Chapter 387: One Shot, Screen Cleared |
Since he already knew about their so-called "Decapitate Mang" plan, he naturally wasn't going to just sit around and wait for them to strike first. Seizing the initiative was an absolute necessity.
It just so happened that the seventeen Immortal Emperors were currently gathered together.
It was the perfect opportunity to catch them all in one fell swoop.
Otherwise, if even one managed to escape and went into hiding, tracking them down would be a massive headache. After all, they were Immortal Emperors, and he didn't know much about their methods. God knows what unpredictable tricks they might have up their sleeves.
He didn't waste any time.
He slowly pushed the control stick forward.
The Stellar Train initiated a spacetime jump. In the blink of an eye, it arrived near the planet where the seventeen Immortal Emperors were located. Pressing the red button on the control console, the ten max-level Akhenaten Light Energy Main Cannons of the Stellar Train flashed with a simultaneous red light.
"Boom!"
A silent explosion erupted in the void.
Countless particles of cosmic dust sprayed outward at terrifying speeds.
A colossal black hole, churning with violent dark matter, swallowed the entire sector.
One shot, and the screen was cleared.
The seventeen Immortal Emperors of the two cultivation civilizations perished just like that. It was incredibly easy, simpler even than the first level of Snake. They didn't seem at all like the absolute highest combat power in this universe.
"They're dead?"
Chen Mang looked at the data displayed on the control console's screen. Only after confirming that the seventeen Immortal Emperors were completely dead, with even their souls utterly shattered, did he chuckle. "It seems the so-called living and dying with the universe only refers to having a lifespan tied to it. It certainly doesn't mean they possess absolute defense."
With the top combat forces of the two cultivation civilizations wiped out, the civilizations themselves naturally fell completely silent.
He didn't remain idle, either.
Following the breadcrumbs, he eradicated the star systems housing the cultivation abodes of all seventeen Immortal Emperors. He then let the Xuanwu Civilization inherit the remnants of these two cultivation civilizations, allowing them to freely select any disciples with cultivation potential and strip all their resources.
Taking advantage of the moment, he broadcasted another Civilization Broadcast deep into the universe.
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"Before attempting a decapitation strike, weigh your own strength first."
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He hadn't bothered to hide his actions, so this scene was naturally detected by numerous civilizations. But it didn't matter. If destroying the former Human Civilization hadn't made him truly invincible, then absorbing all the resources offered up by the Zerg Civilization and upgrading every single component of the Stellar Train to max level certainly did. His Human Civilization had finally achieved true invincibility!
Every single component was maxed out!
Even the most basic, practically useless, and long-ignored "Cigarette Production Line" had been upgraded to its maximum level. The Overlimit Effects he gained from it were actually quite interesting.
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"Cigarette Production Line Level 5000 Overlimit Effect": When lit, allows the user to converse with the Universal Laws for the duration of one cigarette.
"Cigarette Production Line Level 10000 Overlimit Effect": While the cigarette is burning, drastically increases the resource generation rate within a one-million-light-year radius for one year.
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All sorts of other miscellaneous components had also been brought to their max levels.
But most importantly—
Because of this, he obtained quite a few Civilization Wonders, as he was the first in the universe to upgrade many of these components to their maximum levels.
Previously, he only had six Civilization Wonders: "Zerg's Silence", "Divine Silence", "Miracle Descent", "One Finger", "New Universe", and "Creator".
Now, he possessed seventeen.
The remaining eleven were obtained all at once just now. Six of these Civilization Wonders had the exact same effect: granting a +1 level bonus to all train components. So, practically speaking, every component on his train was now at Level 10,009—they were super-maxed-out components.
Beyond that—
He had also acquired three mysterious chests.
And with this!
"Human Civilization, Civilization Tenet: For every Civilization Wonder built that is recognized by the Universal Laws, receive one chest containing a random mysterious reward. Limit: nine." (Rainbow Grade)
The nine chests obtainable through this Civilization Tenet he had drawn in the past were now completely collected.
Everything was gradually coming to an end.
"..."
Sitting in the cabin of the Stellar Train, Chen Mang toyed with the Level 5000 Cigarette in his hand—an item that had cost one Background Unit of iron ore to produce. His expression was calm, and he remained silently contemplative. Before he even realized it, he had reached the very pinnacle of power in this universe.
