Translator: AnubisTL
"Not too bad."
Inside the Stellaris train, floating amidst the cosmic sea of stars, Chen Mang leaned back in his chair, stretched lazily, and let out a long sigh of relief. Despite witnessing the severe internal conflicts within so many civilizations, he felt confident that his future civilization would never face such turmoil.
After venturing into the star sea, civilization had advanced rapidly.
Apart from the Black Tortoise Civilization, a cultivation civilization where cultivators enjoyed extremely long lifespans, most people's lifespans had only extended to around a hundred years.
Of course, for the middle class, train conductors, and other high-ranking individuals, lifespans could be significantly prolonged. By consuming a certain amount of resources to access the medical bay, they could restore all their internal organs to their most perfect state.
Humans still aged.
And they aged quickly.
In youth, one could easily do seventy or eighty sit-ups without feeling fatigued. But by middle age, even a single sit-up would leave them gasping for breath, sometimes unable to even get back up.
In a daze, people recall their youth, when they could easily do seventy or eighty sit-ups on the school playground during PE class under the setting sun. It felt like a hazy memory, almost surreal.
The body is our greatest asset.
The "medical bay," a top-tier accessory, requires only a few hundred thousand units of iron ore resources to effortlessly restore the body to perfect condition.
Of course, achieving Eternal Life requires more than just combating irreversible organ aging. We must also address other factors.
For instance, the human brain's long-term memory storage capacity is estimated to be around 150 to 200 years. Beyond this limit, one must either purge memories at the "memory bank" or find a way to upgrade their "memory capacity," akin to adding a larger hard drive.
There are various solutions: External Mechanical Brains, External Memory Accessors, and other such contrivances.
The means exist; it's simply a matter of resources.
Once these two challenges are overcome, theoretically, with sufficient resources, Eternal Life is entirely achievable!
However—
The resource cost for each perfect body repair increases exponentially with each iteration.
This means that without access to the "medical bay" for perfect organ repair, no one's resources are infinite. Essentially, after consuming 20 billion units of iron ore resources, one can live to 1,000 years.
With even more resources, one could potentially live to 2,000 or even 3,000 years.
The greatest disparity in all civilizations is the "wealth gap."
The difference in wealth between the elite and the common people is astonishing, but what is often overlooked is the lifespan gap. The elite can live for thousands of years, while the common people are limited to about 100 years.
Compound interest is a powerful force.
The wealth accumulated over generations, spanning centuries, becomes an astronomical sum!
This indirectly and completely shuts off any possibility for the common people to climb the social ladder.
Reincarnation becomes the sole dividing line in life, and the only opportunity.
Of course, there are also illicit paths.
For example, risking one's life to explore the "Mechanical Ruins." If you're lucky enough to become a train conductor and gradually build up your power, you can join their ranks. But of the thousands who venture in, how many actually survive?
The vast universe is never short of brave adventurers.
Nor is it short of adventurers' remains.
This is precisely why so many high-ranking figures maintain their aged appearance, looking balding and toothless as if on their last breath. Each time they repair their "body organs" to a perfect state, it consumes more resources than the last.
The most efficient method, of course, is to wait until one's organs have deteriorated significantly before repairing them. This dramatically extends one's lifespan while minimizing resource consumption.
The aging of the wealthy is a prelude to rebirth.
The aging of the poor is a burden they leave for their children to bury their bodies.
All class conflicts in the world exist because they aren't intense enough. When they reach this point, there's no conflict left; the lower classes can't even stir up a ripple. It's perfectly normal for seventeen or eighteen generations of a family to work for the same clan or company.
"..."
Chen Mang leaned back in his chair, gazing at the accessory on the train's screen. After a moment of contemplation, he upgraded the yellow-grade "medical bay" accessory to Tier 200 in one go!
This consumed 130 million units of iron ore.
Upgrading yellow-grade accessories doesn't require a significant amount of resources.
Medical Bay Tier 5 Overpowered Effect: Can regenerate severed limbs.
