54: Hachiman, so you're really that awesome?

A collective response to the issue of frequent scene switching: I've taken a look myself, and it is indeed a bit scattered.

Sometimes when I get writer's block, I just write whatever comes to mind, but I will pay attention to strengthening consistency in the future.

In these next few chapters, I will accelerate the convergence of the world lines and try not to switch scenes so frequently.

(Chapter 38 has been slightly adjusted.)

(The following is the main text.)

"So, this base can actually be retracted into a base ship?"

Xi Hai stood in the base's central control room, looking at a "Retract" option on the panel, and asked in his mind, feeling puzzled.

Ten minutes ago, he had come to the central control room.

After urgently churning out ten X8 engineering ships and sending them out to mine, he had taken a look at the control console and spotted this option at a glance.

At that time, he immediately used the mainframe with the Little Night Lamp plugged into it as an excuse to send White Shark away, after which he found a place to sit down and began a one-on-one conversation.

"The Pathfinder base is originally unfolded from a base ship," "Naturally, it can be retracted again." night lamp replied calmly.

Hearing what night lamp said, Xi Hai felt a hint of surprise: In the game, retracting the base required the special function of the "Shuttle" Pathfinder central component!

His base didn't have any equipment at all!

(PS: Equipment: In Infinite setting, plugins attached to the base that can provide various special effects.)

"Isn't retracting the base a special function of the 'Shuttle' central component plugin?"

night lamp explained in detail: "In the setting network," "the various protocols are full of all sorts of restrictions on Pathfinders," "including but not limited to blueprint performance castration, service quantity limits, etc."

"The 'Shuttle' central component plugin does not grant the ability to retract the base," "but rather grants the Pathfinder permission to retract the base within the setting network."

"Because this area cannot connect to the setting network," "you are currently in offline mode."

"The restrictions from a series of protocols such as the 'Wei Yang Covenant' and the 'Pathfinder Agreement' have been automatically lifted for you."

"I will provide you with the full version of services based on the data I have saved."

!! So, all those Warships he played in the game, which were models of wasted tonnage, were all castrated versions?

That's right!

In the background setting, those "Pathfinders" who went into new star systems without hesitation were originally just laborers serving the Wei Yang Covenant; those giants that had completed their initial accumulation, in order to consolidate their own power, would naturally not hand over complete blueprints to others, and the restrictions imposed on the Pathfinders were naturally all sorts!

"Wait," "You said based on the data you saved," "What kind of data have you saved?"

night lamp was silent for a moment.

Immediately, a file of over 30 TB was displayed on night lamp's panel.

"This is the directory," night lamp said.

Xi Hai opened it and saw: "Small Military Outpost Construction Technology," "Small Trade Station Construction Technology"... "Space City Construction Technology · Level 2," "Space City Construction Technology · Level 3"... "High-Energy Reactor Construction Technology," "setting Gate Construction Technology"...

???

Had he seen something particularly incredible?

"No way?" "You have stargate technology?" "You're so badass, why didn't you say so before?"

night lamp answered this question with silence.

'You didn't ask before, did you?' The icon flickered, as if saying that.

The sudden joy left Xi Hai breathless.

With trembling fingertips, he clicked on the stargate construction technology, skipped the long list of technical support above, and scrolled directly to the resource requirements at the bottom—then, his excited heart was instantly cooled by the massive amount of resources required.

Not to mention the basic resources calculated in the trillions and hundreds of millions, a single spatial resonance point was already beyond his current capabilities.

Forget it, resources aren't a problem; if he mines enough, he'll eventually have them.

At this moment, he looked at night lamp's panel again and felt a sense of familiarity.

He sighed: "So," "after lifting the restrictions from the setting universe," "are you now the Complete Lamp?"

"Yes, you could say that." The icon projected by night lamp flickered slightly, seemingly satisfied with this title.

"I'm a bit curious," "Why did you open all permissions after disconnecting from the setting network?"

This time, night lamp replied immediately: "The 'Wei Yang Covenant' serves all of humanity."

"When a Pathfinder has severed all contact with the setting network," "it proves that they have become lost in the true unknown, far away from human civilization."

"From this moment on," "they are no longer scavengers going to recover the afterglow of the old era," "but true Pathfinders."

"The Covenant will not restrict any pioneer who has embarked on the path of exploration for humanity."

"The fruits of humanity's ten thousand years of development will become the shoulders of the giants beneath their feet." "..."

Representing humanity in exploration?

setting universe, night lamp, you guys are interesting.

But, he is currently in the human civilization of another world—even so, are you still willing to be the giants beneath my feet?

Xi Hai suddenly felt an invisible pressure.

He remembered the novels he had read in his past life, where the protagonist, after obtaining transcendent power, would always become a lone wolf isolated from all of humanity.

When facing these books, Xi Hai always felt an indescribable discomfort—a lone pine, though sturdy, cannot withstand a hurricane; a lone star, though bright, does not illuminate the deep valley.

Even if a person is perfect and omnipotent, as a social animal, how could he possibly completely detach himself from society?

It was just like Xi Hai now—since he was born human, his destiny was already deeply bound to the human race!

Even if he developed to be incredibly strong and amazing with the help of night lamp, if he abandoned humanity, he would be surrounded by enemies in the universe with no way out.

Moreover, the transcendent power he had obtained—night lamp—came from another universe, from an equally great human civilization!

It had also experienced a desperate dark age, and had also been reborn from despair, moving toward a new life!

Now, he had grasped the hand extended by that great civilization, been dragged out of hell in one fell swoop, and become the pioneer mentioned by night lamp who represented humanity in embarking on exploration—he had taken the torch passed by the previous fire-keeper.

Would he become the Prometheus of the new century, or would he use the torch in his hand for personal warmth until it burned out?

Thinking of that desperate environment, thinking of that corrupt administration, he already had his own conclusion in his heart—the flames of the new era would burn away all corruption.

After a brief silence, Xi Hai suddenly had another question: "night lamp," "asking you one last thing," "can you provide the full version of the Warship blueprints?"

night lamp answered quickly: "As long as enough Warship blueprint data can be imported," "I can reverse-engineer," "and restore the Warship blueprints." "..."

Xi Hai said speechlessly: "You mean," "I still have to open loot boxes?"

night lamp paused for half a second, then finally replied: "My data transfer method was incorrect," "resulting in the Warship blueprints of various enterprises being entered," "and combined with the Encrypted Technical Archive they launched—which is a means of secondary exploitation of Pathfinders."

"Theoretically, I have stored the blueprints for all Warships," "but they will refresh in any random Technical Archive."

Xi Hai continued to ask, "So this loot box still requires microtransactions to buy?"

The AI voice of night lamp seemed to carry a hint of helplessness: "The data was transferred in the form of a trading system," "and the commercial act of buying and selling was added to night lamp's underlying code by major enterprises."

"It cannot be erased." "Sending proxima centauri coin by sending commissions and tasks is already exploiting a loophole in that code."

"..." "Damn you, likely a game," "When I have time, I will definitely assemble a bunch of Gold Firmaments to blow up your headquarters." Xi Hai cursed.

(Some of the settings for night lamp in this chapter are self-created to push the plot.) (If there is any conflict with the game, I apologize; please use the settings in this book as the standard.) (After all, the setting is the source of inspiration, but I can't let it bind me, right?) (Hehe.)