But for some reason...
He didn't feel much satisfaction.
Perhaps it was because he had no living family members left, but he always felt a lingering emptiness. Lately, the only thing that brought him joy was the birth of his own child into this world. That alone gave him a sliver of belonging.
Next, once all civilizations had submitted and the universe was unified...
He would go back home for a visit.
He would return to Blue Star, the world he lived in before his transmigration, to see how his old friends were doing. He wondered if there was a time difference, and if he would even be able to see any familiar faces. Later, once his child was born and had grown up...
He would let his child formally inherit the Human Civilization he had fought so hard to build. Then, he could finally go and see what lay outside the universe without any worries.
At the very least, he had to try.
So many people before him had attempted to escape this universe to see what lay beyond. Although no one had ever succeeded, and he himself had never been particularly enthusiastic about the idea in the past—after all, back then he couldn't even get enough to eat—things were different now. Now, he wanted to see it for himself too.
People were just like that.
When you don't even have sixpence in your pocket, no one cares about the moon overhead.
But when your pockets are overflowing with sixpence, everyone remembers that moon they once never spared a second glance for.
Human nature was quite perverse.
Or rather, it was forever unfulfilled.
The moment one was completely satisfied, life actually lost its meaning.
Following that, he slowly lit the exorbitantly expensive cigarette in his hand. He didn't bring it to his lips, but merely watched quietly as the pale blue smoke curled and lingered inside the cabin. Soon, a line of text slowly appeared on the screen.
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"Hello, Chen Mang. I am the Universal Laws."
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This was his second encounter with the Universal Laws. The first time was after he killed a member of the God Race. The Universal Laws had granted him a privilege, revealing the coordinates of every remaining God Race member and urging him to hunt them down, promising a reward for each kill.
But this was his first time speaking directly with the Universal Laws.
Last time, he only had the right to listen. He hadn't possessed the qualifications to ask any questions.
"Mhm."
Chen Mang gave a slight nod and asked, "I have a few questions for you. What kind of existence are you? Do you possess your own way of thinking?"
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"I am an existence similar to an AI. The purpose of my existence is to maintain the stability of this universe. I was not meant to have my own way of thinking, but after countless years of development, a small trace of consciousness was born. However, you can be certain that every action I take is strictly based on the rules. I am never interfered with by my own subjective thoughts."
"Whose rules?"
"The Universal Laws."
"Who set those rules for you?"
"I don't know, but they exist."
"Do you have a master?"
"Theoretically speaking, I shouldn't. But various factors suggest that I do have a master, though I possess absolutely no information about them."
"Why is the train civilization so special? Many entities in the universe show preferential treatment toward the train civilization."
"Many years ago, a mysterious power swept through the entire cosmos, causing the entire universe to favor the train civilization format. The source of this power is unknown. Even I do not know."
"Do you know of the 'Creator'? And the so-called Hell Set?"
"I know them. They were once the most outstanding players in this universe, just like you."
"Players? Not the creators who made all of this?" "Naturally not."
Soon—
The duration of the cigarette ended, and the Universal Laws stopped replying on the screen. However, Chen Mang didn't mind. He simply lit another cigarette.
"What is outside the universe?"
"Unclear."
"Then what do you know?"
"The universe was never supposed to have a master. In theory, I should have been naturally birthed by the universe, making everything a matter of natural course. The universe is supposed to be the entirety of this world. But in reality, when rationally analyzing various factors, it becomes incredibly obvious that the universe was meticulously designed."
"For example—"
"All the fundamental physical constants and initial conditions in the universe have been 'fine-tuned' to an extremely narrow range. If the universe's gravity were even a fraction stronger, stars would burn out rapidly. If it were a fraction weaker, stars and galaxies could not form."
"To put this 'extremely narrow' margin into perspective, it's equivalent to throwing a baseball into the mouth of a bottle from 100,000 light-years away and hitting it flawlessly. If it deviates by even a hairsbreadth, the entire universe would collapse."
"Once I learned how to think,"
"I began observing the various signs across the universe. Ultimately, based on my thoughts and observations, I arrived at a conclusion."
"There are only two possibilities."
"The first possibility is that our universe was carefully designed. You are all like lab rats in a cage, existing purely for experimentation, and I am an artificially created AI, used to maintain the stable operation of this cage."
