281: Chapter 283 Ignite Jupiter as a Backup Light Bulb

On the shipping lanes of the Solar System, the silence was unsettling.

Jiang Chen stared at the radar screen, his brows furrowed in concentration.

"The lighting still isn't right."

He pointed at the massive gas giant ahead, which appeared somewhat oppressive and cold in the darkness. "Jupiter is far from the sun, but being this pitch-black really affects one's mood."

"Old Zhao, what do you think?"

Zhao Gang was standing in front of the console, gnawing on a piece of alien-flavored jerky, and replied indistinctly, "Boss, that's Jupiter! The big boss of the Solar System, that size... even if we stuffed Earth inside, it wouldn't be full."

"We aren't running a tourism business here, so what if it's a bit dark?"

"No."

Jiang Chen slammed his glass onto the table, his eyes filled with a domineering air of "I'll do as I please." "Once our Mars Base is built, the logistics route will be so long. If we get lost in some asteroid belt, wouldn't that increase my company's operating costs?"

"Besides, I've been feeling that this area around Jupiter is too gloomy lately; it just doesn't look auspicious."

He stood up, walked to the porthole, and looked at the massive purple sphere outside.

"We need to install a light for it."

"This way, we won't be fumbling in the dark, and those future alien tourists won't get lost and require us to reimburse their navigation fees."

As soon as these words were spoken, everyone in the command room fell silent.

What kind of divine logic is this?

Treating a galaxy-level gas giant like Jupiter as a broken lightbulb to be fixed?

Academician Chen Shuyin was calibrating a set of energy parameters and froze upon hearing this. She pushed up the glasses on the bridge of her nose, looking at the ridiculously large planet on the screen, her eyes filled with absurd helplessness:

"Jiang Chen, don't forget."

"Although Jupiter consists mostly of gas, it is fundamentally still a planet."

"To ignite it, how much energy would that require? How many fusion reactions would have to occur? If you fire that shot and Jupiter's structure collapses, the gravitational balance of the entire Solar System will be ruined!"

Jiang Chen didn't listen to this rigorous nonsense at all.

He opened the [Stellar Ignition Plan] blueprint, which had just been unlocked from the system, and tapped his finger lightly in the air.

"Who said it was nuclear fusion?"

He glanced at Academician Chen Shuyin with a look that said, "You actually thought I would use such a primitive method," which made Academician Chen Shuyin feel like she was having a heart attack.

"That stuff is too inefficient."

"What I'm planning to use this time is—[Gravitational Compression Collapse Method]."

Jiang Chen walked to the console and connected dozens of high-power gravity anchors, which had been dismantled from the Wasteland ruins, to the weapon platform of the luan bird.

"We aren't using fusion."

"We are only responsible for applying pressure."

"As long as we forcibly compress Jupiter's outermost hydrogen layer to the critical point..."

"The rest will just burn on its own, right?"

Zhao Gang's head ached from listening, but he was already used to it.

If the boss says it works, it definitely works.

These days, they've even put sunglasses on the sun; is lighting up a Jupiter-sized lightbulb even a thing?

"All hands, charge the main cannon!"

Jiang Chen ordered, "Divert all backup energy, lock target onto Jupiter's North Pole."

"Three... two... one."

"Fire!"

"Hum—!!!"

An invisible gravitational wave, like a giant hand from deep space, instantly traversed the void.

It did not tear everything apart like a laser, but silently pressed down upon Jupiter's vast cloud layer.

It was a terrifying pressure field.

In that instant, all the molecules within Jupiter's atmosphere were forcibly squeezed together by an irresistible force. The gaps between the molecules were smoothed out, and the extreme temperature skyrocketed at that moment.

"It worked!"

Academician Chen Shuyin watched the temperature readings on the screen refreshing wildly, her palms covered in cold sweat. "Five thousand degrees... ten thousand degrees... one hundred thousand degrees!"

"It's actually igniting!"

On the screen, the surface of the massive Jupiter.

That formerly silent patch of dark purple clouds, under the effect of the gravitational compression, suddenly erupted with a blinding, dazzling light as pure as gold.

That was not the fire of chemical combustion.

That was the fire of a star, ignited in an instant as elements were forcibly forged!

"Boom!"

A muffled sound resonated throughout the entire Solar System.

That was the vibration of Jupiter's core structure as it adapted to this new pressure.

Soon, the ball of light expanded, rendering half of Jupiter a dazzling orange-gold. It was no longer that gloomy ball of waste gas, but a rising, miniature, yet long-lasting "artificial star."

"Holy crap!"

Outside the command room, several "alien laborers" responsible for infrastructure also stopped their work, all of them dumbfounded.

They had originally been complaining that the light was too dim and it was easy to bump their legs while working, but the next second, this massive planet turned into a huge floor lamp?

"That's awesome."

