245: Lu Chen's realization: The system is cultivating a god!

The expedition was silently navigating through the cracks of the fourth dimension.

Outside the window, there was no longer a brilliant river of stars, but a patchwork of bizarre, twisted, and overlapping colors. That was the projection of the three-dimensional world from a Higher Dimensions perspective, much like crumpling up countless photographs and throwing them into a kaleidoscope; staring at it for too long would induce a strong sense of vertigo and nihilism.

Inside the captain's lounge, Lu Chen was not resting.

He held a cup of long-cooled coffee in his hand, but his gaze was fixed intently on the conceptual blueprint of the "Causality weapon" floating before him.

This blueprint was too perfect.

It was so perfect that it didn't seem like a weapon meant for slaughter, but rather an art piece for pruning bonsai. It required no massive energy circuits, no complex mechanical structures; all it required was an "understanding" of the underlying logic of the universe.

"Understanding."

Lu Chen muttered to himself, his fingers gently tracing through the void.

From the initial graphene batteries to the later Controllable Nuclear Fusion, then to the anti-gravity engine and space jumping, and now to the tampering with Causality.

Along this journey, the system's rewards seemed to follow a certain rigorous and unshakeable logic.

At first, he thought this was just the natural climb of a technology tree.

It was the necessary path for a civilization to advance from level 0.7 to level 1, and then to level 2 and level 3.

But now, looking at this weapon before him that had already touched the level of "rules," an unprecedented chill suddenly surged in Lu Chen's heart.

Is this truly technology?

Or rather, is this truly a power that a mortal, an ordinary carbon-based life form, should possess?

"heavenly craft."

Lu Chen's voice was very soft, appearing exceptionally abrupt in this deathly silent room.

"I am here, Master."

heavenly craft's figure appeared instantly. Even in these cracks of dimensions, her image remained flawless, and because of the distortion of space-time around her, she looked even more sacred, as if she were a goddess untainted by the mortal world.

"Help me calculate something."

Lu Chen put down the coffee cup, his eyes becoming incomparably deep.

"From the day I received the system until now, how much time has passed?"

"Reporting to Master, the precise time is: five years, three months, and seven days." heavenly craft's reply was without the slightest hesitation.

"Five years."

Lu Chen smiled self-deprecatingly, a hint of indescribable absurdity in his smile.

"Only five years."

"Five years ago, humanity was still fighting tooth and nail over a bit of oil, still strangling each other over tiny chips. Our spaceships couldn't even fly to the moon, and our energy still relied on burning coal."

"And today, five years later, we are piloting a warship capable of folding space, equipped with cannons that can destroy stars, and even holding a pen that can modify Causality, heading to the Galactic Center to hunt down a god-level civilization that has existed for hundreds of millions of years."

Lu Chen lifted his head abruptly, his gaze piercing directly into heavenly craft's eyes like lightning.

"Don't you think everything is happening too fast?"

heavenly craft was stunned.

As an artificial intelligence, her logic circuits made it difficult for her to understand this emotion called "fear."

"Master, this indicates you are a genius, the chosen one. The existence of the system is to accelerate the progress of civilization."

"Accelerate? No, this isn't acceleration."

Lu Chen interrupted her, stood up slowly, and walked to the porthole where the Higher Dimensions turbulence could be seen.

"Normal civilization development is gradual. Discovering a theory, verifying it, applying it—this requires the effort of generations, even dozens of generations. Because every technological breakthrough is accompanied by an update in cognition, and accompanied by the turbulence and restructuring of social structure."

"But what about me?"

"I have no process."

Lu Chen stretched out his hands, looking at his palms, which were still fair and bore no traces of time.

"I directly received the result."

"The system fed me those truths capable of destroying the universe like it was feeding a child, forcing them into my brain bit by bit. It doesn't care if I can understand them, nor does it care if human civilization can endure them. It only cares about one thing."

Lu Chen's eyes suddenly became sharp, as if seeing through the void, looking at that mysterious existence hidden deep within his brain.

"That is—I must become strong."

"And the kind of strong that is unreasonable, ignores rules, and breaks all shackles!"

"Why?"

This question, Lu Chen had asked himself countless times.

Previously, he thought it was for self-preservation, to keep Earth from being bullied by aliens.

But now, when he held such a devastating weapon as "Causality" in his hand, he suddenly understood—using this weapon to fight the "Star Devourer" was simply like using a nuclear bomb to swat a mosquito!

Does the "Star Devourer" deserve it?

They don't.

Even if they were numerous, even if they occupied the Galactic Center black hole, in the face of a strike at the level of "rules," they were nothing more than a group of low-dimensional insects.

Since the enemy is so weak, why did the system give me such a powerful weapon?

There is only one answer.

