386: Have you saved the universe?

"Commander, you're back!"

Inside Tiangong Base, Butler One and Cang Miao were both overjoyed.

Lin Yang had been gone for two years, and unreachable, but now he was finally back.

"Yes, I'm back. Is everything alright at home?"

Lin Yang asked Butler One, his gaze turning to Cang Miao.

After two years, Cang Miao had grown taller and was much more robust than before, his solid muscles exuding a sense of power.

"It seems you've trained well these past two years and haven't slacked off," Lin Yang praised Cang Miao before Butler One could answer.

Cang Miao smiled shyly, "Cang Miao wouldn't dare to slack off. I only wish to become a powerful Super Warrior as soon as possible to repay Commander for his kindness!"

Lin Yang shook his head slightly, "Your strength is for yourself and your people, not to repay my kindness, understand?"

Cang Miao's expression became serious, "Yes, Cang Miao understands."

"Don't be so serious, relax a little," Lin Yang said, finding it amusing.

Butler One then added, "Commander, during your absence, your Home Universe and family have been in good condition. Please rest assured."

"That's good. You've worked hard. I'll upgrade you later," Lin Yang told Butler One.

Butler One was a product that came with Tiangong Base, only at a Level 3 technological civilization standard.

However, participating in the Cosmic Competition had greatly broadened Lin Yang's horizons.

Intelligent machines like Butler One could be upgraded.

It was possible to upgrade Butler One's intelligence system to near-human intelligence without clearing Butler One's memory chip and main control chip.

This meant it would be a perfect upgrade, fully retaining all of Butler One's existing intelligent data, rather than installing a new, advanced, near-human intelligence system into Butler One's mechanical body, turning it into another intelligent machine.

While this upgrade sounded simple, merely retaining existing data for an upgrade, in practice, the technological level required to perform it would need to be as high as Level 7 or 8.

Upon hearing this, a hint of excitement even appeared on Butler One's mechanical face, "Thank you, Commander, for your generosity and benevolence!"

As an intelligent machine, Butler One also knew how difficult such an upgrade was.

In fact, an intelligent machine of its Level 3 technological civilization standard was usually considered a disposable product after use!

The cost of one upgrade was more expensive than buying a more advanced intelligent machine!

And by several times over!

It hadn't expected that Lin Yang would be willing to upgrade it, rather than buying a more advanced intelligent machine to take over its current work.

Lin Yang noticed Butler One's emotions and said softly, "You are my first intelligent machine friend. You've helped me a lot over the years. As long as it's within my capabilities, I will not discard you."

Although buying a more advanced intelligent machine was far cheaper than upgrading Butler One, Lin Yang was still more willing to pay the extra cost to upgrade Butler One.

Humans are not plants.

He was not one of those heartless people.

If there were no upgrade methods and Butler One gradually couldn't keep up with his needs, then discarding it would be the only option.

But since there was a way to upgrade, even if it wasn't cost-effective, he would prioritize upgrading Butler One rather than directly discarding it.

As for Lin Mu... Lin Mu was not an intelligent machine.

He was an intelligent mechanical Life, a mechanical Life that could evolve on its own.

Intelligent machines and intelligent mechanical Life differ by only two words.

But the difference lies in the word "Life."

An intelligent machine is a mechanical product with an intelligent system.

Whereas a mechanical Life is a Life form; it can be understood as a Foreign race!

A Life race other than humans!

Butler One was immensely grateful, "Commander, thank you for granting Butler One the qualification to continue serving you."

"No need to be polite. You stay here for now. I'll upgrade you later. For now, I need to go home."

Lin Yang patted Butler One's mechanical shoulder, then thought for a moment and added, "Also, your body materials, I'll find a way to upgrade those for you later too."

Butler One's manufacturing materials and technical level were also at a Level 3 technological civilization standard.

Since he was going to upgrade, he might as well upgrade everything at once.

Under Butler One's immensely grateful mechanical gaze, Lin Yang summoned Apocalypse and took Cang Miao back to Blue Star.

He planned to introduce Cang Miao to his family and Zhao Zizhen, among others.

Previously, he hadn't introduced Cang Miao and kept him at Tiangong Base to minimize Cang Miao's exposure.

But now, even if the people of the Ten Thousand Universes knew Cang Miao's identity, no one would dare to try and snatch him!

So Lin Yang no longer worried about the negative consequences that might arise from Cang Miao's identity being exposed.

Of course, he simply didn't need to be as cautious as before; he had no intention of publicizing it everywhere.

Blue Star.

Apocalypse hovered above the residential area as before.

Upon seeing Apocalypse appear, everyone knew he had returned!

Many news media workers were taking the opportunity to photograph Apocalypse's exterior.

This time, Lin Yang didn't stop them.

He had won the championship for his Home Universe in the Cosmic Competition, and even the most powerful Level 7 civilization rulers in his Home Universe, the Yu Clan, were on good terms with him.

There was no longer any need to worry about exposure or anything else.

Let those people photograph if they want to!

His efforts to improve himself were so that his loved ones, friends, and even his own race, whom he protected, could live lives free from constant caution and fear!

While it couldn't be fully achieved yet, at least on Blue Star and within his Home Universe, he no longer needed to fear anyone's threats!

Lin Yang even actively disabled Apocalypse's cloaking, allowing the media and enthusiasts to get a more detailed shot.

Seeing this, everyone was astonished.

Previously, when Apocalypse appeared, it was never allowed to be photographed!

But now, not only were there no warnings against photography, Apocalypse even actively lowered its altitude and disengaged its cloaking system, allowing them to capture its full appearance.

This directly shocked everyone.

"Holy cow, Fellow Student Big Shot's spaceship system didn't warn us this time! Instead, it lowered the spaceship's altitude. Does this mean he wants us to photograph it freely?"

"Is he not hiding anything anymore? Is Fellow Student Big Shot not afraid of those Overseas guys learning things from him?"

"Oh... speaking of which, Fellow Student Big Shot hasn't appeared for a year or two, and now he shows up and displays his spaceship so openly. Could it be that his technological strength has made a major breakthrough in the past year or two, reaching a point where he's completely fearless of anyone?"

Everyone was deeply shaken.

Just the act of allowing people to freely photograph the spaceship made some clever individuals discern many unusual implications and intentions!

Two years ago, Apocalypse was not allowed to be photographed casually.

Even if someone secretly took pictures, they would be directly warned by the authorities.

Secretly photographing Apocalypse was a much more serious crime than photographing a military base!

But now, two years later, Apocalypse could be photographed at will!

This was enough to show that the current Fellow Student Big Shot had definitely made a leap in technological strength!

He no longer worried about the Western countries secretly learning anything!

This was a signal!

A signal that excited all the people of his nation!

"Could it be that this dream can really be realized this time?"

Someone exclaimed excitedly.

On the official side, Ye Guhong and others were also extremely astonished.

Immediately after, Zhao Zizhen called Lin and excitedly said:

"Lin, have you successfully saved the universe?"

— —

Uh... I haven't been feeling well these past few days. The medicine makes me drowsy, and I've been sleeping all day. I'll take it for another day today, and I should be better tomorrow. Once I'm better, I'll resume writing and start catching up on chapters... Thank you for all your support, everyone. I'm ashamed!