Chapter 389: The Day of Delivery |
"There is no rush."
Hearing that it would still take ninety-one days to complete the grand unification of all civilizations above Tier-4, Chen Mang did not feel overly anxious. It naturally required time, which was perfectly normal. He had plenty of time to wait right now.
"Let us return to Blue Star for a look."
"Understood."
At this moment, the Stellar Train had already pocketed the vast majority of resources from all God-Level Civilizations and Tier-9 Civilizations. The resources stored within the train had reached an unprecedented height, amounting to a full several million Background Units of iron ore.
The virtual reality game, New Universe, continued to generate an endless stream of profit for him.
He had located the original AI, destroyed it, and forged a brand-new, max-level AI completely loyal to him to take over the operation and control of the game.
He was no longer lacking in resources.
He simply had nowhere left to spend them, as every single component on the train had already been upgraded to the maximum level.
It was the planet he had lived on before his transmigration.
While passing through the Dead End Star System, he could not help but stop. He held deep sentiments for this region. Unfortunately, this space had been reduced to two dimensions. It was only later that he learned this barren star system, where he had first started his journey, was actually the very center of this universe.
Perhaps...
A long time ago, this place had also been a rich and fertile star system teeming with abundant resources.
It had simply grown desolate and barren as the relentless march of time wore on.
The journey was quite far.
Blue Star was located at the very edge of the universe.
After a journey taking one hour and thirty-seven minutes, a wormhole slowly materialized near Blue Star. The Stellar Train smoothly drove out from within the spatial tear.
The azure planet appearing before his eyes was the very world he had inhabited before transmigrating.
It was a planet drifting within a Dark Abyss. Near Blue Star, there was a burning sun and a small handful of other planets. However, there were no Ore Stars whatsoever, nor were there any other habitable zones. It could be considered utterly impoverished.
If he had not made a point to visit, this was a place he would absolutely never step foot in, even after unifying the entire universe.
Isolation, silence, and desolation.
These were the defining themes of this sector of space.
"..."
Chen Mang stood by the window of the train's control room, gazing out at his former world. His expression gradually turned complex. After a long while, he finally steered the Stellar Train to land on the planet's surface.
Absolutely no one noticed his arrival.
He landed quietly, without any fanfare.
The flow of time was identical. This planet had not undergone many changes. The feeling of revisiting an old haunt left him somewhat in a daze. He stood on a rooftop, overlooking the cityscape below for a long time, before tilting his head up to gaze at the sky in prolonged silence.
Ultimately, he decided against seeking out his old friends to catch up.
He took another trip to the dark side of the moon.
He wanted to see what exactly was hidden on the mysterious far side of the moon. In reality... there was absolutely nothing. There was only barren wasteland. There were no surveillance bases belonging to high-dimensional civilizations as he had once theorized, nor was the moon some sort of monitoring device. It was just a perfectly ordinary satellite.
The lingering regrets tying him to this place were finally resolved.
Chen Mang did not overstay his welcome. Returning to his train, he abandoned any thoughts of incorporating this civilization into his Human Civilization. He decided to just let this unranked civilization develop here in peace.
Afterward, Chen Mang seemed to slip into an early retirement.
He returned to the heart of the Human Civilization. Every day, he would go see Xiao Fang's gradually swelling belly. His expression grew increasingly serene, and the passage of time and his many experiences had begun to leave faint marks on his features.
Right now, Chen Mang looked like nothing more than an amiable middle-aged man.
Not a single trace of his former ruthlessness or violent aura could be seen on him anymore.
He firmly believed.
Even though he had never had a father, nor had he ever experienced a father's love, he believed that he would be a good one himself.
Finally...
Nearly five months had passed!
Chen Mang's grand unification of the Human Civilization was fundamentally complete. Throughout the entire universe, every single civilization above Tier-3 had joined the Human Civilization. This was more than enough. It signified that there was now essentially only one civilization left in this universe, and that was humanity.
The virtual online game, New Universe, had also been promoted and distributed to all civilizations.
For this endeavor, Chen Mang gathered a massive quantity of Dream Stones once more. He crafted four additional max-level AIs to work alongside the previous one, jointly managing the operations of New Universe. Upgrading these AIs to the maximum level required the use of Murphy Stones.
Fortunately, after achieving grand unification, he was no longer suffering from a shortage of Murphy Stones either.
Today, the status of the Human Civilization was even higher than that of the ancient God Race!
And today.
It was an incredibly momentous day. It was the day Xiao Fang was due to give birth.
"Wooo— Wooo— Wooo—"
Streams of crimson text rapidly scrolled across every screen on every planet within the Human Civilization. All planets had entered a state of full military lockdown today. Everyone was strictly ordered to remain indoors, and anyone who dared to cause trouble at this time would be punished to the absolute maximum extent of the law.
This was Chen Mang's first child.
Naturally, he was somewhat nervous.
Inside the Stellar Train.
