Translator: AnubisTL
After years of development, Aquablue Star's former cities had been completely rebuilt, and living standards had gradually improved.
This meant Aquablue Star now offered plenty of entertainment.
For example:
"This is... interesting?"
Chen Mang, who had rested overnight and reappeared on Aquablue Star's streets at dawn, glanced up at an advertisement displayed on a high-rise building's exterior screen.
"The first-ever holographic virtual multiplayer interactive exploration open-world online game."
"Here, you can fully immerse yourself in exploring this unknown world as an entertainment-focused player."
"Here, you can become a life player, crafting a wide variety of items."
"Here, you can become a Lord Player, building your own territory and homeland."
"Here, you can become a lone wolf player, wandering the world and righting wrongs with a mighty roar."
"A perfect Tier System."
"Excellent class balance."
"Diverse fortuitous encounters and development paths allow each player to create a unique identity."
"Pre-registration is now open for the highly anticipated launch!"
"Virtual Pod: Priced at 399,000 stellar coupons, offering a superior, perfectly realistic second-world experience."
"Virtual Helmet: Priced at 9,900 stellar coupons, offering excellent value for money."
"Virtual Pill: Priced at 9.9 stellar coupons. Upon consumption, it automatically transports you into the game through a hallucination. The only drawback is that each entry is as a guest, preventing you from obtaining a permanent player identity."
"Virtual Online Game."
Chen Mang gazed at the advertisement on the high-rise's exterior screen, a silent wave of emotion washing over him.
In his previous world, his greatest hope had been to witness the official launch of a virtual online game before he died. Just seeing it come to fruition would have made his life feel worthwhile.
But perhaps his desire had been too intense.
In the end, he witnessed this moment through a bizarre twist of fate.
The people of Aquablue Star were truly fortunate.
Rumor had it that this virtual online game was built upon the foundation of the "Combat Training Virtual Space" and Xiao Ai, allowing for multiplayer connectivity. It even featured the role of "train conductor," though this profession had become a heavily pay-to-win class within the game.
Ordinary players couldn't afford to play it.
Only those willing to spend heavily could participate.
He found this reasonable.
After all, in the real world, the position of train conductor was also an extremely high-paying profession.
"If I ever have children, I can't even imagine how lucky they'd be to grow up playing virtual games from such a young age," Chen Mang mused, shaking his head with a smile as he continued walking forward.
If he ever did have children, their lives would undoubtedly be defined by the word "fortunate."
Of course.
This kind of lifestyle is only possible with a well-developed civilization. Otherwise, it would be quite tragic.
Six full months.
Chen Mang spent six months on Aquablue Star and Black Tortoise Star, barely attending to train affairs during that time.
He focused entirely on relaxation, entertainment, and leisure.
It was reminiscent of an emperor neglecting state affairs to indulge in the pleasures of the imperial harem.
After this six-month break, the tension that had been building from constant urgency finally dissipated. Feeling much more relaxed, he reappeared in the Stellaris locomotive cabin.
"Long time no see, Train Conductor. It seems you've been enjoying yourself these past six months," Xiao Ai's voice echoed through the cabin.
"Not bad," Chen Mang replied, grinning as he sat down in his chair, wearing beach shorts and square-framed sunglasses. He opened the Train Log on the control panel screen to review the train's operational data from the past few months. "Six months of rest has done me good."
"Anything significant happen during my absence?"
"Nothing major. If there had been, I would have notified you immediately."
"Hmm."
Chen Mang fell silent, shifting into work mode as he meticulously reviewed the train's operational data from the past few months.
All accessories were functioning normally.
The Doppler Radar showed no anomalies, indicating no approaching enemies.
Before taking his leave, Chen Mang had even instructed Biaozi to periodically send personnel to check on the prison within the Cosmic Void. Everything remained normal; the imprisoned divine race showed no signs of escape.
The entire universe seemed frozen, stuck at the moment before his vacation began.
Six months ago felt no different from yesterday.
"..."
Chen Mang's expression gradually turned peculiar. "Xiao Ai, you must be familiar with the theory that the universe exists only because it is being observed, or that the very purpose of the universe is to be observed."