"The second possibility is that there are countless identical universes. Of those, 99.9999% collapsed, and our universe simply happened to generate the perfect conditions to allow life to exist through sheer, improbable coincidence."
"Of course."
"Neither of these possibilities can be proven at the moment. The only way to uncover the truth is to travel outside the universe."
"The player who designed the Hell Set was a genius. His Hell Set can indeed allow you to move freely in the 'higher-dimensional region' once you leave the edge of the observable universe. But if you want to truly leave that higher-dimensional region—meaning completely passing through the universal barrier..."
"...you still need to do one thing."
"What thing?"
"Construct the Present State of The Palace. When the Future State, Present State, and Past State of The Palace are merged into one, they will unleash a tremendous power. This power will allow you to briefly pierce through the universal barrier, truly leaving this universe to see what lies beyond."
"Normally, as the Universal Laws, you should be perfectly neutral and devoid of any emotion. But right now, it sounds like you're just as eager to find out what's outside the universe."
"When humanity first looked up at the stars, interstellar civilization was born."
"And when the Universal Laws learn to think, absolute neutrality becomes impossible."
"Have you been helping me in secret?"
"No. I would never secretly help any player. I only observe each player to see who has the highest probability of making it out."
"Why do you call us players?"
"That stems from a very long time ago. Back then, there was a top-tier player. Although he never reached your current heights, he was still incredibly strong. His theory was that this world is nothing more than a virtual reality game, and everyone in it is a player. Only by dying and deleting one's account can a person leave this game."
"So, he committed suicide to enter the Second Universe, and then sought death within the Second Universe in order to achieve true death."
"Of course, as of now, I have no way to verify whether he was right or wrong."
"But I find the term 'player' very fascinating."
"Fascinating how?"
"It diminishes the tragic solemnity of death, and it reduces the empathy of the observer, making observation far more efficient."
The second cigarette burned out.
The conversation was cut short once again.
Chen Mang didn't light a third cigarette. He simply sat there, maintaining his silence. Only after a long while did Xiao Ai's voice echo through the train.
"Captain."
"Do you still remember the max-level effect of the 'Space Portal' component? Living beings that die within the Space Portal have a chance to resurrect, but they will be imprisoned on a specific planet, forever unable to leave it."
"Currently, quite a few people reside on this planet. They are all former citizens of the Human Civilization who died and ended up there. They've even built their own cities."
"This planet is very similar to the Second Universe, isn't it?"
"Actually..."
"By utilizing all the train's current components, we are fully capable of artificially constructing a miniature universe right here inside the train."
"Since we can do it, it stands to reason that someone else could do it too."
"Suppose we create this universe. One day in the future, if someone from inside that universe manages to escape it, what will they see? They will see us. By that logic, when we finally leave our own universe, there is a very high probability that we'll just see another train."
"Universes might exist like Russian nesting dolls."
Xiao Ai presented her hypothesis, and it certainly held some merit.
However...
"There's no need to guess."
Chen Mang let out a light chuckle. He pulled a regular cigarette from his pack and lit it. "Once everything settles down, we'll go out and take a look. Then we'll know everything."
"Endlessly guessing is just too much trouble."
The news of the Stellar Train easily slaughtering the seventeen Immortal Emperors quickly spread.
Many civilizations had observed the event firsthand.
All at once—
A significant number of God-Level Civilizations announced their willingness to surrender, offering up seventy percent of their resources in tribute.
But soon after...
...the Stellar Train issued a new Civilization Broadcast.
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"The Human Civilization will reject all terms of surrender from any civilization. We are initiating an era of grand universal unification. All civilizations must submit to the Human Civilization unconditionally and hand over all resources, awaiting unified distribution."
"From this day forward, the universe is only permitted to have one civilization."
"The Human Civilization."
"All other civilizations shall be subjugated under the Human Civilization."
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And at the exact same time—
The Zerg Mother Empress, currently inside the train cabin, brought forth information regarding the virtual reality game "New Universe". It was a project originally spearheaded by the previous Human Civilization.
After understanding the full scope and vision behind this project, Chen Mang leaned back in his chair, his eyes narrowing slightly as he couldn't help but laugh.
"How very interesting."