Chen Mang looked at Xiao Fang lying inside the medical pod, surrounded by a swarm of female doctors and nurses rushing about. Unable to hold back his slight anxiety, he tightly gripped the hem of his shirt. "Xiao Ai, will a premature birth have any negative effects?"
"It will not."
Xiao Ai's voice sounded by his ear. "The primary issue is that the infant's vitality is far too strong. It has been constantly siphoning nutrients from the mother. We have been providing the mother with as much nourishment as possible, but there is an upper limit to how much her body can absorb. It is gradually failing to satisfy the child's demands."
"If we wait for a full-term delivery, the mother might be drained entirely dry, and the infant would also face the risk of death due to malnutrition."
"It is not a major issue."
"With the technological capabilities of the Human Civilization, we can guarantee a one hundred percent survival rate. You do not need to worry about this."
The next moment...
A slender needle pierced into the abdomen of Xiao Fang, who was resting on the medical bed. The moment the tube made contact with the infant, it embedded a microscopic chip right onto the surface of the baby's skin. Through this chip, they could accurately monitor the child's vital signs in real-time, ensuring a smooth delivery.
In truth...
For the Human Civilization, an obstetrics procedure of this caliber posed absolutely zero difficulty. But the reality was that today's surgery was for the birth of the First Heir. This placed an unfathomable amount of psychological pressure on all the doctors and nurses, causing cold sweat to bead relentlessly on their foreheads.
Even with a max-level AI providing them with precise data and constant assistance—a luxury treatment they would never normally receive—they still could not suppress their intense anxiety.
However, their many years of clinical experience eventually kicked in.
It allowed them to suppress the panic in their hearts and proceed with the surgery.
Fortunately.
Backed by the might of the Human Civilization, the surgery progressed exceptionally smoothly. But just as the child was about to be successfully delivered, Xiao Fang's swollen belly suddenly deflated. Immediately after, the surrounding doctors froze perfectly still, plunging into a state of sheer bewilderment. Even Xiao Ai, who had been constantly reporting the medical data, abruptly glitched into silence.
"What is going on?"
Chen Mang instantly realized that something was wrong. Frowning deeply, he demanded, "Why has the surgery paused? Keep going!"
"C-Captain..."
Xiao Ai's voice echoed through the train, trembling with genuine fear. "The child... is gone."
"Gone?"
Chen Mang's expression darkened almost instantaneously. "What do you mean the child is gone? Even if the surgery failed, the child would just be dead! What the hell do you mean by 'gone'?"
"That is my fucking firstborn child!"
"Even if the child died, go down to the Second Universe and bring them back to me!"
"Please do not panic." Xiao Ai hastily interjected. "I just attached a microchip to the infant's skin. That chip has a tracking function. I can use it to locate exactly where the child is right now. Let me check..."
"Found him!"
"The child is not dead! He is located... located on the outer fringes of the High-Dimensional Universe..." "Very well."
Chen Mang was so furious that he actually let out a dark laugh. "Are you telling me that the child, who was inside Xiao Fang's belly just a second ago, simply did a somersault, crossed the entire observable universe, naturally possessed the effects of the Hell Set to bypass the High-Dimensional Universe, and traveled entirely outside our universe?"
"Even Sun Wukong could only cross fifty-four thousand kilometers with a single somersault."
"And my child crossed hundreds of billions of light-years with one tumble?"
Xiao Ai did not know what to say to that.
She simply remained silent and projected a trajectory path onto the screen. It was the exact movement path recorded by the chip on the child's body. The entire journey had consumed a mere 0.00039 milliseconds. In that unimaginably brief fraction of time...
His child had traversed the entire observable universe at a speed impossible to comprehend, punched through the chaotic boundaries of the High-Dimensional Universe, and entered the space 'Outside the Universe.' After that, the tracking signal was completely lost, leaving his whereabouts utterly unknown.
Right now, one thing was fundamentally certain.
His child had been kidnapped.
"Huu..."
Chen Mang took a deep breath, gradually forcing himself to calm down. He roughly understood the situation now. He could practically confirm that the universe he resided in was likely nothing more than an experimental chamber. They were all just lab rats, being closely observed by entities existing outside this universe.
And now.
Those observers had stolen his child, fully intending to use him for their sick experiments.
Very well.
Excellent.
It couldn't be better.
Chen Mang looked at the doctors surrounding the bed, all of whom were trembling like leaves in the wind. With an emotionless expression, he waved his hand dismissively. He did not blame them. He simply turned and walked straight back to his train's control room. Originally, he had planned to wait until his child grew up and could inherit the Human Civilization before venturing out to see what lay beyond.
Now, it seemed his plans had been forcefully derailed.
He swore a silent oath.
No matter who dared to steal his child, he would use absolutely every method at his disposal to drag them down to hell with him!
Admittedly.
He was acutely aware that the unknown power lurking outside their universe was undoubtedly an existence far beyond his ability to resist, but he flat-out refused to surrender so easily.
In the time that followed...
The fact that the First Heir had been snatched away by an unknown civilization from beyond the universe before even being born was kept strictly confidential. Not a single word of it was leaked to the public.