Medical Bay Tier 10 Overpowered Effect: Humans, as a species, have no truly incurable diseases. Can treat any disease, including so-called cancers. Treating different diseases requires different units of iron ore. The more severe the illness, the more resources are consumed. Replacing any mechanical organs within the Medical Bay causes no discomfort.
Medical Bay Tier 20 Overpowered Effect: Can accelerate the healing process.
Medical Bay Tier 50 Overpowered Effect: Can increase brain capacity.
Medical Bay Tier 100 Overpowered Effect: Resource consumption is halved.
Medical Bay Tier 200 Overpowered Effect: Can repair damaged planets.
"Hmm?"
Chen Mang's eyebrows arched slightly. The Tier 200 God-Tier Overpowered Effect of the medical bay was quite impressive, capable of even repairing shattered planets—such as the Aquablue Star. The core energy of the Aquablue Star was rapidly leaking out; once it was completely depleted, the planet would become a dead star and gradually shatter. The entire process was irreversible.
But with the medical bay, this process was no longer irreversible. It only required a bit of resources to restore the planet to its perfect state. He checked the cost.
To restore the current Aquablue Star to its perfect state would consume 8,880,000,000 units of iron ore.
The price was reasonable, acceptable. It was even a lucky number.
The Aquablue Star had not yet completely become a dead star, so the repair cost was relatively low. Once it became a dead star, the repair cost would be significantly higher.
He now only had 84 billion units of iron ore. The journey from the 27th Galaxy to the Mechanical Civilization Ruins had cost 6 billion units of iron ore. Though the price was steep, it was worth it to preserve Aquablue Star, ensuring that the infrastructure built on the planet over the past year wouldn't go to waste.
After a moment's hesitation, he spent 8.88 billion units of iron ore to zoom in on the "Aquablue Star Space Gate" in Carriage 10 on the screen. He then clicked on the slowly rotating planet within the space gate.
The next moment—
The resources piled up in the train began to be consumed at a frenzied rate.
Moments later, the lid of the Tier 200 medical bay, located at the front of the train, slowly opened. Hundreds of golden beams of light streamed out from within, flowing at a deliberate pace toward Carriage 10.
They gradually penetrated the space gate, heading straight for the planet.
After several breaths—
The entire planet began undergoing multiple transformations, and lines of detailed data scrolled across the train control panel's screen.
[Rapid vegetation regeneration: Desertified areas will regrow vegetation. Please select the desert areas you wish to preserve.
Absolute water purification: Water bodies will become crystal clear, suitable for direct consumption. Harmful algae will disappear, and aquatic ecosystems will be restored. Please select the rivers and lakes you wish to increase.
Detected 27 endangered species on the planet. Do you wish to preserve them? If so, habitats suitable for their reproduction will be created.
Significant improvement in air quality: Toxic gases like smog will decrease, oxygen levels will rise, and acid rain frequency will drop.
Reduction in extreme weather events: Hurricanes, droughts, and floods will decrease.
Carbon cycle balance achieved.
Ruins cleanup: Please mark the abandoned buildings and waste you wish to preserve. The remaining waste will be incinerated in geothermal fire.
Core energy replenishment complete and resealed within the planetary core. With no energy leakage, there will be no more earthquakes or other geological disasters.
PS: Some species, such as insects, may overpopulate due to the planet's rapid recovery. Manual intervention may be required to maintain ecological balance.]
The entire process consumed 8.88 billion units of iron ore, represented on the screen as merely a few lines of data.
It required him to make a few decisions.
But for the people of Aquablue Star, it was nothing short of a miracle!
Large lakes and rivers began to visibly flow rapidly, becoming completely clear until the lake bottoms were visible, their water tasting sweet at the source.
Massive numbers of previously decayed and aged trees began to regain their glory, green buds sprouting and growing rapidly until they flourished with lush foliage.
The air quality also rapidly improved.