"If all living beings in the universe were to perish, leaving no one to observe it, the universe would automatically cease to exist."
"Take the famous double-slit experiment, for example. The presence or absence of an Observer drastically alters the experimental results."
"Tell me..."
"Could it be that I am the protagonist of this universe?"
"Does this universe exist because of me?"
"Whenever I start working, all sorts of events unfold. But the moment I take a break, everything pauses, only to resume when I return to work?"
"Uh..."
Xiao Ai's helpless voice echoed through the train: "Train Conductor, in the vastness of space, six months is an incredibly short time, almost negligible."
"Normally speaking."
"In the cosmos, it's perfectly normal and common for six months to pass without any significant changes. The frequent incidents you encountered before your vacation were the exception, not the rule. Under normal circumstances, such events wouldn't occur so frequently."
"Unless something unexpected happens, the next six months will likely be just as uneventful."
The next moment, Xiao Ai's voice abruptly cut off. After a pause, it resumed, now tinged with confusion and bewilderment: "Train Conductor, the Cyber Miners report they've spotted Little Fatty. They say something's happened to him and he's urgently trying to reach you."
"Sigh."
Chen Mang sighed deeply and projected images from the Cyber Miner's Dream Realm onto a nearby screen. "See? I told you there couldn't be any mysterious forces at work in this zone. Nothing happens while I'm on vacation."
"But as soon as I'm back on duty, chaos erupts."
"That Little Fatty hasn't sent word in six months. When I burned incense for Tuotuo, I lit one for him too. Turns out he's still alive—he showed up as soon as I got back to work."
Xiao Ai remained silent, his mind already in a state of shutdown. While this small sample size wasn't enough to draw definitive conclusions, the coincidence was striking. During the train conductor's six-month leave, the Stellaris had experienced unprecedented peace, utterly devoid of conflict. Yet the moment the conductor returned, disaster struck.
"Chen Mang!"
Far away on a mining star within the Nami Civilization, Little Fatty's face was etched with urgency, tinged with fear and unease as he gazed at the Mysterious Traveler before him. His voice trembled as he spoke, "Something's wrong. I think something's happened to the Nami Civilization. I'm not sure, but I feel it in my gut."
"Recently, my father suddenly ordered me to return home immediately."
"Of course, I refused at first. We've never gotten along, and I haven't accomplished anything significant. What face would I have showing up now?"
"But for some reason, Father suddenly became extremely stubborn. He didn't even try to reason with me; he simply sent a group of men to kidnap me and drag me back home. That's when I learned he had hired a powerful private security company to protect me all along. No wonder I never encountered any pirates—I thought they'd all lost their jobs!"
"After I got back..."
"Father and Mother both wore dark, grim expressions. I'd never seen them look so grim, not even during our toughest times. The private security company escorted me straight home without letting me interact with anyone along the way."
"Until..."
"Father took me out into the streets."
"That's when I realized something was wrong."
"Everyone on the street was looking up at the sky."
"Every single person."
"Every single person was gazing upward at a perfect 45-degree angle. At first, I thought there must be something in the sky, but there was nothing there. And no one seemed to notice anything strange about it."
"They weren't just stopping to look."
"They were going about their business while constantly glancing up at the sky."
"The entire society continues to function as normally as ever. The streets are filled with the shouts of vendors and the chatter of passersby. If you close your eyes, you'd think nothing was amiss—everything seems perfectly normal. But when you open your eyes, you realize everything is utterly bizarre."
"It's not just this planet."
"It's that..."
"Every single member of the Nami Civilization is like this."
"Even the Private Security Company escorting me on the road was the same. At first, I thought they were just worried about me seeing their faces or that there were some special regulations. I never even considered this possibility."
"Most importantly—"
"I saw the Leader of the Nami Civilization giving a speech on the news. Even the Leader and all the top-level officials of the Nami Civilization are like this, yet not a single one of them seems to notice anything strange!"
"Everyone is like this!"
"Only my father, my mother, and I—just the three of us in the entire civilization—remain in a normal state. Everyone else seems to have gone mad or been possessed by ghosts. Father... Father suspects the Heavenly Palace is behind this and believes the civilization's end is near."