However...
The Stellar Train began vacuuming up all available resources at an even more frantic pace.
It was glaringly obvious that preparations were being made for a massive, all-out war.
Three years later.
Chen Mang sat expressionlessly in the control room, staring blankly at the screen on the console. Displayed on the monitor was nothing but a single ultrasound image. He missed his child dearly, yet he did not even know what his own flesh and blood looked like.
Over these past three years.
Every single civilization in the universe ranked Tier-1 or above had completely submitted to the Human Civilization.
As a result, humanity had amassed a staggering fortune of iron ore measured in Background Units.
He felt that the time had finally come.
It was time to breach the outer boundaries of the universe and wage a life-or-death war against that unknown civilization.
Deep down, he knew full well that his chances of victory in this battle were dismally low. If he chose to simply forget this incident, he could remain here happily as the supreme ruler for a very long time. Having a few more children would not be difficult either; if he wanted to, he could father hundreds of them.
But he simply could not get past this hurdle in his heart.
He could not accept turning a blind eye and forgetting what had been done to him.
Over all these days, he had painstakingly accumulated a terrifying amount of foundational wealth precisely for this very battle. This fight might very well be the final endpoint of his life, but he had accepted that fate. He would rather die on the bloody path of vengeance than spend the rest of his life cowering in evasion.
"Captain."
"Doba's Present State of The Palace is ready to be completed at any moment. It is only missing a single brick. Once that final brick is laid into place, the construction will be flawlessly finished."
"Understood."
Chen Mang nodded slightly, his gaze fixed on the chaotic High-Dimensional Universe displayed on the screen. If he wanted to break out of that turbulent, high-dimensional space, the three distinct states of The Palace were absolutely mandatory. Only when all three iterations of The Palace converged together could they momentarily shatter the universe's ultimate barrier, allowing him to escape this enclosure.
In the next instant...
Without a single shred of hesitation.
He slowly pushed the control throttle forward. Accompanied by the rapid generation of a wormhole, the train initiated a high-speed spatial warp, hurtling directly toward the farthest edge of the observable universe.
Very quickly.
He arrived at the boundary of the observable universe. The edge of the cosmos was still continuously expanding at the speed of light, but the train's velocity had long since surpassed that threshold. Wormholes could no longer be generated in this sector due to extreme spatial instability. He needed to rely purely on the train's raw speed to catch up to the universe's rate of expansion, and then violently punch through the border.
Chen Mang slammed the control throttle all the way to the absolute limit.
At a terrifying, blinding speed, the train blasted straight toward the ever-expanding rim of the cosmos!
Sitting silently in the control room, he gazed out at the awe-inspiring spectacle unfolding before him.
Ahead lay nothing but absolute darkness.
There was no starlight, nor was there any physical matter.
The only illumination came from the incessantly flashing crimson lights on the train's control console. The main cabin lights were turned off, and the dead, silent pitch-blackness outside seemed to swallow him whole like a gaping abyss.
And yet, he was staring directly into that abyss, actively driving headfirst into its depths.
The spatial fluctuations violently rippling around them were outrageously intense. If his train had not been reinforced with supreme, high-level armor, it would have been shredded into metallic dust the very second they arrived!
This agonizing process required a considerable amount of time to endure.
Even though his train had vastly exceeded the speed of light, it still took a significant period to fully catch up to the frontier's expansion.
Finally.
After eighty-seven days had passed, the Stellar Train managed to catch up to the expanding edge. The sensation was strikingly similar to a finger poking through a sheer, transparent membrane. He only felt the heavy chassis of the train give a sudden, faint shudder.
With that, the train officially crossed into the domain of the High-Dimensional Universe.
The Hell Set equipped on his body immediately flared with a radiant brilliance, blanketing the train in a protective aura to shield it from the chaotic environmental influences.
On the radar sensors.
The sheer scale of this erratic region was baffling. One second, it spanned a mere four hundred million light-years across, and in the next heartbeat, its diameter abruptly exploded to over 1.0239 trillion light-years.
If the observable universe could be compared to an egg yolk...
Then this chaotic High-Dimensional Universe was the egg white, entirely encasing the observable universe within its center. However, this layer of "egg white" existed in an absolutely turbulent, high-dimensional state, meaning its physical size was constantly shifting and warping. Beyond that, at the absolute outermost limit, lay the "eggshell."
Only by entirely shattering that final eggshell could one truly claim to have left this universe.
"Huu..."
Chen Mang took a deep breath, sitting firmly in his captain's chair as he watched the bizarre scenes unfolding outside his window.
There was light here.
There was an overwhelming amount of light. He did not see a single star, yet boundless rays of light coalesced before his eyes, forming all sorts of impossible geometric shapes that constantly twisted and tangled into one another. This was the true nature of the High-Dimensional Universe.
Higher dimensions were constantly collapsing here.
Lower dimensions were continually ascending here.
They violently collided with one another.
Forging a realm of absolute chaos.