All ruins and waste were swept up by swirling, precise tornadoes and transported to the newly created channel leading directly to the geothermal fire. This would serve as an excellent place to incinerate waste, as well as a promising site for future development.
If you were to jump into this subterranean channel—
Assuming you could maintain consciousness throughout the entire fall, and you were as resilient as an iron man—
It would take approximately 20.5 minutes to reach the Earth's core.
During this time,
you should have ample opportunity to reflect on your life, like a cinematic montage, to properly recall your past and perhaps anticipate a favorable start in your next life.
Not bad.
Ten minutes later.
The entire Aquablue Star had been thoroughly restored, and future maintenance would require far fewer resources—nowhere near the amount used for the initial restoration.
"Perhaps... this could be a business?" Chen Mang nodded thoughtfully. In theory, he could restore all former habitable planets to this state, such as the unnamed planet he had recently acquired—the one left behind by the Mechanical Civilization, the one with the factory.
His original plan had been to use this planet as the migration destination for the Aquablue Star Civilization.
Now it seemed unnecessary.
Aquablue Star had something better.
In the future, he might be able to completely restore planets that were once habitable but had lost that attribute over time, then sell them to other civilizations. After all, in the universe, habitable planets were not particularly abundant.
Theoretically, any planet that was originally habitable, even if it had lost that attribute due to severe damage, would eventually recover over time and become habitable again.
However, this process would require a considerable amount of time.
This level of time span far exceeds the lifespan of humans and even the rise and fall of civilizations.
The restoration of the planet is complete.
All the core energy of the "Aquablue Star" has been replenished and sealed within its planetary core. It will be difficult for resource mines like iron ore to form again in the future, unless Chen Mang actively unlocks the seal again.
Of course, the reward is that this planet will reverse its aging process and return to its peak vitality. Geological disasters will be virtually nonexistent, and there will be no more hurricanes, floods, or typhoons.
Only some uncontrollable disasters will remain, such as seasonal wildfires.
However, even these disasters, Xiao Ai can provide immediate early warnings and respond promptly to mitigate their effects.
It can be said that from this moment on, the quality of life on this planet will surpass the highest quality of life Chen Mang has ever witnessed in two lifetimes combined.
"Not bad," Chen Mang said, watching the changes on the Aquablue Star on the train screen with a satisfied smile.
"Once Qi Kexiu makes progress and re-creates the Accessory Blueprint for the medical bay, if we can create a medical bay with a Tier 10 Overpowered Effect that halves all resource consumption, then perhaps we can grant everyone in my civilization a lifespan of a thousand years."
"Everyone is a dragon."
The medical bay and most of its accessories can be fabricated as needed.
The default overpowered effect of this accessory is its current state.
Recreating a medical bay won't replace the existing one; instead, it will coexist, becoming a more specialized component. The train's potential is largely determined by the research team.
Moreover, he possesses the ability to probe overpowered effects without consuming Murphy stones or resources. As long as Qi Kexiu creates an Accessory Blueprint, he can repeatedly randomize its overpowered effect until it perfectly matches his expectations.
Infinite randomization is a remarkably powerful ability.
Given enough time, even a monkey randomly pounding on a keyboard could eventually produce Dream of the Red Chamber word for word.
This is precisely why the universe is vast and mysterious.
The universe lacks neither time, infinity, nor randomness.
No one knows what lies in the depths of the cosmos. Everything we currently understand about the universe has a high probability of being overturned in the future.
Just then—
Xiao Ai's soft voice echoed throughout the train.
"Train Conductor."
"Assuming you truly want everyone in your civilization to live to a thousand years, I can give you a rough idea of what would happen."
"First, there would be a population explosion."
"According to your vision, even at 800 years old, people would still be fertile."
"The population would grow exponentially, reaching a point within a century where it completely exceeds Aquablue Star's carrying capacity. Of course, by then we would undoubtedly have plenty of immigrant planets, but we might need to implement policies like 'One Child Every Thousand Years—Each Child is the Greatest Honor' to control fertility."
