Chapter 386: Zhan Mang Plan! |
"..."
Sitting inside the train room, Chen Mang watched the scene before him expressionlessly. Only after accepting the resources handed over by the Zerg Empress did he wave his hand, signaling the two of them to head down and catch up.
He just needed to permit the Zerg Empress to enter his train.
This was primarily because the Zerg Empress's individual strength was not formidable. If it were someone from a civilization that practiced Cultivation, he would never allow them on board. Once they entered his train, his defenses would drastically drop. Without the protection of the train's max-level armor, although he would not instantly be reduced to a defenseless victim...
It would still be much more troublesome.
And very messy.
Of course, it would not be fatal.
It was very hard for him to die now.
Inside Carriage 13 of the Stellar Train.
"So you actually ran away."
"I thought you had just wandered off to play somewhere."
"..."
Qi Ya replied with faint anger, "Father, did you really not care at all that I was missing for hundreds of years?"
"You know how it is. With the lifespan of our Zerg Civilization, a few centuries pass in the blink of an eye. Let us put that aside for now. Continue your story. You entered a random Wormhole, arrived in a resource-poor galaxy, and established your own Zerg Civilization."
"And then? What happened next, and how did you get involved with the Human Civilization?"
"Next..." Qi Ya murmured, somewhat dazed. Although only a few years had passed, for some reason, it felt like a lifetime ago. Her memories were even a little blurred, almost as if they had been forcibly implanted into her mind.
"After that, I constantly developed my Zerg Civilization. I wiped out quite a few civilizations along the way, and my forces grew increasingly powerful. At that time, I had just destroyed my strongest opponent, a level-three civilization known as the Mechanical Civilization."
"Afterward, I focused on resting and recovering. Next door was the Kasa Civilization, a level-three civilization glaring like a tiger watching its prey. They had gathered a massive number of small neighboring civilizations to form the Kasa Civilization Federation. But this Kasa Civilization was rather cowardly. Even when I was at my weakest, they did not attack me. We both just kept developing our own forces, which I was perfectly happy with."
"To my rear was another Zerg Civilization. That guy was constantly competing with me, wanting to swallow me whole."
"Originally, all three factions were in a stable standoff. No one dared to be the first to start a war."
"But for some reason, the Kasa Civilization suddenly grew bold and launched an attack on my civilization first. I simply took advantage of the situation to form an alliance with the other Zerg Civilization to jointly resist the Kasa Civilization Federation. That guy was pretty dense and easy to fool."
"By then, the situation was looking excellent."
"First, our two Zerg Civilizations would join hands to wipe out the Kasa Civilization. Then, I would eliminate him. After that, I would be the most powerful civilization in that region and gain massive resources, which would serve as fuel for my invasions into other galaxies."
"If everything had gone smoothly according to plan, I might have even been able to establish my own God-Level Civilization."
"Uh..."
The Zerg Empress nodded with a face full of approval. "As expected of my daughter. Even starting with such a disastrous opening as being stranded alone in a barren galaxy, you still managed to carve out your own territory. It seems you have grasped a bit of the military strategies of forming alliances and outmaneuvering enemies."
"So tell me, where did things start going wrong?"
"Sigh."
Qi Ya let out a long sigh. "The events that followed were actually much simpler. There were no conspiracies, no alliances, or anything of the sort. Boss Mang led the Human Civilization and suddenly, almost overnight, established it and promoted it to a level-three civilization."
"Then, with the momentum of a thunderbolt, he destroyed my Zerg Civilization."
"Originally, I wanted to follow your example, Father, and Prefer Death to Dishonor. After all, I believed that even if I died, a mere level-three civilization definitely wouldn't possess the means to completely destroy my soul. I was sure you would be able to resurrect me."
"But in the end, I suddenly met a man I fell in love with at first sight, so I surrendered, submitted, and married him."
"Was that man Chen Mang?"
"No, he is one of Chen Mang's trusted subordinates."
"Good, good, good!!" The Zerg Empress suddenly trembled with excitement. "You should have said so earlier! I had no idea there was such a connection. Our Zerg Civilization is truly safe now. Wonderful! Truly worthy of being my daughter."
"..."
Qi Ya did not look too happy. Instead, she gazed at her somewhat unfamiliar father with a complex expression. After a long pause, she spoke softly, "I admit I was wrong to storm out in a fit of pique last time, and I really was angry with you back then. But in my heart, you have always been a man who would Prefer Death to Dishonor. Why are you acting like this today..."