"We returned to the Southern Frontier Mining Star of the Nami Civilization, where we're waiting for the civilization to either return to normal or be destroyed."
"What should we do?"
"Chen Mang, as a Civilization Leader, do you know what's causing this?"
"..."
Sitting in the locomotive cabin, Chen Mang frowned slightly after hearing Xiao Pang's story. It felt like he'd just heard a ghost story.
The next part of the story should go like this:
At some point, everyone would suddenly turn to stare at Xiao Pang and his family, force out a sinister smile, and say, "Why aren't you looking up?"
Such a cliché.
The kind of story you'd hear at a campfire.
"Are there ghosts in the universe?"
"Possibly," Xiao Ai replied uncertainly. "Civilizations take many forms. There might be one based on ghosts, but my database contains no information about such a civilization. Even if it exists, it would be an extremely rare type."
"Even rarer than cultivation civilizations."
"However, there is an extremely niche branch of cultivators on Black Tortoise Star called Ghost Cultivators. They might share some similarities."
Just then—
Little Fatty handed over a photograph taken on the planet.
In the image, everyone was gazing at the sky at a perfect 45-degree angle. Chen Mang had even asked Xiao Ai to calculate the angles, confirming they were all precisely 45 degrees. At this angle, normal life was still possible; peripheral vision could accommodate most daily activities.
However, the eyeballs would be under constant strain, forced to look downward.
This explained why everyone had a dead-fish-eyed expression, giving them an eerie appearance.
After a long pause, Chen Mang finally spoke, relaying his thoughts to Little Fatty.
"This might not be a disaster caused by the Heavenly Palace. If it were, most people haven't explored it, so the calamity shouldn't have affected the entire civilization, including the Southern Frontier. The spread is too rapid."
"It's more like... a civilization-wide curse?"
"Indeed."
"I coined the term 'Civilization Curse' myself. It's just a guess. Since your family is unharmed, the key to solving this mystery must lie with you. Your father is here too, right? Could you ask him to come over? I'd like to speak with him."
Just then—
"Wait a minute."
Chen Mang enlarged the dozen or so photos Little Fatty had sent him, examining each frame meticulously. After a long moment of furrowed brows, he spoke.
"Xiao Ai, have you noticed that these people's gazes seem fixed?"
"No matter how they turn or move, the direction they look up at the sky remains constant?"
"Though each person's overall gaze varies, their upward gaze toward the sky is always fixed?"
"In seafaring,"
"there's something called a lighthouse, guiding ships to safety. Could these people... be acting as lighthouses?"
Xiao Ai quickly grasped the implication.
"Train Conductor, are you saying these people have become lighthouses? Guiding the way?"
"It seems more like they're pointing to specific coordinates."
"But coordinates should be singular. Everyone is looking in different directions. Only if all their gazes converged on a single point could we derive a coordinate."
"Perhaps they're encrypted."
Soon, Chen Mang concluded that these people's behavior was primarily due to cognitive interference.
It was as if they were performing abnormal actions, yet their brains perceived these actions as perfectly normal, even adapting their daily routines to accommodate the altered behavior.
It resembled a curse.
But a curse capable of spreading across millions or even billions of light-years instantly—that would have to be a bloodline curse, wouldn't it?
As for whether this purpose truly pointed to coordinates, he couldn't yet determine.
He needed to speak with Little Fatty's father.
He had a premonition.
This man harbored many secrets.
Soon—
A middle-aged man appeared on the screen. Stepping forward, he immediately said in a deep voice, "You must be the Mysterious Traveler my son mentioned, the one said to be the leader of a civilization?"
"As the Leader of a civilization, you've been directly contacting my son to extract information about our civilization."
"Do you realize the catastrophe that would befall my son if this were exposed?"
"You've been exploiting my son's naivety. Do you think I'm naive too?"
"The catastrophe you've brought upon your son is no small matter either."
"I've given him a life free from want."
"And incidentally, you've given him the Nami Civilization—a civilization that everyone looks up to." ]
"What do you mean by that?
"Don't you understand? You know better than anyone how all this came about. Your son may be naive, but do you think I am too?"