"People would finally be able to retire at 900 years old."
"Children dating at 70 would be scolded by their parents for being too young."
"Everyone would become a jack-of-all-trades, possibly holding hundreds of different professions in their lifetime."
"A marriage lasting 800 years would become the sharpest sword wielded by pure-hearted romantics, a symbol of enduring love."
"A chaotic mix of all sorts of things."
"Sounds utterly chaotic."
"And a civilization in this state would inevitably need to be constantly expanding. Otherwise, due to internal resource scarcity and extreme wealth disparities, internal conflicts would multiply like carp crossing a river."
"We'll discuss that later."
Chen Mang leaned back in his chair, chuckling softly. "It's not even on the horizon yet, and it's impossible to extend everyone's lifespan to a thousand years. Besides, where would we find enough resources for that? When the time comes, we'll secure our own territory within the innermost depths of cosmos."
"We won't need to keep everyone confined to the train anymore."
"Let them all out."
"Build their own trains and venture out on their own adventures."
"If they want to extend their lifespans, they'll have to work hard for it themselves."
After making these decisions, Chen Mang turned his attention back to the screen, watching the robots explore the ruins of the Mechanical Civilization planet. For now, they hadn't uncovered any particularly useful information.
He decided to take another look around the nearby area.
Then it was time to head back.
He wanted to pull off some big scores.
In recent times, he'd actually amassed quite a lot of resources.
For example, the nearly ten trillion unit investment from the Black Tortoise Civilization, or the back of the First-Class Mining Planet, which was nearly depleted but hadn't yet been inventoried. Yet...
He always felt it wasn't enough.
It was all petty cash.
They were all First-Tier Civilizations, and exploited ones at that. How many resources could they possibly have?
Nearly all the resources of the Kasha Civilization Federation were concentrated in the Kasha Civilization itself.
Those millennial clans held unimaginable wealth, their resources piled to terrifying heights.
He planned to wait until the war officially began.
First, he'd target a few Kasha millennial clans and families to get a taste, then rush to the battlefield to snack on mining stars and other crunchy treats at the fringes.
Ten days later.
The Stellaris slowly approached Fortune Star, preparing to return.
But on the day of departure,
He buried a refrigerator on a nearby abandoned planet. If he ever wanted to return, he could use the refrigerator to send someone back. Unfortunately, he couldn't find anything to shrink the train, otherwise he'd have brought the entire train through the refrigerator.
That would have been like a real wormhole.
During these ten days,
He also explored the mechanical ruins other adventurers had visited. Essentially, it involved scouring space junk for anything useful, a process that remained quite dangerous.
The space debris that struck him actually hurt quite a bit.
Bruises spread across his skin in shades of blue and purple.
The entire process felt like panning for gold. Though the civilizations differed, there was an inexplicable sense of déjà vu, as if humanity was merely reenacting history in endless loops.
He found nothing of any use.
He spent ten days panning.
All waste.
Pure space junk.
The reason he remained for a full ten days was primarily to wait for his deliveries to arrive. He calculated that ten days should be enough time for his packages to reach the other four zones of the Kasha Civilization Federation.
He had sent several refrigerators to each of these zones.
Small trinkets, really.
He intended to visit several millennial clans of the Kasha Civilization. While the Kasha Civilization itself was too formidable to provoke, he figured he could at least try asking around the clans. Though there were no trains, and he'd have to rely on other means of transportation, it wasn't entirely hopeless.
And now—
"..."
Chen Mang, accompanied by Old Pig and others, sat in a café within a bustling city. His eyes narrowed as he studied the auction catalog.
The pièce de résistance was:
Special Item: Hell Brooch
Effect: This item could shrink a train and store it within the brooch, using a spatial manipulation technique. Passengers inside the train would feel no difference; their daily lives would continue as normal, except they would no longer see light through the windows.
Starting Bid: 100 billion units of iron ore!
Their location was the central district of the Kasha Civilization Federation, specifically the Extreme Night Market on the Gemini Star!
