some resistance and managed to charge out of the flames were also precisely targeted and sent to their doom by the Stellar Train.
"Very nice."
Sitting in the control room, Chen Mang looked at the gorgeous scene before him and chuckled lightly.
Naturally, he wasn't going to leave these people alive. Taking in a bunch of unstable elements onto his train would just be asking for trouble.
The only reason he had played along with them for so long was purely because he had detected a massive amount of resources on this planet.
He couldn't open fire.
If he fired, all these resources would have been blown to dust.
Once the resources were securely in his hands, there was naturally no need for these people to exist anymore.
The ordinary citizens on other planets within the Good Cat Civilization could live. The vast majority of them probably didn't even know of the existence of the Human Civilization, simply living their lives on their own planets. However, these unstable elements absolutely had to die.
"Not bad,"
Chen Mang said softly with a smile. "I promised not to kill them, but I never said which universe they would live in. Living in the Second Universe still counts as living, right?"
"This can't be considered me going back on my word, right?"
"Captain..."
Xiao Ai's faint voice echoed within the train. "Only those with complete souls have a chance to enter the Second Universe. Even with a complete soul, it's merely a probability. In an explosion like this just now, their souls are definitely shattered. They absolutely cannot enter the Second Universe."
"So they are completely dead?"
"Completely dead."
"Alright then, just treat it as me going back on my word. Who cares? What can they do about it?"
Chen Mang curled his lips, then looked around. "Set sail. We are heading home."
Three hours later.
The Stellar Train, having thoroughly ended this war, reappeared in the Dead End Star System. The war took much less time than he had imagined. If the Good Cat Civilization had scattered and engaged in a prolonged guerrilla war with him...
Although his strength was tremendous.
He was, after all, only commanding a single train. He couldn't be everywhere at once. Completely clearing out the armed forces of the Good Cat Civilization would have likely taken at least a month or two, if not longer.
But—
As coincidence would have it, the Good Cat Civilization suddenly gathered all their armed forces, along with their resources and foundation, onto a single planet. They had even thoughtfully brought his Refrigerator along.
Then what else was there to say?
Pack it up and take it away.
Take it away, take it all away. "Very nice."
Chen Mang sat cheerfully in the train's control room, taking inventory of the resources from this haul. The corners of his mouth couldn't help but uncontrollably curve upward. Sure enough, war was always the fastest means to plunder wealth.
The Stellar Train originally only had 3,000 trillion units of iron ore left.
It was initially 4,000 trillion, but last time when they were in the black hole, upgrading the SPY-7 Doppler Tail Spray to level 1000 had cost him 1,000 trillion units of iron ore.
And after capturing 9,000 trillion units of iron ore from the Good Cat Civilization...
Right now—
The train's total iron ore reserves had reached 12,000 trillion units, an entirely new height. Furthermore, other resources had also significantly increased. Today's train was no longer in that penny-pinching state of the past. He was rich.
"Truly rich."
Chen Mang sighed with emotion as he looked at the resource panel. What made him sigh the most was that the Good Cat Civilization had been annihilated before they could even finish using all these resources. These civilizations really had no idea how to use their resources. Even when they had them, they couldn't spend them.
Holding onto them was just a waste.
He had always felt that his resources were insufficient. He would never experience a situation where he had more resources than he could use.
12,000 trillion units of iron ore.
It sounded like a lot.
But in reality, it was only enough to upgrade 12 Prismatic-grade components from level 500 to level 1000, and that wasn't even counting defensive components.
A level-four civilization still wasn't rich enough.
Perhaps...
That level-five civilization residing below the Dead End Star System might give him a bit of a pleasant surprise.
Right, he almost forgot about one thing.
Back when he was inside the black hole upgrading that Prismatic-grade speed component, he had completely forgotten to check what its level 1000 Overlimit Effect was.
-
[SPY-7 Doppler Tail Spray Level 1000 Overlimit Effect]: Massive surge in speed.
-
An extremely simple Overlimit Effect.
Just a few short words.
It was exactly the same as its level 500 Overlimit Effect. Purely numerical, without any fancy bells and whistles. No wonder the train's maximum speed limit had become insanely overpowered.
It had reached a staggering—
360,750,400 km/h in speed.
It was quite a long string of numbers, making it difficult to grasp a concrete concept of it.
Putting it another way made it clear.
This speed had already reached one-third the speed of light. At this point, the Stellar Train could completely rely on its own speed to sail a distance of one light-year through the universe. Do not be deceived by how seemingly insignificant one light-year might sound.
Without relying on Wormholes.
A vast number of civilizations, let alone boasting territories of millions of light-years, would struggle to possess a territory of even a single light-year. They couldn't even venture beyond that one light-year radius.
Many civilizations boasted that their territories spanned tens of millions of light-years, which sounded incredibly impressive.
In reality, 99.99% of that territory consisted of remote corners that the civilization had never once visited.
"I like it."
Chen Mang looked at this Overlimit Effect and nodded in profound satisfaction. Although it didn't possess any absurd rule-bending effects, pure numerical value had its own kind of pure beauty. At this rate, when this component was upgraded to level 2000, its speed would likely rival the speed of light.