Zhao Gang stood in front of the porthole, looking at Jupiter, which had suddenly turned into a "little sun," feeling his legs going weak. "Boss, that's... that's it? It's fixed?"

"Yeah."

Jiang Chen nodded in satisfaction, even sighing a little unsatisfactorily:

"The color is a bit dark, but it's enough to serve as a spare lightbulb."

"At least in the future, when we open up shipping lanes in this area, we won't have to worry about hitting asteroids."

"If any other alien civilizations pass by in the future..."

He pointed at the "new lightbulb," smiling with an evil look, "If they dare to say it's dark here, I'll just issue them a ticket, with the reason being—light pollution."

In the command room, there was pin-drop silence.

Academician Chen Shuyin took a deep breath, crumpled up that report, and threw it away.

This man.

Is truly completely insane.

Just as the entire team hadn't yet recovered from the absurdity of "turning a planet into a lightbulb."

On the screen, a series of garbled signals suddenly popped up.

Those were emergency distress signals transmitted from the edge of the Milky Way Galaxy.

Not only from alien civilizations, but even the fleet of The Sweepers that had just tried to attack them, after their rout, had actually broadcast a desperate...

"Evacuation Warning."

"Don't come over!"

"There's a devil on that planet!"

"Don't touch that young man! He didn't just eat our ships! He's also dismantling our ships!"

"That is..."

"An indescribable horror!"

Seeing this, the group of researchers in the command room, who had just been terrified, all looked at Jiang Chen in unison.

Their eyes no longer held the fear of facing a superior, but rather a kind of...

Some kind of indescribable, fanatical belief.

Following this man, one can not only soar through the heavens and dive into the earth but also play with the universe like a playground.

Is there anything he dares not do?

"Boss."

Zhao Gang tossed the coffee can in his hand aside, brushed off the corner of his clothes, and the coldness typical of a special forces soldier on his face completely turned into a rogue's wild laughter:

"Have these guys not realized it yet?"

"We not only didn't leave them a way to survive."

"But we're even going to deprive them of the chance to be fertilizer?"

Jiang Chen turned around, looking at the darkness that had been completely lit up, a sharp smile curling at the corner of his mouth:

"They have realized it."

"Otherwise, they wouldn't have run so fast."

"But they haven't realized the most important point yet."

Jiang Chen strode toward the bridge exit, his voice filled with unprecedented dominance:

"In this Milky Way Galaxy, anyone with the surname Jiang is their daddy."

"Go, tell the Mars Base."

"Stop growing potatoes there."

"Load all of our 'specialties,' hot pot base and spicy strips, onto the ship."

"Since they said on the broadcast that they are afraid of us, then we will..."

"Personally go and pay them a visit!"

"These days, those who provide door-to-door service are the good merchants."

The warship roared.

The firelight of Mars flickered outside the window, and that lightbulb lit by Jupiter illuminated the route to deep space.

That young man from Earth.

That boy who once haggled over a few hundred dollars.

Was now piloting that mothership that eclipsed the sun, carrying a ship full of hot pot ingredients, rushing toward the depths of the universe.

And on the other end of the live stream.

Countless eyes were staring intently through the lens at that galaxy that was slowly becoming brighter and warmer.

They knew.

This wasn't just a miracle of infrastructure.

This was a war launching a final challenge against the gods.

Even if it was the supreme firmament.

Jiang Chen also planned to give it—

Install a parasol on it too!

He took one last look back at the new lightbulb, which was still flickering with a faint light, and kicked the console beside him, annoyed:

"Stop flickering."

"This lightbulb is too dazzling."

"I'll find someone to install a lampshade on it later."

"So that it doesn't keep those aliens from sleeping, and they don't get up in the middle of the night to cause trouble for me again."

After saying this, he completely disappeared into deep space.

Outside the door.

The Milky Way Galaxy, which had been "forcibly remodeled" by him, finally began the era belonging to the Dragon Country amidst that roar.

It was a kind of extremely crazy—good luck, that would make even the gods tremble.

Jiang Chen laughed.

He listened to the desperate and humble pleas for mercy coming from the group of alien envoys behind him, and took another look at the Pikachu, which was suffering from indigestion after eating metal and was crouching in the corner gagging.

This life.

Aside from the occasional small thrill.

It was simply absolutely perfect.

"Let's go."

He nodded at Academician Chen Shuyin behind him.

"How many more galaxies have we not visited yet?"

"Counting the one just now..."

"Probably about thirty thousand more."

"Alright."

Jiang Chen yawned, his eyes showing a roguish sense of "rushing the schedule":

"Then let's... go one by one."

"Let's open our chain stores throughout the entire Milky Way Galaxy!"

As the warship's engines let out a final roar.

That massive mothership completely disappeared at the edge of sight.

And that ignited Jupiter continued to flicker quietly in the darkness.

It seemed to be guiding those lives who wanted to escape toward the only...

Hope.