They had arrived through a refrigerator.
This was the core region of the Kasha Civilization Federation, a planet directly administered by the Kasha Civilization, one of several such planets. Approximately ten percent of the population were Kasha Clansmen, while the remaining ninety percent hailed from other civilizations.
It was inevitable.
After all, the Kasha Civilization was inherently sparsely populated, and managing so many directly administered planets made it impossible to populate an entire planet.
Upon arrival, Chen Mang felt as if he had stepped into a bustling metropolis.
More importantly, a single auction had instantly altered his plans—he had to secure this item at all costs.
Chen Mang took a deep breath, placed the auction item list on the table, and tapped his knuckles forcefully against the special item. He looked up at the group gathered around the table.
"We must secure this item at all costs."
"It's essential."
"The auction is in three days. Go and discreetly gather information about the internal power dynamics and status within the Kasha Civilization, as well as any wealthy Kasha noble clans and families on this planet."
"Understood." The group nodded. Gathering intelligence was largely Zhou Shen's responsibility.
Ideally, the best person for the job would be PuruPuru, the leader of the Philia Pirate Group. However, as a goblin, he stood out too much in this setting.
Imagine a goblin waltzing into a tavern, pretending to down a mug of barley wine with gusto, then bellowing at the top of his lungs, "Hey, anyone know of any juicy gossip around town?"
Zhou Shen was the most suitable choice. Smooth and diplomatic, he had lived among the Peace-Seeking Civilization long enough to be thoroughly familiar with the Kasha Civilization Federation.
If they could obtain this special item, his plan to seize resources from the Kasha families would become much more secure. As long as they acted swiftly—grab it and run—the Kasha Civilization would struggle to identify the perpetrators, let alone track them down.
In a certain sense, parasites are also granaries.
Seizing these parasites is equivalent to seizing the granary itself.
Many rulers often treat parasites as granaries, turning a blind eye to their activities in peacetime, but drawing upon their resources when supplies run low. Now that war is imminent, it's time for the Kasha Civilization to open its granary. If they don't act soon, someone else will likely plunder it.
Chen Mang walked through the streets with Xiao Ai.
He looked up at the sky.
The entire city was bustling with activity. Countless skyscrapers, hundreds and even thousands of stories tall, stood majestically. The entire facades of these skyscrapers, over a kilometer high, were covered with screens displaying advertisements. At night, countless neon lights flickered, creating a dazzling display of light pollution.
Between the buildings ran massive "roads" composed entirely of golden gas, without any physical substance. Every kilometer, a circular ring encircled the cylindrical column of golden gas. Both pedestrians and vehicles could move freely through the air, their speed seemingly entirely dependent on the golden gas itself, rather than the vehicles themselves.
After all, pedestrians shouldn't be able to run so fast in the air.
The speed of all vehicles and pedestrians remained constant, completely eliminating the possibility of traffic accidents.
Every so often, there was a fork in the road.
It resembled an aerial expressway tunnel.
He didn't know the exact principles behind it.
But it looked quite lively.
"I love this city."
After standing rooted to the spot at the alley entrance for a long time, Chen Mang finally snapped out of his trance and murmured, "Aquablue Star lacks a city this bustling. I want to bring this city back with me."
Neon City was already quite prosperous.
But compared to this place, it paled in comparison. Whether in terms of light pollution or technological advancement, they were on completely different tiers.
"Xiao Ai."
"What is it? Do you need to be upgraded again?"
Xiao Ai had slipped into the alley and was now carefully opening an electrical panel on the wall. His fingers transformed into various tools as he worked inside, muttering, "It doesn't seem to need an upgrade, but wait a moment. I think I've discovered something interesting."
Indeed.
Ever since Chen Mang discovered that this city was entirely built by the Kasha Civilization and controlled by a single advanced AI smart chip, he had harbored this idea.
Xiao Ai was a master at hacking networks.
He was determined to obtain that special item, no matter what it took!
