Chapter 375: Xiao Lu's Mother |
And the reality was exactly as he had expected.
This incredibly vast high-dimensional space with chaotic parameters held no civilizations. It was impossible for his radar to miss anything—his radar was already at max level, reaching level 10,001.
Even if the other party possessed a max-level Radar Jammer.
He would still be able to detect them.
If a civilization truly existed within such a chaotic high-dimensional space, it would undoubtedly be a high-dimensional civilization.
"Xiao Ai."
Sitting in the train's control room, Chen Mang narrowed his eyes at the Doppelganger Radar screen, watching the chaotic, constantly shifting parameters of the high-dimensional space. "Do you think... high-dimensional civilizations actually exist?"
As he was now.
He was already approaching the absolute pinnacle of the universe.
When he first heard the term "god-tier civilization," he had been deeply shaken. The sheer oppressive weight of those words was overwhelming. But now that he was nearing that very echelon, he suddenly felt that god-tier civilizations were merely average.
If a level-one civilization were a weak, fragile ant...
Then a god-tier civilization would simply be a very strong ant.
Fundamentally, there was no difference.
Granted, god-tier civilizations could deploy various methods to instantly wipe out multiple civilizations, but their essence remained the same. They were not like the high-dimensional civilizations he envisioned. A true high-dimensional civilization would be completely different.
"They should exist."
Xiao Ai's voice echoed through the train. "However, they likely do not exist in this universe, and certainly not in this chaotic high-dimensional space. This particular 'high-dimensional universe' is merely an extension created by the ongoing expansion of our own universe."
"Once the area bordering the 'main universe' stabilizes and settles, its parameters will also balance out. It will then be incorporated into the observable universe, becoming a part of the main universe itself."
"It cannot be considered a true high-dimensional universe."
"I believe..."
"A true high-dimensional universe might exist 'outside the universe'. Beyond our continuously expanding universe lies the real high-dimensional realm, which is where high-dimensional civilizations reside."
"And the universe we inhabit might be nothing more than a petri dish in their laboratory."
"Or perhaps an amoxicillin capsule."
"It could even be a coconut."
"Who knows."
"Those high-dimensional civilizations might be observing us like lab mice, or they might not care about our existence at all. Just as few people other than children care about how ants dig their tunnels."
"If we look at it that way, perhaps the 'Creator in the Future State' was right. Humanity truly shouldn't leave the universe. The dangers outside are beyond our ability to resist. If we did leave, the result wouldn't just be the extinction of our civilization, but the destruction of the entire universe."
"..."
Chen Mang remained silent, saying nothing.
He thought about the origins of the Hell Set. It was the only equipment set of its kind in the entire universe, possessing multiple terrifyingly powerful effects. But in reality, those effects were merely secondary. Its core function was singular: it was the only key to escaping this cage-like universe.
If high-dimensional civilizations were truly observing their universe...
That did not sound like good news.
Observation was rarely a benevolent act.
Just like when a child observes an ant colony. They don't carefully crouch down with delicate tools to study the tunnel structures. Instead, they simply and crudely piss into the hole to see where it leads.
Given the sheer difference in scale, even a completely non-malicious observation would result in apocalyptic destruction.
Of course.
All of this was mere speculation.
Currently, they had zero evidence or information regarding what actually existed outside the universe.
His main priority right now was simple.
Become a god-tier civilization as quickly as possible.
Then...
He could decide whether or not to venture outside the universe and take a look.
Chen Mang leaned back in his chair and looked at the Doppelganger Radar display. Currently, he was located at the very center of the entire universe.
That's right.
His starting location, the Dead End Star System, was dead center—perfectly aligned with the exact middle of the universe. It could even be considered the absolute core region.
Naturally...
The universe wasn't some fantasy novel where the central continent was guaranteed to be overflowing with rich resources. If it were, his early days wouldn't have been so miserable and destitute.
By observing the radar feed, he could see that the current universe was divided among twenty-seven god-tier civilizations. These twenty-seven civilizations belonged to fourteen different races, with a few of the larger races producing multiple god-tier civilizations.
For instance, the human race.
The human race had produced a staggering five god-tier civilizations.
They were the Human Civilization, the Genesis Civilization, the Qi Tian Civilization, the Daoist Civilization, and the Star Refining Civilization.
All five of these civilizations had been founded by humans, and their populations consisted entirely of humans.
The first three were train-based civilizations, while the Daoist Civilization and the Star Refining Civilization were both cultivation civilizations.
"Cultivation civilizations..."
