The audience, after waiting for half a day, finally learned from the broadcast that contestant Zhou Fu hadn't used a magnetic storm pulse cannon but rather a laser cannon. Because the power of the laser cannon also exceeded tournament regulations, contestant Zhou Fu had been disqualified. Contestant Wang Xuan, having defeated him, advanced to the finals.
Xu Qi had originally intended to proceed by the book, handing over Zhou Fu to the military tribunal for his crimes. But now, in order to not reveal the uniqueness of G9 and thus expose the existence of that master to the outside world, he could only execute the man secretly. Despite enduring all sorts of torture, Zhou Fu hadn't revealed his true intentions, indicating he had an incredibly strong will, likely a specially trained agent.
The organizers, in an attempt to quell this uproar, prematurely announced a piece of good news: "Friends in the audience, due to the country passing the Anti-Monopoly Bill and breaking through technological barriers, the price of fighter mechs will drop across the board. After several rounds of discussion, the shareholders have finally decided to provide all contestants with the same model of mech free of charge starting from next year. This means that high-grade mechs and low-grade mechs will no longer be the criteria for determining the outcome of the competition. Everyone will start on the same starting line, and the fairness of the competition will be greatly improved."
"Really? A mech costs hundreds of millions, even billions for a hundred participants. Does the organizer have that kind of wealth?" one spectator said in astonishment.
"Haven't you heard clearly? The price of fighter mechs is about to decrease. In the future, in our empire, the price of a mech should be about the same as in the Federation, the low end around a few million, the high end a few hundred million. Not only can the regular army afford them, mercenaries and even hunters can have one each. A few hundred thousand, save for a few years, it's not much." someone explained nearby.
"This is great news! I won't have to worry about my son's tuition fees anymore!" a parent wept with joy.
The chain of events triggered by the collapse of the Mu family not only failed to cause any negative impact but instead provided significant benefits to the government, the military, and even ordinary citizens. Qi Ze's name became increasingly well-known, but he didn't engage in excessive self-promotion, instead, he went into seclusion. His photos and videos suddenly disappeared from the Star Network one day, no matter how one searched, they couldn't be found.
Wang Xuan ultimately won the competition and also received an admission notice from Imperial College, traveling to the Imperial Star on the same spaceship as Qi Ze and Ouyang Ye. Coincidentally or intentionally arranged, Yan Junyu was also on the ship, his cabin next to Qi Ze's.
Qi Ze, seeing the real Black Eye galaxy for the first time, was spellbound, standing by the window for hours.
"Stop looking, come and play a game. With your mental power, you should be able to enter the star network now, right?" Wang Xuan waved with enthusiasm.
"You guys play, I have something to take care of." Qi Ze wasn't particularly interested in virtual reality games, spending hours in a virtual world was a waste of time for cultivation. With that time, he'd rather meditate all night.
"Okay, if you're hungry, press this green button, and a robot will come to deliver food. The cost is included in the ticket, don't be foolish and swipe your card." Ouyang Ye patiently instructed.
"Alright, I know. Even if it's not included in the ticket, I won't swipe the card, I'll make it turn left and go to my guarantor." Qi Ze said without lifting his head as he fiddled with his smartbrain.
Ouyang Ye laughed knowingly, "Darling, have you spent all your money again? You're only this stingy when you're broke."
"Duh, who's stingy when they have money?" Qi Ze waved his hand impatiently.
"That's not necessarily true, there are plenty of people who are stingy even with money!" Ouyang Ye chuckled twice before lying down in the two-person docking pod with Wang Xuan. The intelligent species of the Black Eye galaxy are born with internal energy or mental power, it's just that some individuals are exceptionally outstanding, and some are relatively mediocre. Whether it's internal energy or mental power, it can help them connect to virtual networks, for games or for work and study.
It's also a different way of life.