For him, the difference between having it and not having it was night and day!
Calling it "adding wings to a tiger" would be an understatement. To him, it was more like a scenario where 1 + 1 equaled 11—something exponentially more powerful. He would stop at nothing to get his hands on it.
Buy?
Forget it. The starting bid was 100 billion units of iron ore, and these people weren't exactly short on cash. With only the chump change in his pocket, he had no chance of outbidding them.
But—
If he couldn't buy it, he could steal it.
And not just snatch it from the Auction House during the sale—he'd strike before the auction even began. First, he'd submit the "Blazing Sun" garments for authentication at the Auction House, using the opportunity to gather intel on where the special item was stored.
Then, after seizing full control of the city's systems, he'd strike!
For example:
He'd disable the Auction House's automatic alarms, ensuring the Law Enforcement Bureau wouldn't receive any alerts.
He'd manipulate the speed of the aerial expressway tunnel and control access to it.
He'd freely adjust the traffic lights on the ground roads, granting his group's vehicles Tier 0 Authority to ensure smooth passage.
And so on.
Behind Xiao Ai stood an open refrigerator, a wire extending from it and connecting to his lower back.
It was truly regrettable.
Xiao Ai's true form remained the "Train Auxiliary AI." Unable to directly harness all its computing power across tens of thousands of light-years, he couldn't fully unleash his capabilities. Instead, like when he created his earlier avatar, he had to implant a robot in Neon City. However, this robot couldn't share information with his main system, making it a more advanced form of artificial intelligence.
The Stellaris train was still stationed near the Hibiscus Star in the 27th Galaxy.
Therefore,
he had to resort to crude methods: physical connections.
Through the wire, the Train Auxiliary AI was linked to Xiao Ai's physical robot body. In a sense, the data transmission speed within this wire far surpassed the speed of light, transmitting information across tens of thousands of light-years in the blink of an eye.
Just then—
"Found it!"
The words "Excited" and "Thrilled" appeared on Xiao Ai's cheeks. "All of this city's infrastructure is controlled by AI, including all Firepower Configurations. I just tested it—no need for upgrades; Tier 200 is more than sufficient."
"In just five minutes, I can seize full control of the city's infrastructure."
"All infrastructure authority."
"All the daily orders executed by the city's Law Enforcement Bureaus originate from AI commands. For example, when the AI detects a serious incident through surveillance or receives an automatic alarm from a shop, it immediately relays the information to the Law Enforcement Bureau."
"In other words, we can fully mobilize the resources of the city's Law Enforcement Bureaus, directing them to clear paths for us or even carry out tasks on our behalf."
"Furthermore—"
"I have complete control over all the city's surveillance cameras, the automated fire control weapons mounted on office building rooftops and utility poles, and even the three ground-based defense weapons stationed in the suburbs."
Chen Mang was momentarily stunned, his eyes gradually shining with newfound appreciation. This was like striking gold! The Kasha Civilization was truly exceptional, having even automated their cities.
Automation was great.
The greatest flaw of automation, however, was that once you encountered an AI superior to your own, you'd essentially handed over your entire arsenal on a silver platter.
But the advantage was that it could manage a city far more efficiently than humans ever could.
Starry-class defense weapons.
These were designed for planetary defense against cosmic attacks, meant to directly engage enemy spacecraft—not for dealing with humans.
Of course, if you wanted to use them against humans, that was possible too.
"Just level the cannons," he said. "It's just... that image... hmm. It'd be easy to end up in a military court if the Kasha Civilization Federation had such a thing."
"Can't."
Xiao Ai suddenly shook his head. "I checked. Those three Star Core-class ground-based weapons can't be directly activated with just AI authority. In an emergency, the AI needs to apply to higher-ups and obtain their authorization before they can be used."
"But..."
"I found this city's strategic reserves."
"10 trillion units of iron ore, 10 trillion units of copper ore."
"Hiss..."