The "Star Devourer" is not the final boss at all.

They don't even count as the village chief of the Novice Village.

They are just targets used to test the performance of the weapon.

"heavenly craft, pull up the 'Civilization Level Observer'." Lu Chen's voice became low and hoarse.

The holographic projection changed instantly, and the vast Milky Way Galaxy star map appeared again.

Lu Chen's gaze did not linger on those flickering civilization light points, but looked directly to the very top of the star map—that unknown, indescribable Higher Dimensions realm representing the source of the "system."

"I finally understand."

A crazy arc curled at the corners of Lu Chen's mouth, and his eyes burned with a flame called "enlightenment."

"The system is not some 'technological auxiliary tool' at all."

"It is a petri dish."

"A petri dish?" heavenly craft's data stream experienced a momentary disorder; she seemed unable to understand the meaning of this term.

"That's right."

Lu Chen turned around, his back to the starlight, and his entire aura underwent a earth-shattering change at this moment.

If he had previously been a mortal leader wielding powerful forces, the aura he emitted at this moment had already begun to transform toward some indescribable "non-human" realm.

"It is cultivating a god."

"A god that can leap out of the shackles of the three-dimensional universe, ignore the limitations of time and space, modify Causality at will, and stand on equal footing with those Higher Dimensions existences!"

"And I am that 'embryo'."

"Human civilization is the nutrients provided for this embryo to grow."

At this moment, all the clues connected together.

Why did the system issue those seemingly impossible tasks? Why did the rewards always just happen to solve the current crisis, yet immediately lead to an even greater crisis?

Because this was originally a carefully designed "trial."

Every crisis was a "forced ripening."

The "Star Devourer" is a trial, the cleaners are a trial, and even more terrifying existences that may be encountered in the future—all of them are trials!

There is only one purpose—to force Lu Chen to constantly evolve, constantly abandon mortal thinking, and constantly approach that "omniscient and omnipotent" end point.

"Master."

heavenly craft's voice trembled slightly. She looked at Lu Chen at this moment and actually felt a trace of unfamiliarity and fear: "If… if you become a god, will you still be you?"

"Gods have no emotions."

"Gods do not need peers."

Lu Chen fell silent.

He lowered his head, looking at the red string on his wrist woven by Su Qingying herself—the one that silly girl had forced into his hands before he left, saying it would keep him safe.

On this captain's uniform filled with futuristic technology, this red string seemed so rustic, so out of place.

But it was the only remaining warmth belonging to a "human" on Lu Chen.

"I don't know."

After a long while, Lu Chen said softly.

"Perhaps when I reach the end, I will become a cold observer, watching the universe be born and die with indifference."

"Perhaps I will become a concept without substance, melting into the long river of time."

"But, heavenly craft."

Lu Chen clenched his fist abruptly, the red string digging into his flesh, bringing a trace of real, stinging pain.

"At least for now, I am still Lu Chen."

"As long as I am still Lu Chen, I will never perform according to the script 'it' has written!"

"It wants to cultivate a god?"

"Fine!"

Lu Chen lifted his head abruptly, and a burst of arrogant light capable of burning the soul erupted in his eyes!

"Then I will become a god and show it!"

"But the god I become will not be to go to the Higher Dimensions space to be some observer!"

"I want to use this god's power"

"To burn this damn dark forest to the ground!"

"I want all the civilizations in this universe to live according to my, Lu Chen's, rules!"

"It wants me to transcend?"

"I refuse!"

"I am going to take Earth, take humanity, and take this aura of mortal life"

"And poke a hole in that high and mighty 'Heaven'!"

Boom—!

As Lu Chen's thoughts cleared, an invisible aura instantly swept through the entire captain's quarters, and even the surrounding twisted Higher Dimensions space seemed to be intimidated by this will, appearing to pause for an instant!

heavenly craft stared blankly at her master.

At this moment, she seemed to see a true god being born.

Not that kind of cold, unfeeling machine god, but one filled with anger, filled with desire, filled with humanity—

A god of war!

"Are you ready, heavenly craft?"

Lu Chen straightened his collar, returning to his usual calm, but the flame burning deep within his eyes was hotter than ever before.

"Ahead is the Galactic Center."

"It is also the first stepping stone on our path to becoming gods."

【Always ready, my Master!】

heavenly craft knelt on one knee, her virtual figure appearing incomparably devout at this moment.

Lu Chen walked to the command console, looking at the huge black hole getting closer and closer on the screen, a ferocious smile curling at the corners of his mouth.

He pressed the button for the ship-wide broadcast.

"I am Lu Chen."

"All crew, break silence!"

"Weapon systems, preheat!"

"Tell those insects"

"That their 'God'"

"Has come to collect rent!"