Qi Ze still couldn't get used to this way of life, but it didn't hinder his proficiency in using the network system. He logged into an online store, opened the back end, and found an email lying in his inbox, signed by Erebus, "Can you fix anything? Can you fix a human body?"
Erebus, what's that? The pure-blooded Eastern Qi Ze completely didn't get the point of this name. He looked it up online and learned that Erebus was a deity in the Federation, the embodiment of darkness.
"How do you want to fix it?" He disliked the name, but was interested in what the person was saying.
"Turn a human body into a weapon." The other side replied quickly.
"Dead or alive?"
The other side remained silent for a long time before typing three words, "Half-dead."
Interesting! Qi Ze's eyes lit up slightly, throwing out a confident answer, "Yes, but I need to see the condition of the body first. If you agree, please pay a one billion deposit, and the balance will be paid after the deed is done. The amount of the balance will be adjusted by the store based on the actual situation, the buyer cannot haggle over the price, otherwise, the transaction will be canceled. Don't forget to give us a good review, dear!"
The man stared at the screen, slowly typing six dots. He was somewhat convinced of the store owner by the ancient text in the description, but seeing the last sentence, he felt it wasn't very reliable. Moreover, this store was strange, unable to see clicks and order volume, the data was completely opaque. Does the main brain allow him to do this? This kind of privilege isn't even available to the royal family, right?
The man immediately intruded into the network, wanting to find out the identity of the store owner, but found that his world-class hacking skills were useless. Yan Junyu? A name popped into his mind, then he immediately rejected it. This tone was definitely not from an old-fashioned person like Yan Junyu.
Life was already full of despair, why not try every possibility? Betting one billion star coins wasn't much for Erebus. He thought about it and slowly typed a sentence, "Is there a limit to your purchases in your store?"
"There's no limit, as long as you can afford the star coins, you can buy anything. Even if you want the stars in the sky, I can pick them for you." Qi Ze replied sincerely.
The man laughed briefly, finding it absurd or ridiculous. Reduced to this state, there was actually someone saying such a petting-like statement to him, it was quite entertaining. "I don't want the stars, can you make me an Interspatial Button first? One that can store living creatures."
Qi Ze whistled, feeling the passion hidden in his heart completely stirred up by this dark god. Although spatial items had already become widespread in the Black Eye galaxy, spatial buttons that could store living creatures didn't exist at all, because the ores used to make spatial buttons only possessed spatial attributes, not time attributes. And living creatures could only exist in dimensions intertwined with space and time. Without time, only space, life is just a fragment; without space, only time, life is just a shadow.
an Interspatial Button that can store living creatures means that the alchemist must simultaneously obtain materials with both spatial and temporal attributes and then find a way to fuse them together.
Ores with spatial attributes are common in the Black Eye galaxy, and although time-attributed spirit objects are rare, they aren't non-existent. But perfectly fusing the two into a whole is something current technology is completely unable to do. Mu Feixing once said that creating an Interspatial Button with a time flow rate had already touched the Divine Realm.
So, over the past few hundred years, this technology had never achieved a breakthrough, humans created larger and larger spatial storage tools but were always unable to contain time. The Divine Realm was something mortals couldn't break.
Qi Ze somewhat liked this Erebus, who dared to challenge the impossible. Of course, this 'impossible' was just a trifle in his eyes.
"What kind of time ratio do you want?" he typed.
He didn't refuse? The man was somewhat surprised, after a moment's consideration, he asked, "What kind of time ratio can you achieve?"
"Fast, slow, or even, up to you. If fast, one day in the Interspatial Button equals ten years outside; if slow, ten years in the Interspatial Button equals one day outside, you can adjust within this range." Of course, he could also adjust the time faster or slower, but for short-lived modern people, it wasn't very useful.
Erebus revealed a surprised expression for the first time. Chatting with the store owner, he was almost starting to believe that such an Interspatial Button really existed in the world.
"I want to order three spatial buttons, one even; one with a fast time flow, one day in the space, ten years outside; one with a slow time flow, ten years in the space, one day outside."