The middle-aged man fell silent for a long moment before rasping, "What do you know?"
"A great deal."
Immediately afterward, the middle-aged man received a blueprint. His pupils constricted sharply, and a flicker of horror flashed in his eyes. The blueprint was unmistakably for the Unknown Heavenly Palace—a document no outsider could possibly obtain.
The blueprint even included the internal design of the Heavenly Palace.
Even the government hadn't figured this out, yet here it was, staring him in the face on this very blueprint.
The information contained within this blueprint was more than enough.
The middle-aged man began to tremble violently, his veins bulging as he crumpled the blueprint in his fist. He erupted into a hysterical scream, his voice cracking with despair: "Do you think I wanted any of this to happen?!"
"I just wanted to give my wife and children a good life!"
"Was that wrong?!"
"What was wrong with that? Isn't it a man's duty to provide for his family?!"
"I always lived honestly, never breaking the law. But then the Heavenly Palace suddenly appeared above my home, and everything changed. Our entire civilization was twisted into this."
"Yes."
"I know there's no such thing as a free lunch. Every gift from Fate comes with a hidden price. But I never imagined the cost would be so high. I just wanted my family to live better. I never wanted to destroy the Nami Civilization."
"What do we do now?"
"What are we supposed to do now? Who are you? Why do you have the blueprints for the Heavenly Palace?"
The man collapsed to his knees, sobbing uncontrollably.
The composure he had maintained moments ago had vanished, utterly annihilated by a single blueprint.
No one knew the immense pressure he had been carrying. Everything had begun after the Heavenly Palace appeared. He knew he had personally destroyed the Nami Civilization, and the weight of such guilt had pushed his mind to the brink of collapse.
Yet, if given another chance, he suspected he would make the same choice.
When people are starving, they care little for the destruction of civilizations.
"Ugh..."
Chen Mang glanced at the man's behavior on the screen with a strange expression. He had only made a casual bluff, yet the man had immediately confessed everything. At first, he had thought this would be a tough nut to crack.
The entire civilization is crumbling, yet you three act like nothing's wrong.
There's no way you three don't have some kind of secret.
It seemed he had stumbled upon something earth-shattering.
"Tell me everything you know from the beginning. I'm the only one who can save your civilization now. If you don't want the Nami Civilization to perish..."
"I can tell you the truth."
"Your civilization has been cursed by the Lighthouse Curse."
"Do you know about Cosmic Landmines? The Heavenly Palace is a type of Cosmic Landmine. When a civilization explores it, the Curse spreads throughout their entire civilization. Everyone will gaze toward a specific point in the cosmos, guiding advanced civilizations from the depths of space toward you."
"If this isn't resolved quickly..."
"Within a few years, a massive fleet will descend upon the Nami Civilization."
"At that moment, the Nami Civilization will meet its end."
That was all.
These words, of course, were entirely fabricated. The man's mental defenses were on the verge of collapse; a little more pressure would ensure he spoke the truth and revealed even more.
Yet inwardly, he couldn't help but give himself a mental thumbs-up for his naming skills.
The Lighthouse Curse.
What a brilliant name.
So evocative.
It sounded like a genuine phenomenon.
Soon—
The man's mental defenses completely shattered. Kneeling on the ground, his face clouded with distant memories, he began to recount: "It was long, long ago. Back then, I was just a worker in a furniture factory."
"My family was desperately poor."
"We barely had enough to eat."
"Normally, residents of the Nami Civilization are guaranteed basic living standards. But we were living in an unregistered marriage, so we couldn't claim the civilization's basic welfare benefits. Life was incredibly difficult."
"Until..."
"One day, I found a desk in the waste pile."
"I was overjoyed."
"Though the desk was old and worn, it was still usable. After cleaning it up, I'd have my own desk—a new piece of furniture for my study, something truly mine."
"I was just a worker."
"I'm no cultured man, and I had no real need for a desk."
"But I still brought it home and meticulously cleaned it. I even repainted the surface with black lacquer I'd stolen from the furniture factory. Every evening after work, as I sat at the desk, I'd fantasize about being like those powerful bosses, making world-altering decisions with a casual signature."
