167: Breaking the Galaxy Record

He stood still, unmoving. He pinched his palm, and the pain made him blink. Now he was sure: everything before his eyes was not a dream.

He looked down at his hand. There was slag and blood on his palm, and the copper gear on his cuff swayed. His parents had given it to him, and he had worn it ever since, never taking it off.

"First Rank, City Builder." He whispered the name, his throat a little dry.

The familiar rhythm in his body was still there—+1 faith points per second, as steady as a heartbeat. It hadn't suddenly increased, nor was there any abnormality. This proved that the System was real, not an illusion.

He looked up at the sky. The golden crack above his head was about to disappear. Just as the last ray of light flashed, he felt something was wrong. It was as if someone was watching him, but it wasn't a person, nor was it a camera. The feeling was cold and distant, as if coming from somewhere he didn't know. That power slid over his skin, then burrowed into his bones, like wind blowing through and swirling around. It was gone in less than half a second.

He straightened up, neither dodging nor moving, just standing there, letting that power pass through him. After it disappeared, he let out a sigh of relief, thinking: It’s finally over. Blue Star’s first city is finally stable.

His phone vibrated in his pocket. He took it out; it was a message from Yue Zhengzhong, with only one sentence: "You're famous." He glanced at it, a faint smile on his lips, but didn't reply, stuffing the phone back into his pocket and turning to walk towards the Main Hall.

On the way, he encountered several Believers, who became excited upon seeing him and opened their mouths to speak. He gently waved his hand, his eyes warm but firm, signaling them to be quiet. They closed their mouths, but their eyes were full of trust. His heart, however, felt a little heavy; that trust felt like a weight on his shoulders.

The Main Hall doors were open, and the wind blew out from inside, carrying the scent of blueprints and sand tables. He walked in, closing the door behind him.

It was quiet.

He walked further inside, and the System panel automatically popped up. It read: [Current Divinity Rank: First Rank, City Builder] [faith points accumulation rate: +1 per second] [Resources held: Common Materials × 370,000 units, High-Rank Ore × 84,000 units, incense value × 210,000] [Special Items: kings treasure chest × 1 (Unopened)]

He stared at the words "kings treasure chest" for a few seconds, then slowly raised his finger, hovering it over the confirm button, trembling slightly. But he finally sighed and withdrew his hand. Now was not the time to open it; there were still matters to attend to outside.

—

In a very distant Star Domain, there was a place called Observation Station No. 37.

A silver-white ring-shaped building floated in space, its surface covered with sensors. Suddenly, an alarm blared, and red lights swept across the control panel.

"Carbon-based oxygen planet civilization detected breaking the city-building threshold," a mechanical voice said. "Coordinates: Galactic Spiral Arm G-7, Solar System Third Planet."

A silicon-based life form was operating, six tentacles sliding across the screen. The database brought up a record.

"The last similar achievement took ninety days, by a methane-environment dual-core civilization. This time it only took fifty-four days."

The screen flashed, showing a comparison chart. On the left were normal city-building data, with a gentle curve; on the right was Shen Xiaochuan's data, as steep as a blade.

"Anomaly," the operator said.

"Should it be marked as a potential threat?"

"First, designate it as a C-level observation target. This individual did not use a standard divine energy template; it might be a composite talent."

The information was packaged and sent via quantum channel to twelve advanced civilizations. Three of them responded within three seconds, activating deep space probes.

A miniature probe activated in Pluto's orbit, unfurling its solar sails and turning to fly towards Earth.

—

United Nations Provisional Assembly Hall.

Yue Zhengzhong walked out into the corridor, his assistant following.

"Any movement from Thor's side?" he asked.

"No. The door hasn't opened, and there's no news from inside. But we intercepted an encrypted data stream from NATO's internal network."

"Release that news."

"But we didn't write this..."

"Who cares?" Yue Zhengzhong said indifferently. "Letting them scare themselves is more effective than us doing it."

He walked forward, his back very straight.

"Tell the seven delegations that submitted cooperation intentions to wait two days. Let's see who genuinely wants to cooperate and who is just here for the show."

—

Bug Race border, Grey Rock Canyon.

A group of Lizardmen gathered around a bonfire, drawing symbols on the ground with their tentacles. An old one pointed at the sky, its voice hoarse.

"It's SC."

The other warriors stopped their movements.

"Only fifty-four days," it said again, drawing a circle on the ground with its claw, representing a city.

The young warriors looked up at the sky, seeing nothing, but they understood the meaning.

SC, that was the name. It just appeared in the battlefield channel, only letters, no one knew how to read it. But it was already spreading.

Another warrior carved "SC" into the rock wall with a bone knife, adding two bars to show reverence.

They didn't understand human language, nor did they recognize Chinese characters. But they remembered the time—fifty-four days. It took their hive three hundred years to build a fortress.

Too much of a difference.

And so, reverence came.

—

Mechanical Civilization Core, data flowed continuously.

A piece of code was singled out and labeled [New Human-01].

File content:

Name: Shen Xiaochuan; Affiliated Civilization: Blue Star, Human; Achievement: First city built in 54 days (breaking galactic record); Environment: Oxygen atmosphere, 1G gravity, no natural divine energy field; Assessment Level: Elevated from C-level to B-level potential leap threat; Remarks: High-efficiency individual appearing in a low-level environment, violating conventional evolutionary models, continuous monitoring recommended.

This file was duplicated three thousand times and sent to major interstellar outposts.

One copy reached a wandering mechanic. He was repairing a spaceship in the ruins of Mars when he saw the message, his hand pausing in mid-air.

"Humans?" he muttered. "From a place like this, such a person can emerge?"

He shook his head and continued to tighten screws.

—

Skydome City Main Hall.

Shen Xiaochuan sat before the sand table. The sand table was a miniature version of the city, brightly lit, even the defense nodes glowed faintly.

He reached out and tapped the air.

"Pre-activation."

A circle of red light lit up around the edge of the sand table, and all basic defenses entered standby mode. No energy was expended, no mechanisms triggered, like a hand resting on a dagger hilt, ready to draw at any moment.

It was enough.

He leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes.

It was quiet around him. The cheers from the city seemed distant, only his own breathing remained.

But he knew it wasn't quiet outside.

That scan just now wasn't the end, it was the beginning. More eyes would be fixed on him. Some wanted to learn, some wanted to destroy, some just wanted to see how far a low-level civilization could go.

He wasn't afraid.

Fifty-odd days, from scratch. Without relying on others, without taking shortcuts. Every brick, every tile, every bit of Ore, he earned himself.

Now the entire galaxy knew that a man named Shen Xiaochuan built a city in fifty-four days.

His name had spread.

Next, let them see what else this man could do.

He opened his eyes and glanced at the System interface.

The kings treasure chest was still there, untouched.

He didn't want to open it now. Not because he was afraid of what was inside, but because he felt—the time wasn't right.

Wait a little longer.

Wait for those energy signals approaching the Solar System to get a little closer, wait for those eyes hiding in the dark to see a little clearer.

He wanted them to witness with their own eyes how a young man in work clothes could make the impossible real.

"Currently, it doesn't seem like an attack, nor an invasion. More like a probe. Slow speed, erratic route."

"This signal isn't from Blue Star," he murmured.

His fingers slowly tightened.

Outside the Main Hall, the wind blew across the city tower, and flags fluttered.

The newly carved words on the city wall hadn't been painted yet.

[Skydome City · Blue Star's First City]

Below, a line of smaller text:

[Builder: Shen Xiaochuan]