Qi Ze didn't beat around the bush and immediately accepted the order, "Thank you for your patronage, the price is calculated according to the area of the Interspatial Button, ten billion for half a square meter, how many square meters do you want? We will ship within half a month after receiving the deposit."
"Just half a square meter, three of them." Erebus paid a three billion deposit without hesitation and threatened, "If you can't deliver on time, no matter where you are, I will find you. Believe me, the consequences will be unimaginable."
"Okay dear, remember to give us a good review!" Qi Ze sent a few cute expressions with a straight face.
"..." Erebus slowly typed six dots, then went offline.
Qi Ze closed the website, walked to the window, and admired the vast universe. This world was wider and deeper than the Qianyuan Continent, waiting for him to explore it. The absence of pure spirit energy didn't matter, as long as his hands were intact, he would one day create his own world.
In contemplation, time passed minute by minute, about two hours later, Ouyang Ye and Wang Xuan both exited the virtual world, discussing in a depressed manner, "We still couldn't challenge him today. Who is that dark god? How is his technology so sharp? It's been almost twenty years, how is he still in the first place on the world rankings? Even Yan Junyu wasn't his match."
"I heard that guy is a high-ranking official in the military department, later retired due to injury. A big shot from twenty years ago, it should be that one from the Li family."
"Which one from the Li family?" Qi Ze looked at Ouyang Ye, inquiring with interest. The words 'dark god' exuded a thick air of middle school awkwardness, how similar to that Erebus.
Ouyang Ye, as the eldest son of the Ouyang family, was relatively well-informed and said in a low voice, "It's the Li family of the six major families, controlling the First Army. To be precise, my uncle is a branch of the Li family, but after staying on Neptune for a long time, he has long been detached from the center of power and has gradually lost contact with that side. Twenty years ago, Li Ziqian, the young patriarch of the Li family, was seriously injured in a battle against the Zerg queen. Due to too many elements of the Zerg queen remaining in his wounds and not receiving timely treatment from a high-level mental power user, he ultimately ended up disabled and retired. He was only twenty-six when he retired, but his ability level had already reached 3S, a more impressive figure than Yan Junyu. If it weren't for his incident, Yan Junyu couldn't have risen to prominence. His mech control skills are amazing, he can single-handedly take down a Federation mech squad, and he established a dozen special merits, he could have been promoted to general if he wasn't underage. That dark god has been at the top of the list, even Yan Junyu couldn't successfully challenge him. I thought about it, besides this Li Ziqian, there should be no one else. Although he is disabled, his mental power is still there, surfing the virtual network isn't a problem."
Ouyang Ye clearly admired this Li Ziqian more, and he pulled a picture from his smartbrain and showed it off, "Here, this is Young Master Li, isn't he much better-looking than Yan Junyu?"
Qi Ze leaned over to take a look, his beauty-loving soul couldn't help but burn fiercely. This was truly a rare handsome man, with fair skin, narrow eyes, unlike Yan Junyu's masculine and heroic appearance, he was more handsome and feminine, his features were almost flawless, exuding a chic and elegant feeling from head to toe.
He was wearing a pure black military coat, the belt was buckled tightly, making his shoulders wide, waist slim, and legs long, his body proportions were explosive. An eagle perched on his shoulder, the man and the beast looked at the lens together, their eyes were golden-brown vertical pupils, that wild and cold gaze indicated he wasn't as elegant on the surface.
"His eyes?" Qi Ze pointed at the pupils of the eagle and Li Ziqian, guessing this person should have demon blood.
Ouyang Ye answered matter-of-factly, "He has half eagle blood in his body, so his dynamic vision is very strong, his predictive abilities are super-class. Unless you use light speed, you will definitely be defeated if you fight with him."