"That feeling intoxicated me."
"Until—"
"One day, a strange object appeared in the drawer, something I'd never seen before. My rented room was practically bare; I knew every item in it by heart. I was certain this thing hadn't been there before."
"It was a telescope."
"After hours of online research, I learned it was a white-grade 'Train Accessory' telescope, upgraded to Tier 10. Reaching that level required eight murphy stones and a vast amount of resources."
"Enough to cover three years of my wages."
"I still remember how I felt that day. My breath quickened, my heart pounded, and every cell in my body screamed, 'Sell this telescope and become rich overnight!'"
"I could give my family a proper meal with meat, buy them new clothes, and get my pregnant wife a private hospital room with a better medical team."
"Just one telescope."
"Could transform my family's life."
"But..."
"I didn't dare sell it. I had no idea how it ended up in my desk drawer, and I was afraid the original owner might come looking for it. I waited until another item suddenly appeared in my desk drawer."
"It was a porcelain doll."
"Thinking it should be safe, I took it to Flea Market Street in the city. A sharp-eyed buyer quickly spotted it and eagerly asked the price. I steeled myself, held up five fingers, and remained expressionless, not uttering a word."
"My mind raced, calculating that I'd sell it the moment they made an offer."
"Instead, they asked if I meant five hundred thousand."
"Though my body was stiff, I nodded instinctively."
"The other party was quick and decisive. Without another word, they tossed me a Space Pocket and a business card, then left excitedly, telling me to contact them first if I ever had more 'good stuff' like that."
"And that was it."
"Dazed, I returned home with half a million yuan and my first Space Pocket—that was ten years' worth of my salary!"
"I'd worked my entire life for this!"
"I swear, I worked harder than most people. I juggled three jobs a day—the furniture factory plus two odd jobs—but I'd never seen so much money in my life."
"From that day on..."
"My life changed. My family got new clothes, meat appeared on the dinner table, my wife moved into a private hospital room with a better medical team. The other pregnant women in the hospital envied her, saying, 'Your husband really spoils you. He must love you so much.'"
"I proudly wore the Space Pocket on my belt, right where everyone could see it. Dressed in my new clothes, I stood beside my wife, beaming but silent."
"In that moment..."
"It felt like the back I'd been bending my whole life had suddenly straightened."
"After that, the Desk finally started spitting out items sporadically. I also established a partnership with the person who had been buying my goods, gradually becoming wealthier and eventually founding my own company. However, more and more people began to suspect my supply channels."
"Some even pointed out that everything I was selling seemed to be Cosmic Forbidden Items."
"Left with no choice,"
"I was forced to establish my own supplier network, aggressively collecting various rare items. Although this diluted my profits, it at least gave me a legitimate supply chain. Even so,"
"My profits remained dozens of times higher than those of my competitors."
"The most profitable items were those I acquired for free, requiring no investment whatsoever."
"No competitor could compete with me."
"If a competitor sold something for 500,000, I'd sell it at a loss for 300,000."
"I never lost a price war. Gradually, more and more people realized that if I sold something, no one else would have it, and if others had it, my price would always be lower."
"Of course,"
"This journey wasn't without its dangers. I had taken away many people's livelihoods, and many wanted me dead."
"Every year, I spend a fortune hiring private security companies. I'm the largest taxpayer and employer in the region, and I shower officials with vast wealth."
"The officials on my planet live the most luxurious and comfortable lives in the entire Nami Civilization, second only to those on the Political Capital Star."
"From the bureau chiefs down to the interns, everyone receives lavish gifts from me during holidays and festivals."
"On that planet, I get the green light for everything. No one can stop me, and no one would dare try. Countless people clamor to curry favor with me, making the competition for civil service positions on my planet the fiercest in the Nami Civilization."
"Whenever a few job openings are announced, people from planets across the Nami Civilization flock to apply. Everyone knows that if you work on my planet for ten years, you'll never want for anything in your life."
"Looking back on my journey, I admit that the Desk changed my fate. But does that erase my sacrifices? I've endured hardships beyond measure. Once, I auctioned off a painting from a Tier 9 Civilization for an astronomical sum, but I didn't see a single credit of it. Have I ever complained about that?"