Chen Mang's breathing quickened, his eyes growing slightly red. Damn it! The strategic reserves of a single city in the Kasha Civilization alone exceed the resources accumulated by the entire Black Tortoise Civilization over nearly a century, even with the whole civilization's efforts!
The gap between a First-Tier Civilization and a Third-Tier Civilization was even greater than he'd imagined!
10 trillion units of iron ore!
That's 10 trillion!
This Gemini Star was located at the very core of the Kasha Civilization Federation, a planet directly under Kasha's jurisdiction. Even if war broke out, enemies would find it extremely difficult to penetrate this far.
Even if they did manage to reach this point...
Those few ground-based weapons alone wouldn't be enough to turn the tide of battle. It would be practically useless.
Yet even so—
It still stockpiled 10 trillion units of iron ore!
If he could get his hands on this iron ore and gather a little more, he could basically upgrade his "armor" directly to Tier 200!
Tier 200 armor would be enough to let him swim in the middle of the battlefield, even if the Kasha Civilization and Zerg Civilization were fighting fiercely—it would render him practically invincible!
And the "Extreme Night Market" was just one of the thriving cities on the "Gemini Star."
On this planet, there were a total of 17 cities of this caliber.
If each city of this caliber stockpiled resources of this scale, then combined, they would amount to 170 trillion units of iron ore and 170 trillion units of copper ore!
Heavens!
Even if the Black Tortoise Civilization had handed over all its reserves to him, it had only given him a mere 5.1 trillion units of iron ore.
But here was 170 trillion.
If he could get all the iron ore from this city...
Chen Mang's breathing gradually quickened. His train would become practically invincible. With such vast resources poured into it, he would have the confidence to rebuild his own civilization the very same day. He would never again need to hide in the shadows, but could stand tall in the open and ask, "Who dares to challenge me?"
In comparison...
Even the special item, the Hell Brooch, didn't seem that important to him anymore.
If he had to choose between the two, he still thought that 170 trillion units of iron ore were more enticing. Compared to the former, the latter could be completely abandoned.
Of course, the best outcome would be to have both.
After a while, Chen Mang's mood gradually calmed down, his mind rapidly spinning. The plan needed some adjustments. So far, the plan had deviated significantly from the original, encountering more unexpected factors than anticipated.
This meant the plan needed to be constantly modified.
This was normal.
In this world, no plan ever lands exactly as it was initially conceived. It's almost always completely transformed by the time it's implemented.
"How long will it take for them to issue a warning after I seize control?"
The Kasha Civilization, although they've handed over city management to AI automation, couldn't possibly not have any preventive measures in place.
"One hour," Xiao Ai replied. "Every hour, this city's AI sends a randomly generated code to the higher authorities. This code is then compared with the one generated by the twin AI at the higher level."
"I can't mask this."
"In other words, after I seize control, I'll be discovered within an hour. At that point, my authority will be forcibly stripped by the highest authority, and the Kasha Civilization will take action."
"One hour..."
Chen Mang lowered his head in deep thought for a long moment before looking up at Xiao Ai. "Where are the strategic resources stored?"
"In a warehouse in the suburbs."
"Why was it built so far away?"
"That's how the city was planned when it was first designed."
"You said seizing control of the entire city and gaining authority takes five minutes, right? Can you make it any faster?"
"It's not possible," Xiao Ai shook his head. "The process is quite complex. Five minutes is already the limit."
"What if I upgrade you further?"
"Further upgrades could speed it up slightly, but the improvement would be limited. A qualitative difference would only occur if I were upgraded to Tier 300, 400, or even 500. Otherwise, upgrading by just ten or so tiers wouldn't make a significant difference."
"Then forget it."
Chen Mang shook his head. After accessories reach Tier 200, the resources required for each upgrade increase dramatically. The train's current resources would barely suffice to upgrade to Tier 300.
Tier 500? Don't even think about it.