The eagle race was an indigenous race in the Black Eye galaxy, able to freely convert between human and eagle, and they possessed everything eagles could do, but more powerful. Humans as outsiders relied on marriage to steal the high-level genes of these indigenous races to make themselves evolve more perfectly. Of course, there were cases of hybrid failure, but the state was responsible for handling them.
Qi Ze pulled Ouyang Ye's wrist over, looked at it seriously for half a moment, and praised, "A gentleman of integrity, like cutting and polishing, like shaping and refining."
Ouyang Ye didn't understand this sentence, but it didn't prevent him from feeling the intense praise. He wanted to slap himself twice in his heart, but on the surface, he said very naturally, "It's just a pity, he is now disabled, I heard he can't even walk, I wonder which holiday planet he is staying on for treatment."
"The attack of the Zerg queen was that powerful?" Qi Ze asked, frowning.
"If we calculate according to the empire's standards, the Zerg queen should be a 3S, even 4S powerhouse, possessing all kinds of abilities, and her mental power is extremely powerful, she can summon the entire planet's Zerg to fight for her in one second. Every time a Zerg queen appears, the Zerg will breed wildly, and in just a few months, they can devour dozens of planets. They are particularly interested in energy stones, wherever they fly, they move the energy stones from there back to their nest. The queen obtains the energy to lay eggs by absorbing these ores."
Ouyang Ye showed both hatred and fear, "You think about it, the energy stones are all moved away by them, where do we get the energy to fight them? Without energy, we can't start the starships and mechs, the battle hasn't even started, we've already lost half. Moreover, their reproduction speed is very fast, kill this wave, the next wave has already hatched, coming out with combat capabilities, it's endless. Fighting the Zerg, we have to fill the gaps with our lives."
Wang Xuan added, "Yeah, every time a Zerg queen appears, the Black Eye galaxy will be swept by a frenzy of war. If it weren't for the Zerg, other races couldn't maintain the current state of both opposition and unity."
Qi Ze understood, this Zerg was like the demonic race on the Qianyuan Continent, a very troublesome thing, unable to be killed completely, and could only be dealt with by wearing it down. He released Ouyang Ye's wrist, seemingly losing interest in Li Ziqian, and turned to look back at the scenery outside the window.
Ouyang Ye secretly breathed a sigh of relief and hurriedly deleted all of Li Ziqian's photos.
Wang Xuan winked and laughed. He could see that the status of these two was completely unlike what outsiders guessed, Qi Ze wasn't Young Master Ouyang's kept boy, but rather more like the financier. Young Master Ouyang was respectful and fearful of him, yet he loved him in his heart and couldn't express it, he was simply a coward. Also, Coach Yan, who originally had a respectful and distant attitude toward Qi Ze, now cared a lot, coming over to ask about his well-being three times a day and even serving as a free bodyguard. Qi Ze's charm was too great!
Amidst his wild thoughts, the door was knocked on, Wang Xuan went over to take a look, and sure enough, it was Coach Yan.
"We're almost there, get ready," he came in and packed Qi Ze's luggage with amazing proficiency, and he also instructed, "Wait for me in the safe zone of the port after disembarking, I left a flying car there before I left the Imperial Star, I'll go get it, I'll be back soon. Don't respond to anyone you don't know, the Imperial Star has been very chaotic lately, every force is present."
"I'll protect Qi Ze, I don't need you to say that," Ouyang Ye was a bit offended.
"I'll leave Qi Ze to you, you take him to ride public flying buses or rented flying cars? The Mu family doesn't know when they'll make a move, you can rest easy, but I can't." Yan Junyu glanced at him indifferently.
Ouyang Ye immediately became silent and obediently helped pack the luggage. Qi Ze didn't pay attention to the two's confrontation and was logging into the star network, searching for a holographic map of the Imperial Star, and then clicked his tongue. The Imperial Star was really big, three times the size of Neptune, divided into more than sixty regions according to administrative functions. It was the political, economic, and cultural center of the empire, with a population of eighty billion, all kinds of high-end talents gathered here, creating its prosperity and bustle.