The universe strictly forbade the existence of objects exceeding the speed of light.
However, this rule did not seem to be an ironclad decree.
At the very least, in the face of 0-Level Authority, it felt entirely breakable. If level 2000 wasn't enough, then level 5000 would be.
As for the other green and yellow speed-boosting tail spray components, their Overlimit Effects upon reaching level 1000 were also rather pure—all of them simply increased speed. It was the combined augmentation of these multiple components that granted the train such terrifying speed.
"So then—"
"How should I spend these resources next?"
Chen Mang looked at the detailed panels of the various components on the train. By now, the vast majority of the components inside the train were already at level 500 or 1000. If he wanted to improve further, he could only primarily focus his upgrades in two directions: firepower and defense.
Along with some functional utilities.
It was worth noting.
He discovered that even a level-four civilization's train armor level was remarkably low, merely at level 150. Even their highest was only level 200, barely any different from a level-three civilization.
The specific reason.
Was actually quite simple...
Even if they upgraded their armor to level 500, it wouldn't be of much use. If an enemy wanted to manufacture a level 700 Prismatic-grade main cannon, the cost required was much lower than upgrading armor to level 500, and it would easily overpower it.
It was practically meaningless.
It was exactly under these circumstances that all civilizations, even including god-tier civilizations, were a bunch of high-attack, low-defense entities. They lacked substantial defense. In such cases, the battle essentially boiled down to who struck first. The advantage of the first mover was infinitely magnified.
He did not quite like this setup.
It felt entirely too insecure.
He vastly preferred high defense paired with high attack, allowing him to handle any situation with ease, whether he struck first or second.
Right at this moment—
Xiao Ai's voice rang out in the control room: "I have two pieces of good news."
"Oh?"
"Let's hear them."
Chen Mang raised an eyebrow. Taking a bowl of scallion oil noodles from Xiao Fang, who had just walked into the control room, he sat down at the control console. He picked up a chopstick full of noodles and stuffed a large bite into his mouth. The rich aroma of scallion oil mixed with the fragrance of the noodles was absolutely exquisite.
Bringing the edge of the bowl to his lips, he slurped. Golden scallion oil, intermingled with charred bits of fried scallion and sesame seeds, slid down his throat and straight into his belly, carrying a comforting warmth.
A satisfying heat blossomed in his stomach.
He then picked up the fried egg buried beneath the noodles and stuffed it into his mouth. Before the egg could fully burst with flavor, he hurriedly grabbed another chopstick of noodles, chewing in deep satisfaction with a mouthful of both noodles and egg.
Finally, he took a small sip of the broth. It was pure comfort.
He just loved this bowl of scallion oil noodles made by Xiao Fang. He never got tired of it; no matter how many times he ate it, it was always delicious.
Fragrant!
Comforting!
Xiao Ai, who had been ready to speak, paused for a moment upon seeing Chen Mang's state before finally blurting out, "Captain... AI do not possess desires. But watching you eat has, for the very first time, sparked a desire in me to try eating."
"Is the sensation of eating really that wonderful?"
"What kind of feeling is it?"
"My database holds a massive amount of information. I can describe the precise taste of countless foods, yet I have never actually experienced the sensation of scallion oil blooming across my taste buds."
"It's fantastic."
Chen Mang quickly wolfed down the entire bowl of scallion oil noodles, draining every last drop of broth. Satisfied, he leaned back in his chair, lit a cigarette, and said with a smile, "When you get the chance to feel it in the future, you can try it yourself. But for now, shouldn't you tell me what the good news is?"
"Two pieces of good news. The first piece."
"I have absorbed a massive amount of information from the AI databases of the Good Cat Civilization and learned quite a bit. One piece of information is regarding the level-five Great Desolation Civilization situated below the x-axis of the Dead End Star System."
"I believe you will be quite fond of this information, Captain."
"The second piece of good news."
"During the few hours the train was trapped within the black hole, seven years passed in the outside world. Prior to that, Qi Ke Xiu, who was originally stationed in Carriage 2's Armor Research and Development Center, had moved with his team to the research base on Water Blue Star."
"This resulted in..."
"Qi Ke Xiu and his team devoting themselves to research and development for seven whole years."
"They successfully developed a large number of Primordial Blueprints."
"This includes a total of 9 components, such as the Refrigerator, Moldy Bread Production Line, and Telescope."
"In addition to these Primordial Blueprints reverse-engineered from existing components, there is also an entirely new component. Among all the civilizations we have encountered so far, I have yet to see any train possess this component."
"It is a white-grade component called the 'Garbage Bin'. As the name implies, it can be used to hold trash. It's a small garbage bin that can be placed in locations like the bathroom or bedroom. Moreover, it is not a production line; it must be forged individually. The cost to forge one Garbage Bin is 100 units of iron ore."
"Oh?"
A flash of surprise crossed Chen Mang's eyes. This was truly an unexpected delight. Now he could re-roll the Overlimit Effects for quite a few components on his train. These were all Primordial Blueprints, after all.
Primordial Blueprints belonging exclusively to the Human Civilization.