He'd never even heard of anyone possessing a Tier 500 accessory overpowered effect, let alone seen one. According to his knowledge, neither the Mechanical Civilization nor the Kasha Civilization had anyone with a Tier 500 accessory overpowered effect. Princess Tuotuo of the Mechanical Civilization was ecstatic to have a Tier 200 AI, let alone a Tier 500 one.
"Does the hourly reporting time align with the top of the hour?"
"Yes, all cities report at the top of the hour."
"Understood."
Chen Mang lowered his head, deep in thought. This meant that if they seized control of a city at 15:55, the city's AI would automatically upload its code at 16:00. If the upload failed or the uploaded code was incorrect, the city would enter a state of emergency.
One hour equals 60 minutes.
Five minutes to crack a city's AI.
Theoretically, they could crack 12 cities' AIs in an hour.
Practically, allowing for travel time, they could crack and seize control of 10 cities' AIs within an hour. Once they gained control, the cities' resource reserves would essentially become their own, allowing them free access to stockpile resources.
The premise was this: He needed to first deliver refrigerators to ten cities. Once the plan began, he had only one hour to empty the warehouses of all ten cities within that time frame.
Combined, that meant:
100 trillion units of iron ore and 100 trillion units of copper ore!
The total amount of resources was twenty times the sum of what the Black Tortoise Civilization had given him!
It was an astronomical sum, enough resources to instantly catapult the Stellaris from obscurity to prominence.
"Not bad," Chen Mang said, quickly reviewing the plan in his mind and smiling. "First, I'll take Old Pig to the Auction House to deliver those clothes and see if we can find out where that special item is stored."
"Meanwhile, arrange for refrigerators to be delivered to the other ten cities."
"Once all preparations are complete, the plan begins."
"Leave this city for last. After looting the warehouse, seize the Auction House as well."
"Then immediately escape through the refrigerator."
The train couldn't directly participate in this operation.
Fortunately, the battlefield was on the planet's surface, and trains weren't essential. He had plenty of armed combat robots, and the city itself was filled with AI-controlled combat robots. Once Xiao Ai seized control, all of them would be at his disposal.
As long as he moved quickly enough.
He would complete this plan before anyone could react. By the time people realized what had happened, he would already be tens of thousands of light-years away, in the 27th Galaxy!
This was a one-time operation.
After this, the Kasha Civilization would undoubtedly be on high alert. Any future attempts would require a different approach.
What a pity.
This planet housed 17 cities like this, but he could only take the strategic reserves from 10 of them. There was no time to attend to the remaining 7, which was a bit regrettable.
Still, it wasn't too bad. Life was always made up of regrets.
"Truly overflowing with wealth," Chen Mang sighed, leaning against the wall at the alley entrance. The extreme disparity between wealth and poverty was overwhelming. The Kasha Civilization was far richer than he'd imagined.
He couldn't even begin to fathom what would happen if he handed his Tier 0 Authority over to the Kasha Civilization.
The Kasha Civilization wouldn't just be a Third-Tier Civilization; It would've likely already become a Fifth-Tier Civilization!
Now Chen Mang understood why the Kasha Civilization was riddled with parasites. With such vast strategic resources—resources that were practically impossible to use—anyone could understand why they'd be tempted to embezzle. Besides, these resources were a drop in the ocean for the Kasha Civilization. Even if someone stole some, no one would notice.
Wait—
Chen Mang's expression suddenly shifted. While reviewing his plan, he'd discovered its biggest flaw!
The database showed the city's strategic reserves as 10 trillion units of iron ore and 10 trillion units of copper ore. But who knew how much had actually been embezzled by those parasites?
Fortunately, according to the pre-war declaration by the Commander-in-Chief of the Western Military District of the Kasha Civilization Federation, nearly half of the Western Region's strategic reserves had been embezzled. Even accounting for this, there should still be enough.
Even if half had been stolen, that still left 50 trillion units of iron ore and 50 trillion units of copper ore.
That's enough.
Damn it, those damned parasites... they wouldn't dare steal more, would they?
(End of the Chapter)
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