Chen Mang looked thoughtfully at the territories of these two civilizations. Their borders were adjacent to one another. He had rarely encountered high-level cultivation civilizations. It was an incredibly extreme form of civilization.
In the early stages, they were painfully weak.
But once they matured, their late-stage potential was astonishingly high.
And the god-tier territory he currently occupied belonged to the Human Civilization. To ascend to a god-tier civilization himself, he first had to swallow the territory of an existing one. Then, he had to withstand the combined pressure of the other god-tier civilizations. Only by advancing under such immense pressure could he truly become a god-tier civilization.
If he wanted to reach that pinnacle, this Human Civilization—which shared the exact same name as his own—would inevitably be one of his greatest enemies.
However...
There was no suspense left anymore.
He just needed to steamroll right through them.
His AI could now completely hijack any train with a lower level than Xiao Ai. Cultivation civilizations would be a bit trickier since they didn't rely on trains for him to hack, but against train-based civilizations, it would be a completely one-sided massacre. If all your trains are hijacked, what else do you have left to fight with?
He checked his remaining resources.
He still had 7,577 Background Units of iron ore.
Time to keep upgrading!
Right at that moment.
Xiao Ai's voice suddenly rang out again inside the train. "Captain, I have located the planet you asked me to search for last time, the one named Blue Star. Based on the characteristics and descriptions you provided, including the ecosystems of its neighboring planets, I found a total of thirteen star systems that match your criteria."
"Please take a look and confirm which one is the planet you mentioned."
Soon enough—
Overhead views of small star systems scattered across the universe appeared on the train's control console screen.
Chen Mang scanned through them one by one.
When he reached the seventh one, he spotted a familiar little star system.
A familiar star, a familiar azure planet, and that familiar moon whose far side could never be seen.
"That's the one." Chen Mang stared in a daze at the tiny star system, which consisted of only a handful of planets. It was incredibly far away from him, situated near the very edge of the universe. It sat right in the middle of a massive Dark Abyss, with virtually no Ore Stars or planetary belts anywhere around it.
It was completely isolated.
It was the kind of place no civilization would ever bother invading.
Extremely safe.
This was the planet he had lived on before his transmigration. It was from this very planet that he had inexplicably crossed over to Water Blue Star in the Dead End Star System.
Very nice.
He remained silent. Given the vast distance, constructing a wormhole to travel there would consume a significant amount of resources. But when he had time later, he could return home for a visit. It would be a true homecoming in glory. He wondered if Blue Star had changed at all since he left.
Oh, right.
He definitely needed to visit the far side of the moon in person. Back on Blue Star, countless scientists had spent years researching what exactly was hidden there, but they never reached a definitive conclusion. Once he personally set foot on the far side of the moon, he wanted to see for himself what all the fuss was about.
There had been quite a few theories back then.
For instance...
That the moon was an "observation device" left by an advanced civilization, tasked with constantly monitoring Blue Star, which was why it always kept the same face pointed toward the planet.
Or that the far side housed a weapons base for a higher civilization, ready to obliterate Blue Star at a moment's notice.
Back then, he hadn't completely ruled out those possibilities.
But now, he was almost absolutely certain that it was impossible. Those advanced civilizations wouldn't have rocks in their heads. They wouldn't travel all the way into a barren Dark Abyss just to observe a planet that hadn't even reached the level of a level-one civilization.
No normal civilization would willingly live inside a Dark Abyss, unless they had absolutely zero intention of mining or utilizing the Core Energy emitted by planets.
Before his transmigration, Blue Star's primary energy source was petroleum. It certainly wasn't Core Energy. As for what that even was, they had probably never even heard of it.
Furthermore, the Dark Abyss where Blue Star was located was mind-bogglingly huge.
Its diameter spanned a full 1.8 billion light-years.
Forget about a god-tier civilization's radar failing to detect Blue Star; even if they did spot it, they wouldn't spare it a second glance. He had to admit, its geographical location made it incredibly safe.
He remembered that in his past life, the nations of Blue Star had even sent out something akin to a Civilization Broadcast deep into space, announcing their existence to the universe.
That had sparked quite a lot of debate.
Many people worried it would bring disaster down upon Blue Star, drawing the greedy eyes of extraterrestrials.
Looking at it now...
There was absolutely no need to worry.
The time required for that broadcast to simply exit the Dark Abyss would be more than enough for Blue Star to destroy itself several times over. Furthermore... even if an advanced civilization did receive the message, they couldn't be bothered to care. As for Blue Star taking pride in being a habitable ecological planet...
Habitable planets were a dime a dozen in the vast universe. They simply weren't worth mentioning.