Once an Overlimit Effect was locked in through re-rolling, he could endlessly copy vast quantities of that component's blueprint.
It was just that...
"I am a bit puzzled by one thing. Could you ask Qi Ke Xiu for me, what is the significance of developing the Primordial Blueprint for this Garbage Bin?"
"About that... He did mention it to me. His primary intention was to develop a component that has never appeared before, or at least one with a very low usage rate. Even though the civilizations we have come into contact with so far lack this component, the universe is vast. It's entirely possible that some civilization somewhere has also developed a blueprint for it."
"Qi Ke Xiu's reasoning is that since the train possesses the means to infinitely re-roll Overlimit Effects, the rarer the component, the higher the probability of rolling a Universe-Unique OP Effect. No matter how trash a component might seem, its Universe-Unique OP Effect could never be too terrible."
"That's quite an interesting line of thought."
Chen Mang leaned back in his chair, waving away the swirling cigarette smoke in front of him, and nodded thoughtfully.
Take the Refrigerator, for instance.
If he wanted to re-roll and obtain a Universe-Unique OP Effect for it, the probability was infinitesimally low, practically impossible. After all, the Refrigerator was a component present in almost every civilization. The associated Universe-Unique OP Effect had likely been claimed by some civilization long ago.
But for a component like the Garbage Bin, which very few civilizations possessed.
The probability of rolling a Universe-Unique OP Effect for it was extremely high.
This train of thought was correct.
"Very good. Tell Qi Ke Xiu and his team to keep up the hard work. If possible, they should try to develop some higher-grade components, like Prismatic-grade ones. A white-grade component rarely has much impact on the grand scheme of things."
"Understood. Confiscating the entirety of the Good Cat Civilization's research institutes this time has also been of immense help to Qi Ke Xiu's team."
Chen Mang nodded without further comment. Instead, he turned his gaze to the nine Primordial Blueprints laid out on the control console.
The first one to catch his eye was.
The Refrigerator Primordial Blueprint.
The Refrigerator was truly a component that had been assisting him ever since his earliest days, providing a great deal of utility to the train. Its level 200 Overlimit Effect allowed him to come and go freely throughout the universe. His only regret was that its level 500 Overlimit Effect was nonexistent.
Now, he could finally re-roll its Overlimit Effect.
Originally, he could re-roll a component up to level 200. The Overlimit Effects beyond level 200 were left as unknown mysteries.
But—
When he upgraded Xiao Ai to level 500 and obtained her level 500 Overlimit Effect...
-
[Train Auxiliary AI Level 500 Overlimit Effect]: Computing Power is massively increased. The level capacity for simulating Primordial Blueprint Overlimit Effects is raised to level 500, and it inherits the AI databases of any AI that died within radar range within the last 10 years.
-
Now, he could simulate up to level 500.
However...
He was feeling a bit greedy. He wanted to be able to simulate up to level 1000.
This would allow him to more accurately judge the overall potential of a component. But... blueprints like this could basically only be used by himself. He definitely wouldn't be able to sell them in the future.
Hypothetically speaking.
If he had a Primordial Blueprint and re-rolled a Universe-Unique OP Effect at level 200, the copies generated from that Primordial Blueprint could be sold on the market for an astronomical price.
Countless people would scramble to buy them.
But...
If he had a Primordial Blueprint and rolled a Universe-Unique OP Effect at level 1000, then copies generated from that blueprint would be virtually unsellable on the market. There would be a price, but absolutely zero buyers.
A Universe-Unique OP Effect rolled at level 1000, whether in terms of actual effect or potential, would definitely be vastly superior to one rolled at level 200.
There was no doubt about that.
The biggest problem was...
Level 200 was something one could actually reach by gritting their teeth, but reaching level 1000 was utterly hopeless in this lifetime.
If a man brought a wife home and could only look at her but not touch her, no matter how low the bride price was, no one would want her.
It was essentially the same logic.
Without the slightest hesitation.
He took out 100 trillion units of iron ore and directly upgraded the Train Auxiliary AI to level 1000, obtaining a brand-new Overlimit Effect.
-
[Train Auxiliary AI Level 1000 Overlimit Effect]: Computing Power is ultra-massively increased. The level capacity for simulating Primordial Blueprint Overlimit Effects is raised to level 1000, and... it can deduce Heavenly Mysteries.
-
His luck was quite good.
The level 1000 Overlimit Effect truly allowed him to bring the simulation capacity up to level 1000. It was just that latter part about deducing Heavenly Mysteries... he didn't quite understand what that meant. It sounded like he was about to become a colleague of the Master of the Heavenly Secrets Pavilion.
He would ask Xiao Ai later.
To see if she could sense any changes in herself.
Right after that.
He didn't delay any further. He immediately began simulating the Refrigerator Primordial Blueprint. After setting up the simulation process, he prepared to get up and do something else. This would require tens of thousands of simulations.
There was no rushing it.
When a decent Overlimit Effect was re-rolled, Xiao Ai would call him.
However...
He had just stood up.
Xiao Ai's voice instantly rang out in the control room: "Captain, the Refrigerator has randomized a Universe-Unique OP Effect..."
"On the very first re-roll."
"One shot, one soul."