The Zerg Empress shook his head, cutting off the rest of Qi Ya's words.
"Although you are a part of the Human Civilization, it is clear that you are not in their core circle. You do not truly understand them. In your eyes, perhaps the Human Civilization is merely a powerful civilization. But in reality, the strength they are displaying now practically means they are the civilization standing at the very absolute pinnacle of the universe."
"They even surpass the God Race at their peak."
"Unless the Universal Laws personally intervene, no one in the entire universe can stop the advance of the Human Civilization."
"The Human Civilization is destined to unify the entire universe."
"The whole universe is about to usher in an unprecedented grand unification. This is an unstoppable overarching trend. No one can block it, and the Zerg Civilization certainly cannot either."
"Also..."
"I realize you have a bit of a misunderstanding about me. When have I ever preferred death to dishonor?"
"Huh?"
Qi Ya stared blankly and replied instinctively, "When I was little, you told me many stories about great figures of the Zerg. Every single one of them preferred death to dishonor, and you specifically emphasized that point."
"Did you not hear the ends of those stories?"
"I ran away from home before I could hear them."
"The ending of the stories is that all those people died. I told you those stories to teach you a lesson: those who prefer death to dishonor will ultimately die. If you do not want to become a martyr just to prove a point, then sometimes you just have to yield when you must."
"Is that what they meant?"
"What else could it mean?"
The Zerg Empress glanced left and right, then lowered his voice. "Alright, enough about that. I am telling you, making all God-Level Civilizations surrender is only the Human Civilization's first step. Next, they will grow even stronger using the gathered resources. When that time comes, everyone must submit to their rule."
"The entire universe will experience a great unification."
"The Human Civilization's ambition is not merely to become a God-Level Civilization."
"The Zerg Civilization must be the first alien civilization to completely submit to them."
"Father."
Qi Ya sighed wearily. "Lowering your voice is entirely useless. We are being monitored by the AI this whole time. They heard you loud and clear."
'This silly child...'
The smile on the Zerg Empress's face stiffened for a moment. 'The whole point was to let them hear!' He felt like his daughter was a bit dense, but he managed an awkward chuckle anyway. "Alright, enough about this. Where is my son-in-law? Take me to see him."
This was a complete and utter stroke of luck.
From now on, this son-in-law would be deeply tied to their Zerg Civilization. In a way, his status aboard the Stellar Train would determine the status of the entire Zerg Civilization.
"He must be killed." In a certain corner of the universe.
Several planets were clustered together. On each planet sat a single figure, every one radiating a terrifying and overwhelming aura. Countless streams of divine sense constantly clashed and communicated in the void.
Among the twenty-seven God-Level Civilizations.
Five belonged to the human race, which included the former Human Civilization, and most were train-based civilizations.
As for the remaining two.
The Daoist Civilization and the Star Refining Civilization were both Cultivation civilizations, and their strength was absolutely top-tier.
At this moment—
Seventeen Immortal Emperors from these two civilizations had gathered together. This was the total number of Immortal Emperors between both factions and represented their peak combat power. Every single one was equivalent to a fully maxed-out train. Each possessed the power to shatter the heavens and crack the earth with a simple wave of their hand anywhere in the universe.
"According to intelligence, this 'new Human Civilization' that destroyed the old one only possesses a single train. The strength of this train is phenomenally powerful. That one train alone can annihilate a God-Level Civilization."
"Based on the train rules."
"When a train captain dies—whether by accident or natural causes—the train will automatically self-destruct."
"No one can inherit it."
"Which means, as long as we kill that captain named Chen Mang, this Human Civilization will naturally perish."
"Are any of you willing to hand over seventy percent of your civilization's resources to him?"
"No."
"If we are not willing, then we fight."
"With the seventeen of us Immortal Emperors striking together, assassinating a defenseless train captain will be As Easy as Taking a Prize from a bag."
"That train's armor is maxed out. Can you shatter it? Its main cannon is also maxed out. Can you block it?"
"I cannot shatter it, nor can I block it. But we can assassinate him by infiltrating the inside of the train."
"How do we execute this?"
"Feign surrender. Once we are close enough, we deliver a fatal strike. As long as we get inside the train, it will be our home turf."
"Will he actually let us onto his train? No train captain would ever allow an Immortal Emperor inside. That is basic common sense. Even if his tone was arrogant, do not treat the leader of a civilization capable of effortlessly wiping out the former Human Civilization as a fool."