Getting off the spaceship, Qi Ze looked at the endless sea of people, and finally revealed an expression of amazement. The Qianyuan Continent was vast and sparsely populated, even the martial arts competition jointly held by the major sects had never seen so many people. There were normal humans, flesh balls covered with tentacles, and even aliens two or three meters tall.
Qi Ze was used to seeing creatures and demons, so he didn't show a look of fear, only looked a few times before withdrawing his gaze and continued forward. Amid the crowd, he was pulled into Ouyang Ye's arms, but was pulled over by Yan Junyu after a few seconds, tightly protecting him.
"Don't get separated, hold on to me." He whispered in the boy's ear, hot breath sprayed on the tip of his ear, it was itchy.
Qi Ze knew what was right and wrong, hurriedly grabbed his arm, his toes almost left the ground from being squeezed. Finally getting out of the port, he felt that he hadn't walked a few steps at all, the entire journey was like floating over, his height of one meter eighty and something was completely not enough to see over in these hormone-eating aliens.
Ouyang Ye followed with a sour face, urging, "Hurry up and get the flying car? With so many people and so many hands, aren't you afraid of something going wrong?"
Yan Junyu straightened out Qi Ze's clothes and hairstyle, which had been squeezed out of shape, before hurriedly leaving. Wang Xuan pinched Ouyang Ye and reminded him in a low voice, "Hey, at least try to act a little more mature, don't be like a little brat who can't get candy. Qi Ze clearly likes mature men."
"Isn't Laozi mature enough, isn't Laozi handsome enough?" Ouyang Ye flexed his pecs, realizing that Young Master Qi was raising one eyebrow at him, and quickly put on his jacket.
The three of them appreciated the crowds coming and going while chatting idly about anything, when they suddenly saw a super cool flying car coming from the opposite side, it made a flashy drift move and stopped in the VIP area. The door opened, and a man in a silver-gray suit got out, tall and handsome, with an extraordinary demeanor, who could it be if not Mu Ran?
He clicked on his smartbrain, seemingly contacting someone, said a few words and looked up, his sharp gaze immediately focused on Qi Ze.
"You're here." He walked in front of the three, extended his right hand to Qi Ze, "Let's get acquainted, I'm Mu Ran."
"Qi Ze." Qi Ze followed the local customs and shook hands with him, taking the opportunity to cast the Round Light Technique on the other's palm. He was worried about how to get close to Mu Ran, he didn't think the man would come over himself, it was also fate.
"Welcome to the capital." Mu Ran smiled warmly and spoke sincerely, as if he had no hatred for Qi Ze at all. After the initial anger subsided, he gradually realized that the sudden turn of events wasn't necessarily a bad thing for the Mu family. Focusing on the production of superpower mechs, the Mu family might be able to achieve greater success.
"Thank you." Qi Ze disliked hypocrisy. When he was about to show an impatient expression, Yan Junyu came over in a flying car, his eyes darkened slightly when he saw Mu Ran, seemingly somewhat wary. He jumped out of the car, opened the passenger door for Qi Ze, placed his palm on the top of his head, and carefully instructed, "Don't bump your head." In the end, he looked at Mu Ran and said as a matter of course, "You came by car, right? I'll take Xiao Ze back to school first, we can talk about business later."
"You guys go ahead and talk, give me the car, I'll drive it back for you." Ouyang Ye took the opportunity.
Yan Junyu ignored him and stuffed the two extra people into the back seat, slammed the door shut, and signaled for Mu Ran to follow behind. The two cars sped away, and when they got to the school, there would naturally be student representatives to receive them, and the admission procedures were simple, first verifying gene information, then paying tuition, issuing student cards, and that was it.
Li Yu had long since entrusted acquaintances to arrange a two-story small apartment for Young Master Qi and his nephew, it could accommodate six students, and the safety factor was very high, it cost two hundred thousand star coins per semester, only the rich or the powerful could afford to live there.