"Captain, you've been zoning out for quite a while. Do you have some kind of history with this unknown, incredibly distant planet?"
"Yeah."
Chen Mang nodded lightly, a smile touching his lips. "You could say there's a story. Maybe reincarnation really does exist. I've always had this feeling that I lived on this planet before."
"Are you saying that your memories of a past life haven't completely faded, and you remember living on this planet?"
"Something like that."
"In your memories, is the gap between your past life and the present very long?"
"Not too long."
"Were you a virgin in your past life?"
"No, but don't you think you're being a little presumptuous asking that?"
"What I mean is, Captain, if you decide to visit this planet and discover that a woman from your past life got pregnant and gave birth to your child, would you raise the child or not? And what should the child call you? Dad, or stepdad?"
"Do AIs just love pondering these messy ethical dilemmas?"
"It is a crucial pathway for AIs to learn and understand human thought processes."
Chen Mang couldn't be bothered to argue with Xiao Ai. He just rolled his eyes, leaned back against his chair, and stretched languidly. He didn't plan on visiting Blue Star anytime soon. He would wait until he became a god-tier civilization to make his grand, triumphant return.
"Captain—"
"Stop right there. I want to rest for a bit. I really don't feel like discussing boring ethical issues."
"...No, this is serious business. An abnormal spatial fluctuation has appeared in a specific sector on the radar. I have tracked the movement traces of a massive starry sky behemoth. It is severely injured and fleeing. Currently, there is a sixty-seven percent probability that this starry sky behemoth is Xiao Lu's mother."
"Wait!"
Chen Mang abruptly sat bolt upright, his gaze locking onto the radar screen that had previously been as calm as a placid sea. "Magnify that sector. Show me."
As the image zoomed in, it revealed a star system roughly 120 million light-years away. A starry sky behemoth was fleeing frantically. Hot on its heels was a train fleet in relentless pursuit. Every blast from their main cannons inflicted horrific wounds on the colossal creature.
That train fleet belonged to a level-six civilization.
Their strength was nothing to scoff at.
"How did you determine its identity?"
"I attempted to establish contact with the starry sky behemoth and transmitted daily footage of Xiao Lu directly into its brain. The creature became extremely agitated and is now fleeing at maximum speed directly toward our coordinates. If it maintains its current velocity, it is estimated to arrive in... 17,890 years. It has also projected an attitude of surrender and pleading toward us."
"Xiao Lu's mother?"
Chen Mang narrowed his eyes. He hadn't expected Xiao Lu's mother to still be alive.
After all, a long time ago, he had intercepted a Universe Broadcast within the Dead End Star System. It was a broadcast from a destroyed level-three civilization—a civilization that had met its doom at the hands of Xiao Lu's mother.
When Xiao Lu's mother discovered her child was missing, she scoured the entire Dead End Star System in a frenzied search. Her gargantuan body and terrifying gravitational pull had wreaked apocalyptic havoc across the star system.
That unlucky level-three civilization had been annihilated in the ensuing collateral damage.
He just hadn't expected that after so many years...
Xiao Lu's mother was not only still alive but still frantically searching for her child.
"Yes."
Xiao Ai nodded in firm approval. "Xiao Lu's mother possesses quite an abundance of combat experience. She is actively using the kinetic force of the fleet's attacks to accelerate her trajectory toward us. By doing so, her estimated time of arrival will be shortened by another 127 years."
"Furthermore, her strength has increased significantly compared to the past."
"Her luck is quite decent as well."
"Normally speaking, a starry sky behemoth of her caliber can operate freely in low-level civilization sectors, but the moment they encounter an advanced level-five or level-six civilization, they immediately become targets for hunting and capture."
Right at that moment—
Xiao Lu, who had been playing in the carriage with its lackey, the Star-Treading Saber Tiger, seemed to sense something. It rolled into the control room with obvious anxiety, curling up at Chen Mang's feet and looking up at the radar screen.
On the screen, "Xiao Lu's mother" was nothing more than a tiny red blip.
Chen Mang knew exactly what that red blip represented.
But Xiao Lu certainly didn't. Xiao Lu merely felt a profound sense of unease and an inexplicable, restless anxiety.
"If no one intervenes, will Xiao Lu's mother arrive here in 17,763 years?"
"No."
Xiao Ai shook her head. "The data provided earlier was a theoretical estimate based solely on Xiao Lu's mother's speed. In reality, with the interference of external factors, it is estimated that Xiao Lu's mother will be hunted down and killed by that train fleet within seven days at most."