241: Chapter 242 Jiang Chen: I've shown my face, what can you do about it?

The edge of the Solar System was a desolate Kuiper Belt.

It was filled with a vast number of icy minor planets and bone-chilling dust.

Usually, this was the quietest "moat" of the star system, a desolate frontier that no civilization would spare a second glance.

But today.

Accompanied by a strange folding of space, an engineering miracle was slowly revealed at this moment.

It was neither a military outpost nor a defensive fortification, but a massive neon sign constructed from superconducting nanomaterials and filled with nuclear fusion light sources.

Yes, a neon sign.

It was about two hundred kilometers long and fifty kilometers wide, suspended in the vacuum.

As Jiang Chen pressed the base's start switch, this massive sign instantly erupted with blinding white light.

That light could be clearly captured even from millions of kilometers away.

The text on it was in standard bilingual Chinese and English, and to accommodate certain high-intelligence alien civilizations, it even thoughtfully included several sets of universal binary logic symbols:

** [ Chenxing Technology · Earth Branch of the Dragon Kingdom ] **

** [ Core Business: Cross-dimensional trade, technology wholesale, and... face-slapping. ] **

** [ Do not litter. Violators will be killed. ] **

"Boss, is it really okay to... hang this thing here?"

Zhao Gang stood in front of the command console, looking at the absurdly large sign on the screen, his mouth twitching wildly. "This is just like shouting in a forest: 'I'm here! Come and eat me!'"

"That's exactly the effect I want."

Jiang Chen sat in his chair, toying with a spirit stone he had just pilfered from a cultivation galaxy, a signature roguish smile on his face that made people want to punch him yet feel helpless.

"The Dark Forest Theory?"

"That thing only applies to the weak."

"True powerhouses never need to hide in the shadows and tremble."

"Since they want to come and cleanse the Earth, I'll just throw the doors wide open, turn the lights up to the brightest setting, and see how many of them have the guts to come in!"

The live broadcast feed was simultaneously transmitted back to Earth at this moment.

Billions of people watched the massive, heaven-covering sign at the edge of the Solar System and were completely petrified.

[ Holy crap! Is this God Jiang's advertisement? Hanging at the entrance of the Solar System? ]

[ This is too arrogant! This isn't investment promotion; this is clearly a declaration of war against the entire universe! ]

[ I admire God Jiang's ruthlessness. Not only did he expose himself, but he also added a flashing special effect to his own head! ]

Meanwhile.

On a dark matter scout ship about 0.5 light-years away from the Solar System.

Several civilization scouts with translucent tentacles and jelly-like, gelatinous bodies were frantically retrieving data on the Solar System.

They had originally come to confirm whether the target posed a threat and to send a "clearance mark" to their mothership.

But upon seeing that massive sign, which was as conspicuous as a lightbulb even against the cosmic background radiation, all the scouts collectively froze.

"Data error! Data error!"

"The energy fluctuations of this civilization are increasing exponentially! They... they are actively exposing their coordinates?!"

"Wait! What is that light source? That's not a star! It's artificial?!"

"They aren't just openly declaring war; they're even live-streaming to sell technology?!"

The scouts looked at each other, their translucent tentacles waving frantically in mid-air, clearly plunged into severe logical chaos.

In their three thousand years of hunting history, they had encountered countless civilizations.

Some civilizations tried to hide, some tried to beg for mercy, and some resisted desperately.

But they had never seen this kind.

One that just puts up a sign to sell things!

And wants to "slap faces" too!

Most bizarrely, the energy fluctuations emitted from that sign were even more advanced than their mothership's shields, and even carried a kind of extremely malicious, eerie curse called the "Law of Causality."

"Commander, should we still issue the 'clearance mark'?" a scout's voice trembled. "If we mark it, will we... be 'targeted' by that human?"

Silence.

The command hall fell into a long silence.

On the screen, the young man was sitting with his legs crossed, swirling a wine glass in his hand, his eyes seeming to look through the screen at them.

The mockery and sarcasm in those eyes were clearly visible.

How was this prey?

This was clearly a trap waiting for them, an abyss specifically waiting for them to show their heads so it could wipe them all out.

"Retreat!"

The Commander spat out this humiliating word, almost through gritted teeth.

"Withdraw from this damn star system!"

"Wipe the coordinates off the map! This isn't a civilization at all; this is a... gathering place for lunatics!"

"Quick! Run! Don't let them find out we're still watching!"

The spacecraft turned around, not even daring to turn on its thrusters to full power for fear of attracting the attention of the luan niao starship, and disappeared into deep space in an extremely pathetic manner.

Back on Earth.

Jiang Chen watched the rapidly disappearing red dot on the radar and gave a soft hmph.

"Running so fast?"

"I was planning to grab a prisoner on the way to study what kind of species this thing actually is."

Academician Chen Shuyin stood to the side, watching this scene, and smiled helplessly:

"Jiang Chen, you're bullying them too much."

"They were just running errands, and you've scared them senseless."

Jiang Chen turned around, ruffled her hair, his eyes filled with the composure of someone in total control:

"This is called deterrence."

"Winning a battle at most makes the enemy fear you."

"But if you can make the enemy run away before they even open fire, just by your 'sign'..."

He looked at the big screen, where that massive sign was still flashing, tearing the darkness of the universe to shreds.

"That is what true domination is."

"Let's go, Old Chen."

"Let's go to the moon and check out the spoils from that cultivation civilization."

"We need to hurry."

"After all, this is just the beginning; there will be more and more guests in the future."

"By then..."

Jiang Chen's mouth curled into a cruel and arrogant arc:

"I'm just afraid the money they bring won't be enough to buy my tickets!"

"Alright, stop spacing out, hurry up and get to work."

He turned to look at Zhao Gang, who was still stunned, and kicked his boot:

"Hurry up and check those alien local specialties, see if there are any decent defensive dharma artifacts in there!"

"If there aren't a few that are presentable, our live stream tomorrow will be too embarrassing!"