"Until..."
"Until one day, the Desk began transmitting new items as usual. But when I opened the drawer, I found it completely empty. I thought the Desk would never send anything again."
"But when I pushed open the window, I saw a colossal Heavenly Palace suspended in the sky above the planet."
"I knew it was the new item being transmitted, just too large to fit in the drawer."
"From that moment onward..."
"Everything began to change."
"Later, a copper key suddenly appeared in the Desk drawer. Reason told me I was likely caught in a world-shattering conspiracy. I was terrified. I had always believed that when Fate, having bestowed enough opportunities upon me, demanded its price, I could face it with equanimity."
"But when the moment actually came, I discovered I was nothing but a coward."
"I didn't want to die. I couldn't bear to leave my family, my current life."
"In a frenzy, I dragged the Desk through an underground tunnel to a remote corner, intending to destroy it completely with a hydraulic press."
"But..."
"But..."
The man kneeling on the ground suddenly let out a bitter laugh. "But who can refuse Fate's demands?"
"The desk was destroyed, but it was just a shell. The core turned out to be a refrigerator."
"I brought the refrigerator back to my study."
"For the next six months, Cosmic Forbidden Items continued to appear in the refrigerator from time to time. But I no longer felt the urge to auction them off. The Nami Civilization had begun to change imperceptibly."
"Everyone's perception seemed to have been altered."
"Everyone looked up at the sky."
"I didn't know what was happening. I'd never heard of any 'Lighthouse Curse' before."
"But I knew."
"The Nami Civilization seemed to be finished."
The story was long.
Chen Mang listened intently until the end, then silently lit a cigarette. He didn't speak for a long time, letting the smoke drift through the locomotive cabin, stinging his eyes red.
He wasn't moved by the man's genuine emotions.
Instead, he finally understood!
He finally understood how his future self intended for him to find the Heavenly Palace.
The universe was vast.
Throwing the Heavenly Palace into a temporal rift would indeed send it to the past, but it would appear in a random corner of the universe. Even knowing its exact coordinates wouldn't make it easy to retrieve.
His future self must have done it this way.
The telescope was his.
The Heavenly Palace was his.
The refrigerator was his too.
Though the story seemed to center on a middle-aged man, it was actually about himself. He was the Goddess of Fate the man spoke of.
The refrigerator's overpowered effect was its ability to periodically draw any Cosmic Forbidden Item from across the universe into its interior.
So—
If he threw both the refrigerator and the Heavenly Palace into the temporal rift simultaneously, given enough time, they would inevitably collide.
The Heavenly Palace would be drawn to the refrigerator.
Similarly,
If he threw the telescope in as well,
As the timeline stretched, the telescope would also be inevitably drawn to the refrigerator.
In this way,
These three seemingly unrelated objects would converge in a single space.
And through the telescope's entanglement with his Cyber Mine, he would gain the opportunity to uncover these truths.
Thus—
The present Chen Mang, with his Tier 10 telescope, the refrigerator of unknown Tier, and the future Heavenly Palace—
These four entities, originally separated by time and space,
Were now irrevocably connected.
His future self had successfully delivered these items into his own hands.
As for how the refrigerator's overpowered effect came about, there was no doubt that someday in the future, Qi Kexiu's research team would recreate the original Accessory Blueprint for the refrigerator. After numerous refinements, they would achieve this overpowered effect.
It might even be the only Unique Overpowered Effect.
Otherwise, the Heavenly Palace might be drawn into the hands of another civilization possessing the same overpowered effect.
In the current timeline, this refrigerator was likely the only one in the entire universe with this Unique Overpowered Effect.
Whatever his future self threw into the temporal rift could potentially emerge from this refrigerator.
This refrigerator was the key—a key connecting the past and the future.
The middle-aged man was merely temporarily using this key to improve his own life.
The plan had one major flaw:
The telescope ended up in the refrigerator, and through its connection to the Cyber Mine, it allowed him to learn this information through a dream. This was an extremely low-probability event. What if the man had sold the telescope the moment he obtained it?
Wouldn't that mean he would never know about the events that occurred so far beyond his reach?