"In recent years, I developed a divine pill that can conceal one's cultivation base. It makes it impossible for radars to detect a person's true cultivation. Even a max-level radar wouldn't pick it up. As long as we pretend to be sect disciples following a Nascent Soul stage elder, we will have a chance to slip into the train."
As these words fell.
The rapid, high-frequency exchanges of divine sense suddenly fell silent. A moment later, a stream of divine sense slowly began to glow, carrying the message that its owner agreed with the plan.
Immediately following that.
The remaining streams of divine sense slowly lit up as well.
Everyone unanimously agreed to the plan.
"Passed unanimously. Then we shall name it the Zhan Mang Plan!"
"We will discuss the exact details further."
"Good name."
Sitting inside the train room, Chen Mang looked at the rapidly scrolling chat logs on the Train Radio and sighed with some emotion. "That is quite a catchy name for a plan. Zhan Mang Plan... I knew these Cultivation civilizations would not behave honestly."
One's own people understand their flaws the best.
The greatest threat to him would definitely be the Cultivation civilizations.
He had long ago placed the Cultivation civilizations on his highest watch list.
And just moments ago.
He had received all the resources presented by the Zerg Civilization. It was truly not a small figure—a whopping 97,928 Background Units of iron ore. The train's resources skyrocketed in an instant, swelling to the point where they were practically inexhaustible.
One had to understand.
Upgrading a Prismatic-grade component from level 0 to max level only required about 1,100 Background Units of iron ore.
This amount of iron ore was enough to upgrade every single component on the train to the max level.
Added to the train's original iron ore reserves, the train now possessed a total of 91,239 Background Units of iron ore.
The Zerg Civilization was incredibly sincere.
They really had offered up one hundred percent of their entire race's resources.
Of course, the vast majority was just iron ore. Items like Murphy Stones were relatively scarce. But to him, it did not matter. He did not have much need for Murphy Stones anyway; having them or not made no difference.
And so—
He immediately did two things.
He spent 1,100 Background Units of iron ore to finally upgrade the long-ignored Prismatic-grade accessory, the SPY-7 Doppler Energy Shield, all the way to level 10,000!
In other words, max level!
Boosted by the effects of multiple Civilization Wonders, it reached level 10,003!
At this point.
He now simultaneously possessed level 10,003 armor and a level 10,003 energy shield. By activating the Train Special Skill, his defensive strength could spike to level 20,006 for a short duration. Taking a few hundred shots from a max-level main cannon head-on would be as easy as drinking a glass of cold water.
The resources possessed by a God-Level Civilization were far greater than he had imagined.
After all, the Rugged Civilization had been a level-seven civilization back then, and he had taken their entire stockpile, totaling nearly 10,000 Background Units of iron ore. Meanwhile, the Zerg Civilization had just contributed nearly 100,000 Background Units.
Uh...
Comparing the two like this, the scaling seemed about right.
Given they were a God-Level Civilization, possessing 100,000 Background Units of iron ore was perfectly normal and not entirely exaggerated.
And the second thing he did after accepting the resources offered by the Zerg Civilization was to upgrade every single component on the train—from the relatively important but lower-priority accessories down to the items he barely even used—all the way to max level!
Everything maxed out!
Countless panels were flashing across the screen right now. Those were notifications of him acquiring new Civilization Wonders, alongside alerts stating he was the first to upgrade such-and-such components to max level.
Included among those components was the Train Radio, which he had upgraded to level 200 early on and completely ignored ever since.
And upon upgrading it to max level.
He acquired an Overlimit Effect.
-
'Train Radio Level 10,000 Overlimit Effect': Able to eavesdrop on the communications of all biological entities within radar range. This is strictly limited to interceptable methods such as spoken words and divine sense. Electronic communication cannot be eavesdropped upon.
-
It was quite an excellent Overlimit Effect.
And it was precisely through this effect.
That he learned the two Cultivation civilizations were preparing to dispatch seventeen Immortal Emperors to carry out a decapitation strike against him.
"Immortal Emperors, huh..."
Chen Mang pondered thoughtfully. He remembered hearing the Pavilion Master of the Heavenly Mystery Pavilion mention that Immortal Emperors were supposedly truly immortal, sharing the same lifespan as the universe itself.
'That sounds pretty impressive...'
'I will fire off a few shots first to test the waters.'