Therefore...
This step must have been a mere coincidence.
The true process orchestrated by his future self must have been the "Lighthouse Curse."
By casting a curse that blanketed the entire civilization, disrupting everyone's perception, his future self transmitted the Nami Civilization's cosmic coordinates to him through this method.
That was the correct procedure.
"Absolutely brilliant," Chen Mang murmured, his expression dazed. Even though he and his future self were essentially the same being, he couldn't help but acknowledge the sheer ingenuity of the plan.
The biggest problem now was:
How would he receive these cosmic coordinates?
His future self must have believed he had a way, but perhaps he had accessed this information too early, before acquiring the necessary means. However, by chance, he had obtained real-time photographs from within the Nami Civilization.
Perhaps he could find an even more clever workaround.
He could ask Kira, a member of a God-Tier Civilization, who might know the answer.
The "Lighthouse Curse" he had casually mentioned had actually come true.
What he hadn't anticipated was that he himself had orchestrated it.
But one question still lingered.
Chen Mang frowned, studying the photos of Little Fatty on the control panel screen. Though all members of the Nami Civilization were gazing skyward, they were too far away. How could he possibly receive their civilization's coordinates?
Of course, he could try asking Little Fatty's Father for their exact cosmic coordinates.
But that would deviate from the correct procedure of his future self's plan, a deviation from the plan.
These people looked like they were observing the universe, observing—
Wait a minute?
A sudden realization struck him. He pulled out the Tier 500 telescope from a drawer and aimed it at the useless panel on the control panel screen.
[Telescope Tier 500 Overpowered Effect: Observable Universe.]
He immediately picked up the telescope and gazed into the depths of space.
He circled the locomotive cabin, peering through the floor-to-ceiling windows in every direction.
Finally, when he looked toward the lower right, he saw countless points of light gradually emerge within the lens. These points coalesced into a string of cosmic coordinates:
[RA 13h42m08.1s, Dec +09°28'38]
And these cosmic coordinates...
were the precise location of the Nami Civilization in the universe. For any civilization, their cosmic coordinates are their lifeblood. Once these coordinates are leaked, it means they've likely drawn the attention of cosmic predators.
Yet now, the Nami Civilization's coordinates were displayed before him with perfect accuracy.
The truth was finally revealed.
He was indeed responsible for the Nami Civilization's current predicament.
"It really was me..."
Chen Mang silently lit a cigarette. He didn't remember being so aloof. If he was leaving the coordinates, couldn't he have spared a few words of warning?
Or perhaps the Lighthouse Curse could only transmit coordinates, not messages.
Just then, the glowing dots in the lens began to fade.
Sensing something, he sent a message to Little Fatty's Father:
[I've resolved the issue for you.]
[Go home now.]
[Keep that refrigerator safe and don't lose it. It doesn't belong to you. Its master will come to retrieve it in a few days. Don't worry, he won't harm you.]
[Your life truly begins now.]
[The Goddess of Fate has withdrawn her claim. From now on, she will only offer you gifts—unconditional gifts.]
The Nami Civilization wasn't far from him.
On the other side of the Cosmic Void—well, the distance was vast, but it didn't feel quite so far. Barring any unforeseen circumstances, in a few tens of millions of years, the Arcanon Main Cannon he had launched would pose a significant threat to the Nami Civilization.
That was assuming the Nami Civilization could survive for tens of millions of years.
If they did manage to endure that long, the attack would no longer pose any threat to them.
And with that, the matter came to a close.
For Little Fatty's Father, this added another remarkable entry to his life's resume. Few people ever had the chance to experience such a thing—the feeling of being the only sober man in a world of drunks.
Though Little Fatty's Father seemed on the verge of collapse, most people would likely break under such circumstances. Humans are social creatures.
When you suddenly realize that everyone around you is behaving in ways that utterly defy common sense, the panic of being abandoned by the collective and the shattering of your understanding of reality can inflict severe psychological trauma.
Especially when you discover that this civilization-wide anomaly was caused by your own actions.
Few could bear the guilt of personally destroying their own civilization.
Of course, some might find a twisted satisfaction in such a scenario.
(End of the Chapter)
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